GrotesqueWheel
The stealth and gameplay from the first one are stil here, along with some badass iconic blades Riddick uses.
Too bad the game kinda falls apart in the last leg. It goes from a decent stealth game to near constant action. There's a point where you aren't on a claustrophobic, dark and moody ship anymore. You're just on a bright, boring planet with little stealth options.
That's when the game starts forcing you into more combat oriented scenarios. Combat is one of the weaker aspects of the game. You die fast and the enemies are extremely aggressive. They also give you this really shitty gun in the end.
It has unlimited ammo and uses the game engines physics to it's full potential. Sounds like the physics gun from Half Life 2, but it sadly isn't. It desperately wants to be, but the gun they give you is AWFUL. Takes forever to fire between shots and doesn't even work properly most of the time.
They also want you to use this weapon as much as possible due to the overabundance of combat encounters in the last part.
Don't get me started on the boss fights as well. The fights rely on the really shoddy melee combat system. It's smooth and animated well, but the enemies just block and counter every attack you throw at them. I had to cheese all the fights that required the melee system because it was just so horrible.
I would say overall Butcher Bay was the better game. Dark Athena fell apart at the end and limped to the finish line after a solid stealth action game.
Too bad the game kinda falls apart in the last leg. It goes from a decent stealth game to near constant action. There's a point where you aren't on a claustrophobic, dark and moody ship anymore. You're just on a bright, boring planet with little stealth options.
That's when the game starts forcing you into more combat oriented scenarios. Combat is one of the weaker aspects of the game. You die fast and the enemies are extremely aggressive. They also give you this really shitty gun in the end.
It has unlimited ammo and uses the game engines physics to it's full potential. Sounds like the physics gun from Half Life 2, but it sadly isn't. It desperately wants to be, but the gun they give you is AWFUL. Takes forever to fire between shots and doesn't even work properly most of the time.
They also want you to use this weapon as much as possible due to the overabundance of combat encounters in the last part.
Don't get me started on the boss fights as well. The fights rely on the really shoddy melee combat system. It's smooth and animated well, but the enemies just block and counter every attack you throw at them. I had to cheese all the fights that required the melee system because it was just so horrible.
I would say overall Butcher Bay was the better game. Dark Athena fell apart at the end and limped to the finish line after a solid stealth action game.
(Only reviewing singleplayer, spoilers ahead) Second time through, I had fun memories of the particular campaign. It was a blast. The ship combat is fluid and fast paced, and I love how hard the guns hit. Although it is easy to get lost and lose track of the enemy at times.
The gunplay and zero-g combat is fun enough, but it's really the environments and set pieces that really make the game shine. It still looks amazing now. When they give you the freedom to do side missions, that's when the game gets into a fantastic sci-fi action flow. Too bad it only lasts a few hours at best.
Everything about this game is fun sci-fi action until the last string of missions. That's when the hamfisted message of sacrifice is thrown to the center of the story as we watch all the characters we've come to know die. Hell, even the end credits have eulogies from the dead characters themselves. The credits list is also a list of your dead soldiers...
I'm not saying sacrifice is bad, but the way they just shove it in your face so blatantly without any grace really brings the game down a notch. It goes from a really fun sci-fi adventure, to a depressing, typical military assault in the last string of missions. It feels like two different games entirely.
Overall, fun action, set pieces, and sci-fi goodness. Don't expect anything out of the story. The last act especially sucks the fun out of the game.
The gunplay and zero-g combat is fun enough, but it's really the environments and set pieces that really make the game shine. It still looks amazing now. When they give you the freedom to do side missions, that's when the game gets into a fantastic sci-fi action flow. Too bad it only lasts a few hours at best.
Everything about this game is fun sci-fi action until the last string of missions. That's when the hamfisted message of sacrifice is thrown to the center of the story as we watch all the characters we've come to know die. Hell, even the end credits have eulogies from the dead characters themselves. The credits list is also a list of your dead soldiers...
I'm not saying sacrifice is bad, but the way they just shove it in your face so blatantly without any grace really brings the game down a notch. It goes from a really fun sci-fi adventure, to a depressing, typical military assault in the last string of missions. It feels like two different games entirely.
Overall, fun action, set pieces, and sci-fi goodness. Don't expect anything out of the story. The last act especially sucks the fun out of the game.
I didn't think it was terrible, I enjoyed the lab levels and some of the horror elements. But yeah, some of the enemies are extremely annoying and not fun to deal with. If you area die hard fan, it's a must play for some of the story elements.
Otherwise, you probably wont enjoy it.
Otherwise, you probably wont enjoy it.
2013
This review contains spoilers
Ryse: Son of Rome is like a square block of marble. It looks clean, it feels nice, but no one's sculpted it. There's dents and attempts to create something out of the marble to no avail.
It's a bit of a slog to get through at first. You deal with boring military roman things, your family dies, then you go back to boring roman military blabber. The Roman army aspect focuses on Boudica and her army of barbarians that brought down the Roman empire. They could've done something interesting with it, but instead gave us cookie cutter dialogue and drama.
There's also a revenge plot about your family being murdered that's rarely touched on...and when it is, it feels like the story is trying hard to move past it in order to get back to that juicy military/barbarian drama.
At the halfway point, things get weird. Out of nowhere the story turns mystical, you put on a really scary looking Halloween costume and scream vengeance for your family, then participate in a really fun gladiator tournament.
I thought the game would finally get better from here, but guess what happens after this really fun, unique level? Yeah that's right, more roman military b.s. dealing with the invading barbarians!
Then the game ends with what boils down to a hallway of QuickTime sequences. I wouldn't even call it that, since even if you press the wrong button for the "QuickTime events" you still pass it. There's no stakes or danger to these QuickTime events since time practically freezes to make sure you don't miss it.
Then the game just kinda ends. You spend maybe 85% of the game dealing with the barbarian drama, and the other 15% dealing with the far more interesting revenge plot. It really baffles me how they went all out for one level, then just kinda put in the bare minimum on the rest of the game...
Didn't try the multiplayer. Most likely won't ever try it since it's just killing more enemies with the repetitive combat, but with a friend!!
Speaking of combat, it involved 4 buttons: sword hit, shield hit, doge, parry. There's also ranged spears but they're actually a huge pain in the ass to aim and use. For a game that came out in 2013, they couldn't get third person aiming right?
What the enemies lack in diversity, make up for by testing your knowledge of the four button combat system...which you probably mastered by the end of the first level. There's a slo-mo ability too for some reason.
The game looks gorgeous, and the executions are fun (but not so fun after the 100th time). Besides one standout level, that's all there is to this game. It's a small, beautiful looking block of marble. It would've been great if the devs did something magical with that beautiful looking foundation. It's worth $5 if you enjoy roman military culture and badass looking executions (that get old FAST), but other than that, I would spend the 8 hours it takes to beat on a better game.
It's a bit of a slog to get through at first. You deal with boring military roman things, your family dies, then you go back to boring roman military blabber. The Roman army aspect focuses on Boudica and her army of barbarians that brought down the Roman empire. They could've done something interesting with it, but instead gave us cookie cutter dialogue and drama.
There's also a revenge plot about your family being murdered that's rarely touched on...and when it is, it feels like the story is trying hard to move past it in order to get back to that juicy military/barbarian drama.
At the halfway point, things get weird. Out of nowhere the story turns mystical, you put on a really scary looking Halloween costume and scream vengeance for your family, then participate in a really fun gladiator tournament.
I thought the game would finally get better from here, but guess what happens after this really fun, unique level? Yeah that's right, more roman military b.s. dealing with the invading barbarians!
Then the game ends with what boils down to a hallway of QuickTime sequences. I wouldn't even call it that, since even if you press the wrong button for the "QuickTime events" you still pass it. There's no stakes or danger to these QuickTime events since time practically freezes to make sure you don't miss it.
Then the game just kinda ends. You spend maybe 85% of the game dealing with the barbarian drama, and the other 15% dealing with the far more interesting revenge plot. It really baffles me how they went all out for one level, then just kinda put in the bare minimum on the rest of the game...
Didn't try the multiplayer. Most likely won't ever try it since it's just killing more enemies with the repetitive combat, but with a friend!!
Speaking of combat, it involved 4 buttons: sword hit, shield hit, doge, parry. There's also ranged spears but they're actually a huge pain in the ass to aim and use. For a game that came out in 2013, they couldn't get third person aiming right?
What the enemies lack in diversity, make up for by testing your knowledge of the four button combat system...which you probably mastered by the end of the first level. There's a slo-mo ability too for some reason.
The game looks gorgeous, and the executions are fun (but not so fun after the 100th time). Besides one standout level, that's all there is to this game. It's a small, beautiful looking block of marble. It would've been great if the devs did something magical with that beautiful looking foundation. It's worth $5 if you enjoy roman military culture and badass looking executions (that get old FAST), but other than that, I would spend the 8 hours it takes to beat on a better game.
2009
A game with a very promising and solid formula that doesn't do much interesting things with it. It's almost a great game...almost
2023
Short, sweet, and terrifying. Worth it for the unique premise and situation!!
2022
Incredibly rigid combat and movement that frustrated me more than anything. There are some small good things about this game, like the cutscenes and acting are decent for batman fans.
It's also a cool idea to "patrol" Gotham but the games combat and clunky movement really kill the immersion and idea that you're patrolling Gotham and being a member of the bat family.
Plus the story feels incredibly disjointed. There are four members of the bat family, yet you only get to see one for each cutscene. This game honestly makes no sense in terms of design at all. Nothing is connected, and nothing feels good about it. Too bad, the studio behind this seemed to have a passion for the source material too.
It's also a cool idea to "patrol" Gotham but the games combat and clunky movement really kill the immersion and idea that you're patrolling Gotham and being a member of the bat family.
Plus the story feels incredibly disjointed. There are four members of the bat family, yet you only get to see one for each cutscene. This game honestly makes no sense in terms of design at all. Nothing is connected, and nothing feels good about it. Too bad, the studio behind this seemed to have a passion for the source material too.
2021
A solid FPS with atmosphere pumping music and oppressive environments. There wasn't a huge variety of weapons or enemies, and the game could be unfair a lot of the time. It's still a solid classic in my books.