Recent reviews by Ezmirly

This is an excellent formula for a Star Wars game. Epic story that takes you across the galaxy, Uncharted-level set pieces, Sekiro/Souls-like parry-heavy combat (which wonderfully captures the concept of a light saber duel), Metroid-Vania exploration, a meaningful ability upgrade tree, and earned-in-game cosmetic customization.

What you've heard is true: the game is buggy and suffers occasional annoying frame drops, but frankly not as bad as I was expecting. This is out of Respawn's wheelhouse--all their previous games have been first person shooters using Valve's source engine. This is a third-person melee combat focused game running on UE4, so I'm willing to accept some hiccups as they jump into this genre.

If you've dabbled in the Souls-like sub-genre of difficult-but-rewarding combat, I'd recommend starting on Jedi Master difficulty, or Grandmaster if you're a veteran. I've played through this twice now, and honestly Grandmaster isn't too bad, especially if you've played a bit of Sekiro. If you're more inexperienced with this genre, the game's got you covered with two easier difficulties, although from what I understand the story mode doesn't present much of a challenge at all, which might make the experience a bit boring. Overall, I highly recommend this game for Star Wars fans, as well as people who want some meaty combat out of their games. Very satisfying, and I can't wait to see what Respawn does next as they refine their craft.

Platinum's satisfying spectacle fighter mechanics and animation make up for lackluster enemy variety and very limited environment. This game was developed around the same time as Bayonetta 2, which clearly got all the attention; but even still this is an immensely enjoyable 7-hour romp with replayability in new game+. A must play for fans of the Avatar and Korra shows with an itch to experience bending for themselves. One interesting note: the action is very kinetic with no blood and no slicing and dicing you'd find in most other Platinum titles. It has the weight of exaggeratedly hard-hitting martial arts movies like The Matrix--as opposed to something like Kill Bill--and I actually find that much more satisfying.

Don't trust metacritic on this one--easily worth the $15 asking price!

The only turn-based strategy/tactics game I've thoroughly loved. Typically I don't get into this genre because it hasn't really hooked me (I've tried Civ 5 several times, and just can't get into it). This game, on the other hand, had me at "hello". It's surprisingly accessible, but also has quite a bit of depth and customizability once you get the hang of it and dig deeper. Also, it's very much worth it to get the Enemy Within expansion, as it adds several mechanics that fully flesh out the game. I'd recommend this game if you're like me and normally play FPS, platformers or RPGs, and occasionally wonder what the fuss is about with strategy/tactics games. Overall a fantastic experience. For those who want more of a challenge, look into the Long War mod. I haven't played it myself, but have watched it played on youtube extensively and it adds several layers of complexity and difficulty.

Criminally underrated, extremely addictive survival/crafting game set in a randomly generated, dangerous Burton-esque fantasy world. One of the only *finished* games in the survival genre. Highly recommended, and dirt cheap. No reason not to give it a try.

One of the most challenging, yet rewarding gaming experiences I've ever had. Also, the game just drips with its bleak, surreal atmosphere. While it may not be as technically impressive as some games such as skyrim, the witcher 2, crysis 3, etc. the art direction more than makes up for it. The world design is unmatched--never before has discovering something as simple as a shortcut produced so much glee. And the enemy/boss variety is astounding. Incredible creativity. Quite possibly my all-time favorite game. If you want a thorough breakdown of what makes this game special, I recommend this youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lnq44iwiVM

Two caveats: this game is From Software's first foray into porting to the PC, and as such, is more or less unplayable in its default state. Make sure to get DSfix (google it). This allows you to change your resolution and framerate (to 60fps from 30). It also provides some other graphics options such as AA, AO and DOF. My primary recommendations are to adjust the resolution to your monitor/TV's native resolution, and go ahead and change that framerate to 60fps (makes the game look smoother and feel more responsive). The second caveat: The game was intended to be played on a gamepad. The mouse/keyboard support is broken from what I understand. I used an xbox 360 gamepad from the beginning and had no issues. However, I understand there are fixes if you really want to use mouse/keyboard, but I can't attest to how well they work. Overall, I can forgive From Software for the shoddy port due to how incredible the game is, and how easy it is to fix it. It's really not difficult. Also, they seemed to have learned a lot since then as the Dark Souls 2 port is quite good, if a weaker game overall.