Recent reviews by [WDZ] Gregorius

Easy to learn, nigh impossible to master. The free access you get to the game will surely be enough for most people if you're just playing for fun. I wouldn't justify paying $20 per year just to get access to things like clubs or 'Track of the Day' unless you A) plan to be playing this game for a long time to come, or B) practice daily in the hopes of one day reaching a competitive level. (Personally, I miss the old $10 tier that gave you everything short of access to the user-made clubs.)

The game honestly isn't as bad as everyone seems to think. It stimulates your anger, but rewards your patience; it wants you to lose your composure so that you'll make more mistakes, further enraging you... but taking things slow, plotting your moves carefully will see you faster to the end than flailing your mouse about in random directions.

What can I say about this game that you can't already hear anywhere else?

The characters, as few as there may be, are incredibly engaging and serve to draw you further into the story with every word they speak. The settings have such great range each with their own spectacular vibrance you'll be hard pressed to find anywhere else. The audio and soundtrack has this light and airy, almost ethereal sound at most points throughout the game that really sell the notion of this fantastical new world you've stumbled upon. The movement controls are perfectly calibrated; there's rarely ever a moment where you feel cheated out of something. (The grappling itself, however, can be a touch finicky at times with smaller contact points.) And the ending... oh, the ending. So touching. After my first complete run of the game, I was surprised to find that the studios behind Goat Simulator and Sanctum were behind the making of this game. It's a complete tonal shift from either of the aforementioned titles, and I think it's a shift to much more suitable territories.

The game also boasts a fair amount of challenge, both within the main story as well as with the addition of the time trials; completing them within the allotted time frame will require not only strict memorization of the maps, some of which can be incredibly frustrating to navigate at times (looking at you, Ice Caves), but also a mastery of sprinting, jumping and grappling to cut any corner you can and save as many seconds as possible. Some of the challenge within the game is also self-imposed, in a sense, as nothing you're told to do within the game besides the obvious is necessary to complete the game itself. Anything you do beyond what's already necessary is for your own benefit and accomplishment...

...and it's here that I have my only major gripe with the game: the unlockables. They are completely optional for you to use and activate in-game, but they'll be earned once you earn your first ten collectibles and every five thereafter for a total of twenty-five. And while the ability to change your beam color and Midas Mode are innocuous enough and don't actively help or hinder you, Goat Mode can become annoying after extended use, and Acrobatic Mode can be downright nauseating after the novelty wears off a few jumps later. Of course, like I said, these are merely add-ons; they're totally optional, they contribute very little, and they're otherwise harmless.

To make a long story short, if you're a fan of exploratory games with a few sprinkled-in puzzle elements, this game is definitely worth your time as either a casual player or a would-be speedrunner. I write this review as the game is on sale for 80% off, but regardless, I believe it's worth its reasonable full price and you'll easily get an hour of gameplay for every dollar you pay for it. Even if you're not immediately sold on playing it for yourself, watch someone else play it to really take in the breathtaking scenery and stunning soundtrack. I promise, you won't be disappointed.

All around, a good game. I found the controls a bit hard to get used to at first, but you adapt easily. It's a fun little two- to four-hour time-waster depending on if you just want a casual romp through the game or if you're going for all the hats and achievements...

...speaking of achievements, the "Steedrun" achievement can, with all due respect, go f*ck itself. You will die. You will die often. You will die in easily preventable ways. And each death will force you to go back to the hub world and re-enter, wasting countless minutes that turn into hours.

When I read the description of a "roguelike action platformer" in the same vein as classics such as Mega Man X, I was excited beyond belief. I bought the game, I installed it, and I immediately dove head-first into the world with a feeling of nostalgia backing a fresher and more modern take on the genre... but you know what they say about that: "Go in with high expectations, and you'll only walk out disappointed."

I gave both protagonists and a majority of the eight bosses in the game a fair and honest shot before coming to this conclusion. After an hour in the game, I asked myself, "Alright, where's the classic mode that lets me fight enemies and bosses in any order I see fit?" And despite all of the amazing modes that I could choose from—daily and weekly challenges, hardcore challenges with game-changing augments, a normal mode for that nostalgic jump-'n'-shoot platformer feel, and a casual mode which allows you to start the game with any three bonuses you've collected or purchased in the past—I could not find the thing I wanted most out of the entire game: a simple choose-your-own adventure style of game where I could pick it up and progress at my leisure... in-game, my only options are pick it up and play through to the bitter end in one fell swoop, or die trying and lose absolutely all progress made in that attempt with no option to continue right off the bat.

In a similar style as games like Rogue Legacy and even some Castlevania titles, enemies come in three different flavors, typically a base form and some differently colored yet more powerful versions found in later levels. Not only is this something of a cheap attempt at padding the game out to make it seem like there's plenty of enemy diversity, some of them are just downright bull to fight like a ballista-type enemies that fires rapidly in varying arcs in one form while the next form has it firing slightly slower but triples the number of projectiles per shot. The bosses in this game can either be some of the easiest things in the world or a complete nightmare to fight... I think the one I hated least was "Perforator Alpha" who, so long as you're against the wall behind him, will never be able to hit you ever; likewise, there are bosses in this game that can be just a pain to fight like "Rollster" who has an enormous hitbox himself but has attacks that can be downright impossible to dodge, or "Death Lotus" who can only be damaged after making a long vertical trek up a long shaft with slippery disappearing platforms from top to bottom which can be incredibly imprecise when you can randomly pick up abilities that change your speed and jump height on a whim.

I think the largest problem I have with the game is the characters' weapon selection itself; Nina and Ace's default weapons are objectively the best among them and anything else is a considerable downgrade for the most part. While on the topic of bosses, some of the weapons you earn are just completely ineffectual—Perforator's boss weapon is pretty good against anything that isn't a boss, but it chews through ammo too quickly to be of any use; Rollster's weapon has great utility, but horrible range; Vile Spider's weapon is little more than a 'get-out-of-jail-free' card when surrounded by an undodgeable bullet hell... and that's really all I can remember off the top of my head. On the topic of the characters' own weapons, I did mention that their basic weapons were objectively better than anything else, and I hold to that statement. For Nina, one of the weapons I got allowed me to fire in four different directions simultaneously but absolutely neutered my frequently-used charge attack, and an attack that let me fire off shots in a wave which wasn't all too powerful; for Ace, however, my two weapons were a spear that extended and retracted horizontally after a short delay, and something called the Blender that, in theory, is incredibly cool—if you've played a Castlevania game, you might know it as the 'Crissaegrim' or 'Valmanway'... but there's only one word for it in this game, and it's 'garbage'. And because I had to go through a nigh-impossible onslaught of pre-placed stage hazards to get to it, I had to advance another minute or so into the level before I even got to test it, at which point it's too late to try and backtrack to undo your mistake. The range is incredibly poor when you're initially attacking and the upper and lower bound of the hitbox are too short for what appears on screen (I almost had to be inside of my enemies to damage them); only after killing consecutive enemies does the attack get larger and more substantial, but it fades almost immediately, making the meager benefit entirely worthless.

I wanted to come into this game liking it. The bosses have interesting designs, the procedurally-generated levels are fun up to a certain point and the protagonists have a distinct charm about them, especially Nina, a strong female protagonist where good woman leads are still few and far between... but with each subsequent playthrough, I found that getting increasingly hard to do, especially since I made a risk to try an early-access game well before any proposed completion date. I've already demanded a refund through Steam, but I will be watching the game's progress from the distant sidelines; if I feel at any point that I was wrong about this game, I will funnel my money back into it and give your product an honest second shot. At this point, however... I think I was just suckered by the pretty colors and charming art style.

I could not recommend Obulis enough to anyone who's a fan of the puzzle and/or strategy genre... and to say that some of these levels require intense strategy and forethought is no understatement.

Each of the game's 151 maps have unique puzzles, no two being exactly alike, and the scenery of each stage combined with the tranquil music will surely create an experience you won't soon forget. However, if you're looking to complete the game 100% on your own, you will be spending far more than the eleven hours I spent with it. The eponymous "Ultra" levels will have you tearing your hair out if you're not ready to look at them from every conceivable direction, and each of the "Inner Sanctum" stages leaves you with a feeling of unease as it subverts many of your expectations and turns every lesson you've learned up to that point onto its head. The best part is that you can use what mechanics were introduced in older levels and re-implement them in harder stages, which is almost mandatory at some points... and the ending I received when I got to Dungeon XII and finally collected the Onyx Medallion was simple yet so heart-warming in the end. (My one regret is that I didn't screenshot it for posterity, but... as simple as it was, it's worth earning and seeing for yourself. A 'credits' option once you have a completed save file would've been greatly appreciated just for the ability to revisit it at any time.)

My single complaint with this game, if I had any, is that some levels have events that cannot be replicated perfectly despite being played the same way twice. I would say this pertains most to levels like "Dark Forest III Ultra" where the pendulous swinging of one of the balls can affect the entire pace of the rest of the level—too fast or too slow, and the final ball won't reach the cannon or will simply bounce right past it. The same could be said for "Pond XIII" where single frames can decide if you dropped a large grey ball in just the precise manner to spur a chain of events that will let you finish the level or not. Precise timing is paramount... but thankfully, the stages are so short that even the longest of them won't take you more than a minute at the absolute most, even though with all of the retries you'll rack up, it'll feel more like hours before you discover the solution on your own.

For its low price, you definitely get hours of entertainment that you likely won't find elsewhere; besides the puzzles themselves, the scenery in each stage will be a feast for the eyes, and the soundtrack will absolutely entrance you.

After buying this product the other day and testing it with a series of video games I had installed from all different genres (fighting, racing, action, open-world adventure, etc), I noticed no significant increase in my games' performance. In fact, in the one instance that I was expecting it to show the most improvement, the software actually reduced the framerate and overall performance by as much as 35%. I would not regard my system as "top-of-the-line" (it's a nearly two-year-old laptop), but for the software not to be able to improve my performance in any noticeable way at all is a bit telling of how small claims can become large lies or half-truths.

I opted for a refund immediately after trying ten of my more demanding games with CPUCores, and finding that most of them were not improved in any significant way.

EDIT: As of late October 2015, I am still unable to 100% complete the game thanks to a glitch preventing me from completing one of the Torment Fraud exercises.

Let's get one thing out of the way right now: for every positive thing this game boasts, there's also something negative that detracts from the experience. Though you may like something as a hardcore Saints Row fan, you will be unable to deny that there's something that turns you off to it. If you don't want to read everything, I've been so kind as to add a little 'TL;DR' at the bottom so that people can scroll to the end or Ctrl+F their way to it. So... let's start with:

THE PROS

• First off, being able to explore an entirely new overworld in the form of New Hades is amazing and much more refreshing than Steelport from Saints Row 3 and 4. It gives the game an entirely new feeling, making it stand out much more on its own, and gives you so much more to explore and discover.
• Another great thing is the powers; yes, you have some rehashed abilities from SR4 and that's to be expected, but they all have their own unique flair. I loved being able to summon a Titan against one of Satan's archdukes, or surrounding myself in a heavenly glow that made all the demons of Hell bow in reverence... and gave me a massive damage boost.
• Free-form flight is something I would've absolutely loved in SR4, and just the ability to soar through the sky dodging missiles and going through narrow passages in this game is euphoric for lack of a better word. Being able to jump multiple times in the air helps you keep better control, and just being able to descend for extra momentum during flights to preserve your 'flap' meter gives an even better sense of speed than super-sprinting or driving in cars.
• Moving right along, the weapon selection is both creative and phenomenal. Being able to get seven different weapons that correspond to the seven deadly sins is definitely a nice spin on the more traditional SR formula where you just pick a weapon or two that you really like (e.g.: the TOGO-13 from SR3 or the Black Hole Gun from SR4) and upgrade it to its maximum potential. Each weapon brings something funny and new to the table without seeming like a blatant rehash.
• Finally, the story is fun and inventive, and it throws a few curveballs your way that you really don't expect part of the way through. I was flabbergasted when Satan, Jezebel, and even Kinzie and Johnny busted out in a full-blown Disney-esque musical.

Unfortunately, all that glitters is not gold, as they say. And as I said above, every silver lining in the sky is only overshadowed by the little thundercloud waiting to rain on your parade. Here come...

THE CONS

• The overworld, for all its new luster and polish, is pretty scant once you get rid of all the collectibles. It is as you would expect Hell to be: it's barren and full of fire in most places, and being able to fly over the map at top speeds really shows you how small it is by comparison. Granted, I was as annoyed as anyone in Saints Row 3 and 4 by Steelport being three kilometers across or so end-to-end, but with your many power-ups and weapons, there was always a creative way to travel (my personal favorite was using the Abduct-O-Matic to ascend to maximum height in SR4 and then glide across the map); with this game, you're flying everywhere at top speeds almost immediately.
• Speaking of powers, if you're quick about it, you can get all the powers and a fair number of the upgrades and elements for them in less than the first hour. In SR4, I don't recall getting the Buff power until the start of the game's third act. It added longevity to the game, making you want to keep playing to fully upgrade yourself. Having access to the most powerful abilities in the game practically by default, I might as well be playing SR4 still.
• Flight in this game, for as fun as it is, can be really hard to grasp and sometimes very finicky. I can be flying along without a care in the world, hit something I didn't see immediately and either perform a wall-run for some reason (even against lampposts and other physics-affected objects) or careen into it and shoot upward, losing all momentum and control for a few seconds. Without the "Flight - Nimble" power-up, you're going to find maneuvering very hard for the first hour or two of your adventure.
• Some of the weapons in the game quickly lose their fun factor after a little while, and there's going to be a lot of shooting in this game... after all, it's a Saints Row game and you're playing as Johnny Gat, who can only be described properly as 'trigger-happy' and 'murderous'. While it may be gratifying to kill enemies with the Diamond Sting weapon and collect all the money drops with your Vacuum Stomp power, it starts to become boring. Most times, I find myself going to a Sinterpol store and switching out for my less powerful weapons like the Energy Caster and the Damned Impaler just to challenge myself further. You're already in Hell; dying literally has no consequence in this game aside from a few thousand currency units from your pocket... oh, and if you're looking for customization beyond choosing between Johnny and Kinzie and deciding what seven weapons you want to carry around, go back to the previous installments—Gat Out Of Hell boasts a total of ten stores, and they're all weapon shops... or rather, weapon vending machines. If you're looking for character customization in any form, please go back to Saints Row 3 or 4.
• Finally, and it pains me to say this... the story is just so damn short. I thought I had so much more left to do, but by the time I actually got to Satan, I was less than four hours into the game! For a $20 USD title, I was kind of expecting at least double that, especially when the last game incorporated all sorts of side activities in their loyalty missions. In this game, however, all you do is: get buddy-buddy with people like William Shakespeare and Vlad the Impaler, go on one loyalty mission for each of your five new friends, save them from ritual sacrifice by a few Dark Inciters (which are piss easy for the most part except for Kiki and Viola's), and then go shoot Satan in the face with RPG rounds... I beat the game in less than four hours, and I was taking a leisurely stroll through the entire game.

Personally, because I liked the last two games so much, I paid full price and pre-ordered the game in hopes for getting something more than I did. Does that mean I didn't enjoy it? ♥♥♥♥ no, it's phenomenal... but the problem is that I don't feel right calling this a "game" when it feels like glorified DLC at best. The pre-order rewards were absolutely not worth it, either, as I rarely found myself using Yorick (aka "Shakespeare's Skull") to fight enemies when it was constantly overheating, and the Saints wing skin is a pretty lackluster change even by cosmetic standards. Enemies and their overall typings in the game suffer the same problems as they did in SR4, and beating the game is the worst part because there's little else to do after you're done and have collected all seven deadly weapons... the worst of which is tied between the 'Boom Chicka' and the 'Armchair-A-Geddon'.

FINAL WORDS (TL;DR):

Is this game as good as previous installments in terms of gameplay? Yes, as there are a few new spins on familiar side missions that will occupy your time for a few hours, and the story is captivating if leaning heavily on the 'short' side.

Is this game as good as previous installments in terms of content? Gat Out Of Hell is to Saints Row 4 what SR:TT was to SR2—all you're really getting is a graphical overhaul with no real changes to the core mechanics.

Should you buy this game? If you're a die-hard Saints Row fan, yes... but even then, I would recommend waiting until a substantial (≥25%) price drop.

Where do I begin with this game? This game is good in various aspects... and honestly, terrible in others. The main aspect of the game is supposed to be "build what you want and play your way". Well, you can certainly build what you want within reason, but if you're just starting out, don't expect more than a standard rocket launcher and/or assault rifle, and maybe craft yourself a healing beam weapon to aid your allies. More often than not, you're only going to be using one weapon offensively anyhow while the other is a more 'show-y' weapon. And I mean, that's good—you want a game that gives you variety, and this game gives you the means to create whatever you want... but the 'play your way' part gets sort of left behind when there's really only a few ways that some game modes can be played. In a game with near-infinite construction capabilities, it's just a sad fact that some weapon combinations are just going to perform much better than others. Why get fancy with a long-range Pyro beam gun and a laser-guided ricocheting Tesla rocket launcher with six rockets in a clip... when I can just go standard with a custom-made sniper rifle and a silenced fully-automatic machine gun and just play the game really well?

And speaking of game modes... if you're going to play, actually learn how to play. So far, there are four... what one could call 'finished' game modes:
• Extraction, in which one person is the 'collector' and the other three players try to defeat the other team's collector in order to slow their progress (imagine Capture The Flag, except with about a hundred flags and several drop-off points);
• Blitz, which is a King of the Hill / control point-centric game mode;
• Death Snatch which, if you've played Call of Duty, is like the 'Kill Confirmed' game mode in simplest terms; and
• Jackhammer, which is a more traditional version of Capture the Flag only the flag is a hammer and you can crush people with the flag and it has an absurdly high range.
While these are good game modes, playing with ignorant players—of which there are many, I won't mince words—can easily mean your downfall.

For starters, in Extraction, it does the team no good to be constantly healing the collector when he's off in the middle of nowhere picking up hunks of glowing blue ore, nor does it do anyone any good to let the enemy collector go about his business because you're in a race to see who can collect and extract the most 'Blutonium', as the game mode implies; in Blitz, everyone just runs off on their own without any objective... as with any King of the Hill-type game, it takes teamwork to capture a point, and it goes faster with more people; with Death Snatch, most players don't think to pick up the glowing things that drop from enemies on death (tip: if your teammates die in Death Snatch, prevent the enemies from getting points by collecting the vials that drop from your teammates; you'll get a message saying 'you denied a kill'); and with Jackhammer, the range of the hammer is completely inconsistent as you can try swinging at someone directly in front of you and they have a chance of surviving what should be a one-hit kill, but you can be anywhere from twenty to fifty feet away from the enemy and the hammer's shockwave will seek you out and make sure you suffer the most excruciating death imaginable.

That said, I can't fault the game in any way so far except maybe being too brief or non-descriptive; it's the players that really make or break the game, and this early in the game's infancy, the players just don't know what's going on... but hopefully that will change in time, presumably for the better.

An amazing space-age game where you take on the role of a portly miner whose mining operation gets attacked by space bandits. Play around in low gravity, use your combination weapon—the 'rock blaster' and 'G-lifter'—to solve problems and reach new heights, and collect power-ups to enhance your weapon's capabilities. With incredible gameplay and an enthralling story, it's definitely worth your time to play.