Recent reviews by Kabookie

The Voice Changer , has infected me .

So addictive, but requires mods to really get going.

I is doing fishing :>

Awesome wall paper utility really enjoying it, community content is great.

In love with this neat little app plus not system intensive.

First voiced characters in FF history awesome battle system, not as many sidequests as usual but the Blitz game is amazing.


Pushing for 100 completetion is a lot of work on that dam sphere grid.

History for all these low level noobs.

The more I heard about Saturday Morning RPG, the more I was intrigued. It was a sleeper hit sort of RPG, themed after the classic cartoons and culture of the 80's, and was one of the few games handpicked by startup Limited Run Games for a physical release. Instead of shoving the existence of 80's culture in your face, Saturday Morning RPG seemed to bathe and flourish in it. There’s even one point a character that hints to the classic early 90’s flick, The Wizard. Yet, Saturday Morning RPG puts so much respect to what it wants to praise, that it forgets to leave anything for itself.A nice time waster but in itself not as good as Pacman or Atari

The most addictive stuff I've ever played and with a semi Tron soundtrack too boot .

ou may not know the first thing about competitive Dota 2 concepts like “jungling,” or “creep stacking,” but you’ve probably dealt with illness, heartbreak, or high expectations in some form. Valve pulls at these relatable, human threads in its new documentary, Free to Play, to share a true and understandable story about the burgeoning eSports scene – and the fascinating players at its forefront.

Danil “Dendi” Ishutin. Clinton “Fear” Loomis. Benedict “HyHy” Lim. These three professional Dota 2 players, from Ukraine, the United States, and Singapore, respectively, have wildly different backgrounds. But in 2011, each player had one common goal: to win the first 16-team International Dota 2 tournament and take home the $1 million prize.

Each story unfolds through touching interviews with the players, their families, and their friends. Nothing feels forced or coaxed out, and at many times within each story, I felt like I was seeing unused footage – the stuff I wasn’t supposed to see. Ishutin’s incredible dexterity and skill in Dota 2 have earned him the nickname “Dendi the Superman,” but there was nothing inhuman about the past he and the other players shared.

Gluing each sub-story together is a larger plot of the International tournament. Free to Play does a great job of contextualizing the growth of eSports, the success they’ve already seen in countries like Korea and China, and what the massive $1 million International prize meant for eSports’ future. Dota 2 commentators, whose jobs are to break down matches play by play, interviewed for the film and helped make sense of the tournaments and the competing team’s histories.

Dota 2 isn’t a bad looking game at all, but for Free to Play, Valve rendered standout moments from the biggest matches with much better animation and detail than the game can achieve. These clips are all about the spectacle, but they do that job well, and they cap off intense team fights with a satisfying bang.

Free to Play is not just a documentary for Dota fans; it’s for fans of people, their aspirations, and the struggles they’ll inevitably face. That the documentary condenses such a complicated game and scenario into a clear, engaging package is a tremendous accomplishment by Valve.

Still a banger of game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I dont play anymore but I miss it.

What immediately strikes me about DOTA – to coin a hideously over-used cliché – is that it's easy to learn, but difficult to master. It's a phrase oft bandied about, but in this case it perfectly describes DOTA's very simple concept and goals – which take mere seconds to understand – and its phenomenal gameplay variability and strategic depth – which offer enormous scope for skills development.

It delivers by doing what every truly great PvP game should do – and that's provide its players with an even playfield to work on, a robust set of rules, and a suite of characters available to all that enable deep and rich tactical play. It's an archetypal sporting construct that ensures fair competition, where winning is all about skill, expertise and experience – and maybe just a little luck every now and then.

Many PvP games don't quite do that, and instead enable player advantage through investment of time and/or money. I'm fine with that – in World of Warcraft, my hard-earned top-level gear lets me crush newbies mercilessly. But while rofflestomping nubs after a long day can be fun, there's nothing quite like a system built around player parity to drive the most fierce and rewarding competition.

Something that's important to me in PvP is the facilitation of preferred playstyles through character roles, and DOTA ticks that box nicely. In team PvP, I'm most attracted to a support function, and I'm very happy with DOTA's wide array of characters that let me play behind the front-runners, making sure they stay alive. I'm already seeing other roles I want to try too, but for now, it's great being able to learn a game in a role that makes me feel like I'm playing from my core strengths, rather than feeling like a square peg in a round hole.

For me, multi-role gameplay makes for varied and interesting play both for pick-up games, and pre-made coordinated team competition. Does the team go all out offense? What about defense? Should the team be balanced, or not? DOTA enables high flexibility in that regard, so it's down to the players to follow through on their tactics, or adapt accordingly. Again, that makes for involving, interesting and fun gaming. It's not just a slug-fest or shooting match: it's more subtle, strategic and measured.

Which brings me to the cadence of the game. Some PvP games are frenetic, and require practice simply to attune one's brain to the pace of the action. DOTA 2 does not. While it certainly does have its frantic moments, they are interspersed with quieter periods where you're moving to the next tactical location, or perhaps sitting back to heal or regroup. Having this space to breathe is really enjoyable, and while you have to still keep your guard up to ensure you're not ganked by some stealthy foe, it's generally more forgiving that most PvP games, and gives you plenty of bandwidth to learn, rather than feeling rushed and panicked the whole time.

But while the game is generally forgiving, the players are much less so. As with all multiplayer games, the experience of playing with others can be a bit of a mixed bag. Early on I had a few matches where my n00biness got me called out a few times, and seemed to enrage one particular person to the point of apoplexy – probably exacerbated by us losing badly. While I've been PvPing long enough to know that this is part of the landscape, I was nevertheless annoyed that I was playing with people who were clearly leagues ahead of me in terms of ability. Perhaps the matchmaking bands are too broad, but as I've been developing my skills, I have found myself consistently feeling like I'm pegging my team back, and I hate being that guy.

Considering appropriate matchmaking is such a fundamentally important thing for multiplayer games, I'm consistently surprised that more effort isn't put into creating a variety of multiplayer options to more effectively smooth new players' transition from bot-practice to human play. DOTA 2's ability to rate players and give feedback is good – but why not have a few more options that perhaps let lower level players play together, let veterans be leaders of teams of newbies, or have a more effective mentoring system. Maybe these things are harder to implement than they seem, but seriously. How hard can it be?
PvP matchmaking and tools complaints notwithstanding, DOTA is still a terrific game. When players work together against a similarly skilled team, the result is a dynamic, involving and nuanced tactical battle, and I've definitely had a few great matches – not all of which I've won. But like all pick-up PvP games, there are also frustrating moments where you can get absolutely flattened, or end up stuck in a team with a couple of nutjobs who're off their meds.

If those sorts of moments are not for you, then you already know DOTA 2 isn't something you should subject yourself to. But if you're of hearty PvP stock, thick of skin, stoic of nature, and moderately understanding of the human condition, DOTA 2 is a must. It really is a fantastic game. After all these years I still can't stop playing dammit my wife is going to leave me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Still a banger after all this time !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Toxic noobs make it difficult these days but solo que is where the real skill brackets shows it's teeth

Warframe is a nicely done sci-fi hack-and slash third-person shooter with lots of customization options and replayability.
Each Warframe has 4 abilities and can be equipped with lots of passive upgrades, called mods, which drop randomly from enemies.
Everything in this game can be bought with ingame money, as well as real money.
The level-design remembers me somehow of Lego, as there are finished rooms which are put together randomly every level to make every level unique.
The AI is pretty good, too. Enemies are trying to take cover most of the time and barely stand out in the open.
It actually has no story yet, but that doesnt really matter, as it is still a lot of fun, specially with friends, to slice/shoot your way through hordes of enemies.
it gets pretty boring after a while though.

Had I not looked it up, I'm not sure I could have told you where all this was taking place. Path of Exile has an overarching story, but its lush graphics and grisly combat overshadow it so thoroughly that you'll only pick it up by paying close attention to quest givers and lore objects. This is Wraeclast, a dumping ground of sorts for criminals and other unsavory types, namely the seven unfortunately gender-locked starter classes you see trapped on a prison ship on the title screen. (I like to think of it as Robert E. Howard's take on Australia.) Even so, key moments manage to assert themselves. The voice acting is up to par, and one interlude that plunges the otherwise sunny world into darkness seems like a delightfully cheeky rebuke to players who click on objects without bothering to learn about their significance first.
Its innovations lie elsewhere. You'll find them partly in the way it handles its abilities, in that it dispenses them in the form of socketable gems that drop from monsters or as occasional quest rewards. Such a system grants meaning to the torrent of loot by forcing you to match abilities with correctly colored sockets, with the upshot that you could find yourself conflicted about using an otherwise-awesome axe if it doesn't have enough red slots to allow you to use all seven of your active abilities. It's seldom a problem, however, since materials for orbs that convert common items into rares or rearrange the color of an item's sockets drop almost as frequently as the loot itself.

Then again, Path of Exile's smart multiplayer design means that you could just ask for help. You'll find other players in the hubs picking up quests and bartering items with vendors, and you'll see them clogging the trade channel with offers for weapons that'll be out of reach for days to come. That, in fact, seems to be why they're around, as Path of Exile boasts a unique bartering economy that fits its castaway milieu. Gone is the staggering inflation you find in games that rely on gold and auction houses; in their place, I found players asking for what they actually needed, chiefly in the form of the aforementioned orbs that alter an item's qualities.

It's also easy enough to bring others along on adventures through the notice boards in town, but even in my character's late 30s I felt no need to enlist help. Instead, Path of Exile finds other ways to employ the folks around you. You could battle them in PvP, for instance, but you only have a small window to sample it in the 20s before the option's unlocked again two playthroughs later on the Merciless difficulty. Even then, leaving town breaks the agonizingly long queues, and battle itself involves laughably imbalanced matches on account of the skill system.


Penniless Pandemonium
Reviewed on PC

→ November 8, 2013 I flinched as a white pufferfish man attacked me by hurling blood, and it wasn't even its own. Moments before, it had sprinted past me to munch on a pile of zombie corpses I'd left in my wake, and then it came back to drown me in their entrails. I'd seen hints of it before, but this grotesque creature and its legion of cohorts served as the first definitive indicator that I was venturing into far darker territory than I'd seen in other contemporary action-RPGs like Diablo III and Torchlight 2. I realized then, too, that I wished to end the existence of such vile things, and I was pleased to find that Path of Exile usually made it fun to do so.
Path of Exile Overview Video
06:55

Had I not looked it up, I'm not sure I could have told you where all this was taking place. Path of Exile has an overarching story, but its lush graphics and grisly combat overshadow it so thoroughly that you'll only pick it up by paying close attention to quest givers and lore objects. This is Wraeclast, a dumping ground of sorts for criminals and other unsavory types, namely the seven unfortunately gender-locked starter classes you see trapped on a prison ship on the title screen. (I like to think of it as Robert E. Howard's take on Australia.) Even so, key moments manage to assert themselves. The voice acting is up to par, and one interlude that plunges the otherwise sunny world into darkness seems like a delightfully cheeky rebuke to players who click on objects without bothering to learn about their significance first.

Many, I suspect, will do so anyway. Combat is rightly king here, and Path of Exile captures the spirit of the early days of the ARPG through the primal pleasures
Path of Exile
January 23, 2013 (Open Beta)

Path of Exile is a free-to-play PC online action Role-Playing Game (RPG) set in a dark fantasy world.
→ Much More
Leif Johnson Says
A Free Alternative to:

Torchlight II
Titan Quest Gold
Diablo III

of carving through swarms of enemies with the help of the left, right, and middle mouse buttons. Most of the time it plays like a spiritual successor to Diablo II, shunning much in the way combat innovation in favor of the thrill of wading through piles of loot so thick that you'll have to turn off item names to see the enemies. Visually, it's at its best when you venture into damp ruins and caverns under the weak guidance of what looks like a lone warehouse lamp; it's at its worst in the way your character appears to be wearing dumpster couture for most of the leveling path.

Its innovations lie elsewhere. You'll find them partly in the way it handles its abilities, in that it dispenses them in the form of socketable gems that drop from monsters or as occasional quest rewards. Such a system grants meaning to the torrent of loot by forcing you to match abilities with correctly colored sockets, with the upshot that you could find yourself conflicted about using an otherwise-awesome axe if it doesn't have enough red slots to allow you to use all seven of your active abilities. It's seldom a problem, however, since materials for orbs that convert common items into rares or rearrange the color of an item's sockets drop almost as frequently as the loot itself.
Why Drops are Deceiving in Path of Exile
13:43

If there is a problem, it's that even novice dungeon crawlers will likely find both of the first two difficulty modes in the "Standard" league too easy. My opening hour may have been fraught with moments when I was afraid to take on more than two enemies at a time, but by the second of the three acts, I was slashing my way through minibosses with the same savage abandon I meted out to the rabble. I can't say it wasn't fun; Path of Exile's animations may lack the fluidity you'll find in Diablo III, but they do much to remedy that shortcoming with copious blood and sound design that deftly evokes the shattering of giant arachnid carapaces.

In time, however, the ease of combat betrayed the simplicity of its flow. With only a few exceptions (and a memorable final boss fight), Path of Exile's battle strategy consists of little more than beating back swarms who threaten to overwhelm you. The boss fights that round off each of the three acts struck some caution in me for a while until I realized I could toss up a portal to town - and thus the respawn point – before even leaping into battle.

In fact, the greatest foe in Path of Exile is not a beast of the dark or of the dungeons, but rather the lingering desynchronization issues that sometimes trigger potentially lethal blows long after you thought you were in the clear. Their rarity in the Standard league renders them mere annoyances, but they're infuriating in the Hardcore league that forces you to face Wraeclast's horrors with only one life.

I've tried to convince myself that what I see as the ease of Path of Exile springs merely from the smart placement of my passive skills. This skill tree is a sprawling, intimidating beast, and it looks somewhat like a circuit board when zoomed out.