Recent reviews by ~ Moni ~

These are my first impressions since I haven't finished the game yet but got through most of the story by this point. The game is very enjoyable and immersive which are like the most important things for a VR game to get right. The sound design is also top notch and seems to take a lot of queues from Alien: Isolation which I adore. Unfortunately, as other reviews have pointed out, there is a lot of jank. Grips feel too restrictive and not as intuitive as it is in games like Arizona Sunshine 2. The enemy AI is at least fun to shoot at but you fight the same warrior xenos over and over for pretty much the entire game. By the time you start finally seeing a 2nd enemy type, it's a bit too late. This was a huge missed opportunity for this game which I hope can be addressed in its part 2 as getting used to shooting the same 2-3 xenos over and over can get grindy.

So, to summarize.

Pros:

- Amazing atmosphere
- Authentic sound design
- Tense, riveting shooting when it isn't janky or grindy (xenos respawn if you take too long)

Cons:

- Some dumb Xeno AI and bugs
- Objectives can be confusing at times, especially aggravating when you got Xenos breathing down your neck every couple minutes
- Low enemy variety (so far)

I found that by leaving the game on in the background while I did other things, caused me to come back to find the most progress. This is definitely a game where you will be rewarded for your patience.

It's great for what it is. The graphics are the biggest letdown in my opinion and I hope they are addressed.

A MUST play if you are a fan of F.E.A.R. and its combat with intelligent AI opponents.

Graphics: 8/10 - Very Good

The graphics seem great up until I got to the cutscenes. Something is "old feeling" about the art style and the textures. Characters also look a tad too wooden in their animations, especially for the time this game released. Despite that nitpick, this game looks and feels like the movie it is based on and that's the most important part.

Audio: 10/10 - Near Perfect

Between the dialogue and the sounds of pulse rifles firing, this game nails the feel of the movie perfectly, which was already an S tier in audio. My only nitpick is that some of the voice acting is questionable.

Gameplay: 9/10 - Great

It feels like a fresh spin on the RTS formula, especially one geared towards moving around a squad instead of an army. Although the gameplay begins to get repetitive towards the end and the final boss being a disappointment, I especially loved the early to mid game. It was both challenging and engaging while feeling incredibly fresh and tense.

Story: 4/10 - Kinda Bad? (SPOILERS)

Don't get me wrong: this game has a serviceable plot for a video game and if you're not focused on story, you shouldn't mind it. The issue is that it is basically a soft remake of the movie and told in a video game, so it's not really impressive. The thing that kills this games plot for me is the extremely predictable villains and absolutely wooden characters who I couldn't feel for. I can't tell if the voice acting for the main characters is bad or if they are just written poorly. For instance, Mako is just another discount Ripley and they don't even try to hide it. They try to give her the same development path as Ripley and for me, it just didn't work. She feels very disconnected from Cassandra as a character who btw, only appears at the end so you never get to bond with her or learn too much about her. I read most of the data logs as well, and still felt that the ending left too many questions unanswered. Harper also magically dying by exerting himself was also sus and reminded me of Luke's death in the Last Jedi...which is not a good movie to have to reference.

Overall, I didn't like some aspects of the story but I did like the structure of the events surrounding it. Had Cassandra been present at the beginning, the story would've been way more impactful when you finally do save her. (Or don't, it would've been interesting if she was un-saveable, like a monster by the time they found her) Hearing about her the whole time isn't enough to justify the journey to find her IMO. By the end I felt myself wanting to know more about her and how/why she specifically was chosen to control the Xenos. As for the cult, they felt out of place considering how numerous and coordinated they were for how insane their ideology really was. (Basically suicide by Xeno) Maybe I missed something in the story cutscenes and/or data logs, but it just felt so odd to me how lackluster it was by the end.

Content - 8/10 Very Good

The game is very long thankfully and full of interesting mechanics. It took me about 27 hours to beat it the first time on Hard difficulty. (I had to restart quite a bit because it's a real challenge first time) I did find myself wanting something different/more by the end like to play as the Xenos or Weyland-Yutani, but I guess that's why it's a $40 release and for being a $40 game, you're getting your contents worth. The Xenos especially would've been really fun to play as as a sort of alternate viewpoint. Hopefully, we get to play as them in an expansion!

Overall: 8.5/10

Easily one of the best Aliens games of all time, up there with Alien Isolation which might be better/worse depending on who you are and what kind of games you like. (If you hate RTS, I'd play that instead) It's just a shame that the story was lackluster to me because everything else ranged from very good to perfect. IMO, this games biggest failing is its handling of main characters, who feel too robotic. I felt more attachment to my custom marines than the main cast---that should tell you something.

However, despite that, it's still a true to heart Aliens game and has the entire vibe of the classic movie. It's a clear must play, especially if you love the franchise or RTS's.

One of the best mods ever made, tbh

These are just my first impressions. I've played both CoH1 and over 2000 hours in CoH2. My first RTS I've ever played was Warcraft 2.

Graphics: 7/10 - Good

There's something still weird about the graphic art style, but it doesn't bother me that much. It does need some work and fine-tuning though.

Audio: 5/10 - OK

The audio is underwhelming. I know it's supposed to be more realistic but it doesn't sound as beefy like CoH1-2 audio.

Gameplay: 9/10 - Great

It's the same gameplay I love with a lot of quality of life improvements such as rebinding the horrid arrow keys to WSAD. I appreciate the strategic aspect and decisions of the campaign too.

Story: 6/10 - Decent so far

The Italian front is an often overlooked part of WW2 so the new setting is welcome. While I don't like how the story is told (so far), it's serviceable. Starcraft 2 has a much better story with better cutscenes and storytelling. This game looks really indie by comparison.

Content - 8/10 Very good

There's a lot more content starting out in this game compared to how CoH2 started out. CoH2 started with 2 factions with an underwhelming campaign. It took a while for them to add the Theater of War missions and Ardennes Assault campaigns, which are the real treat.

I appreciate that this game starts out with 4 factions that have a large variety of units and has 2 better campaigns.

Overall: 7/10 Good

I can understand where the negativity is coming from. This game feels unpolished and cheap compared to the last entries, but I also feel as if people are judging this game too harshly off of how finished CoH2 is now and forgetting that CoH2 was really, really barebones when it was released. 2 factions, 1 bad campaign that I still haven't finished to this day, and bad skins on units.

This game has a long road ahead of it and a lot of potential. Assuming Relic supports it, it should be worth it in the long run.

Is it worth $60? No, unless you don't care about the audio. It's worth more like $40-45 in its current state. Because I had more positive things to say about the game and can see the potential of it, I guess I'll give it a thumbs up.

Mix an open world like Skyrim with Dark Souls gameplay and action RPG mechanics and you get a masterpiece like this. It's amazing, nearly flawless, and has tons of replayability by the looks of it. My first impressions initially were that Margit is a cruelly difficult boss to throw so early in the game at the player, but he's definitely still do-able. (Even though he is a ♥♥♥♥♥)

The game does not hold your hand, so you're going to want to get advice from the community. Lemme tell you now that if you ever run into difficulty in this game, like your weapon not doing enough damage---change your strategy. Maybe the boss is just strong against your type of build? Maybe it requires more precise dodges? Maybe you're just underleveled? Ask yourself these questions if you ever get stuck and you'll develop a good mentality to get past a challenging game such as this one.

It's much better than the first game in pretty much every way. After some bug updates this game will be the perfect JP fans dream.

This game is incredible. Fans of space battles of Empire At War can rejoice because this game is essentially that concept but in VR with you in the bridge of your own ship.