Recent reviews by braindance

The Lord of the Rings fans turned out to be incredibly lucky, perhaps the most lucky of any fandom, especially any book fandom. Their source material got both a sublime movie adaptation, LOTR trilogy being without exaggeration some of the best movies in history, and likely THE best movie adaptation in history of cinema. And then they also get such a great video game adaptation??

True labor of love, still going strong since 2007, with dedicated developers, fair F2P model and one of the best communities/player-bases I've encountered. I've yet to see any toxicity, World Chat is hilarious and friendly and people are jumping at the opportunity to help newcomers - every time I ask a question in World Chat I get multiple PMs with answers and offers of assistance.

The game world itself is HUGE, prepare to be astonished by the sheer size of it - and it keeps growing with updates! A completionist paradise, with optional Deeds and collectible items, and tons of content for any kind of player. A breath of 2007 air in our world full of enshittification and predatory F2P practices. Not sure how many more years the game will be active (doesn't look to be dying whatsoever, so far), but I highly recommend you hurry to experience this while it lasts. Regardless if you plan to be social, play solo or bring friends - this is the most solo/duo friendly MMO I know, with vast majority of the content scaling to party size, level and difficulty.

Even if you're not a LOTR fan, it is a solid high quality game, perfected through the years by developers who care about their child, and it shows.

- best gunplay I've ever encountered in any FPS game
- top quality visuals - CryEngine, weather effects, true labor of love weapon skins
- absolutely sublime atmosphere - leave it to Germans to capture American Gothic style better than any American game does
- the actual best sound design on the market - true 3D, every sound is generated by real objects present in the map, music you want to keep listening to even out of the game
- devs who care about the game, update it regularly with events and new content, and if you ever listen to the dev stream it is very obvious that they take balancing very seriously and there's lots of consideration behind every change
- and most of all - unique and fun gameplay, I don't think there's anything similar available on the market - so if you haven't even tried this one, you're objectively missing out

Still the best CCG I've ever played. The fact the Valve pulled the plug on it is a tragedy, but sadly hating on it was all the hype of winter 2019, and people love to hate. Economy was its downfall (apparently), and even though developers added enough ways for obtain cards for free (or even play with whole deck without buying it) to never have to pay a cent, the hate hype could not be stopped, nobody cared about the quality of gameplay (which is SUBLIME and absolutely unique), or the polish, or potential. Memes and drama are where it's at, people love mocking AAA titles and companies, and when they get a rare chance to do it, you can be sure they will milk it to the max.
Even having to wait a while for matchmaking, I still keep coming back to it, nothing can replace the sheer satisfaction of winning a complex game against a good opponent in this game. Maybe now that it's free, more people will try it and form some playerbase for Valve to give it another chance? Probably not.
But one can hope, right?

A modern update on a gaming staple that achieved a cult following (rightfully so). A game with a huge skill ceiling, yet fun even at the beginner level - in-built matchmaking tries to provide a fair challenge for any skill group, but other options are also available, like community servers and 3rd party matchmaking services.
Not only fun to play, but fun to watch as well, completely viable as an esport, and in fact one of the classic esport titles that started it all. Even a new player will be able to understand what's going on in a match if they decide to watch a tournament.
Recommended to play with a group of friends to get the best out of gameplay (communication and team play is vital and makes the game what it is).
Variety of game modes and mods ensure that the game stays fresh even if you are not interested in competitive play at the moment.
Microtransactions are purely cosmetical and gameplay-wise zero investment is on par with heavy investment.
Cheating is an inevitable plague for a game this popular, but the developer (Valve) has been doing some great work combating it through Overwatch (volunteer tribunal that reviews suspicious cases) and VACnet (a fascinating automated system based on machine-learning), with visibly succesful results.
Community is pretty toxic, but that is expected in modern multiplayer games and is definitely not the worst I've seen. Often you get a very pleasant team that is fun to play with, even when losing the game.
All in all, the game has some problems, but the pros outweigh the cons by far.
Also, the game is a true labor of love, developers still update the game regularly, with not just balance patches but actual new content and fun modes.
Definitely recommended.

This game has a lot more to it than the poorly done trailer shows. It doesn't take much time to learn to play it, but you can always tell an experienced player from a rookie, because it actually takes some skill and creativity, plus it has a variety of difficulties to suit any player, from casual gamer to hardcore FPS fan. Can be fun both with full team of friends and with only one friend, or even solo - and yes, even the hardest difficulty is doable solo, so don't be discouraged if you don't have 5 friends to play with and don't want to play with random people.

There is no other game like this. Not even Max Payne 2 can offer such an authentic film noir atmosphere. If you haven't played Max Payne yet, you're definitely missing out.