Recent reviews by Korriban

Probably the first early access game that doesn't look like one.
Even in the actual state, the game is polished enough to be enjoyable. Single player game is a bit hard, and could be boring, but with a friend on discord is a totally different thing.
AAA game devs could learn a thing or two from these guys.

You cannot play this game, it is the game that plays with you.
It's an amazing experience.

Mad Max is an action, open-world game that sends you inside one of the best movie of 2015. Usually, I tend to avoid games based on movies, because more than often they are rushed titles whose only purpose is to sell using the name of the movie. So, what happened that made me change my mind about buying such a potentially bad game? Mainly, Steam reviews. With a solid 90% positive reviews I thought to give the game a chance, besides I'm also a big fan of Mad Max movies, a post apocalyptic genre lover and the game was 66% discounted during Christmas. I bought it and it was a real, amazing surprise.

TECHNICAL ASPECTS
***GAMEPLAY 8/10
Mad Max gameplay is amazing, but unfortunately it is flawed by some aspects that may bore the gamers. As I said, the game is open-world, Max can travel by foot (not a very good nor smart idea), by car (best idea) or by fast travel (anti-boredom idea). Why is fast travel anti boredom? Simply because the world is HUGE, it's like Skyrim but in a desert with almost no life, so even with a car, but nothing to do it gets boring. The environment is really well made, don't get me wrong, I tried to avoid using fast travel (I'm not a big fan of it), but if you want to 100% complete the game, traveling, even with your fastest car, becomes a nuisance.
Now, let's talk about fighting. Take the Batman Arkham franchise, strip the Bat of it's costume, grow Wayne a big bushy beard, give him some ragged clothes, a double barrel shotgun and throw him in a desert, done ? Good, you now have Max, a man that fights (kinda) like the Gotham vigilante. What is great about this in Mad Max is that you can perform some finisher moves depending on the environment. Is your enemy with his back against a wall ? Grab his head and smash it on said wall. Is your enemy the sniper in that tall tower that just blow up one of your car tires? Find a way to sneak up on him and push him over the ledge of his tower, no more sniping for you ... Baiatch ! Do you like the sound of your shotgun? Grab an enemy and gut shot him... again, and again, and again, and ... damn I ran out of ammo.
Once your enemies are all dead you can go back to your car and chill out... wait no ... a war party approaching !!! Fighting in Mad Max doesn't end when you enter your car, it really begins there. If you have seen the 2015 movie you know what I'm talking about, if not go buy the DVD and then buy the game (I'm not joking). Car fights are almost exactly like the ones you see in the movie: ramming, grinding, burning, harpooning, blowing up tires, fuel tanks or drivers. The only problem about cars is that the game doesn't like to see cars upside down, so whenever you flip your car and start sliding on your hood, some mystical force flips your car back on its wheels.
All of this you'll be able to do by buying the right upgrade for Max or the car, there are a lot of them. For Max there are the classic upgrades : better armour, more HPs, special combos, etc. For the car there are car bodies, tires, ramming grills, engines, hood ornaments, harpoons, spikes (to impale enemies that try to jump on your car) pipes that shoot flames and much more. Each upgrade will cost you scrap (the currency of the game), you get scrap by completing missions, looting enemies or locations and by destroying enemy vehicles. It is hard to have enough at the beginning, but doing side missions helps you a lot and eventually you end up having more than you need.
Last thing I'll explain about gameplay is what made the Steam reviews drop from 97% positive to 90% : the lack of diversity for what concerns side missions. In Mad Max you have the possibility of roam free around the map doing things like destroying enemy convoys or liberating outposts. Although these things are fun and give you the opportunity of doing something other than the main quest, they are basically all the same, they just get a bit harder the more you go on. These enemy outposts for example, are different only in their appearance, one is inside a chasm, while another was built on an abandoned oil rig. The problem is that you always have to do the same thing, fight your way among enemies and blow things up or kill the boss. Here, the bosses, or I should say "big guys who look all the same except for the colour of their clothes", this is the worst thing of the game, these guys are supposed to be generals, not cannon fodder, so I expect them to be unique, to fight in different ways, to die in different ways, well... no, they are all the same, they fight all in the same way, and you kill them in the same way.

***STORY and LORE 9/10
It's not the main thing of the game obviously, but I guess it's noticeable by the fact that I wrote a poem about the gameplay and almost nothing about the story. However, it is good, not excellent but good enough, it follows up the event of the movie but doesn't cross them, so the game and the movie remain separated but in the same context. It also seems that George Miller, the director and inventor of Mad Max, supervised some aspects of the game, the lore in particular, I've read that he likes the idea of being allowed to explain things (in a game for example) that you cannot explain in a movie (for obvious reason of time). So, when going around doing quests you come across some "relics" that give you hints on what happened to the world. When you start the game you may think you're in a desert in Australia, but it's not just a desert it's the bottom of the ocean, now dry due to some mysterious event, (probably global warming) .
If you want a short summary of the story keep reading (I won't spoil anything important)
The game starts with Max driving his beloved Interceptor, you get attacked by Scrotus (one of Immortan Joe sons) you manage to kill Scrotus but your car gets stolen and scrapped. Then, you encounter a hunchback named Chumbucket, a blackfinger (title given to those who are skilled mechanics), who wants to help you because he says to have seen you in a vision and thinks you're the "Saint" (an envoy of the goddess called Angel Combustion). He builds a new car, the Magnum Opus and comes with you to help you get a V8 engine that is supposed to allow you to continue your journey through the desert.
During the game you come across other characters, some crazier than others, who help you if, of course, you help them first and you do that until you reach Gastown. What happens then, I let you discover by yourself.

***GRAPHICS 10/10
Amazing, nothing less. Even though it's not perfect I give the game a 10 because it runs at a steady 60fps on (Mad)Max settings 99% of the time, I dropped under 50 only twice, but there was really a lot going on on screen. The game is so well optimized that makes other AAA games look bad. Everything about the environment is unique, each region has its unique features and look. You don't have the impression of being in the same place, even though you're in a desert with only rocks, sand and some scattered ruins, but what really shines here are the storms.
Storms are random events that can occur when you are out in the open, your companion Chumbucket will scream "Storm approaching !" and will point in that direction, you move the camera and you see it : a front of black clouds of dust moving towards you at incredible speed. You may try to outrun it and find somewhere to hide, but you'll miss all the fun, so pedal to the metal and run inside the storm. Everything turns black for a second, the wind howling covers even the sound of the engine, lightning starts falling from the sky and you have to steer to avoid being hit... it is so damn fun, if you manage to find some crazy enemy inside a storm is even better.

***SOUND 9/10
I'm running out of space to write so I'll just say that sound is great: engines, explosions, bone breaking or dislocating, car grinding to each other. Best part of it is voice acting.

OVERALL SCORE 9/10

I underestimated this game when it came out, but now I have to admit that playing Legend of Grimrock was an amazing experience. This is the first game in 15years that got me stuck on puzzles, it reminded me of the time when puzzle games where among the most played, and well made, games. For those of you who played games like "Eye of the Beholder", Legend of Grimrock will probably hit you in the feelings like a 1/2 ton truck.

***GAMEPLAY 9/10
The gameplay is really simple, you move as if you're on a grid one step at time (up,down,left,right and rotate 90° L or R)
You have 4 characters that move together in a square formation, so you have 2 on front and 2 at the back, note that this also mean that you have 2 on the left and 2 on the right, which might seem obvious, but will become a problem if you get sandwiched between monsters. The combat mechanic is simple, but challenging. Your front row can attack any monster with any weapon, the back row can only attack monsters with ranged/missile weapons, or with spells. You can only attack monsters that are facing you, but monsters can sneak on you and easily kill your back row, so beware of how you move when fighting more than one enemy.
When you are not killing enemies, you're probably trying to solve puzzles. This is the core of the game : how to reach the end of the dungeon. Your wits will be challenged, sometimes lightly, sometimes harder, sometimes you'll find the solution to a hard puzzle in no time and some other times you'll feel the king of all dumbs by realizing you had the solution under your nose for 1 hour, but you didn't see it... true story.
Why 9/10? I need to write this down. I'd normally give 8, game controls are good, game is challenging but not impossible, however, this +1 bonus comes from the fact that Legend of Grimrock resurrected the dungeon crawler mechanics that was abandoned long time ago. It demonstrates that old school can still kick asses.

***STORY 7/10
Story is almost a MacGuffin, it's there just to set things in motion and to give you a purpose. You're thrown into this prison/dungeon to die, but some weird voice in your dreams tells you that you can escape if you reach the lowest level... and so it begins. While descending the levels you'll find some scrolls that give you information about Mount Grimrock, which add a bit of lore to the game.
When you finally reach the lowest level ... well, you'll see. I enjoyed every single bit of the story, even though it's really simple.

***GRAPHICS 7/10
Graphic isn't great, but it's good enough. A bit more variety for what concerns the levels wouldn't have hurt, but I admit it's not necessary. I mean, Mount Grimrock is a prison and a prison isn't supposed to be about beautiful hallways and rooms, so it doesn't feel weird roaming 4 levels that look the same. No glitches whatsoever.

***SOUND 7/10
Game is almost silent, music is just a feeble echo in the background. The monsters grunts and steps are what you'll hear most of the time. When you play at harder difficulties it creates an effect on the player, hearing wierd noises behind walls and corner almost make you fear for the lives of your characters.

3) TL;DR
Overall score 7.5/10
Legend of Grimrock resurrects the dungeon crawler genre. If you are old enough to have played this kind of games before, you should buy this game, and even if you weren't old enough, and puzzle game are your thing, you won't get disappointed.

Where the predecessor gives me satisfaction, this game gives me frustration. Hotline Miami 2 is a failure compared to HM1.

***GAMEPLAY 5/10
The gameplay is the same, but the developers made the game considerably harder by some kind of poor level design combined with sniper enemies AI. It is frustrating to be killed by enemies that are out of the screen, who see you because you're passing in front of a window, which is out of your view as well. The shift key that allows you to drag the screen to see more of the map isn't enough to be aware of those enemies 2 times out of 3. Basically, I ended up finishing levels out of pure luck rather than skill, which is the exact opposite of what happened in HM1.
After 3 hours of "Press R to restart" I decided that I have better games to play.

***STORY 7/10
The story seems to be about different characters from different times, some from the 80's, some from the 90's, etc. I wrote SEEMS because I couldn't follow the story very clearly, the bad things of the gameplay ruined this aspect as well for me. When I don't enjoy playing a game it's difficult to enjoy the story. I'll give a 7/10 only because, for the little I've seen, it didn't suck as the gameplay.

***GRAPHICS
I wont' consider this aspect as the others. I'll just say it's the same as HM1 and it's fine, but it's clearly not one of the main features of this game, even though it gives a good 80's/90's arcade feeling.

***SOUND 7/10
Music is good but not great. HM1 had a better soundtrack in my opinion.


Overall score 6/10 - This doesn't mean GOOD, it means BARELY PLAYABLE
Hotline Miami 2 isn't completely bad, but it's clearly not as good as the first one.
Also, that poor gameplay and level design breaks everything. I don't have enough time on my hands now as I used to in the past, so a game where I spend more time dead that alive it's not worth my time. I definitely NOT recommend paying full price and probably not even half the price.I'd probably try finishing the game since I spent 7.50€, but only when I have nothing better to do, which hopefully isn't that hard.

1st training mission
Commander voice "Don't touch anything until told to"
Me thinking : "Shut up I played this game when I was 11, I know how it works" *hit backspace*
System message : "throttle at full speed"
Me: *crashes on the dummy, ship destroyed, mission failed, demoted to ground personnel"

134/10 Would touch everything before told to again.

This is not a real review, it's just a bunch of info you might find useful.
Anyway, after a few hours of gameplay I can say that the game runs smoothly on win 7/64bit, the only "problem" is that you cannot change resolution settings, it's not that bat but it would have been cool playing at 1980x1200.
You need either a joypad or joystick to play, the latter would be the best choice since the game is a lot easier if you play with 1 hand on the keyboard. I use a crappy joypad PS2 style, I can play quite well, not as I used to when I was 11 and played wit a joystick, but the analog stick is good enough. You can bind any button on the joypad and that's a good thing since there are so many commands.

This was the first game I played extensively, I cannot racommend it well enough, but it's not for everyone. It's very old and i suggest you to buy it only if you are a nostalgic SW lover like me.

Do you remember those games you used to play 20 years ago, that were ridiculously hard and you couldn't get pass the 2nd stage ? Well, Volgarr the Viking is their grandson.
[TL;DR at the bottom as usual]

1) INTRODUCTION
This is a game that, for those who were born in the 80's like me, rings many bells (Ghosts 'n Goblins, anyone?). Volgarr is an old style 2D arcade platform that shares many aspects with games like the one I just mentioned, first of all: the difficulty. You WILL die in this game, so many times that you will reach new levels of frustration that you didn't even know they existed (unless you already experimented them by playing videogames during the 80's and early 90's ... I did). However, even as I died every 10 steps, I couldn't stop playing. The game purpose is to make you learn by your mistakes; did you try to kill that enemy by throing a spear at him but he killed you ? That must be the wrong approach then, keep that in mind and try again. Learning each level by heart is the key to achieve victory: one step too much, one hit of your sword that is not timed correctly, a double-jump too high and you're one step closer to your doom. Oh, I almost forgot, did you see that hole in the wall that shoots arrows ? No? Ow, sorry you're dead.

2)TECHINICAL ASPECTS
***GAMEPLAY 9/10
2D sidescroll platform, there isn't much you can do. 4 movements : Left, Right, Jump, Crouch and 4 actions: roll, sword hit, throw javelin, die. Ok, that was a joke... you can even block with your shield by standing still, so I guess there are 5 actions you can perform. Also, your javelins can be thrown at walls to create platforms (usually secrets are hidden high up in the levels). There is also a zoom key that will allow you to see further than usual and you can toggle it, it is useful for obvious reasons and you basically play with that always on, I don't see why you shouldn't.
Good thing about the game is that you can play with a keyboard or a joypad, and you can bind any key as you see fit. Speaking of actions and buttons, I wish there was another action you could perform, which I believe it's kinda coomon in games like this one. I'm referring to the action that allows you to jump down a platform by passing through it. Usually you can do that by pressing down+jump, but hitting those keys will make you roll instead. I guess this is a choice made by the devs rather than a flaw in the game, I admit that kind of action would have made my life easier in some occasions.
As I said before, you are challenged by the difficulty of the game, if you die you start from the beginning, no savegames, and no checkpoints until you reach the end of the level and kill the boss. Then you can start the game from the latest level reached (but with basic equipment).
Yes, you have some equipment and it represents your total hit points. You start with a sword, a wooden shield and unlimited javelins. You get hit once, you lose your shield (you can block attack with the shield but only 2 or 3, then it breaks); you get hit twice, you die. If you manage to find equipment, without getting hit, you gain more equipment and hitpoints: a better shield that can withstand unlimited hits, a helmet that will boost your attack speed and a flaming sword that does double damage. There is also a special item hidden in every level: Thor's Mjolnir. This is basically an ass saver in case you get hit; the power granted by the hammer will wipe almost everything on screen and you will lose its power but not your equipment.

***STORY ???/10
You are a viking raised from the dead by Odin, you go chop chop and that's all. No storytelling at all, this game is minimalistic [<---overstatement] on this aspect. That's the way it was in the 80's, the limited memory space available didn't allow for cutscenes or much text on screen and the game strengths were its gameplay and graphics. However, even though this game doesn't need a story to be played, I would heve been happy to hear something more than "Rise Warrior!" spoken by Odin. "Yeah I have risen, now what Odin? You want foot massage? Coffe? Ow, killing! Sure! Sorry, I should have guessed. Killing, ok, but what ? Everythig ? Well, allright, no problem, cheers mate, see ya later!"
Anyways, I don't think I can judge something that isn't there, but only the fact that is missing. The game seems to function perfectly even without a story, so it's not much of a bad thing, but still I feel it would have added some epicness to the game.

***GRAPHICS 9/10
Pure 80's 2D style, I like that. Sprites and animations make you go back in time (if you have been). If you didn't grow up whit games like Contra, Gosts 'n Goblins or any other similar titles you might not feel the same as I did while playing Volgarr. Animations are simple, both yours and those of your enemies, maybe a bit too much, but there is nothing wrong with that if you think about what Volgarr the Viking wants to be: an homage to the classical era of videogames.

***SOUND 9/10
I had goosebumps when I first heard Odin's words: "Rise warrior!". It reminded me of a game I used to play on the SEGA Mega Drive: "Altered Beast". In that game you were, like Volgarr, resurrected from your grave by some sorcerer who spoke almost the same words "Rise from your grave!". Maybe I'm too nostalgic, but I'm almost sure that's been done purposely as an homage to that game, which is much alike Volgarr.
For what concerns the rest of the sounds in the game, I can say that "Volgarr the Viking" is coherent with the 80's style even under this aspect.

3) TL;DR
If you have played hard platform games during the 80's and loved them, this is the game for you.
Volgarr will keep you playing for hours challenging your memory, your refelxes and, most of all, your patience.

Overall score 8/10

Maybe for a 5 hours long game you won't be willing to pay 19€, but for 10€ it's worth every cent, even though it's among the shortest games I've played.
If I have to categorize this game I'd say this is a lovecraftian game, it's a detective story with paranormal and horror features all perfectly encased in the most beautiful and realistic environment ever seen in a videogame, not to mention the absolutely perfect music that will give you goose bumps.

***GAMEPLAY 8/10: Investigative, slow paced. You won't be running around guns blazing in this game, you have to look for hints or you'll be missing something for sure. You can complete everything or nothing in any order. You won't see any kind of log book, map or quest marker. I really liked it, but unfortunately the game is a bit too short to enjoy the investigative experience. Another great thing about the gameplay is that you will never experience any interruption because the game needs to load areas, you start from the beginning and reach the end in one single walk. This is probably the reason why this game is so short, a longer and a bigger game environment might have required a loading screen or two.

***STORY 8/10: That's all this game is about, story. As you are told at the beginning of the game "This game is a narrative experience that does not hold your hand". Step by step you'll discover the truth about the mysterious events that happened in Red Creek Valley until you reach the end where the ultimate truth will be revealed. I can't tell anything without spoiling something, so I'll just say it's really enjoyable.

***GRAPHICS 10/10: I have never, NEVER, seen such beautiful environment. I grew up near the Alps and I can see that exact scenery in this game; rocks, trees, bushes, and even the undergrowth look absolutely real. The textures are high quality photos of actual, real life environment. I suggest you read this to learn more about this spectacular creation. http://www.theastronauts.com/2014/03/visual-revolution-vanishing-ethan-carter/

***SOUND 9/10: Beautiful music completes the game, it goes hand in hand with the environment. I could stay hours looking at the landscape listening to the music... and maybe i did.

Overall score 9/10
Grab it when it's around 10€, you won't regret it.

From the store page of the game: "The year is 1604. You sailed from England expecting to join a struggling colony on the coast of Virginia. Instead, you find only ghosts and mysteries. What catastrophe blighted the land and drained it of color and life? Where are the settlers and tribes who lived here?
Clue by
clue, you must piece together the story of what befell this doomed settlement and find a way to set things right. You will be hunted by corrupted Conquistadors and ravening shadows as you explore an expansive wilderness in order to trace the brief, tragic history of the colony and search for survivors."

***STORY - 7/10
You have to find documents and complete quests/investigations if you want to uncover the truth behind what you "think" happened. This is a good thing and a bad thing at the same time: it is good because it gives your search a purpose, but the drawback is that you might miss something important and will be left with some unanswered questions.

***GRAPHICS - 8/10
The polygons are not the best, but since it is an indie game I'd say they are good enough. The textures on some bushes are really detailed, those on the pine trees not so much, but overall they are better than vanilla Skyrim. What I really liked about the graphics is how the vegetation reacts to the wind, you will see everyting moving, almost every leaves of a bush and every blade of grass.
You can choose to play on two different color patterns, the "supposed" one is black an white... and red. This is what the developers want you to use, it's spooky and it adds something the the game, but I didn't like it very much so I choose the coloured version, which is very good nonetheless. However I still had to play some part black and white for in-game reasons, but in my opinion it was better this way.

***SOUND - 8/10
There is no music in the game, that's because some of the gameplay mechanics are based on environmental sound. For example if you want to sneak upon an enemy undetected and there is no cover, just stay behind them and run when the wind blows, your footsteps noise will be covered and you can stab the enemy in the back.
Another feature of the game that concerns sound is that you have to follow some distant eerie noises that will lead you to your next objective... or enemy.

***GAMEPLAY - 6/10
The gamplay is quite straightforward, you will get no tutorial, but the game is a first person shooter. The only problem is that every quest is a fetch and retrieve. You basically do the same thing over and over again and it gets boring after the 3rd map. However, the game is 7 hours long (more or less) so you will not suffer much for that.
The good thing is that you have a quite nice choice of 17th century weapons and shooting lead balls from your musket is quite rewarding.

Replayable? No, once you have finished it you're probably not going to start it again.

Overall score : 7/10 - Buy it when it's under 10€

TL;DR at the end

Well well, what can i say?
I LOVE THIS GAME.
It's probably one of the few games that I bought without knowing much about it and ended up being a real gem. I bought the original game on sale for 2€ more or less and played until the end, very good game, but I didn't enjoyed completely since I went for the pacifist achievement (not a single person should die by you hand) so i couldn't see the real awesomeness of Deus Ex HR, I also failed the achievement... so sad :( After a while the director's cut pops up, with HD textures, new weapons, reworked boss battles (that was much needed), a DLC, but I like to call it an expansion, since it's not the usual DLCrap and a developers commentary. The best thing about this new edition is that it really shows how much effort was put in by the devs, every aspect of the game shows enthusiasm and dedication to the creation and improvement of the game. Let's talk about specific stuff (I like this part)

***Graphics*** 9/10 The graphics was already good from the beginning, but now, whith the improved textures, is even better. The pattern on Adam's coat is one of the first thing you will notice, that floral embroidery is simply amazing. Attention to the details is something that won't go unnoticed when you play the game, from the beginning to the end. When you are talking with someone you can see their facial expression changing, depending on the way you approach them, try not to make people angry or the might not share valuable information. The only thing i can say against this topic it that the graphic seems a bit beneath the level of other games that came out that year (2011), but it's nothing to be worried about, it's a 10 in my opinion, but I can't help myself comparing it to Arkham City (that one was a 10/10 that year).

***Sound*** 10/10 Yep, ten, the music is perfect, no other words. It's impressive, the atmosphere of the environment and the music go arm in arm. For what concerns the sound effects, I have nothing to say except that everything feels right, especially when using your augmentation powers to punch through a concrete wall and break the neck of the poor guy on the other side. Wanna talk about voice acting? Absolutely fantastic, all of them, dubbers really made it big.

***Story*** 10/10 This game is a movie, there is so much in the story that will keep you glued to your PC, so many secrets to uncover that you know people are keeping from you, but the game just won't give you ... yet. You need to reach the very end to know the truth and when the moment arrives the only thing you can say is "OH...MY...GOD! How could I've been so blind this whole time?!"

***Gameplay*** 11/10 Am I crazy ? Yes, ELEVEN. Depending on which skill you purchase you can complete missions in different ways, which sometimes drastically change the game itself. Each mission has a lot of different approaches, let's say you need to go from point A to point B, ok? You can go Rambo style, if you're a fan of slaughter, or you can buy the stealth upgrades to become invisible and silent, if you like to sneak past guards and catch them with their pants down, or you could look for a security terminal to hack and be granted the access to point B, or you could even enter a vent shaft and sneak inside metal tunnels all the way through, sometimes you can even take shortcuts by punching walls creating nice holes ... and a bit of a mess, but who cares. So yes there are at least 4 or 5 different approaches for every mission and this is the best thing about this game, freedom.

***BONUS(ES) of the Director's cut edition***
+ Replayable, with the option to keep the progress from the previous game
+ HD textures
+ If you already own the basic game you get a discount on the director's cut, even more discount if you own the dlc
+ A DLC with an amazing story and some surprise for the fans of the original Deus EX
+ New weapons
+ 280, more or less, commentary from the develeopers that explains everything about the making of Deus Ex HR
+++ Reworked boss battles. This need a little explanation, in the original game these battles were really bad, and with really bad I mean they were total crap. You sneaked past every guard with your ninja skills, but then you reached a boss that you could only take down with brute force. Finally, the devs realized the error and created new ways to kill these enemies, of course you can still nuke the **** out of them, but hacking the computer that controls sentry turrets or that release a powerful toxic gas... well, that is really praiseworthy. This shows how much a company that make games cares about players, for this improvement I say BRAVO! to the devs.

TL;DR Game's kicks major asses, if you don't play it you're missing a milestone of the videogame industry.