Recent reviews by Mister Maf

Really fun party game to play on a shared screen. Rounds are quick. Good value even at full price.

Alright, look. Did Sega launch the game feature-incomplete? Yeah. There's still no replays or player names. But you know what? The core PvP multiplayer game is really good. The game is fun. If you're here for AI battles or singleplayer campaigns, skip it, at least for now. Multiplayer could definitely do with more maps, and they're working on that. But if you're after competitive multiplayer matches, the game design is great and I personally enjoy it the most out of all three games. Get it on sale if you prefer. But the reason why all the critic reviews shower this game in laurels is because they're reviewing the gameplay, not the ancillary features, and I think the gameplay is worth your time. If that's the main thing you care about, don't let the bitter gamers talk you out of it.

Regiments is very much the same vein as Eugen's Wargame and WARNO, but has unique elements that give it its own identity and also I think overall make it more accessible. All of your units are ordered in platoons instead of individually, and you generally only have 8-12 platoons on at a time instead of dozens to hundreds of units. Infantry also always is bundled with their transports so you just toggle whether they are mounted or dismounted instead of dismounted infantry being a separate unit to control. It zooms in the feel and makes things easier to manage. The campaign missions meanwhile are broken up into timed phases and each phase you have to choose a positive or negative event that can really change up how you approach the mission, which is cool. Going out of your way to complete secondary objectives can cost you time but get you more points to spend on the macro layer between phases. It's a neat mix on the formula. The main drawback is the UI, which is a major step down from Eugen's titles; if you don't just already know that a Leopard 2A1 and 2A4 are leagues apart from one another then you might be confused why your T-72s got exploded. That said, there are fewer units than in Wargame/WARNO, so even though there's basically no dynamic matchup info to tell you how a unit will fare against another, I expect it wouldn't be that hard for a newcomer to learn overall. Also, all of the battlegroups are pre-made instead of player customized, which some might not like but it does make it more accessible.

Overall it's fun and I would say a much better singleplayer experience than Eugen's titles. If you like the concept of this sort of game but are intimidated by the multiplayer focus of Wargame/WARNO or those games' complexity, this may be to your liking. If you already like Eugen's games, I'd say this will very likely be to your liking. Though WARNO does have a much better soundtrack, but we all knew this 🤷

It's...fine. I'd give it three of five stars. On the whole I found Project Wingman to be a much more entertaining experience. By comparison AC7's story is incohesive; its characters less memorable; its missions less engaging; the soundtrack less impactful (and I'm sure I'll get the dogs sicced on me for that but I stand by it); and overall the gameplay formula just not quite as good. The writing is also...not great a lot of the time. It's fine. I found it moderately entertaining. Some sequences were cool. The DLC missions are pretty good. But as a complete package, there were more entertaining ways I could have spent my time.

It's a pretty standard roguelike setup, but the rhythm mechanic paired with some fantastic music makes a hell of a time once you start getting the hang of it. You can turn on a rhythm lock that basically automatically keeps you on the beat if you want an easier time; I find this more satisfying to play with. Also you can turn down the color saturation to a more palatable level in the settings if you like. Beyond that there isn't a whole lot to say—if you like roguelikes or rhythm games, it's fun. My only real complaint is I wish the endgame scaled in difficulty a little harder; usually if you've done well enough to get to a certain point, you're almost certainly coasting an overpowered build to nigh guaranteed win. You'll want to set a custom reload button that doesn't require taking your fingers off WASD.

Sometimes a family is six children who live in an abandoned castle on top of a mountain. It's good, it's unique, it's concise without extraneous unnecessary gameplay that a lot of big titles try to shove in for bullet points on the back of the box. Play it.

Had lots of fun with this. Has a bit of a learning curve but once you get the hang of it it's an intense challenge keeping up with putting out multiple literal and figurative fires at the same time when things get hot. I played through all of the singleplayer campaign content and enjoyed it. My main wish is that it had a scenario mode that let you just use an endgame plane and crew to go on really beefed up difficult versions of the campaign missions, because once you get your plane and crew leveled up a lot of the missions get pretty easy and the ones that are super dangerous can set you back a lot if you have to replace your plane and crew. I would also have liked to see the missions be procedurally generated rather than hand-made as it makes for a bit of repetition when you are doing non-critical missions to get upgrades. Still, I liked the game and would recommend for anyone who enjoys the likes of FTL.

It's...OK. The main thing I got from the $9 and 7 hours I spent trying to like this game was bored. Whether in the campaign or freelance mode, the gameplay was most often either far too easy or too hard; it's very difficult to find an appropriate challenge. That wouldn't be so bad if the combat itself were a lot of fun—but even when the challenge felt right, I didn't ever find it particularly engaging, and on top of all of that I spent more time wandering across the map tracking down objectives to blow up after defeating almost all the enemies on the map in the first minute or two. Overall this game was just very disappointing, and I spent too long trying to give it the credit it ultimately never earned to be able to refund my purchase.

If you're thinking about buying this game, consider just picking up the fantastic soundtrack albums by Makeup and Vanity Set, and listen to that while you play Synthetik: Legion Rising instead. That ought to scratch the itch this game wants to.

Hell of a fun roguelike. Normally not a big fan of the genre but this one is a great time playing solo and even better in co-op. The art and overall presentation are very good as well. My only real critique is the occasional crash while playing online but it happens infrequently enough to not ruin the experience.

Very interesting game that I liked a lot. Went into it with the understanding thanks to some other reviewers that it wouldn't be that scary and, indeed, the scares were mostly limited to very creepy but generally light jumpscares and some intense first encounters with the haunted creatures inhabiting the labyrinthine remains of Joey Drew Studios. The real draw is the setting and the adventure the game takes you on, which is nothing if not unique — not to mention appreciably short for those of us with long backlogs.

I can see why this game was apparently such a sensation with the YouTube fanbase. If you want a low-spoiler tl;dr of what this game is basically about to see if you would be interested in it or not, check out the popular animated music video "Welcome Home" by YouTube user SquigglyDigg — that's what convinced me to pick it up so if it seems neat to you too, grab BATIM on sale and play it. Gameplay is simple but for the kind of game it is it doesn't need to be very complex. I wish the protagonist spoke up for himself more with the other characters in some scenes but that's a nitpick of a complaint; overall I found it very engaging. I'm personally very much looking forward to seeing where the upcoming Bendy and the Dark Revival takes the story.