TheLordReylus
This review contains spoilers
Rise of the Tomb Raider was a great improvement and sequel to the reboot of the series. The story was captivating and the supporting characters were all well written and drew emotion from me. Jacob was a great character and I loved his story.
The new mechanics for gear, skills, and learning languages was enjoyable and made me interested in the historical fiction of this series. Playing on Extreme Survivor was also new for me and while it wasn't super difficult, I did die multiple times both in and out of combat which resulted in me having to restart sections.
My biggest gripe for this game is the load times. On Series X, I was not expecting nearly 5 min load times whenever I died of fast traveled. In addition, the Baba Yaga DLC started to break on me where the titular witch didn't appear in the final fight and after I beat the level, Lara would not stop crouching when there were no enemies near. She also has issues with aiming in the unlocked outfit and the enemies would freeze in a t-pose whenever combat started.
I finished all story content and Baba Yaga DLC on Extreme Survivor and played through the 20th Anniversary Blood Ties add-on. This was a very enjoyable game and I hope that feeling continues into the last one.
The new mechanics for gear, skills, and learning languages was enjoyable and made me interested in the historical fiction of this series. Playing on Extreme Survivor was also new for me and while it wasn't super difficult, I did die multiple times both in and out of combat which resulted in me having to restart sections.
My biggest gripe for this game is the load times. On Series X, I was not expecting nearly 5 min load times whenever I died of fast traveled. In addition, the Baba Yaga DLC started to break on me where the titular witch didn't appear in the final fight and after I beat the level, Lara would not stop crouching when there were no enemies near. She also has issues with aiming in the unlocked outfit and the enemies would freeze in a t-pose whenever combat started.
I finished all story content and Baba Yaga DLC on Extreme Survivor and played through the 20th Anniversary Blood Ties add-on. This was a very enjoyable game and I hope that feeling continues into the last one.
Tomb Raider (2013) was a great reboot for the series and I loved the story of Lara starting as an innocent explorer and ending as a survivor of the terrors of Yamatai. The detailed set pieces and level design made the game feel big and alive.
Combat is varied enough with four weapons and a few ammo types and is simple enough to learn. Running through the combat achievements on Xbox made the combat move by quickly while I spent most of my time exploring the island and looking for the collectables.
The story is great as well as it added a level of mysticism with the stranded island story as Lara has to save her fellow crewmates from a cult trying to restore an ancient goddess queen by sacrificing Sam, Lara's best friend. The story beats the hell out of Lara removing the fear that she has, and making her the Tomb Raider Lara that we know from the older games.
I finished the game on normal difficulty with all but two combat achievements. I skipped the multiplayer as it is mostly dead now and I don't want to grind out achievements for it.
Worth playing especially with today being it's anniversary of 11 years.
Combat is varied enough with four weapons and a few ammo types and is simple enough to learn. Running through the combat achievements on Xbox made the combat move by quickly while I spent most of my time exploring the island and looking for the collectables.
The story is great as well as it added a level of mysticism with the stranded island story as Lara has to save her fellow crewmates from a cult trying to restore an ancient goddess queen by sacrificing Sam, Lara's best friend. The story beats the hell out of Lara removing the fear that she has, and making her the Tomb Raider Lara that we know from the older games.
I finished the game on normal difficulty with all but two combat achievements. I skipped the multiplayer as it is mostly dead now and I don't want to grind out achievements for it.
Worth playing especially with today being it's anniversary of 11 years.
2022
Time Rift is a great linear maze-like puzzle shooter where you play as Alex, a hacker breaking into the big tech company, VaultCo. Using your various hacking skills like rewinding/slowing time and accessing crypto and data nodes, you aim to uncover the company's sinister plans.
I recieved a review copy from publisher, Dolores Entertainment and really enjoyed the mechanics and story. I've played a few games from their library and this one has been my favorite so far.
I recieved a review copy from publisher, Dolores Entertainment and really enjoyed the mechanics and story. I've played a few games from their library and this one has been my favorite so far.
2022
A Little to the Left is a comfy organizing puzzle game where you are cleaning or fixing messes around the house. Puzzles range from cleaning up drawers of junk like tools and batteries, to lining up post-it notes that have random lines on them, resulting in a bigger connected image.
I played through the full game with no hints or skips to get achievements and had fun. Some levels made me think about the potential solutions to the random assortment of items before me, but others were immediately solved as the challenge was obvious.
I also played all of the Archive levels that were released for holiday periods, but still have the daily achievements for doing a Daily Task. I also do not have the DLC so maybe I will get that in the future for some additional casual puzzle gaming.
I played through the full game with no hints or skips to get achievements and had fun. Some levels made me think about the potential solutions to the random assortment of items before me, but others were immediately solved as the challenge was obvious.
I also played all of the Archive levels that were released for holiday periods, but still have the daily achievements for doing a Daily Task. I also do not have the DLC so maybe I will get that in the future for some additional casual puzzle gaming.
LB3: Beyond Gotham was a fun title with lots of improvements on the first two games in the series, but I did find that the hubs in 3 vs the city of Gotham in 2 was a bit weaker. While there were quests, collectables and a bunch of characters, the vehicles were limited to one planet and I disregarded most of the characters.
Where 3 did well was the comedy in the story. Seeing all of the villains obtain the emotions of the Lanterns was hilarious. LEGO Joker will always be my favorite.
I finished all of the base game 100% but still need the DLC to have everything.
Where 3 did well was the comedy in the story. Seeing all of the villains obtain the emotions of the Lanterns was hilarious. LEGO Joker will always be my favorite.
I finished all of the base game 100% but still need the DLC to have everything.
A large improvement over the first game. I was super happy to have voice acting and better cutscenes. The overworld was overwhelming at first but then I realized how easy it was to explore with the Batcomputer's scanner. The levels are longer than the last game, but there are only 15 to play.
The platforming in the game was just as fun, collecting Gold Bricks with the various characters and abilities made the exploration lively and easy to burn through as Red Bricks for score multipliers and invincibility were obtained quickly and led me to finish this game faster than the first.
Worth the play if you are a fan of the series. You don't have to play the first title but there is a tied story at the beginning.
The platforming in the game was just as fun, collecting Gold Bricks with the various characters and abilities made the exploration lively and easy to burn through as Red Bricks for score multipliers and invincibility were obtained quickly and led me to finish this game faster than the first.
Worth the play if you are a fan of the series. You don't have to play the first title but there is a tied story at the beginning.
A classic LEGO game with lots of humor and references to the Batman franchise. I had issues with the vehicle controls and the camera in MP is bad frequently.
The gameplay is fun as you can follow 3 Batman stories from both the Hero and Villain sides. There are lots of characters to unlock and good replayability to get all of the collectables.
The 100% completion reward of a secret character is fun but once you finish the game, there isn't anything else to do. Great for young ones and those that want a casual game and fans of the Batman series.
The gameplay is fun as you can follow 3 Batman stories from both the Hero and Villain sides. There are lots of characters to unlock and good replayability to get all of the collectables.
The 100% completion reward of a secret character is fun but once you finish the game, there isn't anything else to do. Great for young ones and those that want a casual game and fans of the Batman series.
This review contains spoilers
My favorite Batman story I'm a game! Continuing from S1. The Enemy Within sees Bruce Wayne/Batman against a new threat of The Pact, a gang of some of his most notorious villains, Bane, Mr. Freeze, and John Doe (Joker), led by Harley Quinn after the death of their former leader, The Riddler. The story adapts to your decisions and QTE event gameplay leading Bruce into the belly of the criminal underground as he tries to stop his enemies while also developing a relationship with John Doe that can lead to him becoming an enemy or a vigilante Joker.
The story is well written and made me laugh multiple times as I gave into making Bruce and John friends just to see what would happen. The art style is a comfortable comic style, and one that I will enjoy playing in the Shadow Edition in the future.
Play both games if you ever have the chance. It's very much worth it.
The story is well written and made me laugh multiple times as I gave into making Bruce and John friends just to see what would happen. The art style is a comfortable comic style, and one that I will enjoy playing in the Shadow Edition in the future.
Play both games if you ever have the chance. It's very much worth it.
The Batman Telltale game is a great episodic story with Quick Time Event gameplay where all of your decisions effect the story. Each playthrough can be different and there is plenty of content to explore the lore of the story in this iteration of the Batman series.
Minus a few audio and graphics hiccups the game is solid and worth the time to play in a single sitting or over time. Additionally, the Shadow Mode is really cool for a change after playing the game with full color.
Minus a few audio and graphics hiccups the game is solid and worth the time to play in a single sitting or over time. Additionally, the Shadow Mode is really cool for a change after playing the game with full color.
This review contains spoilers
My favorite of the series due to the improvements made on the Xbox One/PS4 generation. Better graphics, audio, controls, and level of content.
The story is fantastic with Scarecrow leading the Rogues Gallery against the Dark Knight and a new enemy aiming to bring him down; The Arkham Knight.
The side missions and story always provide something to do and the AR Challenges can give hours of playtime. Minus a few issues with the camera when doing certain Batmobile levels, I had a blast playing!
The story is fantastic with Scarecrow leading the Rogues Gallery against the Dark Knight and a new enemy aiming to bring him down; The Arkham Knight.
The side missions and story always provide something to do and the AR Challenges can give hours of playtime. Minus a few issues with the camera when doing certain Batmobile levels, I had a blast playing!
Arkham City is a great follow-up to Arkham Asylum and integrated so much of the extended Batman property that was missing from the first game. The additional side missions and collectables are great to always provide something for the player to do.
The story also provides a solid aftermath to the ending of the first game to lead into the next entry of the trilogy. The mix of Joker and Strange leading the enemy pool with others pulling the strings had me guessing to who was the true villain.
While I really enjoyed this game, I found the bugs on the Series X and the nearly double number of collectables to be a little annoying to where by the time I finished I was ready to move on to my next game.
However, I am excited to return to this title in the future for New Game+ and the Riddler's Revenge missions.
The story also provides a solid aftermath to the ending of the first game to lead into the next entry of the trilogy. The mix of Joker and Strange leading the enemy pool with others pulling the strings had me guessing to who was the true villain.
While I really enjoyed this game, I found the bugs on the Series X and the nearly double number of collectables to be a little annoying to where by the time I finished I was ready to move on to my next game.
However, I am excited to return to this title in the future for New Game+ and the Riddler's Revenge missions.
Arkham Asylum is one of the best Batman games there is and after all the time that has passed since it was first released, it still holds up as a great adventure game. With collectables and exploration, a great combat system, and of course the Batman story, this is a great title to play over and over.
2020
Relicta is an okay puzzle game similar to Portal. You play as a scientist investigating an anomaly with a power source your team discovers that results in an alien intelligence infecting you. While looking into the cause of the issues on the moon base you work on, you must complete button puzzles using cubes and a telekinesis to traverse the various biomes on the station.
I lost interest in the story pretty quickly as the dialogue felt aggressive and poorly written. Nearly every sentence has curses that made me get annoyed as it isn't a dialogue that felt natural. The world building is hidden in collectables but even the text articles and transcripts felt boring to me.
I completed the game with both endings viewed but left the speedrun achievement and all of the DLC for a future date.
I lost interest in the story pretty quickly as the dialogue felt aggressive and poorly written. Nearly every sentence has curses that made me get annoyed as it isn't a dialogue that felt natural. The world building is hidden in collectables but even the text articles and transcripts felt boring to me.
I completed the game with both endings viewed but left the speedrun achievement and all of the DLC for a future date.
2022
Potion Craft is a enjoyable shop management game with a daily schedule of gathering potion ingredients and crafting solutions to the town's issues. Whether morally good or bad, people come to you for all forms of potions from healing and mana, to explosive and protective. While there is no major story, you get to learn about the people that enter your shop and build a reputation as the best alchemist in the town while exploring various maps using the gathered ingredients you harvest or purchase to make new potions.
The game controls better on PC with a mouse, than the joystick on controller. I had multiple issues where my selection of what I was currently holding would move elsewhere on the screen and adjust settings of my current actions which became frustrating overtime.
The game is also super challenging towards the later portion of the game where patrons ask for extremely specific potions. While selling you also get to make new salts and crystals to make fine adjustments to your options which came be destroyed with the slightest movement across the map which erases minutes of progress.
It's a fun game and worth checking out but the achievements can be very difficult without a guide.
The game controls better on PC with a mouse, than the joystick on controller. I had multiple issues where my selection of what I was currently holding would move elsewhere on the screen and adjust settings of my current actions which became frustrating overtime.
The game is also super challenging towards the later portion of the game where patrons ask for extremely specific potions. While selling you also get to make new salts and crystals to make fine adjustments to your options which came be destroyed with the slightest movement across the map which erases minutes of progress.
It's a fun game and worth checking out but the achievements can be very difficult without a guide.
2021
This review contains spoilers
Combat is fun and I got into the story, but the achievements became a grind with killing 1 rare enemy at 5 gold a piece until you get 1k gold, or having to beat the Earth Born game and get all of the gatcha figurines for another achievement. Eventually this grid got boring and I wasn't even playing the game. Worth playing, but the grind is a bit much.