Recent reviews by Quinch

To say a game about dealing drugs is "highly addictive" isn't just a pun in this case! There's some deep mechanics in this game as you get further into it and beyond growing normal pot. Enjoying it solo and loving it with friends as well. The thought that's gone into the development of the game is brilliant (little bug encountered? No issue, just exit what you're doing and go back in...fixed) and the nods to other media like "The IT Crowd" are fun to notice.

A lot of negative reviews seem to revolve around either 1) Bug issues, 2) Account transfer issues/delays or 3) Misinformed/Misunderstanding why & what the Enhanced Edition on PC is for.

However, for me this has been a seamless transfer. General performance is also better, even with Ray Tracing etc On and I wouldn't consider my 7800XT a high end card at the moment!

Differences are subtle though, reflections, shadows and similar are things players don't normally notice or have time to notice! If Rockstar had insisted on the upgrade being a paid for game, I'd be giving a negative review as well, but its FREE!

I've even seen a negative review due to "micro transactions"?!? I'm sorry, lol... have you played Online before??

Anyway, what can I say, this is a significant update for PC players and a very welcome one. It likely does mean that GTA6 is unlikely to be on PC until late 2026 & 2027 in my opinion and, yes, this IS a cash grab but Rockstar have, at least, given us something to keep us going....if the interest lasts...who can say.

Sony no longer require PSN sign in for use of the game, a true win for all Helldivers on Super Earth!

This game is amazing fun, great co-op PvE gameplay, exceptional gunplay and damage mechanics a true class on how to build a live service game right.

Buy Now!

Only buy on sale & only if you're FULLY AWARE this is a far from complete game with many issues. Plenty of UE cut&paste elements do not make a game, there's a decent "idea" somewhere here but the execution is quite poor to be honest. Early grind is looonnnggg so be aware you'll miss the 2hr Steam refund window. I don't actually mind the grind like others who've posted reviews mention, there's some satisfaction about chopping down 12+ trees and manually sawing all the planks needed for example but co-op would help with this as well. There's only 4/5 NPC's & only a couple have a very limited number of quests for you to complete. There's no shopkeeper interaction as all transactions are via a self-service till (like you get in McDonalds). Physics of the game is all over the place. Running is like trudging through syrup, driving using mouse & keyboard is a task in abject patience as its like driving a rolling skate on ice! The building is solid but uninspired, if you've played other UE built games such as Stranded Deep etc you'll know how all this works. If you just want a really chill game to waste a couple of hours with I can recommend Lake by Gamious but that has no building at all so if you want a really basic game with very limited content to just build a farm with...I'm sure there are games out there with much more content. Depends what you want but buy with all eyes open as there's not much here to engage a player for very long unless you enjoy long, laborious tasks, maybe skip this one until its closer to being "finished" (though its been in development for a while now?) oh! Almost forgot the audio... its virtually non-existent & just has some very basic, cheap sound files.

This is stupid fun. Simple as that. Other players shouting quotes from the films (yes, there's more than one) as you run around spraying bullets at huge bugs! What's not to like?? Is it deep... No, not really. Whilst it has really solid build mechanics, they're simple and make sense but all-in-all its just, good, stupid, silly, enjoyable... fun. Its PvE, there's no pressure, people don't jump on you if you don't do things "right", even players giving tips that aren't in the tutorial. I don't know about "longevity" at the moment. Playing the initial release of an Early Access title means its way too early to judge that. If there's enough maps, enough variety in game modes..sure, people will keep coming back longer term but for now, for the price, I feel 100+ hrs is absolutely my moneys worth and I'm not done yet as the enjoyment just gets better the more you play with friends. If you have 16 friends.. you can team up and take the whole thing with your own group!

Written 2022 -

Pros:

- Runs really well on high FPS & high graphics being an older game
- Open world game done better than most AAA similar titles even now
- Solid, fun combat mechanisms
- Cheap in 2022

Cons:

- Seriously lacking in UI & gameplay mechanic guides. You will find yourself reaching for YouTube guides very soon!
- Still an Open World game with time spent just travelling
- Show's its console port roots sometimes
- Even on max graphics settings, to some, the game engine show's its age


This game is just on the good side of Graphics that are still really good but also being able to run really well and at high FPS & Graphics settings without having to have a Space computer to run it! Not only that but this game is REALLY GOOD! Most combat is hand to hand but flows well, punches feel solid and finishing moves visceral & satisfying. The story may not be very deep but this just feels like an Open World game done right (move over other devs), distances might be long but 1) you have a CAR! & 2) there's always something or some combat to do on the way. The only thing that lets the game down is NPC lines which seem pretty basic but being able to upgrade your main base (like in The Division 1 & 2) is well done. Unfortunately the online content of the game, I believe is no longer covered, which is a real pity but if you can buy this during a sale, i'd leap at it if you enjoy Open World 3rd person action games.

New World - Enjoyable but far from finished

New World is an MMO game published by Amazon Game Studios and you’d think that with such a massive conglomerate with near endless money something akin to the Holy Grail of MMO’s would be birthed. Unfortunately, whilst New World actually IS a really enjoyable game, once you dig past the 1st layers you find a confused, unfinished, buggy mess and a development studio without the needed experience to deal with it as fast as a lot of the player base would wish.

I hesitate to call this game an MMORPG as it’s clear there was minimal focus on creating a deep RPG lore & background. There is the bare scraping of a story arch buried behind hidden letters scattered about the world and only really hinted at with story missions as you go along. All this could have been presented better, made more engrossing and engaging and certainly if a company such as Blizzard had written this I’m sure it would have ended up as such. Again, all the money in the world doesn’t guarantee experience.

What this game DOES have is a deep, well thought out gathering, crafting and trading mechanisms, as if this was a shock coming from THE biggest Retailer in the world! This alone will engross most veteran MMORPG players for 100+hrs, yet even this has notable gaps. Items that are either oddly rare to drop or literally just missing from the game for example with some of the rarest items being so rare as to feel they’ve been omitted entirely. One notable and (and for me) interesting idea is that the main Trading Market Place is ENTIRELY player driven & maintained. A 100% unfettered free market. It rises and falls, crashes and succeeds entirely on the actions of the players on the server. What is valued one week may not be of any value the next linked to what players vie for on the server. It’s a fun concept and whilst the server economy is buoyant with new players completing quests and there’s a steady influx of coins and a need to craft it remains high...but that’s the definition of Inflation, however, worlds evolve and there is a concern that if the game doesn’t maintain a high enough influx of new players such an economy is ultimately doomed to stagnate as core maintenance costs remain high but sales dry up as people horde what coins they have for bills and new income reaches a low point. There are ways of making coins on a regular basis in game outside of the normal “quest loop” for sure, and whilst there is no physical in-game NPC market, each time you deconstruct an unwanted item you receive 50c or so as well as daily quests that can net you a cool $300 or more a day with their 1st quest of the day multipliers. That said, as you start playing PvP on a regular basis, own property, even own towns, the income at this time rarely covers such vast costs...and I’m talking $100,000’s every few days!!

Which neatly leads us to PvP. Again, the concepts behind the main PvP modes are solid, interesting, exciting even and make this confirmed PvE player interested enough to want to try them. However, if bugs in PvE and open world are annoying...bugs and exploits in PvP become a HUGE ISSUE. Even the ability to make use of something like a default software such as iCUE or Razer Synapse to create a macro in 5mins thats allows you to swap weapons faster than you could manually press several buttons...can break PvP. Clearly play testing was significantly “closetted” before launch and subsequent patches seem to continue to break more than they apparently fix. Again, it comes down to a development studio lacking experience. I will always maintain, if you want to genuinely test for bugs & exploits, in particular for a PvP game, you HAVE to employ...shall we say...the shadier players out there to do your testing. Want to test your anti-cheat, bring in a confirmed cheater. Want to check for exploits and bugs, bring in someone who goes out of their way to find these things (not like a search on YouTube wouldn’t find you people within 30 seconds).

Ultimately, this is STILL a highly enjoyable game IF your game play loop remains within a certain circle of activities such as quests, gathering, crafting, market trading etc. Not only is the world graphically beautiful, but filled with enriching ambient sounds (turn off music), for all the scares around melting graphics cards, the game runs well on my AMD set-up. With a very gratifying gathering/crafting/selling loop the game WILL keep you happy within the scope that $40 will keep you happy in 2021 and what else can you get that keeps you entertained for 100hrs at that price? However, you will also feel that some of the more interesting and exciting aspects of the game (namely End-Game) have been left unfinished, untested and may ultimately lead to the death of the game unless AGS turn things around in the coming year.

Excellent but also deeply flawed.

Simply put this is the Sim City we deserved, even the music is evocative of the Maxis series. For those remembering the original Sim City and even Sim City 2000 this is the game for you. The level of detail is amazing & modding community extensive. A 6 year old game isn't meant to be this beautiful or enjoyable to play.

So far shaping up VERY well for an early access. A mix between Ark Survival Evolved & Minecraft. The scope for building is good for this stage of development, currently the challenge is quite low which I feel is ideal for players getting to know the game now. Highly recommended if you're looking for a Survival-Lite & crafting co-op game.

Feel I'm missing something with this game. Why is it so popular and highly rated for PC? The control scheme is a poor console port, key remapping a nightmare, graphics options minimal and on highest settings looks "ok". Played 72mins so far and I found the NPC's instantly hateable (honestly, first one introduced in the opening I wanted to drive a dagger into his throat!) in that they're so annoyingly happy but dumped in a world of horror and violence...doesn't make much sense. Characters are clearly all that Asian style of syrupy yuk prevalent in Final Fantasy or Pokemon etc. I bought the game for the cat companion only and have yet to find any other redeeming factors. If fighting monsters with this long winded, combo-hit control scheme is a must then I'm dying a lot and getting frustrated even more! If you are used to playing using a controller then its likely you'll do FAR better...and assuming your pancreas can absorb this much sugar coating... then maybe you can enjoy the game. Ultimately, this isn't for me and will languish in my library now. Perhaps, instead, play ArcheAge.