SPICEBAG
I tried several times to get into The Division 2 but just can't.
Everything here is improved upon from the first game yet somehow it feels worse to play. After a lot of thought I have come to the conclusion that both this and its predecessor aren't particularly fun games, they have working mechanics and systems but the core gameplay is dull. The first game however has an extremely comfy setting, a world that felt lived in and real.
This version feels a lot more lifeless and dull. It looks good on the surface but fails to immerse or do anything visually stimulating.
It's a skinnerbox grind right the way through which would be fine if it camouflaged that to any degree but it doesn't. No interesting stories or characters. No crazy loot.
The scaling is really off here too. I was level 16 finding weapons that did a quarter of the damage of some guns I found around level 4. Weapon classes also don't matter a sniper can be fired with 100% accuracy from the hip, at which case it outclasses assault rifles and SMGs. I was forcing myself to use weaker weapons just for the sake of variety.
Everything here is improved upon from the first game yet somehow it feels worse to play. After a lot of thought I have come to the conclusion that both this and its predecessor aren't particularly fun games, they have working mechanics and systems but the core gameplay is dull. The first game however has an extremely comfy setting, a world that felt lived in and real.
This version feels a lot more lifeless and dull. It looks good on the surface but fails to immerse or do anything visually stimulating.
It's a skinnerbox grind right the way through which would be fine if it camouflaged that to any degree but it doesn't. No interesting stories or characters. No crazy loot.
The scaling is really off here too. I was level 16 finding weapons that did a quarter of the damage of some guns I found around level 4. Weapon classes also don't matter a sniper can be fired with 100% accuracy from the hip, at which case it outclasses assault rifles and SMGs. I was forcing myself to use weaker weapons just for the sake of variety.
2010
Jank. But really good jank.
It doesn't do anything special, infact it's mostly just competent at best in many areas, but I have a soft spot for this game. I played the remaster on PC a few years back but experiencing this on 360 in 2010 was wild, bugs and all.
Definitely worth a run if you've never tried the series before. Like me, you may even end up reading the books afterwards.
It doesn't do anything special, infact it's mostly just competent at best in many areas, but I have a soft spot for this game. I played the remaster on PC a few years back but experiencing this on 360 in 2010 was wild, bugs and all.
Definitely worth a run if you've never tried the series before. Like me, you may even end up reading the books afterwards.
2017
A fun idea, it's basically Second Life for zoomers.
Guaranteed to meet a Predator in every session!
Guaranteed to meet a Predator in every session!
2023
A flash in the pan that blew up in response to Dice's continual mishandling of Battlefield.
It's a very competent large scale shooter with basic destruction. There are Roblox mods with more complexity and slicker movement systems but this game isn't half bad in all honesty. Primary weapons don't feel all that different from one another. Secondary weapons are utterly useless I have clips of me putting 6/7 rounds into the head of an enemy with no success. Some maps are quite badly made, one team can get funnelled into bad spawns and deathtraps very easily.
It does a good job emulating the chaos of Battlefield though, fun if you can get it cheap.
It's a very competent large scale shooter with basic destruction. There are Roblox mods with more complexity and slicker movement systems but this game isn't half bad in all honesty. Primary weapons don't feel all that different from one another. Secondary weapons are utterly useless I have clips of me putting 6/7 rounds into the head of an enemy with no success. Some maps are quite badly made, one team can get funnelled into bad spawns and deathtraps very easily.
It does a good job emulating the chaos of Battlefield though, fun if you can get it cheap.
2020
Fun idea but the devs ignored very real problems since the very start, namely the terrible hit-reg/connection issues. They then sold out to Epic Games and drip fed content.
Fun for a match or two but ultimately wasted potential.
Fun for a match or two but ultimately wasted potential.
2010
My favourite Fallout.
Unfortunately it has been diagnosed with a terminal case of being on the Creation Engine.
If Obsidian were given free reign on this project rather than being hamstrung by Bethesda I believe we could have seen something akin to magic.
Instead, we get a fun, well written romp through a buggy wasteland doing its best to dance around Bethesda's wrongdoings.
Your first playthrough is wonderful. Mods are necessary.
Unfortunately it has been diagnosed with a terminal case of being on the Creation Engine.
If Obsidian were given free reign on this project rather than being hamstrung by Bethesda I believe we could have seen something akin to magic.
Instead, we get a fun, well written romp through a buggy wasteland doing its best to dance around Bethesda's wrongdoings.
Your first playthrough is wonderful. Mods are necessary.
2020
I ignored this game on launch, had zero expectations, picked it up for cheap after the big "fix" update on Steam and after 4 hours I uninstalled.
It's probably a good game. It's definitely a big game. The constant pinging of new missions, side activities, markers on the maps, lore, characters, etc. All of it fried my brain, I think I am getting too old for these kind of all consuming games.
The missions I did play were OK. The world building is fantastic however it looks a bit off, like the lighting wasn't properly tuned. Guns felt nice to shoot but lacked variety and enemies were too easy across the board.
Maybe if I have a month or two to spare in the future I may come back and give it another try.
It's probably a good game. It's definitely a big game. The constant pinging of new missions, side activities, markers on the maps, lore, characters, etc. All of it fried my brain, I think I am getting too old for these kind of all consuming games.
The missions I did play were OK. The world building is fantastic however it looks a bit off, like the lighting wasn't properly tuned. Guns felt nice to shoot but lacked variety and enemies were too easy across the board.
Maybe if I have a month or two to spare in the future I may come back and give it another try.
sending client info...
WELCOME TO ADVAN. CED. GUN. GAME.
WOOHOO
Holy SHITTTTTT
admin he is doing it sideways
*the best version of counter strike
I owe my 16 year old Steam account to a friend who's brother left his Steam logged in so we played this all day
WELCOME TO ADVAN. CED. GUN. GAME.
WOOHOO
Holy SHITTTTTT
admin he is doing it sideways
*the best version of counter strike
I owe my 16 year old Steam account to a friend who's brother left his Steam logged in so we played this all day
2019
This game opened my eyes to Roguelikes and I will forever be thankful.
A game that didn't deserve its fate.
Rayman 3 lives in a liminal space in my head.
It was one of those ever pervasive games that always appears in my memories of childhood.
I replayed it some years back and despite a wonky camera it holds up really well as a platformer.
The soundtrack here is probably one of my favorite OSTs ever, just bliss.
It was one of those ever pervasive games that always appears in my memories of childhood.
I replayed it some years back and despite a wonky camera it holds up really well as a platformer.
The soundtrack here is probably one of my favorite OSTs ever, just bliss.
2011
Very much a timeless game.
I first played in 2012 and still go back every year or two for a few weeks at a time. The gaps between those play sessions are getting longer and longer however.
Of any major game right now I think Minecraft probably has the slowest and least productive development cycle, content is dangled infront of players and they are told to choose via voting, with the losers never seen again. With how much money this game has behind it adding all of those option shouldn't be an issue.
It doesn't hold the same magic it once did but it's genuinely a revolutionary game that is essentially perfect in its own right.
I first played in 2012 and still go back every year or two for a few weeks at a time. The gaps between those play sessions are getting longer and longer however.
Of any major game right now I think Minecraft probably has the slowest and least productive development cycle, content is dangled infront of players and they are told to choose via voting, with the losers never seen again. With how much money this game has behind it adding all of those option shouldn't be an issue.
It doesn't hold the same magic it once did but it's genuinely a revolutionary game that is essentially perfect in its own right.
A wonderful modernization of games that were so central to my childhood.
There isn't much to say here, you either love these games or you don't. The remake is extremely authentic to the original, looks great, keeps the same banging soundtrack (with some extra songs I believe), includes local multiplayer and is decently optimised.
There isn't much to say here, you either love these games or you don't. The remake is extremely authentic to the original, looks great, keeps the same banging soundtrack (with some extra songs I believe), includes local multiplayer and is decently optimised.
2023
I was really underwhelmed by this.
I missed Dead Space back in the day, it just passed me by so I never gave it a shot. I finally got around to playing this remake and I just didn't enjoy it.
Visually it is stunning, the gore is great, the atmosphere is heavy, I love the design choice to have everything relevant to gameplay be actually part of this utilitarian world, i.e your health being visible on the back of your suit.
On paper, this should be a slamdunk game I love, I've watched playthroughs of a lot of Dead Space games including the on-rails shooter on the Wii. I have read up on lots of the lore and characters. The world is very enticing to me as a horror/SciFi fan but actually playing this game left me feeling kind of bored.
Combat gets old pretty fast and the scares are more like being in a haunted house, I saw them coming a mile away.
It isn't at all a bad game, except for very weak PC optimization, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I feel I should.
I missed Dead Space back in the day, it just passed me by so I never gave it a shot. I finally got around to playing this remake and I just didn't enjoy it.
Visually it is stunning, the gore is great, the atmosphere is heavy, I love the design choice to have everything relevant to gameplay be actually part of this utilitarian world, i.e your health being visible on the back of your suit.
On paper, this should be a slamdunk game I love, I've watched playthroughs of a lot of Dead Space games including the on-rails shooter on the Wii. I have read up on lots of the lore and characters. The world is very enticing to me as a horror/SciFi fan but actually playing this game left me feeling kind of bored.
Combat gets old pretty fast and the scares are more like being in a haunted house, I saw them coming a mile away.
It isn't at all a bad game, except for very weak PC optimization, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I feel I should.
2014
A masterclass in adapting a movie to a game.
Alien: Isolation takes the original source material and goes all in, it was amazing to experience in 2014 and it still holds up exceptionally well today.
Every inch of Sevastopol is oozing with atmosphere and lore accurate details. I personally find the Seegson corporation invented for the game (as far as I know) to be much more compelling than Weyland-Yutani ever was in the films.
The gameplay is quite simple but it feels nice and weighty to play. I still remember specific moments from my first ever playthrough that scared the life out of me.
The AI behind the Alien is very interesting, there's a lot of essays online about how it works and it's worth reading if you're into game development.
The only flaw this game has in my opinion is that it falls into the same hole that nearly every other survival horror game does. When you play for long enough you get comfortable with the enemies, you learn their limits, their weaknesses, their exploits, etc. The first half of the game is very fun but by the end the Alien stops being scary and just becomes a nuisance.
The final act also overstays its welcome, it could have easily been cut down by an hour or two.
I appreciate the character of Amanda Ripley. The developers refused to make her just another tropey survival horror character who talks endlessly to herself about what needs to be done or how she feels. She isn't some god-like, strong woman archetype. She is a grounded, stubborn character just trying to survive and is all the better for it.
Alien: Isolation takes the original source material and goes all in, it was amazing to experience in 2014 and it still holds up exceptionally well today.
Every inch of Sevastopol is oozing with atmosphere and lore accurate details. I personally find the Seegson corporation invented for the game (as far as I know) to be much more compelling than Weyland-Yutani ever was in the films.
The gameplay is quite simple but it feels nice and weighty to play. I still remember specific moments from my first ever playthrough that scared the life out of me.
The AI behind the Alien is very interesting, there's a lot of essays online about how it works and it's worth reading if you're into game development.
The only flaw this game has in my opinion is that it falls into the same hole that nearly every other survival horror game does. When you play for long enough you get comfortable with the enemies, you learn their limits, their weaknesses, their exploits, etc. The first half of the game is very fun but by the end the Alien stops being scary and just becomes a nuisance.
The final act also overstays its welcome, it could have easily been cut down by an hour or two.
I appreciate the character of Amanda Ripley. The developers refused to make her just another tropey survival horror character who talks endlessly to herself about what needs to be done or how she feels. She isn't some god-like, strong woman archetype. She is a grounded, stubborn character just trying to survive and is all the better for it.