Recent reviews by -SambaL-

It's a short stealth puzzler but a good one at that with a surprisingly deep and interactive story that asks for multiple playthroughs. The graphics are simple; you know, minimalistic retro style, but it works. The game mechanics are not too complicated which makes it easy to get in to while at the same time feeling innovative and challenging enough to hold your attention. Each level is like a little puzzle that you can tackle in different ways. Are you going in punching everyone's lights out or are you taking the stealthy approach. Should I turn that light off to distract the guard in the room or do I simply lock him out. It's up to you, but the stealthier you finish the job the hagher the rating and the pay.

Tiny Bang Story is not a particularly challenging puzzle adventure game, it's more point & click above all else. But I did enjoy it for what it was, a short and simple yet charming little brain teaser of a game. There is definitely better stuff out there in the same genre, but if it's on sale or if you got it for free and you're in to this type of game then you'll be entertained for a couple of hours.

Fun little interactive Where's Waldo/Wally clone with it's own quirky charm. If only the search lists would be different each playthrough it would give the game a lot more replayability.

9 Helps out of 11 toet-toet's.

A great first person looter shooter that still holds up very well after 7 years and still has a pretty active community.
Get the game of the year edition together with a friend and you'll have a co-up game that'll last you a lifetime.
With the amount of content it dilivers it's pretty much a steal when it goes on sale.

The initial premise seemed interesting enough but now that i'm actually walking through this empty wasteland of a dreamscape I just want to wake up. Not because I'm scared or because I found the anwsers I was looking for but because It's such a boring dream!

For a game based on an old design the developers have done a great job making it feel refreshingly modern. Visually it's stunning and very atmospheric which probably has a lot to do with it but mechanically it holds up to todays standards with an impressive engine and smooth working controls. Sure the combat feels a little restrictive due to the tile moving mechanics but when you look at it from a different point of view, as if it's a puzzle or even a boardgame then combat can get quite interesting at times, not to mention very tense, especially when dealing with multiple enemies who can easily overwhelm you and pin you down to a single tile where your party will get savagely murdered if you're not carefull. Pretty much everytime I overconfidently run into a room with my new weapons and hit a switch which closes the door behind me and opens three other doors in the room which have monsters behind them. If there would be one mayor gripe I have with the game it is that the auto-save function could be better. After the times that my party suddenly died horendously I find out that my last save was a while back. You could say it's my own fault for not saving but when there is a auto-save function you kinda expect the game to do it for you every ten minutes or so, or at least when you reach the next level.
But other than that I have little to no critique on the game and I can fully recommend Legend of Grimrock to anyone interested in anything to do with knights, dungeons, wizards and monsters.

A fine idea on paper which unfortunately is poorly executed. On some level I feel bad for not recommending this and bringing the overall rating down because I do get the feeling the people who worked on this wanted to make something good, but when storytelling is this lackluster with combat mechanics not faring much better there isn't much left for me to get excited about and wanting to play on, let alone recommend it to someone else.

*went back to Left 4 Dead*

If you've always liked playing the Tony Hawk games and also enjoy the occasional action shooter then this game should be right up your alley. There is a heavy emphasis on pulling off tricks and combining them with style while gliding along and jumping around so this is something to be aware off. If you're more in to shooting stuff with the occasional duck and dodge here and there then you might not enjoy this game as much as you would like.

Either way, it's great that Insomniac and Microsoft have finally ported this little zany and colorful gem to the PC, even though it isn't that surprising seeing as Microsoft is the publisher. So I don't expect we'll be so lucky with Spiderman. But one can always hope.

There are still some minor issues with the game postlaunch though, like mouse aiming acting like a controller's right thumb stick, a lot of people having trouble booting up the game due to antivirus software blocking it, and some stuttering in sound and video here and there. But I have faith that there will be a patch for that pretty soon. Other than that it runs quite well and still looks great for a 4 year old game which actually plays a lot smoother on PC when you uncap the framerate.
It is a fun and energetic game that I enjoy getting in to and getting good at and therefor I can recommend.

Also glad that they didn't bump up the price for a re-release like some other publishers do.

Though I can recommend MGS5 without a doubt it is definitely not without it's flaws.
For it's current price you will get your money's worth, you don't need to worry about that, even when you stop playing the game after about 10 to 15 hours when the game's repetitiveness kicks in, because in those first 10 hours when everything is still new and you're still figuring out all the game mechanics you'll be treated to a gorgeous looking stealth adventure chock full of exciting gameplay where you feel everything is possible. Not that that stops after those first so many hours, it's just that once you've got the hang of things (and get your hands on a tranquilizer rifle) the shine starts to wear off quickly and you're left with an open world sandbox like any other where being stealthy and sneaky has turned in to primarily tranqing and airlifting.

And that's where I think MGS5's biggest flaw lies, it not being it's lineair story driven self anymore. Because for all the fun and interesting mechanics it has to offer in an open world setting I still prefer being led in a single directions and more or less being forced to experience a rollercoaster ride full of corkscrews and loop-de-loops. That is where the franchise's core strength is at and has always been at, and the game's 1 to 2 hour long prologue/tutorial seems to agree with that because ironically enough it is hands down the best part of the entire game. Albeit a bit over the top, but hey, we're talking Kojima here.

So to sum up this recommendation; if this is not your first Metal Gear and you've always loved the series this will most likely be one of your least favorite entries in the franchise (Metal Gear Survive? Never heard of it.) yet still being far from a bad game. While if you're just a nut for sandboxes and love being sneaky this will probably be a match made in heaven for you.