HamezRodriguez
Waking up after a jolly good thumping of your own, Penumbra: Black Plague improves over its predecessor from the get-go. Gone are the mazes, along with weapons that made a joke out of the enemies in Overture. In their absence, a tighter game emerges. A creepier, more enjoyable one at that. And whilst jank remains, this is one hell of a follow-up.
2007
Penumbra: Overture is a drawn-out prologue to a much better game. Whilst the narrative and atmosphere carry the opening hour or two, once you figure out that your bloodthirsty pursuers can be easily reasoned with after a clobber or two the game devolves into a maze runner with a few puzzles in between.
Dead Space 3: Awakened brings back the horror, a core fixture of the series that had gone mysteriously missing in the base game. Whilst this is admirable, its bite-size nature cuts a lot of its potential short. And with a playtime of under two hours, I mean that quite literally.
2019
Bad game, good dog...
2016
(Singleplayer Review)
Titanfall 2 has one of the tightest fps campaigns I've ever played, and whilst the story isn't going to wow anyone away with its complexity. It allows for some of the most memorable set pieces in gaming and leaves room to focus on the budding bromance between man and machine. If you haven't tried it out yet you should rectify that, preferably soon.
Titanfall 2 has one of the tightest fps campaigns I've ever played, and whilst the story isn't going to wow anyone away with its complexity. It allows for some of the most memorable set pieces in gaming and leaves room to focus on the budding bromance between man and machine. If you haven't tried it out yet you should rectify that, preferably soon.
2019
The marshmallow roasting mechanics are quite divine.
2017
Before I say anything else, Darkwood is a great game. Its atmosphere is second to none with an increasingly bizarre world that's as alluring as it is disturbing. Where the issues lie with it however, and the reason I believe many people don't see it through to the end, is its longevity. As I closed in on twenty hours with the game, many wonders had grown trivial. Even with the end in sight, I'd lost the motivation to pursue it hours ago.
2008
I was initially surprised by how ambitious this game was despite its reputation, but whilst it has some interesting ideas, the novelty of its mechanics all ran out around the midpoint for me. Rest in peace Alone In The Dark.
2020
Slack-jawed and vigorously mystified, my time with Fatum Betula felt like a dream. Its world encapsulates the bizarre creations of the unconscious mind, letting you explore them with an awareness you're usually exempt from which is subsequently where issues arise. For players who aren't prepared, the game's logic, or lack thereof, may act as a barrier and prevent them from giving it a chance.
2013
With its reputation as a studio killer, I went into Dead Space 3 suitably cautious, accompanied by a friend who I could laugh through the pain with. However now that the dust has settled and the lacklustre final boss defeated, the laughs dried out and frustrations vented. I've come to the conclusion that whilst Dead Space 3 may be a flawed game, it's still a fun one with the right company. The game's story is an incoherent mess and the characters even more so, with a succulent buffet of bugs around each corner being contrasted by some genuinely interesting ideas and crunchy combat mechanics. Don't get me wrong It's undoubtedly a shame and this series deserved a better send-off, but if you enjoyed the previous two entries you should be able to scrape some enjoyment out of this one too.
Resurrection of Evil is an epilogue to DOOM 3 (feat. the super shotgun) and not much else. What little it adds in the form of reskinned enemies and a gravity gun rip off, goes on to confuse an already muddled foundation and its increased focus on combat highlights all the issues present in the base game. This is a trip to hell you could skip out on.
2004
Far from evolving the series, DOOM 3 instead veers in a new direction, trading vast arenas and side strafing projectiles for claustrophobic corridors and interacting with monitors. Now granted, that's a bit of an oversimplification and in all fairness, on its own merits' what DOOM 3 does, it does pretty damn well. That being said, did I find myself shooting into the shadows a little too much? Well yeah, a bit. And those tight corridors I mentioned before aren't ideal for manoeuvring away from imp fireballs either. But those things aren't as important in this instalment, for its focus is elsewhere. Namely, being spooky as hell.
Travis cuts his way to No.1 once again in this sequel to the equally bloody and deranged, No More Heroes. However, despite some quality of life changes and additions I couldn't help but feel disappointed by this follow-up. The edge of the original feels duller in this incarnation and towards the end after waves of goons were fed to me one after another, slicing through each of them began to feel tedious. It's got a bangin' soundtrack though.
1997
Visceral, bloody and always fair, if we're not counting the final boss. Doom 64 is everything Doom II should have been. Building on the original whilst carving out its own identity, I went in as a sceptic but was wowed time and time again. If you're going to play only one of the classic DOOM titles. This is a hell of a good time.
Coming straight off the original has only made me detest my time with DOOM II more. Whilst the super shotgun is a blast (quite literally) and the core of doom still shines through the hefty layers of muck, the level design in this entry is disturbingly confused and maze-like. In other words, it's rather hellish.