This was a nice surprise; From my memory, playing Quake 2 at 12 years old was the disappointing sequel following Quake in 1997. It was the first game I played that had somewhat of a narrative, along with missions that was not just, find the red key, open the red door, advance, rinse, wash repeat. There was a ton of backtracking but the maps were super confusing. The remaster adds a welcomed compass to the HUD that helps players navigate the confusing landscape.

The HD remaster does not add much in terms of aesthetics to the maps. They are still boring, unimaginative and tedious, especially when you play through the Ground Zero or Reckoning campaigns. The new campaign “Call of the Machine” is definitely worth checking out and works similar to how the Quake remaster added in their new campaign and adds in the new modern flavor of map design. It also throws a ton more enemies at you than what was possible back in the 90s. Quake is MUCH longer than this remaster however.

I cannot accurately put my finger on why this game does not work for me, just a couple of theories. It shocks me this game is not as exciting or fun as its spiritual predecessors Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2. Those games are A+ Co-ops. This game is developed by the same studio, minus the “Left 4 Dead” IP. It plays similarly, with strong emphasis on co-op and using the game’s AI director. The structure is similar, move from safe house to safe house in several unique environments. So why does it feel different?

It could be the card system- where players collect cards that will provide stat boosts so you can basically build out a character that is proficient in a certain weapon type, or defensive upgrade. That element adds a complexity to a formula that might not have been needed. Players also have to “BUY” ammo at safehouses along with throwables and medkits. So during your run you need to keep your eye out for coins to use as in-game currency. The campaigns also feel more tedious, some of them feel like they go on forever rather than having a campaign with four mains sections and fifth finale. Back 4 Blood splits the campaigns up into Acts, and then within the acts are different chapters. It just feels more confusing.

Finally the biggest problem with the game is it’s difficulty. Recruit, Veteran, Nightmare and No Hope. You think this would be similar to Easy, Normal, Advanced and Expert from L4D- but it’s not. Expert in L4D is closer to Veteran in Back 4 Blood and it shows how the developers really want you to grind out those cards so you can increase your characters stats to be able to service in No Hope. We don’t want to grind in this game Turtlerock. We just want to play it, sometimes with friends, sometimes with noobs. Grinding with people you do not know is a disaster recipe. We thought you understood this from the Evolve failure but maybe you will understand on your third try.

All this game does is make me want to play Left 4 Dead again.

It’s great. It’s exactly what you would expect to be. Fallout in Space. There are a billion things to do and its fun doing all of it. Last year, I played and loved No Man’s Sky. And in my review, I specially called out Starfield to make sure the un-fun things in that game, were not repeated in this game. For the most part, that turned out true. The ONLY thing No Man’s Skydoes better is space flight/landing/taking off. It’s seamless in No Man’s Sky; In Starfield taking off and landing is a cutscene. I’m sure they tried to get it to work but it’s OK that it doesn’t. No Man’s Sky is a Space Sim. Starfield is an RPG where the dialog is what drives the game. Space combat is still fun as VATs has found it’s way in the form of locking on an enemy ship.

There’s no co-op in Starfield, which was a tall order, but you can still build your ship, customize your homes, customize your outposts, there’s just no one to share it with (not counting screenshots of course).

The biggest negative that come to mind is the inventory system, which is awful. And I’m not even really referring to being encumbered 99% of the time. It’s when you dump all of your inventory into storage boxes, and then try to craft something that is in the same base as your inventory boxes, the crafting system does not recognize your inventory unless you are holding it. I’m sure that will be patched in, but it’s a huge pain in the ass right now.

Frankly, the fact that the inventory system is the biggest complaint rather than performance or bugs is a good thing for Bethesda. I have not experienced any performance issues (running 3080, Ryzen), just a couple of fun physics issues and an occasional game crash. Luckily the game excelles in every other area where these negatives do not ruin the game experience.