Recent reviews by Mothvibe

Can't believe this is considered a final release version.

The balance is crazy, the characters don't even make sense half the time (WHY DOES WOLVERINE LOOK LIKE A ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ GYM TEACHER?), and the devs have no idea how to handle feedback.

The community are already, in less than a month, shaping up to be THE worst gaming community in existence. They're giving Warhammer 40k a run for its money - and for all the same ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ reasons might I add.

It's almost like something about Steam rewards ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and punishes those who engage in good faith. Curious.

Listen to me, seriously listen to what I'm about to say: *I had more fun with Day One Garry's Incident than I did with this ridiculous half-baked glorified tech demo parading as a so-called Triple-A game*.

This 'game' feels like the answer to the question - and I cannot stress enough that this is accurate as hell and not hyperbole - 'What if the HiRez game Paladins had no redeeming qualities whatsoever?'

The only thing this 'game' achieved for me was how it reminded me that Realm Royale Reforged is closing down next year. So I played that instead. THAT was fun, and I have the coding travesty named Marvel Rivals to thank for that.

I award this 'game' -1/10 (not a typo)

So this is a 'Recommended' - but with major caveats.

If you have any other version of Generation Zero, you should play that instead. This is because the final update made sweeping changes to the game so you HAVE to engage with the basebuilding.

If you have it somewhere else, you're probably at endgame and this won't affect you TOO much (beyond being upset at how much weaker your base is now).

I will explain the game itself in a bit but first I'd like to give the perfect example of why the changes are so bad, and how it makes getting to endgame harder.

Grenades used to be quite cheap to craft. You could do an average run (a mission or two, looting all the while) and get enough materials ('mats') to make anywhere from 10-30 grenades.

You could use the grenades to - well, you've played video games, you know how grenades work.

They were VERY handy for taking down the enemy bases.

Well now you literally can't craft them until endgame (unless there's some way I'm not aware of).

GRENADES.

THE explosive projectile.

This would be like if the shotgun was hidden timelocked behind the endgame: They're both supposed to be workhorses, not endgame goals.

*No, I have not misunderstood. No, you have not misunderstood. A living breathing human genuinely thought this was an appropriate design choice for a FINAL UPDATE.*

That kind of logic can't be played 'around'. You can't just ignore that.

The ONLY explosives you'll have are the explosives you find. And you won't find many.

==================================================

The game itself is a loose-but-atmospheric post-apocalypse first-person shooter with basic stealth elements and light RPG elements, It takes place in Ostertorn (a fictional Swedish area) which is overrun with mechanical foes.

The NPCs feel wedged in, because they literally were (apparently they weren't around at launch). I don't know if European kids are different from other kids but Therese (the main civilian NPC) looks 25, sounds 16, and uses the logic of a 12-year-old. She says the phrase 'This person is my favourite grown-up'. Therese, you are a grown up yourself - you shouldn't be saying things like 'my favourite grown up'.

The gameplay itself feels like the answer to the question: 'What if Stalker and System Shock Remake had a baby?'

The gameplay loop feels like the answer to the question 'What if Fallout 76 was good, actually?'

The story feels like the answer to the question 'hey man can you please make a really interesting story but then, like, tell it in pieces so I can ignore it if I want?'

Having said that, the story is not interesting in the sense that it brings something new to the table. It's interesting because it's approached differently, and it's supported by the atmosphere. It's immersive as hell. The gameplay is the story is the gameplay, if you see what I'm saying.

If this were a modern Fallout game, you'd be given a pretend time limit you can completely ignore (FIND YOUR KIDNAPPED SON but also help the minutemen first and also you should totally build a base and explore first though).

This is not a modern Fallout game, so you don't get any pretend time limit. As far as movement goes, you can just do whatever you want, whenever you want.

Unless you want to craft a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ grenade of course.

This is the first time I've recommended a game I don't really enjoy.

I think it might be because I didn't buy it, it was a thoughtful gift.

It's just full of little quibbles that I hate dealing with, but the types of quibbles that don't seem to bother people. So I reckon most people would enjoy this, but I'm not one of them. Makes sense? Alrighty, moving on.

================================

Titanfall 2 is a first-person shooter game. It consists of two very different play sections, sometimes in the same mission/map. You can be a pilot, which means you're a normal soldier guy running around using guns and doing wall-jumps and all that great stuff. You can also pilot a titan, which means you're a giant mech stomping around using heavy ordnance and all that great stuff.

The story is serviceable so far. Not particularly noteworthy, but I like this because game stories are like spies: Your job is to either be noteworthy or invisible, so pick a lane and nail it or I'm not interested.

The graphics are probably the most realistic, graphics I've ever seen. It's beautiful.

The gunplay is Destiny-tier. Yes, it's THAT good. When you're not in your Titan, anyway.

ALL the aesthetics from the sound to the font choices are WELL on-point.

But I just can't get past some of the design choices.

--------------------------------------

I mentioned quibbles before. Some people accept these things, and they'll be fine. If the following doesn't bother you and you like the sound of the game, I'd say go ahead and buy it.

The rest of this review is a rant. This is free content. If you don't want to keep reading, you're allowed to stop (always were).

- Remember that time you were eating a really great meal and you just stopped for no good reason?

No, me either, because that's not how sane people act.

And yet, for some reason, there's no 'Swap Loadout' button for Titan loadouts. You literally have to stop your single-player-only campaign (no co-op), go to a menu, select the thing, confirm the thing, paint the thing, pet the thing, I don't know I can't remember I kind of blacked out from laughing.

TF 2 simps will say 'oh but the loadout menu has a hotkey', because they've missed the point completely.

The point being: Every single second I'm not playing a game is another second I'm not playing the game. If I'm gonna be forced to not play the game at certain points, I might as well lean into that. Might as well play another game entirely, in fact.

All the modern Bethesda games (except F76) do the same thing but at least they let you favourite items so you can avoid the menu if you want to. Really think about that: This game is less UI-optimized than any modern Bethesda game.

'Blah blah blah something about gamepad'

Don't care, I'm playing it on PC with M+K and it'd be cool if the game acknowledged that.

- Hope you like third party launchers!

Of course you do, a lot of you love Gabe Newell and want to marry him. But you don't even THINK of Steam as a third party launcher, do you? Well it literally is unless you're playing a Valve game, isn't it? You just give third party ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ a free pass.

So it won't bother you that you need an EA account to play the game, or that you might need a PSN account AS WELL to play certain types of Multiplayer

- Hope you like playing on L1 characters!

Tried to engage with the multiplayer. Played a LOT of games.

Earnt no XP because it was in a custom match.

Not: Earnt 50% xp. No, I got NONE.

Why is that?

Was I not playing MP?

Yet again some ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ gaming exec has decided I'm not allowed to have nice things, 'because reasons'.

'They do that to force people to play with each other.'

The rest of you might be fine with that ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ but I'm sure as hell not.

I want to 'play a game' not ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ 'rely on random humans behaving themselves so I can achieve a specific goal during my limited free time'

However there are many more of you types of people than there are of me, hence the recommendation.

Stormgate is one of the most divisive games I've ever played: Fortunately the chaos is in the community, not the game itself.

-------------------

Stormgate is a Real-Time Strategy game.

It could be argued that Stormgate is *all* Real-Time Strategy games, because it borrows so heavily from the rest of the genre.

This is the source of the division.

----------------------
There are, of course, the usual anti-woke brigadiers complaining about how the females don't wear space chainmail bikinis or whatever. I have now acknowledged the fact that these views exist, and I invite you to join me in giving them all the attention they deserve: No more at all.
----------------------

I could go on about how long I've played RTS video games. All you need to know is I was playing RTS games since before they birthed MOBAs.

And Stormgate feels like peak of the form.

Don't me wrong: It's not the best overall RTS (because that's not how RTSs work). It's not the one with the quickest CPS (Clicks-Per-Second, which is how the pros measure their playspeed). It's not the one with the best mods (YET).

But it is definitely, without any shadow of a doubt, a game ANY gamer can get into.

ANY gamer who's interested, naturally.

If I had a friend who didn't play RTSs and was interested, this is the game I'd use. The onboarding (the process of teaching you about the game) is streamlined.

There are two ways to learn the game, and I've never seen one of them before. The most obvious way is to use the first few missions of the campaign, which is implemented perfectly here. By the time you finish the prologue, you'll understand the UI, how to move and attack with your units, and which tier 1 buildings to build - and more importantly, *why* to build them.

Some players may find that a little bit 'handholdy'. These same players are probably experienced enough to know that's business as usual for the first few missions.

I have completed the prologue and am ready to begin the campaign. I FEEL ready to begin the campaign.

I know in my mind that I have already begun the campaign. The prologue is obviously the beginning of the campaign. But in my heart, I know it's just been the tutorial.

So I did what any other insane person would do in my position: I tried out Skirmish Mode instead of continuing the campaign.

-------------------------------------------

Beyond the campaign, there are also a few other game modes, all of which can be done in solo (with and/or against bots) or multiplayer.

Co-op mode in particular interests me. Co-op in RTS isn't the same as 'team multiplayer'. Instead of just getting a base map and one enemy or more, you get a random (but fully fleshed out) scenario. The most common one is the 'Stop the convoys' which is exactly what it sounds like.

I loved the co-op mode in Starcraft 2 but I hated being forced to play with other humans. Stormgate allows me to play it solo.

Stormgate Co-op is tougher than SC2 Co-op because Stormgate is designed for 3 players (compared to SC2's two-player Co-op) - and yet we're allowed to try it all on our own if we want.

THAT.

That right there.

That's why I like Stormgate - because the handholding only happens during the teaching part. You can solo ANYTHING in the entire game, or die trying. If I want to play against 4 AI enemies, I can just rack it up. I don't have to trick the game into that, like with SC2. And I get to use my skins if there's more than 4 players - unlike Starcraft 2 with its arbitrary anti-fun limits.

-----------------------------------------

Skirmish mode can be played at Tutorial Difficulty - basically the same as Beginner, but you get onscreen tips/prompts to help you get a basic base set up.

I have never seen that in any other game ever. They usually EITHER do campaign stuff, or have a bunch of annoying popups that players end up ignoring during Skirmish matches.

Don't like lengthy tutorials OR campaigns? WELL GET STUFFED say most games. But not Stormgate.

Good guy Stormgate Skirmish Tutorial will help you for a few minutes and then completely disappear, letting you ACTUALLY put the stuff you learned into practice.

-------------------------

But it's not only simple enough for a beginner, it's also complex enough for a veteran. I'm not a pro so I can't speak for those folks, but this has everything I want from a modern RTS. There are enough game modes and maps to keep me going for a while yet.

Then there's the different factions, who all have a different playstyle.

A lot of people compare this game to Warcraft/Starcraft.

Side note: Frost Giant are literally ex-Blizzard devs, so I'd be more surprised if it WASN'T compared to those two games.

I haven't had that experience. I can see why people say that, but to me this game feels more like Command and Conquer crossed with WH40K classic Dawn of War serie.

Vanguard are basically Space Marines, but they feel more like playing Red Alert 3 Soviet Russia than they do Starcraft Terrans.

Inferno are basically standard hell tropes, but they feel like playing a cross between SC2 Zerg and Age of Mythology Atlanteans.

Celestials are basically the answer to the question 'What if the Red Alert 3 Imperial Army used SC2 Protoss tech but dressed like WH40k's Eldar?'

I thought this game would feel like Starcraft 3. It doesn't. It feels more like a TC for Dawn of War - in all the right ways. The only way it feels even remotely Blizzard-esque is the fact that it has creeps (enemies used to rank up player units).

--------------------------------

The aesthetics are fine. I see nothing wrong with the graphics, all of the buildings and units look different enough that you can tell what's happening during a battle, which is all I care about. Star Trek Online might be gorgeous as hell, but that stops me from being able to see what's happening during most space battles.

The sound lacks a certain punch, especially on some of the larger units. But the game is still Early Access so I'm not too fussed about that.

---------------------------

There's a HUGE drawback to all of this: The game is live-service.

No internet? No game. That regularly affects me and I won't pretend otherwise.

But do they at least do all the live service things?

Thankfully yes. The game is regularly updated, the devs will listen to feedback (but they also make it clear when they won't, which I respect a lot more than radio silence), they're still adding quality of life stuff, there's currently a simple Halloween event - and so on.

It's very possible I'll get some clown awards because people will think I'm being a shill. I have no control over that.

What I do have control over is 'what games I choose to play'.

And Stormgate is now one of them. If you think about it: There's no higher accolade than that, really!

I love this game, but I HATE two things about it:

A) - The devs think a club should have more range in melee combat than a spear does (yes seriously). As an avid spear user in games this disgusts me.

At least I can throw it, but the throwing arc is weaker than my nanna could do, and she's been dead for years.

B) - Don't be fooled by how easy the building looks. The building mechanics, once you're using them, are serviceable. But getting to that point is more hassle than it needs to be, it's all complication and no complexity. Further, the building itself has stupid arbitrary limits that the devs refuse to tell you about ingame.

Because that's what I want when I spend money on a game: Homework.

--------------------------------

How to place a floor in various games:

*The Forest series*: You want to place a floor, so you place the outline of the floor then fill it in with resources you've collected.

*Valheim*:

1 - Craft a hammer (Good news! You only ever have to do this step once! unless you lose your hammer)
2 - Equip the hammer
3 - Build a workbench

'Hey that sounds neat, can I build a floor to put my workbench on?'

Adorable. Sure you can. AFTER YOU BUILD YOUR WORKBENCH. You can build the floor under the workbench after you've build the workbench, because this game uses Three Stooges logic for the building.

4 - Choose your build pieces from their weirdly-titled menu (A standing torch is furniture? An ornamental-only chopping block is crafting?)
5 - Congrats, you can FINALLY begin placing stuff!
6 - No, not there, something's blocking that even though the game won't tell you WHAT'S blocking it.
7 - No, not there either. That's too high off the ground! I DON'T CARE IF YOU PLACED SUPPORTS!
8 - Now you're being attacked by enemies, so now you have to unequip your hammer. ♥♥♥♥ you if you use controller and want to get into combat quickly.
9 -Whew, that's finally over, time to build again!
10 - Did you forget to re-equip your hammer lol
12 - NO NOT THERE

*Minecraft*: You want to place a floor, so you place a floor.

This game answers the question: What if Sniper Elite 3 was better in every way, including not having piece of ♥♥♥♥ devs?

I went to the discord and some guy had the name KKK_Klown.

I asked the mods about it and they never replied.

I thought the discord for a game where you kill nazis wouldn't pander to white supremacist ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

I was wrong.

If you want an actual game review: This game is widely regarded as the worst of the modern Sniper Elite games.

Play SE4 instead: It's got better maps, weapons, DLC, and skins. And the discord isn't run by bigot-pandering asshats (I checked).

Typical half-arsed Steam version of game.

If you want to buy this to play with your friends, make sure your friends are able to deal with the following issues:

- Worst UI known to mankind.

- If you want to play Multiplayer, you'll need to deal with port forwarding ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ (what the hell year IS this?) Yes I know this is an older game. Plenty of other older games don't pull this stunt.

If Steam ever gave me refunds instead of ignoring my needs and deliberately misunderstanding me every single time I contacted them, I'd refund this piece of ♥♥♥♥ game in a heartbeat. Wouldn't even think about it.

Reminder: Valve is not your friend and they're taken A LOT more from PC gamers than they ever gave.

Valve don't care about anything that matters. They're not your friend.

Consider this: Steam's great draw was convenience. It was more convenient than piracy.

The trade off? You don't own anything you buy on their store. You buy the rights to access the games.

Valve can - and will - remove games. Games can be gutted by the devs, and Steam won't do a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ thing about it because they're still getting money. All you original Hero Siege fans, you know what I'm talking about.

'Oh they'll refund games'

Maybe for you. I don't know one single person that's had a game refunded in the last year. Well, I got something refunded but it took three different tries which resulted in me having to write a HUGE wall of text.

How is that convenient?

A buddy of mine can't play Helldivers 2 anymore because of where they live. Like, they literally cannot play with others.

How is that convenient? And yes I know all about how it was always supposed to be this way. That changes nothing meaningful: My buddy still can't play the game with me.

What's the 'convenience' there? Getting to play for a few weeks?

Do you know what WOULD have been 'convenient'? If Valve had said 'No' to PSN's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

But they didn't, because they don't have your back, because they're not your friend.

If this is the 'convenience' that Steam is famous for, then a LOT of us have VERY low standards.

Consider this: Steam's main draw (convenience) is no longer relevant to most PC gamers. They've become little more than just another corrupt publisher - assuming that they weren't from the get go.

Steam isn't the most convenient way to PC game anymore, it's not the cheapest, and it only sells you one-off licenses.

To be clear: I'm not talking about piracy. I am not advocating for piracy here.

My point is that *certain other companies* don't force ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ launchers on their paying customers. As a bonus, they're MORE than happy to let me hand my games down to my kids.

Valve are trash and it's about time the PC gaming community stopped worshipping those actively working against them.

==================================

Also TF2 is full of bots because Valve can't even run their OWN games properly.

REALLY trying to get into this game but it stops me at every turn.

---------------------

I decide to try out the Mouse and Keyboard controls.

The intro cutscene begins.

In the lower-left of the screen, it tells me I can skip the cutscene.

However, it's using the xbox controller controls, so I have no idea what button to press.

I press Esc. Nothing.

I press Space Bar. Nothing.

I press Enter. Nothing.

I press - and I cannot stress enough that this not hyperbole - every single number and letter on my keyboard, including the numpad. Nothing.

I Alt-Tab out because what I OBVIOUSLY really wanted to do was 'research', not 'play a game'.

I find out that the answer is 'F1'. It's F1 to skip the cutscenes.

How silly of me not to have known that.

No matter, I skip the generic-ass cutscene and prepare to play.

The Mouse and Keyboard controls are laughable. The sensitivity is ridiculous.

As a result, the plane on my screen is thrashing around like some kind of wounded sky shark.

I give up on Mouse and Keyboard and decide to try it out on gamepad.

------------------------------------

The game doesn't force me to quit out and restart if I want to use a controller (I'M LOOKING DIRECTLY AT YOU, WARHAMMER 40K - INQUISITOR: MARTYR), so that's nice.

I restart the mission so I can find out what the gamepad controls are.

I take off.

The plane is reacting to my controls just like it should.

Everything feels fine.

I begin to relax.

I have a few moments until I have to engage in combat, so I decide to look around.

I touch my right gamepad stick and the camera WHIPS to the back of my jet, so I'm now looking backwards.

I release the stick.

The camera WHIPS back to the default view.

My frustration begins to rise.

"Relax." I tell myself. "Just drop the sensitivity in the menu."

I pause the game and go to the menu.

Nope, can't find it in the options anywhere - looks like I need to exit the mission.

I exit the mission.

The setting simply doesn't exist. A cursory internet search will show you that you have to manually make changes to your ini file.

This shamelessly expensive game, which claims it was released in the year 2019, *doesn't have a sensitivity slider for gamepad*.

That's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ridiculous.

At least Bethesda games let me play them for a bit before they piss me off.

---------------------------------

I tried to ignore it and just 'play'. Nope. If I want to play this game I will need to manually change the ini.

I'm more than capable of doing that (just like pretty much anyone else with a pulse). Maybe one day I will.

But in the meantime I'll be playing games that don't make me manually fix them due to having woefully subpar gamepad options.

I feel pretty confident in guessing that this game is less a game and more a collection of minor annoyances for me, minor annoyances that other people are happy to overlook.

That is genuinely awesome for them, but it doesn't affect my experience one bit.