Recent reviews by TIiIToOo

Good day, Ladies N' Gents! I am here to report on how shameful I feel for buying this game during a sa -- I mean, why this game is probably not really worth your time, unless you are a very open-minded and patient soul. Why am I doing this? Because in the midst of choosing what game I should play from the backlog of games I've still yet to play in my games library, I decided to play the Game Reviewer Simulator instead. So here I am.

The truth of the matter is that while I am happy to report that the game is mostly palpitable to the eyes, somewhat stable to play, and almost fully functional [thanks mostly in part because it's using Unreal Engine 3 as its game/graphics engine, as opposed to every starting developer's favorite "Babbi's first gaem" Unity Engine], the game itself is pretty darn mediocre. Thank goodness it's only about 5 bucks. I am sad that I couldn't get it for free.

The story is already cliche to high hell from the get-go: The Apocalypse happened, and lucky people got to live underground for a long time. Because they can't live in tunnels for a long time, they began losing their minds and started hating each other; they developed some type of madness syndrome that I can't quite remember the name of.

On yet another dull day underground, someone found it funny to release a toxic chemical in the ventilation systems deep underground, essentially turning everyone down there into rabid animals and tearing each other apart. It is up to you as the grand protagonist by the name of Albert Tokaj, some kind of psychologist [psychiatrist? Whatever...] and pharmacist of sorts , to save the day by finding out the source of the trouble and taking care of it, or else there goes your job title. Of course, it's not that simple without some type of crazy plot twist. That's for you to find out!

This "mission" of yours isn't even given to you in some grand manner or with any awesome amounts of exposition. Right from the beginning, you are seen as expendable and no ♥♥♥♥♥ are given in that regard. As a result, you already dread investing in the game's story because you feel as though your parents just told you to clean your room.

The gameplay is almost exactly what'd you expect from a mediocre game: very clunky and sometimes overpowered combat mechanics. The graphical feedback from said combat mechanics is very bothersome at best, to sometimes sickening at its worst. Now, gameplay is very important to me, especially if a game's story has turd written all over it. Unfortunately, this game also disappoints in that department.

Let me break down how a typical melee combat against an enemy usually goes:

1. Make sure to find a Firefighter's Axe, as it seems to be the most overpowered melee weapon in the game. You can find these pretty easily underground.
   
2. Carefully approach enemy, preferrably one at a time if there are a multiple of them.
   
3. Don't hit them first. Instead, block any attacks coming your way and eventually your enemy will stumble backwards.
   
4. Hit them HARD and don't let up. In about 2 to 3 hits, you'll see their heads come clean off.
   
5. Rinse, lather, repeat ad nauseam .

Oh, and if you DO manage to find a gun of any sorts and equip it, you will instantly drop your melee weapon to the ground. If you do this by accident [which you will probably do constantly], and a cutscene happens right afterwards, odds are your best melee weapon is now gone. Good luck with that!

Are there any boss fights in this game?: Yes there are.
Are they any good?: As far as I know, no they're not.

The first boss fight involved nothing more than running around, avoiding getting hit or being ANYWHERE near the boss's presence [unless you like cheap kills and feeling cheated], and keep the smaller enemies away from you with the use of a shotgun. This first boss I faced seem to be a total bullet sponge, and as I came to find out, semi-automatic and full automatic guns such as the SMG or a pistol are far more effective and accurate to killing the first boss than a shotgun, even at point-blank range. Why is that? I have absolutely no freakin' idea!

Are there quick-time events?: Yes.
Are they any good?: They're never good. Ever.

How're the graphics? Okay at best. Nothing stellar that hasn't been done before. In fact, I'd say the devs got kind of lazy with it, particularly with their NPC and enemy animations and [lack of] lip-syncing.

Great example: Your protagonist, seeing as he is a psychologist after all, LOVES to talk to his PDA and make audiologs, supposedly to reflect on what's going on in that particular moment in time. This would be fine, if I can actually see his lips moving at all to match what he's saying!

And let's not even get to how there were rare times when I'd see a random NPC or enemy frozen with the dreadful T-Pose.

I did mention the graphical feedback from the combat mechanics can be bad at times, and here's why: The game implements some kind of fearlock system. If your protagonist is in a high-stress situation [such as fighting enemies, or going through a really creepy corridor], this system kicks in. When it does, all weapon damage increases, sometimes by a significant amount depending on the weapon. However, your aim will become very shaky and your screen will distort so much with the use of Chromatic Aberration that it is bound to give you anything from a headache to full-on motion sickness at some point. I don't like this system. It should be banned from existence. Thankfully, this system doesn't kick in all the time, but when it does, it feels like it's at the wrong time, and that makes it even worse. Whenever it doesn't kick in, every kill you make doesn't really feel as satisfying as it should be.

What about the audio quality? Subpar.

Sound effects seem to either be missing or bugging out completely. In-game music can get repetitive and stale, and also sounds cliche as hell for a supposed action-horror game. Some sound effects sound way louder than others, indicating to me that either the sound designer had no idea what he was doing, or there wasn't enough in the budget for this game's development to hire one. Normalizing sound is important for a reason, guys!

Also, good lord the voice acting is atrocious!


So, while the game is mediocre to kingdom come, it doesn't fail epically in terms of gameplay and story, and despite some minor bugs, the game is still playable. But considering that there are far better games you can buy in the 5-dollar range, I'd say skip this if you're impatient and don't like stories that have a slow pace, because this game takes quite a while to pick up. Skip this if you can't tolerate wonky gameplay mechanics and can't stand feeling sick while playing a game.

If money isn't an issue, then please pick up a better game. How about, oh, say...The Evil Within!

Alright, I'm done typing. I think I'll just watch some TV instead.