Recent reviews by Stui

I wanna make something very clear, I love this game. It's my first REAL step into a KoF game on release and I will be mentioning why I love it later. But I first wanna get the reason out of the way as to why I am not recommending it at the moment:

The Matchmaking is broken, it has been broken since release and SNK has not been communicative on their progress besides a small "We are looking into it" in a Twitch Chat of all places. This is not a problem with small player numbers or being part of a low rank past release. This has been a problem on all platforms. If you want further info, I recommend checking out https://iskofxvsmatchmakingstillbroken.com/
SNK, this game could be way bigger than it is, but atm players struggle to play ladder and it makes for a really bad experience. Having Discords that allow for matchmaking should not be the excuse for a feature that has been essentially solved since 2009.

With that out of the way I wanna talk about what I love concerning the game.
I only played a minimal amount of KoFXIII and KoFXIV when they came to Steam, I have however played a lot of other Fighting Games for a bunch of years now, including old retro titles and newer titles.
KoFXV makes for one of the most fun experiences yet, it gives me chills to play and is almost antithetical to the modern fighting game experiences. I love most modern FGs, but it's unavoidable how every franchise tries to reinvent itself, leading to some awkward feelings by old fans and even new fans.
KoFXV doesn't reinvent, it doesn't even really innovate, it instead focuses on iterating on previous titles and it's obvious with so many of its choices. It builds on previous titles and adds simply more unto the already pretty fun XIV system. A small change like making EX Moves always accessible just gives this game so much new expression, characters almost feel new to me.
The game feels like a formula that has been perfected through trial and error over multiple decades, the only real new addition is Shatter Strike, a sort of Focus Attack and the simplification of all Climax moves being the same motion, which I welcome.
The roster is filled with some of the most fun and stylish character designs I have ever seen in a fighting game. It doesn't quite hit the crazy metal/hard rock inspired designs of Guilty Gear or the iconicity of some Street Fighters, yet all of the characters feel fully realized with extra cutscenes and quotes if they meet certain other characters in this games Arcade Mode. Stages are full of life, but there are some stage concepts I really wish would come back, like the train from XIV/Garou (My favorite stage out of any FG).

The Arcade Mode really is just what it always has been. If you've ever played a KoF or even any FG it won't be a big surprise. The story only really focuses on two teams, but what little interaction is there is still really fun to see. SNK does a really good job of letting these characters bounce off of eachother, referencing past events and in some cases even playing unique music that adds a ton of weight to an encounter. Shoutout to Way to The Horizon, the theme of Rock vs. Geese and the always wonderful to hear Good Bye Esaka that plays during Iori vs. Kyo. But besides Arcade there is nothing really, there are trials and Special Endings based on your teams, but that is it. Recently we got the extra Boss mode which was incredibly awesome, please do more of that.

I also put a lot of importance on good netcode and sure enough KoFXV brings that. Rollback is working wonderful with most of my games feeling great as long as both players use a wired connection. When testing between continents it was expected to feel not great, but it still worked better than some other games (Nothing on the level of Skullgirls though, that game's netcode runs on some sort of witchcraft).

The lack of content sucks, but at the same time I believe a good roster can make for good content in its own way. I often find myself replaying MvC2 and just picking up a different character to see what sort of combos I can do with them and KoFXV is the first time a modern game had me feel the same way over again. If that isn't your cup of tea, then I warn you that this game will not blow you away with its content.
What makes the content sting even more is the awful matchmaking, which leads to almost hours on end with no matches found when the player numbers are clearly high enough to support it. So far the best option to play online is finding people on Discords, which I haven't had a bad experience with so far. The KoF community in europe has been extremely welcoming and fun to be around.

Congrats SNK, I am now a fan of your properties, especially KoF.

Twitter: "Wow haha funny raccoon noir game, the main character is called Howard lmao"
Game: "I will mess you up so bad, get ready for pain"

Finding out about this game so late makes me so sad, I wish I had known about the Kickstarter.
Game combines so many of my favorite genres and styles, I was honestly kinda worried that I would end up not liking it. But instead this demo made me extremely excited for what the final product has in store. Pixel Graphics mixed with modern shading, some really cool conversation trees and really fun puzzles. Absolutely in love with Howard.

This game has alot of promise that I honestly do not believe they will drop. If you are interested in getting into the fighting game genre this is honestly the first one I'd recommend. And even as a more experienced fighting game player it is interesting in how precise, satisfying and fun the neutral (Which takes up 90% of the combat) is.
Combos (If there are any) are easy to learn but not important in winning, like in many other fighting games. Special moves are mapped to two buttons, instead of the standard motion into button, the health bar is easily one of the most genius ways of simplifying something without nudering it and you easily get a understanding of what a character is supposed to be and what he is supposed to do.
A perfect starting point for anyone interested in the genre.

I absolutely adore Dragon Ball, I watched the anime, read the manga and played a bunch of the video games.
So I was rather happy when Xenoverse 1 came out and basically did most of the things I wanted in a new Dragon Ball game.
Me making my own OC, an "Original" Story and Budokai Tenkaichi like Combat. But the game featured many problems that I am happy to say were fixed mostly with the second game. The combat flows more nicely, combos actually have a point now, more super moves, alot of missing battles (Vs. Dodoriy, The Androids and Fat Buu along with Vegeta) were included, a traversable and sizeable overworld that didn't feel too empty, a teacher system that does not take 100 hours to 100%, transformations for all races and the game looks nice. What I am sad about is all of the other flaws that felt like were coming from this being sequel.
This game is unbalanced, Saiyans are much stronger because of their huge buffs on SS and Strike moves feel much weaker compared to all other moves and are a pain to combo with. Some transformations are just boring and uninspired (Every Buu turning into a different colored Kid Buu is lame and Golden Freeza is meh to look at). The story often falls short of just saying "This guy is stronger than he is supposed to be in this battle!" or literally just throwing a movie villain in like "I bet Broly fits in here somewhere", rarely does it go beyond the time travel ideas beyond those like with Hercule in Xenoverse 1 and lastly the Netcode and glitches in the expert missions are awful, even if those bosses are really cool.
If you are a Dragon Ball fan and enjoy more grindy kinds of games where you work hard for what you want, even if that means you'll have to do the same mission like 5 times, I do recommend it. If you liked XV1, you'll like XV2.

A fun game that really is nothing more but a run and gun feat. all the amazing movie tropes needed.
- Muscular Men and Women? Check
- Awesome music? Check
- Very vague enemies that are just defined as "Bad"? Check
- Guns, Rocket Launchers, Flamethrowers, Knifes, Fists, Swords, Lasers and Dynamite? Check
- 4 Player Co-Op so that you and 3 other friends can play this game half naked, like the manly men you are? Check
This game just fills me with the right feelings like Metal Slug used to do, but this time with more people, more complex movement and interesting ways of handling levels.

Beautiful animation, amazing character designs and a not so hard combo system makes Skullgirls in my honest opinion the best starting point for people trying to get into fighting games, right next to Fantasy Strike. The characters are fun and exciting, sexy and just so filled with charisma and color.
The combo system, while still requiring you to take some time in the training mode, is not that hard to understand and makes for amazingly fast paced battles. Even when I'm only facing one of my friends over and over, the changes in strategy, approaching and especially the feeling you get when you try something new with a combo and go: "HOLY CRAP THAT WORKED?!?". I cannot stop recommending this game to anyone even remotely interested in the fighting game genre.

Filia is best waifu.

I'm not one for easy and simple reviews, so if you don't want to read the entire history of me playing this game and just want me to get to the point:
Yes, Team Fortress 2 is worth playing (again).
Now then, I started playing Team Fortress 2 in the year 2012 (In the Pyroland update), a friend of mine recommended it to me and told me that it was free-to-play. I was at first hesitant, it was my first ever real shooter, yeah I was rather new to PC gaming back then. But I downloaded it and just started playing with him. I was awful, of course. As a Gibus wearing, Pyroland exploring, free to play I had really no reason to be good. I then heard about one of my favorite youtubers playing the game and I just joined him. I exactly remember how it went, he was still rather small in comparison to now but I just wanted to talk to one of my idols. He accepted my friend request and we started trading and talking.
I am now a admin on his Steam group and a staff member of his Discord. Why do I bring this up? To display the kind of connection I have to the game, it made me meet my idol and befirend him and meet so many more likeminded people who loved the game. I then decided in 2013 to finally buy a Key within the MvM update and I was never so satisfied with a purchase in my life. I met many more people, some I'd today consider to be "♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥" and some that I still consider some of my best friends ever. This community and the love that many of it's members have for the game still astounds me. It was like a daily routine, always joining a pub server and having fun with a bunch of people.
Flash forward to 2015 and things don't look as good anymore. I started playing other games and my interest in the game fell. Sure, I'd join into a match or two or open a crate with some rest money I had left from a purchase, but really:
It was not the same anymore.
You'd get one or two updated every few months that added nothing more but cosmetics and maybe a weapon that sucked.
And in 2016 it happened, the "Meet your match" update.
Suddenly all of the interest I had left was gone. The matchmaking, the changes, the interface, it was all just bad and terribly handled. I went on to play more new stuff and TF2 was nothing more but a memory and I seperated myself from all of my friends that I got to know because of TF2.
In late 2016 I got an invite to a discord chat.
It was one of my old friends talking to me about a discord server for the Youtuber at the start. I joined and was instantly greeted with love and surprise, by a community I thought that had forgotten me. A bunch knew me, alot had heard of me, alot got to know me. While I was not completely back into the game, I finally felt welcome in a world that I started to believe was only there to kick me in the stomach. I felt good and even if I fell into depression or tough times, a few were there to help me.
Now back to TF2 (Can't believe I sidetracked so much): A month ago I got a message from a friend telling me about how great the new "Jungle Inferno"-Update was. I reinstalled the game after a month of having it deinstalled and...
I'm in love again.
To be fair the matchmaking is still not good, there is no elo system and especially ranked needs a rework. But by god, it feels like the game is in hands again that actually like this game and want it to succeed, I can finally join a pub again in like 5 seconds and have 4 Snipers and Spies on my team, one of them wearing the Gibus and the other 3 standing in one place. I can finally play a class again that makes me feel ultra powerful while I stomp all the enemies or play Pyro and hate myself.
I can play with my friends again.
I love TF2.
And I thank TF2.