Reviews

The Good: the gameplay felt fluid, the level of injury to enemies based of where they were shot and what calibre weapon was a nice touch. The game definitely still felt like a max payne game with the gameplay, bullettime felt the best its ever felt imo. The story was solid enough for what it was, and I only had one random glitch once, nothing game breaking, one enemy just turned invisible but still had muzzle flare so like I said, not a big deal breaker. The graphics were nice, cars looked a bit flat, but aside from that it felt like a modern game in terms of graphics. The not so good: the overall feeling of gloom and darkness that made the atmosphere of the first two games just wasn't there the same. Yes Max's dialogue was as Noir as usual (and possibly some of his best dialogue ever) but aside from a chapter or too most the game was a bit too bright and just didn't feel "dark". Also there were no explosives you could have, which, just felt sad at times. Final Verdict: All and all I had a blast with this game, and can safely say too anyone who's either a fan of third person shooters, or fans of the first two games, give it a go. I highly doubt you'll be disappointed; just be aware, it is very Linear, but that was definitely a relief amongst the seas of openworld games out there 8.5/10

I finished Warhammer: Chaosbane mostly out of principal; I paid full price for this ($79.99 CAD!) when it dropped because I'm a huge sucker for Diablo-likes and read a couple fairly positive reviews of this. For a brief moment, it seemed like I had found my new favourite. Chaosbane nails something that a lot of Diablo-likes do not: the feel. It's smooth, plays well, and has overall a really great foundation with solid abilities.

Unfortunately, it suffers hugely from repetition and overall blandness; the story is, well, nothing special would be putting it nicely. The loot is OK but really does not stand out, nor does it really feel like you are optimizing your build in any fun way other than selecting what seems to give you the best boost. I enjoyed the skill-tree and the points-system for your abilities with added some level of strategic thinking to your character.

Otherwise, it's a slog through the same areas over and over again - even within each quest you'll find yourself running through very similar "pieces" I'll say of the layout (almost like everything was build from a small set of area-types so you run up the same kind or stairwell or run around the same kind of corner again and again.)

Honestly, with some work on more varied quests and a better end-game, this would be one of the more solid-feeling Diablo-like ARPGs out there right now. A lower price would have helped, for $15 or $20 bucks this will be a fine distraction but full price was just not worth it. I'd rather steer you towards something like Vikings - Wolves of Midgard to be perfectly honest.