Recent reviews by Shadow Link

Fluid combat, incredible visuals, flawless transformations, lore and mythology everywhere. It's like Darksiders 2 took some inspiration from dark souls, based it on "Journey to the West", and then devs raised it to heights AAA has been lacking for awhile. Anyone who is a fan of hack n' slash with some difficulty would love this game. Game of the Year without question.

My only gripe with it is on AMD drivers. Crashed in the prologue multiple times as a few others have. Rolled the drivers back 2 updates and game runs like a charm. I'm sure that'll be fixed quickly.

EDIT: After playing significantly more of the game I will say that the invisible walls are very prominent and immersion breaking at times, and is the biggest gripe I have with the game. Otherwise still an phenomenal game

9.5/10

A DLC worth $60 after all its content was released. I'd buy it again if I could play it all for the first time again.

Fantastic

EDIT AT THE BOTTOM. Top review is from apocalyptic

EDIT #2 AT BOTTOM. 1st Edit is from after playing story difficulty a bit.

As the long awaited continuation of the Darksiders series, this game most certainly falls flat. It has a Darksiders feel to it, but it just falls short in so many areas I cannot recommend this game in its current state especially at the $60 pricetag (or $70 for the preorder deluxe which I have). I honestly never imagined I'd be giving a Darksiders game a negative review. I loved the first 2 games to Death (pun intended), and the series has always had top tier story, characters, enviorments, soundtracks and voice acting. This game just does not compare to the first 2 games though, as every one of those categories have fallen short in just the short hour I've played. That also says nothing about my inability to play the game when it released as well due to bugs although I have since rectified that.

There is almost no instruction to the game, you basically get thrown into the plot with almost no knowledge of controls let alone attacks. Your primary weapon which is a whip, is understandably very single target oriented, so it lacks a very large and required portion of crowd control ability. Being attacked by 5+ enemies almost certainly ends with you being overwhelmed, as compared to the previous installments where 5+ was near commonplace and would be a time where you'd be taking a drink and playing at the same time.

Dodging feels very sluggish and doesn't work 50% of the time since enemies can also lunge during their attacks, which just closes the gap you've created. Once you get hit you're effected by knockback, which has its place in games but being chainstunned by multiple lunging attacks feels extremely unfair. Ranged enemies are so accurate that if you aren't focusing on dodging their attack solely, you will get hit, which of course also has knockback. You cannot out sprint their attack since they predict your movement like highly trained snipers.

I'm not a huge fan of the supposid Dark Souls inspiration mechanic of dying and running all the way back to where you died to collect your souls and respawning enemies everytime. I can see how some people may really not like that. It wouldn't be a deal breaker if the enemies weren't so frustrating to fight because of the combat.

My lord, you thought the camera was giving you Hell in the first 2 games? You've never seen anything like this. When you select a target and kill it, it doesn't auto select a new one. The FoV is too low to truely watch your back from lunging enemies.

Wrath attacks are very few and far between than previous installments. Almost like they've been turned into the "Oh ♥♥♥♥" button where you need to save it incase you do get overwhelmed.

The "Havoc Form" as it's called is pretty decent. Lives up to its predecessors in power but it takes forever to charge the gauge compared to predecessors.


Just in the first 5 minutes of the game I was already disappointed with the voice actor they chose for narration. The narrator is horrid compared to that of the first 2 games, especially the Crow Father. Although calling the narration horrid I don't believe is fair since The Crow Father was one of the best I've ever heard. It just feels underwhelming when the series so far has been topnotch.

War's script in the opening scene is just awful. You mean to tell me that after War and Fury hadn't seen each other in years, War has been accused of breaking the seventh seal of the apocalypse, triggering the End War of the Three Kingdoms, and he just sits there while the Charred Council instructs Fury? THEN, my biggest problem with this scene is War is suspicious of a plot against the Horsemen, but he thinks it's unimportant enough to just shout it out at Fury as she walks away. I don't know I feel like it'd be a bit more urgent to tell your sister of possible life threatening danger than just shouting it as like a "whoops I forgot, by the way" type deal.

Fury's voice actor in the first hour of gameplay at least is pretty decent. Not on par with Death's voice actor and character, but it is more than acceptable.


This game could have been phenominal, but mechanic and design choices are just subpar by comparison. There isn't anything that just immediatly breaks the game on its own, but it's all these little nitpicks that add up and the game becomes almost frustrating to play on Apocalyptic. Could I turn the game difficulty down? Yes, but stun locking from lunging opponets is still there. The pricetag does not warrent itself currently. I'd be more than happy to change the review to a recommend if the developer is able to amend at least some of the frustrating mechanics. We'll see in time.

5.5/10

EDIT:

Alright so I decided I'd play the game on the lowest difficulty setting, and it feels much more like the hack n' slash we know Darksiders to be. Dodge mechanics are still iffy at times, or the dodge window is simply too small for how reliant Fury is on it, but it matters much less that you're not getting 3 shotted by the most basic of enemies. You just get 4 shot by some difficult bosses.

I remember when Darksiders 2 came out years ago and I disliked how agility based Death was, with no potential to block like War, this is the next step beyond that which I dislike. It's dodge or get crushed basically. Although some of those frustrating mechanics do plague even the lowest difficulty setting like getting chainstunned and getting hit even though you dodged, it is definatly a step up from top difficulty. Apocalyptic is essentially for people who want Dark Souls from this game. Nothing but picking apart 1-2 enemies and straffing bosses repeatedly waiting for an opening to get a single strike in. Not my style of game but whatever works I guess.

I still have issues with the plot of the game early on, but since the narrator is nowhere to be found beyond that intro scene, it's all Fury from there, and like I said, her voice acting is decent.

Looking at the cast of the game though I don't believe one of the best characters, Samael, has returned for this installment. A shame if he hasn't as many fans loved his character.

One last thing is dying and going back 10 minutes with all your enemies respawned because you died to a boss. That needs to go quick. That mechanic is awful.

Other than that though I'd say it's a solid 6.8/10. Not worth $60 still but maybe $30 if you're looking for the good story and can bare a bit of headbanging from enemies bashing you off cliffs.

EDIT #2

Really happy that THQnordic have listened to the community and reviews and handled at least some of the games issues very quickly. According to others, the game is rather short, and basing off what I've achieved in my time ingame I believe that conclusion to be correct. It isn't a perfect game, but it's probably a solid 8/10. Some good story here and there and some character development. Honestly it's about what you'd expect from a company who picked up an IP from a company who went under. Rough around the edges but in time you do love it. I still wouldn't go as far to say the $60 pricetag is worth it, but an arguement could be made for $40 without a doubt.

Unfortunatly the game will have rather poor reviews since its launch had some major negative feedback, but the score is slowly creeping up there. I'm proud to say now that I give this game a recommended review as this game does deserve it.

The amount of time I've put into this game is significant and I enjoy the jet combat but balance is clearly not an issue to the dev team. Their goal is to make as much money as possible, and as a buisness this is acceptable so long as your playerbase is happy. That is not the case here though because balance in this game is so astronomically bad.

Worth a sale price, and played and enjoyed it very much as a kid. I don't remember there being this much frustrating camera shake and tanks being so frustrating.

Company of Heroes 2 is a dynamic Real Time Strategy game based in the european theater of World War 2. At the moment you can play as 5 different factions: the Soviets and the Wehrmacht on the eastern front and on the western front you have the United States Forces, United Kingdom Forces and the Oberkommando West.

This game is similar to other RTS games like StarCraft and Age of Empires in the matter that you can build units, construct new base buildings and micro. However this games differs heavily in how resources are collected. Instead of mineral gathers in StarCraft you gain additional resource income from capturing more territory for your team. More territory = more fuel and munitions. Manpower income is all dependant on your army size, larger the army = less income. Munitions in CoH2 is used for numerous upgrades and abilities such as throwing grenades or giving your riflemen BARs and bazookas. You can also use resources for offmap abilities like artillery and flares for vision. Fuel is often the most contested of the resources because the more fuel you have the more frequent you can construct tanks and with higher quality if you wish.

CoH2 has 4 different types of PvP game modes, 1v1 2v2 3v3 and 4v4. In my opinion 1v1 is where you see the most intense actions and skill of the highest level. You can see your mistakes when you mess up, and you can see fantastic plays when you outflank your opponet and force retreats.

One of the core functions of this game is the "Retreat" function. Giving a squad a "retreat" command allows them to begin returning to your base and at an accelerated rate but once given it cannot be undone. Retreating squads allows you to retain your squad and its veterancy which in turn allows them to reinforce men they've lost and makes them more effective on the field.

"Cover" in CoH2 is essentially having an object inbetween your forces and your opponets so instead of bullets hitting your men, they hit the object. Different types of cover provide different benefits. No cover provides no bonuses, light cover provides a received accuracy bonus and heavy cover provides both a received accuracy bonus and damage reduction when hit. Negative cover on the other hand which is where your squads are exposed on open terrain such as roads or water provide a received accuracy penalty, meaning your squad will get hit more often. Other types of cover include garrisons which are similar to heavy cover. All these different cover bonuses and penalties have different interactions such as a grenade being thrown into a garrison, or a flamethrower being used against a squad in water.

To win a match in CoH2 you need to do 1 of 3 things. Your opponet(s) surrenders the match, you destroy the entire enemy base or you win through Victory Points. Victory Points are additional capture points around the map, usually 3 total to take and hold to drain your opponets of VPs. When your opponet(s) hit 0 VPs the match ends and you have won. Your own VPs hit 0 and you lose.

Those are just some of the basic concepts of CoH2 and there is always more to learn and explore with such a dynamic game. Every game is entirely different because in 1 game you may get an early ambush off and wipe a squad quickly and get a major lead. The next game you could have a 50 minute tank slugfest with Tiger 2s and Fireflys.

Unfortunatly this game doesn't receive that much love in some areas such as balance and patches due to the smaller community, but the community that exists is very dedicated on playing this game and many players will aid in improvements you can make if you ask.

If you're thinking about buying this game I'd highly recommend it, and sales never hurt either. There is quite a few DLC expansions which do add to the game significantly but nearly every Steam sale this game goes on 75% off minimum. Could probably get everything for $20 or less.

If you do end up purchasing this game I'd recommend learning from high level players. Youtube holds many shoutcasters who explain details of the game and mechanics. A few of them include: GeneralsGentlemen, tightrope gaming, Helping Hans and The Propagandacast. I watch the first 3 in that list and I can personally say they've all helped me improve my game. Tightrope and Helping Hans both have tutorial videos on their channels which aid greatly in mechanics and tips you can use to up your game.

Fair warning though, this game does require significant time to hone skills similar to MOBAs. I believe it is not as severe as that genre on time dedication but it is prominent.

Overall its a great game. I can only dream of the game it would be if it had significantly better care. The community is working hard everyday to make it better though so at least one day it'll hopefully be a game worthy of significant remembrance.

Dota 2. After 3 years of playing this game, 3000+ hours ingame and 2900 games played, i think I've had my fair share of playtime enough to write in my opinion a good review of the game. Dota is primarily a 5v5 MOBA where 2 team compete against each other for momentum in the ultimate goal of destroying the enemy teams Ancient. Dota 2 has infinite complexity depth as people develop their skills and learn new tips and tricks and experiment with new items and hero combinations. That being the case no 2 games are ever the same and allows for a high replayability level.

Other popular MOBAs including League of Legends, SMITE, and Heroes of the Storm in my opinion are very roughly comparable if you can compare them at all. ALL of these games shine very brightly in their own way but side by side they're to different to really compare. League of Legends and Dota 2, often the most contested of the MOBA genre, have similar general mechanics like leveling, creeps pushing to the opponets base, Ancient/Nexus, but in the end League of Legends is a very simple game on its surface. Its players shine when they master basic mechanics of the game, but it's how well you can master the basic mechanics of League of Legends is how you become the big players of the game. Dota 2 is just the opposite, it has a very complex system which takes much practice to master everything. Thats where the pros shine at this point in time, they're the masters of the game to their degree of skill right now. Both games are difficult to master in their own ways. League is simpler but requires much more fine tuned basic mechanics to be top level. Dota is more complex, requiring high skill in all areas of the game inorder to become the best. League is simpler but it does not make it more difficult. Playing League beforehand if you're interesting in this game will help somewhat, but you can't expect to be a master walking in.

The community of this game is generally reactionary to how you are. A lot of people say how players online are toxic and such and believe me those players very much exist in Dota 2 but if you enter the game with a poor attitude then other players are gonna have a poor attitude towards you. This is not always the case though, sometimes you'll get the flamer who is so toxic and will never accept reason that even being positive won't help them. Thats why Valve gave us all the great "Mute" function. Ignoring these types of players will generally improve your game experience and overall your game performance. Players who never accept reasoning or thinking logically and just flame will never get better at the game because they don't accept a different look on a situation. That's how i made my way through the great MMR(Multiplayer Matchmaking Rating) trenches of Dota 2 in both Solo and Party MMR. Just always keep in mind, if you're toxic to other players, they'll be toxic back, so do the community a favor and be the upbeat guy in the team.

Ranked. Oh lord ranked. probably a lot of the cause of the toxicity comes from those numbers, and I've been in the trenches struggling to get out for so long. Eventually I pulled free from it and achieved an MMR I aspired to a long time ago. All in all though, ranked just displays your mmr, unranked still has an mmr, it just isn't displayed.

I've met a great deal of friends playing Dota 2. Some of these friends I hope will last my lifeftime. With that in mind not every player out there will be your friend in Dota 2, but some that are are truly great people. You can find great friends in any game you play, just gotta find them.

To me Dota 2 is more of a sport. It fills a great amount of competitveness that a lot of people have within them. Theres nothing wrong with trying to become better at the sport you play, and this is no different.

Overall this game has a lot of positives with its fair share of negatives. It does consume a lot of time in your life, at averaging 45 minutes a game and 2900+ games, I've clocked 3000+ hours. 45 minute games also don't include load times, drafting and pregame, so a good hour time slot is recommended before starting a match. The community CAN be toxic, but when you yourself are toxic how can that ever help. If YOU don't want a toxic community, then YOU yourself have to be positive. This game with its time will most likely fill your competitive needs of sports, it did for me and I don't regret any of it.

Getting better at this game takes patience and the ability to say "This is what I can do better next time". I've risen from the 2K MMR bracket when ranked first came out to the 4K bracket today. Play more and you'll improve yes, but if you don't look at your mistakes and say "here's what I can do better" then you'll never truly improve or improve at the rate you want too. Having a mentor who'll teach and explain higher level plays and tactics to you is always a plus. I'd never be where I am today without my mentors.

If you're going to play Dota 2 always remember: Be positive and other will be positive back, being toxic never solved anything, looking and learning from mistakes is part of getting better, mentors are very helpful, this game consumes time but fulfills competitive needs of many people, you will meet great friends playing, and always give every game your all.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far :)

Summoned lightning storm in boss fight with friends.
Killed them all!
10/10 Would lightning storm friends again.

What to say about this game. There is just so much you can praise about Darksiders 2. Fantastic effects and Hack n' Slash scenes as well as a good story to coincide with the original Darksiders. In my opinion, The original Darksiders was slightly better for a couple of reasons. In the original you had health reserves similar to how Metroid had energy tanks. In ths game you had 1 HP bar and that was all, so you had to rely on potions the entire game. Next was how agility based Death was. War was capable of blocking and dodging based on your play style, however death simply could only dodge and this became very repetitive compared to having both options at your disposal. Lastly was the bosses. A lot of the bosses in Darksiders 2 were just reskined and renamed and then thrown in the game. Like Tiamat and Silitha from the orignal had their remakes in the 2nd one. The Tiamat knockoff was actually a side quest boss but still used the exact same combat moves. Silitha's knockoff was actually part of the main storyline and the knockoff name was Achidna. Same idea, Big Giant Spider. I would definatly recommend this game if you like any of the Zelda's or 3rd person free roam games.