So finally after 2 years of this game being in circulation, and my friends telling me "Hey Dan, you should get this" I finally caved in to peer pressure and bought it, and that was totally not down to the fact that the GOTY version was on sale for £7.50 *inconspicuous whistling*
Where to begin...
Well it wasn't what I was expecting, that's for sure. I assumed because of the mainly multiplayer focus of the game that it would actively punish me for not playing with friends. I was wrong. The AI is helpful, its not useless, can actually kill people, and as far as helping you up when you get downed is concerned they put their life above yours.
The gameplay is great, its nice to have a game which gives the players so many ways to achieve an objective (mission dependant). You can do the missions quiet or loud, meaning you can go in kill few people, steal the stuff you came for and leave without triggering the alarms, or you can go in all guns blazing, let the alarms trip, and fight wave after wave of police. My only real complain about the missions is they can get some what repetitive with a slight variation on the themes, but again its typical of my rocky relationship with the shooter genre, because I just get bored of it and stop playing. (Borderlands 2 for instance). The 5 different difficulty settings (Normal, Hard, Very Hard, Overkill, Death Wish) make each mission more replayable too, as well as the special quality of Pro Job, meaning that if you fail you cant restart it, but you get more reward if you succeed. It has the effect of adding a fresh layer of icing to a mouldy crumbling cake. You will however get increasingly frustrated at the drill.
The graphics, even on the lowest setting, as I cant go ultra high due to my PC having the gaming power of the average household toaster, still looks really nice. Its better than The Order 1886 as it doesn't put how the game looks over replayability, mechanics and playability. The game does crash more often than the average plane, but its nothing that I cant deal with, because it doesn't take 3 million years to boot up again, and if im in a heist when it happens I only loose the XP and Money gained up until that point.
The Classes are good enough to keep a nice variety to the play styles, some being more effective than others. The Skill trees make it worth investing in more than one otherwise you will end up being forced to struggle in certain missions. Perks are a nice addition, however I was disappointed that I couldn't respect them, as I could with the Skills. That and they were very ill advertised, as I only found them at level 40 after being told about them and how to get to them by another player (thanks again Tim).
The characters are, well, characters in their own right. to begin with you have the charismatic leader, Dallas, the token black guy, Chains, the charismatic leaders brother who replaces a guy from the first game, Houston, and the tech guy, Wolf. However the DLC for the game (Some free, some paid, some from pre-ordering other games) Adds:
Clover, the Irish lady
Bonnie, the Scottish Lady
Sokol, the Russian hockey player
John Wick, the film promotion
Dragan, the croatian cop
Jacket, the Hotline Miami 2 deluxe edition reward, and character from the first game
and last and by no means least
Hoxton, the British guy from Sheffield, Yorkshire, from the first game, whose voice actor was busy when the second game was being made, so they said he was arrested, and then you rescue him.
The Mask collectable system and weapons collection system are well implemented. Masks do fuck all, Weapons kill people, Weapons can have silencers .etc added to them to make them better at killing or easier to hide, masks can be customised, to look unique. Obviously some weapons are better than others... and this is where my problem is.
The best weapons come from DLC. This makes the game somewhat pay to win. However some of the worst weapons come from DLC too, making it pay to whine. I will say that even without the best weapons you can still do pretty good, but it does make the balance of the game unfair to some extent.
Also there is too much DLC for the game, although props to overkill for making a portion of it free.
In all, its a fun game, good with friends, good without, runs well, decent graphics, nice community
However as one Steam review put it
"The real heist is on your wallet"
and one more thing, FUCK THE DRILL.
Link: http: http://store.steampowered.com/app/218620/
Level: 8 (+1 for the inclusion of a character from my hometown)
Dan
Tuesday, 25 August 2015
Thursday, 20 August 2015
Dino D-Day: *Insert pun here*
After some time neglecting this thing why not review a game that I was forcibly made to purchase to enjoy a couple nights of solid banter.
Dino D-day is a fps game, set in alternative world war II where Hitler and his little wizards manage to somehow resurrect dinosaurs and then use them in their war machine to kerb stomp the allies into submission.
Made by 800 North and Digital Ranch, an Indie games (you may have noticed a rather common theme with the games I review) its surprisingly not shit ,considering it emerged from the cess pool of the Dinosaur themed game shit pile that slops around on the bottom of the steam store ( I henceforth name them Dindie Games) . I think that its major success is that it managed to actually make a good game in Valve's Software source engine meaning that the way it handles is very much like stepping into Left 4 Dead or Half-Life 2.
As you can imagine Axis consists of mostly dinosaurs, (6 small, 2 massive ones, 3 humans) and the allies consist mostly of Humans (8 humans, 1 Dinosaur). Normally this would lead to a really massive imbalance and in some cases and on some maps this is the case, but overall the game isn't biased in favour of one team, and whoever manages to win only wins because of playing better than the other team, even the huge dinosaurs have a blind spot, where humans can melee them to death.
The graphics are somewhat dated, but as my reviews normal tell I don't give a rats ass how good it looks as long as it handles well. Yes graphics are important to a game with relatively no story (Thanks game dev tycoon), but id much rather prefer a FPS game where im able to shoot the enemy, because the hitboxes are reasonable and well planned and implemented rather than it looking nice for all of 5 seconds until I figure out how to put a comically large hole in their chest.
The controls are typical of the FPS genre, you now WASD, left click to shoot, keeps in nice and easy to play, cos you know, anyone who has played any game on the PC, is used to it. Goat kills are fun, which true to the name, you throw one of the many randomly placed goats at someone, as a dinosaur, or alternatively you can just play catch with your dino buddies.
This review is short, I know, but theres not much I can really say, the sound doesn't sound like it was recorded on a potato, its fun, worth the £6.99, but the I think that adding the Last Stand Mode as a DLC is abit stupid, but atleast its isn't the DLC quest that Payday 2 is (as I have been informed, yet to find out).
Its one of those games that isn't serious, its fun to piss around with mates or with strangers and its always got populated servers, its fun, fast paced, easy to play and more importantly, not crap, like the vast majority of the Dindie games available on steam.
Here is a store page link: http://store.steampowered.com/app/70000/
Level: 7.5/10 (cheeky wink for the inclusion of throwing goats at people for kills)
Dan.
Dino D-day is a fps game, set in alternative world war II where Hitler and his little wizards manage to somehow resurrect dinosaurs and then use them in their war machine to kerb stomp the allies into submission.
Made by 800 North and Digital Ranch, an Indie games (you may have noticed a rather common theme with the games I review) its surprisingly not shit ,considering it emerged from the cess pool of the Dinosaur themed game shit pile that slops around on the bottom of the steam store ( I henceforth name them Dindie Games) . I think that its major success is that it managed to actually make a good game in Valve's Software source engine meaning that the way it handles is very much like stepping into Left 4 Dead or Half-Life 2.
As you can imagine Axis consists of mostly dinosaurs, (6 small, 2 massive ones, 3 humans) and the allies consist mostly of Humans (8 humans, 1 Dinosaur). Normally this would lead to a really massive imbalance and in some cases and on some maps this is the case, but overall the game isn't biased in favour of one team, and whoever manages to win only wins because of playing better than the other team, even the huge dinosaurs have a blind spot, where humans can melee them to death.
The graphics are somewhat dated, but as my reviews normal tell I don't give a rats ass how good it looks as long as it handles well. Yes graphics are important to a game with relatively no story (Thanks game dev tycoon), but id much rather prefer a FPS game where im able to shoot the enemy, because the hitboxes are reasonable and well planned and implemented rather than it looking nice for all of 5 seconds until I figure out how to put a comically large hole in their chest.
The controls are typical of the FPS genre, you now WASD, left click to shoot, keeps in nice and easy to play, cos you know, anyone who has played any game on the PC, is used to it. Goat kills are fun, which true to the name, you throw one of the many randomly placed goats at someone, as a dinosaur, or alternatively you can just play catch with your dino buddies.
This review is short, I know, but theres not much I can really say, the sound doesn't sound like it was recorded on a potato, its fun, worth the £6.99, but the I think that adding the Last Stand Mode as a DLC is abit stupid, but atleast its isn't the DLC quest that Payday 2 is (as I have been informed, yet to find out).
Its one of those games that isn't serious, its fun to piss around with mates or with strangers and its always got populated servers, its fun, fast paced, easy to play and more importantly, not crap, like the vast majority of the Dindie games available on steam.
Here is a store page link: http://store.steampowered.com/app/70000/
Level: 7.5/10 (cheeky wink for the inclusion of throwing goats at people for kills)
Dan.
Sunday, 9 August 2015
Project Zomboid: a dead good game.
After a suitably long period of time neglecting this again, I feel I should come back and throw my worthless two-penenth in the vast ocean of reviews that litter the internet.
Its made by The Indie Stone, yada yada yada, heres a link to the page
http://store.steampowered.com/app/108600/
Project Zomboid is, as you may see me say a lot in this, unbelievably cool.
First of all, its early access done right, you can download a demo, which allows you to see how well the game controls and how brown your pants will become once you start playing it, if you buy.
Yes, this game doesn't have AAA graphics, but its honestly the best survival game I have ever played. including Don't Starve, Minecraft and other assorted indie bollocks. The mandatory survival crafting system is well implemented, the building system is good, farming/fishing/scavenging all works brilliantly.
The biggest strength of this game is its lack of hand-holding, as its brutal. But coincidentally its biggest downfall is its lack of telling you the basics of how to build, level up and use the medicine system. There is more trial and error in this game than I would care for. However I can overlook this as it means you actually are semi pushed towards online play.
Online play is great, it reminds me of games like Rust and DayZ, where you have shirtless or naked people charging around, beating people to death. However, teamwork is advisable, as the zombies eventually form a massive horde and will kill you, no two ways about it. They also wont stop chasing after you, much like horny teenage girls after a manufactured boy band.
The food system reminds me of Don't starve in the way that food goes off unless its in a fridge. Or its canned. However I do pick some problems with it, the fact that they went to the lengths to not allowed you to eat canned food without having a can opener on your person. But when you eat the canned food, you also eat the can. The do a lot of real world things such as cooking .etc but cannot manage to give you a can after you eat from it. No you may say im being picky, but when you drink Soda/Whiskey/Water, you are left with an empty bottle.
Also the vision system is good, you can board up doors and windows, and cover windows with sheets, essentially building a safe house, which, against a horde, basically is like hitting a lego house with a sledge-hammer, you put all of your work into making it and building it, only to have it destroyed quickly and destroyed brutally.
Combat is sometimes flawed, but nothing that I cant deal with occasionally, Hit detection can be annoying leading to several untimely deaths, but meh, live and let die (quite literally). Tools can double as Weapons, Like Hammers, Sledgehammers, Axe's and Crowbars can be used to beat people or zombies to death, and also used to build walls or crates or fortifications, break walls, cut down trees, and open closed doors .etc. Each tool has a durability, that goes down with uses, can be repaired .etc
The UI annoys me, as its either too cluttered, or too minimal. I didn't even know that the game had a fucking levelling system until I accidentally stumbled upon it in a mad button mashing to escape from a massive horde of the undead. The glee I felt was the equivalent of finding a £5 in your jeans.
The injury system is a breath of fresh air, as each body is split into 8 pieces ( Forearm x2, Upper arm x2, Upper/Lower leg x2, Head, Torso), Wounds need to be disinfected, bandaged .etc to allow them to heal, unless they are minor wounds, such as scratches or shallow cuts. The deeper cuts/ bone breaks require splints, stitches and more advanced medical procedures. Making playing with other people and specialising in a 'profession' rewarding. As always, bites are 100% lethal.
Speaking of Professions, during character creation you can choose a profession like a builder, which comes with free virtues, like increased carpentry and barricading skill, and harder skin.
Character traits such as Claustrophobia or being athletic, requiring a virtue to be counteracted with a vice, meaning you cannot make a overpowered character.
To conclude, well balanced game, fun, very difficult, great with friends, get it if you have the cash, but maybe if you don't enjoy stupidly difficult survival games, which you may have to play by yourself, but yeah fun, demanding, and hard to get to grips with.
Level: 7
Dan.
Its made by The Indie Stone, yada yada yada, heres a link to the page
http://store.steampowered.com/app/108600/
Project Zomboid is, as you may see me say a lot in this, unbelievably cool.
First of all, its early access done right, you can download a demo, which allows you to see how well the game controls and how brown your pants will become once you start playing it, if you buy.
Yes, this game doesn't have AAA graphics, but its honestly the best survival game I have ever played. including Don't Starve, Minecraft and other assorted indie bollocks. The mandatory survival crafting system is well implemented, the building system is good, farming/fishing/scavenging all works brilliantly.
The biggest strength of this game is its lack of hand-holding, as its brutal. But coincidentally its biggest downfall is its lack of telling you the basics of how to build, level up and use the medicine system. There is more trial and error in this game than I would care for. However I can overlook this as it means you actually are semi pushed towards online play.
Online play is great, it reminds me of games like Rust and DayZ, where you have shirtless or naked people charging around, beating people to death. However, teamwork is advisable, as the zombies eventually form a massive horde and will kill you, no two ways about it. They also wont stop chasing after you, much like horny teenage girls after a manufactured boy band.
The food system reminds me of Don't starve in the way that food goes off unless its in a fridge. Or its canned. However I do pick some problems with it, the fact that they went to the lengths to not allowed you to eat canned food without having a can opener on your person. But when you eat the canned food, you also eat the can. The do a lot of real world things such as cooking .etc but cannot manage to give you a can after you eat from it. No you may say im being picky, but when you drink Soda/Whiskey/Water, you are left with an empty bottle.
Also the vision system is good, you can board up doors and windows, and cover windows with sheets, essentially building a safe house, which, against a horde, basically is like hitting a lego house with a sledge-hammer, you put all of your work into making it and building it, only to have it destroyed quickly and destroyed brutally.
Combat is sometimes flawed, but nothing that I cant deal with occasionally, Hit detection can be annoying leading to several untimely deaths, but meh, live and let die (quite literally). Tools can double as Weapons, Like Hammers, Sledgehammers, Axe's and Crowbars can be used to beat people or zombies to death, and also used to build walls or crates or fortifications, break walls, cut down trees, and open closed doors .etc. Each tool has a durability, that goes down with uses, can be repaired .etc
The UI annoys me, as its either too cluttered, or too minimal. I didn't even know that the game had a fucking levelling system until I accidentally stumbled upon it in a mad button mashing to escape from a massive horde of the undead. The glee I felt was the equivalent of finding a £5 in your jeans.
The injury system is a breath of fresh air, as each body is split into 8 pieces ( Forearm x2, Upper arm x2, Upper/Lower leg x2, Head, Torso), Wounds need to be disinfected, bandaged .etc to allow them to heal, unless they are minor wounds, such as scratches or shallow cuts. The deeper cuts/ bone breaks require splints, stitches and more advanced medical procedures. Making playing with other people and specialising in a 'profession' rewarding. As always, bites are 100% lethal.
Speaking of Professions, during character creation you can choose a profession like a builder, which comes with free virtues, like increased carpentry and barricading skill, and harder skin.
Character traits such as Claustrophobia or being athletic, requiring a virtue to be counteracted with a vice, meaning you cannot make a overpowered character.
To conclude, well balanced game, fun, very difficult, great with friends, get it if you have the cash, but maybe if you don't enjoy stupidly difficult survival games, which you may have to play by yourself, but yeah fun, demanding, and hard to get to grips with.
Level: 7
Dan.
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