Recent reviews by Starkzard

I am a huge Battlefield fan, been playing since the very first one and I clock over 1000 hours on most of them.

I skipped this entry after the Beta failed to meet my expectations in many ways (lack of classes, poor performance, questionable map design, etc...).

Decided to pick it up on sale last year after seeing how many updates and changes the game received; while it's not the best Battlefield game I have played it is a decent one that has kept me entertained on and off throughout 2024.

Can't recommend it at full price, but on sale? Sure!

Can't buy any Warbonds or Store items thanks to Sony forcing people to link a Playstation Network account, I am in an unsupported region, so I cannot interact with the game in a few ways anymore; nor can I get my friends in unsupported countries like me to play it so they can join me.

A big disappointment and a bad decision by the publisher.

I hope a refund can be issued.

Game desyncs more than Biden reading speeches, unplayable and frustrating. Cool concept though.

Avoid until it is fixed.

This company is not pro-consumer. They keep making bad decisions and not focusing on what matters, which is providing a smooth and stable experience for the players.

The straw that broke the camels back for me was their latest support for the NFT market. We should be contributing and doing all we can to maintain the well being of mother earth, if not for the planet, for Us. As a civilization we're failing. I know some people will go ahead and say that "Not all NFTs are bad for the planet, bladdy blah blah blah" Yeah good luck trusting multi-million corporations to make good decisions for the world.

And no, I do not think you have not done a pretty good job so far.

What a disappointment.

Fantastic game, one of my favorites but please do not bother with the Steam version, the Gamepass version for PC has all the fixes you need.

Square Enix needs to stop flaunting about how many million copies this game sold and how profitable it is and fix this vrsion instead, the levels of greed here are disgusting

I had a really pleasant time with Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. While I enjoyed its predecessor a bit more overall, Mankind Divided takes the gameplay and level design to another level and treats the franchise with respect. This game puts a lot of emphasis in player agency, giving you many ways to tackle a mission. A full run of the game most of the side content took me about 30 hours to finish.

Presentation is very well done barring a few scratches here and there, The environments are highly detailed and exploring Prague was a treat, there are some other locations that I cannot mention due to spoilers but they were quite impressive as well all of this accompanied by great sound design and good music. I just wish the lip syncing and facial animations were better, they do get pretty terrible at times.

Really enjoyed the side missions a lot, more so than the main story itself, some of them had intriguing self-contained stories and others contributed to the larger plot/universe, unveiling some of its mysteries as a reward. Whole its main story arc could have had more of an impact I still found it quite enjoyable and I am encouraged to replay it in the future to see other outcomes and experiment with different augmentations.

I do recommend Mankind Divided for anyone who enjoys this First Person RPG genre.

My favorite Resident Evil game to date.

This title came off as a surprise to me after being away from the franchise for many years, it does really capture the essence of what a horror game should be, it's not without its shortcomings but overall it's very well worth the purchase.

Pros:

- Good graphics and optimization
- Excellent atmosphere
- Great sound design

Cons:

- Most puzzles are dumb
- The ending portion of the game is very linear and it drags on

While the gameplay for PUBG is fun, compelling and filled with a few tense moments and very rewarding win conditions. There are far too many annoyances that hinder the playing experience, these range from extremely poor netcode and high amounts of Asian players in NA/EU/SA servers (Which makes the bad netcode experience worse due to extremely high pingers), to glitches, visual bugs and very poor performance.

A lot, if not most of these major issues should have been addresed during the early access period. I understand and see that the developer added requested features and modified a few already exiting ones (damage model, UI, vehicle engine sounds, etc...) but that was not enough, unnaceptable quality for its release.

So please do yourself a favor and avoid this game for now, keep reading the news and check reviews every few months to see if it improves, but this behavior should not be rewarded with your money. I bought it early into the hype in its early access period, due to everyone talking about it and friends wanting me to play it, and this was not a good idea. I just hope it gets better one day because it is not an awful videogame gameplay wise.

For now, avoid like the plague.

Originally a Nintendo 3DS title, Steamworld Heist manages to succesfully transition to the Steam platform with increased fidelity. The developer decided to take their next title in a different direction, drawing inspiration from games like XCOM and Worms. The end result is a game with a unique combination of mechanics which make for addictive and rewarding gameplay.

Despite being set in a time of struggle, Steamworld Heist manages to maintain a beautiful artstyle, with every asset showing high levels of fidelity. Characters are very well animated throughout the experience, and on top of that, the game features fully voiced cutscenes which help further set the tone of the game. Nothing strikes you as lazy or out of place in this game.

The audio is also impressive and packs a real punch. Great sound effects give the player a sense of satisfaction when downing an enemy, or a sense of urgency once they hear an alarm go off. The game features a great soundtrack as well, from the main menu’s theme, to the dramatic combat music and catchy tavern songs. All music is performed in-studio by the band Steam Powered Giraffe.

Earth has blown up, making water a very scarce resource. The game’s main character, Piper Faraday, and her crew of smugglers will have to discover why the Scrappers, a criminal organization, are causing so much trouble with farmers and other citizens. While handling this situation, you must also keep a healthy stock of water supplies, and focus on avoiding the attention of the anti-smuggler Royal Space Force.

The interface feels very natural. It is easy to understand where your character can move, and which objects can be used for cover. Each character's path has a color which indicates if they can still shoot after moving. Damage is also presented in a form that is easy to comprehend, even without the need for massive numbers which clutter the screen. The game also features a very simple, but effective, inventory system, giving you the option to equip items to your crew members before each mission.

The controls are very well done. It is easy to cycle through your crew members and issue them orders. The game recommends the use of a gamepad, although less optimal mouse and keyboard controls are available in the options menu.

Steamworld Heist is primarily a turn-based strategy game. What sets this game apart from similar games is the 2D nature of it, and the ability to manually aim your weapons. This introduces a level of skill that is very unique for this genre, as you won’t be depending on hit chances and critical strike percentages. If a shot misses, then it’s solely your fault. On top of that, some of the game’s weapons feature a ricochet mechanic, meaning you can get really creative with how to shoot enemies that are taking cover.

The game has five levels of difficulty: Casual, Regular, Experienced, Veteran and Elite. So if you’re the type of player who only wants to see the story, you can do just that. Or if you’re up for a challenge that is more intense, you can go with the higher difficulties. Each mission is randomly generated, giving the game replayability. However, due to its randomized nature, luck can work for or against us. If a player finds themself struggling to complete a particular mission, they can opt to die or abandon and restart, hoping that the next generated map will be “easier”. Despite what could be considered a flaw in any other game, Steamworld Heist deters this in a very smart way by introducing a currency penalty every time we fail.

We collect loot in every mission, and are rewarded with reputation and experience at the end of each mission. Reputation is granted based on how successful a run was, and can be used to unlock new paths. It can also be used to recruit new crew members who want to join our cause. The game punishes sloppy performance, not only by diminishing the reputation gain, but also by preventing dead crew members from earning any experience at all.

The backstory of your crew members can be explored by initiating a conversation with them in between missions. An exclamation mark over their head will indicate when they have something new to say, which is reminiscent of other games in the genre. By not shoving a bunch of backstory into the player's face, the game provides a nice balance between gameplay and narrative, allowing the player to engage in the game’s lore if they so desire.

Steamworld Heist oozes with quality in almost every aspect of the game. It would be nice to have a multiplayer mode and a map editor, but this is no excuse to skip the game. Fun characters, amazing game design, and great music make this title one that every fan of the genre should play. At the same time, thanks to its flexible difficulty options, it serves as an entry point for players who want to get into the genre.

Based on a popular series of user created web comics and within a market that sees a constant flow of games packed with memes and pop culture references Polandball: Can into Space! shows no hesitation in being a smaller independent title that caters to a specific audience.

Visually the game offers a cleaner style compared to the internet created comics, this is a change that makes the game easier to look at while playing, as the mouse-drawn nature of the countryball comics could have resulted in an fuzzy experience when objects are set in motion. Sound effects are basic but very well done and the game is orchestrated with a single looping song, which can get repetitive after a while but it can easily be turned off in the game's settings.

The plot of the game is based on the running gag that "Polandball cannot into space" which originated from the Polandball series of user-generated web comics. Tired of all the bullying by other countryballs, Poland decided that it had enough and proceeds to attempt the difficult task of reaching humanity's final frontier, space.

The basic storyline is accompanied by the game's humor, which makes fun of a variety of stereotypes from countries worldwide. Countryballs display each country's respective cultural attire and technological stereotypes while delivering one-liners in deliberately broken English, this can also be found throughout the upgrades menu, where each item description makes fun of a particular country in the game.

The game's interface is very simple, big buttons flaunt all over over the game's main menu which quickly disappear as soon as we lift off, during gameplay the game presents us with a clean but effective HUD that displays the radar located on the top left side of the screen and the health, fuel, money and kilometrage on the top right.

The controls are easy to comprehend and feel very responsive even with the ship's starting gear, by default you can control your ship with either WASD, the arrow keys or the mouse, the player can also make use of a gamepad, controls can be rebinded in the launcher, but this has no option to revert to default.

The main goal of the game is to reach the Moon, in order to achieve this we need to avoid enemy countryballs that are constantly roaming around, increasing in variety and difficulty the closer we get to our final destination. At the same time the player needs to be on the lookout for fuel and money, Polandball will be forced to eject if our ship runs out of fuel, after that, we will be taken back to our launchpad for another try.

In order to facilitate achieving our goal, money can be spent on buying upgrades for our ship, and, while this offers some degree of flexibility, it quickly becomes apparent that the system is somewhat linear and gives an illusion of progression, perhaps it would have been more interesting to have branching paths in the upgrade system, as this would give more meaningful choices to the game as well as some replayability (which is virtually non-existent), there's no real mechanical reason for replaying this game, it is ultimately in the hands of the player if they wish to delete all their progress and start over from scratch.

Polandball: Can into Space! Is a game that can either get you hooked or completely bored within a few hours of playing, there is a fair amount of randomness involved in each run that can make it frustrating for some, while others will see this as an excuse to keep trying. Regardless, the game rewards determination, reaching new distances can be a very fulfilling experience, this is enough to keep that type of player interested long enough to complete the game.

Polandball: Can into Space! is a fun experience that can be enjoyed by a wide range of people, players who already possess knowledge of the countryball comics and are up to date with the related stereotypes, would find this game a pleasant experience all the way through. With that being said, the game has a few shortcomings in the audio department and the customization aspect, plus the random nature of the game could be perceived as frustrating to many; however, these do not detract a lot from what this game is supposed to be, a fun lighthearted trip that leaves a subtle message of determination to prove to the world that, against all odds, Polandball can reach space.