Maskd
2007
This review contains spoilers
good game. never played
2011
Gameplay - 10/10
The puzzles are fun and can get quite challenging at times, which only makes them more fun. They are always new, apart from the first few that are the same to the first few Portal 1 levels, but that is on purpose and the levels have had quite a big visual change.
Story - 10/10
The story is very good and the characters are funny (specifically Wheatley, who is voiced by Stephen Merchant). The story has a nice twist in the middle and some comedic humour added in at the correct times. The levels and puzzles are twisted nicely into the story and actually have relevance.
Co-op - 7/10
The co-op experience is good and its the only game that me and my friend like consistently playing (at the time of writing).
Performance - 10/10
I could probably run this on a Microsoft Surface Tablet thing as my friend ran it on his 'craptop' as a consistent 20-30fps on low settings. But, I dunno what i expected tbh as its from 2011.
Graphics - 8/10
Not quite on par with games like Horizon Zero Dawn or Red Dead Redemption 2... obviously, bcoz its from 2011. But if Valve Release Portal 3 with these graphics today, i would be happy.
Overall, I recommend this game to anyone who hasn't played it yet.
The puzzles are fun and can get quite challenging at times, which only makes them more fun. They are always new, apart from the first few that are the same to the first few Portal 1 levels, but that is on purpose and the levels have had quite a big visual change.
Story - 10/10
The story is very good and the characters are funny (specifically Wheatley, who is voiced by Stephen Merchant). The story has a nice twist in the middle and some comedic humour added in at the correct times. The levels and puzzles are twisted nicely into the story and actually have relevance.
Co-op - 7/10
The co-op experience is good and its the only game that me and my friend like consistently playing (at the time of writing).
Performance - 10/10
I could probably run this on a Microsoft Surface Tablet thing as my friend ran it on his 'craptop' as a consistent 20-30fps on low settings. But, I dunno what i expected tbh as its from 2011.
Graphics - 8/10
Not quite on par with games like Horizon Zero Dawn or Red Dead Redemption 2... obviously, bcoz its from 2011. But if Valve Release Portal 3 with these graphics today, i would be happy.
Overall, I recommend this game to anyone who hasn't played it yet.
2016
Great Game - Spent a lot of my time playing this game but i'm not sure how other people have like 1000-2000 hours on this game as it feels like I've played this game for over 200 hours but I've only actually played just over 50 (as of review).
Recommended mods:
The Great War Mod
Road to '56 Mod
Sound - 6/10
Music can get a bit repetitive as i keep hearing the same music track over and over but i'm sure there are more soundtracks in the DLC. I'm also sure that there are some music mods out there but i have not been bothered to look.
UI - 9/10
The UI can be a bit overwhelming and complicated when you start the game but have probably one of the most simple Paradox Grand strategy games' UI in my opinion behind CK3 (Crusader Kings 3) which i have played on Xbox gamepass for PC.
Gameplay - 8/10
The gameplay is really fun and strategic after you get to 1939 (The historical start of WW2, but you can play against history)
The first few years in game can be a bit boring when playing historically but there is a 1939 start date to get right into the action. I do find problems with not being able to break through an enemies lines even though i have double or even triple their division, but i am sure that there is something that i am not doing correctly and that its not the games fault.
Performance - 5/10
even at low settings i get quite a lot of lag and most the game is played at 20-30 fps and i have a pretty good PC. It can get even worse late game going down to around 5 fps sometimes.
Edit: I have recently upgraded my PC and now the game runs great. But the game still needs a very powerful PC compared to what the game actually is (Horizon Zero Dawn runs at a higher fps than HOI4)
Overall, I recommend this with the Road to '56 mod if you want to play WW2 as it adds a lot more country focus trees whilst also allowing you to play to 1956 rather than 1949 end date (ends on 1st of January 1949).
Recommended mods:
The Great War Mod
Road to '56 Mod
Sound - 6/10
Music can get a bit repetitive as i keep hearing the same music track over and over but i'm sure there are more soundtracks in the DLC. I'm also sure that there are some music mods out there but i have not been bothered to look.
UI - 9/10
The UI can be a bit overwhelming and complicated when you start the game but have probably one of the most simple Paradox Grand strategy games' UI in my opinion behind CK3 (Crusader Kings 3) which i have played on Xbox gamepass for PC.
Gameplay - 8/10
The gameplay is really fun and strategic after you get to 1939 (The historical start of WW2, but you can play against history)
The first few years in game can be a bit boring when playing historically but there is a 1939 start date to get right into the action. I do find problems with not being able to break through an enemies lines even though i have double or even triple their division, but i am sure that there is something that i am not doing correctly and that its not the games fault.
Performance - 5/10
even at low settings i get quite a lot of lag and most the game is played at 20-30 fps and i have a pretty good PC. It can get even worse late game going down to around 5 fps sometimes.
Edit: I have recently upgraded my PC and now the game runs great. But the game still needs a very powerful PC compared to what the game actually is (Horizon Zero Dawn runs at a higher fps than HOI4)
Overall, I recommend this with the Road to '56 mod if you want to play WW2 as it adds a lot more country focus trees whilst also allowing you to play to 1956 rather than 1949 end date (ends on 1st of January 1949).
2016
Stardew Valley is a really fun and relaxing game.
Sound/Music - 10/10
It is amazing how this entire game is made by only one person.
The music Is extremely relaxing and doesn't get repetitive.
Gameplay - 10/10
The Farming mechanic is really fun and it is amazing how you can have relationships with people in town, They actually have personalities and you control the relationship and it's not just a NPC in a video game story that you don't give a shit about.
So overall, I LOVE this game. Play it.
Sound/Music - 10/10
It is amazing how this entire game is made by only one person.
The music Is extremely relaxing and doesn't get repetitive.
Gameplay - 10/10
The Farming mechanic is really fun and it is amazing how you can have relationships with people in town, They actually have personalities and you control the relationship and it's not just a NPC in a video game story that you don't give a shit about.
So overall, I LOVE this game. Play it.
Gameplay - 8/10
I love the hunting mechanic in Horizon Zero dawn and all the fights with the big machines are very fun and release at least 1 serotonin (yes, i did have to look up how to spell 'serotonin')
Graphics - 9/10
This game looks beautiful and rivals games such as Red Dead Redemption 2 in terms of detail.
Performance - 6/10
You will need a fairly decent PC to play this at a constant 60 fps at high/ultra settings.
This game however, runs perfectly on my mid-high range PC (RX 6600 XT, R5 5600X, 16gb 3600MHz RAM) with over 80 fps all the time on Ultra graphics settings.
However, I did have some major stutters in Meridian (The Big City). This could just be as it was loading as it only happened after fast travelling to Meridian and fixed itself after 10-20 seconds.
Edit: Fixed the stuttering almost completely by just enabling the AMD Radeon anti-lag feature in the AMD Radeon Software settings for HZD with only minor stuttering now that fixes itself in about 10 seconds (Nvidia users will have to find the Equivalent to the anti-lag Feature)
Story - 8/10 (No spoilers)
Great so far but i will not spoil. I will give my full opinion without spoilers once i complete the game.
Some of the mission, however, recommend that the player should be level 7 or over when they have a level 18 boss at the end. This does also happen in some of the side content such as the Sigma Cauldron that recommends level 7 but has a level 18 boss at the end but most of the time this doesn't happen as the side content doesn't have as many bosses at the end of each mission.
Edit: I have finished the story and it is great
Sound - 10/10
The noises that the machines make are something out of a Jurassic Park movie if the dinosaurs were robots.
World - 8/10
The world is pretty big and has a lot of things to do. I have completed many side quests which are very immersive and don't feel like the usual, 'Oh no, the world is going to end, but sure i can fetch some flowers for you'.
I love the hunting mechanic in Horizon Zero dawn and all the fights with the big machines are very fun and release at least 1 serotonin (yes, i did have to look up how to spell 'serotonin')
Graphics - 9/10
This game looks beautiful and rivals games such as Red Dead Redemption 2 in terms of detail.
Performance - 6/10
You will need a fairly decent PC to play this at a constant 60 fps at high/ultra settings.
This game however, runs perfectly on my mid-high range PC (RX 6600 XT, R5 5600X, 16gb 3600MHz RAM) with over 80 fps all the time on Ultra graphics settings.
However, I did have some major stutters in Meridian (The Big City). This could just be as it was loading as it only happened after fast travelling to Meridian and fixed itself after 10-20 seconds.
Edit: Fixed the stuttering almost completely by just enabling the AMD Radeon anti-lag feature in the AMD Radeon Software settings for HZD with only minor stuttering now that fixes itself in about 10 seconds (Nvidia users will have to find the Equivalent to the anti-lag Feature)
Story - 8/10 (No spoilers)
Great so far but i will not spoil. I will give my full opinion without spoilers once i complete the game.
Some of the mission, however, recommend that the player should be level 7 or over when they have a level 18 boss at the end. This does also happen in some of the side content such as the Sigma Cauldron that recommends level 7 but has a level 18 boss at the end but most of the time this doesn't happen as the side content doesn't have as many bosses at the end of each mission.
Edit: I have finished the story and it is great
Sound - 10/10
The noises that the machines make are something out of a Jurassic Park movie if the dinosaurs were robots.
World - 8/10
The world is pretty big and has a lot of things to do. I have completed many side quests which are very immersive and don't feel like the usual, 'Oh no, the world is going to end, but sure i can fetch some flowers for you'.
2015
Gameplay - 9/10
Blowing up enemy bases is fun but does get a bit repetitive especially if you go for 100% completion (which I did and fully recommend doing so that you can get the most out of your experience)
Sound - 10/10
No sound compression as far as I could tell and the explosion sound effects are great.
Story - 3/10
Don't play this game for the story as it is pretty 'meh' but still better than Just Cause 4's and I only played the story missions to get 100% completion.
DLC - 8/10
Again, Don't play the DLCs for their stories, but the weapons you get from them however, are great. The wing suit that you get from the Sky Fortress DLC is really fun and can rinse a small base in a few well placed rockets. The ship from Bavariam Sea Heist DLC can beat all the sea races with almost no difficulty. The Eden Spark that you also get from the Bavarium Sea Heist is so fun as you literally summon lightning down on your enemies. The mech that you get from the Mechland Assault DLC can one shot the final boss (Just use the rebel drops to drop it in and chuck Di Ravello into the lava) and is also pretty much needed to get a boat that is stuck in a lake that you need to transport to a garage to chop (You can do it with a helicopter but it is like 10x easier with the mech.
Price
The XXL edition, which includes the base game and all of its DLC, is the one I recommend and is I think £55 but usually goes on sale for about £3 (that's how much i bought the XXL edition for)
Blowing up enemy bases is fun but does get a bit repetitive especially if you go for 100% completion (which I did and fully recommend doing so that you can get the most out of your experience)
Sound - 10/10
No sound compression as far as I could tell and the explosion sound effects are great.
Story - 3/10
Don't play this game for the story as it is pretty 'meh' but still better than Just Cause 4's and I only played the story missions to get 100% completion.
DLC - 8/10
Again, Don't play the DLCs for their stories, but the weapons you get from them however, are great. The wing suit that you get from the Sky Fortress DLC is really fun and can rinse a small base in a few well placed rockets. The ship from Bavariam Sea Heist DLC can beat all the sea races with almost no difficulty. The Eden Spark that you also get from the Bavarium Sea Heist is so fun as you literally summon lightning down on your enemies. The mech that you get from the Mechland Assault DLC can one shot the final boss (Just use the rebel drops to drop it in and chuck Di Ravello into the lava) and is also pretty much needed to get a boat that is stuck in a lake that you need to transport to a garage to chop (You can do it with a helicopter but it is like 10x easier with the mech.
Price
The XXL edition, which includes the base game and all of its DLC, is the one I recommend and is I think £55 but usually goes on sale for about £3 (that's how much i bought the XXL edition for)
Gameplay - 7/10
This game gets very repetitive after about 25-30 hrs of playing but i still go back and play it when im bored occasionally. All this game is about is, like the name suggests, just building PCs, cleaning dust out of PCs and removing viruses.
Performance - 6/10
This game is not made to be played on low-end PCs. On my old Ryzen 5 3400g, Vega 11-based PC, the game ran like crap with less than 15 fps at times on the lowest settings with the lowest resolution which was not fun to play on. However, when i upgraded my PC it ran great with over 120 fps on my RX 6600 XT and Ryzen 5 5600X.
Sound - 4/10
The sound does not sound compressed in any way. However, the sound only consist of the same repeating background music and same PC start up sound.
Graphics - 7/10
The graphic look fairly realistic and sharp. but the ability to adjust the amount of Anti-Aliasing would be a nice addition as i can still see a fair amount of aliasing especially in the fan meshes on the PC cases.
This game gets very repetitive after about 25-30 hrs of playing but i still go back and play it when im bored occasionally. All this game is about is, like the name suggests, just building PCs, cleaning dust out of PCs and removing viruses.
Performance - 6/10
This game is not made to be played on low-end PCs. On my old Ryzen 5 3400g, Vega 11-based PC, the game ran like crap with less than 15 fps at times on the lowest settings with the lowest resolution which was not fun to play on. However, when i upgraded my PC it ran great with over 120 fps on my RX 6600 XT and Ryzen 5 5600X.
Sound - 4/10
The sound does not sound compressed in any way. However, the sound only consist of the same repeating background music and same PC start up sound.
Graphics - 7/10
The graphic look fairly realistic and sharp. but the ability to adjust the amount of Anti-Aliasing would be a nice addition as i can still see a fair amount of aliasing especially in the fan meshes on the PC cases.
2018
This game is very relaxing and something that i can keep coming back to when i'm bored. It's a stupid but fun game about monkeys fighting balloons.
Gameplay - 7/10
The game is very repetitive because there is only really one tactic that is worth using. However, This is somehow very addictive.
Graphics - 9/10
The graphics are simple and make it easy to tell the difference between the different monkeys.
Performance - 10/10
Its a 2D game about monkeys popping balloons. The game would run on a clove of garlic and still get 30fps. The game runs at over 1000fps on my fairly powerful PC (RX 6600 XT, R5 5600X) without any issues
Multiplayer - 7/10
There is slight input lag when playing multiplayer but that is fine because this is a tower defence game.
Price
This game frequently goes on sale down to like £2, which is what I bought it for. This game is worth it's full price but what is the point in buying it for full price when if goes on sale pretty much every month
Gameplay - 7/10
The game is very repetitive because there is only really one tactic that is worth using. However, This is somehow very addictive.
Graphics - 9/10
The graphics are simple and make it easy to tell the difference between the different monkeys.
Performance - 10/10
Its a 2D game about monkeys popping balloons. The game would run on a clove of garlic and still get 30fps. The game runs at over 1000fps on my fairly powerful PC (RX 6600 XT, R5 5600X) without any issues
Multiplayer - 7/10
There is slight input lag when playing multiplayer but that is fine because this is a tower defence game.
Price
This game frequently goes on sale down to like £2, which is what I bought it for. This game is worth it's full price but what is the point in buying it for full price when if goes on sale pretty much every month
1998
Gameplay - 8/10
This game has, somehow, one of the most addicting gameplay loops ever, even if it is incredibly simple and sometimes annoying
Graphics - 9/10
For the time, its probably the best looking game in 1998
Performance - 10/10
This game would run on a roll of Cellotape and still be able to get 16.234859fps
Story - 6/10
Its a pretty engaging story and is probably the first game to have a story that doesnt develop around you, but in front of you
Price
This game is worth the price of £7.99
This game has, somehow, one of the most addicting gameplay loops ever, even if it is incredibly simple and sometimes annoying
Graphics - 9/10
For the time, its probably the best looking game in 1998
Performance - 10/10
This game would run on a roll of Cellotape and still be able to get 16.234859fps
Story - 6/10
Its a pretty engaging story and is probably the first game to have a story that doesnt develop around you, but in front of you
Price
This game is worth the price of £7.99
2016
Graphics - 8/10
This game has the old retro game feel as the graphics are entirely pixelated but high enough resolution so that you can still see the small details on each of the machines.
Gameplay - 10/10
Be prepared to never go outside again. This game is the heroin of video games. The gameplay loop is so addicting. So much, in fact, that that 10 minutes that would be used making lunch WILL be better used optimising your blue science line. You will starve to death before you stop playing this game.
Performance - 10/10
The game's engine is capped at 60 fps, so i have not experienced any frame drops as of this point.
Price - 7/10
£25 may sound like a lot for what the store screenshots make it looks like, but trust me, this game is worth every penny. Its a hell of a lot cheaper than drugs and 10x more addicting.
This game has the old retro game feel as the graphics are entirely pixelated but high enough resolution so that you can still see the small details on each of the machines.
Gameplay - 10/10
Be prepared to never go outside again. This game is the heroin of video games. The gameplay loop is so addicting. So much, in fact, that that 10 minutes that would be used making lunch WILL be better used optimising your blue science line. You will starve to death before you stop playing this game.
Performance - 10/10
The game's engine is capped at 60 fps, so i have not experienced any frame drops as of this point.
Price - 7/10
£25 may sound like a lot for what the store screenshots make it looks like, but trust me, this game is worth every penny. Its a hell of a lot cheaper than drugs and 10x more addicting.
Graphics - 8/10
The majority of this game looks amazing, especially with ray-tracing. However, the NPCs walking around on the street look very dated and odd.
Gameplay - 10/10
Sometimes I just open up the game and swing around just because it is fun. The combat is fun and it doesn't ever get repetitive.
Story - 5/10
I have to be honest, I just skipped all of the cut scenes as the story is just boring in my opinion.
Performance - 6/10
On PC, the game starts stuttering like mad if I use an Xbox controller to play and the game stutters quite a bit if it is installed on a hard drive so make sure you have an SSD if you plan on getting this. However, on PS5 the game runs like butter with 60fps and ray tracing.
The majority of this game looks amazing, especially with ray-tracing. However, the NPCs walking around on the street look very dated and odd.
Gameplay - 10/10
Sometimes I just open up the game and swing around just because it is fun. The combat is fun and it doesn't ever get repetitive.
Story - 5/10
I have to be honest, I just skipped all of the cut scenes as the story is just boring in my opinion.
Performance - 6/10
On PC, the game starts stuttering like mad if I use an Xbox controller to play and the game stutters quite a bit if it is installed on a hard drive so make sure you have an SSD if you plan on getting this. However, on PS5 the game runs like butter with 60fps and ray tracing.
2019
Gameplay - 10/10
This game is targeted towards people who like torturing and murdering other people, but doesn't want to suffer the consequences of their actions. This game lets to electrocute someone to death, squish them with a car, drop an atom bomb on them, shoot them so much with a mini gun that the bullets shoot all the of the flesh off of the bone and you are just left with a skeleton, make a make-shift railgun that can fire a human being across the map, the list goes on.
Graphics - 5/10
The graphics in this game are nothing special, but they are somewhat charming and get the job done. You can easily tell the difference between many objects.
Performance - 9/10
There is nothing like detonating 25 atom bombs on top of half of the worlds population and getting your framerate down to 3 frames per second. This is the kind of game where you don't need 60 fps all the time. This game is a physics-based sandbox that you will find a way to tank your framerate in no matter what your hardware is.
This game is targeted towards people who like torturing and murdering other people, but doesn't want to suffer the consequences of their actions. This game lets to electrocute someone to death, squish them with a car, drop an atom bomb on them, shoot them so much with a mini gun that the bullets shoot all the of the flesh off of the bone and you are just left with a skeleton, make a make-shift railgun that can fire a human being across the map, the list goes on.
Graphics - 5/10
The graphics in this game are nothing special, but they are somewhat charming and get the job done. You can easily tell the difference between many objects.
Performance - 9/10
There is nothing like detonating 25 atom bombs on top of half of the worlds population and getting your framerate down to 3 frames per second. This is the kind of game where you don't need 60 fps all the time. This game is a physics-based sandbox that you will find a way to tank your framerate in no matter what your hardware is.
2013
Gameplay - 8/10
Whilst some people may dislike the Rockstar gameplay formula as it certainly isn't for everyone, I like it and it has made me come back to the story missions of this game about 3 times across all the platforms that I have played it on now. The gun play in this game is satisfying for me as the guns really feel like they have power behind them. Driving mechanics are fun and easy.
Story - 6/10
I wasn't too interested for most of the story and, whilst there were some cool mission based around the story and some funny moments in the cut scenes, it was mainly the gameplay that kept me playing.
Graphics - 7/10
The graphics of this game still hold up quite well today and I'm sure they will for a while. There are little details in some models that make the game world feel real and like there are many moving parts to each object. Explosion and fire effects still look good and are satisfying to watch.
Performance - 9/10
I had some performance issues when I first started playing this game on PC but I have put that down to driver issues as they have disappeared since.
Online - 6/10
Personally, the online never really interested me much but I think that it is mainly down to the fact that I don't have a group of friends that I can play it with to properly get into it and that would keep me coming back. There is plenty to do in the online for people who like that sort of stuff though. I just personally prefer single player games.
Whilst some people may dislike the Rockstar gameplay formula as it certainly isn't for everyone, I like it and it has made me come back to the story missions of this game about 3 times across all the platforms that I have played it on now. The gun play in this game is satisfying for me as the guns really feel like they have power behind them. Driving mechanics are fun and easy.
Story - 6/10
I wasn't too interested for most of the story and, whilst there were some cool mission based around the story and some funny moments in the cut scenes, it was mainly the gameplay that kept me playing.
Graphics - 7/10
The graphics of this game still hold up quite well today and I'm sure they will for a while. There are little details in some models that make the game world feel real and like there are many moving parts to each object. Explosion and fire effects still look good and are satisfying to watch.
Performance - 9/10
I had some performance issues when I first started playing this game on PC but I have put that down to driver issues as they have disappeared since.
Online - 6/10
Personally, the online never really interested me much but I think that it is mainly down to the fact that I don't have a group of friends that I can play it with to properly get into it and that would keep me coming back. There is plenty to do in the online for people who like that sort of stuff though. I just personally prefer single player games.
2022
Graphics - 10/10
The graphics have once again gotten better from GOW 2018 thanks to the added power of the PS5. The insane level of detail immerses me so much.
Performance - 10/10
Game ran at a steady 60fps the entire time on PS5 as far as I could tell.
Story - 10/10
Once again the story had me hooked from start to finish.
Gameplay - 8/10
Gameplay suffers from the same problems that plagued GOW 2018 with some slow areas that seem to go on for too long that I just get fed up with after a while.
The graphics have once again gotten better from GOW 2018 thanks to the added power of the PS5. The insane level of detail immerses me so much.
Performance - 10/10
Game ran at a steady 60fps the entire time on PS5 as far as I could tell.
Story - 10/10
Once again the story had me hooked from start to finish.
Gameplay - 8/10
Gameplay suffers from the same problems that plagued GOW 2018 with some slow areas that seem to go on for too long that I just get fed up with after a while.
2018
Graphics - 10/10
The graphics in this game take a realistic but stylised approach as is common with most PlayStation exclusive games. It is impressive how good they got this game to look on the PS4 and it looks even better on PS5.
Performance - 9/10
Never had a single performance issue with this game on PS5 with the game running at a steady 60 fps. However, the game does stutter quite a lot on my PC even with it installed on an SSD, although I haven't tried it in at least a year so it may have improved.
Story - 10/10
The story in this game had me hooked the entire time and I didn't want to put it down after I started.
Gameplay - 8/10
Combat can be difficult at times and the animations make it satisfying to play. There are large parts of the game that are just walking and either looking at the pretty scenery or listening to a character talk which can get boring at times. However, most of these sections are broken up by exciting combat before they start to get boring. There are a few of these sections that do go on for too long though.
Completionism and Endgame - 7/10
You will get the majority of the achievements for this game for just going through the story and there are a couple of achievements linked to the collectibles and beating postgame bosses which I won't mention for spoiler reasons. The collectibles can get tedious to collect though and I personally do not like doing them.
The graphics in this game take a realistic but stylised approach as is common with most PlayStation exclusive games. It is impressive how good they got this game to look on the PS4 and it looks even better on PS5.
Performance - 9/10
Never had a single performance issue with this game on PS5 with the game running at a steady 60 fps. However, the game does stutter quite a lot on my PC even with it installed on an SSD, although I haven't tried it in at least a year so it may have improved.
Story - 10/10
The story in this game had me hooked the entire time and I didn't want to put it down after I started.
Gameplay - 8/10
Combat can be difficult at times and the animations make it satisfying to play. There are large parts of the game that are just walking and either looking at the pretty scenery or listening to a character talk which can get boring at times. However, most of these sections are broken up by exciting combat before they start to get boring. There are a few of these sections that do go on for too long though.
Completionism and Endgame - 7/10
You will get the majority of the achievements for this game for just going through the story and there are a couple of achievements linked to the collectibles and beating postgame bosses which I won't mention for spoiler reasons. The collectibles can get tedious to collect though and I personally do not like doing them.