Recent reviews by nineteen

I really wanted to like this, and there's plenty I did enjoy. The humour and references are groan-worthy but not completely insulting, and it sums up the abilities of the LEGO game fundamentals pretty well. But I found it a bit bland in some places (when 90% of the Super Build sites are vehicle summon platforms, you're wasting a game mechanic).
Ultimately the nail in the coffin was an unfixable CTD bug that means I can literally not open the game any more. A shame, as I was really hoping to sink some hours into it and 100% the title - and surprising, since my PC is very typical and I'm reasonably good at locating/using workarounds.

Game is decent but buyer beware.

While not what I initially expected it to be, this is a positively charming fantasy-themed 'Choose Your Own Adventure' game with some light combat mechanics. The tabletop aesthetic is fun and the animations are totally suitable. Once you've accepted this is not your typical flexible RPG and understand combat basics, there's a lot of replayability and fun to be had. Gauntlet mode is a welcome addition as it aids in rapidly grinding out souls (a currency earnt in combat and retained after the game) to assist in unlocking extra playable heroes.

The Steam edition is currently available for only a dollar at Humble Bundle, and is absolutely worth it. If you've already picked it up there or anywhere else, thanks for supporting Australian developers!

DISCLAIMER: This is a long review, but I've tried to cover setting, story and gameplay. If you read the whole thing, that probably confirms that you need to play this game.

This game. Oh man, this effing game.
I heard about this title a while back, noted for it's solid story and setting. I popped it on my wishlist and eventually I managed to get it at a good price (2K Humble Bundle, thanks guys!).

It was worth the wait.
Long have I dreamed of a military-themed title that forces you to confront the more horrific aspects of war, and this game does it beautifully. There is very little in the way of clear-cut, waypointed binary 'moral choices', but choose you will, because most of these decisions are organic, and because this is war, none of the outcomes will be pretty.

The setting is incredible. Dubai is a freakish juxtaposition between limitless luxury and hellish desolation; and that's just in the real world. Throw 2K's incredible vision of a city abandoned by authority, beset by brutality, and drowned in the desert itself over the top and you have possibly the best location for a game I've seen in almost a decade. They didn't just make it look good, either - much of the environment is destructible, and if you've ever wondered what crushing your enemies with a thousand tonnes of sand might look like, now you can find out.

I deeply enjoyed the story, and if you've invested any time in military/conspiracy literature or cinema you will see immediately that much of the overarching plot arc is a direct nod to the legendary film Apocalypse Now (to the point that the main antagonist's name (Konrad) is a variation on that of John Conrad, author of the film's inspirational text, Heart of Darkness). The story contains many well-known and frequently used elements of military and warfare media, but by no means does that make it formulaic. The characters are well-written and the voice acting is excellent. Your squadmates, through their words and actions, will elicit within you feelings of compassion, pride, fear, mistrust and guilt.

At times the plot twists sharply enough to make you uncertain of the details, and by extension yourself, but this really only serves to further immerse you in the chaos that almost constantly surrounds you. Factions within the game are unpredictable and rarely what they seem, their motives shrouded in blood and the chain of command; to the point where you wonder if they can be regarded as factions at all. Cutscenes are frequent, appropriately expository, and provide the right mixture of closure on the last scene and motive for the next one. The conclusion really, genuinely deserves to be discovered - but only by those who survive their way through to it, those who /earned/ it.

In terms of gameplay, the title is also top-tier. Very rarely did I feel hampered by game mechanics, although I will acknowledge that I found the default keybinds a little clunky - remapping them may be advisable. (The best example of this is the use of 'Q' to throw a grenade and 'E' to switch weapons. If you've played Source engine games much, you'll occasionally have your muscle memory revert to 'Q' for weapon switch, which results in comically lobbing a grenade without aiming, usually onto your own feet or the wall in front of you).

Weapons are similar enough to be reliable when picked up on the run and different enough to be useful in the right situation. Alternate fire is not something you'll use often, but it works well when you do. Iron Sights are absolutely essential and I didn't find a weapon that didn't do them well. The extra level of thought regarding stationary weapons, like being able to flip a fixed MG turret in the opposite direction, or crouch down and blind-fire it (inaccurate, but out of harm's way) are extra details that make such fixtures infinitely more useful.

Your NPC squadmates are well characterised and are actually useful in a firefight. Squad commands come in handy, laying down suppressing fire to cover their movements (or vice versa) is a useful tactic, combat speech is all business but absolutely an asset in a fight. Thankfully your guys won't run blindly into opposing fire, and being able to recover them if they do manage to fall in battle is no small mercy.

Combat environments are varied, or as much as they can be in a battle-scarred city of sand, glass and steel. There is some element of vertical combat as you engage with enemy combatants rappelling in from the upper levels of the building you're fighting in, snipers on rooftops, and making your way up/down staircases in towers and shopping precints. Some cover can be degraded by heavy fire and there are explosive props that can be used to help dispatch your enemies, but they are not heavily advertised, and spotting one and using it effectively to take down an opponent feels like a victory in perception and adaptation under fire. Additionally, enemies do not automatically spawn and stand mindlessly next to the red crate or barrel, waiting for you to shoot it - you'll need to flush them out or lure them in if that's how you want to obtain your kills.

The only environmental gripe I could come up with was that some static props seem to have a hitbox slightly larger than expected - leaning out to loose few shots would at times result in the bullets harmlessly striking the edge of whatever I, or my enemy, was hiding beside. This seemed to happen more often with scoped weapons, I noticed.


Ultimately I found this game to be one of the best I've played in recent memory. Tense, terse, immersive and explosive. I found myself hungry for answers, but apprehensive of what they'd be. I scrambled for ammo and lunged for cover. I grit my teeth, swore, dug in, and expended brass and blood in equal amounts. I travelled from mindless bloodlust to gut-wrenching grief, and back again, and I loved every minute of it. When you finish this game you'll be left, in a way, unsatisfied. Not because the game was lacking, far from it - but because you'll be asking yourself, over and over;

"..what if I'd done something different?"

As a newcomer to the Shadowrun franchise (having played none of the previous video or tabletop games), I wasn't really sure what to expect.

Now, having sunk several hours into the main campaign, I can already see the potential for UGCs and community contribution. I quite enjoy the combat interface and found myself wishing there was a little more between 'story' segments - perhaps this will change as I delve further into the game.

I am admittedly a veteran of the original Fallout 1 & 2, and if you're from that school of turn-based tactical combat, I implore you to pick up Shadowrun and give it a whirl - the humour, narrative and most importantly combat dynamic will appeal to you greatly.