Games: Rate and Discuss

[morgs]

Hitman: Absolution - 5/10

I wish that I could have given this a game a higher score, but it Just wouldn't be honest. I would have enjoyed the missions so much more if things were even just a little different, for example:

The disguise system. I found it easier in most levels to go suit only, because when you're in your suit, guards don't look twice at you unless you're in a restricted area. If you put on a guard uniform however, you'll have to avoid being seen by any guards as they will realize you aren't actually a guard almost instantly, even from down a hall or across a courtroom. Sure you can use instinct to "blend in", but instinct only comes in limited amounts and will only get you so far. Also, if you're rounding a corner and bump into a guard, you're instantly busted. What this means is, when you are using a disguise, pretty much every area on the map gives you the same heat as a restricted area would.
Disguises can work well though, for example enemies won't detect you if you're wearing a different uniform to them, but I found this just wasn't an option on a lot of levels.

Evade, and A-B missions. I would say that 50% or more of the missions in the game are "Get from A to B while evading police/guards". All the regular Hitman stuff is present in these levels, hiding bodies, disguises etc. Except the actual assassination. I found these levels to be a chore more than anything else. Also, some of the main targets you have to kill, no matter how you kill them, end up dying in a cut scene the way the game wants them to die. Quite disappointing.

Checkpoints and saves. Call me a casual, but I like to have a save/quick save option available when I'm playing a game like this. So many times I had to restart a level, and lose 20+ minutes of progress because A guard made me from across a warehouse when I had my back to him. I mean just use Blood Money's system. Provide a limited number of saves, and reduce that number on the higher difficulties. Checkpoints are another peeve. You can enter a room, take a keycard, snipe a couple of guys from the window and then hit the checkpoint. All seems well, until you reload. In this particular case, I had to retake the keycard, and the guards were once again on patrol, and I still had a negative score for not hiding their bodies.

My last downside was the environments. There were two main locations in the game; Chicago and Hope, South Dakota. There were different locales within these places but it still felt very much the same. You were always after the same guys, who had the same guards.

Despite all this I still managed to have some fun with the game. The gun play is nice, and when you finally pass a level it's quite satisfying. I didn't find the story to be as bad as some people say it is, but it wasn't really anything to write home about either.

Who knows, maybe I'm just really bad at Hitman.

 

[Laivasse]

That's a fair summation, morgs. I'd probably say 4/10 if I'm feeling generous. For me the evasion levels ruined the assassination element in more ways than one, since I was so fatigued by the time I got to the proper hits that I barely wanted to go through effort of doing them properly. Plus, I despised the story.


Toejam & Earl - 8/10

I nabbed this on Steam as an exercise in childhood nostalgia, after I saw it Quick-Looked on Giant Bomb. Randomised levels, randomised items, dynamic 2 player split screen, and great bold sprite design - this game was ****in' awesome for 1991. I gave it a once through last night and found it as enjoyable as ever. Seriously, even as someone who grew up with 8-bit consoles, I look at some other relics of the 16-bit era and wonder how people can bring themselves to play them in this day and age - I even bought some titles from the MegaDrive Platforming Classics collection and I haven't felt the urge to give them a serious play - but I can see myself returning to TJ & Earl over and over.

The randomisation changes everything. I guess that's what 'randomisation' means. Whatever. I watched the GB QL and thought maybe the gameplay was a bit too easy and forgiving in retrospect, but when I played for myself I opened a present on Level 2 which turned out to be a Phantom Ice Cream Van. Cue 2 out of 3 lives lost and my pants full of shit. All the enemies past the early- to mid-game move faster than you do and without good presents you are completely defenceless against them. It's not a hard game (I completed it on first try), but it is tense and does very well at providing the illusion of peril. I must have exclaimed two dozen variations on 'FAAAARGHCK' as bogeymen appeared out of nowhere and mailboxes turned demon on me. Of course, the peril is only an illusion if you don't make mistakes and you have decent presents on standby. By the way, **** Rocket Skates.

The core gameplay of just uncovering the map through exploration is still somehow compelling. I was reminded what a headscratcher it was to have uncovered 99% of the map except for a tiny part covered by the corner of a map tile, and thinking to myself 'suuuurely nothing can be hidden all the way up there...' Either that or just saying screw it - ripping open a pair of precious Icarus Wings and flying out over the void of space hoping to find another land mass with a Ship Part or Elevator on it. My only regret is that Sega haven't worked some kind of online coop into this re-release, since I'm unlikely to ever play local 2-player on this PC. I fondly remember stuff like waiting in the Elevator for my coop buddy, as they struggled to get across the map to its location in the middle of a lake or something, only for them to end up getting knocked to the level below by a screeching Dentist.

 

[Rorschach120]

FAR CRY 3

9.5/10

I had Far Cry 1 pre ordered all those years ago and have played through 1 and 2 almost as many times as I've played through the HL2 episodes (not HL2... lord knows how many times I've played through that). I love the beautiful scenery of the first one and the "really getting your hands dirty" feel of the second one. FC2 had its flaws but it was a very ambitious game for its time and set the bar for open-world FPS. FC3 has undoubtedly set a new very high bar for the FPS genre in general. It has taken everything I liked about the first and second games and made it look better, play better, and surprise me with feature after feature. Really, though, the presentation of this game is what really sets it in a league of it's own. The characters are so well done that by the end of the game you really feel like the way you see the environment has transformed with the protagonist. This concept is sort of hard to explain unless you've played the game. Which you should absolutely do. You would be missing out.

PROs

• Beautiful environment, models, visual effects. There is nothing bad to be said about the graphics in this game besides the hardware necessary to run it on ultra (which I couldn't with my HD6850 and i7 2600k).
• There is an incredible amount of fun stuff to do/shoot.
• Lots of great guns that are all designed in a way that gives them a very specific role to which-ever tactic you prefer
• Animals seem cute and cuddly at first. They aren't. Beware of the water, specifically rivers and swamps.
• Going tiger hunting with a flamethrower.
• Running from flaming tigers.
• The fire system is like FC2 but faster and much more deadly. The best way to take out heavies.
• The wing-suit.
• The script/ voice acting are virtually unmatched. Vaas is as cool as everyone is saying.
• Main story missions are really fun and do a good job of opening up the game world.
• Good story pacing and very clear climax.
• Everything just comes together nicely which is rare for an open-world game. I think only Ubisoft Montreal could have pulled this off.

CONs

• No attachments for the AK47. Many of my favorite guns are in this game but a few don't get attachments. Like the M1911.
• The end is ehhh... I don't want to spoil. It's not bad there's just a big hole. I rarely like endings these days though. Don't open unless you've beaten it.
  Spoiler

  They ask you if you want to kill your brother who you just saved... Doesn't really make sense
• The tagging system makes for some confusing gun-play when you've got 15 guys around you and you can see all of them through walls but you aren't sure if they are actually out of cover or not.
• You only start off with 2 health bars. Unless you are incredibly patient and good at stealth you will die A LOT in this game.
• Heavies are OP. You have to load a whole machine gun clip in them or light them on fire. You can't even do take-downs on them till the end of the game. This makes it so that you HAVE to have the flamethrower, it's not really a choice.

So there you have it. BUY THIS GAME. Let me know if I can answer any questions in the main "Far Cry 3" thread!

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

That's a fair summation, morgs. I'd probably say 4/10 if I'm feeling generous. For me the evasion levels ruined the assassination element in more ways than one, since I was so fatigued by the time I got to the proper hits that I barely wanted to go through effort of doing them properly. Plus, I despised the story.


Toejam & Earl - 8/10

F*cking shit yes, thank you for mentioning this so I can go dig up my Genesis later tonight.

 

[Stigmata]

Max Payne 3 - 6/10

Singleplayer: Incredibly cliché, directionless appropriation of pop culture, hamfistedly written, I don't really care to finish it, it feels like Rockstar and Houser took the Max Payne series and imposed their stupid flat-realism spin they like to put on all their games post San Andreas and it doesn't fit and it feels a little like they raped a franchise not unlike what Activision et. al. tend to do, except Max Payne 3 does what it does incredibly well, I just don't like it all that much.

Multiplayer: The above, plus it feels underdeveloped. And the spawn logic is absolutely god-awful. I'm talking worse than Black Ops kinds of bad. Every time you get a kill, someone shoots you in the back. There are no game modes that impose a base-vs-base style of spawn logic whatsoever, even in team games with static objectives.

At 7 hours of play, I guess I got my money's worth, since I got it on sale for $12. Certainly would not have bought it at a higher price beforehand, and now having played it I probably wouldn't buy it for any price.

 

[Barnz]

Grand Theft Auto IV (on PC)
4/10

I'll be honest. I hated this game. This game is a huge step back in the series. Go and play GTA3, it's a much better game and it's more fun.

pros
> it's fun for 2 hours. then you just attack the cops, get killed and quit game
> visuals
> stupid gimmicks (the animation/physics system)

cons
> the realism (no craziness, dark humour from the previous games, no arcade style gameplay elements)
> the game feels like a life simulator instead of a video game
> missions are repetitive and boring, also frustrating - no memorable missions - no side missions
> the scripted scenes (can't kill a guy because he's scripted to not die before he reaches a certain point)
> the first part of the game is training
> the annoying friends
> button mashing mechanic on PC (never, ever put this in a PC game)
> is a cover based shooter
> visual bugs
> not enough customization (sandbox elements), no place to spend your money
> the radio is boring

 

[Dog--]

Story was pretty good, and it had the best driving mechanics of any game (non-racing game) I've played thus far.


Mass Effect 1 - 8/10

Pros
-Awesome story
-Awesome setting
-Awesome dialogue
-Awesome characters (I love you, Garrus)

Cons
-Recharge/burning out weapons
-Exploring/side missions were boring
-No controller support


Mass Effect 2 - 9/10 (so far, still only half way)

Pros
-Awesome story
-Awesome setting
-Awesome dialogue
-Awesome characters (I still love you, Garrus)
-RELOADING AND AMMO THANK ****

Cons
-Graphical glitches (not too often, though)
-Mouse sensitivity is broken on PC version, it's SO sensitive despite the setting on "low". I got used to it, but damn.
-Still no god damn controller support. Sucks especially with the sensitivity problem.


Will do Mass Effect 3 when I beat 2 and play it.

 

[Rorschach120]

Soak up ME2. It is by far the climax of the series IMO. I wish I could play it for the first time again.

Orcs must die 2 - A good 5 hours of fun followed by an hour of meh... I'm bored.


Forza 4 - Soooooooo goooddd. I don't even like cars that much and I get bored when people talk about them. I now find myself talking about them. The only way to play it is on expert, auto braking and transmission is a joke. It fun being able to discover how different upgrades affect the performance of different cars. Definitely worth a play for any kind of gamer.

 

[stemot]

Dead Space 3 (Single Player PC) - 7.5/10

I'm a massive fan of the DS series so even though this game was receiving shed loads of flak for it's inclusion of co-op, it's dubious business practices and bare PC version, I am invested in Isaac Clarkes story and so bought it on Origin. I was happy to learn that the PC version actually is loads better than the console version. There are a load of graphics options including AA, shadow quality etc and although I haven't tried the mouse control I've heard there are no issues with it this time around. It still carries over that weird 30fps v-sync issue from the other games but that can be turned off and activated in your vid cards CP to avoid that problem. On my system I had the game running at 312 fps at one point, so optimization is no issue with this one. No HD textures but the increased resolution makes it look nice.
The gameplay alternates from DS1 style atmospheric dark corridor exploring and the DS2 set pieces/action but never reaches the heights of those two games. The weapon crafting is a fantastic new addition and although pretty confusing initially by the end of the game when you're rocking your +3 damage and reload combined pulse rifle/rivet chaingun then you realize it's inclusion is one of the things the game got right.
The scares from the first game are again watered down and there is nothing as memorable as the

Spoiler

Ishimura

scene from DS2 but the game does have some nice moments, such as Isaacs arrival on the snow planet.
The game is longer than the other two games, clocking in at around 15 and a half hours on my first playthrough but at around chapter 16 the constant waves of enemies began to get a little old and a bit boring and predictable.
The story expands on the Marker mythos and does answer most of the questions regarding them and their influence but some people may find the final payoff a massive "WTF" moment.
As far as the microtransactions go I never even looked at the menu for them . They weren't required at all and I think using them would break the difficulty and tension that the game balances well after you get passed the initial sections were your spammed with health kits.
So it's a good game with the same Necro blasting gameplay as previous games but definitely the weakest in the series with less scares and a ramp up in the blasting. I would like them to go back to the horror aspect of the original if they continue the series from here.

 

[MJ12]

Story was pretty good, and it had the best driving mechanics of any game (non-racing game) I've played thus far.


Mass Effect 1 - 8/10

Pros
-Awesome story
-Awesome setting
-Awesome dialogue
-Awesome characters (I love you, Garrus)

Cons
-Recharge/burning out weapons
-Exploring/side missions were boring
-No controller support


Mass Effect 2 - 9/10 (so far, still only half way)

Pros
-Awesome story
-Awesome setting
-Awesome dialogue
-Awesome characters (I still love you, Garrus)
-RELOADING AND AMMO THANK ****

Cons
-Graphical glitches (not too often, though)
-Mouse sensitivity is broken on PC version, it's SO sensitive despite the setting on "low". I got used to it, but damn.
-Still no god damn controller support. Sucks especially with the sensitivity problem.


Will do Mass Effect 3 when I beat 2 and play it.

I finally bought ME3, I've beaten 1 & 2 years ago. But I want to play through again so I can have a Shepard that carries over. Trying to determine if I should start at 1 or 2.... I've beaten 1 twice, and god, playing that game more than once in your life is a drag.

Does anyone know if there is an option to select the type of start you get in ME2... like if Wrex survives, etc?

 

[Dog--]

I started a new game in #2 recently because the same issues with #1. Not a huge fan of the gameplay, and although it SAYS you can do that, I wasn't given that option. So you can, but idk how.

BTW Mass Effect 3 is great, and the story/ending is fine. I don't understand people butthurtedness about the whole thing. #2 is better in most ways, imo, but #3 is still very good.

 

[Bad^Hat]

If you're playing on PC, there's a save game tool you can use to create a character as though you'd played through the first game(s?).

 

[Warped Dan]

Halo 4 9/10

Pros:

-Feels new again for the series
-Amazing Visuals
-Much more challenging
-Better A.I.
-More Modes
-So much new content updated weekly
-Forge mode is amazing
-Episodic Content keeps you coming back for more
-New enemies/weapons/locations
-still leaves you wanting more but in a good way

Cons:
-Not too many of my friends play this game
-some areas feel repetitive
-wish there were more allies (even if they were npcs) in the game at certain parts
-occasional lag/host error issues

Play this game if you are a fan of the series. Probably the best console shooter I've played in a few years

 

[Wanted Bob]

Alright, well I bought this game while it was on sale over the weekend...

Magical Diary
Imagine a visual novel with a ton of branching stories, some very small RPG elements, and a Harry Potter vibe, and you get this game. The visual novel parts themselves I enjoyed a decent amount (keep in mind you are playing as a female high school student, and the tone of the game reflects this). I ended up legitimately sympathizing with some of the characters, though the dialogue was rather basic. Where this game deviates from most VNs is the magic system. By choosing which classes to attend, you build up an arsenal of spells, which you then use to complete exams every month or so. The concept behind the exams are awesome, as there are quite a few ways to complete each one. Unfortunately, your limited mana pool means experimentation isn't really possible without reloading saves. These exams are also quite infrequent, meaning I had a bunch of cool spells that went unused throughout the whole game.

All in all, I'm glad I picked this game up for under $4 (wouldn't recommend it at $20 to be honest). If you can get over the juvenile tone and enjoy the shallow magic system for what it is, it's good for a couple of replays just to see some of the many storylines you can get. Not a universal recommendation, but if VNs are your thing then at least try the demo.

One final note I wanted to bring up was how pleased I was with how this game portrayed same sex relationships. The one that I pursued didn't result in any controversy, it was depicted simply as two people liking another and nothing more. It's certainly not the only game out there to do it, but it was definitely a pleasant surprise.

 

[Rorschach120]

Crysis 3

Just go play FarCry 3 again. The latest 2 Crysis games just don't compare to the first one. The illusion of not being linear but actual being linear thing (and full of sequences where you lose control and cutscenes galore) has really gotten old in FPS games. They tease you as if you should explore but really you shouldn't because their is nothing to find. Also the whole "I'm in a suit" story line is predictable and boring. If you want a great graphical benchmark for your new PC then get it. Otherwise [read first sentence].

 

[SpotEnemyBoats]

Metro 2033 - 9.5/10

The graphics are phenomenal, similar to HL2 in that its atmospheric and has the illusion of being open (but surprisingly linear, that's a good thing!).

I have a fetish for post apocalyptic single player games that take in Eastern Europe. I'm so happy that Metro: Last Light's publisher related stuff has been sorted out by 4A. Quite looking forward to the sequel.

 

[Rorschach120]

Tomb Raider

Did you like:

A. Uncharted
B. Assassin's Creed (the good ones)
C. Half-Life 2
D. Far Cry 3
or
E. ..... Tomb Raider(1996)?

If you answered yes to two or more of those then you are guaranteed to like this game. I don't mean to sound biased right off the bat put I'll make it clear that I expected nothing going into this game. "Oh boy another single-player experience to test out."

The story is great. Nuf said. It really has a good story and characters that actually make you care about them. The new Lara is both typically naive and charming. Yet her persona fits into her "psuedo-Indiana Jones" role in a new way that really brings more not only to the series but the adventurer genre as a whole. The end of this game gets real.

The puzzles in this game reminded me completely of Half-Life 2 and Assassin's Creed combined. You can make stuff move into other stuff and break stuff. Then you can climb the stuff.

There is a bit of repetition though. The third-person shooting style got sour with too much Syphon Filter/ Ratchet and Clank. They do a good job of not just making it "go here, shoot them, then go here and shoot them." There are some really intense action sequences that take you out of the shooting for a while. Another repetitive thing is having to go back to search for weapon parts (which are hard to find cause they could be literally anywhere, even on a dead guy). At the same time I like that it isn't obvious so it's a catch 22.

The upgrading and evolving weapon system is cool though. You can buy upgrades for your guns and you can collect weapon parts to actually evolve them into a newer better gun (which comes with new upgrades to unlock).

Spoiler

Sidenote: My favorite gaming concept is being able to get to level 10 and then evolving into a lvl 1 super saiyan which can then keep leveling (you can't do that in this game, sorry).

If you like games then play the game.
9/10

 

[stemot]

Tomb Raider

Did you like:

A. Uncharted
B. Assassin's Creed (the good ones)
C. Half-Life 2
D. Far Cry 3
or
E. ..... Tomb Raider(1996)?

If you answered yes to two or more of those then you are guaranteed to like this game. I don't mean to sound biased right off the bat put I'll make it clear that I expected nothing going into this game. "Oh boy another single-player experience to test out."

The story is great. Nuf said. It really has a good story and characters that actually make you care about them. The new Lara is both typically naive and charming. Yet her persona fits into her "psuedo-Indiana Jones" role in a new way that really brings more not only to the series but the adventurer genre as a whole. The end of this game gets real.

The puzzles in this game reminded me completely of Half-Life 2 and Assassin's Creed combined. You can make stuff move into other stuff and break stuff. Then you can climb the stuff.

There is a bit of repetition though. The third-person shooting style got sour with too much Syphon Filter/ Ratchet and Clank. They do a good job of not just making it "go here, shoot them, then go here and shoot them." There are some really intense action sequences that take you out of the shooting for a while. Another repetitive thing is having to go back to search for weapon parts (which are hard to find cause they could be literally anywhere, even on a dead guy). At the same time I like that it isn't obvious so it's a catch 22.

The upgrading and evolving weapon system is cool though. You can buy upgrades for your guns and you can collect weapon parts to actually evolve them into a newer better gun (which comes with new upgrades to unlock).

Spoiler

Sidenote: My favorite gaming concept is being able to get to level 10 and then evolving into a lvl 1 super saiyan which can then keep leveling (you can't do that in this game, sorry).

If you like games then play the game.
9/10

I'll agree with most of that. I have Uncharted 1-3 on my PS3 but never finished Uncharted 2 due to the immense difficulty spike and I never really use my PS3 anyway. So to have a game that out does the Uncharted games in every way (though I still prefer Nathan to Lara at the point I'm at in TR) on the PC that I use for gaming makes me very happy.

 

[bobtheskull]

Metro 2033 - 9.5/10

The graphics are phenomenal, similar to HL2 in that its atmospheric and has the illusion of being open (but surprisingly linear, that's a good thing!).

I have a fetish for post apocalyptic single player games that take in Eastern Europe. I'm so happy that Metro: Last Light's publisher related stuff has been sorted out by 4A. Quite looking forward to the sequel.

Agreed. I'm a sucker for anything Post Apoc... and, if its set in Eastern Europe or Russia - bonus! I remember Metro being ridiculously hard though, which eventually put me off. It's been a while since I've played it, will have to go give it another go.

Tomb Raider

Was literally about to ask if anyone was playing this yet. Good to see people like it. I loved the originals back in the day.

 

[Dynasty]

Tomb Raider - 9/10

Only loses a mark for terrible multiplayer. Seriously just don't even bother trying it.

Fantastic, polished return and just fun.

I do find myself wanting to punch anyone that says it has taken too much from Uncharted, considering the elephant in the room being that Uncharted basically ripped off Tomb Raider.

 

[stemot]

Tomb Raider (PC) 8/10 (Multiplayer not played because of bug with latest patch which won't let it connect in Steam)

Fantastic game. While I have completed every Tomb Raider from Legend onwards, I always struggled with the older gen games due to their clunky controls. After Underworld I thought the format was getting a bit repetitive so I was very happy playing this. While the dev team have taken many cues from Uncharted in terms of the action set pieces, the platforming is similar to what was found in the Crystal Dynamics Tomb Raider games and everything is so seamless. So one minute you'll be pick axing up another cliff face only for the game to throw a curveball and launch you into an action sequence with you still being in control. The combat is one of the games strong points with cover mechanics being amazingly fluid which was one of the main aggravations of Uncharted's clunky combat.
My only gripe I suppose are the side tomb quests which are like mini puzzles. I would have liked these to be massive in scope, with a lot of grand temples and platforming from bottom to top, as it turns out they are usually a little cave featuring a puzzle. Something for the sequel then.
The reason I keep bringing up Uncharted is because its that game the new Tomb Raider has the most in common with (apart from TR: Underworld) but I have to say that Tomb Raider blows Uncharted 3 out of the water in terms of gameplay and story.
On PC after the patch visuals are also amazingly detailed, from the wrecked ships and planes that litter the island to the design of the enemies and environments.
My favorite Tomb Raider game yet.

Brutal Legend (PC) 7.5/10

Now all the bugs have been patched up I've been enjoying the great humour and characters in the game. I even don't mind the RTS sections.... Well, until the final two that are such an unbelievable difficulty spike from the rest. I'm on the last battle now and just get my arse kicked everytime. It's artificial difficulty which gives the AI a shit ton of units after a certain event triggers.
EDIT: Beat it it straight after posting this, though I stand by what I said, the last two stage battles are a blemish on the rest of the game which is funny, well written and a joy to play. For 14.99 you could do a lot worse than this.

 

[Dog--]

Heart of the Swarm - good/10

I don't play multiplayer SC2, so most (if not all) of you probably won't care about my opinion. I'm finding the new enemies, new features, and continuation of the storyline to be pretty good. I like this expansion, and it was worth buying

Best feature: A button that lets you select all of your fighting units. It's ****ing great. You can also set groups of enemies to their own squads, and have buttons for those as well.

 

[Rorschach120]

Sim City

So before I start the review I'll say that I'm going to be reviewing the game. Not reviewing the server issues. While these issues were bad, It didn't decrease the value of the game since it isn't a problem anymore. Just a bunch of desperate nerds angry that the buttons they are clicking aren't doing what they say they will. That alone will drive a nerd crazy.

So. The game. This game is a behemoth. They have successfully taken all of the building concepts from the old Sim City 4 and added many more, along with custom parts for each building. The specialization feature is a wonderful idea. It allows the game to carry more depth and variety and requires you to manage more than just one city. This leads me to my next concept that people were concerned about: city size.

I posted early saying that it wasn't a big deal but after more play and more thought I have come to a gray area. Yes, the region system should really be the city system and the cities should be called neighborhoods or towns. The region system is really just one big city that requires you to load different areas. So that being said, city size is really irrelevant since other cities can make up for what one of them can't.
The problem is that I want to see more. I want A. For the cities to be just a little bit bigger (like 20%) and B. I don't want to have to load between cities. I want the region system to allow me to work in real-time. I want to quickly make up for a certain class of workers to commute to one city on the fly instead of have to load, zone residential and place a couple parks, load again. So as I stated I'm in a gray area about it since I feel it could be a bit better. I have much hope for the sequel.

One thing that is cool but not so cool in this game is the roads system. When your people on certain roads are happy enough you can upgrade the road and watch their house turn into an apartment complex. I like being able to make the commute to work shorter. I also like being able to click a button and see my city buildings turn into apartments. What I don't like is having to click that button over a thousand times to improve my city. They really need to make the road upgrade tool better.

The presentation of this game is impeccable. The soft textures and incredible sound make for a solid experience on their own and keep you sitting there for hours. Being able to zoom out into the peaceful clouds to get a bigger look at things and then zooming in to hear all the buildings and Sims going to work is both entertaining and useful

One thing that I think SimCity has always been lacking is actual government. I want to see a system like Civ4 where I can choose which civics my cities abide to. It would be nice to be a fascist mining colony that hates parks.

Overall I think this is an excellent game that leaves much room for improvement. The ever-compelling city building experience has been greatly expanded upon from its predecessor. There is plenty more room though since 8 years is a long time for games.

8.5/10
If you enjoy this type of game then you will no doubt enjoy SimCity. The servers are now working too so don't let the hate choose for you.

 

[stemot]

There's no way I'm buying a game that can technically played offline but is forced online due to publisher greed.

 

[Rorschach120]

There's no way I'm buying a game that can technically played offline but is forced online due to publisher greed.

"Expecting people to pay for your product is the first sign of greed." - Albert Einstein

 

[Omnomnick]

I finished this one a few weeks ago after it came out but I felt like writing up a recommendation on Steam so here it is.

Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider happens to be one of those rare reboots which actually manages to surpass and improve on the quality of the original. Taking inspiration from previous games in the series and blending them with the more modern flavours of the Uncharted series, Tomb Raider manages to create an extremely satisfying experience which succeeds in regards to gameplay, narrative and presentation. Likeable and believable characters help to drive a well-paced and interesting storyline for a suitable 8-9 hours of singleplayer game time, minus the hundreds of additional yet equally as interesting side missions and collectible items.

While this isn't the most technically powerful or demanding game you'll find by quite a stretch, the game's engine and art style are both used to great effect. From expansive vistas to subtle details on a character model, the developers have done a fantastic job creating an incredibly immersive, believable and enjoyable experience which feels complete and satisfying in almost all regards.

9.3/10 - Highly Recommended.

 

[Omnomnick]

Time for a double post, but ask me how much I care. I felt the need to write a new Steam review for a CERTAIN GAME that came out today, so I may as well post it here too.

Bioshock Infinite
I'm not entirely sure where to start with this review of Bioshock Infinite. At time of writing (around 10 hours after the UK release on March 26th 2013), I finished the 8+ hour campaign in a single sitting around 2-3 hours ago after no sleep and I'm still trying to mentally process the experience in order to evaluate it. While this might not immediately sound like the best mindset to have when trying to writing a review, I felt now is the best time as this post-game mindset perfectly reflects my feelings towards Bioshock Infinite as a game: breathtaking, awe inspiring, thought provoking, complex, deep and utterly brilliant.

Ken Levine and the team at Irrational Games have outdone themselves once again by creating yet another extremely inventive, inspired and interesting game world inhabited by intriguing and believable characters. As hard as this may be to swallow for some players, Columbia and it's inhabitants are far more developed and enjoyable to spend time around than Rapture, to the point where standing and watching the city folk go about their lives becomes an immersive highlight of the game. The arrival of a wide variety of interesting and developed characters such as Booker, Elizabeth, Comstock and Fitzroy is extremely welcome as the brilliant acting and stellar writing from the first game once again return, just with a much greater focus on personal character development this time around.

If, for some weird reason, you're still on the fence about whether or not to buy Bioshock Infinite, look at it this way. If you're looking for a deeply engrossing and immersive game world with astonishing visual design, fast paced inventive gameplay or an emotionally driven and complex storyline, look no further. While the game would've already been fantastic if it had merely replicated Bioshock 1, additional innovative design elements such as the social/religious/racial commentaries push the game that much further as a powerfully moving and artistic interactive experience, making them the added seasoning which makes Bioshock Infinite one of those few astonishingly high quality games that nobody should miss.

9.7/10 - Very Highly Recommended

 

[stemot]

Been playing a little of BeatBuddy: A Tale Of Gaurdians which comes out on Steam shortly. It's a cutsy adventure/platformer type game but has a musical element to it's gameplay. I've played 45 minutes and so far it's pretty nice with some nice 2d art and some quite funny writing in places. I'm led to believe the game isn't that long though and that I'm already half way through.
Not usually my kind of game but I'm quite enjoying this.

 

[SpotEnemyBoats]

Bioshock Infinite - 10/10

Purchased it during the recent steam summer sale, and my god... is this game worth the 30 USD that I paid. The art style, Elizabeth best disney princess/ai companion and the gameplay you'd expect from a Shock game.

I'd say it's the best PC game I've ever played, better than Half-Life 2. Really, it's that good. And I personally cannot wait for Episode One: Return to Rapture.

 

[Krynn72]

I'm a few hours into Bioshcok Infinite and still havent seen what makes it so magical for everybody. Gameplay is the same as their last games, plot is ok, nothing special. Elizabeth so far only has a personality thats skin-deep, I don't feel any motivation to help her. The setting is cool, but thats the easiest thing to achieve in video games. The atmosphere I feel is lacking a lot, I've not really gotten drawn in enough to not be perfectly aware I'm in a game.

I'll try to finish it since I hear its short as shit, but so far I'm glad I didnt listen to anybody here and did wait for a sale.

 

[Aizawa]

(first im sorry for my english, but im from germany )
just playing Half-Life 2 right now again with Cinematic Mod 13 (with original characters, weapons and music), and I just love this game so much (like a lot of you guys probably) I have to talk about it

Before continuing I also wanted to say that i think im not someone like a Fanboy and I think I have big experience with games, Im playing for around 15 years now and I know i really try to stay as much objectively as possible

Half-Life 2 - 11 out of 10 Legendary
I dont even know anymore how often I played this game, but for sure its over 10, probably even over 15, and that should be enough explanation. I think the wait for Half-Life 3, and the expectations too, also really displays how good this game is. I think about Half-Life every day, look up some videos, maybe play a Half-Life game or just look up some Half-Life 3 related stuff, again...
I have so high expectations to this, there is nothing in the world where I have more expectations, its hard to describe for me, because of my english.
It came to a point where I ask myself: What will happen when Half-Life 3 will be released and I played it? That will be a big point in my life. Somewhere someone wrote for fun that he could suicide after playing Half-Life 3, because he did everything in his life he wanted to, its ridiculous.
With this I just wanted to tell you what a GAME has achieved.

Lets take for example my second favorite game after the Half-Life and Portal games: the first Deus Ex. In my opinion Deus Ex 1 is better than any other game except Half-Life and Bioshock is really close to it, but still the gap between Deus Ex and Half-Life is so huge to me. When I hear Deus Ex, I dont think "OH YES DEUS EX OH MAN I LOVE IT SO MUCH", but just "oh yeah Deus Ex was really a master piece". Of course there are people that go crazy about every shit, but those are just fanboys.
I have so many memories related to Half-Life, together with my brother we spent so much time with it. I know Half-Life 1 since im 4-5 years old, my father played it and I watched him play, but until 2007 I was too scared too play myself. When Episode 2 came out, and I watched my brother playing it, I decided that now I will play the whole series too, still the Ravenholm part in HL2 my brother played for me

Half-Life was also the thing which raised my interest for the gaming industry, I started to learn programming, doing some mapping and modding right now and stuff just to become a game developer and of course my biggest life dream is to work at Valve. When I marry, have a wife and children and work at Valve I achieved everything I wanted to achieve in my whole life.

Ok until now I talked so much about my memories and feelings regarding Half-Life 2 and not about the game itself, but THAT actually again shows what impact the game had on me AND THAT makes Half-Life so unique, so unique that ... I dont even know how to describe it.

Ok Probably not many of you will read the whole thing and I think there is not much point in "reviewing" Half-Life, because I know everyone here loves it and its probably also the reason everyone is on this website, but sometimes I just have to talk about it, and when my real life friends only play League of Legends all day, I talk to the internet
but probably you guys think im just a fanboy

(oh and for you who are still waiting for me to talk about the actual game, meh I wrote so much I think its enough )

Thanks Valve, for everything
(Also I really thank Valvetime, a place where I can meet and talk to other Valve fans )

 

[Wanted Bob]

Welcome to the forums! Bonus points for your username and avatar.

 

[Aizawa]

thanks I was visiting the page for a long time and also looked through the forums, but never registered because I was too lazy xD

(I love Death Note!)

 

[Bad^Hat]

I'm a few hours into Bioshcok Infinite and still havent seen what makes it so magical for everybody. Gameplay is the same as their last games, plot is ok, nothing special. Elizabeth so far only has a personality thats skin-deep, I don't feel any motivation to help her. The setting is cool, but thats the easiest thing to achieve in video games. The atmosphere I feel is lacking a lot, I've not really gotten drawn in enough to not be perfectly aware I'm in a game.

I'll try to finish it since I hear its short as shit, but so far I'm glad I didnt listen to anybody here and did wait for a sale.

I've played about 9 hours according to Steam and this is pretty close to my reaction so far. The intro is great, I was just as wowed by it as I was by the original Bioshock, but everything that followed has seemed pretty weak by comparison, and in many ways just in general. Here's a bunch of bullet point thoughts as they occur to me because I can't be bothered trying to format them properly or form a cohesive criticism right now.

- The atmosphere of the world is dense and convincing by itself and is obviously where the bulk of the effort went, but I find myself not feeling very invested in it. The original Bioshock sucked me into its world much more easily because the fantastical, oppressive environment was complimented so well with the tense horror overtones. Columbia is a fantastical, oppressive world overlaid onto a tonally bland, and yet mechanically over-indulgent shooting gallery. I've killed so many people - actual people this time, twisted only by ideology, not truly twisted like in the original game - and the game doesn't seem to care one bit. The action has basically no impact on the narrative layer, and I can't help but get the same sensation as I had from the last generation of action games - that I'm just pushing myself through another shooting segment so I can get to the next story nugget. Unfortunately, they don't feel nearly nourishing enough so far to justify slogging through another arena of disposable and mostly ineffectual bad guys.

- The game tries to do far too much at once with the gameplay, and it ends up feeling dizzying and inconsequential. They could have condensed it all down to a few very strong systems, but instead they have stat upgrades, gun upgrades, plasmid upgrades, gear upgrades, none of which have a massively noticeable impact by themselves, and more options than I know what to do with in combat. Also, and this is something I've noticed with a lot of games lately, but with all its various systems and choices it doesn't really seem beholden to its mechanics. Rather, it seems like they wanted to give players the same fatuous illusion of 'choice' that many other core games seem to be trying to peddle recently. Instead of a game where you have to consider all your options and choose an approach best suited to the situation, you can completely ignore most of this game's systems and succeed anyway. I'm playing on hard mode and can easily clear most sections with the lightning plasmid and a pistol, or whichever weapon happens to have the most ammo at any given time. This makes the various upgrades seem like shiny, pointless bells and whistles on a package that could have just as easily been a straight-forward but mechanically sound shooter.

- Booker and Elizabeth are both flat, unconvincing caricatures of character tropes I feel like I've seen a million times before. Less so in Elizabeth's case, since I can sort of appreciate how they're taking the fairytale princess trapped-in-the-tower thing (complete with Disney stylisation) and applying it to a more serious and less consequence-free setting. My issue with her is more how quick she is to accept everything that happens, and how nonplussed she is in general, which seems like it's more a result of her being pulled along by the rapid pace of the story and the relentlessness of the action. "Oh my god, you killed those people, how horrible!" Two scenes later I'm blowing dudes heads off with electricity and she doesn't bat an eyelash. Booker is the worse offender by far, because he's such a lazy, uninteresting version of every regret-laden anti-hero character ever written. It's doubly bad because I feel actively disconnected from the game when his words are effectively being forced into my mouth by the first person perspective (I still can't believe how extensively some developers fail to understand the significance of the absolute player agency pioneered by Half-Life). "You don't want to know about the things I've done." Yeah, you're right, I don't.

- The same goes for the side characters, who are all one-dimensional villains I couldn't give less of a shit about. Finding audio logs in the original Bioshock was one of my favourite parts of the game because of how well they fleshed out the world and what occurred before you got there. The audio logs in this game only seem to exist for the side characters to talk about how much of a horrible jerk they are, or how big of a horrible jerk some other character is. Yawn. Even Daisy Fitzroy, the oppressed revolutionary, completely fails to inspire any sympathy in me. Probably doesn't help that my sole interaction with her so far has been for her to lazily advance the plot by sending me on an overly long fetch quest which I have zero personal investment in.

Yeah. Doubt it helps that I played it right off the back of The Last Of Us, which married the narrative and gameplay layers better than pretty much any game in recent memory, and made everything feel deeply relevant within the game's world. This seems like a much shallower and flabbier attempt at much the same thing. Meh, I'll keep playing on the off chance the plot improves.

 

[Aizawa]

totally agree, especially what you said about the enemys. You are killing normal people there, police men some time, but normal people other times. Even in games like CoD you just shoot soldiers, which is ok in my opinion, its war and its not real.
Also the amount of brutality in the game bothered me, why on earth does the head of the guy EXPLODES when I shoot him in the face with a revolver. Ken Levine probably thinks that he uses the violence as some kind of art, but its so exxagerated.

In my opinion Bioshock Infinite has so many little flaws here and there that dont had to be. It deserves a very high rating, but these flaws break it.

Another thing you didnt mention is the amount of NPC character models. How hard it can be to make some simple character models? I mean Half-Life 2 had so much more and that game is from 2004. Bioshock had like 3 models for men and 2 for woman, besides those unimportant NPCs were horribly animated, but Elizabeth was animated really well. That also took away from the experience.

I agree that the first Bioshock was better, hell even the gameplay I liked more, still, Bioshock Infinite was great. Maybe the DLCs will be much more polished.

 

[Krynn72]

Agree with pretty much everything you said Badhat. I think I just got a little further than you now, and I can say that the plot does get a bit more interesting and you'll find yourself in scenarios are genuinely interesting and fun. But so far nothing addresses the core problems you've laid out. Especially the crashing together of gameplay elements. Now that I've upgraded the carbine and sniper rifle, I don't even think to use plasmids because I can take everyone out without them with ease. I'm also playing on hard difficulty, but there's really no need to plan ahead or think about what methods you need to use, just shoot ****ers and hide until your shield recharges, rinse, repeat. The only plasmid I really use is that grappling one which lets you grab far away people and bring them close. That way I can at least perform one or two melee kills each combat round and get some use out of my melee-improving gear.

Also, I remember some people saying its a six hour game. Well, apparently I play games slow as **** because I'm 11 hours in now and I don't think I've even initiated the finale yet.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

Took me 17 hrs, though I tried to explore every alley.

I think the highest point of the plot is when you find

Spoiler

old Elizabeth and she tries to explain how ****ed everything is.

And the weakest point is

Spoiler

the ending, it's almost like they couldn't come up with anything good and just decided "welp, you die now. No it doesn't make any logical sense how it helps anything but oh well."

 

[Krynn72]

Completed it awhile ago (~13 hours total). The ending was turning out to be really good, then... yeah...
I would say if you took only the last 75%-99% of the game, I'd consider it a great game. Everything else makes it, in my opinion, a completely standard high-budget game.

 

[Bad^Hat]

Finished it. I stand by everything I said, except the story gets better and the combat gets worse. (Actually it got a bit better once I finally conceded to switching down to normal mode out of pure frustration, but it was still ultimately just a chore. I actually got a genuine "oh thank ****" moment whenever the game forced me to put down my gun, something I normally regard as kind of arbitrary and immersion breaking.)

Instead of writing a review I'll just +1 this guy. http://frictionalgames.blogspot.se/2013/04/thoughts-on-bioshock-infinite.html

 

[DEATHMASTER]

Started the Killzone series. The first game is the best thus far for me, gunplay is good and fun, enemies are stupid but their behavior reminds me of old school corridor shooters.

The 2nd game is not as good, the weapons are clunkier and the story is pretty random and doesn't seem too focused (why are we fighting the Helghast?). I'm sure there's background info somewhere but I guess they're just mutated human space nazis.

Just started the third game, the gunplay is smoother and responsive, the framerate is better and the graphics are better. I heard the story gets weaker, for whatever that will be worth, but I think I'll like playing this one more.