"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!"
Was my initial thought when Paradox announced that their would be a Magicka 2, I was fucking ecstatic, I mean seriously like Child in sweet shop that has been told they can have whatever they want, happy. I was so excited to the point that I pre-ordered the game considering I had played its predecessor to no end racking up 45 hours playing mostly single player, as most of my friends are boring.
As you can probably tell I was reaaaaaaly looking forward to this game, and I legitimately had a calendar reminder set so it would come up on my phone the day it came out. I jumped aboard the Hype train and rode that son of a bitch as far as it would go. I was really looking forward to this game.
Emphasis on was. I downloaded it, and was greeted with the vaguely familiar menu (I had played the sneek peek) booted the first mission and played it. I enjoyed it. Then the second mission. and the Third. Then I got to the fourth and stopped. I realised that I wasn't having fun.
For you to understand this I must really explain why I became borderline obsessed with the original. In the first moments of the game you realised you were a wizard, and you could cast spells so overpowered you were in danger of killing yourself if you were not careful. It added an element of pure overpowered destructive danger to the game which could lead to stupidly hilarious deaths, such as an exploding ice wall launching you into the air to land on some lava, or simply being crushed to death by your own giant boulder.
I never really feel this in Magicka 2. Don't get me wrong, I by no means feel like I am not a powerful wizard. but I don't get the sense that I have the ability create dangerously destructive spells anymore.
The new casting system feels like it has been developed for console, and has been ported from Wizard Wars, Which I enjoyed but never really got into. You can now no longer create the elements of ice or steam, but instead Fire and water now take up 2 slots in your spell bar and cast steam when cast. This means my main spell from the original game, I aptly named "Wet Lighting" no longer exists, as when you try to add lighting to the mix the water is cancelled out.
I like the addition of now being able to collect staffs and robes and weapons, but that also detracts from the game, as now I no longer feel any real reason to be careful, as I can just respawn with my weapon, instead of having to slug all the way back to get it. I now feel like a fully disposable hero, whos death doesn't matter as I can just re-appear like jack shit happened.
The addition of new familiars is good too, as it provides even more variety than it predecessor, but I cant help feeling it was unnecessary to add the new ones. The Fairy from the original only resurrected you when you died, at the cost of its own life, in single player. The new ones do that, on top of providing bonuses, making the fairy absolutely 100% useless, as the Pit manager and this ghost thing (I CANT REMEMBER THE NAME) give bonuses, on top of the resurrection ability. The ability to take no Familiar with you is also new, meaning that the Xxx_MLGProWizard_xxX can try testing their skill as a wizard, with insta-death.
The Graphics have been fixed and the game is no longer as bugged as the one that came before it, but honestly, I think that was part of its charm, as bugged games can easily become cult classics, i.e Goat Simulator. Also im going to give it a whole level more for one little tiny reason. The semi-dated pop culture references, they are pretty funny, and they actually are probably the best thing about the Magicka series, as you can obviously see the studio standing up and giving the finger to pretty much everything.
In short the graphics are good, the music sounds okay, the gameplay is somewhat flawed, and the new casting system will never quite hold that special spot in my heart like the original did. I would seriously recommend playing the original over this, but Magicka 2 could have been a whole lot worse, and as far a sequels go it isn't half bad. I would take the Original over this any day however.
I don't feel I should but here, Store page link (for the sake of being fair): http://store.steampowered.com/app/238370/
Level: 6
I had a change of heart and updated my opinions, read it here : http://lvlupreviews.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/magicka-2-episode-2-attack-of-spell.html
Dan.
Thursday, 28 May 2015
Friday, 15 May 2015
Warframe : "Ninja's... With Guns.... In Space..."
So I'm going to review Digital Extremes "Warframe"
On the surface "Warframe" seems like another dystopian murder-fest with enough space age material to fill several Star Wars movies a billion times over. I know what your thinking "Ahhhhhhhh, Aliens to kill, Humans to the rescue" To some extent you wouldn't be wrong in saying that but as Wikipedia so aptly describes it:
"Players control members of the Tenno, a race of ancient warriors who have awoken from centuries of cryosleep to find themselves at war with the Grineer, a race of militarized humanoid clones; the Corpus, a mega-corporation with advanced robotics and laser technology; and the Infested, disfigured victims of the Technocyte infection. To fight back, the Tenno use advanced exo-armor with unique abilities—the eponymous Warframes"
Now I'm going to, before i get into any significant detail (though knowing the quality of my reviews, it will be more like brushing over them with a feather), make one thing painstakingly clear, i really do like this game, and i really do want to play it, but fucking hell it doesn't half get repetitive. A new tile-set here and there really doesn't make up for, at its base element, that the mission is essentially the same. The scaling of the enemies is good, requiring some teamwork for once, as opposed to the modern FPS which just requires someone with enough luck and the ability to press W and hold down mouse 1.
The leveling system are a nice touch, it adds a feeling of you achieving something rather than just trying to complete all the missions to say "look at me, i completed all the missions". The leveling system does take its time, which can deter some players, and you also have to pass a test the the end of your level, meaning that if you just hid behind the highest level player you could find you will struggle with these tests.
The character customization is okay too, as you can change the color of you warframe and weapons to suit how you want to look. The obtaining of weapons however is my biggest gripe about this game, in short getting everything you need to make a new frame or new weapon become a grind-fest, which unless you enjoy grinding harder than a stripper fighting for the last dollar, is the biggest put off of the game. It took me several days to obtain enough stuff to make one shitty little sword, which was then instantly replaced once i waited 24hrs after getting the blueprint for better item, which i had already got all the stuff for. The game can make it seem like the most inexpensive cheap easy to come by items are rare, which fucks me off to no end as it means you can spend hours trying to progress , but some tosspot who can steal their parents credit card , can buy all the weapons and frames pre-built and upgraded with the ability to place twice as many mods on.
The mods system is my favorite feature of Warframe, it allows for nearly endless customisation to any weapon or frame. The mods can be upgraded to increase their stat altering ability, at the cost of taking more mod points to add to the weapon. This makes it good as it means that i can own literally the same set of weapons as someone, but due to the mods we apply we can fill different roles, as i can have exploding arrows on a bow that deal electrical damage to enemies, and they can have a bow that can kill enemies or weaken them significantly with one hit. It allows for customization to your play-style.
The Game modes are very different too, which is great as i actually feel like im on a different mission despite traipsing my arse through the same fucking tile-set 3.4 million times. I also think the addition of Alerts and the Random chance that the games AI "Lotus" with tell you to stop with your current mission object and then give you an new one, such as kill everyone on the ship or download some Intel files as opposed to stealing the object she initially sent you to collect. It keeps the game somewhat fresh, despite the game becoming repetitive. Its got the effect of icing a moldy cake, it keeps it from looking old, but deep inside the nature of the game means that it will always ending being that same , no matter how many lens flares and visual effects there are.
AND HOLY SHIT THERE ARE A LOT. Seriously turn motion blur off. Sometimes it can get all a bit too much to handle. I was running along and i had to stop and pause the game (thankfully i was playing single player) and take a break after only 10 min as if felt like i was tripping balls on bad acid due to the amount of color that thrust itself onto my screen. It like in the lighting department they brought all their kids to work and told them to go mad. I mean the actual graphics style is pretty nice to look at and even on low settings, it still looks pretty good, but GOOD GOD TURN THE DAMN MOTION BLUR OFF.
Overall, "Warframe" is good, despite it hurling the magical rainbow vomit of motion at you every 10 seconds and it heavily "pay to do better than someone who has played for significantly longer than you" business model, I really do recommend that you at least try it, as i cant sell it well, due to me having the vocabulary of a dyslexic 3-year old.
Here is a link to the store page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/230410/
LEVEL: 7-8
Dan.
On the surface "Warframe" seems like another dystopian murder-fest with enough space age material to fill several Star Wars movies a billion times over. I know what your thinking "Ahhhhhhhh, Aliens to kill, Humans to the rescue" To some extent you wouldn't be wrong in saying that but as Wikipedia so aptly describes it:
"Players control members of the Tenno, a race of ancient warriors who have awoken from centuries of cryosleep to find themselves at war with the Grineer, a race of militarized humanoid clones; the Corpus, a mega-corporation with advanced robotics and laser technology; and the Infested, disfigured victims of the Technocyte infection. To fight back, the Tenno use advanced exo-armor with unique abilities—the eponymous Warframes"
Now I'm going to, before i get into any significant detail (though knowing the quality of my reviews, it will be more like brushing over them with a feather), make one thing painstakingly clear, i really do like this game, and i really do want to play it, but fucking hell it doesn't half get repetitive. A new tile-set here and there really doesn't make up for, at its base element, that the mission is essentially the same. The scaling of the enemies is good, requiring some teamwork for once, as opposed to the modern FPS which just requires someone with enough luck and the ability to press W and hold down mouse 1.
The leveling system are a nice touch, it adds a feeling of you achieving something rather than just trying to complete all the missions to say "look at me, i completed all the missions". The leveling system does take its time, which can deter some players, and you also have to pass a test the the end of your level, meaning that if you just hid behind the highest level player you could find you will struggle with these tests.
The character customization is okay too, as you can change the color of you warframe and weapons to suit how you want to look. The obtaining of weapons however is my biggest gripe about this game, in short getting everything you need to make a new frame or new weapon become a grind-fest, which unless you enjoy grinding harder than a stripper fighting for the last dollar, is the biggest put off of the game. It took me several days to obtain enough stuff to make one shitty little sword, which was then instantly replaced once i waited 24hrs after getting the blueprint for better item, which i had already got all the stuff for. The game can make it seem like the most inexpensive cheap easy to come by items are rare, which fucks me off to no end as it means you can spend hours trying to progress , but some tosspot who can steal their parents credit card , can buy all the weapons and frames pre-built and upgraded with the ability to place twice as many mods on.
The mods system is my favorite feature of Warframe, it allows for nearly endless customisation to any weapon or frame. The mods can be upgraded to increase their stat altering ability, at the cost of taking more mod points to add to the weapon. This makes it good as it means that i can own literally the same set of weapons as someone, but due to the mods we apply we can fill different roles, as i can have exploding arrows on a bow that deal electrical damage to enemies, and they can have a bow that can kill enemies or weaken them significantly with one hit. It allows for customization to your play-style.
The Game modes are very different too, which is great as i actually feel like im on a different mission despite traipsing my arse through the same fucking tile-set 3.4 million times. I also think the addition of Alerts and the Random chance that the games AI "Lotus" with tell you to stop with your current mission object and then give you an new one, such as kill everyone on the ship or download some Intel files as opposed to stealing the object she initially sent you to collect. It keeps the game somewhat fresh, despite the game becoming repetitive. Its got the effect of icing a moldy cake, it keeps it from looking old, but deep inside the nature of the game means that it will always ending being that same , no matter how many lens flares and visual effects there are.
AND HOLY SHIT THERE ARE A LOT. Seriously turn motion blur off. Sometimes it can get all a bit too much to handle. I was running along and i had to stop and pause the game (thankfully i was playing single player) and take a break after only 10 min as if felt like i was tripping balls on bad acid due to the amount of color that thrust itself onto my screen. It like in the lighting department they brought all their kids to work and told them to go mad. I mean the actual graphics style is pretty nice to look at and even on low settings, it still looks pretty good, but GOOD GOD TURN THE DAMN MOTION BLUR OFF.
Overall, "Warframe" is good, despite it hurling the magical rainbow vomit of motion at you every 10 seconds and it heavily "pay to do better than someone who has played for significantly longer than you" business model, I really do recommend that you at least try it, as i cant sell it well, due to me having the vocabulary of a dyslexic 3-year old.
Here is a link to the store page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/230410/
LEVEL: 7-8
Dan.
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