Recent reviews by ლ(◕ω◕ლ)ლ(◕ω◕ლ)

I was not a Harry Potter Fan. And I found this to be a truly magical gaming experience. Wonderful, fitting music. The care to the detail of the story, world-building, crafting instantly pulled me in and made me interested in the Harry Potter World, something I never imagined saying. However, this is that type of game. It comes along once in a very long time and combines the respect to the property, the attention to detail, fun gameplay, immersive environment into something that is a tent pole gaming experience. If I was to introduce someone to gaming, this game would be on their path, it is accessible, fun, and does what is sets out to do, make the player feel like they are in Hogwarts. Pulls people in who have no interest in Harry Potter, me!.

There are small gripes like the glitched field guide pages in library annex, missing morality system, a more fleshed out loot system, no Quidditch, little interaction from NPC's. But these are minor and do not take away from the overall experience. I highly doubt most people will be thinking of these issues as they fly a broom for the first time over Hogwarts Valley and cast revelio looking for Merlin Trials, loot, or to capture beasts, Hippogriffs or Thestrals.

This game sparked a renewed interest in gaming in my household. It became a family affair. The wife listing Harry Potter lore to guide the story, my daughter wanting to explore and take care of the various beats in the Room of Requirement. Great fun.

This game was such a wonderful surprise. This nostalgic awesomeness of a game is a remake of the 1994 insane FPS. With most remakes, I've become accustomed to the resulting game being completely different and usually terrible. The number of times I've fired up a remake with the hope of revisiting the childhood glory days of DOS only to have the game die and empty its bowels of cover systems, microtransactions, mumblecore dialogue and tactical-ness into my tear filled eyes has added up to a point where I now rarely try out a remake. This is one of the exceptions.

Firing up the game, you are greated to metal versions of music from the original game, and doing a little research, it is in fact the great Lee Jackson, of Grabbag fame. We're off to a good start. Be warned and be patient when you fire up the game. If you haven't played an FPS from pre- Half-Life 2 in a while, you will have a learning curve. Don't look for cover behind chest high walls, don't run straight at enemies, watch your health, and enjoy that movement speed. Are there secrets? Yup, a lot of them, some are in the same place as in the original game. And they are fantastic; the best toys to gib enemies are hidden well.

Speaking of gibs, there are lots. How much? It makes most blood spurting anime blush, and that makes me happy. Want to create a variety of gibs? Cool, well you have the insane arsenal from the original, tweaked a bit. Want to fire a mini-nuke? Enjoy the firebomb. How about shooting a wall of fire across the ground? Give the Flamewall a try. Want to rocket jump? Pick up a rocket launcher, I like rocket jumping with the split missile, it seems to work a little better. Rocket jumping is limited here, but it comes in handy to get to a few secrets, still fun though. The weaponry continues with The Dark Staff, Excalibat, God Mode, Dog mode(it's exactly what you'd think).

The one downside I can find in this game is the minimal transfer of multiplayer awesomeness from the original, but I suspect the community will mod a lot of those features in SOON. Everything else is exactly how it should be. If you're looking for a plot driven, quick-time circle jerk with a cover system, look elsewhere. If you're looking for a hilarious, challenging, wonderfully self aware ode to the old school FPS, then by Joe.... this is a must have.

Spec Ops comes very close to being one of the greatest games ever, but the wonky combat holds it back. The story though, lifts this game out of mediocrity and into greatness. You are given difficult moral choices, some of which you don't know the consequences until after you've taken action, the white phosphorous scene for example. These choices wear down on the protagonists rather than the usual fare of a friend or family member dying. We see the characters debate whether to carry on after committing atrocious crimes themselves, and they decide to go on purely because there would be more death if they didn't. Dole out death to prevent a larger body count, a sad and dark choice that faces soldiers in modern combat.

You wander through the ruins of Dubai. Sand is everywhere, closing in on you giving a surreal feel to the game. You feel like you are wandering through Hell with Dante at your side, witnessing the punishment of the people of this city as it is consumed by the desert. The Line is a beautiful game. There isn't a robust list of new graphical features at use in the game, but they take the core graphical elements and craft a beautfiul game. You even have the choice to alter the appearance of the game. All of the choices still convey the stark, desolate landscape dotted with scenery of obscene wealth, but you can make it look like the color palette of a Tim Burton CGI fest or the blandness of a modern shooter game.

Your buddies can be ordered around to throw flashbangs, put down covering fire, revive each other. Your team helps push the story to a deep, rich level. They offer logical answers to solutions as opposed to the popular "my teammate is crazy and stupid and I have all the right answers always" , some of your team's suggestions even sound more sane that the main character's. They question who the real enemy is, just as you are. However, when it comes to gameplay your team is the big letdown of the game. You are constantly trying to get them to stay in cover or throw a flashbang or just plain don't stand in front of people shooting guns. Most of the campaign I spent reviving them, furiously taking out the enemies in front of them so they wouldn't go down. Teammates have a timer on their revive too, so if a teammate runs out of cover into a bunch of guys. Might as well reload the checkpoint.

Despite that and the not quite polished gunplay, I'd highly recommend this game. The story shines here, and it shines so brightly that you can get past some of the downsides and play a game that will haunt your thoughts for quite a while. I think of this game every time I play a shooter.

A simple and beautiful game that got lost in the sea of incredible zombie games (Left 4 Dead 2, Dead Island, Dead Rising 2) near its release. Possibly overlooked since it is a side scroller and not an FPS or "third person", but it is definitely worth a look. The controls can be clunky and unresponsive, the traps and hazards occasionally are just thrown at you without warning, thus requiring memorization. There are common bugs like graphical issues and sound cutting out during the wonderly illustrated cutscenes, which is a shame. Although, I'd still recommend the game, but just maybe get it when it goes on sale. You feel for the main character Randall and for the people around him, but the controls are just inconsistent enough to pull you out of the experience occasionally. With time you get used to the periodic unresponsiveness, and can enjoy the nuggets of badass this game has.

Tragically underrated game. The game is immersive, dark, and starkly beautiful. You feel a sense of little hope for the survival of humanity. I recommend playing this game with a bottle of vodka nearby; it adds to the ambiance. The feeling of being very human is always present in the game. Between the constant search for filters needed for your gas mask, which allows you to breathe on the surface, the small amount of ammo, and the powerful abilities of enemies; one feels that the next event could be the last.