afwhigs

There's something almost refreshing about the stark simplicity of GZ. You have a beautifully rendered countryside, a limited number of enemy types and no waypoint markers to help you. You're not weighed down with "quests" and set pieces to move the story along. The "story" is really you trying to survive. Is this enough for you? Only you can answer that. If you need frenetic, crowded multiplayer action, the quiet, tense atmosphere here may not appeal to you. More or less, this game feels like you walking around trying to survive. I like that. It's got plenty of imperfections - houses don't really feel "lived in" and start to all feel the same, more robot types would've been nice, maybe some roving bands of rogue humans? So, repetitive? Yes. But i appreciate what they went for with this game and perhaps the overall vision will be fleshed out more in future expansions or updates. As it stands, GZ is an engaging, tense game that can be a bit of a slog, but I think they were setting an atmosphere, and in that regard they were successful, and I find that atmosphere worthwhile, interesting and fun.

Take this game for what it is, a $10 PSN arcade soccer game that is a modern take on Sensible Soccer, but with more features. Fast 3-button gameplay that is pick-up-and-play, but has plenty of depth is what this is about. You get access to all kinds of tournaments, cups, leagues, a Career mode, and teams that can be edited, if you feel the need. The game is fast and fun, games only take a few minutes and that feels about right. You can adjust a lot of things to your liking: AI difficulty, weather, ball, game length, camera, pitch view, etc. This game is everything I'd hoped it would be, and if I'd paid twice as much I would've been OK with it. Sports sims have gotten to the point that they can be more complicated than I want - or at least more complicated than I want ALL THE TIME. So having a fun, arcadey soccer game really hits the spot.

The Hot Shots/Everybody's Golf series has been the best golfing on Sony systems for many years. Cartoony (and annoying) characters masked brilliant gameplay. Frankly, I tried various Tiger Woods incarnations through the years (PS2, WII & Ps3) and I absolutely hated the mechanics - adding spin while the ball is in midair is just wrong, and too arcadey. I didn't play first The Golf Club game, but I really love the second one. Swing mechanics are tied to the Right stick by default (but you can make it the L stick if you want), and getting a decent swing is fairly easy. Much like real golf, getting exactly what you want out of a shot is far from easy. The graphics are beautiful, the courses are awesome and the tournaments are a challenge. I don't really care that we don't get to play against "real golfers" - the game has the PGA license, but getting permission from dozens of pro golfers is probably vastly difficult. And to my mind it doesn't matter, anyway. The Golf Club 2 is fun - that's the bottom line - and play is fast. You can play 18 holes in 15-20 minutes, which feels just right to me. It's not perfect. The analog swing can be devilishly difficult to master - especially on puts - but you've got a driving range, chipping practice & a putting green to work with. And, much like in real life, knocking 10 yards off your swing is easier said than done. I wish there was a power meter that could be toggled, or which was a default at lower difficulty settings. Also - the AI will give you club selections which don't always make sense. In heavy rough where you'll get 60% power, max? You'd better pay attention to those details because the club you're given will land you well short of the target. But these are all small things and overall this game easily deserves 8/10.

I'm not exactly sure why this game has gotten such middling reviews, but I suspect it's because it truly is a quiet stealth game that requires patience and planning. It seems the masses these days prefer run & gun online mayhem - this is nothing like that. Personally, I love it, despite its shortcomings. Pros: -- Excellent atmosphere and setting -- Interesting and fun play mechanics -- Light RPG-ish character upgrade elements -- Lots of replayability -- Top notch voice acting & other production values -- Fun & addictive (if you like this sort of thing) Cons: -- Triggers for actions can be maddeningly touchy at times (e.g. climbing a wall) -- Combat mechanics are limited (personally I don't mind this at all, but some will) -- AI, as in every game, can be very dim at times -- I want more money! Earning enough to purchase upgrades can be a slow process -- If you don't like going over the same ground again & again you may not like this game This isn't meant to be a combat game, so I don't mind the limited melee mechanics. While bonuses are earned for remaining undetected during a mission I generally prefer to take guards out by sneak attack. It's too stressful to leave them roaming around. I wish items yielded a bit more gold because it takes time to earn enough to upgrade your skills & equipment. Personally, I really like this game a lot. It has a different feel from other games. I also like that they've handled first person platforming with a button press - no guessing and missing (mostly). Thief has its limitations and its far from perfect, but I love what they've tried to do and what they've accomplished. In a world of so many me-too first-person shooters, Thief stands out due to its wonderful atmosphere, fun mechanics and addictive, thoughtful gameplay. I hope they make a sequel.

I actually really enjoyed this game, and it's unfortunate that we didn't get a new franchise out of it. I love the steampunk weaponry and the Victorian London setting and aesthetic. There's plenty of good, and some frustrations. Nothing i'd say is strictly "bad" - maybe the length, it's far too short. While I prefer a first person perspective, for the most part, this game uses the third person very well. I never feel like it's a hinderance to my view or anything. The graphics are excellent - I'm not one to base much on visuals, but this game is impressive. The firefights are mostly excellent. What I really love is that this isn't one of those annoying games where enemies take unrealistic damage. Headshots take guys out immediately, which is satisfying. The various weapons are fun. Are you a fan of "quick time events"? I'm on the fence: I don't think they're evil but I recognize that they also sacrifice control in the name of a more cinematic experience. The QTEs can pop up with no notice and it's very easy to miss your marks. But then it's also very quick to restart the game if you mess up. The Order is NOT an interactive tour de force: stuff looks great, but you can interact with precious little in the environment. Search a room, and find the few hotspots scattered around. Again, I'm not sure where I land on this. On the one hand it's almost refreshing to have a game where you can't grab every minor object in sight. Of course the game is very linear because of this - you're not really choosing your path, you're following the only path available, and there's a minimum of other stuff to get you sidetracked. Still - if you buy this game for a good price then I feel it's very much worth it. I had fun, and I find the combat fun enough that I'm replaying it. There's a lot that could've been done better in this game - or, let me rephrase that - perhaps more could've been done to open up the world for exploration? I don't know. Every game is a sandbox these days. Having a game that just pushes you through the story isn't necessarily bad. As you can see, even in my "enthusiasm" for this game I'm kind of wishy-washy. I like The Order: 1886. It is a fun, solid premise for a franchise that never got off the ground. Perhaps it's a bit old fashioned, not being an open world sandbox. Many games only give you the impression of freedom, and maybe that's one of the problems - The Order tells you where to go and what to do next - there's not much else you can do other than move on to the next plot point. While enjoyable, this game was a missed opportunity. It could've been so much more, and it's a shame that this didn't get off the ground as a franchise. I can totally see why gamers didn't flock to a 5-7 hour, cutscene-heavy adventure. But there is a certain charm here, if you're willing to look past some of the shortcomings.

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but to me sole focus on multiplayer many developers seem to be leaning toward these days really just allows them to be lazy. A game (to me) should create a universe and tell a story. Again, at least that's what I want. Frenzied free-for-all online battles interest me for about 5 minutes. There's something missing. BO4 is impressive in many ways, but to me it's all shallow window dressing catering to the leaderboard crowd. Anyway - I strongly feel that the backbone **** should be a strong single-player campaign of reasonable length. I don't need 100 hours, or even 40. Give me 10-20 hours with good replayability, and I'm set. If you DO give me 100 hours, I'll probably play it for 200 hours. Multiplayer-only basically releases devs from having to do any kind of writing, telling any kind of story - the online players are the only feature. Not for me.

I've been a fan of pinball sims since the PS one, so it's really nice to have a sim like this with graphics detailed enough to really represent the tables. I played a lot of real pinball in my youth, and I've played a number of these tables in real life. While I can't say that the tables are "perfect" (who could), I feel that this is an excellent representation of pinball. With a pinball sim it's all about ball physics, and TPA seems to get this right. The balls seem to have the right weight and feel on the flippers, and my rudimentary set of pinball flipper moves work just fine. My only issues with this game are DLC related. The base game gives you 4 tables for $9.99, which isn't a bad deal at all, considering that these tables are complex and each represents many hours of gameplay to master them (if that's really possible - I've been playing pinball for years and I've only ever progressed to being perhaps slightly above mediocre). Beyond the original 4 tables you can buy individual tables for anywhere from $4.99 - $7.99, which some double table packs in the same range; or you can choose an entire "season" for $29.99, or $39.99 for the "pro pack", which I think allows you to tinker with the tables' settings more. There are several seasons available, and each seems to contain 15-20 tables. Now, that's a LOT of content for $30, but still, I don't like the $10 bump to get the pro pack - partly because I don't know if I really need/want the pro features, or not. So, as you can see, a $10 game can become very expensive very quickly if you desire to increase your collection of tables. But then again, $30 for 15+ tables isn't a bad deal at all if you think about it. I guess what I want is for more pack variations (half season? I don't know) and for them to ditch the regular vs. pro packages, and just have it so that if you buy a table you get all the features for that table. However, this is a great game. It's fun to sit and learn a table (and many are very complicated) and see your scores improve. If you care about pinball, this is a great game.

This game reminds me of RC Pro Am from the NES days - in a good way. This is arcadey, chaotic, slide-around-the-corners racing with excellent top-down graphics and a good number of tracks, all excellent, IMO. Yes, there are cons: I wish the racing wasn't tied so closely to the boost mechanic, because it seems like I run out way before the AI cars. This also makes "refueling" in the pit lane crucial to success. I also wish there was a way to turn off the obstacles on the tracks - oil and water barrels, and traffic cones. Traffic cones are frustrating because you can get stuck pushing one, and it slows your car like it weighs 1000 lbs. However, I love this game. The key mechanic is that applying gas and brakes (via L2 & R2) at the same time will cause you car to drift around the many hairpin turns. This feels great, and learning to use it effectively is vital. You have a few different cars to choose from, each with a different strong point - and they each feel different, which is nice. The AI is somewhat of a rubberband, but not to the extreme. If you get ahead and race well, you can stay out in front. Not messing up is the hard part, of course. This game is well worth the $10 price tag. There is enough variety in cars, classes (4 of them) and tracks to keep you busy for a long time. If you enjoy this style of racer, this is about as good as it gets. Despite its flaws, I still keep coming back to this game. Try the demo, and you'll know pretty quickly if it appeals to you or not.