Spacemonkey1964

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

I played as Kasandra which becomes significant in the second and third episode but isn't an issue in the first episode. Unlike the later DLCs Legacy takes place in the standard Greek map, in this installment in the province of Makadonia which **** as this is a very mountainous and heavily wooded area which makes traversal difficult. The story is a bit boring and confused and involves teaming up with a father, Darius and his son who is so forgettable I can't remember his name. Together you track down a secret Persian cult, similar to the cult of Kosmos in the base game. As such it adds nothing new it's simply more of the same and is aggressively mid compared to the Fate of Atlantis DLC. Track down clues to expose the cult members and bump them off one by one, rinse and repeat. The final boss, The Huntsman is a bit more of a challenge as he can go invisible and uses poison arrows but in the end it's all a bit lack lustre.

This isn't the usual type of game for me, I tend towards open world action RPGs with real time combat. I dislike narrative heavy games because let's face it game stories only exist to get you from one combat scenario to the next. I've only played one other turn based game, that being Yakuz: Like a Dragon. So on paper Exp 33 didn't appeal to me much but given I have Game pass and there's been a ton of hype for this game I took a chance on it. And boy! Am I glad I did! The elephant in the room is the turn based combat but in truth it's actually a hybrid combat system which as far as I know is unique as well as being quite challenging and fun. I prefer open world games as I love to just forget the narrative and just explore, so I'm not a fan of the linear nature of exp 33 but having said that there is at least some exploration so not too bad. The story is a bit heavy and the prologue is overlong and a bit sentimental but after the prologue it doesn't get in the way too much. The sound and graphics are good, however the graphics are a bit soft until you turn off the motion blur and film grain filters. Why have these on by default when they look terrible? The elephant in the room is the turn based combat, which is actually a hybrid system as you have real time dodge, parry and attack timings. Performing a parry initiates a counter attack which does a ton of damage but is hard to do and some enemies basically impossible. It's a very limited system which soon becomes repetitive, every battle being essentially the same and it becomes a grind to get exp which you're definitely going to need in the end game. As mentioned earlier the story is a bit heavy and although there are some amusing characters the overall tone is dark and grim. The character models and voice acting is above par but how is Gustave not Robert Patterson?

The open world of London is genuinely impressive in it's detail and authenticity which makes it such a shame that the game is very sub par. It's basically a stealth game, at least in the early game. I've seen videos of fun stuff like automatic weapons and missile firing cars but that must be very late game. The gameplay degenerates into hiding someplace safe and sending in your spider drone to take out the bad guys one by one which gets old fast. If you decide to try to be a bit more aggressive you'll soon find yourself under arrest or dead as you only have a non lethal hand gun and your fists and the bad guy are all tanks. I like the idea you can recruit anyone and play as any of your squad, it's a system familiar to me as I'm a big State of Decay fan. I also like the option of permadeath however I wouldn't recommend it. The driving isn't bad, functional but unexciting and the character models are quite good. There's a really annoying AI who repeats the same inane garbage time after time. This being Ubisoft all the characters are "they/them" and the constant left wing talking points are tiresome, just for perspective UK now has a socialist government which locks people up for 3 years for making a tweet. Give me Albion any day! PS This is a review of the early game where you only have weak characters with low grade weapons and tech. Once you get a spy, things change considerably and it becomes much more fun.

Garbage game and it's little wonder it didn't sell well at launch. The overall take away is WHY? Why doesn't the car have a hand brake? Why can you only have 3 shotgun shells? Why can you only have 1 water canteen? Why must you eat food where you find it instead of taking it with you? Why are scraps so scarce? Why can't you take melee weapons in the car? Why no crafting of Molotovs, IED, melee weapons or an ammo belt that can carry more than 2 shells? Why can snipers shoot you from 3 miles at night? Why can't you climb a ladder carrying a gas can? The open world is a desolate wasteland and very depressing especially at night. The story is pretty much non existent. Max himself is bland and there are no dialogue options to give him at least a little personality. I ended up uninstalling it after only 3 sessions in disgust. I'm glad I only paid £2.99 for it but even then it's too much.

Garbage game! I uninstalled it after only 2 sessions as I became frustrated with the constant grind and the fake limitations put on you for example why only 3 shotgun shells when you can farm them at mine fields? Anyone who enjoys this game is probably a masochist.

I know this game is old but surely the laws of physics were well established by 2013. Despite hitting perfect shots the ball never goes where you intended it. The interface is OK and if you're a fan of Pixar movies the character models will be familiar. The graphics are colourful if low resolution and a bit blurry. There's lots of extra abilities to unlock which add to the usual golf gameplay but you're going to have to endure the wonky physics and annoying NPCs.

DoH is a very basic 3rd person action RPG with primitive combat, a little hint of magic but this is no Witcher 3. As the game unfolds you'll unlock special abilities called conduits which spice up the combat quite a bit however the emphasis in the dungeons is on puzzle solving rather than combat which is just as well as some of the puzzles are pretty good while all of the combat is simplistic. After spending all afternoon in a dungeon the evening is spent in the little town of Hinterberg where the game becomes a conversation simulator where you're forced to talk to random NPCs. There's a fast forward function so you can get through the snooze fest quite quickly but you can't avoid it completely. The visual style is bold and colourful however the monsters aren't much to look at. If you like the art style, enjoy problem solving but aren't looking for in depth combat then DoH might be worth a look on Game pass but I couldn't recommend buying it outright.

What starts as a relaxing and very beautiful experience begins to be a bit of a slog after the halfway point. A new climbing mechanic is added every chapter to keep the gameplay fresh but even so it's very repetitive and each chapter a little too long. The low point, which almost had me uninstalling was chapter 5 with it's wind mechanics which is so out of place in a game like this. Happily the game comes good in the final chapter which gets rid of the gimmicks and gets back to what the game did in the first chapter, a simple but very good climbing simulator.

I'd been playing a lot of open world 3rd person action adventure RPGs recently so thought Creatures of Ava would make a nice change. No way! CoA is just another open world 3rd person action adventure RPG . I can't say it's bad just because it wasn't what I expected but it doesn't do the genre any favours, it doesn't bring anything new and although the combat mechanics are certainly novel it's still combat. Oh and the inhabitants of Ava are non binary, because of course they are.

I wasn't expecting much from GK and I wasn't disappointed. It's a bog standard action RPG with skill trees, collecting resources, fast travel points etc etc but it's all a bit mid and shallow. The graphics are good and Gotham looks great but it lacks the atmosphere of previous iterations that is to say it looks too clean. The combat is a bit spammy and although you do have special abilities they all have ponderous animations so aren't great while in hectic combat, which is exactly when you're going to want to use them so most of the time you're left with spamming B. GK is basically a AA game cosplaying as a AAA game but if you can get it at a deep discount it might be worth a look.

Too much yak not enough hack. Seriously this "game" is 90% dialogue, most of which is insane drivel. Some may find the "story" compelling but to be honest wondering round a forest looking for a goat just doesn't do it for me. Really? Visuals are good especially for an old game but gameplay is poor, especially combat mechanics. Controls are clunky and the music is so bad I turned it off inside an hour. The much hyped side quests are essentially all the same; 1 pick up a quest from a notice board 2 go speak with an NPC 3 go to a location and search for clues 4 have a fight with a monster 5 return to NPC for your reward. Rinse and repeat. I'm glad I bought this on sale.

Maybe this looks great on a high end PC but is laughable on Xbox series S. Draw in distance is a big issue, entire mountain ranges appear from nowhere and the character graphics are appalling. Is this really next gen? Wonky unresponsive controls especially the throttle, numerous bugs and the game freezes or crashes every 5 minutes.

I get this is a simulation and not a game but it's generally unplayable, especially with a controller. Multiple bugs and crashes make things worse. Avoid.

As of writing this game is available for £2.99 so I gave it a try. After playing a couple of missions I can say it's fun but very repetitive. Missions can be played stealthy but who wants that when you can turn into a werewolf and get to shred 'till your heart's content. The combat is hectic button mashing and very bloody although as you fill your skill tree I dare say it will become more tactical. The story is a bit of a drag and there's too much dialogue for my liking but at least you can skip it. It's all about some eco nonsense and how the werewolves are born to protect the Earth goddess, Gia which they plan to do with a few photovoltaic panels inside a tent ( really!) and blowing up oil refineries thus causing an ecological disaster. Hmm. I don't know if I'll finish the game yet as I'm already getting a bit bored with it.

There's a lot to like about Control, chief of these is the story which is a little opaque but nevertheless compelling. Graphics are good for 2019 apart from the cut scenes which are laughable. Sound is very underwhelming, I can't remember any musical theme. ( Notable exception the Ashtray Maze which is about to as close as Rage Against the Machine as it's possible to get without getting sued) . Gameplay is fluid and the controls are responsive. Combat is a little brutal but you can tweek the options even making your character immortal, so if there's something you just can't get passed there are options, good in a linear game like this. My major gripe is you spend at least half of the game lost, wondering around aimlessly trying to find where your supposed to go! That's kinda frustrating, annoying and boring in equal measure. I've docked the game 2 stars simply because of this.

Considering the current controversy concerning D.A. Veil guard I thought I'd have a look at 'Origins as it's available on Game Pass. The elephant in the room is that this is a 15 year old game, and it looks bad. Secondly, at least the first few hours are taken up with cinematic cut scenes while the gameplay is basic and repetitive. I chose to play as a mage and combat involves casting one of three spells by spamming the X,Y or B buttons and that's just about it. Movement is similarly limited, no dodging, climbing, jumping or even sprinting are available. The story isn't bad, in fact it's actually quite good in places but if you want a story read a book. In 2024 this game isn't worth playing.

SotTR is the final installment in a trilogy attempting to reboot the Lara Croft franchise. It kinda works with improved graphics, gameplay and variety however it also kinda fails because it wanders too far from the franchises core, raiding tombs. Far too much time is spent on lengthy cinematic cut scenes, lame stealth gameplay and lack luster shooting. At one point even Lara says "Come on, let's get this thing done" and that's at only 60% completion. Once inside a dungeon, however the game comes alive and will have you pulling off insane moves and solving devilish puzzles. The best of these will have you punching the air upon completion like the amazing Eagles Trail. There's several "challenge" dungeons that don't have anything to do with the plot but which are super tough. Of course the painters have been out splashing the white gloss about to show you where to go next, but you can turn this off if you wish ( but I wouldn't recommend it ) In conclusion there's a lot to like here but lots of mid to poor content to endure. The story is boiler plate, get to a Mcguffin before the bad guys to prevent the apocalypse. Lara comes across poorly, a whining narcissist with messianic tendencies. The acting isn't great either and the accent is standard home counties BBC which grates over time. I preferred her as the posh totty of old.

I can't believe some say RDR2 is GOAT. I've plaid it for about 8 hours and have found it to be boring, slow, clunky controls, appalling combat, no game play progression and poorly written. One mission consisted of driving a horse cart for what seemed like forever listening to some bloke telling me how rough the Indians had it at the hands of white settlers. Yes, really! It's like the developers haven't heard that computer games are meant to be fun! Maybe it's better going it alone in the open world but as far as story mode is concerned it's a hard pass from me.

'Wildlands was the first Ghost Recon game I played and it's a fun open world tactical shooter. It's not particularly deep having a fairly simplistic game play loop; find intel to uncover a mission, complete mission successfully, rinse and repeat. The missions fall into three categories, blow stuff up, kill someone and kidnap someone. Having finished the game I can't say I recall any mission that was particularly memorable. Of course you have to collect skill points, loot resources, find weapons and weapon parts, upgrade your skill tree etc. Typical Ubisoft open world stuff. What it lacks is depth of story and a connection to the protagonist, Nomad who doesn't have any personality. There are a few conversations with your 3 crew mates while you're driving to a location but other than those he's an enigmatic chap, or in keeping with the rest of the game, a bit shallow.

Outdated and boring, lots of talking and lots of driving. The dialogue isn't exactly sparkling and there's no dialogue options. The cars, as you'd expect from the early 1930's are pretty bad, slow, under braked and poor handling. There's a motor race early on which is quite fun but otherwise driving is a chore. Gun battles are simply a matter of taking cover and popping out to shoot when your enemies leave cover. YAWN! The city is the star of the show, the fictional Lost Heaven is detailed and very well done. I understand there's a sandbox mode which might be more entertaining than playing the story as you get to fully explore the city and uncover it's secrets.

Cute laid-back fun. Essentially it's a platform game with exploration and puzzles thrown in. The map while not enormous has plenty to see and do and it's all rendered in colourful graphics. I finished it in a single session but once finished there's still plenty to do and there's some replay potential. This sort of game is perfect for Gamepass as it's a no risk download.

Disappointing city builder set in a frozen future. I was expecting a cyber punk esthetic but instead it's just drab and dreary and dark. There's no tutorial to speak of so unless you're familiar with this genre you're going to be stuffed from the get go. I played Airborne Kingdoms, also on Gamepass and that was so much better than Frostpunk.

As a 30 year veteran of the oil and gas industry the rig environment portraid in this game is spot on, especially inside the accomodation and out on deck. Inside the bowls of the rig less so but it's possible to recognise mud pumps, pulsation dampers, shale shakers and desanders. The plot also has technical issues too but not significant enough to spoil the game. The game play is straight forward, platform elements and puzzles making up the majority of the game. There is no combat as such, just hiding and distraction by throwing items to misdirect the monsters. Speaking of monsters this is very much a P.G.Lovecraft cosmic horror vibe. The story is OK and there's a satisfactory ending but much of the game is busy work and even though it's a short game it does become a little repetitive. However the language used, although authentic might be a bit spicy for some, plenty of F bombs and liberal use of the "c" word might be offensive. The accents may be difficult to decifer but again they're pretty authentic. I played on Gamepass so it's included in the subscription but I don't think there's enough here to pay $35 to buy. Still an enjoyable 5 hours in 3 sessions so definitely worth checking out on Gamepass.

Very disappointing "game". After you get over the graphics there's nothing much left but a walking simulation with the odd simplistic puzzle and even rarer combat. The combat is even more bare bones than the first game and you only fight singular opponents instead of multiple. I didn't really gel with the story either, it's generic and didn't entertain, engage or inform me in any way. The voices which were so integral to the vibe of the first game become annoying especially during combat where they are repetative. I'm glad I got it with game pass as I was able to give up after only a few hours of boredom. Seriously watch a playthrough on YouTube before handing over money for this.

Figment is a puzzle game with platform elements and some rudamentary combat. In other words it's not reinventing the wheel. The puzzles hit the Goldilocks happy medium of not too hard but not too easy either, just right. A full play through will take about 3-4 hours which I completed in 2 sessions. If you like puzzle games and want a change of pace Figment could be for you.

There is a game with a vast open world you can explore every inch of, where you can drive customisable vehicles, where you can enter and leave every single building on the map without a loading screen, which has exciting combat using a variety weapons, explosives and tactics and which has a ton of complexity and depth. Obviously I'm not talking about Starfield but a five year old game from a small studio titled State of Decay 2.

Starfield is a fps set in space which has rpg elements, resource farming and crafting thrown in for good measure. The graphics aren't great, very much last gen especially the character models who you spend a lot of time making inane conversations with. The main story is boring and predictable and most of the side content is little better. Much of the content is copy and paste, you will encounter the exact same base on several planets. Space flight is simply a series of loading screens and once you have visited a planet you can simply fast travel there. Really? A space game where you don't even need to get in your ship?! The many menu screens are drab and display little graphic design flair. I'm only 7 hours in and I hear the game gets better after 12-15 hours but honestly I can't be bothered with it. I got it with game pass so at least I didn't waste real money on it. I don't understand the 100% reviews, to me 100% means perfection and Starfield is a long, long way from that.

A charming new twist on the city builder/ management sim adds exploration to the mix. You build up a flying city, collect resources from the land bellow, recruit workers and search out land locked cities to add them as allies. It's all very tranquil and Zen but that's the problem. Maybe a storm could occur which damages your city, maybe the cities on the ground aren't as easy to recruit, maybe your workers get sick etc.

A nice concept but not fully realized. The puzzles are quite easy, I only got stuck twice and had to resort to a YouTube walkthrough but other than that I beat the game in under four hours. There is also a simplified turn based combat system which is laughably easy, stun, stun, drain, drain, repeat.

For all it's dressing up as a dark adventure into Scandinavian mythology, Bramble is only a sub par platform game with weak combat and puzzle solving thrown in. Some of the visuals are strikingly beautiful and others are horrifying but that doesn't mask the fact this is a platform game and not a very good one either.

I love this game! I've played it through twice now including the dlc and regularly pick it up to fight a conquest battle or two. OK, there's a massive exp block which effectively stops the story in it's tracks but I didn't find the plot so compelling anyway and just got on with the side quests, taking down forts, killing mercenaries and exploring the massive and beautiful open world. There's tons of gear to collect and upgrades to make which results in a huge range of builds available. The only other AC games I've played is Origins but Odyssey is loads better than that. The only thing I didn't like was the naval battles which seemed clunky compared with the polished main game.

Great fun as a sandbox but not a good game. The missions are repetitive, no place for strategy or stealth, only go in all guns blazing. The story is shallow as are the characters and bizarrely there's only one difficulty level. I'm quite a noob to gaming so found it too tough to complete but I bet more experienced players will find it childishly easy.

I only had about 50 hours in the game but already had it beat, played through the main story, collected all the runes, had an S class squid ship and could craft unlimited resources meaning unlimited cash. Then the developer changed the inventory system and I lost a bunch of tech upgrade slots significantly nerfing my ship, multitool and jet pack. Thanks a lot!

I was hoping for a No Man's Sky with a heavy dose of satire but instead got a graphically poor linear shooter with weak rpg elements and a dull storyline. Very disappointed.

Cutesy cartoon graphics aren't my thing but I managed to overlook this and had a good time. Mostly. The puzzle/platform vaults are a bit boring but are unfortunately mandatory to finish the game. The combat is a direct port from Assassin's Creed Odyssey, from the same developer, as are some of the creature designs. Once you discover the knack combat becomes a formality and there after it doesn't really matter what armor or weapons you have equiped.

A decent enough JRPG but very long winded and dialogue heavy. The basic gameplay loop is repetitive; go someplace, meet someone, talk ( a lot ), have a fight. Repeat. There's lots of mini games to relieve the boredom like the dragon cart and business management and 50+ sub plots, some better than others. The turn based combat is a nice change of pace and allows for strategic planning.