76 public reviews
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Really average FPS. Average enough that there's not much to say about it. It has its moments of satisfying violent catharsis; but weak weapons, sluggish movement, and sh*tty vehicle sections always pull the game back down to mediocrity. Nothing very interesting is done with the idea of turning into a Strogg in terms of either the story or the gameplay, and after the disturbing stroggification process in the early…
Despite the name and the cover art, SoF doesn't play like some kind of Call of Duty predecessor. The story is military themed, but the gameplay really isn't, as John Mullins controls more like a superhuman ninja than a soldier. He's basically John Wick with a moustache. Combat is fast and frantic, lending itself more to reflex based spur-of-the-moment decisions rather than tactics or planning. It's extremely…
The combat is still really great. All the weapons feel and sound very impactful, chunks get blown out of walls from gunfire, there's a slowmo ability and a jump kick ability. The enemy combatants are almost as scary as the creepy little girl who follows you around, but in their own way, because the AI is still unmatched 13 years later. They seem to have a sense of self-preservation and approach combat intelligently.…
Read the full review F.E.A.R.: First Encounter Assault Recon
This was my first time ever playing a Shenmue game, so my review is free from nostalgia. You need to approach these as adventure games first and foremost. These are very slow games, but I really enjoyed the story. Slow-paced and understated stories are things still we get very little of in gaming, so it feels fresh even today, as long as you have the patience for it. Much of the games involve just traveling from…
(A review of the singleplayer only.) No cover system, no regenerating health, no weapon reloading, and no mercy. If that doesn't sound appealing then this isn't the game for you... This an old-school game with some modern tweaks, fast and twitchy acrobatic violence with heavy metal in the background, that makes every room feel like a dance of death. The enemies are all enjoyable to fight against and require you to…
A game with such a bleak, grim, and soul-sucking premise has no right to be so addictive and replayable. It has a strong narrative (with 20 different endings), meaningful social commentary, and some of the best moral choices I've seen, that can really wear you down and make you uncomfortable. It will pull you in and refuse to let go, and it's one of the most unusual games you'll ever play. Papers Please isn't "fun"…
Some interesting time-bending powers can't save the game from its terminally unsatisfying shooting mechanics and an uneven difficulty. The level design is repetitive and sometimes oddly structured too, teleporting you somewhere completely different after a loading screen with no explanation. It feels like parts of the game were cut out at late points in development without replacements to fill the gaps, and the…
Easily the best casual game I've ever played. Hours just fly by when playing this and it's extremely addictive. Every inch of the game from the steady sense of progression, to the memorable sound effects and music, to the way the game celebrates each of your victories like you've just cured cancer, is all designed to keep you hooked and coming back for more. Lets just say it's very effective, and there's some kind…
Spec Ops: The Line examines the nature of video games (shooters in particular) and our relation to them as players. It's pretty surreal and "meta", but not overly so. Not everything is subtle, and the best part of the game, which will have the strongest emotional impact on the player, definitely isn't subtle; but there's a lot of foreshadowing that isn't thrown in your face and can be easy to miss, and is very…
When was the last time you played an RPG typing game? Never, that's when. Typing games get a bad reputation because they feel implicitly educational, but typing words out in order to attack isn't much different from pressing one key or clicking my mouse. It has its own natural difficulty slider (giving you more challenging words to type quickly) and there's something amusing and weirdly satisfying about fighting…
Call me crazy, but I kind of like it. If you go into it expecting all the things you normally get from a racing game, you'll be disappointed, and I can see why some people hated this. I don't blame them for that, and it's not a traditional racing game, but that's not really what it tries to be. It's a racing-themed, structured linear action game. The game has a strong identity and a simple but compelling setup. The…
The cars all feel exactly the same to control, unsatisfying with stiff cornering being a constant issue. The game feels shallow and has almost no sense of progression. You technically "work your way up", but there's no story, and no buying or tuning. You just get shunted from one race to another and are given new random vehicles to try out. It all feels a little pointless. The online elements are very pervasive for…
Some of the most intense police chases I've ever had in a game. It takes about a quarter of the game for them to properly ramp up, but once they do... Phew, they're great. The cops are relentless and difficult to outsmart, and the police chatter is believable with some great voice acting, that adds much more to the experience than you might expect. The driving feels satisfying to this day, and finds that perfect…
Some of the most intense police chases I've ever had in a game. It takes about a quarter of the game for them to properly ramp up, but once they do... Phew, they're great. The cops are relentless and difficult to outsmart, and the police chatter is believable with some great voice acting, that adds much more to the experience than you might expect. The driving feels satisfying to this day, and finds that perfect…
A gorgeous, intriguing game about solving puzzles and running away from things, to put it as simply as I can. There's a very strong attention to detail, and the animations and physics are fantastic. It's very atmospheric, intense, and often unsettling. There are no on-screen indicators or instructions in this game, you just work everything out by yourself, and it's really excellent at giving you subtle hints through…
It's nice to play a GTA style game that isn't set in the US, and doesn't cast you as someone who is essentially a mass murderer. Hong Kong looks lovely, particularly at night and when it's raining, and has its own special charm that only this game can offer. There's a kind of electric atmosphere to it, and it feels very alive with a sometimes impressive number of NPCs. The parkour is simple but satisfying, and…
I never played Mario or Sonic when I was a kid. I grew up on the PC, alongside a PS1 with about 6 games and a bunch of demo disks. Crash Bandicoot was one of those games, and later, Crash Bandicoot: Warped. They captivated me, and I've kept coming back to them ever since, most recently with emulators. Now we get a PC release complete with a gorgeous visual update, and that's something I never thought I'd see. It…
It's a shame this was dismissed by some people as being nothing but a glorified tech demo, because the gameplay is actually something special. The suit powers are a lot of fun. You can use the cloak ability to go invisible and stalk an enemy like the Predator, then switch to strength mode to grab him and throw him off a cliff. Swiftly escape the rest of them with the super speed ability, and then switch back to…
I liked some of the game's ideas... Particularly the attempts to flesh-out every NPC, filling the world with deep characters that all have a place there. I like that you can kill and feed on any of those characters, which will give you both rewards and consequences. Playing as a vampire doctor is unique, and the system of finding cures for people to improve their blood quality is a nice idea. The protagonist's…
The focus on the loot system, which permeates every aspect of the gameplay and covers the map in a thousand different chests to open, managed to kill my interest in this one very quickly. There are a ridiculous amount of unlocks, most of which are useless. I enjoyed unlocking new items in the first "Lara Croft" game, because it wasn't happening all the damn time. It felt rewarding because I actually had to work…
Nice puzzles and satisfying combat, with very well-balanced enemies. I enjoyed the upgrades and the weapon and costume unlocks, and felt compelled to work towards them by scouring each level for all the goodies, so the game was very effective at keeping me engaged. Very enjoyable to play co-op, except for the argument over who gets to play Lara and who gets stuck being the Aztec guy. Aiming with the explosive…
For the mere 2 hours it takes to finish Abzu, forget about the usual nitty-gritty of game mechanics, relax, and just try to enjoy the ride. The game is absolutely gorgeous. Striking colours and jaw-dropping underwater vistas, coupled with some amazing animation, and the music is equally powerful. If you're part of the "but it's not a game" crowd, nothing I can say will change your mind, but this is a just chillout…
I wanted to like it, but I just wasn't feeling it. There are too many things that annoy me. The game feels unbalanced and frustrating. I hate the health system for a start. For a little over half the game, you don't have much health. When you (inevitably) break out of stealth and into action, the game is fast and frantic, and all the health you do have depletes very quickly; as will the mountain of armour that…
Valve were back on form for Episode Two. Vastly different environments than we'd seen before, much more open-ended while still sticking to a tightly focused linear design, and it's honestly some of Valve's finest. Interesting new enemies and situations, great progression of the story (including an ending that made me cry) and much more creativity than Episode One. It's fortunate that this was so good, because it was…
This wasn't too well received by fans, mainly due to its length and the fact that it's all setup and no payoff. The concept of episodic gaming was quite new at the time. The low price now, and the fact that you can play Episode Two right after if you like, means these aren’t big problems. It’s not bad, but it’s also not great. Maybe it’s just because I’m comparing it to the legendary Half-Life 2, but something is…
I don't really know how they managed it, but after the pretty excellent Opposing Force, Gearbox dropped the ball on this one in every way I can think of. Confusing and shockingly bland level design, at the quality of a mediocre user modification, not a professional developer. Made even worse by the annoying backtracking, the escort mission, and the particularly dreary Xen chapter. You only access the most basic…
Opposing Force shouldn't be held on a pedestal the way Half-Life is, simply because Gearbox (the developers of this one) stood on Half-Life's already established shoulders in order to reach even higher. It's hard to deny though that Opposing Force is more consistently fun than Half-Life is, and doesn't have Half-Life's low points, like "On a Rail". Xen makes several reappearances, but it's only used sparingly for…
It's Half-Life. An important piece of gaming history that revolutionized a genre. You owe it to yourself to play it if you haven't already. It shows its age in some ways (apart from the obvious, like graphics and sound), mainly because it's been copied endlessly. But its still a blast, and it's still easy to see why it was so highly acclaimed in 1998. It was Valve's first game though, and even though they struck…
Some of the problems I had with TR 2013 have been dealt with, but only partially... Tombs are better, a little larger and more intricate, and give you more interesting rewards (special abilities). But they're still just physics puzzles that you do on the side, and I would prefer if they played a larger role in the story and gameplay. The writing is improved, and Lara is portrayed as more capable, so there's no…
This is kind of like Crystal Dynamics' take on the Uncharted formula (which itself took inspiration from earlier Tomb Raider games). Comparisons of the gameplay are easy to make, and though it doesn't have the polish of the Uncharted games, it's very "cinematic" in a similar way, and constantly tries to engage the player. Platforming feels pretty good, and all of the outdoor areas are suitably large and sprawling.…
I don't know how, or why, but the controls are much more loose and awkward than they were in either Legend or Anniversary. Lara's animations just can't keep up with your inputs, so she'll get stuck on nothingness, magically warp to the next position, and her limbs will bend like a contortionist. Platforming is very sticky and inaccurate, and the camera is worse than either of the previous two games. So with all…
This is how you do a remake. Anniversary stays true to the spirit of the original Tomb Raider and just tries to improve things, rather than throwing everything out and making a new "modern" interpretation. This game is especially enjoyable for a pleb like me who finds the idea of the oldest TR games appealing, but finds the tank controls much too unintuitive to enjoy. It's a very atmospheric game focused on…
Back in the day I sort of enjoyed this one, and it was the first Tomb Raider game I was ever able to get into, because I can't deal with the control system of the older games. Playing it in 2018 though, I just... See things differently, to put it kindly. The combat isn't very enjoyable. You lock onto enemies and fire while dodging, and when you get hit by anything more powerful than a peashooter you'll get knocked…
(A singleplayer only review.) Rockstar outdid themselves this time. None of the issues I had with GTA IV are problems anymore. The pacing is great, the controls are great, and it's a modern take on the more over-the-top nature of earlier "3D era" GTA games. I can't praise the setting enough, or the satirical commentary, or the extremely satisfying driving and shooting, or the missions (which have checkpoints now,…
Read the full review The best open world game I've ever played.
Unlike earlier GTA games, it takes a much more serious tone with an emphasis on realism. They tried to get the physics as realistic as they could, there are a lot of subtle details in the world which adds to the believability, and NPCs react to you and your actions in some very interesting ways. The story missions are much more subdued and slower-paced, more grounded than earlier games; and while characters still…
Unlike earlier GTA games, it takes a much more serious tone with an emphasis on realism. They tried to get the physics as realistic as they could, there are a lot of subtle details in the world which adds to the believability, and NPCs react to you and your actions in some very interesting ways. The story missions are much more subdued and slower-paced, more grounded than earlier games; and while characters still…
As popular as this game was at the time, I don't think it got enough credit for its improvements over GTA 3. On the face of it, not much has changed, because the basic gameplay is almost identical, but everything else is so much better. Some the weaknesses of GTA 3 are actually strengths of Vice City, like atmosphere, mission design, and characterisation. GTA 3 had kind of a nondescript tone that doesn't really…
A fantastic game at the time, and has moments of good fun today, but I don't think its aged very well. At the time, its selling point was "GTA in 3D", and that by itself was fresh, even revolutionary, so it didn't need much else. Playing it now though, after so many sequels and "clones", it doesn't really stand out. It feels like the game doesn't have a strong identity. The atmosphere of the world is indistinct, the…
Far Cry 5 never gives you a moment of peace, it just gives you constant chaos. You're constantly being attacked, or doing the attacking yourself, and no-matter where you are, there is always action going on around you. There are always people chasing you, people screaming for your help, and you quickly get inundated with more missions than you know what to do with. There's always someone calling you over for a side…
Far Cry 5 never gives you a moment of peace, it just gives you constant chaos. You're constantly being attacked, or doing the attacking yourself, and no-matter where you are, there is always action going on around you. There are always people chasing you, people screaming for your help, and you quickly get inundated with more missions than you know what to do with. There's always someone calling you over for a side…
Keep in mind this is just a remake of Flatout 2 rather than its own thing. It doesn't really matter these days though, as it turned out to be the best Flatout game, to the point where the others aren't really worth your time anymore. It's good, silly, over-the-top fun, and the environmental destruction is still satisfying and unique. I like how the game embraces its ridiculousness in interesting ways... No other…
I was really enjoying it for a while. It's addictive and satisfying, and it gives you a lot of options with your weaponry and abilities that can really change things up significantly. I like the charm of the cheesy retro-futuristic themes and art style, and the music is great. It all has a kind of "budget" feel to it, but there's nothing wrong with the gameplay. To advance through the game, you need to unlock…
It was nice to revisit this game. Destruction is still really fun 8 years later, but the game doesn't really have a lot going for it otherwise. To be honest, apart from the ability to blow every building into tiny little pieces, it's a fairly basic, generic, and rather bland open world game, both mechanically and thematically. Missions really lack excitement too, which goes for most of the side missions as well. But…
There's a severe lack of variety in the mission design, with side missions only following two set patterns, just in different locations. It's either "Go here, and shoot down these ships" or "Go here, shoot down these ships, and arrest one of the pilots." That's it. If you're going to play this, I would recommend avoiding side missions for the most part, and trying to get into trading as your way of making money…
Putting it on "Perfectionist" difficulty makes it play a bit more like classic Splinter Cell, but there's a constant feeling that I'm not playing the game how it's meant to be played. It doesn't feel organic, it just feels like I'm holding back, and restricting myself from the game's features. It usually doesn't afford you enough options to remain hidden and avoid enemies, as the levels just aren't designed that…
As a long time fan of the series, I want to hate this game, but I can't, because it only leaves me feeling empty. This isn't Splinter Cell, it's something else entirely... Something that's dumbed-down so much that it plays like a cover shooter with token stealth. Something that treats the player like a child, never lets go of your hand, and thinks "aiming and shooting" is an aspect of gameplay that needs to be…
This version of the game was made by Ubisoft Montreal (who also made Chaos Theory), rather than Ubisoft Shanghai, who made the PC/X360/PS3 version. Though both games follow the same basic plot and take you to similar locations, they are otherwise completely different from each other. This one has much more in common in the first three Splinter Cell games in terms of gameplay; sneaking around in darkness and…
There's way too much reliance on the story, the most glaring symptom of this being the fact that it makes you come back to the same boring map on four separate occasions to complete a laundry list of busywork objectives. The story itself veers in the opposite direction from the promising lighter tone that Chaos Theory had started to establish, making everything much too grim and serious, and permanently damaging Sam…
Read the full review Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent
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