Recent reviews by bluetrazyn

This is one of those games where it might be fun to play, but your time is better spent on so many other things. I played the main story from beginning to end. Got all the weapons, all the upgrades, reached max level, and I'm still playing one of the expansions. While there are some memorable missions and cool characters, at it's core, this game is more Ubisoft busywork, and the game is worse now than when it first came out (due to all the microtransactions and cosmetic loot crates in a supposedly strategic open world military game).

The good:

-Bolivia is beautiful and there's a huge amount of variation in the topography.
Gunplay is solid and fun.
-Using rebel skills is fun.
-*Certain* missions are memorable (the final battle, Bookhart, the mission with the Unidad general, and the mission with Sueno's wife to name a few). Ironically, the most fun missions for me were bonus missions completely unrelated to the story (the Predator, Sam Fisher, and the Breakpoint tie-in mission).

Cons:

-Pretty much everything in the game reminds me of another game that did a better job. Metal Gear Solid 5 has better stealth, Arma is more realistic, Hitman has more memorable missions, Far Cry has more eccentric and interesting characters.
-The balance and the way damage is calculated is way off. Submachine guns and shotguns are just not that viable at higher difficulties. Assault rifles, LMGs, and snipers are better in 99/100 scenarios.
-Most of the special tools in the game are worthless. Lures are completely outclassed by flares, flashbangs are never more useful than frag grenades, and frag grenades themselves are outclassed by mines and C4.


The "stupidly big but empty map full of busywork" has been done to death, I'm sick of it, and the work never really pays off. Take your money elsewhere. Also, stay away from the sequel. It's somehow even worse than this game.

Many people play Borderlands for the gunplay and loot, and that's fine.

I played to experience more of the incredible humor and charming characters of the last game, and Borderlands 3 falls short in both respects. Throughout the whole game, whenever I saw or heard from Troy and Tyreen, I just thought to myself "you two are nothing compared to Handsome Jack". I don't think I laughed once in my forty hours of play, while I was smiling the whole way through Borderlands 2.

Perhaps that's unfair to say. After all, I played B2 when I was much younger. I've grown a lot since then. So here is what Borderlands 3 does better:

- The variety of loot and the gunplay is truly excellent. Shooting in B2 was already fun, but the controls here are so smooth and the sounds are so visceral. You feel like a complete badass. In addition, B2 had a several gun brands with one gimmick or another (bandit have many bullet, vladorf go brrrr, torgue explode), but now there is a huge amount of variety to be found in just one gun company. Now a Vladorf assault rifle has an underslung shotgun, some Maliwan guns can switch between two different elements, Jakobs has lever-action assault rifles, and so on. It's amazing.
- There have been multiple quality of life improvements to the game's mechanics. Just as one example, legendary drops will show up on the mini-map.
- Vehicle play has been significantly expanded. You now have access to different, armor, weapons, tires, paint jobs, etc.

If you haven't played Borderlands 2, then you will probably enjoy your time here. However, for me, I spent the whole time comparing the game to its older (and in my mind, better) brother. Even if you haven't played a Borderlands game yet, it might be good to start with B2, since it and its expansions are often on sale for dirt cheap.

Every additional update improving the game and adding new features only further demonstrates how awful the launch was. Every single post-launch update has added something that should have already been in the game on release day (DLC excluded, of course).

I don't give take-backs. If you ordered a taco at a restaurant, would you be satisfied with cornflower, raw steak and salsa on a plate? No. The kitchen apologizes and three hours later, they come back with an admittedly delicious taco. That still doesn't magically make up for what they first served you.

I DON'T HATE THE GAME!

I'll say that again: I don't hate the game! It's actually really fun!

So WHY am I not recommending it? Good question.

People don't seem to understand recommendations on steam. I don't *hate* Vermintide 2. I just wouldn't recommend it to other players. With that said...

Pros:

Graphics and atmosphere. Amazing realization of the Warhammer Fantasy setting. Fantastic job, Fatshark.

Combat is... amazing. Best melee combat in a first person game ever, in my personal opinion.

Extensive build diversity. Lots of careers and talents to pick from, that's great.

Cons:

GRINDY. AS. HELL. Seriously. So many of you are willing to tolerate the grind because the combat is great. For those who haven't played the game yet, this is how loot and progression works:

You get a loot box at the end of every mission. The "level" of the lootbox depends on difficulty, whether or not you're in quickplay, how many collectibles you got in the level, loot dice from (random) bosses and drops, and total RNG. This is the only way to get new weapons and items. There is NO way to get a specific weapon you want aside from crafting, and you can only get crafting materials by smelting down whatever you don't want.

This means the most efficient way of gettting high-quality gear is if you play one specific mission on a high difficulty OVER and OVER and OVER again. This isn't like Deep Rock Galactic where the maps are randomly generated. You play the same mission on the same map over and over, grabbing all the collectibles. It's tedious as hell, and EVEN then it's still up to chance whether you get a Tier 6 chest or not.

Even then, all loot in the game has an "item power" (like Gear Score in Tom Clancy's Division).

How do you get items with high power? Play on higher difficulties? Complete specific challenges? Nope. You just mindlessly open chests. Just keep opening em, and the item power for each item in each chest has a CHANCE of increasing anywhere from 1-5 or DECREASING from 1-2 according to the highest item power you've previously acquired. I'm 45 hours into the game and I've maybe opened 150-200 chests of various types, and I'm roughly at Item Power 250. The max is *300*. Y'know what that means? At LEAST another week of grinding.

This is not a satisfying way of getting items. This has absolutely nothing to do with merit or skill and everything to do with grinding and patience. The actual skill and tryharding doesn't start until you've maxed out your item power. Until then: gotta open that next chest, baby.

Also, Winds of Magic is a terrible DLC, fight me. It costs the most despite adding the least (ONE new map). The new weapons are cool, but the new enemies have cheap, low-quality looking animations, and the new difficulty (cataclysm). No additional XP, no better loot. I find this especially bizarre because the Chaos Wastes roguelike mode easily adds twice as much content as Winds of Magic and it's FREE for everybody.

I like the game and I'm going to keep playing it, but I'm concerned for the future of Vermintide 2. The grindy, tedious progression system combined with the fact that Tencent is a major Fatshark shareholder are not good signs. Fatshark's 40k title, Darktide, is an objectively unfinished buggy mess with the same progression tedium as Vermintide 2.

If you want a truly great 4-player coop game, play Deep Rock Galactic.

This is a really decent game by any standard, and it's one of the best 40k games out there. It's Grey Knights XCOM, except you don't have BS accuracy percentages.

Pros:

The developers have a *very* solid understanding of the setting. Most of your knights and enemies are direct and faithful adaptations from the tabletop and the lore. The voice-acting is also SUPERB, surprisingly (lip syncing isn't amazing but this isn't a AAA game so I dont particularly mind).

Diverse enemies variety (traitor guardsmen, plague marines, terminators, infernal machines, daemons), who behave as differently as they look.

Every single knight is basically an RPG character you can fully customize. We're talking weapons, armor, equipment, special abilities, cosmetic tweaks, even their name and your pick of several face presets.

Promotes genuine tactical decision-making. I love the Mechanicus 40k game, but once you unlock certain AOE weapons and canticles the game just gets really easy. Not the case here. Enemies have high health, high armor, and weapons that deal high upfront damage like the psilencer have tradeoffs (+1 damage per 2 ammo in an AOE, but less range and you use up ALL your ammo).

In general, the gameplay loop is pretty solid: fly to a mission, complete the mission, acquire upgrades and start projects, wait for new activity, fly to a mission, etc. Thrown in there will be a meeting with the Grandmaster, story missions, and random encounters. It has a very "just one more turn" kind of feeling while you're playing.

The bosses are amazing. They're all unique and just total eye candy (horrifying infected eye candy).

Cons:

Music is completely average. It's totally competent and fine, but there aren't any memorable music tracks that I remember.

Somewhat immersion-breaking in the early game. Auto-stubber does as much damage as a STORM-BOLTER? C'mon.

Random encounters are dumb. I never feel like there's any logic behind any of the decisions, and none of them feel like the "right" one. I'm sure that's just a matter of taste, but these random encounters can happen at any time while moving on the campaign map, and any time it happens it always feels like a punishment, never a reward.

Both DLCs as of this point are disappointing or misleading. In particular Duty Eternal is awful. The marketing suggested that the dreadnought would be it's own class that you could use at any time, but it's actually just a set-piece that's only available in certain missions with VERY limited control.

Overall:

Don't expect the same quality as Mechanicus. The music and atmosphere are way more generic. However, I would say I've definitely gotten my money's worth with Chaosgate: Daemonhunters. I really hope more TBS games follow the trend of "ranged weapons always hit, but damage suffers with distance/cover" mechanic. God I hate the percentages in XCOM.

I feel the need to mention that giving a game on Steam a "thumbs-down" doesn't mean you hate the game, it means you can't recommend the game to other people.

I really like ravenfield. The modding community is amazing, the physics are funny, and the gameplay is fun. I've been playing Ravenfield for years, and that's part of the problem. Early Access should not be the default state of the game, and five years in Early Access with more than 6 months (edit: 0 months lol) since we've heard any news about development is unacceptable.

I will change my rating to a thumbs-up once there's a new update or the game is fully released.

EDIT: STORY MISSION UPDATE DROPPED LETS FREAKIN GOOOOOOOOOO

Warhammer 40k seems to be eternally cursed by what I call "7/10 syndrome": competent, fun, possibly on the verge of something great, but lacking in some key way or multiple ways. Considering 40k is probably one of best settings for a first person movement-based shooter, I'm sad Hired Gun doesn't pull ahead of other titles in the genre.

However, I will say this game is relatively friendly to people who aren't familiar with the setting. Movement feels good, shooting feels good. I wish there was a little more variety in the armor and charms you can equip (the Underhive Suit is the only type of armor you can wear in the whole game), but what's here is solid.

If you have reasonable expectations, this game is definitely worth picking up on sale or from CD Keys. It's too easy to feel entitled and expect every game we play to be super memorable. I got my money's worth and that's about all you can ask, especially from a 40k game.

Great game with patch notes written by your ultra-conservative uncle.

EXAMPLES:

"...BESTIARIUS also adds a "heal" option -- even if you don't have Medicus, or Medicus Emeritus, or if you're a man who has inverted his penis into a vagina, the BESTIARIUS will automatically train animals after healing, but it won't make you a woman." DOMINA 1.3.22 BETA dev note.

"TAKE OFF THE ♥♥♥♥ MASKS - Next time you're at the grocery store, try showing a woman your face. Be confident, unafraid of the LIES -- you might get a girlfriend. Women like confidence. Women don't like dudes who cover their faces in fear. What are you afraid of? Getting laid? Grow up." - DOMINA 1.3.18 BETA dev note.

This has to be the most hesitant thumbs-down I've ever given. We should always try to judge products and people on their actions, and the developer made a good game. However, words ought to count for something, and knowing the tasteless political vitriol being spread by the game's creators... that behavior shouldn't be rewarded. Especially not when money is hard to come by these days. Don't buy the game.

I was more than content with New Vegas. I looked at the grainy, pre-2000 graphics of Fallout 1 and its sequel and thought "eehhhh not my thing."

Then I watched Oxhorn's playthrough of Fallout 1 from beginning to end (great series, great channel) and I was blown away. I bought this in a bundle and gave it a try.

I assure you, Fallout 2 has aged very, very well. This is a fantastic RPG and a fantastic sequel. The story is not as good as the original Fallout, but I was still invested. The presentation, tone, music choice and pacing are just *chef's kiss* perfect!

If you're looking for something to scratch that nostalgic RPG itch then buy Fallout 1&2, pick the Gifted trait, pull up a guide on your phone in case you get stuck. Go forth into the wasteland!

This game is hollow. Beneath the stylish aesthetic, well-designed characters, and that gorgeous San Francisco sunshine, you will find zero personality. Please don't buy this game. For the price, there are so many other better experiences out there- better action games, better stealth games, better RPGs, even better hacking games.

Pros:

Game looks beautiful, particularly when driving.

Hacking skills and tactics are cool, bamboozling the enemy is satisfying.

Genuinely profound commentary on corporate interference, privacy violations, and big tech abuse.

Wrench.

Cons:

The story is so... nothing. Villain is generic, several plot elements end without warning or are never pursued. Several mechanics just have zero purpose (why have lethal and nonlethal weapons when there is no morality or karma system?) Strange, cringeworthy dialog... you aren't playing this for the story.

World is empty and meaningless. None of the many restaurants, pawn shops or clothing stores have unique items or services. All the world does is take up space between you and various interactive objectives.

Boring, repetitive quests. Go here, hold "e" on this object. That's 60% of the game.

This is just me personally, but I hate Key Data. Essentially, if you want to unlock certain skills in the skill tree, you have to find key data in certain locations throughout the map. The placement of these items are totally arbitrary. There was no reason to add key data other than to pad the game out and make unlocking skills a slow, grindy experience.

Most weapons aside from the grenade launchers and shotguns lack impact.

This is such a nothing game. A really cool, stylish first 20 hours and a fun last 5 hours, and the most boring, meaningless 30+ hours in between. Play Orwell, Metal Gear, Hitman, any of those. Just do yourself a favor and don't buy this game. I played it so you don't have to.