Recent reviews by McSkillz

My original review on launch day was a "not recommended" due to performance issues; however, I like the game enough that I don't mind the performance drops (that haven't been patched or fixed as of 6 March 2022) So I am giving this game a thumbs up anyways, although I will still say that consoles are having less issues, so if you have a PS5 or Series X I would still recommend you get the game on those platforms over Steam, but you can do whatever you want, I'm probably not your dad.

I can't really say I can recommend a game that took me 3 hours 27 minutes and 1 second to clear on my first play through; however, if you come across this game on a super sale then go for it, the graphics are pretty nice (aside from far away enemies running on a different frame rate for some reason, maybe to distract you from closer danger?) and it was a decent bit of fun with a fairly decent story line, but it did launch at $60 and I definitely don't think such a short game is worth more than maybe 15, I don't care how much money they spent on making the game look good.

I would like to say first hand that I have not experienced any of the bugs and various issues other users have reported, but that does not mean they don't exist.
Here are my specs for reference:
1080ti, 9900k and 32GB of ram and my game is installed on an nvme M.2.

On the the review.

I love this game and always have, it has so much freedom and so much fun!
Also keep in mind that this is an arcade racer, there is absolutely nothing realistic about it, the fun comes from completing varied events and going at blistering speeds and pulling off epic jumps and stunts across paradise city and big surf island. Crashes are more satisfying here than in any other racing game I have ever played.
Honestly just to sum it up, this game is just fun and satisfying to play.

There are a few minor gripes though.
Crashes, as cool as they are, can get very annoying, it takes you out of the high octane action for a few seconds that feel like an eternity, especially when you're trying to win an event!
The Menu is bad, it works, but the setup is just awful and can be confusing if you haven't played the game in a while.
If you unlock a lot of new cars and do not go to the junk yard before quitting, you will have to watch an animation for each new car the next time you jump into the game, which can be extremely infuriating as it's not a very fast process. It's better here on my PC, probably about 15ish seconds per car, but on the Xbox 360 and it's very slow load times this could take like 20-30 seconds per car.

Overall I would recommend this game to just about anyone, it's very fun, there's a good amount of stuff to do, a lot of cars to unlock, and the game is easy to learn.

1 recommendation. If you haven't played the game before, you should play through till you at least get your burnout license with the cars you unlock through natural progression, if you use the legendary cars right off the bat you'll cheapen the experience and probably get bored way faster.

Honestly at $60 there's no way I could possibly recommend this game.

Lets talk about the good first.

1: I love the setting, there's a lot of color, I think game developers are realizing that gamers are fatigued on games that offer nothing but browns and greys.
2:The game is very adorable and filled with cute fuzzy friends
Thats about it for me unfortunately


Next well talk about what's just ok
.
Combat: While it's serviceable, it's not particularly satisfying. Enemies size and level's do not really seem to correlate to their combat ability, and neither does yours for that matter, I fought enemies who smaller than me and were 4-5 level below me that were absolute tanks and I've fought giant enemies that we're 6 levels higher than me that died in a few seconds, there really doesn't seem to be any real rhyme or reason, it mainly just seems like the level system is in place because that's how most open world games are. Also there's none of those satisfying moment's that make you feel like a total chad, you're not going to pull off an epic finisher and obliterate anything, they'll all kind just fall down and that's the end of it, it's all very MEH. Gun play is also pretty lame, it works, but it's really just there to make ranged attacks so you don't have to risk taking damage, there's no real aiming or skill involved, just click the mouse in the general direction while the game decides if the bullet hits or not.

Crafting: Poorly explained, extremely basic, and probably mostly unnecessary. I found this (Similar to what I said about enemy levels) to seem arbitrary. I would craft a new gun that was statistically way better than what I had been using and it seemed to make very little difference at all. Honestly it seems that the game scales so well thaat pretty much nothing seems to actually make a difference game play wise, just mentally which seems to be a problem with scaling in general, let gamers fail by trying to take on an encounter that they obviously aren't prepared for, just like letting gamers absolutely destroy that weak ass enemy who should have minded their own business, we want to overcome adversity, but also feel like a total Chad at the same time, do developers not know how boring scaling can be?

Preaching: Yes climate change and pollution. We get it, and you're probably not going to change the minds of people who don't agree by smearing it in your game 50 times.

Good vs Evil: Too in your face, you have a literal angel and devil that tell you if you're decision was good or bad, which is so painfully obvious that even a rat could have made the choices for me and I don't even thing it really matters so long as you unite the tribes and spare your childhood bully, Just seems like it was in there to make the game seem more dynamic than it really is.


Let's talk about the bad.

1: The missions are extremely repetitive, especially the main "world eater" missions which consist of; you need to use this vehicle, but it's missing parts! Spend the next 30-60 minutes gathering them and then fight an oversized monster that isn't much more difficult than anything else you've already been fighting. It's boring and disappointing, I didn't really find any mission in this game that felt genuine or original in any way.

2: The dialog is so damn repetitive you will start hearing the narrator repeat the same lines in the first 1-2 hours and with every character you talk to. While I am sure they saved a ton of money by not having to hire 50 voice actors, and by having so few overall lines, it gets extremely boring and annoying quickly, characters in this game have precious few things to say, so it's sad that most of it is reused content. I honestly would have rather it had been Nintendo style where it's obviously gibberish and I just read subtitles, not that I want all of the narration removed, the narrator delivers his lines well, especially during cut scenes, but it's just rather obnoxious overall.


Overall, this is probably a below average game for me. The extreme lack of variety, the unsatisfying gameplay, the unsatisfying crafting system, the boring level scaling, the repetitive boss sequences, the constant repetitive narrating, the preachyness, the lack of an actual feeling of urgency or importance. It's just not really that fun.

Don't spend $60 on this please because honestly if this was like a $15-20 game, my opinion would be much higher and I'd tell you to buy it now, but it honestly lacks the care, attention and polish that is expected when you are paying $60 for a game .

*I'll update my review when it's not 4am and I can check it for errors.* Hope this helps you,

Honestly I don't know what to say that hasn't already been said.
I can't fathom how such a small team was actually able to make a game this good and cohesive and then for only $20.
The game just works which is way more than can be said for most of the extremely hyped games in the last 5 years or so... and one major failure in the last 6 months... Somehow this game nails how to have fun exploring and learning in a new world.

Positives for me:
1: No starvation or thirst, you do need to eat, but it is more of a buff mechanic.
2: I like that bosses give you temporary buffs to use, and you can use them as a team to strategize the next boss or the next situation your putting yourself in
3: There is a decent variety of weapons / weapon utility.

Inbetween: Progression happens MOSTLY as fast as you want however there was a point in my first world where I could not progress because I had no swamps on my first island and all the islands surrounding my island either had no swamps or they were too small to spawn what I needed to progress, I literally spent hours and hours looking and eventually broke down and cheated a bit to find out it was a crap shoot and I needed to go to a new world if I didn't want to waste days of my time, however, when your world gives you all the tools you need, progression is as simple as braving the wilds and taming the land at your own pace,

Now there are a couple small cons here, but remember to take into account that this is an early access title and things are liable to change at the whim of the devs;
1: This is mostly subjective, but like I talked about about with my first world being terrible, procedural generation is hit and miss. It makes for a lot fun going into new worlds to experience a brand new world, but it can also start you out in a garbage first island, and if you weren't previously acquainted with procedural generation prior to this you may waste a lot of time finding out you'd be better off starting a new world entirely and I can see that being a bit disheartening to more casual/relaxed players
2: AI is very rudimentary, once you learn an enemy, learn to parry, level your gear and gather the right foods you're basically a god and it's unlikely even the toughest enemy will best you unless you're completely caught off guard and under prepared. Because the enemy AI is so basic, it's very very easy to cheese if you use even a little imagination. Just go to youtube and there's ALOT of examples.\

Overall I liked the game, and currently sitting at over 60 hours (and those are 60 hours where I was actually having fun) I can honestly say it was $20 well spent and as the devs continue to work and really dial in this game, I think it'll get way better.

Finally, this game has a little of something for everyone, if you're thinking about it, just get it, don't be a moron! This game will entertain you for hours, and honestly that seems to be rare for a lot games these days who rely on hype to sell their dung heaps.

I want to recommend because overall I don't think it's a terrible game, it's a decent experience overall and it is an amazing looking game, but it is definitely not the RPG to end all RPG's or whatever other outrageous claims CDPR made in their bogus advertisements. Sure there are graphical issues, hell, even on high end hardware this game has frequently pop ins, or my character's naked body is T posing on top of my car while I am driving under an overpass..... everytime I drive under and overpass.... but the graphical issues are the least of my problems with this game. No my main issues were mostly with a total lack of customization, lack of meaningful choices, terrible AI, a meaningless loot system, oh and did I mention Pokemon Silver / GTA phone calls are back?

Story first: It's pretty enjoyable for the most part, I found it to be pretty engaging, but also pretty short when compared to games like AC: Odyssey or Valhalla, but more importantly, you quickly figure out that most choices in the game don't really mean much unless you just refuse to do a quest line. Literally all you have to do is the 3 branching main quest lines, which you can do all of in one play through, to unlock the 3 main endings making replayability non existent unless you did not manage to get the "secret" go it alone ending which requires you to play nice with johnny in just the right way throughout the course of the game and you want try again to get it right, or just to play the beginning 2-3 hours or so of each life path since the beginning of the game is the only major difference between life paths. Most side missions are going to be standard; go here, beat a dude, get the stuff, or go here, be sneaky and get the stuff, I'm going to be honest, it's all cookie cutter RPG stuff, it's not overly bad, and at times is pretty good, but it's definitely not "The Greatest" at anything as it was promised.

On to the customization: This was the largest area of disappointment for me, and I am still kinda pissed. This is the only game where I recommend taking all the time you can to make your character perfect in the creator because you literally only get one shot, you can not change once you're in the game! No haircuts, No nails, no new tats, no you can not be a shiny metal god like some of the sweet looking NPC's you seen in the previews. The only thing you can change is your clothes and cybernetics. And unless you want to die a lot because you're severely under powered, you are going to look like a clown the entire game because no, the is no way to make items look like other items. However, your head wear will change your hair, and some of the cybernetics will change your arms/limbs, but that's it, and you can't customize the look of anything else either, so I'm sorry car enthusiasts, you get what you get.

Phone Calls: You will get all the phone calls and texts imaginable, constantly! Every time you pass a new mission, every time a new car unlocks, every time the game developers decided an NPC needed to have a casual convo with you.... Early game is the worst because you haven't cleared many missions from the map, but end game gets SLIGHTLY better if you focus side quests hard, but by the time the phone calls stop, you've probably run outta things to do, whatever developer thought this was a great idea deserves a special place in hell.

AI: It's bad, literally Halo: CE had better enemy AI, and forget friendly AI. As with 99% of games I've played, friendly AI is useless in a fight and the AI of civilians is non existent, sure you can talk to literally every NPC in the game, but they only have like 4 or 5 responses that might as well all be "Hello," and no they will not fight back, they always run not matter what, it's ridiculous at best. Enemy AI is basic, they see you, they shoot and take cover, melee ones will charge you, sometimes they break completely and just stand there, or run circles around you, the AI breaking isn't super common, but the AI is errant enough to be extremely noticeable and makes combat feel unengaging as you get used to it.

Loot: It's bloated to the max, pick up everything, scrap it or sell it. Don't bother upgrading or crafting until you're like 40+ level because there's most likely the same rifle but better waiting for you in the next 20-30 min of gameplay.

In conclusion, the game isn't awful, I enjoyed the first 30-40 hours, but it is a mess, and outside of graphics, it does not deliver much of anything that was promised, and finally no, unlike what some sites and youtubers were saying, this 99% most likely will not be a game that entertains you for an entire year unless you play it VERY VERY sparingly.

And the title I give to cyberpunk: Fallout 5: Better graphics, More edge, Less character.

This game is a lot of fun, too bad no one plays it. You can not get into a game, don't waste your money

This is a terrible and broken game, my character got locked off screen, I couldn't even do one of the beginner quests because of a bug. I am glad I got this steaming pile of junk for free, sorry you wasted your hard earned money on me Tim. Please play something else. FF14 is P. Good.

This game was one of, if not the best in the series. In terms of story length its right on the heels of Witcher 3, but with better combat and varying abilities that make it never feel like I'm just doing the same repetitive sword and 4 magic abilities. The main story does kind of drag for a little bit about midway through the as you start doing fetch quest after fetch quest with little progress, but i pushed past it and was glad I did. This is a major departure from AC titles however, it is WAY more combat focused than any other AC title I've played, sure you can be a straight up assassin, but honestly why would I when I can butcher the whole fort in 1/16th the time it takes me to play stealthily? Anyways, this game is like $20 and I got about 70 hours and haven't even touched the DLC which comes to about .28 cents an hour. Worth it any day of the week.

PS: Ubi.... GET RID OF THE ANIMUS, like jeez, that stuff is lame. But they did keep it to a minimum.

This is a hard title for me to review, so bear with me. Honestly it's a pretty good MH title, but there's a few things that put this below MH other releases in the past decade and taint my experience.
1: No separate Story and multiplayer! By forcing us to play this as a Co-op experience, yet not allow for us to do so seamlessly is completely asinine and then you forced us to do it again for the DLC, it's ridiculous.
2: Open map design / compass. It's not all bad, but having just my paintballs and hard areas and a full map on my screen is honestly MUCH easier especially with the flying monsters in this game
3: Scout flies! Scout flies suck @$$ and it's that simple again, just give me my full map back and paintballs.
4: Flying wyverns on the ancient forest. Sometimes on solo hunts it has been literally impossible for me to kill rathalos in the ancient forest because he keeps flying to the top of the map, then the bottom, then back up to the top all at random. Idk if they've patched it, but if I don't have to, I refuse to hunt anything that flies in the ancient forest.
-If Capcom tweaks these features in their next title and makes them better then I'm all for it, but as it currently stands, I think these features are a miss for me.
-Now I'm going to be honest, the iceborne DLC is how the game should have been at launch, better monster variety, A WINTER MAP! like WTF how did base not have it... Cut base game content? I think so. Anyways, Iceborne makes the game vastly better, but it also can corrupt saves, a problem that has kind of been around since the launch of MHW, and the only title in the series to have these kinds of issues. My wife lost a 150hr save by upgrading to the iceborne DLC.

Anyways... Pros... Better graphics, addicting and FUN gameplay, easy game to dump 150-2000hrs in, At the end of the day I believe this game deserves the money, they've just hit some pretty significant snags along the way. Oh and my wife wants the 150Hrs of her life back since your update decided to delete it anyways and she had to start from scratch... or I decided I'm not doing that and we got a base game save from Nexus... Thank God!