Recent reviews by big_wags14775

If you like fantasy worlds and RPGs, then you're going to like Kingdoms of Amalur. Its fun, vibrant, and contains a rich world jus waiting to be explored. The story is interesting, and you feel like you are actually making an impact in the world with your actions. The combat is fun (at times, see below) and the different skills and abilities really do make each character feel unique.

With all that said, this game is far from perfect. There are bugs, mostly minor ones that shouldn't affect gameplay, but they are there. Probably the most frustrating part for me is the combat. While fun at times, it also has the potential to be downright maddening. There is no lock-on, so there is very little control over which enemy you can choose to attack, and this can get very annoying. For example, say you want to attack a close enemy. For some damn reason, the game will instead choose to make you attack an enemy that is about 10 feet away, and completely miss. The same applies with the inverse, where you try to attack a distant enemy, and end up attacking a close enemy instead. Sometimes the game will just straight up make you attack empty space. In every scenario, it usually leaves you open to attack, and you end up eating an opponent's combo. Also, the staggers are unbalanced as well. For the most part, smaller enemies will stagger when you hit them. Larger enemies though? You couldn't stagger them if you hit them with a boulder! Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the player, and it gets annoying constantly getting staggered out of combos even when wearing heavy armor or when using potions. And yes, there are abilities that stop this, and yes, the larger enemies do stagger after enough damage is done to them, but it still seems a tad unbalanced to me.

ANYWAYS, with all that said, I would still wholeheartedly recommend Kingdoms of Amalur. Its an overall fun experience, and if you can get past some of the annoying bits, is an absolute pleasure to play.

They need to make follow-up episodes, pronto! Firebase and Rakka are incredibly entertaining, I can't wait to see more!

Incredibly fun, a HUGE time-killer, and an experience that provides both a relatively easy playthrough, but provides tougher challenges for those who seek them, its impossible NOT to recommend this. Add in the witty characters and the absurd and crazy humor, and that's just icing on the cake! Definitely give this a go if you're a fan of RPGs or turn-based combat games, it'll be right up your alley.

Have played for just over 100 hours, and there's STILL a huge amount of content that I have yet to discover in the game. Add to the fact that the game is being updated at a good pace, and I expect to sink hundreds of more hours into this gem of a game. I could go into further detail, but it would be exhaustive. Just take my (and everyone else's) word for it and buy this game; You will not regret it.

I would recommend this game, but with a few grains of salt. I'll get those out of the way first, before I explain why I recommend this.

- Not exactly an orginal story. You, as the protagonist, meet a young woman who must go on a pilgrimage to sacrifice herself to save the land from evil. Along the way, you build up a fellowship of companions to act as her bodyguards. Sound familiar?

- The combat is a bit unbalanced. Unless you're fighting bosses or spritnite monsters (f*** those guys), most battles can be won pretty easily, especially with the right combination of techs and equipment. This especially true after you start equipping your party with some form of healing fluxes. You can then just start spamming AoE attacks on the enemy and instantly regain most, if not all, of your party's lost health.

- No impact from the choices you make in the game. There are so many times in-game where you are presented with choices with dialogue options ranging from just remarking on the situation at-hand, to two widely opposing decisions on how to resolve a conflict. Unfortunately, these matter don't matter in the slightest, and all lead to the same result. I'm still playing ATM, but from reading reviews, there's only one choice that has any true consequence (I have my theories on this), I just wish with so many choices, that there was at least SOME impact made in the game.

Okay, now onto why I personally liked, and would recommend, this game.

- The characters. Yeah, I know not everyone liked them. And I know that you could easily describe them as just "copy and paste RPG characters", especially with some of their backstories, but I grew to like them, and have endeared myself to them, even some of the NPCs.

- The music. Again, another of point of contention, since its composed of a solo piano track, but I'm a huge sucker for piano, especially the soft pieces that play during the game. Now thats not to say you will enjoy the track, and indeed, there are some I find irritating, which can be annoying considering the track seems to play the same tune for specific locations and events. Even so, I still liked it for most part.

- Nostalgia. This is the one that'll probably reel most people in (its what got me), and its I Am Setsuna's main selling point. I haven't played a good, old-school RPG like this in a LONG time, so its good to see a game like this come along, and do a good job of it too.

Conclusion

I Am Setsuna would make a great sland-alone RPG. However, the problem comes from the fact that a lot of its core elements are borrowed/influenced by several other high-profile RPGs, which isn't necessaily bad, but it acts like a crutch for I Am Setsuna. I would still very much recommend this game, especially to those who are huge fans of RPGs or JRPGs, but I would probably wait for a sale to kick in.

Very fun experience! I usually don't go for these rhythm-based games, but this one caught my eye. After playing for a bit, I was very pleased. Love the fact that the game can read your music library and scan your songs into the game, though obviously, there are limitations what songs it can and can't do. Another great feature is the fact you can calibrate your computer's audio/video with the game to check for any latency issues.

My only real complaints would have to be the ever so slight timing issues between picking up the icons and the beat of the music, but that might just be nit-picking on my part, and the fact that the visuals on the screen tend to put a strain on your eyes after a while, but again, just might be me.

All in all, Melody's Escape is definitely a fun experiene, and if you enjoy getting lost in your music, you should consider checking this out.

Seriously, I can't handle the emotional and moral pitfalls this game forces you through. The choices you have to make to ensure your rag-tag group of survives lives just to see another day. But that just makes me want to play it even more so. Why? Rather than your typical, "Choice A is bad, choice B is good" scenario that most games present you, This War of Mine makes every scenario a moral grey area. Will you survive the honest way, trading and bartering goods between your neighbors, but putting extra pressure on your survivors to make sure they scavenge supplies or else risk trading away their own? Or do you decide to resort to thievery and even murder to get what you need, but in the process risk not only your survivors' physical health, but their mental well-being as well.

Truly a game that everyone should play at least once to experience the feeling of trying to keep a group of people together under extremely stessful circumstances, This War of Mine does an excellent job of providing a feeling of loss, hopelessness, and utter despair, yet at the same time, can provide a sense of accomplishment and camraderie that is hard to find in a lot of current games.

A really fun game with a great soundtrack, a good story that draws you in, compelling characters that make you care for them, and fun gameplay.

Ubisoft, if you're paying attention, stop churning out Assassin's Creed after Assassin's Creed and get to making a sequel to a game that actually is good!

I could say Half-Life 2 is good. But seriously, I shouldn't have to. This series is older than most gamers out there and it STILL is the standard for story-driven first person shooters. Just buy it already and then start praying along with the rest of the Internet that the almighty Gaben will finally bequeath unto us the glory that is Half-Life 3.