Kirill_Klimov

[DOOM Eternal: Fast and Furious] DOOM Eternal is a role model for all shooters that aspire to create an engaging and challenging experience for gamers. As a side note, it is important to mention that difficulty settings play a crucial role in the game because their adequacy to your gaming skills determines whether you would have a positive or a negative impression from the walkthrough. Conversely, the story is not the strongest part of the game; no, let me put it differently - the lore is quite rich and thought-through, but the game lacks in the ability to present this lore to the player in the appropriate manner. Be that as it may, DOOM Eternal is perfect in what it was designed for, that is - shooting and killing hellish creatures, both from the shooting perspective per se and its platforming entourage. For performing the demon executions, the protagonist a.k.a. the Doom Slayer has a plethora of different “devices”, ranging from shotgun and rifle to rocket launcher and ballista. Some say it is even possible to get the iconic BFG (however, unfortunately, I did not manage to obtain it). The platforming, in its turn, is not overwhelming but convenient and fun, thus presents itself as a cool addition to the main mechanics rather than as an obsolete burden. As a result, the seamless combination of the shooting and platforming helps to create a captivating gaming experience, not letting the player get bored. Nonetheless, for such an amazing “degustation” of the game, the choice of the game difficulty is paramount. Should you set your settings too high - and you risk ending up bogged up in repetitive grinding to get the necessary improvements without which it is pretty damn reckless to move on. Or, there is a possibility that one battle arena or some boss would prove unbeatable on the highest difficulty settings (dear speedrunners, not everyone is as talented as you are); hence, the frustration might even prevent an overachieving player from actually finishing the game. On the other hand, the easiest difficulty level is, well, too easy. Namely, there is never a shortage of ammunition, health and armor, and extra lives continue to pile up because a hard enough challenge never occurs. In this scenario, the possibility of leaving the game unfinished is also quite high because where there is no challenge, there is no excitement. In brief, I would recommend opting for the difficulty settings somewhere between the two extremes. A blot on the landscape - the story presentation. In my opinion, this aspect of the game is pretty weak. I mean, the cutscenes and short dialogues only present the story to the player on a need-to-know basis, like “here is your enemy, kill it”. This situation is pretty ironic because the game lore itself is worth looking into but is hidden under a large massive of text in the “codex” page. Yes, I know, DOOM is not an RPG with a divaricated dialogue system and a possibility of making important choices that influence the course and the ending of the game. And yes, maybe too much story would distract the player from holding on to what the game was initially designed for, that is slaying “alternatively alive” monsters. I just think a little more context would be in order. In any case, DOOM Eternal is a solid piece of gaming art, one of the best in its genre and, with the right approach, could deliver a cornucopia of emotions, ranging from anger and sort of “ambitious powerlessness” to exhilaration and happiness after clearing another stage. Even without knowing exactly why you need to do all of this stuff. 9 out of 10

[If You Are Ready to Do Nothing Else for the Next Couple of Months] It is very hard to write about a game that is perfect from nearly every perspective. Mere enumerating its qualities might take a while. I mean, the variability, the characters, the balance, the plot… The list goes on and on. On the other hand, the only shortcoming is that most adults do not have that much time to submerge into this plethora of choices and, thus, to fully appreciate Divinity: Original Sin 2. However, it is a shortcoming of the players, not of the game per se. First of all, the variability, hence, the replayability is extraordinary. Starting a game with a different character would give you a totally different experience. Even choosing different combinations of skills deliver an entirely untrodden walkthrough. Are you an undead? Cool, you have to cover your face all the time to avoid being attacked by townsfolk, but on the bright side - you can force locks without lockpicks. Are you an elf? Great, you can eat the flesh of dead people to find out about their previous lives. Or, with a perk “Pet Pal”, you can talk to animals, and that ability is crucial for some quests. The number of combinations is truly endless, so do not expect to experience them all in one sitting. Next, the characters. They are cool. I am talking about the existing six protagonists that you can choose from. Of course, you can create your own character from scratch, but it is much more interesting to play as someone with sort of “off-screen” motivation, rather than as a simple passer-by in this RPG delight. What is more, even if you choose one of the six default characters as your hero, you can only choose 3 of the rest as your companions. This limitation means that, best case scenario, you have two interesting side stories uncovered. Therefore, to learn about all the 6 main characters, you need to finish the game at least twice. And again, referring to the paragraph above, different companions mean different walkthroughs. For instance, while one of your teammates might have a casual talk with an NPC, another one would kill them. As such, the game constantly surprises you, never allowing you to be sure of anything. Another accolade goes to the game balance. This feature is often neglected in both positive and negative reviews, but in my opinion, it is one of the most important elements of positive game experience. In its turn, Divinity: Original Sin 2 is balanced perfectly and for each individual gaming style. Whether you like challenging battles or light-hearted speedruns, whether you rely on the support of your teammates or like to experience the in-game world alone, there is always a difficulty setting and a character build that suits you specifically. Furthermore, it might sound that some classes are easier to play than others. Nonetheless, it is not the question of easiness, it is the question of skill. For instance, traditional damage-dealing tanks are often disrespected in many games for their brute force and lack of finesse, but in Divinity: Original Sin 2, you would need to scout and exploit the battlefield in the same manner as you would do playing as a rogue or a wizard. Last but not least commendable component of this game is the plot. In addition to its malleability (see the paragraph about variability and replayability), the story is… captivating and understandable at the same time, which is a rare combination. So, here you are, a Sourcerer, that is blamed for all the bad things in the world. Around you are people similar to you, who are also blamed for all the bad things in the world. As a result, people who are not like you have decided to put collars on your kin and lock you in, well, concentration camps with additional torture seances - all of that is done, of course, “for your own protection”. All of this sounds real-life relatable, thus, easy to understand and even easier to psych out. Incidentally, you do not even need to play the first part of Divinity: Original Sin because the second part is pretty self-sufficient in terms of narrative. So, a perfectly balanced and replayable game with interesting characters and engaging plot - what more do you need? In fact, the only thing you might need is time to plunge into this exemplar of an RPG. Do not let 50-something minutes glitchless speedruns of “Divinity” fool you - you will spend an easy hundred of hours only on the first walkthrough, which would probably be instantly followed by the second. Sleepless nights, here we go again… 10 out of 10

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

[Aquanox Deep Descent: Jacques-Yves Cousteau simulator. And, surprisingly, real Jacques-Yves Cousteau is more fascinating] Pain. That is the only feeling I experienced while playing this game. Every aspect of Aquanox is excruciatingly painful, from gameplay, especially combat-wise, to plot. In fact, I have not found a single feature that this game could be commended for. First, game mechanics. To better understand what this game feels like, try to imagine an incredibly boring and, at the same time, unreasonably difficult side mission in an otherwise good game. Like searching for minerals in Mako-truck in Mass Effect 1. Now, imagine that someone played this side mission and said to themselves: “Wow! That is so perfectly useless and anticlimactic! I should make a whole game out of it!” As a result, Aquanox Deep Descent was born. Nominally, the game positions itself as a shooter but it is anything but. “Doom” series are exemplar shooters: apart from the fact that there is fire everywhere, they are fast and captivating. On the other hand, watery Aquanox is a complete opposite of those: the game is slow and depressing. In addition to lame combat-regime, the submarine interface is extremely inconvenient. I mean, for real deep-sea explorers such an interface might be perfect. However, for a player it is extremely annoying to do a 360-turn every time they need to find the objective or strain their eyes to discern the remaining level of oxygen. Then, Aquanox has a plot. Or, well, it is said that the game has a plot. In fact, the story is a combination of endless loose ends that, even if they are tied up in the end, do not spur the player to beat the game. For example, the surface of the Earth was destroyed. How? Why? Who is responsible? What is more, while at the very beginning of the game, I was interested in such questions; 5 hours into the game the only problem that bothered me was “how do I not die of boredom?”. Besides, the main characters of the game are as stale as the plot. First, there are four of them. Having multiple protagonists is not a bad idea of itself (remember “Heavy Rain”), but in that case, they need to be equally well-developed. Conversely, in Aquanox, the main characters are not interesting at all. I did not know their past but I cannot say I cared about their future. Plus, the dialogues in the game are so pompous, pretentious and, at the same time, mostly meaningless that I do not want the characters to speak ever again. Like, a person asks the ship captain (sic!) if the fauna is dangerous, but the latter answers with a pathetically meaningful intonation: “It is different from what you experienced before. You will see…” I am off to a dangerous mission, you drama queen! I need an appropriate brief! To recap, painful gameplay and the atmosphere of pompous boredom are major flaws of Aquanox Deep Descent. There are numerous smaller shortcomings but the ones mentioned are already enough for me to advise not to play this game. After a 5-hours walkthrough, I could not force myself to go further. 3 out of 10