Recent reviews by DaveS

Simply said, its amazing.

Amazing fun with friends

Amazing game, still getting love from the devs, and unlimited replayabllity. The gameplay loop is satisfying and the difficulty can be ramped up for a challenge.
Very enjoyable with friends that are fueling the chaos even more.

TL;DR: Undertale is a great game, but not due to complex game-mechanics but rather because it accepts that it is a video game and uses this medium to deliver a truly unique experience that constantly subverts your expectations to play with you, just as much as you try play with it.


Since this should be a review, here are some bullet-points:

• Pixel Graphic with sometimes less amazing parts, sometimes areas with a lovable attention to detail
  
• A witty sense of comedy alternating with emotional, serious or deep sections
  
• Combat admittedly gets repetitive due to the nature of the Battle RPGs
  
• OST is amazing (Undertale wears the "Great Soundtrack" tag for a reason) and its songs capture and recall the respective feelings

But this kind of review wouldn't do justice to Undertale, for it has one big strength when compared to other games: It isn't just an interactive movie, it recognizes the player as a player and therefore as an unavoidable variable.

When I gave into the Undertale-hype, I started the game with high expectations. It not only surpassed these, but I have spent way too much time watching and reading about Undertale theories, OST, remixes and other content online. The toxic part of the community has gotten a lot of discredit, but the content-creating-part is astonishing.
So I started the game, knowing that it would try to play tricks on me; so naturally, I challenged its bounds. But the creator, Toby Fox, created an experience where you are either outsmarted by the game or, if you think you can outsmart the game, find yourself surprised because your choice was anticipated and you are now being toyed with non-the-less.
A UI is usually just a display for information, but in Undertale, its as much a part of the game as any other object.
A Game usually defines certain rules and mechanics that are tied to the gameplay, but in Undertale, these are frequently changed, broken, inverted or flat-out thrown out of the window, leaving you with a memorable moment every (boss-)time.

Viking: Battle for Asgard ist an Action Adventure with Hack 'n' Slash combat set in an open world in the viking age with fantasy elements. I won't say anything about the story or the characters since I was so bored by this game that I muted it and prefered to watch some videos or podcasts.

I gonna start my review with the most said thing: This is a horrible port. It has everything YOU would not in a decent and optimised PC game: 30 FPS lock that results in stuttering and laggy gameplay, low FOV for a way too close camera, lack of essentail menu options like higher resolutions and clunky controlls both in combat and menu/map since its desinged for gamepad.

Despite all these issues I played through the whole game, but it was very tiresome. The combat is so-so. The Hack and Slash is being freshened up by special moves, items and rune skills which either feel essential in order to kill some enemies (like the shieldbearers) and some do not seem to have any impact on your damage. One versus one battles are very easy (yes, even the final boss 1v1), while as soon as the count of enemies rises, you run into problems: When attacked you get stunned and if five enemies hit you, you either block or die, which results into very defensive combat at that point. The "stealth" part is ok, very limpsy since the FOV of your enemies is not consistent and sometimes you can eliminate a whole squad without being spotted, sometimes they spot you with their back through a wall.

The good thing about the combat is the variety of the enemies, plenty of weak ones to mow down, some require a different approach, some should be focused first; then there are bigger ones which all are a bit challenging when combined with others.

One thing that I hoped to be good are the big battles and oh boy, they look very impressive. Hundreds and thousand of enemies storming towards each other, clashing their weapons and you are fighting amongs your brothers-in-arms to reach the heart of the city. Sadly, your brothers are very stupid, you feel very weak since every enemy respawns and the only helpful thing you can do, is to storm alone through the enemy (since your army is just as stupid as theirs) and focus the onjective (mostly a shaman) and rushing it down. And when you are at the front, you feel alone and overwhelmed, since you are alone and 20 enemies are attacking you, leaving you to block and cry in a corner.

The world is really nothing special, it has its moments but overall look boring, has very ugly textures and mapping and traversing it is even worse. Speaking of world, it has a lot for you to do, sadly it's always the same: either talk to an ally, free an ally or loot a chest after you have killed everyone near the point. The busy work lasted 10 hours for me and after half the game the repetitive work gets very dull.

Speaking of repetitive, most of the interacting and some of the combat is tied to Quick Time Events. From finishing off a weakend giant and getting rid off of an assassin, over ripping open a cage to free your kin and opening a gate, to picking a lock and opening a chest, you have to smash your keys.

The graphic is not the best, but acceptable.

Overall, this game is way less than medicore, on the edge to horrible. Combat is repetitive, dull and boring, the busy work you get is just as repetitive and the PC port is an insult to this platform.
Not worth the full price, not worth a dollar, would never play it again or tell anyone to who wants to have fun.

Deus Ex: The Fall is the prequel to Deus Ex: Human Revolution. I found the original Deus Ex and Invisible War to be out dated in their mechanics, while Human Revolution made everything smoother and more enjoyable. Deus Ex: The Fall tries to be Human Revolution, but fails miserably:

- The AI is just bad. I am talking Stormtrooper level of bad. Their aiming is very poor and standing behind a hip-height cover or being on the opposite side of the room will win you a fire fight. Also, their spotting is completely off. Sneaking isn't fun in this game because you have next to no challenge. The enemies are lined up to be taken out undetected and even otherwise, the enemies seem to just have forgotten that they should be on alert.
- The shooting.. Holy mother of god. I know this is a mobile port but man.. they screwed up big times here. The weapons are lame and after firing your gun the screen shakes like it just started a rave party. After ever shot of the pistole and the shotgun it massivly zooms in and out.. not sure if I should call this recoil or ravecoil since there is no real weapon spread when spraying. Additionally, the guns are unresponsive and ignore certain actions from time to time.
- There is no inventory managment. You can just buy any item you need right on the battlefield and they are teleported into your inventory. Probably a leftover from micro-transactions of the mobile version.
- The options are ridiculous. No real PC options. Even indie game with Unity have better optimisation. The mouse control is awful and seems to have problems all over the place.
- The graphics aren't terrible. They remind of Human Revolution and I like the overall aesthetic better than in Deus Ex 1 or Invisible War. Unfortunatly, the textures and models are muddy, lifeless and low resolution. To sum it up.. old. No improvment to the mobile version. The animations are clunky and take too long for rapid responsives and are sluggish as hell.
- The gameplay is like an old demo of Human Revolution. Cover system, sneaking, hacking.. all good when looking at it but it just feels clunky. The cover system is also plagued with issues like clipping into textures, seeing the skybox, ignoring a wall, refusing to go in or out of cover or even just sticking to the air and act like its a wall. At least it has the basic elements of Human Revolution: Takedown, sneaking, hacking key pads...
- The missions. The game in general is very short but you have at least a few side missions and different approaches (leathal, non-leathal, range..). The levels are in response to that also fairly small. I played it through in two hours and idled the rest for cards.

To sum it up: Blind AI, bad resource managment, few settings, outdated graphics, poor gameplay and short gamelength.
I found it rather to be enjoyable as a joke since I got it for free but paying 10€ for it is more than a rip-off.

Stealth Inc 2: A Game of Clones is a 2D stealth Platformer with heavy focus on puzzle platforming.

The gameplay is very solid. Every chapter you get a new gadget that you have to test in at least 8 test chambers. This switches up the gameplay pretty frequently but not too fast, since in those chambers you can only use that one specific gadget so things dont get too clustered. In the hub world tho, after completing the testing you recieve the tested gadget and can (and often have to) use it in the hub world to get to the next area. Also, the gadgets are all different and have unique uses, delievering a game experience that doesn't get dull and entertained me until the end and even further. The stealth is also well made and easy to use with a bar that shows your visibility. You often need to hide in the shadows to take out or sneak around your enemies and especially in the boss levels (which are awesome), you have to manipulate and use the shadows in order to progress.

The story is nice. A clone that has to save other clones and a bad guy trying to stop him is maybe not the best story, but the narative is done very well. The antagonist's words are being projected onto the walls as you progress through the level which is a nice alternative way of making him "speak" (there is no voice acting). I also like how he speaks to you, as he switches between sarcastic, caring and hate, aswell as making fun of you when dying in hilarious ways.

The aesthetics is nothing special. Cute characters in an acceptable looking world. It won't give you eye cancer but it is certaintly not an eye candy but since it is a 2D scroller you don't expect the best graphics.

The controls are are semi-good. The movement is very responsive and accurate but the throwing of gadgets (what you go a lot) is sometimes frustrating. Even in fullscreen mode, my mouse (I have a triple monitor setup) when onto another screen, resulting in the game being unfocuses and me having to click onto my main screen again. Disabling your other monitors might fix it. But even without this, the aiming is hard since you can't see where your mouse cursor is and the movement of the camera can mess with your throws.

From a technicals side I only had the problem I mentioned in the controls with a multi monitor setup. No framedrops or crashes but I heard some had a .dll problem that has working fixes in the guides and reviews. The optionsmenu is a bit limited but offers everything you need: Resolution, fullscreen, a bit AA, rebindable controls for keyboard and controller, brightness, as well as two volume sliders. Also, I runs at 60 FPS at default. Some say it runs poorly on their system but I can't say that about mine (i3570 + GTX 660).

I also comes with a level editor which contains some very challenging levels and allows for infinite new content.

Overall, Stealth Inc 2: A Game of Clones is a very well made stealth platformer with good, challenging puzzles that doesn't get dull thanks to new game elements that are frequently added. If you either like puzzles, stealth or platformers or need in gerenal a good game, definitely go for it.

If you liked the RPG elements in Gothic, prepare to be disappionted.
If you liked the progression in Gothic, prepare to be disappionted.
If you liked the combat, the world, the quests and every thing else that made Gothic Gothic, prepare to be really disappointed.

When ArcaniA (back then also called Gothic 4/ a Gothic tale) came out, I expected the old gothic feeling with improvements. What we got was an oversimplified RPG with a mediocre story at best that has not even a bit depth like the previous ones. The combat is very easy, making dying the more challenging task even on the ultimate "gothic" difficulty. I made it through the game first just using my two-hand-weapon and left swinging them to death and sometimes rolling to become invincible to projectiles like spells and arrows or to dodge melee attacks that sometimes hit you for no reason. After 1/2 of the game I got tired of this dull combat and just walked through the masses of enemies which works until you hit a forced encounter or a locked door and then you can just kill the 2-3 enemies that are still behind you.
Instead of an interessting world with many great, optional characters and a lot to do, we have linear enviroment (it is literally a chain of somewhat open areas that needs the completing of the main quest part to advance to the next chainlink) with the same character models being reused over and over again. Instead of being able to attack any NPC, you can only duel some for a quest and else they noclip through your attacks; instead of being able to choose a fraction, you are being forced onto one line to obey; instead of being able to get reputation in a city, all quests are either fully optional for gear or are needed for the progression aka the main quest; instead of being able to get into city fights with you leading the rebels against a whole army of orcs, you are a lone wolf and any NPC will refuse to interact while you are in combat.
Only good things are the graphics (for its age) and the small learning curve, if you are into casual RPGs. Not worth the time. Better get an old one and get community patches for them.

When I saw this game being free for a weekend I thought to myself "Probably another mediocre, sci-fi Shooter". After finishing this game in one session, I realized that I couldn't have been more wrong.

CONSORTIUM is best compaired with story-rich First Person games like the original Deus Ex or the Mass Effect series. First, I'll get to the games strongest points. The Story is kinda weird, but in an awesome way. You make up your own background story, your seekings and how your attitude. Since you are in an to you unknown world, this leads to some comical missunderstanding, both showing a great humor and sometimes breaking the 4th wall. There are also no cutscenes in this game, never robbing you of its control and always being able to decide whether you want to be nice to someone, ♥♥♥♥ them off, just walk away from a conversation or simply staying silent. There are a lot of choices and interessting stuff to explore that you will miss in your first playthrough. In addition, most characters are enough fleshed out to be interessting and have an own personality.

If you are searching for a good shooter, CONSORTIUM might not be the right choice as I found the combat system and ammo managment to be kinda confusion. It works for the time being but has much room for improvements. If you want a great story, great characters, many choices and an awesome time, get it.

An amazing masterpiece that only Indiedevelopers can bring forth.