Recent reviews by DeeFunct

This port is a broken mess and requires a significant amount of effort to 'fix it' into a playable state.

Outside of the above, FF XIII is arguably the most frustrating game in the entire series, solely because of unfulfilled potential. There are so many great designs, wonderfully intriguing lore, tantalising mechanics but the execution of of the above is so abysmal, that XIII is nothing more than an average game at best (which is being generous).

A simple premise executed really well, and if you're someone who loves to replay a level to shave tenths of a second off their best time or attempt to climb the leaderboards then this game is for you. The mechanics are simple enough, level design is clever, intriguing and on occasion, downright absurdly challenging but what may initially seem impossible, becomes improbable after a couple of attempts, then possible, then 'YES!!YES!!YES!!'.

Well worth the purchase, even more so if you catch it on sale.

Great with friends.

"I swear, I didn't turn off the lights or close the door on you"

If RNG makes you angry, if missing an attack with a 95% hit chance makes you salty, then Mordheim is definitely not for you. The best parallel I can draw with a game that is more well known would be X-Com. You will miss shots, the enemy will score critical hits against you and members of your warband will die. This game is brutal.

Mordheim: City of the Damned is a skirmish game, based in Games Workshop's world of Warhammer (Age of Sigmar as it is now known). In this strategic RPG, you control a warband that can be created from a number of different factions, all of which have unique characteristics and styles of play. Even the warband you choose to take into Mordheim can be honed and geared into various different playstyles. For example, Skaven, the warband I went with could be taken down a crit-based route, or perhaps poisons would be more to your liking, maybe you want to keep the opposition at range with your warplock pistols or perhaps watch the light in their eyes fade away as you gut them with your daggers. If this is the kind of thing that holds your interest, there could be hours upon hours of play time here for you.

Did I mention this game was brutal? Suffer a series of bad dice rolls could be the difference between life or death here, equally, having a character caught over-extended and alone will more than likely be their undoing. Mistakes will be punished and the AI does not pull punches. At the end of the battle, any character that gets knocked out runs the risk of permanent injuries. Concussions, light wounds, severed limbs, lost eyes or multiples of the aforementioned can beset any members of your warband, even death. These can be especially gut wrenching after you’ve poured hours into developing a hero, only to have them lose an arm, a leg and suffer from stupidity after one too many love taps from a henchman with a halberd.

There is no story to speak of, certainly not from the Skaven side of things. Each story based mission is triggered after a certain number of days within the game world. They have loose connections to each previous mission, so if you are looking for strong story based progression, I’m afraid you’re out of luck (‘Out of luck you say?!’ You’ve suffered a *rolls dice* severed arm). I don’t necessarily see this as a bad thing, it kind of gives the impression that you’re just one of many warbands trying to get by in Mordheim, there’s nothing special about you and this is just how things are, get used to it.

For me, Mordheim was enjoyable. It has it’s issues, the AI can sometimes be very stupid but for the most part it’s quite a difficult game, especially if you can’t adapt your strategies and recognise your strengths and weaknesses. Mordheim: City of the Damned is one of the better games to bear the Games Workshop moniker and if strategy and masochism are your thing, then you should have a great time with it too!

I think the sign of a good game is one that is simple enough to learn, but requires dedication to master and Absolute Drift falls into this category.

The premise is simple, you start of by freely roaming about the obstacle strewn worlds, destroying blocks, doing donuts around lampposts and generally just enjoying yourself (and cursing as you either oversteer yourself into a spin or clip the corner of building). You can quite easily just lose yourself in this free roam mode, weaving between shipping crates trying to get the perfect line on your drift whilst listening to the perfectly matched soundtrack that accompanies this game. If you’re so inclined there are objectives to be completed for each world too.

Further exploration will uncover the multitude of events dotted around each world, taking the form of garages. These events include Driftkhana, a freestyle, points targeted event and Mountain Drift, which is a long, winding road from A to B and also comes in a ‘Midnight’ flavour to increase the difficulty.

If I had one request for an update to the game, it would be to add a procedurally generated Mountain Drift mode, where you can just get lost in the music and the Zen of achieving the perfect drift.

This ha been sat in my library for a while now, with it's alluring animations and enticing art style. I needed something to play in between sessions of AC:Origins and decided to finally break this out. From the get go, it's clear that this is one of those games that is easy to learn, but difficult to master. Each round you play is different from the last, each character deviating sufficiently from each other to carve out their own play style.

There's lots of fun to be had in Armello, lots of frustration, lots of planning, lots of plotting, lots of thwarting. This is an excellent game for anyone who enjoys strategy/board games. Dig in.

This game gets way too much undeserved hate and sadly suffers the ire of the immature, self-righteous, inflated ego 'gamer community'. I get it, those who invested early didn't get what they were promised, but there is a lot of fun to be had here, especially for 40k fans. Yes it's rough around the edges, but if you spend some time playing you can see the potential here. It's free, have a blast, see what you think.

As for the devs, they have communicated regularly with the fan base, fought hard to retain the rights to continue to develop the game and still push out updates with a skeleton crew. Workshop support is about to be pushed out too.

Coming in off AC:II, which is undeniably one of the high points in the Assassin's Creed series, the bar is set high for Brotherhood. Set in Rome several years after the events in AC:II, Brotherhood expands on the story surrounding the Borgia and their attempt to take the city (and then the entirety of Italy).

Personally, I found the storyline uninteresting and failed to drive me to move forward in the game compared to II where I was riveted the whole way through. I think this is in part marred by the introduction of the extra feats you need to complete to achieve a '100% Sync%' on missions, you find yourself concentrating more on some of the (sometimes ridiculous) extra criteria that have been set for you rather than the mission and it's impact on Ezio, Rome and the larger world.

Rome itself is quite possibly one of the dullest settings in an Assassin's Creed game, players were spoilt with the multiple venues of II and if you move onto Revelations, Constantinople has more character and charm about it than Rome does. The Lairs of Romulus add in an extra spark to an otherwise boring landscape, but again the 100% sync challenges may mean you want to speed through these locations instead of taking them in fully.

Combat hasn't really evolved from the second game, you'll find a majority of fights easy and with the added bonus of being able to call upon your own team of assassin's, any fight where your seriously outnumbered can be evened out in a matter of moments. The fact that you are recruiting assassin's and sending them out on varying missions really does help you feel that you are being instrumental in helping to establish a proper order in Italy and will leave a legacy in Ezio's name.

Brotherhood can be considered a low point in the series, the game feels like they've tried to cram too much into it in a short space of time, not really developing the new features fully, making the experience a somewhat stop/start affair. There is still plenty to keep die hard Assassin's Creed fans occupied and there is enough lore here to warrant playing through the game to keep abreast of the whole arcing storyline that runs through the AC series. Worth picking up when on offer, just don't expect it to light up your life.

(Ignore the 230 hrs played, there was a glitch in the matrix that added 180hrs to my play time.)

Ys Origin (and the Ys series for that matter) is an odd combination of RPG/Platform/Puzzler but that doesn't stop it from being a surprisingly enjoyable game.

The RPG elements are light, with upgradable equipment, attack choices and bonuses to pick up from defeated monsters in a arcade style way of handling temporary buffs. Story-line wise, there's nothing ground breaking here with some 'world is ending, must save it' fayre but the dialogue between characters is strong and there's just enough intrigue implied throughout to make you want know what's going to happen next.

On the downside, some may find the combat element repetitive but it is fast paced and the dearth of creatures with their different attack patterns should keep things interesting. Boss battles on the other hand are a different kettle of fish, bold and brash with more than a nod to old school 90's boss fights they are tricky and engaging, providing you with a real sense of achievement when you finally succeed in downing the overseer blocking your path.

Graphically it's not going to win any awards, lets be honest, it's functional but plenty of set pieces (normally coupled in with the boss fights mentioned above) provide the highlights in what is an average looking game. However the art style has it's own unique character which has been maintained since the original release of Ys, which is charming and beautiful all the way through.

This is a solid game, plenty to keep you occupied and with a meaty enough story for each of the playable characters to deserve a playthrough, which is all well and good as if you're out hunting achievements, multiple playthroughs await you. Give it a look, especially if it's on sale, you'll be glad you did.