Recent reviews by CCMatt

It's basically Mario Kart that requires more skill. I beat all of MK8's cups (DLC included) on 200cc, not an easy task by any means. Yet this game still manages to kick my ass, I love it though. A great Mario Kart alternative.

This Chinese-knock-off of world war 2 is pretty good. Gameplay is great, and the port runs well, if menu controls are bit dumb. The story is about as good as slippery wet butts.

Foreword: I played this game much more on the 360 before I finally made the jump to the PC master race, I only bought it on here to play with my friend. Although I thought I'd like to share

It's good, certainly not great. It has as much replay value as Champions of Norath did (if you ever played it), in that you can replay the game i NG+ on harder difficulty. The combat is mostly mindless, but it's the larger enemies that make it fun, especially the trolls. Learning when to roll between their legs and when to strike takes a bit of time but you get down soon enough. The character progression is neat and clean, nothing special. It does however offer some breathing room with characters, basing your dwarf entirely on crossbows rather than the standard berserker 2-handed cookie-cutter dwarf is a lot of fun. In fact, the dwarven crossbow and the explosive bolt skill is the most powerfull attack in the game (as far as I've seen).

The Ranger is about as bland as you'd expect, and the Elven mage only has 1 game-breaking skill that the AI is surprisingly competent with. The elven mage lays down a giant bubble that blocks all projectiles coming in. It can be upgraded to heal allies inside, amplify the power of friendly projectiles going out, and an explosion when the timer goes out that knocks nearby enemies away. This is best left to the AI to control (or a friend if you play 3 players) to use, while you play one of the other two, more competent, characters. The elven mage does have the bonus of infinite ammo (it does deplete and have to recharge though).

Not the most complex total war by far, but that is where this game absolutely shines!

A return to roots game for Creative Assembly Shogun 2 was meant to test the waters for future total war games. Coming out right after Empires and Napoleon met good critic reviews, but only decent player reviews (for the time). C.A. wanted to make a game with modern graphics and UI, that both new and veteran players would enjoy. Shogun 2 runs great on most systems (medium settings on my friend's gt640, a very low end card) lowering the bar of entry even further. The game let's just about anyone play with an effective tutorial, the advisors, and simple mechanics. Maintaining a balance of strategy and tactics, Shogun 2 offers many dilemmas (the good kind!). Such dilemmas include, should you have specialized settlements, some military, some economic. Should you amass a thousand Ashigaru (peasant) spears and bows? Or a few hundred Elite Samurai, trained in the ways of the horse, sword, spear, and bow? Should you adopt Christianity, and gunpowder with it? Or maintain the shinto tradition and the diplomatic ease that shadows it?

Shogun 2 will seduce you, entice you, and keep you intrigued.

It's hard to be more satisfied with this piece of hardware. Personally, I can use it for just about every game except games that emphasize twitchy camera movement. I've used it for Civilization V, Attila Total War, Dragon's Dogma, Sonic All Star Racing, Skyrim, Cities Skylines, The Wolf Among Us, and quite a few others. Being able to swap control types on the fly was something I didn't really have high hopes for. I thought current gaming would be quite ♥♥♥♥ in handling the controller. I've yet to play a single a game where I could not, no matter what, use the steam controller. The damn thing just works; that is the most important thing about any controller, working.

P.S. Steam shipped via FedEx for me, and it arrived 1 day early.

After playing this long within the short amount of time available. I feel ashamed. Ashamed that I couldn't play the game more. The FOX Engine is a work of art, smooth 60fps in 1080 with most settings on high (running on a GTX 660). Throughout the whole game I've only encountered a single bug, but it didn't conflict with anything important. Building and expanding your base is so satisfying, and with every soldier (friend or foe) being a unique person, you really feel like you are building a family more so than an army (albeit some were forced into the 'family'). The open world reminds you of your choices: guns blazing, sneaking past every guard, or knocking them all out. Along with all these things, a complex buddy system is implemented to help cement your play style, or compensate for its weaknesses. See 2 guards blocking your path, but don't want to risk alerting both? Have D-Dog take one out while you get the other. Sneaking around and a guard was just around the corner? Quiet's got you covered with a quick .308 to their head. Need to silently hunt a rare animal or high-value officer? D-Horse can get you there quick and quiet. Need to track a fast moving vehicle, whilst armed to the teeth? D-Walker can get you there with a gatling gun, or flame-thrower, or rocket launcher.

In short, this game is nothing less than a Hideo Kojima work of art.

It's dyansty warriors, so you know what you are getting when it comes to combat. That said, it has really stepped its game up in the strategy department compared to previous Empires games.

Mix and match activated strategies, such as building a catapult or tower or filled with archers. Or have some of your officers retreat to prepare a giant thunder storm that can be amplified by altars you build. These altars can also be used in a defensive stance. Say the enemy launches a fire attack on your bases, build a rain altar and it will douse the flames.

You can also get married and have children, but they typically come out looking like something from A Nightmare On Elm Street.

what would happen if an unstoppable force crashed into an immovable object?
what would happen if the earth stopped rotating?
what would happen if Overkill stopped making dlc?

It's fun with friends, and I'd love to play it more. But I cannot recommend this game to anyone. It's a big price tag on a small game. Only get this if it is on sale; not worth your money.

I plopped down an arcade cabinet, set it to launch anarchy arcade. I thus proceeded to make yet another anarchy arcade cabinet. Every day, I go just a little bit deeper. I don't know what I will find.

10/10