Recent reviews by vassilevb

You get:
— 3 mediocre missions. The oil rig achievement is exceptionally RNG-based and, thus, frustrating.
— A few new lethal weapons whose use is not encouraged by the game's very own ranking system, rendering them redundant, a.k.a. "Imma use this when I get bored with playing the game as intended and then Imma do some memes and "funny" mayhem videos for my majestic non-existent YT career".
— Useless cosmetics.

Save your money and don't even buy the "base game", which is quite overpriced in the first place:
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/id/vassilevb/recommended/1144200

You get:
— 3 mediocre missions. The dorms achievement is exceptionally RNG-based and, thus, frustrating.
— A few new lethal small caliber weapons whose use is not encouraged by the game's very own ranking system, rendering them redundant, a.k.a. "Imma use this when I get bored with playing the game as intended and then Imma do some memes and "funny" mayhem videos for my majestic non-existent YT career".
— Useless cosmetics.

Save your money and don't even buy the "base game", which is quite overpriced in the first place:
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/id/vassilevb/recommended/1144200

It's cool, but it's not very realistic (technical inaccuracies, oversimplifications, lack of physical behaviours of certain things, rudimentary driving, tycoon/management game mechanics (a lot of old cars are reworked/renovated and sold at a loss — ask my IRL car mechanic friend), etc.). Still, relatively useful for IRL car mechanic noobs.

It's moddable, which is awesome. Still, there are weird limitations, e.g. a Fiat 126p mod (very old car, the last one was produced in 1991) has an OBD port (which is nonsense). I very much doubt that this is done by the modder non-deliberately, which means that there are some modding limitations that necessitate introducing nonsensical stuff, which isn't cool for games with the word "simulator" in their title.

Another thing that isn't cool is that there are some cars that are NOT reintroduced from older versions of the "game" (e.g. CMS2015). A significant example for me is the Fiat 126 (I wanted to own a 126p when I was in highschool 17 years ago). The weirder thing is that it isn't even licensed (named "Youngtimer"):
https://steamhost.cn/app/361820/Car_Mechanic_Simulator_2015__Youngtimer/
Thus, if you want to play with a vanilla 126, you need CMS2015, which is sad.

I recently purchased CMS2021 with almost all the DLCs (still haven't tried it), but I'll probably skip on upcoming versions.

While not as complex and offering much less freedom, it still has the Kerbal Space Program vibe I've been chasing for years.

P.S.
The intro cinematic (more precisely, the movement of the humans) reminded me the game cinematic technology of Diablo 2 (2000).

Cosmetic stuff for fans of a TV show that I didn't even know existed. Since I hate having butchered versions of my games and I tend to get the super-duper-ultra-giga editions with all gameplay/content expanding (i.e. not simply cosmetic, for which I don't care) DLCs, sometimes I fail to carefully examine the description and the forums/reddit before they slip into my cart (probably because it's part of the "Platinum Edition" bundle) and end up as a yet another useless "careless buyer tax" which I cannot refund.

I got this for 2 EUR, thinking I'm getting a good deal...

While ideologically opposing, I'm de facto fine with using the Origin/EA app/multiple DRMs. But here the DRM is on a whole new level... Your single player/campaign game launcher and/or server browser is a web-site. A freaking web-site, i.e. you're forced to use your browser. Also, it's using PunkBuster (an old anti-cheat from the days of Quake III Arena, i.e. 1999). Epic jawdrop and obligatory downvote for this kind of insanity.

[15:03]
BRAGG:
It's even harder for me to enter this game than my research in the laboratory

It's a sale now.
Base game (12 missions): 5,99€
This thing (3 missions): 4,94€
It's a little hard not to feel ripped off, especially after you've "completed" the game before this DLC came out (as I've done).
At least the game isn't bad, still felt fun. These three missions, however, are absolutely not worth your ka-ching, if you don't care for 100% completion.

If I can say one good thing about this DLC, it's this: it's just one DLC, not twenty one DLCs (cf. Rebellion's scummy practices with SE5/ZA4/etc.).

tl;dr
completionists' tax / 1o

Although I prefer Ghost Recon: Wildlands, this is objectively the better game of the two. Lots of fun. Lots of grinding. Lots of loot. Lots of pew-pew. And PvP is integrated well into the main mode (although in a sub-section, called "dark zone") of the game, unlike Wildlands' (mostly dead) PvP.

Interestingly enough, when I've played a multiplayer Ubisoft game (except for R6 Siege, of course), I've never encountered a single @ssh0le, everybody I've met is a respectful person who doesn't behave as the typical cave brain keyboard warrior with a superiority complex and the obligatory sense of entitlement. <3

Although most weapons don't sound as good as in Tarkov, the M700 bolt-action sound of manipulating the bolt and ejecting a spent cartridge is so freaking good. I would give up a build just to be able to hear this sound all the time.

Speaking of builds... yes, this is a kind of RPG, which forces you to work with lots of min-maxing. People may say that the game is forgiving with sub-optimal builds, but that is very untrue for certain missions and especially for solo play. Which means that, if you want to be not miserable, you are forced to play with certain weapons, which is kind of a bummer and breaks immersion (and nullifies the "role-" part of a "role-playing game").

It runs buttery-smooth, as all Ubisoft openworlds I've tried so far do. It's kind of amazing how they achieve that consistently (it's not surprising, considering they work with their own Anvil engine and can spare the manhours needed for tweaking & optimizing).

It's a great game and it's still alive, despite Division 2 existence, which is pretty cool. I hope it doesn't get murdered by Ubisoft's "financial optimizations" in the near future.

Fun pew-pew times that you could experience even in cooperative multiplayer. I'm not the type of guy who cares a lot about lore/story/aesthetics, but I can appreciate good ones and here these are a killer. And the sound design and voice acting are also a banger. Looks like the genre of top-down shooters is one of my favourites. Similar solid fun games:
Helldivers
Alien Swarm/Reactive Drop
Red Hot Vengeance

Similar bad/flawed games:
Hatred

Made in Canada. <3

It's just fun. Looks like I have a soft spot for virtual orc decapitations. If someone's trying to convince you that Shadow of War (SoM) is different than Shadow of Mordor (SoM), they're just lying to you.
You've got the same legal cocaine gameplay, the same good sound design, the same amazing face & body motion capture, the same cute orc insults/taunts, the same 'tarded story (10x for the "Skip" button!).
Similar games I've played in the past are LotR: Return of the King (2003), Ryse: Son of Rome, Batman: Arkham Asylum/City/Origins, Mad Max, Assassin's Creed: Revelations, Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor (lol), LotR: War in the North, the new Tomb Raiders (2013/2015), etc.

Shelob is Pollyanna McIntosh, ha-ha, up yours, Tolkien religious fanatics / 1o.

Hello, Steam users! Looks like I can review something that I previously had in "my" library, but now I'm forced to pay 2.21 EUR to play it. Let's see how this goes...

P.S. Steam is totally not one of the worst DRM in history and you totally "own" everything you "buy" on it.