Recent reviews by gruel

I adore the Tomb Raider games, and this is the Tomb Raider games presented unobstructed so that is a pretty easy recommendation from me. Finally a PC Port of Tomb Raider 3 that works without having to hold a seance in your computer of multiple programs propping it up.

I don't love the remastered visuals, especially regarding their use of A.I art, which I guess I understand as the publisher is definitely not pumping THAT much money into old-ass Tomb Raider that only me and the rest of the retirement community will care about. These clashing visuals wouldn't be so bad if the classic visuals didn't have a godforsaken FRAME CAP on them. There are PC versions right now that run at a perfect 60 FPS and have the classic visuals, why in the name of Gosh in Heaven are we handicapping the game for no reason?

But I finally get an achievement for getting those uzis off the invisible platform so I am finally fulfilled.

Having music by Alexander Brandon and Michiel Van Den Bois is emotional manipulation to get me to love your game and it WORKS. EVERY TIME.

An incredibly ambitious and fun shooter that has that feeling that the developer was really having fun making it. While advertised as a boomer shooter with babes, I really feel like the dev is doing some sleight-of-hand here, as this is an EXPLORATION game first and foremost.

The amount of secrets hidden in the walls of Hedon, the incredibly vast and dense level design, and the surprisingly adept world-building and storytelling all feel like the star of the show here, and that isn't even damning the shooting with faint praise, as it is a TON of fun, especially with how creative the arsenal can be. absolutely a MUST-PLAY if you love games like Unreal or Deus Ex, no other game in recent memory has felt quite as grounded in its own world as those.

Another astonishingly good remaster, and for a game that needed it BADLY. Quake II has never felt better, faster, and more fluid to play, CD music is fixed, and it includes the really cool N64 campaign. The game actually LOOKS really good now, which from an artistic standpoint has been hard to say about Quake II. The fact that Machine Games keeps making new episodes for these games is also amazing, a true labor of love.

I used to be of the belief that Unreal was a better game than Quake II, but since you can actually PURCHASE Quake II I'm going to have to change my opinion on that, I suppose.

My favorite FF, I love the depth of the mechanics and the cast might be my favorite in a game. This port has some issues, but compared to how incongruous the Remastered HD models look on the blurry pre-rendered backgrounds, I think i'd rather deal with the problems this one has over that. Swap out the MIDI PC music for the PS1 OST and you're pretty much golden. There are mods you can get off of a terrible forum that you will need to register for that won't email you an activation code so you can't actually download anything, so that's cool. You really can't win with any version of FF8, but for my money this one is pretty good.

Ninja Gaiden Black on Xbox is a 10/10 action game experience, Sigma is a more watered-down version with terrible new enemies, changes to the overall experience of NG and makes Ryu's costume really shiny for some reason. Though I would recommend Black to anyone easily I also understand not everyone has an xbox, and in that case, this version is fine! This isn't like the Sigma 2 situation where the game is made worse for no reason, Ninja Gaiden 1 is such a good game that not even the supervillain Yosuke Hayashi could do much to ruin it.

Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja completely don't give a ♥♥♥♥ about this series though, so these ports are really barebones. The fact that they ported the unpopular Sigma versions and not the superior Black and Vanilla 2 is a testament to that. If you are interested in climbing the difficulty ladder, a lot of problems that were present in Sigma are still here! On harder difficulties for example Clone Ryu can just blatantly cheat and block in mid-air, in Black he had actual punish windows and could be beaten without cheesing. It is a bummer to think people will play this as their first introduction to what is one of the best action games ever made and walk away with the wrong impression of it. They'll think it's a bloom-infested game where the main character has a really shiny ass.

if you have an Xbox One, Ninja Gaiden II is extremely cheap and easy to find. It's available on the Xbox game store as well.

If you have NO OTHER WAY to play NGII, this is...passable. I actually do like the extra chapters, and the greatsword is a fun addition. But a lot of the changes are really poor. Ninja Gaiden II is one of the most vicious and ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ insane action games ever put on Earth and will never be topped in terms of sheer insanity. Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 is just a pretty cool action game.

the Perfect action game. I haven't completed it yet, and I hear NG+ is where it really gets going, but Nioh 1 and 2 are exactly what I have wanted in an action game in a long time plus more. I recommend playing them in order so you can really appreciate the QoL improvements Nioh 2 makes, but rest assured, if you have even a love in challenging and mechanically deep action games like DMC and Ninja Gaiden this is the kind of game you will ADORE.

a game with an incredible artistic direction, beautiful vistas and jaw-dropping scenery. the skyboxes are immensely detailed, the colors vibrant, and the atmosphere dripping. that a game can look this good is nothing short of astonishing.

however, due to bloating file size, bungie has elected to "vault" content that was once in the game, such as the original Red War campaign and Forsaken. i cannot recommend you pay for content in a game when the content will become flat out unplayable for you. when you buy a DLC for Destiny 2 a timer is instantly set for when you won't be able to play it anymore. it's not as sinister as most live-service models but is still reprehensible.

Powerslave rules and this remaster is killer. This is a no-brainer for anyone even a little into games like this.

it's Quake, one of the best first-person shooters ever made, so yes you should have bought this. BUT!! The 2021 update makes this not only an incredible preservation of a classic but also has one of the best new retro shooter single players included in it. Dimension of the Machine alone justifies the price tag, a brand new campaign that matches the high quality of Quake's already kickass single player. The original mission packs for Quake (Scourge of Armagon and Dissolution of Eternity) are NOT that good though so maybe skip those.