Recent reviews by brutalroot

Take if for what it is: 3.5/5

This is another live service game. This is a difficult review for me since I love Space Marine and Space Marine 2 is an awesome game with Titus (one of my favorite protagonists), however, I have to be honest with this one at the same time. It also started out rough being more of a grind even on normal difficulty. It has gotten better and the story/single player campaign is still worthy of a playthrough.
However, it is like Helldivers, Diablo IV and other live service games. The game can change at anytime and any moment. Right now, they decreased the grind and made it more bearable compared to before when it first released. It is another issue/problem with these live service games. They can be great or bad within just one-two weeks. I am putting this right here since it needs to be known about this game being more of a live service game than a single player/split multiplayer game like the original.

I personally enjoy going through the single player and fully embracing the story, but I will admit, there are many points in the game that feels like it was designed with MP in front of the single player aspect. I truly feel this game would have been a 5/5 if it had a separate single player campaign all by itself and then they attached a MP campaign after the fact, or as a separate game. Similar to how GTA V is. GTA V is an incredible single player game, yet, it has GTA Online by itself if you would like to play that too.

I hate to be so critical of these games with good writers, actors, and stories, yet I have to tell people when they are trying to merge the Single Player and Multi-Player together. It could have been an incredible sequel and an amazing addition to the Warhammer 40K franchise, but them trying to merge single player and multi-player together is the killer for me. It is not a bad game at all, but an OK game that can change on the whim with the merger of the live service and single player combined gameplay.

https://rootreviews.brutalroot.com/2025/01/space-marine-2-review.html

Take if for what it is: 4/5 PC, 4.5 on consoles

This game you feel like RoboCop. That is mostly the review right there! However, there are some issues I had while playing the game that kept it from being a 5/5. Let’s start with all of the positives this game has going for it, which are many!

The story is awesome! It feels like it was done with the original writers of RoboCop 1 and 2 movies. You can take the story and characters and feel they are right at home in the RoboCop universe. The controls are spot on too and you feel like a walking giant stomping around the city and move like you’re about to bring scumbags to justice! The shooting is on point, and I love the few abilities you have that really make this game feel like this small developer team put all of their hearts and soul into it. It is also incredible this small team did what they did with the graphics engine! Being an UE5 game, it plays well on XSX, XSS, PS5, and PC. You cannot go wrong with any system you buy it on and it looks amazing for what they did.

However, the only things that are keeping it from being a 5/5 are the bugs, save issues, and checkpoints. On console, I did not really have any issues and on consoles besides the checkpoint issues. Checkpoints are kind of annoying in this game. I feel the devs were unsure exactly how and where to make saves since they did not want to overwrite player choices and let players go back, but it is clunky. I feel if they had a manual save feature to at least let you have 5-10 manual saves, this would have resolved the lengthy checkpoints. Even playing on consoles, I would have to make sure I played an extensive time since I would not see a checkpoint for quite some time.

On PC, oh boy, there were quite a few bugs, crashes, and save corruption. I had to replay half the game over again because when I tried it on my Steam Deck it corrupted my save files and I lost my progress. I believe they fixed the Steam Deck cross save issues, but sometimes you might still have a broken save file you will need to go back on. Also, DLSS is broken right now and when I have it enabled the game continues to crash. I just turned it off and use vsnc and it works fine. These are minor issues but really keep the game from being truly great.

https://rootreviews.brutalroot.com/2025/01/robocop-rogue-city-review.html

Take if for what it is: 4/5

A little janky and controller dead zones are being worked right now by the developer. However, if you can get by this, the game itself is amazing. I did not finish the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. back in the day but I still loved it. I went to MP gaming for a bit and never went back to it but once I saw the trailer to this game I knew I wanted to play it as soon as it was released.

I knew it was going to have tons of bugs being such a large story driven open-world, but I am still enjoying it! The characters, the world, the enemies, everything in it is created and fine-tuned with a team that is passionate about the series and that they were able to finish this while being at war with Russia is just incredible. The PC edition and the Xbox edition have been running fine for me besides some performance issues which the dev has already started to fix.

Again, wait to buy if you prefer to have a fully polished game or have a low-end PC since it does require a beefy CPU/GPU. However, if you do not mind a few bugs, some performance issues (playing on Intel 13900K with 4080 and running fine), then give it a shot. I play with controller and do have dead zone issues but overall, it is decent. The actual game itself once it is fully polished is an amazing feat for GSC Game World and I commend them for making a faithful sequel to this classic series.

https://rootreviews.brutalroot.com/2024/11/stalker-2-review.html

Take it for what it is: 3.8/5

I am still loving the game, but I do wish the story was more immersive/choices mattered more. Again, it is not bad, but definitely BioWare playing it the safe route and not trying to go too much or too little into edginess. Still an awesome game, but I do wish BioWare would have taken more risk and made the choices/story more impactful.

I apologize, this is a longer review than my others. I will start off saying I love Dragon Age games. This one I was skeptical about. With the new art style, the story, and especially the gameplay, I was not sure. Then I started to see other reviews out there ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ on it or praising it. I decided to give it a shot and play it myself. I first picked up on Xbox and I was shocked at how much I started to like the new art style, story and game engine. I ended up picking it up on Steam too since Digital Foundry praised its optimization.

Everyone is trying to compare this to BG3, which is OK, but it is a completely different type of game. BG3 is turn based D&D choose your own adventure type, this is more like the new Square’s linear Final Fantasy action RPG games. Combat is an action-focused game with spells and abilities you can choose on the fly (I play on the controller and love it). The gameplay is smooth as butter, and I love the abilities and controller hot maps. I was worried the game would have enemies that were bullet sponges like most RPGs this day and age, but no, it turns out it is fast and furious. The enemies are not bullet sponges and combat is quick.

The graphics are phenomenal! I will admit, Digital Foundry was right, this is the most polished and optimized PC game I have played in a while and have not requested a refund from Steam within just an hour of gameplay. I tried so many PC games this year, and the stutter and graphics issues have been so terrible I just wait a month or two for patches. This one I have had no issues with my 4070, and Intel 13700K. It is nice to finally have a game that plays incredible on PC and plays/looks better than my XSX and PS5!

The only downside is the writing. It is not as good as the previous DA games. The writing is not as bad as many other reviewers make it out to be. Most of those reviewers were the ones telling me Cyberpunk 2077 was incredible and amazing when that writing was jarring, terrible pacing, and sometimes downright bad and awful. The writing here is simple yet flows well and I am taking the characters for what they are and learning them as I go. Sometimes there is a little more modern writing that is a little out of place compared to the older DA titles and I wish it had more edgy good/evil choices. If you can get through Cyberpunk and some of the other cringe games that these reviewers have played and recommend, you can get through this.

Overall, I love this game. I do not like the love/hate it review system of YouTubers and thumbs up/down. This is one of those, it is good, but not amazing, but not bad games. It is a good addition to the BioWare lineup and gives me hope the new Mass Effect is going to be good. Hell, I am enjoying Andromeda right now after they fixed most of the bugs (I do understand that one was really rough when it came out). In the end, read this review, or just do what you can do in this modern age, go watch someone play it for a bit online and see if you would like it or not. Just have fun, keep an open mind, and enjoy it if you like it and do not let others make you hate or love it.

https://rootreviews.brutalroot.com/2024/11/dragon-age-veilguard.html

Take if for what it is: 5/5

One of the most underrated multiplayer games out there. I will admit, Helldivers 2 made me go back to this game again, and this game is an absolute blast! The devs always add new content to keep this game fresh. This game still plays like old school co-op games. Hop in, blow some ♥♥♥♥ up, and have a blast doing it!

Unlike Helldivers and other co-op games with no PvP at all and continual nerfs, KF2 devs just keep making the game fun and everyone is overpowered/a blast to play. Higher difficulties get tough, but again, the main game can fully be enjoyed without ever even touching a suicide difficulty level. The developers truly keep this as a co-op game that is about hopping in with friends or random people and having fun killing stuff.

With all of the classes, levels, secrets, and tons of other content. Too many companies are making PvE co-op games competitive and lose the aspect of enjoyment in a PvE game. This one has the developers always delivering. I highly recommend you pick this up if you enjoy having fun in a co-op game.

https://rootreviews.brutalroot.com/2024/08/killing-floor-2.html

Take if for what it is: 3/5, Screw Steams Thumbs up and Down. Sometimes things are just OK for me and I do not need to love or hate something!

The game is OK now, but still not fun for me anymore. Many people still love it and I have friends who love playing it, but it is too much of a time investment and grind/work for me. To each their own and buy it at your own risk. Again, this is a live service game so take that into consideration and know Sony and other live service companies are trying to get you to spend your life playing these games. It is OK and being a former WoW player they are great at times, but right now, it is not for me. I still prefer Back 4 Blood, L4D, Aliens Fireteams, KF2 and others I can hop in, kill stuff, and then leave. They do not have the content these full live service games have, but again, you can hop in them, and then bounce and do not need to play 10-20 hours a week to keep up.

It reminds me of Outriders. When it released, it was pretty awesome and then the devs started to cater to the streamers and people who spend 5-10 hours a day playing the same game over and over. Again, I do not mind some grind, but this game now feels like I am working while playing and not even getting paid for it. The nerfs are so bad now it is painful to get through a mission now. It is a live service game, you should expect it to be bad, great, and then devs keep rinsing and repeating. Also, sad that all of these games that are live service games will shutter when the support and servers get shut down.

I do not mind these live service co-op games if they have an offline mode, or just stop nerfing them to hell, but this game and Diablo IV, Outriders, Darktide are a perfect example of why I miss a good old school overpowered co-op games you can hop in and destroy ♥♥♥♥ and move on. Especially when they keep nerfing the game and not fixing the actual bugs. I cannot recommend, but if you love a crazy grind, bugs, and constantly changing gameplay with updates instead of the bug fixes, give it a shot.

https://rootreviews.brutalroot.com/2024/08/helldivers-ii-review.html

An awesome alien co-op game. Played with a few buddies who are Alien fans. The team did a great job getting the theme, gameplay and new alien breeds down pat and make you feel like your going through another alien movie. Definitely check it out if your interested and have some friends who want to co-op in the Alien universe.

Take if for what it is: 4.5/5
OK so yeah, I know the new one is coming out tomorrow, but screw it I am late to the party. I just finished this one (yes again the old one that everyone has played except me…). It is freaking awesome. An amazing experience that I really enjoyed.
The game starts off with a nice intro and a story that pulls you in quickly. I do wish there was a bit more on some characters, but they were keeping it short and focused. It is still probably one of the best Star Wars stories since the Empire Strikes back. Again, my opinion here, I like all of the old ones and even prequel, but screw Disney’s new 7-9 which I just did not like, and the TV shows are meh. Just my opinions. Alright, enough of going off topic and those are for another day. This story is awesome, and I highly recommend just playing through Story mode if you just want to enjoy a good Star Wars story.
The gameplay and graphics are also good for how old this game is. The controls work well too, and you feel powerful, but not too powerful. I noticed it has a great balance in difficulty with multiple modes. The gameplay is a bit like Souls games, but not terribly slow/excruciating like the souls’ games out there. I enjoy Souls games here and there, but this game has much faster paced action which is more to my liking.
The only thing I knock it a little on is, traveling through the maps can get cumbersome. There might be a lot of back tracking and I just wish you could at least fast travel. Also, the platforming is not bad, but could use a bit of tweaking to make it more fluid. These issues are not too bad, but really did feel a little annoying sometimes. If they fix/tweak these in the sequel it would literally be perfect!
I cannot wait for the sequel to come out. Let’s just say it is one game I am pre-ordering for sure. Overall, enjoy this great game for the time being.

https://rootreviews.brutalroot.com/2023/04/star-wars-jedi-fallen-order-review.html

Take if for what it is: 4.5/5
The Ascent is a top down twin stick shooter. The cyberpunk theme is top notch, more akin to the dark and gritty Blade Runner theme than the more colorful Cyberpunk 2077 style. This game is freaking awesome though. The controls are tight, the story is good, and the guns are awesome.
The main gripe is the voice acting. Before the AI voice patch they had actors speak alien gibberish and you read subtitles. and I actually preferred that over the new AI all English voice acting. The main voice actors are good, but the new AI voice acting just sounds weird and not as immersive as before the patch when they did the new voice overs (they basically took one of the main voice actors and used AI to alter his voice for over a dozen other characters, it is just meh). I know not all people liked reading subtitles, but the original voice alien gibberish and subtitles just made it more immersive and was better than using AI to try and emulate over a dozen other voices. This is just my opinion, but AI is just a tool and using it for more creative talent pieces it just sucks overall compared to real talent. Again, just my two cents, you get mad at that statement, go work in the AI world and build a better one.
The only other thing that is not bad, but would have been nice is enemy variety. Overall I was happy but some are just reskins and different names. Again, this really is just being picky and being a snob but I still loved all the enemies you encountered.
Besides the new voice over patch (if they would just give me the ability to use the original alien voices, that would have been awesome), this game is a highly recommended title that I truly enjoyed. If the gameplay looks interesting to you, I definitely recommend picking it up.

https://rootreviews.brutalroot.com/2023/09/the-ascent.html

UPDATE: With an upgraded computer of an Intel 13900KF, nVidia 4080, and DDR5 RAM with new PCIe 4.0 HDDs, it works much better. Still not the best, but much better. The review of the story is the same, not amazing, but not great. Still probably because I played the original first and this one is not as intriguing and suspenseful. Overall, a good game IF you have high end hardware to run it. I really wish companies would bring back the 3-5 star reviews. I am tired of this love/hate review system. There are times when a game like this and Cyberpunk meet that "it is not bad, but not great" milestone. Bring back the "It is an OK game" instead of everything being loved/hated.

I really hate Steams rating system of thumbs up/down. It is not an amazing game, yet not a bad one. it is another survival horror game with a good atmosphere and gameplay. I also liked Callisto and just enjoy the survival horror genre and love to see more. I think it is because I played the original right before this one and I should have played this one first. Also, you might get lucky and it plays great, or like me, and it is stuttering a bit.

It is a decent game/remake, but maybe my hardware is finally getting old? I have an AMD 2700, with an nVidia 2070, and 32 gigs of DDR3 RAM and am still getting a lot of stutters here and there. It is better than launch day, but I will wait a another month or two for some more performance patches.

I have played it on XSX and PS5 with no issues though, It is more than likely a result of poor PC optimization. The game itself is not bad, but do prefer the original more. Still worth picking up if they fix performance issues (although I do hear some say it plays great on the nVidia 30 series just fine).