Recent reviews by B.U.R.N

Absolutely the best fighting game money can buy in 2021. This game was the living proof that incredible storytelling, movie-like graphics and easy-to-learn gameplay CAN be executed flawlessly in a game of this scope and size, and Netherrealm Studios definitely took a step forward with this title.
I wasn't actually a big fighting game fan (I was never good at them, just mashing all the buttons on the controller), but when I saw the initial gameplay for it back in 2019 at E3 I felt like this might be my time to learn my place in this genre.
Fair enough, the tutorial was easy to understand and the combos felt logical, easy to learn and the blocking mechanics and attack types are really well defined, your character never feels out of your control.
Unlike the other games that recently released in this genre (mainly Tekken 7 and Soul Calibur 6), MK11 uses a 2D approach to its fighting style, while keeping the backgrounds alive in 3D. This move is actually carried over from MK 2011 and MKX, and I'm glad they decided to return to the old MK1,2 and 3 styles. The combat feels old school while also integrating newer elements (Combo breakers, Special bars and the powerful LT+RT moves that you use ONCE per match to recover some terrain and drain your opponent's health to a significant extent).
The story continues over from MKX, but it's actually not required to know anything prior to pick this up, since all the characters explain story bits in every sentence, including other flashbacks and lore between them. Also, this is a multiverse approach (characters from the present meet up with characters from the past), where they work together to defeat the new time-controlling enemy, Kronika.
MOST fighters are here (fan-favourites like Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Jax, Johnny Cage etc) while also introducing new characters (Cetrion, Kollektor and even ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Rambo and the Terminator) and while I WISHED the mix was a bit more diverse, this all makes up with the incredible amount of CUSTOMIZATION your characters have.
Yeah, for the first time in the MK history, all of the fighters can be individually customised with separate parts (hats, gloves, full skins etc) that you earn through gameplay and in the Krypt (no microtransactions in this one).
While all of this sounds cool, the games has a few flaws which I simply don't understand:
-No crossplay with Xbox One, PS4 and Switch. WHY??? The game IS cross-playable between those platforms, they just alienated the PC platform, without even THINKING of solving the hacker issue with an anticheat of sorts....
-Weird mobile phone currencies and power-ups. These may be good in the Towers (which the game HEAVILY emphasizes you play through) but really they are an annoyance to use and don't really help you that much except for a few
-GRIND. You definitely HAVE to grind in this game to get the best gear, the best sets and the best powerups, keep doing towers and fights in multiplayer and keep exploring the Krypt (which takes HOURS to go through and then RESET which gives you randomised rewards, like loot boxes). Again, similar to a mobile game and has no place on the main consoles and PC.

Overall, MK11 is an incredible game, even with its drawbacks regarding progression and grind. It's definitely the best value for the package and the best game Netherrealm have released until this point. Buy it and you won't be dissappointed, especially when it comes to the story and graphics.

For many years, I thought that Skyrim was the best game there is. I didn't think anyone could to better when it comes to immersion, feel, atmosphere and overall gameplay. That is, until 2015 came and The Witcher 3 got released. However, I've never stopped playing Skyrim. This game was part of my childhood, it is now part of my adulthood, and will probably be a part of my life forever. I certainly wish I could get that same feeling I had when I first started playing this game back in 2011, it was legendary.

After almost 100 hours in this game (definitely will add many more after this review), I can safely say that HITMAN 2 is not only the best game in the stealth genre, but also the best game in the entire HITMAN franchise.
Yes, I know that there's still people out there who believe that Blood Money is the best one, but let's be serious here, the amount of content and improved mechanics is enough to make you reconsider this assumption.
This is a third-person stealth-action game in which you play as Agent 47, an assassin sent to eliminate various targets around the world. The levels are huge, open, filled with opportunities and there's thousands of ways to kill each and every target. Repeating missions is key, as each locations has challenges which, upon completion, grant players with new items, suits, guns, starting locations for the level and more, so keep experimenting!

I was never an ACTUAL Hitman fan back when I was a kid. I did what everyone back then did and refuses to admit: went around shooting everyone and killing my way to the target, essentially playing it like a Call of Duty of sorts. Things changed with the release of Hitman: Absolution in 2012. I was hooked. The game provided an actual tutorial on how to properly play the game, and before you know it I was on my way to becoming a very skilled "Silent Assassin" of sorts.
In 2016, IOI released the official sequel, titled just "HITMAN". I wasn't really interested in buying the game at the time, because the game was to be released via episodic content. You would buy the game with just the tutorial and one level and then each and every month new locations were added. I wasn't really fond of this especially since the devs wouldn't offer any info on ACTUAL size of levels, story, content etc, and seeing that Absolution had very short levels, I was very skeptical.
Anyway, things went ok in the end, bought the GOTY for Hitman and played the crap out of it, and in 2018 I got HITMAN 2 as a gift for Christmas, and I haven't stopped playing ever since.

So where does HITMAN 2 improve?

-First of all, Gameplay . Now this is an important aspect as mechanics in the first game have been enhanced. Enemy sight range is slightly improved, mirrors now properly work as enemies can now see their own reflection in the mirror as well as yours, so make sure you're crouched before killing anyone in a bathroom. Enemy AI has also been improved, gunfights are now harder as guards throw flash grenades (a new addition), take better cover and use flanking maneuvers, encouraging players to go for a stealthy approach or seek a way out of conflict.
-Next, Graphics . The GLACIER engine has received a major upgrade in this game, reflections look amazing, anti-aliasing is improved with less jagged edges, water looks phenomenal and some textures have been improved. I kind of wished for a Ray-Tracing implementation since 2018 is the year I bought my RTX card and I really would have liked to see this technology in here, but maybe the next game will satisfy my nitpicking.
-Also, Locations . Most of the locations in HITMAN 2 are larger, more open, more varied, filled with more NPCs and with more story related to them. From the sunny Miami to the bleak and dirty Mumbai and even the Colombian jungles hunting down Cartel lords, you will bask at the beautiful and incredibly detailed environments while figuring out ways to efficiently kill your targets.
- Elusive Targets . This is something people don't touch on, but the ET's in this game are more diverse, they have better stories and are more detailed than the ones in the first game. They don't feel like random NPC's just put in the world now, they actually have a purpose (the general wishing to start a major revolution in Colombia is one example) and I think IOI did a great job implementing them.
- Two new modes . Sniper Assassin and Ghost Mode are the two new modes in the game, the first of which gives you the chance to take on your targets from afar, scoping out the environment and cleverly eliminating everyone without stepping into the danger. These are incredibly well made, with lots of details and secrets scattered around the levels.
Ghost mode is the game's multiplayer mode, in which both players try to assassinate a target in random areas in a level. Whoever kills more targets without getting spotted wins. A very fun mode, and surprisingly people still play it today, however it's much more fun with a friend rather than a complete stranger.

That's it for the things that HITMAN 2 does incredibly well. Owners of HITMAN 2016 and the GOTY edition will get access to all levels within HITMAN 2, so if you don't own the full game you can still play the first one. IOI also gave out Hawke's Bay, the first location of HITMAN 2, for free, so good luck assassinating!!!

Things I wished they improved/are genuinely bad:

-I will start with Online Connectivity . I get that we're in 2020 by now and everyone should have access to the internet. I'm not judging this decision. What I AM judging however is the lack of cross-saves. Challenges completed in HITMAN 2016 will not carry over to HITMAN 2, so you will have to do everything all over again. This isn't a bad thing for me since I love most maps and keep discovering new things every time, but completionists who spent hundreds of hours doing everything will be disappointed in this decision.
-Next, optimisation . The game was poorly optimised when it came out, with frequent CTDs and frame drops everywhere, even on my 2080ti. After a DirectX 12 update and many more patches later, the game still has moments where it just gives up. Hopefully they figure it out in the sequel.
-Last thing I think they should improve on is escalatations . They did improve since the first game, but most are still boring and provide less of a challenge. I REALLY wish that these get better in the next game, since this is a mode with a great idea behind it, but with a poor implementations in-game.
-Last but not least, SPECIAL ASSIGNMENTS . Wow, what were they thinking? The first ones included in the silver edition were just bad, pure bad. Only a handful of opportunities to take them out, no real backstory and no real change to the levels except for the weather. Did we ask for permanent ETs? I don't think so. What we wanted was something similar to the bonus levels in HITMAN 2016, like The Icon or even The Author. Something to spice things up, change the level a bit. Nothing like that here. The final two are SLIGHTLY better, as they have connecting stories and a few more opportunities, but they're still dissapointing. Wishing to see improved ones in the next installment.

Despite a few setbacks, HITMAN 2 is the best game in its genre and the best game of this franchise, what I can genuinely say is this is a must buy, especially for the amount of content you get, the improved mechanics, graphics and bigger, bolder locations. Keep in mind that the Silver and Gold editions of the game give you up to 4 new locations, including 2 sniper mission and 2 major locations, a bank (small map) and an island resort (large map) which have their own targets and challenges and their own stories.
That's it, good hunting, agent!

MAKE THE WORLD YOUR WEAPON

Great game, a bit grindy, a bit looty, and lots of fun with friends. Totally recommend

One of my favourite games of all time. As a long time Max Payne fan, I've played all of them, but the third installment of this series is the most refined, the darkest and the best in terms of gameplay.
Atmosphere changes from the rainy streets of New York to the sunny "paradise" of Sao Paulo, where Max finds himself surrounded by rich people, corruption and terrorism, all while working as a personal bodyguard.
The story is top-notch Rockstar level, with amazing script and some of the best Max Payne quotes in the franchise.
Gameplay wise, the RAGE Engine works beautifully here, shoot-dodging responding to impact realistically, weapons being tied only to what Max can physically carry in his hands (or holsters), meaning that you can have either 2 pistols at once, or a pistol and a rifle in your hand. That's it.
What more can I say? Buy this, now. It's the best in the franchise.

Multiplayer is dead btw

9.5/10

Man, what an experience.

I haven't properly played a Half-Life in 15 years. That said, I was expecting something else. I've experienced many FPS games in these years, I've seen it all. But the Half-Life expansions have really missed my library, until this recent summer sale when I purchased the Valve Complete Pack.


For some, that may be an overstatement, but hear me out. I've now played ALL the half-life games. HL1, HL2, Blue Shift, Opposing Force, Decay (PS2) and even Uplink (the demo to HL1). But Opposing Force did something better than the others, it gave this series a true personality.

Let me explain:

So the game is played from the perspective on Cpl. Adrian Shepard, a HECU Marine sent to investigate the Black Mesa incident once a phenomenon know as a "resonance cascade" allowed for a sudden alien invasion. The unit that Shepard is sent with is kinda late, as the game begins sometime after the chapter "Surface Tension" in Half-Life. The story connects instantly, as one of the Apache helicopter that accompanies Shepard's squad flies off to intercept Gordon Freeman, who is now outside and "on the loose" trying to fight his way to the Lambda Complex. Shortly after, your helicopter gets shot down and the fight immediately begins to erupt. Marines vs Aliens, all-out-war.

You wake up after an unknown amount of time, sometime before the beginning of "Forget about Freeman". The story becomes no longer after investigating the attack, but getting out of the facility. The situation is out of control, everyone runs for their lives, including the marines.

From here on out, from the order to "get out" and all the way until the ending, you must fight through Black Mesa with you military skills and some other help. This "help" comes in the form of your fellow marine friends, who will assist you in combat. There are a couple of classes that can help you. The Medic (who heals you), the engineer (who opens doors for you) and the heavy weapons guy (a dude with an LMG who kills everything in his path). There are also some generic soldiers like the gas mask guy and the lieutenant, who are both useless in combat, but I'll touch on that later.

The way that this expansion is the definitive Half-Life experience is due to the addition of many more things that weren't present on Half-Life. New aliens (a giant tank-like alien, a creature that shoots some sort of electrical weapon, and a smaller creature with claws that can leap to you and kill you in a couple of hits), new weapons (LMG, Sniper, Deagle, some sort of fish that instakills anything, a barnacle that can be used to attach to walls and climb unreachable aliens, and a launcher that can teleport you or other creatures to Xen), and also cool new bosses like a giant worm-like creature and the final one, which is a colossal amalgamation between all other aliens (i think). All of this is topped by the Black Ops soldiers, your sworn enemies, who are even deadlier than in the original game. There are multiple types of Black Ops, from the regular ninjas to the Black Ops soldiers, who are heavily armored, take longer to kill and can easily flank you and kill you if you're not strategic enough.

The puzzle mechanics of Half-Life have been reduced a bit, there's way less platforming and instead the expansion focuses more on combat rather than just jumping through levels, but the supplement of new enemies and weapons provides for a much more fun experience. All of the action sequences are really well done, you always feel on the edge, running and dodging bullets from the Black Ops, and outsmarting the aliens at every step. You will feel accomplished, overwhelmed, a bit tired, but that's what Black Mesa does to you, I guess.

Many themes are picked up in Opposing Force, and your main objective of investigating the attack (you never got the order to silence the witnesses, so killing scientists is not one of your priorities, neither is Freeman, since the order was to "forget about freeman") suddenly become about escaping the facility, later about disarming the nuke that the Black Ops set up in order to end the facilty once and for all, and at the end, you're supposed to finish off the "nastiest thing yet", the final boss in order to escape Black Mesa and aid in saving the world (although Mr.Freeman did that already, I guess).


So did Opposing Force live up to my expectations? Yes, it did. I came back to this franchise years later, and I finished the first game's trilogy with a bang. O.F. was that bang, exactly what the series needed, and the amount of content is incredible.

Some cons? Sure, the AI of your companions is a bit crap (they will get stuck in doors and not attack enemies) and also some pacing issues at the beginning but overall the game is solid.

Alright, alright, calm down everyone.
THIS is how you curate and support a first-person tactical shooter (I see you, Valve, with your ♥♥♥♥♥♥ ass battle-royale crap and cancer remasters of maps and also NO ACTUAL SUPPORT IN REGARDS TO THE HORRIBLE BUGS).

I've been part of the Rainbow Six Siege journey ever since Jackal and Mira were introduced. Back then, the game didn't have a massive flow of players, but it was rather an interesting game, a combo between your regular Battlefield, your very cancerous CS:GO and a little bit of that SWAT 4 feel.

However, sometime afterwards (I don't even know when, i think 2017), the game just exploded. People swarmed in, popularity increased, the game got more and more updates, some better, some worse. That OG feeling of fear and checking every corner never died down, it was amazing.

I spent an ENTIRE SUMMER playing this game every night with my friends, every night I've laughed, I've cursed, I've enjoyed the fun, I've spawn peeked, I've camped in the corners, I've shock-droned Bandit, I haven't had a hitbox playing Ash, and so on. Oh, and of course, LORD TACHANKA HELPED THROUGH THE HARD RANKED TIMES.


Haven't played this game in a bit, and that's probably due to all the ridiculous grind that they have now. Even if the gameplay is really good (Defenders vs Attackers, where attackers play objective and the defenders put traps, guard windows and prevent walls from being torn down by a douche like sledge), the main problem with enjoying everything is the RIDICULOUS prices for every operator. SERIOUSLY? YEAR ONE OPERATORS STILL COST 25k RENOWN??? THAT'S BEYOND STUPID UBI. I totally understand that making the OG ones free is the way to go, but grinding 38 HOURS for Valkyrie certainly wasn't fun, DEVS. Grinding ANOTHER 40 HOURS for dokkaebi still wasn't fun, and GRINDING ONCE MORE for one of the newer operators will still not be fun.

I also should mention, don't go into this game expecting to win ranks with total strangers. Back when I picked this game up, the community was really helpful, they used to give good info, used to know the maps and help you on dat clutch. Nowadays, it's all fun and games until xXx_♥♥♥♥♥_BeatEr_69_xXx comes along and RUINS the game because all he likes is shooting you in the back and not dropping armor as rook. That's how I NEVER got out of gold, because of people like him. Going full premade with friends is still the way to go, and I would've liked it any other way.


OVERALL, updates were consistent, graphics upgraded, gameplay really fun, the new operators are iNCREDIBLY fun to play as aswell as against, but beware of the cancerous community and FOR THE LOVE OF GOD BRING SOME FRIENDS ALONG

I don't think I need to explain myself when I say that this may be one of the best RPGs ever made. However, I definitely need to talk about why I consider this the superior game to The Witcher 3 and pretty much any other modern RPG that got released after 2010.

Now, don't get me wrong. I ADORE The Witcher 3. I played COUNTLESS hours in that game ever since it came out (never got to purchase on steam, I have it on GoG). But a big open world must come with its flaws. What struck me in the third entry compared to the second was the lack of direction, the god-awful horse riding and the incredibly annoying storyline progression. I'm not saying that it isn't a masterpiece, Witcher 3's story expands beyond what you may think if you complete most of the sidequests, but Geralt just isn't such a decisive icon throughout the plot.

Instead, here, he is just that.


Every.Single.Decision.

Every decision that you make in The Witcher 2 will have a consequence, either now, or later. It will count. The sheer fact that this game has 2 separate narratives depending on who you decide to side with is infinitely better than the whole "let's search for the love of my life and my daughter" perspective on the third game. Here, you choose the fate of your allies, the fate of your own character, and even the fate of an entire ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ kingdom. The game isn't called "assassins of kings" for nothing, and you will see why. All of the maps are beautifully crafted, with some of the best cinematography you'll ever see in a videogame.

Gameplay? It has it all. Finishing this game on "dark" difficulty made me feel like a real witcher, mastering my potion-brewing, my monster-slaying and searching for weak spots. Evading attacks and retreating strategically is the key here, as you'll experience something much harder than dark souls ever was. "Insane" mode is the same, just with better loot and permadeath. If you think From Software games are hard, wait until you see this.

Overall, I think that this game is a masterpiece. It's beautifully crafted, it has a very compelling storyline and doesn't dissapoint. Even the ending can be changed depending on what YOU personally consider is the right thing to do.


Buy this. Now.


10/10

I've always been a fan of the Black Ops series.
During the course of this franchise I've played and seen them all, but the Black Ops games will always remain in my heart for the best stories, the best multiplayer experiences and the most fun you can have out of zombies.
Black Ops III isn't perfect, but it's a satisfying conclusion to the series adding along tons of new features and stuff to do.
Campaign is very fun, has cool levels with multiple paths to take in gameplay and a whole new perspective on psychological warfare, although beware that this isn't your typical Black Ops story, they brought in some new characters and more crazy ♥♥♥♥ to play with this time, but it works really well. The voice acting is kinda Kr@p sometimes but the story is really fun.
Multiplayer is better than ever, with lots of weapons, customizable characters, specialists with different abilities, better maps and killstreaks.
Zombies is equally fun, with tons of maps and mod support from the devs making it unlimited in content, some maps even adding weapons from the other games as well as remastered versions of the WaW, BO1 and BO2 making it really abbundent in content.


However, there is a problem with the game and that is the PySS poor optimisation. I'm running this on a GTX 1080 and a Xeon and I still get about 30-40 frames in some areas even on lower settings, which is totally not cool for a game released in 2015 which is running a heavily modified version of the quake 3 engine I mean come on now really??

Another problem I encounter with this game is the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Loot Boxes, which are pure gambling, not fun, and later CODs should have removed them but it seems like WW2 makes them 10x worse.


Overall, great game, totally buy at 15 euros for a whole lot of fun, don't buy at 60.

If you wanted to know how the band "Meshuggah" feels like, this is it