ViciousNick

After reading through all of the posts it seems that there are a good number of trolls out there that just want to hate on some game for being cute. And then there are the bots of the world making perfect of near perfect scores for even worst piles of rotten road-kill stinking up the sidewalk. Ragnarok Online 2 is the sequel to a much loved and celebrated MMORPG from the pasts of many gamers out there and unfortunately I have to say that it’s does not do justice to its predecessor. But don’t get me wrong here. That does not mean it’s a bad game by any means. When comparing the new Ragnarok with the old one, you need to take the metal spike out of your head and just stop. This is a full 3D game with many restrictions that the old sprites didn’t have to worry about. It’s hard to make a 3D game where the characters move at lightning speed while attacking and still make it look good or even be able to keep up with the movements. They had to make sacrifices for the new game. So if you’re a Ragnarok fanboy and you’re going to nitpick over small things and whine that it’s not Ragnarok one then go play Ragnarok one and stop yelling in my ear. But I digress. The game itself I particularly ordinary; it still has the cutesy look to it, but then again so do so many other MMORPGs out there. It’s honestly become something for independent development companies and not decades old, multinational, online gaming corporation. At this point it just becomes a lazy standard, although sometimes the bosses can me a little creative. The controls were decent and somewhat easy to learn, but I still had to tweak it a little for my own preferences. The gameplay is similar to just about any other MMORPG, aside from being a little faster than normal. Though with this aside, it’s still it’s just the same grind missions one after the other until a boss at some point. However, the game can be played solo for the most part as it seems to be on a sort easy mode the entire time. This can be fun for those who like to progress quickly through games, but can become boring as there is rarely any challenge put before you. Also, the cut into small arena like areas which gets rid of any thought of it being an open world type game. There really is no story to speak of throughout the game’s many hours of playtime aside from the small bit you get in the beginning of the game and the smaller, scattered pieces throughout the game all until the end. Ragnarok Online 2 is one of those games that may fade quickly into the shadows of its predecessor. It’s painfully average on so many levels and I really didn’t even want to write a review on it. However, the game is free. There are micro-transactions that can speed things up, but that’s it. You just download it on Steam or on the website and play. So with all of the above listed items along with the free to play part jammed in I would like to give this one a 6. It’s a Decent and free game that you will either love or hate, but seriously, for all those that have the audacity to call this a 1 or 0. You have never actually played a 1 or a 0 game before have you? Alpha Protocal=4 (Below average) Secret Service =2 (Trash) Mind Jack=1 (Bad for your health) Sonic Free Riders =0 (Destroy all copies on site) Play these. You can easily find them in the hundreds in just about any bargain bin.

Metro is one of those few games that can be played again and again; although, not necessarily with a wildly different outcome or anything deep like that. It’s a very linear and in many ways a very average first person shooter, but it is in the details and a number of unique inserts that make this game oh so great. Now I have a problem with making good introductions for most games, but don’t let this intro deter you from owning this fantastic game. It draws you in and speaks to you. It beckons you to play it on harder and harder levels until you find yourself on the streets of Moscow on ranger hardcore mode as you’re down to your last air filter and only eight rounds left in your magazine as a horde of monsters come storming your position and you think back to when you were at that last station and you could have spent those last few military grade rounds on those needed supplies, but you didn’t. Then you die. That is what Metro 2033 is. The game is well made in many different ways to complement the areas that fall short. The gunplay, for example; it makes up the vast majority of the game, so it better be something. Thankfully it is, and not just the shooting. The guns are all pretty unique, aside from the AK47 and the P90 but even those are pretty fun since they are so rare. Also there are the shotguns which are just so creative and cool, and thankfully the guns give a realistic kick and sound effect. Honestly, that really is where it counts. I can’t even remember all the game that I’ve played where the guns sound like toys and are dead shots every time. Adding to the immersion of the weapons there is also the vulnerability of the enemies and the difficulty of the difficulty levels. I can’t stand it when the only time you get a realistic play-through is when you play on super-ultra-mega easy mode, and then it’s so easy that you never die. In this game the enemies have the same vulnerability in every difficulty level, and damaging them depends on where you hit them. I could never stand it when I’m playing on hardcore mode in some other game and I find myself unloading an entire magazine of high powered ammo from a sniper rifle right into the head of an enemy at point blank range and then they kill me anyway. What is that crap? In Metro 2033, when you up the difficulty it does more than just set the enemy on god mode and send you on your way. In this game you lose the things that you would normally take for granted. The AI gets smarter, you lose your HUD, your targeting reticle, things get more expensive, you need to drop what weighs you down and stock up on gas mask filters. The game actually gets harder and not just the enemies, but they do get harder too. There is a pack mentality with the enemies as they strike at you in a vicious and stealthy fashion, or they’ll ambush you by plowing through a wall and throwing you out a window. They don’t get god mode, they get smart. The AI in this game is something to awe at. But continuing on with the emersion of the game with the extreme amount of detail that was placed into the surroundings, and due to its linear nature the game the team was able to add even more detail than if it were a free-roaming RPG. The tunnels are dank and dark and often give you the feeling that you are being watched at all times. Most companies would squander the gifts of a linear shooter and just do the bare minimum in order to make the bottom line bigger, but not with this one. The tunnels give a true post-apocalyptic view of the world as nothing seems to live outside of the few, tightly packed towns scattered about the metro systems. These towns are often packed with people and action and all kinds of noise, but not just stalk noise, you can walk up to any two people and hear the conversation going on between the two or hear customers haggling with shop keepers, or even get in some local lore as solders and STALKERS discus what going on in the outside world. Needless to say the enviroments are true to life. But of course there’s more to the game than the looks and the gunplay, the story is pretty good as well, even if it is a little generic by today’s standards. You play as Artyom, a slightly reluctant hero whom idolizes the Rangers, a group of elite waste walkers that brave the wastelands above to get old world supplies and tech back to the people in the metro. He finds himself thrust into a dire scenario that will shape the future of humanity as he fights through hordes of mutated creatures to defeat the unseen ****-Novus and save his people. If this game weren’t based off of a best-selling book I would say that story was made with a game storyline mad-libs book, but it’s all of the wonderful little redeeming qualities of the actual gameplay that make up for the story’s shortcomings. This one gets an 8. It is an Excellent game and a great addition to the FPS family.

Anno 2070, a decent recourse based strategy game and seemingly a direct clone of 1702AD. Though Anno is a good game in its own rights it is also anything other than innovative. Essentially you begin with what seems like some kind of “Mother ship” that looks like it just landed at some random island and now you need to colonize it with either hippie or corporate inhabitants and thrive. Fun for a while. So basically the story is that global warming has melted the icecaps and has made most of the planet, aside from the highest mountain peaks, completely uninhabitable. Where have I heard this one before? And wouldn’t the highest mountains be uninhabitable too. This game shows these areas as beautiful and the very view of inhabitable. Really, you would still be at the same height as it always was and the people would die from the cold. But I digress. There are two main factions; the Eden Initiative, the good guys I guess, and the Global Trust, or the bad guys. Each has its own high and low points like the Initiative are never short on recourses, but they expand slowly. And the Trust will quickly run out of recourses but will expand faster. Aside from those two things and the look of the buildings, there really is no difference between the two, in my opinion. The combat in the game is much like the combat in 1702AD, clunky and slow. Now I love strategy games. Sometimes I’ll get so hooked on Civilization that I lose track on the month that go by, but this system is just so bad. In fact, it’s downright boring. Though the graphics in the game are great and you can see every blade of grass as it gets ripped up and scarred by the rage of war there really isn’t much to the combat. They shoot and the one with greater numbers wins. There are several campaigns that add almost nothing to the game, actually most tend to just play the sandbox mode and get the experience of the scenarios in a single play-through instead of restarting every time. And there is almost no story or immersion to speak of. You know you’re playing a game entire time. There is no connection to the characters, no main character that I noticed, and poor endings. The only saving grace in this game is that it is a feast for the eyes and has an equally beautiful soundtrack. To be honest, this game should get a score of about 4, but due to the beautiful music models and textures in the game and that it does have a good amount of replay-ability, I have to give it a 5. It is an average game with an average experience. Don’t go tripping over the strategy fan-boys to get this one, but it is worth getting if not for early gameplay.

Don’t Starve is one of those, firework kind of games, where you have this expectation of at least a good survival game, and it delivers. However, when the awe of the blast and colors dissipates you see what you are truly left with. Unfortunately, the fun of the games survival mechanic quickly turns into a horrible grind more frustrating and boring than even the most aggravating MMORPG. But this is not to take away from some of the games better points. Though the beginning of the game can eventually become a boring grind, especially if you die a lot, if you’re able to continue past the first winter you are golden and able to explore as much as you want. The biomes are beautifully done in the games unique art style, and almost seems to call for you to find out what is hiding around every corner. I loved the survival mechanic of eating, and that they added a very rarely seen mental aspect to the game that added a number of levels to the difficulty and the fun. I also liked the crafting system in the game and that for most of the tech all you needed was a science machine and the proper ingredients. And with the supplies you have gathered always at risk of going bad you find yourself constantly trying to improve the longevity of your provisions. The monsters, in the beginning, can be somewhat bland and boring, with spiders, the occasional wolf, and the beefalo wandering around, but with some searching and a little bit of luck you can stumble across some of the more interesting creatures in the game. I found that some of my favorites were the clockwork creatures, but only because I needed their guts in order to make my refrigerator. The combat is fairly simple in Don’t Starve, just click and kill. You do need to watch you distance from the larger enemies, because they don’t become stunned when attacking and they hit for massive damage, but for the most part they are all killable with a range of effort. There are a few ranged weapons, but they really don’t warrant much mentioning But is the game as a whole a good game? Yes it is. It’s the type of game that you can play when everything else had bored you and you want a challenge. It’s a welcome breath of fresh air and a look away from the perpetual easy mode that has plagued most games in recent years, and though the game can become quite the grind at certain points you cannot resist its unique charm and allure. This game gets a 6. It’s a Decent game and fun to play when you’re bored, but not something that you should really be killing to get.