RealMuthaF

Jedi Survivor is an exemplary sequel, one that manages to surpass the original in almost every meaningful way. Picking up 5(?) years after the original, the story is very enjoyable, but is also one of the reasons I couldn't give it a perfect score. Character-wise, it is still great, Respawn managed to craft likable characters you actually care for, with an ensemble of new and recurring ones. The game brings up some interesting topics like when is it right to step down from a fight and live for yourself, and survivor’s guilt. Plot-wise though, SWJS is in a difficult spot due to its position in the Star Wars timeline - set between Episodes 3 and 4, Cal can’t do anything too meaningful not to disturb the main canon. As a result, half the story is dedicated to an elongated side quest of defeating some ancient fallen Jedi from the “High Republic” era recently conjured by Disney. The latter half, dedicated to trying to make a planet unreachable by the Empire a base for future Rebellion, feels doomed from the start, as it is destined to either fail or remain behind the scenes. Still, the overall story is satisfying, it is pleasant to see Cal grow into a full-fledged condident and powerful Jedi Knight, and when there’s drama, the drama actually works, and that’s saying a lot. Graphically, the game looks amazing and pretty much on par with major PlayStation exclusives. I heard there were performance issues at launch, but nearly none remain now. I wish the soundtrack had more memorable tunes like the first game did, but that’s a bit of a step down, unfortunately. Gameplay-wise, the combat system is an evolution of the first game, with much more depth and complexity, and the developers going all out and having whopping 5 lightsaber stances for Cal, not sure how they’re going to top that in the sequel. What SWJS does really well is convey Cal’s progress as a Jedi – you can now take on tougher enemies in much larger numbers (purge troopers are now cannon fodder instead of mini-bosses), and he goes toe-to-toe with very strong foes throughout the story, you really do feel more powerful in the very beginning of Survivor than you did in the end of Fallen Order, there’s no “you have forgotten everything you’ve learned” like in older God of War games here. Cal is also a much more potent Force user now, and the final upgrade to Slow you get through the story is pretty crazy. The levels have also grown in complexity, are meticulously crafted, and two are so large they have actual mounts. Seeing a floating Cloud City-like station on Koboh in the background and realizing it is part of playable area is very impressive. Now for a bit of criticism contributing to the 9/10. While the developers addressed some issues with FO, JS could still benefit from simple quality of life improvements. There is a map, but the levels are now so intricate sometimes it is still tough to understand where to go to reach loot you want to pick up. The game features Force Tears - challenging confined levels. Some are just annoyingly hard and forced me to tone the difficulty down (Two Rancors or huge toads at a time, it’s just not fun). When you lose a combat Tear, you for some reason go back to the main level, which takes time to load, and to retry you need to wait for the Tear to load again. Platforming Tears somehow avoid this and just respawn you at the beginning of the trial. And once you’ve beaten them, the only way to replay them is to painstakingly backtrack to their location on the huge levels again. Why on Earth couldn’t they be added to the mediation point menu is beyond me - FO had an update adding similar challenges exactly there. And still no horde mode for Survivor is a crime – by the end of the game you have barely anywhere to play with your fully upgraded combat abilities save for starting a New Game Plus, which I personally usually do only after a few years from a first playthrough. Still, Jedi Survivor is the best Disney-era piece of Star Wars content by a large margin, it gave me feelings comparable to playing the old KOTOR games, and I wait patiently for the end of the trilogy. The Force is strong with Respawn Entertainment.

Deathloop really is a quintessence of everything Arkane has been building over the last two decades or so. It blends gameplay elements from all of its recent games: stealth elements and powers akin to Dishonored, gunplay and turrets from Prey, roguelike repetition elements from Prey Mooncrash, and even the mighty kick from Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. Story-wise, in my opinion, it is an improvement over Arkane's previous titles, as it still features amazingly immersive lore and expertly designed environmental storytelling, and this time around adds plenty of dialogue and actually well-written characters. The game does have a bit of a learning curve in the beginning, as you are overwhelmed by the abundance of overlapping game mechanics, but the game does guide you quite well in the beginning hours until setting you free into the endless loop. The progression in Deathloop is very satisfying, as you meticulously piece together a plan to eliminate 8 targets in a single day, gain increasingly powerful equipment and abilities, and figure out the story on three levels of scale: about Colt, Julianna and the Visionaries; about Blackreef, its history and the Anomaly; and about the general world the game takes place in. I felt the ending was a bit underwhelming and posed more questions than answers, much like Arkane's previous games, but after reading more about it on Reddit, I was blown away and am very intrigued about what the studio is going to do next. I mean beyond Redfall which I heard to be a letdown, and Blade, which I fear may also steer away from the immersive sim genre that the studio excels at.

It is great to see that after the rushed (but still good) inFamous: Second Son, **** Punch were given proper time and budget to develop their next game. Despite some flaws, Ghost of Tsushima is one of the best recent open-world games, and my personal GOTY 2020. The game simply nails its fundamentals. Melee combat is quick and satisfying, it carefully avoids enemies becoming slash-sponges, everyone can be defeated within a few precise strikes on any difficulty level. Exploration is engaging thanks to the immersive astoundingly beautiful open world set in feudal Japan. It is remarkably gorgeous, and I found myself making more screenshots in it than in any other game. I also have to give credit to smart hudless design that encourages you to gaze upon this world instead of some mini-maps (RDR 2, take note), as all you need for navigation is a swipe up on the touchpad, which triggers the guiding wind, showing you the way. A similar system was implemented in Arkham games with Batman's symbol in the sky, with similarly great results. It's a pleasure to just ride your horse (without mashing X like a madman) across Tsushima's magnificent plains, taking detours to help a villager in need. I'd also like to commend the game's technical side - in spite of its complex visuals, Ghost of Tsushima almost never drops its FPS on the base PS4, and the loading times are a marvel, with it taking about 6 seconds to load, all without an SSD. Now for the things keeping it from being a ten. The story can be hit-and-miss: it starts very slow, can be boring at times, is very straightforward and predictable, and the characters are mostly one-dimensional (Uncle "Honor" Shimura). The ending, however, is surprisingly solid, which helps leave a positive lasting impression. My other complaint is that the overall game is too big, and gets very stretched and repetitive if you try to complete all the side content. I spent over 70 hours beating the game, and I still have a good dozen Mongol camps to liberate, few dozen collectibles to pick up, and some spacious parts of map left unexplored, all of which I am too tired to do at this point. Also, for a game that has the main character transitioning from a samurai to more of a ninja, GoT offers some very basic stealth mechanics - you can sneak up on people, shoot them with arrows or darts, and throw distractions that they will wander towards, but that's it. The Legends online mode, added after the game's intial release, is a welcome surprise, and offered 10-15 more hours of arcade fun for me. It's nothing spectacular, but it's still great they added this little DLC, and it's completely non-monetized, despite there being loot and cosmetics. To sum up, PS4's last big exclusive turned out to be one of its best. Looking forward to the next generation now.

Seriously don't get the mixed user ratings with no actual negative user reviews. It's about timed exclusivity again, right? Control: AWE is a solid final expansion to my personal GOTY 2019, albeit with a couple of flaws, which put it a step down from its predecessor. First, the good parts - it's more of Control with its thick atmosphere and engaging super-powered gameplay. The new sticky launcher weapon is effective and fun to play with and the multi-launch upgrade is amazingly powerful - you can now grab up to three objects at once with telekinesis and throw them at multiple targets, too. It is a bit disappointing that you need whole 8 ability points to unlock it, which are only attainable almost by the end of the expansion, when you can only play around with them in the new Arcade mode (Yeah, another one, yeah, like Expeditions). The Alan Wake - themed gameplay additions also work well, with you having to stay in the light to regain energy and be protected from certain enemies or Launch-grabbing a light and shining it on clots of darkness to dissolve it. It's also worth noting that this DLC is creepier than the previous one and gets horror-like quite a few times. However, the entire Alan Wake connection thing is a mixed bag. The plot of AWE, if you drop the Wake references, is literally the following cliche: there was a monster that the Bureau studied, but it broke free and butchered everyone, so now the sector is sealed off. Find it and kill it, roll credits. To mix it up, you get some insight as to what happened with characters from Alan Wake after the events of that game, as well as a direct tease of a sequel (or another crossover, whatever they've planned). Said references are presented to you with an assumption that you already know who these characters are and that you should be excited for their comeback. Now I personally played Wake like 10 years ago, and barely remember anything from it, so I had to do some googling to even understand who Hartman or the Anderson brothers are. As a result, all these bits only work if you are a hardcore fan of AW, otherwise they are a miss, and the plot doesn't have anything else to entertain you with. My other complaint is the level design - while Foundation presented a new type of environment with its caves and crystals, the Investigations is just another Containment sector with familiar offices and loading bays, some of which seem to be copy-pasted, which is a letdown. Finally, this expansion, also unlike the first one, fails to provide any interesting side missions, all of which are relegated to bland fetch quests. Despite this, I still enjoyed AWE a lot, and I would strongly prefer a direct sequel to Control, rather than to Alan Wake.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider, unfortunately, is yet another more-of-the-same type of sequel. The game's strengths are, still, its graphics (I even took some screenshots during gameplay) and tomb exploration. Tombs are more numerous this time, and generally well-designed, with better ones reserved for DLCs. Combat and climbing are serviceable, but nothing special. The addition of a rope is welcome, but its uses are limited throughout the game, sadly. The main weakness is, also still, the game's story, which largely mirrors Rise's, starts out in an intriguing way, but slows down to a halt promptly. Croft mostly acts like a whiny b**ch, her "lost my parents" backstory still doesn't make you care, Jonah is still an annoying friendzone type ("R U OK, LARAH?" constitutes 50+% of his dialogue), Trinity is a lame antagonist, and the aboriginal allies are forgettable cliches. The franchise continues to suffer from an identity crisis, with its gameplay mechanics more honed towards open-world style, while the levels are mostly tight limiting corridors. Plus, there is a strong imbalance in favor of exploration at the expense of combat, so you spend the majority of the game unlocking combat skills only to use them a handful of times. The game tries to stretch itself, as that's what AAA games are expected to do nowadays, unfortunately, so we also get a number of side missions, which are split into alright tomb missions and horrendously boring fetch quests, where only the strongest won't skip through the cringy dialogues and free 4 prisoners / talk to 5 natives / read 3 murals / etc. The Tomb Raider reboot started out strong, but took a step back with its sequel, and a new developer studio couldn't shake things up. It's just an alright game worth picking up at a discount with all the DLCs included, which is a shame, as the potential to be something greater is still there.

Having played Hunt for a little over a month, I have to conclude that it is one of the most original and enjoyable multiplayer games on the market. The game shines in its ability to produce very tense moments while interacting with other players - pretty much any firefight becomes suspenseful when the ammunition is sparse, the weapons mostly single-shot, and with other player teams and NPC monsters lurking around. You're always both the hunter and the hunted, as even when you manage to grab the bounty (the main game mode's primary objective is to locate and kill an NPC monster and escape with the bounty it drops) you are immediately revealed to all other players on map, often initiating a thrilling chase. The fact that you lose all your perks and equipment when killed, an outstanding atmosphere of a monstrosity-infested 19th century Luisiana and brilliant sound design (you are encouraged to move slowly and listen to your surroundings) add to the experience. Hunt: Showdown's gameplay may not be for everyone, though. First, it's slow-paced, there's nothing akin to Call of Duty-style frantic shootouts to be found here. I wouldn't even call the game a shooter, it's more of a multiplayer survival horror, somewhat similar to the Resident Evil series. Secondly, the game features a fairly steep learning curve, and it won't be easy to score even a first player kill, let alone successfully escape with a bounty. Once you get the hang of it, though, it becomes real fun to play. The game's menus are also overloaded with information, and are overwhelming to browse at first. My other gripes would include graphics - seriously something I would never expect from a Crytek game, Hunt at times looks awful, with muddy textures, ridiculously small drawing distances and dead bodies disappearing within a second or two. Besides that, the game is also still plagued with some connection issues, the loading times are long, and the number of maps, monsters and game modes leaves some to be desired. Still, Hunt: Showdown has proved to be an engaging and unique experience, and I can see myself keeping playing it for the foreseeable future.

Are those 6 negative review-less ratings coming from Xbox players upset about the delayed launch on their platform? The Foundation is an excellent expansion. The Foundation itself is an exciting setting to be explored, is visually distinct from other levels and comparable in size and intricacy to them. The base plot continues the main game expertly, putting into question the affiliation of some characters and teasing what the second DLC or the sequel may be about. The Foundation holds its fair share of secrets, much like the rest of the Oldest House, so the expansion still retains the thick atmosphere of mystery and intrigue that I loved Control for. Gameplay-wise it's mostly more of the same, but a couple new enemy types and powers, as well as level 6 mods and new mod types are a welcome addition. Also, the cleansing of the video camera altered item is one of the best side missions in the entire game. The minor gripes also mostly remain the same as in the main game. It still stutters visibly when exiting the pause menu on the base PS4, and the frame rate drops occasionally during heavy firefights. Remedy fixed the map loading speed and tried to clean it up a bit, but because of complex vertical levels navigation using the flat 2D map can still be a nuisance. Also, the new power is limited in use to the Foundation area and pre-defined points on the arenas, which is a letdown, as it'd be more fun if the player was allowed to freely spawn the crystals wherever they'd point. Finally, you can spawn an FBC ranger to aid you in a few fixed points in the sector, which sounds cool, but the ranger fights VERY poorly, barely even firing his gun, which can get frustrating, as one of the new trophies is linked to the number of enemies such NPC has to kill. Still, Control was my GOTY 2019, and its first DLC is so far the best gaming experience I've had in 2020. Eagerly looking forward to AWE and the potential sequel.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Despite some flaws, Fallen Order is a solid game and a welcome addition to the franchise in these dark Disney times. Speaking about the flaws, the biggest one on my list is navigation. The game has a metroidvania structure, so you often come back to levels you've previously visited, and it's a drag because of lack of any sort of fast travel. Respawn could've at least added the ability to fast travel back to the ship, let alone between meditation points. As some levels are quite intricate and large (notably planet Zeffo), it's often frustratingly difficult to figure out where to go next, especially if you're off-mission and just trying to collect some loot chest you missed before. The game really lacks some sort **** line akin to Dead Space games. My other, more minor, gripes would be some bland cliche moments in the story (repetition of morals like "failure is part of the way, you have to keep trying" is a bore), some technical issues on the base PS4 and the relative clunkiness of the main character, which results in some annoying moments when you are pitted against a large number of opponents. Also, once the main story is beaten, you have little left to do other than going for collectibles, while the main combat mechanics beg for an arena mode. Still, the overall story is satisfying, the characters are likeable, and Respawn did a good job of intertwining this game with pretty much all the Star Wars canon - Fallen order has an abundance of welcome references to both Lucas' trilogies, spin-offs like the cartoons and Rogue One and even the sequels with one icy planet in particular that stands out. The lightsaber combat has some depth to it, linear Uncharted-style setpieces are fun and accelerate the pacing when it starts to drop, and the Soulslike mechanics are mostly serviceable, although it's kind of weird to see enemies respawn anytime you replenish health, and it's presented just as a game mechanic, without any story explanation. Music deserves an honorable mention - I caught goosebumps almost every time I heard the main menu theme. Maybe it's because Jedi Fallen order is the first proper single player Star Wars game in like a decade, but it managed to bring back hope in me for the franchise. Looking forward to the inevitable sequel.

It truly is a shame that the game's marketing campaign was so bland, it made a lot of people miss a hidden gem. Solid gameplay mechanics with fun supernatural powers to wield, clever metroidvania-style level structure, good plot (wouldn't expect less from Sam Lake) and the absolutely outstanding palpable atmosphere of mystery and fleshed-out lore set this game apart from any competitor. I don't want to dwell into plot details here to avoid spoilers, but trust me, this is a game best to be experienced going in blind. If you're a fan of sci-fi and mystery genres, don't miss it out. Also, I've seen people saying it's a 10-hour game, which is misleading, as with all the side quests (mostly as high-quality as the main plot) it leans towards 25-30. That's not to say the game doesn't have its fair share of problems. Firstly, even after the update there are mild performance issues on base PS4, with a consistent noticeable 2-3-second frame drop occurring every time you exit the pause menu. Secondly, the in-game map is confusing and often wouldn't load. Lastly, I found the ending to be somewhat underwhelming and straightforward, compared to the complexity and intrigue of the plot that preceded it. Still, after beating the main storyline and being 3 trophies away from platinum which I fully intent to get, I consider Control to be the best game of 2019 so far.

An overall improvement over the original - better graphics, tighter gameplay, more ambitious setpieces. The plot had too much farce at times (the **** scene, pretty much everything Sigrun-related) and some characters were too annoying and PC (that noisy black woman). Also while I appreciate the overall bigger length of the campaign, the side missions were just boring retreads of the already beaten levels, didn't bother to finish those.

A pretty good interactive movie quite on par with David Cage’s better works like Heavy Rain. Special props for the motion controls, which work surprisingly well and increase the immersion a bit. My only gripes would be the predictability of some plot twists (not all, though) and the fact that the game is just not scary at all. It can get a bit tense, but that’s it, UD only relies on incessant annoying jump scares to frighten you, which rarely work. Still, enjoyed this one and looking forward to what Supermassive Games will do next.

A bit of a letdown, The Heist is a more-of-the same kind of DLC that lasts slightly less than 4 hours if 100%-ed. Story-wise it's a bit bland and is basically a side-quest filler story, just with main-quest-quality cutscenes. The only plot twist is seen from a mile away, and Black Cat is just a more tamed version of Batman's Catwoman with muffled levels of sexuality and flirtiness. It doesn't really help that the DLC ends with a cheap cliffhanger and a "to be continued". Gameplay-wise it's more of the same, really - some combat arenas with 1 new annoying enemy type (the minigun dudes just block every attack except for a finisher), some stealth rooms with the ability to call Black Cat for a takedown (Hi, Arkham Knight) to make them even easier, and some copy-paste side missions. It's still enjoyable thanks to the very strong core gameplay mechanics, but I'm a little disappointed that we didn't get a new gadget or skills. It is a strange decision to even split the City That Never Sleeps story into 3 episodes while they run a continuous story, and have it out just a few days before RDR2, which will definitely hurt the sales. While I don't regret buying the digital deluxe version with all the DLC in it, if you don't have it, I'd personally recommend to wait till all 3 episodes are out and play them at once.

So, after roughly 4 years of abstinence, I've decided to go back to the AC franchise where I left off. And, unsurprisingly, Black Flag turns out to be a mere reskin of AC3 that had come out just a year before it. The core gameplay is exactly the same as before - parkour, dull combat and expanded ship fights. The ships were already there in AC3, here they just replace horses as a means of traveling between cities. As a result, we get a pretty cool sailor atmosphere, although it's all ruined by the game's repetitiveness. It's pretty great to board an enemy ship and bring its crew to their knees, but on the 30-50th time? Not so much. Same goes for underwater swimming, whale hunting and the rest of the mini-games AC IV offers. The 3 main cities themselves are largely unremarkable, and, what I found very disappointing, are not connected to the main open world - whenever you approach a city, there's a loading screen. The story and characters are among the worst of the franchise - Kenway is a dull stereotypical scoundrel type with a heart of gold, who predictably and implausibly changes his ways closer to endgame. All of the side cast are boring pirates who do pirate stuff - drink rum, argue and kill people. It's cool that they're based off real historical figures, but with such poor writing I couldn't care less about the forced drama associated with some of them. And the main plot is also unbearably boring - you start looking for yet another "precursor" artifact, then spend half the missions doing filler **** like searching for supplies for your bland pirate friends, then you get back to looking for the artifact. Amazing. So, to sum up, this game is a mediocre oversized DLC for Assassin's Creed 3 with a ridiculously poor story, same gameplay and a cool atmosphere than runs out due to repetitiveness. It doesn't deserve a "IV" in its title and I can't believe why some people on the Web would count this as one of the franchise's best. Had I played this right after AC3, my score would've been even lower.

Sony continues to dominate 2018 with yet another solid hit. Marvel's Spider-Man doesn't have "amazing" in its title, but it would very well deserve it. This is not a flawless game, hence the 9/10, but it does nail two essential things - core gameplay and Spider-Man himself. The game is incredibly satisfying and still fun to play after 30+ hours of main campaign and the side missions - the reviewers didn't exaggerate when they said that simply swinging on webs from point A to B is truly joyful. The Arkham-inspired but tweaked combat system is less fluid than Batman's, but more agile with a lot of emphasis on mid-air fighting, and ultimately, very enjoyable. As for the protagonist, this is probably his best portrayal in recent media, the movies don't even come close. He's charismatic, rapid-fires quips, balances heroics and regular life, and is more mature than a schoolboy. That said, there are some minor annoyances in both story and gameplay. In gameplay, some side missions are just lackluster, like the copy-pasted crimes (several dozen of them!) and the research stations. I mean, come on, one minute you're saving the city and then you're tasked to feed the fish or catch pigeons. Insomniac should've followed Arkham more closely and made most (if not all) side quests connected to some side villain, like the Tombstone and Taskmaster missions. As for story, I didn't like this Mary Jane at all, who is some sort of an angry feminist who still gets herself in danger as usual, but upon being saved dares to complain about it. Neither did I like Morales, who is exactly the same character as Parker, only black and without any charisma whatsoever. Yeah, but he's so cool he can knock out a grown man with one punch with no prior training. I sincerely hope the most he'll become in the sequel is a sidekick. There were some cliche moments with villains, too, but I won't get too spoiler-y here. Still, overall Spider-Man deserves the surrounding hype and I'm personally looking forward to its DLC.

First off, I've no idea why these games are getting praised so much. So, I'm gonna go ahead and rate a few aspects of both titles, trying to keep it brief. There is no need to rate each one separately, because both Redux versions look, feel and play absolutely the same - they've got exactly the same graphics, same poor story, same weapons and game mechanics, and even the same soundtrack, which is most pathetic. As a result, Last Light Redux feels like a big boring DLC to the already tedious 2033. I'm aware that it was actually the first game that was changed a lot to resemble the second, but this is what you feel when playing both for the first time, which I did. Graphics-wise, Metro is alright: everything is grey and dull, but that's what the post-apocalyptic setting dictates. On the positive note, there are some pretty atmospheric backdrops on the surface levels. Character models are nothing special, but aren't too bad for PS3 games, either. From the visual perspective my two main gripes are uninspiring lame creature design (not the model complexity, just how ridiculous and unmenacing all those big rats look and sound) and how wooden the animations look. The latter is probably a consequence of a low budget, but still. Gameplay is fairly generic - it's a first-person shooter, and there are (perhaps, too) many of them. Sure, you can up the difficulty and play the game in a more survival horror style with few bullets, but seeing how annoying all monster enemies are, that'd lead to frustration rather than challenge. Still, gameplay is the sphere where I have fewest problems with Metro. It's the story that's absolutely atrocious here. Both games are very exposition-heavy with plenty of hub levels and dialogue, but the thing is, the story here is just unbearable at times. First off, the whole premise of "there are these monsters who seem evil, but turn out to be friendly" is already a cliche you can see from a mile away. Second, these games tell us that after a nuclear extinction event the survivors of the Moscow Metro decided to literally form a new Soviet Union and a **** Germany. Yeah, Russian people decided to dress up like the Reich soldiers and even throw in an occasional "guten morgen" and other German words. Sigh. Finally, there is an unnecessary and very dumb mysticism added into the plot - while the base setting is mostly realistic, on some levels you find souls of the dead and other mentalist crap. My personal "favorite" was a hobo character called Khan, starting with how he was introduced into the story - you were going with some no-name sidekick through the level, then he died in a cutscene, and in that very moment the hobo jumped out of a ceiling hatch and just told you to follow. Your protagonist, being a mute moron, obliged. Then Khan proceeded to tell you mind-melting garbage like "metaphysical fields where heaven and hell are located were burned with nuclear fire". Yeah. In the second game, Khan came back to lead me to some "destiny river", which turned out to be a dirty sewer that gave the protagonist a bad trip and actually inexplicably teleported him somewhere. Needless to say, as a result of this nonsense I was rushing through the levels to just finally make it stop. So, while I appreciate that 4A games, being a small Ukrainian studio, managed to muster something half-decent, I still believe these cheap knock-off shooters to be hugely overrated.

The first game in years to fully live up to the hype, the new God of War is a masterpiece, the best entry in the franchise and so far the best game PS4 has ever seen. The revamped gameplay is stellar, with visceral combat, deep customization and some neat puzzles. The level design should be praised separately. GoW is essentially a "metroidvania" - the story itself is linear, but the game world is interconnected and certain paths open up later in the game. The result is that we essentially get a huge, beautifully hand-made open world with lots of places to explore and side quests to complete. And the side quests here aren't Ubisoft-style copy-paste garbage, but are made at the same level of quality as the main one. The visuals are stunning, everything is very detailed and the vistas are breathtaking. The soundtrack is yet another aspect of the game done right, it has already joined my music library. An additional immersion factor is the artistic decision to make the game "one-shot", with no camera cuts. While it may sound like a small detail, it really adds to the cinematic feel. It's a real shame that the Photo Mode has just come out, after I've already beaten the game. While I'm not sure whether it's *the* best-looking game on PS4, it's certainly on par with the likes of Uncharted 4. The story here isn't very original - it's essentially a journey from point A to point B with obstacles along the way, but it's masterfully done and you actually care for the characters. Kratos feels believable as a father figure trying to come to terms with his past, he's no longer a one-note brute killing everyone and screaming about revenge. What the game also does great is introducing the concept of a world where all the mythologies coexist, with references not only to Greek and Norse, but also to Egyptian, Maya and even Japanese. This opens up numerous possibilities for the franchise's future. Now GoW isn't perfect, nothing really is. There were a couple of logically questionable moments in the story, the whole Alfheim level felt meaningless and was just a way to stretch the journey a bit, and perhaps there were too many identical Troll and Ancient boss fights. I'd also say that some combat mechanics could be added to the boat sequences, instead of you just rowing back and forth. Besides, while the game strikes a good balance with its loot system, the Niflheim realm feels a bit too grind-ey. Still, those are minor nitpicks as the overall experience is just overwhelmingly positive. I am really looking forward to the inevitable sequel and hope that despite having to develop it for new hardware (PS5), this time it will take Sony Santa Monica less than 5 years to make,

Upon seeing the mixed score, I've decided to say a few words in defense of the Criminal Past. This DLC to Deus Ex Mankind Divided is so consistently (that's important) good that I'd probably say it is better than the main game. Where MD could fall to being boring at times, CP keeps the bar throughout the experience. Firstly, story-wise it is entirely self-contained, with a whole set of new characters, and from my point of view, it's great. As I'm not a hardcore fan of the series and I didn't beat Human Revolution (got bored at some point and abandoned it), MD's plot at times didn't make a lot of sense to me and I probably didn't catch many references to the other games. CP, on the other hand, could easily serve as an entry point into the Deus Ex universe. The plot itself isn't too original, but it works well. But what I mainly enjoyed is the non-linearity that fully shows here. CP is finally a proper "immersive sim" experience that Deus Ex should be, much like Dishonored or Prey. You are basically placed in a quite sizeable sandbox with numerous sideways, vent shafts, corridors, etc., so there are always many ways of to complete your objective There is also plenty of optional stuff, and exploration is well-rewarded - while you start off without any augs or equipment, by exploring the prison's corners you can eventually get your full arsenal back. Another welcome change is that there is much less emphasis placed on hacking things, as that mini-game got old pretty fast. From the downsides I'd note that this add-on is a bit buggy, as I experienced a couple of crashes while playing. Anyway, in my opinion, A Criminal Past is a great DLC that's a must-have for the owners of the original game.

Whoa, where is all the negativity coming from all of a sudden? Dishonored: Death of the Outsider is, as expected, a DLC for Dishonored 2 which can be launched without the base game installation. Of course it would be weird for it to be an entry point into the series when you can grab a Dishonored 1 Definitive edition for perhaps even cheaper. Anyway, it is more of the good ol' Dishonored - intricate complex level design, amazingly-written lore, cool powers to play with and overall exemplary open-ended game design with many options to complete your objective. The standout new power is Semblance, allowing you to steal any NPC's identity, which can lead to an easier way of completing your task, or just some cool minor interactions, like getting saluted by guards. There are also two subtle but important changes that are aimed at encouraging the player to try out new playstyles. First, the are no mana potions, it regenerates over time instead, encouraging you to mix and match powers as you see fit, which is great for a potion-hoarder like me. I would say though, that a 4th power would've come in handy, as Lurk's arsenal feels fairly restricted compared to the other protagonists. Secondly, the Chaos system is gone, as is the "Clean Hands" achievement, which means you are no longer punished for the lethal approach. While it's not a big issue for a DLC like this, considering that Dishonored's gameplay systems are built around the lethal/non-lethal choice, I think it would be better to concentrate on evolving the Chaos system rather than getting rid of it altogether. DotO's main weakness remains the same throughout the whole franchise - it is the main story. While it is as immersive as usual to read on this world's lore and learn of a new cult, Daud's motivation for killing the Outsider is pretty lame, and his whiny dialogue is pretty tedious. Billie Lurk is also far from being a compelling character, lacking any distinct personality. The final "convincing Daud to spare the Outsider" dialogue is just plain cliche and dull. Another complaint I'd voice is that the devs recycled a level here, which seems lazy considering they've never done it before. Still, I always welcome a new dose of Dishonored. At this point Arkane Studios don't really need to prove themselves after the first two Dishonored's and Prey, but it's good to know they haven't dropped the bar. My careful non-lethal playthrough where I tried to explore everything the game had to offer lasted a surprising 14 hours, give or take. I hope that DotO doesn't mark the end of the franchise, as there is still so much to explore in this lovingly-crafted world. So, on to Tyvia or Pandyssia, maybe?

Since I've lost the original fairly extensive text for some reason, I'll keep it brief this time. Before Bloodborne I played only Demon's Souls and I thought it was garbage. Bloodborne came out like 7 years later and it still stucks in the same departments - bad early PS3-era graphics (Not improved since Demon's Souls!), zero plot whatsoever, boring combat system (hit with one button and roll with another), and artificially inflated difficulty (Enemies have much health and damage, you don't. That's the whole "challenge".). I sincerely don't get when other annual franchises like Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed get (rightfully) criticized for being the same game over and over again, whereas this mucus gets a pass.

One of the best Star Wars games out there, and while it is a matter of preference, I believe it to be superior to KOTOR 1, mostly due to its writing. KOTOR 1 (and pretty much every other Star Wars story) is very straightforward and primitive in its morality - the bad guys wear dark clothes and have red lightsabers and are evil; the good guys wear light robes and have colorful lightsabers and are unquestionably good. KOTOR 2, however, goes to great lengths to criticize the Jedi with their code and self-righteousness as much as the Sith with their unchecked hunger for power. Unlike the first game, pretty much all the party members have an interesting and often dark back story to make conversations with them engaging. Also now you can influence your followers and even train 3 of them to become Jedi. Anyway, I've just replayed the game for at least the third time, and my opinion still stands - a solid 10/10, if you like old-school RPGs and Star Wars, don't miss it out, they don't make games like these nowadays. Also make sure to install the Restored Content Modification, it fleshes out some dialogue and expands the ending.

Considering all the hate this game's got, I've decided to write a few words in its defense. Mass Effect Andromeda is not a bad game. Having spent 69.5 hours in its campaign and 5 more in multiplayer, I mostly enjoyed my time. Hell, if I didn't, I wouldn't have played this long. The game's got good graphics (especially the vistas), improved combat and this advertised sense of exploration, of being a pioneer. And it works. While the original trilogy was about a massively populated universe where humans are just another race, in Andromeda the whole Milky Way expedition is around 100.000 souls, the resources are scarce, and it's up to you to find a new home. Now I can't deny Andromeda also has plenty of issues, which I would structure into three main categories. Gameplay: While the combat has become much more fluid and agile with the welcome addition of jump jets, I found it irritating how close the camera was to the character with weapons drawn, severely limiting the field of view. Some other decisions like having to leave the planet every time you board the Tempest, some abilities dependent on power cells, and the lack of tactical pause are also questionable. Story: Let's be honest, the old ME games could not boast any original story. It was just a dude assembling forces to fight giant space prawns. For 3 games straight. Here the main plot mostly mirrors the first game, with the protagonist being the only one able to interface with some derelict tech from an ancient race (Protheans/Jaardan) while fighting enemies who represent a much larger ominous force (Reapers/Kett). While things are pretty straightforward, the game does manage to set up things nicely for the much larger populated galaxy with the huge Kett empire lurking within. I would say, however, that the antagonist is very boring, there was plenty of cringy dialogue, there could have been more original races, and that the squadmate roster is inferior compared to the old games. Engine: I bought the game in version 1.10, with improved animations and fixed bugs. There still were occasional crashes, freezes, glitched animations and quests, but it wasn't really bothersome. I do imagine though, that if these were much more abundant at game's launch, I would have been pissed. To sum up, the fact that ME Andromeda was basically broken at launch is inexcusable for any AAA blockbuster and a continuation of a popular franchise, and I understand where the hate was coming from. Still, in its current state and for the current price (got it for like 20$) it's well worth picking up. If you are a fan of the old MEs, or RPG's and Sci-Fi in general, I would honestly recommend it.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Wow, what a f**king waste of time. This game is as boring and pointless as it is gorgeous. Visually it is extremely well-made, with all the environments looking amazing. The strange creatures inhabiting the land fit the overall style, but they're not something really new, they are clearly based on sea life as algae and jellyfish. However, everything else in this is pure trash. Your Journey is only 1 hour long (1 f**king hour!!!), and the thing is, it's 1 hour TOO long. It's absolutely bloody boring, with the gameplay consisting of just walking through linear levels and jumping sometimes, because jumping in this game is a finite resource. Innovations, people. The background plot is presented mostly through murals and can be told in a couple of sentences, and that's not a summary, that's the whole literal "story". So, there was a civilization of people who harvested some energy from nature to power up their cities. The energy ran out, so they started a war which destroyed the civilization, and now their souls or something somehow spawned one traveler, which is you. Amazing, very touching, so enlightening. The events of the game are even simpler and can be summarized in just one sentence. You start off in a desert, see a mountain, reach the mountain, fade to white, the end. For f**k's sake. I totally don't get all the praise this "game" got, it's all wannabe "artsy", all style over substance. I got it on sale and regret every cent spent on it. I would have given it a 1/10, but the visuals are really good, so it's a 2. Still a piece of s**t, though.

Okay people saying stupid **** like "it's a BioShock ripoff" or "it should have been about a space bounty hunter" need to shut the hell up. Also, poor user reviews like "Runs bad on my PC" in the PS4 section just once again confirms how pathetic and cancerous the computer gaming community is. Prey is a wonderful System/BioShock-inspired game with a brilliant mysterious plot, tense atmosphere and solid gameplay. After one of the best openings to a game I've ever witnessed the Prey hooked me up and didn't let go until the finale about 35 hours later, even if got a bit less tense in the second half. The game's biggest strength, apart from the fun powers to play with, is the amazing environmental storytelling with a deeply-written lore, as well as the main intriguing storyline. Speaking about the story in detail means spoilers, and those are present from almost the beginning of Prey, so I will just recommend any FPS or RPG or Sci-Fi or just gaming fan to give this game a try, for it's worth it. A bonus mentioning is the soundtrack which has a couple of very memorable songs that I'll be listening to for a while. Still, the game's not perfect, and I have the following complaints: 1) The loading screens. They are long and pesky and really break up the immersion. 2) Backtracking. While initially progressing through new sections of the Talos station, eventually the game makes you backtrack the already familiar areas with annoying respawning enemies. It is especially painful with the aforementioned loading screens. 3) Bugs. Even though it's been several months since the game's release I still could not complete at least two side quests due to bugs. Plus there was more annoying stuff like inventory items failing to stack up properly, quest completion notifications popping up randomly and some buttons like reload not working unless I loaded a previous save. 4) The ending. I won't dwell into spoiler territory here, but I felt like it gave more new questions rather than answers. Even so, it is still one of the best games I've played in a while. Arkane studios have proven their superiority with the Dishonored games and this is another solid hit on their hands, I really wish it sold better than it did, and sincerely hope it's getting a sequel.

Jesus, people only deal in absolutes nowadays. "Connection issues - 0/10, **** you Ubisoft" is basically every negative review in a nutshell. What these "reviews" fail to mention is that this game has a unique refreshing combat system allowing you to block and attack from multiple angles, pretty good balance (you can find people playing as every class, so no one is really underpowered. Whiners saying it's unbalanced just can't play for **** this game does take skill), good graphics and animations, and even a tutorial-style single-player campaign mode, despite the game focusing on multiplayer. What is more, the season pass only offers cosmetic junk and 1-week early access to characters everybody will still be able to play! This is, like, the least Ubisoft game made by Ubisoft ever. Now it is true that there are connection issues, but in my ~70 hours of play (for me, it's an awful lot for a multiplayer game) the first several weeks were actually fine. Things started getting worse when they rolled out some update (can't remember the number), after which every second match resulted in loss of connection. It is truly a shame, as otherwise it's a stellar multiplayer brawler/fighter which I'll probably get back to once they release the new characters and maps in May.

After the exceedingly positive critique of the game I expected more from this. Rise of the Tomb Raider is worse than its predecessor, which is a shame. In terms of graphics, it is, of course, an upgrade - everything looks more detailed and redesigned Lara is a sweetheart, no kidding. In terms of gameplay, it is neither a step forward nor backward, as it is exactly the same game as in 2013, only set in different environments, and with more upgrades to unlock. There is still a dissonance between the cutscene caring Lara and gameplay Lara butchering dozens of soldiers without remorse and even performing absolutely unnecessarily violent executions like putting a shotgun to a person's chin and pulling the trigger. The lack of a dedicated cover button is still annoying, as is the abundance of collectibles. Seriously, I don't remember the previous game too well, but this time around there is just way too much grinding for different resources, relics, documents, caches, strongboxes, challenges, etc. The game just tries to stretch itself so that it can boast larger completion time. The storyline, though, is just atrociously bad. The centuries-old evil secret society with seemingly unlimited resources on the hunt for the same treasures Croft is after, really? An ancient primitive tribe living in some miraculously warm and humid valley in modern-day Russian Siberia?? Some old woman imposing as a witch from a Russian CHILDREN FAIRYTALE instilling terror within anyone who stumbles upon her??? All this ridiculous crap is only made worse by absolutely boring borderline cringy dialogue which is unbearable to listen to. All Lara's moaning about her father's death completely fails to resonate with the player, as you just don't care for any single character in this game, and her father was shown to have killed himself, for crying out loud, even if it's implied in the end that he did not. You just can't take all this talk that "my father died for this" seriously if you are told that he freaking killed himself!! Hell, I only found out that Jonah is a recurring character from the previous game from the game's wikipedia! Overall, ROTTR is playable and more or less enjoyable, but its attempts to strike some middle ground between cinematic linear Uncharted and open-world crafting hunting Far Cry are not successful. When the game goes linear, it's mostly fun, even though the setpieces are limited to the already outdated "run forward while everything around you blows up". When the game goes semi-open-world, it quickly gets tedious and boring. And yes, people saying that this is better than Uncharted 4 either have not played it or are paid off or something, because not only U4 does it better with the shooting and climbing mechanics, beautiful graphics and smooth animations, but in that game you care about the story and the characters (even if Sam Drake is probably the weakest side character in the series), whereas here I'll forget all these names in a couple of days.

This DLC reminded me of "The Harley Quinn's Revenge" for Arkham City - it is also very short and adds nothing new to gameplay or story. It took me around 90 minutes to beat the "story" itself (You beat up Joker and save Gordon. Yeah, that's pretty much the whole synopsis.) and around 10 more minutes to find the hidden audio tapes using a video guide. Playing as Batgirl feels almost exactly the same as Batman himself - she's got the same gadgets (although she is stripped of some of them) and her animations are actually mostly identical to Batman save for some takedowns. This is incredibly lazy, as a thin girl like that can hardly choke muscular thugs with her bare hands. While playing as the Catwoman back in AC felt different from Batman, this time around it's not quite the case. The promised "hacking gameplay" turns out to be almost a fraud - you have the same ol' crypto... I mean, remote hacking device, but there are a bit more environmental hazards it can activate this time around. While the core gameplay is still satisfying and we get some more dual play section with Robin, this was still a bit of a letdown. I still hope that more quality DLC is coming our way, considering the hefty 40$ price tag on the season pass.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

After buying the PS4, beating inFamous Second Son and being kind of satisfied with it, I predictably went on to the next (and only) major Sony exclusive - the next-gen Killzone. And sadly, I was incredibly **** let's go over all the aspects. The plot. It's terrible and formulaic with a bland protagonist (unlike many other FPS's he can talk, but God, I wish he couldn't) and boring supporting characters. The ending deserves further berating, but that'd mean spoilers. Just know that this is one of the worst endings I've ever seen in a game, somewhat akin to Mass Effect 3. The gameplay. Shadow Fall is different from Killzone 3 in many ways. Instead of being a fun rollercoaster ride, it now (allegedly) offers more freedom of choice and tactical options. The sad thing is that in theory updating gameplay in a **** series this way should be refreshing, but in reality, it is just outright boring and irritating. For instance, you are given an ability to drop-kill and throw a knife after meelee. (Yes, exactly as in Far Cry 3), but in practice you can hardly use it in stealth because it is virtually non-existent (You'll be lucky to stealth-kill just one Helghast soldier, they'll spot you right after) or in action because going out of cover to meelee will get you killed in no time. I would specifically like to point out the terrible enemy AI, who just doesn't know of the self-preservation instinct, just running straight up to you. Oh, and another thing - as most modern shooters, you can carry two weapons in Shadow Fall. But unlike those shooters, you can freely swap only one of those, with your default gun being stuck with you throughout most of the game. Whoever thought this'd be a good idea was probably a moron. Level design. I just wanted to cover this separately, because it's terrible. The levels are good-looking alright, but hard to navigate (No map in singleplayer). Moreover, Guerilla somewhy decided that forcing you do defend some point against waves of mindless Helghast like five times in the campaign would be fun. It's not. I've felt extremely frustrated in each of those encounters, especially in Chapter 7. Graphics. No complaints here. KZ3 was a pretty game and SF easily outmatches it with sharp textures and amazing effects. Just the view on Vekta city in the first levels of the game is breathtaking. Multiplayer. Exactly the same as in Killzone 3. The DLC model is different, yes, with maps being free but game modes and player classes being paid. But it's nothing special. In other words, this was a huge drop of the bar. While Killzone 3 (I haven't played 1&2) wasn't a system-seller, it was still a well-made enjoyable and entertaining shooter. Shadow Fall, however, is more of a tech demo, it's neither a system-seller, nor even something worth picking up when you buy yourself a PS4.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Just beaten Left Behind, and my verdict is as follows: This is a bit more (3 hours for me, on hard with all the exploration) of the same good the Last of Us we know, with all the brutal action, emotional scenes and touching moments. It is not a solid 10/10 because of two things: first, it's still a bit too short for the money asked, and second, it lacks the absolutely outstanding, crushing and unforgettable episodes like the prologue and the ending from the original. Nevertheless, it's still a quality DLC and a must-buy for the fans of the original. By the way, make sure you connect your Facebook account to the PS3 for this one, you'll get a something memorable for your wall after a certain moment in the playthrough.

Considering the Bureau's long and painful production cycle (wonderfully explained on ****), it turned out to be a surprisingly good game. Certainly it has its flaws, like the inconsistent plot (for a while it seems like the game is a parody on B-movies, but it's not, stuff's presented seriously) with cliche characters, out-of-place moral decisions, the dialogues, sometimes reaching unprecedented degrees of stupidity (Alien interrogation. It's VERY dumb.), the cheesy voice acting and moderately clunky controls. But it's the gameplay that still manages to pull the game out of depths of awfulness. While using Mass Effect's combat system as a foundation, The Bureau expands on it, providing some interesting tactical situations. Here, especially on the harder difficulties, the Rambo style won't work, you'll have to manage your squad's actions. (The squadmates on their own are pretty dumb, can't use their powers and tend to run out into the open and get incapacitated.) The Bureau's path to being released was long and winding, but the developers managed to make the game quite enjoyable. It's one of the games I clearly see a sequel to: so many mistakes await to be fixed and with that done, we'll get a great game instead **** one.

A masterpiece. Naughty Dog made yet another masterpiece. This game is as close to perfection as ever: a deep and emotional storyline with an unforgettable ending (and the beginning, actually), hauntingly beautiful graphics with clever level design, memorable soundtrack by Gustavo Santaolalla, engaging stealth-based gameplay and a surprisingly robust multiplayer mode. If I was asked for any minuses, I'd only mention the fact that your AI buddies sometimes act weird, running around the level, sometimes even bumping into enemies who can't spot them. But that's only a minor fault that in no way compromises the game's overall quality. My verdict is simple: if you own a PS3, buy it. If you don't, seriously consider doing so, you're missing out something truly marvellous.

Absolution could've been a good game, but it's a wasted potential in so many ways. The main premise the Hitman is on the run, he's got no backup from the Agency, and it gets personal is pretty cool by itself, BUT the realisation is very, very poor. Firstly, the story barely making sense, with dialogues evidently written by a fifth grader, and plain stupid, boring grotesque, cliche characters. The gameplay also varies from the previous iterations, In theory, it's a game about Hitman relying solely on his skills and instincts. Hence the lack of map and any pre-mission briefing in theory, you have to improvise. On practice though, it's not the case. The game doesn't encourage any kind of improvisation any non-silent actions, including killing common henchmen are punished by lowering your score. So you will still find yourself wandering around your target, making some kind of a plan, as in the previous games. Only this time you won't be able to save at will for some reason, which is freaking annoying. As for the disguise system (you can be recognised only by NPCs wearing the same disguise as you do) it's kinda-realistic alright, but on practice it's also pretty damn frustrating, there's hardly need for such realism in a game where you can change clothes in under 5 seconds and store sniper rifles in your jacket. To sum up, Absolution tries hard to be a good game, to present itself seriously, but ultimately fails and becomes a step (a few steps, actually) back comparing to its predecessors.

Ascension, predictably, doesn't keep up with the grandeur of GOW 3. The story is bland and largely unnecessary for the series. As for the gameplay, the combat is nicely tuned, but the mix of the enemies you fight is often more irritating than challenging. Singleplayer campaign lacks the drive of its predecessor the bigger part of the game consists of beautifully made, but largely unremarkable locations requiring you to solve some kind of a puzzle. Multiplayer is a new addition to the series, and it fits surprisingly well, offering a unique brawler experience that will probably take up some of your evenings. To sum up, the singleplayer campaign itself is the same old formula we've seen 5 times already. It alone is hardly worth a 7, but the neat multiplayer mode gets it up to 8 in my opinion. If Sony aims to continue the franchise on PS4, it's going to need a reboot a different mythology, maybe?

A successful reboot of a long-going series, the new Tomb Raider is pretty much summing up most of the recent gaming trends in one. The plot reminds of Far Cry 3 (I am aware that they were developed simultaneously) a story of setting the character, "a survivor is born", and of Uncharted (yeah, one can't avoid comparing TR to this action-adventure golden standard) adventuring in mythic lands with supernatural stuff closer to the end. A point where Tomb Raider loses to the mentioned Uncharted series are the secondary characters they aren't near as likeable as in the latter, and mostly worse written the only character you actually get to like is the one that's given sufficient screen time Conrad Roth. I actually felt sorry for the old warrior. The game's overall tone is gritty and dark, and that's what makes the plot quite inconsistent with the gameplay Lara whines and moans a lot (damn frequently the game actually sounds like a porno), cries over her dead comrades and after making her first kill in the cutscenes, but then the gameplay leads you to brutally murder dozens of random people. The gameplay itself is fun, killing (especially with the bow) feel satisfying, puzzles are short but well-made and actually require you to think and action setpieces are gripping. The campaign is structured as Batman: Arkham Asylum, so it isn't exactly open-world, but you may revisit the deserted locations to finish collecting stuff only you won't really want to do it after the main storyline. As for multiplayer, it's quite bland, a poor version of Uncharted's. To sum up, Tomb Raider is not exactly a gem, it doesn't bring anything new to the genre, but nevertheless it's a potent game and a great set-up for the future games (And boy, will there be sequels)

It's the first Crysis game I've tried on a console instead of PC and I must say it looks damn impressive, especially considering the outdated tech powering the good ol' PS3. But Crysis was never just about graphics for me, but gameplay and story. Gameplay doesn't exactly change from C2, with few additions like the overpowered bow (Firing while cloaked? please. Still satisfying to kill with, though.) and the hacking minigame which you can't cancel once triggered. But the storyline is this iteration's strong point now it's more personal, quoting the game, "it's never been just about the suit", with a great memorable ending. Level design is also a major improvement, with 7 beautiful and non-linear levels, which are larger than in C2, but (of course) smaller than in the original. As for multiplayer, it is quite engaging, and the Hunter mode kicks ass. One big letdown is the game's length even with all the side missions and some datapad hunting, the slow and steady stealth playthrough took me only 7 hours 20 minutes. By the way, the datapads contain some very interesting background information with some plot base for possible future games (Are you sure that Nomad's dead?) To sum up, the overall impression is that the game is more of a standalone expansion like Warhead was to original Crysis, and not the actual third part of the trilogy, with its shortness and few gameplay changes. However, it's a damn good add-on, improving on Crysis 2 in everything but the game's length, and it's a damn good game overall. They called him Prophet. And I will remember him.

In short this is Crysis, dumbed down and shrunk down. That saying, less separate suit modes, mostly degraded graphics and very small environments, almost making it a corridor shooter. Why do I give it an 8? Well, because it's still Crysis, you still get to kill aliens (although different aliens, nothing in common with those of Crysis 1) while wearing quite a badass suit and save the world. Basically every aspect of the game is a bit worse than of the original the plot is separate from Crysis 1, with only a few references, the characters are bland and stereotypical and the AI is dumber. (expect aliens inspecting walls carefully or running in circles) Speaking about multiplayer, it changed its genre while the first one is Battlefield with Nanosuits, this one is Call of Duty with Nanosuits. Not like it's bad, but I got bored of it quite soon. And while dropping the bar set by the first Crysis, this still manages to be a good game, quite close to being a great one. High hopes on Crysis 3.

Almost as awesome as the original Crysis, Warhead features a shorter, more action-oriented campaign and an outstanding standalone Crysis Wars multiplayer component. The game is better optimized, so it runs smoother on your PC, which is quite handy, since you'll need those extra FPS in the explosive action sequences, which the game is full of. The only cons that take away that, 10th review point, are an uninspiring plot, less freedom of choice (the aggressive approach is kinda forced in this one) and stiff cutscene animations. But despite of that, it's still more of Crysis and it is awesome.

One of the best shooters I've ever played in terms of graphics (obviously), gameplay (nano-suit modes are crazy) and plot (yeah, I enjoyed the storyline unlike many others) The only flaw is in the enemy AI while the enemies are smart, it's impossible to stealthily infiltrate any Korean outpost they'll notice you immediately. Still, that didn't stop me from beating the game like 3 or 4 times. (I found it challenging and enjoyable to complete the game using mostly only fists nothing like seeing the scared face of a Korean soldier when grabbing his neck and same applies to the aliens where else can you punch a freaking squid alien to death?) To sum up superb game and it's a shame that the sequel went in an entirely different direction.

What I couldn't have imagined is that an epilogue DLC to such a great game would be such a letdown. HQR is set after the events of the main game and the basic premise is intriguing - Harley Quinn, mourning for her beloved, manages to kindap Batman himself and Robin must investigate this. However, it doesn't stand up to the expectations - the whole 2-hour experience is bland and adds nothing to the storyline or gameplay - just a bit more convict beating. Still waiting for Arkham 3.

A mind-blowing sequel to a mind-blowing original, Rocksteady did a fine job on increasing the scale of the game and adding tons of new DC characters (villains, mostly) and not dropping the quality bar on the story (which is even better than the original, with an awesome beginning where you get to play as Bruce Wayne without his suit, and the absolutely shocking unpredictable ending), graphics (still pretty, though as usual all the male models are super-muscular and the chicks are super-hot) and gameplay (new gadgets, new combos, more convict ass-kicking). My only little complaint are the Riddler's trophies. In Asylum I collected all of them and it was the first and only game where I actually got all the collectibles. Although in Arkham City there are just way too many of them - 400 (four bloody hundred!) for Batman and additional 40 for Catwoman. I tried getting all of them but it actually gets a bit boring after a while, so it was a bit of a letdown for me. Otherwise, it's a masterpiece.

I haven't played the original Syndicate so I don't have any hard feelings on the franchise turning into an FPS, but this game is mediocre in all ways. The graphics are pretty but not outstanding, and the blinding lens flares are actually annoying. The core gameplay is regular shooting + some original weapons and the cool breaching mechanic + entertaining boss fights. The singleplayer story is forgettable and we've got another silent protagonist which is so lame, though the world of Syndicate's got potential, and the background info you can see in the intel pieces is quite interesting.Gameplay gets more fun in the quite well done co-op mode. So, my verdict is that it's a passable mediocre shooter, earning a solid 6/10.

Finally, Assassin's Creed gets some renovation. After 2 COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY half-sequels, half-add-ons a full-scale part of the franchise is out. But does it live up to the expectations of the grand ending of the trilogy? Not quite. Firstly, the story. AC3 introduces a new era - American Revolution, and with it, a new character - Connor Kenway (who also has some long unpronounceable Indian name) The main plot is quite alright, with Ubisoft actually fulfilling the promise not to make the game pro-american. It's not, you have to fight against the patriots as well as the redcoats and the Founding Fathers aren't idealised at all, with George Washington himself being shown as a weak leader and a poor tactician. I personally don't have problems with the main character (and I certainly don't find him worse than the overrated Ezio Auditore), but one thing can't be denied - when compared to his own father (who serves as a secondary protagonist for like, 4 hours of gameplay), he lacks his charm and charisma. If Ubisoft decides to make another annual half-baked "sequel" (and they will, everyone loves money), they should definitely devote it to Haytham's backstory. However, as for the modern-age plot with Desmond struggling to save the world, things are not as bright. Desmond's missions are stupid and boring, and the ending is totally underwhelming, it's not an ending in fact, just an open gate for a sequel of some kind. I was hugely disappointed by that, since I liked Desmond's story before. Now to the technical part of the game. It looks just beautiful - AnvilNext provides some beautiful scenery, especially the Frontier. The protagonist's animations have been remade, and now just watching Connor climb the trees and jump over fences is a joy. The game suffered from some glitches in its 1.0 version, but that didn't ruin the game for me. Anyway, to the gameplay. It's still the AC gameplay you're all used to, no revolution here, sadly, just a few tweaks. Same lame "stealth", ending with you forced to go into an open fight 9 out of 10 times, basically the same combat system (with one change - you don't need going into the blocking stance to counter, so it's a bit faster and smoother) One welcome addition is the sea battles. Connor takes the role of the Captain of the Aquila, the Assassins' fleet flagship, and crosses the seas, fighting other vessels, while boarding some of them. One thing that I'd like to mention, is the soundtrack. Ubisoft somewhy didn't hire Jesper Kyd for it, so Lorne Balfe took his place. While the main theme is memorable, most other tunes are not, and that is a shame, since Jesper Kyd's music helped a lot to dive into the atmosphere of a particular age. To sum up, it's a good game, neither much better nor worse than AC2 in my opinion, mostly improving over its predecessor. One thing that it shows is that the franchise doesn't need to go Call-of-Duty-like annual. It's the first game in the franchise since AC2 that I actually enjoyed.

First of all, I must say that it's a great shame that this game is overlooked by many because it looks like a generic military shooter, while it's not. From the gameplay side, everything is quite familiar, yes - cover, weapons, health regeneration, grenades. But from the story side, it's a whole different thing. When regular shooters make you a hero, this game makes you not just a villain, it makes you feel doing good things ultimately revealing the main character - and you, with him - to be a madman, a criminal who tries to justify his horrible actions. And it succeeds in that, the plot is gripping, the characters are believable, the violence you witness is just horrific and the ending (4 of them, actually) is straight-out shocking. Trust me, you'll be left thinking of what just happened during the course of the 6-or-so hour campaign and you will want to play through it again just to see things clearly this time. The Line is a definite must-play for any action game and mature, dark storytelling fan. Are you ready to cross it?

This is what happens when the publisher (or developers, I'm not sure) gets greedy. Brotherhood is an oversized standalone add-on, but not in any way a direct sequel. It offers NOTHING new in terms of the plot development (except for Desmond's storyline, which fits in like half an hour) and retains the protagonist from the sequel, Ezio. I must say that I personally don't find Ezio such a spectacular character as many seem to do - he is a generic good guy who lost his family and wants his revenge, and here he evolves into a generic old wise master giving advice. The gameplay features some additions, like taking back city districts (dull and repetitive), recruiting assassins (simplifies killing enemies even further, but looks nice, I admit) and a slight change in the combat system - now it's stupefied to a never-before-seen level: to kill the first enemy you must button mash or counter-kill him as usual, but to kill the next one you just need... to press one button. That's it, the "press x to win" stereotype going live. In terms of graphics, it's definitely an improvement, as the game's got the smooth looks matching or besting AC1's. My score would've been lower if not for the addition of the multiplayer mode. It's fresh, fun and will surely keep you entertained for a few weeks at least. Overall, this is a totally unnecessary addition to the franchise, a worrying move towards the COD's "a game a year" system, the Assassin's Greed.

First of all I'd like to say that I'm not going to rate the terrible-at-that-time DRM system in this review, but stick to the game itself instead. Assassin's Creed 2 expands on all the aspects of the original - the cities are bigger, the activities are more varied, you've got WAY more gadgets, the game itself is longer and the plot now spans over thirty years. The storyline puts us in the feet of Ezio Auditore - a young Florentine noble who loses his family shortly into the game. On our course for revenge we meet lots of important historical figures of that era (and kill some of them) and explore beautifully reconstructed cities of Florence, Venice and a couple of smaller towns. Collectible hunting has become more reasonable, and you should definitely check the Glyphs - collecting all of them will reveal quite a shocking "The Truth" video, which plays an important role in the franchise's mythology. (or you can just watch it on youtube, why) The only thing that game drops the bar at is the graphics. They're noticeably worse than in the original, and that's somewhat of a letdown. All in all, Assassin's Creed 2 is a well-made game, which retains the original's flaws, like the somewhat dull and easy combat system and drops of pace - I've played it for several weeks and then had to take a break from it for almost a year.

A nice start for the best-selling franchise, Assassin's Creed's main flaw is its repeatetiveness - it follows the same pattern in all the three cities: complete a number of similiar side-missions - go in and eliminate the VIP. Still, the game features a great plot (both in the middle ages and in the modern days), impressive graphics (they're competetive even today), beautifully reconstructed cities and the unique feeling of being an assassin, watching his targets from the crowd and going in for the kill as an eagle squawks.