MrSlim
2020
I never played the original so this was my first look at this game, and the series as a whole. Overall it was enjoyable, but I wouldn’t play it again. The game is very confusing, I used a guide more times that I want to admit.
Would recommend for those interested in this series. Otherwise I’d skip out on this.
Would recommend for those interested in this series. Otherwise I’d skip out on this.
2004
I really enjoyed this game. Came together really well. This game made me understand why people love this series, as the first one (in my case the Black Mesa remake) never clicked with me like this one did.
Would recommend to most gamers.
Would recommend to most gamers.
It’s good. There’s not really much more to say about it than that. It continues well from the original and bridges nicely into Episode 2. Very short, though. Ended before it really started. The weakest of the “Half Life 2” games.
Would recommend for those who enjoyed the original Half Life 2.
Would recommend for those who enjoyed the original Half Life 2.
It’s very good. Gameplay is fun, story is interesting. Half Life personally peaked here for me, albeit I wouldn’t blame anyone for saying the original HL2 is superior. The Freeman-Alyx dynamic is really fleshed out here, which was one of my favorite parts of the last two games. Cliffhanger is really unfortunate, but I find it hard to blame this game for that.
Would recommend for anyone who enjoyed the other HL2 games.
Would recommend for anyone who enjoyed the other HL2 games.
2016
I enjoyed it. It isn't something that will stick with me all that much but it was good for what it was. Gun controls were good, some of the plasmids were fun to play around with, and the storyline was solid. At times felt monotonous, can be a little confusing at times, and the final boss was underwhelming, other parts of the game were far more difficult.
Would recommend for anyone interested in getting into this series. Loose recommendation for everyone else.
Would recommend for anyone interested in getting into this series. Loose recommendation for everyone else.
This game is good. I really enjoyed it. I actually preferred it quite a bit as compared to the first one. The gameplay was overall more fun than the first, and sections felt less like a slog. The guns felt even more varied and the way plasmids were handled (being in the off hand) was far better than the first. The story, as well, flowed nicer than the first one to me.
On the other hand, the way Little Sisters work in this game really slowed down the pacing. I understand why they made the change, and in some regards I did like it, but by the 4th or 5th little sister it became more annoying than charming and fun to farm Adam.
I would've actually given this game 4 stars, had it not been for the poor performance of this game. The game crashed on me 2 times, losing me about an hour of playtime. I'd recommend saving fairly constantly. I heard that the first remaster suffered similar problems, but that one never ended up crashed on me.
As a whole, I'd recommend this game to most gamers, mostly those who enjoyed the original. Perhaps the original is a better experience given the technical difficulties of the remasters.
On the other hand, the way Little Sisters work in this game really slowed down the pacing. I understand why they made the change, and in some regards I did like it, but by the 4th or 5th little sister it became more annoying than charming and fun to farm Adam.
I would've actually given this game 4 stars, had it not been for the poor performance of this game. The game crashed on me 2 times, losing me about an hour of playtime. I'd recommend saving fairly constantly. I heard that the first remaster suffered similar problems, but that one never ended up crashed on me.
As a whole, I'd recommend this game to most gamers, mostly those who enjoyed the original. Perhaps the original is a better experience given the technical difficulties of the remasters.
2013
This game is good. Really good. Probably my favorite of the Bioshock trilogy, although Bioshock 2 is not far behind.
The locations are great, although admittedly aren't as distinct as Rapture ever was. The character work in this game is easily a step above anything from the other 2 games. The relationship between Booker and Elizabeth was fantastic throughout pretty much the entire game. Comstock was also a very memorable villain. He's not Andrew Ryan, but who is? The graphics, obviously, look far and away better than the first two, even with their remasters in mind. The game also ran very well (unlike the remasters).
This game feels very unlike the first two in that it focuses more so on the linear story aspect of the game than the originals. Speaking of the story, it is very good, as it hinges on the previously mentioned fantastic characters. With that being said, I wasn't a fan of the ending. Too complicated and confusing. I understand where they were going, but it didn't work to the same degree the rest of the game did.
I would recommend to most gamers, although people who really loved the first 2 Bioshocks might come out disappointed.
The locations are great, although admittedly aren't as distinct as Rapture ever was. The character work in this game is easily a step above anything from the other 2 games. The relationship between Booker and Elizabeth was fantastic throughout pretty much the entire game. Comstock was also a very memorable villain. He's not Andrew Ryan, but who is? The graphics, obviously, look far and away better than the first two, even with their remasters in mind. The game also ran very well (unlike the remasters).
This game feels very unlike the first two in that it focuses more so on the linear story aspect of the game than the originals. Speaking of the story, it is very good, as it hinges on the previously mentioned fantastic characters. With that being said, I wasn't a fan of the ending. Too complicated and confusing. I understand where they were going, but it didn't work to the same degree the rest of the game did.
I would recommend to most gamers, although people who really loved the first 2 Bioshocks might come out disappointed.
It was a short. And nothing really important seemed to happen. It was cool seeing Rapture again, and parts of the gameplay were mildly interesting. Nothing else really to say.
If you played and liked the base game, I see no reason not to try this out. Other than that I wouldn't recommend it.
If you played and liked the base game, I see no reason not to try this out. Other than that I wouldn't recommend it.
This review contains spoilers
While Burial at Sea Episode 2 is a step up from the first part, I still find it to be just kind of mediocre.
I'll start with the positives. The change in gameplay is a nice change of pace from the repetitiveness of the first game, as stealth is the key to defeating your enemies instead of the same old "spray-and-prey" of the original game and Episode 1. The game also had a nice length, setting up for a nice ~3 hour gaming session on a late night. I felt Episode 1 was way too short so getting a little more out of this one was nice. Finally, I actually enjoyed how this one ended things off, unlike the original game. I felt as if it added a nice bow to the series, I thought it was well done.
On the other hand, I do have some notable flaws to point out. Firstly, while I appreciated the gameplay change, I didn't necessarily enjoy it. In all fairness, that in many ways comes down to my preferences, but I just felt it was too slow at times since Elizabeth is such a weak character. Next, I'll point out that while I did enjoy the ending, the rest of the story really fell flat for me. It continued the convoluted mess of a story from the end of the main game and Episode 1 for the majority of this game's runtime. Sometimes, I just like a nice and simple story, not a messy one. I felt like this was a messy one.
As a whole, I suppose I'd recommend it to Bioshock fans, but even then people who enjoyed the original might find this a bit insulting. I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone else. Shoutout to Andrew Ryan though, loved seeing him in this since he is the series' best villain.
I'll start with the positives. The change in gameplay is a nice change of pace from the repetitiveness of the first game, as stealth is the key to defeating your enemies instead of the same old "spray-and-prey" of the original game and Episode 1. The game also had a nice length, setting up for a nice ~3 hour gaming session on a late night. I felt Episode 1 was way too short so getting a little more out of this one was nice. Finally, I actually enjoyed how this one ended things off, unlike the original game. I felt as if it added a nice bow to the series, I thought it was well done.
On the other hand, I do have some notable flaws to point out. Firstly, while I appreciated the gameplay change, I didn't necessarily enjoy it. In all fairness, that in many ways comes down to my preferences, but I just felt it was too slow at times since Elizabeth is such a weak character. Next, I'll point out that while I did enjoy the ending, the rest of the story really fell flat for me. It continued the convoluted mess of a story from the end of the main game and Episode 1 for the majority of this game's runtime. Sometimes, I just like a nice and simple story, not a messy one. I felt like this was a messy one.
As a whole, I suppose I'd recommend it to Bioshock fans, but even then people who enjoyed the original might find this a bit insulting. I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone else. Shoutout to Andrew Ryan though, loved seeing him in this since he is the series' best villain.
This game is good. Really good, even. Its good enough that I decided to get every single achievement, which probably doubled the amount of time I needed to play this game.
Starting with the positives. The story is enjoyable, it kept me engrossed even as I was on-off with it while I was looking for collectables. The combat is fun. I did like to see that I improved greatly over the time I played. When I started, I struggled against phillaks, but when I was done they were one of the easiest enemies to deal with in the game. The scenery was beautiful, I loved seeing old locations like Kashyyyk and new ones like Bogono. The characters were great, I liked the stormtrooper dialog, and the enemies were nice and varied.
Moving onto the bad. Travel sucks. I would've loved an option to fast travel, as it would've likely cut hours off my playtime. Having to walk 10 minutes just to get from the ship to the swamp on Dathomir was one of the most annoying experiences I have ever had to deal with. And if you want to 100% like I did, get ready to take that trip multiple times. It's tedious and boring and I hate it. I said I liked the variety of enemies but at a point, you just fight the same couple over and over again, which makes the fighting seem tedious as well.
Other than those gripes, which in all honesty were probably way worse for me since I 100%'d. If you play the game normally, these issues are likely no where near as bad.
Overall I would recommend for most gamers, especially those who enjoy Star Wars. Good stuff.
Starting with the positives. The story is enjoyable, it kept me engrossed even as I was on-off with it while I was looking for collectables. The combat is fun. I did like to see that I improved greatly over the time I played. When I started, I struggled against phillaks, but when I was done they were one of the easiest enemies to deal with in the game. The scenery was beautiful, I loved seeing old locations like Kashyyyk and new ones like Bogono. The characters were great, I liked the stormtrooper dialog, and the enemies were nice and varied.
Moving onto the bad. Travel sucks. I would've loved an option to fast travel, as it would've likely cut hours off my playtime. Having to walk 10 minutes just to get from the ship to the swamp on Dathomir was one of the most annoying experiences I have ever had to deal with. And if you want to 100% like I did, get ready to take that trip multiple times. It's tedious and boring and I hate it. I said I liked the variety of enemies but at a point, you just fight the same couple over and over again, which makes the fighting seem tedious as well.
Other than those gripes, which in all honesty were probably way worse for me since I 100%'d. If you play the game normally, these issues are likely no where near as bad.
Overall I would recommend for most gamers, especially those who enjoy Star Wars. Good stuff.
2016
This game was okay. Good at times, uninspired at others.
Let's start with the good. I liked the PVE aspect of this game quite a bit. Deciding to go guns blazing or trying to sneak around and take out people one by one was one of the more interesting parts of this game. This is helped by the fact that the game plays pretty good as well. The gun play is largely enjoyable and the driving mechanics are quality. I also appreciated the times when you took control of characters who had unique gimmicks. It opened up new ways of playing the game. It only happened two or three times, but I liked them. I won't spoil any of them, but you will know them when you see them.
Now moving on to the bad. The writing, the characters, and the story are all dogshit. The characters are uninteresting at best and flat out cringe at worst. Looking at you, Wrench. The story rarely enthralled me. It wasn't bad per se, but I never really cared. And despite my general enjoyment of the gameplay, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was just playing a worse version of GTA V with a hacking gimmick. They play fairly similarly, at least in concept, except GTA V does it way better in just about every category.
I do also want to quickly mention the games performance. It might be a small nitpick since the game ran fine for most of my playtime, but I had this issue two times where the game would become unplayable with its lag. I'd have to relaunch to fix it. Minor annoyance but it was okay.
I also also want to shoutout the Paint Job side mission, as it was one of the most boring, monotonous quests I have ever played.
Anyways I probably wouldn't recommend this game to most gamers. Maybe those who enjoy GTA-like games.
Let's start with the good. I liked the PVE aspect of this game quite a bit. Deciding to go guns blazing or trying to sneak around and take out people one by one was one of the more interesting parts of this game. This is helped by the fact that the game plays pretty good as well. The gun play is largely enjoyable and the driving mechanics are quality. I also appreciated the times when you took control of characters who had unique gimmicks. It opened up new ways of playing the game. It only happened two or three times, but I liked them. I won't spoil any of them, but you will know them when you see them.
Now moving on to the bad. The writing, the characters, and the story are all dogshit. The characters are uninteresting at best and flat out cringe at worst. Looking at you, Wrench. The story rarely enthralled me. It wasn't bad per se, but I never really cared. And despite my general enjoyment of the gameplay, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was just playing a worse version of GTA V with a hacking gimmick. They play fairly similarly, at least in concept, except GTA V does it way better in just about every category.
I do also want to quickly mention the games performance. It might be a small nitpick since the game ran fine for most of my playtime, but I had this issue two times where the game would become unplayable with its lag. I'd have to relaunch to fix it. Minor annoyance but it was okay.
I also also want to shoutout the Paint Job side mission, as it was one of the most boring, monotonous quests I have ever played.
Anyways I probably wouldn't recommend this game to most gamers. Maybe those who enjoy GTA-like games.
2015
This game is good. Really good.
The gameplay is fun and exciting. From the gunplay, to riding in cars, and of course the wingsuit, this game hits the nail almost perfectly on all of them. The story is fairly interesting, with characters that are enjoyable to be around. The scenery is beautiful, with graphics that have aged very well to boot. Plus, this game is great if you just want to blow shit up.
The only real negative I have is the controls. At times they can just feel really off, sometimes annoyingly so. Like sometimes placing down the sticky bombs or turning with the bavarium wingsuit can just feel wrong. When things like that cause me die it can get under my skin. Oh, and also the DLC doesn't tell you what order to play them in (or that they have any connection at all) so some of the dialogue is kind of confusing if you don't play them right (like I did). Fairly tiny nitpicks because other wise this game is great.
Would recommend to most gamers (especially those who like FPS / GTA type games).
The gameplay is fun and exciting. From the gunplay, to riding in cars, and of course the wingsuit, this game hits the nail almost perfectly on all of them. The story is fairly interesting, with characters that are enjoyable to be around. The scenery is beautiful, with graphics that have aged very well to boot. Plus, this game is great if you just want to blow shit up.
The only real negative I have is the controls. At times they can just feel really off, sometimes annoyingly so. Like sometimes placing down the sticky bombs or turning with the bavarium wingsuit can just feel wrong. When things like that cause me die it can get under my skin. Oh, and also the DLC doesn't tell you what order to play them in (or that they have any connection at all) so some of the dialogue is kind of confusing if you don't play them right (like I did). Fairly tiny nitpicks because other wise this game is great.
Would recommend to most gamers (especially those who like FPS / GTA type games).
2019
This game is fun. I like it. It has its problems though.
The driving is good, which is most of the game. Can be a little finnicky though. Naturally the graphics are good, no complaints there. I liked getting the collectables, that was fairly enjoyable even if I needed a guide to complete it. The story mode is decent, has its moments but it also kind of felt unfinished in a way. I got addicted to the game and played over 20 hours so it definitely hooked onto me.
As for the negatives, the game gets really same-y and you fall into the same day/night cycle over and over again. You get money in the day and reputation points in the night so you basically have to do races over and over again. The nights specifically are really annoying since you have to deal with limited repairs while you drive around and getting damaged can be really easy. You need rep points to get better car parts and to push the story forward so it can get extremely tedious. There were drift races but I found those to be really really boring, so I barely touched them. Also fuck the cops in this game holy shit are they annoying.
Overall it was good. Never pushes past that though.
Would really only recommend to racing game fans.
The driving is good, which is most of the game. Can be a little finnicky though. Naturally the graphics are good, no complaints there. I liked getting the collectables, that was fairly enjoyable even if I needed a guide to complete it. The story mode is decent, has its moments but it also kind of felt unfinished in a way. I got addicted to the game and played over 20 hours so it definitely hooked onto me.
As for the negatives, the game gets really same-y and you fall into the same day/night cycle over and over again. You get money in the day and reputation points in the night so you basically have to do races over and over again. The nights specifically are really annoying since you have to deal with limited repairs while you drive around and getting damaged can be really easy. You need rep points to get better car parts and to push the story forward so it can get extremely tedious. There were drift races but I found those to be really really boring, so I barely touched them. Also fuck the cops in this game holy shit are they annoying.
Overall it was good. Never pushes past that though.
Would really only recommend to racing game fans.
This review contains spoilers
Meh, it's alright.
The characters and overall atmosphere are great. Christine is great, particularly when she can't speak. God / Dog has a fairly interesting dynamic. Dean is, and I say this in a good way, a total asshat. Finally, Elijah is a great villain. Probably a better bad guy than anyone in the main game (whether you think its Caesar, House, or whoever else). The atmosphere is dim but every section generally looks unique, which is a nice contrast from the same-y looking Mojave Desert of the original game.
With all that being said, the game lacks in the gameplay department. It's just kind of boring, honestly. The enemies suck and are 10x less interesting to fight than the people / enemies you fight in the Mojave. The "cloud" and radio gimmicks are interesting at first but quickly get annoying, often bringing the adventure to a slog. At the very least, the gameplay still holds much of the charm from the main game, so that's good.
Overall, I found it better than I did worse so a 3/5 seems about right for it. Would recommend for those who enjoyed the main game, not worth checking out otherwise.
The characters and overall atmosphere are great. Christine is great, particularly when she can't speak. God / Dog has a fairly interesting dynamic. Dean is, and I say this in a good way, a total asshat. Finally, Elijah is a great villain. Probably a better bad guy than anyone in the main game (whether you think its Caesar, House, or whoever else). The atmosphere is dim but every section generally looks unique, which is a nice contrast from the same-y looking Mojave Desert of the original game.
With all that being said, the game lacks in the gameplay department. It's just kind of boring, honestly. The enemies suck and are 10x less interesting to fight than the people / enemies you fight in the Mojave. The "cloud" and radio gimmicks are interesting at first but quickly get annoying, often bringing the adventure to a slog. At the very least, the gameplay still holds much of the charm from the main game, so that's good.
Overall, I found it better than I did worse so a 3/5 seems about right for it. Would recommend for those who enjoyed the main game, not worth checking out otherwise.
This review contains spoilers
Just like Dead Money, its just kind of okay.
Weirdly enough, the problems I had with this DLC focuses on the exact thing I praised Dead Money for, its story.
With that being said, I always prefer starting with the positives so let me begin with that. The gameplay is extremely similar to the original game. In this DLC, you choose what items to bring to Zion, so unless you're feeling a little risky, you usually just fall upon the same weapons you used in the main game. The atmosphere and general feel of the location isn't too far off from the Mojave either, albeit its far more rocky and narrow. Many of the enemies are also copy paste versions of ones you find in Nevada and California, like the geckos, scorpions, and the White Legs acting as your generic raider-type enemy. Now all this rehashing may seem like a bad thing, and that's not necessarily untrue, but as I enjoyed the gameplay of the original game it translates fairly nicely over to this DLC. As for the positives of the story, overall its fine and the moral dilemma over the fates of the White Legs and the Sorrows was somewhat interesting and had me thinking for a good few minutes about what decision to make. It's not bad, it's just not really good either. Also, Joshua Graham is pretty fucking sick.
Moving on to the negatives, its really just focusing on the story. It's just really milquetoast and uninspired. It all hinges on the one decision you make near the end of the game but the build-up to that decision is extremely short and barely takes any time to put in any form of nuance. Why should I care about the safety of the White Legs if they're just psychopaths who randomly kill people? Hell, why should I even care about the Sorrows or the Dead Horses? I barely get introduced to them before I have to make a big decision on their behalf. To touch up on some other points before I get finish, the mountainous regions were annoying to navigate and the side-quests were pretty much all uninteresting. Otherwise, it was just... kind of okay.
As far as I'm concerned both DLCs I've played so far (Dead Money and this one) were both flawed but I generally got more fun playing them then pain so I think this rating is pretty fair. Despite giving both the same rating, I'm 100% sure in saying I slightly preferred Dead Money to this one, but the original game was still superior to both. Would recommend for those who enjoyed the original since its mostly more of the same, but it's not really worth it otherwise.
Weirdly enough, the problems I had with this DLC focuses on the exact thing I praised Dead Money for, its story.
With that being said, I always prefer starting with the positives so let me begin with that. The gameplay is extremely similar to the original game. In this DLC, you choose what items to bring to Zion, so unless you're feeling a little risky, you usually just fall upon the same weapons you used in the main game. The atmosphere and general feel of the location isn't too far off from the Mojave either, albeit its far more rocky and narrow. Many of the enemies are also copy paste versions of ones you find in Nevada and California, like the geckos, scorpions, and the White Legs acting as your generic raider-type enemy. Now all this rehashing may seem like a bad thing, and that's not necessarily untrue, but as I enjoyed the gameplay of the original game it translates fairly nicely over to this DLC. As for the positives of the story, overall its fine and the moral dilemma over the fates of the White Legs and the Sorrows was somewhat interesting and had me thinking for a good few minutes about what decision to make. It's not bad, it's just not really good either. Also, Joshua Graham is pretty fucking sick.
Moving on to the negatives, its really just focusing on the story. It's just really milquetoast and uninspired. It all hinges on the one decision you make near the end of the game but the build-up to that decision is extremely short and barely takes any time to put in any form of nuance. Why should I care about the safety of the White Legs if they're just psychopaths who randomly kill people? Hell, why should I even care about the Sorrows or the Dead Horses? I barely get introduced to them before I have to make a big decision on their behalf. To touch up on some other points before I get finish, the mountainous regions were annoying to navigate and the side-quests were pretty much all uninteresting. Otherwise, it was just... kind of okay.
As far as I'm concerned both DLCs I've played so far (Dead Money and this one) were both flawed but I generally got more fun playing them then pain so I think this rating is pretty fair. Despite giving both the same rating, I'm 100% sure in saying I slightly preferred Dead Money to this one, but the original game was still superior to both. Would recommend for those who enjoyed the original since its mostly more of the same, but it's not really worth it otherwise.