Recent reviews by Marzz

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was a game I greatly anticipated finally getting my hands on. What Machine Games and Bethesda have crafted here is a puzzle-solving, tomb-exploring, fisticuffs thrill. The respect the developers have for the source material is felt through every painstaking detail recreating not only Harrison Ford from the 1980s but some scenes from the movies beat for beat. The first 10 hours of this game was an insane high that had me at points putting down the controller and taking screenshots, really taking in the experience. My experience with the later half of the game definitely soured towards the end, but I’ll explain later why that is. If you have played a video game, there’s a good chance you’ve played a game that has Troy Baker playing a character in it. Troy Baker faced an almost insurmountable task as an actor in recreating an already legendary and iconic character deeply ingrained in pop culture; this character having been rewatched for decades. With how undeniably iconic the character of Indiana Jones is, I was afraid to invest 20+ hours and feel like this wasn’t the character I recognized or only hearing Troy Bakers voice. Carried through animation, impeccable acting (voice + physical), and stunning visuals, Troy Baker is inarguably Indiana Jones. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle has some of the best Indiana Jones stories to tell. The combat feels exactly what you would think a first-person version of a fight scene from the movies would feel like. Cracking your whip on an enemy to then unearth a devastating knockout right overhand on an enemy never got old. It seems as if everything in the game could be used as a blunt object, so the player is encouraged to get creative. For example, find a bottle to throw to distract an enemy, then grab a shovel, lamp, or even shower brush to hit over the head of said enemy to knock them out. The adventure, humor, and heart/soul from the movies are felt at all times. To give an example of the game retaining the ‘feel’ of the movies, the music will swell and the camera will slowly pull in on that iconic Indiana Jones smirk once finding a clue to drive the story forward. The locations the player will find themselves in are breathtaking. The player will swing, climb, and zip-line using Indy's whip to truly explore every location. My favorite location, which was the first, was the Vatican. The architecture, artwork, tombs, and people that can be found here were the best in the game for sure. While I don’t mean to take away from the other sections, this particular section was an absolute ‘page-turner’ for me. I found myself staying up late to discover what lay ahead. Most importantly too, this section introduces the camera where Indiana can take pictures of things for upgrade points. The amount of fun I had taking pictures of the cats I found within the Vatican City should be illegal. I will never forget how it felt going through my first tomb with a torch in my hand, shooing away critters, and discovering ancient artifacts. With every good Indiana Jones story, there’s a sidekick. This story introduces Gina, an Italian journalist that is chasing the same person that Jones is chasing to make a very long story short. Gina’s AI was plagued with repeat voice lines, which she would blurt out during stealth sections, completely breaking immersion because the enemies would completely ignore her. The game itself isn’t the most polished to begin with, but the stealth alone was inconsistent, so when you would fail a section and have to replay it, you would have to listen to her say “WATCH OUT JONES” for the umpteenth time. This caused me to mute my game and/or audibly shout “STFU GINA” on multiple occasions. Unfortunately, a lot of this led to me resenting her as a character, and the more the story progresses, so does the love interest plot with Jones and her. This is what made the last bit of the game feel like a chore at times to finish. On the other hand, Voss, the villain in this story, is probably my favorite Indiana Jones villain. Every cutscene he stole with the performance driven by the actor Marios Gavrilis. A lot of my motivation to finish toward the final act of the game was to see Voss and face him for the last time. The dynamic he has with another character, Viktor Gantz, was hilarious. Voss and Gantz had this almost sibling dynamic, trying to outshine the other's loyalty to a certain Austrian leader. All in all, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle turned out to be one of the best action-adventure games ever created that included breathtaking set pieces, secrets, satisfying gameplay loops, and great puzzles that even required a pen and paper for some. Bethesda desperately needed this win, and all signs and odds were stacked against them with this one, and they managed to pull it off and add a great piece to the Indiana Jones IP.

Robocop: Rogue City is a game that impressively transports you to the dystopian Detroit city that we all saw from the films. More importantly, Alex Murphy, Robocop, is accurate to the unstoppable sci-fi killing machine from the films. Gameplay consists of slowly walking through shooting arenas of enemies for Robocop to grab, shoot, and turn into gory messes. The clear priority of this game was gameplay, as the shooting mechanics feel crunchy and satisfying. Exactly what you would want when taking control of someone like Robocop. In other words, yes, it makes you feel like Robocop. Environments are detailed, and Unreal Engine 5 looks amazing here, especially with lighting and the reflections in things like puddles of water in the streets. Gameplay, graphics, and presentation are great; you really couldn’t ask for more. When it comes to story and characters, it’s impossible for me to be more bored. For a game that features a robot systematically constructed to lack most humanity as a main character, Robocop is the most human in the cast. The NPCs are a bunch of talking heads that lack any personality, and the worst part is it’s not “so bad it’s kind of entertaining”—no, it’s just so mind-numbingly boring. I can tell that to create the NPCs, the developer used metahumans; I know this because they all look the same in every game. It really sours the experience when every time I find myself not shooting in the game, I am wiping drool off my chin from sleeping through the dialogue. Robocop was never a series to expect a gripping story, but it’s especially bland here. There are points in the game where the narrative brings Robocop to the city, and the area is semi-open world, where you can find side quests to get from NPCs. This was just ridiculous because why would I want to help a civilian find their stolen bicycle and write traffic tickets when my objective that brought me to the city is to find a missing police officer whose son and wife I just met? The side quests boil down to insultingly dumb objectives, and by the end of the game, I purposely avoided them to not sour my experience further. All in all, Robocop: Rogue City is the badass Robocop simulator where you vaporize thugs and enemies I was hoping for paired with a story and cast that required me to staple my eyelids open.

A flawed masterpiece. Although pretty much requiring modding in order to achieve a playable state (the unofficial patch). Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines provides one of the best role-playing experiences a player could ask for. This game basically begs the player to replay as everything concerning the stats you choose to invest in, your race, and clan you side with will greatly affect your experience. For example if you chose to be a Nosferatu NPC’s will treat the player completely different as well as how you traverse the world will be completely different. (NPC’s will comment on the players appearance with disgust and the player will be left to traverse the world out of sight through the sewers feeding on rats to survive) Player choice is heavily emphasized meaning, experiment with your approach, seduce, intimidate, and persuade to get the result you want. Amazing quests, setting, lore, music, atmosphere, and by far the strongest point of the game are the characters. I couldn’t believe how expressive the character models were for a game that runs on the Source engine released in 2004. Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines is a game you could only dream of releasing in this generation of games. What this game provides that others that have since released do not is soul. The world is palatable with the amount of care and detail painstakingly put in every line of code and dialogue. For a game this size, I couldn’t believe how consistently good the voice acting was. I couldn’t even list all of my favorite characters if I tried, as the list would be too long. Games I've played that have been released in recent years have NPCs that feel like floating talking heads with no individuality. The gothic, edgy, vampire underworld of Los Angeles is something I've never experienced, and I'm convinced Troika Games couldn't have made it more interesting. Each character you encounter reinforces the politics, factions, races, and history of this world. The story gripped me in a way that kept me up late seeing what would happen next. The plot twists had my jaw on the floor, the humor had me in stitches, and the drama floored me. Now this is a game that can be unbearably frustrating at times. At some points of my playthrough, I had to enable god mode/noclip to progress. There are bugs and glitches, and the combat is serviceable at its very best. This could be a deal breaker for many, but if you take a step back to experience the kind of game that this is, it’s like no other. This was the high I’ve been chasing that Fallout and The Elder Scrolls gave me. I'm skeptical for the sequel as a different developer has the responsibility of making it, and the constant delays are not a good sign. Regardless, I'm ready to experience more of what this world can offer. For as rushed as the game was, the hardware limitations, and the year it was released it completely makes sense the kind of cult following and support it has garnered. The game also features a hacking mechanic that is crazy addicting and satisfying. Like a fine wine, this game only appreciates in value as more and more commercial games fail to emulate a tenth of the kind of experience this game provides.

P.S. DON’T OPEN IT

I have never laughed harder playing a game than when I played POSTAL 2. This is a game where you smoke a cr*ck pipe to refill your health, urinate on people, finish errands for "the B*tch" aka the main character's wife/girlfriend (not specified), and much, much more that I do not want to spoil. The main character/playable protagonist, the Postal Dude, has such an iconic voice and presence that it will always cement him as an infamous gaming mascot. What an absolute trip this game is. As many people have said before, this game could never ever be made today, and I love the fact it was made when it was. For some reason this game in my head seems to be just an extremely edgy Rated M Napoleon Dynamite. This is a serious compliment from me because I think Napoleon Dynamite is one of the funniest movies ever. This game isn't going to be for everyone because of its extremely over-the-top nature, but that's where all the enjoyment came from for me. POSTAL 2 also provides a life-altering cameo performance starring as himself from the late child acting superstar Gary Coleman. If you like FPS games and are down to have an extremely unserious time filled with gore, shooting, profanity, and cr*ck buy this game now.

Crow Country is one of those games that I heard rumblings about through some people I follow online, and from the type of rumblings I read/heard, I immediately stopped because it seemed like the perfect game for me, and I wanted to experience it completely blind. I love survival horror when it's done right, and Crow Country nails it. This is the kind of game to pick up: get cozy, sit back, and marathon with a couple of playthroughs. Although survival horror seems to be almost a retro genre now because newer titles just don't seem to understand how to execute it properly, Crow Country manages to feel fresh and new while paying respect to the games that made the genre so great. I'm writing this review months after I completed the game because I realized I never made one. The fact I never made a review for Crow Country is unbelievable because I loved this game so much, and it is THAT good. A great experience, especially on the Steam Deck. A mix of creepy and cute made for a thrilling classic survival horror experience. A standing ovation from me to SFB Games.

Wow. Just wow! Hollowbody is a tech-noir PlayStation 2-era survival horror game that feels so right for a massive Silent Hill fan like me. Many things you will find in this game are ripped right from Silent Hill 2 and 3 but in a way that feels respectful for what those games did. With the more and more games I play, I realize that atmosphere is really king when it comes to making the player want to play more, and Hollowbody has some of the best atmosphere you can hope to find in a survival horror game. The pacing in the game was amazing. I kept telling myself, "Ok, I'll take a break after this area." That break never came; I was having too much fun. The game completely captivated me, and by the time the climax of the story came, I was gripped and extremely invested. Just as you'd find in a PS2-era survival horror game, there is some jank, but sometimes you can find that the jank adds to the soul of the game, and honestly, that's the best thing I can say about this game; it just has so much soul. This is a love letter to the survival horror genre and a very, very heartfelt one at that. Art, design, sound, programming, writing, and soundtrack are all credited to Nathan Hamley, and what a job he did. It is very clear that Nathan had a specific vision for this game, and he executed it beautifully. The quality never dipped, and I loved every second of the game. I love the kind of games where I can come home, get comfortable, and roll the credits in just a couple of play sessions. Multiple playthroughs are encouraged here as well, as there are multiple endings and other things to unlock, which is just the icing on the cake. Cannot wait to see what Nathan Hamley does next because this is an amazing game to be extremely proud of. I know this sentiment has been said over and over, but I find it fascinating that we are at the point where a single person can make a game more compelling than a game that has millions, sometimes hundreds of millions of dollars pumped into it.

-Also a great game to play on Steam Deck, maybe even my favorite game I've played on Steam Deck.

Hollowbody=average day in England btw

Trepang2 has the absolutely most satisfying gunplay/shooting in any game I have ever encountered. Every encounter with enemies in this game is like a controlled car crash where there is just absolute chaos from all angles. The enemies scream for their lives, and I mean really scream out of fear. You control a super soldier in this game, and the enemies are terrified of you. Touches of detail like that really immerse the player in what it's like to be a genetic super soldier. This game is gory, fast, and over the top in every way. To put it in other, simpler terms, this game is just metal as hell. Entering the focus mode in combat (slows down time, basically bullet time from the Max Payne series) just simply feels so right and never got old. Sliding your character down a hallway at top speed, dual-wielding two Spas-12 shotguns equipped with incendiary rounds to knock an enemy over, grab him, and attach a grenade to him before throwing him into a crowd of other enemies is something you can expect to experience in this game. Every encounter is an exercise as to how creative you can be in mowing your enemies down. Without getting into spoilers, the most immediate comparison of another game I can make to this is the F.E.A.R. series because there are some supernatural elements that get sprinkled into the campaign. I completed the game on the Very Hard difficulty, and I highly recommend other players to play on harder difficulties to really experience the game for everything it has to offer. If there were to be any criticism I could give the game, it's that the story really didn't have much to offer, but to be completely honest, it did not have to because the game is just that fun. The visuals are stunning, and the performance is amazing. This game manages to really showcase what Unreal Engine 4 is capable of and stretches it to its limit. The fact that this game was made by just a handful of people is nothing short of inspiring, and I seriously can't wait to see what the future holds for Trepang Studios. IF YOU LIKE FPS SHOOTERS, BUY THIS GAME NOW.

DOOM 3 is without a doubt the odd one out when it comes to the DOOM franchise. Where the other entries have focused on ramping up the action and beefing up the guns, this entry is the complete opposite. I can see how many fans of the franchise saw this title to be unrecognizable and felt almost betrayed by the direction the franchise took with this. I am a fan of the other DOOM games, but DOOM 3 may be one of my favorites in the franchise. Even though I find it almost unfair to compare this game to something like DOOM Eternal, this game is so much fun in every way that the other games aren't. The best way to convey why I get so much fun out of DOOM 3 is simply put like this. If I had an older brother, this would've been a game I would've stayed up late watching him play, which would've subsequently given me nightmares knowing my younger self. The game carries a sense of nostalgia with the atmosphere even on a first playthrough. Some have mislabeled this game as a survival horror game, but it's definitely an action horror game. If DOOM 3 were a movie, it would be a top-tier sci-fi thriller. It's a thrilling experience fueled by a satisfying gameplay loop and carried by a stunning atmosphere that makes my brain hurt thinking the game is from 2004. This game genuinely ages in reverse. DOOM 3 feels like interacting with a Nine Inch Nails song. Ironically enough, I just now researched if Nine Inch Nails were somehow tied to the project, and it turns out that the lead singer/multi-instrumentalist of the band, Trent Reznor, was brought on as sound producer but eventually left due to "time, money, and bad management.".



This game is an FPS equivalent of a fine wine, as it just simply gets better with age. This game is definitely on the list of games to show my kids.

Id Software took a perfect game and somehow made it even better with the sequel. There's not much to say that hasn't already been said a million times about DOOM Eternal, but regardless DOOM (2016) and DOOM Eternal are objectively some of the best FPS games ever made. The gameplay and soundtrack were greatly expanded in the DOOM Eternal so much. At the beginning of the game I found myself feeling locked in hell with all these monsters, struggling to keep up with all the mechanics the game was throwing at me. By the end the it was clear that the monsters were locked in hell with me. An absolute " Hell Yea " simulator. Cannot recommend enough and I'm eagerly waiting to see what id Software does with DOOM: The Dark Ages as I've purposely been avoiding trailers to go into that experience completely blind.

So.
Much.
Fun.

I really do not know what took me so long to play DOOM 2016. This is an unbelievably fun fps game that is just simply badass. This is a real 'hell yea simulator'. The soundtrack is so fitting and completely works to egg on the player to take on the challenge of killing monsters from hell. This is the type of game that I have to force myself to take breaks otherwise I ruin my sleep schedule. I have no complaints at all about this game and is worth every penny I bought it for. Completely deserves the reputation it has and I'm looking forward to playing more and diving into DOOM Eternal and DOOM: The Dark Ages. Bravo id Software.