Recent reviews by QuixoticAspect

A tremendously fun twin-stick shooter, wrapped in a very pretty package with a thin veil of political satire.
The closest comparison that comes to most minds is on a Starship Troopers level, but anyone who ever cheered for the bravado and overly-heavy weaponry of any shade of space marines: this game fills that niche perfectly.
A solid experience to play on your own, redoubled in value when played online, and even moreso when doing so with friends by your side.

Wonderfully entertaining local multiplayer gem!
The gameplay is simple enough to pick up, but the challenges of efficiency, timing, and cooperation give the game an incredible amount of replay value and enjoyment.


The only qualm that's left is the desire for more of it.
The story mode ultimately feels a little short, but that may be from the speed at which one is impelled to play through the game. If you have a friend or three that you can convince to jump aboard, you'll certainly get your money's worth in the experience.

Dark Souls was a game that took me very much by surprise.
Being peripherally aware of it around release as something focussed on brutality in its gameplay and its violence; I waved it off at the time as just being another typical 'AAA' title of being all flash and little substance.

But was I ever wrong!
There's no denying, of course, that Dark Souls does revel in difficulty and carnage - but what I actually found was something far, far more enlightened than that.

The variety and handling of the gameplay (and I say this having played it only once through,) are immediately to be appreciated themselves. Every weapon and piece of armour, with few exceptions, feels like it has its place and usefulness. Every concept of class progression (while still being a fluid and malleable system, as per Elder Scrolls) feels rewarding to further your abilities and play-style. The multiplayer, even being as indirect a system as it is without any means of direct communication, is a novel and exciting experience. And the notorious boss fights and difficulty remain exciting and engaging even as they are kicking your ass... repeatedly. It is an 'action RPG', but one that challenges you to be quite deliberate and exacting in your methods.

In terms of media, the game is an incredibly lovely experience to bask in as well. Though the drive to look for the next monster to kill or quest to complete (or death to avoid) can push you along at a fairly brisk pace; if you take the time to admire your surroundings, every region of the game world is filled to the brim with character. The amount of variety in said monsters is no less astonishing either, mark you, as everywhere you venture will have at least one creature that will give you pause to admire how cool/gruesome/terrifying a work the artists of this game have concocted. The music meanwhile provides the right amount of background ambience to fill in the regions and add excitement to your challenges without coming across as too contrived or fantastical, always feeling very fitting to the dark and dangerous ambience of the game. Both of these, perhaps best yet, are blended together beautifully in the game's masterfully done cutscenes. The pacing, the camera placement, the description of them are truly highwater marks of cinematography in games.

If there's a shortcoming to cite about this game, for me, it is the story's own lack of exposure. After the opening cinematics and character creation set you off on the right foot - you suddenly feel like you've been thrust into a world filled with rich creative lore, but which will only ever show itself in snippets at a time. I will entirely advocate the value and the power of games leaving things to the player's imagination, and cannot help but frown when a fictional universe will try to introduce itself too strongly or comprehensively; but this is one feels like it's just teasing us! I found myself reading every item's description and hunting out every last piece of dialogue to try to understand the world going on around me, but it mostly felt like it was lurking just outside of my reach. You're left with the distant feeling that your actions are meaningful, but are rarely quite sure why.

The ambiguity extends to some of the gameplay itself as well; and while the spirit of the game is very much in the trial-and-error of learning your way through boss fights and other challenges through death after death - how you would be expected to know to head to a given area next or meet up again with another character at a potentially previous location - or what how the character stats, item upgrades, and scaling really come into the game... is something that puzzles me. Without the knowledge from public wikis and forums, or at least an informed friend; I reckon that this game would be otherwise nigh impossible to comprehensively explore and experience if left your own devices.

Nevertheless; such criticism is more than overshowed by the game's strengths - and it remains an incredibly immersive experience, even if and when you wish you knew just a little bit more of what was going on. To be able to offer exciting and rewarding gameplay; a gorgeous artistic backdrop; *and* thought-provoking characters and themes (the ones you get a look at, anyway) - Dark Souls is a thoroughly worthwhile experience, and my strongest recommendations go with it.

I was a bit wary about this one by reputation, as it was said this was the most "real" of the GTA series to date; not that I ever played III or any of its companions, but I held GTA2 as the gold standard for over-the-top carnage and silliness to be expected of the franchise. However! Upon trying it, I was quickly impressed with *both* the immersion of the characters and the story (not something I give full credit to that easily) as well as simply the gameplay of it, and could still spend twice as long on rampages as I could playing the story straight and not get bored of them. It has its limits, of course, and the mini-games and friendship/relationship aspect do lose their novelty not long in.. but for all that, this still would have to be one of the most enjoyable games I've played in recent times. Well worth the investment!

Despite my deep love for the old "1945" top-down shooters; I think this game, hands-down, is the most enjoyable experience I've ever had with the genre.
It seems like a bit of a silly concept at first; but from very impressive artistic direction and enthralling music, one can't help but quickly get caught up in the experience - the finale, and thus the whole adventure, is positively epic!