Markolius

The most intuitive gameplay ever created. Once you learn the mechanics, it has the most natural and visceral flow. The art and aesthetics are beautiful in HDR. The samurai aesthetic is just icing on the cake. I am so glad to see FromSoftware continue to push the envelope with such engaging and innovative design. Bravo.

A classic-style turn-based JRPG fully optimized for the modern day. Good art-style, characters, music, cut scenes, UI, and story. Vast towns and dungeons to explore. *Battles are a bit too easy

It’s a fun unique online multiplayer first person horror game to play from time to time. My real score would be a 7 but leaving an 8 to offset so many unfairly low reviews. I’ve been playing some for a few days now and rarely wait longer than a couple minutes for a lobby to fill. This was a great ps+ freebie. It’s just cheap fun. Both modes are enjoyable. Progression feels nice. Good gameplay loop. Best of all, there are just some really exciting multiplayer moments to be enjoyed! I’m sure it won’t take long to get old but whatever I’m glad it’s in my hard drive and I imagine I’ll get several more good hours from it

I would go so far as to say this is one of the best turn based strategy games ever made. The action is pronounced, the dialogue is witty, and the lite rogue mechanics with deep gameplay are all beautifully made to be played and replayed. I suggest elite difficulty - the advances you make are really rewarding at that setting.

Firewatch does well at representing video games as a medium for poetry & metaphor- realistic in characters and story, where the supernatural elements are only in the imagination of its atmosphere, the environment that the game naturally exists in. No superpowers, guns, or puzzles.. Just an interesting escape that serves its purpose very well- to remind us, through humor and paranoia, of the fragility and sadness that our lives must often return to. This is told through two excellent voice actors, smooth walking-sim mechanics/controls, and a beautiful watercolor animated art style that's accompanied by an excellent score. This kind of an experience represents another seed of what video games can become in terms of a medium for sharing the human experience. -1 for technical issues that will hopefully be patched soon. -1 for dialogue choices/branching NOT resulting in any substantial differences to the story. Because of this, it didn't quite reach the potential that it could have. For example (even though I'm in the minority of thinking that the ending was compelling & fitting), I do think that there should have been multiple endings based on your choices. Ultimately, it's a great indie game, best played through cold in a single sitting. It's a relaxing, intriguing, and saddening interactive tale. It doesn't try to blow your mind with deep thoughts that are out of this world. Instead, its profundity comes from being grounded in the reality of its own cohesive simplicity.

The game looks beautiful and tricks you with so much potential at first glance. But when you look beneath the surface, you find a game that plays.. well hardly plays at all, both mechanically and experientially. I gave it the benefit of the doubt, heard the positive reviews, and waited until after multiple patches, before I judged. Witcher 3 has ultimately bad controls and poor combat besides the in-game card game Gwent, the gameplay is not good. Simply moving your static character (Geralt or Ciri) is a chore. He constantly feels like he is stepping over his feet or lost in the mood, never natural (and this doesn't change after hours of playing). His c button to loot constant random stuff around him is often unintuitive. And these poor controls bleed deeply into the combat- hit boxes are irrelevant, dodging is pointless, there are two button making swings and that's it, victory is determined based on your level, difficulty setting, or inventory management (the last of which I could respect if any other principals of gameplay combat were also accounted for). And I will say that all of these mechanics are much more poorly executed in Witcher 3 than in last year's Dragom Age Inquisition. To top it all off there are still glitches galore, main missions are rendered incompletable because the character can't examine the red stuff that he is supposed to be able to examine. So you're just like what's the point. This is hardly a game. If you want a medieval soap opera fantasy, just watch game of thrones on HBO.

This game was quite the experience. Bloodborne was my entry into the From Software games and I immediately loved it. SotFS is a similar game in terms of genre and overall mechanics, but it's slower in terms of combat and progression and it's much more customizable in terms of inventory and loadouts. Like Bloodborne, I platinumed this game too. There's just something so addictive about the combat and gameplay of these games. So frustrating and so satisfying. I learned a lot about how to be a better gamer in general and overall enjoyed the adventure. I hope for a Demon Souls or DS1 port to PS4 someday and I'm really looking forward to DS3. These FromSoft games are really a genre unto themselves. They play so smoothly. The adventures are terrifying, beautiful, and challenging. It's going to be weird not playing them for a good while, as everything else just pales in comparison. Playing the dungeons in Zelda A Link to the Past or Secret of Mana as a kid - these Souls games are what we imagined the future of gaming to be like. They really are a fine evolution.

Fun gameplay, great personality, and well-paced. It's one of the best side scrollers in years, retro or otherwise. Think classic mega man with a humorous fantasy theme. Definitely worth having in your PS4's digital library if you don't already have it elsewhere.

*Incredibly immersive artwork, music, sound, setting, character designs, and graphic animations. *Consistently beautiful and disturbing environments and enemies to look at. *Spot-on precise controls. Challenging varied combat. Addictive gameplay built on a gambling foundation of double-or-nothing risk/reward. Frustrating and rewarding. *I love that there isn't a difficulty setting (makes it feel like the challenge is universal as intended), *I like the choices in weaponry (most of the inventory management comes from planning your attire, runes, and items toward your next challenge), *I love that there is no blocking (you are the hunter, the aggressor, and it's that rapid dodging/striking plus mixing up items in the heat of the moment without save or pause that makes Bloodborne so unique and so thrilling). *You should already know that this not a huge open dialogue driven RPG like dragon age. This game is all about combat (risk/reward, the experience of learning, fast paced and frantic, and the exploration therein) *There are occasional frame rate drops and minor glitches but the load times are now much improved to take usually less than 30 seconds. *Story and lore are all painted into the aesthetics- make of it what you will- this is a game to be played for the joy of learning: the experience of learning from your mistakes, planning, and executing in the moment to the thrill of success. *Bloodborne is an excellent game.

After playing this game for a few months with a high degree of skepticism- I'm not ashamed to admit that this truly is a great game. This FPS multiplayer is spot on- spawning, framerate/graphics, combat precision, and maps are all great on PS4. So much better than Ghosts. The fast paced exo combat is exactly what the series needed and the new Havoc DLC is completely worth.

Fun hack & slash FPS. Bright colors, big explosions, and gory demons. Gameplay feels smooth and the throwback style makes for good quick entertainment. (pick it up on a sale)

One of my unexpected favorites from 2014. Nice charm and fun gameplay. Perfect to pick up in small doses. It's unique. It's relaxing. This is my go to game to chill out on before going to bed.

This game has almost everything I could ask for in a western RPG: large detailed diverse sandboxes, amazing dialogue/storytelling/decision-making, good convincing voice-acting, solid high-fantasy plot, deep character customization/crafting/leveling/looting, exciting time-focused action combat that's nicely mixed with strategy, and great music. I'm about 24 hours in now and bugs have been absolutely minimal. Loading times are next to nothing. This game is polished. The lore is rich and the artwork is beautiful. There are SO MANY different ways to play this game- it's entirely up to the player: your abilities, the characters, the stories you take: there is so much playability within one game path and there are so many paths a player could choose to take. My favorite feature is the war room and the meta-strategy involved with leading advisers. Each sandbox is just phenomenal- from forests to desert- they're all good. Of course there are things I wish were different or better: I would like to have more villages to explore, a full first person mode (which would be too good to be true), even deeper character relationships, "evil" choices, and mounts for everyone in your party. But, I am obviously satisfied. This is gaming as an art form -it's what the new gen desperately needed- in its scope, detail, humor, immersion, challenge, and imagination.

What's not to like about this game? Harkens back to the good baseball games of yore. Great graphics, sound, and style. It achieves in everything that RBI 14 fails in. True to the game that is baseball, while offering video gameplay that is immediately accessible and sustains the fun. Ideal for couch pvp.

Unity was overhyped but it's also overly hated. I played the whole campaign and lots of sides- experienced maybe 3 big glitches over 20+ hours. For me, bugs and frame rate problems were hardly noticeable. Gameplay choppiness was minimal considering the huge variety of stealth and parkour. The story was a bit ridiculous but cut scenes were interesting enough. With all that being said, the artwork and the historical representation of Paris is stunningly beautiful (especially the attention to detail in the architecture). It's a fun sandbox that I enjoyed much more than Watch Dogs. I reccomend playing the campaign through first (try it in French with English subtitles for extra immersion). Then find out which types of side quests you like- I enjoyed the helix games and renovations. Customization is great but you're limited to one character, Arno, who isn't bad. The game is a good 20 hours worth of jumping and sneaking fun. The glitchiness is much less (at least for me) than what others have complained about. The huge amount of NPCs and dynamic action is actually a pretty incredible accomplishment. Also I found the AI to be much better and more apt to the gameplay than others. Coop is not bad, actually works well, but wasn't really my bag. So ultimately, good game. Don't believe the hate or the hype. After 25 hours, it'll get too repetitive and time to move in.

This game was my most disappointing purchase of the year. It just really didn't do it for me. I find the driving mechanics to be neither natural or fun, neither simulation or arcade. It just feels wonky and repetitive. It's beautiful to look at and sounds amazing. But that's about it. The lobby is awful for online multiplayer: slow, crashes, frozen while you wait...lastly, I think points have to be taken off for the massive release delays and the terrible launch. It took weeks to be able to really get online.

You'll find people who say this game is too easy and others who'll say it's too hard. That's a good sign right there. For me, someone who has admittedly never played a Dark Souls game, I find the difficulty level to be a little too hard at times but mostly very satisfying. I like games to not have different difficulty settings in the options - makes me feel like I'm not missing anything and that I'm playing the game exactly as it was designed to be played. I can find very little to not like about this game. While its scope is obviously no where as broad as a Final Fantasy type of RPG and the focus is almost entirely on combat and stats (no: villages, open worlds to explore, deep characters, or story choices to make), the game is richly detailed in its focus. The graphics and gothic fantasy artwork are constantly beautiful. The atmosphere is full. The combat is thrilling with a real sense of pressure and strategy. This is not a button masher. It's ridiculous to call it that. I'm really enjoying the game. It's a dark and fun campaign. Like Shadows of Mordor, I'll likely get a good 15 hours or so of campaign and sides, without much replayability though. The thing I like the most about this game is the great variety of combat. Lots of techniques and loot to try out and learn from. The variety of enemy behavior however is not so great. Also there can be some glitches and bugs, but the few I experienced were pretty minimal. There could be more story, enemies, and locations. There could be more to it. But it is fun and it has a great atmosphere. There are many different ways to be victorious in it and many different styles of play that can be easily switched up. The game is worth it. 7.5 (I'll round it up to offset the ridiculus 0s.

This is a good game, but it's not as great as many critics and reviewers have been making it out to be. The overall map is small, the quests are repetitive, the story is as almost as absent as Destiny's, and the camera is faulty. The nemesis system is what stands out the most in defining what makes this game unique. In that, the AI is smart in the long term but stupid in the short term. There is little variety in the game. Almost every enemy is Orc, again and again and again. I guess they can excuse the masses of dumb AI Orcs because masses of Orcs are dumb- so that was by design right? Right... And as with the gameplay so the same with the environment, it's a small open world and it all looks the same. When I think of LOTR, I think of grand beautiful variations of environments, races, and adventures. I mean I've only seen one hobbit and one elf; no wizards, dwarves, or trolls. This is just one small shadow of mordor. Still... The game is good. The challenges themselves are challenging and fun. The action is exciting. The graphical detail of Talion and each Orc is all very well done. It is similar to Arkham and AC as so may have said, which is not a bad thing. I'd also say that it's similar to Infamous as well in the layout of the map, quest & ability progression, and use of cutscenes. Music and voice acting are very good. It's got a solid dozen hours of fun. I just feel like it could/should be so much more.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

This is an excellent, challenging, and emotional fps. The combat, shooting, stealth, levels, sound (music and effects), voice acting, and characters are all well produced. While it has Bethesda influences from games like fallout and dishonored, it is still very much a Wolfenstein game (the Easter egg dream of playing that game within this game is a blatant reminder). So, it achieves will it that- being a Wolfenstein game with a twist in plot, characters, and setting (distopian 1960s). I don't understand why so any say that it's too unbelievable. If the **** had won, this scenario isn't too difficult to imagine with their push toward unethical science and ethnic domination. Of course, the hero is a Rambo - that's the fantasy. Also, despite what others have said, I thought the ending was spot on in fulfilling the themes and narrative arc while leaving open a sequel possibility. Very to the point. (But I'll describe no spoilers here.) They did a good job with the game. It's a way more interesting campaign than most others of the same genre. It doesn't really look next gen. And there is only so far that one can take a linear fps. I will be looking forward to a fallout 4 many times more than I anticipated this game... It's a solid

It's obviously not an absolutely horrible game and so doesn't deserve a zero score. But it does deserve a poor score: It is a disappointment in almost every aspect. Little more that I can say that hasn't already been said. Absolutely not what it was marketed to be- if this defines next gen, then best to take a few year gaming hiatus. But we know that advertising ploy is simply not the truth. The marketing was a lie and we know that from playing the game: dull game play, keep holding that button down to hack, worthless plot, last gen graphics, poor driving, awful third person view (how long do you really want to stare at the back of this stereotypical pointless character's dull jacket), lack of freedom/reward/fun... "Fanboys" is such an overused and meaningless insult. Fact of the matter is that yes I would rather be playing GTAV than this every time I try to play this game. I accept the fact that this was a waste of my sixty bucks. Perhaps the fanboys of this game cannot and so they defend it while calling those who compare it to GTAV "fanboys" But the games are very comparable and watch dogs fails against GTAV in almost every regard. Maybe if they hadn't have taken themselves so seriously (if the had taken that cue from GTAV), that the best games combine seriousness and self reflective humor in balance, then this game wouldn't have been such an epic let down.

This really is a beautiful game if you stay with it and give it a chance. It seems too complex, dull, and hokey at first. It's absolutely not for the casual gamer, who wants an ordinary campaign or a game they can jump right into. It takes time, but it pays off into an engrossing massive fantasy that relishes in your freedom of gameplay. After 20 hours, you should have a decent understanding of most aspects of the gameplay and be into the main quest. What was complex will become second nature, enabled largely by the intuitive PS4 controller. What was hokey or dull becomes very alive with solid lore that stays very true to the Final Fantasy classics. The game seems most influenced by FF I, II, and III (in the west). If you played these games when you were younger, you'll delight in seeing their evolved return in MMO form. There are so so many things that you can do -and perhaps the greatest achievement of the game- is that most of these things are actually quite fun. Navigating becomes realistic, combat becomes more strategical, and even things like crafting become truly entertaining in their gameplay. Being able to quest with every class on the same character really makes it interesting. Another great achievement is that it does not feel grindy or like you have to farm. Again, there is so much to do- you can just let your character explore or you can plan your objectives with goals in mind. The culture is excellent, join a nice Free Company, and the social element of the game also becomes a pleasure. The graphics on the PS4 are very good and really show the detail of the Final Fantasy artwork, which flows without delay everywhere you travel. The music is great and the lack of voice acting is, in my opinion, mostly a plus. I can't stand when you hear the same voice actors playing different characters in a game. Also, I can read much faster than they speak. Perhaps they could have been improved with some more voice acting in cut scenes, but for the most part, I prefer it as it is. With all that being said, there is nothing particularly mind blowing or ground breaking in the game. It still has its frustrations and repetitions, particularly in side quests. The plot is your standard Japanese anime about good versus evil, other dualities, and the need for balance. The dialogue is mostly well written and there is a ton of dialogue content. Personally, I hate the ye ole English style of the dialogue. The subscription price is warranted for the content updates. It's just a solid Final Fantasy MMO. You can really choose to do whatever you want in this game. Nothing is forced.I t's a great game to enjoy for many hours - ultimately, for the freedom it gives.