ClassicRPM

I have very mixed feelings with AC Shadows. On one hand, it has a realistic and beautiful world open world with a nice setting. There is a lot of attention to detail in the historical setting as well. And it has a great performance mode, where you can play at 60fps and the game flows very smoothly. On the other hand, the core of the game is so fundamentally flawed that it feels like a chore. Like homework. The core problem is how the story and progress are designed. The game fragments the story in little pieces to pretend to be non-linear, but it remains linear: missions still work in a way that you need to do A and B to then be able to do C. So, the story fragmentation completely sacrifices the quality of the writing but without returning anything truly positive. And the worst: the game sets level requirements to do some of those missions. Feels completely arbitrary and forces you to interrupt your progress to do some more chores to level up. So, in the end, the game is still brutally linear. Also, in-game decisions have zero consequences most of the time - you'll find yourself with the illusion of a choice only to find out that the game decides for you regardless. And there are SO MANY missions that feel irrelevant that, once in a while, you'll play one that actually matters for the story but there's no way to know beforehand so you'll be watching a meaningful cutscene without the slightest buildup or interest. Two more negative aspects are that the open world is pretty but it is quite painful to navigate, and that most missions require you to go from point A to point B. Because they want to pretend it's not as simple as that, now they do not put a marker on the map anymore. They simply point at a specific area and you need to find the spot yourself. This is okay if discovery is the core of the game and is designed to be fun... But, here, it just feels like an additional chore to do on top of your main chore. One more thing worth commenting is how dull the inventory system is. You'll find hundreds of chests in the game, but their content is mostly useless - best case scenario is you find a piece of equipment so you can replace your underleveled gear. Provided you can use it straight away... Since you can't use equipment of a level greater than your character's. In summary... Terrible story and writing. Bad gameplay loop, flooded with fetch quests. In a beautiful world - I'll give you that. Feels like the game is designed by graduates in Neuroeconomics and Behavioral Psychology, rather than by artists and game developers who love videogames. The game doesn't know how to be fun - it only knows how to keep you busy.

Decent story and very cool environment. The game is very enjoyable as long as you see your choices are the right ones. But I think it has a major flaw: it doesn't allow you to re-load a scene if you just messed up. And, once you finish the game, you don't have total control over which things you wanna replay and see the different outcomes, but instead it forces you to play the whole thing again, starting from the chapter of your choice. I think it's a risky game the developers are playing: on the first playthrough you can get quite frustrated. Some dialogue options have some truly random consequences. Also, the quick time events (which I wish did not exist in any game!) can get you by surprise and, oops, this character died. If they let you choose to reload if you wish to do it, this would be fine (you'd still have the option of playing "hardcore", and just accepting your mistakes). But not letting you reload at all can turn this game into a very frustrating experience. And, what about letting you reload freely after you finish at least one playthrough? That's also not available. Terrible shame! I would replay it more if I could. In short, quite a good and short (4h / playthrough) experience but with some frustrating mechanics (lack of reload, QTEs, unpredictable choice options).

This is a good game. I played it late because of the ratings, to be honest, and I am glad at last I gave it a chance. It's the only game out there that gives a zombie apocalypse a rather realistic touch. (I dislike the absurd, monstruous creatures that they put in Resident Evil). Has little story but a nice open world. You need to scavenge for supplies just like you imagine doing in a situation like that. I applaud the decision of adding difficulty levels, to adjust the experience to different types of players. Howerver, 2 criticisms (for me): (i) The Juggernauts (and the Ferals too, actually) seem so artificial and their only reason to be in the game is to make things difficult sometimes... And (ii) the permadeath should be only optional. I hate to dedicate so many hours into the game for later losing all in a mistake or a trap. Some people like this, but honestly, I wish I had the time for that. I don't. For the future, it would be nice to add more regular zombies in big cities, rather than artificial zombies that are more powerful. This way you keep a challenge but you get rid of the artificiality.

Seeing this game coming out now kind of makes me sad. On one hand, I had fun with it when it came out for Xbox360. Good old times, when there actually was a plot in the series. The end of the Desmond trilogy ended the saga for me. No real story after that. I played Unity, Syndicate and Origins. I enjoy them, but they're not great anymore. And here comes this AC 3 again. For 40 bucks. A game from the last generation. It's a good game... But why releasing it? The saga is now very different, they clearly don't care about the Desmond universe anymore. AC is now a game series with well designed environments but plain and forgettable stories. So I can't recommend playing this game to newcomers, or fans from the latest AC entries. If you're a bit older and you liked "the other AC games", you have already played this one for sure.

It is a disapppointment. The gameplay is smooth, accessible, and watching the fights can be spectacular at times. However, the loading times are unbearable. 15-20 seconds of loading for 1-2 minutes of fighting is just not acceptable at the current generation. I believe playing on a PC on an SSD memory makes this faster, but this should not be a requirement for faster loading times in a, despite beautifully looking, 2D fighting game. The soundtrack doesn't sound bad. But DBZ fans will be more than tired of hearing the songs of the game. I am not sure about how much music has actually been recycled from previous games, but it feels like it's the same music we have been repeatedly listening to since the good old Budokai days. The story mode has been upgraded from static pictures with boring dialogue to slightly animated scenes with a slightly improved plot. Not enough, really. Last, but not least, let's talk about the frame rate. Playing on a plain Xbox One or PS4 I have the feeling that the animations run at 10 fps at times. There is a lot of room for improvement. I was excited about this game! And then I tried the Beta and I started doubting. Sadly for all, it feels like a disappointment.

The game artificially extends its duration by making the player waste time doing secondary missions that are boring and feel more like homework than an actual game. This is of course to encourage microtransactions, as well as to keep players online for longer than they would, if they could just play the history. NO MORE PAY TO PROGRESS!! Here's my zero.

Greatest game of the year (and it hurts me to say it because Zelda Breath of the Wild had the crown for months). I have finished the game and realized I have only collected 1 third of the moons. I wanted to say many things about this game, but no words would make justice. Get it now and enjoy!

Inversion is a good third person shooter that takes place in a dystopic universe where a race of human-like creatures invades all the known world. People are made slaves or just murdered for no apparent reason. Of course, as we advance in the story, we unravel many of the mysteries that the beginning of the plot brings. In the game, we are a policeman who is in the seek of his daughter, and we are at all times accompanied by a colleague and friend, who decides to support us in our quest. It is a rather simple plot, very inspired in Gears of War. I start commenting about the story because I believe it is one of its strongest points. As a fan of dystopias like Gears of War, I am Alive, or The Last of Us, I found Inversion's environment and storyline satisfactory. Simple, but effective. On the other hand, more character development, more dialogues or cutscenes would have improved this part even more. One has the feeling that there are more things to be told. The technical aspect is brilliant at times. There are some moments that leave you with the mouth open. Unluckily, these moments are not frequent in the game. At the end of the game, we visit the most attractive scenarios. Moreover, the game has notable graphics and, even if the surroundings can get repetitive punctually, the graphic design is quite remarkable for a non triple A production. My major criticism goes for the sound, though. There are moments where the volume of the dialogues is not well regulated and we might either miss the voices or they might be too loud. That is an issue that breaks the atmosphere and it is really a pity that the game was released without fixing this problem. Many games nowadays suffer from this matter as well, which I find surprising. The gameplay is effective, the game is fun. However, it is necessary to say that the shooting mechanics are heavily inspired on the Gears of War franchise. Cover mechanics, sprinting, aiming. Many things are copied from Gears of War. On the other hand, the game includes its own additions: altering gravity of the objects in our surroundings adds a strategic component that is an asset to the gameplay. The zero gravity fights are awkward but fresh, and jumping from the ceiling to the walls, or vice versa, is pretty new too and it is visually very satisfactory. Not all is good, though. Some mini bosses keep reappearing every 15-20 minutes in some parts of the story, and they can really become a pain. This was probably added in the game to increase its length. The length of the story is about 7-8 hours, more or less the average of its genre. It has a multiplayer mode and the possibility to play the whole campaign in online coop, however, by now (2016) it is very rare to find anyone playing this game, so you must arrange this with a friend if you want to enjoy this experience. To sum up, I think this is a great hidden gem that was very critisized at its time of release due to copying many elements from the Gears of War saga. I strongly believe that, in the case Ubisoft or Electronic Arts had published this game, the average score would be above 70%. This game is definitely worth your time, especially if you are into dystopic universes.

The game costs about 60 dollars/euros, and it contains 4 maps and no campaign mode. This game is the introduction of a new selling policy, and the user should be aware of that. This new policy consists on raising the price **** to 110-120 bucks, by splitting its content into different parts and selling the first one AT FULL PRICE; and the rest will be paid via downloadable content. This is, in my opinion, an insult to the sensible customer. Customers should avoid buying this, if they do not agree with this kind of policy. Just like Microsoft took a step back with the prohibition of 2nd hand games when they saw the huge rejection of the public, game developers and publishers could do the same. To sum up: The game has absolutely no content. Regardless of how many DLCs are released for this game, the original price is not worth paying at all, for what it has to offer. We are again victims of the hype.

Amazing, stunning graphics. Some of the best animation cinematics I have ever seen in a videogame, Square Enix took a brave step, and moved its biggest franchise into a more direct style of gameplay. No more open world, no more secondary stories, no more visiting shops and talking to villagers. Instead, a long corridor to walk through for hours while beating enemies, with numerous cutscenes in the middle. The plot is good, maybe not the best in the franchise but definitely better than what we are used to in the current generation. In my opinion, the characters seem quite annoying in the beginning, but they evolve during the game and get more interesting and complex. The combat system might seem awkward in the beginning, but by the end of the game (which took me around 40 hours to finish, a very decent number) you might think it is very fun and challenging. Each boss fight needs strategy and planification, but also agility to switch your team formations in the middle of the battle to be able to survive. The main problem in this game, though, is the high difficulty of some enemies. The nature of this game is that of a corridor (we go from point A to point B to proceed in the story, and we cannot go anywhere else), so training your characters needs some extra motivation. In other RPGs, exploring a dungeon or a mysterious area might be a good excuse to level up and get nice items before you face the "big boss". In FF XIII, you are sometimes rewarded very little for fighting hardcore creatures; and very much for fighting 4 or 5 weak enemies. This is something I find unfair, and it does not encourage training your squad. What you might do instead is to find one single enemy that is easy to beat and rewards you with a lot of experience points, and repeat this fight many times. This will be the most time-efficient manner of leveling your squad, which is a pity. However, this was corrected in FF XIII-2, and that is a point for the guys of Square Enix. In conclusion, this is a very good (but linear) RPG. Probably it was meant to be more accessible for the public, with great graphics and an intuitive gameplay. This disappointed the fans of the saga, which I understand. One might not mention this game when it comes to define the Final Fantasy franchise... But its name might sound in the "top 10 Japanese RPGs" of the Xbox360-PS3 generation.

Uncharted 2 is probably my highest disappointment with PS3. It is a good game. It is beautiful, it sounds good and lasts long enough. However, it did not make it to my top 5 of Playstation 3 exclusives. The problem is, just like in the first game of the series, the gameplay. Hours and hours of repetitive shooting with mediocre controls make this game way less interesting than it could have been. It is very cinematic, but many situations are predictable and annoying. All missions can be summed up as follows: Nathan discovers some great place, explores it, solves the puzzle, and... Suddenly, hundreds of enemies - who, apparently, were waiting for you to solve it - enter the place and start shooting at you. And, again like in the previous game of the series, enemies (who are just wearing a T-shirt) need 4-5 rifle bullets to die, which is not credible. There are other ways of making the game more difficult, Naughty Dog... However, the graphics are amazing and the exploration gained importance in Uncharted 2 with respect to Uncharted 1, and this is a good direction to follow. If the shooting gameplay was great, or just good, this game would have been way better.

It is an OK game. The graphics are stunning, very nicely made for the time in which the game came out. The presentation is by far the best feature of the game. The facial expressions are a bit awkward, though. The soundtrack is OK: the main theme stays in your head, even if it is not great. The length is what is to be expected of a third person shooter for PS3. However, the story is just average and the gameplay is highly repetitive (shooting and shooting, some climbing and then, again, shooting). So, basically, the main problem of this game is the gameplay. The controls are not too good and the whole game you will see yourself shooting at hundreds of enemies. These enemies do not wear any kevlar armor but still need 4 or 5 bullets from your AK47 to be put down. In Uncharted, everything concerning the shooting gameplay is mediocre. And shooting is 90% of Uncharted.

I got this game for my Gamecube when I was 14 and I just loved it. Yes, you would like to play as Neo, in the beginning. However, the best feature of it is that it makes you feel vulnerable. This is The Matrix, and you are just an intruder. You are able to dominate some tricks, some simple enemies. But you gotta run from an Agent Smith or you're dead, just like in the movie. Some years later, I played Matrix: The Path of Neo. I got very disappointed, and I prefer by far Enter the Matrix.

This game is extremely underrated. It was great fun. Story: Nothing special, but it is decent enough to want to know what happens next. The character Esteban Noviembre is pretty much a stereotype... But he's funny, and you don't mind. Gameplay: A very nice swordfighting game, with many kinds of weapons (long sword, short sword and shield, double sword, axe, maze, etc.) and combos (many combos for each style of fighting). It has a very nice split-screen coop, one of the most fun of the generation, in my opinion. Sound: Quite decent soundtrack, it even includes a link to download the music of the game online. That's a very nice detail! Sound effects are nice, the voice acting is credible (english voices only). Length: Around 7-8 hours, with three different difficulties. It also has collectables, and you improve your character with combos and other features, which enables customization and tricks you to keep playing to improve your character to the 100%. The only negative point I found was that it ends in a cliffhanger, since a sequel was probably going to be developed but it never came out. So it makes the player wonder what would happen next (e.g. Shenmue II...)