Recent reviews by BattlefieldBartender

A fun campaign combined with a fun class-based co-op and multiplayer suite that feels true to Warhammer 40,000 with plenty of fan service to make any Warhammer 40,000 fan giddy over the finest details.

I'm still yet to finish the Director's Cut, purely because I'm still not ready to relive the heartbreak and tears I experienced at the end of my first playthrough of the original release. But I'm a man... I'm a big boy... I will try.

I give this game 10 Kojima's out of 10. Because his games are rather subjective pieces of art and really ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ weird. They are the most unconventional games in every sense of the word. Too unconventional to even be rated by any kind of standard of critique score.

I've been playing this game time and time again, and no matter how many times I meet Panam for the first time, or blindly stare at the Holo-Fish or hear "I Really Want To Stay At Your House" diegetically from random radios or speakers as I'm walking about in Night City, this game always manages to tear my heart out, stop the living ♥♥♥♥ out of it and leave me in a blubbering mess.
8.5/10

This game was something I never expected to enjoy when it initially released, so I ignored it. However, after learning more and more about how well this spin-off was connected to Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (purely because I wanted to play something remotely close to that game since I didn't have a PS3 as a kid) I relented and bought a copy. And I can say, as a hack-and-slash spin-off of Hideo Kojima's beloved Metal Gear Story, it slaps!

The combat is fun and visceral and does have a bit of a learning curve. You won't be mindlessly mashing the one button as if you lost nine of your fingers like many games like this tend to play. You will have to adapt accordingly during combat in this game, and that's something I find more entertaining and engaging than mashing one attack button.

The story itself is also simple but rather complex and cleverly written. Unlike Kojima's games in the main Metal Gear story, you won't have to understand the DaVinci code, nor have to obtain a PhD in socioeconomics just to completely grasp what's actually going on, allowing new fans who may not be familiar with the complex narrative of the Metal Gear series to easily jump right in.

Also you get to wear a sombrero... enough said.

It's like if every Mecha Anime had an orgy with Project Wingman or War Thunder and dumped a dash of that signature ball-busting difficulty From Software is known for. This is not a slow paced Souls-like RPG, this game is fast, brutal and epilepsy inducing. 10/10

I've been playing fighting games for a while now, and have played a wide variety of them over the past few years, but with a few glaring problems. Before I dove into the Tekken series, I was playing other obvious picks like Smash Brothers, Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, and in all of those games, I didn't know what spiking was until a couple of years ago, I could barely pull of a quarter circle or dragon punch move, I couldn't even hold a 10-Hit combo to save my life.

I've dabbled in Tekken since Tekken 4 and 5 on the PS2 whenever I visited one of my friends as a kid, and we'd play hours of those games. Then when the arcade cabinets for Tekken 6 rolled out in Australia, I only played those games at the arcade. But then Tekken 7 came out, and I wanted something different in a fighting game. So I bought myself a copy and went on the grind for hours on end, and a visit to Japan only reinforced my appreciation for the mastery that is the Tekken series that has become more than just a fighting game.

So of course, I had to pre-order Tekken 8, and Harada and the rest of the TEKKEN Project team has not disappointed. This game is easily the best fighting game of the year and I can't wait for the future post-launch support the game will receive. It retains everything that makes Tekken's combat iconic, memorable and fun while also adding in a few new features that set it apart from the other installations of the franchise. It's easy to learn but hard to master as always, but the Tekken scene is growing strong and finding new players. If you want something other than your typical fighting game, Tekken 8 is your ONLY option.

Game builds upon the foundations of years of developing rally simulators and pushes the medium further. With improved handling merged from DiRT Rally 2.0's EGO Engine onto Unreal 5 with massive improvements on tarmac handling, it has never felt better to drive a rally car in a video game.

Codemasters and EA have shown promise of dedication to the upkeep of the game with a couple of patches that have fixed the game from its Day 1 kinks in less than a week from public launch, and excellent community support.

With over 13 rallies featuring stages up to around 30km long, there is plenty of fun to be had in cars ranging from WRC 1 to Group B monsters to the humble beginnings of the World Rally Championship, paying homage to decades of history in the sport.

There can still be a few hitches on a couple of stages, but as witnessed, in due time, they will be fixed. Apart from that, it is an excellent game to kick off the new era of officially licensed FIA: World Rally Championship games! 9/10

A great space themed MMO RPG that feels like EVE: Online but is simple enough to not get confused (let alone treat the game like it's your life). Ships are fully modifiable and easy to fly with whatever method of controls you are using (controller, mouse and keyboard, a complete HOTAS set up, it doesn't matter!)

Definitely a must play and very fun to play with a bunch of friends.

BallisticNG is a game that will remind a lot of gamers who grew up playing F-Zero about what it's like to stress about accurate runs and perfect laps. It is a hyper-speed racer that throws in a couple kart racing mechanics like weapon modules you pick up to give your speeder some lethal firepower and boost pads. The learning curve here is steep, but not unbalanced. It will take most players to get used to the high speeds and learn how to turn sharper corners, but when you pull off a perfect lap and get ahead of the pack, it is more than satisfying.

The old art style is very nostalgic, especially when you turn on all the retro settings and all the vertices of the rendered game slightly tear, the short rendering distance, colour drop. It's like I'm playing Daytona at the arcade!

The tracks aren't bad either, but they will require a lot of learning, so it is highly suggested that you practice these tracks on time attack before racing against other speeders.

All in all, this is an amazing indie experience and I cannot wait to see what BNG has in store for us next.
8/10.

DOOM (2016) is an amazing shooter that brings the gameplay back to its grassroots as well as freshening it up a little with modern elements like levelling up your Praetor Suit and upgrading weapons with modifications. The game is a solid play from start to finish and doesn't dare slow you down with way too much boring exposition.

The game encourages you to engage your demonic enemies head on, getting up close and pumping them with enough lead before finishing them off with brutal glory kills. The glory kill system isn't just a cool finisher move either. Mechanically, performing these rewards you with health and ammo whilst encouraging you as the player to dive deep into heavy firefights with demons surrounding you all at once.

As the Doom Slayer, you are essentially an unstoppable force of nature who will stop at nothing to complete his objective: Close the portal to Hell and kill every demon in sight. Not even slow and tedious tasks like removing lenses from energy filters can stop you.

At its lowest point, it's merely fantastic, and at it's highest point, it's bloody sinful! It's untouchable. But not matter how perfect something may seem, there's always room for improvement. The level design can seem rather drab at times and a few of the weapon mods and upgrades are rather redundant, and the colour scheme I feel was designed for the colourblind seeing as the only colours in this game's palette are red, brown and grey with the occasional blues and greens.

But despite its few ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, it's a fantastic game and definitely worth a play. Hell, I've lost myself for hours and even days on end playing this game and still enjoy it even though I've played through the campaign about twelve times over already.

8/10