Recent reviews by vassilevb

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.

This is a very forgettable game. A game like Assassin's Creed offers more tactical decision-making than Ready Or Not. I feel kinda burned, because I paid an unusual amount of money for this game (30 EUR (+Home Invasion DLC) for a single game that won't be played more than 100 hours is still a lot — and it was too much even during a sale). I was even considering supporting this project during its alpha (100 EUR as far as I remember) back when Team17 was about to be its publisher, because I had high hopes for the genre and was looking very hard for an alternative of my miserable PvP experience in Tarkov. I am so glad I didn't throw away that amount of money and played Tarkov instead, as much as I wanted to see myself in the credits. Now, I would be ashamed if I was present in Ready Or Not's credits. Here's why:

1. The game is not a decent tactical simulation of CQB gunfights (Insurgency/Sandstorm is). The game tries very hard to be a "USA SWAT (a.k.a. WSHTF) proper police behaviour" simulator, but it's not very good at it (see p. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 11).

2. It glorifies the (actually quite rotten) culture of US law enforcement institutions by misrepresenting its priorities, e.g. "preserving life", "serving society", etc. There is plenty of evidence that this is not the case (they are serving themselves by behaving very similarly to how cult members behave). Examples for the layman:
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2024/08/03/police-congress-corruption-whistleblower
https://capitalbnews.org/qualified-immunity-police-officers-accountability/
https://www.naacpldf.org/qi-police-misconduct/
https://www.naacpldf.org/qualified-immunity-myths-and-dangers/
https://www.naacpldf.org/qualified-immunity/
https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/
https://policeviolencereport.org/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/police-shootings-database/
https://policecrime.bgsu.edu/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_killings_by_law_enforcement_officers_in_the_United_States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_misconduct#United_States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unarmed_African_Americans_killed_by_law_enforcement_officers_in_the_United_States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_brutality_by_country#United_States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_use_of_deadly_force_in_the_United_States
https://youtu.be/zaD84DTGULo
https://youtu.be/km4uCOAzrbM
https://youtu.be/2_8vTl6D940

etc., including all the references.
Boy, oh, boy, I'm so glad I'm lucky enough to be born and living in Europe.

3. There is a significant amount of RNG that you're constantly fighting against. Significant enough to be noticeable and, at least in this case, that makes it a bad game design choice (for a game that's expected to be played in a slow-paced / methodical / skillful manner). "Non-lethal" pepper spray balls, for example, have a chance to make "suspects" more likely to give up. You can increase this chance by choosing appropriate "perks" of your AI squadmates. You're forced to make this "strategic" decision in advance, which allows less skillful/more negligent gameplay for you (if you want that "S" rank, but, admit it, you want it for the bragging rights). I.e. you need to be able to "see the matrix", i.e. to see the game's internal RNG rules to exploit them and make it easier for you. This is not a matter of skill, it's a matter of puzzle solving.

4. There is no sandbox mode. Why? "Too much work", I guess. No real reason. Or maybe "we don't want our assets stolen". LoL. Keep 'em.

5. There are paywalled weapons. But you're being penalized by the game for using lethal force anyway, so I'll probably never bother using them. Speaking of weapons...

6. The game is advertised as a "tactical FPS". This sets certain expectations for me. For example, that I would have total control over my weapon, like I do in Tarkov or Receiver/2. Well, sadly, I don't. You can only check your magazine capacity, switch to "low ready" (you're not getting advantages for utilizing it), and do a tactical or a quick reload (your magazines are not retrievable from the ground, very sad, "too much work" to make them so, I guess). That's about all the "tactical" manipulation of your weapon. Oh, and you can choose/switch between magazines filled with either jacketed hollow-points or full metal jackets (considered by the game as "armor piercing"). That's about it. But, remember, you're penalized for using lethal force... so lethal ammo selection in this game is redundant.

7. Mediocre immersion (yes, there is some immersion), broken mainly by the imbecilic AI squadmates (welcome to 2025 with AI capabilities from 2005's Star Wars: Republic Commando) and irritating RNG-driven "suspects" with 100 milliseconds reaction times (way above the human average of 200 milliseconds). Speaking of immersion...

8. When I think of "what would be the average Trump supporter simulator", I now think of this game. In this "simulator", druggies are everywhere (and are punishable by death), child molesters are everywhere (and are punishable by death), heavily armed terrorists are everywhere (and are punishable by death), etc. Basically, "everybody who's not me is punishable by death".

9. While on the topic of immersion, it's too often broken by the fact that too many things look like plastic. Blood looks like plastic and people look like plastic. And too many parts of the game are too colorful. Too many bright colors in a game that aims for "realism" is a bad art design choice, IMHO. It makes it feel like a cartoon.

10. While on the topic of immersion, my own very first (bad) impression of the game was because of the broken animation at the "tutorial" shooting range: go to the range and switch to the pistol. Now turn left and take "magazines" from there: you'll be subjected to the Mk.18's animation sequence *while holding a handgun*. Disgusting. I wanted to ALT+F4 right there and then. I thought to myself: "I paid 30 EUR for this thing, I should've spent them on a box (50x) of 9x19 on the IRL range, FFS". I just felt insulted.

11. The damage model is a gamified joke of a "realism". I consistently survive approximately 7 rifle-caliber shots (mostly by what looks like to be a 7.62x39). Also, how many tourniquets do I have? 5? Wow. You "can't kick doors with a broken leg", but you can manipulate your rifle with a flawless dexterity after having been shot in the arms four times. It's laughable. Tarkov's damage model is also a gamified joke, but at least it adds another layer of complexity and you do need to take care of your damaged body parts after (or even during) a gunfight. Not here. Your arms are apparently made of adamantium.

12. The game takes 60 GB of space, but it has just 19 small maps. For the defenders of overworked developers & artists: I don't care about high-resolution textures, but I'm not allowed to opt out of downloading them (I should in principle be able to). For comparison: Kerbal Space Program models the solar system in 1:10 scale, and it takes 2 GB.

13. It doesn't run perfectly smooth on my well-above average PC (i7 12700K/RTX4060/64RAM/SSD). I've capped my FPS to 90 for ideological & practical reasons @1080p@Ultra, and this game occasionally drops to 50-60 FPS. Not very impressive.

In conclusion: I'll beat the game, all the levels at "S", no doubt about it, but, as I said in the beginning, I will forget about it pretty soon after that (I don't like RNG simulators and this is why I almost never play RPGs). The singleplayer of Zero Hour (a very good game, made in Bangladesh) looks worse, but is more fun for me:
https://steamhost.cn/app/1359090/Zero_Hour/

And remember: if you meet a police officer in the USA, then you'd better be white, move v e r y s l o w l y, and be unarmed (even a replica counts as being armed) / 1o.

Oh, and get yourself Ground Branch instead (the true tactical FPS, yay!):
https://steamhost.cn/app/16900/GROUND_BRANCH/

P.S.
Edited for a few typos.

I've played this for around 250 hours on Ubisoft Connect/Uplay.
I can say without a doubt that this is one of my favourite games.

I love the open world and the environment, I love the music, I love the (somewhat simplified) tacti-coolness, I love the sandboxyness, I love the illusion of freedom, I love the difficulty tweaking, I love the coop, I love the hidden stuff, I love the immersion, I love all the fun it gave me. Surprisingly enough, even though I'm not the typical stealth enjoyer, this is one of the few games in which stealth feels fun for me (I guess it's due to the immersion in general).

I don't like the braindead/aimbot AI, but, hey, you have unlimited amounts of 100% FOV thermal vision and unrealistically quiet "suppressed" 9x19, or 5.56x45, or even .50 BMG, lol.
I don't really care about the "story" (it's got some CIA drama or something, lol, very tomclancey).
One thing I really hate — this was *the* game that gave me the most immersive fight against el diablo cazador de hombres (yes, the Predator)! While I eventually learned his behaviours and was able to best him with a Beretta 92 only, it still gave me the best feeling of almost being in the movie. Why do I hate this great thing, you may ask? Because the mission "The Jungle Moved" got removed from the game. :( https://ghostrecon.fandom.com/wiki/The_Jungle_Moved
Another thing I hate is that this is another "live service" game for which we have no servers other than the official Ubisoft ones (which will eventually be shut down). It's such a shame that one of the best coop experiences will be buried deep at the software graveyard.

Also, if you don't like trial & error to find out the OP weapons for yourself, read this:
https://github.com/subvod/examples/blob/master/misc/TCGRW.MD#the-best-loadout

I've played dailies & weeklies so much, that I've managed to unlock all the weapons. There's even a musket (it's very underpowered), a Colt Single Action Army, and some other old (and some weird) weapons, you can cosplay/roleplay as almost anything (popular).
You can challenge yourself to anything (e.g. Ghost mode with unsupressed pistol only) and this is another big charming thing of the game.

1o/1o, thank you very much, Ubisoft, I sincerely hope you don't get burnt down to the ground by bigger capitalists than you!

If you don't play dailies & weeklies, you need this DLC for the "SR25 Jungle" DMR. It offers very little bullet drop, little recoil, larger magazine capacity, and impressive damage, it made me switch from my beloved Serbu BFG-50A (oh, I really miss its sound unsupressed). Yes, it's OP, yes, it's unrealistic (7.62x51 NATO does the same damage as .50 BMG, yeah, right) but the game is still fun.
Also, the DLC gives you invisible enemies, which is very psi-fi (pseudoscientific fiction), which I hate, but at least now you don't feel like you're cheating when you're using thermal vision.
Also, the last boss fight with the DLC was kinda hard and not very fun. I won by luck after some trials. Kinda dumb. Maybe it's because I played with AI, it's probably more fun with human companions.

Also, here's something useful, you're welcome:
https://github.com/subvod/examples/blob/master/misc/TCGRW.MD#the-best-loadout