Recent reviews by Kaiser

This is a tentative recommendation, as the game is still in Beta and there are things that need worked on.
Negative reviews are in response to concerns about monetisation for the most part. Valid concerns, but I'm not sure it's enough of a problem to review bomb the game.


As for the actual game:
I'm a fan of mecha games, and generally appreciate ones where you can customise parts.

This isn't exactly that kind of mecha game ... BUT
Holy crap I'm having a TON of fun playing the Beta demo.

Pros:
- The combat feels really, -really- good.

- Strikers (the mechs) have specific roles and their designs are very well done. Each one is visually impressive.

- Various game modes and maps give enough variety to keep the experience fresh and engaging for quite some time.

- Pilot and Mech visual customization are both very detailed and in-depth

- There seems to be a story, not much is present in the Demo though.

- Armored Core meets the good parts of Overwatch.

- Tutorials give you a rundown of each Striker's weapons.

- You can try each Striker in training mode to see how it plays before you buy, or 'research' it.

- Great game for PvP junkies.

- Bots fill open slots in lower tier PvP. This smooths matchmaking times during low activity or in less populated tiers. (Also a con, see below.)

Cons:
- Weapon and Striker balance will need attended to. There is a PvPvE mode with a massive map and extraction requirements to keep your loot where there is exactly one (1) ulta-meta modular weapon with little (not zero!) counter-play.
> Modular weapons can be called in during the match and equipped no matter which Striker you use. The weapon in question can be dual-wielded, and even one of them has long range, fires quickly, instantly hits where you aim, and does massive damage fairly quickly once upgraded. Two of them? Light or Medium Strikers are destroyed in 3-5 seconds with little reaction opportunity. This leads to jet-type and Sniper strikers having a distinct and MASSIVE advantage over anything slower

- Credit earnings slow greatly after a certain point. You -should- have most things you want researched by that point, but the grind gets real slow eventually.

- Monetisation methods are still unknown, but at this time it seems that pilot body recustomisation is locked behind premium currency. This -seems- to be the main complaint regarding it at this time, along with concerns that similarly 'basic' features may be locked behind a paywall.

- After the tutorials, there are a set of challenge that seem to have been made prior to balance changes that make them EXCEEDINGLY difficult. One such set of challenges is part of the initial pilot training. The AI for those challenges is overtuned on the enemy's side, and your allies if you have any are really dumb. Sometimes it's just a matter of luck to complete them, but the initial 10 training missions need tweaked to teach more. That set of missons goes from Animal Crossing to Dark Souls levels REAL quick.

- So, so, so, so many menus. Fine once you get used to it, but overwhelming at first.

- Some features game modes are locked behind pilot level, which you increase via achievements. Not exactly a bad idea, but the order you unlock things could use some shuffling around. Feels like you unlock things in a weird order right now.

- No true PvE co-op mode. Would be cool to have one.

- Bots fill open slots in mid to high tier PvP as well. This is a mixed bag, as the bot AI is really dumb at lower levels, and at higher level reads inputs. The highest tier has zero bots, and I hear matchmaking takes eons.

- Progression is tied to region server. If you play in Asia/Oceania and switch servers to the US to play with friends, you restart your progression entirely. This includes the intro cinematic and first mission, unlocked Strikers and features, and even your Pilot needs to be remade.

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To conclude, it needs some work, tweaks, and polishing. What's there is hella fun. If the devs address some balance issues, make cross-region saves a thing, and pay attention to the monetization concerns then it could be one of the greatest mecha games of all time.

Goat-bunny-cat lady go nyoom.

Game not 100% Liberated™.
Sony made a tweet about walking back the requirement for linking a PSN account, but have added -more- countries to the list of those unable to purchase the game.

We dive together, or not at all.

A blast to play right from the start. This game makes me feel the same way I felt playing the original Fable for the first time. Familiar mechanics from previous Souls games make it easy to settle right into a new world entirely, and so many quality of life improvements just make it a smoother experience.

Look, it's a fun game but it's always only been the -idea- of an online Dragonball arena fighter. Don't jump into this expecting the polished mechanics of specialized fighting games because they just aren't there.

Improvements over the first game are vast, and there are a lot of cool new things you can do compared to the previous game. Most things that happen in a fight can be responded to. However:

- The AI cheats. Hard.
All fighting games work like this, but the input reading in this game during higher level quests (plus getting ganged up on) is on another level. CPU fighters will block or dodge perfectly even when not locked onto you, and will -always- vanish out of your combos when you try to get big damage in with an ultimate move. You really have to wear them down, stamina break them, and hope you don't get jumped by one of up to four other CPUs in the quest.

- Peer-to-peer connections.
If you want to PvP, you better be in the US or Europe. There is little to no activity elsewhere, so matches are often riddled with lag.

- Little to no public activity.
People play with their friends. There are quest lobbies open after DLC drops, and that's pretty much it. If you have a buddy to play with, you're gonna have a far better time in multiplayer. Otherwise it's nearly impossible to get random help for quests, or even land a fight, depending on your timezone.

There's more to talk about, but in the end this game is capturing that feeling of being a kid and pretending you're fighting alongside Goku in a parking lot with your friends. It's not a polished fighter, the story is stereotypically anime game cheesy (which isn't always a bad thing!), and in the end it IS fun.
It's just not something I can recommend for the coupla hundred bucks you'll need to drop to get the base game and all DLC's for the full experience and the -really- cool moves.

I would recommend Warframe to someone who has never played it before. It's a great timesink, and is -satisfying- for the effort you put into it. You can experience every meaningful bit of content in the game without paying a dime, real money only coming into play if you want to Fashion Frame or skip the grind/wait.

And there is a LOT of grind/wait. Not near the level of a phone game, but it's enough to make the premium currency very, very tempting.

The download is big, but it's worth checking out at least once.

Man, how many years has it been?

No Man's Sky is finally a game.

Pros:
- Finally fun
- Lots to see, do, build, and research
- Upgrading is rewarding and satisfying
- Multiplayer is working well enough for the most part
- New player hub where you can meet others, do missions together, learn keystone tech to help on your journey
- Some amazing things to see and discover

Cons:
- Some content still feels empty, or could be -really- cool with that little bit of extra polish. You can see everything there is to see on a planet within a 200 meter radius. You'll tend to get what you came for and leave, as there isn't much point in truly exploring. It'd be cool to disable a frigate and board it, fight the crew, and have combat in a randomly generated base section, but as it is piracy is only barely in the game.
- Picked up extra multi-tools for free. Can't salvage them, stuck in my inventory now.
- Multiplayer has some sync issues that detract from the idea that you're truly doing something 'together'.
- The amazing things to see and discover are few and far between. I've had a few moments of dread on an empty, eerie world or when seeing a rainbow in a superheated rainstorm, but most content comes with a 'been there done that' feeling. Less an experience and more of a theme park.

To conclude, the game is good, and I'd recommend picking it up on discount if you can. Still a few things that need work to be a truly great game but the developers are, commendably, still working on the game and heading in the right direction.