Останні рецензії користувача Sobiul

Recommendation:Buy it! Worth every penny. If you think full priced games should be longer than 20hours, wait for a sale. Other than that, again - Buy it!


It filled a hole - but not in a filthy way

This game offered a genre that I don’t dab into very often. Paranormal, alternate dimension themes are not too interesting for me. But for CONTROL I’m willing to make an exemption. Probably because of the developers history in good story telling, the game was ‘sold’ to me in a very good way.

I’ve seen reviewers complain that it was needless to hear what Jessie was thinking right before she executed her thoughts. I respectfully disagree - I feel this was necessary for me to bond even more with Jessie. The base game was a short 12 hours (in my play through) and I felt that developers needed to build an attachment between the main character and the gamer for the rest of the story to work. They did this with such fly colors.

It filled a hole - but not in a filthy way. What I mean is, the game was able to inflame my curiosity for all the paranormal trinkets (“filled a hole). However, this does not mean that the story got completely lost in all the alternate dimension stuff (“but not in a filthy way”). The story of Jessie never got drowned out. Near the end, I was more driven to piece all the clues & events together that led Jessie to the doorsteps of The Oldest House.

Baddies In Short Supply

This is where the game faltered a little bit. There weren't that many enemy types and none of them stuck out to be interesting or even a joy to fight. The boss fights in the main storyline was just a beef’ed up version of a typical baddie.

Hate Hartman

And then I got to the final boss of the AWE expansion. I ABSOLUTELY HATED THEIR ‘REGENRATING BOSS DESIGN’. I've fought regenerating bosses, but nothing this annoying.

They built the AWE expansion on a beloved marriage between CONTROL’s power mechanics & Allan Wake’s combat system. I loved everything about this expansion until I got to the final boss. It was frustrating as hell. Finally, I just gave up and searched youtube how to kick its azz.

I thought there was a clever mechanic in the combat that I just didn’t figure out - like finding a hidden flash light to harass the final boss. NO - its nothing like that. The correct way to do it was just to dish out as much damage as you can while trading hits with his attack.

Had the developers put in more time fine tuning boss battles, this game could have been an easy 10/10. But the flaws that I cited puts a dent on the score landing it on a 9/10.

A pretty damn good game still!

As mentioned above, I strongly recommend this game to story driven action game lovers. I hope they make a worthy follow up to CONTROL.

Good

Recommendation:The interesting story was held back by tedious controls & slow opening chapters. If you’re already a fan of the franchise / theme then buy it now, if not best that you read a few minor complains I have.

Bad Control Design & Layout

I would describe RDR2’s controls as ‘bloated’. I see so much unnecessary clicking required for this game.

When you fire a gun (1 click), you’re required to 'ready' the gun (another click) before you can fire it again. The developers could simply add a delay before firing a weapon, for the pulling-back-the-hammer animation and save me the effort of doing it.

[Counter argument – 1 mouse click to ready a gun adds realism! – Uhm, no. It doesn’t. What kind of gunslinger in the old west needs to be told to pull-back the hammer of his gun before firing? This does not add realism, it breaks it.]

Fist fight controls are another “always available” command on the keyboard. This wouldn’t be a problem for a game that is based on hand to hand combat, RDR2 is NOT THAT GAME. Fist fight encounters in this game are highly situational and are usually part of the plot only. Controls would’ve been better without it being always available & would have saved me from so much horse brutality.

Lastly, someone at Rockstar thought it would be cool to use the SHIFT key for commands that are repeatedly pressed like rowing a rail cart or jockeying your horse. Why is this a problem? Because pressing the shift key multiple times causes the game to stop and pop up the ‘sticky keys’ window option. Funny thing is, I have my sticky keys permanently disabled and still it pops up. If you’re thinking that I can easily change this in the key binding – you’re right, however…. You won’t know which of the keys you have to press repeatedly until you get to each quick-time event. I had to row a rail cart in a hurry due to in an incoming train – one hand spamming the shift button the other hand waiting for the sticky keys pop-up to immediately close it.

Unnecessary and bad controls made the game feel tedious and a real chore to deal with.

Quest Locking Save Function

I’m an adult, with sudden, immediate adult responsibilities. RDR2, locks me out of saving the game in between quests. Too many times I’ve had to stop the game and lose all quest progress because it won’t let me save the game. I could brush this issue off on short quests, but some quests would go on for a long, long time. Sometimes the autosave does the trick, most of the time it doesn’t.


Quest Arrangement & Pacing Issue

I’ll start by saying ’Red Dead Redemption 2 is an exciting game. However, it has pacing issues in my opinion. Chapters 1 to 3 are stuffed with slow & dull quests while the rest of the remaining chapters are action packed and gripping story events. I feel that Rockstar should have rearranged the quest sets for a more balanced feel through out each chapter. I understand that the first few chapters are for character introduction and world building, but I don’t think this should stop the story from having a lively start.

Finally, I found the epilogue to be too darn slow. It feels that the last part of the story was created for those who played & loved the first RDR game – don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a problem with a developer showing love to the fans of their work – but for a gamer who is new to the series the epilogue had very little value to me. I just wanted to know how it’ll all end. I think they should make some of the epilogue quest optional and allow the player to go straight to the main-story-related quests.


Red Dead Redemption 2 is an 8/10 for me. Anyone who enjoys story driven games with good combat should get this. I may have complaints about it, but the story of the game offers so much heart & character. There were even moments near the end of the game I felt that Red Dead Redemption 2 was playing me and not the other way around. BUY IT!

Recommendation: Buy this amazing game about a baby found by 3 wise men, I mean priestesses, in a manger, sorry I meant pile of rubble, who grew up & travelled around the world collecting friends, followers and influence only to have caught the eye of a worshipped god, who is actually a powerful AI who has issued a kill order against her, and the only way for her to save the world she must enter & emerge from a tomb - but that’s just my recommendation. Let’s talk about this game!


Talking, Slanted Billboards Everywhere

My biggest issue with this RPG is that there are almost no characters here, only personalities. I call them personalities and not characters because they always show only 1 trait. Let me tell you now that there are only 2 types of characters in this game, the “submissive whimpering puppy” who constantly worships Aloy and the “swinging boner in your face” who constantly challenges / insults Aloy. Where is the variation of character composition? Whenever I’m about to meet someone new, I immediately wonder which of the 2 categories will this fellow fall into..

If you need an example of balance, take a look at Varl. An early character in the game who in my opinion is one of the best written among the bunch. He is a capable warrior but also a son missing his mother. His story is worth thinking about even after I’m finished with the game. Examine the main characters of the expansion “The Frozen Wilds”, amazing characters that showed growth, action and a good backstory. Elizabet, a character you never interact with but is also written very well.

I don’t mind a dialogue-only means of building character, but keep it balanced with other types of traits and not just one. It helps me feel like I’m talking to a real person and not a pawn to cash in for more experience or to help move the plot along.

Choose your Answer: A or A or uhm A?

When I encountered my first decision, I said to myself “ohmagad.. Finally, another real RPG with choices!”. X number of hours later, I finished the game and I wondered how my choices actually shaped the world of Horizon Zero Dawn. After searching the internet for the consequences of my action, I learned that my choices meant NOTHING. It’s like knowing your final score even before you take an exam. What’s the point?

Reader: “If you’re so darn smart, then tell us how to add value to a choice without increasing the development budget or without cutting down game length and number of side missions due to resource reallocation! HE HE HE!”

It is not about sounding smart, it’s about finding value in a set of choices - But I’m glad you asked (with a “HE HE HE!” of my own.) One recommendation for this is to implement a varied reward system. Let’s say for a mean response you get more EXP but with fewer material rewards. For a kind response, you get less EXP for more materials because the quest giver appreciates your behavior. If you’re a d!ck, in your next mission instead of having to kill 3 monsters, you’re going to have to deal with 5. I’d imagine this would only take a few lines of code without breaking the bank while giving players something to think about before giving their response.



Haaaave you met Ted?

No, I’m not talking about that New Yorker looking for love. I’m talking about Ted Faro, the guy who the developers felt they had to crap on more than once.

He is the same idiot who thought it would be cool to develop and sell a flesh eating robot. I understand that for the world to come undone and bring us the post-apocalyptic world of Horizon Zero Dawn, someone had to make a mistake first.

My problem with the writing is how he is still the reason why humanity lost all knowledge of science & technology when he had all the “Alpha’s” killed. What was the point of putting the blame on him? The writers could have simply said that the Apollo System failed because of a catastrophe (insert description of said catastrophe here). Lets talk about this some more shall we :

Perspective: “Guerilla Studios needed us to hate Ted. He is a bad bad guy.”
Me: “What for? The guy is supposed to be dead. We can’t take revenge on him nor can we stop what he has already done. This makes it pointless. And if they’re planning to reuse him in the next game, this makes his story less effective as gamers would have already forgotten what he has done or at least would have moved on.”

Perspective: “Ted is a symbol of evil capitalism that ruined our world”
Me: “It’s hard to appreciate a political point when you’re a tribal huntress armed with a bow and arrow trying to take down a state of the art mechanical T-Rex. Lets not forget that in this game it is also capitalism that funded the preservation of human life.”

Ted was just supposed to finance the Zero Dawn project and nothing more. But somebody gave him authority over the project allowing him to do what he did. What’s that age old saying again? Kill humanity once - shame on you, Kill humanity twice shame on me. Well at least something like that.. If world leaders, who are trying to solve the end of the world, thought that it would be a good idea to give power to someone who started the end of the world, I’d say you had this coming. Personally, I would have taken all his properties & assets by force, leaving him only a bullet that comes with free installation right between the eyes.

Reader: “Maybe you just have a crush on this Ted guy... admit it!”

No I don’t and defending Ted is not the point. This was another missed opportunity for the writers to pin the blame on another rogue AI which can later be developed into another antagonist in the sequel. This is also an addition to my earlier point how characters are just traits, with Ted being an idiot and then an idiot again. *Lack of balance in the characters.

Even with everything I have said, I strongly recommend this game to fellow RPG lovers. I tell people to buy this game not just because I think it’s good, but also I want us to show Sony that we the PC community are more than willing to pay for the amazing, once exclusive titles they have. As a devoted PC gamer, I’m not going to jump into a console just because I see maybe 1, 2 or even 3 titles I’m interested in. With all this talk of “consoles sold don’t make money while it’s the games that do” - well here I am, honey. PC gamers are ready to put our money in amazing titles. Perhaps this is foolish of me, but my fingers are still crossed for Last of Us 1 & 2, and Ghost of Tsushima.

Horizon Zero Dawn - Get this game, you won’t be sorry.

Recommendation: A must have for any Aliens Fan who enjoys the survival horror genre. If you're neither, and you're considering buying this game, there are a few things you need to know...


IT'LL TAKE YOU THERE

Its as immersive as the smell of fart after I have had a large spicy burrito. They really nailed it. Alien: Isolation is the game version of the first movie I watched as kid. The developers built the hallways, computers, everything from what I remember and imagine about the Aliens movie.

The Xenomorph is presented in the best light. Its a terrifying monster stalking you in every corridor, following every trace of sound it is able to hear. But it was never the star of the whole experience, it was just a tool for the developers. The main attraction of the game are the horrifying situations where it slowly escalates from 'cautious' to 'OMG, I don't think I'm going to make it.."

There are a lot of jump scares. Given the era of entertainment it was trying to emulate, instead of being annoyed I actually enjoyed it. I felt that it was a genuine experience making it worthy of being part of the Aliens franchise.


17 HOURS OF BACKTRACKING, SORT OF

Remember that lame 'fart' joke I made at the start - we'll thats how this game feels like at times. It comes out mellow, travels to the farthest confines of the area while slowly building up to the climax of its stench and then dissipating to nothing.

In every new section, you will typically have to work your way to the farthest area of it and travel all the way back the starting point. Its just backtracking with escalated delay mechanics. It starts with a normal level of challenge, and then something explodes or whatever. Suddenly you have to walk all the way back to the starting point through an alternate corridor. -It comes out mellow, travels to the farthest confines of the area while slowly building up to the climax of its stench and then dissipating to nothing.

You might be thinking "well the original resident evil game had plenty of backtracking and it was an amazing game." You're right. But you see, Resident evil games have puzzles. Its developers understood that it can't scare you non stop for more than 6 hours with out getting repetitive and tiring. Puzzles give the game a feeling of variety.

It feels like the developers were required to pad the game to hit a desired number of playing hours. Instead of providing me with something new.


Like what I said - if you're a fan of the Aliens franchise and enjoy a good survival horror then this game is for you. If not then the backtracking and repetitive nature of the game might be a bigger annoyance than it was for me.

Recommendation: With the multiplayer issue, dont pay more than 50%, wait for the fix before getting any expansions

THE GOOD THAT GOT BETTER

I can't describe it, but the Borderland 3's gun combat has improved over its prequels & pre-sequels. The older game's gun fights were good, but the developer seem to have improved on the formula further. Is feels snappy, definitely more swift that its predecessors. Comment though, switching weapons and aiming down the sights could go just a bit faster. That one thing aside, the combat is golden.

Gearbox even improved each map's vertical design. I'm enjoying my time in that KillVolt area where I'm sort of doing parkour across the city to reach quest points. Saving my ammo, running and jumping around, Gearbox was able to exploit its already existing running + wall climbing mechanics into a more necessary purpose, for that area at least.

ITS BORDERLANDS, FOR PETE'S SAKE. I can't dive into this game expecting the secret unpublished materials of Frasier to be uncovered, Yes, the writing sometimes falls flat or is just not to my liking anymore, and that's okay. We grow up and we move on from a lot of things. I bought this game, expecting Borderlands 2 humor, and its spirit is still there - alive and kicking.

I'VE SANG MY CHEERS, TIME FOR SOME BLUES
Issues at the time of writing

My friends and I can't get the multiplayer working. Even the game tells me its more fun to play with friends, so what the heck Gearbox?

I tried arguing to myself that "they'll fix it eventually". When will this happen? - I don't know, a week, a month or even more. With each passing day, my interest in the game dies down a little bit. Maybe, by the time they get multiplayer working, I have already moved on to another title.

Gearbox & 2K, this isn't your first try on PC games, nor your first run for this specific game. You've had how many months with EPIC to perfect your implementation. Maybe this isn't entirely Gearbox's fault. I don't know the full technical details. But at this point all of these bad things fall on to you from the perspective of an average gamer. Problems like this should have been fixed 1 week after release, specially for a game that is 5 x more awesome when played with friends.

This is not acceptable. Fans and customers deserve better.

I'd gladly give a thumbs down to this game for my bad multiplayer experience. However, given the rest of the game works well. Also, I'm having a good time. It gets a 7/10. Borderlands 3 could have been a 9/10 for me if not for the multiplayer issue.

Also, Frasier is a Comedy TV Series that started back in 1994 and, I think, ended in 2003.
*side info for those who might be too young to know / remember that series.

I bought the game late last year and refunded it immediately the following day. I did this because I was afraid it might be too difficult for me and that I might not enjoy it. A month later, I bought the game again saying to myself "What the heck. Finish it or not, I'll give it a try and find out why a lot of people seem to love it.

Four months in, I finished the game four times to achieve the available different endings. I'm on my fifth play through right now. I'm no longer serious about this run, I'm just "cruising".

If you're unsure if you should get this game for fear of the challenge that awaits, DON'T BE. Its not an impossible game. If I could finish it, then anybody can finish it. All it takes is the patience to learn, and the conviction to see it through to the end.

Enter each fight not thinking that you will win instantly, rather go into it knowing its just another lesson by the master you're facing. Just like in real life, the opponent you're fighting has his or her weakness that you need to find and exploit.

Don't feel bad if you have to watch online video tutorials on how to beat certain bosses. In my opinion its just doing 'due diligence'. Fights end quickly and I found it difficult to learn on such short trials.

You can do it. I know you can.


I initially gave this game a 9/10. I encountered some stuttering. Later found out that my rig was actually doing some updating in the background. (yep, my PC is not that new or high powered that updates and some background processes makes games stutter.)

The Good

• The Bold & The Beautiful - The developers have built amazing locations for Lara's 2nd adventure- in this trilogy. Sneaking into a new tomb, running through danger while everything explodes, this game is a joy to watch as it is to play. The facial animations, specially on Lara, was worth the trip alone. They really fleshed out her feelings of pain and emptiness as I learned what drove her into this new story.
  
• Trained Lara - This one is a little difficult for me to explain. I find the combat a little better here than in the previous game. I can't say if its the controls or the feel of each weapon - all I can say is that its just much better than last time.
  
• Picture of a Story - The beautiful locations and animations helped tell this young lady's story. Its not a particularly new story, one that may have been told in some of the movies I have watched. But I always make it a point to compliment a game when developers put strong story telling. I feel this is the biggest driver for me to care about and play an RPG like this one.

The Bad

• Same Old Mechanics - I didn't find and solve every tomb in the game ( I'll get into this later), but the ones I encountered didn't deliver anything new. The mechanics are pretty much the same. Can't remember if there were turning pulleys in the previous game's puzzles, but this sequel runs plenty of those. Except for one challenge, the rest of the platforming activities didn't stray far from what has already been done. I would like to see more varied puzzles and platforming.
  
• Empty Tombs - Solving tombs are fun. Fun enough for me to seek each and every tomb in the game? - Well, no. Not really. I solved what I stumbled into or the ones the game needs in order to continue. I think my issue with it is the reward in these tombs - they're not that interesting. I would like the developers to amp up the puzzle rewards. Probably, puzzles can offer bits of Lara's story that would other wise be missed.

The Recommendation

There is nothing new to be experienced here- Or at least for me, nothing new worth talking about. Propelled by a convincing story, and polished combat mechanics, RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER is still an entertaining sequel.

Highly recommended.

But with nothing new in the game, my recommendation would be for people to get this game at a discounted price.
8/10

The Good

• Absolute Game Play - As I said, 'mistakes only make it more fun'. I enjoy the game best when I screw up and everything turns to crap. I start to improvise and am always impressed on what the game lets me get away with. This is when the MGSV shines.
  
• Deep Armory - I was impressed with the selection of weapons and tools you're allowed to choose from and bring into a mission. This contributed to the fun I had in the game, as I got to experiment with the toys they let me have.
  
• Mission Design - Strictly talking about the main missions and a few critical side missions, their design delivers maximum fun. Having me move to places to complete my objective, or an event/ twist that completely flips my situation are more than welcome.

The Bad

• Chapter 2 - I'm currently working on Chapter 2, and I noticed that its got me repeating missions at higher difficulty. So I did some research, and learned that Chapter 2 contains 19 missions, 12 of which are repeats. This feels like padding / fillers. Seems like they were trying to hit a certain amount of hours of game play for chapter 2 to make it out of the door. Luckily the game play is really good so maybe, I just might do these to get to the stories of some of the other characters in the game.
  
• Vertically Challenged - MINOR ISSUE here, I think the level design could do with a bit more of vertical design. The entirety of the game will have you infiltrating wide flat spaces. To be honest though, I would imagine facilities of these nature, to look like how they're designed in the game, flat and wide. So why ask for verticality?? - To vary the game play and challenges of course! We've got giant robots, psychics, and a living burning man, so might as well get liberal with some of the level design.

The Recommendation

Given that Chapter 1 is a bigger part of the game, and Chapter 2 is just a handful of missions with most of which are re-do's, I'd give this game an 8/10. I can look past recycled missions because of good game play, varied mission designs and generous story telling.
8/10

Played originally at Battlenet / Blizzard, Casual guardian, played all past DLCs, finishing up Shadowkeep at the time of this review

The Good

• Grind is good - You kill things, you get things. It gets complicated sometimes, but we'll discuss that later. The core game play feels absolutely solid and I totally enjoy it. Firing weapons feels satisfying, using skills and supers that devastate enemies in strikes are a joy. This super polished combat makes all the grind an experience worth coming back to for me.
  
• Build it your way - With the introduction of Armor 2.0, Bungie has given more options to the players on how to build their guardians. I can't say that there is a massive choice of builds out there since the core essentials of builds are all "guided" towards a certain direction. But clearly, the developer is slowly expanding the players' choices. Hopefully, we'll see more viable build options in the future.

The Bad

• Whats going on? - Too many times I'm going thru Reddit to find out how to accomplish certain tasks, to learn why I'm not progressing, or simply to find out what the heck is going on. I've read reviews of newly joined players having a difficult time understanding what to do next. In my opinion, this is a massive issue. If the community is to grow beyond those of us who already love this game, Bungie needs to make its game more friendly to new guardians. Thankfully, the current community is willing to help and answer questions.

The Recommendation

Since the new light edition is FREE, I invite everyone to try the game. Shadowkeep did not bring much to the table, so this one I can't recommend. I badly want to give this game a 9 of 10 for delivering us an amazing core game play for free (for steam new-joiners at least). But the issue of a confusing introduction for new guardians pulls down my score to 8/10, with a supportive community just holding it up and beyond a 7/10.

8/10