Recent reviews by devlkore

Hilarious chaotic co-op carnage.

Helldivers 2 (HD2) is a special kind of game. It's got plenty of elements from pre-existing games and genres, but the way all the elements are mixed together and executed makes it greater than the sum of its parts. There's a lot more to say, so let's break it down into categories.

-Weapons
The firearms in the game come in a range of types, including assault rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles, flamethrowers, energy weapons, and more. I have unlocked maybe 12 primary weapons and have about 4 or 5 favourites I use. In truth, a lot of weapons feel kind of underpowered, but that leads into the next category of weaponry... Stratagems.
Stratagems are your Helldivers secret sauce. Each Helldiver has a battle cruiser in orbit above the mission planet and it can provide various types of support. You have special weapons, airstrikes, orbital strikes, a mech, turrets, minefields, etc. You can pick 4 for each mission, and they have different length cooldowns. Picking and using them requires some amount of strategy and they can make all the difference in how well you do in a mission. As a big fan of calling in airstrikes, these are a lot of fun.

-Enemies
As of the time of writing this review, there are 2 enemy factions; The Terminid and The Automatons. The Terminid serve as the 'Starship Trooper' bugs analogue, and The Automatons are basically 'Skynet' from 'Terminator'. Just pick whichever you are in the mood to fight. The devs have teased a third faction that seems like a technologically advanced alien race. I'm hoping they feel like fighting 'Predators', but we'll see.

-Maps/Missions
Maps are large enough to feel truly open, but not so big you have to run for ages to find combat or objectives. Main objectives include things like destroying enemy bases, defending an area for a set amount of time, killing a special enemy, rescuing survivors from a bunker, uploading data, etc. There are also side objectives and points of interest to find which adds some variety. Each planet has potential modifiers which further mix things up, including weather effects, earthquakes, meteor showers, and restrictions on stratagems. There are lots of planets on the galaxy map, but only a few are available at any given time. The selection changes periodically which helps keep things feeling fresh. This seems to be controlled by one of the devs who sort of acts like a "Dungeon Master" for the live service aspect of the game.

-Live Service/DLC/Microtransaction/Battle Pass Stuff
As an always online live service game it's no surprise there are multiple overlapping currencies and resources. The premium currency in this game is called Super Credits (SC). You can of course buy Super Credits for real life human cash. However (and it's a big HOWEVER), you can also find SC in missions. There is literally no reason to ever buy SC unless you just want to give the devs some extra money.
'Warbonds' are this games version of Battle Passes. As of this review, there are 3 Warbonds. They don't expire, so fear not the FOMO if you didn't get this game at launch. There is the default free Warbond which is available from the start, and where you will be unlocking most of your weapons, armour, cosmetics, etc., then there are 2 "premium" Warbonds. The first premium Warbond is unlocked with the Super Citizen edition of HD2 (which I did NOT buy). Both premium Warbonds can also be unlocked for 1000 SC each. I have unlocked both premium Warbonds, and already have a hefty chunk of SC again. I didn't do any hard grinding for SC. It's definitely possible to do a mission and find none, but more often than not, just by normal playing I can find 10-40 SC in each mission. Anecdote: The other day I dropped into a mission and found 30 SC within 10 metres of my spawn position.

-Multiplayer
HD2 supports up to 4 player co-op. There is crossplay between PC and PS5. There is no versus/competitive mode. Voice chat is supported, but I don't use it with strangers. Team communication is still possible with text chat, map markers, pings, and an icon wheel. Using these systems it's totally possible to play in silence with randoms and still feel like a cohesive team. One thing to be aware of is that FRIENDLY FIRE IS ALWAYS ON! I found this off putting before I played the game, but it really adds to the sense of battlefield chaos and promotes good team play.

-Story/Setting/Satire
The setting for HD2 is a dystopian future where humans have colonised the galaxy and have already had a galactic war (events of the first game). We jump in as a new recruit for a second one. There are no actual "story missions", instead the story is delivered by the intro cinematic, tutorial, NPCs, in mission items (text logs), and propaganda videos. HD2 lays the satire on thick and it's one of my favourite parts of the game. It's refreshing to have a squad based shooter that doesn't take itself seriously and uses its narrative and setting to make some social/political commentary whilst also providing enjoyable digital fantasy violence. If you liked the satire of the 'Starship Troopers' movie, then you will likely enjoy it here.

-Graphics
The overall style is fairly realistic and everything looks good. One of my favourite parts is the lighting which makes heavy use of volumetric effects. Not only does this serve as nice eye candy, but visibility (and visibility restrictions) are actually important to the gameplay.

-Audio
The sound effects are all suitably weighty and nothing here feels out of place. The voice acting is great and really solidifies the satirical military themes. Terminids and Automatons have unique soundtracks, both of which are excellent and fit the factions well. The way the music ramps up during battle is very satisfying.

-Performance
I've been playing in "potato mode" on a Steam Deck, and though I am perfectly happy with the limitations, they may not be for everyone. Sure, ideally a solid 60 fps at native resolution would be nice, but if you're playing on a Steam Deck you WON'T find that here. I'm running the game with most settings on 'lowest', using DirectX 11, and a lower than native resolution. Running around in missions I usually get about 35-45 fps, but when the action gets frantic, it drops to 20-30 fps frequently. My first 3D game was Star Wing/Fox on Super Nintendo which ran at about 12-15 fps and it was still the most amazing thing I had ever seen at the time. Obviously we aren't in the 90s any more, but that's some perspective for you.

-Conclusion
I highly recommend HD2. It won't be for everyone, but if the above sounds appealing it could easily be your new favourite game. I've enjoyed playing lower difficulties solo, playing silently with strangers, and using voice chat as a duo with my younger brother is some of the most gaming fun I've had in years.


PS: Don't go on the forums unless you want your brain to melt. Despite the vast majority of my actual in game interactions being pleasant (I've had exactly 2 instances of overt griefing in my 100+ hours), the forums are a dumpster fire of stupidity, entitlement, bigotry, and doomsaying.

Sorta kinda highly recommendable robo dino action.

If that is confusing, let me explain. Capcom definitely dropped the ball on a number of fronts with this game. The advertising and messaging is confusing, making many (myself included) think this was a pure cash grab platform given the full price, day 1 battle pass, and so much paid DLC. Buuuuuuuuut... it's actually not that bad at all. All of the different suits (the actual character classes) are unlockable with in game currency you get from playing, and there are loads of skins/tags/emotes/etc. you can unlock for free. The other area they really messed up was not having a completely offline mode. I get that they want to encourage multiplayer, but there's no real reason this game should require a connection since it has working bots.

With all that said, I do recommend this game with some caveats. I bought the game on sale for about 23 euros. I won't be buying any battle passes or premium skins. For that price, it totally feels worth it to me. The in game unlockables are keeping me motivated and the progression doesn't feel drip fed. The always online factor is a bit worrying, but I figure if Capcom turns the servers off in 6 months without adding an offline mode, I'll still have gotten my moneys worth. Not everyone will share that sentiment though. If you want a guarantee that this game will be playable in 10 years, then stay away until Capcom decides to add an offline mode (or modders do it for them). Likewise, if you are the type of player that can't ignore premium or time limited content and needs to have absolutely everything, you might want to give it a pass too.

So WHY do I recommend this game? Three words, "ROBOT DINOSAUR ACTION!"
In some ways it's the most video game video game ever; It's the future, you play as mechs, you fight dinosaurs, and the bad guy is an evil AI. If that appeals to you, then this game has you covered. The different suits are satisfying to play, with various weapons and abilities to keep combat interesting. The hordes of dinosaurs are fun to fight, feeling like "sci-fi musou with guns". I've only tried 4 different suits so far, but they all feel unique and I'm looking forward to trying out their variants and the other completely different classes as I unlock them.

PvP-vs-PvE-vs-PvPvE???
Some of the criticism of this game has come from the confusion about whether it's actually a co-op or a versus game. I totally get it, I want a co-op experience, not a competitive one. The modes I have played so far are all a hybrid of the two. The key thing is that the PvP parts are very unobtrusive if you come looking for PvE. Generally you play the majority of the mission in a co-op setting, just killing dinos with your team. Towards the end of the mission, you will be given certain PvP options like trying to slow the enemy team down, or direct conflict. When matchmaking, you can specify you only want to play PvE and then the "PvP" sections are all indirect conflict, like just trying to beat the mission faster than the opposing team.

Story? What story!?
Seriously though, there is a story. It's a bit silly, somewhat intriguing, and not the main reason to play this game. I quite like the combination of story cut scenes and audio/video/text logs to fill in the blanks. They definitely should have made the story progression smoother and offered a fully offline option to play through it. The current implementation is that when you queue up for missions, you sometimes get the next slice of the story, before/after you play. It works well enough for what it is IMO.

Pros:
-ROBO DINO ACTION!!
-Nice graphics.
-Cool mech suit designs and skins.
-Actual in game unlockable content.
-No pay-to-win DLC/microtransactions.
-Fun co-op experience, even with randoms and voice chat off.
-Crossplay and bots and mean you can always get into matches quickly.
-Works well on Steam Deck with some settings lowered.

Cons:
-Required online connection for no good reason...
-...which also means Capcom could kill this game at any moment.
-The default non-sale price.
-Microtransaction temptation.

Exoprimal has room for improvement, but it's a solid game that I would recommend to the right person. If the idea of "Co-op Robot Vs Dinosaur Musou" in a Saturday morning cartoon setting sounds enticing, then this might be the right game for you.

This is an early review based on a few hours play of the launch version.

I'm a big fighting game fan and BlazBlue is one of my favourite FG series of all time. I've played every version since Calamity Trigger and can even forgive ArcSys for the dumpster fire that is BBTag. When I heard they were going to release a roguelite based on BB my interest was instantly piqued as a fan of that genre too. Honestly, I think they've nailed it.

I've only tried 3 characters so far; Noel, Lamba-11, and Mai (+Hibiki in the required tutorial). These are all characters that I love from the main FG series and though they play very differently their translation into a new genre is done really well. The controls are responsive, the characters have the abilities you'd expect and mowing down grunts feels very satisfying with their move sets. Unlocking new abilities and changing your play style as you progress through a run is fun and makes the combat varied.

The graphics are really nice with some great sprites and environmental effects.

Audio is great so far, offering voices in English, Mandarin, and Japanese. Attack sounds are good and the few music tracks I've heard so far are well done and fit the overall vibe.

The story is the usual convoluted mess, that I don't really care about. I never got into BB for the story, but I imagine if you do care about the story, you'll probably be happy with this one.

There are some complaints going around the forums due to changes made between the Early Access version and the release version. I can't comment on these specifically as I didn't play the EA version, but it does seem the devs are listening. Despite leaving Early Access, they are making more changes to the game, some directly based on user feedback.

Steam Deck performance is flawless. Just make sure to turn off 'Half Rate Shading' or the text will look like trash and be unreadable in many places.

You can often find the game on sale, but I'd say it's still worth the full asking price. Highly recommended for anyone looking for something akin to 'Blazblue x Dead Cells: Cyberpunk Gaiden'.

I play a lot of fighting games and this is easily one of my favourites. The source franchises don't interest me at all, so no comment on which characters are/aren't included or the story. That said, there are a couple of characters from the previous Melty Blood (MBAACC) I wish were included.

Compared to MBAACC the mechanics in Type Lumina (TL) are somewhat simpler. That may be a pro or a con depending on the player. For me, it's a pro as I don't have as much time as I'd like to play this or other fighting games. Having said that, the mechanics still have plenty of depth. This is not a brain dead game by any means.

Regarding the mechanics, this has most of the "standard anime systems" with enough of its own flavour to not feel generic. You have chains, auto combos, specials, EX moves, supers, a type of "manual cancel" like a Roman/Rapid/One More Cancel, and a bunch of movement options. The movement is one of the best things this game has to offer IMO.

The graphics are nice enough with a range of cool looking backgrounds and nice high res sprites. I must admit, I actually prefer the more "crunchy" sprites from MBAACC, but it doesn't stop me appreciating this games visual style.

Mad props to the devs who have released extra characters since release FOR FREE, which basically never happens with modern fighting games. I hope they add a few more, but the current roster as of this review has a lot of variety in terms of play styles and archetypes.

Characters have 24 built in palettes, but you can also save 6 custom palettes for each one. I wish more games would let us create custom palettes, so the feature is much appreciated. The practice mode is fully featured with options like reversal playback and random playback, and the combo trials give some good insight into each characters options. There is some kind of story mode (as mentioned before, I don't care about this, but it's there).

The net code is great, using rollback as all modern fighting games should. Online activity is somewhat low, but I have been able to find player and ranked matches daily without needing to use discord or forums. I'm in the EU and play sporadically from the afternoon to the early hours, but your mileage may vary depending on where you are and when you want to play.

I highly recommend this game for long time and new fighting game fans alike.

Reasons to buy this game:
Chie can do a dragon kick.
Mitsuru, Margaret, and Elizabeth's outfits.
Yukiko's forwards backwards instant air dash into long fan throw (7 A+C 4 A+C 6B).
You can put glasses on every character.

Reasons to not buy this game:
You don't like "anime" fighting games.

This is full "anime fighter" silliness. If you like Guilty Gear, Blazblue, Arcana Heart, etc. then you will get a kick out of this.

This review was written after reaching near the end of the base game (Hunter Rank 21), before starting Sunbreak content.

Monster Hunter World was the first MH game I actually enjoyed, and Rise continues the trend. The graphics are definitely a bit of a downgrade in terms of fidelity, but it didn't bother me since the art style makes up for it. The movement has been expanded and now you can use wire bugs to zip and grapple around the levels. You can also ride your doggo which makes chasing down monsters a lot faster and doesn't use your stamina.

The combat is a lot of fun and requires planning and attention. All the monster attacks have different tells and you need to learn them to fight back effectively. The weapon variety is great; I haven't even used all of the classes, but they all feel unique and have different options to cater to all kinds of play styles.

So far I've played mostly solo and it's great for single player. Being able to take 2 animal buddies into the field helps make the fights more dynamic and give you some moments where the monster isn't focusing on you. The few times I have played multiplayer went smoothly. The multiplayer system is quite easy to use, letting you start missions that anyone can join, or create lobbies.

If you like fighting giant monsters and looking stylish, get this game.

It's like ArcSys execs saw Street Fighter X Tekken, gave their interns a copy of Mugen, the entire sprite library of ArcSys IP, and said "Make a doujin of this!".

Reviews need a neutral option, because I actually *do* recommend this game if you've never played any of the source games or if you just want a casual game to play with friends. There is always going to be some change when characters get transplanted into other systems, and sometimes it's great (a lot of Street Fighter characters Vs series versions, or KOF versions of Fatal Fury/Art of Fighting characters). Here however, every single character that I like from any other game feels completely wrong to the point I can't enjoy playing as any of them. The original characters feel fine enough. Your mileage may vary, but I don't recommend this to anyone that played and enjoyed the source games this "Official Mugen" is cobbled together from.

This game needs to be played to be appreciated. The trailers piqued my interest, but I wasn't prepared for how much I would love it. The mechanics are simple, but effective. This applies to the movement, puzzles, and combat. They all mesh well together and it really is more than the sum of it's parts. The exploration is probably the main star of the show. There's no map, but it totally works. You have a kind of "radar vision" which helps you figure out where you can or should go. It doesn't just give you a way point to follow, it actually prompts you to explore to find more points of interest and collectibles.

If you like open world exploration, you need this game. Buy it already.

This is the best Dreamcast game I have ever played.

Buy.
This.
Game.
Now.