Recent reviews by ɠųąཞɖıąŋ ąŋɠɛƖ!

(mini-review.)

Fantastic graphics. Great atmosphere. Story is pretty obvious but polished. Lousy intro cut scene. Framerate fluctuates wildly between great (90 fps 4K Ultra) and barely playable (45 fps). Controls blow (especially for the motorcycle), with steering suffering the most. UI is below average. None of this matters because the game is unstable, superheats your GPU to that of a supernova and it crashed for me more than a few times in a one hour period (clean Windows install, fresh AMD drivers). Couple this with the spyware that is installed on your system via DRM and this game is a pure disaster.

Refunding this game. Too many console games are un-optimized. 30 dollars is too much money for a title that crashes, runs poorly and spies on you to boot.

Not worth the time. You'll find better games elsewhere.

6.5/10.

Back4Blood (B4B) was my hail mary successor to Left 4 Dead 2, one of my favorite multiplayer games of all time. The game was my great hope after Dead by Daylight, Hunt, GTFO, Last Year, F13 and other titles like it stumbled and failed. It's painfully evident, however, that all the reddit complaints were spot on and that the existing Turtle Rock team is missing key developers/designers that contributed to the wonderful success of the predecessors. B4B is *not* L4D 2. If anyone tells you that it is, walk away and don't bother arguing with them because they are actively lying to you and trying to convince you of a falsehood. B4B is missing most of the components that made L4D 2 a great title. The game is a functional, yet soulless and content-dearth shadow of its spiritual successor.

B4B does have some excellent elements. The game is reasonably attractive, reasonably optimized and I was able to run it at 4K High at 60 fps. FSR implementation is mediocre with significant jutter or tearing at times (didn't use it). The game has decent sound effects, music is competent if uninspired (tired of that country/cajun zombie musical undertones already!) and environments vary from absolutely gorgeous to merely functional to laughably underdeveloped. Character models are competent but only seem to be better textured versions of L4D 2's. The absolute star of this show is the gunplay which feels great with good precision, fluid responsiveness and excellent weapon communication.

Weapon variety is reasonable. A myriad of weapon upgrades exist and the weapons feel punchy and sound good. The bonuses end there however. Despite a bombardment of complaints on steam and reddit, mods are still impossible to remove off of weapons. You can't collect upgraded weapons and bring them into games with you, resulting in RNG controlling what kind of tools you employ. In fact, RNG is probably one of the biggest scourges of the game, relegating skill to the back seat during gameplay. In L4D 2, leveling a charger, crowning a witch, deadstopping a hunter all relied on personal control, reflexes and skill. Tactics determine how successful your team handles a precarious situation. Physics matter as charges, smokes and environmental effects could push you off of a map.

In B4B, cards abstract all these abilities within tiny, individually irrelevant selections that make "builds" dependent less on skill and more on meta choices before the game even begins. Moreover, like all card gamers can attest, the cards and builds themselves are not even remotely balanced with speed builds, melee builds and medic builds being king and all other builds (grenade, crouch/LMG, et al.) being substantially less useful or effective. Worse is that cards are unlocked through progressively harder and harder bouts of gameplay, relegating players to poor builds/decks unless they pour dozens upon dozens of hours of rote, repetitive game time replaying areas over and over. The carrot for replaying these maps again and again? You get gaudy, childish weapon skins and shirt-color swap character skins for replaying a map 100 times. The entire reward/grind mechanic is an absolute joke.

Some might argue that L4D 2 didn't have a carrot at all but that isn't true. L4D 2 had multiplayer against human adversaries that served as a natural sweetener and motivation to play your best. L4D 2 was also ridiculously moddable, resulting in a plethora campaigns, game modes and additions. B4B is mod-unfriendly and the game's mod community, consequently is stillborn on release, requiring players to be wholly dependent on the minimal game content and a developer-admitted slow drip of future maps/content. The maps/campaigns themselves are a mixed bag, with ACT 1 feeling most like L4D 2, with the riverboat climax feeling very reminiscent of prior titles. Some other maps/campaigns, like "ACT 4" which consists of one protracted fight against a giant, monstrous target is boring at best after the first playthrough.

Most unforgiving, Turtle Rock made the game absurdly unfair and difficult. I've amassed over 6000 hours in L4D 2, vanquished some of the most skilled personalities, beaten every conceivable campaign, modded or otherwise, on the highest difficulties, and even blasted through maps with self-imposed limitations or restrictions. B4B isn't "difficult". The game is unfair. The game is wholly dependent on RNG. If you spawn few or insipid corruption cards, veteran mode can be relatively easy. On the other hand, if you pop 8-10 corruption cards with large combinations of armored, caustic or one-hit enemies (Hag) and you get hit at the wrong time time with half a dozen mutations, you simply lose. Rushing helps with Nightmare mode but the game is painfully boring at that point and becomes a slot machine.

I had beaten the beta on Nightmare and Turtle Rock decided to increase the game's difficulty on release and then, again, via an update less than a month ago. Despite complaints about game unfairness, Turtle Rock's tone deaf reply demonstrates that they're interested in stretching out their anorexic content by inducing players to play the same map over and over 100 plus times. That's not good gameplay, nor a substitute for actual content. Let's be clear, I don't think B4B is impossible to beat. Not even close. But I have way too many good games on my steam list to spend 200 hours replaying the same map in B4B, hoping to pop the right corruption card payload to get an achievement. This absurd difficulty in the second half of veteran and nightmare modes can be forgiven if B4B actually had a campaign multiplayer mode. Despite a legion of cries on steam and reddit, Turtle Rock defiantly stuck to their guns and declined *ever* releasing a campaign versus update. Instead we're stuck with an uninspired, underplayed horde versus mode that took off like a lead balloon.

Back 4 Blood can be fun in recruit and, in short bursts, in veteran. The game can be successful with friends. This game isn't a keeper however and has almost no legs. I'm sure the likely suspect fanboys will crawl out from under their rocks to defend this game to the death but anyone with a clue can see that Back 4 Blood has almost slid out of the top 100 steam games in a scant month of release.

This game is deader than its ridden. Provisional recommendation if you can pick it up at half price and play it with friends, otherwise, avoid it.

Worth a look.

7/10.

(mini-review).

Core i7 8700. 32 GB of RAM. Overclocked Radeon VII. Thunderbolt-connected nVME SSD. I've run Doom/Doom Eternal at 4K Ultra 60 fps. Resident Evil 2, 3 and Village at 4K Ultra 60 fps. Devil May Cry 5 at 4K Ultra 60 fps. Division 2 at 4K High 60 fps. Forza Horizon 4 at 4K Ultra 60 fps. Metro Exodus at 4K Ultra 60 fps. GTA V at 4K Ultra 60 fps. Apex Legends at 4K Ultra 60 fps.

That part where you get to Halo Infinite and I load the game: 4K Ultra. 33 fps. Lower settings to 1080p Low. 35 fps. No difference. 4.8 GB of 16 GB HBM2 VRAM used. Sounds about right with trash code like this. Reinstall Windows. Update to newest drivers. Try again. IDENTICAL results. All for a game that seems like it's stuck in a time capsule of mid-2000s game play. Oh, and the monetization is fun too. Don't forget that game pad users have broken auto-aim.

Horribly optimized amateur hour game that was delayed a year. You have infinite money, Microsoft, how hard was it to come and take Valve's CSGO lunch money with a new, interesting, free title?

Avoid this game.

3.5/10.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a western-themed, 3rd person, open world shooter based on the game play paradigm minted by the Grand Theft Auto series. The game is exceptionally well crafted and oozes AAA quality across the board. The game, created by Rockstar, mimics GTA V's expansive campaign single player philosophy, coupled with an RDR2 online multiplayer component. The game is a large, storage-guzzling title, with steep system requirements that will make even cutting edge systems struggle with frame rates.

The game's graphics are achingly beautiful, with breathtaking vistas and an awe inspiring variety of environments. Horseback riding is spot-on and expertly rendered. The world is huge. Animations are great and very little polygonal clipping is evidenced. The game drips richness and feels very polished in game play controls. Music score and sound effects are professionally realized and fit the game perfectly. Voice acting vacillates between excellent and lacking. The game is reasonably well built and did not crash for me at all, although I did have to run the game at 1440p, ultra, instead of 4K, ultra, for what seems no reason, compared to other games.

The story is professionally realized but extremely slow, especially in pacing/development. The first 12-14 hours are filled with fetch quests and pointless introductions. In this way, the game feels almost like a low-end MMO, with a lot of filler. RDR2 feels like Rockstar decided to focus all their talent and resources into graphics, world-building and game control and ignored plotting and game play design in wholesale. The carrots provided in single player modes, are few and far between and not nearly as rewarding as in Grand Theft Auto V. There are fewer avenues for resource investment than its contemporary alternative.

Multiplayer is a pure disaster. The game is full of world exploration and customization but the game proffers rewards glacially and requires grinding that makes GTA V look like a busted pinata. The game is infested with hackers, whose sole purpose of playing focuses on trolling/griefing other players. In my estimated 14 hours online, I ran into 5 hacking aggressors. I only ran into 12 friendly/neutral/non-hacking players. During one specific instance, a specific hacker would lasso opponents hundreds of yards away, often through buildings, sheds, barns and the like.

RDR2 is a polished, fun game but only for the extremely patient, with exceptional amounts of time. The multiplayer component is a complete waste and should be avoided. Quite tellingly, I found myself riding around, exploring the world and enjoying western living, rather than forwarding the insipid story.

Recommended for some audiences.

Worth a look.

7/10.

Apex is a raucous, colorful and punchy first person shooter that scratches many itches at once. It has almost perfect weapon-play and the movement is fluid, intuitive and sublime. The game feels like a Quake 4/Warzone lovechild that competes effectively in a myriad of battle royale categories. From a gameplay perspective, Apex has interesting powers and a host of nuanced strategies that separate good players from great ones. The game is reasonably well optimized and, best of all, Apex is free, requiring absolutely no financial investment whatsoever.

The game offers a variety of modes, including 2 and 3-man battle royale, 3v3 team VS, as well as other mode options. The game sells packs that can contain rare/collectible cosmetics and an optional battlepass system that accelerates a player's opportunity and ability score sweet cosmetic loot. Character skins, weapon skins, emotes, animations and quips abound as potential cosmetic upgrades. Banners, character avatars and tracking tags add just another overwhelming layer of customizability. Characters look cool and the maps have a variety of interesting locales and battlegrounds.

On the surface, the game seems like it would be one of the greatest shooters of all time. However, despite its prowess in a variety of areas, Apex does have several key flaws. For starters, Apex wasn't always perfectly optimized. Upon release, the game actually chugged on mobility systems and routinely prejudiced against AMD-graphics card based systems. Additionally, despite the game's tremendous weapon and character variety, some weapons and character classes are obviously superior and favored to others. Specifically, newer classes don't just move slightly faster or instead, outright fly or flat-out see through walls.

This character class imbalance has come to a head where Respawn, loathe as they are to enact immediate nerfs, altered a new character within a scant month of release. Not only are powers wildly imbalanced between classes but weapons themselves are not balanced either, with many weapons obviously inferior to others (Mozambique anyone?). Despite releasing data that underscores weapon imbalance, Respawn continues to offer some of these inferior weapons on the field, knowing that players that find that weapon will be a substantial disadvantage.

Despite the healthy community size on both Origin and Steam, the game also lacks a very vocal or tight-knit community, with many teammates representing nothing but mute cardboard cutouts until the next match. I suppose one could argue that teams communicate on Discord. This is not a problem endemic to other multiplayer games, like Left 4 Dead, however.
The game itself isn't fantastically deep and because it stresses accuracy and split-second reaction time above all else, hacking is still a problem in the game almost 3 years after release.

During the title's first four months, Respawn banned almost 3% of their population for open cheating/hacking. Most of the banned cheaters/hackers were employing obvious speed/aimbot scripts. Presuming that many orders of magnitude of hackers exist surreptitiously cheating un-apprehended (via bound aimbots or wallhacks), it only stands to reason that the game has a significant portion of the community engaging in cheating. If 6-10% of gamers are cheating in a match at any given point in time, that would mean 2-3 teams out of 20 in the battle royale are employing vastly unfair tools to win.

I personally encountered cheating in the game on various occasions. While not common, when you are killed by a cheater, the game experience suffers. Finally, Respawn has become more and more stingy with its rewards, penalizing non-paying players by preventing them from earning better costmetics. The amount of grind to earn legendary loot has become so impossibly difficult that only the most rabid pachinko addicts will have the wherewithal to force their way through the astronomical number of games necessary to fetch any cool loot. Combine this with a service-oriented game where nothing is owned, and the constant chase towards loot becomes a dour experience after a while.

Apex isn't a bad game and with 250 hours on Origin and over 60 hours on Steam, I've certainly gotten my $20 worth. That said, the game has some key flaws that feel almost mobile-like in their philosophy. I recommend Apex for people with limited funds, powerful systems and lots of free time. Apex is a great game for FPS fans but I would stress that gamers without a crew of friends should avoid this often unrewarding and discriminatory affair in favor of a more forgiving title.

Recommended.

8/10.

Battlesector is a faithful re-imagining of Warhammer 40K tabletop. The game is a turn-based strategy (TBS) game in the same vein as XCOM, Sanctus Reach, Armageddon, Deathwatch or Panzer General. The game runs atop the Unity graphics engine and has beautiful, if albeit poorly performing/optimized visuals. Hopefully BlackLab will help AMD users which are still suffering through lousy graphics performance (they're focusing on Nvidia users first due to overheating issues). The gameplay is fantastic with rich tactical consequences. The voice acting, music and plot are all *excellent*. The campaign is fulfilling and will require the average user between 18-24 hours to complete.

However, the game isn't all roses and it has quite a few flaws. While the game presents phenomenal foundational potential for future expansions/updates, the current release has minimal content, with only two factions: Blood Angels & Tyranids. Both factions lack many well-known units and popular characters/units. While the game has the Adepta Sororitas as a partial faction class, the SIsters of Battle are only usable in the campaign. There are no morale components, complex environmental destructibility, veterancy for units that survive missions (beyond some seal icons in the army screen) and the game only has one simplistic multiplayer mode in skirmish (VS).

Battlesector desperately needs more modes (both VS and campaign coop), as well as veterancy/various skins/army painters, which encourage army customization. While I'll be buying the new faction/campaign DLCs, the game's excrutiating lack of content means that BlackLab *must* also show good will by releasing more content post haste. It also needs a real modding community to hit critical mass.

The game is a joy for Warhammer 40K fans. Let's hope this takes off.

Recommended.

***I amended the review after pumping 5 hours into the new DLC. It's an overtuned car wreck and it absolutely sullies the memory of this title.***

7.5/10.

RE: Village is an exquisite example of what a true AAA title is. The game is meaty, masterfully executed and expertly assembled. It is, to date, one of the top examples of what Resident Evil has to offer and why the franchise is so relevant, even to this day. The game is satisfying and leaves you wanting more. Succinctly, the game borrows the best elements of Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil 7 and merges them into an excellent first person shooting experience.

Aesthetically, RE: VIII has nigh-photo-realistic graphics that elicit dropped jaw after dropped jaw. Normally, excellent graphics are hobbled or tempered by poor character/environmental design but, in the case of RE: VIII, the game's ambiance and atmosphere take center stage, creating a vibrant and singular world vision. Unlike so many other beautiful games, based on Unreal Engine 4 and CryEngine, which run dog slow and exhibit a litany of technical issues, RE: VIII is not only easily one of the most beautiful games on the market but also one of the best performing.

RE: VIII ran at locked 4K, Ultra settings on my Radeon VII (make sure you have plenty of VRAM, as it needs at least 13 GB) and demonstrated excellent frame consistency and frame times. Character models are especially good, with Alcina, Mia, Chris, and Miranda showcasing uncannily spectacular levels of realism. The game was stable, didn't crash, exhibited minimal issues/slow downs and did so running graphical circles around games with far more fanfare. The soundtrack, voice acting and sound effects were all excellent.

Shooting play is good. It may not be the best shooting play you've ever experienced but it is certainly responsive, communicative and fluid. Most weapons feel really good and the animations/sounds are evocative. The inventory system works. Melee and blocking add a layer of needed complexity. Upgrades, collectibles and secrets abound that reward careful and exhaustive play throughs. The lore is substantially improved over many other nonsensical iterations.

The game is supposed to present a Romanian and classical interpretation of the Resident Evil monster stable and it all works beautifully. The story has some twists and turns and while you won't experience any surprises compared to, say, Bioshock, the game still works hard to keep the player invested and attentive. The story ending is satisfying and ties up most loose ends well. Unlike Resident Evil 3, RE: VIII seems to be crafted with purposeful intent and care.

For those players that don't want to replay the entire 20-22 hour campaign again, hunting for hidden goodies, there is the multiplayer component which will be unlocked by the end of the summer in 2021. The mode is sure to add some replayability but, to be clear, the single player campaign for RE: VIII is worthy of the price of admission purely on its own.

What a treat. Yes, the game isn't as terrifying as Resident Evil 7 (although it still has scares and panic). No, the game isn't the most accessible title of the franchise. Yes, it's a shooter. It's also the best single player game of the year, bar none.

Highest possible recommendation.

9.5/10.

(mini-review).

The good?
Heat has serviceable graphics with a unique Miami-soaked identity. Good music. Decent sound effects. The story is the usual corny but charming nonsense. The info graphics are pretty and the colorful piñata on wheels look of the cars can be seductive in small doses. The Penelope Cruz facsimile in the trailer is kinda fun, I guess.

The Bad?
The game fails in gameplay miserably. The physics are atrocious with drift-happy handling. The cars are feather-light quandaries that simultaneously lack momentum during impacts (crashes are a huge joke). The game is certainly stingy with winnings. The game humps the original rubber banding cheating of over 20 years of other Need for Speed games. Watch yourself catch vehicles as they slow to a trot if they get too far ahead. Watch yourself lose leads as cars speed to 450 (literally) mph on straight-a-ways. Cop chases sound fun until you realize that the AI has telepathic tracking and that you can't ever just drive around without incurring their wrath/attention. Oh and, surprisingly, Heat's performance sucks. On a system that runs RE:Village at 4K, High-Ultra at 60 fps, I'm barely getting 30 fps on a 2 year title, on max settings.

Heat sounds like fun but trust me, if you play this game it will only get you burned.

Refund pending.

Not worth the time. You'll find better games elsewhere.

5/10.

(mini-review).

A charming, survival-based zombie horror game, set in an expansive world, comprised of multiple large areas. Exploration is the core of the game, where an enormous amount of loot, upgrades and vehicles abound. The allure of building your own unique community/base is strong. The game is competently produced with adequate graphics/animations, serviceable music, solid combat and well-executed sound effects. The zombies are reasonably challenging and fearsome, with special zombie types adding some spice to the pot, so to speak.

Blood plague zombies are supposed to add the dread of infection to the game but the distinction actually dilutes the tension. The game is relatively poorly optimized, with its moderate graphics soaking up substantial graphics horsepower. Multiplayer is fun and the collectibles/upgrades are sure to keep some gamers enthralled for a long while. However, the lack of a real plot, a missing legitimate end-game and the frenetic game's push impelling you ever-forward do much to detract from the overall fun.

Totally worthwhile if played with friends. Looking forward to the third.
Buy on discount/sale.

Recommended.

8/10.

Bottom line, Forza Horizon 4 is one of the greatest arcade, open-world racing games of all time...if you can run it. It has sublime graphics, bolstered by a peppy and fun soundtrack, a gaggle of modes, all nested within a massive and lovingly crafted world. I played the game for almost 75 hours on Windows 10 and enjoyed it thoroughly. The game is extremely optimized and I was running the title at 4K, Ultra @ 60 fps, with no issues.

When I moved to Windows Server 2019/Windows 10 LTSC (for work), the Microsoft Store version of the game stopped working due to a reliance on the Microsoft Store software (which is impossible to add, even with PowerShell). I was overjoyed to find out the game was coming to Steam. To date, the Steam Store page lists Windows 1703 as a requirement for Forza Horizon 4. Because Windows 10, Windows LTSC and Windows Server 2019 all share the same codebase versions (including kernel versions), I was hoping to be able to run the game.

Despite running other titles like GTA V, Red Dead Redemption 2, Gears of War 4 and 5, State of Decay 2, Metro Exodus, Resident Evil 2, 3 and Village, Doom 2016, Doom Eternal, Warhammer 40,000 BattleSector, Apex Legends, Call of Duty Warzone, Back 4 Blood and dozens of other titles, this game won't run...at all. The game relies on the Windows Store for all of its updates, achievements and ID mechanics, despite having access to Steam's own platform. All this junk runs in the background, resulting in this game running between 5-10 fps slower than the Widows Store version (verified on Youtube).

Now, almost a year later, the developers, Playground Games, and the porting team both have stayed quiet on that reliance on the Windows Store. That reliance is crucial because it makes the game almost impossible to run on Valve's Mac CrossOver compatibility layer for Mac Steam, as well as Valve's SteamOS/Linux Proton compatibility layer for Linux Steam as well(you know, the same technology used on the Steam Deck! No one uses Linux! /s). With no news from the developers, nor the support teams on Steam, the forums are riddled with replies by technical troglodytes/trolls that caustically make themselves nuisances to anyone that challenges the technical inadequacy of the port.

Bottom line, Forza Horizon 4 won't work for 10% of the PC population, due to a simple script that they refuse to pump a few man hours into, in order to fix. They also refuse to address the issue. What they don't refuse to do, is regulate posters on their forums that ask tough questions. They also don't refuse to stop the the borderline criminal faulty advertisement on their Steam Store page where the game is misrepresented as running on Windows installations that it simply will never run on.

If you're a Windows 10 user playing a game on a self-built system and you like racing games, it might be worth your time. However, lots of racing games are excellent examples of the genre, and I don't believe that Playground/Microsoft should be rewarded for this shameful behavior. Focus your attentions elsewhere. If you're a Server, Windows 10 LTSC, Windows 8, Windows 7, Mac or Linux user, avoid this game like the plague. The port job is done by amateurs and the community is infested with tools that will only waste your time.

Avoid this game, especially on Steam.

2/10 (I didn't rate it lower because I only rate OS/data-damaging games with a 1 or less).

***Addendum***

I have a new rig and I've been able to play the game @ 144 Hz. The game is as good as I remember and, had the developer/porting company acted honorably, I'd probably rate it a 9.5, but my review won't change since they never updated their system requirements. The title has been removed from Steam and they never corrected their scam lies up until its last day on the platform.

***Addendum***