Recent reviews by A®Dog™

EDIT: As of May 6th, Sony has reversed it's decision on making PSN account linking mandatory for Helldivers 2. This was a reversal that couldn't have been done without the conjoined efforts of the Helldivers community. As stated in the initial review, I'm changing my rating to positive.

Helldivers 2 is a true sequel. We're lucky to have cultivated a community that sticks together in tough times.

Corporate told me that if I gave them ownership of my soul to perpetually be implanted into bodies to help with their goals for all eternity, I can get free dental benefits.

Praise METEM!

As a fan of WatchDogs 1&2, Legion was something I looked forward to releasing on Steam. I chose not to buy it on Ubisoft, wishlisted it 3 years later, and bought it when it was on sale for $12. After completing the story and playing the multiplayer for awhile, I can honestly say:

It's really only worth $12.

Instead of giving you an essay on how I think of the game, I'll just give you this list:
Pros:
+ Story is better than WD2
+ Bloodlines DLC prologue story is also worth trying
+ Active multiplayer servers (quit shutting down multiplayer Ubi :( )
+ Game runs good on high settings (without ray tracing, rip AMD)
Cons:
- Multiplayer is (mostly) dead with slow seasonal progression
- Driving is plain with no differences between vehicles aside from SFX (also really floaty)
--- Set in London

Overall: I got $12 worth of game for $12. Wait for a sale before buying. I recommend finding a community where plenty of WDL players are since their official Discord is (mostly) dead.

Went to Mother Base and punched a guy's ribs in with my fists
Staff Morale Increased. Nobody in sickbay.

Went to Afghanistan for a mission
Fight breaks out among staff. 3 people moved to sickbay.

10/10 would dislocate staff vertebrae for morale boost again

DISCLAIMER: Despite my small amount of hours, my SpeedPoints synced with my progress from my previous playthrough. At the time of writing, I had beaten/taken down all 10 Original Most Wanted (more on that later).

The story: There is none. Really. You're dropped into the city as a voice tells you that these 10 nameless Most Wanted rule the place; to be the best, you must race and beat all 10. By "race and beat," however, I mean that after winning a 1v1 race with a Most Wanted you must takedown their car in freeroam. No explanation why, but if you want that endgame car you have to win the race and crash it.

The progression: As you gather collectibles, find cars, complete milestones, etc. you are awarded SpeedPoints. These determine not only your rank, but also your progress to facing each OG Most wanted (the last one is 1 million pts. for reference). This is where the bulk of singleplayer gameplay is. If you're on an EA account with prior progression, however, it will pull your SpeedPoints from the cloud (NOT progression). For me, I had ~27 million; I could face each OG Most Wanted and have a high standing online to start. There is a progression tracker, and some of the content is locked behind a paywall (we'll get there).

The multiplayer: Pretty standard for an NFS title; meet with other players, race one another, etc. etc. There isn't too much to it, but the tracks in this game are pretty decent compared to some newer titles (some are locked behind a paywall I KNOW). Car customization, on the topic of multiplayer, is very limited to parts and next to nothing cosmetically (one DLC has cars with vinyls on it I'll get to the DLC I'm mad too).

Car selection: There's 41 cars that are free (yes, free only). This selection isn't bad for anyone refusing to buy the DLC; if anything, the DLC cars are just for show and do not outperform like you would assume. Each car has a selection of races (I believe 6 free 3 paid) ranging from easy to hard (it's not that hard). The difficult races are the Most Wanted ones; they lock you in at a set Heat level, with persistent cops tailing you and the competitor (and yes, you'll want the tires that reinflate because there are SPIKES). A word of caution: When racing a Most Wanted, the game will rubber band them towards you should a certain distance be achieved between you and him. This may/not affect the race results more or less, but it's important to note.

The controls: A bit floaty, but drifting is easy to manage and the nitrous system is one of the better ones. Limited fast travel to completed events and nothing more.

The nostalgia: This is the 2012 Most Wanted, not the 2005 MASTERPIECE (at this time of writing the older version is not on Steam (yet, hopefully)). My experience on this game was with the PS VITA, where I wasted hours upon days racking up more score than I realized. I also played this before the DLC was introduced.

The DLC: (Yes, this is that part.) The DLC locks you out of an AREA (the Airport), CARS (more/less a big deal), and PARTS (Drift Tires would be NICE if they weren't locked behind a paywall). Then, EA also tosses in a Pro Unlock Pack (unlock the parts' pro variants; essentially better variants with little/no cons) and a CAR unlock pack (nearly every car, at your disposal). The last 2 DLCs are cash grabs and should be ultimately AVOIDED (unless you wanted to save time and be like that). As for the others, well, let's talk.

Price: I got this game at $5 (a steal in my book) but its original price is $20. I urge you (yes, you) to buy this game during a sale. If you have the disposable income that makes you not want to wait, I raise you the Complete DLC Bundle that has all 4 paywalls for $30; buy the base game on sale, and put the savings towards the bundle. This game is 8 years old (at time of writing) and is not worth the $50.

Overall rating: 8/10
For a 2012 game, NFS: MW holds up pretty decently with the slight annoyances of controls and AI. I would've given this a 9 or even a flat out 10 if EA wasn't looking to squeeze out a few extra bucks from "timesavers" and building paywalls within gameplay. If you're an NFS fan, I encourage you to grab this game (despite not being the 2005 version).

Before reading my review, please take these next couple of lines as a disclaimer:
I am a long-time fan of the NFS series, so some of my review may have a bit of bias. I have already beat the main story, and currently am working on finishing the game either all the way or to when I find it less entertaining than it's worth. I play this game on Hard mode as well; the AI I've faced are the hardest Ghost Games are putting out.

If you want to skip to my personal score, it's at the bottom.

The story? It's the usual thing; a bunch of racers are in Palm City and cops are upset. Despite the vague appearances of "gangs" - aka race groups - the only main concern was getting into "The League" (Creativity 100 right here) whilst dealing with the cop problem. This problem is somewhat solved at the end, but the replacement for the troublemaking cop is no different towards racers. This is how Ghost Games reasons the cops still being brutal; more on that later. Overall, the story seems pretty NFS-esque, but as a long-term fan of the series this kind of story sequence is pretty dry. Personally, winning the main daytime event and beating the head League member would've been a more satisfying ending.

The cars. I still don't understand the 4-square graph for car performance (off-road, drift, on-road, track). Also, the power level is more often than not lowered when you go towards drift and off-road. This bias for track/on-road cars makes it difficult to tune an off-road/drift car, seeing that high score cars are biased towards being on tarmac. Onward, the beginner cars: understandably underpowered. Many complaints are from these cars being "slow" which, obviously, they are supposed to. A race without some struggle isn't really all that exciting.

The cop chases. These are questionably easy on Hard Mode up to Heat 3, which is when cops show their true Hard Mode colors and start busting out better cars/hinderances (aka rhinos and spikes). One complaint I heard was the constant need to use Pier Jumps (ramps over water) to evade pursuits and, in personal opinion, kitting your car with a radar jammer/reinforced plates as your Passive component bring respective options to outrun (with a high-power car; I see this benefit at 350+) or breakdown (make sure to route gas stations for repairs) other cops. Overall, pursuits with a car at about 360+ score will turn out to be less threatening, which makes Heat 5 less intimidating. (Side note: There is something called a Kill Switch Attack but as of writing I have never dealt with, which more or less affects the overall rating).

The day/night shift. At first, this was a whole new mechanic that I was very interested in. In short:
Daytime - No cop chases, races are organized and free of civilian cars. Prime time for earning bank. Repairs are unlimited and the shift into nighttime is available whenever.
Nighttime - Cops hunt down racers, races are in open streets with civilian cars all over the place. Reputation is earned here. Limited car repairs, but high-heat races nab you the best parts. Cannot switch to daytime as freely.
Most of your time will be spent at Night - you need a high Rep level in order to buy better parts and better cars. Daytime is solely for cash grinding, which will be your new home in the endgame when your worries become financial. For me, this mechanic has a Honeymoon Effect - once you beat the game, the day/night scheme is far less exciting.

The multiplayer. Races with other players is, well, scarce. Multiplayer exists and does have a playerbase inhabiting it. My main problem is that races with others are hard to organize and rarely ever match up. Seeing others' cars, as well as the cop sirens behind them, is the highlight. Playing solo is preferred, as disconnects during the Night will erase your Rep gain progress.

The Black Market. With only two events (one of them DLC) to supplement this feature, I am disappointed with how little this delivers. It's essentially a series of challenges that must be completed with the featured car in order to get exclusive customization options for you and your character. But with only 2 Black Market events in total, this seems like a feature that was abandoned after series 2.

The cash gain. Very tedious, although understandable to encourage players to master race courses through constant playthroughs. Some cars are over-the-top expensive, but justified (especially for the only car with 400+ score stock). In the endgame, your main goals include racking up cash to purchase cars like these for collective purposes.

The sidequests/collectibles. Honestly, some feel really tedious to accomplish and are really out-of-the-way for the common player to worry about. The 100% completion for all of this, however, is a special edition car followed by a series of customization options from milestones. For the completionist, these are all the reason to go through getting these; the challenge enthralls you. For the rest, it's a per-person "do you want this special car?" question.

The DLC. There's only 2 (at time of writing) but these are both aggravating. One unlocks the other half of the Black Market, which is unjustified based on the abandonment of the concept, and the other reveals everything on the map. Let me remind you, this second DLC is $5 worth of free information a Google search can do for you. Definitely not worth buying, and the other is solely ONLY for players that want 100% completion.

The soundtrack. It's... well, it holds to the game's style appeal. Some spanish music, some new-gen rap (Post Malone, anyone?). The soundtrack has been criticized HEAVILY and I can all but argue; despite matching the style of Palm City, this music will quickly get to you. The common fix is to turn in-game music down to 0 (or just disable it) and reach for your favorite Spotify playlist (or podcast, for the educated street racer).

BONUS: The nostalgia. This game has some "easter eggs" to bring back the old NFS games from the back of your mind. The endgame BMW is the same one as in NFS: Most Wanted (2005). The car from finishing all of the drift stories is the same Nissan from Underground 2. There are decals that represent factions from Carbon. These, and more, bring back many of these memories. These mementos, along with the gameplay, made it worth buying at it's 60% discount (at time of writing).

OVERALL:
I really appreciate what Ghost Games has done with this game, along with bringing back some old memories to help returning NFS fans feel welcome. I do have a few complaints, but as of right now I will continue playing this game and trying multiplayer. For the purchaser-to-be, the Deluxe Edition's pricetag of $70 is a sky-high price for this game (even for me; at time of writing, this is the only option for purchase). In personal opinion, a 50%+ discount is prime time to buy.

After trying to get back into the game after a long hiatus, my experience has led me to update my review from positive to negative.

I'm not a good player. I don't have time anymore to devote everything to this game. Nor do I have the time to re-learn the meta or refine my skills. I'm not terrible either, if that even means anything anymore. The slightest mistake was met with negativity, which of course came the recommendation to quit the game. Normally I just move along and roll with the punches.

Now, I'm uninstalling and not looking back.

Ubisoft had years to refine this game and facilitate a positive environment, where most (if not all) could help one another play the game and emphasize the "team" in team-based. Coming back, I see that the game has worsened and that even a short quick play game meant for casual "for fun" play was plagued by try-hards and no-lifes who critique every move and mistake. For me, my big mistake was coming back and hoping to enjoy Siege like back during Para Bellum (Year 3, Season 2) or Red Crow (Year 1, Season 3).

I hope this review sheds some light on how the community has developed moving into Year Seven (if Ubisoft continues making more content for the seventh year in a row). Hopefully R6: Extraction will have a better community that encourages new/returning players to become better players.

TL;DR: Came back with rusty skills, left from rude/unhelpful teammates and a large learning curve.

Bloodharvest, as a game in general, was one of the best survivalist ones out there (in my opinion). I write this review now as the announcement was made clear about servers shutting down and the game dying by the end of 2019.

In a 1v5 survive or die scenario, this game makes the hunter feel empowered through lethal force while the scavengers collect blood in the shadows to complete their own goal. The game focuses heavily on cooperation (although mics were never utilized in my playthroughs) while the hunter has their wits and gadgets to oppress and win over the match. Some hunters (the veteran, clearly) had abilities far above par and unfair, true. So did the scavengers, with revives from a distance and smokes with invisibility shots. In the end, however, it was always a satisfying experience to evade the hunter as a scavenger, or to finally deal with the troubling scavenger as a hunter. Every experience harvested from the bloodharvest (no pun intended) was out of competed skill checks against either side and a win over the other from as little as a minor slip-up (or the grain of a hitbox left exposed).

This game may not have been perfect in any way - some perks/hunters were too good, graphics always could use a touch-up, map deadzones, etc. - but this game did not deserve this fate so soon. The game, in my opinion, should've stayed under early access just to keep in check with others' feedback and worked for longer to achieve a better overall experience. It's always sad to see a game shutdown their servers, and this one is no different. If the devs are reading this, I urge them to make another game as a memory to this one, except with extra care and time put into it to bring back what the Deathgarden was all about.

I wanted to write this review because for a free to play game.....IT'S FUN.

Gameplay: Overall, the game seems pretty well balanced with a few exceptions. For one, when you're bleeding out to where only an antidote will cure you....why not use it on yourself? I would hold onto one and when I'm downed I can't use it. But why? And not only that, but the detector tool to distinguish the innocents from the infected seems a little off-setting. Hear me out: when the whole group finds one of these, how do you hide the infection? You can't, and a shotgun blast is inevitable. But the game overall has really great stealth-like gameplay, as well as deception in the mix (that's why it's called "Deceit"(?)). Not only that, but the infected after they transform take a good sum of hits before becoming "downed". What that translated to in my opinion is "Get in a hard-to-access place and rain bullet hell on them". PLus, the doors. The DOORS. You can close 'em, sure. But it isn't worth it. You know why? No barricades, that's why. You can shut the door on an infected abomination. But then they'll let themselves in, all because you can't barricade it. Also, USE A MIC. Silent people are first to suspect, so either have a mic or type REALLY FAST.

Graphics: A good start after the game loads (up to a minute for loading in all 6 players), but could use some touch-up. Nothing too serious. Pretty well done.

Loot Box system: ...not that bad. For those that haven't tried it, you submit a token to the vendor, and he lays out 6 cups (follow along with me here). After mentally picking one (or not cause why not?), he SHUFFLES THE CUPS AROUND. If you tracked yours, then you pick it. If not, then, 1/6 chance it's good. This is actually pretty refreshing to see, since other games (*coughcough* Star Wars BFII EA *coughcough*) are just "open and see". Although I disagree with the loot box system as a whole (yes you can buy tokens, be quiet) this is not too bad. I've obtained 2 rares and 1 duplicate so far, so I'm not complaining too much.

Controls: Very easy to pick up and play. Honestly. I skipped the tutorial and won a game as an infected. Give yourself a minute to grasp the concept and you're all set. They do have a tutorial video (but you have to open it in a browser) for those that do want to see it. Nothing complicated in here.

Items: Kinda iffy. For one, the detector (already mentioned) is a quick game finisher. Identify the infected and bam; you win. Another noteable item; antidotes. Be careful on who has it, because they can res you but not themselves (it's so hard to stab yourself with a needle, isn't it?). Lethal injectors are also a thing, and are pretty heart stopping (That's a joke. You laugh here.). Shotguns are also good, but only available to those that can convince someone to give them the only other weapon in the game (A knife will not help you in melee combat. Infected attacks are one-shot, not the knife.).

Minigames: To get equipment, you do little minigames. If the trailer didn't get you, this game is in a psuedo-SAW scenario with an ominous game master in a bunny mask (not a cute bunny mask.). The "minigames" are either to stand in a circle for 3-ish seconds or to hit three targets in a column (gun or knife, knife works best and doesn't consume bullets.). There's also a co-op game, where one man stands on a pressure plate to lift a box. Another guy grabs the item. It's all about trust, because if an infected grabs the detector or a shotgun, it's over.

Loot: All cosmetic. There is no "unlockable weaponry", just skins, outfits, and poses for wins/losses. It doesn't seem too rewarding, but then again it's better than an infected starting off the bat with an M16 or a sawed-off shotgun. Duplicates turn into tokens, which are in turn used to buy loot. There's common (white), rare (blue), epic (purple), and legendary (yellow).

Overall, this game is well-done for a free game on Steam (although some reviews lead me to believe it was paid once?). I won't complain for many of its faults, although some are needing attention (*knockknock* It's an infected wanting to eat your face off. I'll let myself in, thanks.). They do have a discord, which I haven't joined yet and this game is fun either flying solo or with a group. This game is a "scary game", but after a couple games it dies down to a more enjoyable experience and less of an "OHMYGOD" scary (Play this with the lights off, if you like the fear factor).

This game is actually pretty good. It makes me regret buying DayZ (trust me, that regret was long overdue). But in al seriousness, this game can be really fun. Especially with friends. Sure you could play solo and run through the story. But surviving with other players is a great experience, and it's even better when they all for a colony other than just the harsh survivability againt cannibals paired with the PvP againt players that play more than you do. My only complaint is the amount of people who manage to mod the game even with BattleEye; it kinda suprises me in a way. But overall, if you want to buy this game, go ahead and buy it (I urge you to buy it in a sale, if it's on sale).