Zebikun

[4.5/10] PUBG is known as a record-breaking battle royale goliath with a high skill ceiling and intense matches. Slow movement and fast time-to-kill create exciting gunfights that always lead to some serious butt-clenching. Since release, the game has not only improved technically: the fact that good weapons are easier to find and several smaller maps have been added has made matches faster. Still, the game suffers heavily from a sluggish gameplay loop. Between rounds, you spend far too much time pressing “Ready” and loitering around in a pregame lobby, where at least one minute of your life has to pass before you then get to wait in the plane. Let's assume you want to play for an hour: if you die quickly at the start a few times in a row, you may not even spend half an hour playing the actual game. Besides ranked matches, there are also faster Arcade modes like Team Deathmatch, although the Skibidi Toilet mode is a notable low point of the game. The monetization has also changed drastically: in the beginning, Battle Passes were a fun extra with some nice skins. After PUBG went free-to-play, however, cosmetics were added that can easily cost around €1000. The collaborations with Lamborghini, McLaren, and Ducati are merely content for rich people who can afford the prices. For 99% of the player base, updates like these simply mean they get to look at the new supercars on loading screens. Personally, Ranked Mode appealed to me the most. Unfortunately, the game is not moderated well enough, allowing cheaters to reach the highest rank for several seasons in a row. In barely any multiplayer FPS does a death matter more than in PUBG, which, in my personal opinion, makes losing to a cheater especially demotivating. This unique and thrilling battle royale classic has incredible tactical depth, but falls victim to its own gameplay loop, which competitors have long since copied and improved upon. On top of that, the insufficient anti-cheat measures are fatal for a competitive title.

[3,8/10] Battlefield 2042 can be described as a failed experiment. Portal Mode as well as Hazard Zone were supposed to be two strong pillars of this game. However, both crumbled within the first year. The community abandoned the former, and the developers canceled the latter. The Hero shooter feature caught so much criticism (well deserved) that it got reverted to the class system of the previous games. What is 2042 even at this point? What's left is the classic multiplayer. Smooth gun play and movement are a solid foundation for casual FPS fun. Graphically speaking, the game is pretty good. However, 2042 severely disappointed in the map department. Desolate places without purpose lead to stale games and unbalanced stomps. Playing Rush on pre-patch Kaleidoscope as an attacker was like swimming up a waterfall. I won't miss a single map. A shooter without good maps to play on is about as depressing as it gets. Years after release, the game doesn't resemble anything it was originally intended to be. It felt good dropping this one.

[8.7/10] This sci-fi themed cinematic banger is my favorite gacha game. Stunning visuals, lots of diverse and intricate characters come together in a beautiful story mode. Though Interactions can be bloated at times, the game still has me begging for an anime adaption. Fleshed out turn based combat allows for an endless amount of battle strategies. Admittedly, mechanics are increasing in complexity to a degree where the issue can be diagnosed as Yu-Gi-Oh!-Syndrome. However, the sheer amount of content to be enjoyed makes up for issues like these. In total, the experience that Honkai: Star Rail offers for free is something many full price titles can dream of.

[3,8/10] Pokémon Scarlet and Violet has very few redeeming qualities, scattered throughout the region of lost potential and low FPS: Paldea. Blurry textures and low poly surroundings are somehow accompanied by a struggling frame rate and stuttering (issues that normally arise when a game looks very good). From a technical perspective, it is worse than Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee by a long shot. There is not a single City or other in game Location, that I can call interesting, let alone my favorite. This game made me forget exploring was intended to be fun. However, I did enjoy the new generation of Pokémon that were introduced. The Paradox lineup is fantastic. Using Tera-Types enables never seen before strategies. Gen 9 has an incredibly fun competitive meta (perhaps the best so far). There is no battle facility or any other type of post game battling activity, so one of its biggest strengths will be lost to time. Tera-Raids, the intended post game content, is riddled with bugs and unfun to play. Compared to Gen 8 raids, there is a baffling downgrade. Once servers are down, you are forced to play with terrible NPC Teams, that can't be upgraded in any way. How cool would it be to unlock and fight alongside fan favorite trainers like Red, Cynthia or N? Put the idea on the pile of dead hopes and dreams, that could have made Scarlet/Violet a gem. The least amount of enjoyable content paired with the largest amount of technical errors since the Gameboy-era. This game will age like wet toast.

[8,0/10] Fortnite was one of the first battle royale games, that delivered a fast-paced arcade experience. It offered innovation that allowed quick and casual fun, contrary to its competitor PUBG. Originally known as the building-shooter, it quickly branched out into lots of different game modes. The no-build mode as well as tons of mini-games form a solid selection for a large audience. The flashy and even satirical identity has immortalized itself in the gaming community. Or in other words: this game has become an eternal meme because it lets you hit the gridy with Son Goku wielding a shotgun. Best played with friends, this game offers long term replayability due to its high skill ceiling, comical experience and large number of content updates. All in all a really solid game but most certainly not for everyone, considering it's almost obnoxious vibe.

[9.5/10] The timeless sandbox-defining classic. Everyone knows how it works. Iconic soundtracks and calming gameplay define the legendary Minecraft atmosphere. Potentially an endless time sink, that can only be bottlenecked by one's creativity. But even then, minigames offer a whole new aspect that can be enjoyed with friends, too. The performance can be iffy at times, and transitioning to Microsoft definitely gave the community a headache. But in comparison to the influence Minecraft had on the gaming landscape, the negative aspects quickly become irrelevant. Everyone has to experience it at some point.

[7,2/10] Soulstone Survivors is polished and stylish. Finding cracked builds and clearing thousands of enemies is straight forward. You can just jump in and have fun. The game mechanics are pretty simple at first, but as you unlock more upgrades, the game reveals a deep structure. Weapons, abilities, runes and skill trees can eat up a lot of time once you get into them. Easy to learn, hard to master. So how long can you kill millions of enemies until it gets boring? Achievement Hunting got you covered for a while. The game has its own little challenges, that mix your gameplay up a little as well. It's not something that you can grind for hours though because of its repetitive nature. Booting up Soulstone Survivors every once in a while to spam so many projectiles that your fps drop is the right way to go about it.

[3,5/10] Forza Horizon 5 had the potential to be a racing game gem, but all that's left is depression. The vehicle controls are top-notch, and the environment look stunning. An immense selection of cars and races makes this game a Goliath compared to others. Racing is genuinely fun. Sadly, it goes downhill from here. The voice lines are just as cringe as the gazillion Fortnite-like emotes and car horns. I can change my honking sound to the Windows 10 notification sound? Are you guys okay? Nobody asked, and they delivered: This game has a campaign. Story events include picking up a car with a transporter for someone my friend knows. I would rather sleep. Micro-Transactions are present throughout the game. As expected, there are additional cars available for real cash, but the fact that you can reveal all collectibles on the map for around €2 is beyond soulless. The game also bombards you with tons of vehicles from the start. I became a multi-million luxury car collector on day one. Any long term motivation or sense of accomplishment was instantly gone. Forza Horizon 5 had so much potential. It swerved off the road and went up in flames.

[3,0/10] If you are looking for a quick but tough challenge, then play this game or pronounce its name. The concept of tilting the stage in ways that let your marble roll towards the finish line is fun. Sadly, the game lacks polish. The environment is quite bare-bones, which is a shame. The marbles that try to outrun you enhance the experience with voice lines like "Yabadaba-doo" or "Nononononono" when falling off the racetrack. One level is all it's got, so spending more than 40 minutes on this game would be a tall order.

[2,3/10] Serke is a cool looking Hack & Slash, but sadly it lacks in pretty much every other aspect. Fighting similar opponents in a copied and pasted environment is a very repetitive experience. Hitbox shenanigans and a cluttered but granted detailed upgrade system make things more frustrating. Getting higher stats requires relentless grinding. After an hour of getting stronger and beating the first boss, I had enough, Serke.

[0,5/10] Darok is an unfinished platformer, be it design- or gameplaywise. The world looks uninspiring, most of it being a solid blue background. Hard jumps are the only thing that can catch your interest. But even that becomes unfun quickly. The game doesn't have sound or controll settings. You can not even save your progress, hit ESC and your run is gone. Simply a waste of time.