Recent reviews by johnny.killstring

I really wanted this to be good. And there are good parts, no doubt; the flow of matches is a lot of fun. But they added loot boxes for character creation - you can't spend real money on them yet, but it certainly feels like a Trojan Horse that makes the game less fun - and MyPlayer is an unfun string of loading screens.

And promos are dreadful.

So yeah, this is probably good for couch multiplayer, otherwise I can't in good conscience reccomend it.

I've owned every NBA 2K game thus far... which makes me feel old, but that's besides the point. The point, as it were, is whether or not I enjoy this game, and think it might be worth someone else's time.

For my part, I typically play GM mode, with some dabbling in MyPlayer to see if the story hooks me (the only one that did it for me was 2K16's Spike Lee Joint - the rest of the MyPlayer stories never held my interest), and that's my jam. I don't play online, street mode, MyTeam, whatever; not really my thing. Haven't done multiplayer of any sort since I graduated university.

I'm only 9ish hours in, but I've been quite happy with the game.

My roomates once asked if there was any basketball in my basketball game, to which I replied that I approach the series like a tactical RPG; I'm leveling up my squad right now. Deck-building, if you will. The games proper are like the battles in an RPG, and a place to test out my builds. I do also enjoy the basketball part of the game as well, but I mostly play it as a sim.

The sim parts are stronge than they've ever been.

I rather liked the story in MyGM - it's the first time that I genuinley felt like I needed to think about my actions as regards the owners, talking to the press, etc. It's good! As far as the basketball proper goes, I'm really enjoying it so far; the AI seems to be nicely refined, and the shot meter just mainstreams a feature that's been optional in years past, that I always keep turned on.

Nothing revolutionary, but the parts of the game that I enjoy are more robust than ever. I nearly gave this year a pass due to the negative reviews here, then I read them, and realized that they weren't talking about anything that would affect my experience with the game.

I do agree that it's kind of jerky to ask someone to choose between non-basic hairstyles and leveling up their skills. That stuff should be part of the character creator, and smacks of a cash grab. But ultimately, it hasn't done much to affect my enjoyment of the game.

Recommended for:

• Sports sim enthusiasts
  
• People who enjoy a smooth 5-on-5 basketball game
  
• RPG players curious about sports games

Not reccomended for:

• People who are very invested in MyPlayer, but averse to microtransactions (which have always been a big part of that mode, but seem a bit stronger this year)
  
• Someone looking for an arcade experience
  
• People averse to great songs with Spanish lyrics in their game
  
• People looking to play with a keyboard and mouse

Kickstarter backer, played about an hour or three of early access.

A couple hours into this game and I findi it to be an improvement in pretty much every regard. Most specifically, in the writing and the tone. Original Sin's writing was well-executed, but the game felt like a slapstick cartoon far too often for my tastes. A comedy game that I didn't find that funny wasn't what I was really looking for, and so I wound up losing interest in the first.

But this. Ye gods, this. Much improved.

Sure, talking to animals is still funny, but the game spends a hell of a lot less time laughing at people, and a lot more time being compelling. I'm invested in these characters, this world. I actually care what happens in Rivellon. The pregen/companion characters are lovely, the dialog keyword system is a blast, the (surprise) voice acting is *really good*, and the combat and gameplay seems to have evolved in some interesting ways.

I'll update this if relevant as I continue to play, but as of now? I'm estatic with this game.

Planning to try some co-op; I'll let you know how that goes if I do.

Hands down my favourite in the series. It's so unabashadly 90's goth, it's like a V;tM Larp the night after a Combichrist concert. It's opening cinematic is terrible, but the gameplay is delightful, and I found the story charming in its edgelordiness; it connected with me in ways its predecessors never quite did. It's big, loud, and dumb; and I love that about it.

It does "world is falling apart via magic" in a really satisfying way; like the Dr. Strange film, but with demon-powered grappling hooks. Also, had two of my favorite boss fights in recent memory; occuring inside a dance club/reality show for demons, and the semiotic conceptual plane of television news.

I never thought that NieR would get a sequel. The use of shifting perspective, gorgeous music, and wonderfully stange post-post-apocalyptic setting; it's all here. Gameplay is much improved, the story is similarly moving and weird, and... damn. It's NieR again.

Whoever used one of their 3 wishes from a magic lamp to get this game made; you have my thanks.

I don't know, friends. It positions itself quite nicely as a relaxing exploration game, splitting the difference between a third person shooter and something like No Man's Sky - and it has some elements that help with that. The music fantastically serves this purpose. The art isn't bad. But for me, fixed-location save points are kind of the antithesis of a relaxing game. Nothing wrong with them, intrinsically, but they really seemed at odds with the core gameplay.

For my tastes, if Sky Break isn't relaxing, there's not much left. The gameplay is kind of there, the story really isn't.

Honestly, I can heartily reccomend the game if you're very used to high-stress Save Point games; because this will be a fun, chill experience in comparison. But it didn't do it for me.

I had picked this game up previously, but bugs kept it crashing before I got out of the first menu screen - so with great sorrow in my heart, I refunded the game. Once the demo hit, I decided to give it another try; and oh, am I glad that I did.

This is a beautifully curated sandbox; if you accept the confines of the univere (nobody notices the barcode on the back of your neck, etc.) this is an amazing immersive sim. What a gorgeously crafted puzzlebox. What a delightful use of episodic content. If the idea of an espionage sandbox is at al compelling to you, it's definatey worth your time.

I really wanted to like TASTEE. But in the end, it feels more like a puzzle game (suss out the "correct" answer to a given problem), as opposed to a tactics game.

Perhaps it's just me. This isn't my favorite genre by far. But with Frozen Synapse, I always felt like my decisions were planning routes through dangerous territory, not trial-and-error guessing until I found what the developers wanted me to do.

It's got style, and panache. If you're super into plan-and-go games, maybe give it a shot? Certainly wasn't for me, though.

A nice follow-up to Loren, which I was pleasantly surprised by. I imagine this is a good indicator regarding whether the full game is appealing or not.

Honestly, I wish more VNs had this much "game" to them.

Somewhere between A Story About My Uncle, Gone Home, Mirror's Edge, and Braid.

I really enjoyed this game. Which is saying something, as I usually don't get into first-person perspective games, or puzzle games - but this really captured the feeling of being an action archeologist, trapsing through abandoned ruins. I felt that it was at its weakest when it wanted to be a shooter, or a puzzle platformer, but those segments were brief. The joy of movement, and of discovery - that's what's really doing it here.

Gorgeous art. Gorgeous music. Gorgeous game.

Update: playing Valley seems to have fixed my dislike of first-person perspective in games. I literally enjoyed it enough to expand what I like as a gamer. Really good stuff here. :)