Jarhead335

Video games are my greatest passion. My #1 hobby. For 20 years I have loved and cherished and immersed myself in gaming: It is my favorite thing to do, it is a huge part of who I am as a person. Elden Ring feels like the culmination of all those 20 years. Elden Ring is the very definition of adventure, curiosity, risk, reward, failure and success. Every square inch of it begs to be investigated, pursued, clawed at and uncovered. It is the essence of what makes video games worth playing. It defines the medium in such a way I've never seen or felt before. I don't say it lightly: Elden Ring is the finest video game ever made. It is everything this form of art can provide to someone willing to take it on. An unrivalled masterpiece of action, adventure, RPG structure, level design and enemy design. It is perfect.

It's astounding to me that this concept took so long to find a footing: Overwatch meets Battle Royale. Blizzard should be kicking themselves they didn't launch their roster into a Royale mix a year ago. Obviously, the comparisons pretty much end with "pre-set Heroes fighting in an ever-smaller map" but it's a solid idea that's executed well by the team that brought us Titanfall. The map creates a really excellent feel of scale with massive cliffs and canyons to fight and navigate through, large and fairly well-spaced constructs, and solid if familiar weaponry (a fair amount of the weapons are copy/pasted in from Titanfall's exisiting armory). I really enjoy the experience, it feels new and fresh relative to the barrage of Battle Royales, as you can truly feel the developer's experience with FPS combat and gunplay here. One of my favorite parts of the game too is the audio design- rifles crack and bullets hiss, and a firefight in a canyon sounds exactly like you'd expect: rolling, booming thunderclaps, the whip-like snaps of distant sniper fire, and if you add in one or two of the artillery-based "ultimate" abilities such as Gibraltar's precision air-strike, you've got a really engrossing visual and acoustic shooter. My only hard complaint is that certain character abilities seem to lack general usefulness. While those like lifeline's healbot and Gibraltar's bubble shield are pretty universally helpful, some like Bloodhound's tracking are context-specific. Grab two friends, download it, and marvel at how lucky we are that games this polished and well-executed are free.

Someone should explain to the Raccoon City Police Department that it is highly inefficient to require 6 different kinds of keys to access all the various wings in their building. 9/10

This is a genuinely objective review: CoD WWII is really quite good. The last CoD I played was Black Ops 3, and I thought that iteration was acceptable. The last truly great Call of Duty I've played was Modern Warfare 3. After half a decade of the wallrunning, exosuit-toting madness, I was really not holding out hope for WWII to be anything other than a bland money grab. Of course, being a giant moron, I pre-ordered it at 11:45 on the night of launch rather than go for broke on Wolfenstein 2. I spent the 15 minutes before actual launch wondering who had drugged my dinner to make me do such a thing. And then I played it. Barring the launch night issues connecting to multiplayer servers, the game is a beautiful and sincere addition to the franchise. The campaign is, in its purest essence, Saving Private Ryan without the Private Ryan. It even opens with the landing at Normandy, and from there blossoms into a not so imaginative, but hellishly fun shooter. I'm on the third or fourth level at this point, and I'm eager to play the rest: It sounds amazing (Sledghammer took notes from the original Star Wars: Battlefront reboot) and it looks just as great. The audio and visuals have never been better in CoD. Character design is pretty standard for the FPS genre, but the connection and relationships between characters is still suitable to make the campaign enjoyable, rather than a chore. Multiplayer is quite refreshing in that it gets straight back to what once made Call of Duty the must-own in FPS land: Raw, skill-based arcade shooting, with a delicious array of weapon attachments, cosmetic upgrades, and skill perks to unlock which revolve around a new and intriguing "Division" system. This isn't in line with the usual CoD title, where ten or so custom classes are yours to outfit. Instead, it gives you that option with the ability to truly maximize a given class's skillset: If you play as the "Mountainous" (Sniper) Division, you will see added rewards for keeping your sniper equipped rather than toting an SMG in your ghillie suit. The Divisional loadouts give reason to diversify your classes, rather than set up five different iterations of the same OP rifle or other that typically plague CoD installments. How many of us used anything other than an ACR combo in the old days? Now, you're incentivized to branch out with your custom classes in order to maximize your killing potential. Lastly, the new War mode is really compelling: It can be difficult at times given some spawn and location advantages for defenders/attackers depending on map, but a really neat mode that I look forward to them expanding upon. New maps and variants should make War a great staple mode, particularly for those who like campaigns and don't traditionally favor online multiplayer. Zombies, too, has met a drastic and much-needed upgrade. BLOPS3 zombies at launch, frankly, ****. It was too hard to progress, too unclear in its rules, and ultimately if you didn't matchmake with someone who knew what they were doing, it was far too difficult to last beyond the initial waves, no matter how fun Jeff Goldblum is to play with. With a refreshing return to actual zombies and shambling mutants that are - above all else - enjoyable to kill and fight, I was really pleased with the experience. So far I've gotten a few 1.5-2 hour long runs under my belt, although I have yet to meet the "big boss" I've heard about waiting at the finish. That dang zeppelin gets me every time. From the ground up, the zombies mode is creepier and more intricate in its campaign mission and overall tone: It feels more cohesive than any mode before, including my beloved Tranzit from the BLOPS2 days. Guns feel good in zombies mode, and everything but the starting pistol packs enough punch to at least feel useful in some scenario or other. The added quest markers and objective notes make it that much more user-friendly to get to the bottom of the campaign and make tangible progress, which is both friendly to noobs and dismissable entirely for those who want to try their hand at exploring with no direction. The lore is at least suitably engaging, and on the whole it's a treat to play, with friends or online. The ultimate bads: Campaign: Derivative: doesn't do much that's new for WWII, but brings a nice exposure to the conflict to a younger audience that doesn't remember Finest Hour or Medal of Honor the way I do. Characters are well-worn tropes that could use some inspiration. Multiplayer: not very friendly to newbies. At this point, if you're not well-versed in CoD and FPS shooters generally, you're going to get killed a lot and that's going to really frustrate you. But the modes are just diverse enough to stay interesting. Guns are fun to use and sound great, but really there are only a handful that you see time and time again. The community knows the STG-44 is it. Zombies: Needs a non-campaign mode. Verdict: Dang good. 8/10.

Having progressed through roughly a quarter of the campaign, but having spent several hours in multiplayer (splitscreen and online), I finally feel qualified enough to say this game is absolutely fantastic. At first, it feels frustrating. The third campaign level took me three times to beat. You feel disoriented initially, blinded by the blistering pace of the AI until you realize something profound- the AI is not too fast or beefed up, YOU are playing too slowly. In Tooth & Tail, you cannot approach games as even 30-minute grind fests. You can not prioritize economic gain and hoarding resources. You cannot build up massive armies and keep them out of harm's way, hoping to eventually build enough strength to overwhelm the enemy. Tooth & Tail necessitates playing in scales of seconds or half-minutes. You must remain constantly focused on the goal, on staying lean, agile, and putting no resource to waste. Like never before in an RTS, I learned to manage my resources to the utmost. Mistakes in T&T cost so much more than, say, in Age of Empires. A misplaced turret or building an expensive unit barracks you can't build fast enough see crippling returns with such immediacy, it punishes you into getting better each time. After stepping away and coming back, it will often take several sweeping failures against an AI opponent set to Medium to get rolling again. It's a give and take that requires patience, but once learned reveals a very deep gaming experience. Classes are so fun, interesting, and with dozens and dozens of combinations to really customize a play style. One of my favorite quirky ways to play is by bringing barbed wire to the fight (in multiplayer games you can choose 6 units to bring to compose your armies, of varying strenghts & costs). Some units are anti-air, some are strictly melee, some are designed for destroying structures and some are meant to heal. A variety of other hybrids means that, unlike Tom Clancy's Endwar, this doesn't feel like a big game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, but instead like a game of chess playing out, with versatility and robust strategy that mean even the smallest of revolver-toting squirrels could make the difference in the face of overwhelming odds. The core factions are each tropes in themselves, but the story around them is engaging and recall Animal Farm, Redwall and a derivation of the future "corporation as government as tyrant" so often found in dystopian fiction. Dialogue is eerie but interesting, unsettling but well-written. The world is alive and the war is visceral, and you never feel too far removed from the struggles of its meekest participants (poor piggies). The most negative feature of the game is that sometimes, its pixelated graphics, most often in splitscreen, sometimes appear muddied or at least not sharp enough. Units can blend in with the background and become lost in a sense, or otherwise fail to pop and ping like the rest of the game's elements. In all, a great experience that I will surely continue to cherish for the foreseeable future.

I'd like to give the game a 7.5, but rounded up to 8 since I've had more fun than not with it. First, understand I have not experienced the database errors and connection issues I know are plaguing most of the community. I've played a few dozen matches, although have had to wait upwards of 12-15 minutes several times. I give IllFonic and Gun Media the benefit of the doubt- they're small studios who made a big game and I expect within the next few weeks these issues will be smoothed out. The gameplay itself is online-only, and as a camp horror fan since birth more accurately captures the hilarious horror tropes of the movies than perhaps any other game I've ever played. I could not put my controller down learning the ins and outs of how to escape from the fabled Jason, and taking control of the god-like serial killer is equally gleeful as I teleport across swaths of the map only to crush poor Chad's head like a ****, or snag an unsuspecting swimmer from the deep and seal their ultimate fate. Easter eggs abound, from the ability to don Pamela Voorhees' sweater and stun Jason as his mother's voice plays an overlay, to Tommy Jarvis' post-death introduction, and each time around feels frantic, funny, panicked and delightful. True 13th fans must get this game as an homage to their nostalgia, the fan-service is incredible and I can't wait to play with friends. However, it does hava its flaws. Unpolished is putting it lightly, as clipping, difficult controls and inconsistent hitboxes make it more difficult than it has to be playing as either "class". The concept of escape is difficult to grasp at first, and I've still never once escaped alive. I don't think I've personally ever seen a car battery in game. With only three maps to choose from you also feel a bit limited and the game gets mildly repetitive, but each game does have its fresh elements. I'm also not sure, given the wonderful level design, subtle graphical elements, and AMAZING score, that I'll ever be tired of Higgins Haven or Crystal Lake anyway. I've seen each movie dozens of times over, playing the game is just as fun each time. Additionally, yes, Jason feels a bit overpowered. However, that's kind of the point. His powers wonderfully capture the "how can he be everywhere" feel of the movies, while constraining him just enough to usually allow 1-4 counselors their escape. True fans will WANT to encounter the maniac and the frantic chases are often the highly intense moments you crave. You can also add RNGed perks to your counselor choices (there are several) and there are various versions of Jason to choose from, each with different weapons, skills, abilities, and certain drawbacks. The game feels just balanced enough to keep you coming back, determined to escape or cut the heads off the over-sexed teens of Crystal Lake. Server issues aside, this game is a true testament to B-Horror fans everywhere. It is an absolute must-have to me already, and I highly recommend it-eventually. I say eventually because it is true connectivity is a problem, so consider waiting a few weeks for server patches before doing yourself a favor and falling in love with this gem.

I've only played a few hours, but in that short time I can't speak highly enough of RE7. Yes, it is a stark departure from Resident Evil of old, but the complaints about that are trivial. It abandoned Resident Evil norms for something better: a visceral survival-horror experience and a return to form that Capcom hasn't displayed since, arguably, the very first Resident Evil. Resident Evil as a franchise is all over the map in terms of scariness, gunplay, and the like, and this game reverses what has been a rather negative course in the recent history of the series. For the first time in a while, you feel helpless within the confines of one of the most genuine horror settings I can think of. The Baker house is brutally detailed and full of heart; there are so many items and environmental cues to chart the descent into madness that has surrounded the home and the family. I actually was afraid just being there. Unlike RE5, 6, or Revelations, you're not a special forces soldier with an arsenal and a buddy at your disposal. You have weapons, but your best bet is often to find an alternative to fighting, or risk some pretty brutal and visually engaging fatalities. Think Outlast meets Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but with more polish and vision. It is horrible and fascinating and it paces the action so well. It also keeps you horrifyingly uneasy, throughout my time playing, I never stopped thinking: I do not belong here. Perhaps the only drawback I can come up with is that, at times, it feels too much like Outlast and recent FPS horror games, and plays on some recycled tropes at times. For example, an initial encounter with the Baker family puts the player in a familiar situation in modern horror: hide, wait, listen for footsteps, and try and sneak around a patrolling baddie. While this format has the ability to ratchet up the tension with frequent chases and unnerving changes of pace, after a death or two it loses all impact. At that point, the fear of capture no longer outweighs the frustration of defeat, so sprinting around and largely ignoring the atmosphere becomes a habit to progress. While it certainly isn't a dealbreaker, and this specific sequence is thus far the major one like it that I've experienced, I hope encounters like that are fewer and farther between in RE7 than they are in other titles as I progress further. Overall, it is terrifying, visually stunning in a grotesque way, the story is compelling, the location is already legendary in my pantheon of horror... I could go on. If you like scaring yourself silly in a beautiful and captivating way, get this game ASAP.

About 4 hours in it has become increasingly clear to me that No Man's Sky isn't the game we expected. I wanted the multiplayer and the space battles and the exhilaration. What I got was something a bit different. No Man's Sky is, first and foremost, beautiful to look at. It may feel redundant at times, but each new planet is unique. Flora and fauna, the sunsets and moons, oceans and valleys and blizzards and toxic storms are each gorgeous in their own right, and delightful to experience. Upgrading is easier than people are making it out to be- if you're short on money, just mine some useless rock and trade it in for cash. There is easy access to progression even on the most inhospitable planet. I have yet to enter a true combat sequence in space, but encountering massive frigates and space stations is equally fantastical. The sheer size and scope gives you time to reflect, appreciate, and consider your next steps. Do you really want to warp away from the planet with the trading outpost and that nice ship you could buy? Will that space station hold friends or foes? Do I have enough equipment to make it out of the system, even if I have to shoot my way out? Really, I've found No Man's Sky to be an existential monument. It forces you to be patient, confront solitude, and contemplate what it means to be alone discovering the universe. Repetitive isn't the word I'd use- reflective is. I'm treating my playthrough like a choose your own adventure Sci-Fi novel of my youth, and each new alien landscape I slog across is a reminder of the wonders of discovery that I personally haven't felt since I was a kid. It moved me, deeply, and I have a feeling that as I inch my way toward the center it will continue to make me think about my actions and the journey I'm taking in a way I haven't considered in a long, long time.

Anyone who rates this game below an 8 doesn't quite understand the direction of MOBAs as they relate to the FPS experience. Designed for the perfection-oriented, "how can I do this better?" competitive gamer, Overwatch is an overwhelmingly enjoyable and unbelievably deep experience. Just when you feel like you've used a given character to its fullest, and that there's nothing more to learn, you roll out into a new scenario and are right back at square one. With constant updates and what I've found to be an immensely cooperative community, Overwatch is probably my favorite game of the year. In short: it is simple, but deep. It will have you coming back for more time and time again... and again... and again... and ag-

I haven't picked up a Call of Duty game since BLOPS2, and haven't really liked a Call of Duty game since the Modern Warfare series ended. But I was pleasantly surprised by BLOPS3. The singleplayer campaign has been pretty blah so far, I'm about 50% of the way through it. The casting of a familiar detective as Taylor and the intrigue played up around the events of an early level that takes place in post-apocalyptic Shanghai are fun little perks so far, but honestly, who bought this game for the story? Multiplayer is downright FUN, with guns that sound great, feel powerful, and ultimately serve their purpose beautifully. The sniper rifles are a bit lacking in real panache, which I found saddening as a guy who loves sniping, but for the first time ever in a CoD game I found myself having fun using the LMGs, which was neat (go, go Gorgon!). The maps are actually very good, with lots of detail to pick out and explore. You may find yourself diving into the algae-filled water of an abandoned aquarium, or running along the curved walls of silos at a farm in the middle of nowhere. Level design is great, and makes for exciting gameplay of all kinds, near and far, on pretty much every map. Zombies is fun but the learning curve is steep. I have yet to make it past round 10 because I have no friends who play the game and always get matchmaked with newbies. You have to know what you're doing and where to go, and when you're on a team that isn't working in sync the zombies campaign can be brutally difficult. Overall, a return to quality for Treyarch that I sincerely enjoyed. Renewed my interest in the franchise substantially.

This is not the Battlefront of old, but a flashy rehashing of a concept that once worked and now falls short. Its multiplayer is astounding- for the first few hours. After that, the repetition of the game's core mechanics and incredibly redundant perks, known as "cards", becomes quite tiresome. Singleplayer is a joke, as is local splitscreen. No longer can you wage huge battles with or against your friends locally, that mode has been reduced to a strictly competitive 4v4 death match, rendering local play pretty boring. Survival mode is fun the first time, but also quickly grows stale. With only 4 actual maps (Tatooine, Endor, Hoth, Sullust) and no ground vehicle options for the Rebel side, it's obvious this game was a money grab through and through. It is not worth retail, and I can only thank the lord I didn't opt for the deluxe edition since you get all the deluxe content in the regular edition anyways, just at a later stage in the game. I hope beyond all hope the free content I've been hearing about comes and in droves, this game sorely needs new maps, BETTER (not more) game modes, and a vehicle rehashing. More negatives: you can't customize your weapons, squads are reduced to simply you and one other partner, you can't identify enemies on the battlefield like in Battlefield, you have literally no sidearm ever except your cards (which I feel takes a layer out of the multiplayer experience as I sit and wait for my sniper rifle to recharge for 30 seconds in an excellent position), air combat is incredibly easy and with incredibly predictable spawns makes retaking aerial supremacy downright impossible... I could go on all day. It looks fantastic and the sound design is the best video games have to offer, but do not be fooled and judge this book by its cover. You're better off getting Fallout 4 and Rainbow Six Siege this holiday season, at least until the free content downloads start coming.

Apotheon is a few things. It is an incredible visual triumph, for starters. The art style, various level designs, and smooth movement make it quite pleasing on the eye. That's its main selling point. After that, the diverse range of weaponry available in the game, and the great feeling of triumph after overcoming a difficult group of enemies or boss are right up there with Dark Souls on the, "damn, that was satisfying," scoreboard. Coupled with a pretty engaging score, and the look and feel of Apotheon was both unique and incredibly enjoyable. The story, while lacking much context, is pretty straightforward. You must traverse Mount Olympus attempting to save humanity by stealing necessary items from (think Apollo's Lyre), or gaining the help of, many prominent Greek Gods and Goddesses. I felt compelled to continue on my missions, despite their incredible difficulty at times. However, it is obvious from the start that this game was developed for a mouse and keyboard. Looking around and remaining fluid in combat are downright painful at times with the twin-sticks. Very often I felt hampered in my ability to spring over enemies, dispatch them quickly beneath a volley of arrows or javelins and move on. Instead, I'd leap over an enemy, take about 10 seconds too long swiveling my view back towards the enemy, and spend another 10 seconds painstakingly attempting to level my reticle with a foe's head, just to miss anyway. Another key drawback is that the platforming mechanics were actually quite...ugly. Having to crouch through floors to descend from one floor to a next is old news in platformers, but for some reason in Apotheon it felt off somehow. I can't quite explain it, but traversing the physical levels themselves sometimes felt tedious and lacked fluidity. I didn't love it. Similarly, the inventory system was pretty strangely integrated and was clunky. On top of that, to craft items one must pause the game fully and scroll down through the menu, which I hated. Why not hotkey a button on the D-Pad or touch pad for the inventory/crafting? Missed the mark there, too. Overall its look and feel were good enough to bolster it into the "good" category, and it showed flashes of greatness at times. But on the whole, its various mechanical drawbacks were too much to keep it from feeling like a real gem to me, and while I enjoy playing it and will continue to play it, it's not something I'd consider a classic or must-own.

While Halo 2 for the original Xbox may be fading from the public memory, it will never fully fade from mine. I remember as a tween the absolute and total madness I felt waiting for this game. It is to this day the game I desired the most before I got the chance to play it. I sunk days of my youth engaged in the second installment of one of video gaming's greatest franchises. With an absurdly great campaign somehow bettered by what, in my opinion, is the greatest multiplayer (both online and off) ever, Halo 2 is a Top 5 video game of all-time for me with no question, and may be number 1 with some reflection. If you think you're a gamer, and you want to know what gaming is in its essence, you owe it to yourself to play Halo 2 in its original, purest glory. It is nothing short of absolutely legendary.

I think anyone who rates Minecraft poorly doesn't really understand what Minecraft is, or what it has the infinite potential to be. While the PC version is, and always will be, way ahead of its console brethren in terms of content and community (including mods), the console versions, including this one, are rock-solid gaming experiences. Minecraft not only promotes the minimalist style, it absolutely revels in it. I give it a 9 simply because I like I think $19.99 is five bucks too steep for the console port.

I have yet to play any Wolfenstein title before this one, but that only counted as a plus to Old Blood. I jumped in right away and felt no disconnect from the story or characters, nor did I feel lacking in my situational knowledge. Old Blood is a visceral shooter, whose blood splatters and gore are almost always satisfying to the extreme. A sufficient arsenal of weaponry and ample supplies along the way make resource management efficient and not too taxing on the tier just above the standard difficulty setting. The enemy AI is smart enough, but every so often you'll get one that just runs straight at you, seemingly to surrender or commit suicide. Unfortunately, the stealth mechanics can be slightly finicky. Detection at times can either be too easy or too difficult to avoid, and there are certain areas where it feels like a downright chore sneaking past the larger, lumbering enemies. Because of this, the first hour or so of the game are very difficult to enjoy, and it does feel like work at first. Another detriment is the game's never-ending pace. There is usually very little time to regroup and catch one's breath before being thrown into another engagement, which can become taxing during longer play sessions and makes certain levels feel grindy. It's like playing the Library levels in Halo for an entire game. Later in the story, however, the levels expand and with more freedom and better weaponry, the game does blossom quite nicely despite the relentless action. Overall, it seemed to me like a very good game for the price point, and an excellent standalone in its own right with no additional immersion in the franchise needed.

A surprisingly complex sports game with mechanics that are easy to acclimate to, but hard to master. No sports game, including FIFA, NBA 2K, whatever, has equaled to me the thrill of nailing a desperate, last-minute goal in Rocket League. Hands down one of the best sports games I've ever played. Single-player is a blast, with intelligent AI supporting you as teammates and foiling you as foes. Coupled with local co-op and hats (!!), this game will appeal to hardcore fanatics with ambitions of going pro and couch-surfers who want an engaging afternoon with friends. Stellar soundtracks and glitzy neon-lit arenas round out the experience. It's such a joy to play that at the end of every frenzied game you'll be left saying time and time again, "Just one more round."