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An amazing game that comes up just short of being exceptional due to a couple decisions made around combat: the game is just as fast paced as its predecessor, but it adds in several layers of resource management. You always need to keep track of health, armor, ammo, and ability timers during battle, all while trying to hit challenge goals and progress through the game. Instead of the raw "rip and tear" power fantasy of the first game, you spend most of your time in the later levels running in circles around the arenas just to pick off a couple zombies for health. While the base stuff under all that is still amazing—the guns, the sounds, the enemy design, the arena design—you're ultimately too busy to truly enjoy it most of the time.
It was somewhat hard to fall on "Recommended" for this title. I have no qualms with the combat whatsoever. They set out on an original combat concept, and they delivered something good, not very deep, but definitely entertaining. A- (The ability to shuffle enemies around would have bumped that to an S+).
It's just. The story is such a goddamn bummer. I left completely empty and desensitized to everything. Don't go in expecting any form of payoff.
Enderal: Forgotten Stories is a total conversion mod for Skyrim. It borrows its core gameplay, but everything else is not only new and original, but far surpasses what Skyrim accomplished.
Visually, the game is stunning. I constantly found myself stopping to take screenshots or just admire the environment. The fact that it was all done on top of Skyrim's Creation Engine makes this all the more impressive. With a couple extra mods to fix some NPC appearances, the game really shines with its presentation.
As far as sound design goes, the soundtrack is on par with Skyrim's. Other audio and effects are nothing to write home about, and mostly borrow from Skyrim's existing sounds.
The gameplay is like a refined version of Skyrim, with all the frustrating broken parts removed. It starts slow and challenging, and continues to offer a challenge well into the final acts of the game. The "Shouts" from Skyrim have been replaced with "Talents", and man are some of them creative. The skills system is more reminiscent of traditional RPG's where you get a skill point per level up to spend on perks (like increased damage or other more unique effects), then a certain amount of points to spend on skills like 1-Handed or Elementalism. On top of all that, there's several hidden class combinations that provide additional unique perks when you put enough skill points in two synergistic classes. I very much enjoyed the more careful design to Skyrim's "just max everything" approach.
Then there's the story and writing, which blows Skyrim out of the water and rivals the storytelling of great RPG's like Pillars of Eternity. It's difficult to get into the specifics without spoilers, but it follows the struggle of humanity against their own nature and a mysterious entity hellbent on their demise. The game features way more dialogue and roleplaying than Skyrim did. I often found I'd have entire play sessions where I didn't partake in a single combat encounter. On top of all that, it is FULLY AND PROFESSIONALLY VOICED, which is absolutely INSANE for a mod. There were a couple lines that could have used touching up, but overall the actors and the sound guys did an amazing job, worthy of a AAA release.
If you enjoyed Skyrim or enjoy more mature storytelling RPG's, this is the game for you. I played ~80 hours and did a fair amount of side content, but there's still likely another 20-30 hours of content I could work through if I want to revisit.
Visually, the game is stunning. I constantly found myself stopping to take screenshots or just admire the environment. The fact that it was all done on top of Skyrim's Creation Engine makes this all the more impressive. With a couple extra mods to fix some NPC appearances, the game really shines with its presentation.
As far as sound design goes, the soundtrack is on par with Skyrim's. Other audio and effects are nothing to write home about, and mostly borrow from Skyrim's existing sounds.
The gameplay is like a refined version of Skyrim, with all the frustrating broken parts removed. It starts slow and challenging, and continues to offer a challenge well into the final acts of the game. The "Shouts" from Skyrim have been replaced with "Talents", and man are some of them creative. The skills system is more reminiscent of traditional RPG's where you get a skill point per level up to spend on perks (like increased damage or other more unique effects), then a certain amount of points to spend on skills like 1-Handed or Elementalism. On top of all that, there's several hidden class combinations that provide additional unique perks when you put enough skill points in two synergistic classes. I very much enjoyed the more careful design to Skyrim's "just max everything" approach.
Then there's the story and writing, which blows Skyrim out of the water and rivals the storytelling of great RPG's like Pillars of Eternity. It's difficult to get into the specifics without spoilers, but it follows the struggle of humanity against their own nature and a mysterious entity hellbent on their demise. The game features way more dialogue and roleplaying than Skyrim did. I often found I'd have entire play sessions where I didn't partake in a single combat encounter. On top of all that, it is FULLY AND PROFESSIONALLY VOICED, which is absolutely INSANE for a mod. There were a couple lines that could have used touching up, but overall the actors and the sound guys did an amazing job, worthy of a AAA release.
If you enjoyed Skyrim or enjoy more mature storytelling RPG's, this is the game for you. I played ~80 hours and did a fair amount of side content, but there's still likely another 20-30 hours of content I could work through if I want to revisit.
I really like the original FFVII and it was an important game for me when I was growing up. That and my expectations for the remake are the reasons I mostly did not care for FFVIIRemake.
My first issue is with the combat. There are too many boss fights and the fighting is too boring. They didn't require much skill, just mashing buttons and healing when needed. You are also punished for being patient, as carefully building up for a stagger-limit-break -combo (or something else powerful) is made futile when a mid-combat cutscene either cancels your attacks or resets enemy states. Sadly the turn-based option is only available on easy difficulty.
I enjoyed the additional parts with characters from the original game. They made Midgar seem more alive, complex and gave more background for those characters. The new characters on the other hand are too often annoyingly over the top personalities.
The main story was the biggest disappointment for me. Too much is changed, too much is crammed to the end where the action is something that would've fit better at the end of the whole FFVII story. Some elements feel like lazy writing and sort of make some events pointless. The side quests are better and like the familiar characters, they bring more depth.
My first issue is with the combat. There are too many boss fights and the fighting is too boring. They didn't require much skill, just mashing buttons and healing when needed. You are also punished for being patient, as carefully building up for a stagger-limit-break -combo (or something else powerful) is made futile when a mid-combat cutscene either cancels your attacks or resets enemy states. Sadly the turn-based option is only available on easy difficulty.
I enjoyed the additional parts with characters from the original game. They made Midgar seem more alive, complex and gave more background for those characters. The new characters on the other hand are too often annoyingly over the top personalities.
The main story was the biggest disappointment for me. Too much is changed, too much is crammed to the end where the action is something that would've fit better at the end of the whole FFVII story. Some elements feel like lazy writing and sort of make some events pointless. The side quests are better and like the familiar characters, they bring more depth.
Its got to be up there in the top for playability.
«Blew my mind»
«Just one more turn»
Incredibly slick side-scrolling brawler with gorgeous artwork and silky smooth gameplay. Lots of replay valuable with the number of characters to all level up.
It's an okay Monster Hunter clone, if you're really desperate to hunt big demons instead of big dinosaurs. Combat is much flashier, but the monster design suffers from not being terribly exciting.
The game's fine, not great, not terrible.
The game's fine, not great, not terrible.
Beautiful and melancholy, Gris has a similar concept to Journey: a robed wanderer traveling through a gorgeous world for reasons unknown. With minimal platforming and puzzle solving, Gris doesn't dive enough into either to make the gameplay particularly interesting. The game should be played and enjoyed solely for the two things it excels at: Conrad Roset's artwork and Berlinist's soundtrack. Combined, they deliver a meditative experience that make the game worthy of your time.
The original Mirror's Edge was one of my favorite games of the PS3/360 era, and is still a blast to play. Catalyst fixes the problem of the weak gunplay of the original, but instead creates a massive ton of other problems in its place. The maps are bland and uninspired, with the open world serving no purpose beyond letting you get bored as you run through the same areas every time you head out to do a mission.
My kids love it! It's kinda family friendly because there's no blood, no realistic violence and the aim is not to kill your opponent, but to defeat him by pushing him off the platforms/screen. The characters remind a little bit of pokemons or other animalistic creatures. The graphics are excellent. It looks especially crisp on my 4K TV with vibrant colors.
The fighting mechanics are not complex and flow easily. Kids love it.
Unfortunately, the online is almost dead, so it's best to have someone local to play with.
The fighting mechanics are not complex and flow easily. Kids love it.
Unfortunately, the online is almost dead, so it's best to have someone local to play with.
Fun little indie doom clone. Got bored of the mazelike levels before it ended, but it's still fairly solid. The magic system puts a nice twist on the genre.
I really liked the art style of this game. Combat system felt exciting in the beginning but became boring and repetitive afterwards as I've progressed through the game. All the platforming I had to do, was not fun at all.
Mad Max meets anime meets Yakuza. It's a distillation of Yakuza, warts and all, but in such a way that demonstrates how simple the core mechanics of Yakuza really are. Simple, symmetrical main city, few side activities, one fighting stance, boss fights that just drag on and on and on, inundation of items and crafting, no items to use in fights, empty flat fighting arenas. The stuff that's great is still great: the bartending side activity, pressure point finishers, over the top style, a great boss fights early on. But man that car really doesn't work, too many quests that are cutscene-walk ten feet-cutscene - one late game quest literally has you get in that dumb car and drive across the map to the same spot three times in a row all in an effort to introduce a new tutorial. The idea was there but the execution falls flat. I still enjoyed it very but only really worth it if you're out of Yakuza games to play.
The combat is too much in between the ATB or Chrono Trigger and the strict turns of the OG Final Fantasies and it ends up being worst of both worlds. It just drags on and on and on right along with the bland dungeons and the arbitrarily strict saving/healing rules. The order party members are introduced seems completely out of whack and make the early game drag on that much more. Important mechanics that would ease that early game (running from battle, attacking with a magic user's equipped item) aren't explained at all. It's a shame just how much they get in the way of just telling what it ultimately a very simple story.
«Waste of time»
A great game if you want to play with someone who's not familiar with video games. Perfect for young kids.
«Sit back and relax»