Recent reviews by A790

FANTASTIC GAME. Wow. Every death matters in this game. Every bit of progress helps. It feels rewarding to progress.

Many games amp the difficulty in unfair and frustrating ways. This game is not only fair in its challenges, but fair in your rewards for them as well.

It's almost perfect. I'm into it for more than 60 hours and still play it for an hour a day. Just so much fun.

This game is a travesty. While the story (so far) has been good, I can only play for a few minutes at a time before it crashes.

What a disaster.

I was excited about this game pre-launch, but I have a rule: never buy a game on release day. I've been burned enough times to know that hype is never fulfilled like you want it to be.

So, I bought No Man's Sky a few weeks ago, after the Foundation and Pathfinder updates, and got to playing.


With an i7-6700K, 32GB of ram, and an 8GB GTX 1080, the game runs averaging 70fps at 1080p and 55fps at 2.5K.

Vanilla, the graphics are okay (they are markedly improved in the new Atlas Rises update). However, there are tons of mods that I use that enhance the graphics considerably.

The game is beautiful, but not up close. Textures are okay, models are okay... but from a distance, while exploring, it creates truly incredible sights.

I'll never forget one moment that I think defines the spirit of this game: on a barren moon next to a hot, toxic planet, I was exploring. I entered a cave system and got lost (for over an hour!), emerging on a different part of the moon. As I left the cave, to my left was the burning-bright molten planet, enveloping my field of view. It was spectacular- my wife (who enjoys watching me play NMS) and I were literally awestruck. I've never experienced a moment like that in a game before.

The planets can get stale, and variety diminishes, but even after 50+ hours of playing, I still find scenes that look as if they should be painted and framed.


Mine minerals, build things, upgrade things, fly around, mine more minerals. That's more or less the core of the gameplay.

How you do those things is what will define your playthrough. Be a happy go lucky miner, or set roots on a world and start farming. Maybe you want to attack a freighter and loot it? Up to you.

We prefer to explore, and during our exploration we found a base site next to a large lake on a gorgeous paradise world. Now our home planet, we return here after travelling the galaxy to expand our base. Next to an expansive forest, purple-leaved trees and rolling grassy hills.

However, there are aspects of the game that take away from the experience. Most notably, animals.
The animals are, putting it nicely, annoying. They all make the same noises - all of them - and scamper around more or less getting in the way. They aren't annoying enough to really detract from gameplay, but they are annoying enough that I try to avoid them when possible.


I suppose this comes down to what you're looking for in a game. For me, loading up NMS and exploring new planets is cathartic in a way; it's one of the only experiences where I can see new worlds and see what could be out there.

I haven't really dug my heels in and got my teeth wet with the base building, nor the exocraft, nor any of the missions that come with it. To date, most of my playtime has been spent exploring strange new worlds.

Nothing has yet to replace the novelty that comes with landing on an extreme planet, only to find I lack the fuel necessary to take off again. Making treacherous jaunts through the planet seeking resources, desperately scrambling for cave systems that may offer a reprieve from the toxic air, freezing cold, or intense heat. The satisfaction that comes with finally finding that precious resource needed to attain freedom is gratifying indeed.


If you eliminate the drama associated with the overhyped launch and botched PR move from Hello Games, and instead approach NMS with an open mind, you're likely to find a lot here to enjoy.

This isn't a shooter, though you do shoot. This isn't a survival game, though you must work to survive. At its core, NMS is an exploration game that leverages procedural generation to create a fresh experience on many of the worlds you will discover.

It can be relaxing, especially if you want to become a God and play in creator mode, where all resources are unlimited (in addition to your health bar).

It can be awe-inspiring, when you land on a new planet only to discover a hidden oasis, teeming with plant life, nestled under a nearby planet that overtakes the sky. More than once I have been amazed by what the game has presented me with.

Is it for you? If the above resonates, and you're open and honest with what you're wanting from NMS, you will find a game that can be a lot of things: a game, a world generator, a survival challenge, a turtles paradise. If those things are things you enjoy, then join me in enjoying NMS.

The story seems interesting, but I keep having to start over. The game won't actually save my savess, and for whatever reason the autosaves don't save either. I've uninstalled/reinstalled a few times. I even tried it on my laptop vs. my desktop.

Not sure what the deal is. The game seems like a fun point and click with an interesting story, but obviously I can't play it all in one sitting.

Shame.

A welcome return to form for the RTS genre. It's just a shame that a game-breaking crash takes place mission 3 which prevents me from completing it.

My experience is limited to the first two missions, half of the third, and a handful of skirmishes. :(

Holy cow, what a sleeper. Paid a few bucks for this game on the summer sale and it took over my weekend. Tons of fun. Simple premise that gets very deep.

I had a blast playing it. So will you. :)

It's the most fantastically frustrating game I own, where when I see a "81% to hit" stat I can safely assume I'll miss, or the gun will jam, or I'll hit a friendly... or any other number of things that will go wrong.

Because in this game, if it can go wrong it absolutely will. Guns with a 1-3% jam rate seem to jam every other turn. Squad members with excellent skills in markmanship (handguns/etc.) will miss far more often than they hit.

In Wasteland 2, you will spend 10 minutes disarming a trap and unlocking a safe only to find absolute junk inside. Reload to try it again and you'll find a shiny new sniper rifle instead.

It's hilarious: I've never been so frustrated with a game that I couldn't stop playing.

As addicting as Fallout/Fallout 2, as frustrating as trying to tame a hyperactive six year old in a toy store.

Guns jam with staggering frequency. A gun that says it has a 5% jam rate? Try 45%. Seriously. In one firefight, where each of my squad members had a 75% or higher change to hit, not a single round hit the enermy... FOR THREE TURNS. It was incredible. I've never seen such a ridiculous display of gunnery incompetence...

Until my 98% to hit point-blank pistol shot went awry. Not once. Not twice. Thrice.

Wasteland 2 will punish you for even thinking that you have a chance. If you don't learn that F9 must be pressed before ANY action you will not progres. Your characters will miss the enemy, repeatedly shoot themselves, and somehow manage to catestrophically fail digging up something from the ground... resulting in two fresh bodies for the Arizona wastes to reclaim.

You will quickly learn that the only thing that Wasteland 2 is honest to you about is that there are a lot of things out there trying to kill you, including the mechanics of the game itself.

But it isn't all bad. When things go right it can be a lot of fun. The graphics are pretty good. The story is even better. And hey, you're playing a RPG about a post-apocalyptic America- no kidding your guns are going to miss every other shot.