Recent reviews by JARK

How the hell do some of you play this game for much less than 100 hours and beat it? I had only just begun to truly delve into build variety beyond casting sorcery, and was working through Liurna & Raya Lucaria, at 100 hours in. That was six months ago. Sheesh.

(Basically, this game has a f-ton of stuff to do and you could easily miss so much of it since it doesn't hold your hand. Thanks for the spoilers, btw, folks).

Jill and Chris at their finest

I don't understand: I keep losing -- sometimes in the first round -- but I keep coming back. It's torture! Why, God, why?

Other remarks: During this pandemic, the game has provided ample opportunity for the player to ponder the nature of mankind's nature & sociology.... As is the duty of every multiplayer game or any game with a powerful narrative.

Ludicrous fun, low-key, requires skill, addictive, can break friendships or make them better. Definitely a recommend!

November 26, 2022 update:
I edited a long addendum update here, for this year's Steam "Autumn Sale" (c'mon Valve, you're MONTHS late and it's nearly Winter!). However, my changes didn't take when I clicked on the final "Edit review" button just now, and I'm not re-writing all of that again. I've got other stuff to do. Look at Paul Tassi's work on Forbes, if anything.

Another edit: Nope, nevermind, it did take, but I received no indication that the auto-moderation features of Steam was holding my changes until they double-checked it for any TOS violations. So I ended up undoing my own work when I published that second-last edit just now. Sheesh.

***
OG review:
Let's be honest: I came here from the Battlenet version, of which I played anywhere from 80-250 hours, and I'm only writing a review now for the Steam Autumn Sale badge. LOL.

It's F2P, nothing to lose. If you really like it, I recommend buying Forsaken especially on sale; Shadowkeep's purchase now that Season of the Undying is over might only be worth a sale price, especially if you intend to buy the entire Year 3 annual pass. Otherwise, test the waters every season and see which ones strike your fancy for a paid seasonal pass, as they come along.

How the heck did I not play this earlier? I don't regret not buying it five (!) years ago on its launch, but it was part of my backlog for the last three years or so... and if it weren't for its sequel becoming featured on Xbox Game Pass, I probably still wouldn't have gotten around to it recently.

I don't have the patience to sit and write a review just this moment, hypocritically not according to the standards I've set myself in the last year, so I'll make this quick:

- aged well overall

- excellent gun play (weapons have personality, mods, and can be dual-wielded; Dual wield a DMR with a rapid-laser secondary fire mode? Assault rifles with rocket launchers? YES PLEASE).

- fight futuristic Nazis? Nazis in space? ♥♥♥♥ YEAH. (Really interesting how the game's sci-fi makes this alternate 1960's more advanced than we are now, replete with REGULAR trips to the moon; heck, in Wolfenstein II: TNC, it is implied they have INTERNET in 1961).

- decent AI, making enemies fun to shoot
- good boss battles (except at the end where it may not be immediately clear what to do)
- lots of collectibles and unlocks too
- unlockables are perks which enhance your preferred play style, and most levels have different ways to go through them (in a small manner)
- really bloody hard hidden gem in the game (the original Wolfenstein!)

- icing on the cake: great plot/narrative that is simple, straightforward, and told well.

Some criticisms:
Could've used more variation on the two different timelines though. You'll see what I mean when you have to make The Choice.

Some levels are set pieces, forcing upon the player stealth sections or frenetic action (so hectic or adrenaline-rushing that it might be on-the-rails shooting!). I don't mind either choice, especially with narrative context, but the game definitely goes out of its way to allow you to choose how to play it. On harder difficulties, I don't think some players who prefer stealth over run-and-gun style or blasting things might appreciate the gameplay styles they aren't used to.

Keep in mind that this game predates DOOM by two years (holy, is the new DOOM three now?!?), and some things, like shoot-sliding and melee finishers, are not as smooth as they are in other games.

Please don't let this go the way of Battleborn (that game died on PC and some Xbox/console regions).

Or worse... GITS: Stand Alone Complex.

Those games and Lawbreakers were/are good at the very least, making for enjoyable multiplayer.

Please save LB while you still can, before the sixth month anniversary preferably.

I don't own the game but I thoroughly enjoyed the betas. I lost my job some months ago and haven't gotten anything solid so that's why I never bought this game.

Back in late 2014 or later, I had put this game on my wishlist after watching some YouTuber preview it (while it was in development). I must've deleted it during my annual/semi-annual wishlist cleanups... or, maybe it was not yet in the Steam store back then? I can't really say.

The point is: I promptly forgot about it, as my desires are fickle and my list subject to my whims. I did keep this in the back of my mind and spent a LONG time looking for the game again. Had to keep looking on Kickstarter and Google and YouTube for "Zelda-like" games until I finally found it again on Steam not too long before the game released in April. (Funny thing: during my hunt I came across some interesting Kickstarter campaigns that in the past year I've also forgotten).

I bought the little bugger and downloaded it right away when it released. No regrets ever since.

Rather than writing here that the game has nearly ALL the winning, standout elements of Dark Souls, Zelda, etc. in a beautiful hybrid form, I chose to tell a brief anecdote of how I got the game in the first place. I hunted for this little mofo. And it was worth the hunt.

The game is a paramount example of something so simple & synergetic that to call it a successful hybrid is both an oversimplified understatement and nothing short of praise. It's got its own identity and will pluck nostalgic chords in you all the same.

The mobs present difficulties and may even frustrate you; sometimes to the point where it feels like there is little payoff for your efforts (you can only gain experience and strength by trading in collectible "jigsaw puzzle-like" artifacts you find throughout the world). That's my only real gripe with the game. But the actual act of combat is worth the uphill battle. Oh, the 800 dash challenge is a ♥♥♥♥♥.

I am not one to denounce what may seem like ponderous difficulty, however. I love the heck out of Dark Souls. There was a time when health pickups were like water in a scorching hot desert (and then they patched it to make it easier than re-patched it to make it hard again); the combat gameplay (moveset, weapons, etc.) is honed and fine-tuned like the wonderful swords you wield; the boss fights fair (but sometimes a bit ridiculous, but only a bit).

Combined with a simple open world with tons of nooks and crannies to explore, and they hit all the right notes with this gmae. They've even made some major patches to the game to add 60 fps capability (which makes the game even MORE outstanding) and co-op.

And the soccer minigame is maddingly hilarious.

Battleborn really is a fun game.

Too bad nobody's playing it anymore, 2 months after release.

Overwatch is probably to blame.

Given the amount of time I played Street Fighter IV, MVC3 and Mortal Kombat (2011), this sequel meets the hype set by the 2.5D fighting games of the preceding generation. It doesn't reinvent the wheel like its predecessors, but it does raise a bar for the new generation. I love it! Just wish I wasn't so lacking in patience and focus right now, getting older in years and its hard for me to dedicate myself to a hardcore, in-depth fighting game that's more than just fan service. And that's what MKX is.

Just wished they had fleshed out the story a bit more (and that the tie-in comic didn't muck up some continuity) for a longer campaign; and focused on allowing us to play those characters which are clearly playable & UNIQUE, but locked as NPCs: Rain, Sindel, Kabal, Nightwolf, Enimra (Smoke), and maybe Stryker (his style/moveset seems to be incorporated into Sonya, Cassie and maybe Jackie). Didn't think too much of the Fujin, Li Mei, Sareena and Bo Rai Cho cameos either.

Anyway, off the top of my head:

PROS:
* The different styles for the characters (3 p/character) make the roster feel nearly thrice as large. Quality over quantity!
* EXCELLENT Krypt adventure: the best one yet and leagues ahead of the horrific Krypt in MK9. They could flesh this out into a full-fledged old-school dungeon crawler if they wanted.
* X-rays are more visceral than ever, as well as Fatalities being at their prettiest and nastiest, and despite the drop from 60fps to 30fps depending on your setup, they animate seemlessly from kombat. Brutalities are the best example from this: sometimes you'll finish a fight and all of a sudden there's gore flying everywhere straight from a special move or kombo.
* Additional small tweaks to the kombat make this game simultaneously deeper and faster than previous installments, and even more/less juggly (depending on the character selected);
-- tech throws (throw escapes) give more disparate frame advantages for the faster player
-- there are cancellable throws (you can burn a bar in the super meter to cancel your throw to set up combos)
-- air kombos are faster and more fluid (this is a deceptively simple statement: watch one of Ermac's styles and you'll see how air kombat has evolved a bit)
-- you can run like in MK3, and this allows for some really hard kombos (Cassie makes good use of running,for example)
-- you can't dash backward infinitely; your back dashing is also tied to an "stamina bar" that running makes use of. So no more playing keepaway.
* Tournament ladders are a lot of fun, more focused and manageable than Injustice's equivalent and MK9's 300-event challenge tower. Whenever I log on, a lot of the time I just do that.
* Every activity you do, except maybe the Krypt, contributes to the Faction War.
* KOTH mode in online kombat performs actually better than MK9's, which is good considering how laggy the former's was. It is still laggy, mind you.

CONS:
* Online kombat is still a pain in the butt to make happen, on any platform. Connecting to a player is like magic or requires a Ph.D in patience.
* Many players experience graphical and performance problems for the PC port (not me, however, I got lucky).
* The campaign was about 3-4 chapters too short, IMO, which is important considering how many new characters there, are, what actually happens, and how many different segmented subplots have to come together. Basically feels like it was rushing toward the end.

There really isn't much for me to complain about, actually.

8.5/10.

I love this game.

I started it Holiday 2012, probably just after Christmas, along with the Steam versions of Max Payne 3 and Dark Souls. Over the next few months, I sunk dozens upon dozens of hours into Dark Souls and more (when you include Wiki time and Xbox 360 horseplay), and horsed around in Max Payne 3, but of the three games I got two years ago, THIS is the one I felt most compelled to finish. (Still haven't -- and I only finished Dark Souls because I could, I was content to just pvp all the time). Alas, life gets in the way and after months of on-and-off play, I didn't really play FC3 again until a week ago.

I am plowing through FC3 now, because on my birthday, my sister got me FC4 for my Xbox One. Before I have yet another addition to my pileup of unfinished/unstarted games, I wanted to give the earlier installment all my attention. All the praise it got in fall 2012 is much deserved.

The story is great, the characters are a little flat but energetic enough to make believe in their fictional lives and personalities. I am given direction and guidance in an open-world game while being encouraged to go my own way. The gunplay and stylistic elements of combat are as good as any great shooter and the depth of the loot just enough to keep me interested in changing it up and getting new gear as I plunder Rook Island.

As for the islands themselves, they are a blast to explore. I never finished the original Far Cry when I played it on my PC about 9 years ago, but I remember that game and Crysis (which was also from Crytek, the original makers of FarCry) having some of the most immersive and interesting envrionments to explore in most of the first-person games I have EVER played (in FarCry I would go crouch/prone somewhere and just spy on the enemy camps, listening to their banter and figuring out ways to mess with them. Because of all the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ around I'm not really sure how the game started or where it was taking me to, lol. I have a similar case with Borderlands 1 and 2). This game accomplishes the same feat of wonder, danger and personality. The blood of adventure runs through its veins.

My only gripe is that Far Cry 3 reuses too many assets (NPC voices, filler dialogue, etc.) and that the enemy groups don't adapt to you so much as you makeing them dance like puppets. The multiplayer has some balance/depth issues as well but it works for what it is, and is fun and fast while being tactical to a degree.

For the record, I've never finished a Bethesda game either, so Far Cry 3 will get special honours as the first open-world immersive experience I've finished in the current modern era of gaming. Kudos, Ubisoft.

Going back to my speel in the beginning of this review, yes, I will drop FarCry 3 for a while, but I intend to keep playing this in the years to come. Rook Island is my hunting ground, and I want to hunt.

9/10 -- the game is timeless. Could've rated it higher if it had more juice to the inventory/loot and the NPC AI behaviour and assets, and the sidequests.