Recent reviews by Cosmas

I have so much faith in Frozenbyte I bought this as soon as I saw it on Steam without even seeing the trailer. Trine is the one franchise that finally got me out from behind my desktop PC and into the living room with a controller.

The visuals are gorgeous and the puzzles are inventive. You know what you're getting into if you've played the series before. The formula hasn't changed much and honestly that's a good thing. It's a simple premise with a continually refined execution. So far I'm half way through it and it does feel like its going fast, so hopefully some DLC is planned but even if not.. can't wait for the next one. Never change Frozenbyte. Keep up the good work.

Well the ending certainly adds a tiny bit to the Portal lore..
At only about 30m long and 8m worth of gameplay.. I guess its good?
Ultimately its just an elaborate tutorial to familiarize players with the Deck's controls.
Portal really seems played out creatively.. I just don't see where else they can take the IP.

Trine is a perfect series and a great reason to use the Link. This DLC is really tough though. I found myself using a walkthrough for most of it. The puzzles get really cryptic after a while. At a certain point it becomes an exercise in trying to fool the physics engine to get to where you need to be. I'd still recommend it but I feel like some of the puzzles in this DLC need some rethinking.

Gameplay is a little clunky...
Story is a little meh...
Content wise its a little light..
But if you miss Splinter Cell..

This honestly ain't bad. Good enough for me to do something as absurd as pre-order the next one.

This is not a Splinter Cell game. This is a rough imitation of what used to be.
I think part of the problem here is that this was done by Ubisoft Toronto as opposed to Ubisoft Montreal but lets get to the bullet points:

1.) I don't like the new voice actor.. but I can deal. Chronologically Sam is approaching 50 but here it sounds like he's in his 30s. Weird.
Also what the hell did they do to his face? He looks like he got a permanent bee sting.

2.) I'm 3 missions in on the story line and haven't touched the goggles because all missions so far have been in BROAD DAYLIGHT. Sam Fisher is a night agent, this has been understood from Day 1.

3.) The game appears to be in a real hurry. Not just narratively but in the gameplay as well. Players are basically discouraged from moving slowly as evident by the speed with which Sam moves and the fact that it is EXTREMELY DIFFICULT to sneak up on an enemy AI and do a silent takedown. There is no audio sensory or darkness meters of any kind like there used to be in Chaos Theory and the enemy AI is highly attuned to everything around it to a fault.

The game is definitely designed for console first and foremost and therefore caters to the attention deficit. The most efficient means to get through a map is by killing everying and asking questions later. There is no interrigation of random enemies, only story AI and that absolutely sucks and YES you can play it on perfectionist mode but that doesn't really help much because again.. Sam moves too fast.

4.) Black market weapons are pointless as everyone else has noted because why would you use an unsuppressed weapon in a stealth game?

5.) Gear and Command Center upgrades are cool but... meh... don't care never really NEEDED that before.

I just plain hate it. Everyone who has enjoyed SC from the start knows that Chaos Theory continues to be the absolute gold standard for this franchise. I guess there's just no chance of making that lightning strike twice.

Though I am glad to see the return to 2.5D with the familiar gameplay, I was one of the few that wouldn't mind them taking in a different direction next go around because at some point it does need to evolve. Still its as inventive and stylistically beautiful as ever. I hear there are some issues with coop but I have historically played these solo which I think makes it that much more challenging. This is the kind of thing that makes me glad I have a Steam Link, its so much better with a controller on the big screen so go that route if you have the setup.

On ACT IV and I already can't wait for the next one!

Well done Frozenbyte.

The Steam link is a proper solution for living room gaming. SteamOS as of 2018 is still sketchy on custom hardware.
This is simply the best route to go from both a long term cost-savings and ease perspective.

Bloodmoney will always be the finest game in the franchise.

Pros:
- It looks nice

Cons:
- Small and confined map sizes.
- Linear gameplay. At most there's two ways to kill a target, and everything is marked FOR YOU.
- Hand holding tutorial in the beginning, like we don't know it by now. For the console crowd.
- Costumes mean nothing because all enemies spot you. So 50% of the game right there.
- Reduced controls. To appease the inferior console crowd.
- Goofy story, I don't even remember what it was about. Some magical girl or something.
- No replayability due to the lack of proper save control. Again console checkpoint nonsense.

There's nothing here anymore. It's all about the spectacle, and it's happening to all the great franchises. It's all moving in that direction. Just a $60 flash in the pan. This game suffered the same fate as Splinter Cell: Conviction, they sacrified gameplay, depth, and story for graphical fluff and a more console-focused feel. It's gonna take a lot to get me on board for the next one. If there is a next one.

If we're not on an island, we're in the mountains. If we're not in the mountain's, we're in the desert. If we're not in the desert, we're in the jungle.... If we're not in the jungle we're still somewhere OUTDOORS. The greatest strength of this engine (CryTek/Dunia, I don't care what we call it this year its the same damn thing underneath) is also it's greatest weakness. This franchise exists for no other reason than to show off new terrain artistry with a repackaged story and a flawed representation of other world cultures, usually all of whom are at war. It's tired, it's worn out and woefully predictable.

But despite having said all of that.. this is a REALLY good game. The buzzers basically break the game and make flying a joyful treat. I don't WANT to like this game, but I do. It's very immersive and the attention to detail is extraordinary. Especially in regards to the animals, they look and behave like REAL animals. Hunting is a blast, and stealth attacking outputs is extremely satisfying. I'm totally against the industry regurgitating the same crap over and over, but I have to give FC4 a pass.

If I have to knock it for something its the UI, it's not very intuitive and hard to find what you're looking for in addition to being strangely laggy from the rest of the game.