Recent reviews by Salvatrix (Saugrim)

Sony has been vanquished, long live democracy!

Was always a dream to get modern Basestars and the modern Battlestars, so this was quite the nice treat for the final update!

The equipment handles as one would expect. It's vastly powerful compared to the contemporaries, a single Mercury can easily handle multiple Basestars if handled right. Basestars are not too scary so long as one takes care to use flak and not suicide their Viper squadrons. Viper MKVIIs are craaaaaazy powerful compared to other fighters, and the Valkeryie is an interesting mix of speed and firepower.

There's a lot to like here, and for $5 I really have no complaints.

I would hesitate to call this a DLC considering what that means nowadays, instead I’d like to use the old phrase ‘expansion’ to describe the way this expands on the original concept. It uses the Looking Glass technology showcased in Prey as a way to tell a story and help expand the overall lore of the actual game. It does this very well, and while this is much more heavily combat focused than the original game… it’s still got a Prey feeling to it.

1. Atmosphere – The world is smaller than in the original game, but it still feels very dynamic and alive. It has a nice array of settings and I’ve found there are still lots of tiny areas to explore. The actual design feels very similar to Talos 1, and I’d have trouble finding anything terribly wrong with it.
   
2. Gameplay – As mentioned above it’s far more combat focused this time around. The timer mechanism serves to force you to take on enemies more directly and doesn’t offer too much option for stealth. It still exists mind you, but it’s far more niche than it was in the original game. There are plenty of hidden areas to find, loot to collect, and little story tidbits to explore/discover.
   
3. Music/Sounds – Due to the faster nature of this expansion you don’t get as much terror from the sounds of enemies nearby, or the sounds of alarms going off due to the mostly unscripted events within the expansion. But, the sound effects can still hit that right chord and the music can sometimes be perfect for a particular instance.
   
4. Exploration – Again due to the nature of the expansion this is far more limited. You spend your time moving through the same areas in search for better equipment or simply hoping that you’ll live long enough to survive to complete story objectives. The procedurally generated aspects do give you a lot more to be weary of, and can force you to explore new aspects to get around certain obstacles.
   
5. Story – So it’s not as deep as the original game naturally, this isn’t based on the same concept. There are some nice elements, some little surprises, and some things to explore but the main feature here is the ability to play out the actual simulation in new and exciting ways.
   
6. Loadout – This is a pretty neat idea that allows you to really take advantage of all the little tricks that the game offers you. You can bring in different equipment with every subsequent simulation(playthrough) and that allows you to set yourself up for different goals/missions or escape methods. It also lets you enjoy the freedom and playstyles that different loadouts allow you. It can be a bit tedious to find all of the blueprints, but it at least encourages some exploration.

1. Combat – So it should be widely apparent now that Prey’s combat was never revolutionary. It is really fun to play with no doubt, but there are times where the controls can feel a bit sluggish/unrefined when compared to other FPS games.
   
2. Timer – This is really kind of both, it allows you to play the game differently which is both a plus and minus. One of the best parts of Prey was its open world feeling with the ability to explore/continue at your leisure without a timer that was forcing you to speed up or act reckless. This game mode does remove that ability and means that you’re unable to think as strategically as you would have been able to otherwise. But this also does force you to explore game mechanics that you never would have been able to otherwise.

In closing, I feel that the expansion does a homage to its roots quite nicely. There are a lot of parts in the expansion where it connects perfectly with the events of Talos 1, and certainly offers a bit of expansion into the lore. It’s a science station on the moon, what more can you ask for? Low gravity, jetpacks, mischief? You can check all three, and it’s definitely a fun game to hop into for a short session before work or simply before bed. I’d certainly consider it a worthy buy even at its fully price, and marked down? I don’t think you can go wrong if you enjoyed the base game.

Dead by Daylight is an amazing concept, and in certain circumstances the actual strength of that concept can shine through. However, it suffers what many of the larger and more popular communities suffer from and that's a very toxic playerbase. The game rewards behaviors that can easily ruin the game for newer player and frustrate players of old.

1. Innovative Concept - Allows for very enjoyable situations when paired with the right people.
   
2. Balance - This is iffy, but I personally feel a lot of the character's strengths and weaknesses really play well together.
   
3. Level Design - Again this is inbetween, but there are some levels that compliment the general concept really well.
   
4. Movie References - There is just something special about being chased by the man in the Kirk mask.
   
5. Teamwork - It's a game meant to be played in a cooperative spirit, and the game feels like every decision you make can be weighed against your team's chance of surviving.

1. Toxic Playerbase - Many campers, trollers, griefers, and general unsportsmanlike behavior.
   
2. Hitboxes - These can be really iffy, could be due to conncection(lag), but it feels like they are often just wrong.
   
3. Seasons - The rank is reset every 'season' which leads to high ranks ending up back with newbies, it turns into a massacre for a good week or two after.
   
4. Lag - There are no professionally hosted servers, everything is hosted by the killer which leads to insane bouts of lag and connection jitter.
   
5. Glitches - Things such as ending up on the wrong side of the pallet or losing items due to connection dropping.
   
6. Camping - Yes, it's so bad it warrants its own con. You will get camped, and you will lose points/items/pips as a result of it.
   
7. Rage Quitters - These people will wreck your games when you encounter them. The game works on a basis of 4 people - 5 generators. If someone leaves midgame you don't lose a required generator as you would if they disconnected while loading. So you get stuck with three or even two people stuck having to do five generators by themselves.

So, I know there are a lot of cons and some of them have ruined many other games. But, despite those cons I still feel like the game is fun every now and again. Yes, there are matches that are ruined by the community, yes there are people that disconnect (rage quit) and kill your chances of survival. But, I think it's a good game to pickup especially if you have a solid group of friends to play it with. This isn't really a game to play alone, it's definitely a game that's better with a group of friends.

In all honesty, it’s hard for me to find anything bad to say about this game. There are games that just have a certain character, and give off a certain vibe. Arkane has a long history of creating games that completely change the way a genre is seen, and I honestly believe that this is yet another title that does justice to this developer’s pedigree.

1. Atmosphere - I cannot even begin to overstate how much this game manages to create its own reality. I found myself constantly enveloped and truly interested in the history of this world.
   
2. Gameplay - There isn’t a ‘GOOD’ or ‘BAD’ way to do something, there is only your way of doing something. You can be stealthy, you can be trigger happy, you can set traps, or you can analyze every situation and create a wide-array of intelligent combos to deal with the specific threats that are presented.
   
3. Music/Sounds - From the terrifying (at first) footsteps of the antagonists to the strong musical chords, every single sound effect feels almost perfectly tuned. I found in my playthrough that the sounds perfectly complimented the atmosphere and created the right emotion/vibe right where it should have.
   
4. Exploration - You can blow through this story in well under five hours, or you can take your time and read every note and email. I found myself constantly tripping over new lore and finding new locations that I didn’t expect to stumble upon. I took a rather long-winded approach, but I feel that this game rewards the players that want to truly understand what is going on.
   
5. Story - Honestly this is an absolute masterpiece. I know there are elements that may have been predictable, and while I semi-expected the end plot twist I still feel like it was a shock. It’s a story that helps draw you in and helps make the world seem very alive. You can act as the protagonist saving every last person, or you can run through without worrying about the little guys you’re trying to blow up the station anyways

1. Cliffhanger - The world did such a perfect job of pulling me in and leaving me scraping the walls looking for every bit of lore. Unfortunately, I do feel like the ending while it was perfect still left so much unanswered and posed so many new questions.

In the end, this is a masterpiece and I truly see it as a strong runner for GOTY and developing a cult following. It’s easily the best game of this genre that I’ve ever played, and I can only hope that Arkane receives enough funding to warrant a continuation of such a gorgeous concept.

So, I've been playing the ARMA series since the very beginning and something has always stood out about them. These are not games that are for your casual gamers, or people that want to hop in, kill a few people, and then log off. ARMA has always been about getting that extra realism, and that realism does come at the cost of quick encounters. I know some would say that's not entirely true with the gamemodes out there, but even the best gamemodes cannot really change what ARMA is at the end of the day.

You're dealing with a map that is absolutely immense, you have snipers making shots from over a kilometer away and you also have guys spraying LMGs from point blank. At the same time you have jets flying around at MACH 1.5 engaging targets, and all of this happens seamlessly on the same battlefield. It makes for some amazing moments, but it also means that the game doesn't always present non-stop action and there is a lot of walking/driving to get where you need to go.

If anything I think ARMA's greatest strength is also the thing that people hate most about it. It is immense, it does allow you to do anything, but it doesn't encourage people to remain in a small AO.

With that said, there isn't a single military based game that I personally prefer. But, I am also the person that is more than happy to sit around on a hilltop 1.5km away landing shots on targets moving at 40mph with a .408. Not everyone is interested in wasting away a weekend with maybe ten or twenty kills though, but me? I think it's absolutely amazing to land that skill-based shot against another sniper, or come around a corner and lay out a combatant that was running through the center of the street.

So, if you're interested in the game and are willing to put up with some slow pacing... this is the best military simulator out there without a doubt. (Currently)