Recent reviews by ZL198814

Space Marine 2 deserves a lot of love because its creators GET what it is to be a 40k game. you feel like a lord of war yet are still challenged by relentless enemies. the creators keep adding to the game each month with new content, new skins, new weapons, new enemies, new levels, and apparently soon a new character class.
the story mode lasts maybe about 8 hours give or take but continues the tale of Titus. the sheer amount of time we in the real world had to wait for a sequel we weren't sure was coming is reflected in the game as many many years have passed by for Titus and he is not necessarily the same man you might remember from the first game - lots happened to him whilst we were waiting. - it is required to play through the story mode to unlock the operations mode but once thats done the sheer amount of fun you can have is near endless.
want additional narrative levels? Operations mode is there for you, with each mission having an objective and a gimmick thats makes it unique. in addition each day new strategems are added to Operations that add variables to your play style, some help, others hinder, but that just keeps the game fresh. choose (currently) from 6 classes of Astartes each with its own unique fighting style and abilities (and personality)
just fancy fighting wave after wave of ever increasing difficult waves of enemies? then try Siege mode where you earn points each successful wave and each mini objective completed to spend on temporary perks, temporary allies or much needed health and ammunition. But beware, all limits are off as each wave increased not just the number of Extermis (mini-bosses) enemies can appear at one single time but also Terminus (boss) enemies too!
finally, if you want to pit your wits against other players, try Eternal War mode. in this mode groups of players will go against each other, Imperial Space Marines VS Heretic Astartes (fallen Space Marines who have thrown in their lot with the Ruinous powers of Chaos). pick from several classic mission styles such as capture the flag and simple timed based killing floors and now a Dreadnought mode where a player can become the near unstoppable Dreadnought or Helbrute to wreck havoc against the enemy team.
I cannot rate this game high enough! I keep meaning to play other games but always come back very quickly to this absolutely amazing game that true fans of the table top game will love and people fresh to the 40k Universe can really sink their teeth into.
"The Emperor Protects" .... or "Death to the False Emperor!"

Resident Evil 6 is known as the 'black sheep' of the series for a good reason; it is a rough hewn diamond. - It is a hard recommend, it is fun but that fun does come with a lot of caveats and unless you are a big fan of the series it might be simply better to skip this one.
The best way I can describe it is that someone was playing the entire Resident Evil franchise whilst watching Michael Bay films in the background and had the misguided idea of trying to combine the two. Every level is full of spectacle moments that require the camera to pull away from the thing you are actually fighting so you can watch the pretty visuals whilst getting massacred somewhere off camera.
.
This could have been a really good game; Three campaigns that intertwine telling portions of the overall story. Characters from past games getting another chance to shine and interact for the first time with each other and a new virus which brings brand new monsters and mechanics.
.
The problem is the story requires you to play in a particular order, if you dont then you will be left very confused about certain characters complete lack of reference to prior events that they absolutely should be discussing. I also find that the end of each campaign feels very rushed, and without going into too much spoiler territory there is a major event in China at the end of the game that doesnt seem to get resolved by the main characters. One could assume the BSAA finish off the situation but to be honest nothing short of a nuke would seemingly solve the issue - but the game never talks about so its left to you as a player to wonder just how it all ended.
.
There are also plot threads that dont seem to actually go anywhere but are just there for lore, such as Sherry's connection with the G-virus in her body. Its a neat detail but ultimately plays no role in the game, sherry has no special abilities related to it (such as Jake's melee attacks being much better than the regular knife or pistol whip attacks).
.
The game is also riddled with cutscene after cutscene. Some you can skip, but others you are forced to watch and it becomes very infuriating on replays of the game.
.
The inventory system is also frustrating to work with especially in the middle of a fight
There are also mechanics that the game simply does not mention - for example, the 'combat gauge' or stamina as most people would call it. its an important mechanic because you use it when you use close combat attacks or slide attacks, and once depleted you are in a weakened state that allows enemies to one-shot you. This is a really important mechanic and there is NO tutorial about it.
.
There are also opportunities I feel the developers missed out on with certain mechanics. Enemies have the ability to mutate into several additional forms. Certain zombies can transform into fleshless berserkers that take a lot to kill, and J'avo can grow shield like arms, armoured legs, long tentacles or extra strong claws. The issue is there seems to be no consistency when these mutations occur, I'v run numerous tests and they dont appear to be part of any script and shooting the arm of one J'avo sometimes will trigger a mutation when on the next playthrough shooting the exact same J'avo in the same way yields no mutation. If there was a consistency to the mechanic it could lead to some very cool tactical decision making about how to deal with certain enemies in groups. There could even be detrimental mutations that cause enemies to swing wildly hurting or killing their comrades nearby.
.
And then there is a pet peeve of mine - online only achievements. I hate games that can only be 100% completed if you play online too. This is often tricky with older games as the community has moved on and those that remain are probably pretty good at the game to the point it will make noobs never want to play online. There is also the constant threat that eventually the servers will be shut down and then these achievements will be beyond anyone's ability to reach
-
sigh, overall the game had promise, its a 6/10 in my books but it could have been so much more. I want to love it which is why I kept playing it but there are so many frustrations it brings the overall experience down . I suppose I could say Its worth a play especially if you get it cheap in the sales but there are better games out there more worthy of your time if I am being completely honest.

Ok, so this is a difficult one to judge - Yes, I would recommend this game (especially during a sale). But you must be warned about the pros and cons of this game:
.
Pros:
- Excellent art style. Joe Mad is an excellent artist and design influence for this fantastic world he has created. The Environments are varied from green pastures of the Forge Lands to the ashen wastes of the Kingdom of the Dead. Enemies and Characters are a visual treat with plenty of small details and quirks.
- Story is quite interesting. Playing as Death himself you would think would come with certain stereotypes such as being ungodly powerful and nigh unstoppable but Death's portrayal in this game is a mixed nuance where the player is sometimes left in doubt of Death's own abilities and convictions - not to mention the way his past conflicts with his current role as a Horseman of the Council and his duties to them but his loyalties to his brethren
- The game is very much in the style of a Zelda clone, with areas becoming accessible once new abilities are acquired, some of which aid in combat or traversing the land
- Death can be tailored to a variety of play styles. Over time he will gain points as he levels up that can be put into two skill trees; one focused on melee combat, the other focused on summoning minions or defensive buffs to aid Death in combat. On top of this Death can acquire loot that carry random buffs and effects that can heighten Death's skills or add new ones such as elemental effects to attacks. - The Deathinitive Edition also places special unique items and gear that were once exclusive to preorder bonuses or micro-transactions in older editions, altering their stats so that they are far more of use by the time you acquire them. - Ontop of this are Possessed weapons: these are weapons that can be fed other weapons and equipment to power them up and give them traits and abilities from those weapons, allowing you to create a weapon that truly matches your skills and needs.
- The Deathinative edition also includes all the DLC released in previous iterations. These are unlocked at strategic points during the main quest once you have reached a suitable level.
.
Cons:
- CRASHES - dear lord this game suffers from some serious crash issues. For one, be sure to have Vsync ON as having unlimited frames often causes loading screens to hang - I also noticed certain abilities combined with certain attacks when there are lots of things happening on screen either visually or due to the number of rendered targets causes the game to crash back to desktop (Putting the game in Windowed mode seems to help limit this issue but not remove it completely ... As I learned to my cost during my Crucible run ...)
- Side Quests can be tediously long. There are certain quests that require a LOT of backtracking once new abilities are acquired, and searching for rather small objects in large environments with little to guide you or indicate their presence. Whilst the rewards for such quests can be very useful the time it takes to complete them really drags the game out.
- returning to previously completed areas yields little challenge; very few areas respawn enemies and those that do dont add any particular challenge. The game's environments can feel somewhat barren and lifeless as a result
- After a while combat can feel a bit repetitive. Its not terrible, and mixing up your weapons and abilities can help mitigate the 'sameness' of combat but expect to be using the same attacks over and over again.
- Movement in the game is a bit slow and clunky. Death is meant to be agile and nimble but traversing through landscapes can feel ponderous and climbing around is quite restricted and feels very restrained.
.
Honestly it is a great game. If you are not an Achievement hunter you can probably blast through the game in about 20 hours and have a great time avoiding a lot of the issues I mentioned above. The story and ideas/themes of the game and the world are very entertaining and intriguing. But buy during a sale, the game has too many issues that should have been fixed a long time ago for you to pay full price at this stage.

I kindof wish I could say 'maybe' when recommending this game but pushed for an answer I would have to say I dont recommend it. - the game is not all bad but it just has too many frustrating elements in it for me to say to someone "you have to play it". I have only put the time I have into the game because I am an achievement hunter (to a lesser degree) and thought I could get them all with little effort, but this is not the case.

Pros -
. Its got one hell of a cool aesthetic, like older Heavy Metal album cover art pixilated and put into a game.
. It pays homage to the older Castlevania games in its gameplay and level designs.

Cons -
. frankly, once you get past the cool aesthetic its just boring. You only have two attacks; your sword which comes in three flavours of fire, ice and plane, that dont really have many differences except to be slightly more effective against certain enemies. And magic bolts that are limited use and not very effective
. Enemies look cool but otherwise dont offer much new content with each variation. Only a handful offer something different but this usually involves really annoying mechanics like invulnerability to normal attacks but can do one hit kills.
. the controls are clunky and annoying. I am forced to use the analog stick which often turns me around when trying to do jump attacks when the D-pad would allow for much better control. - Also do not attempt to play this on Mouse and Keyboard, the default bindings are frankly unintelligible and ridiculous
. the 'story' is not exactly Shakespeare. I dont think it ever was intended to be but its as basic as you can get before having no story at all.
. Most of the achievements are simple to get, and then there are the 0-damage boss fights and no death run achievements which are soul destroyingly frustrating. making a game 'hard for hard's sake' isnt good game design. A game should be challenging but fun.

If you really want to give this game a shot because of curiosity then grab it in a sale but certainly dont pay full price.

I would recommend this game, but with a major caveat - do not let this games beautiful art style and haunting music fool you into thinking this game will be a walk in the park. It is not:

Pros - Beautiful Art style - I love the character design, the settings, the affects, it all just looks amazing!
- Wonderful Music - There is a reason there is an OST for this game, it makes for amazing background music both in game and out of it.
- Interesting settling with a compelling story if you can read deeper into what is implied through character dialogue and ingame cutscenes.
- satisfyingly rewarding when you beat a boss or make progress*

Cons - *It is not always clear where you have to go - I spent a lot of time wandering around looking for the next area that I could access or ability I could acquire.
- Hit boxes are not quite 'right' - its hard to explain but sometimes you dont hit things when you really feel you should or take contact damage when there was only 0.1 seconds between enemy frames movement meaning you get the feeling the game is imput reading at times.
- Zote the Grey Prince - F**K that cheap prick.

This game is worth playing, especially when on sale. It hits SOOO close to the mark for being amazing and yet it lets itself down with some really poor design choices and mechanics - I dont want it to sound like I hated playing this game - I really didnt - I just hated bits of it that pulled its overall strengths down a notch.

This game is beautiful, with a gorgeous art style and is very fun and entertaining to play. No two playthroughs are the same. It is such an 'alien' world in terms of your understanding about how things work in the beginning, you owe it to yourself to go in as blind as possible so that every new encounter is truly tense but the reward of figuring things out is very satisfying ...
.
It is also brutally hard, quite often confusing, and what makes it entertaining simultaneously also makes it extreeeemely frustrating! - be prepared to struggle, fail, wrestle with the mechanics and the RNG elements that can make or break a cycle of each game, succeed only to fail despite repeating the same circumstances that allowed you to succeed earlier, and to progress only to find you might have to go back and try a different route.
.
I love it, and sometimes hate it, but ultimately I enjoy the challenge.

Dull game which is a shame because I was actually looking forward to playing this one. Its easy for most of the game then has a massive difficulty spike in the final level. Crafting spells is unintuitive and poorly explained. Story is boring and characters are uninteresting with uninspired motivations and oddly paced developments. Has lots of glitches and despite running the game on a PC designed and made years after game's release, the game suffers from framerate issues at odd times (for example, it begins to chug in quiet moments rather than in the heat of battle). - disappointed and unimpressed.

A wonderful and moody unsung gem of 2016.
Yes, it might be 'Dark Souls 2D' but it wears its inspiration proudly. Yet, as a 'Souls like' game it gets right what many others have tried and failed to achieve. It is challenging without being impossible. It's environments are atmospheric. It credits the player by asking the player to piece together the story leaving much of what is going on up to personal interpretation. It has a simple but effective levelling system allowing for a variety of play styles on each play-through. On my first play through there were many game mechanics that I had to learn through trial and error, some of which I wish I had figured out earlier but I felt rewarded for experimenting and figuring things out.
When I first started playing S&S I referred this game to a friend as a "parody of Dark Souls" but after finishing the game I think that was a little unfair. A parody couldn't make me feel spooked, fearful, agitated at defeat yet emboldened to try again and win, elated at a victory and sombre when the final battle was won and the credits rolled I think.
If you have played Dark Souls and want to scratch that challenging game itch we all crave give this one a try. You might be surprised just how much S&S copies and gets right but also innovates with altered mechanics you think you have seen before but not quite like this.

Deserving of your time if you enjoy randomly generated worlds, multi-class style character creation, lots (as in LOTS!) of items armours and weapons, and the ability to be as creative in your worlds as you want to be. The fact the developers have only recently released 'the final journey' patch adding in loads more new enemies, items and npc's (which they are still tweaking with updates!) proves RElogic care about their craft and therefore your enjoyment as a customer - they wont leave you with a buggy mess of a game like some other developers and you are not even paying AAA prices for this gem of a game.

I have played Dead Space across three separate platforms (PS3, XB360 and PC) clocking in over 300+ hours. One might say I have an obsession with the series and I can say with certainty that this game is worth buying, especially during a sale

Positives:
- A compelling story which begins the epic franchise that has spanned 5 games (including Extraction and Dead Space IOS), 2 movies, 2 novels and 2 graphic novels
- Fully immersive game mechanics. No HUDs, no pause while looking through inventory, all character data is displayed on Isaac Clarke's RIG in real-time, all 'cut scenes' happen in real time
- Diverse weapons each with a primary and secondary fire mode, plus two tools to help in combat; Kinesis, which allows you to pick up and hurl objects; and Stasis, which slows enemies and dangerous objects
- A terrifying and grotesque foe who are as varied as they are aggressive, who are capable of tactical adaption
- Zero Gravity environments that change the dynamics of gameplay and how you fight
- Rich and detailed environments with atmospheric ambient noises and music
- New Game + which allows you to carry on your fight with all your previous gear and upgrades
- The option to run game higher than 30fps on PC - please see below for issues however

Negatives:
- The port is not without faults. You are either locked to 30fps or, by disabling Vsync, unlimited fps but with physics issues
- Poor M/KB compatibility and what appears to be command delay for controllers
- Linear gameplay that begins to stagnate after one or two playthroughs
- New Game + does not allow you to change difficulty level
- DLC available on console absent from Steam. While not necessary I dislike content exclusivity

Solutions:
- Both of the first two negatives can be fixed, please consult the Steam Forum for solutions

Conclusion:
An absolute must for fans of great third person action games but especially for fans of Horror. Horror is a niche market in video games these days with fewer and fewer contributions to its genre. This might be from a previous generation of games but it still stands tall with the best of them in my opinion.