Recent reviews by Denroth

After finishing this game, I must say, I had a good bit of fun playing it. You know those games that come out year after year that have 1000 hours of content? The ones that have so much stuff that after a while you just get bored of doing it? Sometimes, you just want a game that gives you something fun to play with. Gives you a new toy for a weekend... and right as you start to get tired, it ends. You feel satisfied for finished it, and leave content. This is one of those games.

Story:
You command a group of partisans during the invasion of Russia, starting out small before going on full raids of Nazi compounds. The games story is honestly one of the parts I was a little let down by. There is a lot to be left desired, but at the same time, it's kinda like an early Rambo movie; It's short, sweet, gets to the point, and doesn't throw you around too much along the way. The Nazi's are bad, you kick them in the loins repeatedly as they shout how much better they are, before shanking them in the jugular. That's pretty much it. Characters get introduced, shown off how cool they are, maybe have a quick mission about them, before being just part of the unit.

Gameplay:
The early game is what you would expect of a rag tag group of partisans-- the whole unit has one rifle they found in a garbage can with 4 rounds among them, two rocks, a bottle, and a rusty butter knife. Safe to say, this is when the game heavily encourages stealth. Though you can still go loud, it isn't the best option all the time. Speaking of stealth, this game does a fairly OK job at it. Vision cones that see up to a distance which start to alert guards, or sounds that can be heard through walls or over fences make up most of the sneaking experience. It's simple, it works... kinda. The issue with the game isn't how stealth works, but how stealth goes RIGHT into combat if you screw up. There is no grace period, no short pause to give you a chance to fix your mistake with quick acting, not even a search phase-- 99% of the time, the moment you screw up stealth, everyone knows where your partisans are. They could be in the trees crouched down in the middle of the night, and that still wouldn't require searching. Still though, besides this, stealth is fun... sometimes clunky but fun.

Combat on the other hand is amazingly fun! It's cover based, and % to hit, but besides this, it's a blast to set up an ambush on a huge group and come out on top. Where stealth is slow and methodical, combat is quick and deadly. Someone gets caught in the open, chances are they are going to go down. This applies to enemies too, which can make killing a whole unit all the more enjoyable. Although, I would say the one major issue I had with combat was how later levels it just felt like my squad was a team of unkillable murder machines. The enemies can be... dumb at times; Dumb as in they would not find any immediate cover, and instead, just sit in the middle of the road to be knocked down. Sure they use grenades to flush you out of cover, but never try to flank or do anything more than get to cover and shoot. Due to this, I was driven towards more combat to a point where if the story didn't require stealth, it was guns out for funs out. Alerting the whole map where I was and screaming out 'COME AND GET ME NAZI PIGS!' became custom on missions about halfway through before gunning down droves of the 'well trained' soldiers.

THE INVENTORY IN THIS GAME IS BAD! Ok, maybe not the worst I've seen, but damn did they screw this one up. Sorting items doesn't put similar items together, it just stacks them. So if you want 9mm ammo, you have to dig through the inventory (I'm talking about the one at base), and drag it over. Item slots have to constantly be refilled when used up. It doesn't matter if you have 9 more bandages in the backpack, you have to drag a new set to the hotbar. Resources don't go to whoever has a matching resource when you want to pick them up, so it becomes a game of 'Where's the Weed in the Inventory'.

Characters are a mixed bag which is something I don't understand. They give you 8 partisans total, which all come with their own abilities and skill trees... but you can only have three at a time with the commander being one 99% of the time. The sad part is many of the characters aren't all that good. Others just do their job better or have more perks that work better. Why have a flashy ability that does next to nothing or requires great positioning to pull off, when I can have Mr. Machinegun man just kill everyone in front of him with his ability?

Graphics:
This game is amazing for the style they picked. It's colorful, fits the pallet that you'd usually see in a WW2 movie, and goes for a weird realistic/cartoonish feeling. Cartoonish is probably not the right word, but you get what I mean. However, I did have issues with my FPS not being constant even though my rig isn't low end. Some maps that were a bit smaller were perfectly fine, but the moment the map became too big, it was almost always 30 fps during it.

Final Score:
8.3/10
Well worth checking this game out if you want something fun and about 14 hours of gameplay. Also, if you somehow finish the hardest difficulty, you are some sort of god.

You ever play Valkyria Chronicles 1? Hate it due to the clunky and sometimes unfair gameplay?

Valkyria Chronicles 4 says f$%k that.

Story:
You play as anime man commander Claude Wallace, who has a serious problem with the 'Oh no, all is lost!' trope. I didn't count exactly, but I think there are about 10+ times he does this, then instantly remembers he should stop whining and just do his job. You command squad E(z) (Band of Brother's much?), an 'elite' group of anime soldiers that power through every obstacle with the power of friendship and headshots. Ez as a whole has some pretty damn interesting characters; Everything from a French Knight to an ax wielding maniac who is scared of women. Some of the backstories are... ehh... while others will make you want to keep em alive (Looking at you Stanley you ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥!). You start out doing... army stuff... for Operation Northern Cross, to kick the Empire in the nuts once and for all. About half way through it goes from normal army stuff to secret army stuff (Like rangers are supposed to do?). There are moments when you'll want to punch some of the main characters in the face simply because they either pull a 'stupid', 'mega stupid', or 'WHAT?! WERE YOU EVEN THINKING???' though the last one only happened a few times. Don't get me wrong, there are some pretty interesting moments and interesting plans you end up going through, but more and more near the end 'just because' being the reason felt a little too often the reason. The end boss is Mr.Evil, and I say that because I skipped all his dialog and summed it up with the words 'I'm an insane doctor. Mwahahaha!' Speaking of story, there are times when said story is locked behind a thing called 'Ace Hunts' where you'll need to kill all the Aces in a battle. Let me tell you, it sucks. There are fights that you have to waste hours on trying to kill these guys just so you can unlock a few cut scenes. Some might find this fun, but I hated it. To add to this, there are squad stories too. Squad Stories require one of the characters of the story to have used 20CP during the game to unlock the story. It feels a little forced since you can just go into a skirmish, select them over and over till you reach the amount needed (Skirmish only gives 1/2 useage though). Overall, the story is pretty solid, fun, but has a lot of stupid/dumb moments that stick out.

Gameplay:
People that played VC1 (I did) will understand the phrase 'escort mission' plenty. The first game, if you lost either main character in combat, you failed. To me, this was the worst part about it because you'd spend an hour or more on a mission, do everything in your power to win, then get screwed sideways because of ONE mistake. VC4 threw all this out the damn window on at least 90% of the missions. If a leader goes down, you have 3 turns to get them up or have an engineer to revive them. Even the tank can be destroyed without missions failing, which is the reason I dropped VC1. Speaking of which, a new class added in made this game way more complex: Mortars. They are amazing to use and suck to fight against (Usually), but well within reason. They are frail nerds that blow things up from range, and damn they are good at it.
When it comes to combat though, the game is fairly simple/easy most of the time. A fairly annoying problem the game has is with hidden game mechanics that pop up halfway through a mission after you did many stupid actions on your first turn. Near the end it gets a lot better/smoother at telling you what to do. In fact, I would say that even with all of the weird bumps on the way, the combat in this game is fair and fun... usually.
The single most annoying, glaring, ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ issue it has is the twins.

The twins. Imagine you have a unit in a TACTICAL RPG GAME, that literally tanks bullets to the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ face, dodges gunfire, and gets what is basically an anti-material rifle. Combine this with their snarky voices, annoying dialog, and the fact they show up in every other mission about half way through the game, and you've got a winning combination for a garbage, unfun combat scenario. You set up cross fire? They don't care about it. There is literally ONE weakness to them, and that is nuking the ever loving hell out of them with mortars. That's it. You have to spend at least 5-6 turns just dropping bombs on them for them to die. Spoiler? Yes. Do I care? Yes, because you will hate yourself the first time you need to fight them. If they didn't exist as units, and just came as commanders, I'd be OK. Just my two cents.

Graphics:
It's nice, better than the first one obviously. It's honestly nothing to be astonished by, but what can I say? It's Valkyria Chronicles. The game could probably run on a toaster (Not that it's a bad thing!)

Overall:
8.7/10

It cleaned up so much of the negative from the first game that combat is finally enjoyable for a change! The story is solid with a few blaring, stupid moments (But they are excused). The Twins suck, that's why it isn't a 9/10+; Because annoying, almost invulnerable, edgy ♥♥♥♥♥ with crossbows.

GRAPHICS: Pretty damn good still even in 2020!
GAMEPLAY: The single player part is like any other GTA, but bigger. Three characters that you switch between, which I thought would suck at first, but it does a great job of fleshing them each out instead of trying to rush it. Usual GTA; shoot, steal, kill, get money, but now it has HEISTS which are your own way of robbing things! If anything makes this game a blast, it's the heisting!
ONLINE GAMEPLAY: Ok, I'm going to be honest, grinding isn't that bad. Sure, it used to suck hard, but now days between two player heists, businesses (Which are basically passive money that requires investments), and discounts (Every Thurs) it's become fairly relaxed. Play when you feel like it, have goals, and most of all, play with friends. That's what ONLINE is for numb nuts!
STORY: The single player is not super deep, there are times when it picks up, pushes the story forward, but other times it's just 'GEET MORR MONEUU'. Don't get me wrong, it's enjoyable and has pretty great story writing, but if you've played a GTA before, you kinda have an idea of what it's about. Online however... yeah, you're just a guy/gal that is going to make it big and maybe save the world in the process.

CONS: The bugs... there are so many bugs.
Glitches online cannot be counted on two hands, nor with toes included.
Modding online is a plague, but can be fixed by switching sessions.
Griefing, which I haven't experienced a whole lot of, is an issue that many have.
Worst of all, the problem with balance for money gained by certain activities (Online) is stupid. There is so much to do Online, but most of the content isn't worth doing if you want to get the green.

SANDWICH SCORE: 8.5 P.B.J Sandwiches

The game's come a long way from early access, still missing a bit more content, but damn if it isn't a blast to play with friends. Playing it alone is ... ok I guess ... but even randoms are usually pretty enjoyable! 8/10!

To all those people complaining about this game being too hard: Really? This is hard for you?

Back on point; This game is wonderful. TBH, it is a game that you play with a friend... you can play solo if you'd like, but it is definitively easier with a pal along for the ride. The combat is... somewhat clunky, but in a good way. The magic is AMAZING in that being inventive creates new spells. The story is OK; We haven't left the starting area, but that's because the past 14 hours have been there.

After close to 900 hours, it's time to review this wonderful game.

Wonderful in that there isn't another game like it-- it's special and fun. It's also difficult to describe too. It's a game that rewards creative thinking, but can be ignored with twitch skills. It's a game that can be both enjoyable and frustrating. It works though; With every death, I find myself thinking back on what I did wrong and not how unfair something is... the feeling that I learn from my mistakes rather than grow a resentment toward certain play styles. Siege plays like an arcade shooter, but keeps the tactical side of things.

If you enjoy shooters, get it. It's worth the 20 bucks.

It came to me, like a dollar store pack of twinkes, tasty but at what cost? Creamy and yet, I couldn't forgive myself for the calories I'd swallowed whole. It wasn't about what I wanted, but what I expected... and this wasn't it. A trip down memory lane, but everyone's faces had been smeared over with glittery paint. Leaving me to deal with whatever mess they created. No one wants to be the fall guy.

Max Payne 3 is a light departure from the previous two games, focusing on a slower pace of combat with a more Hotline Miami feel. Gone are the days of Max being able to carry every gun he picks up, now being limited to two side arms and a primary... that he has to drop to use his Akimbo weapons for. Gone are the awesome as hell reload animations of Max Payne 2 where our spinny-reloady boi could keep firing like Rambo on holiday. Gone is the regeneration of bullet time, being replaced by dealing and taking damage. All of this, and I still had fun.

The game is a little more difficult to get into compared to the previous two, going for a more Miami Vice feel and less of a detective Noire flick. You have less guns to use at once, swapping them out constantly (or just holding onto a pair, and swapping the primary). In a way, this change isn't terrible, but it just felt wrong after having so much fun in the previous games with the jacket arsenal. However, the gun play is so solid, that I eventually got over it. Another change that felt... ok was the adding of a last stand when Max goes down from taking too many sleepy time bullets to the face. Silly, but at the same time, balanced due to the rather large shootouts, and open areas in this game.

Story wise, Max Payne 3 throws a ♥♥♥♥ ton of stupid balls. And I mean A LOT! Several times, you'll find yourself screaming at Max to do something, but gets hit with a tank shell sized stupid ball instead. Another bit is that the main BBG is kinda meh. When he was revealed it just sorta was like, 'Ok, I guess I'll go kill him?'. In Max Payne 1-2, both BBGs felt properly evil, deserved, as if Max had plenty to fight for. In this? It's just kinda 'Who did it? Oh, ok, sure.' No matter, putting the story aside, the game is still damn worth it if it goes on sale for under 10$. I had a blast, but felt they did a few limitations that didn't feel all that great. 8.2/10

Albion Online is a mesh between a few games. It fights like a moba, crafts sorta like Runescape, and has an economy like EVE Online. It also seems heavily inspired by older games like Ultima Online in which you drop everything on death in danger zones.

Over all, I enjoy this game enough to get premium. Speaking of which, the difference between a premium sub and non isn't too terrible. It's noticeable for sure in gathering, but even before then, with a good group, you can make enough dough to get premium if you go at it.

Over all I'd give it a 8/10. Pretty damn solid game, but if you are going solo, it might take a bit of work and patience.

I feel like after a while, it is time to write a review. I'll try to keep it short.

So this game is weird. A good weird. At first you'll pick it up and go, "This is neat... and now I've lost my attention." You'll be confused, disoriented, and probably a bit overwhelmed. Then, like me, you'll drop it for a few years. One day, you'll be bored out of your ♥♥♥♥♥ mind and be browsing the steams for a new game, "Huh... I remember this game, it was ok I guess. Got three hours into it. W/E, I'll try again." And suddenly, you get it. Your mind opens up.

This game changes the way you think of games. You see that it isn't what you have right now that matters, but what you could have in the future. You look at the Wiki (Use this. I mean, use it if you want to enjoy the game.), and browse it like you went window shopping, picking out all the stuff you want to get. Once you do that, suddenly, you have your own personal quests. And boy, it is a journey, the journey is what makes this game fun. You start out like a grape: Easily squished. Wondering why the heck you die so often. This further makes you want to get more stuff to kill more stuff better. And 500 hours later, you are a murder machine wondering what to wear on your death machine today. Yellow with blue? Why not? Add in a fashionable cape? Sure. Before you know it, you wonder what made you play the whole time.

It isn't a game about being the best, shooting people, dry humping their faces and calling them names. (Conclave doesn't count...))

Nor is it a game about going to an area, murdering mobs for an hour, turning in a quest for X number of creature nutsacks.

It's a game about having fun. You know what 'fun' is right? Back when you shot stuff with a stick and burned cardboard because why the hell not? That is this game.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go build a Metal Gear in my dojo.

Ok, so this review will have a few slight spoilers in it, so be warned.

NieR:Automata is amazing.









Story:
The story is something I am in love with still. There are a total of 26 endings in all, but of them only about 5 ACTUAL endings. The other 21 are basically jokes, heck one of the 'endings' I got was when I abandoned a fight... actually thats a lot of the endings... you run from a story focused fight. Not to worry, I only had this happen once by going the wrong way on a map. But back to the point. The story takes place over the corse of about 3 different playthroughs. The first playthrough will likely be the longest. I took my time and enjoyed the content-- there are a load of quests with story packed into them that really flesh out our android friends. The second playthrough is a bit like the first with a massive change in how you play. The third one is where things go crazy...but crazy amazing. Two of the last three are easy to get, but the 'real' ending is something I cannot spoil a hint of. It takes a bit to find, but damn... I have never had more hate towards text and bullet hells than that. Still, the ending is beautiful and honestly makes you wish they'd continue the story after.

Gameplay:
Slash, blow stuff up, stab, shoot some stuff, kill! It's funny, this game has an amazing combat system which both rewards you for being an active dodger and to think tatically. When you start off, (I played on hard, can't say about Normal or Easy) this game is freaking difficult. I died IN THE TUTORIAL SIX FREAKING TIMES! That's the level of difficulty... at the start. When you get past it and save, sure you will die from time to time, but once you get yourself modded out (You have chips that increase your abilities, damage, healing, HP, speed, ect.) you basically become a machine murderer. After the first playthrough, I died maybe 6 times? Sure, I failed a few things which just required me to restart, but once you have like 30% extra HP and regen that from damage and just waiting around it becomes way easier. Still, the bosses are enjoyable around the start and so are most of the missions. Difficulty in this game is only around the start and ends of the game. Over all, the combat is solid and extremely enjoyable.

Time to Finish:
So, this is where things get a little hard to review. Some say that 36 hours is about what it would take to finish everything. I finished in 26, but that's because I didn't focus on quests after the first playthrough. The game is worth the cost. Still, take your time if you can.

PC Requirements:
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥! This game wants it all. Now, don't laugh, but I run a GTX 760... yes, that's terrible. However, there are many other fellow potato gamers out there, so this is for you. This game will destroy your frames. Sometimes I would have a solid 60 frames a second, no issue at all, still looks amazing. Other times, (In a single boss fight) I had around 19. It was difficult, but I could bare with the random drops in frames to play. 9/10 times it ran well with no issues on low. Also, FAR helped me a ton. The mod made it playable. Still, if you run a potato computer like I do, be warned, it wants a good setup.

Overall Score:
9/10

The story was amazing and creative, combat flush and enjoyable. The only thing I would ask is a bit more in the options catagory. I love you Nier not for your graphics, but for your story! LET ME PLAY IT ON MY NIERLY AUTOPOTATO MACHINE!