Mogwai76

Style over substance. The game looks good (but that's not really hard to do these days in Unreal) but it plays incredibly poorly and gets boring quickly. It's clear that this is done by a new team, who might well have experience in the industry in making games, but don't really understand what makes a great game. While the visuals are great, they are also inconsistent - some things in the environment seem to pull me in to investigate, but I can't interact, while other items I am supposed to interact with look dull and part of the backdrop. There is no signalling or breadcrumbing for players, there is no consistency. The game clearly was made for PC and then ported to the console once the GamePass deal was done - from "press any key to continue" on the first screen, to text that is too small to read on a TV and menus that are a pain to navigate with a controller - it's not built for a console. Gameplay becomes tedious quickly, the combat is average at best and I can't see myself going beyond a few hours without getting bored. Above all else tho: the usability in general is just very poor. The developers seem to have made a game for themselves, and learned how to interact with it as they developed it, and not given a thought as to how a new player might experience the game. The first 30 min is just a shockingly poor experience. I am glad I got this on gamepass, spending money on this would have been a huge waste.

It's really hard to know where to start. I guess to keep this simple: just don't buy it. There might well be a good game underneath it all, but their fabled Red Engine does not seem to be made for consoles. It does not even feel like a bad port, it just feels broken. UI/UX for consoles is not even considered and visuals as well as performance are just beyond bad. How Microsoft let that go through certification is beyond me. I guess they needed a hyped title.

This is quite possibly the worst shooter experience I had in my life. Even Bodycount was better.

Give this game a go. It will surprise you. I don't think I have had this much pure fun in a game in a long time. The story is great and takes many twists and turns and has multiple endings, all dependent on the choices you make. The game is full of easter eggs and references to discover. it's great! Always something unexpected. The voice acting is really good for an indie game. The mechanics might seem simple at first, but the game definitely ramps up in difficulty and it's a tough little puzzle game!

Empty, repetitive, and cumbersome. Full of bugs. It's clear that there is no real design behind it. Some systems are well crafted, which can be expected by an experienced development team such as Avalanche (the AI is pretty damn good), but it feels like they had their most junior designers on the game, who looked at individual parts but not the gamer overall - there is no clear vision of what the game is meant to be and it shows. It has no soul. Shame really as the setting/idea is promising. It's as if that was all it ever was "lets make a game in sweden in the 80s with robots" - and it never developed on from that, nobody ever thought about what the overall game experience ought to be.

The experience I had with Anthem is simply shocking. It's as if someone looked at Destiny and said "We should make a game like that", but completely failed to understand what made Destiny great to play. There are only 2 positive things about Anthem: it looks gorgeous and flying feels right. Everything else is way below par. Shooting is aweful, first time user experience is simply atrocious. Loading screens are insane. The hub is dull and movement is reduced - it feels nothing like the hub in Destiny. The UI is a mess. it feels ancient, from the 90s, with no lessons learned by recent game releases. It's cumbersome, un-intuitive and confusing. All in all this game is just a mess. Avoid full price purchase, wait for game pass or similar

As a life long Battlefield player and fan, this is the worst installment yet. It feels like DICE is trying too hard these days to be artistic, putting setting, story and visuals over actual gameplay and player experience. Forcing me to go through the opening battle, showing me the names of real soldiers that died, might be aimed to tug on my emotions, but it interrupts my gameplay experience and teaches me nothing about the game. The single player missions are interrupted by characters telling their story (while I am shooting germans), which either makes me miss action on screen or the action on screen makes me miss out on the story. It's all wrapped in a nice cover, with the world map to select what I want to play, but it feels disorganized and sketchy. When it comes to actual gameplay, BF1 is just a shambles. The AI and scripting is beyond bad (having 6 AI enemies come around a corner, almost falling over each other is neither realistic nor gamey, it's just **** The AI often stands around doing nothing, then realizing they need to do something, spin 180 degrees and fire wildly or toss a grenade. The incredible overuse of flamethrower enemies is laughable, specially since you seem to hit their fuel tank with every shot. Weapons feel lackluster and dull. Audio and VFX feedback is a shadow of what it was with other BF titles or other games out there. Overall the game just feels beyond slow, including vehicles and movement in general. This year we have been spoiled with great shooters. Doom, Gears 4, Titanfall 2 - BF1 feels like the weakest of the lot so far. It has the usual BF1 multiplayer, which in theory should be fun, but with the shooting and game mechanics of this installment, it fails to grab me. It's interesting that most of the reviewers praising this game seem to focus on visuals and setting. If they would focus on actual gameplay, I doubt they would score the game as high. It's an interesting concept, but if you really want a good shooter experience get Titanfall 2 now and BF1 later when it's cheaper.

This is a great fun shooter. Simple as that. The campaign is well created, has some stunning (and truly huge environments) and the story is well told, while never getting in the way of the fun. Having had the single player campaign I felt much more prepared and ready for the multiplayer, which has a lot of similar features to the first, but a slightly more refined progression system. About the only thing I'd like to see, is slightly bigger maps and/or a Titanfall 1 map pack. We have been spoiled recently with good games, but I think Titanfall 2 is a must have game this autumn!

This is quite possibly the worst game I have played on the Xbox. Considering games such as Ace Golf and Outlaw Golf from 10 years or more ago, it is incredible to think that something like Dangerous Golf can even be released today and expected to please gamers. It's branded as an indie game, but the studio boasts veterans from Criterion (Black and Burnout games) and frankly my grandmother can create something better using blueprints in Unreal 4. Starting with an "intro/tutorial" video which lasts about 10 min and introduces every single mechanic and system in the game, which you then immediately forget as you are bombarded with info, to the shocking UI and user flow (i have to go back to select the next mission, even though it's in the same area), the total lack of understanding how you play the game, this is just a non starter. The audio is garish and visually it could be much better considering the engine and the fact that nothing really stretches performance to the limit. In short, avoid the game, save the money.

We had to wait a while but a proper new Gears of War game is finally here. It's magnificent. 11gb day one patch aside (which was annoying), I managed to pump in about 10 hours since yesterday already (not counting the time I played in beta and early access). The single player is solid, with some great set pieces and great characters, but the multiplayer is where it's at. The best gears multiplayer game ever and quite possibly the best multiplayer game in the last few years. The maps are incredible. Great balance, visually stunning and always something new to learn and new routes and locations to use depending on how the game unfolds. I can easily see myself putting in a few hundred hours. If ever played a Gears game and liked it (regardless of single player or multiplayer), you will like this. If you never played a Gears game, but are curious, it's a great title to get into the franchise.

Was looking forward to this. Bought into the hype. Unfortunately the game does not do it justice. It's an incredible technical feat, and I feel a lot of games in the future can build on the tech and utilize it. But apart from looks and tech, there just is not that much game. What's the point of having 100s of hours of content, when you start doing the same thing over and over again after 1 hour. It's incredibly dull and repetitive and the visuals and exploration only take you that far. There are some true gems in there (exploring, scaning life forms and looking through the database), but in order to get to these things the same old survival/collection tasks have to be done. again. and again. and again. If there was more to do and more fun things to do, I could recommend this game, but as it is, it is a game that developers have to play to experience the tech, but people who enjoy games should probably stay away from.

Finished the game in single player and it gets top marks from me. It's a fantastic old school shooter, that has transitioned well to modern gaming. Unlike games like the latest Wolfenstein, which went far too old school (manual ammo pick up etc.), this game keeps the old school feel and combines with it amazing usability and ease of use - that's not to say the game is easy to finish (depending on the difficulty rating), but it's super easy to pick up and play. It's fun all the way through - I have not had this much fun in a single player shooter since Bulletstorm. Everything just flows perfectly. The way you get health (from Finishers), to the way you get ammo, to the way you use the environment and of course the soundtrack - it's a pure run and gun fun event from start to finish. About the only gripes i could have with it, is the clunky upgrade screens (too many clicks, too many options, not all of them are worth it) and the final boss. It's a must have game for shooter fans - there really is no excuse not to buy this, even just for the single player.

Rise of the Tomb Raider is an incredible game. In my first playthrough i managed 85% completion and clocked in about 30 hours - brilliant amount of entertainment and replay value for money. The story is quite good, voice acting is superb and the game just has tons and tons of things to do. Unlike some (more) open world games, you don't constantly do the same thing in Tomb Raider - or at least it does not feel like it. Whenever you go leave the main story trail and explore (hunting, scavenging, crafting, exploring), it has a genuine benefit to Lara or her gear and you find some really cool parts of the story. Side missions are well constructed and (unlike other games), Tomb Raider does not provide the player with generic, repetitive and always repeating side missions. Overall it's a fantastic single player experience that builds really well on the last game. The things that prevent me from giving it a 10/10 are the time trials and microtransactions - i don't think the game needs that at all and it would have been better to spend the time on an additional area that perhaps unlocks after completing the game.

Just Cause 3 has not moved on at all from the first game. Yes, it looks graphically better and you now have a wing suit, but at the end of the day it's still all about physics and explosions. In 2015, and with games like MGS, Far Cry, Fallout and others, that simply is not enough in my book. The game comes in at a whopping 43 gig and has a 2.7 gig patch on Xbox One and so far the day one patch has not fixed the massive performance issues (Frame Rate drops to below 20 at times and loading times are insane). JC3 has a massive open world, but little (of interest) to do in it. Once you have taken out 2 or 3 areas and done a few "side missions" (and I use the term loosely here) you have done pretty much all there is to do. Story was never great in JC and the main missions always lacked imagination, and JC3 has not moved on here at all either. If all you want to see is explosions (though with massive drops in performance) and play around with physics, then you might get some hours of entertainment out of it. But I'd recommend waiting until it drops in price - there are far better games out right now that deserve your money more and provide more interesting content. JC has huge potential, I hope Square moves the franchise away from Avalanche and gives it to a studio worthy of the IP (as they have done with Tomb Raider) - it needs a reboot badly.

Visually the game looks nice, and that seems to be the only thing that matters these days. Provide the player with a big bombastic visual visceral experience. The problem is that doing this right from the start, as is the case with CoD Advanced Warfare, actually has detrimental gameplay effects. The initial cut scene on the marine landing ship is gorgeous. The subsequent drop pod sequence is atrocious. In a first person shooter, the first action I perform is a quick time event. Followed by another quick time event. More than 10 minutes pass before I fire my gun in anger. The first level barely teaches me the basics of the new elements (smart grenades, jump suit etc.) - instead it bombards me with more visuals and explosions OMG WATCH OUT moments than you can throw a stick at. By the time I get to the tutorial (the shooting range) I was already forced to learn everything the hard way (which is pausing the game and looking at button mappings). It's not that I need the game to hold my hand. But I would like to know how to get the most out of the game BEFORE I get thrown into the deep end. I don't want to be figure out gameplay mechanics which can help me be awesome in the game, 2 levels from finishing it. I have no idea why review sites continue to rank this game so high. Advanced Warfare has done nothing to drive the franchise or even the genre forward. It looks prettier than the last few CoD games, but that's not hard with new consoles and a new engine. It is still the same bland story, as well as horrible game and level design which is overshadowed by set piece moments and WOW elements. If that is your thing, go for it. If you prefer to just shoot stuff - Destiny and Titanfall have that covered.

Keep in mind that this is my personal view. There is a lot of potential in Shadow of Mordor but today I am returning the game to the store, after only 4 days and maybe 6 hours of play. The easy thing first: visually it's ok, nothing outstanding (not for a next gen experience) but it's ok. Orcs and main character look great though and overall the atmosphere is good. The environment looks very bland and repetitive and level design is average at best. Now for the harder part, Gameplay: the biggest strength of SoM is the fact that your actions matter. Killing orc captains or dying to them, has knock on effects and changes the opponents you face and how enemies react to you. This is it's greatest strength, but (in my opinion) also throws up a weakness. A lot of content is based on randomness (AI paths, patrols, locations of captains etc.), so it is not uncommon for more difficult enemies (orc captains) to interfere in your normal gameplay moments and even missions. This can lead to some amazing, unique, gameplay experiences and it's unlikely 2 people will have the same playthrough. But it can also lead to unwanted death, lots of running away and lots of wasted time (setting up the initial target etc.) - in some cases it can lead to an hour or more of wasted in game time. Top this up with your enemies growing stronger every time you die, and for the average gamer out there (which I am one of) this game quickly can turn into a punishing experience, where player death is rewarded with more player death. Again, this is my view, and it is down to how I play games, so those who like this sort of challenge, those who like to spend hours working out a strategy and then see it fall to pieces because the game throws a spanner in the works, will have a great time with this game. It does reward you with unique moments and some solid combat and good upgrades. To me personally the game does not cater enough to average gamers, it aims at the hardcore crowd I feel and that's a shame. Even a simple "easy mode", reducing the damage taken by the player character, would have made this game a lot more enjoyable to gamers like myself.

Visually this is a massive step forward. But the story (which seems to be it's main part) falls flat, the characters are shallow and there virtually is no gameplay. I definitely can't recommend this "game". It feels like the creative leads behind this really want to work in films, but somehow chose the wrong medium to bring their vision across. I got bored and irriated enough to not even finish half the game.

Just finished this and it's a must have game. It's fairly short, took me just under 4 hours to complete, but the experience is simply flawless. The game has some truely unique control mechanics and it tells a beautiful story. Visually it looks stunning and the soundtrack is amazing! There are some fantastic moments of joy and sadness in this tale.

Probably one of the best games in a long while. Beautifully crafted in all areas. Visually stunning, fantastic audio, great level design and excellent gameplay mechanics. This game is what gaming should be all about: a good story, well told and the player able to influence the world based on actions. The game truely gives the player the choice on how to get through. It's not just about stealth or combat, but just as much about reading the environment, planning the best path through it and dealing with various scenarios. Patience often pays off, but is not necessary. You can play this game like hitman, or you can play it like call of duty - it's up to you. Must have game.

Well the last MoH was a travesty and this follows suit. Frostbite 2 looks stunning and the audio is crisp, but it's very unfortunate that Danger Close does not seem to be a Tier 1 studio taking full advantage of an excellent engine. More like a Tier 3 or 4 studio hacking together something that tries to emulate Call of Duty (which is not really understandable as that franchise has gone stale as well). The single player story simply can't be followed. it's all over the place when it does not have to be. There is no need for all the different locations at all, other than for the devs to show of that they can have them. Too many characters that the player has to identify with. Its horrid. The only redeeming fact is that it delivers and ok gun experience. Well that and the fact that you only have to sit through around 6 hours of the game. The multiplayer is not up to DICE standards. The maps are ok, but the UI is designed by an amateur - too much information popping up left right and centre, distracting from the whats really important. Some interesting modes, but nothing that really drives the genre forward. Considering that this will probably not sell very well, and there will be a lot of used copies on the market, i would not expect the multiplayer to be as well populated as BF3 or CoD either. If you are truely despeate for a shooter right now, and you can't be bothered with Black Ops 2 (like me) - then it might be worth picking up. But probably better to play XCOM or Dishonored until the price drop for this game arrives - my guess: 3 to 4 weeks.

Well all the hopes i had for the 3rd game, after the dissapointment of the second, were for nothing. Instead of going back to what made the first game in the series great, Bioware created an even more dumbed down version of the game in an attempt to wow the masses. Cutscene, Cutscene, Cutscene, dull combat, rinse and repeat. Add to that a co-op mode that you are almost forced to play if you want the "best" possible ending in the single player and it's clear that Bioware just wants to keep copies out of the second hand market. This game has gone down the path of Dragon Age. a great concept, but a bad implementation.

So a reboot of a classic. And a good one. I have put in well over 30 hours now and i am enjoy myself greatly, Starbreeze has delivered once again. I could go into the whole "Why did EA make an FPS" and rate the game down, but what's the point of that? In the end i can only judge the game based on what it is. And what it is, is another solid FPS game from Starbreeze, not a run of the mill 50th iteration of an EA franchise. Graphically the game is crisp (if i bit heavy on the bloom) but you can see that the old Starbreeze engine is nearing it's end, or should in any case. Still, the game is presented at a lovely framerate and at the speed at which you play it, what presents itself visually is brilliant. A great depiction of the have and have nots in the future, with clear and distinct visual differences. Characters in particular stand out, with the main plot cast having superb modelling. Audio wise the game is also very strong. Moody ambient audio, stunning soundtrack and probably what amouns to the best sounding guns on the current gen. In terms of gameplay the single player is not the most innovative product out there, but it's a solid and fun shooter with a few tists and turns. Breaching certainly sets it apart. This fun mechanic really adds another layer of depth to the game and certainly increases replay value of the single player alone, as you try to come up with different solutions to any given scenario. But where the game really shines is the co-op campaign. Action at breakneck speed at partially VERY hard difficulty that really requires team work to succeed. Starbreeze has not been known to treat any kind of multiplayer with a lot of love in previous games, but they certainly have done that here. Initially i was worried that i could only play this with friends, but even with randoms the game is fun and deep. Unlocks, progression and upgrading your agent make sense and i often get that "oh just one more upgrade" feeling which keeps me playing. If you like shooters get it, it's worth it. If like co-op shooters (particularly with some friends) then you MUST get it.

The single player is ok. A bit heavy on the QTE for my taste but the story is decent and the environments are varied enough. Guns feel good. But this game really is all about multiplayer and, a slightly patchy start aside, it delivers. The unlocks and upgrades are deeper and more meaningful than ever before. The maps are stunning and varied in size and content and the gun play is amazing. No developer has ever delivered a better vehicle feel. It's clear the game was led on PC, but on Xbox it looks great, sounds great and plays brilliantly. If you want a Single Player shooter only, there is probably something better out there. If you want deep, meaningful and varied multiplayer, there simply is nothing better.

Not worth your money. Unfortunately. Rage looks good. Well, anything upwards of 10 meters away from your character looks good. Close up unfortunately the mega textures reduce everything to flat garbage. Piles of blood, gore and body parts are nothing more than 1 single low poly object with a flat texture. no sense of depth at all. There are only 2 great things about the game: visuals in a distance and lighting. Gamepaly wise it fails on pretty much every level. Guns feel underpowered for the most part and the gun audio is shocking (akin more to can-opener than an instrument of death), with some sound effects actually being delayed and not playing until a second after you fire the damn thing. Pacing is terrible, and there is never a sense of threat. Face 2 enemies in a corridor and take a lot of damage? no problem, back up around a corner and go make a cup of tea. The 2 enemies will still be there 30 min later, happily hiding behind their prescribed boxes. Why chase you afterall? They seem to know that you have to go past them. Being sent to the same locations over and over again also is not a good thing. About 1 hour into the game i stopped doing any of the pointless side missions to avoid re-traversing the same bunkers over and over again. Cash, items and ammo did not seem to be a problem anyway. AI behaviour, while not strictly bad, is severely limited. It seems that AI use control points to a very strict and limiting degree. with a set radius and cone of vision - nothing will change their behaviour and if you see a section more than one (due to death) you will see them behave the exact same way every time. Death is another matter. The game has no checkpoints during action and the game only autosaves when loading new areas. It seems like the developers only realized that this might be an issue when they were close to finishing. so they tacked on some sort of mini revival game, which only resets every 10 min or so. The short of it: save a lot or don't die. Overall the game tries to do too much. I think they aimed for a mix between Bioshock and Fallout. Nothing it tries to do, works well. It's completely middle of the road, and sub-par in a lot of aspects. A lot of people complained about texture popping (which is insane on the xbox), but for me the biggest problem is simply that the game is not really fun to play. It does not grip me, i don't feel like i want to play it. And if i die and forgot to save, i have no problem switching the game off and not playing it for a few days, rather than repeat the last lame section. I was actually quite glad when it was over, and if i would not making it a habit of finishing games i buy, i would have stopped about 1 hour. Because after 1 hour you know pretty much what's what!

My friend was mad enough to buy this game on launch. He finished it in 4 hours and so i borrowed it today and finished it in just over 4 hours myself. Short advice: do not buy this game. It is astonishing just how bad this game is and that something like this can actually be released, and at full AAA price as well. That is just pure rip-off. Gameplay: The guns are fun. Not varied enough and run of the mill really (depsite having some fancy names). No rocket launcher. In a game that is supposed to be about destruction thats pretty bad in my book. Even Black (bad as it was) managed a rocket launcher for some set-pieces. The core gameplay tries to be a run and gun game, but at the same time the main aim control roots you to the spot, which makes me think the devs did not know what they wanted to do. Missions and Objectives are just terrible. Most shooters are shallow, but this game goes beyond. Checkpoints and pressing x. killing a random guy that often looks no different then the rest of the AI. that really is about it. AI: non-existing. You can tell exactly where control points were placed in the level. AI spawn and run to the points then start firing. It also seems that there can only be about 10 AI on screen at the same time and i never saw more than 3 or 4 firing at me. I never once felt under threat and often you can run past them while they look into a wall. Destruction: what destruction? "Shredding" as they call it lets me rip apart about 20 to 30% of the level. And its not readable at all. On some buildings i can destroy a wall, but an identical looking wall next to it stays solid and only takes decals. There is no common thread and you can not plan ahead and feel smart. Shredding is accidental at best. What is there is detailed to a point its pointless. In the heat of battle i personal dont care if a chair disintigrates into 400 pieces. Give me Bad Company building collapses every day. Story and Character: Not present. My character has no name and a no-name **** chick screams in my ear. The writing is so bland and boring that i would guess Codemasters saved the money for a professional writer and developed the story in house. Bad mistake. I dont expect a Deus Ex story line in a shooter, but give me at least SOMETHING that makes sense and tells me why i should be killing everyone. Graphics: about 5 years dated. Looks like previous xbox and not 360. surprising considering the same engine looks gorgeous on GRID and DIRT. the color scheme is a total rip-off from Brink but implemented terribly. The levels are so full of color it hurts your eyes and AI (often in the same color palette) blend in completely. Audio: Audio is largely good and so is the music, but the music feels out of place for this game somehow. Level Design: The Levels are generally nice and open, inviting you to explore. But this is where the rest breaks down. Missions are linear scripted (as if the scripter did not realize he had a semi open world to play with and it was all corridor shooter) and the AI just falls apart when you diviate from the critical path. Overall: Avoid at all cost. Or ask yourself how much 1000 Achievment points are really worth to you cash wise.

Loved this game. I loved the first Dead Space and if anything, the second one is even better. Fantastic atmosphere, gorgeous level design and art direction and briliant game mechanics. The one thing, above all, that stands out to me with this series is the fantastic UI (or lack thereof) - perfect way of telling players ammo and health, giving maximum game screen and not cluttering anything up. If there is one thing which is not as good in the second it will be the story. I felt it was not as gripping and well developed as the story was in the first game, but then again i did not mind too much as a lot of other things were improved upon. If you liked the first, you will like this. If you have not played the first, you can play this no problem - its a perfect stand-alone (though you should still play the first because its also awesome). 2 thumbs up from me!

I have to say i really enjoyed this game. If you want to play an arcade style shooter, this is your best bet. Graphic, Audio, Music and environment are all well done and create an immersive atmosphere. Guns could have been done better, particularly the rifle feels a bit underpowered and the enemies are like bullet spongues when using it, but then again you dont play this shooter like any other. If you play it like its meant to be played, using the whip, boot as well as alternative fire and the environment, its a hell of a lot of fun! The levels are gorgeous, large and despite being linear, i never felt boxed in like this is the case with the CoD series. The skill-kill system makes sense and is particularly fun once you start playing the Echo time/score runs. I find myself playing them even now from time to time when i only have 10 or 20 min of game time - trying to beat the score of a friend or just beating my own. The story is a typical run of the mill revenge plot, but with a few nice (if expected) twists. Nothing to write home about, but its told in a fun way. Initially i was not too sure about the over the top and partially very coarse language, but Bulletstorm actually makes fun of itself at times and so it strangely works for me. Definitely a recommendation from me, it is a great fun shooter that should keep you entertained for some time thanks to Echo and MP modes on top of the SP campaign.

Stunning game, not without flaws, but the few it has are easily forgiven. The size of the world and attention to detail is staggering. The world feels believable, immersive and lived in. Walking through offcies and labs, seing lots of objects in the areas just makes you feel like someone actually lives or works in the places you visit. Audio is well done and the music just fits perfectly. All in all the atmosphere of the game is brilliant. Gameplay wise i was surprised how easy the multitude of mechanics are to pick up. I was particularly worried about implementation of stealth, but it is superb. The controls are intuitive and just work - a few minutes of playing and you will feel right at home. No long or steep learning curve at all. The gameplay elements are varied and all done to a high level. It is not a shooter, but even playing with guns blazing feels ok. With stealth and alternative approaches to solving problems the game really comes into it's own though. There is ALWAYS multiple ways of reaching your goals in true Deus Ex style. I know i have a good game in my hands when i start planning an approach for a second playthrough while still playing for the first time! Definitely a must buy and keeper. Playing through once took me well over 30 hours and i know i missed quite a few things, so several playthroughs are a certainty for me. Not many games can boast such a high value for money these days.