Tryingbrute2

Gundam Evolution is a game I wanted to like so badly, I constantly saw glimmers of what this game could be, yet those glimmers were always followed by a big slap in the face showing me that from the beginning this game was doomed to fail. This game succeeds in creating a memorable roster of both iconic and niche characters all with varying roles and mechanics that each character feels extremely unique from one another. There are your clearly defined roles such as tank, healer, and assault, but then there are your oddball picks such as melee based only gundams and jack-of-all trades gundams who aren't necessarily the best at one thing but adequate at everything. These aren't characters you can immediately pick up either and dominate, there are of course your introductory characters that anyone can use, but some of the other gundams require a major time investment to properly figure out how to play them and while I've never reached that time investment I've seen what is capable as a single player who knows what they're doing can absolutely steam roll an entire team. That also brings up an issue however, as while it's important that each player feels as if they're contributing to the overall goal, a lot of these gundams are improperly balanced to the point where it is blatantly unfair to use them. That's not to mention that a decent chunk of these characters are locked behind in-game currency. While you might be able to buy roughly two-three with currency you own, that requires a ton of grinding and a majority of players are going to have to dish out money if they want to play these characters. Having to pay for things with real world money is a common theme across this game as you get next to nothing for leveling up and it feels absolutely awful to fight through a tough match where you come out on top yet only get XP, and the XP gains are super low too. Once you start this game you are given beginner challenges that gives you enough credits to buy I believe one new gundam and they even give you some lootboxes as well so you can hopefully get some cool cosmetics too. But once you complete all of those, you're essentially left high and dry with almost no way to earn anything through gameplay. The only times you can earn something is when a limited time event rolls away and that's it. You want to get that cool skin for your gundam, sorry you need an absurd amount of credits to unlock that, why don't you just outright buy it from our overpriced store. Oh, we don't have it in the store, well why don't you gamble away at our lootboxes with terrible drop rates and just pray that you get it, it should only cost you roughly 100 dollars, that seems fair doesn't it. Around every corner the game is trying to nickel and dime you for something, it's almost actively trying to dissuade you from playing their game. The worst part is half the cosmetics don't even look good, they're so boring as they're just color changes that in the 1/1000 chance I get something cool from the lootboxes, I don't care at all. It feels awful writing that too as the game is actually really fun to play. Sure it's just a riff on Overwatch, but it cranks everything up to 11 making the gameplay feel a lot more fast paced and action packed that even with all the they throw at you, I still would rather play it over Overwatch. The gunplay feels good, the movement is fast and fluid, all the maps for the most part feel properly designed besides a few sections, there was very rarely a moment where I felt like the outcome of a match wasn't in my control. But the monetization really just ruins the game for me, and I can't even recommend playing through it because it's shutting down. I had three achievements prior to writing this review that I wanted to go back and try and unlock, one of those being reach gold in rank. I was fairly decent at the multiplayer so this isn't a monumental task, but I couldn't even do that as the player base is so dead that it was impossible to find a ranked match, everyone driven away from the decision to lock everything behind a paywall. Let me make it clear too, I don't blame the developers for this, I blame the higher ups who made the call to do this as they ruined a genuinely fun game. In order to unlock those three missing achievements, I had to do a work around because there was legitimately no other way, and while I try to do everything legit I just couldn't this time. I really wish this game was served a better fate, because at it's core it was pretty fun to play, but those higher up executives destroyed it, and that's the biggest shame of them all; a game cannibalizing itself.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Macbat 64 is a short retro platformer that's main gimmick is it's art style. Each level is only around 5-10 minutes with their being in total about seven main levels I believe without including the additional special levels. Stages are more focused on introducing new concepts for a short time and then pushing forward to the next one. The issue lies in these concepts not being fully fleshed out so you get a bunch of half baked ideas. An example of this is the Mario kart homage level which sounds like a fun mini game/distraction from the main cycle yet when put into practice it is really boring because it only copied the base idea and didn't expand at all. Luckily most levels stick to the game play of collecting coins and solving very basic puzzles, although every level has some small distraction that isn't fully polished compared to the rest. Everything else about this game is pretty good besides small gripes with the art style. I understand that making a love letter to low poly games means your game will utilize that art style and their is nothing wrong with that as I love this type of art style. However, I feel like the developers used this as an excuse to cut corners when it came to certain aspects because some models look downright ugly. It's mainly whenever just base pngs are used because they don't match the art style at all and looked really lazy. However, for two dollars most of these complaints can be pushed away since just playing the game is generally pretty fun.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Handshakes is a short logical puzzle game that takes roughly 30 minutes to an hour based off how fast you're able to find the solution and whether or not you're planning on 100% completing this game. I took the 100% route and managed to beat it in roughly an hour and a half, a little less. But I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this game, every few levels they introduce a new little gimmick to play around with and the levels in between each new major mechanic introduction are focused around pushing that said mechanic to it's absolute limit. While the game remains centered around connected the two hands, the developers of this game push that concept far beyond that forcing you to hit switches, push boxes, chop your hands off, push yourself, and a few more mechanics. Each level will roughly take you just a few minutes and never overstay their welcome. Although I typically hate time mechanics, the speedrun mode was actually my favorite because I was forced to play at a much higher level than typically required and I had to really focus as one mistake on the later levels could cost you a whole run as one of the goals for the speedrun mode is to complete the entire game under 10 minutes. Granted I did use a guide to help follow the exact movements, but even with that guide it was still extremely stressful trying to cram everything in that time frame. The other miscellaneous achievements are pretty fun alternatives on how to play certain levels and I wish there were more types of these as it encourages more experimentation within the game itself. However, overall this was a really fun short puzzle game that I recommend everyone give a try since the game is completely free and if you like you should check out the developers as they're planning on releasing a sequel.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Before getting into anything for this review, one thing should be known, atmosphere trumps all. Brume is founded solely on it's desolate lonely atmosphere reminiscent of movies by director Robert Eggers such as the Witch and the Lighthouse. Right from the get go the presentation is put front and center, the art style combined with the unconventional aspect ratio really make it feel like you're in some sort of fantasy art house film. You as a player are trapped on the outside forced to look into a world that you know nothing about. It's a really interesting feeling that works perfectly and helps contribute to that sense of exploration that this game prides itself on. You really aren't given any directions or objections and it's up to you to figure out how things work and where to go. It truly feels like a journey across an unexplored land where the odds are against you as you start off with just a wooden stick and slowly build up your arsenal. Combat isn't anything to write home about, it's fairly simple as you repeat the cycle of dodge and attack. Although combat overall is fairly negative, it never got annoying or frustrating as exploring and finding new items kept me constantly enthralled. The game is perfect in length as well, barely scratching a few hours for just one play through, closer to 6-7 hours to do absolutely everything. With the game as short as it is, nothing ever over stays it's welcome and you never get bored. Boss fights are also pretty fun as well, with some of them even have some interesting mechanics to help differentiate the fight. The game even has fun little challenges to attempt on subsequent runs to push players to step outside their comfort zone. I would say this game is absolutely worth the price and is a fun little adventure.

Homefront holds an interesting place in my life as I remember playing it as a child and before re downloading it on a whim a couple days ago. I remember reminiscing very fondly on my time with it, while this sentiment still remains true, it's errors have made themselves more prevalent over a revisit. In an attempt to 100% complete this game and gain all of the achievements, I went through my first play through on the hardest difficulty and then back on the easiest to clean up any miscellaneous achievements I missed on my first time around. Now that those precursors are addressed, I first want to talk about difficulty as even though the hardest difficulty is supposed to test your limits as a player, it was still fairly easy. What's interesting is I think the hardest difficulty was the perfect way to experience this game. It wasn't to the point where I was constantly getting one shot, but it made it feel like every bullet was a legitimate threat and I had to actively think of what moves I'd make next. I recommend every player going through this game at least attempt it. With difficulty comes AI and this game's AI is not up to snub. Allies path finding will constantly bug out and either run into a wall or into your character causing an annoyance among the player. Enemies, while not having this issue, are super stale and just stand there, occasionally ducking into cover as their only tactic. This game is described as guerrilla warfare and I wanted to see more of that from the opposing force, I wish they pushed up or flanked me. I really just wanted more out of them as combat encounters quickly got stale after the first few fights. One place the game doesn't falter however is the setting, something about fighting through suburban neighborhoods and small towns just feels super unique compared to the worldwide fight that Call of Duty has turned into. This isn't a gripe against Call of Duty either, it just feels nice toning down the setting to somewhere a majority of players can relate to and it leads to a lot of moments where you think about how you've probably seen this locations hundreds of times in your life. It helps connect the player more to the world that this game is trying to create and I think it really succeeds. What also helps contribute to the setting is just how visceral and in your face all Homefront's imagery is. There are multiple scenes depicting a residents getting gunned down or people mere moments away from death, it's all really brutal. The last thing I want to touch on is the characters and story, as both are so poorly handled that it's shame as there is some real potential behind both of them. For the story itself, you're trying to track down gasoline to give to the US military in order for them to push into San Francisco, it's very straight forward but I like just how simple it is. You're a small resistance group, it's unrealistic to expect to win the war, so instead the game is just focusing on a single battle. Even though in the end you win that battle, the camera pans out to see a whole city still occupied by the opposing forces that it makes your victory feel bitter sweet. The major issues lays in the fact that the game cuts to credits so fast I almost got whiplash. It seems as if there was much more after winning your battle that was just completely scrapped for some unknown reason. It almost makes the game feel incomplete as I'm left wondering what happened to our characters and where do we go from here. Those characters are so poorly realized too. You have Connor who is this grizzled army man that is super mean but that's only because of everything he has gone through, eventually sacrificing his life for the better of the resistance. The issue with this trope is Connor is such an **** throughout the entire game that I didn't care at all when he eventually died at the end. I needed to connect with him throughout the story and that never happened. He just felt lifeless and like a **** the entire time with no redeeming qualities. The other two main characters Hopper and Rianna get pushed to the side after a few missions and had absolutely no character development. Everyone I met felt like a cardboard cutout. Overall, this game gets a lot more wrong than right, and honestly I shouldn't recommend it. I don't know if it's nostalgia talking or the little bit of charm this game has that is winning me over but I think that if you're looking for a middle market Xbox 360 era Call of Duty clone, this is the perfect one. It's no where near amazing or great, but those little moments stand out above the rest.

So a year after Red Dead Redemption 2 was released I have finally completed the game and is probably my second favorite game of 2019 even though it was released in 2018. However, this game isn't perfect and is far from it. There are multiple bugs I've encountered, weird animations, bad pacing, and bad mechanics. Despite all of this the good parts of this game outweigh the bad, so let's get into this. Before I dissect this game, let me lay down a few things. First, I'm only going to be talking about the story and not about the online component of this game, because that requires a whole other review. Second, there are going to be spoilers, so if you haven't played this game be aware. Third, this review will probably miss a few things but keep in mind this is my first review, so let's get started. To begin this review, let's start on the world of Red Dead Redemption 2, which is obviously the strongest part of this game. When you are just roaming the open world of Red Dead Redemption is when the game's at it's best. You are instantly immersed in the world and really feel like a gunslinger cowboy. The world is so in-depth with about 70 different species of animals all fully animated and given different interactions. As you ride around the world, you will encounter random little side quests that require you to help people out or maybe the people trick you and try to rob you. The world is huge and even after you finish the campaign there's still so much to explore. On the service, the world might seem very shallow because most of your time is just riding your horse around open plains, tall mountains, snowy forests, and hot desert plains. But, if you take a moment to look around, you can see so much is there for you to witness and experience. All the NPC's have specific routes they follow during the day and night and all these specific actions that they take apart in. After using your gun's for a while you have to clean them so they function properly, you need to maintain your health, stamina, and deadeye cores, you gotta change your clothes so they fit the environment you're in, and so much more. When all these things come together, it feels amazing but it's very rare when all of these work so well. That's the main problem with this game, all the components are so vast and complex but don't always function the way they are supposed too and the game's always flipping between letting you do everything by yourself to then holding your hand like a little child. This leads to the biggest problem with this game, control. Control is something that every game strives for, maybe the game wants to control you on what to do and when to do it, which is perfectly fine in a game if they stick with it. Or, maybe the game wants to have no control over the player, which is also fine if the game sticks to it. However, Red Dead Redemption 2 is constantly flipping between letting you do whatever you want and holding your hand like a baby. One moment the game is letting you explore every little thing the way you like, you see a woman getting harassed, you can either watch it or intervene and try to help the problem. You see an animal as you are riding your horse, you have the option to hunt it or just let it live its life. Need some money, you can go get an honest job, or you can go rob a train to get money fast. That's all amazing but the game constantly, as I said before, is holding your hand. Which leads to the missions of Red Dead Redemption. Let's first start with the side missions of this game, then we will get into the main missions. Most of the side missions feel so fun to do, and at times feel like main missions. Most games have trouble making a gamer want to do the optional content but Red Dead Redemption's side mission's lure you in with its charm and just doesn't let go. Each side mission takes you into the life of all these NPC's and makes you want to learn more about all of their stories, and the characters are another strong point of the game. However, the main missions are a bit of a different story. Like I mentioned early, the main missions constantly flop between linear and open and it just doesn't work as well as I want it too. Which is sad because I love a lot of the missions and the concepts they introduce but are just ruined by some of the choices Rockstar made. Now let's get into the final part of the review, the characters/story. I love so many characters in this game, all of them are so well crafted and have so much depth. However, the only problem with this is there are too many characters for me to keep track of. These characters are still so good and I love every second that we got of them. Now the story, the story is absolutely groundbreaking. I love so much how Arthur is conflicted with wanting to be good, how he is good but knows he won't ever be due to the Gang. I love the ending of Arthur's story too, as he starts to break apart from the gang and wants a better life for everyone.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]