Recent reviews by Bananakin

Matchmaking for PvP is at 52 minutes. I wanted to try the PC version, I love the Switch version and it doesn't take long to matchmake once you get past the abysmal load times. Waste of 50 Gb.

Not Recommended, Needs More Work

I'm sad to say this, but I cannot recommend Bodycam in its current state.

Performance:
This game makes my RTX 4070 sweat harder than an addict at a frat party. There’s no reason I should be getting sub-60 FPS at 1080p with my setup. It’s unacceptable for a game that looks this good but doesn’t seem optimized well.

Gameplay:
The core loop is fun, and I’ll give credit where it's due, the gunplay feels solid, and the bodycam effect adds a cool twist.
However, the content is very limited. Outside of multiplayer and a disappointing zombies mode, there isn’t much to do.

I did enjoy the surprise day/night cycle mid-match in multiplayer, that was a cool touch.

Weapons System:
You don’t seem to keep any one gun consistently, and your loadout is randomized every match.
That’s a choice... but it takes away from any sense of progression or personalization.

Monetization:
For a game that costs over $30, it’s loaded with microtransactions.
Yes, they’re just cosmetics, but it still feels bad to see this kind of monetization in a paid title.

Let me start by saying this: LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is everything I’ve ever wanted from a LEGO game, except for that one thing I’ll touch on later, but we’ll get to that. Pour yourself a blue milk, kick back, and allow me to ramble about how this game tickles the midi-chlorians right out of my nostalgic heart.


If you're expecting the same old “mash X until the Stormtrooper explodes into studs”, you are hilariously outdated, my friend. This game’s combat got a serious glow-up. Blasters have actual aiming mechanics, lightsaber combat has combos now, and you can dodge roll like a caffeine-fueled acrobat. Blocking and parrying in a LEGO game? I didn’t think I’d need it. Now I can’t live without it. This ain't your older cousin’s LEGO Star Wars.


The boss battles? DELICIOUS. There’s actual mechanical variety here. Darth Maul’s multi-phase duel? Chef's kiss. Count Dooku? Lightning and lightsaber finesse. Even General Grievous gets the high-ground treatment he deserves (with all four arms flailing in dramatic LEGO glory). They're not just “hit the boss until it dies”, they’re dynamic, tactical, and most importantly, fun as hell.

So, space battles! Pew pew! Explosions! Barrel rolls! Dogfights so smooth they make Rogue Squadron look like it’s running on a potato. Also, the "Free Roam" isn't full-on No Man's Sky. You can’t fly from Tatooine to Naboo in real time or seamlessly transition from space to planet. You’re confined to the space above each planet until you interact with points of interest to travel to another planet, land on the planet you're above, or board a ship (more on that in a moment). Roaming around in space above each planet is a blast, with side missions, races, and random enemies popping in to ruin your day in the best way. And in case that wasn't enough, how does boarding, overthrowing, and becoming the new captain of a capital ship sound? That’s right. You can straight-up steal giant ships and claim them like you’re LEGO Thrawn. Amazing.
But...


I ask you, TT Games, how do you not include the single greatest opening to any Star Wars movie ever? I was ready. I had my Obi-Wan one-liners locked and loaded. Instead, we fade into a cutscene. I am still not over it. I may never be over it.


You thought you were going to blast through the main story in 15 hours? Hah. That’s cute. This game has so many open-world zones, each one lovingly designed, full of color, life, quests, reactive crowds, shoot your blaster in a market and watch the LEGO civilians scatter like you just farted in an elevator. You almost have the option to be the most scandalous being in Mos Eisley. There are planets everywhere, and they all feel different, unique, and alive.

And the collectibles? Oh my Force ghost, the collectibles.

• Kyber bricks.
• Puzzles.
• Side missions.
• Hilarious little side objectives.

If you have a completionist bone in your body, prepare to never stop playing.
Ever.


Look, I love options. But when I’m scrolling through nearly 400 characters, half of whom are obscure characters that you've likely never heard of, I start to question my life choices. Still, the character roster is absolutely bananas. You want Yaddle? You GOT Yaddle. You want Mama the Hutt? She's here and fabulous. Just... be ready to scroll. A lot.


The Prequel Trilogy is my jam, and sweet merciful Mustafar did they do it justice. The missions are spot-on, and they got voice actors from The Clone Wars animated series, which means Obi-Wan actually sounds like Obi-Wan. If you’re a fellow Prequel apologist (or full-on lover), this game is your redemption arc.


Here’s the thing: I hate the Sequel Trilogy. I do. I’ve tried. I’ve failed. BUT, and this is a very important “but”, the gameplay for those episodes is a damn good time. Genuinely engaging, fun to play, with just the right amount of LEGO absurdity to distract me from my emotional baggage. Well done, game. You tricked me into enjoying Canto Bight. That’s sorcery.


Top-tier voice acting across the board. The humor is exactly what you’d want from LEGO: corny, clever, and often laugh-out-loud ridiculous. You can switch to mumble mode too, if you miss the old-school grunts (you weirdo). Everything looks like actual LEGO sets, with incredible attention to texture and lighting. Most impressive.


The character DLCs are neat, more great additions to your already bloated roster. Mando, Bad Batch, even Andor’s here. But they aren’t voiced, which is a bit of a bummer. And there’s no new story content in the DLCs, which is honestly a crime against gaming. I wanted a Clone Wars mission pack, dammit!


This game is charm incarnate. It oozes polish. It runs like butter on toast (which is rare for modern PC games, let’s be honest), and the controls are intuitive without feeling like they’re designed for toddlers. It is a joyous, content-stuffed, nostalgia-drenched, lovingly built celebration of Star Wars, from the binary sunset to the rise of Rey (whether you like her or not (don't worry, I don't either).


Now please excuse me while I go replay the Mustafar duel for the fifteenth time this week.
And no, I’m still not over the missing Battle over Coruscant.

People keep asking:
“What’s actually different in this ‘Enhanced’ version?”
Well, grab a snack and pull up a chair because it’s time for Rockstar’s Patch Notes: Slightly Less 2013 Edition™.

• Raytracing! Now puddles reflect your poor life choices in glorious real-time.
  
• Upscalers like DLSS and FSR have joined the party, so your GPU has a fighting chance.
  
• MSAA? Gone. Finally. It’s been sent to the Shadow Realm where it belongs, taking performance with it every time it shows its face. Good riddance.

For reference:

• Intel Arc A750? Used to choke harder than a GTA Online heist lobby.
  
• Steam Deck / RX 570 (4GB)? Previously turned into slideshow projectors with MSAA enabled.
  
• Now? They can at least try to run the game without curling into a ball and weeping.

• Animals. Because your GTA experience wasn’t immersive enough until there were raccoons vibing on the sidewalk.
  
• New cars. As if Online wasn’t already 80% drag races and 20% trying not to get griefed.
  
• Photography mode. Because crime looks better in 4K.
  
• Faster load times. It now loads in 15 seconds instead of making you age in real time.

Running on an RTX 4070 at 1440p, everything maxed (including raytracing, because we like pain):

• Without DLSS and v-sync: ~60 FPS, with occasional dips just to remind you it’s GTA.
  
• At 4K: 30-45 FPS, aka “cinematic mode.” Not smooth, but it sure is shiny.
  
• Some folks are reporting performance issues. I’m not. Pick your poison.

• Free for existing GTA V owners.
  
• Legacy version has been delisted. Pour one out.
  
• You can still access it though, in case you’re feeling nostalgic for crusty textures and 90-second load screens.

• Lightbar changes color depending on your situation:
    
• Red/Blue when wanted.
    
• Green = Franklin, Blue = Michael, Orange = Trevor.
  
• No phone audio through the speaker. Sad. Ratchet & Clank figured it out, why can’t you, Rockstar?

• Legacy and Enhanced versions now show up separately in your Steam library.
  
• No more menu spelunking just to switch versions.
  
• Save migration is a mild hassle, but starting over is half the fun anyway.

Game runs great (for me), looks cleaner, loads faster, and throws in just enough shiny distractions to keep you from ever finishing the story.

The only real downside?

• BattlEye. Because what better way to launch a single-player game than by being treated like you're trying to hack NASA.

8/10, Would get flashbanged by load times again (but now I don’t have to).

Steve Blum

This is, without a doubt, one of my favorite horror games of all time, and I say that as someone who's voluntarily played through at least three horror games.

Let’s break it down:

Slender: The Arrival masterfully blends “legitimately terrifying” with “cheap jump scare” that hit you like a train.
Sometimes the scares make you flinch so hard you hit pause just to breathe.
Other times? You roll your eyes so hard you pull a muscle.
But when it’s good, oh, it hits.
You’ll spend entire chapters more tense than a Wi-Fi signal at a gaming convention.

• Base game came with 9 chapters and a “secret” one.
  
• The 10-year anniversary update drops a fresh chapter: “Nightmare”. Appropriately named, because that’s exactly what it is.
  
• Apparently more chapters are coming, because the devs clearly enjoy emotionally waterboarding us.
  
• That makes 11 chapters total, each one more likely than the last to make you sprint toward the exit in real life.

• This isn’t your grandma’s horror game, unless she’s into cryptids and existential dread.
  
• It looks incredible. Like "you'll be distracted by the game's fancy new global illumination and forget about the scares for a moment" levels of good.
  
• Lighting, shadows, and sound design all scream “You messed up just by being here.”
  
• The remaster somehow makes the forest look even more like it hates you. Great!

If you’re:

• Looking for a horror game that doesn’t just rely on things going “boo”?
  
• Into environmental storytelling and the psychological slow burn of dread?
  
• The kind of person who sees a terrifying figure in the woods and thinks, “Yeah, I’ll keep going.”
  
• Not afraid of tall men in suits (yet)?

Then yes. Buy it. Immediately.
Even if your wallet cries, your soul will thank you, and then scream.


Terrifying.
Stylish.
Cruel in all the right ways.

It’s Slender: The Arrival, fully remastered to ensure you can now see every horrifying detail of your impending doom in glorious HD.

10/10 - Would wander into the woods again just to disappoint Slenderman with my life choices.

The stuff I love is coming, but first, allow me to scream into the void.


Let’s start with the most obvious: this game is allergic to optimization. If you’re running anything shy of a GPU that costs more than your rent, expect crashes, chugging frames, and settings that basically boil down to “look at the floor and pray.” Intel Arc and Steam Deck users? May the frame gods have mercy on your soul.

Now let’s talk combat, or more accurately, getting repeatedly faceplanted into the dirt because the enemies decided to play rugby with your corpse. Getting revived only to be insta-downed again before your character even finishes standing up? Iconic. And by that I mean infuriating. Enemy aggro is brutal. Two or more enemies and suddenly your health bar becomes more of a polite suggestion than a mechanic.

Also, can we talk about how long it takes to eat a damn energy bar if it’s not on your hotbar? I’ve literally been downed mid-snack while rifling through my bag. Same goes for getting caught during that endless "cutting yourself down from rope" animation. If I'm being attacked, maybe don’t lock me into a ten-second interpretive dance routine?

Then there's winter. Oh, winter. You find a jacket, think you're all set, but nope, you're still wet, you're still cold, and you're still very much dying. Love that for us.


Now for the good stuff, because shockingly, there's a lot to like here.

For starters: they actually listened to complaints from the first game! Freeform building? Check. Snappy pre-built blueprints with editing options? Also check. You get to either build your dream forest mansion or slap together panic huts like it’s IKEA Armageddon.

The enemy variety is way better this time around, different looks, different behaviors, and more ways to ruin your day. Fun!

Yes, there are guns now. Real ones. With attachments. And ammo so rare, you’ll feel like you’re hoarding diamonds. Word of advice: don’t upgrade your guns at your base unless you enjoy chaos. You’ll see why.

Kelvin is the MVP. He collects resources, builds structures, and, get this, you can put him in little footie pajamas. Absolute legend. I just wish he'd scream or something when danger shows up instead of doing his signature “panic mime” routine.

The island? Huge. So much more to explore this time around. Plus, there’s a solid upgrade in the wildlife department, more creatures to savagely destroy appreciate in their natural habitat.

Also, shoutout to the seasonal transitions, which are technically “seamless”, as in you don’t notice them until you're suddenly freezing in a snowstorm with no food and a regret sandwich.


I’ve got complaints, but they’re mine to carry like emotional baggage. Despite the bugs, rage-inducing enemy spam, and weird animation locks, Sons of the Forest is still a damn good time. If survival horror with a dash of chaos and a sprinkle of “WTF just happened?” is your thing, give it a shot.

It’s just another Fallout game, y’know, nukes, janky NPCs, weird bugs that Bethesda calls “features”, but this time, they decided to sprinkle in forced multiplayer and said, “Hey, what if playing solo was a luxury item?”

No joke, if you want a private lobby to play alone or just with friends, you have to cough up cash every single month. That’s right, folks, singleplayer is now a premium feature. What used to be the foundation of the series is now locked behind the digital equivalent of a velvet rope and a bouncer asking for your credit card.

Seriously, it’s like Bethesda looked at everything fans loved about Fallout, exploration, solitude, immersion, and said, “Let’s toss that in the dumpster and make them pay for it.” Bold move.

And the kicker? The game isn't even that different. Same gameplay loop. Same looting and shooting. Same bugs with slightly more players to witness your suffering. Except now you’re stuck in a world full of other people’s goofy usernames and teabagging emotes unless you shell out for the honor of peace and quiet.

Honestly, just play Fallout 3, New Vegas, or 4. They all still hold up, they scratch the Fallout itch just fine, and they don’t charge you a subscription just to be left alone in the Wasteland.

The only reason I’m not more bitter is because I tried this during a free window. And let me tell you, that price tag felt just about right.

Final Verdict: Skip it, unless you're dying for Fallout... but hate your wallet.

Had to refund this faster than Snake can say "Kept you waiting, huh?"

Why? Because on the Steam Deck, this thing is deader than The Boss in a field of white flowers. No cutscene audio. No dialogue audio. Just Snake flapping his lips in total silence like it's an avant-garde mime project.

Oh, and the settings menu? Barely exists. You get about as much control as Snake had when he got thrown off that bridge in the intro. Seriously, it's like Konami said, "What if we ported a PS2 game... and gave it PS2-era options too?"

And look, I came from the 3DS version, which, if you played on a New 3DS, actually had awesome controls and smart UI tweaks. So I assumed this "Master Collection" would have at least that. But no. That’s on me, I guess, for assuming a “Master” collection meant anything other than “We did the bare minimum and charged you to witness it.”

Final Verdict: This ain't the definitive way to play Snake Eater. It's the definitive way to be disappointed. Either patch it properly or let it rest in peace like The End.

So glad I paid ten whole dollars for what is essentially a legacy map museum and a glorified texture pack for Garry's Mod. :steamthumbsup:

Sure, it was revolutionary in 2004, but unless you're here for nostalgia, or you want your GMod maps to stop looking like error vomit, you're basically just buying high-res wallpaper for a game you actually want to play.

Gameplay? Still fine, still CS.
Player base? Tumbleweeds and bots.
Value? It’s a vibe, if your vibe is "supporting your favorite GMod textures."

Final Verdict: 10/10… as a DLC for Garry’s Mod. :steamthumbsup: