Recent reviews by Hav0k

How can I sum up this game in a single sentence?
"Always outnumbered, never outgunned!"

(spoiler free)

I believe the fans of the series will definitely appreaciate this one, even though on initial release the game had some bugs and technical hiccups. Croteam definitely made an affort to fix these and the game is very enjoyable as of the date of this review. I personally never had a single crash during my singleplayer playthrough.

[Graphics]
I believe the new engine still needs polishing here and there. Even on high settings you will notice some objects and geometry popping up at a relatively short distance. It's not very annoying though.
The game looks gorgeous, as if like SS:SE and SS:BFE had a baby. The developers really went out of their way for the level design to add all the little details on the maps. To be honest I found it unecessary for this type of game, even though I appreaciate it.
Whether you're mowing down waves of lightweights with the minigun, or sending cannonballs agains the poor hordes of bigger monstrosities that had the unlucky fate to face you, the weapon effects and (the plentyfull) explosions just look marvelous. Very gorry of course, to keep up with the series's established tradition.

[Sound]
The audio is of high quality, and the music ambient is lovingly dynamic depending on the action. Nothing like some metal to raise the athmosphere just before you unleash ungodly firepower upon the minions of Mental.
I had one persistent problem though, somehow I find things to be desired from the audio positioning algorithm. On many ocasions I was confused on where the particular sound was coming from. And this is very important when you're trying to sidestep a warebull or a kleer.

[Gameplay]
Oh God, where should I start. Yes, the weapons. All the tools of destruction remembered from the previous titles are here, but with upgrades! Grenade launcher on the shotgun? Check! Auto-aiming multi-shot rocket launcher? Check! Laser gun death ray? Check! Almost all weapons have some sort of an upgrade that make it much more "useful" in decimating Mental's minions in a spectacular way.
Did I mention dual-wielding? Yes, now you have basic skill tree, where you can unlock some very useful and powerful abilities for Sam.
As for the enemies themselves, good old cannon fodder is back, but remodelled. And there are some new pleasant additions. (PS: I hate the drones, they are not fun, just annoying.)
Besides the weapons, Sam now can carry items in his inventory and activate them when desired. Think of like a "serious damage" or "serious speed" on demand. But this is only the beginning - imagine a nuke lancher or a portable black hole!
You will also have the chance to drive some really untypical vehicled, of course, with the sole intention to not leave a single evildoer standing. Let God sort them out...

[Story]
I have not played coop or multiplayer so far, so my experience is only with the singleplayer part of the game. There is not much of a story by itself, but whatever there is, it makes sense. Keep in mind that this is supposed to be a prequel to SS:BFE, so we're now visiting more of Earth's iconic locations.
In addition to expanding the image and story of the old characters, there are some new ones. The voice acting is very decent and believable and doesn't sound cheesy at all. I giggled so many times on the typical Serious Sam style humor.
Did I mention the game is not plagued by political corectness? Just for this Croteam deserve a medal.

I recommend this game for all Serious Sam fans. It's even good for newcomers to the series. The system requirements are quite high, so don't expect this to run on a 10-years old machine though. Overall, It was a pleasant and lenghty experience, and if you have a couple of friends to play coop with this game will bring you many hours of fun.

Borderlands 3 does not offer much beyond the previous titles, but in this case, it should be considered an acomplishment. It's like an upgraded version of B1 and B2. Don't get me wrong - the content is there! You will spend hundreds of hours exploring not only the landscape of Pandora, but also the nearby Galaxy. And the different locals really bring a different perspective to the story.... ah yes, about the story...

*minor spoilers*

Story: 6/10
And it's not because the story is bad, it's actually pretty good! It fits right into the universe of the franchise.
But seriously, besides Typhon DeLeon (which was awesome), the other male characters were badly represented. And I don't mind a ship full of chicks, but it gets really old pretty fast.
What they did right is to include the heroes we all loved, and also develop their stories and personalities.

Graphics 9/10:
I'm giving it a high score, not because it's something revolutionary. We all know the graphics of Borderlands are not ment to be realistic, but more of contextual. And they delivered. If you're expecting something radically new, then you would be disappointed. But like I said - I consider this a good trait. And the vistas are there... the game just looks beautiful!

Sound 10/10:
Michael McCann, should I say more?
The music production is outstanding! Greatly surpassing the previous games, in my opinion. There were many times where I would stop (my neverending carnage) and just enjoy the ambient. Also the the voice acting is top notch, it never felt cheezy or cheap. Cudos to the actors.

Gameplay: 10/10
We all know what this game is about. It's about guns, Guns, GUNS! (and the effect on the poor bastard in front of it). They introduced a couple new elemental damages, and removed one, which is ok by me. Like always, it's a thrill to find this boss-killing machine that just obliterates everything on its path. It never gets old....

Final words:
If you liked Borderlands 1 or 2, then you will like this one. To be honest, I liked the main characters of the previous games more. The new ones are not bad at all, but they seem kind of bleak to me. But that's just my personal opinion.

The game is very entertainnig in singleplayer and you will spend a lot of days just playing through the campaign. And that alone is worth the price.
As for multiplayer though, I think this is where it lacks. They introduced several new gameplay modes, but it seems they are not that popular. Matchmaking seems to be kind of flawed as of the time i'm writing this. But still, you will find others to play with, even if on a completely different level than you.

Overall, If you like the franchise you will like this one. Just the campaign missions themselves are worth it, not to mention the many side quests. Also, NO microtransactions. Sure you have to pay for DLCs, but this has always been the case.

A rare example of fans work outdoing the original by far. Valve should give these guys a job!
10/10

I don't believe this game really deserves the hate it receives.
Sure, there were a lot of development issues, delays and not to mention the excessive marketing campaign that the game wasn't able to deliver to the expectations, but besides that it is a fun game an I really enjoyed it. If you put the great expectations aside (as I did), and enjoy it as it is, you might actually like this game.

I haven't played multiplayer (yet) so i'll only stick to my singleplayer experience.

The graphics aren't the best, but the athmosphere is pretty much what you would expect if you were in the shoes of a Colonial Marine from the "Aliens" movie. The dull colors of the environment, the feeling of being outnumbered (but never outgunned!) in a hostile environment feels pretty cinematic. It reminds more of the 90s movie than a modern shooter - which does it a favor, in my humble opinion. The little details like the GUI reminiscent of an analog CRT out of sync just adds to it. Not to mention that you will have the chance to revisit some iconic locations, like Hadley's Hope.

You are in a disadvantage in almost every way, except technological. The motion detector is your best friend, and you have the opportunity to use all the guns seen in the movies. From the iconic pulse rifle to the flamethrower - all is here and even more. There are gun attachments but i think they are moslty cosmetic than anything else.

The music and sound were exceptional in my opinion. The quiet pings of the motion detector sound really reassuring until a dot (or more!) comes on the display. By that time you can really hear them crawling all around, coming down on you through the vents. The firepower you unleash comes with the muffled sounds everyone remembers.

Too many get focused only of the horror part to actually miss the other aspect of the franchise, that focuses on the human perseverance. The whole conflict between humanity and xenomorphs has been replayed over and over again and this game is not an exception. Just like the monsters they are set up against, humans have their own way to adapt to hostile threats. This is very well portrayed here - you're not just a single extremely lucky super hero that always finds it way around overwhelming odds. No, you're a part of a team and you work together against hive-minded alien species.

This is a prime example of why video games should stay away from modern real world politics and controversial social trends.