Recent reviews by The Backup Plan

The story is weaker, the humor is cringy, and the characters are annoying but the gameplay is a major improvement to Borderlands 2. All four characters are fun to play and can do all the content, as long as your builds are consistent. A lot of people hate on it because of Ava, but honestly, she was on screen for like 5 hours out of the 100+ I played. Definitely worth playing.

I built a new PC for Battlefield 2042 and Halo Infinite, but those games were a disappointment. Now I play a game that can run on a toaster. Definitely recommend, it's the most fun I've had with a multiplayer FPS in years. Only complaints I have is the bleeding out system, it doesn't really add anything other than make you a sitting duck after each firefight.

11/22/2023:
The game's population is low now, but the game is still regularly updated and you can find many full lobbies. I still recommend it to anyone who wants a casual FPS.

3/11/2024:
Battlebit had a really good start and some great updates, but the lack of constant updates, proper staffing, and direction killed it. It feels like Battlebit doesn't know if it wants to be more like Rising Storm or Battlefield, instead of finding its own identity to make it unique. It also seems like one of the developers doesn't like feedback and just does whatever he wants, though I don't frequent the subreddit and Discord server, so I wouldn't know much about that. Better off playing something else.

I'm not done with it yet but I'm definitely enjoying it. The switch from linear to open world style maps was risky but they pulled it off. The combat and weapon customization is still satisfying. They also removed one of my biggest issues with the series, which was having really fun shooting mechanics but needing to stealthily knock out enemies to get the best endings. In Exodus, there's actually humans you can kill without risk of getting the bad ending. Overall a good experience.

Ending felt rushed compared to the first two games, but it's still a great ending to the trilogy. I just wish I paid attention to gaming news since I bought this right when the remasters were announced, but oh well.

It's the perfect blend of Generations and World. The combat is as fun and satisfying as the old games while being accessible for new players. The wirebugs add a new layer of mobility and combos for you to abuse while keeping the hunting styles from Generations alive in a different way. Removing the loading screens when moving zones feels smoother and fresh. Turf wars are entertaining to watch. The world doesn't feel as alive as World but the combat makes up for it. A lot of annoying things were removed like the redundant crafting recipes and annoying "old-gen" enemies. And most importantly, you can have dogs now. I recommend this to anyone! With Sunbreak, it's worth the price but I wouldn't buy it with just Rise. Deluxe versions only give cosmetics so you can ignore those too.

The episodes vary in quality and the choices you make don't affect the ending that much, but they're still a fun ride.

Episode 1 does a great job making you care about Clementine. The way Lee and Clem's relationship develops and the chemistry they have with each other is really well done. The other characters are very believable and memorable as well, even that ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Ben. Since the apocalypse just started, the characters aren't capable of dispatching the walkers efficiently, which makes each fight an interesting and unique puzzle. But being the first in the series, the gameplay consists of very simplistic QTEs, Personally, I think this episode had the best story.

Episode 1 also comes with an expansion called 400 Days. It's very short, only consisting of 5 short stories that intertwine with each other. Some details here and there change depending on the order you do the stories in. It doesn't affect episode 2 in any significant way and the stories aren't all that interesting, so you can skip it if you can't afford to spend the hour playing through it.

Episode 2 updates the gameplay a little bit, making the QTE a bit more complex. It's nothing revolutionary, but it does a better job at making you feel more active. Clementine is the playable character in this one, but I wished her personality was a little different depending on your actions as Lee in the first season. The characters aren't as great as the ones from episode 1, but they're still good. Overall it's a nice sequel to the first season,

Episode 3, for some reason they switched the story to a drama between Javi and his family as they get involved with a group called the New Frontier. Honestly, this episode didn't need to exist. The characters are very annoying, including Javi on some of his dialogue. Sometimes I felt like I was watching a very cheesy soap opera. Clementine is in this one as an NPC, and it's kind of cool to see her, but overall it doesn't add anything except a little bit of backstory for the next game. The gameplay somehow got even more simplistic than the second episode, devolving into just button mashing QTE, You can easily skip this one if you don't want to sit through hours of the Garcia drama.

Episode 4 brings Clementine back as the playable character with AJ from episode 2 and 3 taking her former spot as your child companion. Since this is the last game in Clem's story, the choices you make actually have important effects on the ending. The gameplay receives a major overhaul, putting the camera over your shoulder. There's collectibles to find while exploring levels and combat feels good with the whole stun/kill mechanic. Overall you'll feel like you're playing a very simplistic game instead of an interactive movie. The story is also good and brings a satisfying conclusion to the series.

The Michonne episode doesn't have anything to do with Clementine's story. It's just a short, three episode season about a character from the comic books. (Yes, the comic book only. Michonne from the tv show is very different from her comic counterpart.) It's a good bit of fan service for the comic fans and it tells a decent story, but you can skip it if you don't care much for it. It doesn't give you enough time to actually care for the side characters, unlike episode 1, 2, and 4, so the story and the choices you make don't have much impact.

Dying Light is an extremely satisfying game that slowly gets more annoying the more you play it.

Pros:
- Melee combat is meaty, with each hit feeling impactful thanks to great visual and audio design.
- Parkour is smooth, especially when you get used to the controls.
- Quests are fun. There were only a few that felt like chores. A lot of them also have stories that span chapters.
- Gameplay loop of killing and looting is fun. Feels like Borderlands but with zombies.
- Lots of support, events, and free DLCs if you're into that stuff.
- The Following DLC was very fun and the story for it was actually decent.
- I like bows and crossbows in video games. Might be a bit biased but the archery in this just feels good.

Cons
- Melee combat gets annoying once a lot of runners and human enemies start showing up. Their movements are very erratic, so you'll miss a lot of your attacks or you'll get hit because they didn't get staggered from your attack.
- The grappling hook feels like it was added AFTER they already finished designing the maps. It acts more like a skip button than an enhancement to the parkour mechanics.
- That one agility skill that makes Crane push himself away from a wall is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. It completely ruined parkour for me because I keep falling to my death thanks to it.
- The looting animation gets old quickly. Sometimes less is more.
- These guys don't know how to make boss battles. The final boss battle for the base game is literally a QTE section after a timed parkour section. The boss for The Following is an actual boss battle but it ends with a section where all your stuff is taken away and you punch it to death. Took me multiple tries to finish this fight.
- Personally I hate all the challenges they scatter all over the map. They're just so boring. Every open world nowadays seems to add them in just to pad out game time and they only feel like chores.
- It's hard to care about characters dying when you only interact with them for 10 minutes. Also the story for the base game is extremely weak. Felt like a Far Cry game but with zombies and no interesting villain.

Overall it's a really fun game, especially when playing it coop. But it's not one of those games that I don't want to replay due to how repetitive it gets.

Hands down my favorite trilogy of all time. Mass Effect has many flaws, but the entire thing is a timeless masterpiece. I recommend it to anyone who wants a strong RPG where every little choice you make along the way affects the outcome of many subplots. It has deep lore as well, for those who enjoy reading about a fictional universe and its history. For the price of the legendary edition, it's a steal! If you have Prime, you could of gotten it for free a couple days ago as well.

This DLC is meant for a new playthrough. If you start it in the middle of the campaign, you won't benefit much from it. It adds a lot of extra side activities with missions similar to the errands from Final Fantasy Tactics or dispatch from the GBA and NDS titles. They are timed though which gives the game a bit of a mobile game feel where you assign your units to do something and login later on to see the rewards. Personally I think this mechanic isn't that great and I would have preferred the missions to finish after a certain amount of battles. There's also an upgrade system where you add buildings to a map, which acts like a skill tree with slots to give you bonuses of your choice. And lastly, there's the playable monsters if you're into that sort of thing. For the price, it can't be beat.

Individually the weapons were $10 each. And if you were willing to get them at that price to support these developers, your reward was a season pass getting released a few months later. I feel cheated, but it should have been obvious with how they handled DLC on the original.