Recent reviews by PickledMustard

Okay, so here we go. Hellpoint.... Do you like Dark Souls? Do you like The Surge? Do you like Sekiro? Do you like Bloodborne? Do you like Remnants from the Ashes? Do you like Any Soulslike? You'll probably then like this game....Probably. I say this not to be condescending, but to give you more of an understanding of how this game will play for you. It's got a hell of a good feel to it with a great sense of progression (once you understand it), a great aesthetic, if you pay attention, a great lore, and overall just a great game. Though with my optimistic tone, and high regard for this game I also must be frank. It is wonky as all hell, with some serious bugs in multiplayer, and an even more serious issue in level design and exploration. Lets get into it.

Pro's
- Combat - The combat for this game is similar to Dark souls, with a bit of extra speed, so maybe even say Elden Ring, or Bloodborne. You roll when not targeting enemies, and quickstep when you do target em, so I guess more like Bloodborne. All fights are mostly fast pace, with your toon getting incredibly overpowered towards end game if you really explore all the nooks and crannies, so fights become whatever. Personally I love it, because it shows me that not only am I actually progressing in the game, but progressing my toon towards godhood.
- Aesthetic - This game is sci-fi as hell. Seemingly taking much inspiration from Dead Space, and Event Horizen. The look of the weapons, armor, enemies, and some zones (Especially the DLC) are incredibly original for the most part, so nothing ever looks same....however on the contrary.....
- Weapons/Armor - The base game came with a decent amount of weapons and armor, not alot, but a decent amount either way, however with the DLC (once again) about 9 sets, and 14 weapons were added to the game with interesting ways of obtaining them further creating a better fashion souls, and ways for combat.
- Multiplayer - I played the entire game with a friend, and co-op was implemented amazingly. Summon your friend and they stay in your game the entire playthrough getting loot, leveling up, and also creating their own personalized character. The only loot that your coop buddy cant obtain are the boss artifacts, but there are so few that it doesn't hinder the game whatsoever.
-Exploration - This game has secrets upon secrets, upon secrets. There are so many ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ secrets in this game it could be called Hellpoint: Bet you Didn't find this. Luckily there are messages players can leave behind revealing these secrets, so it's not too overwhelming or anxiety inducing thinking you'll miss something.....but you probably will.
- Leveling - this game has the easiest leveling system i've ever seen. Its just like any souls game where you have multiple stats, and based on those stats you can equip certain types of gear, as well as focus on a certain build. However weapons dont get upgraded, but an interchangable component can, so say you're using a hammer, you find an amazing sword you want to use. Simply exchange the component onto said swords from your hammer, and it will be current towards your players level. So trying out new weapons is definitely not a hassle or detrimental towards your playthrough.
- Weapon skills - Most weapons come with unique skills that can be obtained through just using them. Using a weapon unlocks specific passive abilities, as well as usable abilities that can change how you play entirely.
- Music - The music in this game is great. From what it seems, most souls like have incredibly music tracks. This souls like is definitely one of them, especially with those little juke boxes.

Con's
- Level Design - So as I said previously this game has a really unique look to it, however unfortunately about half of the base game looks sooooo identical that it gets mindnumbingly easy to get lost. Also it gives sort of cheap feel to the game. I don't blame the devs due to their probably low budget for the game, however copying and pasting square looking designs is not the way to make your game vast.
- Sound Design - The game uses alot of stock sounds that get very tiresome to constantly listen to. A small change for how weapons sound when hitting enemies would be very appreciated. Some sounds just well sound absolutely abysmal, and ugly.
- Enemies - even though the enemies all look great with incredible imagination needed to create, the base game has veerryy few unique designs, so you'll be fighting alot of the same things.
- Exploration - Even though the exploration is great, its only great when you know where you're going. Unfortunately since the level design is so same-y looking exploring can easily get you lost, and overwhelmed.
- Multiplayer bugs - So even though multiplayer is very easy to do, right now the game has maaaaannyy bugs, and I wouldn't mind it if some werent soft-locking your playthrough which can only be resolved by killing yourself ( Friend locked me out of a room that was needed to progress the game, but since an option to open the door wasn't available to him and only be I had to kill myself to progress). There are a few bugs which aint too bad, but the bugs themselves are gnarly.

I know I didn't really get too detailed about the game, I feel as this review lends a good mind on what to expect. A pretty damn good Souls-like which can sometimes feel a bit cheap, but overall fill that void in needing a new souls like to play. getting this game with the DLC for 40 bucks is a perfect price, especially with these devs. They seem to be very very passionate about their game, and continue to update it, and stay in the loop with their community. So overall i give this game a solid buy now and enjoy, especially if youre in a need for a good souls like.

Personal Rating : 9/10
Overall Rating: 7.5/10

TL/DR RATING BELOW.
So, first off lets get passed that the fact 2k decided to have a hold on this game being released for steam until 4 or 6 months later idk something like that, is really bad...Like REALLY bad. Even though it was bad I still bought it twice, because this game gets ALOT right....However alot WRONG. I will not take points off of this review because of the late release on steam. I'm not reviewing the devs, i'm reviewing the game, the game is what people care about. So politics aside. lets review this ♥♥♥♥♥.

PROS.
-G(un)ameplay - Lets get right into the bread and butter of what defines a game, and that's usually the gameplay. Now Borderlands 3 does everything right when it comes to this. The shooting in this game feels DAMN GOOD. Combat is very satisfying with fluid movement and animations, and really well done weapons and loot, also the LOOT IS GOD. The loot is awesome, and I mean this in that the guns don't just look cool, the behave cool. Every different gun manufacturer in this game has a second fire mode or basically it has its own perk. With tediore having little sentries, or Hyperion having a mini shield when you aim down, the different strategies and way of playing can really be determined by what gun you use, or what legendary you use. Speaking of Legendary's.
- Legendary's- So endgame for this game is basically grinding legendary's that pertain to your build. Legendary's come in a wide variety, and alot. Im assuming since the base game has alot of legendary's and with the DLC adding in more then they're easier to obtain. To some this may hinder their experience, but not mine. I enjoy getting legendary's left and right cause it simply makes me feel good :).
- Customization - HHOOOLLLLLLYYYY VAAUUULLLLTTT there's alot of things to customize here. From character skins, heads, weapon camos, WEAPON TRINKETS, vehicles, vehicle skins, etc!
- Length - I feel as if putting in the Length of an rpg is important, as to get a good example of whats to come, and how to spend your time. It took me about 50 hours to complete the main story, and some, not all, side quests. So you're definitely getting your moneys worth in this game, if you look at how long youll spend your time. Here its nice, doesn't feel to long or short.
- Enemies - the VAARRIIETTYYY is good. It's not the BEST, but its good enough for me to put it here as a PRO. You'll be fighting bandits, thugs, aliens, creatures of the worlds, military dudes, etc.
- Areas - Now imo borderlands always kinda suffered here, but luckily in the addition of making space travel to different planets a thing, every area has its own flavor and spice that makes it unique. For example Pandora is a desert like planet crawling with bandits, while Eden- 6 is a backyard, swampy, wildlife filled area.
- Leveling - so as of now the max level with DLC is 57, and the way you can customize your main character and craft the ultimate badass is awesome. The leveling is easy to understand, but once you get late in game those skill points really begin to matter, and can make or break you depending if you wish to play on TVHM with Mayhem 4 on. Which you bet your butt I do.
- Characters - The 4 characters you have to choose from are awesome, imo the best in the series. I say this cause their skills are all so good and just make you feel like the biggest dude in the room when you successfully combine fire power with them. also, you get a mech....a FREAKIN MECH.
- Graphics- For a Cell Shaded game you'd think the game would look kinda ugly, especially in modern times, but in reality BL3 is a fantastic looking game. With awesome lighting that shines off your gun. or the beautiful aesthetic of the different planets, or just the simple pretty particle effects that float and spread from shooting your gun, or melting enemies, this game is gorgeous man. Then again my machine is quite beefy so im able to play on max everything. Even then though, a friend of mine plays this game with 60fps on medium with his gaming laptop and the game still looks damn good.

CONS.
-Story- So.......BL2 had one of the best video game villians ever. Like really...he was so good as a villian. BL3 however, well not so much. The main villians in this game are annoying, boring, annoying, really stupid, annoying, have no personality, and are annoying. As you can see I hate them, but not hate as in "god i hate them and make me want to kill them because they're so evil and bad" no i hate them cause they're the worst main villians i've ever had to work on killing in a video game. They make the story really bad, and like its not even a bad plot line it's just these villians and plot characters are written to be the most annoying and woke pieces of stomach cavity garbage that they somehow make this simple story terrible. Except the first vault hunter, his echoes are pretty funny.
- Stupid bit..I mean Ava - this blue haired, inbred, annoying, short, talkative, bratty little caustic dump truck is the worst thing thats ever happened in the BL universe. seriously, I want a DLC where we get to shove a shotgun down this little tyrants throat and feed her shells that have her name carved too em. I hate her.
- Not enough OGs- Lilith is important to this game as she was in BL2, but not as a cool chick, more so as a story progressor. However Tina, Brick, Mordecai, Ellie, and CL4P TR4P are pretty useless and add nothing unique to this story. Which is a shame.

CONCLUSION.
Borderlands 3 is high octane goodness that comes with killing cool looking enemies, and collecting awesome loot. The customization is vast and honestly a good excuse to keep grinding after you've completed everything there is to do in this game. The guns and legendary's are great, can dramatically change how you play, and sum up how difficult your game can be or get. The main characters all have uniquely awesome abilities (Siren all the way baby). The story is hot stinky doodoo. The new introduced characters are okay (except Ava). Ava is annoying. The planets themselves are unique and quirky in their own way which changes up the prettiness of the game, which btw the game is GORGEOUS. Awesome customization for your Character, guns, and vehicles. Borderlands 3 is definitely worth your hard-worked money, and can squeeze alot of your time from you, which is a good thing. I wont be reviewing the DLC as I have not fully maxed out my character and so dont wanna go into them at a low level. However if the DLC is just more Borderlands goodness, then i'm sure they're good. (Unless they're only like 1 in a half hour long).

TL/DR RATING: Gameplay is goood, Customization is good, Main characters are all unique, Combat is fun, lots of variety in planets and enemies, Graphics are amazing, Story is hot garbage, Ava is the worst character ever designed, good game solo and even better with friends.

RATING:
8.5/10

TL/DR RATING BELOW

Remember Spawning in Minecraft for the first time and slowly learning how to build and gather at your own pace? Remember starting up Terraria and getting to know the mechanics at your own pace? Well, Rust lets you spawn in, similiar to Minecraft and Terraria, but if you wanna go at your own pace...well....GET READY FOR CARNAGE GALORE AS YOU SPAWN IN COMPLETELY NAKED AND BEGIN BEATING THE LIVING ♥♥♥♥ OUT OF ANY NAKED PERSON WITH A STONE, THEN COLLECTING THEIR BODY PARTS TO FEAST ON. I mean if you want. After a good amount of time in the game, and going through some of the different servers and playing a bunch I figured it was time for a little review.

PROS.
- Variety - Rust has a variety of different servers that play differently and can even modify the game itself to kinda make the server feel like its own game. Although the creator of GMOD did work on this game as well, so its to be expected.
- Gathering - If you pick the right server, the gathering is simple, easy to understand, and can be pretty addictive if you're trying to get specific things to craft. An axe breaks trees, A pickaxe breaks rock. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
- Community - OKAY LISTEN, on many different servers I came across my "Helpful Joes" and my "Innocent Stans", which helped me get my barrings and teach me things about the game that I didn't know about, but be aware that with good comes evil.
- Exploring - The exploration in this game is vast and exciting. It's really neat to see architecture in the game that makes you wonder why dudes in hazmat suits are guarding it and why its even there in the first place, or you can ♥♥♥♥♥ THEM OUT FOR PUTTING DUDES WITH GUNS GUARDING GOOD LOOT. I think its cooler to just question why some things are there.
- RAIDING - ahhhhh yes, once you;re geared enough with guns and armor and a huge supply of satchel charges then it's really time to experience the goodness of this game, which is in killing innocents for their delicious loot and hard-earned materials. It might make me a bad person, but there aint no fun in not being evil once in a while.
- Building - Building in Rust is nothing short than pure satisfaction. Once you get the hang of building a good base, then you can begin crafting your perfect fortress of defense, and really utilize base placement, base defense, or if you choose, base shop, vending machine display, etc. I wanna kill, and also make money, so I made a vending machine with a shotgun trap in front of it :)
- Friends - Yea any game is better with friends, but unlike a game like Gears 5 or even Dark Souls; Playing this game with your amigos or amigas changes the entire experience to be had in this game. The countless amount of times I shot my friends in the face by accident, or woke up too a pair of weirdly shaped coconuts and dollar fifties is nothing more than amazing.
- Gun Play - If you thought something like PUBG was intense and frightening during a gun fight, then you obviously haven't played Rust. The gun play isn't easy to comprehend, but once the gun patterns, arrow patters, nail gun patterns, etc patterns become understood; Well then, combat gets very fun.

CONS
- Starvation/ Thirst Meter - I mean no game with a stupid thirst and hunger meter is fun imo, unless I guess done right. Although the meters in this game are easy to get full, It really is just a huge inconvenience.
- Community - OKAY LISTEN, Some people in this game are the most toxic/entitled/cancer inducing/douchebag people i've ever come across. They will make your life a living hell, they will put you at the biggest disadvantage without any hope from coming back from and constantly mock you "mad cause bad". Although, as I said above' there will be angelic people that will come to your aid.


CONCLUSION.
Rust is similar to a party game. There isn't a story, it's made to be played with friends, it has different servers with their own game modes, and it isn't something you should take serious. The game has great gun play, with interesting weapons and creative ways of getting them. It has implemented dungeons and huge areas to raid for some supreme extreme loot. Although you have too keep your hunger and thirst in mind, and also watch for other players trying to kill you. This is a game you go and come back to every once in a while and it is surely worth it.

TLDR: Game is funner with friends and not to be taken serious. Good building and gunplay. Bad people are a dime a dozen, but also good people.
Final Score:
8/10

TL/DR rating down below.
I started off in my souls career all the way back when Demon Souls was the first souls game in the series. Although I didn't finish it, as for someone who was in middle school at the time, you can guess that my inexperienced, impatient behind was not ready to take on one of the most arguably difficult games of that generation. Now that all the souls games are here (including PS4 exclusive Bloodborne and all platform Sekiro) , i'm older,have completed all souls games (except Sekiro), and deciding to restart my Souls journey with this one, I feel contempt in writing an unbiased review.

PROS.
- Lore - Dark Souls II has an extremely intense and quite intimidating world. with hollows (basically zombies), beasts, worn knights, and vengeful spirits looming around every corner. This game does include a linear story, however it's not good. The dialogue is nonsensical and really stereotypical for almost any fantasy game. Although if you take the time to read item descriptions and maybe watch some youtube videos, the overall story and world is amazing. If not wanting to invest time into the story and secrets that hide in this game, then you'll miss some interesting storylines. I guess it's up to the player if you wanna feel like you're actually doing something.
- Enemy Variety - This game has enemies from spiky frozen death rolly bunnies, to one eyed ogres wanting to eat you. I don't know the actual amount of different enemies, but it's alot. Lots of variety, same carnage.
- Areas - So this one is tough to write about, but lemme explain. All the areas before the major castle and "DLC" are absolutely boring and gross. Maybe leaving out one or two areas, the beginning of the game really lacks in beauty, and from the what they can do at the endgame areas, and world hub, its really disappointing. poopoo areas, but also golden areas.
-Armor and Areas - The looooooot is so good. From a freaking metal horse helmet, to a glowing fiery deathsword, the things your main character can wear is vast and impressive. Good loot = best loot.
- Exploration- Exploring in this game feels extremely rewarding, as you can always obtain some great loot, or even hidden loot. I once heard that if you rush through a rpg without feeling the need to explore, then that rpg itself has failed on one of its basic gameplay loops. I tend to agree with this saying. Luckily Dark Souls II does not fail.
- Multiplayer - even though this game has been out for 5 years there is still a vast amount of people who still play. Either they're dedicated to the soulsy goodness this game offers, or the multiplayer is that good. The multiplayer is really just that good.
- Leveling - The leveling is easy to understand and do. Get souls, and use souls to level up stats. and if you ♥♥♥♥ up, then go reallocate. Simple as pie, Simple as that.
- NG+ - Now if you're masochistic enough and want to go through the entire game again, then you're in for a treat. New Game + offers more gear that can't be acquired in your first playthrough, and more/different enemy placements, plus a whole new endgame boss. This could be to extend the games lifespan and kinda gimmicky yea i get it, but imo if done right it's honestly really cool and interesting. I believe this game does it right.

CONS.
- Story - As I said above, the linear story is convoluted and there will be countless of times when someone is talking to you or revealing themselves to you where you will be thinking "bro i dont give a flying ♥♥♥♥", but if you actually care and take your time, the story starts to make sense, including the convoluted dialogue.
- Combat - never have I been so frustrated in a game in my entire life. Being spoiled by Dark Souls III and Bloodborne combat, you cannot even come close to that precise, pixel perfect action in this game. The combat isn't entirely bad, but being slammed on by a boss that wasn't even ontop of you is extremely annoying, dare I say "unforgiving. I can see people getting by as I did by just slamming enemies before they slam you, but just be warned that the combat is slow and clunky, even more so than the first installment of this game series.
-Areas - Like I mentioned in the PROS, the areas before the main castle you adventure too are just boring and bland. The beauty this game offers is there in some parts, but for the first 10 or so hours the game does not offer anything that'll spark the players eyes. uglier than mud sometimes.
- BS deaths - I guess you can argue that "ITS A SOULS GAME BLAH BLAH BLAH", but that's no excuse imo. In many of my deaths an enemies weapon hit me through a damn wall instantly killing me, or the camera freaked out and I fell off a cliff, or the boss decided they could 180 without any indication and rigiddy-rigiddy-wreck me, causing me to die and cry. Maybe it's a "bad cause mad" phenomenon, but I honestly beg to differ, it's just bad-bad-not good phenomenon.
- Bosses- The Bosses in this game are so LAME. I could say only like 6 or 7 bosses out of 41 are actually unique and designed well. Worse part is almost all of them are from the DLC areas. which are optional.

Conclusion.
- Dark Souls II is a mess of good and bad. Especially where the good never really out weighs the bad and vice-versa, it's all kinda balanced in that sense. Yea I get why someone would argue that there should be no bad in a good game, but no game is perfect, such as this one. With clunky af gameplay, a mix of amazing and bad areas, I can see some players not ever enjoying themselves. This being in my mindset I surprisingly did. Maybe it's because I went through the entire game with a friend that I enjoyed myself and found some things cool and interesting, or maybe it's because my love for the Souls series is too great. I cant say this game is for everyone, but I can't say it's for no one either. Dark Souls II has it's moments of "Damn thats cool" and enough of them too, but it also has those "This game is absolute dog trash' as well. With amazing styles of armors and weapons, and with a great variety of enemies, getting over the clunkiness of it all is easy, but not static as some other enemy will bs you with a slam dunk to your head. It's a balanced beauty that I can see myself coming back too maybe in 2 or so years. For now though, after going through all the bosses and DLC, and seeing what the game has to offer. I'm exhausted of it.

TL/DR Rating: Game is clunky, has cool armor and weapons, areas are awesome, but also bad, great enemy variety, leveling is easy and fun, multiplayer is good, linear story bad, overall lore is great.
Final Rating:
7.5/10

TL/DR rating below

I remember playing this game series with Gears of War when it first came out in 2006...2005?...Somewhere around that time, and man oooohhh man was I addicted to the crabwalking/Gridlock multiplayer grind. Here we are 14 years later, with the fifth installment into the series, and I gotta say, papa likey. I will be as unbiased as possible ladies and gents.

Pros.
- Gameplay - There's nothing special about gears of war combat and overall gameplay, you shoot the bad guy, he die. You see a cool weapon on the ground, pick it up and kill. However its not just kill, it's more like ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ KILL ALL THOSE BAD DUDES, BLOW HIS HEAD OFF AND BATHE IN THE BLOOD OF YOUR ENEMY. Meaning its gory, and satisfying.
- Story - Ah yes the campaign, so here's the jist from the previous games. Some wart lookin dudes dont wanna die, so a human genocide begins. Then glowy warts come up and now the wart genocide begins. Humans win, then the warts decide to come back, but with bling. All the gears games have always handled the Story similarly, linear gameplay, tight corridors, always killing baddies. Gears 5 says "Linear? naaaa fool, go explore", and that's kinda it. The levels are ALOT more expansive, and some of the weather mechanics are PREEETTTYYYY, but its still the same o'l gears of war style of campaign.
- Side Missions - So with a more "explorer" type story, there's now a bit of side missions to do so you can unlock some extra upgrades for your lil bot (who is playable).
- Co-op - Gears 5 handles co-op really really cool. Its 3 player co-op, however one person will be lucky and be able to play as a lil floaty dude who electrocutes and heals and pretty much is the support class is any MMO. It's new, it's inovative (FOR GEARS), and I can easily spend a good 10 hours on the campaign with some buds.
- Weapons - Dude there's a machine gun with a damn chainsaw attached to it, if that ain't cool, then you're probably a really boring person. Joking, You're not....maybe. Any way so the gun's in this game are freakin neat. Each weapon can be utilized prefectly in almost every situation, and the way they just demolish your enemies with a satisfying kick and crunch, it can almost never get boring....almost. Weapons are fun, attractive ( I have a date with the EMBAR btw), brutal, and each have their own personality.
- Characters - Every lovable character in Gears is back baby (RIP Dom), and the new cast of goodies act really well, and also bring some extreme talent in the field of voice acting. If a movie is ever made, they better have these voice actors play as their characters in game, idgaf if they have to take steroids to get meaty, I want them. Also Marcus really should go to therapy.
- Multiplayer - Multiplayer in Gears has always been good. Here it's the same thing, except the weapons are pretty balanced (as of January 2020), it's no longer a gnasher/lancer fest. Alot more weapons and strategies are utilized better. The game modes are nice, with a change to the weekly pick every...week, and with an incentive to keep playing they have great skins for weapons and characters to unlock, guaranteed you're actually gonna spend some time playing, cause these things do take some playing time to unlock.
- Horde 78.0 - Horde is a wave based game mode with a bit of Gears spiced into it. You can place upgrades around the map to help prevent you and your time from dying so damn fast, especially in later waves, speaking of waves, at the end of every 10th wave you fight a boss which are all damn cool. Each character comes with their own ability to utilized in this game mode which are all pretty unique and interesting to use. My only gripe is that this game mode is fun only if you play with friends, or PEOPLE THAT KNOW WHAT THE HELL THEY"RE DOING.
- Graphics - Wow this game is beautiful man. I've played all the pretty games like The Last of Us, Uncharted, FInal Fantasy and so on, but none of those have can compete with this pretty on the eyes babe. The facial animation is so good, and the detail within the environments and weather effects are so good that every developer should look at this game if they wanna make wind and storms look good.

CONS.

- Escape - introduced in Gears 5 is a new time based mode where you need to escape a facility before you die of toxic fart gas. It can be such a great time, but for some reason the only people that play this mode ARE MISSING THEIR FRONTAL CORTEX.Almost every single random i've played with literally need to go back to elementary, and learn the basics of common sense and direction. This mode is so good when I play with friends and people that aren't absolute morons, but that's rare, so here I am using this review to complain about it.
- EA-IFIED - The micro-transactions in this game makes my stomach want to be ripped out and used as a damn dish bowl. $10 dollars for a blue weapons skin, BLUE THATS IT IT"S JUST ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ BLUE AND FOR ONLY ONE ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ WEAPON???? WHAT IS THIS?! So thankfully they kinda fixed this by adding "sales" and cutting the ridiculous prices in half, but the damage has already been done. Yes you don't have to buy anything to enjoy the game, but holy crap is that such a greedy practice for the Coalition to do.
- Maps - The maps aren't bad in this game, matter of fact they're delicious. The thing is there's barely any maps at all. Thankfully with OPERATION 2 they added in a couple new maps and some fan favorites from Gears 4, but it's still not enough.

Conclusion.
- Gears 5 is like eating some amazing gourmet cake that taste like heaven, but then leaves an aftertaste of garlic. The gameplay is the same old gears, IMO that's a good thing cause shooty shooty make me happy happy. It's wonderful on the eyes, and the multiplayer adds some some great blood pumping fun that I wont get bored of any time soon, hence the 80+ hours I have in it already. The campaign is pretty good, for me even more so because I do find what they did in this installment pretty interesting, BUT THAT CHOICE WITHIN THE CAMPAIGN THEY GIVE YOU IS A BIG SLAP TO THE BUTT CHEEKS. The game modes are all fun, especially arcade and free for all, but they need to fix Escape, because im tired of playing with people that cant count up to 5. The microtransactions are disgusting, fixed a bit, but nonetheless disgusting. Overall I enjoy coming back to this honey boo and playing it with a big o'l smile on my face, and from the changes and additions they're making to the multiplayer, I see this being one of the best Gears games to have ever been released. Unless I accidentally open the store page, then my opinion and hopes drop below normal freezing and I get sick and worried.

TL/DR - Gameplay is fun, Mircrotransactions can kiss my butt, great modes except escape, good campaign, fun mutliplayer.
Rating
-Released 7/10
-As of January 2020 8/10

TL/DR IN BOTTOM WITH RATING.
So i've played the first Surge, and here I am loving the second one. I've beaten the game and am about to beat the game on NG+, so i feel as if i have the right qualifications to write a review on this one.

PROS.
- Great Combat = the combat in this game is fast paced, much less clunkier than the first one, and is pretty gory. If you enjoy fast paced, Dark Souls 3/ Bloodborne-y combat, you'll feel right at home here. Especially since in order to get new armors and weapons you must target a certain body part of an enemy, do enough damage, get a button prompt to then cut the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ limb off and use his ♥♥♥♥. Pretty good.
- Great Weapons = So The Surge 2 has a lot more variety in weapons with added weapon types, expanding on peoples play styles that already existed, or are newly introduced. If someone were to not feel right with any of the weapon types, i'd honestly be shocked. Weapons are good.
- Great Customization = The first Surge had pretty good armor customization, but now with the sequel you got even more things to play around here. Other than the original armor from the first game, this one has its own taste of added armor (duh it is a sequel), though there's now a system within the game that allows you to equip 3 pieces of a certain armor set and get a bonus from that, so you can combine and change two pieces from a set and get some unique builds that really fit you. or just wear the full set. I can look like a mouse in this game...without dlc....
- Great Bosses = guaranteed there's only like 5 or some bosses in this game, they're all pretty damn good. Even when a boss is reused, they at least get a different move-set so it doesn't feel like a lame ass attempt to fit in more time to the game, which the game is already pretty long.
- Great Graphics = The game runs like a beauty on my machine. Also its pretty, with vibrant colors, really cool elemental effects and particles, and unique areas so the game doesn't look the same at all times. very pretty, very cool.
- Great Areas/ Environments = The game has really unique areas that are all built around each other so there's plenty of shortcuts and secret alley's to find your way back to a safe-point, or to find some really cool and secretive weapons. Dora the explorer this game.
- Replay ability = NG+ isn't just "stronger enemies" na, it's actually got more content than the ordinary NG since it includes an entire playable cutscene in the beginning, added enemies around the areas, new armors and weapons to obtain, and more audio logs to collect. It's like refreshing man.

CONS.
- Story = Well the story isn't ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, nor is it boring. Its's just really predictable in a lot of the "omg" and "wow I didn't see that coming" moments of the game. This doesnt hinder it, it's just nothing special.
- Janky Camera/Random Deaths = It's a souls game, whadya expect? JK lemme tell you what I mean. Sometimes the games camera can screw you over a death or two during tight areas when fighting enemies, and omg there's this one boss that the games camera can easily be the reason for 3 of your deaths. its a dark souls game.
- DLC = Okay so now that all the DLC for the season pass is out, I feel like im allowed to say this. Ahem.....The DLC is okay. I would say it was awesome if the new KRAKEN DLC wasn't only like one in a half hours long. plus only TWO new armor sets in the new area that are EXACTLY THE SAME BUT JUST DIFFERENT COLORS. The weapons are neat, but I wish there were more pirate themed weapons and armors. The other dlc is pretty cool, adds in actual COOL armors and different weapons with unique abilities. I'm obviously being unfair, just cause of how disappointed I was with the KRAKEN. You did my pirates wrong, and i freakin love pirates.

CONCLUSION
The Surge 2 continues to prove that Dark Souls is a genre that could last for a lifetime, if done right...Which this game does!
The cool weapons and armors give an incentive for the player to actually go and farm enemies to collect them all (GOTTA CATCH EM ALL). The combat is satisfying so the grind of collecting gear doesn't feel like a grind, feels real good man. All the areas are so unique that going through them isn't tiresome, especially when you notice some of the randomly small details on things like coffee mugs, papers, i.d.s, and so on. Enemy variety is pretty good with different ways they fight depending on their faction or their in-game motive (Army dudes got guns, cultist people like to zippy zap you, zombie dudes don't give a damn and just wanna hurt you real bad with their slowness, and so on). The story is aight, gameplay damn good, customization DAMN GOOD, dlc is okay, controls are good, Game is worth 60$ definitely, catch the dlc on sale.

TL/DR - Game Pretty, Combat Great, Customization Great, Story meh, DLC okay.
SCORE.
8.5/10

(first review) So, i've been playing souls games since the first Dark Souls came out onto the consoles back I believe in 2010.
I know always look back and remember that first time playing Dark Souls, the experience of just utter excitement, joy, wonder, and anger.
Now fast forwarding too 2017 when The Surge came out. I watched countless of reviews for this game and with those reviews, my intrigue in this game was obliterated.
Again an other fast forwarding into 2019, The Surge 2 is close to coming out, and it looks good. So I saw that The Surge was on sale, decided I should try it out.
This game is one of the most pleasing games i've played in this year, even surpassing my experience with Sekiro.
(These pros and cons come from playing the entire game plus completing all the DLC)

PROS:
-Great Combat
-Great and easy leveling
-Great loot
-Great weapons
-Great animations
-Great overall Customization
-If theres a drive for interest with the story, then it is quite interesting
-Great graphics

CONS:
-Unfair deaths at times (rare)
-Mediocre characters (except for the nano beings, and both DLC characters)
-Mediocre main character

CONCLUSION:

This is one of those games that takes me back to the nostalgia of Dark Souls, Fable 1-2-3, Dragons Dogma, believe it or not even classic gears of war. If your looking for something to play while waiting for another game these upcoming months, and you enjoyed Dark Souls, Nioh, Sekiro, and even the companies last game (which i didnt like) Titans Fall or some crap like that. Then this game is certainly up your alley.

Its confusing buuuuuut fun