Recent reviews by SOAPMAK3R

Just finished this. Loved it. Beautiful style and setting. I think it had a really interesting story and a satisfying conclusion. Surprisingly heart felt. Playing as a cat was a lot of fun.
The only downside that I can think of is that the controls were a bit flaky at times, particularly when jumping off of the edge of things. Got me killed a bunch of times.
There are lots of funny easter eggs in the form of pop culture references etc. I'd like to see a sequel to this.

Really fun (and fairly unnerving) VR experience. A little bit buggy at times. I had a game breaking bug during the Jeff section where an essential item got stuck in the floor and I ended up having to spawn the 3rd power cell as a result as the last auto save took me back a few hours of gameplay. That sort of thing shouldn't really happen.
Runs pretty well on my aging gaming system, which has an i7 4790k and a GTX1060 6GB in it. Using the Quest 2 with virtual desktop. Working well.

First...I played the Blade Runner 2049 VR experience. It was pretty amazing and a great example of VR done right (besides some genuinely terrible acting in places).
Then I decided to try this out...This is a good example of VR done wrong.
I launched in Rift mode, but it mustn't support the touch controllers, so I had to use a gamepad. Movement with the gamepad induces nausea almost instantly. The visuals are also not great at all. The 3D effect distorts when you move your head, so everything looks unconvincing, unnatural and stretched until you stop moving. Very disappointing.

Beautifully made VR experience. Sometimes tranquil, and sometimes mildly anxiety inducing, but overall, a comfortable experience.

Really neat VR experience. Recommended if you have a headset with touch controllers. Works very well with the Oculus Rift.

I have only just bought and played 2 stages, but already I am in love with it! I kind of loved Dirt 2, and parts of Dirt 3 were excellent, but the mandatory Gymkhana crap ruined the game...I really only enjoyed the straight rally races and trailblazer game modes, which were very enjoyable.
Dirt 3 held your hand way too much as well with driving assists etc. overall it felt like a step backwards from Dirt 2. Dirt Rally feels more like Dirt 2, but more difficult and much less arcade like, which just makes it all the more rewarding.

This game...This game is fairly unforgiving of your mistakes, but still manages to feel awesome! Love it so far. I found myself clenching my jaw (and my butt cheeks!) quite a bit. A good rush to be had. The sense of speed is impressive.
Graphics are great and the sound design is also very satisfying. Performance never dropped below 60 on ultra with a GTX970 at 1440p.

I have recently tried hacking together a VR headset with my phone, with some success, but the set up wasn't anywhere near perfect...This game might be just the motivation I need to tweak that set-up to perfection!

*OCULUS THRIFT VR UPDATE*

Ok, so using my phone, a BOBOVR Z4 headset, and some software trickery (to get the game into 3D and trick Nvidia into thinking my phone is a shield device), I was able to get low latency, decent framerate, wireless VR working with this game.
The software is Trinus VR (which you install on the phone and the PC), Moonlight (which you install on the phone to make Nvidia think it is a shield) and Tridef 3D (which converts the game into 3D, but possibly isn't needed? I'm sure there are other ways to do it, I just haven't figured out how yet).
The last piece of software is called OpenTrack, which you install on your phone and PC and it wirelessly transmits the head-tracking info from the phone to the PC.

The resolution is only 1080p, but the frame-rate is generally pretty good (close to 60 with a few drops here and there). Motion tracking seems to work well, but to be honest, you rarely want to look anywhere but straight forwards unless you enjoy crashing a lot...

Setting it up and getting everything running wasn't exactly a walk in the park (still a few disconnection issues to figure out), and even after getting things working, tweaking Trinus VR to get the image right for my headset took a decent amount of time too (a lot of pausing the game, disconnecting from the wireless streaming service, tweaking, reconnecting and repeat, until it was good enough.

I haven't used an Oculus DK2 or Razer HDK1, but I imagine that the visual quality is about the same, for what amounts to a fraction of the cost. Worth checking out if you want to get a feel for VR without breaking the bank.
If I have time, I might throw together a tutorial to show folks how I got it working. There are guides around for the smartphone VR setup, but none that solved everything for me. I had to use bits from several to find a working solution.

i7 4790k, 16GB DDR3 1600 RAM, and GTX 970 4GB. 358.81 Drivers.

First impressions: Mix of High and V. High settings. MSAA off. 1080p. Solid fps. Looks and runs great. People having issues likely just need to dial back some settings or upgrade their hardware if they want to be able to max everything out. Game seems very well optimised so far.

Really looking forward to getting into it as I loved Human Revolution. Definitely one of the best FPS games to come out in a very long time, hopefully Mankind Divided is the same quality.

Graphically the game is gorgeous looking. Big step up from Human Revolution.

One of very few games that I was happy to pre-order.

Will update review once I have played more or finished the main story.

*EDIT* Why is my review being downvoted? Because the game runs fine for me so far? lol

Amazing game so far. Loved Dark Souls, but found Dark Souls 2 quite hard to get into. Dark Souls 3 feels a lot more like true Dark Souls sequel than DS2 did, to me.
Visually there has been a major upgrade. The game looks great. Same awesome creature/boss design. The base game seems pretty big. I'll definitely grab the season pass at some point though. One of the only games where I feel like the season pass is worth getting.

It's been a long time since I played a game where I found myself looking forward to the next time I would get to play it (probably Dark Souls). It feels good to have a game that is worthy of my time.
The Dark Souls series may be challenging, but it never feels like a chore to play through, which the majority of games I have played in recent times have felt like. Most of them have also felt like a waste of money as I lost interest in them before I got my moneys worth. Definitely getting my moneys worth out of Dark Souls 3.

Whether you are new to the series, or a veteran player, I'd highly recommend this game.

Only negative thing I can say about it is that I am experiencing a persistent stuttering issue (I have a i7 4790K, 16GB DDR3 1600 RAM and a GTX970 4GB. The game is also running off of an SSD). It doesn't really effect the gameplay too much, but it isn't exactly ideal, either.
I am not sure if it is network related, or possibly sound related, or will be addressed with new graphics drivers. I recall a similar issue with Dirt 3 that was resolved by installing some 3D audio software. Might hunt that down and try it as a fix.

Anyway. Yes. Amazing game so far. Love it!

Ok. So they finally have a patch out that makes the game run at a decent frame rate, fixed texture bugs and performance issues. On a GTX970 I get 60fps with most settings on max, but the system requirements are still way too high for what it is.

Besides that, the game itself might as well be called Batmobile: Arkham Tanks. It may be the most overrated game to come out this year, or in many years.
So far, the only new game mechanics revolve around the Bat-tank (besides the addition of easy-mode combat). They aren't particularly fun, and it is very difficult to suspend your disbelief about how many tank-drones the Arkham Knight has at his disposal. I mean, Bruce Wayne is a billionaire and even he would struggle to afford the production costs...So how does this guy? Also, how did he manage to manufacture so many of them and get them into Gotham without raising any eyebrows?

I know it is a game, but stuff like this bothers me. As well as this, the game suffers from exactly the same problem as Arkham Origins.
Big sandbox to play in, but it feels empty. Similar excuse too, with an evacuation this time and a curfew the last time. Probably not a popular opinion, but I actually think that Arkham Origins was a more enjoyable game, despite being a buggy mess, too.
This game...This game is kind of boring, and doesn't feel like a Batman game 90% of the time...

You know what would have been perfect? A well crafted Batman game in the vein of GTA, set in Gotham. Just a huge playable sandbox, full of citizens, thugs, dynamic, procedurally generated crimes to stop, some villains for a main story and the Batmobile as an optional way to get from A-B, travel long distances and have the odd car chase type mission.

It doesn't help that the game was broken for so long on the PC that the identity of the Arkham Knight was spoiled for me within days of release. That doesn't inspire me to keep playing for the story, despite the mediocre gameplay.

I am about 15% through the game? Is it worth playing through to completion? Does it get significantly better or is it just more and more Bat-tank boredom?

The 1.4 update is the best yet (still in beta). Performance seems a lot better. Some graphical improvements as well as new sounds, such as a sonic indicator of hyperdrive cool down so that you know it is ready for use. New ships have been added too.

The star of the update is definitely the CQC mode, which is a smaller scale dogfighting mode with standard team deathmatch, deathmatch and capture the flag modes. It's fast paced, good for learning the ropes of dogfighting, and you can earn credits by playing it too, which is a nice bonus.
It's the sort of mode that is great to play when you either don't have much time to play, or you are maybe tired of going from A-B trading, or you just want to hone your dogfighting skills.

The Horizons season of expansions should be coming soon, and while I think it should have been priced a bit lower (£20 loyalty discount, £30 standard, £40 for E:D and Horizons), it does seem like it will make exploration that much more immersive. It has a lot of potential, although I will be waiting to see a bunch of gameplay videos before I purchase.
Initially I was disappointed by the lack of atmospheric bodies, but the amount of work that they will require will be staggering, when you consider the detail required. I can understand them coming in their own season, same with explorable space stations.
At the end of the day, I would like to see it all done right.

The game is quite the time sink, and earning credits can be a slow process too. The learning curve is quite difficult and it doesn't really hold your hand at all. Earning enough to afford your first weapon/ship upgrades can be a frustrating experience, but once you do, you will be able to earn credits much more quickly.

For new players, I recommend finding a station that has repairs, outfitting, and local security contacts, that is within 5 minutes distance from a resource extraction site.
If you scan ships at the RES and engage with 'wanted' ships there, you can earn bounties quite quickly, and cash them in at the near-by station. Then you can upgrade your ship/weapons, repair, etc. and be back in action in no time.
Once you have about 500 grand, invest in a Cobra Mk III and outfit it, and then return to the RES and start taking on bigger ships for higher bounties.
Or, alternatively, you could outfit your Cobra with a fuel scoop and more cargo capacity and start trading in rare goods to make money more quickly (but less interesting).

It's a very well made game, but you can burn yourself out on it. Thankfully the CQC mode offers a completely different flavour of gameplay though. Very welcome.