JaxMan322

This game’s biggest controversy is how much it leaves to be desired. So much of it felt like they were barely scratching the surface of their potential. The pawn system is incredible, yet the interactions are dull. The combat is a blast, yet you’re fighting the same handful of enemies the entire game. The characters are diverse, yet lifeless & uninteresting. The story & some side quests are intriguing, yet so poorly executed. Despite my gripes about how much this game feels half-baked, I was surprised by how many countless hours I spent playing it. I’ve never been a big NG+ person, but DD2 has so much replayability that I did three playthroughs before moving on to something else. The truth is, I just wish I could get more out of it.

I can’t recall the last time I’ve rated something a 10/10. Having just finished a second playthrough of Horizon Forbidden West, I can confidently say that it is one of the best games on the market, both visually and technically. The story didn’t tug at my emotions the way that the first game’s did, but it’s still a worthy addition to Aloy’s journey. The Burning Shores DLC took a great game and made it even better. What more can we ask of a DLC? Although the story was kinda mediocre, it was still good, and the final boss fight was mindblowingly epic! Traversal with the Waterwing mount is a real blast too. It completely exceeded my expectations. The way it seamlessly cleaves in and out of sky & water is incredibly satisfying. For fans of the series, you are going to love this DLC. It’s baffling that people would review bomb such a great game over something as trivial as a character’s sexuality.

The greatest story ever told in gaming. That’s not an exaggeration. RDR2 has some of the best writing I’ve ever seen in an RPG. This story is a masterpiece. A beautiful, tragic tale of one man’s redemption from a life of wrongdoing, in an incredible journey shared with some of the most memorable characters a video game has ever featured. I lost count of how many times this game made me laugh, and will never forget the way it made me cry. In an industry overflowing with lifeless open worlds full of tedious and repetitive tasks, Rockstar Games did something incredible with RDR2. Never has a world felt so alive. It will immerse you from the moment you step into the game, and will take you on an adventure that you will never forget.

This game is the sole reason I still have a PS3 in my closet. If you are looking for a highly immersive, story-driven RPG set in Middle Earth, then this is the game for you. War in the North is honestly the best LOTR game ever made, even better than Shadow of War. This is a true story-driven adventure game set during the events of The Fellowship of the Ring. You’re journey will take you across Middle Earth to locations straight out of Tolkien’s lore from the Barrow Downs to Mirkwood, Gundabad, and even Angmar. You will encounter plenty of familiar faces along the way, and the game even introduces some Tolkien characters who were later featured in The Hobbit films. It’s worth mentioning that the enemy variety is also excellent in this game, and the main antagonist feels like something straight out of Tolkien literature. Gameplay can either be single-player or co-op, where you journey as one of three companions (human, elf, & dwarf) who come with their own unique skills & abilities. You can either play as the same character for your entire playthrough or you can alternate between characters at each save point. You can also equip and upgrade armor & weapons for each of them. The game has some great RPG mechanics as well, such as consequential dialogue options, armor upgrading, & a skill tree. There are multiple points throughout the adventure where your choices affect how things play out. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve played this game over the years. If you prefer more combat-focused games, then Shadow of War might be more enjoyable option for you. But if you’re a fan of RPGs like the Dragon Age series or Greedfall, then War in the North is one adventure you don’t want to miss!

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

This is literally one of the worst games I have ever played in my life, and they had the nerve to charge full price for it. Do yourself a favor and stay far, far away from this one. Online games are going to be this industry’s undoing.

Is this game worth buying? Absolutely. If you’re a big fan of open world adventure games or you enjoy games with a great story arc, you don’t want to miss this one. Being the sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn, I have to recommend playing the first game before Foribidden West because you’d be pretty overwhelmed for most of the game trying to understand why this post-apocalyptic world is overrun by killer robot dinosaurs. It’s also worth mentioning that Zero Dawn’s story arc really toes the line between fiction & reality to the point that the story is almost believable, whereas Forbidden West takes a much deeper dive into the Sci-Fi realm. That’s not to say that it isn’t a great experience, but the devs weren’t quite able to recapture the magic you felt while playing the first game as you pieced together the greater meaning of Aloy’s existence and how it connects to the mystery of the robots and why all life on earth was nearly eradicated. The stakes couldn’t have been higher as we slowly learned that humanity’s existence was threatened for a second time, and it really made you feel for this incredible character and how far she was willing to go to prevent it from happening (again). Forbidden West is a fantastic continuation of that story as we venture deeper into the series of events that led up to the impending apocalypse of Zero Dawn. The stakes don’t feel quite as high this time around, but they more than make up for it with improvements in combat, world building, & engaging side content. Forbidden West is a hell of an adventure and one of the most stunning, awe-inspiring games I’ve played in years. I ran into very few bugs playing on a standard PS4, and although it doesn’t compare to the visuals of the PS5, it is still a high quality game that I strongly recommend.

The replay value of this game is incredible. I can’t remember the last time I finished a game and immediately created a new character and started over after spending ~100 hours in my first play through. I’ve read many of the really negative comments and they all have one thing in common: they haven’t played much of the game. I’ll admit that DAI starts off a little slow. But as the story progresses and we get to know the characters a little better, it becomes one of the best action RPGs I’ve ever played. Your choices REALLY matter. Few games have made me care about the characters the way that this game does. Everything about Inquisition is great. The variety of enemies, different levels, combat, & customization are everything I want out of a fantasy action RPG. If you’re looking for a good console game, Dragon Age Inquisition holds up as one of the best — and this is in 2021.

This was supposed to be a sequel, but it’s pretty much the same game with some added maps & features. It’s like they took all of the worst aspects of the first game and repackaged it with a handful of new dinosaurs and even more stressful scenarios. It’s still the same tedious, repetitive multitasking that you experienced in the first JWE, only worse because the core mission of trying to create a successful theme park is gone. JWE2 tries so hard to appeal to people’s nostalgia for the movies that it’s like they forgot they were making a park-builder game. By centering it around the events after Fallen Kingdom, the devs backed themselves into a corner without many options — and apparently the inability to come up with a story of their own. They’re clearly planning on releasing a DLC when Dominion comes out. Perhaps that’s why this game feels incomplete? It’s going to leave many fans of the original game like myself feeling really disappointed. JWE2 is more of the same jumping through an endless series of hoops trying to put out fires, except now you have to tell your scientists when it’s time to go to bed (I’m not kidding) — otherwise they’ll work themselves to the point of insanity and end up sabotaging your park. Who doesn’t get a little homicidal after a long work day? Totally normal. I’d hoped this game would take a much deeper dive into new features for decorating & customizing your park and its exhibits. Instead, they’ve completely removed the option to plant individual decorations like trees & rocks in your exhibits — which was arguably one of the best additions to the original game. And here I was hoping we’d be able to include waterfalls & rivers in the enclosures. HA! Instead, you’re given the option to customize the appearance of gift shops & restaurants with the exciting new feature of adding tables! Doesn’t that sound fun?? It’s like Frontier ignored all of the ways they could have made the park-building experience better and instead focused all of their attention on ways to make it a more stress-filled, tedious experience. Because that’s why people love Jurassic Park, right? The campaign is effectively a 3-hour tutorial that feels like it’s about to get interesting, only to tell you that you’re done. What was the point of even calling it a campaign? Chaos Theory is a nice addition to the original formula, but that’s the problem. Chaos Theory pretty much serves as the meat of the game outside of Challenge Mode — which is just as annoying as it was in the first game. The “sandbox” forces you to jump through the same repetitive hoops in the other game modes before you can unlock everything and enjoy it. Except now you have to consult a scientist for every little decision. And if the scientist is incompetent (and they are) and doesn’t know how to build an aquarium, we’ll that’s too bad! What was the point of even having a sandbox mode of you’re going to lock it behind the same dull tedium as the rest of the game? It’s like player enjoyment wasn’t even a consideration for the developers. Jurassic World Evolution 2 is not a sequel worth $60. I’d go so far as to call it an unfinished DLC worth half of that price. If you’re dying to get it, do yourself a favor and wait until it’s on sale.

This was supposed to be a sequel, but it’s pretty much the same game with some added maps & features. It’s like they took all of the worst aspects of the first game and repackaged it with a handful of new dinosaurs and even more stressful scenarios. It’s still the same tedious, repetitive multitasking that you experienced in the first JWE, only worse because the core mission of trying to create a successful theme park is gone. JWE2 tries so hard to appeal to people’s nostalgia for the movies that it’s like they forgot they were making a park-builder game. By centering it around the events after Fallen Kingdom, the devs backed themselves into a corner without many options — and apparently the inability to come up with a story of their own. They’re clearly planning on releasing a DLC when Dominion comes out. Perhaps that’s why this game feels incomplete? It’s going to leave many fans of the original game like myself feeling really disappointed. JWE2 is more of the same jumping through an endless series of hoops trying to put out fires, except now you have to tell your scientists when it’s time to go to bed (I’m not kidding) — otherwise they’ll work themselves to the point of insanity and end up sabotaging your park. Who doesn’t get a little homicidal after a long work day? Totally normal. I’d hoped this game would take a much deeper dive into new features for decorating & customizing your park and its exhibits. Instead, they’ve completely removed the option to plant individual decorations like trees & rocks in your exhibits — which was arguably one of the best additions to the original game. And here I was hoping we’d be able to include waterfalls & rivers in the enclosures. HA! Instead, you’re given you the option to customize the appearance of gift shops & restaurants with the exciting new feature of adding tables! Doesn’t that sound fun?? It’s like Frontier ignored all of the ways they could have made the park-building experience better and instead focused all of their attention on ways to make it a more stress-filled, tedious experience. Because that’s why people love Jurassic Park, right? The campaign is effectively a 3-hour tutorial that feels like it’s about to get interesting, only to tell you that you’re done. What was the point of even calling it a campaign? Chaos Theory is a nice addition to the original formula, but that’s the problem. Chaos Theory pretty much serves as the meat of the game outside of Challenge Mode — which is just as annoying as it was in the first game. The “sandbox” forces you to jump through the same repetitive hoops in the other game modes before you can unlock everything and enjoy it. Except now you have to consult a scientist for every little decision. And if the scientist is incompetent (and they are) and doesn’t know how to build an aquarium, we’ll that’s too bad! What was the point of even having a sandbox mode of you’re going to lock it behind the same dull tedium as the rest of the game? It’s like player enjoyment wasn’t even a consideration for the developers. Jurassic World Evolution 2 is not a sequel worth $60. I’d go so far as to call it an unfinished DLC worth half of that price. If you’re dying to get it, do yourself a favor and wait until it’s on sale.

I went into this game with really low expectations after Avengers, but boy was I in for a pleasant surprise. This game is a blast! The combat can be a bit overwhelming at first because a big part of it involves directing your fellow Guardians while you play as Peter Quill (aka Star-Lord). But there’s such a wide variety of enemies that you’re forced to change it up and try new things, so it never gets boring or too repetitive. Despite not being an open-world game, GotG provides so much action, adventure, & exploration that I found myself not caring too much. I’m happy to report that it is not a short game, at least, not as short as I’d feared. The story is comprised of 16 chapters that each took me about 1-2 hours to complete (give or take). If you’re someone like me who likes to find collectibles & outfits, then it will probably run you about 20-25 hours of gameplay. By far, the best thing about this game (besides the 80s music!) is the characters. They may not look like their movie counterparts, but they talk & act just like them and I didn’t realize how much it mattered to me until now. Rocket is still Rocket, Drax still takes everything literally (and has that hilarious laugh). Their familiarity & chemistry is what makes this game great. I was also surprised at how many other familiar characters are featured (or mentioned) in the game. There’s so many references to Marvel lore that fans are going to have a field day. As with any game, there is always room for improvement and GotG is no exception. At multiple points while playing, I found myself thinking of ways this game could’ve been so much better (like being able to switch between characters). Despite those moments when it left me wanting, I enjoyed the heck out of it nevertheless. So for that reason I’m giving it an 8 out of 10. Definitely worth the $60 price.