NutzBerzerk
BACKER
This was the best and most interesting season since I began regularly playing, but Epic had to bend over backwards to all the screeching children mad that the game changed so it's back to the same homogenous paste it's been for years. God forbid a live service changes and evolves like live services are supposed to.
2024
Exactly the sort of "middle-shelf" material I miss in the modern gaming landscape. Though we are receiving a direct sequel in a few months, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine feels distinctly "7th gen." Aside from its obvious "early HD" visual design, Space Marine plays like a more refined third-person-shooter of the era. Though there is a lack of cover mechanics ala Gears of War, Space Marine lifts the weapon system and "corridor crawls" distinct to that series, but adding a massive dose of aggression to make Space Marine feel unique.
Before DOOM brought in the "glory kill" system in 2016, Space Marine was incentivizing using flashy animations to replenish health back in 2011. As interesting as the system is, it certainly feels like the progenitor to something refined later on; repetitive, lengthy animations for these kills can often be more harm than good for obvious reasons. I can look past there being a couple animations per weapon, per enemy, but the length of animations frequently caused my death on "normal" difficulty, especially in the later chapters. It makes sense to use aggression as the main healing factor, but it being the only way to heal aside from a (mostly) dinky overshield could make finishing the game tedious for some. I couldn't imagine the frustration of the healing system on "hard."
Space Marine's "glory kill" system is the key thing that separates it from the sea of third-person-shooters of the era, but that doesn't mean it's "subpar" by any stretch of the word. The lore additions are a treat, and the story as a whole offers a lot of flashy, interesting moments for someone who is still new but avidly learning the 40K lore. At the end of the day, Space Marine playing like a decent Gears of War "clone" makes it far more accessible to an ignoramus like myself who still can't wrap their head around any strategy game more complex than modern XCOM. It's appreciated to be on the ground-level in the fight against heresy, feeling the impact of boltgun fire and the heavy stomps of the armor-clad Ultramarines. I would highly recommend using a controller for Space Marine, not just for the controls feeling more natural on that setup, but also for the vibration to make the gameplay feel more heavy and lively.
My real complaints with Space Marine (aside from the aforementioned lengthy animations) feel part and parcel to the third-person-shooter genre at the time: certain checkpoints can prove to be a slog to get through due to enemy placements/lack of cover, enemy variety could be touched up a bit, and the final boss is nothing short of a disappointment. While Space Marine has a lot to offer in terms of narrative and lore, ending with some serious ramifications and potential for the sequel to expand, it doesn't offer enough via any of its antagonists to make the story of "fight back faction X" feel anymore than that until the very end. One does not go to 40K looking for Shakespearean writing quality, but the motives of both the protagonists and antagonists could have been fleshed out further.
The only thing I can't truly comment on at this time is the multiplayer mode, seeing that we are over ten-years since the release of the game and servers are dead aside from searching for dedicated groups on Steam. I would love to sample both the co-op and competitive modes before the release of the sequel, but I doubt that will happen. As it stands in 2024, as a singleplayer experience, you could do a whole lot worse for an approximately seven-hour campaign.
Before DOOM brought in the "glory kill" system in 2016, Space Marine was incentivizing using flashy animations to replenish health back in 2011. As interesting as the system is, it certainly feels like the progenitor to something refined later on; repetitive, lengthy animations for these kills can often be more harm than good for obvious reasons. I can look past there being a couple animations per weapon, per enemy, but the length of animations frequently caused my death on "normal" difficulty, especially in the later chapters. It makes sense to use aggression as the main healing factor, but it being the only way to heal aside from a (mostly) dinky overshield could make finishing the game tedious for some. I couldn't imagine the frustration of the healing system on "hard."
Space Marine's "glory kill" system is the key thing that separates it from the sea of third-person-shooters of the era, but that doesn't mean it's "subpar" by any stretch of the word. The lore additions are a treat, and the story as a whole offers a lot of flashy, interesting moments for someone who is still new but avidly learning the 40K lore. At the end of the day, Space Marine playing like a decent Gears of War "clone" makes it far more accessible to an ignoramus like myself who still can't wrap their head around any strategy game more complex than modern XCOM. It's appreciated to be on the ground-level in the fight against heresy, feeling the impact of boltgun fire and the heavy stomps of the armor-clad Ultramarines. I would highly recommend using a controller for Space Marine, not just for the controls feeling more natural on that setup, but also for the vibration to make the gameplay feel more heavy and lively.
My real complaints with Space Marine (aside from the aforementioned lengthy animations) feel part and parcel to the third-person-shooter genre at the time: certain checkpoints can prove to be a slog to get through due to enemy placements/lack of cover, enemy variety could be touched up a bit, and the final boss is nothing short of a disappointment. While Space Marine has a lot to offer in terms of narrative and lore, ending with some serious ramifications and potential for the sequel to expand, it doesn't offer enough via any of its antagonists to make the story of "fight back faction X" feel anymore than that until the very end. One does not go to 40K looking for Shakespearean writing quality, but the motives of both the protagonists and antagonists could have been fleshed out further.
The only thing I can't truly comment on at this time is the multiplayer mode, seeing that we are over ten-years since the release of the game and servers are dead aside from searching for dedicated groups on Steam. I would love to sample both the co-op and competitive modes before the release of the sequel, but I doubt that will happen. As it stands in 2024, as a singleplayer experience, you could do a whole lot worse for an approximately seven-hour campaign.
played with the SADX mod installer to make the game look more like the Dreamcast original
I genuinely feel bad for any millennial child who grew up with a Dreamcast and was gaslit into thinking this was a good game.
Sonic Adventure is a charming mess if I'm to put it nicely. A game built with obvious ambition but with none of the know-how to make a 3D platformer that doesn't give the player a raging headache. At the original time of release for Adventure, there could almost be an excuse for Sonic Adventure to be as clunky as it is. Sadly, far more polished - and therefor far better - 3D platformers such as Crash and Mario 64 already made their mark. In comparison with those other games, Sonic Adventure feels like a pre-alpha.
The score (and the fact I wasn't going to play past Sonic's stages) was settled by stage 2. If the camera is already failing the player and making them feel ill not even an hour into the experience, what does the rest of the game have to say for itself? Not much aside from giving me a massive headache by the end and swearing to never bother with it again. All of the things people usually make fun in Sonic Adventure like the voice acting and poor cutscene direction have nothing on the actual, miserable play experience.
Having played most of the (non-Game Gear) Sonic games prior to Adventure, I could not believe the overall poor reputation Sonic has in recent memory considering how good most of those games are (we won't talk about Sonic 1); now it's hit me like a truck and I am not excited to continue, though I certainly will. Can't wait for another helping of this with Sonic Adventure 2; it's all downhill from here.
I genuinely feel bad for any millennial child who grew up with a Dreamcast and was gaslit into thinking this was a good game.
Sonic Adventure is a charming mess if I'm to put it nicely. A game built with obvious ambition but with none of the know-how to make a 3D platformer that doesn't give the player a raging headache. At the original time of release for Adventure, there could almost be an excuse for Sonic Adventure to be as clunky as it is. Sadly, far more polished - and therefor far better - 3D platformers such as Crash and Mario 64 already made their mark. In comparison with those other games, Sonic Adventure feels like a pre-alpha.
The score (and the fact I wasn't going to play past Sonic's stages) was settled by stage 2. If the camera is already failing the player and making them feel ill not even an hour into the experience, what does the rest of the game have to say for itself? Not much aside from giving me a massive headache by the end and swearing to never bother with it again. All of the things people usually make fun in Sonic Adventure like the voice acting and poor cutscene direction have nothing on the actual, miserable play experience.
Having played most of the (non-Game Gear) Sonic games prior to Adventure, I could not believe the overall poor reputation Sonic has in recent memory considering how good most of those games are (we won't talk about Sonic 1); now it's hit me like a truck and I am not excited to continue, though I certainly will. Can't wait for another helping of this with Sonic Adventure 2; it's all downhill from here.
I'll just say I am glad I played this in co-op, because a single-player run of The Following would have broke me. The frenetic platforming of the base game is replaced with a piss-poor car to babysit, obtaining menial upgrades while becoming heavily reliant on it for any reliable transportation. The lack of rooftops to run/grapel through means trashing your car turns into an obnoxious hike, and dying throwing you to awful respawn watchtowers, or the start of a massive trek to an objective on the other side of the map. All of these little things add up to the core of Dying Light being missing from this expansion. While I can appreciate switching things up (in theory), it often leads to abandoning what made your core experience worth playing to begin with.
I only ever played Dying Light for its gameplay, and never its horrible narrative. The Following continues the ham-fisted writing and wallpaper voice acting but with mid-to-awful gameplay instead of the speed and fun of the base game. I'm glad I played this, but I will never touch it again and frankly makes Dying Light as a whole a lesser experience.
I only ever played Dying Light for its gameplay, and never its horrible narrative. The Following continues the ham-fisted writing and wallpaper voice acting but with mid-to-awful gameplay instead of the speed and fun of the base game. I'm glad I played this, but I will never touch it again and frankly makes Dying Light as a whole a lesser experience.
I can't believe this game about killing nazis is woke
Most of what can be said about Wolfenstein: The Old Blood can be said about The New Order. Originally planned as DLC packs, The Old Blood was thankfully made into its own retail product with a physical release on console, which is something I'll champion every day of the week.
While the gameplay and aesthetics transition neatly between TNO and TOB, the game takes a pretty large leap into the absurd and paranormal come the later half. Paranormal elements have never been a stranger to the Wolfenstein series, particularly with the 2009 "reboot" from Raven. The Old Blood just has a hard time implementing these elements into what was a more grounded and "realistic" experience in The New Order.
The Old Blood may not be as great as the full game it expands on, but it still offers a short but sweet FPS campaign and a few decent challenge maps to get your money's worth.
While the gameplay and aesthetics transition neatly between TNO and TOB, the game takes a pretty large leap into the absurd and paranormal come the later half. Paranormal elements have never been a stranger to the Wolfenstein series, particularly with the 2009 "reboot" from Raven. The Old Blood just has a hard time implementing these elements into what was a more grounded and "realistic" experience in The New Order.
The Old Blood may not be as great as the full game it expands on, but it still offers a short but sweet FPS campaign and a few decent challenge maps to get your money's worth.
It may be a stretch to suggest, but I fully believe Wolfenstein: The New Order is at least partially responsible for the "boomer shooter" revival that kicked into gear especially during the late 2010s. At the point of The New Order's release, first-person-shooters began steering away from the design principles of their predecessors. Large mazes, key hunting, arena-styled combat, and the ability to carry more than two weapons was on the way out in favor for more "realistic" directions. Shooters began to slow down in pace after the release of Halo, which popularized many of the FPS trends we began seeing in the 2000 for better and worse. Especially during the 7th console generation, FPS games began to bleed into each other with the same brown/gray aesthetic and mechanics, say for a few outlier like Singularity that would bring something new to the table. For the most part, every shooter during this period of time either felt like a worse Halo or Call of Duty.
Wolfenstein: The New Order succeeds at presenting a blend of modern and classic design philosophies that made it a truly unique shooter for its time, and still a bit of an anomaly to this day considering its scale and budget. Protagonist B.j. Blazkowicz presents this humorous blend of "down to Earth straight-man" and a Looney Tune: sensitive and quiet in many cutscenes only to transition into gameplay where you feel like a lightning-fast gorilla with a gun fetish. Melding the more modern, "cinematic (for lack of a better term)" direction of shooters of its current era with the bombast and fun of shooters of yore was exactly the direction the series needed, unlocking a hunger for more games like this in the future. The tonal differences between the story and gameplay almost feel comedic, but playing everything completely straight was the direction to go (an issue I have with The New Colossus a few years later).
Now passing the ten-year mark of The New Order's release, it's easier to notice and understand some of its faults while recognizing how impactful the game still is. While the general gameplay of TNO is a blast, there are a few segments of platforming, treasure hunting, and even just getting around are a hassle. Pacing is everything for a game with such high highs like this, so it makes sense to pump the breaks where needed. Sadly, most of these slower segments feel like a bit of a chore and artificial to extend the length just a bit more; it's hard to have fun when you're running around a sewer looking for a blowtorch when you just finished raiding a Nazi camp and blew everyone into little giblets. TNO additionally has a checkpoint issue when it's trying to push players to search as many nooks and crannies as they can for resources and collectables. The bridge level in particular has an awful checkpoint where I was attempting to grab what looked like a collectable, but died trying to jump to it over and over again, leading me to have to restart the level and loose five-plus minutes of progress about five separate times before I gave up from frustration. This issue is compounded by loading times, which seem to be fast enough on the SSD I have the game installed on, but having every little fall resulting in a loading screen gets old fast. I have fully-completed this game several times in the past (both the Xbox 360 and One versions), but I no longer have the patience to be as meticulous, especially for dorky Steam achievements.
Those small issues are only a fraction of the total experience of Wolfenstein: The New Order. Classic gameplay sensibilities mixed with modern design into a ten-hour adrenaline-fest. two-weapon limits? Get that shit out of here; we have seven different weapons, nearly all of which can be dual-wielded and/or have alternate firing modes. Skill trees? upgrades are dispensed by you playing well and tactfully, not spending artificial "upgrade points" you acquire through bullshit XP. This is the template the AAA FPS genre should have went but didn't. Thankfully, in the wake of this franchise seemingly being on ice in favor of Todd Howard's dream Indiana Jones game, the indie shooter scene has exploded (argually too much) and I firmly believe we have The New Order to thank for that.
drags cigarette "Man, they don't make 'em like this, anymore."
Wolfenstein: The New Order succeeds at presenting a blend of modern and classic design philosophies that made it a truly unique shooter for its time, and still a bit of an anomaly to this day considering its scale and budget. Protagonist B.j. Blazkowicz presents this humorous blend of "down to Earth straight-man" and a Looney Tune: sensitive and quiet in many cutscenes only to transition into gameplay where you feel like a lightning-fast gorilla with a gun fetish. Melding the more modern, "cinematic (for lack of a better term)" direction of shooters of its current era with the bombast and fun of shooters of yore was exactly the direction the series needed, unlocking a hunger for more games like this in the future. The tonal differences between the story and gameplay almost feel comedic, but playing everything completely straight was the direction to go (an issue I have with The New Colossus a few years later).
Now passing the ten-year mark of The New Order's release, it's easier to notice and understand some of its faults while recognizing how impactful the game still is. While the general gameplay of TNO is a blast, there are a few segments of platforming, treasure hunting, and even just getting around are a hassle. Pacing is everything for a game with such high highs like this, so it makes sense to pump the breaks where needed. Sadly, most of these slower segments feel like a bit of a chore and artificial to extend the length just a bit more; it's hard to have fun when you're running around a sewer looking for a blowtorch when you just finished raiding a Nazi camp and blew everyone into little giblets. TNO additionally has a checkpoint issue when it's trying to push players to search as many nooks and crannies as they can for resources and collectables. The bridge level in particular has an awful checkpoint where I was attempting to grab what looked like a collectable, but died trying to jump to it over and over again, leading me to have to restart the level and loose five-plus minutes of progress about five separate times before I gave up from frustration. This issue is compounded by loading times, which seem to be fast enough on the SSD I have the game installed on, but having every little fall resulting in a loading screen gets old fast. I have fully-completed this game several times in the past (both the Xbox 360 and One versions), but I no longer have the patience to be as meticulous, especially for dorky Steam achievements.
Those small issues are only a fraction of the total experience of Wolfenstein: The New Order. Classic gameplay sensibilities mixed with modern design into a ten-hour adrenaline-fest. two-weapon limits? Get that shit out of here; we have seven different weapons, nearly all of which can be dual-wielded and/or have alternate firing modes. Skill trees? upgrades are dispensed by you playing well and tactfully, not spending artificial "upgrade points" you acquire through bullshit XP. This is the template the AAA FPS genre should have went but didn't. Thankfully, in the wake of this franchise seemingly being on ice in favor of Todd Howard's dream Indiana Jones game, the indie shooter scene has exploded (argually too much) and I firmly believe we have The New Order to thank for that.
drags cigarette "Man, they don't make 'em like this, anymore."
Babe wake up, Carrmageddon for zoomers dropped
I usually reserve my thoughts of a given season until I have either completed the battle pass or the season is rolled over for the new one. Wrecked is, by far, the best season of Fortnite I've played since I became a "consistent" payer through the introduction of No Build. Competitive players and those who don't understand adapting your playstyle have been complaining on mass since the beginning of this season. I can almost understand where players are coming from with the car health pools vs the sorts of items we have to take care of them, but car spawns have increased with the new map addition; it's your fault if your drop is bad and can't get a car upgraded along with your regular arsenal. A "live service" needs to adapt and grow through time to attract new player bases, and frankly, leaning into vehicular combat as hard as they have (becoming we have Mad Max at home but good) shows Epic isn't afraid of completely overhauling the meta like they have before.
To the people complaining about cars: you already have boogie bombs unvaulted for now and EMPs are on their way, shortly. Yes, it is a tad strange that a season built around the use of vehicles didn't have as many counters aside from having your own car built up, but this goes back to adapting your playstyle and rethinking what a "good loadout" is. The only other olive branch I'd extend to players coping over this season would be the fact solos just isn't anywhere near as fun as trios or quads. Solo vehicular mayhem is fun in its own right, but getting your mates together to coordinate the "repair guy," turret operator, driver, etc. is cathartic and nothing feels better than having everyone work in perfect synergy.
I may revise these thoughts as the season progresses, especially in how things may change as we're just entering week two of it. For now, this is my favorite season since hopping on consistently and all the streamers/comp players whining about it only makes it better.
I usually reserve my thoughts of a given season until I have either completed the battle pass or the season is rolled over for the new one. Wrecked is, by far, the best season of Fortnite I've played since I became a "consistent" payer through the introduction of No Build. Competitive players and those who don't understand adapting your playstyle have been complaining on mass since the beginning of this season. I can almost understand where players are coming from with the car health pools vs the sorts of items we have to take care of them, but car spawns have increased with the new map addition; it's your fault if your drop is bad and can't get a car upgraded along with your regular arsenal. A "live service" needs to adapt and grow through time to attract new player bases, and frankly, leaning into vehicular combat as hard as they have (becoming we have Mad Max at home but good) shows Epic isn't afraid of completely overhauling the meta like they have before.
To the people complaining about cars: you already have boogie bombs unvaulted for now and EMPs are on their way, shortly. Yes, it is a tad strange that a season built around the use of vehicles didn't have as many counters aside from having your own car built up, but this goes back to adapting your playstyle and rethinking what a "good loadout" is. The only other olive branch I'd extend to players coping over this season would be the fact solos just isn't anywhere near as fun as trios or quads. Solo vehicular mayhem is fun in its own right, but getting your mates together to coordinate the "repair guy," turret operator, driver, etc. is cathartic and nothing feels better than having everyone work in perfect synergy.
I may revise these thoughts as the season progresses, especially in how things may change as we're just entering week two of it. For now, this is my favorite season since hopping on consistently and all the streamers/comp players whining about it only makes it better.
A strange game that remains in the "collective hivemind" due to the Atlus logo being in the corner of the box and that an NTSC copy will cost a good chunk of your rent to acquire. The price of Cubivore is the only thing anyone every talks about and I can see why after attempting a playthrough recently. Cubivore has some neat ideas for a pre-Spore "life/evolution simulator," but not enough to make the real-time gameplay experience anymore than tedious.
Cubivore may be your thing if wandering around mazes and mashing the same buttons over and over again for approximately nine hours sounds appealing. Though there's plenty of charm in the aesthetic and writing, it isn't enough to carry a boring play experience past the first few evolutions. The fact that hitting "endgame" consists of grinding mutations for hours in the same, button-mashing combat turned me off the moment I looked into what I was doing and what my end-goal was.
Duh, Cubivore isn't worth the market price it trades for. Any game that goes into the triple-digits isn't worth it, anymore, but it doesn't help when the game in question feels like a chore to play through.
Cubivore may be your thing if wandering around mazes and mashing the same buttons over and over again for approximately nine hours sounds appealing. Though there's plenty of charm in the aesthetic and writing, it isn't enough to carry a boring play experience past the first few evolutions. The fact that hitting "endgame" consists of grinding mutations for hours in the same, button-mashing combat turned me off the moment I looked into what I was doing and what my end-goal was.
Duh, Cubivore isn't worth the market price it trades for. Any game that goes into the triple-digits isn't worth it, anymore, but it doesn't help when the game in question feels like a chore to play through.
Mid game - terrible port.
What was something I was just going to bother with on Game Pass became a birthday gift from a close friend, meaning I tried quite hard to see something in this game and finish it. Sadly, Boltgun is almost everything you shouldn't do in a modern "boomer shooter;" borrowing all the worst ideas from the genre's past and delivering a poor PC port on top of it all.
There is no nice way to say that Boltgun is boring, but it's really boring. Map designs are samey mazes with little visual distinction in either color or structure, leading to the player traversing the same rocky cliffs and military bases over and over again. While the enemies offer a decent variety, the AI pathing is stupid and almost every enemy either stands in place to get blown to bits, or rush you like they have no reason to live, anymore. Spending hours running around the same-looking corridors and cliffs, fighting the same enemies over and over again, all in these giant mazes I get lost in half the time is not my idea of a good time.
Guns are largely a non-starter, either, with no weapon I picked up in my six-hours of playtime grabbing me like anything from QUAKE, DUSK, AMID EVIL, Ion Fury, etc. The drip-feed of weapons is solely that: a drip-feed. There is nowhere near enough variety in the weapons to begin with, but having still not unlocked all weapons at over six-hours of playtime is frustrating for a game like this. I understand the idea of slowly delivering all the surprises, as you don't want to "blow your load early," but it leads to Boltgun feeling like there are no substantial rewards for exploring or just playing normally. This issue is typified with Boltgun not offering any new weapons for nearly three-hours, then giving me two back-to-back; you really couldn't have spaced those out? I would never say I could design/create a game better than this, but I want to know the thought process on the genius who thought that up.
Lastly, I will just be complaining about the PC port, because it's one thing to be playing a "mid" shooter, but to have it run as poorly as it does on PCs that blow far past system recommended specs is unforgivable. As is usual with Unreal 4/5 games, Boltgun suffers from obnoxious stutter struggle with massive frame hitching and performance dips in both predictable and completely random locations. While I am not running a "top of the line rig" by any stretch of the word, my PC should be running this game better than the goddamn Nintendo Switch.
What was something I was just going to bother with on Game Pass became a birthday gift from a close friend, meaning I tried quite hard to see something in this game and finish it. Sadly, Boltgun is almost everything you shouldn't do in a modern "boomer shooter;" borrowing all the worst ideas from the genre's past and delivering a poor PC port on top of it all.
There is no nice way to say that Boltgun is boring, but it's really boring. Map designs are samey mazes with little visual distinction in either color or structure, leading to the player traversing the same rocky cliffs and military bases over and over again. While the enemies offer a decent variety, the AI pathing is stupid and almost every enemy either stands in place to get blown to bits, or rush you like they have no reason to live, anymore. Spending hours running around the same-looking corridors and cliffs, fighting the same enemies over and over again, all in these giant mazes I get lost in half the time is not my idea of a good time.
Guns are largely a non-starter, either, with no weapon I picked up in my six-hours of playtime grabbing me like anything from QUAKE, DUSK, AMID EVIL, Ion Fury, etc. The drip-feed of weapons is solely that: a drip-feed. There is nowhere near enough variety in the weapons to begin with, but having still not unlocked all weapons at over six-hours of playtime is frustrating for a game like this. I understand the idea of slowly delivering all the surprises, as you don't want to "blow your load early," but it leads to Boltgun feeling like there are no substantial rewards for exploring or just playing normally. This issue is typified with Boltgun not offering any new weapons for nearly three-hours, then giving me two back-to-back; you really couldn't have spaced those out? I would never say I could design/create a game better than this, but I want to know the thought process on the genius who thought that up.
Lastly, I will just be complaining about the PC port, because it's one thing to be playing a "mid" shooter, but to have it run as poorly as it does on PCs that blow far past system recommended specs is unforgivable. As is usual with Unreal 4/5 games, Boltgun suffers from obnoxious stutter struggle with massive frame hitching and performance dips in both predictable and completely random locations. While I am not running a "top of the line rig" by any stretch of the word, my PC should be running this game better than the goddamn Nintendo Switch.
2016
I will never forgive EA for sending Titanfall 2 out to die. As a die-hard fan of the original on the Xbox One, seeing the game expand further with a more robust multiplayer offering and a lean, exciting single-player campaign was a dream come true. Unfortunately, the ass-hat executive decision-makers at EA decided to release that year's Battlefield game the week before.
On replay on the PC, Titanfall 2 truly comes alive with the objectively better control scheme for the speed of combat, and the online community is still alive and active. Being able to boot into a (nearly) eight-year-old title and still find reliable matches without any major botting issues (from what I have seen in May 2024 that is) or server struggles.
Every "hardcore" FPS fan has waxed poetic about how important Titanfall 2 was in livening the mostly stale "advanced mobility" shooters of the 2010s. Though wildly different from its competitors, TItanfall 2 would have easily stood out from the crowd and could have been a long-term success if not for the shit-brain business decisions that caused its failure. We still feel the sting of this to this day with constant reminder that Respawn had been attempting to work on a follow-up and was canceled in favor of the safety of the Star Wars brand and the insane recurrent revenue of Apex Legends.
On replay on the PC, Titanfall 2 truly comes alive with the objectively better control scheme for the speed of combat, and the online community is still alive and active. Being able to boot into a (nearly) eight-year-old title and still find reliable matches without any major botting issues (from what I have seen in May 2024 that is) or server struggles.
Every "hardcore" FPS fan has waxed poetic about how important Titanfall 2 was in livening the mostly stale "advanced mobility" shooters of the 2010s. Though wildly different from its competitors, TItanfall 2 would have easily stood out from the crowd and could have been a long-term success if not for the shit-brain business decisions that caused its failure. We still feel the sting of this to this day with constant reminder that Respawn had been attempting to work on a follow-up and was canceled in favor of the safety of the Star Wars brand and the insane recurrent revenue of Apex Legends.
Another season wrapping up and another one that didn't set the world on fire. Collaborations were fine but having almost all meaningful rewards restricted behind additional $10+ passes was highway robbery, not to mention the time, money, and effort clearly split between all the modes. For example, this year's Star Wars event was lackluster compared to last year to put it nicely.
The loot pool was fine, overall but the wings were nerfed a bit more than I would have liked, the bowcaster wasn't that great, and waterbending can go straight to hades. The chain whip was the only consistent, seasonal weapon I enjoyed using.
Lastly, this season's skins were not great. I usually don't "keep" every skin from the battle pass but archiving all but 2 shows this is one of the weak ones.
The loot pool was fine, overall but the wings were nerfed a bit more than I would have liked, the bowcaster wasn't that great, and waterbending can go straight to hades. The chain whip was the only consistent, seasonal weapon I enjoyed using.
Lastly, this season's skins were not great. I usually don't "keep" every skin from the battle pass but archiving all but 2 shows this is one of the weak ones.
Easily the best version of this map so far but it being locked behind a pre-order bonus, $50 season pass, or $6 a la carte is highway robbery. The price stings further considering it's arguably the most viable map to grind weapon levels, and was certainly the case at launch.
1998
Specifically played via the Sonic Gems Collection on Gamecube. Seeing the graphics are obviously touched up from the original Saturn release, I assume the version on GC is a port of the PC remaster?
Decided to finally log this after roping in a drunk, unsuspecting friend into playing several races with me. Sonic R has little to offer in terms of replayability and deciphering its cryptic unlocks. Races are confusing crash courses through winding mazes, attempting to control what feels like an oiled-up grandpa going face-first down a slip-n-slide. Needless to say, the core ethos of "speed over everything else" in Sonic does not lend itself to a satisfying racing game; at least in this first attempt.
As everyone and their dog knows, the soundtrack is phenomenal, though it's drowned out in-game with the awful running/engine noises. Sonic R only retains its relevancy in recent years because of that sountrack, the fact the development studio behind the game went on to create the wildly successful line of Lego games of the 00s, and this was technically the first time Sonic was playable in full 3D; there isn't much else to offer, otherwise.
I will play Sonic R again in the future whenever I have over the friend who played this a ton as a child. I'll more than likely put in some effort for the unlocks at that point, but who knows when that'll be?
Decided to finally log this after roping in a drunk, unsuspecting friend into playing several races with me. Sonic R has little to offer in terms of replayability and deciphering its cryptic unlocks. Races are confusing crash courses through winding mazes, attempting to control what feels like an oiled-up grandpa going face-first down a slip-n-slide. Needless to say, the core ethos of "speed over everything else" in Sonic does not lend itself to a satisfying racing game; at least in this first attempt.
As everyone and their dog knows, the soundtrack is phenomenal, though it's drowned out in-game with the awful running/engine noises. Sonic R only retains its relevancy in recent years because of that sountrack, the fact the development studio behind the game went on to create the wildly successful line of Lego games of the 00s, and this was technically the first time Sonic was playable in full 3D; there isn't much else to offer, otherwise.
I will play Sonic R again in the future whenever I have over the friend who played this a ton as a child. I'll more than likely put in some effort for the unlocks at that point, but who knows when that'll be?