Ghost67

Absolute mediocrity. Nothing about this game is special, nothing about it is fun. It feels like a step backwards from previous titles. It's so dull. I would give this a higher score, but the forced political social justice BS is the nail in the coffin. Bethesda is not the company it used to be, and hopefully people wise up to this fast. The sad thing is I can see the army of fanatical Bethesda fanboys staunchly defending this because it's Bethesda. Bethesda does not deserve your defense. You're doing a disservice to fellow consumers by defending these hacks.

The potential for a really great game is there, but CD could have, and should've spent more time developing the game to flesh it out. It feels like a mish mash of cool ideas just thrown together for a quick cash grab. The foundation and making for a really great RPG are all **** needed more time and care to grow the game. Though the game excels at drawing you into and immersing the player into its world, it struggles to actually be a good game. Even after the latest patch, there are still glitches everywhere, Normal difficulty is too easy, Hard is too hard, questionable "progressive" design choices, the dialogue suffers from Fallout 4 ambiguity and offers the illusion of choice, perk system seems unnecessarily complex and pointless, crafting is tedious, inventory management is a nightmare, it just goes on and on. The combat and game would be much more fun if more thought and effort went into its design. Style over substance. It could have been much, much more.

Whew, one of the worst games I've played. Bots continue to artificially raise the user score, unfortunately.

Look. I'm a Legendary Founder. My review is not going to be based on the fact that this is a full loot PvP game. I find that a good thing. Albion pulls you in with its Runescape like graphics and gameplay. But it quickly becomes apparent that something strange is going on.... My problem with Albion is the fact that it has no depth beyond its full loot PvP experience. The combat is mediocre and just, well, boring. There are a total of 6 skills. Yes....6 skills make up the entirety of your character. Put on equipment to change your skill. That's it. The devs have nerfed every skill and every unique build into oblivion. You play the way the devs want you to play, period. This game is overdeveloped and overbalanced. Even combat in Runescape is more interesting. Combat is fast paced, and requires little actual strategy since all there are, are 6 skills to spam. 3 skills for your weapon, 1 skill for each other gear slot. Your boots skill is a running skill and not even directly used in combat, usually only to run away to kite. And...that's it. You have a potion. And a cape. Whoop de doo. Nearly every "class", plays the same. There is little to differentiate you from someone else. There are no strategies to the fights. Press your buttons and win or lose depending on the meta and gear tier. Not alot of skill goes into it. The other side of Albion is the crafting. Again, ripped straight from Runescape. That's fine and all. The game is overdeveloped. Crafting is a bore. There is nothing interesting to make. All equipment is tiered, there are no unique items, trinkets to make. This game is fully centered around PvP. That's fine with me. But its unironically a snoozefest.

Saw it on sale for $10 on Steam. Thought it myself, "Eh, how bad could it be?" Boy, was I wrong. The degeneration of Dragon Age basically parallels the degeneration of Bioware ever since being acquired by EA. Played DAO, loved it, Played DA:2, it wasnt terrible, but still a big step down. Well DA:I is even worse, this is World of Warcraft in Dragon Age. Keep in mind how badly 2010's MMO games are going to age as time goes on. First boss fight, fight a giant ogre by clicking on some energy thingy, let your companions do the rest, no strategy needed. Boom! You win the boss fight and now you're the savior. BUT - now you have to play fetch quest and errand boy. This kind of pacing is a plague among the EAs and Ubisofts, they've totally forgot RPG pacing and the Hero's Journey. But you see, this game isn't really about you. No. IT'S ABOUT CASSANDRA. See? This is what it's all about. You're just Cassandra's puppet. It's really all about her and Leliana telling all the weak men off and showing them that in modern day, it's the women who make the rules and the men who follow them. Mechanically, the game is terribly clunky. Gone are the days of the simple yet complex, classic tactical gameplay from the likes of Isometrics like Baldur's Gate and DA:O. Nope. The "Tactical view" makes no sense in this game, moving your character around is a CHORE, the interface is wholley unintuitive. Gameplay is further dumbed down, now you are automatically assigned stat points, leveling up boils down to you picking a few abilities here and there. That's it! Whoop de doo. The only thing good about this game is the sound design. That is all.

Reforged is, in many ways, the worst game release of all time. As a frequent Warcraft 3 player, this an utter disgrace, a callous testament to corporate greed and sociopathy, and a tarnishing of one of the greatest games ever made. In summary, this is not a remaster, this is not an upgrade, this is actually a downgrade to the original game. Features are missing and overall the game is worse. The new agreement for custom maps is a testament to corporate greed of massive proportions. This new release also destroys man custom maps that passionate mapmakers worked hard to create. Blizzard spits in the face of all Warcraft 3 players, many of whom never asked for this "upgrade". Even if you did not buy Reforged, you are forced into their new, inferior ecosystem. Just incredible. Even a 0 doesnt do it justice - this review should be in the negatives.

I dont get some of the low scores people are giving this game. Have gamers forgot what makes games good? Have they forgotten that you play games to have fun, and not to loot grind? Booting up and playing Vermintide sends me back to the golden days, where skill trumps everything else. Fast intense gameplay is where its at. Vermintide is a rewarding co-op FPS/FPM hybrid, with heavy emphasis on melee combat. The gameplay is dynamic, challenging, and rewarding. The premise is simple: Players must complete an objective for their mission on every level. Along the way, you are going to run into one of Warhammer Universe' great villain races, the Skaven rat men. Angry, crazed skaven. But the gameplay isnt so linear. Randomly players will be rushed by a horde, or an ambush of rats. In this ambush, there are "specials", skaven types that are particularly nasty, like gunners that can mow you down. These specials, hordes, Stormvermin patrols(tough rats) and ambushes happen somewhat randomly, adding dynamic to every level making things interesting and challenging. Never one playthrough is the same. One minute you are clearing a rampaging horde, another minute you pull out your ranged weapon to snipe that special rat that can cause havoc among you and your teammates. There is a loot system, but the great thing is that loot does not have a huge impact on the game. It can definitely give you an edge, and a fully equipped decked out player does have a clear advantage over a newbie, but that newbie, with the right skills can still hold his own. The loot and gear system is wonderfully done, with the developers striking the right balance between skill and grind. Character classes are wonderfully done as well. Each character has their own traits and specialties. An added bonus and nice touch to Vermintide includes the banter between characters. The developers decided to make their characters very lively, so you are going to hear plenty of chatter in the game. In this chatter, characters will give smart hints to players if they are on the right track, and if they spot a special rat. A character might say "I hear a gutter runner!" which lets everyone know that an assassin rat is nearby. An excellent touch. Skaven rats will cower in fear if they are alone, just like how the Warhammer Universe describes them. Great job developers. My only complaint would be the focus on multiplayer. There is practically no point in playing this single player, its pretty much multiplayer or bust. Regardless, Vermintide is super fun to play, especially those who enjoy intense teamwork based gameplay. I really hope there will be a sequel as Vermintide is a blast.

I'm having flashbacks to when Dragon Age 2 released and the game was flooded with mixed reviews, many of them angry Bioware fans feeling betrayed by Bioware's design choices. But DA2 wasn't a bad game. It's the same thing with Fallout 4. The thing is this, Fallout 4 is not a bad game, but Bethesda is clearly losing ground with their fanbase and making the wrong decisions in their games. There has been a disturbing trend of Bethesda continually simplifying their games. This started with Oblivion and now it has made its way to Fallout. Of course, theres a bit of hypocrisy here from many fans. Skyrim was certainly dumbed down, yet has stellar reviews and has not received the hatred that Fallout 4 has gotten. Its as if all of a sudden the Bethesda fanbase has woken up to the fact that Bethesda has been dumbing down their games. But F4 is not a bad game. The 1 - 4 reviews are completely UNWARRANTED for this title. Both the Fallout series and Elder Scrolls are known for deep, complex immersion RPG games where player choice is supposed to matter. If you want to be an evil **** you can. If you want to be a goody two shoes, you can as well. There used to be a choice and consequence system that is sorely absent in F4. Its either friendly factions or raiders. There is little in between - there are a few notable quests that give you some choices, but in general you are forced to be the good guy. Bethesda has also once again simplified the character development process, instead of working on both SPECIAL perks and skills from F3, it has now just come down to just SPECIAL perks, and that's it - you also gain 10 HP when you level up. Wow. What happened Bethesda? Clearly the time Bethesda spent on development was the crafting system. F4 features a deep crafting system. As you explore, you pick up "junk", (which actually isnt junk at all) and use those parts to craft things, like weapon mods and upgrades, and your power armor. But this is where it gets funky - theres too much focus on crafting. Eventually, you are almost forced to get a "Settlement" - an actual town, so to speak. And you craft it from the down up, we're talking power generators, light poles, walls - etc. The problem is that I dont really want to do this, and clearly theres been plenty of time devoted to this sort of thing. You play Fallout for survival and exploration, not building towns and cities. It becomes extremely grindy, because you are constantly picking up junk and storing it. And it gets crazier, because you have other parameters, like town happiness, food, water - this is some complex stuff. Is this a town management game or Fallout 4? What was Bethesda thinking? If they added the complexity of town building to character development the game would have been much better off. Actually, yeah, ok, I see where they were going with this. But it doesn't work for F4. Another gripe I have is the fact that there is a bit of a Borderlands feel to it. There is a focus on combat, a bit too much. There are legendary enemies which drop super items akin to Diablo and ARPG suffix's (Pistol of Wounding). These items have special effects which cannot be crafted but are always superior to crafted items. This is cool and all, but adds another element of GRIND. This is not really Fallout. If I want to play Borderlands, I will play Borderlands. But F4 is NOT a bad game. Yeah, it has the typical Bethesda bugs - Bethesda is well known for their bugs and glitches, and F4 has plenty of them. But F4's combat system works beautifully. Its thoroughly enjoyable sniping that super mutant or smashing that hound to bits with my sledgehammer. F4's combat is extremely well done, and VATS makes it all the more fun! It was really, really fun exploring the South part of the map, where combat gets really hairy and requires you to stay on your toes. This is where F4 shines. F4's musical score is excellent and probably the best out of series and possibly the best out of any Bethesda game. 10/10 for music. Overall, F4 is disappointing, and just shows how too much hype can kill a game. I just wish Bethesda would have spent more money developing their game than making cool ads. The disturbing trend of Bethesda dumbing down their games continues. I dont see how they can do go any further, but they might just find a way in Fallout 5. Bethesda, please go back to your roots and make complex immersive RPG's where player choice matters. Please.

BDO has a beautiful world. Its rich, immersive, its huge, you always have something to do and somewhere to go. It has a deep economic and industrial side to the game. The mechanics of Energy and Contribution is unique and a fresh take on virtual economies. It has awesome flashy combat with no tab targeting and auto attack. Then why does it have a 5? Because BDO is a Themepark MMO that plays like a single player game, that pretends to be a sandbox. It sounds like a sandbox and quacks like one, but it isn't. It feels very similar to SWTOR - it feels like it should be a single player game, but it's not. New players are practically forced into doing boring, inane quests, huge grinding quest chains. We're talking hundreds upon hundreds of quests. I love how we use the word "quest" for really stupid tasks. We're talking usual fetch quests all the way to retrieving a stranded cat or knocking over a pickpocket. Seriously? Getting someone's stray cat? NPC's provide long dialogues, some poorly voice acted - but really, who cares? This is an MMO. I came here to play with other people. Players must grind, but new players are especially forced into an upfront investment of time and energy into questing because they need the experience to level up their Energy and Contri points. Without those, they will not have any purchasing power. There is a large RNG element in BDO as well and its frustrating. This of course ends up in massive power gaps, as you have hardcore players with awesome gear able to 1 shot other players in PvP. No strategy, just boring domination. For such a beautiful world, mobs are a pushover. If you somehow stumble upon a powerful mob, the game will flash red telling you that you should run. How exciting. This is beyond themepark. The excitement of exploration just isn't there. There is hardly any death penalty. No one groups, except for specific endgame tasks. BDO players will tell you it has the "quality" of a single player game....??? It gets even more ridiculous - you can't trade with other players. You are forced to use the global Auction House, and you cant even set your own prices, you're forced by the game to set a certain price! PvP is also pretend-sandbox. The karma system is broken - when you initiate PvP, you gather karma. Get too much Karma and there is no penalty for another player to kill you, and you might drop items. What ends up happening is practically no one initiates PvP (excluding guild vs guild) except for the hardest of the hardcore because of the repercussions and the exploitation of the "innocent" players. There is no death penalty for innocent players. There is no character customization. BDO's little brother, Archeage, at least gave you the ability to mix and match different skill trees to create customized classes. There is practically no customization in BDO, the only thing separating your warrior and the warrior next to you is, yep, your gear! Combat is enjoyable enough for PvE, but for PvP its totally broken. PvP fights are very brief and usually comes down to who hits first. No strategy is really involved because of combat mechanics - its just spam spam spam, with healing potions. Yes, the animations look great, you can pull off cool combos, but as far as tactics, skill, builds - it really doesn't matter. Guild turf wars make the game somewhat interesting and there is an element of politics due to territory changes, but the guild battles really dont matter that much, once again due to the fact that theres no interdependence. I really wanted to like BDO, because alot of work has clearly gone into it. But you spend more time conversing with NPC's then REAL PEOPLE. Theres even a mini game where you gain favor with NPC's so they share with you more information. How ironic in an MMO. Its a tragedy. The world is beautiful and vast, but feels stale and hollow because there is practically no interdependence. The sheer amount of upfront investment for new players to grind out just to join the ranks of guilds will doom the game. Who joins an MMO, a virtual world to adventure, only to spend it catching cats for NPC's? In a year I predict that BDO's playerbase will shrink significantly and will be relegated to the only people that will thrive in this kind of environment - ultra hardcore gamers that enjoy grinding 24/7, and have the time to do it.

There is alot of hate for this game. Some of it is warranted - while some of it is not. Alot of the hatred that comes for DA:2 is the fact that the original game was a much different animal than the sequel. The original - Dragon Age: Origins was described as a modern love letter to old traditional Western RPG classics, A la Balder's Gate, Icewind Dale and Neverwinter Nights. While DA: O is a very solid game, Bioware decided to take a very far left turn with Dragon Age 2. It's kind of funny, they did a similar turn with the Mass Effect series as well. With both sequels, Bioware took some big risks changing core gameplay mechanics. And I can respect that. The main difference is that Mass Effect 2 did an exceptional job at this transition. Dragon Age 2's attempt however, was sloppy. But it's not a bad game. I feel like alot of the hatred for this game just stems from the fact that its not as complex as Origins. There are things that DA2 lacks. It lacks a deep character customization system. It's inventory system, like ME2, has been stripped down. Some people really enjoy decking out their characters - you can't really do that in DA2. Even the skill trees themselves have been scaled down. Moreever, I agree that running through the same dungeons can be tedious and it's "kind of" lazy. In DA2, there are dungeons that are reused, over and over. The layouts are exactly the same, the same location is reused. It's kind of lazy, and its recycled content. The other major gripe with this game is the quests. DA2 suffers from Side Quest syndrome. You are given a ton of quests to complete in DA2. Unfortunately, many of these quests do not relate to the main story. So it feels as if you are working towards the main course. Other RPG's also do this, and its frustrating. A couple side quests is OK, but the fist Act alone has you probably do over 20 side quests. On the one hand, I can appreciate the work that has gone into these quests. But - I don't really care. We're not emotionally invested into these side quests. But DA2 excels in is where it counts; roleplaying and characters. And let's face it, the characters are generally better in DA2 than DA:O. They are better. If you liked ME2's storytelling, you will like DA2's, as the dialogue options and the general rythmn of characterization is there. And it's GREAT. Hawke is probably the best PC that I've roleplayed to date. His voice acting is fantastic and has charisma. Credit needs to given where its due. You're usually given 3 options to respond, an agreeable/nice/peaceful option, a hardass option and everyone's favorite, the dry sarcastic humorous neutral option. The joking dialogue option is a great addition and Hawke can be pretty funny at times. In my opinion he even beats out Shepard. Hawke just has more personality and charisma. The character creation system has been ramped up, and you can actually make a good looking Hawke. In fact my Hawke is probably the best looking PC character I've made. Characters evolve with you over time. DA2 is a long saga that takes place over many years. A very ambitious project attempted by Bioware and I applaud them for it. Part of the charm of running through these same dungeons is the way that they change. DA2 is about change, it's a long saga over a long time period. You see character change and evolve, relationships are not formed for one adventure - but multiple adventures in one overarching story. Your actions really do matter, and they ripple across the story. My main problem with DA2 is that its wandering away from strategic parts of gameplay. The complaints of it being dumbed down are not completely unwarranted. The challeges presented in DA2 are...iffy. But then again, the pause and play combat of these titles have always been questionable. It's difficult to judge, because at the core this is a Roleplaying game, and DA2 executes the roleplaying aspect flawlessly. That is the heart of Bioware's games. DA2 is not a perfect game, but alot of the hate is unfair. Metacritic can be a cruel master, and does not always reflect the true value ****. Like this one. This is due to a rabid fanbase feeling betrayed upon release. At the end of the day, I had fun playing DA2. If you can grab this game with some of the DLC's for $20-$30, it's money well spent. In fact, I think I had more fun playing this game than DA:O. Hate to say it, but its the truth. And that's what matters. At the end of the day, DA2 is a good game. That is the bottom line.

There is alot of hate for this game. Some of it is warranted - while some of it is not. Alot of the hatred that comes for DA:2 is the fact that the original game was a much different animal than the sequel. The original - Dragon Age: Origins was described as a modern love letter to old traditional Western RPG classics, A la Balder's Gate, Icewind Dale and Neverwinter Nights. While DA: O is a very solid game, Bioware decided to take a very far left turn with Dragon Age 2. It's kind of funny, they did a similar turn with the Mass Effect series as well. With both sequels, Bioware took some big risks changing core gameplay mechanics. And I can respect that. The main difference is that Mass Effect 2 did an exceptional job at this transition. Dragon Age 2's attempt however, was sloppy. But it's not a bad game. I feel like alot of the hatred for this game just stems from the fact that its not as complex as Origins. There are things that DA2 lacks. It lacks a deep character customization system. It's inventory system, like ME2, has been stripped down. Some people really enjoy decking out their characters - you can't really do that in DA2. Even the skill trees themselves have been scaled down. Moreever, I agree that running through the same dungeons can be tedious and it's "kind of" lazy. In DA2, there are dungeons that are reused, over and over. The layouts are exactly the same, the same location is reused. It's kind of lazy, and its recycled content. The other major gripe with this game is the quests. DA2 suffers from Side Quest syndrome. You are given a ton of quests to complete in DA2. Unfortunately, many of these quests do not relate to the main story. So it feels as if you are working towards the main course. Other RPG's also do this, and its frustrating. A couple side quests is OK, but the fist Act alone has you probably do over 20 side quests. On the one hand, I can appreciate the work that has gone into these quests. But - I don't really care. We're not emotionally invested into these side quests. But DA2 excels in is where it counts; roleplaying and characters. And let's face it, the characters are generally better in DA2 than DA:O. They are better. If you liked ME2's storytelling, you will like DA2's, as the dialogue options and the general rythmn of characterization is there. And it's GREAT. Hawke is probably the best PC that I've roleplayed to date. His voice acting is fantastic. Credit needs to given where its due. You're usually given 3 options to respond, an agreeable/nice/peaceful option, a hardass option and everyone's favorite, the dry sarcastic humorous neutral option. The joking dialogue option is a great addition and Hawke can be pretty funny at times. In my opinion he even beats out Shepard. Characters evolve with you over time. DA2 is a long saga that takes place over many years. A very ambitious project attempted by Bioware and I applaud them for it. Part of the charm of running through these same dungeons is the way that they change. DA2 is about change, it's a long saga over a long time period. You see character change and evolve, relationships are not formed for one adventure - but multiple adventures in one overarching story. Your actions really do matter, and they ripple across the story. My main problem with DA2 is that its wandering away from strategic parts of gameplay. The complaints of it being dumbed down are not completely unwarranted. The challeges presented in DA2 are...iffy. But then again, the pause and play combat of these titles have always been questionable. It's difficult to judge, because at the core this is a Roleplaying game, and DA2 executes the roleplaying aspect flawlessly. That is the heart of Bioware's games. DA2 is not a perfect game, but alot of the hate is unfair. Metacritic can be a cruel master, and does not always reflect the true value ****. Like this one. This is due to a rabid fanbase feeling betrayed upon release. At the end of the day, I had fun playing DA2. If you can grab this game with some of the DLC's for $20-$30, it's money well spent. In fact, I think I had more fun playing this game than DA:O. Hate to say it, but its the truth. And that's what matters. At the end of the day, DA2 is a good game. That is the bottom line.

Starcraft is generally considered to be the greatest RTS games of all time, along with its sister, Warcraft 3. Starcraft left a lasting impact on gaming. During this time period - the golden age of games - we saw the rise of online competitive play. Starcraft single handidly took over an entire country (Korea) to become an actual e-sport, and with Unreal Tournament (online competitive FPS) helped spawn an entire new sporting industry. Starcraft helped catapult **** to THE place to go for online gaming at the time. The visuals, music, gameplay and story is masterfully done. Blizzard during the late 90's was unstoppable. This, Warcraft 2 and 3, and Diablo. Starcraft is considered to be the pinnacle of pure RTS gameplay. There are other titles out there (most notably Command and Conquer) but Starcraft stands head and shoulders above the rest. I personally have played much more WC3 than Starcraft, but I have immense respect for the game and recognize it's accomplishments. Anything less than a 10/10 is a travesty for this game. This is all that needs to be said.

Mass Effect 3 was a difficult game to score. In fact it's been one of the most difficult games for me to review. You can tell right off the bat that something is off with ME3. Something is seriously wrong. And you know what is wrong with it? It was released way too early. And it shows. When the game begins, you are forced into auto-dialogue. The pacing is terrible. All of a sudden, Reapers are attacking and everyone is shocked. Really? The intro is ****. I remember the release for ME3, it was painful. Yes, this is the game with the near legendary infamous Day 1 DLC. The game release is an obvious console port. The textures are awful; the game looked worse than ME2. That's a big red flag right there. When a sequel's graphics are worse than the preceding title, something is up. Some people say that "it's the journey, not the destination", that matters, and I agree with that to a certain extend. The journey itself is not bad in ME3. It follows a similar formula to ME2. ME2's hybrid FPS shooter gameplay is enjoyable in ME3. It's been improved and built upon in ME3. I like that. It **** storytelling. The storytelling and choices, the choices and their results are lacking. Choices that have been made in previous games for some reason do not matter. If someone is killed off, they are convieniently replaced with someone else that has a similar sillset. Some characters are once again completely taken out and you can't get them back in your party. If you made some romance options in ME2 - you might find a half assed romance plot instead. These characters and their stories are just thrown to wind. There are scenes incorporated into ME3, but they feel like add ons and not the full experience. Once again, rushed content and development. These feelings of relationships of both friendship and romance being "tacked on" is felt throughout the ENTIRE GAME. And it ****. Bioware has gone to far to kill some characters off screen. That is a cardinal sin in a Bioware game. For example - I romanced Miranda in ME2. Guess what? In ME3, shes not there. She just - disappears. Literally. There is really not fitting conclusion to your relationship - unless of course, you cough up the money for the Citadel DLC. And for some reason, she is....completely out of character. Doing things and acting in ways that you would have never seen in ME2. Now, multiply this times 10. Painful. And unfortunately, the ending is completely and totally botched. Sorry to say it. The ending is awful. Not only is it dark and depressing, but it's relatively obscure in the fact that your choices did not really seem to matter. I understand that it tried to be a self contained game, but that just isn't going to fly for ME3. In the age of DLC's and online downloaded content, Bioware could have taken the risk of making ME3 completely dependant on ME2's save. The ending is so bad, gamers had to come out and demand that Bioware offer a better ending. Yep. You read it right. Bioware actually - was forced - to change the ending. Get it? Gamers had to tell Bioware - let them know - that the ending was botched. How utterly embarrassing for Bioware. This resulted in another embarrassment for the industry, with an editor from IGN coming out defense of Bioware in a stupid, arrogant video, something about "Gamer entitlement." Yes, you gamers are not entitled to a good ending. Bioware can do anything they want, and you better shut the hell up and enjoy it, damnit! In ME3, in order to gain resources you must play with other players online. This is a bad decision. Bad, bad bad for a single player game. This was clearly a result of EA meddling in development. The requirement to play online with other players is asinine. Though its not completely mandatory, if you want the "good" ending, you pretty much need to do it unless you want ****.."manually edit" your game. Cough... Overall, ME3 is not a terrible game. But it is not a satisfying conclusion. In fact, the ending itself is kind of laughable. The whole ending sequence, even with the DLC is just too ambiguous and poorly done. It's a real shame. I wanted to like ME3 but its a poor and disappointing conclusion to the series.

GOW IS NOT ABOUT STRATEGY! It is impossible to be competitive without serious dough. $$$ = Power, LITERALLY. And Machinezone has done a BRILLIANT job of squeezing every last dollar out of you. Unfortunately, this KILLS the strategy of the game. At the end of the day, GoW is about brute force. This is a P2W game to the max. As you know, in Empire building games you are given an "Empire" or really, a "city" to build in a territory with other players you compete against. You build stuff, train soldiers, and eventually go out to attack other players. You also have a technology tree to advance on, so you advance in technology as you play the game. Sounds good so far, right? Well - here is where it gets crazy. Everything takes time. Building takes time, researching takes time, building troops takes time. We all know this is a staple of these Empire building games. However, GoW takes this to the extreme with building times that can go on to absurd amounts of time. We're talking that some techs could take as long as a YEAR - 365 days to complete. That means that if you are a free player. it will take years to complete one portion of the tech tree, while someone who cashed would complete it INSTANTLY through purchased boosts. I dont know exactly how much time you would have to put in to complete the tech tree, but its got to be over 10 years of time for totals. And it gets worse. Everything that you build increases your power. Power is a measure of just that - how strong you are. So, Machinezone had the great idea of creating a literal "Power" score that every player has. That power score is displayed once you select that player. This takes out the guessing game of how strong a player is, and once again like I said previously - the game becomes more about who has the bigger guns. Plain and simple. And of course there are leaderboards for people who have the most power. So, want to be the best? You'll be competing with crazy nuts out there that are dropping thousands upon thousands of dollars to increase their power. You must constantly spend more money to stay competitive, as power continuously grows. This is the essence of the game - increasing your power. So, since its advertised freely, there is not a huge need to scout someone when you know that if they have double your power, you shouldnt even consider them. There is NO LIMIT to the amount of power a player can accumulate. No troop limit. That means that you will have players that have been playing for weeks or months with maybe 200,000 troops, and then serious cashers that have TENS OF MILLIONS of troops. These are HUGE power disparities. You have single players that are more powerful than entire alliances. And once you reach a certain level of power, the only thing that is going to stop a player that powerful would be a full march from an alliance which is difficult in itself to coordinate. But it gets even worse. Shields that protect you from being attacked are available and relatively cheap for someone who pays. That means that if you have the money, you can easily prevent yourself from being attacked. This completely RUINS the game and breaks it. Basically, you can pop this shield anytime you want for a small fee. You can then break it and initiate combat anytime you feel like it. This makes the game really stale and ultimately, really boring as half the players are shielded all the time. The other players are too small for you to care about. BORING. This basically leads players that have the money to stay shielded as long as they are AFK or not wanting to fight, and initiating fights on players whenever they feel like it. Teleports are also really cheap, so you have these mobile forces able to teleport anywhere they want on the empire map. Again, where is the strategy? That is the sad fact of this game. GoW does have cool features, like heroes, a large tech tree, but these are negated by the fact of the amount of money that you have to throw at the game in order to be competitive. This is all a power game. Literally. It's shameful. I totally can see players spending over $10,000 on this game. The stories of people spending $30k+ are entirely true. Stay away. GoW is very polished, but at the end of the day its one of the biggest money sinks you possibly find. Its just unbelievable. As an experiment I coughed up the cash but no more. it's ridiculous and not worth your money.

Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne is one of the greatest games ever created in history. It is perfection and an ultimate stroke of genius. It is up there with other timeless classics and great milestones in gaming. A 10 does not give this game justice, as the Warcraft 3 editor toolset has been absolutely groundbreaking in gaming. Warcraft 3's release back in 2003 was so influential it rippled across multiple genres. If there would be a "Mona Lisa" of gaming, Warcraft 3 is it. Warcraft 3 spawned not one but TWO new genres - MOBA's (Yes, League of Legends can thank Warcraft 3's modding community) and TOWER DEFENSE. This review is a long time coming. I've waited quite a while to write this as I've been playing Warcraft 3 for over 7 years straight. Yes, you've read correctly - been playing since 2006. Over my time playing Warcraft 3, I've probably played over 50,000 games and counting. It's difficult to write a full review for Warcraft 3 because there are two sides to this game. There is the campaign and standard multiplier melee. Then there are the custom maps. These are maps and essentially completely separate games created by an enthusiastic modding community using the Warcraft 3 editor , and eventually evolved to advanced editors that allowed even greater flexibility with the WC3 engine. The campaign follows the story that led up the events in World of Warcraft, and you play 4 major races of Warcraft. Warcraft 3 blended elements of traditional RTS found in its older games of Warcraft and Starcraft, and elements of RPG character progression. You control both armies and heroes. Heroes slowly level up and get stronger and stronger, eventually becoming the backbone of your army. The campaign is executed flawlessly - you can tell this is the similar talent that developed the classics of Diablo and Starcraft. Alot of passion was put into this game. Warcraft 3 had a great competitive multiplier scene that is still going strong today. Upon its release in early 2000's, we saw the development of competitive online gaming tournaments, or "ladders". Similar to the gameplay of W2 and Starcraft but with the new elements of added heroes. People generally consider WC3 to be much more fun to watch than Starcraft. This competitive ladder was groundbreaking. Starcraft was more influential but Warcraft 3 had its own ladder that was a force to be reckoned with. Better yet, the skill level required to play W3 was extremely high, as players had to have excellent skills to control their heroes and armies leading up to very exciting and close match ups. And then we get to the real groundbreaking aspect of Warcraft 3 - the custom maps. WC3 was one of the first games to release a fully featured editor that was easy enough to for enthusiastic gamers to get their hands on and start doing their own development. Back in 2000, modding communities were in their infancy. Wc3 nurtured these gaming communities with its powerful toolset and these communities have grown into the creative modding juggernauts we have today - take Hiveworkshop for example. This lead to hugely creative, fun, and experimental maps created. This spawned two new genres in gaming, the MOBA. Aeon of Strife from Starcraft led to Defense of the Ancients, or DOTA, the first major MOBA. Dota became hugely popular, and this all spawned from the creative minds of the modding community and the Warcraft 3 editor. Tower defense also spawned, another genre all unto itself. The Toolset is powerful. The custom map section is the real gem of WC3 - all sorts of maps were created and are still created to this day. WC3 become a brewing ground for experiments, testing, fun maps, stupid maps. Everything from modded standard maps to total conversions - even FPS shooters! You can boot up WC3 today and take a look at all of the kinds of custom maps on WC3. Each map offers a different experience than the other one, some completely different games. We're talking about THOUSANDS of different games: Castle Fight, Hero Wars, Hero Defense, Custom Hero Survival, Missile War, Castle Defense, Servant War, Enfo's Team Survival, Goblin Survival, Titan Land, Vampirism, WoW City Raid, WoW Reanimated, Impossible Bosses, Sunken City, Various Open-RPG with SAVE FEATURES, Tomb of Jarahcon, Moo Moo Defense, Survival, the list goes on and on and on! W3 modding has become very sophisticated, games even have save features which allows you to save scores, heroes, pretty much anything. Makemehost is the main area for hosting games - anyone can host, for free! The game is not without its problems. The engine is old and shows its age. When people lag and get dropped, they cannot reconnect. The bots sometimes have issues. W3 still runs on Battlenet's old servers, so you have an outdated friends interface. However, these can be overlooked for a game that is over a decade old and still is fun as hell to play. If I could I would rate higher than a 10. Oh what the hell - 11/10.

Before KOTOR, Star Wars games were notorious to be very bad. KOTOR broke that trend. KOTOR was an instant hit, and is one of the best RPG's ever made. KOTOR was crafted at the tail end of what we gamers would like to call, the "Golden Age" of videogames. Lasting roughly from 1996-2004, this was a very exciting time for video games. Huge leaps in innovation were seen, developers and publishers took risks, and we saw top quality games being churned out every year. This was the age of SquareSoft's final fantasies and Blizzard's Warcraft, Diablo and Starcraft series. And then there was KOTOR and Bioware. KOTOR has it all deep gameplay, excellent story and graphics all with a classic Star Wars soundtrack, with new and familiar tunes. KOTOR is Bioware's masterpiece, only comparable to Mass Effect 2. Bioware had managed to blend the fundamentals of traditional DnD gameplay with the more modern aspects of computer action rpg. The result is a fantastic game which pays homage to its roots while expanding gameplay to seamless, action fun with deep gameplay mechanics. Action isnt broken up through battle-rest-battle, but rather streamlined, and Force abilities (Spells) do not have to be recharged through resting. Instead of the traditional DnD alignment system, we are given a streamlined, good-neutral-evil alignment through actions, and you will see that chage through the blue to red smoke behind your character. We also have a simplified class system. Though at first glance it may seem too simple, it is much deeper than what it lets on, and is more forgiving to players that dont choose the right feats. But KOTOR really shines is the story. KOTOR's story is one of the best of what videogames have to offer. The writing team for KOTOR truly had their moment here. The story is so engaging, so brilliant it will have you glued to the game. In fact, I am not surprised if there are fans that are trying to make their own fan movie of KOTOR. The story is just that damn good. KOTOR really started the trend of Player Choice, as your actions have their consequences, and not just with alignment changes. Remember to play a male PC, as you'll get the full force of the story, with a meaningful romance that affects the story to the very end. If you havent played KOTOR, you are seriously missing out on one of the best RPG's ever made. A classic.

Lichdom; Battlemage's idea is simple; you rampage through the game casting spells and causing general mayhem. The game has good things and bad things going for it. If you are thinking about getting the game, you'll have to weigh the good and the bad. Unfortunately, the main problem with Lichdom is the core gameplay of actually casting spells. It's a weird experiment that's KIND OF gone wrong. In this review I will be covering the Good/Bad/Ugly, but in order to do so I have to explain the combat system, so bear with me. Lichdom seems to draw inspiration from Skyrim, but melds Skyrim's magic combat with the structure of a classical run n gun shooter, with linear stages.This is not open world, so if you are looking for something more freeform, Skyrim is that way. This is just like a shooter, much more simple, but with magic instead of guns. The magic itself, and your attacks, are *freeform* part of the game, but it comes with a big catch. The Good: + The graphics/art and environments are great. Alot of hard work has gone into crafting the stages you'll be running through. + The voice acting is excellent. You have heavy hitters like the almighty Clancy Brown. + The story/lore isnt that bad either. It's not great, but it's not bad either. It's satisfying. A revenge quest? Sure, let's do it. Simple, but effective. Sometimes simplicity is best. + The loot and crafting system is great. You receive different parts that modify a spell combination from kills. The Bad: - The main problem of that game is the gameplay. Lichdom suffers from the fact that it should still be in beta, and feels like it. The gameplay has not been tested outside of the office, and it feels like it. There are 3 main different kinds of spells. Your standard projectile, an AOE, and a shield/block attack. You can hold your buttons down to "charge" these spells for a critical and additional effects. Your shield/block, when timed correctly, produces a "nova" effect, like a fire wall. Sound's good so far, right? Well, here are where the problems come in. Charging becomes extremely important because of these additional effects. These include things like stunning, freezing, rooting, critical, etc etc. Unfortunately, Charging and casting spells is really sluggish. Even when you don't charge, it takes a long time to cast a spell - about 1- to 1.5 seconds. This is a VERY fast paced game. Charging takes an average of 3 seconds. During these 3 seconds, you will be filled to the gills from enemy fire. So, what do you do? You basically spam Fireballs. Fireballs are the most efficient way of killing enemies. Most enemies will die from 1-2 crits from Fireballs. So, why bother to stun or root when you can kill in 1 shot? Yes, you can add damage to crowd control spells, but the damage from Fire is much better. The other posters here arent lying when they say that you will run through the game spamming fireballs. It's that simple. - This extends to the fact that you have really cool spells, like a frost ground trap, that is hardly used. Who tested this? During those 2 seconds it will take you to place your trap, you already soaked arrow fire and lost 1/3 of your health. - The game's advertising of *thousands* of spells is err, somewhat misleading. Of course, it's marketing. See, technically there are thousands of spells, but they are really permutations of baseline spells. The Ugly: - The tutorial is god awful and composes of quick videos explaining parts of the game that are critical for your survival.. These are extremely important and can be very complex, including "mastery" debuffs that I still don't understand. It's really poorly explained - You have 2 different inventories, which are confusing as hell. None of this is explained. The tutorial basically said, "The advanced inventory are for advanced players only." And that advanced inventory is really, really important for crafting those cool spells you want crafted. - The difficulty curve is brutal. Make no mistake, once you are past the first boss **** gets crazy. We're talking hordes of RANGED enemies. Remember that shield with nova? Again, NO REASON to use it when you can kill with fireballs from afar. And the fact of the matter is that there are more ranged enemies than melee, which really throws this out of the window. - The game has a "loot rarity" level system. Basically, as you advance you gain levels up in the rarity of spell components you gain. This loot rarity level is RESET when you DIE. Why? The developers havea half-assed explanation on their boards on Steam but it really doesnt make sense. This just ends up punishing players and is cruel. This ends up rewarding safe and easy gameplay - basically, fireball spam. And there is no save option. Lichdom is not a bad game. But it's not worth the $40 spent on it. Lichdom, for all the fancy voice acting and graphics, is still in beta and needs more work. Hopefully the sequel will be better.

I cant give this game anything less than a 10. I just can't. Its too fun. I don't think that I really have anything to complain about. This is a homage to cheesy 80's action movies, and it does it brilliantly, from the neon lights to the excellent musical score which NAILS it. This is a must buy.

Fantastic and totally underrated gem. This game is just plain fun. Lukwarm was definitely smart by taking some cues from Jurassic Park in this. Half of the fun is the pure chaos that commences when human meets dinosaur. This is not your normal FPS battlefield. Dont be surprised to see a fellow human on the ground being ripped to shreds by a raptor, or a body flinging across the air from a Carno's charge! Even if you do not like FPS (like me) you will enjoy playing this game as the gameplay isnt mirrored - you have two teams, Humans and Dinos, and you really only have one objective: Kill each other! Lukewarm did a great job with the dinos. A game like this proves that with a passionate development team, you can do anything. When you are in the forest, hearing the ground shake can be terrifying, along with hearing a dinosaur roar. When you're a dino, the controls are switched from a traditional FPS setup to something different, making you feel like you really are controlling a dinosaur. The game has a few downsides, mainly the low content and the limited amount of maps and objectives. Luckily we are getting a sequel which hopefully will revive the games. These cons can easily be forgiven, considering the amount of pure entertainment you'll find eating people as a T rex or burning some dinos with your flamethrower :)

This game is atrocious. I bought it for $13 on Steam and after 10 minutes of play, regretting it. It's that bad. I can tell pretty quickly that this game was rushed out the door. Whoever is scoring this above a 6 must be paid reviews or part of the Dev team. 20 minutes in, in opening dialogue there are obvious voice over errors. Infinitely stupud design descisions In a game all about zombie survival, I cannot give items I find to my party members. If a party members pack is full, I either have to destroy items in my current pack, or switch to another member and see if they have any open spaces and do the same thing. LOL WHAT? WHO DESIGNED THIS GARBAGE? Terrible UI. What the hell is this? Why is this so complicated? No save points. Journal events log chronologically but quickly become a clusterf**k with no way of sorting them. Reused animations over and over. And over. Boring gameplay GTA style missions but it gets repetitive really quickly. Where is the fun? This game isnt fun its like work. Log in, do more missions the game is bogged down with all of these extra things I have to worry about, that we dont care about and are completely unnecessary community status, population, fame, really fame in a zombie survival game? They didnt have to make it this complicated, and that's the problem. I'm not looking for another Skyrim with depth I want to play a fun zombie masher. The AI is simplistic, bad, pathing is terrible, party members will do stupid things. Party members will run off in a mad rush to the safehouse when you start a mission for no apparent reason, oblivious to everything. Something with the graphics are off as well. I'm not sure if its the bloom, or the shading, but something is way off and doesnt look right. I'm not wasting anymore energy for a review on this game. The game could be been much better if whoever made these design decisions decided to quit game development before this game was made. Instead, they are going to be fired after the game tanks. 3/10.

Mass Effect 2 is a modern day RPG masterpiece. From the story to the music, everything is pretty much near perfect. This is a must play for any RPG fan. ME2's development started right after EA acquired Bioware, but had a mostly hands off approach to the game. ME1's main flaw was it's battle system. It was lackluster and needed improvement. Bioware decided to take the risk and incorporate a "real" FPS system in ME2. Well, that risk payed off bigtime in one of the best blockbuster RPG's of our time. Other traditional RPG elements such as inventory management are eliminated helping to streamline your experiences. And you know what? It works, it fits. It helps you focus on more important, and more enjoyable things in the game. Having a simple upgrade system works much better. ME2 takes the game to all new levels. A deeper, more interesting battle system. The character interactions are excellent. The development, the actions you take, the choices you make really do affect the outcome of this story. As in Classic Star Wars fashion, the second movie raises the stakes even higher, is darker and more serious than ever. The real possibility of your teammates dying in the final, suicide mission was a brilliant move by Bioware. The game climaxes at the best point the end where you see all your work, all of your choices unfold, leaving some to the next and final part of the trilogy. The raise in tension is felt throughout the game, and drives the player forward. The soundtrack is excellent and accurately reflects such high stakes. ME2 really surpassed the bar for RPG's. It had me glued to the game. When I am glued to a game playing it every day from start to finish, I know its a hit. Its just such a shame that it's sequel, ME3 was unfortunately a lackluster, rushed finish and a real letdown. Obviously, EA had involved themselves in the final game, which really screwed up ME3. Most gamers will recognize ME2 as the real climax of the series and the best out of the 3. 10/10

OMD2 is a great addition to the TD genre of games and gives a new twist on the gameplay mechanics. However, there are some features that leave much desired. What OMD2 does right is that its *generally* fun to play. Then again, most TD's are. The idea that both the war mage and the traps share in the killing is a great mechanic. The idea that you can customize your traps is another great mechanic. And the idea of providing a variety of different floor traps, wall traps, and ceiling traps, each with their own strategical options is fantastic. But as you play the game, you will see that this game not only caters to Co-op, but is made for it. Forced co-op ruins games, and OMD2 is no exception. The most enjoyable levels are where you only have to defend from 1-2 points; but unfortunately these levels are few and far between. Instead, you have many, many maps where you have to defend 3-4 openings, and with 2-3 defense points. This makes single player mode extremely frustrating at times, and it just becomes too much. Is it really necessary to have 4 openings? Well, yes if you want 2 players playing together. And the sad thing is, you dont really have any options to customize your maps. I cant disable the other openings when playing single player. The game is basically telling you, "you BETTER DEFEND FOUR openings, damn you, or play multiplayer. That's it. End of story!" Why cant I customize my levels? How about just do pure troll waves? Or how about a pure flyer level? The other major problem is that traps are not powerful enough. Even when fully upgraded, they only serve to slow down or cripple the approaching hordes of orcs. TD is named "Tower Defense" for a reason! There is something very satisfying seeing your concoction of traps slice, dice, crush, fling, burn, freeze, and zap orcs to oblivion; but their power output just isnt enough. Its up to the player to thin the hordes. Unfortunately, this just is not as fun as the strategy of your traps. TD is primarily a strategy game after all, it spawned from Warcraft 3. Blowing up orcs with my shotgun sort of gets old. Combine this with the fact that you have multiple openings, and if you're playing single player, you will be running around like a chicken without a head! These points have been discussed not only in this review, but many OMD discussion boards. These are the sort of things that prevent a "good" game from becoming a "great" game. I'm surprised, since this game is sort of considered to be an indie game, there is no toolset. There is no modding support. The modding community would jump on a game like this. New sets of both single player and multiplayer maps would be introduced in no time. This is a huge disappointment. I know there are probably some mods out there for this game, but its few and far between. Overall, OMD2 is a good game. It has the basics right. It's generally fun and polished. But there are several mechanics of the game that prevent it from becoming great. OMD2 is a great example **** with missed opportunities. Hopefully OMD3 will support a modding toolset and more customized features. If they do and stick to the formula then OMD3 will become a classic. 7/10

Nwn 2 is best described as something like a really good looking piece of dessert that smells great and looks great, but when you take a bite, actually tastes rather bland. Nwn2 is one of those games that has so much potential but comes up short in nearly all areas, and is a real shame. Clearly, the developers did not finish this game. Even with all final patches installed, there are still obvious bugs to be found in the OC. The gameplay is decent, but its ruined by how choppy it gets. As other people noted, the difficulty varies wildly throughout the game, sometimes you will have cakewalk battles, and then enter another area and things become very difficult. The "rest" feature is terrible, as you will be resting/fighting/resting. Early in the game this isnt so bad, but it gets very annoying later on in the game, as every time you rest you have to rebuff. Rebuffing takes lots of time and gets very, very annoying. NWN2 certainly has a great selection of character classes and prestige classes for you to get your fingers on. The plot starts extremely slowly, and only picks up until you hit Act 2. Yes, its sort of cliche, but its not that bad. My biggest complaint with the story is that, once again, you feel as if the game hasnt really "started" yet until you are almost done with the first act. I think part of the reasons why, is because of the poor character development. Compared to other Bioware games, your companions are not nearly as deep as others in more modern games (or perhaps I've just been spoiled?) Character dialogue is short, sometimes funny, but short nonetheless. Romance is meager, and only picks up into Act 2 or even Act 3. Graphics are pretty good for a 2006 game. Its such a shame that the editor just insists on you having the absolute ugliest character you could ever make. The problem with NWN2 is that its an almost great game. Sometimes, you feel as if you are indeed playing a classic cRPG, but then you are painfully reminded that NWN2 has some serious flaws. The choppy gameplay of the "rest" feature, and the sometimes-fun battles, makes me want to bang my head against the wall. Its a game that has a great swing, but doesnt follow through. I really wanted to like this game, as it definitely has the RPG charm to it, but its plagued by bad design decisions and rushed development. NWN2 does have a fantastic toolset for others to make their own campaigns. 6/10

Square's undervalued masterpiece. Groundbreaking. Unbelievable. One of the greatest games of all time. FFT set a precedance for tactical strategy rpg's for years to come. FFT had it all - genius gameplay, a deepy complex storyline and amazing soundtrack. With the release of FFT and Final Fantasy 7, 8 and 9, Square set themselves as one of the best developers for the PSX. Square in the late 90's was the Japanese version of Blizzard - hit after hit after hit. FFT is the culimation of Square's talent. Its gameplay is still valued to this day, and has a dedicating modding community that continues to improve the map. It has a deep, rich story that took me a very long time to understand and appreciate.

If someone asked me "What is a timeless classic video game?" Diablo 2 would be the first game to come to mind. What can be said about D2 that hasnt already been said? D2, when released was groundbreaking to the genre. It redfined just what "hardcore" meant in gaming. It also catapulted **** to one of the premiere, if not, the premiere gaming network. ****'s Diablo 2, along with Starcraft and Warcraft 2 (and later Warcraft 3), became one of the pinnacles of online gaming. I've spent countless hours hacking and slashing in the dark world of Diablo. 11 years after its release, and people are STILL playing. You will paly until your heart stops, until your eyes bleed, and you just cant get enough.