Recent reviews by TheShifterus

Red Dead Redemption 2. Just, wow.


Spoiler free.

A Rockstar game with such a rich story is not something unusual, but not to such a big scale as RDR2 is (tbh not just Rockstar Games but all companies haven't gotten to RDR2's level of, well everything). Red Dead Redemption 2 is a game that's impossible to sum up in a text-based review, as you can't see the emotions connected with me. No other game is THIS polished, THIS perfect, THIS emotional, AND THIS WESTERN in any way as Red Dead Redemption 2 is. It is an absolute masterpiece that every gamer needs to atleast try for themselves even if you don't finish the story. It is the most in-depth story game there is on the market with very few games only coming somewhat close. Rockstar has gone all out on this game and the effort shows.

I. Story: Story of Red Dead 2 is a prequel to the first RDR game - many many times more big. Red Dead Redemption 2 at the start of the story is set in the wild western times of 1899 in North America, but the story does advance the time and it is being shown in the cutscenes and the chapters. In the story, you play as a cowboy outlaw named Arthur Morgan in an outlaw gang named the "Van Der Linde Gang" named by its boss, Dutch Van Der Linde. The story is showing the gang's tough life surviving, with its ups and downs, the harshness of the Western time in America, and just a straight hard life with many twists and turns of situations and characters. In my opinion, this game really isn't for people who just enjoy the gameplay, because it is a huge waste if you don't care about this story. The story feels very real and you feel like you're a part of something alive. No other game will give you this strong feeling of a community, where everyone is a talkable NPC doing everyday tasks in the camp with everyone having their own backstory and side quests/item requests. The story is too important and big to spoil, so it's everyone's own journey of playing the game. As a heads up before playing, you might cry if you're a bit softer. A lot.

Not to hate on the first Red Dead because that game is also amazing, but it wasn't as statement-making as the second game.


II. Gameplay: One word: unbelievable. Before this game, I could never think that some of the things that are present in RDR2 could be done in a game, but here we are. There is so much to do, so many things to play with and have fun. While it could seem like it is the standard shooter action game with revolvers and horses, you could be doing something completely different in the next 5 minutes, like going fishing in a pond with your new veteran friend talking about hunting stories. Hunting, fishing, gathering herbs, looting, crafting, sleeping, horse riding... So, so many things to do, and every last one of them is so detailed and breathtaking that you will never have time to be bored. Also, one thing this game does so much better than others is the "slow, real-life" aspect. Sometimes, I have found it a bit too slow for my taste (but I come from a Call of Duty background so it doesn't matter), but this is NOT a game where you speedrun things, rather you have to take the slow and more methodical approach to some situations and it will feel 10x better because you as the player feel like you're truly in the game, in a living breathing world, where you can get hunted by an enemy outlaw group on horses and actually be scared in real life.

III. Arsenal: The weapon arsenal is so huge that you will never get to have a moment with every weapon, and it's also impressive how Rockstar managed to make so many guns from the Western period. While I don't know if every weapon is modelled by a real weapon, atleast a good chunk of the weapon arsenal is and to be honest, you will never think about if this specific lever action rifle is 1:1 with real life. All of them feel unique in some way, and you can customize the sh#t out of them to make them personalized. There are also special things like the lasso, lantern, throwing knives and absolutely everything you can think about - the game has it. There is never a moment where you can't make your shootout a bit different than the last one. There are also special gun drops from some more important people when you progress through the game and you can see your whole gun collection in the menus.

IV. Graphics: Stunning. Cinematic. Vibrant. Realistic. Seriously, one of the best-looking games on the market. The graphics have their own strong Western style with the colors being mostly muted/pale in city areas, but also very vibrant and lively in the entirety of the open-world map. Sometimes, you really think about how much better the graphics can get, and while if you look really really hard, you can see how some things could be better - but without looking for it specifically, you will not notice a bit where the graphics are underwhelming or not up to some standard from that year. Also, while the game is fairly well optimized, I ABSOLUTELY recommend not playing it on a weaker PC as the immersion can be fairly downgraded and it can be really unpleasant. It is just that game that really needs a good PC so you have THE best possible experience and not 30-40 fps or stutters that break the immersion. As it is a game of details, even a nice stable framerate of 60fps will be amazing and you will see all the details in the animations throughout the whole game.

V. Upgrades: While Red Dead doesn't have a "true skill tree" like in other games, there are items such as trinkets, that you can buy from Fence with some hunted items like deer antlers and such. There are also upgraded bandoliers to store more ammo on Arthur which are just purchased with money. The trinkets do take a LOT of time to get because you have to hunt mostly Legendary animals and special things like that to obtain them, but they grant pretty good buffs to Arthur, and if you have a lot of them you can be much much stronger in some areas of the game, radically changing the way you play the game.

VI. Soundtrack: If you are someone who cares about sounds and soundtrack from a certain piece of content, RDR2's soundtrack will blow your mind, and if you are a softer individual, you will most likely cry. The music is so well crafted, it fits the Western theme perfectly, never too much or too little, and even if you don't like this "older" Western style of music you will appreciate it for what it is. For sure one of the best soundtracks in the whole of gaming. (The only other game that has made me love its soundtrack so much was Minecraft and Far Cry 5 - especially Far Cry 5 as it's well known for its greatness but I think it's still underrated).

In the end, RDR2 is a shooter game at first glance, but a realism simulator at its core. This is really the game that you have to get into to understand it truly, as it isn't really an ordinary game. Just the fact that it's very slow makes it completely different to play and that changes the way you think when you're going to play this game again and again.. I have found myself wanting to play this for the calmness that this game gives you and the gripping story that is long and really good, so it is not a short game by any means. I would say that the longer you play it (meaning the time spent is not just riding your horse meaninglessly but actually doing stuff and progressing) the better the game is.

Red Dead Redemption 2, is a game that you must play. And if you haven't played it yet, you should. You are missing out on an amazing gaming journey. Go get them, cowboy.

10/10, A masterpiece.

Spoiler warning.

Well, sadly Rise of the Tomb Raider does not have as much of a [/b]wow effect[/b] as the first instalment, but you can be sure you're in for a great ride nonetheless.

Rise of the Tomb Raider is an amazing game and a worthy sequel, but - it doesn't mean it doesn't have its flaws. In the quickest way I can say it, it's that this game is bigger than its predecessor which hurt it a little. I don't think this feeling has ever happened to me before. Rise of the Tomb Raider suffers from the fact that the first game was simpler - meaning fewer "things to do", less to go wrong. While the new additions in this game are very good, they seem to lack the polish that the first game had. Let's get in-depth a bit...

If you saw a cliff that you could climb with your ice axe in the first game, you knew what to do - how to approach it, what to click, and it would do exactly what you've wanted the game to do without Lara doing something weird like swinging on the rocks or not jumping where you wanted to. That's the one true problem of Rise of the Tomb Raider. The games' more "complex" and "sequel-having-to-be-bigger" philosophy just tends to fail sometimes and it ruins the good image that the first Tomb Raider made. I'm not trying to just hate on this sequel that it's trash and much worse than the first Tomb Raider game, not at all. It's just that I think it needed that little more love in the making to make it truly seamless and not buggy while performing the same big jumps, climbing, and everything there is to do, which you've been just doing for the second time now.

I. Story: After the events of the first game, Lara Croft is seen in the Croft Manor, where she decides that she wants to continue Lord Croft's work and find something he, in his lifetime, did not - the city of Kitezh. Lara first goes to Syria to find a tomb with some information that could lead to finding the lost city of Kitezh. While exploring the Syrian tomb, Lara is ambushed by Trinity, an evil corporation trying to do the same thing Lara wants. She learns that there's a myth of an ancient divine source that grants immortality, hidden somewhere in Siberia. Trinity is seeking the same thing, although it is not for the good of the world. The story now continues in Siberia, while Syria is unaccesible to go back until you finish the story. This story is quite long and very detailed, so I'll shorten it by saying that Lara gets what she wants AND more. Many twists, shocks, and everything great you can have in a gripping story is present here, and it's amazing and truly worth your time.

II. Gameplay: While I have touched a bit on this subject at the start of this review, it does deserve its own category. Gameplay in Rise of the Tomb Raider is truly AMAZING, but not perfect (again, getting back to 2013's masterpiece gameplay). The parkour and climbing being the unique factor of this game series really shines as it's fun and simple. Collectibles are mostly fun to collect as they give a few experience points for everything so it does add up when you get on a rampage of collecting them. There are new collectibles and also a completely new thing to Rise: Murals. These are kind of like old drawings or text on the walls that give experience to Lara's 3 languages that she can learn here - Mongolian, Russian and Greek. These languages play a role throughout your playthrough where you will sometimes need a certain level in a certain language to unlock or progress something.

III. Graphics: Simply fantastic. A true upgrade and a big wow moment in MANY cases. Environments are bright, detailed, and always filled with stuff to do, interact with, or to find hidden treasures, which are everywhere. Every tomb is different and unique in many ways which is very good. Lara looks a bit different, she's not that scared girl anymore nor does she get very dirty on her face which someone could see as a downside because of what you do in the game. Nonetheless, she looks much higher quality with visible details.

[/b]IV. Skills:[/b] This is one of the categories I would classify as a bit of a downgrade. While the skills are very good and entertaining to grind for, they aren't changing the way you play the game nearly as much. In 2013, probably 95% of the skills offered were something I wanted to get - grind for. Meanwhile, in Rise of the Tomb Raider, the beginning skills give me that same feeling while the late-game ones are just acting like fillers. Hollow point bullets, different arrow variants, and these upgrades are just not that exciting, especially when the hollow point bullets for pistols are just a "little higher power" bullets for your pistol, which most likely you'll never use - only if you run out of ammo and you remember: Oh yeah, I have these bullets also.

V. DLC Content: In short, there is plenty and it is good. Do you want to fight an old witch? Yeah, you can with the Baba Yaga DLC. Do you want to explore the Croft Manor and find secrets about your past? 'cause that couldn't be in the base game nope Well there's a DLC for that also plus a horror-ish game mode for it. Lastly, cosmetic packs give you new guns and outfits that just give that little more spice to your playthrough.

Rise of the Tomb Raider can be summarized in a few words: If you liked the first game, and you can handle some janky movements or falling just a tad more because of the game just not listening to you as much as the first one, get this game immediately. The story itself is worth your time, while the gameplay will give you a great time.

9.5/10

Spoiler warning.

Ehm, wow... This game. Where do I start? To be honest, I don't remember the last time being so thrilled to play a single-player game as much as Tomb Raider 2013. Anyways...

I. Story: Lara Croft's first iteration of a reimagined story takes place in Japan, where you try to discover the mystery of an ancient queen named Himiko - while playing as Lara Croft herself obviously. The thrill of finding Himiko with your ship's crew, when you don't even know if it's real or just a random myth, makes this adventure very appealing. It sure isn't the happiest story, but at the end, you'll feel like you've taken over the world with Lara Croft and how many more mysteries of the world you can find with her.

II. Gameplay: In short, the gameplay is phenomenal. The feeling of a game has never been more pronounced than playing this title. Tombs, side quests, survivor caches, coin caches, GPS caches, and you name it - you can find it all, and there is always something to do or to find. Many gameplay mechanics work like a charm without ANY problems, everything feels very smooth and refined. It might not have as many mechanics as newer Tomb Raider titles, but it doesn't need to and that's for the better. A simpler and better gameplay is something I would rather play than have too many unnecessary mechanics that work as intended half of the time. If you're craving to play a great adventure with good characters, amazing world setpieces and addictive movement, you're in for a treat.

III. Graphics: For being a game from 2013 - 10 years ago have never looked better. Okay, I might be a little buyest, since we got titles like Battlefield 4 and Crysis 3, but this game can be labelled with them and I wouldn't bat an eye. If you want that little more eye candy, crank up MSAA to max, it really helps, but takes a big hit on performance.

IV. Skills: The 3 skill trees we get to play with are all very different, but they do exactly the thing that they are named: Brawler, Hunter and Survivor. Brawler takes care of Lara's fighting abilities, while Hunter focuses more on hunting animals and other types of prey, and Survivor, well - you guessed it, makes Lara become the ultimate sole survivor with skills like gathering more materials and such. These skill trees are very engaging to upgrade. If you think that something in your gameplay is missing - it's just locked behind a skill. It doesn't take a lot of effort to level up, but playing the main story and a few sides doesn't grant you all the skills. For that, you have to grind a little more.

Writing this review wasn't an easy task, as some of the stuff is just hard to put into words. You have to see it for yourself to understand. The game is full of emotions, ups and downs, moments of awe, moments of shock, and everything else you can pretty much think of. If you have ever played the Uncharted series, this is it, just in a different setting and for PC also.

In the end, the one thing I can confidently say is that if you have not played this game until now: play it now. It truly is a game that is worth playing, and you won't feel like it is too old, 'cause it still holds so well. This game can hold the "Overwhelmingly Positive" status on Steam, and that's no easy task.

10/10

Super ;)

Spoiler warning.

In the quickest way I can say it, it's that Sniper Elite 4 doesn't exceed in anything nor fail at anything. If you want a fun sniper game for a few hours with a NOT that interesting story and not hardcore - realistic sniping, you should definitely consider getting this, albeit at a good sale, because I don't think paying the full price tag is a smart choice here.

Now, to get a little in depth, let's talk about some important points briefly, to get an understanding of the place of this game and how you should be treating it:

I. First of all, story. Well.. I can't really say it's good. In fact, it's really not good, but for what it is, it does the job. You as the gamer, are really playing SE4 for the exciting stealth sniping action. Story is set in Italy in the year of 1943 - directly tying to it's prequel (or predecessor) - Sniper Elite 3. In short, the story is about the nazis making a new super weapon that no one really know what is, but one thing the americans know (yes obviously you play as an american ally don't be surprised it's one of those stories), that it needs to be destroyed from german hands before they can use it. Original, I know. You shouldn't take the campaign too seriously, so you don't get disappointed.

II. Gameplay (and level design) is very easy to understand, but hard(er) to master. You have loads of stuff to play with. From different kinds of traps to rocket launchers, flare guns, airstrikes, and a lot of other fun stuff. In this case, you will never really get tired and say that the selection is poor.

III. Gunplay: Sniping, being the main focus of the game, feels great. It's snappy, responsive and all that good stuff. The puncture camera is a good addition as in any Sniper Elite game, but you get tired of it the more you play. While sniping is great, sadly thats not the case with other weapons - ARs, pistols and such weapons don't have "first-person aiming" but rather just the crosshair getting smaller. Which means you can have a perfectly lined shot with an assault rifle only to shoot it and miss so badly that you don't really wanna touch assault rifles again. The guns are very unpredictable where they shoot and it is rather off-putting, but this gun mechanic was seen in the former games also.

IV. Graphics: simply said - spectacular. For being a game from 2017, it really doesn't show it's age. Every level starts with a Wow! moment, where you think you're looking at an image from real life. Graphics in SE4 are very good and I find it being a strong point, especially with great colors and great image of Italy in 1940s.

V. Characters: Now this is something that will be debatable. Characters that we interact with throughout the story are niche, but nice. You never want to hate any of your allies, because they never tell you to go do stupid crap. They are quite likeable, even though we don't get to really know them very deeply. There is one thing that was strange with all characters, being the voice acting. I have noticed this trend in a few other Sniping related games and I never get it. Voice acting is very off - lifeless, hard on the ears, absolutely not realistic, very bass heavy and just not good sounding on the ears. Seems like the resources for SE4's voice acting werent very big. It's a thing that maybe not many people will really care about, but it is something to note.

DLC content: I think that too much content is restricted behind paid DLC. The base game does offer a good selection of weaponry, but if you look at it for a little longer, you'll see that there are more DLC weapons than base game weapons. DLC missions on the other hand are good, and definitely worth buying if you just wanna squeeze that little more fun from this game.

To sumarize, Sniper Elite 4 is a good package of fun. BUT. It has one huge flaw, that I would consider to be really bad if I wouldn't mention it: BAD level design. It is made in such way, that you have to either - have too much time on your hands to wait for the AI to relocate, or make a stupid trap in the lowest of bushes (where enemies don't apparently see you even though you can be -realistically said- seen from a mile away), where 10 soldiers with go and die, while making them come to you with hearing a sound from throwing a stone, in many cases they don't because you've alerted them already and they are literally GLUED to their position. Which leads to... going loud in many more cases than one would like. I found that there are not enough secret passageways or off-routes to plan a good sniper attack. Well of course, you do have many tools at hand with you, but if you JUST wanna try to snipe of a camp of guys stealthly, it almost never works out because THE ONE THING THEIR AI KNOWS TOO WELL IS FINDING DEAD BODIES. It gets frustrating after a while when you're progressing through the campaign missions.

My opinion: Likeable, but not memorable. It doesn't do anything differently than other Sniper Elite games, but for some, it may be a good thing. As I've said before, it's a good bit of fun but NOT for full price. If you enjoy sniping games and the Sniper Elite franchise as a whole, you will like this one also, but it won't be a breathtaking experience. You'll want to finish it, but you'll be relieved that it ended rather than wanting to replay it again.

6.5/10

Forza Horizon on a lower budget? I felt like that all the time while playing. Nonetheless, not as crap as you may have heard on the internet. Sure, the card upgrade system is super stupid, but it is doable.. Just have to be patient. Driving feels amazing, but after taking a look at other NFS titles, this one feels TOO EASY. Not to say thats a bad thing, it just feels a little different that the rest of the titles. Story was surprisingly not the worst, though it went for a little longer than I liked. Cars and tuning them is insane. It doesnt win any medals, but it does the job quite well, and I ACTUALLY felt like I played a triple AAA game for once.

Game of the year.

Amazing F2P first person shooter. Feels like a mix between Valorants graphics, Warface inventory and gun system (also feeling a little like WW3 at times). Needs a little more content though.

Game reviewed after Patch 1.5


Spoiler-free.
This will be my LONGEST review yet.. have to talk about this one properly.

Cyberpunk 2077 – the most anticipated game in the history of gaming... happened to be the most unfinished game in the gaming history, prior to the patch 1.5. In all seriousness, Cyberpunk 2077 is as one man said „breathtaking", when you´re not listening to the mainstream of people that hate on it because it was cool to do.

To filter out all the drama with this game, I have to say that what CD Projekt RED did with the release was NOT a good choice. A game of this size, with this much anticipation, should have been in the development for much, much longer. This is where patch 1.5 comes into play, which actually makes the game feel like a release. I, who has played it in the first week it came out, and now, after patch 1.5 – the game has gone a loooong way. I couldn´t finish the game at release, because it wasn't that enjoyable with the bugs and the horrible performance with a mid-range PC. To people that bought it at release, I ab-so-lu-te-ly advise you to play it NOW. You'll have a great time.

In the quickest way, Cyberpunk 2077 is an open-world first-person shooter with RPG elements. Story of Cyberpunk is set in a „dystopian metropolis" named Night City, located in the New United States of America (NUSA). You play as V (short name for Vincent/Valerie), a 27-year-old hired gun – where V's background depends on the life path you take in the start – Nomad, Street kid, and Corpo.

Nomad – V leaves his/her nomad family, searching for work in Night City.
Street kid – V comes back from out of town Atlanta, to work out some old favours.
Corpo – V is an Arasaka counterintel agent, trying to get to the top.

Picking your lifepath sadly only affects the game tutorial you have and bonus dialogue options while talking. It's pretty underwhelming when it feels like such a big choice in the character creation, although I do recommend picking your lifepath's dialogue options once in a while because it adds to the roleplay and you learn about V's background A LOT more. In my playthrough, I picked Nomad, which felt like the way you're supposed to play the game. or I'm just a sucker for family stuff lol

The Story:
Since this is a spoiler-free review (which is not how I usually write, but here it was a must) I can't say too much – though there are some things I can say: if you are a sensitive person, grab some tissues, 'cause I bet you're gonna cry.
The story is beautifully written, with somewhat- not somewhat predictable twists, some cliché dialogues, and everything in between. It sure is a hell of a ride. One thing I recommend before playing, is to find a tutorial on how to get a romance with certain characters... This mechanic just makes this game THAT much better (You'll thank me later when you meet Panam :p).

Character creation:
The character creation is amazing... and kind of disappointing at the same time. In my opinion, it revolutionized the boundaries of every other character creator ever: by adding so many more things, like cyberware to your face, body tattoos, customizable n*des lmao and so on. Things like cyberware really add to the neo-futuristic atmosphere of the game. Now, the disappointing thing is, that it's preset-based – meaning no sliders. Even the colors are presets, so there aren't even all the basic colors. Also, before patch 1.5, it was impossible to change your appearance. The only thing you could do was to install a mod to add this missing feature... Fortunately, that's not the case anymore, since you can now change your appearance by going to the mirror.

Gameplay:
The Gameplay has an RPG emphasis that works decently enough. Loot is located everywhere. Some things, like healing items, are spawning a lot more than you actually need and use. Unfortunately, the food system is just obsolete – I have never had a moment where I needed to eat food to gain a „special buff", because there are pretty much no special buffs, plus the gameplay doesn´t ever give you a reason to do so.

Shooting feels good, with gunfights that can get very intense without planning it beforehand. Guns drop from every enemy (that had a gun on him duh). Gun variety is by no means, weak. Even with these new updates that are making all guns viable, I used the same 3 to 4 guns throughout the whole game. Attachments are pretty lackluster because there are just two things you can change: the scope and muzzle. Mods are also something you can put on your gun, such as removing horizontal recoil completely, stronger leg damage, higher critical chances etc. Coming from games like Call of Duty and such, the attachment system is dated but it works. Small note: I recommend finding some recoil mods since the recoil can sometimes be overwhelming.

Hacking is something I adored in this game since there was something hackable nearly everywhere. You can hack pretty much anything – vending machines, people, computers, you name it. Quick hacks are great fun, even though some are much stronger than others. You could say, it has a big Watch_Dogs vibe while its hacking is completely and utterly different than in Cyberpunk.

Skills and perks are a huge thing that determines your play style. There are so many skills and perks that it will look overwhelming at the start until you learn the menu and what each thing does. You can make yourself a Chad that has huge amounts of HP, or you can be a ninja that has maxed out melee damage. Even a hacking playstyle can be achieved with a bit of knowledge.

The driving model is very simple yet it works acceptably enough (as of patch 1.5 since it wasn't very good before). However, you can NOT do anything to your car except drive it. CDPR promised that it would be car heaven and you could be able to customise it any way you want... aaand that didn't happen. So if you're a car enthusiast, I'm sorry.

Cyberpunk's biggest design flaws:
Absence of a real cutscene (with a few exceptions)
No third-person mode except for vehicles
Clothing system (which is getting an update later that fixes this flaw)
Poor DLC content at the time of writing this review
Minimap too zoomed-in (fixable with a mod)
Visible scripts and clunky animations this one is a bugger for me ahhhhhhh
No gang activities

My opinion: In the end, Cyberpunk 2077 delivered on so many levels and downgraded badly in some terms. Technical problems and drama aside, the mature, powerful story, the characters, the open world and the sheer distinction from other games – Cyberpunk is a must-play. I highly, highly advise you to play this game in 2022. The story will have a place in my heart for being written so perfectly.

9/10

yes

beer

and penile device