Recent reviews by Ziggie

2/5

DS2 was an interesting playthrough. I enjoyed it, then I accidentally played through most of the game with the "Company of Companions" covenant active, which increases damage taken by 50% and reduces player damage output by 20%. I went through the game's toughest areas with those modifiers and I got really frustrated until I found out about it after some research.

Barring my own decision making, the rest of the game was very lackluster. The levels were weak and enemy placement was absurd. My biggest issue with the game was how lame the bosses were. There were two main archetypes: The gank fight and the slow guy with a big stick. The gank fights were just uncoordinated brawls where your character is the center of the mayhem. Each enemy stacked attacks to a point where you had to throw away all discipline and constantly gamble to get hits in. On the other hand, the slow, lone bosses were laughably easy and provided zero to no accomplishment upon seeing "Victory Achieved."

I have not done the DLCs and someday I might, but for now, I'm glad I experienced the game.. at least.

5/5

Action movie to the max, oozing with references from movies and TV shows. With two playthroughs and two different partners going through it, the story was still consistent and held up over 5 years later.

The plot twist is amazing and its even better without spoilers. My friend was screaming at me throughout the entire climax.

Have a great time with the boys. This time with Vikings.

Solo is a challenge and the swamp might prove the true existence of hell.

2/5
I did not like this game, I powered through the story and won't be continuing with the side missions. This game showed its age more than Arkham Asylum, especially with the amount of gadgets the game introduces to you. Modern games have gadget wheels for a reason and I just felt like a bumbling year one batman trying to use all the gadgets in creative ways. The gameplay had so many options that it got in its own way.

I didn't like switching characters to catwoman. While it could be good in a movie, I didn't want to play as her, and her missions added nothing to the story other than her deus ex machina save of batman in the end. (Also I did not enjoy her movement through the open world, the parkour system was a massive miss for me)

Story was alright, Gotham felt like Gotham, and the music was good. Kevin Conroy (RIP) & Mark Hamill knocked it out of the park like always.

1/5
I felt that the dialogue was a drag, combat is generic, but most importantly there is way too much information about quests that fail to make navigation and investigation actually engaging. For example, during investigations you have a ring and compass that light up, and sometimes the character even expresses their thoughts like, "Oh there must be something here." I really dislike that type of game design and I couldn't find a way to turn off SOME of the hints. I got a refund.

But if you enjoy heavy, heavy dialogue and like being hand-held the whole time, I guess the game is for you?

4/5
Death's Door is a fun and unique experience that has souls-like elements but peels back some of the punishing nature of other games within the genre. I had some minor issues with specific attacks and dodge timings but those weren't enough to muddy my experience.

It loses a star for me mostly because I just enjoyed game over LOVING the game.

3/5

The level design, storytelling, music, and vista's were amazing, however much of the issues came from the bosses and overall clunkyness of the gameplay.

The bosses were easy and just stood there as you whacked them, but when an attack came out, the dodge opportunity felt unintuitive. Many of the gimmick fights felt like a waste of time (Looking at you, Bed of Chaos) and others were forgettable (Moonlight Butterfly).

My final thoughts are more retrospective, I'm glad to see the roots of the series and enjoy the gameplay elements that evolved after this installment.

5/5
I had a blast playing through this game. The whole experience was an amusement park ride: exhilarating all the way through. I always had an issue with how the Peter Quill was portrayed in the MCU and this version can actually carry a conversation that has meaningful depth. He develops himself as a leader and another character at the same time without poking fun about how Peter is fat, useless, or incompetent (while those jokes still exist, Peter still shown to be appreciated over tolerated.

The gameplay is fast and learning the combos with the other Guardians is fun and the story introduces new enemy types so you don't get bored after mastering one enemy type. I didn't mess with the difficulty at all, I dislike health sponges and tedious combat. The "normal" mode was felt right.

Dialogue choices matter to an extent but only in certain parts of the game do the consequences show up.

I had a few bugs that just got fixed by reloading checkpoints and I did get stuck in level geometry. (sometimes the game freed me, other times it did not)

Overall would recommend, especially if you like the characters but weren't satisfied with the movies.

Beyond awesome experience. 5/5

While I can't say I loved every second (Decaying Ekzykes) or didn't get frustrated (Malenia), I can say that it was definitely an experience to be had by anyone who likes the genre or anyone new that enjoys the themes.

Instantly bought the DLC after I beat the game.

Post 100% thoughts:

I enjoyed the game thoroughly. The DLC was gorgeous and the bosses were fun, but some just felt unpolished (Gaius and Consort Radahn). Since, Consort was fixed and for the benefit of the community. SotE was a worthwhile experience that feels like a complete game within Elden Ring.

2/5

I played this game because the trilogy bundle was on sale and I've been in interested in the series for a while now. However, after playing through the game, the worldbuilding was the only redeeming factor for me. The populated environments were the best parts and you don't spend much time in them.

You're encouraged to stealth through sections but the stealth was just full of jank. Then, there are sections where open combat is the only course of action and it would remove my immersion of trying to scrap my way through the metros silently. The game is littered with "wave defense" missions that got really annoying after a few of them (the first encounter of the game is one).

Artyom also get Deus Ex Machina saved numerous times were NPCs will just show up and save his life. Also, Artyom is not voiced but the dialogue is written with a voiced protagonist in mind. People will ask him questions and then respond instantly as if he answered.

I'll revisit the series after some pallet cleansers.