Recent reviews by Arcos Of Black

Okay, I know that line is from Dark Souls 3, but I always loved it and feel it sums up the game quite nicely. Now then, into the actual review. Dark Souls is a medieval role playing game, featuring a variety of monsters and equipment with which to dispatch said monsters, as well as an elusive story with deep lore. However most notoriously, it boasts great difficulty. To the uninitiated, and even still on occasion to the already initiated, the game delivers on that promise. By all means it's a wonderful game. I can't go as in depth as I'd like, it would take forever, and I'm no master of the game anyways. However, I will try to say as much as I can. So let's get started, shall we?

At it's core, I would say it's a Hack & Slash RPG, featuring Stamina Management. It feels like an understatement, but I struggle to find an alternative way to describe it. The game will have you traveling through the kingdom of Lordran, on a quest to slay all that stands in your way to rekindle The First Flame ( Or let it die out, the choice is yours.) Alternatively, you could ignore all the lore and story, and just make it your mission to kill everything, regardless of whether or not there was a good reason. (Sorry Dark Sun Gwyndolin and Crossbreed Priscilla, I knew you were bosses, you had to die.)
As you travel through the land, you'll come across friend and foe alike. Unfortunately for you, foe is much more common. Killing these enemies will grant you souls, the games currency. You can use these souls to level up your skills, purchase various items, or to reinforce your equipment, though you'll also require various additional materials to carry out the reinforcements.
You have a variety of ways to dispatch enemies, and are usually given the luxury to formulate your own plan of attack depending on how you choose to play, and this, personally is where I feel the game shines brightest. You can focus your points into strength, fight like a beast unleashed and lay the smack down on enemies with heavy hammers and great-swords, or place your points into dexterity to fight swiftly and elegantly with daggers and rapiers. Perhaps you'd like to shine above the rest, investing points into intelligence or faith, and unleash the true power of magic and miracles. However you choose to play, the game has equipment to accommodate you. Just remember, no matter how powerful you seem to become, you're not a god. You can't take everything head on, sometimes you'll need to roll if you wish to survive, and some enemies and bosses are weaker to some styles of play more than others.

As for the story, I honestly can't speak for it. It's rather elusive, and the most comprehensive bit of what's going on, I've already mentioned above. I couldn't do it any justice by attempting to retell it, so I don't think I should even begin to try. I will however say that if you're interested in learning, all you need do is pay attention to the items you find throughout your journey. Much of the worlds lore can be found right under your nose, in item descriptions; and if you're willing to delve deep enough and connect the dots, it makes the already captivating world all the more fascinating. As you go from the decrepit rooftops of Undeadburg, to the darkened skies and lush green of the Darkroot gardens, all the way to the golden city of Anor Londo and the burning ruins of Lost Izalith, the world never feels stale, and the bosses you face, while varying in size and difficulty, all dominate and demand your respect as you focus on their attacks, and attempt to learn how to best exploit their openings and weaknesses. Patience and a keen eye are a virtue, as well as your key to success. (Except for Pinwheel, I'm sure you'll be fine even if you just punched him dead.) That's not to mention the fantastic music that accompanies each battle, you will never tire of hearing it, no matter how many times the boss wipes the floor with you, which may likely happen quite a bit.

Within which you can join one of the games many covenants, invade the world of another player, and kill them for rewards. In some cases, such as the Forest Hunters Covenant, upon joining you will receive a ring that will automatically summon you into the world of a player who has entered a certain area of Darkroot Garden, given only one task: Kill the player and protect the grave of Sir Artorias. (Read as: Try to keep that player from progressing in the game). What kind of rewards do you earn for these actions? I . . . have no idea. I never participated in the covenants, beyond one or two Forest Hunter summons. But I assure you, there are rewards!

Dark Souls is quite a special game. I wouldn't go as far as to call it a masterpiece, though it's certainly an exceptionally good game. By all means, I'd consider it an instant classic. If you've got the time, and a bit of patience, I suggest you give it a go. A stubborn attitude helps too.
I'm sure there's plenty of things I've left out, but as I said before there is simply no way I could cover everything there is to cover. I do however hope that what I did manage to put into words was able to help those of you who've yet to give the game a try.
So in closing: Praise The sun, and Prepare To Die!

I LOVE this game, I'm debating whether to call it better than the Cybertron games, but that's a discussion for another time. With the cast of the original television series, taking their roles back and doing a damn good job at being the Transformers we all love, this is one that you really ought not miss. And I'll say this now, It's NOT 4 hours long, unless you speed through it and miss the content.

"But why is it amazing?" I hear you asking? Well I'll tell you, starting with combat!!
First of all, the combat not only looks gorgeous, but it's fluid. You can easily bash or slash your way from enemy to enemy, with just the press of a button. You can chain together light and heavy attacks, dodge, and even transform from robot mode to vehicle mode quickly...Albeit, you gotta hold down the transform button.You have blaster too, but there's a small catch. Blasters are a bit harder to use during combat, as it slows you down a tad to switch into aiming mode, which leaves you open for enemy attacks. Now the bright side is, it's easier (And more stylish) to use them after a successful dodge. Upon a successful dodge, time will stop for a few seconds, allowing you the much needed time to put your blasters to use, safely, before time resumes. At the end of combos, you'll get a visual cue that will tell you it's time for a vehicle attack. On top of all that, each character has their own two unique abilities. An ultimate attack, and (Since I forgot the name) We'll call it a power attack. Bumblebee can slide behind enemies for a back attack, or throw a flurry of bombs for a devastating finisher, Optimus will slam enemies with his Semi trailer, or do an act that I can only describe as going super saiyan, as he emits a powerful explosion, And Grimlock Charges at enemies to grab them and slam them, or Releases a destructive fireball of death. With this fantastic arsenal of moves, it'll be easy to show those Decepti-Creeps who's boss. And speaking of arsenals..

This is where I'll tell you what gives the game replay value!!! (To a certain extent...)

Along with the amazing combat system, there's a whole treasure trove of weapons to collect, all based on weapons from the Transformers toys, and universe.There are Hammers, swords, knuckles, dual pistols, Sniper rifles, etc. This allows you to customize your loadout in a variety of ways. Go full heavy hitter with hammers, rocket launchers and shotguns, or be a flurry of strikes with dual swords, bladed knuckles and SMG's. But wait, there's more!! You can find weapons in various shapes, AND elements!! There are three elements. Electric, Fire, and Ice. Sadly though, aside from certain exceptions, elements don't apply any visible effects to enemies. In other words, you're not going to see an enemy catch fire just because you whacked them with that giant blazing hammer.

There are 5 playable Autobots, Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Sideswipe, Grimlock, and Wheeljack, all with their own unique abilities (I mentioned a few earlier). Aside from their unique abilities, they all handle the same, with Grimlock being the only exception. With every other character, your disguise mode has very limited combat capabilities, making it better suited for mobility. However because Grimlocks disguise is a dinosaur, he's capable of performing effective combat in both modes.

Throughout the game, you'll unlock challenge missions, and find collectibles of various kinds, that unlock text logs, and even some fantastic Transformers artwork.


The story, in a nutshell, Is that Megatron is trying to turn Earth into a new Cybertron, by using the Insecticons and a crashed Cybertronian ship, called The Proudstar, and you as the autobots, must stop him. On the way, you'll encounter many famous Decepticons, such as Starscream, the Constructicons (It IS called Devastation after all), even Blitzwing and Soundwave, all of it leading up to one of the GREATEST battles between Optimus Prime and Megatron EVER (In my humble opinion)!! Every boss has his own unique theme, some of them epic, some are rockin', and others ...Well, super frantic (I'm lookin' at you Soundwave theme!). Almost every track perfectly fits the battle it's featured in, I can't think of a single one that felt out of place.


This is where I tell you, "GO BUY IT, NOW!!!"

Okay, seriously now. I highly recommend this game, at ANY price tag, it's just that good if you're a fan. If you're NOT a Transformers fan, or just don't want to spend 50 dollars, then I'll say wait for a sale of 20 dollars, then you won't regret the purchase. If you happen to see it for 15 dollars or less ...GRAB IT!!!! It's a steal at that price!!

Leave a comment down below if this review helped you, or if you have any suggestions to help me improve it.