Recent reviews by Deriderex

Thank you Black Lab Games for being such a prick and removing my game from my library, one assumes devs would be delighted that customers even play your game but no. The reason i got it outside steam is because for how old the game is...its overpriced, and you think ill be desperate to get it back and pay £33.50 on steam for your game? ♥♥♥♥ you.

Given that sony has decided to reverse the undemocratic mandatory psn account creation...i will now change my review to a positive one.
Those who play the game know how good the game is...sure the devs have shown to be inept at dealing with controversy but by now they most surely have learnt the lesson first hand.

I look forward to getting back into the game with my buddys at my side spreading democracy for all.

Ship Status: SES Protector of Humanity leaving Super Earth Shipyards (Decommissioning Canceled)

Helldiver Status: Reinstated....Reporting for duty....

Make no mistake, Tekken 8 is a good game...the music...the way it looks...its beautiful. what i say next cannot be overstated enough, it has its problems, glaring problems.
It departs from what we Tekken fans were accustomed too from Tekken 7, and here's why.
Firstly, We have devolved from the 3D aspect and went to a more 2D platform.
The tone deaf decision to implement a battle pass with no interesting items, no reason to actually buy the pass either. what was the point in this other than to appeal to the newer players, the ones that picked up Tekken now in Tekken 8.
Now the most frustrating part which is kinda linked to the 2D-3D aspect, You can literally mash out pure aggression and win in this game. A mate of mine used a character recently called Eddie Gordo and absolutely destroyed me whilst saying "all i have to do is keep pressing 3" this is a problem made more so by the fact its a dlc character that you pay extra for. There are other characters that are brain dead mash machines in the game already (victor for example) but this just takes the piss.

The heat system that has been implemented in Tekken 8 has been a resounding failure in my eyes and apparently..the vast majority of the player base. To be honest i would have been happier if they kept Rage Drive and Rage Art and that's it. None of this power crushing heat smash followed by instant heat blast that you pretty much block anyway cos you know its coming.

Bandai decided aggression is the main option of play here, if you maintain it, you'll go up the ranks fast but at the end of the day it takes the kudos away from attaining those higher ranks it doesn't matter anymore.
The game has only been out for several months and its not looking good to be honest, the reception on the recent patches have gone down like a lead balloon with the established player base and they need to take some serious thought in the future to their patch development.

It is a good game but if bandai doesn't correct its course soon the game will lose the majority of its player base quicker than they got it.

Armoured Core 6

It took 6 games for me to take notice of the Armoured Core Franchise and i was pleasantly surprised to find out It was FromSoftware who created it.
Having played their Souls games and Elden Ring i became fairly confident the game was going to be enjoyable even if i had no clue as to what the story was or how to play it. The story trailer sealed the deal for me, i loved it. The melancholy sound track, the futile feeling you get, the fact that the mission was complete even though the 3 hounds died in the process. Is it really a success if everyone of your assets dies in the process? in Armoured Core 6 the answer seems to be yes.
Like other Fromsoftware games, Armoured Core 6 does not hold your hand in any respect. sure, it gives you some pointers early on to get used to the mechanics but after that you are on your own.
You assume the role of Augmented Human C4 621, A "hound" of Handler Walter, who seeks your cooperation in fulfilling his goals after the death of 617, 619 and 620 (rest in peace brothers)

The Pros

- For starters, the story trailer is just absolutely brilliant and once you are fairly stuck into the story itself, the story trailer makes a lot more sense other than just being a cinematic trailer.
- Your mech has weight to it, and you feel it appropriately. Got a heavy mech build? you can feel and hear the weight of your mech as it moves around.
- I seen alot of youtube reviewers talking smack about the graphic fidelity stating its like ps3-ps4 graphics. I don't know if they were sincere in those remarks or they just couldn't get past the first boss but for me and my PC, the game was beautiful.
- Like Fromsoftwares other titles, theres an element of punishment that carries over too Armoured Core 6. Yes...if you mess up a dodge, you will get punished for it. Having said that, its not as bad as Elden Ring. You can recover if you can get back into the groove. However, there are a few missions were you need to be at your A game or you are going to have a frustrating time. (fighting 3 mercenary's at once will be a system shock at first and may even seem unfair, but using what you've learnt will carry the day).
- The story, another thing that i have heard is that Armoured Core 6 has no story or no story that can easily be followed. This is true if you skip all the dialogue. The story is there, sure...it becomes more obvious has you get into the 3rd play through on NG++, but it is there, you just have to listen to the dialogue. So what about the story? well...its bloody brilliant. plenty of likeable characters with their own agendas which get revealed as you go (i didnt expect my buddy V4 Rusty to be so awesome) and Walter was cool i guess lol.
- The missions themselves can vary from short and sweet to pretty prolonged escapades through the many different areas of Rubicon 3 usually culminating in a boss fight. Didnt matter if one particular mission lasted 1 min and 30 seconds, it was still fun to experience. (i'm looking at you trainee pilot who just wanted a call sign)
- Armoured Core 6 brings to the table around 50 different weapons for any kind of mech build you can think of, what feels like around 100 mech parts that you can earn or find whilst progressing through the game and also can be found in hidden caches in missions after chapter 1.
- The mech customisation is the most comprehensive customisation facility i have ever seen and i have spent atleast 10-15 hours in that alone. Plenty of options to get that favourite Gundam or whatever build lol.
- The campaign itself in total had taken me around 80-100 hours to do the 3 play throughs necessary to get the full story, absolutely no doubts about getting your moneys worth out of it.
- The soundtrack...Obviously its going to be a different direction than the likes of Souls or Elden Rings epicness, but it still manages to have some really memorable tracks, it even has a freaking Jazz track in amongst it all. Very much appreciated.
- As previously stated, Armoured Core 6 has 3 play throughs, new game..NG+ and NG++. Each play through adds completely different missions and even provides new weapons and Core parts and expands on the already developing story adding new perspectives and agendas.

As for the cons, i'm hard pressed to find anything in the game that i have a gripe with, its pretty much a perfect experience and i look forward to any DLC or further Armoured Core games in the future. Well done Fromsoftware, You and Larian Studios (Balders Gate 3) have put devs to shame in 2023 by making an excellent full working game.... with ZERO MICRO TRANSACTIONS!!! no wonder other dev companies were salty. Armoured Core 6 IS Game Of The Year material along with Balders Gate 3 for precisely that reason...A complete title that...just..works.
9/10

Aliens Dark Decent is one of those games you have to play if you love the Aliens franchise.
Lets start with the positives about this game.

- The devs nailed the dark claustrophobic atmosphere
- The sound design is on point and they even kept the iconic pulse rifle sound which i very much appreciated.
- The level design is pretty amazing, it is evident a lot of time and love went into creating the maps that you have to navigate as you complete your mission, encouraging you to form strategies to navigate and complete your tasks each mission.
- Each mission does not have to be completed in one go, if things get a bit too hot for your marines you can always get them back to your Marine carrier and pull out. This was a nice touch.
- Much like Xcom and Xcom2, you level up your marines, Promote them to different specialisations Including Squad Sergeants, Gunners, etc. You develop an attachment to your marines and want them to become bad ass marines of the United States Colonial Marines.
- The story is actually quite decent and easy to follow, it keeps you invested throughout the campaign.
- I got about 40 odd hours out of the campaign on hard which is really good imo for a single player campaign.
- The selection of weapons available to your marines going across all marine specialisations is just right, not too little, not too much.

Now, in order for me to put any cons in, i have to be a bit nit picky and it may seem so when i mention my gripes with the game

- The repetitive lines said by your squad as you make your way through the levels become a bit annoying. lines such as "break times over marines" or "stay frosty". It gets tedious.
- Note to Devs....you do NOT have to include so many lines of dialogue from the movies..Specifically Aliens (2)
Not even 5 minutes into the game, a Synthetic named Daniel says "i may be synthetic...but i'm not stupid" and it feels soooo shoehorned in it just feels off. Oh look, there's a door...i hope he doesn't say run a "marine!...run a bypass".....fs. Don't be afraid to make your own one liners. Yes its set in or around the same time frame as Aliens but it doesn't mean completely different marines would normally say the exact same lines as the marines in the movie, it just feels weird.
- Marine customisation i.e the choice of faces for your marines just look weird, could do with more options.
- Why does my GPU work harder in the end mission debrief and marine customisation menus than in the actual game? seems like a bug that needs to be ironed out.
- I found an exploit for unlimited Ammunition in game. You can set up a shelter, rest(the game creates a save here) after resting, you can reload the new save file and rest again, rinse and repeat...allas...you have the ability to have as much ammo as you want. Please fix this Tindalos, it doesn't feel like it should be a thing.

In conclusion, Aliens Dark Decent gets a 9/10 from me. Tindalos Interactive did an amazing job creating this familiar yet unique take on Squad based rts gameplay. Good job!

The Coffee Stain Devs are on to something special with this game, A very satisfactory experience.
9/10

Having played nearly 600 hours of the base game i think i can say without a doubt i love Stellaris 1.0 through to 1.9 with all the little changes with each update, taking certain things away and tweeking others. Enter v2.0 and the Apocalypse "expansion" dlc, the highly anticipated and hyped up to ♥♥♥♥ release was something i succumbed too so easily being a fan and also curious of what changes this update brings.

in my opinion this expansion and v2.0 update was a disaster, early game is painfully slow now due to the heavy dependency on influence. If your an authoratarian empire you may jus sit there and enjoy your base inflence income as you don't have factions to gleen additional influence off, unless you give your citizens rights, then factions start forming.
You need influence predominantly for war purposes, every system you wish to claim from an empire costs a certain amount of influence. Soon you'll be wanting to wage a war that will cost influence in the 900s to commit too, absolutely rediculous. Taking empty systems for your empire also costs influence in the shape of an outpost, every system you own needs an outpost. This was a weird one for me, average 50-60 influence for a system? If you want to attack and empire whilst endevouring to expand your own territories go ♥♥♥♥ yourself cos you'll be saving that influence to claim those singular systems.

Planet killers, lovely role playing idea but thats all it really is. Titans, decent and they have auras (which battleships used to have so its nothing new) which buff the fleet they are in. These new tools of the trade are available to you only in the really late stages of the game.

The war mechanics change in 2.0 is perhaps my biggest gripe. We now have an "attrition metre" that will sometimes penalize you for winning or losing. The war is on a time limit, if the war demands are not met within the time required the war will end in a white peace. Ive played plenty of times now were i have fought wars, met the war demands for my side and eventually a white peace was forced, getting 1 or 2 systems for years of warfare. The first time you experience this change is filled with confusion and a sour taste. The new Callus Belli thing will im sure delight fans of Paradox's games like CK2, but for gamers who have not its simply confusing and unnesessary.

What we have here is a completely different game than 1.0-1.9. Even with nearly 600 hours of Stellaris i felt like i had to relearn the game all over again but with the same story missions blended in. For me, keeping me invested in the early game keeps me going to the mid and late stages of the game. With some of the changes ive mentioned and others i have not, the game slows to a snails pace at points to were i just get bored.

Paradox in the past has had a habit of selling over priced dlc to its Stellaris fanbase and this one doesn't dissapoint in that regard. Ive supported Paradox through many of their dlc releases as i believed Stellaris was an incredible gem in a small genre, and in some ways it still is. I definately don't hate the game now but i certainly don't feel pumped to play a game of it.

Apocalypse expansion 5/10- Overpriced and lacking in content (im an old school rts gamer sorry!!)
Remmeber C&C? From a time when the word Expansion actually meant something more than what it does now.

Stellaris has been a gem of an RTS for me for many years, since not long after its release in fact. After 400 odd hours i wrote an overly positive review for the game as of course, praise is given were praise is due.

Where things changed was through several realisations, one being that Stellaris is the only fully released title that i know of, that will consistently behave like an early access title.
releasing game changing and often game breaking patch updates to go in line with the release of "DLC" "expansions".

Haven't played Stellaris in a year or so but you remember you had that sweet save were everything went right? Awwwww famage that was pretty fun wasn't it? Too bad...you fool, the game has been through at least 1 to 2 fundamentally game changing patches since then which renders your saves unusable..Surprise ya prick!

"DLC" "Expansions"?
This part makes me sick, i feel so bad for people wanting to get into the game looking for a complete experience. At this point in the games life, if you bought the base game and 1 or 2 "DLC" "Expansions"...the game would still feel like an empty husk of a game.
Want to get the full experience? Sure thing fam, that'll be around £160 which is 190 Euros or...$214.

Is this game worth the price they ask for? The answer is the most heaviest, the most densest sledgehammer swing to you're testicles imprinting only one word, erasing every other word from your vocabulary. There is only NO.

Having played the previous Wolfenstein titles i invested in "The New Order" atleast a year after its official release in 2014. I never looked into its story or watched reviews beforehand so i knew there was only one thing i could truely expect for sure and that was....killin nazi's.
First ill say that it personally it has been quite a long time since a first person shooters opening scenes gripped and excited me as much as this game did. An example of a previous game would have been Cod MW1s opening sequence on the boat. It was new, fresh, exciting, visually appealing and memorable. Wolfenstien: The New Order takes a scenario farmiliar to gamers and movie lovers alike and flips it on its head posing the question....what if it happened this way instead? The result is something special really.
The campaign holds strong throughout and is cleverly paced. Unlike alot of FPS shooters out there, hard choices have to be made within the campaign. There was one particular fork in the road that i found quite hard, the consequences of which got me right in the feels, the emotional build up towards that point was well done, well played to Bethesda for that. Apart from the occassional obligatory puzzles the game comprises of an engrossing story and killing lots of nazi soldiers with a nice selection of weapons to do it with and awww the weapons! ugh so much fun :P.
Value for money is quite an important factor to consider these days with increasingly injustifiable prices. With a campaign that takes on average 6-12 hours depending on difficulty setting and with a possible alternate campaign, the playability increases!
To summerize, Wolfenstein: The New Order is worthy of your time and money, plenty of action without suffering from micheal bayness, interesting characters, beautifully detailed scenery and a great OST aswell! Invest today and fight for a better tommorow.

A solid attempt at the old school RTS genre long thought lost, it gives me hope of future titles of this calibre in the future. An interesting story, excellent soundtrack, beautiful cinematics and fluid gameplay keeps you interested although i personally didnt feel as invested in the charactered as i'd hoped. Having played the campaign and dabbled in some 1vs1 online matchs i was pretty happy with what i experienced SP and online. Matchs online are not as manic as perhaps games like Starcraft 2 were every second is precious which allows for more casual longer matchs like the RTS times of old.

In conclusion every old school rts fan who enjoyed Command and Conquer and its clones should definately invest in this title. The older generation who where around for the orginal C&Cs will be almost sent back in time, remmebering the excitement and feels of the experience. Get it.