Recent reviews by anointed

i don't know why borderlands games lately (3 and onward) have dropped the ball in key areas oif what makes the franchise great. This one is superior to bl3 in charm and story, and equal i would say in gameplay on a moment by moment basis. However, borderlands 3, while being the worst borderlands writing up to that point, had an excellent end game loop, along with tvhm and subsequent playthroughs.
I still recommend tiny tina's wonderland, but what the hell is wrong with the studio, that they would get this far with such a great game, and then completely blow the end game and replay loops? I think it was easier to just type in some code (spawn x amount of enemies, etc), use all the resources and procedural generation tools they already had, and call it a day. I'm specifically referring to the chaos chambers there, which is not included in the base game, but that is the only end game content there is. And you are stuck without progressing the character you used, and have to start with a new one to replay the game.
For context, i have a couple thousand hours in bl2, and hundreds of hours in bl3, and played at least one game with each character (i can't swear to that without looking, in the case of 3, but in bl2 i have multiples of each character). I have no problem restarting a borderlands game with a new character. After, usually, i have maxed out one character, usually. But also for a variety of other reasons. The point is, i have only played tiny tina's wonderlands about 1.5 times in all the time it's been out, and that is exclusively because i am so disappointed in the end game loop and lack of 'new game +' type mode (tvhm, uvhm).
Seems to me, the franchise is given some love, but also plagued with money grubbing execs, woke politics (subjective, i realize), inexperienced and under talented writers (specifically bl3), and burn out or laziness, giving way to lazy procedurally generated end game content to avoid actually having to use play testers and balance for more levels (the skill trees would have to be added to, to avoid maxing out in a few more levels than currently exist).
All this being said, it's a very nice game with a fantastic aesthetic, a decent and kind of charming (and pretty stupid at times, but it's a tiny tina game, what did you expect) story, with, of course, the best quality gameplay imaginable. It's worth it, and for me, even knowing the faults in advance, i still bought the dlc. I don't regret it, but it's just not that fun compared to what it should be, imo.

7 unicorn farts out of 9.

It's definitely worth playing, but don't come for the story. The game play makes up for it, but man... I despise the writing, to the point i despise the writers for this game. Junk.

I have only just begun to play the director's cut. I hadn't noticed the lack of widescreen support, previously, even though i have had widescreen monitors for several years now. As a result, i am not a reliable source to review the upgrade, so i will just review the game itself (again).

i do recommend the game. It is all the worst things about hideo kojima's directorial style, but it is also some of the things he wanted it to be.
and, after not playing for a year or so, i am glad to go back and live there again for awhile.

It's a good game, a masterpiece in its own right, but disjointed, absurd, slow paced, and ultimately, the most literal 'walking simulator' you can imagine. I wish there were more weapons, or at least that the penalty for killing someone would be removed or reduced. Of course, that poses a huge problem for the narrative, so.... it is what it is.

Fantastic game in every respect. Top 5 of all time, all things considered.

In the decade that i've owned the rocksmith and remastered games, i've went from being utter dogsh*t on guitar to being just dogsh*t.

This game was good on Nintendo 3DS. I haven't played it much on pc, but it is fine.

This is my favorite turn based strategy game. If you get all the dlc, it is a fairly deep, complete experience, and I have replayed the game several times already.
I like games with controller support, and this has a good implementation. The xcom games leave little to no room for excuse for other tbs games to implement controller support, and if they did, i'd play them.

i have 420 hours at the time of writing this review. I thought that would be a good time to do so.

When John Jim Milton put the pitchfork against the wrong wall, instead of returning it to the area where he found it, I lost all respect for this game.

I don't think fences were ever built that way.

I liked the part where Jim John taught his son to ride a bike.

So, after beginning Bioshock 2 at least 2 times previously (once on the original version, which I didn't like because it had no controller support, another time years later when the remastered version came out), I finally finished it. I grew to appreciate the philosophical nuance of this game, this time around, whereas during the first few hours of the game previously I had the impression it was basically just a ripoff of the theme of Bioshock, which is a masterpiece on every level, including and especially the story.
To get to the point, I think Bioshock 2 has a little bit more to say about the various moral dilemmas inherent in a utopian society (attempt), and especially about the ones particular to this game's lore. It wasn't quite the cinematic achievement the original was, perhaps, but only because the most shocking elements of the story had already been revealed in the previous installment. However, it was still a very good story, and a very good game.
The game is old enough now that it ran at a few hundred fps or more at 2k ultrawide settings, all settings maxed (except probably motion blur and depth of field, can't remember if it has those though), with 8eq antialiasing forced in AMD settings, Despite its age, the game looks great, and delivers on the experience quite well.
Sound is also good. Positioning, reverb, volumes, all seemed fine (with sound levels left on default). I have my speaker or headphone volume pretty loud when I play games, and nothing sounded 'off' that I detected (at least not that i remember).
Of course, there are a few minor annoyances (and one intermediate one). The necessity to first pick up the recorders before looking at a space without searchable or collectible items and holding the "A" button (on my XBox controller anyway) is a minor one, and in more recent years has been trumped by the 'hold the button while you collect it" that is so much more convenient. Then there is the more annoying issue I had, where the incorrect weapon or plasmid would appear in my hand after selecting a different one. I attribute that to a slight input lag present in my game (I did have vsync on, and it was pegged at 144 fps the entire time, so it probably wasn't that) with my controller. The input lag was not a consistent problem though, and i didn't notice it except in the first menu of the game (and the item wheel selection issue i mentioned).
Apart from that, the game was great. Rating it based on when it came out (so, eliminating my complaints, by context of the time it was created), I would rate this game a 10/10. Even by todays standards, it is an easy 9/10.

The best orcs must die yet, and that is saying a lot.

Decent graphics compared to the previous installments (and compared to anything older than a decade). I would have liked true current gen graphics, similar to the cutscenes, but we take what we can get, and it does look fine, regardless. Especially at this 30 dollar price point.

Silly story and acting, of course. It doesn't hurt the experience any, and it does a passable job bringing back the old characters and some new ones.

Where this, and the other orcs must die, shine, though, is the game play. This is the most fun you will have this week. Maybe even this year. The classic gameplay is back, with all the traps, plus some new mechanics and traps as part of the castle defense scenarios. It all comes together in a great, fun package. Get this at full price, in order to ensure an orcs must die 4 gets to us someday sooner than later.