Recent reviews by MikeUFC

Cyberpunk 2077 was released to massive fanfare. I mean, on paper how could you not fall into the hype? Futuristic setting. Huge open world. Keanu Reeves involvement. CD Projekt Red! The devs behind the beloved Witcher game franchise. Then the game was released....uh oh. Graphic glitches, broken missions and other bugs. The fans were in an uproar (although to be fair this was mostly for console players). CD Projekt Red promised to make it right. Here we are a year later....so how is it?

Well, there are still plenty of graphic glitches and the missions can be a bit...special sometimes. But man, Cyberpunk 2077 was a good freaking time. You play as V, a simple mercenary who gets more than they bargained for when a mission goes wrong and sees something they shouldn't have seen. And that's all I'll say. The story was fantastic and the less you know the better. The customization in Cyberpunk 2077 is DEEP. There are tons of choice whether it's how you look or how you want to play. Want to play as a soldier of fortune shooting everyone in sight? You got it. Want to forgo weapons and beat everyone to death with just your hands? Sure! Want to play as a netrunner that doesn't even pick up a gun and can still make everyone miserable? Bring it on! Gameplay is awesome. Gunplay (I specialized in assault rifles) is fantastic and gets better and more brutal as your character levels up. Night City is an incredible setting and it's massive. And what's outside of Night City is just as cool. The voice acting is top notch. I thought Keanu Reeves was just going to be a cheap cameo but NO. He's heavily involved. Side mission variety was exceptional. The gigs and scanner hustles, less so. Even though they are short, there are a lot of them spread all over the map.

Is everything good? No. There are still a lot of graphics glitches. Parked cars will be halfway in the ground. They'll levitate five feet off the ground. The same for people. The missions can occasionally be screwy....but never to the point you won't get credit for finishing them. But the driving. Wow, the driving sucks. I ran almost everywhere (which also improves athletics, so there's that) because driving is very touchy unless you like to go slow. Thank goodness for fast travel points. Armor and weapons scale with your level so you'll have to buy new stuff every once in a while, so I highly recommend getting into crafting. Making your own stuff will save you money because you are going to need lots of money, especially if you want to buy all the cars. The economy of buying and selling is heavily in favor of the merchant lol. The rifle you bought for 77k can get you about 1500 when you want to sell it back.

In the end, I was super addicted to Cyperpunk 2077 for a few weeks so I definitely got my money's worth. I bought the game at 50% off but I wouldn't have regretted paying full price. The main story was about 25 hours but it is so ripe for future content. There is so much opportunity here to tell even more stories (hopefully in future patches). Even that said, there is a ton to do now and any bugs you run across are nothing game breaking. I may come back to this game using a totally different play style. Cyberpunk 2077 gets an easy 9/10 from me. Highly recommended!

Really fun little game. Easy 100% Achievements. Don't let the art style turn you off. For the price of a cup of coffee (or less than in some cases) you'll get a couple hours of sniping game goodness.

If you enjoy the sweet sounds of synthwave, the neon drenched look with easy pick up and play gaming, look no further than Retrowave. Your $1.50-$2 gets you four gaming modes with 16 maps to choose from. No story, no racing against the clock, just driving and earning money so you can buy a new car while listening to the unbelievable soundtrack. Yeah, there's really not much too it but for less than the price of a Big Mac you're getting a nice piece of gaming goodness.

I have great memories of losing loads of quarters to the original Golden Axe, so when I heard about this "One Day Only" download of this abandoned game I was pretty stoked. Less than five minutes after I started the game, I was done. Kill a few enemies in the classic Golden Axe manner and then you're back to the main screen. No boss fight, nada. I'll give it a loose recommend because what's there is fun and it looks great but you're better off firing up the Sega Classics Collection and taking on the armies of Death Adder there.

My daughter loves it. Nuff said

I got Paratopic from the Humble Bundle Monthly and had to check it out immediately because I really dig the strange and unusual. This "game" is meant to be played in one sitting (no saves) and it'll take you about an hour to finish. That hour is a freaking wild one though. I don't know how to explain the story of Paratopic as little of anything makes sense (the discussion board helped me understand, so there's that).

I'd actually say it is more of an experience than a game. The atmosphere is the real deal as it features wonderful ambient music, lo-fi visuals (including drab color palette) and Twin Peaks style voice acting. One minute you'll be walking in a forest, or a flop house apartment building or a convenience store. In between, you'll be driving and driving and driving some more. I know this drove (no pun intended) some people nuts and yeah, those parts went a bit overlong but I was curious in what was coming next so I just dealt with it. Achievements will take you at least two playthroughs to 100%. There are different dialogue branches so if you need them all, check out a guide to help you.

Honestly, Paratopic isn't for everyone. If you enjoy weird titles and trying to make sense of the abstract, you've come to the right place. If you don't enjoy scratching your head saying WTF every few minutes then yeah, this is a pass. The ugly visuals actually enhanced the experience IMO and again the music was perfect. For me, the commitment was short and I enjoyed what I got even though I had to read up on it to fully understand the story. Easy 7.5/10 from me.

Much like CoD: Ghosts, my expectations for AW were low. A futuristic CoD with hover bikes and robotics limbs giving you super strength and the ability to climb buildings? Eh, I dunno. Thankfully, I could not have been more wrong about CoD: AW. The SP campaign was fantastic with all the globe trotting and big set pieces you've come to expect from this franchise. All the sci-fi stuff thought would be dumb wasn't near as far fetched as I thought it was going to be and was used really well. Game play is still the tried and true "go from point A to B and kill stuff" but with a drone and stealth mission thrown in to change it up. Gun play is great and there's plenty of different stuff to shoot. The story was interesting and as always the voice acting is top notch. One thing that grated me though was hearing Ilona say "MEETCHILLLL!!!!!!" over and over again. Lord have mercy. If you've played you probably know what I'm talking about. As per usual with Activision, CoD:AW is STILL at MSRP here on Steam but I've seen it as low as $8 if you know where to look. If you enjoy CoD SP Campaigns this is another winner. 8/10 from me.

Ryse: Son of Rome is a pretty fun, but one note beat em up. The game's first 7 of 8 levels are told in flashback chronicling the trials and tribulations of the main character Marius Titus as he seeks revenge against the people that murdered his family. Yes, if you have seen the movie "Gladiator" this will all seem very familiar to you. Game play is pretty much kill everything ending your kills with QTE style executions which allow for temporary power ups or XP boosts depending on what you choose. XP can be used to increase your health, expand the number of executions etc so there are light RPG elements. Level design is varied and linear but pretty thanks to the Crytek engine. A special shout out to Level 7 in the Colosseum, which to me by far was the highlight of the game. Sound is fantastic and really brought the chaos of war around. This is a very busy game. As I alluded to earlier, the story is very familiar but it was still satisfying. Voice acting was well done, even with all the Romans having English accents lol. Ryse took me just short of 7 hours to finish and that was perfect as it did not wear out it's welcome. There's replay value to be had if you want to revisit levels to find collectibles or play MP. I've seen Ryse for as little as $5 on sale and that's a steal IMO. While the combat does get extremely repetitive, this is a good looking game with good production values and a satisfying story. Easy 7.5/10 from me.

I do love being surprised when it comes to gaming. I was a bit worn out from grinding through scare fests in the Amnesia series and Outlast and really need to play something the completely opposite. Well I installed Party Hard and did not look back. The gist of Party Hard is you play a mass murderer going across the good ol' USA killing large numbers of people at parties using your trusty knife to stab people or traps (poison the punch, rig stuff to blow up etc.). Party Hard really reminds me of Hotline Miami in that it's a murder simulator, only WAY more slow paced. Your sole mission is to kill everything on the level and not get caught. How you do it is up to you. I thought Party Hard was a great game to pick up and play. The controls are simple and you know what you have to do on each level. Each level is procedurally generated so you don't know what traps you'll have or what drops to pick up. It totally changes your strategy from level to level. Is it perfect? No. ADD gamers are SOL as the random behaviors of the party people keep you guessing (although I liked that), there were numerous times the cops randomly arrested me and the worst thing of all. The dang sprint button. Our (anti?) hero has maybe the worst cardio ever. You'll be running from cops and the stamina bar will let you down every time. That said, I thought Party Hard was a blast. The concept was intriguing, the execution (while flawed) was good enough but I kept playing and playing until I finished. Looking forward to Party Hard 2. 8/10 from me.

Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs (AKA MFP) is a loose sequel to the original castle crawler, The Dark Descent (AKA TDD). This game was not developed by Frictional Games, but rather The Chinese Room. The setting is late 1890s Steampunk London and starts in a very cool looking mansion. A newer engine was used for this game and the visuals are definitely a step up. Overall I was very pleased with how the game looked, although some of the levels are super dark. Sound design was excellent and the soundtrack superb. Unlike TDD, there is no inventory and your lantern has unlimited power. I can see where this made some folks not very happy. No inventory meant simpler puzzles and that's very much the case here. Some of the puzzles felt more like busy work. Most of the time you'll be running through the samey environments pulling levers, hitting switches and turning cranks. Also the unlimited lantern took some of the mood away but on the other hand I can appreciate not looking under every nook and cranny for tinderboxes or oil so that can be seen as a plus. The story was pretty cool and helps when you read the notes. The biggest problem with MFP is easy: It just wasn't scary. Some of the levels like the mansion and factory were nice and creepy but the looming sense of dread wasn't there. The pigmen monsters weren't all That made the four hour running time just perfect to me because you can only crawl through labs, climb ladders and go across catwalks so many times. Overall Amnesia: MFP gets a 7/10 from me. It's not a bad game by any means but I was hoping for some scares and didn't get that many.