Recent reviews by Ferroset

I love stalker.

It pains me to write a review in a negative light considering what many people making this game had to go through to get it to see the light of day.

However, my criticism is simple. My system is modern and very capable, and Stalker 2 has had 16 patches since launch. Not a single one has improved this game's shambolic excuse of a performance to visual quality ratio.

I'm seeing a lot of patches note "CPU optimizations" and "tweaks" with absolutely zero real-world results. I would know, because I try to play this game on a myriad of settings every time they release a patch.

I'm tired guys. Please, figure it the hell out. I want to play this game without getting a damn headache.

Man what a fun one.

This game's storytelling is a bit lacking, but that's not really the crux of what makes this game special. The dual stick drift system is really something innovative.

I can't say a ton about this game in detail because the game itself is pretty straightforward, but it's a blast, feels great, looks great, performs great. If you see it on sale, snag it immediately.

I want to like gorebox. The physics, gore model, and weapons are all pretty expansive and impressive, but the game has some serious no-brainer issues that I would definitely expect to be squashed after over 2 years in circulation, but no.


PROS:


• Great weapon selection.

• Good gore effects, though heads completely explode way too easily.

• Great vehicle selection, ok vehicle physics, camera on vehicles needs a lot of work.

• NPC AI is the highlight of the game. They act very spontaneously, much like people. Props to the design of the NPC AI. Amazing.


CONS:


• The visuals, while decent, give a huge hit to performance that can only be described as unreasonable. Even at lower performance settings on DX11 the performance is shambolic. (My spec is a Ryzen 7 5700X3D/RX 7600 XT 16GB)

• The in-game menu doesn't have an option for game settings at all, only level settings. (c'mon, seriously?)

• Focused around modding, but has zero integration with steam workshop, and mod.io integrations are maps only.

• Keybinds are only adjustable for a few movements, and the awkward spawn/mouse controls are not adjustable.

• NPC weight is extremely inconsistent.

• User interface looks like Unturned but somehow even sloppier.

I'm going to assume a lot of the missing material is because of the Android counterpart, but I can't be 100% sure. Android is definitely the culprit of the ugly UI.

In short, Gorebox has a lot of potential and gets a lot right, but also gets a lot of things very frustratingly wrong, to the point where I can't recommend it, at least for now.

A surprisingly detailed & diverse biking game wrapped in a simple package.

Great soundtrack, good optimization, great visuals, minimal bugs. Only complaints I have are some jank with the controls, which is infrequent.

This one is worth a play.

I'll start off by saying this game has a lot to love about it. The visuals are amazing, the game's optimization is decent, and the exploration controls are just as good as the first game if not better.

So why the negative review? The combat just sucks.

The first game struck a very good balance between dodges and attacks to where you could learn the game's mechanics with relative ease. This game threw all of that out of the window. The spidey-sense flashes red only half the time when you're supposed to parry, dodges away from enemies make them abnormally dart towards you and land a hit anyway, and explosion splash damage is about 4x the distance of the visual shockwave provided. Not to mention, web based attacks leave you with a complete gamble of who it will hit, even if explicitly aiming for one person. To me, especially when comparing the combat to the first game, it feels shoddy, tacked-on, and half-assed. If these issues are resolved in the future, I assure you I will revise this review.

Phantom Spark is one of the most unique, fun, well-controlling, and smoothest games in it's genre. This is boosted further by having one of the best soundtracks of all gaming history in my opinion. From the styling to the gameplay to the audio, everything is sublime. Only complaint I have is there aren't any more levels for me to enjoy now that I've run all of them.

This game encapsulates every issue present at the shells of studios Turn 10 and Playground games. Forza Horizon 5 and future Forza titles have all been programmed by rotating developers put onto a single yearly contract because Microsoft cares about saving a few bucks rather than providing a quality product. Nearly 2 years in, and Forza Horizon 5 is still by far the absolute worst game in the Horizon series, with basic functions still failing. Handling is broken, online play is broken, the map is still void of anything interesting to do or see, the characters are insufferable and all speak a downright offensive slurry of spanglish, and the vehicle models are still copy/pasted from Horizon 2, which is a decade old game.

Playground and Turn 10 need to either get their crap together or get out, because the latest Forza Horizon title and Forza Motorsport title are blithering insults to not only fans of the series, but gamers in general. Shame on you. Forza is a corpse, and reviving it will take a miracle.

Phasmophobia is some of the most fun you will ever have with your friends. Not much else to say. Never gets old.

Brookhaven has so much love and passion put into it. It's filled to the brim with well-written, highly-detailed content, all in a beautiful, mystical, fantastical world for you to explore.

Sure there are bugs, and I do believe this game should have been released as a "beta," not a full title, but the developer made a discord and is extremely active on there to get to the bottom of each and every bug/glitch the players mention. She wants this game to be enjoyable, fun, and engaging. Her speed at doing so is also wildly impressive. Within a 9-hour span, she had gone in and fixed over 12 different reported bugs and released a patch. She is extremely devoted to the game and wants to make everything right. I cannot help but have a massive amount of respect for that.

For a first release by a single developer, this game is unbelievably impressive, and with just a little bit of work and polishing, it will be sublime. Video review coming soon.

Man I hate the jetpack sounds in this game.