Shadowrun Returns is a pleasantly short cyberpunk RPG, its great for beginners due to its extreme linearity and little to no challenge. I never died once on Normal mode and genuinely enjoyed the story. Its just the goofy little bugs that littered the game which held it back, as well ideas and mechanics that hail back to when the game was originally released. The price-point is quite an issue, especially since there is zero support from the devs who ported it and a lot of the annoying issues could have been fixed with a small patch. Overall I enjoyed it, I wouldn't play it again, but it has successfully set up a world I would like to return to and I'm looking forward to both sequels.
As a veteran and fan of the SoulsBorne games it was natural that I give Sekiro a shot. Most of what I played I enjoyed, the style, stealth, combat and graphics are excellent. The truth is I just couldn't get into it. I'm burnt out on this type of game, the brutal difficulty, respawning enemies, learning patterns and ambiguous game mechanics I've poured 100s of hours into Nioh, Souls 1 and 2, and Bloodborne, I don't get pleasure out of this type of game any more. The continual grind, dying over and over doesn't appeal to me. I simply don't have time for it. I can't do it any more. When I get a chance to game I want to relax and get immersed in characters and story, none of which are Sekiro's strong points.
The result of the matches are not determined by player skill but the AI. I exclusively play solo and it is obvious EA want me to be playing FUT and spending money on micro transactions. I played high level soccer for 20 years so have a solid understanding of the sport and the way FIFA 22 plays is atrocious. I did initially have a ton of fun with it, but the more I played, the better I got, the more problems I encountered. The more research I did the more I saw the problems were universal, everyone was experiencing the same ones. And what is worse, the problems are deliberate and EA is well aware of them. The goalies are OP, the passing mechanic is broken, the AI is broken, dribbling is broken, shooting is broken, switching players on defence, oh my god, why they did that I'll never know! The reality is people, we need to stop buying these annual releases or else its going to happen again, and again, and again. So far, for me personally, FIFA is the worst offender in EA's catalogue.
This is a review of the PS4 Enhanced Edition, not the game in it's original state. I have wanted to play this game for years, since I played FO2 on PC when I bought it new 1998. I finally picked it up on PS4 and I've got to say I'm pretty ambivalent about it. We knew it wasn't a remake, but they really should've given it a polish and a coat of paint, but the thing is the graphics aren't the issue. The UI and the controls are horrible! just in the tutorial, when it is TEACHING you the game, learning a spell, memorising it, resting, writing the spell, casting. Its just so convoluted just so unnecessarily complicated and complex. With the Original Sin games, Pillars, Wasteland, all isometric CRPGs developed in the past decade you can really, really tell how dated BG is. Its the quality of life changes these new games have that are missing from BG which really makes you question why you would bother with BG 1 and 2. That's what I asked myself. I'm not disputing the importance and the history or the heritage of Baldur's Gate, but as it stands in 2022 there is no reason to tolerate the experience on the PS4 when there are other, more modern 80+ hour RPGs on the market. I feel guilty for not giving BG the chance it's pedigree deserves, I still may give it go one day, but not anytime soon.
The bones of a really fun game are here but so much of it is "B" grade. I probably need to persevere and let it get its hooks into me, but I'm not going to. The entire experience was quite muddled and messy. The UI, skill trees and upgrades are complicated, unjustifiably so. Something that is particularly painful though are the constant graphical issues, specifically the Screen Tear. I haven't seen this bad since the PS2 days and the fact they haven't patched it after all these years is unacceptable. With a bit of effort Inquisitor Martyr could have been pretty good, at this point in time its slightly plain bad. Its a shame that these 40K games never get the developer they deserve, whomever that may be.
Super solid old-school shooter Played hours and hours of the original Team Fortress back in the day. Everything from the original is preserved here, it runs smooth as and is as fun as it always was.
Having finished Dying Light in 2017/18 and enjoying it thoroughly, I'm playing it again. It has probably the best parkour system in gaming, the day night cycle is fantastic. Its suitably gory, as it should be. It looks really good, but some of the details on the enemies are a bit lacking, which is totally nit-picking. The missions are fetch-quest heavy but it means you get to encounter little events all across the map. Dying Light is a genuine surprise hit, it offers a really well realised open word, great combat (just make sure you upgrade the right skills), fantastic traversal. The story is a bit meh, and the protagonist is one-dimensional. Highly, highly recommend it
5 years after initially purchasing it and putting the time into the game that it deserve I can confirm this game is fantastic. Sure there is some dated game designs, it takes a while to get into it and learn all the nuances, but you don't go into Wasteland 2 expecting Fallout 4. This game is deep, complex and rewarding. Its incredibly well written and if you have any interest in isometric CRPGs you need to play this. Some of my most memorable "gaming" memories are with Fallout 2 when it originally released, and this more than scratches that itch!
Its Skyrim, by now you've either played it or you haven't, you either like it or you don't. I like it, despite never progressing very far in the game. The amount of quests to do, places to go, people to talk to is overwhelming and is probably, in my eyes, more of a hinderance than an benefit. You can literally lose yourself in this game and I can see why people have put 100s and 100s of hours and played through it multiple times. Basically, if you're thinking about playing it but still can't decide, just play it, chances are you'll love it
D:OS is a great turn-based isometric RPG on the PS4. It was crowd funded and a couple of years later a sequel was released which s lauded as one of the greatest RPGs of all time. I've personally put around 80 hours into the campaign and I really enjoyed it. Full disclosure, I haven't completed it, but I am in the last stages of the game. D:OS is really well written, its smart, the characters are unique and have personality. The actual story is a bit naff, I've played better, I've played worse. The reason I haven't finished it is that the gameplay is too slow for the world to be as big as it is, also, there are well documented issues with the quest system. Gameplay-wise, combat is pretty difficult, I've played 79 of my 80 hours on "Normal" and have just lowered it to "Explorer" to hopefully help me finish the it. Now, normal wasn't too hard, it was just too slow, the turn-based combat just took far, far too long. The quest system, it doesn't hold your hand, the game leaves it up to the player to read the quest notes and figure out what to do next. This still works, but you'll find yourself frequently scrolling through the quest list, reading and re-reading notes to try and figure out where to go or what to do. Its not very intuitive and doesn't really benefit the player at all. D:OS is great, it is, its just massive, slow and complex, I want to finish it, I want to see the story's outcome, but man its a big ask, especially because I want to play the sequel.
Look, its not a bad game, its not a great one either. Regrettably I find myself wanting to play Madden around the time the NFL season starts, excellent marketing by EA. I feel if it was released in March it would sell a lot less. There are plenty of modes to keep you busy, but they're all the same. I am totally over MUT and challenges and other garbage the developers shoe-horn into the game to try and make people stick with it longer. It looks good and plays really well but its just not worth the asking price. EA should make it a free to play, or say $10.00 for franchise mode, then sell the tack on stuff, like MUT, Face of Franchise and The Yard to whomever wants it. They're the same people who pay for microtransactions. Needless to say I still got this for a discount and I highly, highly doubt I will ever purchase another Madden NFL ever again.
I really, really like UFC 3, but there are some huge issues with certain aspects of the game. I've put a lot of time into Career Mode and feel that I have enough experience with the game to voice an opinion. As a whole the game is really solid, it looks good and there are plenty of game-modes to keep everyone busy. Where the game lets itself down is the AI. I understand how damage, stamina and stats work but some of the things that the AI does is simply superhuman. I don't care how good a certain fighter is in the real world but when they are rocked twice in quick succession and knocked down they are not going to be able to whip out an arm bar from the bottom position when you are at near full stamina. It feels like the game was almost ready but EA or maybe UFC demanded it be released without that little bit of polish that it needed. Some of the physics are kind of janky too, the collision detection at times is all over the place, but again, on a whole the game is really good. Its a technical fighter, almost a strategy game where you need to think and pick your punches. Its nothing like the cartoony violence like MK or SF. The blows are brutal and the damage is visceral. You can really feel the hits. Overall, there is a really good game here if you want to put the time in and work past the AI inconsistencies. I'm going to keep playing, because there's nothing else out there like it and I am looking forward to UFC 4. I just wish people would stop moaning about it like they do, its pretty cheap now on PSN and if you're a UFC fan you really owe it to yourself to give it a go. 7/10
Easily the most underrated sleeper hit I've ever played. Prey is a smart person's shooter, it reminds me of Half Life when it released, mind-blowing. Sure there are echoes of BioShock, but it is suitably different to be its own beast. The narrative is fantastic, you know what's going on, but you don't know. It looks and sounds fantastic, Arkane has done an amazing job of immersing the player into their world. Prey is a close to a 10 a 9 can get, but the loading times on a base PS4 are egregious. Absolutely loved it, all 37.5hrs. Please play this, I regret sitting on it for as long as I did. It can be very, very overwhelming at the beginning but I implore you to persevere.
An all round decent shooter. I only played the campaign, had a really good time. Its action-packed and looks pretty. The sound is also impressive, especially for a game this old. Sure the narrative is on par with everything else out there but I still had a hell of a lot of fun. My only gripes are that the ending trophies didn't unlock and because of that I won't be going back to it.
Love the idea, pretty well executed, could've been technically better. Everything you want in an FPS is here. Not as polished as BF4 Graphics could've been better. AI was weak to help with the "Arrest" feature. The story was as cliche as any TV cop show but I still had a blast. Highly underrated, would love to see a sequel with a bit more care put into it
My favourite iteration of the series, after taking a while to tune everything to my preference the game just clicked. There is a significant learning curve to these games, but once you get it they are phenomenal. With tons of game modes there are literally 1000s of hours gameplay here, but its up to you to sift through what you're going to enjoy. To be fair, the sheer volume of content can be quite overwhelming but stick with it, find a mode you like, and you won't regret it
A game that has truly stood the test of time. The scares and tension are all there, I'm so glad I finally played through it. If you appreciate decent horror games you owe it to yourself to play this
Easily the most "Metal" game I've ever played. Mortal Shell is a very, very solid attempt at the "SoulsBorne" genre and it does everything pretty well. People need to remember this is a new, small studio with a limited budget and what they've done is exceptional. I love the aesthetics of it, how different the four biomes are from one another. It does take a bit of getting used to but as per with these games one must persevere. There are some really, really good ideas here which they've done just enough to make them feel unique. There next project is something I'm keeping an eye out for. My gripes are simple, the Eternal Narthex is awful and is a major no-no in game/level/map/world design, and lastly, the final boss, is thoroughly underwhelming. I picked it up cheap a month before it came out free on PS+ and don't regret it one bit.
Oh how I have been waiting for this. I haven't really played online FPS since the original Team Fortress mod on Quake, and I dabbled a bit on Team Fortress 2 in the Orange Box. I can't stand COD and BF with all the perks, loot boxes, XP and skill trees. Insurgency Sandstorm rewards players with skill, nothing else. Every player is equal and is separated only by what they are capable of. It rewards you for experimenting with different weapons and builds. There are dozens of load-outs which can be tailored to your own playstyle. But where this game really shines, why I bought it, is how s*** your pants intense it is. It looks great, sure it could do with a bit of polish and the sound is A-freaking-mazing. I hope the community stays active because I'm going to keep playing for as long as I can! There is nothing like this on the market for PS4, Rainbow 6: Siege be damned
Lets be clear, I don't like this game, its got dozens of little annoying problems which it that are arguably deliberately designed that way. What I do like about it is that it made by non-gamer partner understand why games can be so much fun and for that I'll give it a 6
There's a good game here buried under tons of corporate refuse. Plagued with head-scratching issues, poor AI, weird physics issues. Its too big which leaves too much potential for error. It isn't structured well enough and suffers from Ubi-Map-Syndrome. In a game that, at its core, is supposed to be a realistic tactical shooter, they've missed the mark by a long, long way. I've you're going to play it you must play it on Immersive mode. I've given it enough time, good luck to you.
PGA2K21 is a really, really solid golf sim You can tweek it to play it how you like with loads of accessibility options, difficulty sliders and control settings. The courses look sweet, I actually find it really relaxing watching my little white ball fly through the air to land on the nicely manicured fairway. The player characters look a tad goofy, but there are tons of customisation options, including clothing, and clubs. It ticks all the right boxes. I would like to see some more official courses and some bigger names, but I'm a pragmatist and understand licensing costs. The same goes for sponsors, clubs and clothing; I hope they can hook Nike and Oakley next time. The beauty with these games as they're not annual and they take the time to polish the product. PGA2K21 is a really good sign of things to come, with EA jumping back in the scene I'm looking forward to the next batch of golf games.
MK11 is a damn solid fighter. Everything ups the ante from MK XL. Graphics are sharper and the combat is tighter. The violence borders on pornographic, but that suits me fine. I'm really, really enjoying it. But. I really don't like the Krypt and how it is implemented. Having to search for unlockable moves and costumes in a game I've already paid for bothers me. The gear system **** and is just another way for NRS to keep you playing their game. I couldn't give a s*** about gear and have next to no interest in ever looking into. I want a fighting game, not a collectable game, isn't that what Pokemon is? Lastly, the female characters, c'mon, lets see a bit of flesh, some TnA, its not that big of a deal. You 'yanks love your gore, but when there's the slightest hint of **** you get all self righteous about it. No one cares, its not objectifying women, its an anatomy lesson, kinda like the fatalities no?
MK11 Ultimate is a damn solid fighter. Everything ups the ante from MK XL. Graphics are sharper and the combat is tighter. The violence borders on pornographic, but that suits me fine. I'm really, really enjoying it. But. I really don't like the Krypt and how it is implemented. Having to search for unlockable moves and costumes in a game I've already paid for bothers me. The gear system **** and is just another way for NRS to keep you playing their game. I couldn't give a s*** about gear and have next to no interest in ever looking into. I want a fighting game, not a collectable game, isn't that what Pokemon is? Lastly, the female characters, c'mon, lets see a bit of flesh, some TnA, its not that big of a deal. You 'yanks love your gore, but when there's the slightest hint of **** you get all self righteous about it. No one cares, its not objectifying women, its an anatomy lesson, kinda like the fatalities no?
Playing on a base PS4, post patch 1.5, first install, 4 hours in and I'm genuinely enjoying it. The world is fantastic, its closer to Blade Runner than Deus Ex is/was. Far, far more adult oriented than I originally thought. The world is still sparsely populated and it is odd, but it still works. I guess it was the promises of a "living and breathing world" is where it falls apart. There are very few vehicles on the road and the car, I only have the first one, handle exceptionally poorly. The bugs are intermittent, but noticeable. In a very early scene V is holding a body across their lap, and the physics didn't like that very much. Most recently I encountered some enemies in an area with some grass, and rather than walk through the grass, they ran across the tips of the grass, that and the old "T" stance shows up every now and then. The reality is, now, the game is no worse than a Bethesda RPG, even after its been re-released 5 times. The problem is the over promising and under-delivering. Cyberpunk 2077 is the epitome of over ambition, and it needed another couple of years in the oven. I endeavor to finish, hopefully more than once. There's an amazing game here with some really special ideas and for $NZ36.00 I don't think you can go wrong.
An enjoyable sci-fi RPG which hits harder now in 2022 than it possibly could have when it first released. I believe it holds up really well having played it on 360 back in the day. HR has got a great story with and great characters and meaningful side stories. You feel emotionally invested in almost everything you do and everyone you meet. The added mission from the Director's Cut is arguably unnecessary and is a huge speed bump with the flow of the game and really should have been left out. Overall, its well worth playing and I genuinely enjoyed it!
A trip down memory lane. Its exactly how I remembered it and I enjoyed all the same. My main gripe is that its missing a bunch of add-ons due to licensing issues, which is a massive shame. A couple of days to an easy and enjoyable platinum.
OK, so I loathe this game but at the same time I am a victim of its charm. My partner loves it and because of that I find myself getting into it. Yes I've platinumed it and all the DLC yet still find myself playing it. Its got a ton of problems with the controls and overall unresponsiveness of it. Is it a great game? No. No way Is it a fantastic co-op experience, yeah, yeah it is.
A marvel of the medium. I thought the original game finished perfectly and there was no need for a sequel. My first playthrough was on Grounded mode and it was an incredibly stressful experience. The violence is visceral and emotionally draining, in a word its "grisly". It was exhilarating as it was exhausting. It is AI at its pinnacle, the stealth mechanics are the best I have ever seen and I've played a lot of stealth games over the years. The game does get a bit repetitive and every so often I get the 'oh, here we go again' feeling; stealthing an area of humans then progressing to the next section and having to deal with the infected, but its just so good and rewarding it really doesn't matter. The narrative is, sadly, your typical revenge story shown from two sides of the same coin, but it really, really well done and yes I empathised with both lead characters and ended up really liking the new lead. There are a number of reasons why this is not a 10/10. First, its not as good as the original, second it wasn't necessary, third, it runs far, far too long, the difficulty spikes at certain points are an example of poor QA. Don't get me wrong, I asked for it on Grounded but running round in circles trying to escape 2 shamblers, a couple of clickers, some runners and whatever else they threw at me just wasn't my idea **** time. Now, the social commentary. Ellie's reveal was expected but the bombshell dropped in the 3rd act is box ticking at its finest. Addressing this... situation, in a video game, brings nothing to the story and doesn't enhance the game at all. I personally believe Naughty Dog wanted to be "industry leaders" by overtly addressing this theme in, what was inevitably going to become one of the biggest games of the decade. It was a marketing ploy, nothing more. Its as if in order to justify the horrific and gratuitous violence throughout the game, which effectively is a "Murder-sim" (You remember Manhunt don't you?) the impact of the violence would be lessened, or glossed over by shining a light on this particular societal phenomenon.
A pretty solid non-COD shooter which is pure fun. Non-sensical story with repetitive enemies. Good graphics. Garbage level design. It is nowhere near as hard as advertised and the boss fights were pretty weak. I enjoyed it, paid about $3.00 for it and had a blast.
A solid FPS reboot of the old DOS game let down by ill-conceived touchpad controls, poor boss battles, messy narrative and awful level design. I did actually really enjoy the pure "fun factor" and did endeavor to replay it, but realized that whilst fun its incredibly repetitive and shallow. The guns and gore are great, and the swordplay is fantastic fun. It served its purpose as 12 hours of entertainment, if you've got nothing else to play and want to blast through an above average shooter give it a rip.
Played through the campaign twice and put a fair amount of time into the Dark Zone and had fun. Ubisoft was finding their way with this one and it had its flaws. Enjoyed the story and the environment.
An enjoyable looter, shooter with tight mechanics. Gets repetitive, probably a bit to bit and drawn out. Best played in short bursts once and a while. Good game, but make sure you have other stuff to play. The constant updates are great!
Lara Drake: Souls Wars A massive corporation taking a tried and true formula and the most popular pop-culture franchise in history and they STILL manage to ruin it. Fallen Order is a Tomb Raider and Uncharted rip-off where you happen to fight with a sword with a blade made out of light. It took me a couple of years to commit to buying this game and I'm glad I only paid around $20.00 for it. The positive is that its a single player Star Wars game and at times its pretty to look at, but that's it. There are 2 overarching issues with this game, and if there was better play testing and quality control at EA this game would have been much better. 1) The protagonist is awful. He's boring and utterly uninteresting; AND 2) The combat. Holy Jesus f'n Christ the combat is atrocious. Its so badly optimized it renders the game unplayable. I am a veteran of the SoulsBorne games and Sekiro, and Respawn has blatantly plagiarized the gameplay and it is as clear as day they have no f'n clue what they are doing. This game is such a shame, such a crying shame, they should have rebooted Force Unleashed and made a more action oriented game, instead of ripping off gameplay perfected by FromSoft. Honorable mentions are the onerous, boring puzzles and shoddy platforming and traversal. The bright side of this god-awful game is that it has intrinsically changed how I view video games. As soon as they start to ****, as this did in about the second level, I delete it, sell it and move on.
A hell **** game, but a hell of a slog. In a society which is more and more "Time Poor" games like Kingdom Come: Deliverance are never going to get the attention they deserve. I'm not going to be able to give them it anyway. The developers put some serious love into this game and I truly appreciate it. I've given the game 30 or so hours over the past 2 or 3 years and because of the vastness of it I'm struggling to give it any more. I'm dozens of hours away from the end and as a "completionist", like other open world RPGs I fear its just going to fall by the way. Sure it has its issues, its bug riddled, still and whilst realistic the combat would have been better served to be more. . . fun or. . . user-friendly. They've created a niche game within a niche type of game. Maybe its too realistic, maybe its too mundane, getting involved in trivialities and sorting out NPCs problems. That's the problem, the side quests are too good, the demand your time and attention, like The Witcher, you want to see everything, you want to do everything, but who has the time any more?
Another Soulsborne veteran giving a Soulslike a go. The Surge is an OK attempt at a Soulslike in a futuristic setting. Very similar progression, similar combat, sort of similar openworld. This is where the AA'ness of this title shines through by showing that it is in fact a early Dark Souls clone developed by a team who doesn't quite know the "Souls" formula as well as they think they do. Its just not polished very well and there is a good reason it has such a low player base and completion rate
After originally giving it a 9/10 based on the pure fun I was having I need to amend my score. Several months after my purchase I can't find a game with more than 12 or so players in it. Since July I haven't been able to get into on of the 64 player clashes that I enjoyed so much. After taking a break in August when the player base was dwindling and jumping online late November nothing has changed. A quick search and I see that the devs are investigating server issues in my region. I have no problem with Insurgency Sandstorm, which I purchase after Chivalry 2, so why can't Chivarly get it right? I did enjoy it I did, but its an online only game and the servers a faulty. Game has been traded, score adjusted accordingly
Ruiner is a game made by BillyBadAss Developers who think all you need is edgy, stylised violence to make a game. I breezed through the game getting S+ or A rankings on all missions until the last level, when difficulty spiked through the roof. If the repetition didn't nearly make me give up, changing it to easy to beat the last stage was almost the nail in the coffin. It features an unnecessary amount of perks, clunky controls, abilities you literally do not need to ever unlock and an empty, pointless hub area which serves as nothing but a time waster. I paid $6.00 for it and I did enjoy the first couple of levels but then it just became monotonous and I wanted it over. That and the continual graphical stuttering, as in total freezes for about half a second which are not part of gameplay, id say unless you fawn over wanton violence, give this a hard pass.
Way too long, way too repetitive. Cringe worthy dialogue, tried to be based in reality but just lost its way. I put a hell of a lot of time into this game and can honestly say it could've been significantly better. Its just way too long and way too repetitive.
If running through randomly generated dungeons which look more and more familiar the longer you play pew pewing the same "baddies" over and over sounds like fun this is for you.
An above average add-on with a character more interesting than the one in the main game. Well thought out and worth it if you enjoyed the main game but didn't like Aiden
