Nhl 26 still contains fairness adjustment offsets. Expect all kinds of ai adjustments each game. Community insists on utilizing all the defects in the game to win since these adjustments minimize the possibility of playing clean. Solid accurate review right there
This is a game that got low ratings for changing up the formula from the original game. It's not a bad game when viewed by its own merits and I actually thought it was a decent tie in to the original. I can see why it got trashed though everyone wanted more beat em up rioting action and this game is just another shooter, no beat em up. It's actually a very decent shooter that I enjoyed quite a lot. The guns are a little bit clunky but I found the worse of the game to be excessively spaced save points. Apart from this the game was quite fun. I actually prefer this game over the original but honestly these two titles don't belong in the same genre. The first game is mostly arcade beat em up with secondary gunplay choices while this second game is pretty much third person shooter all the way with adaptations and tie ins to the characters within the first game mostly. I thought they did a good compromise with the map making this linear game feel more open worldish to make it feel more like the first game.
This game has two modes, chaos mode which is essentially an arcade mode which you can keep extending your play time within and retribution which is essentially the games campaign mode with 175 mini missions. As you progress within each mode you unlock more features of the games. Nowadays I'm certain only chaos mode is worth checking out and there are only four levels which are unlocked by hitting certain scores within the game. Despite this limited amount of gaming worth checking out in this title the game is decent with spawning weapons and frantic action which is certain to entertain. The quality seems decent but is questionable whether the player will have staying power. If you like arcade games this game may be appealing but if you are looking for deep gameplay that's unlikely to hold your attention more than an hour or two. All said it's a nifty game to have in you're collection for short spurts of unique gameplay at a bargain price.
I'm not going to lie this is a low quality game but in saying this I think it's overly punished because I still found it able to entertain me. I would strongly suggest anyone to read other reviews which strongly point out the weakness in this game then maybe come back to my review because I think my review sees the game from a different perspective. It it bad? Yes. Can it be enjoyed though? Absolutely. What's missing from other reviews is that despite the garbage quality of the game it does make one feel reasonable immersion. This isn't borderlands where being reckless is inconsequential. This is old school you slip up that's it you are virtually done. So this is why there are no health packs and why weapon loading takes crazy amounts of time. And also why checkpoints are sparse. You better go slow and make good decisions when to pilfer and what may be inside a hut or in that jungle brush. This is realism really and imo a strong point of the game. Just imagine being in the situation in real life would you just run out in the middle of the field like a dog running across a busy highway? I think not. Would it be important to not loose count of your ammo. Absolutely. This game doesn't a great job in this respect and even enemy placements and encounters aren't individually scripted the same each time you try a mission it will play out somewhat differently unlike most games which have set enemy placements in 100 % of the game. Unfortunately low quality is still low quality though and thus the game still gets a low score. Just saying it is underrated and I think a 5/10 is more reflective of all considerations of this games design.
I want to first off say I'm barely into the game maybe 10 hrs but I think I've already got a pretty good image of what this game is by other people's reviews and my own personal comparisons to other similar genre games. By the 10 hr mark I have uncovered the difficulty spikes players have talked about and honestly I don't see this as a bad thing, but mostly because of my personality in wanting to challenge my intelligence in a game. So many games just turn you into a zombie I actually like sitting there soaking up every nuance and preplanning. Failure on the first attempt well fine, fool me once kind of thing, but not twice! In a nut shell I feel this game separates from its rivals in this respect. What can be seen as a nuisance by some, such as kingdom management and time limits can also increase the veteran level challenge ****. Given this game has such complexity in differing builds I personally am going to embrace these features as they will increase replay ability of this game especially as I go forward and learn the subtleties. It really is the appeal of the genre imo. That said this game really was initially quite hard to get into cuz it doesn't hold your hand past a very basic tutorial. Just to get to 10 hrs were a ton of breaks putting the game down because at heart I'm a gamer and not much of a reading buff. These games for me are quite exhausting in many respects. I think too many people confuse that with boredom though. By 10 hrs I've had no problems with bugs yet. Something I've read in reviews is the dice rolls being off and always missing or enemies rolling perfectly and I will say by 10 hrs I seem to be noticing this too but the reviews are exaggerations. I feel what is really happening is the game was initially in real time and if you change that to now turn based it makes sense. Just watch the video trailers of creatures whacking away and how could the game engine translate this via a turn based system and I think that's how the translation would look like. In that regards I don't see this as a bug but rather the necessary mechanics to keep the in game balancing where it needs to be, or where it would have been in real time. Overall I find this game has more nuance layers than other games in the genre. Do I feel Divinity is a better game? Certainly I found that game more user friendly and less taxing but I would also have to say it is less customizable. I'm the kind of gamer who wouldn't rather argue which is better but just enjoy each as unique and take that win. I believe strongly this game is a solid 8 which can be replayed over and over trying new strategies and build or higher difficulties. Is it perfect? No, but being compared to Balders gate is good enough for me.
I as well find this an interesting game to rate. Is it fun? Absolutely. Is it boring? Absolutely. Say what? Well the action is fine but the design leads to repetitive gameplay. It really is a small game that through design makes it tough and necessary to repeat. I won't argue it's not fun but it also almost requires a full lobotomy to enjoy to the end.
Back in the day I could see me giving this a chance but nowadays this is a hard pass because of the non existent save system. Should you die you start right back at the start of a mission and you can't speed up the game to speed run it to make up for lost time. It's a painful memorization game and it didn't take me long to become bored of the repetitive do-overs. Back in the day as a youngster this game would have occupied me differently but nowadays with the evolution of games and choices this one belongs in the past.
I have to admit I'm a bit astonished this games rating come in between 39 and 51. To me this rating means the game is severely broken, stuff like gamebreaking bugs or controls that are so clunky they disallow functional gameplay. I've played many such games and I don't see those qualities in this game. In fact, I see some good development. Control options for me were quite customizable and intuitive. As for gameplay i found the gameplay at least as good as many other titles released not in stinker territory. In fact I rather enjoyed this game as an arcade shooter. Speaking of linear gameplay I found there were options and routes in this gameplay to not make it totally linear. After playing the game I went back to check YouTube walkthroughs and noticed each player kinda choose different styles to proceed through a level. I had fun with the game and enjoyed the atmosphere of the game. Older games have a certain charm and not so politically correct and that's refreshing mostly if it doesn't go too far. The game is rather short but I could also say that of almost all games from 2006 and thereabouts. I imagine back in the day graphics were terrible but with my component cables and gaming monitor it's good enough to my liking today. I feel the shortfalls of this game are made up in other areas. You can ace the gameplay or mess up and different things happen depending. Not sure gamers back in the day paid attention to these subtleties. It's one reason I like max payne 2 so much. Music, tbh the music from these older games really do fit in nicely. Nowadays it's all so generic. There are four or more difficulty settings so any skill level can just play this or be super challenged. I don't know I see a lot of good features in this game and it's very playable I'm not sure why there was such disgust in this game. I'd guess it's a factor of paying full price and or it came out as a competitor to something better but was the same launch price. Neither of these factors played into my gaming scenario and I have to say I had a fun time with this game. Not going to blow anyone away but I still can't imagine it deserving the scores it received. As I've mentioned I've given 5/10's to what I feel are games much more unplayable.
Don't go getting all excited that the move to the frostbite engine ruins or improves this game. My impression is that this is more of a port from one engine to another and very minor changes to the game have been made. 40 online games in I've had 15 or so break by syncing bugs or disconnects not related to a player quitting. Just like every year early in the season the game isn't ready. It is essentially the same game as every year with a roster update on a different engine. Every year the experience of the cut and paste software is the same. This is not a new programming build. You still see 90+ skate players being beat by 84/85 skaters. You still do not get consistent face off offsets except with a few players especially Bergeron. You still see that the players from 5 games ago still act like they did then as if the game has never been updated yearly. I was pumped that the switch to next generation would mean the dread of all the past deficiencies of the game would be removed and we could see an evolution of this series. Alas that dream is dead. You still have the meta game controlling the gameplay as much as the participants involved. You cannot strategically dump or chase or control fatigue or generally use any strategy than from previous years. The new X factors are just another smoke and mirror attempt in advertising to make you feel the game is **** it's not. It's just a new gimmick to fool everyone and we will still be requested to send EA video footage so they can take a look at what's going on. Year after year the same ruse. If you enjoyed previous years this one is a bit more shiny but if you dropped out sick of the gameplay degradation stay away and possibly just give up on this series. It's not fixed. I will say that fairness adjustments do not seem as pronounced in this version and that's a huge plus but as I've learned from experience EA will change tuning to suit thier needs. One big thing I want to focus on is the X factors. They add a nice touch making the potential for better gameplay but they are gimmicks. In my experience I have activated various skills and they activate but do not follow thru. I've come to the conclusion they must be an extremely minimal stat boost on one skill making them unnoticeable and irrelevant. The net result of Nhl 22 can best be described as any other previous version of the game with possibly less tilt/fairness adjustments. That's a step forward but by no means a fix to the dreaded game. At best it's a better tuner adjustment. My conclusion is this game is never changed from its initial release on the ps4 except for yearly variances in the game tuning only.
Honestly I could rate this anywhere between a 6 to 8 out of 10. It's difficult to rate for various reasons but I rated it on the low scale of where I thought a fair rating would be. The first thing I'd like to say this is an adaptation of the board game, which I never played but other reviewers state it's a faithful adaptation and I can buy into that as I looked up the ruleset and it appears spot on. The first thing that I find I want to criticize is the presentation. It has some noticeable pauses loading and also headscratching input lag after certain button actions. The lag is so long it can make you wonder if you actually pressed your controls. Camera is sufficient and you can toggle between overhead and first person. First person is cool however being a strategic game I think it would have been much more important to have a zoomable camera instead. Objects which are linked such as controls to doors are revealed by toggling to a different map and to be honest I found it very messy and not easily discernible. Other games do a much better job with similar features and needs. Gameplay tutorials are also too basic. As you learn what the game requires it could have had better overviews of all the games features. For example, as a noob I didn't know where the consoles to doors were. Some doors activate by interaction in front of them, others require a console placed some distance away from the map. True you learn as you go but much of the games complexity unfolds one step ahead of any tutorial that could have been there to enjoy the game more. Remember what I said about a zoomable camera? I found out way into my playthrough you actually can zoom in. The end result is essentially playing the game initially to understand it then a second time to actually play but it feels like you are now in spoil alert territory which is a big killjoy. These are the reasons I scored it low ultimately. Let's pretend I played and understood the board game many of these issues wouldn't be issues. The gameplay is actually extremely decent. There are two campaigns one for marines and one for aliens, and the game is a measly $10. The game also has a map editor so if you have friends who enjoy this game or would skirmish this game is probably must have. In all I'm torn. The gameplay is excellent and the value is there. For me I found I had to put in some work to enjoy this game so to me that requires a cautionary score. For others this game could be the bomb as is. I think it all depends if you already know the game or don't. For me the game is worth the effort despite its imperfections
Sometimes you come across a game that is easy to learn but hard to master. This game can be described as the opposite. I found learning the gameplay to be a real chore. There are detailed tutorials however they are not fully assistive. I had to reload the game several times to learn everything because the tutorial verbally tells you what to do but if you missed what was said there was no print on the screen to get you back to what it was you were supposed to have learned. On top of this the manual was equally missing a good description of controls. Another shortcoming was upgrading your units. No where can you assess whether it is cheaper to repair a unit or buy replacements and what this would mean towards the retained strength and moral of your units. When I picked up treasure from the battle field I couldn't figure out how to equip it from one unit to another. Can you even do that? This game also had bland visuals but I didn't really knock it for that. Overall you can do a lot in this game the rts outcomes and the player choices available to customize your gameplay is extremely decent. Unfortunately you have to be very dedicated to learning this game with your own mental fortitude.
Just like watching these players on tv but with an extra layer of awkwardness. Presentation is both adequate and scary at the same time. The gameplay is decent enough to get your poker fix in if you are in the mood to try it as a video game and the good news is you can binge play this or spread it out any way you like while consuming mass quantities of food and beverages of choice. Technically the Color is poor when you draw your hand it was difficult to tell what suit of cards you drew they all kinda look similar which seems to be the most common complaint. It's not unplayable by any means but certainly a common complaint which I will also agree to.
I've never played the original or previous golden axe games and after giving this game a try I'm perplexed at the low scores. I was expecting a simple hack and slash and found that this game surpasses what I was expecting. With a counter system and the ability to ride beasts with different abilities and enemies which can knock you off your beast and use them this game can get deeper than most trivial button mashers. I surmise the low scores have two reasons for appearing. Number one is the Sacred 3 **** game is not the same as previous games within the series and is being leashed out against. Number two goes hand in hand with number one and that is people don't want to evolve in their gameplay. I'm guessing this game had too much to learn in way of how to get good at the game. It's very important to learn the counter system and I can guess that stubborn fans who would rather bash the new system then learn it would rather just bash the game and say how terrible it is. When I reviewed comments on this game it seems players of more recent dates are scoring this game higher than those who reviewed it at launch. Another third reason for the low scores are a competition factor towards God of War. Looks like with a health and mana system this game was viewed as a terrible sister or brother to that hugely successful game. After letting this game stew 10-15 years losing that comparison and viewing it as it's own entity and merits this game is much better than it was examined back in the day. Not saying this is a hidden gem but it clearly is not a 4/10 game which it got. For me, an enjoyable and surprisingly good unexpected find. Not mind blowing but a decent game. It is a solo game and my only real issue with it is that it is broken up in very small chunks which kinda all feel like tutorials and on top of that the in game menu where you are at seems lacking. Looking back to YouTube videos what Golden axe was this game is a dramatic improvement so much so that I can't see anyone ever wanting to play the original again unless using only two or three buttons is your ideal gaming heaven. I'm giving Sega the win on this one, not players.
I think the player review scores on this game are pretty harsh and that the professional review score of 7/10 is spot on. The game is pretty solid but the preferences of how the game was instituted is likely the reason the player review scores are so harsh. Let me explain by way of comparison....when you buy guitar hero Metallica you want **** they deliver on this very quickly. It is essentially open world in the sense you need to unlock very few songs to open up more Metallica songs. The presentation is also fantastic and the backup band songs are what you would expect and blend nicely into the mix of choices. In Aerosmith this is not the case. You start off as a small band and must play through songs you may really have no interest in. This is chorelike for a lot of songs. Then you finally get to play Aerosmith but you have no choice. So not very open worldish. I understand this may be this way for immersion but I think it's a mistake given how many guitar heros have been released prior I think we all had this immersion style already and it's getting old. With a dedicated band to this game that's most likely why the buyer made the purchase. In some fairness the game does build going from their roots and building steam to their better songs as you go, but again it seems like a long walk for a short drink of water. On top of that the Aerosmith songs are not really all that fun when compared to some of the backup cover songs you must go through. This really distracts from the dedication of the band you made the purchase for. Overall this game I still competent but not nearly as high a caliber as a fan would like. Sure you like the music but you also want the game and it's noticeably weaker compared to much of the competing guitar hero offerings. Still a decent game though but the energy and pizazz of the game doesn't shine like it should with this band.
This is a card based game offering 3 character choices each having 3 factions to choose from and on top of that a draft mode which allows you to draft a blend of any of the factions cards for a single playthrough. The game is simple to learn and hard to perfect as you have to deal with both strategy and randomness on the fly. The game is very easy to pick up and play and your goal is simple : to win the game just advance from the first dungeon floor to the second then the third, killing a boss at the end of each floor. You will then escape and win the game. Each game takes roughly an hour and the game has fantastic replay value because you have so many options with characters and on top of that there are 15 levels of gameplay difficulty to beat. After your first win (escape) you have the option to advance the difficulty to the next **** even if you are perfect you are guaranteed at least 60 hrs of entertainment from this game (3 characters plus draft mode x 15 levels x 1 hr each). The game plays much like magic the gathering on a grid based board. It's a great relaxing card game I'm quite happy with. Some improvements could be made with the rule base. Although the game is very simple to learn there are some nuances that could be defined better. For example I was expecting to be able to make a custom deck with cards you unlock and yet it seems you can't do that. It seems instead you are just able to draw those cards in the next game but the mechanics are still dubious. Similar to that there are cards which allow you to retrieve stuff from your discard pile but there is no way to check what's in your discard pile ahead of time. Little things like that. Otherwise this is an outstanding game I'd consider an underrated or undiscovered gem for an entry price of $10 or less.
For me, borderlands 2 is the perfect example of all that is good with current generation games and as well all that is bad. Let's start off with the good. The game is large, relatively bug free, has awesome graphics and is very smooth to play. It's very decent with how the open world is, the enemy variety and going about things your own way. For these elements alone I'd love to give this game a 10/10 because it is quite phenomenal in many respects. Now what I don't like about it and although subtle it has all these elements: cheating, fetch quests, poor tuning and selling out making a game for everyone. Fetch quests are pretty obvious find this go get it bring it back.....boring. Poor **** I'm halfway through my playthrough and haven't found a decent unique weapon yet just permutations of everything else. This is boring in a game that advertises bazillions of guns. So am I just unlucky? No, I doubt it. So what's my beef? My beef is this game isn't tuned to be difficult. It's goes through a weapon upgrade loop finding a variety of weak guns with different abilities then progressing to higher enemies where these guns become outdated and then pretty much finding he same guns a little bit stronger, rinse and repeat. The game seems driven not by weapon luck but by a mathematical formula keeping you on pace in the game. If the game is gonna scale then let's have that promised fun and scale to whatever weapons I find so playthrough A can be wildly different than playthrough B, especially with different characters. Another example of bad tuning: I'm currently in Chapter 11 with a level 16 character. I'm getting bored with the weapon drops being boring so I go to the ammo vender only to find all that's offered in level 7-10 stuff...6-9 levels below my character .Seriously?... So I take plan B, round up junk the go to Moxies slot machines to gamble for a new weapon I may like. After a considerable time not one weapon is any better than the current playfield **** disgusted I go read some posts and find that this game offers golden keys from valve **** doubt you need to subscribe to their terms of service so you can get decent weapons at the cost of your privacy. Ah, it all makes sense on the normal in game weapon drops. Here we have a system like EA has employed, loot chests you have to sell your soul for but done a little bit differently. So this also goes hand in hand with cheating it turns out the valve codes also have exploits to them and no doubt the game tuning had to be adjusted after the game was patched. Perhaps to this day this game has seen tuning because of all these congressional issues. The end product for me is a game with amazing potential but does not challenge me in a manner in which I enjoy. Instead I feel the game is a time waster anyone can get through. The game seems very tuned to keep you busy and with enough wandering around you will succeed. Even the cash in the game is pointless. When you have lots of money and die it costs a lot to reincarnate. Go blow your cash at Moxies then die and you will see it costs nothing again to reincarnate. What is the point of the cash then? It's not useful at a vending machine nor is there gameplay punishment for spending it unwisely. Then I think about how much in game time it takes to open all those crates for this fake economy and it's depressing having to open the crates and see it. In some respects I like this but is game it is overly done to the point of feeling like a game zombie. I would still really recommend this game it's very large, decent for the money and is brilliant in many respects. I only wish the software companies go back to some old school challenge because what I like about video games is that they challenge your skills concurrent with brain power and many games are losing that notion making me want to just get rid of or stop gaming altogether.
The handsome collection contains Borderlands 2 and Borderlands Pre Sequel games and all their DLC. It does not contain the original Borderlands game. I have only completed the pre sequel game which is considered the most skippable game in the series so I wanted to review it cuz most people don't elaborate on why......first I wanna start with the good this is a typical fps-rpg hybrid heaven and the gameplay is smooth and glitch free. The pre sequel takes place in outer space which adds some gameplay variety. Here you have to rush to oxygen rich areas or your health depletes. In game you have o2 gadgets to equip as part of the loot so with better gear you can avoid the problems of oxygen depleted space vacuums. You can turn on oxygen beacons to advance map areas. Inside gravity is like normal Borderlands and outside you can jump and remain gliding much longer. Some enemies wear masks and headshots can devoid them of their oxygen. Apart from that this is the borderlands we all know. The story is meh and gets you to one area to another. The worlds are fast travelable, but/and map markers are still terrible. Some parts of the game was a fluke I found the areas to advance to. Fortunately there were only about three of these areas. Credit the quality of the game enuf I stuck around cuz these were very frustrating areas without consulting YouTube to cheat. Characters in the pre sequel were fantastic...6 new vault hunters I used the baroness and completed the game with her. I will want to replay the game with another vault hunter maybe claptrap next but it's a toss up......this is where borderlands shines. A great game once around and replay able as a new experience perhaps better, perhaps worse but fun to try...loot pickups in this game seemed ok however many times chests didn't auto collect. It wasn't game breaking but that's where my two point reduction came from apart from the mapping issue. Overall I noticed the game was designed to not have you stuck. I had a hard time with certain bosses and died repeatedly. You get some top up ammo (thumbs up) but not a full refill and the boss was somewhat faster to reduce in health up to your previous best assault on their **** a game I appreciate that this game made the effort to keep the gameplay exactly challenging enough. Now if I rate this game an 8 and borderlands 2 is even better, and you can grab this game new for $20 I'd say that's a must buy.
Let me start off by saying this is a decent game and one I'd actually recommend to purchase however it has some issues that distract from its full enjoyment. The first issue is that the game and its lore try to overachieve to the point it's confusing and distracting on a first playthrough. Part of my recommendation to purchase this game is because it has a ton of characters and each is embedded within the games lore, but the way it is presented, by switching from different character perspectives is overwhelming to understand within an initial playthrough. I stopped halfway through my first playthrough to redo the game with the same choices so I could re-read and enjoy the story more and understand the characters better but there are just too many names and waypoint lore and in the end it just became blah, blah, blah. I lost interest repeating and rereading. It would have been wise to include an insert which would allow an overview of the game setting so you could understand the setting and characters much better while playing the game. The second issue goes hand in hand with some presentational choices. Reading text is wayyyyyy outdated and with this much dialog voicing should have supplemented the text you had to read. It was present in some cutscenes so really felt like the game was experiencing a software bug by way of audio dropping for the rest of the gameplay. The third issue I had was camera. It really needed to be able to rotate for a cleaner view of enemy and friendly stats. I made many mistakes of interpreting the battlefield because various animations, especially Varl (Giants in the game) hid or confused some areas of the in game map. This issue wasn't a huge mess but did impact my games enjoyment. Now that I've expanded upon these issues I'd like to say the rest of the game is extremely impressive. The amount of characters you can play and their unique skill sets are pretty amazing. For a small turn based game the game can get very tactical and rewarding. Despite not enjoying going thru games more than once I was very tempted to try the game again. Instead, you can import your characters into the next entry so that's where I'm heading and maybe someday I will replay the entire trilogy again with what I remember of it. One thing I would like to point out in my review is that most reviews were going gaga about the story and not going on much about the gameplay. I would say the gameplay is the strong point of this game but it will take the full trilogy playthrough to get enough action in to satisfy you. My first playthrough of this first saga really only felt like an introduction to the game before it was already over. The story left me really wanting to go back and learn what just happened better though so maybe that's what everyone is getting at. Overall a decent game I am a fan of the fire emblem games and although different this game has enough going for it to earn my interest in it's purchase and stand behind it. One other thing this is not a rts game as some reviews state it is a turn based strategy game. As you travel along the game requires choice/input to branch your story. If that's rts then I guess it helps explain why Candy Crush sued lol.
I've played this game way back when it came out and now again in 2021. For any retro lovers Id recommend this game it's rather timeless and well done. The games sequel though, Amplitude, in my opinion is a better game though. Although this game is great it was kicked up a notch in Amplitude. This games track channels were improved in that game as were the general sound effects and I really prefer all the songs in Amplitude vs this game which went safe with what just seems good rhythm music but doesn't have as much wow factor. Overall this is still a very strong game.
This is a hardcore gamers game and it's a very wise decision that it has no story. I say this because in this game, like chess, dark souls, or card games the gameplay is the star and having a story would trivialize it. Its gameplay would have to be sacrificed. If I weigh in on the Hades vs Curses of the dead gods debate im all over this game for its challenge and replay ability. Every aspect of the game works. I checked out Hades and it looks fun but no way am I succumbing to the story and characters. From my perspective the characters and story degrade that game heavily or is suitable to casual gamers only willing to play it once. I see Curse of the dead gods strength that it's omitting having to put myself through some torturous half cheesy half mandatory narrative. What I like about this game is it's absolutely phenomenally balanced gameplay. Every decision you make whether by upgrades or by action has a meaningful consequence that imparts your success or failure. You basically are doing dungeon runs with about 10 rooms ending in a final boss. The rooms have various gameplay decisions to make each offering a reward such as replenishing life, getting a weapon upgrade or getting stat boosts ect ect. Each room is randomly generated so traps and locations of enemies will feel varied each dungeon run. When you fail there are new strategies to try again. What is here for its size of game is phenomenal. Controls are tight and you will be challenged by the combat. The risk reward system is perfect. As you move from each dungeon room, and also being hit by corruption blasts from enemies you accumulate curses which mostly hinder your gameplay but also introduce new options to your gameplay style. The game is super fun and very addicting and despite the small size the game appears it does not get repetitive because the weapons are so balanced trying new weapons and weighing new strategies always felt addictive. The game could only made better by being larger. Hopefully an expanded sequel with more bells and whistles makes this a series we can all look forward to.
This is a mission based game which has a decent presentation. The controls are functional but not very satisfying. With many enemies around it gets into gong show territory pretty fast. Lots of options exist for camera and aiming preferences however I found none to provide controls which I found fluent. The world and missions were decent enough and maybe in the day I would have played the game out, but like many games of the past these games haven't aged well. It's a decent game with some warts and it's subjective whether it's worth playing nowadays. I like the old style games which have good atmosphere and seem batch crafted. This game is worth checking out for that reason, but it's also worth ignoring for it's simplistic controls which could use a ton of improvement.
This is a game that had potential. The missions are varied within a charming simple plotted story and the game design around it is pretty decent. You have lots of upgrade potential with weapon choice and the missions are easily replayable once unlocked. There is decent skill involved in not wasting ammo to make the game easy or hard depending on your skill. The atmosphere is immersive and the focus aiming mechanic is **** then all this is destroyed with terrible controls and aiming feel. I tried and tried to love this game cuz the potential is so easy to see but those controls were definitely not sharply customized to make this game nothing but regretfully frustrating. Lots of repeating areas because the game design was tighter than the controls. Further to that the 3rd person animations are quite spazzy and goofy as well. It also would have been nice for scrolling through target locked enemies too. In sum a phenomenal game reduced to meh by unoptimized game controls.
In a way I feel kinda bad for giving this game only a 6 rating. Much of what is there is actually quite good but I have no patience at all for sloppy software and this game gets severe reductions for two issues. The first issue is a brutal camera that has a mind of its own and waivers around at its own will. Nothing about the camera deserves praise at all. Secondly and maybe only I experienced this is the installation of this game was the source of my PS3 stalling and not being able to hook up consistently to the Playstation Network or even internet. My system test indicated internet connectivity but not PSNetwork connectivity. When deleted everything restored and ran as usual. So thumbs down to Obsidian. Such a sloppy company. Ok, there is good i liked about the game- the skill trees and player choice in how to build their characters and customization was generally exciting and varied. Fantasy wise the enemies and creatures encountered made for some great gameplay. If one had more patience than I had I might actually speak well of this title. For me, I will reaquire the game when it is $15 or so and maybe try my luck again hopefully there is some patching or updates which fixed the issues I mentioned. If they solve those this game is worth a look then. Updated review: After 9 years I have decided to replay the game and have recently finished it. The camera in some spots near the end of the game was bad but for the most part the camera behaved throughout my playthrough. The one thing I'd like to stress about this game is it's teen rated and just like movie games the combat isn't very complicated and so I'd only recommend this to teens. I'm not sure if the went for a Champions of Norrath clone in this game but it did bring back those memories in many respects. However, I didn't feel the quality was as high nor the gameplay and enemy difficulties. Much of the game was straightforward and linear and unfortunately relied on reencountering the same enemies by backtracking to finished areas over and over to extend gameplay. This made the game repetitive. Some problems exist with the game not seeming to be finished to the quality it may have been envisioned to have before release: aiming with the gun seems to not follow agility skills and can at times not find enemies especially when you are fighting on stairs and during mobs you can't really pick out an enemy. There is no run button just a roll. (Hello-agility????) You can't switch companions during gameplay. You have to upgrade your companions skills as you play and this is a problem because they don't know which skills to use intelligently. My companion at times used her skills well and absurdly. Many times this would cause their death and yours trying to revive them. The loot in this game is far overdone you will get pretty much all styles of weapons and this can be good for choice but again they don't all work well. The abilities these weapons have are ill defined and a head scratcher if they actually are working in the game. Since you have so many weapon drops you will be upgrading so fast it's hard to notice anything different. Tha said the game gives lots of choices but again the gameplay isn't very deep to appreciate any of it. Overall this game was terribly easy and mundane but still enjoyable to a degree. For me it was just too shallow. I would recommend it for entry level gamers and teens and as a hardcore gamer myself I might wonder if next game plus may be worth it for some people (not me lol). The game has about 35 areas and the gameplay just started to get challenging at around the 28-30th areas. I thought about next game but given the combat is not fleshed out very well it may hold interest only for those players who enjoyed the game the first time. The game nearly wasn't as bad as I expected and my playthrough was well enough to recommend this games to teens as the game is rated for. Stay away if you want a tougher game.
This is a game which I would say is neither good nor bad. The best way I would describe it is unsatisfying. Many of the concepts are **** has 4 players so you can coop or switch within your squad as you like. Each character has different abilities which is good. The graphics seem decent enough and I didn't really come across any bugs either. The thing is even with this the game didn't really have any heart and soul. Many portions of the game are just moving to the next marker. In between that many of the battles are pretty mundane. You have cool effects but truthfully very little strategy using all those weapons since the battles are so short. Overall I found this game very easy and just at that line where you may or may not want to continue playing. The biggest flaw in the game is the cover system mechanics. They can't decide if your input is for actual cover or parkour. The Ai wasn't really as bad as the reviews I've read but maybe that's been patched already. Overall the game was decent enough I didn't feel cheesed but it's definitely a game where one playthrough is good enough. The mechanics aren't tight enough nor are the rpg elements more than eye candy. The game is only deep on paper and one playthrough should reveal that notion.
Reign of fire is a game where you play both human and dragon missions. It is a game which contains 16 missions and they get tough fast. The controls for the most part are decent however there is no sensitivity controls and I found the aim control too "spazzy" for my likings which detracted from my enjoyment quite a bit. I was stuck with adjusting auto aim sensitivity which isn't really what I wanted but one I decided was going to be the compromise I had to go forward with. The gameplay itself was better than I expected. This game had low reviews and is movie based so I wasn't expecting much but to my surprise the gameplay gets hard and hectic and a lot happens in real time to keep you active and entertained. My gripe with the game is that there are not well spaced checkpoints and if you fail a mission you go back to the start and my God that can be painful. Thankfully the gameplay is decent but I do feel this will be the area of design which makes people rank the game on the lower side cuz the game itself has some good stuff going on. Hopefully you game with a helmet on because you will want to bang your head into something in frustration at some point in the game.
Lair is a game that will mostly only be liked by those who want to role play a dragon and that's about it. After reading many reviews and actually trying the game I have to say that the game has some issues to say the least. Let's first start with motion controls. I personally am not a big fan. I am especially not a big fan of new technologies when they first come out and this game is a prime example. It's obvious too much of the development time went into the sixaxis controls (and not the gameplay) and while arguably usable they add more frustration than immersion in my opinion. It was really risky taking on Wii as this isn't the console accustomed to motion controls and you can guess the game got punished for not adhering to standard controls. Pretty much as I would expect even if they did work well. Controls are usable but the game is not fun. They later patched the gameplay to not require motion control but this was a bit weird cuz the gameplay is still pretty uninvolving, and on top of that was designed around using the motion controls. (That was the game). The next thing I want to bring up is gameplay and I pretty much already described **** much there and very basic. The games environments aren't too shabby and the sound is far above average nearing excellence. I think the hope of this game was to make a Wii game on the system and hit a home run with better graphics and awesome sound that the Wii couldn't compete with. In the end I think they miscalculated that a dragon would be balls out but in the end the game is rather short, uninspired and at best something a few teens would think is the best thing on this planet. I'm not surprised whatsoever by the reaction this game received. Tech demos aren't wise investments unless they improve something and in this case the gameplay even with standard controls is far below inspiring people to play it.
For me this game was a random find on sale at the PlayStation store. I have to give credit where credit is due and for this type of game I can't really see much to improve upon. This is a twin stick shooter which has an arcade like feel to it but has other elements to keep the game from becoming stale and repetitive. It's not my favourite genre for sure but it **** me in a good hour the first time just checking it out then another 5 hrs the next session. The controls on this game are great and easy to learn. The tutorial is probably under a minute and you are good to go. The gameplay is never boring you are always busy and with a good progressive scaling of enemies and variety. Gunplay was solid and enough weapon and character skill trees exist in the game to consider multiple styles or playthroughs. Upgrading is fantastic and it's nice you can power up your weapons with cores but then remove them without penalty and use them in a different weapon if you like. You can play coop or solo and can go online for various modes related to the campaign. Overall a steal considering the game is entertaining, bug free and dirt cheap. I can't really see how they could improve the game I found it easy to learn, moderate to master and very entertaining throughout. For me, a hidden gem I would have never considered if not on sale.
I heard back when this game was released it wasn't that solid and from that I interpreted that this game was a money grabbing spinoff from the xcom series, so I naturally ignored this game for quite a long time until now. My curiosity of what was wrong with it got the best of me and I'm kind of mad at myself and pleasantly surprised at the same time. Let's just say this it's a fantastic game but may only be suitable for true gamers as it has quite a few complexities to it. Now that I look back at negative reviews I understand where they are coming from. It's coming from gamers who are not very adapting. I'm not going to say this game couldn't be improved because it could be but problems with gameplay and AI are from problems with players strategic decisions more so than AI not being strong. This is a hard topic to explain but suffice it to say this game is probably going to be a lot more fun on second and third playthroughs as you understand all the abilities (and the small tutorials you saw but likely ignored what was said) and enemies better. A first playthrough is pretty difficult but it does boil down to experience and imo this is what elevates the game to be must own. I can understand the negative aspects of many reviews but in all fairness I don't think a single playthrough is enough sampling of this game to make an informed decision on the game. I do respect though that most people likely only want to play a game once and so I can side with their arguments as well. The only real element of this game I thought could have strongly elevated it for all players was if you could toggle/switch playable characters at will during battles. At times I found myself baby sitting the battlefield instead of enjoying the awesome combat. Being able to fully control your other squaddies surely would remove the negative comments about poor AI, even though at heart I don't think those gamers played the game as strong as they could have. Overall a fantastic game. It's gonna be a gem for some and dud for others though. If you are gonna play it I would recommend you have the attitude this is a game you want to own mindset rather than a weekend rental attitude mindset. It's more complex than it looks and once you have some experience the game is very manageable.
I really wanted to rate this game an 8 or even 9 because in many respects the game is extremely fun and replayable. The game is essentially a mission based (20 missions) combat flight game where you not only engage in dogfights but also bomb or pound objective areas with missiles. The game is an excellent cross between arcade and simulation and you can try controls of each type to build your own preference or challenge yourself. For further immersion you can choose cockpit view or 3rd person. As you play missions you unlock new planes, which kind of feel the same but you can notice advantages and try to replay completed missions with the new planes if you like. There are badges and unlockables given depending how you do, some based on time and others based on performance and what you yourself destroyed. So there is a lot of value in this game. The reason I had to go with a score of five is mostly because I encountered software crashing and other software issues. My first software crash was a freeze after a mission and I was lucky to only need to repeat that mission and carry on. My second freeze was after completing mission 14/20 and I was not so lucking it was game breaking and corrupted my profile forcing me to start back at the first mission. You only get one save file so if it crashes you are at the mercy of the software. I would like to say this game was very entertaining and it is likely I will try again at a later date. Missions are varied and there is some real time strategic choices you can employ during gameplay. Not only can you choose squadmember assignments to assist you, you can also choose how and when they engage targets. The air is pretty much open world and you can for the most part go where you want and do what you like. For example one mission you can decide to bomb airplanes on a runway or instead take out aa on your first pass. The gameplay each time will be different depending on your combat choice. How the game plays out is largely in your hands and with the possibility of replaying all the missions this part of the game is extremely strong and yet not overbearing with complicated gameplay. Unfortunately the game has some other bugs. Some missions are timed and most can be easily finished before the timer but some are very challenging with little room for mistake depending on your health when encountering a checkpoint. It can become very time sensitive to not make any errors and be very fast and you guessed it the camera can go awol on you. For the most part the camera is decent but there are times when it gets confused and starts acting off key and really messes up. Its mostly an annoyance when it happens but it does happen and can impact your game. As a last issue there are some frame rate slowdowns at times. They are not that bad but you can notice them at times. I didn't encounter anything major with slowdown. I found the story in this game very reasonable and I found the teen rating extremely accurate to what I would expect. This is a very flexible game with lots of easy to learn "go out and do it now" gameplay. It is extremely fun but has some issues that could ruin your enjoyment. If I could make a metaphor it's like choosing a domestic car over a import car. You get a lot of bells and whistles for your money but it might break sooner than you think making you wish you spent your money on the other choice which may be less features but better quality. Overall I'd still recommend this game just with a definite heads up on the issues I mentioned.
Maybe at launch this game was considered decent but from my perspective it's pretty embarrassing. I can give this game high praise for being immersive and having decent options but overall there are an abundance of shooters on the ps2 which are far better. This game tells a decent story but the quality of the game is in my opinion mediocre at best. There are tons of graphical glitches in this game showing the ps2 was pushed to its limit. Although enemy placement and path finding seem good to excellent the gameplay is ruined by those same enemies being brain dead half the time as well. On top of this gunplay is not fleshed out or refined all that well. Sniper zoom is unrefined and thankfully fixed in the PS3 remaster. Aim sensitivity options are quite inadequate to allow smooth aim control in both axis'. The game is tough, which I appreciate but much of this toughness comes from inadequate aiming sensitivity. Consequently many areas you have to move in one axis and complete firing on the enemy that way rather than aim with both axis'. Thankfully the PS3 remaster smooths this out for the most part. Another big problem in this game is the spawning of enemies. Too much of the game requires you to move your character into the play field to advance spawning of enemies. Most areas this is obvious but there also are a lot of areas where you have to experiment by sampling the environment. In the meantime your comrades are daydreaming somewhere or if not just firing randomly into the environment where a remaining enemy may be, but certainly not towards your next objectives future area. A very basic compass or mission marker would have minimized breaking immersion. This game also went for realistic weapons with different reload speeds, and I appreciate that but some of these take way too long. Secondary weapon fire seems instant while those same grenades thrown take so long there is no use using them. By the time you throw and the ai also react it's mostly for nothing. Sure you could cook your grenade but realistically other gun options are better. The game also doesn't delineate where you are within the game very well. Am I on chapter one, two, three? Chapter six? Going to the menu you can see how many missions you beat but still not get a sense beyond that. Overall though this can still be a decent game. It is playable and with some experience and button remapping the game can play relatively decently. I still say it's not anywhere near some other shooters on the ps2 and actually falls middle of the road at best from all the shooters I've played on the ps2. The PS3 version is much improved but still shows a lot of the design deficiencies.
A must own title so that you now can play killzone (ps2 released) on a much more powerful system. I would like to focus only on that game and consider the other two games bonus'. The original release of killzone on the ps2 was problematic to say the least (see my ps2 review) and now it seems this version is much superior with more fluidity at the cost of immersion. It is quite a drastic change in feel to the game. The graphics are much improved and the PS3 can actually handle the game so no screen tears and presumably some tweaks on gameplay as well. Now the game isn't as clunky but has retained the base feel and with better graphics at 720 rather than 480 it's looking way better. In addition to hd rendering, It seems some gameplay features got a remaster as well, such as the zoom on sniper rifles ect the game is more refined than the original. As I mentioned in my ps2 review this comes at the cost of immersion but props to this version. You can now decide which feel or version you prefer and I think this version generationally improves the game. Back in the day the game had some critiques and I find most of them have been repaired in this remaster. Add on top of this the other two games and it's hard not to call this must own.
I think this game is under rated however it does present a few problems that can ruin the game depending on your personality. For a quick background, I enjoy western action RPGs a lot and don't really care for t/ j-RPGs. However, I am a big fan of rogue elements in those games whether they are loot drops, random enemies or hidden rooms. Unfortunately most of the best games utilizing these features are the old turn based games like disgaea and makai kingdom. Unfortunately again all these games have super annoying pre-pubescent characters and ultra annoying personalities. Somehow there is a market for these Spongebob Squarepants wanna be's and I'm not one of them. That said I do wonder why western games haven't explored some of the features in these older games that despite being annoying as can be have a huge fan base. Seriously that must mean the gameplay can be ultra **** in walks this game, a hybrid between everything I just mentioned. I must say I both like and dislike this game. All those "disgaea" like elements are there and I liked the various elements being blended into an action rpg. Unfortunately, the game has retained lots of reading and humour which isn't humorous but it does succeed in presenting a decent immersion of its story none the less. What sank me was the game has technical difficulties the most annoying to me was a subtle but noticeable stun lock or delay during combat. One other feature of this game I would like to touch on is the 100 second time limit for most battles. While in general I don't enjoy timed battles I did feel it was integral to how the game dished out rewards/drops and you do earn better stuff if you are decent. I guess this is why I was so annoyed by the stun lock/delay those two things do not mix. Overall I could go either way on this game. It does have a unique hybrid approach to two different game styles however looking back its probably better just to stick with what you love best than settle for a blend of "Mey" which is ultimately how I decided to score this one. For people less fussy I think this could be an overlooked under rated game so if you seem as intrigued as I was about this hybrid game I'd still recommend trying it out and seeing what you think. It does have a lot of interesting features and they may not annoy you as easily. At least I can say I tried, you never know til you do.
This is a teen rated game which I would only recommend to ages 8-14 at most. The game is quite primitive even compared to its aging peers, and it sure seems a lot of development time was not put into the game. For one, it's a cd based game released in 2004 this sends the immediate tone it is behind the times. You can look on the back of the ps2 box and see the screenshots showing y and z buttons which is the gamecubes controls. (Seriously can't even find time to take a few photos of correct console gameplay that's a pretty obvious indication the game was shortcutted). Further to that, the options are very basic and I was very disappointing the game is presented with inverse camera controls for the vertical axis making gameplay very difficult unless this was your first game ever. Anyway on to gameplayits aturn based game they call tactical but really it's pretty basic but I can give it that. Some reviewers say this is an early version of xcom or Valkyria chronicles. I find the comparison may hold a minute fraction of truth about as much as one can claim uno is an early version of magic the gathering. All in all I say avoid maybe at launch time thx cold have been interesting but fast forward to today I can't see reason to invest in this game unless you are in the age range I recommended. I may be being harsh because this game does have some fans but honestly with such an extensive ps2 library I can't see the point of this one and it's accompanying quality unless you are a complete match to the age bracket and specifically looking for such a game. Props to a bit of originality I can give it that but all the shortcuts in development ruined my interest in the game extremely quickly.
This game is a mix between trivia and trivial mini games. It is presented like a game show and is set on a timer. Once the timer runs down you have a final round which is game, not trivia based. The fun in the game is that it is well designed to be interactive for everyone. Gamers who know the trivia may score high on the trivia sections but may do bad on the gaming mini games. The opposite is also true so it doesn't matter your knowledge or skill the game could be won by either. Games are short and sweet and random for the most part. I scored this game low because it has very trivial games, which are fun, however some have such archaic designs combined with terrible visual design the games can boil down to just fumbling around until the timer runs out. With regards to trivia there is a reward for buzzing in first and getting the correct answer but no penalty for buzzing in first and getting the answer wrong. So it's kinda cheatable in a sense or bad game design depending how you want to view it. The games presentation is fun however it's also has little staying power. After a few rounds or games this is a game which could easily wear thin quickly. On the other hand the game has pretty decent instant appeal. It is very user friendly and by good design is suitable for any group of people getting together for a first play. For some one or two gameplays will reveal all the game has to offer and so I would not recommend this game to everyone. It is fun for everyone but I think I'd only recommend it to individuals who really are looking for a trivia game around the topic.
This is a video game adaption of a board game and for the $5 price it's a steal. Basically the board is 5 x 6 tiles and the board gets an ititial populating then gameplay begins. You draw cards which can be units, actions or combat enhancements. These cards are part of your deck (which is customizable) and the two countries in the game have different cards (but similar themes). The game takes place by players making moves within their turn, attacking or moving toward the objective tiles on the board. In the case of battle players can exchange blows and depending what cards are in your hand you may not want to attack, or you may. That's where the drawn cards become very strategic. You can waste them ineffectively and/or be goated into using/wasting them thus limiting options going forward. You can play cards and enhancements if you have enough points to use them and this works like mana or magic in other similar card type games. You get spendable points by occupying territories which all have a value. After your turn these values are added up and become your spendable points. It's can easily happen that you may be out of points and handcuffed even if you have good positions. If you do battle you play cards with your points and at the end of each attack/defence attempt a die is rolled for a bonus or subtraction to what will be the combat results. Even with solid card play that die roll can mess you up or save you. This randomization really adds to the gameplay results. It should be noted there are some guaranteed attacks but also some cards which can mute all combat. All angles of strategy seem covered so this very simple to learn game can be pretty deep. The game contains 12 scenarios in the campaign plus two more you unlock. Anyway the gameplay is very solid, strategic and customizable so very entertaining and replayable. There are two difficulty setting and I believe you can play both sides but have yet to beat the game (I'm close enough). For $5 you get solid gameplay for at least 10-12 hrs and much like risk this is a game I'm sure you can come back to and enjoy over and over. The only reason I'm not giving this 10/10 is because 2 player is not offered for offline gaming. This makes no sense it would be such a great family game to be shared among siblings and this surely was possible. The game does offer online but then you need to pay and that doesn't make sense for a $5 game. Overall I was thinking this would be a basic game and I'm pleasantly surprised at both the quality and entertainment it provided. It surpassed my expectations easily. I would love to see this game expanded on a major scale it's a bit of a teaser what it could really be if it had expansion but I'm very happy to have tried the game. I liked it so much I'm actually tempted to but the board game for the 2 player stay at home gameplay, and maybe that's what the intention of this game was. Regardless $5 well spent in my opinion.
This game is a lot better than the scores indicate, but it does have some minor blemishes. First off I'd like to support this game. Number one it's a movie game and after just rewatching the movie I thought it was a perfect time to play the game and see what's what. I wasn't expecting much because of the bad reviews but as I played I have to say this game was unfairly scored by many and although not wowed I was pleasantly surprised. The game does an excellent tie in. Just like the movie it pulls on your strings who you should side with: invasive sky people or native aliens. The feel of the plot within the game matches the movie quite well. On top of that it's pretty decently constructed to be open world. Is it the best open world game? Well no, but it does a fabulous job portraying pandora and it's theme and as a bonus it's not linear. You actually get two campaigns in this one so valuewise it's pretty decent. The game is rated teen and I guess this is where it turned people off myself included being a little bit on the easy side and a bit of a fetch quest. It could have benefited from difficulty settings but I have to be fair it's a movie based game and they chose their market (teens) and the game difficulty is matched to advertised imo so not fair to bash it too hard on that merit. Now on top of that I feel the open world gameplay isn't really that bad all said. You are given creative loadouts as you progress through the game and they do help continue immersion within pandora. If you are fair imagine all the extra work it took to add software development to each of these loadouts skills. I think people were overly harsh with their ratings. Further to all this the game is presented in 3d so if you are able to take advantage of that this game almost is in must own territory. Story wise, this is a decent adaptation. It's different than the movie but follows the same theme of what took place in the movie. So all in all, for the most part I want to give this game an 8/10 for being must own or must play but I have to hold it down to 7/10 because the game does not have difficulty adjustments and is therefore only mostly suitable for the teen crowd. Since it's a movie game and the movie is long in the past with no sequels expected I have to reduce the score. On top of that the controls are a bit unpolished but for the most part are responsive without aggravating you except perhaps in the air on your ride. Ive played a lot worse games that this and I truly feel this is a decent game that deserves a better score. The gameplay may be a little iffy but if it is it's most likely you are not in the age bracket that's on the games label.
This is a game that for some would be considered a hidden gem. I gave it a semi decent score only for several reasons but I do admit for certain people this game could be must own. The most similar game I've played to this are the evil dead games and to many those games are where it's at. This is sort of a hybrid game somewhere between arcade and rpg. It's full on an action adventure game, but is mostly linear. Secret areas aren't super hard to find (but you may not stumble into or unlock before passing). You have four different playable characters and for me why I scored the game on the lower side was because this game is needlessly repetitive and I didn't want to do more than one playthrough. The game makes a mistake keeping you at a skill level by not being able to proceed until you kill enough enemies. While good in concept it also slows down the game s enjoyment drastically, having to kill many monsters with utter dread until you kill enough. I guess they thought this was a good skill check but they didn't think it would also have that impact that I felt if you were not having problems. That aside you eventually do reach a point that becomes challenging. Monsters are varied and each type has a weakness to some form of ammo which makes the gameplay pretty decent. It was fun rotating through many different weapons. One issue around this though is the controller option layouts are not varied appropriately. Nor are the weapons and health/edge drops portioned out in a randomness that fully works. I found the katana would drop the most health but then relying on it as a strategy gave you carpel tunnel syndrome lol because of how tight the triggers are on the original xbox controller. Had they made health drops more even, a ranged weapon based character would have been way better. Further to that switching weapons was workable but also tedious. One other issue is the edge powers you can play with are not outlined very well. Although described in the manual you don't get a choice or knowledge which you will get or which characters own which. They seem to be a side show and I had to figure them out on my own. To be honest I got to chapter 10/22 before even wondering about using them. Then I realize that they were very useful going forward but not really implemented very well. Oh well. Story in this game is out there and really messed up in presentation. I'm the type of gamer who games and doesn't care about story but this one seems needlessly messed up both in concept and presentation. This presentation is definitely not mainstream and may appeal to a cult following however. Gameplay wise this game can be super easy depending if you go slow and conserve the proper ammos then spend it up or it can be tough if you go in guns blazing because the game has very heavy mobs. All in all I can see some loving this game and others saying mey? I think it offers multiple playthrough and could be easily loved. I only didn't one playthrough and I both enjoyed the game and didn't but mostly because this is an older game and it's a bit too far back for easy love. Graphics wise it's only 480 which with component cables still seems old school but it was serviceable. Overall my feelings are mixed on this one. Back in the day with fewer games around this may have been must own. Nowadays it may be a cult classic hidden gem. For me it was a fun experience but not so much that it'll get further attention. Glad I checked it out tho.
Personally i think the best games involve user skill or strategy but also include elements of luck within them to create personalized experiences and make the game replayable, or at minimum memorable and for this reason I think a game like this is must own. That said this game has a few or more defects. The first is a terrible 3 camera system. Despite 3 choices this makes the game needlessly tedious. Other similar games like Xcom and Divinity really nailed the camera making this game seem quite outdated and aggravating. Second to that the games inventory and trading system has not been worked out as well as it could be further making you grapple with micromanaging and slowing down the game to painful levels. Now as bad as tha may sound we can't forget to give credit to the backbone of this game and that is a tremendous amount of freedom and randomness to the gameplay. The game no doubt requires an investment in learning it and managing it however at a certain point that frustration ends and morphs into a blessed experience. The interplay of all the perks and random events and items is about as good as games can get and this game excels in those areas. Not all quests and areas are well designed per se but the way each quest and area can play out will always be unique ensuring the game keeps you immersed and skillchecking your ego. Now in this regard I'm only talking about the reward of your first playthrough. Now take everything you learned about the game and try new custom characters for a second playthrough and build off your experience. Perhaps increase the difficulty on a third playthrough. Each game will be a different experience and amazingly seem more unique each time. For me, this is a near perfect game and the only issue I can see is that other games in the genre are technically done better and may decrease my desire to play this game any further. It all depends on the quality of future games. For now it is regretful that this game operates more like a pc style computer (less user friendly) rather than a mac (more user friendly) but that said its impossible to ignore the innate gaming experience one can achieve in this game regardless and for that reason I consider this game must play at minimum.
It's very puzzling to see anyone hate on this game. All the tools you need for open world gameplay are here. Like stealth? Game has stealth Exp rewards. Like combat/action? Game has weapon upgrades. Like open world? This game isn't linear by any means. Like RPGs? You can choose your characters strengths and essentially strategy. Like value in a game and replayability? The nemesis system will make each game with differences for each playthrough. Personally I love this game with so much to do and your own choices on how to tackle the game. And on top of that no software bugs. The criticism I've heard from the game is it's a repetitive button masher but I'm not buying that it's these same players who aren't grasping the open world concept and try to play the game without experimentation thus limiting their own enjoyment. I guess there will always be players utilizing only two buttons when there are more options but let's not forget how perfect a game this is, it also allows for people to play the game with two buttons if that is their gaming skill capacity.
Knowing this game is the granddaddy of RPGs i was pretty excited to play this especially after careful consideration whether this game would hold up today. My feelings are mixed. For me I'm ok with the dated elements but there are a lot of things in this game that take it for granted ive played this game 20 years ago and I didn't. For one the game does a decent job with tutorials but realistically given the size and complexity of the game it's not really possible to soak that up quickly. The game is missing an on disc manual which is sorely needed to completely enjoy this game. It is not noob friendly past the basic tutorials. For example, what is THACO? Older gamers may know exactly what it stands for but I don't. Ect ect an enhanced edition should have definitions and references available in the game to fully understand the game. Similarly I see a bear in early game with the possibility of dialog but with all the choices I understand from the tutorials I cannot understand if dialog is possible, really. Cows have this issue which makes no sense so maybe that's just the game. But the bear, why doesn't it immediately attack making me think maybe the bear is an illusion or a shapeshifter I have to figure out. Next up I'm stuck in my mini map with a cursor trying to hint something but no where can I figure out what it's trying to prompt me t do. I'm sure with enough searching on my own outside the game I will find these answers but given this is essentially a port I really feel the in game resources should be much expanded and not hope the target audience is only gamers from 20 years ago to whom this issue is a no brainer. Some other issues exist such as dialog voiceovers now do not match the printed dialog box making this game always seem hijacked. Given how this game has its reputation as best in class from the past and the gameplay isnt plagued with software bugs and is functional I feel a 7/10 is fair. I view 8/10 as must play but current generation games such as pillars of eternity and divinity are too strong of competition for me to give this remake that score. As a noob who is lazy I'd recommend those games instead but for die hard rpg fans I'd say this game still holds but is gonna require some pause and effort to appreciate. Older players replaying on consoles will likely have mixed opinions because of nostalgia and being set in their ways on keyboard preferences that they can't shake. I found the character navigation problem free.
Definitely a must own game. Beware tho this is an addictive time waster. It is basically turn based skyrim. The premise and generation of the game make it must own but unfortunately I must also point out that there are frustrations; however they are quite easily forgiven considering the gameplay value presented. Beware this game does not hold your hand and on top of that I've stumbled across at least 3 types of software bugs which at times have ruined my gameplay requiring reloading earlier saves (that means also loosing future loot past the save) creating some disgruntled monents. As bad as that can be this game is humongous with excellent variety, loot and strategies given how you can build your party and explore the world openly as to whatever adventure tastes you come up with. Not only is it highly adventurous it's also deeply strategic at a top level. An area the game needs improvement on is npc ai. Way too many quests end by moronic actions of quest npcs ignoring pretty much obvious traps and elemental areas which will cause their demise. Their lack of choosing important targets is also a noticeable problem. Still, with so much available in way of gameplay choices you can deal with this game is beyond outstanding and a must own nonetheless. Patience and building upon your mistakes are key in this game as is intelligence and foresight.
Perhaps I've played too many games, and genres of games but this game disappointed me. I certainly won't say it's a bad game but I just didn't find it all that fun. Mostly this is a stealth based game and after playing Shadow Tactics I would say that their top down camera angle by far is my preference for similar conceptual gameplay. I found the stealth in this game disjointed compared to that one. Similarly I found better shooting elements in other games. I also found better emotional story in other games I've played too and this game did little to make me feel immersed as Corvo. This game is a good blend of many genres and I do feel it is a decent game but from my perspective the sum of its parts kinda waters down what I like most about specific genres and in this hybrid game I really felt bland playing it.
I found this game overrated but fun nonetheless. More specifically the game design is sloppy and lazy but still provides decent entertainment. The cover system is not technically sound and when hugging walls ect you encounter a ton of screen tearing and on top of that your aiming reticle can be active (red) but still not hit enemies. The detection system is terrible. Really terrible. For a game that relies on cover all the angles for hit detection are not worked out. What happens in game does not match the screen nor the reticle. Enemy AI is also pretty bad and spazzing around or standing still. The game is lazy rather than having decent strategy it relies on many borderline cheap tactics. Some levels it's volume of enemies, some spawning new enemies behind you out of nowhere, even in blocked corridors and other levels you can exactly guess where you will be mobbed or waited for behind terrible corners. Some areas are just plain cheap. In some areas enemies can hit you through walls too. Not to mention the enemy noises are not always matched to their actions or whereabouts fooling you. Sound also has two levels one while you play and one for loading the next mission where it is much more faint. I've had more problems in this game related to accuracy more than any other game. Besides missing you can also hit enemies while the reticle guide indicates you can't. Its that bad. So I think that is enough justification that this game is highly over rated. I will say though that despite all these technical aspects being subpar the game does keep one immersed in action making the game worth your time. For a 6/10 game this game provides a high degree of fun factor. I think back in the day people were fanatic about the new cover mechanics; personally I've always found they ruin games unless the AI is very smart, which in this game they clearly are not. The only aspect of the AI I found decent was that if you run ahead of the gameplay they will come follow and catch up. This made for some good moments but overall I found most aspects of this game on the bad side. Thankfully sometimes enough enemies does work and despite the quality I enjoyed a decent part of this game while dreading a few select other areas. Quality aside, I'd still recommend a try - It's still worth your time.
I didn't get very far into this game I only played far enough to determine whether the game is as bad as the ratings suggest. In all honesty a lot of the problems of this game will be that of the player. That said there are some problems with the game quality. Let's start with the game **** a rainy day I could finish this and probably have a good time. This is neither a brawler or a shooter. It requires you to run in some areas and fight it n others. There are quite a few brawler moves and if you are a patient gamer and learn the moves, especially how to sweep kick your opponents to the floor or grab them and throw them then you can quickly run away or dispatch enemies. Guns and toy ammo is not plentiful in this game you are expected to employ both strategies wisely and that's where I think gamers are failing to appreciate this game. It actually is quite fun. On top of that there are hidden upgrades/secrets to try to get to so you have less difficulty and obviously you have to earn these by getting to them. So, I disagree the game is as broken as many claim. The reason I put the game down so early is actually related to quality. Weird camera angles, hissing audio sound during cut scenes (with headphones really noticeable) and I don't enjoy any music while I play and the options do not allow it to be totally off. What I said about the use of both strategies, brawling and shooting with discretion also does not apply in some areas and ruins the game as well. The game challenges you to make sure you know both and these areas were very repetitive and frustrating. I think the design was to waste up your ammo to reset the games challenge as you play forcing you to find all the secrets and buying back stuff. This is also where the game lost me I felt I didn't really want to jump thru those hoops. As I mentioned on a rainy day I might be willing to play this out and that's my recommendation on this game. Make sure you are in the right mood to play this game only as it was designed or you will not enjoy it.
I see what kind of game they were trying to make: a game that transends video games by becoming environmentally immersive however I think the design didn't work well. First off I think this could have been a fabulous game with a few modifications as it was very unenjoyable control wise. For myself, the four controller layouts were not optimal. Yes, you can learn them but they could have been laid out better or provided customization. The camera in this game, I also get it they wanted to be stylish and give full control on the player to look in the environment for hidden stuff, or ammo, ect. Some say they tried to mimic Devil may Cry, maybe they did as well but I think the camera was to increase perspective but it has too much chaos in this game taking a lot of effort to get use to it. I agree this game would have been better to drop the camera interactivity and just make this a linear shooter. That said let's rate it for as designed. It's functional but irritating and distracts from all the immersion it possibly gives and so is a net minus design. On top of this there are no options to invert the y-axis control. That alone would have helped mute the camera aggravation. Again, I think the design was for real life immersion being able to decide who to talk to for NPR info, but again without better pathfinding scripts by the npcs many frustrating game elements surface such as trapping your team mate somewhere or not knowing exactly where to go or what the next chore is. I'm certain this puzzle design was an attempt to be more open world; and make the game transcend. It's a good idea, however I feel the implementation backfired causing further aggravation. For me to appreciate this type of world the action has to be much better than it was presented. As is I found this game trying to reach for something better but not being able to tie all those loose ends. I'd say the game is ok, it's playable to the right type of person. I scored it so low for not providing me with better visual and controller controls almost exclusively. Many interactions with np s and their dialog boxes were also premature or bypassed but may have been due to playing this xbox game on a 360??? If not, well I still think 4/10 is about right. Everything else seemed decent.
This is a hardcore game and will not be fun for most people. Basically if you miss headshots you will be repeatedly starting over and over and over. The save system on this game is virtually non existent and there are tons of areas that do not have objective markers. I think it's unfair to say the game deserves the low scores it got cuz it is actually good. The problem is very few gamers will be willing to persevere what was created.
An interesting game where you play as 4 children in an rpg styled game of the movie. It has a lot of similarities to today's Lego games. In this one you toggle thru the various children which each have special abilities and you can purchase unique upgrades through gameplay unlocks as you go thru the chapters. The gameplay starts by showing a scene of the movie then blends the movie clip into the video game and you complete the scene. The more you explore an area and collect things the faster you can buy upgrades. You can replay the chapters to do better if you like. A single player game gets a little confusing switching between characters during gameplay at time. The action can get quite hard if you don't understand the goal of the scene and this made a few levels quite repetitive and frustrating but overall the game is decent and more fun than it looks. If you can co-op with a friend the game should be better but I played through it alone. It is a rather quick game but was fun throughout. The chapters all seem to be a nice division of the game (15 areas). A few areas of the game have redundant gameplay and overall the audio on this game is subpar. One playthrough was enough for me I enjoyed my playthrough but I don't think it's worth investing in more than once. That said the game can be gone thru again trying to better each level at a higher difficulty I think there is good value for other people it's better than a rental game. Rated T for teen I think it could even be E for Everyone. Pretty similar to the movie if you could watch it you should be able to do the game too. I wanted to give this game a 6/10 because it had a few areas of the game which could have used an overhaul but for the most part this was a pretty entertaining game. I ultimately didn't do the 6/10 because those problems were a factor of the game being unique and not so much broken.
Blowout is essentially a maze/puzzle game but along the way you will use platforming and shooter action to dispel stuff that gets in the way. There is a good selection of hindrances whether by locked doors or aliens/technology traps. As you explore you find upgrades, keys, health or more enemies. Your goal is to make it to the end of each labyrinth area. The map and objectives to do this are decently implemented and the game was immediately immersive. I kind of consider games like this hidden gems.
This is a game that is gonna be hit or miss. I actually liked most of what was here in this new adaptation of the classic defender. The gameplay and visuals and 3-d environment was done quite well so congrats to ****......unfortunately there are only 2 control scheme options and I found both unsatisfactory. Some people may be willing to play this game long enough for the controls to be more intuitive however I've played too many games and the given two choices are just too foreign to the standard mapping of what one would expect. Had this game had customizable controls I'd be tempted to give an 8/10 but with what is here is a big buyer beware, the controls and how they are suited to your taste will likely be the determining factor whether or not you will enjoy this game. For me they were a miss.
This is an ok sim game. It's not super high tech but it's a great casual game to play off and on. It's repetitive as it's a build and conquer game but on the other hand there are different dynamic events which set you back to keep the game interesting. You also have a lot of choice to build your own fun with the game mechanics. Basically if you like sims this is high enough quality to fill that need and keep you entertained. It is lightweight though to keep complexity simple rather than overwhelming. I'd be happy giving a 7/10 for gameplay (some of which is a bit questionable) but in 2005 it's outdated and lazy to not have voice acting embedded into the game design.
