Recent reviews by Thanedd

It was immensely fun during the honeymoon phase, with the first months being a blast from the past.

Now though it has sadly turned into a sweat-fest with way to much weird stuff going on. At first you'd think there was some kind of math behind the gun damage, but it's just to random to even bother.

The decent folks have left for better games and so should you.

After fighting in the dark for 25 min and losing due to a faulty aggroed Deamonhost, I pat myself on the shoulder being proud of my contribution to the team effort. GGs and WPs are traded between us before we part ways.

I head over to upgrade my gear and the NPC instantly reminds me of how useless I am and that I need to head back out to prove myself.

And just like that, all the daddy issues from my youth is coming back to me.

As many others say, basically a free game alongside an album!

I mean, if you want pure HALO it's probably the best the genre has been since HALO 3.

I played a few games and just felt "meh". I've done this same gameplay for 20 years now. Yeah it's a few new weapons and gameplay additions, but nothing mindblowing. Can't really place the feeling since I was hyped for the game, but it's probably since I was expecting something entirely new. Which the game most certainly isn't.

It's nice that it went F2P but I've already grinded for Emile's armor 11 years ago in Reach and in MCC. But I ain't doing that one again for sure. So outside of the pass there ain't much customization for now sadly.

EDIT: Play with a controller if you want the full experience. The auto-aim is so massively overpowered it's almost a joke. You can literally see the game aim for the head for you with no recoil...

To keep it short: You basically gift stuff to the character you fancy and after a while they become your so called "beloved". Then at the last moment the game turns out to have chosen someone else for you, more accurately the family-friendly traveling vendor next door who you bought all your armor from and has been following you all game. You just didn't notice him, senpai.

Just like real life! Plot-twists and immersion!

Not only did the developers abandon the game right before launch, but now they try to scrub every inch of the game's would-have-been existance of the face of the earth. Shame on you Systemic Reaction!

Backstory
Being a Gears of War veteran and having played every game since I could walk this next installment in the legendary series most certainly managed to get my hopes up, but fell short before the finish line. Below we'll dive deeper into why.

Short summary of the game's gamemodes so you see what you get in the "package":

Campaign
Top notch, with good story and a few hours to put in it. Not the best one yet but good gameplay overall with a few new design elements to it like open-world segments. Got some nice nostalgic moments in it as well for you Gears veterans!

Multiplayer
Were the guys over at The Coalition smoking something when they balanced this? I am not close to a good Gears player but holy macarony this is a complete mess. Wouldn't recommend even if I got payed for it.

Horde
An average experience that is fun for a few hours, but it somehow feels like it's lacking something. I grinded the heck out of Horde back in Gears 2 & 3 and loved every minute of it, but this time I just can't put my finger on what is missing...
The addition of the Hero system though adds slightly more depth and reason keep going back to the gamemode, which is a pro.

Escape
Escape is a real good gamemode to play with mates and a nice addition to the game. Although beware that every game above the first 3 difficulties is a nightmare with randoms.

Marketing
And of course, the battlepass. The "Tour of Duty". Well, we players managed to get rid of lootboxes right? I'd say we traded one demon for another. It's a step in the right direction but a foul way to control player behaviour. The time spent on that grind is nowhere near worth the rewards.

Oh and by the way. Was this a Terminator or a Gears game? Cause I swear I see more Terminators than Swarm running around in my games. And hey, while we're at it we might as well put another pack of Terminator characters in there for 20 bucks....

Did I mention that us players are paying Tencent for the right to advertise their movie by buying the Terminator characters?

Summary
I do in the end recommend this game because some parts of it has quality. But I can't stand for this kind of scam marketing behaviour. If you are interested in the story and want some descent hours of gameplay, then do of course buy the game. Bring a mate or two (Story is 3 player coop) and enjoy.

The nostalgia and the core gameplay made me at first glance believe I was home. But when I opened my eyes for what it actually was it made me realize in what a dark direction gaming is going. As they say: fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. At least this time I managed to open my eyes. And for that Coalition, I salute you.

Coming back to the game after a 6 months break I can't say I am overjoyed by the game's current state. After an extensive marketing campaign and hype we get a refurbished moon with a campaign that should put shame on the developers. I LOVED Destiny before and always in some sense understood the changes and addons they made. But this time I can't stand by it.

Believing to be able to pull back on the hardcore experience because of life was a serious wrongdoing. Pushing an Iron Banner (PvP with level advantages) tournament 2 weeks after launch only shows what kind of elitist game it has become. With a weekly rotation on how much Light i can go up each week, I have a hard time understanding how I am supposed to have a chance without no lifing the game to the extreme.

This is although no rage review coming from a bad experience in Iron Banner. Iron Banner is, in some way, supposed to show the Wolves among us Guardians and cull the weak. But the gameplay loop I have been presented with is not one that I can support.

From having been a mixed back of causal and hardcore with something to enjoy for everyone, this has gone far enough. Destiny is an immensive experience which most peeps sometime during their gaming experience should try out. But it is no longer a road for the faint hearted. If you want to at least try to ENJOY the game on a descent level, get ready to put your "normal" life on the line. At some point you will like me stand at the threshold and Destiny will ask for your soul to proceed.

Just loving the game so far! A real advancement from the old game, which itself was a real diamond. It has kept the old games good sides while improving on it negatives, which includes larger maps and pure chaos from the air support. A perfect jack of all trades which the game nailes perfectly.
The game has both co-op and versus, alongside a competitive side of the versus mode for those more into such things. I find both modes very playable, having tried them both for a few hours. I can say that I haven't had adrenaline pumping this much in quite a while!
For those of you that want progression in your games it also includes a leveling system alongside character customization.
The only negative I have is a few annoying glitches like hands disappearing. It kind of ruins the immersion a bit with a flying gun, but it's fortunately nothing game breaking. From what I've heard and red the devs are working on these bugs smashing them one by one.
A must buy for a great price if you're into hardcore shooters. The game is only going forward with a great and competent dev team.

Identity Crisis 101

No idea if I'm playing a hardcore or arcade shooter...

The visuals are what keeps drawing me back to the game, only to every time be met with disapointment by the gameplay. I've seen weird stuff in my days but this game wins most awards in that category. There's De-sync, ping abuse alongside numerous more issues that existed in games made 15 years ago.

Recommended if you want to spend your gameplay hours infront of a deathscreen, having been onetapped through a wall across half the map by a Prestige 80. Also, might as well get a Netflix subscription while you're at it with the camping you'll be exposed to. Alongside the camping, your banter game will be on top after a few hours as well. The "high-prestige sweatlords" will spare no time in pointing out every single flaw of your very existance. If you ain't reading their minds and playing the way they want you to you're in for a bad time.

Remember those pesky snipers aaaaall the way at the edge of the map when Battlefield still was a thing? Those sneaky little rats that always managed to escape juuuust at the moment you finally caught up to them and then shoot you from the other side 5 minutes later?

That's right. Those kiddos are all grown up now and it's in Hunt Showdown you'll find em'.

UPDATE: After having a little bird whisper to me about legendary matchmaking changes I decided to do another round at the game. Are they sure the whole thing isn't some kind of very late April fools joke? With a few games on my belt to settle my matchmaking rank I expected players of decent skill since I placed in a decent bracket. But yet here I am, missing half my shots and kills but still being put alongside syncronized, veteran Discord trios/ duos that quickly and effectively exterminate the whole server. What in the Allfathers name were they smoking when they came up with this?