Recent reviews by Μολοχ

It's very fun for the first 40 hours or so, but then you feel like you've seen everything the game has to offer. Also, the scores and sales for your games don't have almost anything to do with how you play the game. It's all fixed. But you won't notice this until you've had your fun with the game.

Not for me. This game will have to settle for some Mexican Milhouse.

After playing Dracula (PS1) on my PS Vita, I figured such first-person 2D adventure games work better on PC. Though Dracula's PS1 version was filled with loading screens, my main grievance with it was how slow and clunky the cursor movement was in Dracula. So for Necronomicon I decided to head straight for the PC version.

For whatever reason my mouse buttons don't work here. I scoured the internet for a solution, but couldn't find a single other user make this complaint. It's not that the game is incompatible with my particular mouse or something. When I use my laptop's touchpad (with dedicated buttons), it still doesn't work. This is probably the Proton issue, and yet I couldn't find anyone using Proton or Wine complain about this either. So this alone makes the game unplayable. I was able to interact with stuff by pressing Enter, but apparently I need my second mouse button too, because I couldn't even start the bike in the first location. And of course the game doesn't have any settings, so key remapping is not an option.

I can't say much more about the game, since I obviously cannot play it here, but within my limited time with it I've noted several more problems. The mouse movement is very stiff and clunky, there are no subtitles, facial animations on characters is just horrendous, in fact they look pretty terrible in general.

Really wanted to give this one a proper try, but I suppose I'll have to go for that PS1 version, although if its cursor movement is as slow as in Dracula, I'm gonna have to pass on this title altogether.

I played through this game as a kid. At the time I was seriously impressed by the graphics and the direction the game took in comparison to the first game. The graphics were the reason I sought out this game back then. I simply hadn't seen anything of this level of quality in 2D. For 2006 the game looked drop-dead gorgeous. And as you started playing, the pacing and the way the story was conveyed had a lasting impression on me. By the time this impression wore off, I was already deeply invested in the RPG-system. However, I do remember the game becoming extremely tedious towards the end, at which point the only motivation I had was "I'm so close to the end, I must keep pushing forward". I had very fond memories of this game throughout all these years, even considering it one of my favorites. It's crazy to think this was 16 years ago. Meaning I've lived more AFTER I played this game, than BEFORE.

However, recently I decided to give it another try. In fact, two tries. Because on my first attempt, something just wasn't quite clicking, and then my computer broke (due to an unrelated issue), and there's no cloud saves. I didn't get too far anyway, so it wasn't a big deal. So I started playing again. And the first 3 missions went smooth, but I'd be lying if I said I was very invested. I mean the core gameplay is very similar to a multitude of other isometric shooters that you could play. The RPG-system has been slightly simplified compared to the original release, which I consider a mistake, because that system is the only thing that (gameplay-wise) separates this game from other examples of this genre. Some fights lasted longer than I would've wanted, but the game was still kinda throwing some interesting situations at you to keep things fresh, so I was down with it.

Then I got to mission 4, which started alright, but soon they threw a tanky enemy at me, whom I assumed to be a boss. He took about 40 or 50 grenades to kill, I didn't quite count, but it was a very long fight. I did remember that later these guys are supposed to become a regular enemy, so I figured for the first encounter it's pretty okay to have a bullet-sponge enemy. Then I got out of that tunnel into a slightly more open area, and oh my god, they threw 4 of these at me. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ FOUR! That's like 160-200 grenades. Not to mention there are still other enemies running around. It's not even that these guys are difficult to kill, they just stop the game flow dead. Luckily there is an easy way to cheese them, you just get on a higher platform that has very narrow entrances and a fence, and you lure them into a position where they keep trying to walk through the fence, thus they can't get you. So you can just stand there and shoot 200 grenades at them. But this is really not my idea of fun.

And again, I do remember that the 13-year-old me found the latter areas of the game tedious and more difficult. Now the 27-year-old me is finding even the early areas tedious. I can really hardly imagine the game becomes better after this. I'm pretty sure at best it's gonna be like the first 3 missions, and at worst it's gonna be much worse than mission 4. Because a 13-year-old me didn't understand much about games and had a ton of free time. But a 27-year-old me cannot fathom why developers would put 4 of these bullet sponges in one location. This indicates incompetence that will likely manifest again later on. A 27-year-old me has played many games, and wants to play many more. And I just don't have time for this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

However, I want to point out that this game is not like the worst game you could ever play. Had it not had mostly positive reviews, I would've probably given it a positive one too. But I see that most of those view the game through rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia. Some even calling it amazing. It's not. It's a very flawed game. I understand the nostalgia, I had it too (though by now it's surely destroyed). And like I said, I can see myself enjoying this game, if I could overlook the flaws. But at this point I can't. The core gameplay is just not exciting enough for me, the RPG-system isn't as impressive as it used to be, the graphics have grown dated, the soundtrack I never really liked (it's fine but not my cup of tea), and the story is really very generic. There are just no redeeming qualities to keep me playing this game. It is very likely that I will attempt it again in the future, but I really doubt I will ever play it to completion again.

It's been almost 9 years since the game came out, and the Caucasus and Siberia are still a mess. To make things worse, they keep updating this old-ass game and breaking every mod that attempted to fix these and other issues. Look, Paradox, if you're not gonna fix these regions, just leave this game alone and make EU5 already. How little respect must you have for your fans, who put their free time and effort into fixing your ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, only so that you could continuously spit in their face by releasing an update after an update negating all that time and effort? Why should fans be the ones fixing such obvious problems anyway? We have our own jobs and need to manage our own lives. Your developers are being PAID to do this, and yet you still do nothing. But no, of course, you have to release another ♥♥♥♥-ton of overpriced DLCs and content packs, overhauling already decent-looking regions in Europe and selling us a few new unit models to add "flavor". This is clearly more important than presenting ethnic minorities (who're already struggling with representation) from an authentic historical perspective, rather than a colonial eurocentric one.

A lot of people think Paradox are just ignorant. They keep sending "proposals" on the forum, hoping the almighty developers would grant us the privilege of taking a look at something we, mere mortals, dared to suggest. They don't ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ need your proposals. The decisions to misrepresent the Caucasus and Siberia were intentional. There is no way an adult man would google 19th-century Caucasus and then assume for some reason that Gazikumukh took control of most of the region. Or look up the ethnic map and assume there were only four cultures there: Circassian, Dagestani, Georgian and Azerbaijani. No, these are conscious decisions that they made. They gave Europe like a million provinces for each flavor of Germanic dialect, but the Caucasus, being way more culturally diverse, gets a few large provinces and just 4 cultures. Because ♥♥♥♥ ethnic minorities, right? Let's just present all of Siberia, Pontic Steppe and the Caucasus from the Russian perspective, because Russia is so much more important.

I have spoken out many times on the forums, making my own proposals. I've worked on three mods, tackling the Caucasus and Siberia, sacrificing my valuable time. I've mentioned these issues in many comments that I've come across in recent years. And yet to this day I am being ignored, and so do many other people that demand these changes. I am sick and tired of this. We have invested so much money into this game with all its DLCs (even ♥♥♥♥♥♥ ones like that rock/metal music pack, because they bundle this ♥♥♥♥ with other music packs), and the devs pay us no attention. I will not change this review to a positive one until I am heard.

1) Discover every object on the screen that makes your mouse cursor change.
2) Click on every such object until you randomly figure out the correct order.
3) Move to the next screen.

I really enjoyed the artstyle in this game. And the attacks are quite crunchy and satisfying. I guess also it seems polished enough (as in, it's not broken/unfinished). These are the only good things I can say about this game.

This game is like if Diablo lacked any meaningful character progression and exploration elements. Which basically means: all you do is progress through linear levels and click on enemies to death. There is no map, not that you would need one. There are only three skill slots, so you can forget about any complexity in combat. As you upgrade, you have no stats to upgrade, only skills, and there are very few of them. You are forced to upgrade the existing skills before you unlock new ones. They all seem to have only 3 levels. All the armor you pick up looks more or less the same, they're mostly color swaps. Honestly, I can barely understand why this would even qualify as an ARPG. Devil May Cry 3 and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 have more RPG elements than this game, and they're considered hack-n-slash action games.

I mean, the things that this game does have, it executes relatively well. If you just wanna click on things and look at nice graphics, it accomplishes that. But I really see no reason to play this, when there are much better games in this genre that give you this and more.

Not a bad game, but I would only recommend it to those who have played nearly every other good FPS out there and are hungry for something else.

The game invariably draws comparisons to FEAR, and in this regard, unfortunately, it comes off as significantly inferior. Yes, compared to FEAR it has 3 time abilities: slow-down, stop and reverse, while FEAR only has one. But in practice only the slow-down ability matters. The stop ability draws too much energy from you, while providing very little advantage over slow-down, so in combat ends up being almost useless. The only times it becomes necessary is during puzzles (which personally I hated doing, they're pretty basic and boring). Same with the reverse ability, which I don't think I've ever used once.

Another point where the game differs from FEAR is its levels. FEAR was often criticized for claustrophobic and visually monotonous levels, while this game is the exact opposite. Most of the time the levels are relatively open (for a linear game) and look beautiful. I mean, it's no Crysis, but it's not Call of Duty either. However, this is ruined by a pretty terrible level-design. The game creates scenarios where you often have to rely on cover, as you would in a Call of Duty. Because even with your powers, as soon as the slow-down wears off, you can get killed in a second. Which makes it somewhat engaging in the sense that you have to think how and when to rush out and where and when to hide. But often the game throws you into these big and open locations with little cover and enemies ambushing you from all sides.

If you do manage to find a good cover, you will realize that the AI also fares unfavorably in comparison to FEAR. I noticed that, when they can't surround you, and you're just hiding in a cover, they'll just keep sending a soldier after soldier into the grinder. You don't have to come out. However, it does take them a long time to do so, so you'd likely get bored of that anyway.

Finally, kinesthetics and hit-detection could also be improved. Often it is difficult to say whether the enemy is dead or not. The shotgun is nearly useless unless you shoot it point-blank. One time I head-shotted the enemy twice with a shotgun from a couple of meters distance, and he somehow survived. This is exacerbated by the fact they wear helmets, which can be knocked off, as well as weapons you can shoot out of their hands. The latter is a cool mechanic, but the game doesn't really do much with it. One time I decided to intentionally shoot a guy's gun out of his hands and see what he will do. He just immediately picked it up, so I was forced to kill him anyway.

All that being said, it is still a fun shooter in its own right. The story is kinda ridiculous and boring, but the game is still worth checking if you're looking for something FEAR-like. However, considering the pricing, I can hardly imagine who would find this game worth the money. Activision, being the scumbags they are, price this as a new game and never discount it above 50%. ♥♥♥♥ Activision.

First of all, why does this game run in Windowed mode only and there's no settings screen? I thought this was gonna unlock later (which in itself to be pretty stupid), but no, it's just not there at all.

When I first heard about this game, which was years ago, it was presented as a game that explore the history of RPGs. I got excited about the concept. Now that I've finally played it, I realize that it's not a concept as much as a simple gimmick. In this game you discover chests which include new features. It makes the game pretty addictive, because you're always curious to see what it's gonna morph into. But the sad truth is that the actual gameplay is painfully boring and frustrating. Beyond this chase of new features, there's nothing in the game to keep you invested. Besides, sometimes instead of a new feature, you get just a path unlocked or some ♥♥♥♥ like that. Or sometimes you will unlock a feature that nobody ever liked. For example, a maze. Thank you so much for reminding of this horrible abomination of level design that somehow is a feature in many games. So I found myself moving forward just to escape the present at every moment of time.

Speaking of the history of RPGs, I thought the game was gonna explore RPGs in general, not just the Japanese ones. I mean, yeah, I can see one screenshot there that resembles a primitive version of Diablo, but I couldn't get to that in the game. I kinda hate JRPGs, and I thought this was gonna have a healthy dose of Western RPG influence, but this was apparently developed by some weebs who only ever played Final Fantasy and Zelda. But as I was waiting for the game to introduce some homage to Western RPGs, I kinda realized that I could just go and play those actual games. Because this game kinda sucks in comparison anyway. Even if I wanted to play a JRPG, why not just go play the actual Final Fantasy? Beyond the homage, there's no good gameplay here. It is a pale imitation of the games it's trying to pay homage to. RPGs are supposed to provide a lot of choice and huge locations for exploration, this game is extremely linear with terrible level-design and awfully huge hitboxes. On top of that it has a boring story and an annoyingly repetitive soundtrack.

Really wish I played it right after I bought it, so I could refund this piece of crap.

If I wanted to play Prince of Persia with simplified combat, lack of time-controlling mechanics and less responsive controls, I'd just launch Prince of Persia and play it like an idiot.