Recent reviews by Quintus Antonius

When Saints Row (2022) came out, it was practically doomed if only because it was a reboot of a beloved established franchise that had equally beloved reoccurring characters. But aside from being in the shadow of the prior games in the series, I truly do not understand the hate for this game. Indeed, the game is a well-polished offering that shows a lot of love and attention to detail on the part of the developers. The world is alive and colorful with the usual mix of cartoonish violence and social commentary Saints Row has come to be known for. The open world activities are diverse and fun (for the most part). The story is nothing special, basically a watered down blend of Saints Row 2 and Saints Row 3, but the Saints Row series isn't exactly known for it's refined storytelling anyway. The biggest criticism I can offer is that Saints Row (2022) feels like it's trying to be a more cartoony GTA 5, but even that isn't really a big deal because EVERY Saints Row game is trying to be a more cartoony GTA.

My favorite part of the game has been the customization. Clothing, guns, vehicles, and your character can be highly customized. The only similar game I've played that has better customization is APB:Reloaded, but the gameplay here is far better than that game.

If you take Saints Row (2022) by itself without weighing it down with the baggage of other entries in the franchise, it's a fun romp that will easily hold your attention for a few hours or more. Give it a shot.

Ark is a pretty great concept, poorly executed. It feels like a game that should still be in early access--buggy, unoptimized, and lacking polish in many areas. One of its worst areas is the actual survival portion. The terrian is not modifiable, and simple things like the ability to pick up items or lay down multiple structures like walls in a row are missing. As a result, the simplest tasks can take hours.

The main sell of the game is the ability to tame and use dinosaurs to help survival. In that regard, the game is indeed quite fun. Dinosaur taming is rewarding and dinosaur ranching is also quite fun, if you can get past the high amount of resources every thing needs.

In short, ARK is probably not worth the time unless you are willing to sink multiple hours into the most basic of tasks and can manage to not be frustrated by simple things made complicated. I personally would not recommend this game and probably would not have ever played it had it not been gifted to me.

The Longest Journey and its sequel Dreamfall are some of my favorite games. Dreamfall Chapters continues the rich lore and storyworld first established in its predecessors and strives to provide that same level of storycraft and immersion.

That said, I am not sure if a newbie to the franchise would get much out of Chapters. So much of it, including the characters and settings, are direct continuations of Dreamfall (and The Longest Journey) that I don't think it would be very "new user friendly".

Also, I would say it is more helpful to think of this as an interactive story or comic book on par with Telltale Game's offerings rather than a full-on video game. In that sense, Chapters is a good successor to the point and click adventure, but it is much different than most other games today. People looking for continuous action, open world exploration, or a handholding tutorial will be disappointed greatly as the game does one thing--narrative--and it does it well, often at the sake of other game play features.

The graphics are also somewhat dated, but still quite nice. The people look a little plastic, but the voice acting makes up for that and then some.

So, all and all, I would definitely recommend Dreamfall Chapters, with the cavet that you should plan on playing The Longest Journey and Dreamfall as well or you will miss out big time. I hope that Chapters is successful and inspires more entries in the franchise, as this is a very unique world that bears much more exploration.

This game is low-stress fun. You'll kill a lot, you'll die a lot, and it doesn't really matter much. It calls to mind the golden age of multiplayer games like Goldeneye 64 where the point wasn't so much to win as it was to see how well you could do before dying.

The one major downside to the game is that there doesn't seem to be many players, which is a shame because it is a low commitment game to play when you have time to kill.

60 Seconds is not a bad game by any means. The first part of the game, collecting items and rushing to the shelter in 60 seconds is actually quite compelling. But after you are in the shelter, things become dull pretty quickly. The game has very few visualizations and there isn't much to do with your characters other than feed and water them from day to day between missions until your supplies run out or you die from something situationally.

This formula might work on a mobile game that cost a few dollars, but for almost $10 as of the writing of this review, the price is quite steep. You can spend that $10 on two or three older AAA titles and squeeze hundreds of hours out of them for the price of one or two hours of entertainment in this game.

So, in summary, the game is well done for what it is, but given the price and the medium it is little fun for a lot of money.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I first picked up APB, but I have been pleased by what I found. Basically, the game is like a multiplayer GTA, but what really makes it shine is the amount of customization possible. Seriously, you can design and customize just about everything in the game, from your character, to your weapons, to your car.

What the game lacks, however, is any type of story. This game is essentially all a PvP metagame, so don't be expecting an expansive deep world with lots of backstory and NPC characters because you won't find it. What you will find however, is a fun free-to-play distraction that should help fill a gap between other games when you don't want something serious but just fun for a few hours.

While certainly not the best game I've ever played, Strike Suit Zero nevertheless scratches a space combat shooter itch that I've had since playing Tachyon: The Fringe back in the early 2000s. Indeed, SSZ seems to borrow many elements from Tachyon, including most of the mechanics, feel, and weapons. The graphics in the game are a bit underwhelming, looking more like a game from the late 00s, rather than the 2010s. Still, for an independent title that was funded through Kickstarter, SSZ is definitely worth your time. The main draw of the game--the mech transformation--is actually the least fun, in my opinion. I greatly prefer the starfighter mode to the mech mode. But, if you are looking for a no-frills space shooter that calls to mind the golden age of the genre, then this game is certainly worth that money, especially if you can get it on sale.