Recent reviews by TristanMike

An Unexpected Internal Error Occurred.

Sweet Baby Inc. Detected.

Wow. I should have played this immediately after buying so I could have gotten a refund. It is far too combat heavy for me. The first mission which is a "rescue" is just too much for me and I'm not enjoying it. In my short time, I also experienced quite a bit of jank.

This game feels like it was made by someone who has never played a Saints Row game in their life but saw a poster for it, thought it was GTA and said, "Hey, I can do that." then got the job as the game director for this game.

None of the heart of the Saints Row franchise is present and the characters seem like the antithesis of the characters in the Saints Row franchise.

This game feels like pandering in the worst possible way.

Scorn is Myst wrapped in a HR Geiger cover.

I wasn't hoping for a FPS but I also wasn't expecting absolutely no direction whatsoever. The first puzzle basically did my head in and was unable to solve it. The. First. Puzzle. It's so obtuse. This is one of my biggest disappointments in a really long time. I absolutely love the art direction and the atmosphere but I have a life that ticks away every second and I don't have time to wander around solving completely obtuse and confusing puzzles. This game relies on the confusion of the player to drag out it's playtime, not actually engaging game play. If I was a kid, I might cry over my disappointment.

Furthermore, there is seemingly no audio to add to the enjoyment. No sounds from your walking, no sounds when "machines" move around...it's very odd and screams of being unfinished and plopped out. I know it was from Kickstarter and had some issues during development, but regardless, it feels unfinished.

High production value as one would expect in a series such as Resident Evil. As the series started to falter, a change in perspective from 3rd to 1st person invigorated the series and breathed some new life into it. Great writing and interesting characters are what await those who play RE7.

Unfortunately a slog of battles also awaits which drain all fun, smash immersion to the ground and run off with any enjoyment one might have had by the end. Playing the game on Normal difficulty was an exercise beyond patience. Some of the boss fights were beyond acceptable difficulty for Normal and having to fight the same boss, over and over for hours on end is not enjoyable and seriously breaks the entire flow of the narrative. I've spent so much time fighting the bosses over and over that I forgot the entire plot line of the game. One boss took me months to beat. On Normal, that's some BS.

A game shouldn't make me want to smash my controller and/or the device I'm playing on but RE7 did many times and I don't get a feeling of satisfaction that I'm sure the developers intend when I finally beat those moments. I get the feeling of "Wow, I just got lucky" Too many of the scenarios rely far too much on either luck or devoting my entire existence to understanding the game.

I'm on the second last level and the game is just unbearable I can't wait until I finish this slog.

It's with such disappointment that I must change my recommendation from "Recommended" to "Not Recommended"

A bit of my history with this game: I didn't buy this game at launch so I don't feel burned by an early purchase. I waited until 1.5 before I jumped in. I personally had no issues with the game at that point. Then they released 2.0. It was an extremely drastic change to the game, and more than just AI behaviours. The entire skill system was completely redone and I did not like this change. It was a little too drastic in my view and caused quite a bit of frustration to me. It wasn't until after an update that broke my game and it would no longer launch.

Support from CD Projeck Red was APAULING. In their first point of contact their first suggestion was a destructive wipe of current graphic drivers and re-installation. They didn't ask a single question about the issue, just shotgun to kill a fly. Because of their heavy handed response, I had difficulties and put me in the situation where I had to pay for someone else to fix my computer because support had wiped their hands of the issue.

Now, here I am again, during the fight with Oda and the game is crashing again, over and over. A quick web search of this issue shows it going back for some time, and on multiple platforms, and yet, here we are, March 2024 and the problem STILL is crashing computers. Clearly this game is broken much more deeply than it would seem and it's so disheartening because there absolutely is an amazing experience if you can get it to work properly.


Original Review:
After an incredibly infamous launch, seeing the game completely pulled from the Playstation Store for months, CD Projekt RED took a turd and turned around and made it a diamond. The game is not perfect as some issues are deep but overall the game is fun and the story is interesting and intriguing.

I felt that choices I made were impactful enough, nothing was too deep where I was concerned I was going to ruin my game but they didn't feel superficial either.

Customisation is done very well and I liked how they included the ability for "Vanity" wear so I can wear the best gear, but look exactly how I want. Best of both worlds.

Skills are great and crafting different play-styles can be really fun. Being able to respec only adds to the freedom to try different builds without having to play through the entire game again.

What really shines for me is the city. It's large and truly feels alive and breathing. Nothing seems copypasta'd and there were many times where I was driving and said, oh, this looks exactly like that other place I was only to realise I was actually in that other place after all.

As a grumpy old man, I can recommend this game with confidence.

Game claims it's very scientific.

Game almost immediately ignores basic science.

This game is like one of those huge Easter bunnies that you got as a kid. Big and looks very delicious but take one bite and find out the bunny is actually empty and hollow.

Also, though Starfield is fairly stable (only a handful of crashes in 60 hours) it's very buggy. The first real quest I encountered that actually involved more than a fetch-type quest is bugged out and broken. Was tasked to kill a group of people before a door would be opened. Killed everyone, guy behind the door won't open it. If I clip through the wall, the NPC recognises all the enemies are dead.

Graphically, it's what you'd expect in any other Bethesda game. It's not cutting edge but it doesn't look last gen either, somewhere in between. Background looks great, people look dull.

Equipment is different than in previous games and I don't like it. Gone are the levels on your gear so I have a very difficult time figuring out if one weapon or helmet is better than another, but it seems like Fallout 76 where all weapons but the shotgun are useless.

I'm personally not a fan of the combat in the game. I really wish the game had some sort of lock or enemy highlight because I find the cross-hairs get lost in the screen and I have trouble keeping track of the enemies.

Unlike previous Bethesda games where even though you're let loose on the world, there is a little bit of explanation on mechanics and such, whereas the early game in this title is fairly confusing and not very entertaining.

Music is basically just ambience and have to actively pay attention to if there is even music or not.

Not being able to own a pet...even a goldfish....on my ship is highly disappointing.

Finally, there is an old adage and I'll paraphrase, "It's all about the journey, not the destination" and with Starfield, Bethesda has thrown that notion to the wind.

There's a certain cohesion that's missing here that was essential for making the previous Bethesda titles feel real, exciting and want to invest hours and hours in. The choice to make everything these mini-instances takes away the fun in exploration and now it feels like I"m just checking off boxes.

One of the exciting things in previous Bethesda experiences is that you never knew what would happen when adventuring. You'd have a simple quest, might be a fetch quest in a town half-way across the map and it was during the trek from one place to another, that was the adventure. It might end up being 30 hours later before you actually finish the quest because so many things happened between A and B. That's gone.

I really thought about it and there was quite a bit of loading in previous games. Enter Whiterun. Loading. Enter New Vegas. Loading. Enter any shop. Loading. Enter your house. Loading. Enter a cave or dungeon. Loading....however....all of these separate spaces were tied by the larger world map where there was no loading and that's where the exploration happened. That's gone.

These "mini-instances" really segregate the game from itself and now that grand scale is gone and it feels just like any other game.

Game feels like it was made by Ubisoft, not Bethesda.

I didn't like the game.

RIP Chris Penn.