Well, I'm back after another hiatus. While I've only made progress of two new games I've completed this year, I plan on returning to single player games from my backlog sometime soon. I completed Fallout 3 last summer and never wrote a review of it, so here it is.

Now I know this game doesn't really have the best reputation within the Fallout community and has been heavily criticized within the past decade, but I don't really care. Even though New Vegas was my first Fallout game, I still think Fallout 3 rules. There's a lot to appreciate about Fallout 3. Just to get it out of the way, I'm going to start by admitting there are not that many interesting or in-depth characters. While there are a good amount of characters to like, most are pretty static. That's unfortunately the case with the companions too as you recruit them. While the companions have entertaining personalities, they never change beyond that with the exception of Butch. The game's introduction is also my personal favorite in the series.

The only characters I can give praise to being memorable are mainly James, Butch, Moira Brown, Three Dog, and maybe a few others. While the game doesn't have many of a lot of in depth and interesting characters compared to some of the other Fallout games, it gets the job done. The meat and potatoes of this game are the open world environment, quests, and the adventure. Personally, this is my favorite open world in the Fallout series. The Mojave is a close second, but with the Capital Wasteland, I feel a little more interested. I don't know how to describe it, but maybe it has to do with D.C. being a place I'm a lot more familiar with due to how often I've been there. There are many secrets and quests to find around the world as expected in every other Fallout game, but this game absolutely nails it with the consistent quality and entertainment. It's also worth mentioning that the game is fun even though the gameplay is outdated.

My personal favorite quests were "The Power of Atom", "Oasis", "Wasteland Survival Guide", "Agatha's Song", "The Replicated Man", "Stealing Independence", and probably a few more I'm forgetting. Each quest had something to offer whether that be interesting character perspectives or moral choices, interesting twists, or just heartfelt moments. Expanding on that, I honestly don't think the main story is all that bad at all like people say it is. While the main story isn't amazing, far from it, it's still better than Fallout 4's main story and I still think this game has a decent story that is interesting. The best main quest line is "Tranquility Lane".

One of my favorite aspects about the game as well is the amount of randomized encounters while traveling across the Capital Wasteland. It gives a lot of life and personality to an otherwise dead and destructive world. It's an aspect that I wish was more present in Fallout: New Vegas. This game's atmosphere is great and a great adventure to explore little nooks and crannies. Fallout 3 was also the first entry in the series to introduce the built in radio on the Pip-Boy that became a staple in the series and I love the song selections along with the iconic radio D.J. Three Dog.

That being said, this game still has problems. While the voice acting is not great for the most part and can get distracting with the same actors being re-used, it's not worth complaining about since it's a Bethesda game. The main quest really does fall off at a certain point, there aren't many morally grey options in the main story and none at all for the ending, half of the DLC isn't very good at all, along with some other issues. Overall though, the game is entertaining and exceptionally well made. This game is the reason why Fallout: New Vegas is great.

8/10

Point Lookout is definitely some of the best Fallout 3 has to offer with its DLC. The new map to explore is a breath of fresh air since all the previous DLC unfortunately didn't have that much exploration and were mostly linear. Despite how good The Pitt was, it was lacking in this department as well. Point Lookout starts with you finding a Ferry Boat and a woman near by who asks you to look for her daughter that ran away to the island of Point Lookout.

Once the boatman agrees to take you to Point Lookout and arrive, the island is completely foggy and full of angry and high tribesmen, mutated residence, tribes, and two bitter rich people who have been fighting each other ever since the nukes dropped. One who became a ghoul, and the other who is a preserved brain. In the end you actually get to decide who you side with and both of the characters are really entertaining and fun to talk to, despite being assholes.

While the DLC does a great job at adding a bunch of new quests, places to explore, a decent story, and new equipment, I feel like it lacks a lot of flow and cohesion. While the characters are entertaining and the story is decent, that's just kind of it. The Pitt had a really engaging story to it, but Point Lookout I found to be lacking much of a connection to the Capital Wasteland. It's essentially just deciding which funny rich asshole to help out win in a 200 year war and finding a woman's daughter.

Hell, Fallout 4's Far Harbor actually re-used a lot of story elements from this DLC, especially with premise of finding Kasumi for her parents. However, Fallout 4 did it a lot better because after you find her, she doesn't just go home immediately. There's a much bigger mystery to it and you learn much more about her character. Meanwhile, I forgot the name of the girl you're supposed to find in Point Lookout and the reason she ran away was to become some sort of hippie and do drugs with a tribe.

Despite all that, Point Lookout is a good time. I'd definitely recommend it if you're going through your first playthrough of Fallout 3.

7/10

Well, I'm back. I know it has been months, but I've been really busy. Anyway, I'm going to be reviewing a lot of things that I haven't played in a long time, but I will give it my best shot.

The Pitt is already a huge improvement from Mothership Zeta and Operation: Anchorage. I already hate those two DLCs, but one make reason they suck is because of how much of a disconnect they have with the actual world. Operation: Anchorage is a simulator and Mothership Zeta is a space ship that you explore and it's a chore to play. They barely connect with Fallout's theme and just feel like a random C-level science fiction movie story.

The DLC takes place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania now known as The Pitt. I like the added detail of part of the sign being scratched off so only "Pitt" is visible. Pittsburgh has now become a hub for slavery where many people are forced to work in harsh conditions in a steel mill. You figure this out by meeting an escaped slave named Wernher who makes his way into the Capital Wasteland. You agree to help him out by going in undercover as a slave to help him cure a disease that's turning all the people into mutated monsters called Trogs. The cure resides in the home of the leader of the raiders and controls The Pitt.

This felt way more connected to the world of Fallout and going into the DLC without your equipment created a fresh start where you had to complete tasks to gather equipment in order to blend in as a slave. The DLC eventually leads into some difficult moral choices, but unfortunately an anti-climactic ending that doesn't really get much closure. The DLC I felt was also a bit too linear.

In the end, I really enjoyed this DLC a lot more than the past two. It doesn't quite hold a candle to any of New Vegas' DLC, but it was fun to play and really felt like more Fallout.

7/10

This obviously isn't a review and I'll be back to make proper reviews soon, but my first impressions with the beta are VERY good so far. While I would like to see some better optimization on PC and I kind of hate the new shotgun, everything else so far has been great and especially for a beta. The grapple shot is the best thing ever, the new personal A.I.s add a lot of personality, every weapon has a place in the sandbox unlike Halo 4 and 5, the movement is extremely fun, and they finally added bots fight against. Absolutely phenomenal. I could see this being one of my favorite games in the series. I hope they eventually add playable elites, assassinations, and more weapons that I miss, but 343i has done a fantastic job with the beta. I can't wait until its full release and here's hoping the campaign is par to quality.

Yeah, they were right. This DLC sucks. I don't think it was as bad as Operation Anchorage, but this DLC was still bad. That in itself is a shame because I think basing a DLC around aliens or exploring a UFO would be really cool, but it's just so boring. The novelty of exploring an alien UFO wore off very quickly. There's barely any exploration and the parts that you do get to explore all look the same, but even worse is that there's no interesting or good loot to reward that exploration. There's no enemy variety and you only fight aliens that for some reason absolutely destroyed my T-51b power armor, your ammo depletes very quickly if you're playing a small guns build like I am and the DLC really wants you to use the alien weaponry which would only be good if you are doing an energy weapons build. At the very least I advanced a few levels because killing the enemies rewarded a lot of XP. The only thing I liked about the DLC were the characters. They were pretty shallow, but it was a breath of fresh air to even have NPCs to talk to unlike Operation Anchorage. There are characters from different time periods that the aliens locked up to freeze them and you all worked together to escape the UFO. A cowboy, a soldier from before the bombs fell, and a Japanese samurai who you literally can't understand at all because he only speaks japanese. I thought that was pretty funny. Other than that, yeah, this DLC blows.

3/10

This DLC sucks. Not a good start to Fallout 3's DLC packages. Operation: Anchorage's main premise is helping out some Brotherhood of Steel outcasts who found this cache full of loot they can't get open and can only be opened through finishing a combat simulator that replays the events of the Chinese's invasion on Anchorage, Alaska that takes place before the bombs fell. While this sounds cool, this DLC is just so lame. It's extremely linear, no RPG mechanics at all, no exploration within the simulator, and there are literally health and ammo dispensers as you play through the simulator. This honestly just feels like a terrible Call of Duty mission except there's no sprinting and even worse gunplay. The reason why this isn't 1 star is because of the quest reward at the end which is frankly amazing. You get power armor training and some amazing power armor. But yeah, this DLC sucks. It only took me over an hour. I'd only recommend playing it to grind some XP and to get the ending quest reward.

3/10

Fallout 4 has honestly got to be a contender for the most over hated game I've ever played. I'm not saying the game doesn't deserve or have any legit criticism, however there is a lot of people who hate on this game unfairly whether the crowd be New Vegas fanboys or Bethesda haters. While I love New Vegas and do think it's a lot better than this game, that doesn't mean I can't enjoy Fallout 4. I bring that up because I've heard a lot of people claim if you like Fallout 4, you're not a true Fallout fan when in reality it's so simple to just enjoy all mainline Fallout games.

Anyway, now that I got my opening rant out of the way, I will be admitting many flaws with this game. While I really enjoyed this game overall and had a great time, I still have a fair share of criticism. I'd first like to discuss the new dialogue system. I think it's no surprise that mostly everyone agrees that Fallout 4's dialogue system is objectively worse than every previous Fallout game which had a list of dialogue options to choose from with a varying amount of options, whereas in Fallout 4 you're only limited to four options for the dialogue wheel and each one usually boils down to a question, yes, no, or saying something sarcastic. While it did eventually grow on me, it's still a total downgrade. It's like they tried to copy Mass Effect and failed miserably because at least in Mass Effect each option was paraphrased well and there were always more than four options per conversation. There were always a lot more. On the upside of this decision, the male and female Sole Survivor are fully voice acted which I admit is pretty nice.

Another major flaw with this game is its writing and the main storyline. I can't tell if this is just another side effect of the new dialogue system, but the writing within the main story is frankly awful at times. The intro to Fallout 4 I find myself to be pretty mixed on. While it's a tradition to start the beginning of each Fallout game with the famous line, "War... War never changes.", they overuse it in this game and the line is repeated too many times within the intro. The actually cutscene is pretty good with some nice narration from the male player character, but they honestly should have just gotten Ron Perlman narrate the intro like he has done with literally every single other Fallout game. Fallout 1, 2, 3, and New Vegas. I don't see why they couldn't, they had him voicing in the game in the intro as a newscaster. Something I do really like about the intro is how it leads onto the character creation. After the male player character gives his opening narration, it turns out he's reciting a speech we soon realize the game is starting out pre-war before the bombs which is a totally cool change of pace for intros in the series and has never been done before. The character creation is also good for once in the series and I find it cool how the male and female player character is literally just choosing between the husband or wife. As you explore your pre-war home after a while, you get to go to your door and sign up for one of the underground vaults thanks to a Vault Tech representative. Then, it cuts to the bombs finally dropping and you, you're spouse, and baby escape to a vault that uses cryogenic freezing and then it cuts to 200 years later where your spouse is now dead and your baby, Shaun, has been kidnapped.

Right there is where we run into our first major issue. Most people who play this game literally have no reason to care about Shaun or finding him. Or at the very least, I didn't. He's literally a baby and we only see him for like 15 minutes. While my character might care, I really didn't. And this really sucks since this is literally half of the main story. Finding Shaun. At least with Fallout 3 you have a reason to care about finding your father since you're given time to talk to him and let him develop as a character, but it's hard to care about finding Shaun when he's literally a baby you never had any attachment to. While I don't think the main story is awful, it isn't good either. It's just a very mediocre story with some good moments, but overall awful writing. Personally, I sided with the Railroad in my playthrough.

While I do have mixed feelings about the intro and am pretty confident about my feelings with the main story about finding Shaun, leaving the cryotube and escaping the vault was pretty fun and also eerie since now everyone who escaped into the vault 200 years prior is now dead inside their own cryotube. Actually leaving the vault into the vast world scape with everything now looking so degraded in the world is a very cinematic moment. Actually traveling through the Commonwealth was very fun and a personal highlight for me when playing the game. Finding every nook and cranny within the world whether that be raider or super mutant territory, dungeons, or abandoned buildings was always really fun to explore with rewarding loot at the end. The overall gameplay loop is incredible with very fun weapons to use (and even cooler and more weapons if you download certain mods) along with some great and smooth gunplay that's a total improvement from Fallout 3 and New Vegas. It feels like there's actual weight to my weapons and they're very satisfying to shoot on their own. Even though the new gunplay is great, I still always prefer V.A.T.S. due to how brutal and satisfying it is to pull off. While I do overall prefer it to normal shooting, I don't know why they changed it in Fallout 4. In previous games, it paused the game completely for you to choose a limb to shoot, in Fallout 4 for some reason it only slows the game down which I find to be a bit irritating since your target is still moving a bit, other than that though V.A.T.S. is still really fun. Just the overall gameplay loop of exploring, shooting, and looting is perfect.

The side content in this game also happens to carry a lot of the fun. Because of the new improved gunplay and great gameplay loop, the side quests are very fun. Even the more straightforward quests where you just have to go somewhere to kill something, then return for a reward are still very fun to play even though a bit generic. This game personally has some of my favorite side quests in the Fallout series with personal favorites of mine being Secret of Cabot House, The Silver Shroud, Hole in the Wall, and my personal favorite; The Last Voyage of The USS Constitution. A lot of the quests within the Far Harbor DLC are also some favorites of mine.

The DLC in Fallout 4, or at least the ones I played, also really add to the experience. I only played Far Harbor and Nuka-World because three of the other DLCs is literally just settlement building content and one other smaller DLCs isn't worth it. The real DLC content is Far Harbor and Nuka-World. Nuka-World is a dumb, but very fun new world space where you can roleplay as a raider leader bad guy if you want to and explore a really cool abandoned theme park. Far Harbor is honestly the peak of my Fallout 4 experience with great quests, setting, characters, writing, and somehow an amazing main story that's better than Fallout 4's base game. I already wrote reviews for each DLC, so check them out here:

https://www.backloggd.com/u/Dostwood/review/175741/
https://www.backloggd.com/u/Dostwood/review/183349/

Now, the best part about Fallout 4 that I feel like is totally under appreciated are the companions. I'm going to be bold and say this; I think Fallout 4 has the best companions in the series with the New Vegas companions being second place. Even though the main story is badly written, I feel like all the effort with the game's writing went to the companions. While there was only one companion I didn't like (Mr. Person "Settlement" Garvey), I thought every other companion I came across was great. The game has a very clever way of developing each character by replacing the now gone karma system with an affinity system. Basically, each companion has things they all like and dislike, the more things you do that they favor whether it be certain actions within the game world or certain dialogue options you pick no matter who you're talking to, you will gain their affinity and as a result they'll open up more to you so you can learn more about their character. Eventually, if you get their affinity high enough, you can unlock a companion side quest to help them out with a personal matter. I think this is a really good way of developing the companions because this way you have to work for it and it encourages you to switch out which companions you travel with. Personally my favorite companions were Nick Valentine, Codsworth, Deacon, MacCready, Curie, and of course Dogmeat. I'd say Nick Valentine goes as far to be in my top ten favorite characters in the series.

Overall, Fallout 4 remains a worthy entry within the Fallout franchise, at least to me. I think it's under appreciated, over hated, and overlooked for its many great implementations. While it does feel less like an RPG compared to the previous games in the franchise, it does feel like a proper Fallout game. I just hope that we can get another proper single player Fallout game especially after the disaster that was Fallout 76.

6/10

Fallout 4: Nuka-World was the final DLC to be released for Fallout 4 and while I had a blast playing it, I honestly couldn't help but be a bit disappointed by it. While I think it's really good overall, the fact it came out after Far Harbor made me have a bit higher expectations for it.

Starting off with the good, one of the greatest parts of this DLC was simply just the environmental design. It was absolutely fantastic and fun to just explore the abandoned ruins of the theme park known as Nuka-World. What makes this stand out however is the fact that there are a lot of areas around the park that are still operational. There's Kiddie Kingdom which is a part of the park for kids with large candy looking attractions and rides infested with feral ghouls and trippy in-door areas with cool mazes, Galactic Zone which looks awesome for its futuristic take, however my least favorite zone because it's filled with annoying and generic robot enemies that you're so used to fighting that it becomes a chore to clear them out, Dry Rock Gulch, World of Refreshment which is my favorite area because it just has a crap ton of Nuka-Cola variants and flavors to stock on due to it literally being a plant for the drink with even a river of Nuka-Cola Quantum, and Safari Adventure. All of these zones were so fun to explore and were brimming with creativity from the artists working on this DLC. These of course weren't the only area to explore, multiple other locations across the map in Nuka-World were even away from the already large theme park to explore. While not as interesting, it's always a fun addition.

The whole beginning of the DLC was also really fun to play. You were lured to the theme park from the start and are forced through this gauntlet of challenges which was very fun to playthrough and since you aren't expected to survive, at the end you find the over boss of all three gangs in Nuka-World named Colter who challenges you to a one-on-one. However, a new companion named Porter Gage wants to help you take out the current over boss even though he's his current second in command. Funnily enough, you use a squirt gun to mess up Colter's power armor and ultimately kill him. Apparently all the gangs hated Colter and now you've become the new leader of all three of the gangs. The gangs are all pretty distinct. The Pack which remind me of a bunch of post-apocalyptic furry role-players, The Operators who are really just your run of the mill mercenary gang who's only really in it for the money, and The Disciples who are bloodthirsty maniacs. Honestly, they all aren't too interesting on their own, but have enough personality to be tolerable enough. The most interesting aspect is how all of them interact with each other and even you so you may gain their favor by doing quests for them or distributing a section of the park for a certain gang to control.

Porter Gage is also a great new addition to the companion roster of Fallout 4. While he is a raider, what makes him interesting is that he's not aligned with any specific gang and simply provides as a second in command or advisor for the Overboss (you). He's pretty good in combat, has some interesting interactions the higher you gain his affinity, and is a welcome character overall. There aren't that many evil companions in Fallout 4, so it can be pretty refreshing for players who want to role-play as an evil character without having to be scolded by most companions in Fallout 4.

Nuka-World also just has some of the best loot in the entire game. You can find plenty of great gear, weapons, and even a set of Nuka-Cola themed power armor if you're into that. One of my favorite parts about this DLC was finding all the new flavors of Nuka-Cola to collect, drink for varied combat uses, and even mix together for multiple stat boosts. Another thing I loved about this DLC was the new radio station known as Raider Radio with the new D.J. called Red-Eye. The guy is such a hilarious D.J. with some good songs written by the guy who voices Red-Eye and even some nice stories he tells. While Red-Eye is a great new additon, I wanted more of him. There's unfortunately only like 20 minutes worth of dialogue and songs combined.

While a lot of this DLC is great, it unfortunately falters in a few ways. One aspect I find to be a double edged sword is that this DLC really wants you to play as the villain. While that's not necessarily a bad thing since the main game was lacking in that aspect, it does leave most players who want to play a morally good character in the dark. There is a good path, but it unfortunately locks you out of plenty of good rewards for playing an evil path. I do find it really cool how you can command your raiders at the end of the main story's DLC to raid settlements in the Commonwealth. I hear this bothered some people, but it never affected me since I didn't really care about the settlement building in the main game.

The most disappointing aspect of this DLC was by far the main story. I don't think it was meant to be all that compelling to begin with and that's totally fine since it's supposed to be just fun, but considering it came out after Far Harbor made me have higher expectations. It was pretty much just "Oh, you're the new leader of the raider gangs and once we reclaim Nuka-World we're gonna attack the Commonwealth while this becomes a raider empire." I don't necessarily mind this since the good outweighs the bad, but they could have done way better especially since this came out after the amazing Far Harbor.

Overall this DLC was really good and I'd highly recommend it if you end up getting Fallout 4 especially along with Far Harbor. It's really fun, has a great and creative world to explore, fun quests, a cool new companion, and plenty of new secrets and loot to uncover. Just don't go in expecting a great story or any compelling decision making. It's more Fallout 4 and that's never a bad thing.

7/10

Fallout 4: Far Harbor really surprised me. I was expecting this DLC to be good since I've often heard this is the best thing to come from Fallout 4, but I wasn't expecting it to be this great. In many ways, I think this is what the main game should have been. Maybe not the exact story and setting, but I just wish the base game's main quest could have the same level of writing quality overall.

The story set up is already very interesting and I was more invested in the first few minutes than I was when I started the main story of the base game. The Valentine Detective Agency gets word on a missing person case and Nick Valentine himself asks the Sole Survivor (you) to help him out in this case. This leads you to the Nakano home where you meet Kenji and Rei Nakano where they explain their daughter Kasumi has gone missing and they hire you and Nick Valentine to look for her. When asking Kenji and Rei questions about Kasumi's disappearance, it's clear they're conflicted on the reason why she went missing. Kenji thinks she was kidnapped, but Rei thinks she just ran away. This leads you finding recordings revealing that Kasumi created a radio and was communicating synths on the other end of the radio where she would commonly ask them questions, however the synths started certain questions to Kasumi and she started to question her own identity and believes she's a synth. You learn she ran away to an island on the coast of Maine known as Mount Desert Island (which is a real island) to a place for synths known as Acadia which is a safe haven for synths. The investigation eventually leads you tangled up in a conflict between the citizens of Far Harbor, the synths of Acadia, and the Children of Atom. From here, you decide the fate of the island.

The story set up is interesting on its own, but each faction is interesting as well. The people of Far Harbor are all collected on the island together on the edge of the island to escape the deadly radiated fog consuming the island while the Children of Atom, a religion that worships radiation, lives within the island and are mostly immune from the fog. Most of the people in Far Harbor, struggling to survive, believe the Children of Atom are responsible for the radiated fog and the Children of Atom are hostile toward Far Harbor because of a misunderstanding regarding one of their missionaries being killed by one of the residents of Far Harbor. Both factions are in a cold war against each other, but Acadia wants to remain neutral between both factions and is struggling to keep the peace between the two however both factions want Acadia to help one of them since Acadia has a good relationship with both for the most part. You have complete agency over the fates of Far Harbor, The Children of Atom, Acadia and the leader of each faction. Captain Avery, Confessor Tektus, DiMA and even Kasumi of course.

The new characters introduced in this DLC are great. Kasumi's identity crisis of whether she's human or a synth is very interesting with a lot left open for interpretation. I personally don't think she's a synth, but it was a good call to leave it ambiguous for the player to decide. The new companion in the DLC, Old Longfellow, is a fun and interesting character to get to know especially since he gives more insight on the Island and Far Harbor since he's been a longtime resident. However, my personal favorite character to the DLC is by far DiMA. Not only is he just an interesting synth, but he was the only other 3rd generation synth prototype just like Nick Valentine and because of this we learn upon arrival to Acadia if we decide to take Nick with us that they have a history with each other and it was most certainly unexpected. DiMA is definitely in my top ten favorite Fallout characters. The DLC also gives Nick Valentine a lot more development than I was expecting, but I guess that's a given considering he's the only companion from the main game you can take with you into the DLC. His history and developing relationship with DiMA is interesting to watch unfold especially since you can actually influence it.

The quests are also a major step up from the main game. While some of them are generic fetch quests where you just go to a simple location and kill some enemies to clear a spot for a settlement or to grab some items, it's at least worth it for the payoff being able to gain reputation within the factions of Far Harbor, Children of Atom, and Acadia. The more quests you do, you gain their trust and this can lead into varying results of the ending of each faction and none of this is seen in the main game. This honestly reminds me of New Vegas in a lot of ways. Fortunately, there are a lot of really good quests in this game that have multiple speech checks, ways to complete, and moral choices that make for a very interesting and well written experience.

The entire new world space of the island to explore is also really great. The new map is large, interesting, and brimming with new enemies, areas to discover, loot, and lots of new gear to discover. The atmosphere of exploring the island is really haunting and creepy as the fog expands throughout the island and really emphasizes the fear that the people of Far Harbor exhibit and why they live on the docks of the island.

The best part of this DLC though is the main story and how you're given so many choices that can influence the ending. Fallout 4's base game unfortunately lacks a lot of tough moral choices and decisions like previous Fallout games, but Far Harbor brings that back. There were many moments in the game where I was questioning if what I was doing was right and if I was making the right choice. And while the main story of Fallout 4 isn't terrible, it leaves a lot to be desired and that's why I find it unbelievable that the same people who wrote that also wrote this DLC which is leagues better.

Overall, Far Harbor is honestly one of the best game DLCs I've had the pleasure of playing. This overall tone, concept, setting, writing, and story makes for a great experience so much so that I believe you could turn this into its own game if it was fleshed out a bit more. This is what game DLC should aspire to be is on the same level with some of New Vegas' DLC. If you own Fallout 4 or plan on buying it, Far Harbor is something you must play.

9/10

Okay so this review is long overdue and that's totally my bad. By the time I finally got around to beating the campaign, I wanted a bit more time before I wrote my review. Then I jumped into the multiplayer and got extremely addicted and now I have over 60 hours in the game and that's partially why I haven't wrote a review. That and I was also off the internet for a month.

I'm going to first start off by saying that the first Titanfall wasn't that good in my opinion and it's even more obsolete now that Titanfall 2 exists. The first game was multiplayer only, didn't even have a campaign, and was very lacking in variety with its multiplayer. It wasn't a bad game, but it was a game with an amazing idea that ended up being average. Titanfall 2 is better in literally every single way.

I first want to start off by saying the campaign completely subverted by expectations and is now one of my favorite FPS campaigns of all time. While the main story isn't all that amazing, I still found it to be very enjoyable and it's obvious the writers didn't intend the main story to be the primary focus. The primary focus is the main characters Jack Cooper and BT. Cooper and BT have amazing chemistry and their interactions in the game range from clever, cool, funny, and heartfelt. The way their relationship grows over the course of their adventure feels very natural and well written. One thing I enjoy is how you can sometimes choose a bit of a dialogue option for what you want Cooper to say and it makes it pretty enjoyable. I don't want to give much away since it's one of the best parts of the campaign, but I will say it's very worth it.

Other characters in the campaign aren't as interesting as the main two, but there are a few instances where other side characters and bosses can have fun and unique personalities. A lot of the bosses you fight are very distinct in design and it's really cool. Even other allies such as the 6-4 pilot squad are really fun to have around. What I love is that the game doesn't take itself too seriously. That's not to say there aren't any serious moments, but the game is more focussed on being really cool, genuine, and even funny.

Now the level design in the campaign is some of the best I've ever seen an FPS campaign do. Every single level is fantastic and not a single one has a dull moment. Most levels usually have a unique, yet fun gimmick that doesn't overstay its welcome and makes the level all the more interesting. My personal favorite level has got to be Effect and Cause, but I won't even spoil the gimmick of the levels since that's half the fun. The settings of each level are really unique as well such as a factory that builds houses and combat simulators, broken down towns and facilities, jungles, and much more. It's all very fun and I always love how devs in FPS games give you multiple routes and paths to make levels non-linear. Non-linear FPS games are a rarity. Linear FPS games aren't bad by any mean because games like Halo are mostly linear with their level design, but still manage to have great level design. Non-linear FPS games are just refreshing with games like BioShock and DOOM.

To talk about the gameplay, I'm going to move on the the multiplayer which is one of my favorite multiplayer games of all time. Now the gameplay is also absolutely amazing and has the best kind of player movement. Jumping, sliding, wall running, and the pilot abilities offer for some great maneuverability. The movement in the game never gets old and I love it. Each gun in the game also feels very distinct, balanced, but fun to use. My personal favorite weapon is the mastiff shotgun. And the Titans themselves are also extremely fun to use and are very balanced and different. The Ion, Tone, Northstar, Ronin, Scorch, Legion, and Monarch are all amazing. The Ion is a medium weight titan based around laser ion weapons, the Tone is also a medium weight titan uses a 40mm Canon and missiles, the Northstar is a fast but low HP titan and the game's sniper class and my main along with the Ion, the Ronin is also a light weight titan and is a close ranged shotgunner class that also uses a sword for its melee attacks, the Scorch is a heavy titan that has entirely fire based attacks, the Legion is also a heavy weight titan that uses a big mini gun and all of his abilities are based around that mini gun, and the Monarch which was a free DLC titan is a medium weight titan that bases its abilities around upgrading her hardware and powers. Another thing I love about each titan is that they all have distinct voices and personalities that makes them feel like characters. It's a really nice detail.

The customization is also a huge step up from the first Titanfall. While there's a lot to be desired, it's not a huge issue. I would have liked something similar to Halo wear you can customize each individual armor piece instead of getting a pre-set pilot appearance depending on your ability. The most you can do is customize skins of your armor, weapons, and titans. The abilities for the pilots are really fun to use. My personal favorite is the grappling hook and the stim because of how much momentum each of them gives you. It's unfortunate the Cooper in the campaigns is limited to the cloaking ability and you can't use any of the other powers, but it ain't a huge problem. I also prefer how Titanfall 2 gives 7 different Titans to use that where you can lightly customize perks instead of the case of Titanfall 1 where there are only 3 Titans of the three different types of weight I mentioned and you can literally customize everything about them including what weapons and powers they us. I prefer how it works in Titanfall 2 because you at least know what to expect from each titan you see since it's divided up by class so you're familiar with how each titan works. In the first game it made titan encounters very unpredictable.

Overall, Titanfall 2 is a masterpiece in the FPS genre and one of the most underrated games I've played in a years. This game sold terribly because of EA's dumb marketing and this game more than deserves a sequel. This quickly became a favorite of mine and I can't help but recommend it. It goes on sale often and it's more than worth it. I really hope Respawn gets around to making Titanfall 3.

10/10

(Original review written May 6th, 2021. Currently reorganizing my journal)

I really don't care what people say, this is my favorite Mass Effect game. Now obviously you can make a good argument for the second or even the first as being the best one in the series, but ever since I first beat this game back in 2018 when I was binging the series, this game was my favorite in the series and even among one of my favorite games ever. Now that I finished replaying it on PC with mods, it's even better than I remember. While I don't think Mass Effect 3 is necessarily perfect and does have some valid issues, I feel like most of them are either outweighed by the good stuff or fixed by the free Extended Cut DLC. Yes, I even like the ending. Well, only one of them in particular but the other two don't bother me since I always pick the ending I like. The characters are as amazing as ever, it has some of the best moments in the series, the DLC is all great, it expands upon the romances to make them actually extremely fleshed out and the best I've seen in a game without being forced, the character and party interactions are very natural, entertaining, and there are a lot, the gameplay is the the series, and the story is fantastic with a great sense of finality.

I'm going to start by saying the gameplay has the best third person shooter combat I've ever played. Mass Effect 1's gameplay was honestly really janky and not good, but could be fun sometimes. Mass Effect 2 improved by a whole lot and was genuinely good, but it felt dated. Mass Effect 3's gameplay is perfect. Now in this game, you're not bound by weapon class restrictions and any class for Shepard could use any weapon type and gun you pick up. It combines the load outs from Mass Effect 1 and 2 by bringing back the weapon modding from Mass Effect 1 with an emphasis on stats like ammo capacity, damage, accuracy, and weight. The weapon load outs were brought back from Mass Effect 2 where there were distinct weapon types that all felt and played different. However, the draw back of being able to use every single weapon is that the more weapons you have or using specific weapons with heavier weight is that the more weight you carry, the slower your powers take to recharge, but depending on your class the amount of weight you can carry varies and you can even reduce the weight of your weapons by using mods, upgrades, or upgrading Shepard's fitness to be able to carry more. I love how customizable Shepard is in this game with armor, casual clothes, and even the ability to customize your squad with different armors with stat modifiers, different weapons, upgrades, and abilities.

Another thing I love about the gameplay is now melee attacks are a major aspect with the combat. The light fast melee attacks are a lot more naturally pulled off and the heavy melee attacks are extremely satisfying and I like how every class has their own unique heavy melee attack that are very distinct in how they function. It also feels like each party member's A.I. is even better than ever before and you can make very quality and overpowered builds for your squad if you think smart enough because I was able to turn Garrus into a complete powerhouse. The gameplay is just fantastic and playing it on PC with 60fps is even better than it was on the Xbox 360 when I first played it two years ago.

One of the downsides though is how in Mass Effect 3 it feels like dialogue choices are less common compared to the previous two games and that neutral responses were removed, however with this downside I feel like a positive was created and that is how Shepard now has more personality than ever before and they feel like a completely and fully realize character. Shepard now has natural back and fourth banter with characters on missions during gameplay, talks with the crew, or interacting with other characters both major and minor. It's honestly great, but it's just a shame dialogue choices are a bit less common. Though I do feel like the Paragon/Renegade morality system got better in this game. Paragon/Renegade is now one meter called reputation instead of two separate meters that measure it out. This way, it's a lot better in my opinion and it makes gaining reputation a lot easier. You can gain reputation by completing side quests or character interactions without dialogue choices, and depending on which morality system is higher you gain points in either Paragon or Renegade. Even though I play mostly paragon in my play throughs, certain renegade decisions are always tempting and fun. The inclusion of bringing back the Paragon/Renegade interruption quick time events was a great choice because they can make for some genuinely great moments that outshine Mass Effect 2 in some ways.

While it's hard for me to choose which Mass Effect game in the trilogy has the best story, I think the third game is my favorite as well. The first game has a great story, the second game was more about the characters and felt like a T.V. show, but the third game really felt like it was on a grand scale even bigger than the last two. Each priority mission really feels amazing with its impact and scale with some of the most gut wrenching and heart pounding moments the series has had. The highpoint in the series for me has got to be Priority: Rannoch. I won't spoil anything, but the build up and payoff is just perfect and it makes it even better depending on your relationship status with Tali. Each mission had some level of grand scale. From the first mission on Earth, to Mars, Palaven, Sur'kesh, Tuchunka, Rannoch, Thessia, Eden Prime, Horrizon, and the final mission on Earth for everything to come around full circle. Not to mention the side quests I feel like are better than ever with lots of given context, character interactions, and more than I'd expect given how they are just side missions. It's also great how they used the opportunity for certain side quests to bring back characters from Mass Effect 2 so we see how they were doing in the meantime since the events of the last game. Yeah, there are fetch quests on the Citadel but I honestly did surprisingly enjoy them because of the context behind the side quests with the dialogue.

Another thing that the story does great is how it integrates with how Shepard is trying to put together the largest fleet and unite all the races, and part of doing besides the main story are the side quest missions I mentioned, meeting up with old characters, and doing the fetch quests that bring in some great dialogue and story moments that will help build up the army to raise your effective military status that will impact the outcome of the endings. This is also further helped by more content that is added by transferring your save file from the last game.

The DLC is also pretty great for the most party. While a lot of it did end up being free DLC for the awesome four player co-op multiplayer, there are others worthy of note for the main story. From Ashes, Omega, Leviathan, and my personal favorite DLC ever, Citadel. I already wrote reviews for each of these DLC except for From Ashes. The reason I didn't review From Ashes was because it essentially just adds a new character, Javik. While I think the DLC is great and Javik is a great character, there's not much to talk about except how he's a good character. He really should have been a part of the main story to begin with and EA's day one DLC bullcrap was so stupid. I always hate it when companies release DLC on the day of the game's release. Each of the DLC though are pretty great and offer a lot more story, war assets to build armies, and just fun moments overall.

The new Citadel hub area was also great honestly. While the Citadel in Mass Effect 1 felt the most expansive and arguably the best, Mass Effect 3 did make it more compact with distinct locations, however more things to do. It's honestly a toss up between which one I like more between the first or third game's Citadel. The second game's Citadel was just disapointing.

The characters are also pretty amazing and even better than ever. Joker is just as snarky as ever, EDI is just as witty as ever, Garrus is still the best space best friend you can ask for, Tali is still the adorable mechanical genius we all know to love, Ashley and Kaidan really have grown ever since Mass Effect 1. Kaidan was honestly my least favorite character from the first game because I found him to be a bit boring, but he's really improved a lot and became a better character in this game, same with Ashley, and of course Liara is still pretty awesome.

The return of other non-party members like Wrex (at least until you play Citadel he becomes usable), Legion, Samara, Jack, Grunt, Kasumi, Zaeed, and not Jacob. Even newcomers like James are definitely welcome. While James isn't a great character and feels awkwardly put into the story, I honestly kinda like him thanks to his great voice work. He's just a simple guy with simple goals and I really respect that. He's still leagues better than Jacob. Even new non-party members like Steve Cortez are pretty likable, though I honestly am not a fan of Samantha Traynor. While she has her moments and can be useful within the plot, she's kind of annoying especially when her sexuality of being lesbian is brought up so many times where it got kind of annoying, especially in Citadel. Cortez I feel like was a far better written gay character.

I also can't finish this review without mentioning how amazing the music is. While the composition is all over the place and completely different a lot of the time, the music is fantastic including the OSTs from the DLC. The game smartly re-uses tracks from Mass Effect 1 such as the iconic track "Vigil". The new iconic tracks such as "Leaving Earth", "An End, Once and For All", "A Moment of Silence/Resolution", "We Face Our Enemy Together", and "Betrayal". The soundtrack is amazing and pulls no punches with the correctly timed emotional impact. It's definitely one of my favorites.

Completing Mass Effect 3 again was a treat. Hell, completing the whole trilogy again was. It's my favorite video game trilogy of all time and that's saying a lot considering a few other favorite trilogies include the Halo trilogy and the BioShock trilogy. This game, while flawed, has some of the worst and best writing in trilogy, best moments, gameplay, character interactions and moments, scenes of laughter, heart warming scenes, fear, and excitement. And once Mass Effect Legendary Edition comes around, this trilogy can finally be experience by so many newcomers who can experience how much of a masterpiece this trilogy is in all its new amazing glory. Keelah se'lai.

10/10

(Review originally written on May 2nd, 2021. Currently reorganizing journal)

Leviathan is a fantastic DLC. Not only is it fun obviously, but it takes a great approach that reminds me of a sort of detective noire kind of tone to it all that works really well. In between the missions there are parts where you hang out in a laboratory trying to narrow down the location of Leviathan. The set up for the story also does a good job of establishing a narrative hook. Shepard meets with a scientist who tells him there have been rumors of a so called "Reaper killer", and whatever killed a reaper is worth tracking down.

While the DLC does have a really good detective noire kind of tone to it, its other tone is even better as it takes a lot of inspiration from the works of H.P. Lovecraft. The Leviathan's ability to mind control reminds me of something that Cthulhu or maybe some other entity created by Lovecraft. This DLC embraces the cosmic horror of the Reapers and Leviathan.

One thing I always praise when it comes to Mass Effect 3 is the party member interaction and in this DLC, there's no shortage of that. You'll always have your party members interacting with each other, providing advice and their own personal thoughts, bickering, and surprisingly even some new dialogue with whoever you're in a relationship with. Not once does the writing feel like a drop in quality or do the characters feel neglected.

The level design in this DLC is a lot different than what you'd usually see within the main story surprisingly. While linear of course, it's still really fun and takes a different approach with its pacing and even provides for a very unique underwater section. It's pretty great.

This DLC is a great addition to what Mass Effect 3 has to offer with its main story, while not something what DLC should aspire to be, it's definitely a worthwhile and fantastic experience that the game would not feel complete without.

8/10

(Review originally written on April 26th, 2021. Currently reorganizing journal)

This is my least favorite DLC from Mass Effect 3, but even then it's still good. In this DLC, you cannot use any of your party members from the main game. Instead, you get to use two temporary party members within the DLC and it's a nice addition. You get to use Aria T'Loak, returning character from Mass Effect 2 and the other is the first ever female turian we see in the series, Nyreen Kandros. They're both very distinct in combat with very unique and fun abilities to play around with. Taking back Omega in Mass Effect 3 is a really fun story set up and choosing whether or not throughout the DLC whether or not you want to encourage Aria's cruel methods or conflict against them offers for an interesting dynamic that can influence Aria's actions in the ending.

One of the reasons why this is my least favorite DLC is how it relies too heavily on the gameplay to carry it since that's the bulk of the DLC. While it's obviously really fun and the context behind each firefight makes for a satisfying conclusion, it's a bit drawn out sometimes. Though I do like how the DLC introduced new enemy types to keep encounters fresh.

Nyreen Kandros is an interesting character and I honestly like her. Her past with Aria and how she represents the DLCs Paragon choices as apposed to Aria's more Renegade behavior is a very interesting dynamic that I honestly really like. However, Nyreen is unfortunately a wasted opportunity of a character. While I did enjoy her, the story made a poor decision with her that made me very disappointed. You'll probably know once you end up playing the DLC.

The main villain, Petrsovsky, was surprisingly decent. He does come across as very generic in the beginning when you meet him, but toward the end the DLC throws a bit of a curveball at you and shows an interesting side to him that you wouldn't have normally expected. It also ends up leaving an interesting final choice for the player, or depending on how you've been talking to Aria within the DLC, your dialogue toward her could influence her in different ways. The DLC even brings back class specific choices and opportunities which is something rare to the series in general, but it's a welcome addition.

Overall, the DLC is good. It does suffer from being pretty formulaic in terms of its level design, but it still manages to be relatively fun. Especially because of Aria and Nyreen which are fun to command in combat. The story is overall pretty good and the reward for doing the DLC is pretty great. Again, definitely the weakest out of the main story DLC, but still good and worth a play.

7/10

Alright, I gotta say it. Mass Effect 3's Citadel DLC is my favorite DLC of all time to any video game for some many reasons. It's absolutely amazing. It has everything I didn't even know I wanted in Mass Effect and is the peak of Mass Effect 3's content. I always play this DLC last right before the final arc of the game to really make this feel like a well deserved break for Shepard and his friends, also because by the point I start it in the game every single one of Shepard's crew and friends are available to be interacted with in the DLC.

The main story for the DLC is so stupid, but the game absolutely OWNS it. The basic set up is that Shepard gets ambushed at a restaurant while on shore leave getting dinner with dinner with Joker and the person who attacks is, well, I don't want to spoil it. The game never takes it seriously though, is very self aware, and always makes fun of how ridiculous it is. And the character who individually meets up with you after the attack on the restaurant to group up with you is whoever you romance (In my case, Tali) which is great for more dialogue and chemistry and even Wrex FINALLY returns as a party member and the last time he was a squad member was in Mass Effect 1.

Now character interaction in the Mass Effect trilogy has always been amazing, especially in Mass Effect 3, and this DLC takes it to a whole new level. Every single character party member you've met within the trilogy gets their time to shine or some screen time and even more time for Shepard and their partner's relationship to further develop. Not do the characters only interact a lot during the main story of the DLC, but they especially have time to interact during the other bulk of the DLC. The party.

The party is amazing. You get to invite everyone. All previous and current party members in the trilogy and even a few of the Normandy crew which is also great. Hell, you even get to choose what kind of party you want. You can choose a loud party, a quiet and relaxed party, a loud party that can go quiet, or a quiet party that can go loud. There's a lot of options. The writing in the DLC within the party is also amazing. There's a lot to laugh about and the chemistry between every character interacting is superb. From Garrus and Zaeed planning to trip up Shepard's apartment with booby traps, to EDI and Kaidan arguing over how to make curry with Grunt complaining for some food, to Tali acting out the noises of the ship and somehow managing to be even more hilarious and adorable while being drunk, and Kasumi scaring the hell out of everyone by sneaking around. It's hilarious and there's a lot of energy to it with lots of dialogue, and even more with Shepard interacting with them all. It's an hour of great fun and hilarious interaction. And it all ends perfectly.

Citadel also adds a completely new area to explore around your apartment. A casino to gamble, an arcade to play a beat 'em up or use a claw machine, or even a fun as hell combat arena where you can use not only all your party members from Mass Effect 3, but you can use all the party members that weren't usable since Mass Effect 2 which is really awesome. There's difficulty modifiers, lots more party members, different enemy types, it's really fun.

Believe it or not, there's even more. You can even hang out with every member individually and it's great. You can either spend time with them in your apartment or even out in the town for a night out. This goes from being a wingman for Garrus by getting him a date, witnessing one of Kasumi's heists, helping Zaeed get something from the claw machine, spending time at home with Liara, or a romantic movie night with Tali. It's jam packed with plenty of interactions and characters to spend time with.

This DLC really is the swan song for the Mass Effect trilogy and this really seems like a "thank you" to the fans as this was the final piece of Mass Effect content before the dreaded Andromeda. I can't explain how much this DLC carries my experience with the trilogy. It's absolutely amazing. Keelah se'lai.

10/10