Recent reviews by A Bad Medic

My Time at Portia is such a relaxing and immersive game. I have played this so many times and on different consoles as well. I highly recommend this game to anyone who likes a good story and great character developments too. The only downside i have is that on character customisation, the eyelashes are red and this cannot be changed unless you have a mod installed. Still, this is only a minor issue and doesn't distract from the overall gameplay.

Grow home is a fantastic, fun, imaginative and addictive gem of a game. It is the first game in years that has made me want to get all of the steam achievements. Mostly because i know that it would be a blast to do.

The controls are great. The Visuals are impressive and styalized. As you progress you unlock more abilities which is very rewarding. Most importantly it's just so fun to play. You can play this in short bursts or in marathon sessions and you will just feel great afterwards.

I cannot recommend this game enough. Now, time to glide down a giant flower on a leaf holding a sheep to get an achievement.

This game is art over substance in a nutshell. It has a very interesting story and setting. But that's about it. I couldn't even get myself to finish it, but let me tell you why.

- Terrible AI that consistantly dies on it's own causing you to go back to the previous checkpoint.
- Awful sluggish movement and platforming. Which is a problem because this game is a platformer at heart. Its just not fun to play.
- Glitches and bugs. Had myself fall through the floor in a boss fight. Polar bear got stuck. AI walking off random edges to its death.
- As much as it is story focused, it completely lost my interest. This is probably more because of the gameplay making me frustrated and ruining the story.
- The narration sometimes cut's off if you go too far ahead. Meaning you miss some of the story.
- Repetative.
- This game is meant to be played Co-op. Controlling two characters on your own is a chore and you have to fight to get them to do what you want.
- Bland graphics and art style. Sure the designs of the spirits are interesting but everything else seems...meh.
- Not once did i stop and just look at the world they created. In a game like this, where it is more about the world and story/ Puzzle solving, there should be some 'wow' moments. Not once. There are much better games similar to this one which do have those (Braid, Limbo, Ori, Contrast, Trine etc).
- Forgettable soundtrack.
- It can't make up it's mind if water kills you or not. Freezing water kills you. 30 mins later you can swim in the freezing water (You can't even drown). Then only five minuites after a section where you can swim water kills you again. It makes no sense.

In conclusion, i feel that Never Alone is a great premise which fell short due to clunky controls, design and execution. It's just not fun to play. It's a game that isn't fun to play. Disappointing.

Warhammer Vermintide is a game you will Love and Hate. And let me explain why.

Pros:

-Excellent developer support with regular patches, listens to the community, free DLC and events such as double XP weekends.
-The game looks great. Animations on the enemies look and feel natural. The weapons and armour all have great detail. Textures rarely pop in. The environments look and feel perfect for the lore and time period they are set in.
-The sound design is also very good. The Skaven chatter and screech like you would imagine a giant rat man would. Very atmospheric sounds.
-The characters all feel completely different from each other.
-There is lots of loot and customizability.
-Impressive crowds. You will see possibly hundreds of rats running at you at a time and it does look amazing.
-The dismemberment is really visceral and really pulls you into the game.
-The game is now quite well optimised compared to it's shaky launch.
-The Forge and Shrine mechanics are great additions. These let you unlock upgrades for your weapons. They also let you salvage weapons you dont want for a chance to get one you do. This game has four tiers of weapon rareness. White, green, blue and orange. Got five white weapons you dont want? Change it into a green one that you do!
-If you are a fan of the Warhammer Fantasy lore and world (before the age of sigmar) then you will love this game. The developers have taken great care with the IP.



Cons:
-There is a missed opportunity for a proper story. The story is given in small talk between the characters but as a fan of the lore on which this game is based it is a little disappointing.
-Unfair situations. Sometimes when playing you may be two people down. The AI does not account for this. It will still send hundreds and hundreds of clanrats against you and perhaps four assassins and two poison rats for good measure. There is no balancing for when the players are severely outnumbered.
-No checkpoints. If you come into this thinking that it is like left for dead. Well, you are right and wrong. The main missions take around 30-60 mins each depending on your team and skill level. If you all die at 55 mins in, that's it. No checkpoint earlier in the level. It's an instant reset. This used to be even worse when you would get no reward for the hard work. Now you get a measly bonus. Prepare to get frustrated when you have a bad team.
-Constant specials. This game has special rats. These special rats can incap a team-mate very easily. Unlike left for dead there can be more than one of the same at a time. One time i was playing and two assassins, and immediately two packmasters, grabbed our team. All four of us were grabbed and couldnt do anything. Instant failure. It seems unfair when you have 100 rats barreling down at you, and a gatling gunner shooting you, then an assassin jumps on you whilst being poisoned. Prepare to get frustrated and what feels like cheated. Just pray a rat ogre isnt thrown into the mix.
-The missions quickly run out. They become stale and boring after a while. There are quite a few missions but only half are proper 'full' missions. Others are smaller objective ones. You will be replaying the same levels over and over again.
-The dice loot system makes you cry. When doing the longer missions you have the opportunity to pick up Tomes and Grimoires. These give you extra dice at the end of the level. At the end of the level you roll a certain amount of dice. How many face ups you get determines how good the loot you receive is. Normal dice is a 2/6 chance. Grimoires guarantee a face up symbol, but cut your health down 25% for the rest of the level (all players). You can get two of these. Tomes take up your health slot. They just give you an extra dice to roll with a 3/6 chance of getting a face up symbol. There are 3 of these. The harder the level, the more dice you get for it. I have once grabbed all tomes, grimoires and completed it on hard (which is not easy) and only got 2 face-ups (which were because of the grimoires). Your hard work means nothing and the reward is all luck based. No matter how you perform. Killed the most? Took the least amount of damage? No bonus. It's like playing 2014 destiny.

I do like this game (see hours played) but i also hate some of its design. This game is fun with 4 friends when you can communicate. A lot of the time you will be getting frustrated with the constant barrage of enemies and the lack of reward from an hour of your time. I do recommend you pick this game up. It is a fantastic little gem of a game. But also take in what i have said. The pro's outweigh the cons most of the time.

Now that this game has been cured of its problems and rubbish design choices, it really is a spectacle to watch. Great campaign map with easy to manage cities and more detailed political ventures if you want to go that deep. The battles are great fun to watch and play, especially with the new battle camera. If you like total war or roman culture then go for it.