Recent reviews by fastgeek

Wish there was a "meh" option. I played, supposedly, for 20 minutes. Long enough to realize what that it's just a loop with the same crap again and again. For 15-20 minutes worth of nostalgia, it's just fine; beyond that? Meh. Only bright spot? FEAR. THE. CONE! *lol*

I love the Borderlands games. Even this one, with the (charitably speaking) less than stellar main story arc, has been very enjoyable. Not quite sure what the devs were thinking... let's hope they do better in the future.

The visual style sometimes takes a little getting used to, especially after playing hyper-realistic games, but the adjustment time is never too long. (I do recall playing BL for the first time and just hating it[/b]!)

One of my main complaints, though, is how empty the game often feels. I don't recall thinking this in past games. But with this one it's a frequent thought. After all, this is a kill, loot, repeat game; so when you're wandering around thinking "where the f**k is everyone?!" then something is wrong.

Have absolutely enjoyed the DLCs though! Wish the game did a better job of explaining how to get to Handsome Jack's casino as I, at least, wasn't clear on that. By the time I went there it was pretty boring for a while until the enemies caught up with my weapons. GL&T, though, was a challenge right from the get go, which was fine with me!

Do think the take down (seasonal?) events, while fun, are flawed. I mean, what's the point in getting awesome weapons if you can't keep them? I missed the Bloody Harvest (?), so news that ones favorite guns from Cartels going away really blows. Love my OPQ! Hopefully the devs will give this more thought in the future as well; in addition to catching grossly OP'd weapons before they're released with the latest Mayhem tweaks. (We're all looking at you, Yellowcake!)

Right. TL;DR. Buy the game. Forgive the weak (comparatively speaking) main story. Go crazy with other people and wreak havoc. Rinse, lather, repeat. Enjoy!

*heh* ;-)

This game is, in my opinion at least, one of the all time classic physic sim games out there. Have beat it more times than I can recall; but apparently was long before Steam had achievements! (324 hours on record after all) Without a doubt in my mind it's worth every penny.

Play it through and enjoy it without focusing on the OCD requirements. Unless getting the OCD was a happy accident. Otherwise you'll be chasing moves and seconds, whilst pulling your hair out, vs just enjoying the game and the story. THEN go back and drive yourself insane with many of the seemingly impossible OCD requirements. And without cheating by looking up a guide. :-D

This isn't Rock Band or Guitar Hero. Not even in the same universe. Those are great rhythm games and absolutely help for hand-eye coordination. But if you actually want a fun way to learn the guitar or bass, on an actual instrument, then this is your huckleberry.

Is it perfect? I'm not going to lie. No, it is not. Seems the most common issues are with getting the "Real Tone" cable working, and/or the input volume from your instrument being loud enough. (If using Windows, consider boosting the microphone input a bit. Don't go crazy or you'll have even more issues! Try to calibrate, quit the game, increase the microphone input bu 5-10 at a time and try calibrating again.) And, obviously, if your instrument has active pickups, be sure you have a fresh battery installed. ;-)

As other reviewers have pointed out, the algo for improving your playing ability isn't all that intelligent at times. You can control this by disabling auto leveling, or you can configure it to level up more slowly, but drop back down more aggressively. Believe me, nothing is more annoying than feeling you have a good groove going and the game decides out of the blue that you're ready for things to get much harder! My preference is usually for manual control, or to simply use riff repeater, which has a much more granular control over all aspects of learning the song.

I do have one serious bit of advise: don't go straight into learn a song mode. Go through the lessons, as painful as they are. Stick with it. Then go learn songs. On the bass (my preferred instrument) this isn't quite as bad; but for guitar? Forget about it. Work on the "grind" stuff and improve from there.

In addition to the umpteen official DLCs, there are even more custom fan made ones out there. Just search online and you'll figure it out soon enough. Be warned they're not always as well developed as the official DLCs, and level progression is often nerfed, but the price is hard to beat! ;-)

I've been enjoying this game for years now. Will play it almost obsessively for a few days and then take a break for days/weeks/months; but always come back. I find the new Journey's End mode (think Creative) to be an interesting compromise in that it makes you explore to find things before you can "research" them to use as much as you please. See, this makes the game more of a challenge vs, say, the usual "here's everything" option most creative modes give you. None the less, the game is whatever you want to make it. Wish to make proverbial minimalist jails for your NPCs, while you have a huge freaking palace in the sky? No problem! You're the boss! (I've never been quite that mean, though.)

While the creatives are somewhat contrained by the limitations of 2D, just look at some of the screenshots; it's amazing what can be done. The game is also roughly as challenging as you make it. That might sound like a cop-out, and it kind of is, but it doesn't have to be hard. Even before Journey Mode was released the lowest level wasn't terribly tough. Now, with Journey, you can adjust the difficulty slider. It starts out low; but you can ramp it up at anytime... and you should! (Else it gets boring quite fast) If you ever get stuck, there's a wealth of information out there to help you!

Lastly, while the game can certainly be played solo, it's a lot more enjoyable with friends in the latter stages. :-)

TL;DR? The game is a whopping $10. It has been improved over the years. It has an active community. It can be zen or death, kill, destruction. If you get 5+ hours of enjoyment out of it (which you will), then it was ten dollars well spent.