Recent reviews by (GoR)Andrew.zhd

...This is one of the BEST MMO games I have played in YEARS.

I haven't really heard much about it prior this day, but it has quite some story and was previously available even on consoles. Now it is released on Steam. The game's graphics are absolutely gorgeous to look at (for a free-to-play game), art direction is somewhat unique and feels truly original. Generally, the whole thing feels fresh; and while the core mechanics are nothing new, it's still fun to play (even the typical "boring" types of quests). Special effects, animations, cutscenes, UI - everything keeps you entertained for HOURS. Well, at least for my taste. In addition, you can swap your character's class on the fly. There is a character customization. It's not on the Black Desert level, probably, but it's still very damn impressive.

In between all the other crap-looking F2P MMORPGs here on Steam, there's really no actual competition for Skyforge. Do I recommend it? Hell yes, absolutely! Give it a shot.

I got Alisa Bosconovitch plus 11 more characters. Essential purchase.

...Before I even start: I never had any Street Fighter OR Tekken games in my possession, but I played Tekken 3 for a brief time when I was a kid and totally loved it.

Now, both of these mammoth franchises are primarily for console/arcades market, so there aren't many of these games on PC. Since I am waiting for Tekken 7 to release later this summer, I decided to give this one a shot to get familiar with characters while also learning about Street Fighter. From what I could tell, it's a pretty damn decent "tag team" fighting game. It's bright, colourful, it doesn't take itself too seriously, and yet it provides you with some hardcore stuff if you want to perform accurate button input combos. Sadly, with GFWL death, you won't be able to play online (without the use of community mods, at least). For this given trouble people have been dissing the game. Fun thing is that this has nothing to do with the game itself or the developer, since it's not their fault. I hope CAPCOM would integrate with Steamworks at some point, but it's just dreams at the moment. I am playing with a "local" Live account so I don't really have any trouble with it.

So, in short: great game, fun to play (can be played in "couch co-op"), wide array of characters. But if you only want to play online, you will most likely be frustrated with the current state of things.

...Your perfect Diabloid.

Minimalistic, fairly easy to understand and quite fun to play puzzle game. Great synth soundtrack (though gets kind of repetetive after a while). If you don't have a problem with mobile games on Steam, this one could be a perfect way to kill time in between playing "big games" on your PC. Apart from the original levels that come with the package, there's also a level editor for extended play.

Paladins has caught my interest when I was registering an account on the developer's website for Tribes: Ascend. Yeah, I decided to play Tribes: Ascend at this moment for some reason, after all those years. Even though I already saw Paladins on Steam Store a month before, I never knew it was basically from the same developer. All I knew were those silly customer reviews like: "Poor man's Overwatch", you've probably seen a lot of those by now. Since I never was about to play Overwatch myself, because I haven't got any interest in it (aside from... uhm... certain aspects of it's characters), I did not think I'll end up playing Paladins. However, as soon as I installed and launched it, I knew I was too harsh.

Paladins is a very bright and colourful game, and also kids-friendly, which is good. The graphics are fairly simplified, but the environment still looks on-point and feels just good. I loved the first-person perspective weapon models, and while you can't say that the characters in the game are something we've never seen before, each and every one of them looks decent. As for the gameplay, it's a very fast paced competitive game with a heavy impact on a player's individual skill (and yet, however, really beginner-friendly).

There's also not that much of the in-game shop items, most of those I've seen are cosmetics, but there are cards that influence how your hero's abilities will work, so at some point in-game money transactions could affect gameplay; but I doubt it's a major thing. Still, the game is yet in the Early Access phase, so many things may change. It has a very good potential to be a cool and fun shooter, and if the devteam won't repeat the same mistakes like other F2P games out there, it could stay healthy for many years to come.

Recommended!

I live here.

This is one of those games I had some hard relation with. I'll explain.

...You see, back when it was announced, I was furious: I did not like the design, I did not like the main character, I did not like the game's mechanics - a guy in a coat is f0cking around with traffic lights, stops trains with a push of a button and generally pretends to be some sort of a super man? For me, it was a cheap copy of Assassin's Creed II (which I also don't really love, honestly) in a modern day setting. However...

I bought the game in the summer of 2015 (...ah, those were good times...), I have it on 50 hrs counter now, and I only finished the main storyline, haven't even done any exclusive side-missions yet (I got Digital Deluxe edition), most of the time I spent just driving around, beating crap out of bandits and blowing sh!t up. I definately think I was wrong early on and quick to judge. Yes, this is a rather poor console port - but it's nothing new around. Tech issues are, in fact, the main reason this game was "downvoted" so much. What about the story? Well, this is not Shakespeare-level of storytelling, but it's an OK story for a game about privacy fears. Because it's actually what it is about (from my perspective): our fear that all those social networks data along with surveillance cams footage along with "digital passports" along with credit cards info along with whatnot could fall into someone's hands for all kinds of malicious intents.

I'd say I now better understand the game's core concepts so I can easily forgive minor bugs and glitches (by the way, I have met only a handful). My hardware is pretty outdated, and I run the game on minimal graphics settings, yet it still provides great sights fairly often. The amount of crybabies who did not like the graphics part is just ridiculous. Despite all the trouble there was initially at the release on PC, you can actually mod the game with solutions provided by the hackers modders community if you want to. I'm fine with the stock, however.

I will eventually return to play other minor in-game missions and possibly get the DLC content just because it's a fun game. It's not just fun, it's something more. It's my own "zen garden" now, I guess. I also have killed a f0kkload of citizens by a mistake or on purpose, so I gotta do some good to the city for my karma and all things good (haha). Totally recommend to try out. The sequel is going to be juice!

P.S.: ...It's a sad fact, but console market is dominating game developers' solutions on many AAA-titles these days. However, it doesn't mean that the game itself will be bad. It's just that the design is made for you to plug-in your PeeStation or CrossBox and start your game anytime, checkpoint the hell out of it, and do 20 actions with only your thumbs and never your pinkies. I wish some cyber-slicer infect all the consoles with a viral code, so all this QTE-checkpoint-10-buttons nonsense would end once and for all. But I doubt there will be one...

Good DLC is if you want to be a cowboy with that six shooter. Yes, it goes into perk slot, but if you've just started playing - you won't have much perks whatsoever. Also quite handy in Black Box retrieval situations.

Basically, if you're a crowd man - do not buy this DLC. If you want to play the game instead of hating it - pick it up so you have more options in your secondary slot. I did that, and I don't complain.

...If it's not the time factor at which this game popped up in my life, I won't be saying anything. Other than this, I can't tell anything in particular.

By the way, this "short experience, atmospheric expession" was spoiled with minor technical bugs such as stuck at empty screen with a low textured Earth, or ignoring my mouse input. But I'll dimiss this as a joke.