Recent reviews by Arson Aardvark

Like an abusive partner, I keep coming back to this very flawed franchise, but this time I have some good news.

I scored a 3-pointer in my first game as a 60 overall - WITH AN IMPERFECT SHOT RELEASE. That's how I know MyCareer is worth playing again. It took them like 7 years, but this mode isn't worthless now. I don't dabble in online play; YES WE EXIST. I think the Park and VC were the worst gameplay decisions in this franchise's history, and it ruined everything, but I can enjoy MyCareer in peace again, at least for a short while. I've already put up multiple 20+ point games, and it still doesn't feel like I'm being handed anything on PRO difficulty. This is a monumental quality of life change that the series has been missing for years.

The upgraded attributes system lets me know what I can unlock with each skill point, new animations, new badges, etc. From what I've seen, you don't have to pay double to learn animations once you've upgraded the skill to unlock them. I just keep seeing more and more "FREE" jump shot animations for purchase the more VC I put into 3-point shooting. The creator also has prebuilds from various sources, including the Community at large, to help create comfortable archetypes without investing too much time.

I don't know what the AI tuning was like at launch but I read a lot of horror stories back then about dumb AI, only tossing up tres and nothing else. I've experienced something very different. AI players are playing to their real-life strengths. Jokic goes inside a lot, Jimmy Butler slashes a lot, Rudy Gobert blocks A LOT. I'm concerned because normally NBA2K is not this enjoyable. There's always a glaring error in MyCareer that ruins the entire thing and sours the experience, usually tuning-related or unskippable advert-related - I haven't really found it this year yet. Everything has been largely pleasant. Some graphical stuff now that we're in current gen, and I think I may have had one crash in between games, but largely it's been a positive experience. I can't imagine 2K will allow this to continue, because I'm not their model consumer. I don't buy VC, so I don't experience a lot of their online advertising. I'm the enemy, but then this is why I find ways to get this game on the cheap.

Not a return to form, not by a long shot, but I'm enjoying my $19-with-a-3-year-old-remaining-giftcard-balance-I-forgot-about experience.

It's in a good spot for early access. Looking forward to new brand editions and game types.

I regret this purchase, but it seems to be faithfully executed in the image of its tabletop predecessor and devs did a really good job with everything; except the AI. The UI/UX, sound design, soundtrack, animations - everything feels really sexy, but the game is simply too hard. The tutorial betrays the game's intentions, first of all pitting you against a single opponent, when the solo mode is actually restricted to 2+ opponents at any time. And then for some reason I can't choose any character I please. I'm only ever restricted to 2 choices, seemingly random, and I don't understand why. Why is the game not letting me play it? I bought it, all of these characters should be available for me to play against the AI. If it's a one-per-player scenario, that should only apply to online games. I really feel that the intended difficulty, medium, is too hard. I'm 12 hours in and no closer to winning a single game. I cut back to 2 opponents, and still am a mop with which the AI cleans the floor with. I consider myself average, having plenty of time in other card-based games, but this one is just infuriating. The AI always has an out - they always have some kind of last second random-bs-go card that gets them an insurmountable edge to win the round. I've watched this happen for multiple games in a row. I'll take one avenue and have to forsake another, and each time am left with lopsided results, making me wonder if I should've gone with the other approach. I try that approach next game, and am met with a similar result - lopsided and never in my favor. Someone please tell me what the plans within plans are, because the AI's is apparently to just never lose no matter what. The Tutorial AI seemed objectively stifled, but no win after 12 hours? There's some kind of disconnect that I can't overcome, and it's ruining the game for me. It's a real shame, because the game feels so good, but I cannot understand why I'm losing continuously at each turn, and the game doesn't really care to help me understand. I guess I'll do the tutorial for the 3rd time.

Edit: I kept playing despite my better judgment, and turns out I now don't recommend this game. I've watched several more games worth of cheating AI who just always have the right BS intrigue card to drop at the last second and win. I give up.

It wasn't for me. It felt like Subnautica's illegitimate sibling, living forever in its shadow and neglected by its parents. There are some janky features in the UI, sound design, and crafting menus that just bother me. The collection animation particularly makes my eye twitch, especially when you realize they put the ability to just yoink materials off the ground, but only if you've dropped them or they came crashing down from orbit. Why, then, must I suffer the weird animation of suctioning up what looks like 10 materials (but it's really just 1), and if I don't sit there and stare for the duration of the animation, my character doesn't pick it up? Little things like that are bothersome because I'm expected to use this animation hundreds or thousands of times. Limited inventory makes early game exploration kind of difficult. If you don't carry a bunch of oxygen, you can't hardly wander 500 feet from your base before you have to start going back. I'm sure the game opens up after a while, but I kept running into irksome features that just didn't feel right. Maybe Subnautica spoiled me.

It's in a fairly good spot as far as early access titles go. There is some missing content, and then there are quality of life issues, too. It needs a native windowed mode, and the escape key does nothing in-game where a lot of menus are used throughout. It's still a pretty fun little time waster. Great if you can't really pay attention every second, but still want to progress a character.

An instant classic. There's a special place in my heart for roguelike card games. This game takes up that entire place because it's that good.

Edit: I'm over 50 hours in now and still haven't "beaten" the game with any deck. I don't know if that's good or bad.

Edit: First win came at 57 hours. This is genuinely one of the most difficult games I've ever played, just based on the statistics of the thing. I'm still hooked, though.

Ultimately a fun little game to flip restoration projects, but eventually it becomes tedious and repetitive after a while. Generally all of the cars are one of a few designs, and you won't encounter true proprietary part layouts really outside of the engine, and even then I wonder if it's still 100% accurate to real life. The biggest let down is the lackluster car sounds. You spend hours polishing and repairing each part, making it glimmer, and then you take it for a test drive only for your minty $300,000 car to sound like a leaf blower. It would be neat to have a team of people become hireable to do easy jobs like oil changes and tire rotations, make it feel like an actual business instead of a random garage in the middle of nowhere.

Just buy it.

It captures that "just go out and skate" vibe really well. The controls are monstrously difficult to pick up. It reminds me of the old Thrasher video game from the late 90s that couldn't compete with THPS because the controls were so unintuitive. On the whole, the game does feel a tad unfinished. There are no voice lines despite multiple characters who speak to you regularly. You won't find anyone walking the city or cars flying up and down the streets. There don't seem to be any grabs in the game, either. I understand this isn't meant to support vert skating or the bombastic kind of stuff that THPS introduced, but it would be cool to do a handful of minor grabs here and there. The physics engine can be punishing, as you're likely to simply fall into things and completely eat ♥♥♥♥. The stick controls make it hard to actually navigate without setting up a trick in the process, locking you into your direction. I hit a lot of curbs and benches and such this way, and it can be frustrating. The L2/R2 navigation feels awkward when you're primed to pop a trick, too.

It's still a great foray into the skate sim space, where there isn't enough to represent it, in my opinion. A great pickup at $18.

It's okay. The novelty of swinging around wears off a little bit, especially when the controls act up and you can't seem to do what you're trying to. Combat is extraordinarily repetitive, despite lots of skill upgrades and techniques. The story drags on and on and there's always strategic gaps between story missions to encourage aimlessly wandering around the city doing challenges. Some of the boss fights are downright too long and really amount to dodge, dodge, throw, attack, repeat. Furthermore, a lot of these boss fights don't really allow you to incorporate all of the new moves you've been learning; they tend to lock you into QTEs and boring attack patterns. I really disliked the stealth missions you're forced to play with Miles and MJ, too, as they felt out of place and only served to kick the story forward where combat didn't make sense. The multitude of alternate costumes and powers is my favorite thing about the game, though. They nailed the cosmetics and cutscene integration. It's neat to see Scarlet Spider in one scene, and Tobey's costume in another. If you absolutely love beat 'em ups, it's a great game - otherwise, it's not really worth the time.