Aleyceps
BACKER
2022
I played Scorn through game pass for pc, and i’m not sure if its xbox’s fault or not but it was riddled with technical and performance issues. Every time it loaded a new area it began to stutter tremendously, cutscenes stuttered and audio cut out, several times I couldn’t interact with a pillar and was forced to quit to the main menu and reload. I will note that the themes surprised me, and the atmosphere was stellar. Despite the problems I still find it lingering in my head, somehow I found some fun in the mess. There should have been more puzzles, the combat should have been better, but there was certainly S C O R N.
There were so many more technical problems I had to talk about while playing Scorn, however after finishing it I came across ProtoBozo 's review. They summed it up absolutely perfectly and I see no reason to repeat what has already been said so please go read it!
There were so many more technical problems I had to talk about while playing Scorn, however after finishing it I came across ProtoBozo 's review. They summed it up absolutely perfectly and I see no reason to repeat what has already been said so please go read it!
This has been the worst year of destiny content so far, and I'm not sure that will change will season of the seraph but i can hope. Kings Fall 2 was the best part but its not new content. Story was boring as shit along with the 3 and 6 man activities, i wasn't very impressed with any of the loot. The most embarrasing excuses for events ended off the season on a nothing burger. It can't get too much worse than this
A good add on to the original TLOU story. Adds some extra depth to Ellie's character that is appreciated. However it does feel as though the scenes that take place with Ellie protecting Joel were simply cut from the base game and thrown in to make this DLC longer (probably not the case). Overall a fun experience for people who want extra story.
2014
I can't consciously review this game without extreme bias. I have fond memories playing Destiny, it was my first fps. I still remember exploring the Cosmodrome for the first time, obtaining the coveted Gjallarhorn, trying my first Vault of Glass, and meeting the most helpful and fun people I have met in an online game. I now play with a completely different group on D2, but occasionally i will get on my old guardian in Destiny and do a raid or two with the faithful players still in xbox's lfg. Thank you Bungie.
To preface; I had a load of fun playing this for the first time. It felt like being part of something big and new, unlike most other games because of the mystery every fnaf game has. I likely rate this higher than it deserves because of that.
Its hard to compare Security Breach to other installments in the FNaF series because it plays entirely different to the other games. Most titles have you trapped in a single room and trying to stay alive as long as possible, they involve a lot of strategy and difficulty. However Security Breach launches you into a free roam mall almost entirely open for exploration. Due to its free roam and great environmental design exploring the Pizza Plex's various areas can be very fun but this comes almost at the expense of the difficulty and stress previous games are notorious for. It doesn't help that the game was very clearly not ready, being delayed by a couple hours on launch day and still including many glitches which warranted a very fast patch.
The ending really dragged down my enjoyment, and I mean all of them. Getting to the exit at 6:00 doesn't feel rewarding in the slightest, the extra endings are extremely forgettable, and the "true ending" was soooo lackluster.
Another springtrap model. A buggy ass fight. A 7 second cutscene of him getting grabbed and us running away. That did not feel good for the time investment. The only cool part of the true ending was seeing another pizzeria buried under the pizzaplex, which I saw coming as soon as someone mentioned a pit under roxy raceway. The worst of this ending is that it kinda completely invalidates the Pizzeria Simulator ending, which was the best ending out of any game and the real ending to the fnaf story as far as I'm concerned.
Overall i found the story and exploration very fun, however it was lacking the difficulty and scariness i desired. The best parts of the game is when it returns to its roots and puts you in a room frantically keeping animatronics away. This new formula requires refining but i think it can be done. I am excited to see the next entry in the FNaF series
Its hard to compare Security Breach to other installments in the FNaF series because it plays entirely different to the other games. Most titles have you trapped in a single room and trying to stay alive as long as possible, they involve a lot of strategy and difficulty. However Security Breach launches you into a free roam mall almost entirely open for exploration. Due to its free roam and great environmental design exploring the Pizza Plex's various areas can be very fun but this comes almost at the expense of the difficulty and stress previous games are notorious for. It doesn't help that the game was very clearly not ready, being delayed by a couple hours on launch day and still including many glitches which warranted a very fast patch.
The ending really dragged down my enjoyment, and I mean all of them. Getting to the exit at 6:00 doesn't feel rewarding in the slightest, the extra endings are extremely forgettable, and the "true ending" was soooo lackluster.
Another springtrap model. A buggy ass fight. A 7 second cutscene of him getting grabbed and us running away. That did not feel good for the time investment. The only cool part of the true ending was seeing another pizzeria buried under the pizzaplex, which I saw coming as soon as someone mentioned a pit under roxy raceway. The worst of this ending is that it kinda completely invalidates the Pizzeria Simulator ending, which was the best ending out of any game and the real ending to the fnaf story as far as I'm concerned.
Overall i found the story and exploration very fun, however it was lacking the difficulty and scariness i desired. The best parts of the game is when it returns to its roots and puts you in a room frantically keeping animatronics away. This new formula requires refining but i think it can be done. I am excited to see the next entry in the FNaF series
This review contains spoilers
Hellblade is not what i expected when i downloaded it, the trailer for the second game had me interested so I gave the first a chance. This is definitely not a game for everyone, but if you give it a chance i think you will at least come out of it with something new.
The game is broken up into mostly puzzles, exposition, and combat. Some of the puzzles frustrated me or lost my patience; like the maze or the conundrum involving running through a waterfall and pushing down a bridge. On those puzzles I ended up looking up a video. By far my favorite parts of the game were combat focused. All of the boss battles had me extremely invested, and the upgrades which allow you to improve your combat felt very good, i only wish it had more combat sections. The exposition sections were very hit or miss, some are tedious and boring while others are quite interesting and help push the story along. My favorite parts of the game are: The boss battles, Final confrontation with Hela, and the blindness shard.
I can't help but wonder what could have been if Hellblade was the length of a modern AAA. While it has the graphics, it just isn't long enough to leave as much of an impact that it can. Senua, The story, Combat, and Investment would all benefit Greatly from this, however that is the downside of a game this beautiful being made by an indie studio.
To speak on the major spoilers in the game, i see what they went for with the "your progress will restart", however i don't think it was developed enough and had me somewhat bitter after finishing the game. I found out about her psychosis half way through the game after looking up why my graphics were fucking up, and part of the game became more interesting because of it. It was hilarious finding out my 30 minutes of being aggravated with the graphics settings was all intentional, and i appreciated the game more afterwards.
TLDR: Play Hellblade, you'll thank me
The game is broken up into mostly puzzles, exposition, and combat. Some of the puzzles frustrated me or lost my patience; like the maze or the conundrum involving running through a waterfall and pushing down a bridge. On those puzzles I ended up looking up a video. By far my favorite parts of the game were combat focused. All of the boss battles had me extremely invested, and the upgrades which allow you to improve your combat felt very good, i only wish it had more combat sections. The exposition sections were very hit or miss, some are tedious and boring while others are quite interesting and help push the story along. My favorite parts of the game are: The boss battles, Final confrontation with Hela, and the blindness shard.
I can't help but wonder what could have been if Hellblade was the length of a modern AAA. While it has the graphics, it just isn't long enough to leave as much of an impact that it can. Senua, The story, Combat, and Investment would all benefit Greatly from this, however that is the downside of a game this beautiful being made by an indie studio.
To speak on the major spoilers in the game, i see what they went for with the "your progress will restart", however i don't think it was developed enough and had me somewhat bitter after finishing the game. I found out about her psychosis half way through the game after looking up why my graphics were fucking up, and part of the game became more interesting because of it. It was hilarious finding out my 30 minutes of being aggravated with the graphics settings was all intentional, and i appreciated the game more afterwards.
TLDR: Play Hellblade, you'll thank me
The Witch Queen was arguably the greatest hyped expansion for destiny since Forsaken. Did it deliver? First impressions were very good but cracks begin to form after the campaign is over. I was asking myself “what’s left to do?” And what was left wasn’t impressive.
The Campaign: was quite fun, good higher difficulty content. We played the campaign in a 3 person fireteam and difficulty scaling seemed good. The cutscenes had obviously been given more thought, and i loved it. There are like 3 big twists in the campaign, and the last one is the only that really worked for me; being that the sisters of fundament were tricked by the Witness, the traveler was there in the sky to save them but they were tricked into choosing the deep. After the campaign is over there are some low quality checklist quests that aren’t worth doing. And theres nothing else really to do other than power grind and do the raid.
The Raid: Vow of the Disciple is a mixed bag. Day One was atrocious, the first few hours were riddled with error codes and Bungie eventually decided to extend the contest mode to 48 hours instead of the usual 24. The contest extension was definitely too long and it allowed many people to get the emblem who wouldn’t have otherwise. Both good and bad encounters can be found. Opening is waaay too long, Acquisition is great, Caretaker is decent, Exhibition is not good, Rhulk has good DPS but a bad first phase, and in between all of that are jumping puzzles that can take too long. Vow is just too slow to be a fun farm. The weapons work great in the meta, similar to DSC. I wish it were shorter and i’m not a big fan of the map design.
Innovation: Weapon crafting seems great at first but the perk pools are extremely disappointing at the moment. I’m worried about the issues it will cause in effect to the chase of random rolls.
Taking a step back: the rest of this expansion lacks a week-to-week reason to play, destiny’s main activities are very bland. Right now there is no reason to play ritual activities, wellspring, or master vow. The larger portion of the game is very empty. Perhaps this year of seasons will improve those areas.
Favorite Mission: The Arrival
Least favorite mission: The Mirror
The Campaign: was quite fun, good higher difficulty content. We played the campaign in a 3 person fireteam and difficulty scaling seemed good. The cutscenes had obviously been given more thought, and i loved it. There are like 3 big twists in the campaign, and the last one is the only that really worked for me; being that the sisters of fundament were tricked by the Witness, the traveler was there in the sky to save them but they were tricked into choosing the deep. After the campaign is over there are some low quality checklist quests that aren’t worth doing. And theres nothing else really to do other than power grind and do the raid.
The Raid: Vow of the Disciple is a mixed bag. Day One was atrocious, the first few hours were riddled with error codes and Bungie eventually decided to extend the contest mode to 48 hours instead of the usual 24. The contest extension was definitely too long and it allowed many people to get the emblem who wouldn’t have otherwise. Both good and bad encounters can be found. Opening is waaay too long, Acquisition is great, Caretaker is decent, Exhibition is not good, Rhulk has good DPS but a bad first phase, and in between all of that are jumping puzzles that can take too long. Vow is just too slow to be a fun farm. The weapons work great in the meta, similar to DSC. I wish it were shorter and i’m not a big fan of the map design.
Innovation: Weapon crafting seems great at first but the perk pools are extremely disappointing at the moment. I’m worried about the issues it will cause in effect to the chase of random rolls.
Taking a step back: the rest of this expansion lacks a week-to-week reason to play, destiny’s main activities are very bland. Right now there is no reason to play ritual activities, wellspring, or master vow. The larger portion of the game is very empty. Perhaps this year of seasons will improve those areas.
Favorite Mission: The Arrival
Least favorite mission: The Mirror
2021
This review contains spoilers
Before Your Eyes, although short, hit very hard with me personally due to its subject matter. The mid-game pivot was somewhat scary due to a battle with a disease myself, and I am grateful that I got to see past events again through the eyes of Benny. What some may see as a gimmick in its use of a webcam, I see as a core part of the story which was well used and crafted for the experience. I will recommend this game and encourage others to take advantage of the blink tracking.