Recent reviews by CrimZon

Game has stopped working until I agree to install Denuvo monitoring software. I don't agree to allowing this company.

We paid for Doom, not this malware.

Short, short review:
Such fail. Much lootbox. Wow.

This game desperately tries to be Quake 3 and then utterly fails to equal it in every way. Better graphics did not make a more fun game. Funny that BethSoft condemns EA for selling lootbox schemes, but then does the same thing.

This game is a $30 lootbox storefront with severely limited gameplay. Better to play MP on Doom (2016) or just go back to Quake 3.

Play Skyrim, they said. It'll be fun, they said. Best Bethesda game ever, they said.
Well, it DEFINITELY represents everything that I've come to know about Bethsoft over more than 20 years... namely bugs.

Can't even play this game without a joypad. And a controller wasn't even hooked up in the first place. No keyboard and mouse support for a computer game? Keep your game, Bethesda. I'll spend money elsewhere.

It's unfortunate. I can see why people like the game. The visuals are fairly good, though not anywhere near where they should have been for a "remaster". The music is wonderful. The voice acting is farily well done. Interface is definitely designed around a gamepad and it is clear that this was aimed at consoles first... not a deal-breaker, but it could have been much better. I really enjoy the attention to detail of flora and fauna, a fox running across my path, butterflies landing on nearby flowers, elk grazing a small distance away in the woods; it's clear that a fair amount of attention went into making it *feel* like nature. This has many things going for it. Just the same... it should work without hacking.

On a bit of research, it looks like Modded versions of the original Skyrim are at least on par with this Special Edition, without as many bugs, and better support by the community. Perhaps, like the BioShock series, the earlier version of this is worth a try.

But not *this* version of the game. No, thank you.


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(update: Found that keyboard and mouse support *can* be enabled. One method is by downloading a Mod to do this. The other involves very simple hacking by going to Documents\My Games\Skyrim Special Edition\ , editing SkyrimPrefs.ini , and changing the bGamepadEnable=1 from "1" to "0". Just the same, there is absolutely no excuse for a game to not work right out of the box and require a hack or a mod to function.)

Avoid This Game and its Developers.

On original purchase, this game had trouble running, which according to the developer, was supposedly caused by not meeting the minimum system requirements. When it did run, it was very, very slow.

After installing a GTX 1080 video card, though able to use a newer version of the game, it STILL tops out at around 15-20 frame per second, even at minimum settings and with a CPU that exceeds the recommended settings.

Furthermore, the developers stopped working on this several months ago.

Remember their name, Signal Studios, and vote with your dollars.

Party Hard (or "Try Hard to Enjoy the Party")

I looked forward to getting this game. I did. It has a retro-feel to it, techno-beat music, mindless glorious violence, a lot of good things to look forward to. Likely inspired by games such as Postal and Hotline Miami, it had the potential to do well in this dark genre.

That being said, it was quite a bit of a let-down, having considerable problems where there shouldn't have been.

Concept & Story:

The concept is fair enough. It isn't particularly original, but it doesn't have to be. The player controls a psychopath on a murderous rampage, bent on killing everyone at a party. Good enough an excuse to spill gallons of blood. For this genre, it works.

This premise could have been left on its own. It should have been. It wasn't.

The player is forced to endure some of the worst dialogue writing that I've witnessed since high school. Yes, forced. You aren't allowed to skip the cutscenes. Additionally, the voice acting is simply awful. Not even the sort that is so bad it can be celebrated (eg. Castlevania - Symphony of the Night or Resident Evil). It just makes one want to stop playing. The voices and writing are not convincing or entertaining. Even the word, "f*(<" seems half-hearted, as if the writer was just trying to show the world that they can swear... and no other purpose.

This game would have greatly benefited from having *no* dialogue or cutscenes at all.

Concept & Story - 3/10

Gameplay:

Control is fairly simple and straightforward, as it should be. That being said, an ability to remap controls would have been nice.

Your inventory is limited to a single item (outside of your Attack). This works out fine and demands a player's choice of priorities if and when another item shows up.

Each level features traps to lure victims into grisly deaths. While this is a great idea, every level feels like there should have been more. It's as if each stage was started and then forgotten about around 80% of the way through.

The player has the ability to run, limited by a simple endurance bar. Great idea, but the speed gain is marginal and very short. It is exceedingly rare for it to provide any practical benefit and, if anything, becomes frustrating in its deficiency.

The most glaring issue is inconsistency of game mechanics and really, really bad hitboxes. These are the game-killers here. Police can occasionally see the player through multiple walls, even without witnesses to tip them off. Guards can work there way through some small portions of walls while the player cannot. Players can be caught when using Escape Routes, even with police being more than a meter away. Enemies can reach farther in attacks than players. The player can even be arrested by a police carrying off another suspect... without the player being pursued!

(As a side note, when Swat Teams arrive, they take forever to leave, and become a significant hindrance to the game. They seem less of a challenge and more like a game glitch.)

It makes the person playing suspect that the game wasn't tested for more than a few hours before publishing. There is no excuse for this.

Gameplay – 3/10

Graphics:

The game visuals work very well. It's pixely, blocky, and reminiscent of 90's computer games. Many of the level designs stand out from one another. They're unique and offer a good selection of “hunting grounds”. Sometimes they feature traps that are only found in that level.

This is the game's shining point and is where the real creativity of the game is shown. Animations are appropriate to the genre and the style works well. Lovers of pixel art and retrogaming will not be disappointed.

It would have been nice to have a bit of variety in how the Protagonist kills his victims as well as more unique traps.

Graphics - 8/10

Sound & Music:

The sounds of this game are simple, but work. Nothing remarkable, but nothing to complain about either.

The music tracks fit in quite nicely. The two bones of contention is that they are very limited in number and that, in several cases, the music cannot change to another track. When dealing with the afore-mentioned gameplay issues and repeating stages, this becomes a real pain.

While the, perhaps as many as five, tracks are well composed and executed (no pun intended), it's the same five... or one track, over and over and over again. After a couple of retries, you may find yourself turning the speakers off.


Sound & Music - 6/10

Enjoyability & Replay Value:

The ghastly failings in gameplay really did this in. It's difficult to enjoy a game that just pisses you off. It's worse when you know that it's game problems and not just a matter of meeting up to the game's challenges. The thing is broken and should have been fixed before release.

Replay...the game offers some post-game content, which is nice, however, the rest of the experience makes one not want to play it. It's not good when “more levels” feels like an unpleasant chore instead of a welcome encore.

If anything, the replayability is really from user-created levels. These have been more fun to play than the developer's levels, despite not having the same visual creativity.

Enjoyability & Replay Value – 4/10

Final Thoughts:

I wanted to like this game. I really did. On the surface, it offered many good things that shouldn't have been hard to provide. But... those awful cutscenes and the faulty game mechanics were just too much. After finishing, I didn't feel accomplished, just sore for having paid for this and annoyed. This wasn't, “Yay, I beat it! Rock on!”, it was, “... it's finally over. Finally.” sigh

I can see the reason to play this, I can see why others would like it. It's a fine enough idea and it has the right look for what it is, but I simply cannot recommend this game.

Overall - 4/10

dares you to play it, comparing it to RPG greats such as the Legend of Zelda and Secret of Mana.
Do you have what it takes to delve into this story's mysteries?
Are YOU ready for ADVENTURE?!? Are you looking for fun?

Then look somewhere else.

Concept & Story:
Secret of Magia is standard Japanese Role-Playing-Game fare. There is nothing new brought to the table. Some may be fine with this approach, as was I. However, there is hardly any story at all. The game opens with a monstrous bird that threatens to kill you if you do not return with four crystals... at least it appears to threaten you. Significant grammatical errors are made immediately. While these can be sludged though and understood because of context, they persist throughout the game, sometimes making sentences nonsensical. This problem never alleviates. There are portions of text that lead completely off the screen, leaving the player to guess what was being said.

After leaving the introduction, our hero is set on a set of sidequests. That's it: five sidequests that aren't really tied in any way to the plot. The plot, of course, does not exist. It is only revisited at the end of the game and very, very briefly at that. While it is typically considered in bad taste to spoil the ending of a game or film, I cannot do so, though I am sorely tempted to. You see, the ending... it doesn't exist. As the boss lays dying, you are returned to the title screen. No credits, no "Thank you for playing", not even "Game Over"; there is absolutely nothing following this. This isn't just unexpected in story-based games, it's just downright rude.

Concept & Story - 2/10

Gameplay:
This sort of title has many expected mechanics in gameplay style. It is clear what the developer was aiming for, it just misses the mark in each and every way. Full controller support is claimed, but this is false. Movement, with a control pad, is only permitted with the analog stick, not the directional pad. This sort of game would have played much better with the latter. Giving players the option of either or best would work for everyone. Instead, the developer chose otherwise. The buttons used for play are odd in placement and incredibly awkward throughout the game. It is not unusual for them to be nonresponsive. Sometimes, there is a significant delay between pressing buttons and having a chosen action take place. This is inexcusable.

Navigating menus is slow, tedious, and excessive. Early in the game, the player is asked to equip items that aren't even present. They come into existence only when suggested by the interface. Other portions of inventory are completely unused, specifcally charms and accessories. It is as if something were planned and then completely forgotten. Evidently, the forgetfullness persisted through alpha and beta testing, if there was any at all.

The game utilizes class systems, levels, and crafting. This would seem a good idea. Class choice makes little difference as they play nearly the same. When leveling, your character becomes stronger. Unfortunately, the enemies gain in strength, health, and resistances to your attacks... and very disproportionally so. In other words, "leveling up" not only does not help you, it is an extremely bad idea. Under no conditions should the player consider grinding for experience; they may find the game unfinishable. Crafting is introduced to upgrade weapons and to create potions. In fact, one entire town in the game is dedicated to the industry of alchemy and potions. This system is never flushed out and developed. It suggests itself to have great promise and then proceeds to be completely ignored. There is no reason to bother with crafting weapons of any sort.

There are more concerns about things that would never be discussed if it were not for the fact that these normal mechanics are broken. Sleeping in village inns poses the slight risk of waking up in another town. It would appear that the screens that the interiors of the Inns are not reliably linked to the screens of the towns. As such, about one out of three nights spent will leave you across the world. When fighting certain enemies, the player can be stunned. This, in it of itself, is normally not an issue, but menu access is also locked. Any attempts to access the Game Menu or otherwise Pause are also "stunned". The entire game locks until the Effect wears off. There is no reason for this. Frequently, the player will become stunned even if not hit with a stunning attack. There is no way to predict when this will happen. Furthermore, progress through the four key dungeons is dependend on acquiring unique keys held be mini-bosses. Sometimes they drop them upon death... sometimes they don't. If not, pray you did not save, as the required Key is now and forever inaccessible. The only solution is to reset or load from a previous save file and try again.

For what should be simple and casual play and control, The Secret of Magia fails even at this minimal task.
Gameplay - 3/10

Sound & Music:
The sounds are fine and what would be expected for this sort of game. While voice-acting is a nice feature, it is not neccessary. Music is acceptable. It isn't awful, but it isn't memorable either. It is the sort of thing one would expect if a developer snatched up a few royalty-free music tracks and tossed in the ones that sounded best. Actually, this is exactly what developer, Lunatiod, did. The exact same music can be heard in other games as well. Even if they chose to use synthesised MIDI tracks that someone composed with this title in mind, it could have added more substance.
Sound & Music - 5/10

Graphics:
JRPGs have a typical look to them and this title attempts to keep up with the look and style of these. It is light and whimsical, with a touch of cartoony adventure. This being said, it is expected that things are consistent. Windows appear out of the edges of the walls of a church. Players walk right over gates. The player can even walk into and through some walls. Frequently when moving, the player will appear to be using their "Hookshot" item, when no such device is in use. These realatively easy fixes persist.

Most striking is the fact that the game does not appear as shown in the presented screenshots and advertisment video. It is extremely clear that the developer or publisher used photo and/or video editing software to make the game appear to have a very different asthetic than is actually present. In short, this is false advertising. This sort of practice is loathesome and completely disqualifies this aspect of the game.
Graphics - 0/10

Enjoyability and Replay Value:
Secret of Magia showed a certain amount of promise. Each promise suggested was carelessly broken. Even if one sets their expectations low, this particular title fails to meet even that. This was an attempt to be a game without any intention to put in effort. It is hours of constant frustration dealing with glitches and broken game mechanics, a lack of story. and a complete absense of any fun. They entire game plays out as if "fun" is going to be right around the corner; it never comes.

Since all characters are virtually the same, despite what their names suggest, there isn't a reason to try these variations out. There is not much in the way of secrets, so outside of a hidden dagger (with coordinates that mean nothing), there is nothing to go back for. It isn't even the sort of game that one can enjoy the story once more, because there is practically no story and what little is presented is certainly not enjoyable. It isn't fun or remotely interesting. It offers absolutely nothing.
Enjoyability and Replay Value - 2/10

Final Thoughts:
It is obvious that the publisher and developer were interested in creating something that could be called a game, on paper. At 49 cents for this and three other titles, I feel ripped off. A waste of two hours. Avoid.

Overall - 2/10

At first, this looks like a good idea: take a good Top-down Hack-em-up and make it Third (almost First) person and it should be good, right?

No. Not at all. This game does not translate well to a 3d-perspective. Playability is dismal and leaves one wondering what is wrong with their keyboard. Targeting and striking is not precise and requires a fair amount of guesswork. You almost get the enjoyment of playing a game while being drunk, but without being intoxicated at all; it's the game, not you. The remainder of the game feels like a shadown of How to Survive or rather a beta test that needs work.

BUT... that's not really the problem with this putrid game.

Do you like Lagzilla? Do you? I don't. I could understand frame-rate issues if the details are set high and the PC is not up to it. However, a significant delay between pressing a key or button (1/2 second or more) is simply inexcusable. It is not limited to movement or attacks either, this wonderous feature also applies to mouse movement, rotating the camera, and even, as an added bonus, navigating the menu! Want to exit the game and be done with it? Well, be prepared to fight the interface to be free!

One of the charming aspects of this games 2d predecessor is the witty animations and narrations, subtly echoing the inane deliruim of the Pip-man character from the Fallout series. While these ran perfectly fine in that title, they don't here. Instead, we partake in a garbled mess of interlaced vomit smeared across the screen. If you think changing settings will fix this, think again. Perhaps you're the ingenious sort who fiddles with his computer and updates video codecs with great skill and precision. Well, fooled you twice, no dice for you! Perhaps you can just watch the original videos on some Youtube Lets Plays and fast-forward to the needed footage. It's not like you paid for this game or anything.

It's sad, really. The publishers did fair job on this games predecessor, How to Survive: Storm Warning Edition. It wasn't perfect, it wasn't even a 8/10 title, but it was acceptable, fun, and (most importantly) FUNCTIONAL. In this version, while we get to get a annoyed-parrot's eye view of the action, the daunting task of making the game work properly was clearly not a priority. In fact, it wasn't even on the list... not even the To-Do-When-Everything-Else-Is-Done List.

It dissapoints me to pay money for a game and find that the publisher has taken an "Up yours" attitude towards its customers. The development clearly went straight from alpha directly to publication. There is no excuse for this rubbish.

Do not buy this game. Look at the screenshots, smile, and wonder "What if?". In fact, don't even accept this title for free or as a gift.

-2/10 (yes, that's a Negative two)

As a veteran player, this game is a substantial letdown.

Gone are the mechanics and thrill of piloting a mech that was present in Mechwarrior 2, Ghost Bear's Legacy, and so forth. The game itself is graphically beautiful and may take a recent graphics card to handle it at a good frame-rate. Sadly, this is the only real good thing going for it.

Much of the control system has been entirely removed, opting for an extremely "streamlined" method of play. This is to such an extent that one wonders if a keyboard is really necessary anymore. The sheer amount of customisation that was in previous entries is vastly reduced. While the predecessors gave the feel of a simulator, this rendition feels more like an arcade game.

Although the publisher claims the game to be free, it is instead paid through numerous, pricey "microtransactions". It would be far, far cheaper to just buy a game outright. There is no option for that here (it would be significantly cheaper).

As a note to those who have played MechWarrior Online in the past, you will be forced to play through a tutorial before you can return to active multiplayer gaming.

If one is completely new to the genre, they may enjoy it. For others, I strongly recommend running the older games or looking for an open-source game that competes with this.

Requiescat in pace, FASA. It was a good run while it lasted.

Wonderful game. Similar to Minecraft, Terraria encourages creativity and captures the fun of 8 and 16-bit platormers, Bosses become more difficult as the Player progresses and require them to seek out new gear and use different tactics. Different difficulty levels allow players to play the game how they want to. The sandbox world changes with each level creation and allows travel between. Younger players and others may prefer console versions ( Playstation / X-Box ) for ease of control, though said games are slightly behind in content updates.

All in all, this is a good game for ages 10 and up. Give it a try.