DesireMercy

The game play, skill trees, and guns are great and obvious improvements from BL2. The game mechanics are fun, flow well, and work just like you'd like them to. Boss fights are largely improved upon and require more thought and effort than before (except for maybe the last one?) The different zones in the game are a crap shoot on quality. Most of them are beautiful in their own way, but it's obvious some were designed on a budget, in a rush, and with the intention of feeding you through a specific area. They are suppose to be in the "open world" be are really just outdoor dungeons. Shifting gears, after I completed the story for the first time I sat for a good two minutes with my mouth wide open. Not because it was amazing mind you, but because I couldn't believe I had waited 7 years for this steaming dung pile — I'm being generous. The main story in Borderlands 3 feels like the musings of sophomores just introduced to critical theory and trying intently to weave it into their favorite fan fiction. Characters make asinine decisions, the plot is driven by idiotic motivations, and you, the supposed hero of the story, are agentless, if not completely excluded, from the majority of the important parts of the story. You don't matter. Very little you do matters. And in the end, you don't matter at all. This is especially true if you're a straight male. The writers went out of their way to exclude straight men from the main story. Save for brief involvement with a couple of characters, the majority of the men you interact with will either be evil or idiots. The main cast will be dominated by female characters who seem to have forgotten their male peers from the last two games. This is critical theory at work in the gaming industry. Women, minorities, LGBT+ are "oppressed" and therefore the Social Justice Warriors must "right" the "injustices of oppression" by "empowering oppressed peoples", especially at the expense of the "oppressor". Logic, audience, and story be darned. Don't get me wrong. I think having meaningful, empowering, and main roles for female characters is a good thing. But not when it's done at the expense of a compelling story, deliberately excluding numerous characters who are natural additions to the story. Again, if you think this is being "over sensitive", you need to read up on what critical theory is and how it's being implemented in our culture today. A game that use to pride itself on being anti-PC is now a sermon on political correctness. The main story feels like it was written by a team of interns as a college project, but the game play is phenomenal. If you can ignore the main story (the side stories are where the charming Borderlands humor still resides) then you can squeeze some enjoyment out of this game.

Battlefield 3 takes many steps in the right direction. Suppression, customizations, return of prone, 64 player maps, and a bunch of additional modes. However, DICE loses some points by making practically all of these additional game modes "premium" content (meaning you have to pay another $30 bucks to unlock them). DICE demonstrates once again they know how to make games with huge learning curves. Only the most persistent (or masochistic) will make it beyond a few games. Death comes far too quickly and often from nowhere. Vehicles are too few and too powerful. Experienced pilots can effectively lockdown an entire 64 player map with just two jets. Complaints aside, the game can be a lot of fun. Though it makes me long for the simpler days of Battlefield 2 or even 1942.

Beautiful art, fun design, unique setting. Generally interesting, at times tedious. The puzzle solutions are more a matter of clicking everything in sight than actual challenge, and finding your way around some levels can be obnoxious. Complaints aside, I found the game way too short (that's a compliment there). Purchased it as a part of the Humble Bundle sale and it was well worth it.

To begin, the environment and setting of Bioshock Infinite is absolutely breathtaking. Certain elements of the story are mind-bending and impressive. However, it suffers from several fatal flaws that make it less than stellar. The Good As previously stated, the environment of Columbia is beautiful. The setting is amazing. Irrational Games went through extensive lengths to make the world a believable retro-scifi environment. The technology, sights, and sounds of the era are everywhere and feel like they belong. This world could have easily been imagined at the beginning of the 20th Century and that's a good thing. Additionally, Elizabeth and Booker, the protagonists, are amazingly complex and fleshed out characters. You can't help but feel attached to Elizabeth nor can you avoid feeling sorry for Booker as he tries to makeup for his sins. The gun play is quite well done. Weapons seem responsive and aiming was not a chore. Ammo seemed to always be just a bit short which may have been intended, but was at times annoying. The environment requires quick thinking. Booker is human, not super human, and requires you to periodically duck and seek cover. This is a positive. You have to think about moving into the line of fire and how long you stay there. Altogether positive experience with the controls. The Bad The bad lies in the fact that you have no choice in how the game ends or what your character does. In fact, Irrational Games makes several taunts throughout at this little fact. You can of course travel down certain paths do a few side quests, but the story is very linear. You will always end the same way. No exceptions. You have no control about what path you take, and in-fact many of the scripted scenes force you to choose only one choice. In addition, there are a ton of quick time events that leave you with the illusion of having control over your character where you have to do certain things within them, but you quickly realize the most decisive choices in the game are predetermined. This is no Mass Effect, and the game developers seem to revel in this repeatedly having characters in the game remind you that no matter what choice you make, it will always end the same. Additionally, the very ending of this game leaves the player shocked, disturbed, and more importantly, severely disappointed. There is little to no resolution of the last 25 hours of game play and it raises more questions than answers; none of which you're going to be able to answer because the game doesn't explain it to you. As far as story writing goes, this is a no-no. If this weren't enough, once you discover the statement the game was making, if you're a person of faith, especially a Christian, you can't help but feel personally attacked. It's been almost 24 hours since I finished Bioshock Infinite and I still can't get the bad taste out of my mouth. The plot has similar qualities to many science fiction and dark fantasy (i.e., horror) short stories. The kind of stories that at the end leave you asking "What the heck?" and leave a dirty, gritty feeling. Thankfully, those short stories usually only involve investing an hour of your life, not twenty. This leaves you ample time to wash the taste out of your mouth without feeling like you've wasted too much of your life. Bioshock Infinite doesn't give you that luxury. You invest nearly a day of total gameplay only to be kicked in the stomach and then told to "deal with it." I still feel like I'm scrubbing my tongue to get the taste out. Does someone have a steel wool scrubby? In Conclusion The game has an amazingly imagined and executed world with a fascinating story that will keep you glued to your seat until the end. The characters are well-rounded, believable, and complex. If you don't feel something for Booker, Elizabeth, and maybe even Comstock by the end, something is probably wrong with you. Unfortunately, these close attachments are stomped on and spit on by design. The ending punches you in the stomach, rips the rug out from under you, and kicks you a few times for good measures. The raw dirty feeling doesn't go away. If you happen to be a pro-American, Conservative, and/or Christian then the ending will sting even more. The beautiful world, amazing characters, and fluid game play keep this from being a terrible game, but the ending erases almost all of the good points. I'm glad I didn't have to drop $60 to play this. I can't not recommend this game because it has beautiful experiences, but I can't recommend it either.

The story and the art of this game are great, and so are many of the interactions, but after having played seasons 1-4 I can tell you with certainty that most of the major decisions are decided for you. Certain characters will die regardless of how you try to save them. This is disappointing as the game heralds "adapting to your choices" when in reality practically ALL of your choices are superficial and have no bearing on how the game actually plays out. Having watched seasons 1-4 of the walking dead by Myndflame on Youtube, I made a concerted effort to pick the OPPOSITE choices. Yet, in spite of this, my game has been practically identical save for a few superficial differences. Another major problem with the game is that MOST of it is cut scene. In the places that you are given control of your character, generally, you are stuck with ONE option to solve the puzzles or progress to the next scene. Often times you'll run into invisible walls, whether it be in the environment or in the choices the game will allow you to make. Too many times I was greeted with Lee telling me "This is probably not a good idea right now..." So what? I thought this game was about making choices? Although I find the game, the world, and the story fascinating I am disenfranchised with this promise of "choice". When you compare it to other great games like Fallout or Mass Effect the game falls short on its promise. The story doesn't really change. The results are almost identical, and what you do doesn't really matter.