I know that I am not the type of player who gets overly bogged-down by performance when playing a game but I want to start out with a single, very clear comment: even if you think Cities: Skylines II is the exact game for you, do not play it now. To be clear, this isn't even purely because of technical performance either; balance is still in need of being tuned within the sim.

Leading up to its release, I was longingly looking forward to the city-builder. Despite concerns around technical performance, I leaped in. Pre-release material showed that it wasn't the EA-style The Sims-style reset of a game where the new iteration reverts back to 1.0 with little improvements and some steps backwards to gameplay. Cities: Skylines 2 comes out swinging, packing in seasons, additional transportation options, expanded road tools and systems which were added in previous expansions, all now rolled into the base game. The visual updates are pleasant, even if you have to turn them down to get the game to run and your trees look like potatoes, painted green, with a stick shoved up their behinds. The foundations of Cities: Skylines II are great and I think this could be a great game with staying power.

That's fine and all, but what's missing? Well... the new traffic system implemented breaks the game. In an effort to create "real" drivers or pedestrians, the game allows for illegal traffic maneuvers and jaywalking. Big deal, right? Well... pedestrians refuse to use ramps or stairs so if there's a busy intersection, there's no way to divert pedestrians away from it. Cars driving down a road in rush-hour traffic will sometimes hold up traffic as they wait for a gap to do an illegal u-turn. Added a bus lane? Cool, it'll be filled with more cars than busses. I can only assume this was done either 1) by mistake or 2) so they can introduce a KGB-themed DLC that allows you disappear dissidents to a gulag. It's great to be able to add or remove crosswalks or stoplights and I appreciate the new road building tools. However, there's additional refinement I found myself wanting such as left-turn lights or being able to control what are or are not turn lanes in an intersection instead of the game automatically assigning it. The unfortunate truth is that the previous iteration had mods which supported this and now they're about 50% of the way to implementing back that same functionality with no current support for mods.

All that comes back to the initial point: wait. The technical performance will improve. They'll add in the mod support. The pedestrians will finally use a bridge. There's a million small issues that make me want to like this game and can't play because the sim breaks as soon as the town gets above 40k people. I do have confidence with the team and their desire to do right by the customer eventually and provide the support needed. I just wish a lot of the balance and performance had been hammered out before release.

I'm sure that my score will go against the grains but let me start off by saying clearly: this is not a bad game and nor is it a perfect one.

To begin with the pros, this game's style and aesthetics are (pun slightly intended) out-of-this-world. The design of the ACs, the color palette used and the music all coalesce into a profoundly great feeling world. The way the camera also pans and the particle and blur effects hit with the slowing of the game when you defeat an enemy creates some awesome looking screenshots (my finger was also hovering over my screenshot button during most cutscenes as well).

Now then, let's get to the less-good. The controls are... mostly good. I feel like the AC responds fairly well to most inputs and the majority of controls are are intuitive and easy to perform (in other words, it's a FromSoft game). My repair kits did not always go off when I thought they should (yes, I know they have a cooldown, and yes, I noticed you can't use them while attacking) and I felt like sometimes I could fire both shoulder cannons at the same time, and other times I couldn't for reasons I did not fully understand. I also usually felt like the under-dog in most combat encounters. There were a number of other frustrations with staggering or boosting that also left me feeling like the later-game bosses got to play with a different rule-set than I did. AC build viability also seemed to not be nearly as varied as other FromSoft games. A light and fast AC is probably a great choice if you're the guy beating Elden Ring on a saxophone but for someone a bit older, with not the best reflexes anymore, I cannot keep up with dodging every laser beam meaning the twin songbird and Gatling gun on a slightly heavier bipedal AC was about the only play-style I could perform.

I also just can't help but shake the fact that this feels like a B-tier game. The mission based structure where the majority of exposition is laid out in mission briefs. The missions, themselves, frequently feel like excuses to go do some video gaming instead of tell an intricate narrative. That's not to say that there is no narrative or the only exposition occurs during the briefings, but it could have been expanded upon better through gameplay. Maybe spend less time designing reasons to put in sneaking missions in my mech game and put in more stuff to help understand the factions in the world? Speaking of factions, while it's great we're introduced to some interesting personalities within them, I have no idea what the intention of Arquebus or Balam are other than "they want Coral." I don't really know anything about RaD or the PCA. Why is Balam always giving me stuff on behalf of Dafeng? Maybe this is my own fault for jumping into a game labeled "VI" without playing the previous five, but I feel like some further exposition wouldn't have hurt.

Final point regarding missions and menu decisions I'd question: While the arena is a cool concept, it really dampens the mood if I fight an enemy in the Arena, beat them there, and then you try and set them up as a big boss fight in the main game itself.

Again, this is not a bad game. In fact, it's a good palette cleanser and something very different; it's probably also the best mech game out there. However, I would not call this a masterpiece which everyone must play. Would be a great grab if you find it on sale, but as it stands, I'd only recommend for more avid fans and not a must-play for all gamers.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a step back in time to an era in which western developers created single-player narrative experiences that captured and enthralled their players. An era in which you could own a game, and beat it without feeling like you were being nickel and dimed for "time savers" or cosmetics. An era where the game rewards you for exploration but doesn't punish you if you wish to partake in the critical path. An era in which Star Wars was good.

There's a lot to love about this game but first, the bad should be noted: the performance is far from perfect. While the game is gorgeous to look at, it does tank the performance of even the beefiest PC. Despite frame rates typically being a steady, playable state, I experienced some instances where (especially in higher positions or where more of the world was viewable), the frame rate would tank to an "unplayable" state; however, for the vast majority of the game and for any important combat encounter, the game kept up just well enough to continue. If you're the sort of person who believes that anything below 60 FPS is "unplayable" then maybe you should wait a few years for hardware to catch up/exceed what this game needs. Otherwise, it is worth it to push through and experience what is otherwise a great game.

Jedi: Survivor takes Fallen Order and expands upon it. The combat is more developed, feels tighter and more responsive than Fallen Order, and the new lightsaber styles allow for better depth of experience. While it would be nice to switch between the styles, the requirement to focus on only two helps drive the feeling that my Cal fought how I wanted and, for a game with no other real RPG elements, brings a slight amount of appreciated influence I have over the character. Is this game a FromSoft game, where the combat is perfectly dialed in? No. Is the combat serviceable and does it make me feel like the Jedi my wonder-stricken child-self occasionally pretended to be? Yes.

Aside from the combat, there's plenty to love about Survivor. The environments are diverse and fun to explore (although, I might argue that Koboh is actually too big and can become difficult to navigate as a result). The story's cast of characters are a good bunch who's dialogue and banter felt appropriate and welcomed (with the correct amount of levity sprinkled in; looking at you, Rick the Door Technician). The narrative beats held some obvious twists but still some unique surprises. The visuals and vistas are stunning. The sound design and music melds well with the IP it belongs to and further drives a cinematic experience.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a game that, while suffering from some performance shortcomings, is one which delivers an experience that is rare in 2023; something which cannot be championed enough. The game is fun, the combat is enjoyable, and it is one of the few games in recent years which I will likely dive back into to complete my collect-a-thon. I only wish there were more games like it. Games I bought, can play, can dive back into if I'm looking for some easy, quick action; but otherwise am not beholden to some live service model nor season pass that requires my constant attention.

The only real problem is that, now, I want good Star Wars movies.