Recent reviews by Banneret

Short, sweet and well-written. A rewarding experience, best played without prior knowledge.

This is not a very strong DLC for the price, but I actually like the content itself, assuming I'm not playing with random players. Unfortunately, with random players it tends to become an obligatory grind that leads to periodic collapses and a much longer chapter with lower difficulty as we accumulate better gear. I'm fond of the new characters, though. I would not recommend it at the current price of $14.99

While yet somewhat unfinished, with some hiccups in multiplayer, this is a satisfying, atmospheric instanced cooperative shooter that I can gently recommend to any group of three friends that want to shoot things together.

Monster Prom is the local multiplayer, party dating simulation you never knew you wanted.

The genre has always been ripe for social play, barring particularly bad dialogue, but in this instance you and up to three friends compete for prom dates. This is a departure from the general experience of playing a dating simulation with friends, where one person plays, and everyone else makes fun of the game, the choices made, or the player themselves.

Howl at the moon if you must, but think before you do - every monstrous choice has unexpected consequences.

Poker Night 2 is one of those sequels which is mechanically comparable to the preceding title, but more charming and polished. The first game delivered a poker experience with four pop media figures, the second gives you the same, with different figures. The new selection is both more interesting, and better presented, as befits a sequel.

The player, voiceless, is ruthlessly teased by their opponents. Brock Samson plays with an appropriate sort of serious absurdity, the most grounded competitor. Claptrap is as annoying as he is in his birth title, and you'll enjoy when he leaves the table. Ashley Williams is so aggressive, you may let Sam handle him. Sam is the cautious, ruthless player who almost always plays his cards.

All in all, if you want a more challenging poker experience with better - more varied - dialogue and interaction between the characters, buy Poker Night 2, and have a night to remember. And then another. And another.

Guns of Icarus Online is a splendid cooperative game which provides an experience you cannot get elsewhere. It rewards thought and coordination in a ship to ship steampunk package, challenging you to rule the skies!

At the most basic level, you have two teams comprised of two to four ships, facing off against one another in a variety of modes. There are several unique ships to select, and each ship can be customized with different weapons based on their mounts/slots. Each crew consists of four people, who individually can select one of three classes, and then select class gear which they will use on the ship. This provides for a surprising amount of variability before you factor in player action in the game itself. You have to communicate and plan ahead, then adapt to the circumstances which emerge.

As an individual, you are both essential to and dependent upon your crew. If you Pilot, you need someone else at Gunner to take your shots, and an Engineer to keep you flying. They in turn depend on you to approach, evade, and keep their weapons in arc or range. Even as a Captain of one ship, you need to coordinate with the other ship(s) to achieve your aims. You do not need a microphone - there are voice clips and text chat - but you need to speak and to listen, you all fly together, or you will be dashed apart.

There is a very high skill ceiling which rewards both experimentation and analysis. Players start out with basic notions about roles, then uncover the details of a task (learning about main vs. secondary engineering, and the merits of different fire control tools), then find some tactical awareness (tacking to the side against this ship using this tool will allow us to hit their blind spot), and finally emerge into the strategic plane. Players keep learning and each learning leads to more exciting gambits and outcomes, which is why people can play this for thousands of hours.

The community is close-knit and peculiar, with a strong core of pleasantly eccentric and capable veterans. If you have friends, you can take a ship with them, and if you don't, you'll probably make some in Guns of Icarus over the first weeks of play. You can also find rivalries, form or join clans, and generally have a splendid social time.

In summary, if you are seeking risk and adventure in a high flying cooperative game which rewards both communication and cogitation, come aboard Guns of Icarus Online. We're always looking for fresh recruits, whether you know the difference betweent the bow and the stern, or aught that stems from either.

If you've played Drawful, you've played about half of Drawful 2. You've used one colour, now you have two. Beyond that, not much has changed, though I think the audio for the narrator is better normalized.

Just remember, you cannot undo what you have done. There is no eraser.

Someone asked me once if I knew the difference between a civilian and a citizen. I know now. A citizen has the courage to make the safety of the human race their personal responsibility, to helldive.

Helldivers is one of the best multiplayer games of this decade, a fun and challenging cooperative twin-stick shooter. Developed by the same folks who brought you Magicka, Helldivers takes that hectic and often self-destructive action, refines it, and mixes it into a cynical science fiction setting. You're trapped on one screen with your fellow divers, and absolutely nothing is safe as you helldive to one planet after another, handling missions for the future of Super Earth! Would you like to know more?

Your bullets, your bayonets, and your hellpods do not distinguish between friend and foe. One moment you can be gunning your motorcycle, the next you might slip into a crevasse. Your enemies are three different species - Cyborgs, Bugs and Illuminate - and each of them will challenge you in a different way. When you land, you're fighting for Super Earth, and by the time you're waiting for pickup, you're fighting to survive.

Each Helldiver is entitled to their own loadout, which consists of a primary weapon, a stratagem, and four skills. These skills afford different pieces of equipment or ordinance you can call from space to assist you in combat - you might request a flamethrower, an ATV, or a tactical nuke. The requisition system is the special sauce, forcing you to input command sets at tense moments to get what you need, including recalling Helldivers who have fallen, often before your own bullets.

The core game has had a number of free updates, and provides a good selection of equipment, but the DLC just take it further. Different DLC focus on different specialties, so you can pick and choose what enables you, as a Helldiver.

If Helldivers has a fault, it is that the game is both challenging and social. The active player base is modest but strong, and they’re eager to meet new recruits! You can play it with your friends locally, or online, or even mix the two.

This is for all you new people. I have only one rule. Everybody fights, no one quits. If you don't do your job, I'll kill you myself! Welcome to the Helldivers!

Void & Meddler is a cautionary tale to any who might choose to meddle with the void: style is no substitute for substance, and a story cannot survive a central vacuum.

Mechanically, the game is unremarkable, a fairly linear point and click adventure. The puzzles are simple, though sometimes nonsensical. Aesthetically, there is a lot to praise - a strong visual style with rich use of light and shadow, a simple yet flavourful soundtrack, crisp details - the cyberpunk setting really comes together. Unfortunately, the powerful setting and solid mechanics are in the service of a game which is not enjoyable.

Fyn, the protagonist, lacks both empathy and any measure of self-awareness, which renders play somewhat unpleasant. The dialog is disjointed, repetitive, and at times painfully derivative, unintentionally reflecting the shallowness of the protagonist in musical references and nihilistic cliches. The plot itself, already hampered by Fyn and the dialog, is uneven and underdeveloped. Void & Meddler touches upon well-established cyberpunk tropes and themes, but in an exploitative manner, without any discussion or - in some cases - reason.

It is hard to pan a game at all, let alone one which clearly has so much earnest effort behind it, but I would counsel most to avoid Void & Meddler. You may like it if you are a fan of cyberpunk and neo-noir from a stylistic perspective, particularly if the sociopathy of the protagonist is no barrier.

Vermintide tells a tale of Triumph and Tragedy, of defiance and survival in a world, drowning in ratlings.

Vermintide: Triumph
Vermintide is a challenging, satisfying cooperative survival game oriented around missions, and set in the end times of the Warhammer setting. The focus upon melee combat and spatial awareness yields an exciting, active experience which you would do well to share with three of your friends. Each of the characters has a distinct personality and style of play, so there is choice without a glut.

Vermintide: Tragedy
At present, there are less than a thousand players online in a given day, though the game has not been out for a full year, and over half a million people have bought it. This is the product of a long, steep difficulty curve. In order to participate, one needs appropriate experience and equipment. Both require time, as rewards are randomized, and their quality limited.

If you enjoy challenging cooperative games, Vermintide is worth your time. The setting and mechanics are novel for the cooperative survival genre, and well paired, with melee heavy combat embedded in dark fantasy. Find a friend or three, and face this doom beneath us!