MrSlim
This review contains spoilers
This one is significantly better than the last one.
I'm actually impressed with this game. The amount of game changing choices that are present within this game are significant and there seems to be many different playthroughs one can have. In fact, it doesn't even just come down to unique endings, Chapter 2 is extremely different based on whether or not you decide to go with Roche or Iorveth at the end of Chapter 1. Even though this was a shorter package, clocking it at over 10 hours less than the first game, my time with the game was really enjoyable. It didn't really drag, and it's far less of a walking simulator than the first game. The quests, and especially the side quests, were so much more interesting this time around. Generally, in the first game, the side quests amounted to killing some monsters and bringing some of their corpses to a contractor. This Witcher 2 had a lot more variety. For example, there was a quest in which you had to either kill or help a troll by finding out who murdered his wife. The characters all felt unique as well, as many of the side characters were just copy and paste models and voice actors in the first game. This only added to the interesting nature of the game too.
There's not really many pure negatives I have about this game, in all honesty. Including the epilogue, there were three boss fights in the game and two of them were pretty mediocre. Mostly just damage sponges where you'd do the same hit and roll tactic over and over again. The Chapter 2 ending (for Iorveth's path) was uninteresting too. Just a boring onslaught of the same enemy over and over again. Also, dice poker is bullshit.
Overall, it seems like this game lost some of its depth, so that it could have a really strong replay value. I had fun throughout the vast majority of the game, and I really liked to see how it improved over its predecessor. Loose mentions of lore points from the last game got a pop out of me too. A good time. I'd recommend The Witcher 2 to most gamers.
I'm actually impressed with this game. The amount of game changing choices that are present within this game are significant and there seems to be many different playthroughs one can have. In fact, it doesn't even just come down to unique endings, Chapter 2 is extremely different based on whether or not you decide to go with Roche or Iorveth at the end of Chapter 1. Even though this was a shorter package, clocking it at over 10 hours less than the first game, my time with the game was really enjoyable. It didn't really drag, and it's far less of a walking simulator than the first game. The quests, and especially the side quests, were so much more interesting this time around. Generally, in the first game, the side quests amounted to killing some monsters and bringing some of their corpses to a contractor. This Witcher 2 had a lot more variety. For example, there was a quest in which you had to either kill or help a troll by finding out who murdered his wife. The characters all felt unique as well, as many of the side characters were just copy and paste models and voice actors in the first game. This only added to the interesting nature of the game too.
There's not really many pure negatives I have about this game, in all honesty. Including the epilogue, there were three boss fights in the game and two of them were pretty mediocre. Mostly just damage sponges where you'd do the same hit and roll tactic over and over again. The Chapter 2 ending (for Iorveth's path) was uninteresting too. Just a boring onslaught of the same enemy over and over again. Also, dice poker is bullshit.
Overall, it seems like this game lost some of its depth, so that it could have a really strong replay value. I had fun throughout the vast majority of the game, and I really liked to see how it improved over its predecessor. Loose mentions of lore points from the last game got a pop out of me too. A good time. I'd recommend The Witcher 2 to most gamers.
2007
I hope you like walking.
Starting with the positives, as always. The world building is fantastic. From the scenery to the characters, it hardly gets old. Many of the characters, including and perhaps especially Geralt, are really fleshed out and often become more interesting as the game progresses. Narratively, the game poses some mildly interesting choices such as choosing the Order or the Scoia'tael, based on their individual pros and (mostly) cons. The combat walked a thin line between fun and brain numbingly awful. Sometimes I enjoyed it, especially when mowing down multiple enemies with ease. Other times not so much.
Now back to walking. You walk. A lot. Most of this game is pressing W. It gets old, quickly. There was a something of a fast travel feature but it only appears in one of the Chapters and never again. The quests follow an uninteresting pattern too. Usually walk to quest giver, walk to next area, kill something probably, walk back to quest giver, repeat. When it isn't fun, it's a snooze. Looking at the problems with the combat... it's just so damn aggravating. You just left click on your keyboard over and over again and hope you don't die. Maybe with a potion or spell in the middle. With certain enemies, it can feel like you're sitting there for ever and the stagger mechanic is one of the worst things I've ever had to deal with.
This game at it's core can best be described as "if it's not fun, it's pretty damn miserable." I had plenty of fun though, so I can't complain too much. I wouldn't recommend this to most gamers, only those who look to get into The Witcher games.
Starting with the positives, as always. The world building is fantastic. From the scenery to the characters, it hardly gets old. Many of the characters, including and perhaps especially Geralt, are really fleshed out and often become more interesting as the game progresses. Narratively, the game poses some mildly interesting choices such as choosing the Order or the Scoia'tael, based on their individual pros and (mostly) cons. The combat walked a thin line between fun and brain numbingly awful. Sometimes I enjoyed it, especially when mowing down multiple enemies with ease. Other times not so much.
Now back to walking. You walk. A lot. Most of this game is pressing W. It gets old, quickly. There was a something of a fast travel feature but it only appears in one of the Chapters and never again. The quests follow an uninteresting pattern too. Usually walk to quest giver, walk to next area, kill something probably, walk back to quest giver, repeat. When it isn't fun, it's a snooze. Looking at the problems with the combat... it's just so damn aggravating. You just left click on your keyboard over and over again and hope you don't die. Maybe with a potion or spell in the middle. With certain enemies, it can feel like you're sitting there for ever and the stagger mechanic is one of the worst things I've ever had to deal with.
This game at it's core can best be described as "if it's not fun, it's pretty damn miserable." I had plenty of fun though, so I can't complain too much. I wouldn't recommend this to most gamers, only those who look to get into The Witcher games.
100%'d this game in 7 hours. It's Scribblenauts Unlimited but worse in pretty much every single way. Batman is cool though.
2010
This review contains spoilers
A good game, this one.
When coming into this game, having previously played Fallout 4, I heard it was among the best games in the series. Now do I think New Vegas is better than 4? Yes. Do I think it's much better than 4? Not really. But do I understand why people think this game is a cult classic? Absolutely.
Starting with the positives. The factions are a real highlight of this game, far ahead of both Bethesda titles I had played in the past, Fallout 4 and Skyrim (the latter being a game I particularly enjoyed). The factions, with the only real exception being the Legion, all had really good and moralistic reasons as to why the Courier should choose them. Neither Skyrim or Fallout 4's factions have anywhere near the intrigue, history or even legitimate arguments as to why you should choose them. In Skyrim, for example, I choose the Imperials, not because I thought they'd be the best for Skyrim or that they were the most interesting but rather because they were the lesser of two evils. That's not to say I found the NCR (my personal choice) perfect, but I believed they had a plan to change the Mojave for the better. I can certainly see arguments for House and Yes Man as well. To quote Todd Howard, "It just works." The gameplay is pretty engaging as well. Not too far changed from Fallout 4's controls and combat system. The game makes you feel increasingly powerful too, I never really felt that way when playing 4. At the start of the game I struggled against powder gangers, by the end I could easily take on multiple legionnaires and not even get close to death. It felt good. The exploration, as it was with Fallout 4, is a natural highlight of this series from the looks of it. Searching throughout the Mojave was really fun, and I specifically enjoyed looking through big cities (like the Strip, McCarran, Primm, etc.) and meeting new, interesting groups of characters. The ending of the game, which shows the player what happened to the different factions and important characters was a really good way to wrap up the playthrough, it made me feel as if everything I did - and didn't do - had meaning. All of this was well done.
Now for my problems with this game. Now this is 100% a strong personal opinion I have, but I really hate how dead everything in this game is. Of course this goes against the whole nature of a post-apocalyptic wasteland, and I understand that. I had this same problem with 4, but with the Mojave feeling even more desolate than Boston, my feelings are exacerbated. Going back to my Skyrim example, one of the parts I absolutely hated about the game were the Dwarven ruins as they felt incredibly devoid of life. The world of New Vegas feels a lot like a Dwarven Ruin. Once again, this is totally personal preference, and not particularly a knock on how the game is designed. In fact, it might even be a compliment given that the desolation of society was something this game was certainly going for. Me knowing this doesn't mean I enjoy the game any more though. Another big issue I had was bugs. Now I get these Bethesda titles are massive and having some bugs here and there isn't something that would surprise me. New Vegas, at least going off how my PC ran it on Steam, was one of the buggiest games I have ever played. It crashed constantly. It would be a good play session if my game didn't crash on me one or two times. Every time I walked into a new area I would risk my loading screen never end and either having to close the game or even restart my PC. Numerous quest lines and NPCs also got broken throughout the game. I had to use console commands a few times just to get things were they should be. It was messy, annoyingly messy. As for some final nitpicks, those unmarked companion quests sucked (looking at you Raul) and also Cazadores can go fuck themselves.
This game is a very good game. I can definitely tell. Sometimes, though, it's just not exactly my type of game. I enjoyed the game but I didn't hit me in veins the same way Skyrim did. I would recommend this game to most gamers, although more experienced players would probably get more of a kick out of it.
But when you really think about it, my opinion doesn't really matter, does it? Because in the end, war... war never changes.
When coming into this game, having previously played Fallout 4, I heard it was among the best games in the series. Now do I think New Vegas is better than 4? Yes. Do I think it's much better than 4? Not really. But do I understand why people think this game is a cult classic? Absolutely.
Starting with the positives. The factions are a real highlight of this game, far ahead of both Bethesda titles I had played in the past, Fallout 4 and Skyrim (the latter being a game I particularly enjoyed). The factions, with the only real exception being the Legion, all had really good and moralistic reasons as to why the Courier should choose them. Neither Skyrim or Fallout 4's factions have anywhere near the intrigue, history or even legitimate arguments as to why you should choose them. In Skyrim, for example, I choose the Imperials, not because I thought they'd be the best for Skyrim or that they were the most interesting but rather because they were the lesser of two evils. That's not to say I found the NCR (my personal choice) perfect, but I believed they had a plan to change the Mojave for the better. I can certainly see arguments for House and Yes Man as well. To quote Todd Howard, "It just works." The gameplay is pretty engaging as well. Not too far changed from Fallout 4's controls and combat system. The game makes you feel increasingly powerful too, I never really felt that way when playing 4. At the start of the game I struggled against powder gangers, by the end I could easily take on multiple legionnaires and not even get close to death. It felt good. The exploration, as it was with Fallout 4, is a natural highlight of this series from the looks of it. Searching throughout the Mojave was really fun, and I specifically enjoyed looking through big cities (like the Strip, McCarran, Primm, etc.) and meeting new, interesting groups of characters. The ending of the game, which shows the player what happened to the different factions and important characters was a really good way to wrap up the playthrough, it made me feel as if everything I did - and didn't do - had meaning. All of this was well done.
Now for my problems with this game. Now this is 100% a strong personal opinion I have, but I really hate how dead everything in this game is. Of course this goes against the whole nature of a post-apocalyptic wasteland, and I understand that. I had this same problem with 4, but with the Mojave feeling even more desolate than Boston, my feelings are exacerbated. Going back to my Skyrim example, one of the parts I absolutely hated about the game were the Dwarven ruins as they felt incredibly devoid of life. The world of New Vegas feels a lot like a Dwarven Ruin. Once again, this is totally personal preference, and not particularly a knock on how the game is designed. In fact, it might even be a compliment given that the desolation of society was something this game was certainly going for. Me knowing this doesn't mean I enjoy the game any more though. Another big issue I had was bugs. Now I get these Bethesda titles are massive and having some bugs here and there isn't something that would surprise me. New Vegas, at least going off how my PC ran it on Steam, was one of the buggiest games I have ever played. It crashed constantly. It would be a good play session if my game didn't crash on me one or two times. Every time I walked into a new area I would risk my loading screen never end and either having to close the game or even restart my PC. Numerous quest lines and NPCs also got broken throughout the game. I had to use console commands a few times just to get things were they should be. It was messy, annoyingly messy. As for some final nitpicks, those unmarked companion quests sucked (looking at you Raul) and also Cazadores can go fuck themselves.
This game is a very good game. I can definitely tell. Sometimes, though, it's just not exactly my type of game. I enjoyed the game but I didn't hit me in veins the same way Skyrim did. I would recommend this game to most gamers, although more experienced players would probably get more of a kick out of it.
But when you really think about it, my opinion doesn't really matter, does it? Because in the end, war... war never changes.
This review contains spoilers
This was my favorite DLC. I really liked this one.
In fact, I think I like this more than the original game. Although I don't know how fair this comparison is given Lonesome Road is only a 4 hour questline with two fleshed out characters as opposed to New Vegas which is a 50+ hour world that's filled with lots of exploration and unique characters. So maybe what I just said doesn't hold up very well, but I digress.
This DLC gave me a strong Half-Life feel, even down to the elevator ride that made me feel like I was playing Black Mesa again. Lonesome Road was, ironically, a lot like a road in that it focused a lot more on linear storytelling as opposed to exploration. Now exploration is one of the Fallout series' strongest assets so one would assume this expansion would fall flat on its face. For me, the linearization, mixed up with dialogue between the player, Ulysses and ED-E really felt fresh after roughly 60 hours of the same feeling gameplay, with exception to Dead Money. Unlike Dead Money though, the gameplay wasn't nearly as tedious for me. The enemies were really unique and interesting to fight against, which was a problem I had with all 3 of the other DLCs. I also enjoyed the look of most of the areas we explored. It was unique and rarely overstayed its welcome. The story was a little more hit or miss but the strong point was 100% in ED-E's story line. He was the stronger character of the two from this DLC.
As for the negatives, unlike ED-E's story, Ulysses and the characterization of The Courier didn't really work for me in this. Ulysses had potential to be an interesting character but most of what you get to know about him is through long conversations through a robot. You don't even see his face until the end of the DLC, where the conflict gets resolved in all of 5 seconds. The Courier's character gets revealed here in a way it doesn't in any of the other parts of the game, and it simply doesn't work for me. Not knowing who the Courier is or what the Courier has done is why the Courier works as a voice-less protagonist that the player is able to put themselves in. The Courier, despite being separated as a character from the player for the first time in the game, seems to understand just as little about his own past as we do. For whatever reason, Ulysses seems to know more about him than he does.
Overall, the fairly unique gameplay actually works for me, unlike Dead Money and Old World Blues, and the characters and world were far more interesting than those in Honest Hearts (except the GOAT Joshua). While I didn't love all the story choices, ED-E's was really well done and one of my favorites in the entire game. I would absolutely recommend this one, specifically if you have and enjoyed New Vegas.
In fact, I think I like this more than the original game. Although I don't know how fair this comparison is given Lonesome Road is only a 4 hour questline with two fleshed out characters as opposed to New Vegas which is a 50+ hour world that's filled with lots of exploration and unique characters. So maybe what I just said doesn't hold up very well, but I digress.
This DLC gave me a strong Half-Life feel, even down to the elevator ride that made me feel like I was playing Black Mesa again. Lonesome Road was, ironically, a lot like a road in that it focused a lot more on linear storytelling as opposed to exploration. Now exploration is one of the Fallout series' strongest assets so one would assume this expansion would fall flat on its face. For me, the linearization, mixed up with dialogue between the player, Ulysses and ED-E really felt fresh after roughly 60 hours of the same feeling gameplay, with exception to Dead Money. Unlike Dead Money though, the gameplay wasn't nearly as tedious for me. The enemies were really unique and interesting to fight against, which was a problem I had with all 3 of the other DLCs. I also enjoyed the look of most of the areas we explored. It was unique and rarely overstayed its welcome. The story was a little more hit or miss but the strong point was 100% in ED-E's story line. He was the stronger character of the two from this DLC.
As for the negatives, unlike ED-E's story, Ulysses and the characterization of The Courier didn't really work for me in this. Ulysses had potential to be an interesting character but most of what you get to know about him is through long conversations through a robot. You don't even see his face until the end of the DLC, where the conflict gets resolved in all of 5 seconds. The Courier's character gets revealed here in a way it doesn't in any of the other parts of the game, and it simply doesn't work for me. Not knowing who the Courier is or what the Courier has done is why the Courier works as a voice-less protagonist that the player is able to put themselves in. The Courier, despite being separated as a character from the player for the first time in the game, seems to understand just as little about his own past as we do. For whatever reason, Ulysses seems to know more about him than he does.
Overall, the fairly unique gameplay actually works for me, unlike Dead Money and Old World Blues, and the characters and world were far more interesting than those in Honest Hearts (except the GOAT Joshua). While I didn't love all the story choices, ED-E's was really well done and one of my favorites in the entire game. I would absolutely recommend this one, specifically if you have and enjoyed New Vegas.
This review contains spoilers
Not a big fan of this one.
Despite having numerous criticism of both Dead Money and Honest Hearts, I find it easy to say this was my least favorite of the three to play.
On a positive note, the dialogues of the characters, specifically the Think Tank machines and Dr Mobius, were really fun. The irony of these supposed ultra intelligent scientists being incredibly out of touch with the real world was a really fun thing to explore when talking to them. Each of the scientists had really unique characteristics that separated each one from one another. Definitely a highlight of this DLC. The main story was generally interesting and the quests were fairly interesting. Exploring the characters, though, was definitely the best part.
The world, on the other hand, really fell flat for me. Now admittedly this is really personal preference, but I hate how empty the Big Empty is. There's no passive NPCs outside of the Think Tank and Mobius' lab, there's no followers to bring along on the journey (I refuse to count the talking suit), and most of the remaining world is filled with killer robots and psychotic lobotomites. I didn't like exploring this empty area. It just didn't speak to me in the same way the Mojave or even the Zion Canyon did. The side-quests were particularly monotonous, and without interesting exploration they fell extremely flat. I wanted to get them over with more so than enjoy the ride.
Old World Blues wasn't for me, I understand that, but it doesn't mean my enjoyment was hindered any less. It still had its bright spots, but its the worst New Vegas DLC, not including Lonesome Road, which I have yet to pick up quite yet. I would recommend this, as I've said with the previous two DLCs, to those who purchased the original game and enjoyed it. I wouldn't search for it otherwise.
Despite having numerous criticism of both Dead Money and Honest Hearts, I find it easy to say this was my least favorite of the three to play.
On a positive note, the dialogues of the characters, specifically the Think Tank machines and Dr Mobius, were really fun. The irony of these supposed ultra intelligent scientists being incredibly out of touch with the real world was a really fun thing to explore when talking to them. Each of the scientists had really unique characteristics that separated each one from one another. Definitely a highlight of this DLC. The main story was generally interesting and the quests were fairly interesting. Exploring the characters, though, was definitely the best part.
The world, on the other hand, really fell flat for me. Now admittedly this is really personal preference, but I hate how empty the Big Empty is. There's no passive NPCs outside of the Think Tank and Mobius' lab, there's no followers to bring along on the journey (I refuse to count the talking suit), and most of the remaining world is filled with killer robots and psychotic lobotomites. I didn't like exploring this empty area. It just didn't speak to me in the same way the Mojave or even the Zion Canyon did. The side-quests were particularly monotonous, and without interesting exploration they fell extremely flat. I wanted to get them over with more so than enjoy the ride.
Old World Blues wasn't for me, I understand that, but it doesn't mean my enjoyment was hindered any less. It still had its bright spots, but its the worst New Vegas DLC, not including Lonesome Road, which I have yet to pick up quite yet. I would recommend this, as I've said with the previous two DLCs, to those who purchased the original game and enjoyed it. I wouldn't search for it otherwise.
This review contains spoilers
Just like Dead Money, its just kind of okay.
Weirdly enough, the problems I had with this DLC focuses on the exact thing I praised Dead Money for, its story.
With that being said, I always prefer starting with the positives so let me begin with that. The gameplay is extremely similar to the original game. In this DLC, you choose what items to bring to Zion, so unless you're feeling a little risky, you usually just fall upon the same weapons you used in the main game. The atmosphere and general feel of the location isn't too far off from the Mojave either, albeit its far more rocky and narrow. Many of the enemies are also copy paste versions of ones you find in Nevada and California, like the geckos, scorpions, and the White Legs acting as your generic raider-type enemy. Now all this rehashing may seem like a bad thing, and that's not necessarily untrue, but as I enjoyed the gameplay of the original game it translates fairly nicely over to this DLC. As for the positives of the story, overall its fine and the moral dilemma over the fates of the White Legs and the Sorrows was somewhat interesting and had me thinking for a good few minutes about what decision to make. It's not bad, it's just not really good either. Also, Joshua Graham is pretty fucking sick.
Moving on to the negatives, its really just focusing on the story. It's just really milquetoast and uninspired. It all hinges on the one decision you make near the end of the game but the build-up to that decision is extremely short and barely takes any time to put in any form of nuance. Why should I care about the safety of the White Legs if they're just psychopaths who randomly kill people? Hell, why should I even care about the Sorrows or the Dead Horses? I barely get introduced to them before I have to make a big decision on their behalf. To touch up on some other points before I get finish, the mountainous regions were annoying to navigate and the side-quests were pretty much all uninteresting. Otherwise, it was just... kind of okay.
As far as I'm concerned both DLCs I've played so far (Dead Money and this one) were both flawed but I generally got more fun playing them then pain so I think this rating is pretty fair. Despite giving both the same rating, I'm 100% sure in saying I slightly preferred Dead Money to this one, but the original game was still superior to both. Would recommend for those who enjoyed the original since its mostly more of the same, but it's not really worth it otherwise.
Weirdly enough, the problems I had with this DLC focuses on the exact thing I praised Dead Money for, its story.
With that being said, I always prefer starting with the positives so let me begin with that. The gameplay is extremely similar to the original game. In this DLC, you choose what items to bring to Zion, so unless you're feeling a little risky, you usually just fall upon the same weapons you used in the main game. The atmosphere and general feel of the location isn't too far off from the Mojave either, albeit its far more rocky and narrow. Many of the enemies are also copy paste versions of ones you find in Nevada and California, like the geckos, scorpions, and the White Legs acting as your generic raider-type enemy. Now all this rehashing may seem like a bad thing, and that's not necessarily untrue, but as I enjoyed the gameplay of the original game it translates fairly nicely over to this DLC. As for the positives of the story, overall its fine and the moral dilemma over the fates of the White Legs and the Sorrows was somewhat interesting and had me thinking for a good few minutes about what decision to make. It's not bad, it's just not really good either. Also, Joshua Graham is pretty fucking sick.
Moving on to the negatives, its really just focusing on the story. It's just really milquetoast and uninspired. It all hinges on the one decision you make near the end of the game but the build-up to that decision is extremely short and barely takes any time to put in any form of nuance. Why should I care about the safety of the White Legs if they're just psychopaths who randomly kill people? Hell, why should I even care about the Sorrows or the Dead Horses? I barely get introduced to them before I have to make a big decision on their behalf. To touch up on some other points before I get finish, the mountainous regions were annoying to navigate and the side-quests were pretty much all uninteresting. Otherwise, it was just... kind of okay.
As far as I'm concerned both DLCs I've played so far (Dead Money and this one) were both flawed but I generally got more fun playing them then pain so I think this rating is pretty fair. Despite giving both the same rating, I'm 100% sure in saying I slightly preferred Dead Money to this one, but the original game was still superior to both. Would recommend for those who enjoyed the original since its mostly more of the same, but it's not really worth it otherwise.
This review contains spoilers
Meh, it's alright.
The characters and overall atmosphere are great. Christine is great, particularly when she can't speak. God / Dog has a fairly interesting dynamic. Dean is, and I say this in a good way, a total asshat. Finally, Elijah is a great villain. Probably a better bad guy than anyone in the main game (whether you think its Caesar, House, or whoever else). The atmosphere is dim but every section generally looks unique, which is a nice contrast from the same-y looking Mojave Desert of the original game.
With all that being said, the game lacks in the gameplay department. It's just kind of boring, honestly. The enemies suck and are 10x less interesting to fight than the people / enemies you fight in the Mojave. The "cloud" and radio gimmicks are interesting at first but quickly get annoying, often bringing the adventure to a slog. At the very least, the gameplay still holds much of the charm from the main game, so that's good.
Overall, I found it better than I did worse so a 3/5 seems about right for it. Would recommend for those who enjoyed the main game, not worth checking out otherwise.
The characters and overall atmosphere are great. Christine is great, particularly when she can't speak. God / Dog has a fairly interesting dynamic. Dean is, and I say this in a good way, a total asshat. Finally, Elijah is a great villain. Probably a better bad guy than anyone in the main game (whether you think its Caesar, House, or whoever else). The atmosphere is dim but every section generally looks unique, which is a nice contrast from the same-y looking Mojave Desert of the original game.
With all that being said, the game lacks in the gameplay department. It's just kind of boring, honestly. The enemies suck and are 10x less interesting to fight than the people / enemies you fight in the Mojave. The "cloud" and radio gimmicks are interesting at first but quickly get annoying, often bringing the adventure to a slog. At the very least, the gameplay still holds much of the charm from the main game, so that's good.
Overall, I found it better than I did worse so a 3/5 seems about right for it. Would recommend for those who enjoyed the main game, not worth checking out otherwise.
2019
This game is fun. I like it. It has its problems though.
The driving is good, which is most of the game. Can be a little finnicky though. Naturally the graphics are good, no complaints there. I liked getting the collectables, that was fairly enjoyable even if I needed a guide to complete it. The story mode is decent, has its moments but it also kind of felt unfinished in a way. I got addicted to the game and played over 20 hours so it definitely hooked onto me.
As for the negatives, the game gets really same-y and you fall into the same day/night cycle over and over again. You get money in the day and reputation points in the night so you basically have to do races over and over again. The nights specifically are really annoying since you have to deal with limited repairs while you drive around and getting damaged can be really easy. You need rep points to get better car parts and to push the story forward so it can get extremely tedious. There were drift races but I found those to be really really boring, so I barely touched them. Also fuck the cops in this game holy shit are they annoying.
Overall it was good. Never pushes past that though.
Would really only recommend to racing game fans.
The driving is good, which is most of the game. Can be a little finnicky though. Naturally the graphics are good, no complaints there. I liked getting the collectables, that was fairly enjoyable even if I needed a guide to complete it. The story mode is decent, has its moments but it also kind of felt unfinished in a way. I got addicted to the game and played over 20 hours so it definitely hooked onto me.
As for the negatives, the game gets really same-y and you fall into the same day/night cycle over and over again. You get money in the day and reputation points in the night so you basically have to do races over and over again. The nights specifically are really annoying since you have to deal with limited repairs while you drive around and getting damaged can be really easy. You need rep points to get better car parts and to push the story forward so it can get extremely tedious. There were drift races but I found those to be really really boring, so I barely touched them. Also fuck the cops in this game holy shit are they annoying.
Overall it was good. Never pushes past that though.
Would really only recommend to racing game fans.
2015
This game is good. Really good.
The gameplay is fun and exciting. From the gunplay, to riding in cars, and of course the wingsuit, this game hits the nail almost perfectly on all of them. The story is fairly interesting, with characters that are enjoyable to be around. The scenery is beautiful, with graphics that have aged very well to boot. Plus, this game is great if you just want to blow shit up.
The only real negative I have is the controls. At times they can just feel really off, sometimes annoyingly so. Like sometimes placing down the sticky bombs or turning with the bavarium wingsuit can just feel wrong. When things like that cause me die it can get under my skin. Oh, and also the DLC doesn't tell you what order to play them in (or that they have any connection at all) so some of the dialogue is kind of confusing if you don't play them right (like I did). Fairly tiny nitpicks because other wise this game is great.
Would recommend to most gamers (especially those who like FPS / GTA type games).
The gameplay is fun and exciting. From the gunplay, to riding in cars, and of course the wingsuit, this game hits the nail almost perfectly on all of them. The story is fairly interesting, with characters that are enjoyable to be around. The scenery is beautiful, with graphics that have aged very well to boot. Plus, this game is great if you just want to blow shit up.
The only real negative I have is the controls. At times they can just feel really off, sometimes annoyingly so. Like sometimes placing down the sticky bombs or turning with the bavarium wingsuit can just feel wrong. When things like that cause me die it can get under my skin. Oh, and also the DLC doesn't tell you what order to play them in (or that they have any connection at all) so some of the dialogue is kind of confusing if you don't play them right (like I did). Fairly tiny nitpicks because other wise this game is great.
Would recommend to most gamers (especially those who like FPS / GTA type games).
2016
This game was okay. Good at times, uninspired at others.
Let's start with the good. I liked the PVE aspect of this game quite a bit. Deciding to go guns blazing or trying to sneak around and take out people one by one was one of the more interesting parts of this game. This is helped by the fact that the game plays pretty good as well. The gun play is largely enjoyable and the driving mechanics are quality. I also appreciated the times when you took control of characters who had unique gimmicks. It opened up new ways of playing the game. It only happened two or three times, but I liked them. I won't spoil any of them, but you will know them when you see them.
Now moving on to the bad. The writing, the characters, and the story are all dogshit. The characters are uninteresting at best and flat out cringe at worst. Looking at you, Wrench. The story rarely enthralled me. It wasn't bad per se, but I never really cared. And despite my general enjoyment of the gameplay, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was just playing a worse version of GTA V with a hacking gimmick. They play fairly similarly, at least in concept, except GTA V does it way better in just about every category.
I do also want to quickly mention the games performance. It might be a small nitpick since the game ran fine for most of my playtime, but I had this issue two times where the game would become unplayable with its lag. I'd have to relaunch to fix it. Minor annoyance but it was okay.
I also also want to shoutout the Paint Job side mission, as it was one of the most boring, monotonous quests I have ever played.
Anyways I probably wouldn't recommend this game to most gamers. Maybe those who enjoy GTA-like games.
Let's start with the good. I liked the PVE aspect of this game quite a bit. Deciding to go guns blazing or trying to sneak around and take out people one by one was one of the more interesting parts of this game. This is helped by the fact that the game plays pretty good as well. The gun play is largely enjoyable and the driving mechanics are quality. I also appreciated the times when you took control of characters who had unique gimmicks. It opened up new ways of playing the game. It only happened two or three times, but I liked them. I won't spoil any of them, but you will know them when you see them.
Now moving on to the bad. The writing, the characters, and the story are all dogshit. The characters are uninteresting at best and flat out cringe at worst. Looking at you, Wrench. The story rarely enthralled me. It wasn't bad per se, but I never really cared. And despite my general enjoyment of the gameplay, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was just playing a worse version of GTA V with a hacking gimmick. They play fairly similarly, at least in concept, except GTA V does it way better in just about every category.
I do also want to quickly mention the games performance. It might be a small nitpick since the game ran fine for most of my playtime, but I had this issue two times where the game would become unplayable with its lag. I'd have to relaunch to fix it. Minor annoyance but it was okay.
I also also want to shoutout the Paint Job side mission, as it was one of the most boring, monotonous quests I have ever played.
Anyways I probably wouldn't recommend this game to most gamers. Maybe those who enjoy GTA-like games.
This game is good. Really good, even. Its good enough that I decided to get every single achievement, which probably doubled the amount of time I needed to play this game.
Starting with the positives. The story is enjoyable, it kept me engrossed even as I was on-off with it while I was looking for collectables. The combat is fun. I did like to see that I improved greatly over the time I played. When I started, I struggled against phillaks, but when I was done they were one of the easiest enemies to deal with in the game. The scenery was beautiful, I loved seeing old locations like Kashyyyk and new ones like Bogono. The characters were great, I liked the stormtrooper dialog, and the enemies were nice and varied.
Moving onto the bad. Travel sucks. I would've loved an option to fast travel, as it would've likely cut hours off my playtime. Having to walk 10 minutes just to get from the ship to the swamp on Dathomir was one of the most annoying experiences I have ever had to deal with. And if you want to 100% like I did, get ready to take that trip multiple times. It's tedious and boring and I hate it. I said I liked the variety of enemies but at a point, you just fight the same couple over and over again, which makes the fighting seem tedious as well.
Other than those gripes, which in all honesty were probably way worse for me since I 100%'d. If you play the game normally, these issues are likely no where near as bad.
Overall I would recommend for most gamers, especially those who enjoy Star Wars. Good stuff.
Starting with the positives. The story is enjoyable, it kept me engrossed even as I was on-off with it while I was looking for collectables. The combat is fun. I did like to see that I improved greatly over the time I played. When I started, I struggled against phillaks, but when I was done they were one of the easiest enemies to deal with in the game. The scenery was beautiful, I loved seeing old locations like Kashyyyk and new ones like Bogono. The characters were great, I liked the stormtrooper dialog, and the enemies were nice and varied.
Moving onto the bad. Travel sucks. I would've loved an option to fast travel, as it would've likely cut hours off my playtime. Having to walk 10 minutes just to get from the ship to the swamp on Dathomir was one of the most annoying experiences I have ever had to deal with. And if you want to 100% like I did, get ready to take that trip multiple times. It's tedious and boring and I hate it. I said I liked the variety of enemies but at a point, you just fight the same couple over and over again, which makes the fighting seem tedious as well.
Other than those gripes, which in all honesty were probably way worse for me since I 100%'d. If you play the game normally, these issues are likely no where near as bad.
Overall I would recommend for most gamers, especially those who enjoy Star Wars. Good stuff.
This review contains spoilers
While Burial at Sea Episode 2 is a step up from the first part, I still find it to be just kind of mediocre.
I'll start with the positives. The change in gameplay is a nice change of pace from the repetitiveness of the first game, as stealth is the key to defeating your enemies instead of the same old "spray-and-prey" of the original game and Episode 1. The game also had a nice length, setting up for a nice ~3 hour gaming session on a late night. I felt Episode 1 was way too short so getting a little more out of this one was nice. Finally, I actually enjoyed how this one ended things off, unlike the original game. I felt as if it added a nice bow to the series, I thought it was well done.
On the other hand, I do have some notable flaws to point out. Firstly, while I appreciated the gameplay change, I didn't necessarily enjoy it. In all fairness, that in many ways comes down to my preferences, but I just felt it was too slow at times since Elizabeth is such a weak character. Next, I'll point out that while I did enjoy the ending, the rest of the story really fell flat for me. It continued the convoluted mess of a story from the end of the main game and Episode 1 for the majority of this game's runtime. Sometimes, I just like a nice and simple story, not a messy one. I felt like this was a messy one.
As a whole, I suppose I'd recommend it to Bioshock fans, but even then people who enjoyed the original might find this a bit insulting. I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone else. Shoutout to Andrew Ryan though, loved seeing him in this since he is the series' best villain.
I'll start with the positives. The change in gameplay is a nice change of pace from the repetitiveness of the first game, as stealth is the key to defeating your enemies instead of the same old "spray-and-prey" of the original game and Episode 1. The game also had a nice length, setting up for a nice ~3 hour gaming session on a late night. I felt Episode 1 was way too short so getting a little more out of this one was nice. Finally, I actually enjoyed how this one ended things off, unlike the original game. I felt as if it added a nice bow to the series, I thought it was well done.
On the other hand, I do have some notable flaws to point out. Firstly, while I appreciated the gameplay change, I didn't necessarily enjoy it. In all fairness, that in many ways comes down to my preferences, but I just felt it was too slow at times since Elizabeth is such a weak character. Next, I'll point out that while I did enjoy the ending, the rest of the story really fell flat for me. It continued the convoluted mess of a story from the end of the main game and Episode 1 for the majority of this game's runtime. Sometimes, I just like a nice and simple story, not a messy one. I felt like this was a messy one.
As a whole, I suppose I'd recommend it to Bioshock fans, but even then people who enjoyed the original might find this a bit insulting. I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone else. Shoutout to Andrew Ryan though, loved seeing him in this since he is the series' best villain.
It was a short. And nothing really important seemed to happen. It was cool seeing Rapture again, and parts of the gameplay were mildly interesting. Nothing else really to say.
If you played and liked the base game, I see no reason not to try this out. Other than that I wouldn't recommend it.
If you played and liked the base game, I see no reason not to try this out. Other than that I wouldn't recommend it.
2013
This game is good. Really good. Probably my favorite of the Bioshock trilogy, although Bioshock 2 is not far behind.
The locations are great, although admittedly aren't as distinct as Rapture ever was. The character work in this game is easily a step above anything from the other 2 games. The relationship between Booker and Elizabeth was fantastic throughout pretty much the entire game. Comstock was also a very memorable villain. He's not Andrew Ryan, but who is? The graphics, obviously, look far and away better than the first two, even with their remasters in mind. The game also ran very well (unlike the remasters).
This game feels very unlike the first two in that it focuses more so on the linear story aspect of the game than the originals. Speaking of the story, it is very good, as it hinges on the previously mentioned fantastic characters. With that being said, I wasn't a fan of the ending. Too complicated and confusing. I understand where they were going, but it didn't work to the same degree the rest of the game did.
I would recommend to most gamers, although people who really loved the first 2 Bioshocks might come out disappointed.
The locations are great, although admittedly aren't as distinct as Rapture ever was. The character work in this game is easily a step above anything from the other 2 games. The relationship between Booker and Elizabeth was fantastic throughout pretty much the entire game. Comstock was also a very memorable villain. He's not Andrew Ryan, but who is? The graphics, obviously, look far and away better than the first two, even with their remasters in mind. The game also ran very well (unlike the remasters).
This game feels very unlike the first two in that it focuses more so on the linear story aspect of the game than the originals. Speaking of the story, it is very good, as it hinges on the previously mentioned fantastic characters. With that being said, I wasn't a fan of the ending. Too complicated and confusing. I understand where they were going, but it didn't work to the same degree the rest of the game did.
I would recommend to most gamers, although people who really loved the first 2 Bioshocks might come out disappointed.