Recent reviews by Zidders 'Rockin' Bard' Roofurry

I got this from a friend today and figured i'd give it a review. I've played about four hours or so.

If you're into card games and heavy metal and love games like Brutal Legend this should be right up your alley. The story while not all that deep and very cliche is fun, the graphics are brightly-colored and hearken back to 80's metal album covers, and the music has a really great garage chug to it right out of an early 90's GWAR album. In fact fans of GWAR should really enjoy this.

Challenge-wise it's not super-challenging. This is more a heavy metal head-banging, beer-swilling, hanging out in a bar type of game so if you've hit your head on an amp a few too many times don't worry. You won't be too overwhelmed.

Challenge: 5/10
Music: 8/10
Aesthetics: 8/10
Characters: 9/10 (It needs Eddie Riggs).

Overall: 8/10

It's not amazing but It's a lot of fun.

This game was a pile of wasted potential when it first came out. The only decent thing about it was the customization options and even then a lot of it was locked behind a paywall. Development stopped over a decade ago and the servers are in a coma and barely on life support. There are more bots hacking this game than there are real people playing it. Abandon interest all ye who read this review.

APB was a neat idea that got none of the publisher support it needed. Oh, well.
-11/10.

Great gameplay, story, and voice acting. Pretty much takes everything good about the previous games and improves upon it. The only thing negative I'd have to say is that the load times are pretty bad even on modern systems and it doesn't have the Far Cry Arcade like FC5 has. If it had an editor and a way for people to play custom maps it would be perfect.

If you like arpg's and aren't expecting anything all that deep it's harmless. It's not amazing but it's not as bad as some people might make it out to be. It just doesn't have the same feel as the first three Torchlight games which makes sense. Different team, different setting. If you look at the idea of Torchlight being a less grimdark/fantasy-light take on the arpg genre it'll make a lot more sense. Think Diablo if it was an anime aimed at older kids and teens. Not that adults won't find anything to enjoy here.

My main critique of this would be its microtransactions but while some might see it as Pay2Win it's really no different from any other Chinese-made arpg. I just think that after the first three games were so heavily advertised as being microtransaction-light, with those transactions being focused on cosmetics-only that it's disappointing to see the publisher move away from that philosophy in exchange for a more capitalistic one.

To sum it all up it's not great but not bad. For a free game you could do worse. I wouldn't recommend it to the die-hard Torchlighters out there. You'll only end up disappointed (and a bit disheartened, too).

5/10

I wouldn't recommend it but I'm not going to try and discourage anyone from it, either.

Best Fallout since the first. Great story, characters, setting, and DLC. Despite some bugginess here and there it still holds up despite having come out almost 13 years ago. Also, there are a TON of amazing mods for it. With the right ones you can get it looking like a game half its age. If you love RPG's with lots of great characters, action, and meaningful stories this one won't steer you wrong.

If you're a fan of old-school Fallout and haven't liked the direction Bethesda's taken the game in since they acquired the license it's unlikely this game will change your mind. Fallout 4 leans even more into the series' focus on action and grindiness over good storytelling. The main plot is nonsensical and stretches one's ability to willingly suspend disbelief to a ridiculous degree. There are too few characters worth identifying or sympathizing with save for one and that character (an android detective named Nick) is woefully underutilized.

What sold me on this game and keeps me playing it is the multitude of mods available on sites like the Nexus. Whatever failings the game might have what it does right is offer modders a robust platform for their creative energies to be put on display. Want a new body? New guns? New quests and/or music? The odds are good there's a mod out there you'll like.

I'm not saying pay full price for it-the bugginess alone is worth knocking off at least half of its already steeply discounted since release going rate-but for $15 or $20 (not counting the take it or leave it DLC) it's worth getting for the mods alone. Actually, it might be worth getting the DLC when it's on sale as a lot of the construction, robot-related and weather mods depend on DLC content.

Back when this game came out it was one of the best story-based open-world action/racing/third person combat games around. It was one of the best console games to ever be released and the PC port managed to be pretty damn good, too. Over the years it may have aged but it's remained one of those games you have to play at least once to experience what good storytelling, gameplay, and music combined can be like when everything comes together to make something memorable.

Now Rockstar have decided to insult this games legacy by removing the good version from the marketplace in order to replace it with the abysmal 'definitive' edition. I cannot in good conscience recommend getting the current version that is available on Steam. If you want to play San Andreas the way it was meant to be played pick up either an old copy for the PS2 or a copy of the physical PC version.

However you manage to get it, make sure it isn't lining Rockstar's pockets.

All you had to do was not screw up the damn port, Rockstar. Instead, you've just given myself and others that much more reason to never purchase a game from you ever again.

Original release rating: 10/10
Definitive edition version rating: A Big Smoke-sized stinking #2

I've never played the Red Dead series so went into this not knowing what to expect. I'd seen some video but I wasn't sure whether it would be boring or a trollfest like GTA:Online. While it isn't exactly full of thrill a minute action I haven't noticed too much griefing. What I have noticed is that it's a gorgeous representation of old west United States. If you love watching films like Tombstone & Dances With Wolves for the setting you'll enjoy this games setting. The music is also quite good.

As far as the action it's OK. It's some interesting occupation paths and combat is a fair bit better than in other Rockstar titles. Don't expect it to measure up with more combat-focused games. Part of the issue is the huge imbalance between keyboard & mouse players, and those who play with controllers. If you play with a controller you have aim assist which means you have a huge advantage over those playing without one.

I really feel that while this game is worth paying for you should definitely hold off until it's on sale. It's decent and has a lot of potential. There's just so much more Rockstar could & hopefully will do with it. While there is no chat option in game it supports voice & has a relatively friendly community both in game & on sites like Reddit.

Transparency-I got this game as a gift from a friend.

Basically this game's story makes no sense. There are great characters in it who aren't in it as long as they should be and other characters (namely Johnny Silverhand) who should have been cut back. A lot. The cliche it utilizes as its main premise wears thin after awhile and none of your choices matter. On top of that CDPR corporate make Weyland-Utani look like angels in comparison. Employee mistreatment, anti-consumer behavior, lying to partner companies and the gaming press-there's literally every good reason not buy this game.

Which is why i'm encouraging you to acquire it at a steep discount. The game world is amazing and simply must be experienced at least once. An amazing amount of artistry went into crafting this. Too bad executive dumbassery made it less the groundbreaking game it could have been.

Much like Blade Runner this film nails the cyberpunk mood. I suspect it'll end up being a flawed cult classic ten years down the road. If we all make it that long.

First, for the sake of transparency I've been friends with some of the devs for awhile and got this game free. That said I'm going to do my best to be as unbiased as I can be. My overall impression of the game is positive yet there are some negative aspects I feel are important to point out. Note-this is from POV of a casual player. I'm not hardcore and don't look at builds or endgame. That said I feel this is far more a casual arpg fan kind of thing. If you're like me and just want to smack baddies either alone or with friends without stressing too much over complex character design & tactics this is the game for you.

The good:
It's got a great art style that retains the spirit of the first two games. Parked somewhere between traditional fantasy art styles and a more Disney-like aesthetic it fits the games overall lighthearted dungeon crawl tone. That said it won't be for everyone. It's definitely more WoW than Path of Exile.

The character classes are unique in appearance, making them stand out a bit from the more traditional kinds of classes you see in other arpg's.

The music is really good-but then it's by Matt Uelmen whose been with the franchise from the start. While not as memorable as the first two games it still manages to evoke the spirit of the series.

Items have great designs and decent items seem plentiful.

Crafting, decorating your fort and the pet system allow for more variety of gameplay. There's plenty to do.

Areas are all well-designed and interesting.

OK the bad. Really there's only two main points here but they're doozy's. The first is that the story is a mess and lacks any memorable characters. That and the dialog is annoyingly trite. The Torchlight series has never been known for having stellar writing-the second games Alchemist story arc was barely there and the first game was a Saturday morning cartoon Diablo I-but they at least had a few interesting NPC's. This games characters and story are so boring they're not even worth remembering. Sorry, Echtra but when you've got games like Grim Dawn, Path of Exile and even Minecraft:Dungeons having better stories than in a game created by some of the folks responsible for Diablo II it's pretty sad.

Second-and to me the thing that really baffles and saddens me-is the price. $40? For a sequel to a $20 game that comes nowhere close to measuring up to just how good that game was? I know Perfect World needs to recoup the cost of losing out on all those sweet MMO Microtransactions but $40 is a ridiculous price for this. $40 would have been ridiculous even for Torchlight II and that game was amazing.

Anyways, yeah-it's good and continues to improve as the devs work on it but if you're looking for a decent story with meaningful characters you're out of luck. Also whatever you do don't pay full price for it. At $20 it's a good value for your money. It's simply not worth $40 as it is now.

EDIT: One last negative...and probably a big one given the series history. It doesn't look like modding will be a thing which I find pretty heartbreaking as it's what helped give the first two games so much extra added value. I suspect I know the reason why-it began life as an MMO and thus wasn't designed with mods in mind. Still...what a bummer.