Recent reviews by Cobalsh

Fun, fast-paced, satisfying.

Before I even review this game, I would say that any review that has >1 hour has not experienced enough of this game to really leave a proper review, especially if they skipped the tutorial. The game is really very fun, and encourages fast-paced but stealthy gameplay. Each character feels unique and has their roles in the gameplay cycle, though some admittedly feel like they're only super useful in a team setting. The main game flow is smooth and the only way you'll generally be "seen" is if you forget this is supposed to be a stealth game and act out of turn. There's a definite sense of paranoia from how some NPCs can act spontaneously but after a while you consistently notice what NPCs often do that players don't. The upgrade pacing is really well set-up and a recent large update made a lot of positive changes to the core gameplay. Ultimately, I highly recommend it.

A fun little roguelite full of customization. Every run is truly different, with dozens of character classes to choose from, each interacting with each other in fun, well-thought-out ways. There's multiple different ways to win a run, some without even resorting to violence at all.

This game ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ rocks, and in my opinion, is better than Vampire Survivors. In Boneraiser, you defend your mausoleum against good guy invaders while raising the dead to your cause. You can upgrade, merge, sacrifice, and have your minions possessed by demons to power up your ranks, as well as set up traps and buffs in your graveyard. The game a really fun personality, a great soundtrack, and charming visuals. The gameplay loops never feels boring as there's always something new to do, and the dev's devotion to adding new player classes, enemies, items and game modes allows for a constantly fresh experience.

I will openly admit at the beginning of this review that I don't consider myself very good at this game. I've only beaten the final boss twice so far, and while I do have challenges with the core gameplay, but those challenges are related to some things I don't really like about this game. The first criticism I have is that this game has larger-than-average floor sizes than most roguelikes, but punishes you for exploring too long with the Chunks miniboss who chases you down after an arbitrary timer has counted down. You CAN kill Chunks (and it's not really that difficult, either), but his inclusion really only hampers the player's innate desire to explore the floor for all the loot and shops they can potentially get. That, combined with the games occasionally abysmal floor layouts, means you're almost always either going to miss out on something or take longer than what's really necessary due to slow overall movement speeds and having to duke it out with Chunks. My next major critique is with the items; I find only a very small percentage are truly useful, despite being very unique across the board. This applies to the weapons as well, a lot of which feel like filler with the right (random chance) items to boost them. There's no logical progression of your gear, it's totally random each time, which is something I think Neon Abyss for example does better. These are all things that can be fixed, however, and despite these issues I still come back to this game for at least a couple hours each week since I bought it. There's a good core gameplay here, but the systems that are built around them don't really work, and are covered up with a Newgrounds-heavy aesthetic that your mileage may vary on.

Far Cry 4 is, strangely enough, the fourth main game in the Far Cry franchise. You play as Ajay Ghale, the son of Kyrati freedom fighter Mohan Ghale, who is returning to his mother's home nation of Kyrat to spread her ashes after moving to the United States when you were a child. You're caught in the middle of a political struggle between eccentric zealot Pagan Min (who claims he had a relationship with your late mother) and the Golden Path, a rebel group attempting to wrest control of the current regime. After being rescued and recruited by the Path, you have to choose between the differing approaches of their two leaders: Sabal, a traditionalist, wants to protect people and honor the ways of the Path, while Amita, the radicalist, wants to try new, controversial angles and stop playing by the Path's rules. This is the core story, and while the idea of choice in the narrative and mission structure is interesting, the fact that neither Sabal nor Amita ever seem to be best option kinda removes that illusion a little bit. I honestly wish there was a third option to balance out the choices just a little bit more. The story is also pretty paper thin, there's not much more nuance outside of the core premise.

The gameplay is very similar to Far Cry 3, with the game being mostly open world (parts of the world open up as you progress through the story) and the ability to choose multiple approaches to any confrontation is still a really fun aspect of these games. I, however, think this game's mechanics are more fun that 3's, with the addition of new weapon, riding elephants, driving flying vehicles, and more helping to give you even more routes to success. Capturing radio towers to clear up the map and raiding outposts are still the main non-story world activities, but there are additional missions including hunting rare animals, finding and delivering supply drops, and Karma missions that affect your stock with the Golden Path that add more variation to when you're just farting around in the open world.

The graphics in this game are still great to this day. Character designs are vibrant and interesting, the world is gorgeous and feels very similar to traditional Pan-Asian and Indian culture, and the HUD is clean. Voice acting is well performed and the game can occasionally bug out, but more often than not the result is hilarious rather than intrusive. Ultimately, I'd give it an 8/10, a very fun open world shooter with a predictable but serviceable story.

I really want to recommend this game, given how much I love the original game. I grew up playing Marvel Ultimate Alliance 1 on PS2, and fell in love with the Marvel universe partly because of it. When this game came out, I missed the initial release window and decided to rectify that when the first two MUA games got remastered. But this game... it just isn't it.

The level design is the most egregious aspect of this game. Comparing it to the first MUA, the environments are boring and samey, with very little variation outside of factories, streets and underground tunnels. However, the worst part of MUA2 is the combat. This game seems to think unending wave battles are the way to go in every level at least five times. Not only that, but most level objectives go:
1. Move object and wave battle
2. Destroy object and wave battle
3. Fight boss and/or bigger wave battle
4. Cutscene

Rinse and repeat. I really wanted to like this game and maybe even complete it, but I got stuck on an elevator level in the last 1/3 of the game and chose to just quit to keep my sanity intact. On top of all that, the game's audio and object collision bugs out on a regular basis, indicating major mistakes in porting the game to PC as it didn't initially release on the platform.

There are positive things about this game. I appreciate the lean towards more realistic graphics, even if it comes at the cost of less vibrant and creative level design, and the VA performances were more than passable. I also like the addition of fusion attacks and the return of healing tokens from X-Men Legends 2.

Ultimately (no pun intended), this game does not live up to the original's creativity and gameplay quality. I'd probably give it a 4/10.

A must-have for any Marvel fan, as long as you can get it

One of the cleanest vibes in all of video games

fine