Recent reviews by Insatiable Wrath

Day of Defeat: Source was, just like Counter-Strike: Source, an update to Valve's new Source engine. I'm not aware at all of how the original Day of Defeat fared, as I never played it, therefore I can't make a proper comparison between the two.

What I can talk about though, is obviously Day of Defeat: Source, having played it quite a bit and having fun with it. The game is set in WW2, and while a lot of games are set in WW2, nowadays with the massive trend of current and near future FPSes lately, it is remarkably a refreshing change.

Source obviously made the maps and models look much better than the original game. They still hold up quite well nowadays, much like Source itself in any case, so for most people there won't be much of a problem when it comes to graphical fidelity.

While I don't know how the gameplay in the original DoD was like, if it was anything like CS 1.6 to CS: Source, it may have ruffled a few feathers on the original DoD community upon DoD: Source's release. Or maybe it didn't, because of the gameplay.

The gameplay is most definitely this game's strong point by a long shot. There are several classes to pick from, varied enough to justify their presence in the game, and fully suit the setting, just like the various weapons you have. The shooting feels good, just like most of the FPSes in Source.

Unfortunately, it suffers from not having a whole lot of variety to it, both in game modes and in maps. And by now, there are naturally also other FPSes set in WW2 that feel and play a lot better than DoD: Source. There's still a community present, so you should have no difficulties jumping into a multiplayer game however.

I would get this game. It's cheap and can be an enjoyable and refreshing game experience once in a while. Plus it's a Valve game, and those come with a lot of obvious perks. (Garry's Mod models being an example) Just don't expect too much out of it.

Following up on the massive success that the original Counter-Strike has had, a new game was afterwards rereleased in Valve's shiny new engine, Source. Is it a good game?

Well, that's a question that may earn you a controversial answer. You'll get a lot of differing opinions depending on who you ask. But you need only take a look at how many people play all 3 main games (1.6, CSS, CSGO) to see how popular and huge this franchise is. It's good. But whenever you do ask this question you're bound to find people who are 1.6 outspoken diehards and claim Source to be a catastrophe and the "worst game ever made" because it's not made exactly like 1.6 was. You've probably witnessed arguments, either in chatrooms or in forums about which is better, Source or 1.6. The answer? None. They both have their fanbases and they're going to stay that way for a long time, even with CS:GO out there. With that said, there are reasons why 1.6 is as popular as it is despite its age, and why very few hardcore 1.6 have moved to Source.

For one, it has tight near perfect controls, fully justifying its status as an e-sports to this day, and yes, it is more polished in this aspect than Source is. Two, the gameplay changes that were made from 1.6 to CSS have turned off most of the serious players that have some modicum of skill in 1.6 and aren't willing to just throw it away, especially when it's a game they enjoy and has a huge playerbase. This is different from say, the Starcraft: Brood War to Starcraft 2 move. Brood War was an old game, looked like an old game, but had its mechanics down to a science, which made it possible for it to remain an e-sports title for years. It didn't cease to be a popular title all the way until SC2 released, and that's because the basic mechanics of the game have not changed which allowed veterans to move in with ease and forget the old game entirely. This wasn't the case with 1.6 to Source. Source was made in a different engine, resulting in different gameplay and different fanbase. Whether that was intentional or not by Valve is irrelevant.

Now you may be wondering why I even brought up the whole 1.6 vs CSS discussion, but trust me, it's a given whenever anyone brings up CSS.

Truth is, CS: Source is fine. It's a great game that will feel different to you if you've played 1.6 long enough, but for newcomers they won't mind the changes or even realize they're there. It keeps the game modes and maps 1.6 had, gives them a much needed facelift, and with its huge community gamemodes and servers will be around for a very long time and keep you entertained for ages. I've had my share of fun with 1.6 with friends, and lots of gungame matches in CSS, which were my favorite. I've no huge complaints about the gameplay changes as I wasn't that big or skilled in 1.6 anyway, but am able to see where 1.6 players complaints came from as there are indeed changes, both good and bad, but nevertheless I was able to enjoy Source a lot easier than most people that had played 1.6 first.

It has its place in the Counter-Strike family, should not be missed, and you will more than likely have fun with it. And whatever complaints people might have about this one, it still manages to be better than most multiplayer FPSes out there. I'd skip to CS:GO by now, but you could still have some fun playing this one.

Half-Life is one of Valve's main franchises, the first game was a huge success, and its long awaited sequel, Half-Life 2, did not disappoint.

At its core it's just like your everyday FPS, you go through places, kill some dudes, same old action. However, it's a special game. But why, you ask?

When you talk about this game to people who've never played it, they often wonder why does everyone hail it as an amazing masterpiece. Here's the thing. You can't grasp the reason why Half-Life 2 is what it is. I mean, you could try, but it's really one of those games you simply need to experience.

Everyone who wants to know how a good FPS is made should play this game. First, its story. It has a surprisingly deep plot that doesn't quite fully show itself to you straight away, and requires attention to detail to understand, though playing the first game will obviously help in this regard.

The plot doesn't get too convoluted to the point of not making sense, or too simple to not make you care. That's not to say there won't be moments where you will be wondering what is even going on, but they don't happen out of thin air, and have an explanation, or will have in the future I'm certain, once Valve gets around to continuing the franchise.

Yes, it's true, Gordon Freeman doesn't talk, but when you think about it, he doesn't need to. The game does an outstanding job in showing you everything that's happening without Freeman needing to utter a word. He doesn't need to have a preset personality that may conflict with yours and ultimately diminish your enjoyment of the game. What you do, he does. Who you are, he is.

Just like the first game, it heavily uses its visuals to tell the story, rather than a static wall of text. This only helps keep it its excellent fluid pacing, feeding you pieces of information as you go along, but not keeping you too much in one place before the action resumes.

Having been the first game released with the Source engine, along with Troika's amazing RPG Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, this game looked great, and still does to this day.

But just like I already mentioned in this review, only by playing through Half-Life 2 can you see why it's gathered the amazing fanbase it has, and why it's such a great singleplayer experience. What are you waiting for!? It's super cheap. Go get it and play it now! And Episode 1 and 2 right after, because I bet after completing HL2 you'll want to go through those as well. And then you may join the legion of gamers anxiously waiting for Episode 3.

This one's certainly a concept in Steam, a full blown movie that is.

It follows a group of well known indie developers detailing their trials and tribulations as they put their heart and soul making some of the best games around.

Not much I can tell you about this one, for that would be spoiling the experience.

Being a documentary, it's not a thrilling movie and it really didn't make me want to watch it twice. Don't get me wrong though, I did enjoy watching this quite a bit. The quality of the video itself, as the description says, is awesome all around.

Can't really use game ratings on a movie so what I will say is simply this:

Worth watching through once.

The Binding of Isaac is one of those few games I own in my library that despite its unforgiving difficulty and no saves, always keeps me coming back for more.

One of the reasons for this is its gameplay. The gameplay is top down shooter brilliance. While there will be times that the game will pull a ♥♥♥♥ move on you, (it can be quite luck based at times) you won't be blaming your death on a bug of any description. Unless you're a sore loser, but that's your fault, not the game's.

While the atmosphere may gross some very few sensitive souls amongst you, it has a reason for being that way and just enhances the (probably short) experiences throughout the game. If you've played Super Meat Boy, you'll feel right at home though, Edmund McMillen's the mastermind behind these two greats, and if you like his work, I also strongly recommend picking up the Basement Collection. Yes, I just recommended a game in another game's recommendation. (Recommendception!)

The real reason why I love this game so damn much though, is its stellar replay value. Every single time you start a new game, (and you'll probably start many) everything will be randomized. Enemies, boss fights, of which many are very challenging, items and powerups (good luck getting them all eventually) and rooms (some there to just screw you up with a deadly enemy mix, others with some goodies in) are all always different. Even if you beat the game fully once, there will be more things to do every single time.

Be warned though, that the DLC raises difficulty quite a bit. If you feel like you need to be eased into the game first slowly, you should play the vanilla first, and then activate the DLC. Besides that, the DLC adds tons of content and new fights and is most definitely recommended.

It has amazing gameplay that keeps you coming back after getting roflstomped, great replay value, and a dirt cheap price. This game is a must in my opinion.

L.A. Noire, by Rockstar and Team Bondi, is, without a doubt, a unique experience. The advanced facial technology which is by far the game's most famous feature really is incredible and for that alone everyone should try it out because there's nothing like it.

It's a slow-paced, methodical game. There are action sequences but these are an exception, not the rule, to this game. This game's main strength lies in its investigation and interrogation sequences, coupled with excellent acting and good plot. Note that I'm typing "acting" and not "voice acting". The technology in this game has finally reached the point where I can say that every character in this game is acting, and not just lending their voice to the game.

You can totally mess up in your cases, by the way. Like completely. But even if this happens to you, the main storyline will still keep progressing, albeit in dynamic and different ways. Your partners, peers, and superiors will comment on how you couldn't get that one case done, or if you did, praising you on your foresight. I found this really neat and a lot more investigation games should go for this dynamic direction as well instead of keeping you stuck until you find the perfect solution. (I'm looking at you, Phoenix Wright, and some point and click adventures as well)

As the title implies, it perfectly evokes that feeling of a 40's Los Angeles in a dark, depressing, noir setting. The vehicles, buildings, city, music, up to the radio commercials themselves are spot on. There is freeroam as you'd expect to find in your average GTA, and street crimes which are always action oriented as fun sidequests. The story of LAPD detective Cole Phelps is very interesting and involved, and while this game is about solving crimes, it's also about telling the story of this man, who isn't perfect, has its ups and downs, and is just amazing to go through. Fantastic protagonist.

I will say though that the ending felt kind of rushed, and there were a few loose ends. Closure where it was mainly needed was given though, so don't worry, this game didn't pull a Mass Effect 3.

More games like L.A. Noire need to exist. Even though I've had a LOT of cases to solve, I'm still yearning for more, and I'll definitely replay this after a few years at the very least so my memories won't be as clear and I can fumble about again, because it actually makes it enjoyable and realistic for me, that even the star detective such as Cole could get fooled and get it all wrong once or twice.

It's not all rainbows and sunshine though! This game is a bad PC port. Rockstar are known for being subpar when it comes to the PC, and L.A. Noire is no exception. I've had to open up a bunch of launch commands, even get a .dll file to get my game into a playable state. It doesn't help that its capped at 30 FPS either, because according to Team Bondi, the facial animations could get wonky were you to go any higher than that. 60 FPS fixes were applied and this wasn't seen though, so it's highly debatable.

If you can get this on the PS3 or Xbox 360, then do so as you won't have to deal with these issues. If you can't though, at least try to give it a go anyway because like I said, this is an awesome game if it happens to like your PC and everyone should play it. I'm all for a sequel or a game set in the same style as this one!

This game is still great to play, and will never get old for me.

I don't really need to say much about it, except it has a kickass soundtrack, great atmosphere, and is really fun to play. I even like this one a little more than San Andreas because of the 80's feel it invokes.

A couple of points down for the aiming which is a bit wonky on the PC (which can be fixed using a widescreen mod AFAIK) and the fact that Tommy, for being a badass and all that, can't swim. Just like Claude in GTA III.

Other than that if you haven't played this I don't know what you're thinking. Do it.

A special note about the whole trouble around this game's soundtrack and those of you thinking songs may be missing: Fear not. I bought the recent version of this game after it came back to Steam, and no songs were removed. It's all there. :)

Two Worlds II is a rather enjoyable experience. While it doesn't certainly have the quality BioWare or Bethesda RPGs tend to have, it has some unique features that make it worth looking into, at least.

One of these is the combat. The combat in this game is very fluid and diverse. You can choose to play as a warrior, an archer or a mage. There are no preset classes, you gradually become better at your chosen role through leveling up the needed attributes and skills. Sort of like Oblivion in that regard. However you have a set of active combat skills as well, and these vary greatly, from breaking someone's block to countering someone's attack while you're doing the blocking yourself. Even when switching from blunt to slash weapons. Archery is usually done via auto aiming, but the active combat skills that an archer can use will require you to use manual aiming, something which is very welcome. The cream of the crop though, is magic. If you've ever played Magicka, you know how crazy you can get by combining spells to make something truly unique. Two Worlds II? It's the same way. You can customize and build your spells thoroughly, and it never gets old, providing a really rewarding way to play.

However, if you're a completionist, and upgrade your equipment well, which is done by destroying unused weapons and armor to gather raw materials to reforge them as upgrades to your current set, (very neat feature) this game will be really easy save for the final battle, thankfully, which is actually challenging.

Having at least two different forms of combat is important at any given time for the enemies in this game are plenty and each have their own specific weaknesses. While some will die anyway by just button mashing, it'll take a lot longer if you use the wrong weapon.

The plot is.... to say the least, confusing. The pacing is all over the place and I was disappointed with the abrupt and sudden ending, though you can choose to play after the game ends, thankfully, either to tie loose ends or to experience the pirate expansion. (i've not played it so no opinion on it) You do get to understand it fully by the time you're done, but I do wonder if one would have needed to play the first Two Worlds to know everything.

The world is quite large and varied with several continents and remote islands with loot ready to explore. You can actually buy a boat and be able to sail it in this game at your own will, something I really got into, except the content for this was sorely lacking. And while I did mention the world is large, which it is, some of it are just smoke and mirrors as 70% of the largest continent isn't even accessible, all you'll get is a "Can't go this way" message and you get teleported out. -_-

There are horse races and several faction quests, complete with a gladiatorial arena series of battles. This game took a LOT from Oblivion, but it's different enough to not come off as a ripoff.

The graphics in this game are quite pleasing to the eye, and yes, it has a LOT of options to customize it perfectly should you choose to do so. Nothing but thumbs up from me in this regard.

The music was okay. Nothing special about it. It did its job but sometimes it could get quite repetitive.

The voice acting was not that great. No performances came off as fantastic to me, while some other few cases were completely crap. Your main character loved to sound tough, and he NEVER, NEVER shuts up. Whether he finds or kills an enemy, opens a chest and goes swimming, he'll say one of 5 lines every single time. Get ready to hear him repeat them hundreds of times before the game's finished, which by the way is a bit long, though I seriously expected it to be a lot longer given the game world.

If you've went through all the greats in the RPG genre and need a fix for some more, you could do a lot worse than picking up Two Worlds II. While it certainly doesn't feel like a polished game, it's got its heart in the right place.

First off, this is not a game. If you go into this with those expectations, you'll be disappointed from the get go. Rather, this is an interactive experience.

You may complain that you can't even run in this game, but that can be argued back as being a deliberate choice on the developers' part, one for keeping the pacing the way they want it to be able to tell you the story, and two, so you don't have to blitz through it, as this is quite short. It rewards exploration, as specific parts in the island will give you some lines from the fine narrator giving you tidbits of information about what may or what may not have happened here.

It won't hurt your eyes either. Visually it's beautiful and just sucks you in with its richly done environments, managing to further immerse you into the story, which in the end, is what all of this is about.

However this is hard to recommend. It's most definitely not for everyone, you could either absolutely love it, or hate it the second you start it. But it is very unique and good at what it ultimately does. Definitely pick it up in a sale to be absolutely sure whether or not this is your cup of tea. You may run into a gem here.

First off, if you've not played Batman: Arkham Asylum yet then you shouldn't touch City as City is a direct sequel, plus Asylum is an amazing game in its own right.

Now I'm going to assume you've beaten Asylum so that I can talk at length about City because this game not only lives up to the really high standard Asylum set, it surpasses it in every way.

The main difference between Asylum and City is its pacing and game world. While Asylum had a very direct, linear path due to its constricted size, City throws all of that out of the window giving you a huge open world complete with various sidequests, ranging from AR training sequences to practice your gliding skills to you unearthing many villain's plots, ultimately finding them and incarcerating them, and last but definitely not least, the Riddler trophies and riddles, which make a comeback in an even grander scale.

The story didn't lose any quality, the voice acting and overall feel of the game are as top notch as before, the combat has been further improved, with things such as multiple counters, and Batman can use several more gadgets than the previous game. However, Batman is not the only character you can play this time. Catwoman, Robin, and Nightwing are all playable characters, the latter unfortunately not being in any story related content, only present in the Riddler's challenges mode. Every single one of these characters plays quite differently to the Dark Knight, and all have their strengths and weaknesses. So while you will have to replay challenges four times, one for each character, it'll feel fresh thanks to their different abilities.

Now that it has had its DRM removed, there's nothing stopping you from playing this game.