Recent reviews by OctoBooze

I wish to erase memories so I could play it all again for the first time

It's insane. Brings so much life to otherwise static IK. Perfect for hanging out when you don't need FBT for dance moves and whatnot.

Game is great and they actually listened to the mass review crash and reverted their borderline illegal account linking bs from the publisher. Time to be positive again

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ cosmetics store system but the base gameplay is fun, especially with friends. Random teams is a real hit or miss experience

I feel robbed of my money. I was told repeatedly that Rome 2 TW was the best in 2023 and it's really not capable of holding a candle to the old ones. Cavalry charges that deal 1-2 casualties to enemy when struck a formation from the rear, Testudo that isn't a testudo with directional weaknesses absent and units failing to rout even when losing up to 80-90% of their strength. And don't get me started on the piecemealing of factions. No greek states in base game playable... in a ROME game? all this coupled with the single most cheese-able braindead AI that I've yet seen does not make for a game that I can recommend.

Gameplay works really well but to me levels themselves feel too short which interrupts the flow constantly. Terrific fun where it's in full swing but the lull times where you're traversing the hellscapes shooting at nothing with Paz in order to keep up your Fury feels a smidge silly as well. In some levels the enemy spacing was just a bit too few and far between that it again cuts the mayhem down to you desperately looking for something to shoot at even if it is only a dozen seconds at a time. The challenges were fun though, wish there was an endless mode to just slay demons to a rotating soundtrack. Takes roughly 6 hours on medium diff to complete story and torments so it's overall a bit on the short side but scoring runs keeps up replayability if you're into that.

TL;DR At the time of writing it's evident that the game is still very much in development, but what we have is (for an an alpha/beta) a very polished slice of what the game will be, and that is a true successor to the Swat game series. I will list some negatives first out of the way of the glowing praise that'll follow:

Maps are very WIP. Only one or two maps support alternative gamemodes and only one has spoken briefing to add to immersion. Layouts at times are too mazelike to my liking and do not feel like real locations. As it stands only 2 locations feel incredible and most believable, and those are 213 Parks and the Gas Station.

AI is obviously still a bit raw. It has the base elements to it so that it can be worked with but SP is subject to some major bs, though naturally the game shines in MP so its limitations are less felt there.

Customization of weapons exists, but no statcards are shown so there's no way to know what does what as far as muzzles or grips go. I also personally dislike the split between loadout editor and weapon editor as in practice it is more tedium than the immersion is worth imho. And speaking of...

Loadouts do not allow mixed grenade loadouts, you can only carry a single type which greatly reduces flexibility. Another cut feature is healing which is currently only a simple animation while holding F and this sucks as far as immersion goes. I'm hopeful that both of these will be reinstated as beta proceeds.

Voiceovers are a bit cringey at times but they're slated to be replaced.

And then the positives if you're still reading and are ok with the limitations above:

Incredible atmosphere! Graphics look beautiful and the performance even in alpha/beta is amazing. Tons of polish in the presentation from loadout screen to in-mission level details.

Netcode seems to be decent, even when operating with peer to peer style it doesn't subject people to desyncing or other bs where one could see a suspect still point a gun and other would see him already lowering it. As a bonus if host is using AI tweaks, the rest who joined get to benefit from these as well and not need to mod their clients to be able to join.

Nice variety of tactical tools, even if they're mostly situational. You got the basics of an OptiWand, ballistic shield, battering ram and such. Niche uses but work wonderfully when employed correctly. Same goes with non-lethal pepperball guns and bean bags (bags, which can actually be fatal if misused, a great detail). CS gas grenades require masks to make the most use out of which forces team coordination which is always lovely. This time wearing the mask doesn't blindfold you as it was in Swat 4 so they're actually fun to use now too.

When violence erupts, and it will, the ensuing engagement feels incredible due to the amazing soundscape. Even the humble 9mm feels like a gun due to the sounds and makes every encounter more or less chaotic and realistic when overlapped with yells to comply. It feels deeply satisfying to be able defuse situations... and AI can and will rush/flank you if able so when a breach goes wrong it really pushes you into thinking on your feet as they can also shoot at you through walls which feels very real and dangerous. I've had AI open fire while we were stacked on a door from other side of the wall, I guess it heard us.

The controls are really intuitive and smooth. It's not quite tarkov in terms of mobility controls but it's still nice and tight and not overly intrusive thanks to the context based menus similar to Swat 4

Overall this is the most fun I've had in a game in a looooong time. Well worth the current asking price of 40 dollars.

It's a game with absolute ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ balance at times and more frustration and hairloss than any other game out there. But there's nothing like it on the market so it has been left to stagnate and soak in its own filth. Gaijin needs to sort out old issues and rework their brains. Just a real shame there's no viable alternative rn.

If there's one game worth getting VR set for, it is this. Easily the best rhythm game I've ever played, makes for great exercise at higher difficulty settings too.

Absolutely worth it these days. The launch was genuinely the worst I've ever seen but they've fixed almost all the issues aside from story, but the DLC makes up for a lot of its shortcomings too.