Recent reviews by ThePHiLsTeR [¬º-°]¬

The constant pausing really breaks the immersion. The acting is cringe as well. I recommend Late Shift. There's no pausing and you have to pick choices on the fly. It really felt like I was playing a movie.

Imagine a game where nemesis RANDOMLY shows up in areas and for 90% of the entire game you are harrassed by this hulk. You never know when he's going to show up, whether you're ready or not. And every time he spawned, your life is genuinely threatened. And throughout the game, the average player will die to him many times in a playthrough. This is not that game lol.

This is a great game, but it is deeply flawed and is a missed opportunity to be truly amazing. If only it had followed more closely to the original. This game is also really easy. I don't even think I died to the nemesis once.

Valkyria Chronicles 4 (VC4) is a turn-based strategy jrpg where you command units in third-person mode. It is a great war story with amazing, charismatic, and memorable characters. It is a difficult game and the harder missions will require thinking, planning, and some trial and error. An easy mode is available, but planning will still be required.

Pros

• Awesome characters
  
• Great voice acting
  
• Harder missions require a lot of strategy if that is what you are looking for
  
• Third-person mode makes this a unique turn-based strategy rpg
  
• Great side missions and extra content
  
• The complete addition comes with all DLCs
  
• Similar to Valkyria Chronicles 1 for fans of the first
  
• Great replayability

Cons

• Normal mode is too hard if you want to play casually (easy mode is available)

*No Spoilers* VC4 takes place during a war between the federation and the imperial empire. You play as the Federation’s top squad, Squad E. The main characters are charismatic and memorable. The voice acting is superb, which makes each character and the emotions they go through believable. There are a couple generic villains, but there are also a couple really cool and atypical villains. What’s great is that the villains get strong character development as well. The soldiers you command are potentially random names with stats, until you do their optional side missions. These will be mini-stories about these soldiers and some are quite meaningful even if short. The story isn’t unique or groundbreaking, but there are no plot holes and the characters are amazing. Sometimes that’s all you need to make a great story. VC4’s story is not connected to the other installments, so it can be enjoyed without playing the others.

Turn-based Strategy
On the battlefield, you and the enemy will each take turns in rounds. Each round you’ll have a set number of actions you can take. A map is displayed and each of your units will be displayed as symbols. You then select a unit, and control that unit in third person mode. There are different unit types which include: Scout, Shocktrooper, Engineer, Lancer, Sniper, Mortar, Tank, and Transport Vehicle. Each unit has a set limit they can move each action. The scouts can traverse very far per action, but can only do medium damage. The shocktrooper carries a machine gun and will do more damage, but can only travel half as much as the scout. Engineers can resupply ammo, heal units, and repair tanks and transport vehicles. Snipers can shoot from afar, and lancers are anti-tank units. Mortar units launch explosives from afar. The weapons and equipment used are reminiscent of World War 1’s equipment.

Missions
In most missions, you and the enemy have their own base camp where you can spawn in units. The enemy will frequently have extra camps sprinkled throughout the map. You can capture these points and prevent the enemy from spawning in more units and give you the ability to call in units at that location. Each mission will vary in objective. It could be capturing the enemy base camp or capturing all enemy camps or extracting certain units to an area. It could be killing a certain unit or destroying enemy structures. The missions are varied and sometimes the enemy has a trump card and suddenly objectives are changed mid-mission.

Side-missions
There are quite a few side-missions. Some side-missions add to the main story, but there is also a separate category called Squad Stories. You have your main characters and you’ll acquire more soldiers to command as you progress. In most games, these soldiers are nothing but a name with stats. However, with Squad Stories, you get mini-stories about these soldiers. All units come with positive and negative modifiers. An example positive modifier is when allies are close by, defense is increased. One of the worst modifiers is being frozen in place when surrounded by enemies. As you can imagine, I avoided these units like the plague. However, in the squad stories, you’ll get mini-stories about these soldiers and the origin of these negative modifiers will be explained. The soldier will get character development and the negative modifier will become positive and sometimes the modifier will become outright amazing. Though short, I found some of the Squad Stories touching. A couple characters I thought were really cool and cool enough to be main characters.

Difficulty
This game can be unforgiving and you will not be able to willy nilly walk through everything. On the harder missions, it might be a good idea to start a game just to look around the map. Enemy units are not shown to you until you discover them and each map has unique terrain. A hard-hitting enemy could be hidden ready to blast unsuspecting players in the face. That said, there’s a strategy for everything, and if you come up with the right one, everything is doable. You could also farm experience and level up your characters.

Don’t expect a metal gear solid cinematic experience. Full cutscenes are infrequent. Most cutscenes are made up of a still picture in the background, and a frame pops in and out when characters talk. Thankfully, in those frames, characters are fully animated. All in all, this setup does not ruin the experience, though may be a turn off for people spoiled by modern triple A games. If you come in knowing it’s not a triple A game, it will still be a very enjoyable experience and should not hold you back from buying the game.

The music has a typical war vibe with exciting, sad, happy, and heroic tones.

The game ran perfectly and never crashed. There were never any hiccups. The only thing I can note is that the mouse works poorly in the main menu and keyboard selection takes precedence over it. More importantly, this was not an issue during the gameplay.

The game is worth the full price and offers at the very least 50 hours of content and a lot more if you go for the extras. It also goes on sale frequently, and will definitely be worthwhile at that point.

Valkyria Chronicles 4 is definitely one of the best jrpgs to date. Valkyria Chronicles 4 stands out in an era of so many generic jrpgs. For fans of jrpg and turn-based strategy, VC4 will definitely scratch that itch.

The bulk of the fun comes from platforming in which you'll climb, jump, rappel, and swing from place to place. Often times you'll be solving a puzzle such as pointing mirrors in the right directions or destroying an obstacle. Occasionally you will face against enemy soldiers whom can be taken down stealthy. The most exhilarating parts include forced on the fly platforming such as escaping a falling avalanche.

The game is fun and I recommend it, but I sure as h*ll did not enjoy the story and eventually found myself skipping cutscenes even the ending. Lara Croft's character can be taken in so many great directions because of her skillset. She could be a top thief, a spy, a tomb raider who wants to strike it rich. Instead she's a goody goody who raids tombs for powerful artifacts to keep them out of the hands of an evil corporation blah blah blah.

Get some of your good pals together, and you get a top notch experience.

Red Dead Redemption 2 (RDR2) is a masterpiece that has an amazing, gritty, and emotional story. Playing RDR2 is nothing short of an adventure, and a cowboy one at that! The environments are absolutely beautiful. Characters have realistic facial expressions and flawless voice acting that has won awards. You play a member of a gang of outlaws and gameplay consists of robbing trains and banks, escaping lawmen, bar fights, and fire fights with rival gangs.

Pros

• Emotional Story
  
• Beautiful environments
  
• Potentially 100’s of hours of content in single player and multiplayer
  
• Interesting main character, side characters, and villains
  
• Wide variety of things to do
  
• Ton of Easter eggs and secrets where thorough exploration is rewarded
  
• Guns and overall depiction of the old west are very accurate according to experts

Cons

• Game suffers from crashes that can ruin an otherwise amazing experience
  
• Game cannot be saved mid-mission which is complicated by the combination of some over 30-minute-long missions and frequent crashing
  
• Some side missions don’t add anything of value to the story and overall experience
  
• Traveling by horseback is slow even with a fast travel system

*No Spoilers* RDR2 has an emotional story that has brought many people to tears. It is the prequal to Red Dead Redemption 1 and will be an absolute treat and fan fare to fans of the first game. Although veteran players will appreciate small details referring to the first game and its characters, newcomers will have a unique perspective. Newcomers will have a blank slate and major story developments will shock and surprise while veterans will already know some major things that will happen and the overall direction of the game. Since RDR2 is a prequal, playing the first game is not required to fully enjoy RDR2. That being said watching a video synopsis on the first game after beating RDR2 may be worthwhile.

You’re a rootin’ tootin’ cowboy and outlaw who should never ever travel without his cowboy hat. RDR2 is a third-person shootin’ adventure. You’ll be using the guns and equipment of 1899 which include dual revolvers, repeaters, rifles, double barrel shotguns, and lassos. There is a “dead eye” mechanic where you slow time, mark enemies, and shoot. This is especially handy when you’re heavily outnumbered, saving a fellow gang member whose held hostage, or trying to take out a fast-moving enemy on horseback or predatory animal.

Mission Types
There are many mission types which include infiltrating a rival gang’s base, robbing a train or bank, saving a gang member from captivity, escaping law enforcement, hunting an animal, capturing an enemy, bounty hunting, gathering intel, and vandalism. Some segments require stealth by moving while crouching and using silent weapons such as bows or throwing knives, but most segments you’re the quintessential rootin’ tootin’ cowboy cappin’ fellas firing dual revolvers from the hip. To add to the drama things can go really wrong making some missions hectic but in a good way.

Realism
Rockstar focused heavily on realism in RDR2. Guns get dirty and need periodical cleaning. Rockstar, however, went the extra mile and your character and horse get dirty as well and require cleaning. Your horse can be called by whistling to it, but only if it is in range. To increase your horse’s health and stamina, food and attention (by periodically patting it and cleaning it) will be required. It can also permanently die if you don’t heal it in time after taking mortal damage. Eating food is required which can be bought at the shop, but the most satiating food, cooked game meat, takes time to cook. Concocting special tonics and items from ingredients require time. RDR2 is overall a slow-paced game.

Hunting and Fishing
An optional part of the gameplay includes hunting and fishing. Animals come in different qualities from poor to perfect and will net differing amounts of money. Hunting, though optional, will be required to make special items from animal parts. For example, making a volatile dynamite (which has increased damage radius of a regular dynamite) will require a regular dynamite and animal fat while a dynamite arrow will require a regular dynamite, an arrow, and a bird feather. These types of items I found unnecessary but worthwhile and enhanced the gameplay. Animal parts are also required to upgrade your satchel which has a limited inventory space. The default satchel will certainly get you through single player but the extra space is nice. Animal skins can make nice clothing for your character and decorations for your base.

Honor System
RDR2 has an honor system where you can play dishonorably or honorably. Your level of honor will affect how others treat you and some outcomes of the story. With high honor, NPCs will treat you nicely and shops will give you discounts. While negative honor will net more money when looting the dead and allow you to shoot up enemies and civilians with little remorse.

Exploration
RDR2’s world crosses a pretty large map which will take about 30 minutes to travel from one side to the other by horseback. It sports a variety of different landscapes from frosty mountains, swamps, small towns, deserts, and an upscale city. The wild environments are what you’d expect a landscape relatively untouched by humans would be with treacherous mountains, narrow trails, creeks, and caves. Wildlife are littered throughout and include everything from squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, snakes, and deer to wolves, bears, and cougars, and much much more.

RDR2’s landscapes I describe most accurately as a moving painting. It is especially beautiful at night when the moon’s light reflects off every blade of grass, tree, and lake. While riding, you can see all the distinct muscles on your horse and its mane eloquently moving with the wind and each tread. In the snowy mountains, you can see all the snowy mist flying through the air, and the incredibly realistic tracks in the snow made by your horse, feet, and other animals. You can see the water vapor as it condenses out of each character’s mouth as they breathe. Characters and NPCs move realistically with realistic facial and bodily expressions. It is akin to a movie with superb actors immersing you into its world.

I have nothing bad to say about the sound nor anything amazing, except that it serves its purpose. The music captures the wild west and an adventurous tone. Notable music plays during the story’s most emotional moments and those impacted will forever associate the events that transpire and the songs that coincide. For players of the first game, RDR2’s music is in my opinion slower and calmer, while RDR1’s music is more exhilarating.

The crashes sadly are what’s stopping people from buying the steam version and the cause of mixed reviews. Troubleshooting the game might require disabling anti-virus, tweaking settings, updating graphics drivers, running the game as administrator, and more. And even then, the game might still crash and the best you can do is limit the crashing but never completely solve the problem. It is such a shame because RDR2 is truly a gem of a game and I’m sure its crashes have soured many people’s experiences.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is worth every penny at the full price of $60 and offers potentially hundreds of hours of content or at the minimum 50 hours in single player not counting the extras. However, it should come with a buyer-beware tag as players can experience crashing anywhere from none to an unbearable amount.

This game is a TON of fun and a free roamer with lots of points of interest to explore. You get 11 abilities and each ability has 3 to 10 upgrades that give each ability more dimensions. You get 8 weapons and each individually can be upgraded such as reload time, faster lockon, fire rate etc. You can upgrade up to 65ish perks that do various things and many synergize with abilities. You also get 6 usable items such as grenades and turret drones that can be upgraded up to 5 times each. You can collect many different land and air vehicles and upgrade your main one.

tl;dr
This game has a CRAP TON of upgrades and you can become an OP monster in a good way. ITS FUN.

p.s. DOOM pros will say this game is too easy even on the hardest difficulty. More like DOOM snob. Sorry ok theres no atomic bomb the enemy will send at you because clearly that is what enemy need to destroy you because of how good you are. Wow i bow down to you. *sarcasm*

This is pretty cool and trippy, but uhhh, not as amazing as these other reviewers make it out to be...pretty cool is better description imo

Batman and villians see fundamental changes to their stories, but keep their overall personalities. This keeps the story interesting and unpredictable. One of the best things about the game is catwoman, if you play your cards right. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

I tended to my people, gave them medicine when they were sick, and did their quests to keep them happy. I was waiting for the moment. When the time was ripe, I started uncontrollably giggling and I decimated 3 ENTIRE TOWNS. MWHAHAHAHAHA HHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAAH

But my ol sweet sweet Mary. Even though you loved me so much, and I you, I couldn't resist. CURSE YOU MAKER! YOU HAVE DAMNED ME FOR ETERNITY!!!!!!