The Forest, and looking forward to finish the Sons of the Forest.
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Got to get down on Friday: Best Black Friday 2024 Deals!
Zloth
Community Contributor
I do. I'm afraid to start them. I barely made it through the game on wussy difficulty, I'm afraid of what that DLC would do to me!
AND…????
Are you going to tell us about it?
If you need inspiration, check most of the other posts in this thread.
I was like that too once. Then I ditched the controller, and now I finish in days or weeks!
Actually, for a different reason, I was thinking through all the games I played last year. I actually finished quite a few games last year, compared to a lot of years before that.
I always drop games before I reach the end.
I almost always do. If I'm not liking a game, I'll drop it pretty quickly. But last year, I actually played several that I loved and played through until the end. When you have a ton of games available in Game Pass, and you don't have to pay for all the games, I've found it's a lot easier to get in better game time.
So i just finished the game Cultic: Chapter One on its "extreme" difficulty.
If you even remotely like Duke Nukem, Doom, old Shadow Warrior, Blood etc. and even newer retro games like this like Ion Fury, you must SURELY get this one! Hands down one of the best new boomer shooter retro games to have come out.
It ticks everything and then more in this genre of a game. Its only 10 bucks and it is 100% worth it.
There is a demo you can try out and the game was mostly created by 1 guy. So kudos to him.
If you even remotely like Duke Nukem, Doom, old Shadow Warrior, Blood etc. and even newer retro games like this like Ion Fury, you must SURELY get this one! Hands down one of the best new boomer shooter retro games to have come out.
It ticks everything and then more in this genre of a game. Its only 10 bucks and it is 100% worth it.
There is a demo you can try out and the game was mostly created by 1 guy. So kudos to him.
@DXCHASE Tried out the demo and it was not too shabby. I really loved the homage to Blood at the start of the game, not to mention all the monks running around and the ability to use both a lighter & TNT. Loved the ability to slide on the ground instead of walking. Much faster, though the maneuverability was not easy at cramp places, and at times sliding would bug up the weapon UI. The ability to throw stuff and also interact with certain items was a nice touch. I forgot to kick heads around, but I am sure that was also a possibility in the game. The level design was also quite decent. Enemies shooting each other was hilarious and I found it to be an efficient way to save some ammo by kiting them in a small line. The dynamite guys really don't care about where they throw the TNT.
What I did not like was the graphics. Felt a bit disorienting at the start and I had a hard time finding secrets because of it. The accuracy of enemies was a bit too ridiculous at long ranges and it was unfortunate that you could not use the luger to snipe them, but I respect the design choice. Enemies dipping up and down in the water and shooting at you was annoying. Hopefully avoided in the full game as it made no sense.
What I did not like was the graphics. Felt a bit disorienting at the start and I had a hard time finding secrets because of it. The accuracy of enemies was a bit too ridiculous at long ranges and it was unfortunate that you could not use the luger to snipe them, but I respect the design choice. Enemies dipping up and down in the water and shooting at you was annoying. Hopefully avoided in the full game as it made no sense.
I finished STALKER Clear Sky a few weeks ago. The day before starting Clear Sky I had finished STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl. Pretty good games and I am going to continue with playing STALKER Call of Pripyat nearing the release of STALKER 2.
Since nobody cares for Match 3—poor me—I'll keep this short
Jewel Match - Snowscapes
90% rating in Limited Moves mode
100 levels, each 3-4 boards
Tactically interesting
Music soporific
Graphics smooth & impressive
Some screens bigger than H 1080
Good QoL Options
Best Match 3 I've played
I noticed I've played 2 others in the series at some point, so I'll add their notes here:
Jewel Match: Royale CE
80% rating
160 levels, each 3-4 boards
Tactically interesting
Music soporific
Graphics smooth & impressive
Many bonus Mahjongg, bad
Very enjoyable
Jewel Match: Royale 2 SE
Almost same as Royale 1
120 levels, extra Crystal Room
PS
'SE' means Standard Edition, 'CE' = Collector's Edition.
Jewel Match - Snowscapes
90% rating in Limited Moves mode
100 levels, each 3-4 boards
Tactically interesting
Music soporific
Graphics smooth & impressive
Some screens bigger than H 1080
Good QoL Options
Best Match 3 I've played
I noticed I've played 2 others in the series at some point, so I'll add their notes here:
Jewel Match: Royale CE
80% rating
160 levels, each 3-4 boards
Tactically interesting
Music soporific
Graphics smooth & impressive
Many bonus Mahjongg, bad
Very enjoyable
Jewel Match: Royale 2 SE
Almost same as Royale 1
120 levels, extra Crystal Room
PS
'SE' means Standard Edition, 'CE' = Collector's Edition.
I'm not quite done with it, but i've pretty much beaten it: This time its Yakuza Kiwami 2
Clocking in just shy of 97 hours, i have to say i enjoyed this one a lot. The game is fun and it has a good balance of serious, funny and ott that makes it both daft yet awesome at the same time. Like fighting ninjas/samurais in a gold Osaka castle or punching a tiger in the face.
But lets address the elephant in the room: The gameplay or more specifically the Combat mechanics. I must stress for the most part its functional and satisfying, but it could be better. It does at times feels clunky and scrappy at times as enemies can dodge, weave around you and smack you from behind and this is not more apparent when fighting the bosses themselves. Bosses with guns are even worse. Part of the problem is that the lock on feature doesn't really work and instead just locks you in a direction as opposed to a target. if the mechanics was like assassins creed/arkham Asylum i think it would have played much much better. That said, i might play it a bit with keyboard and mouse and see how that's like and whether its me just being half-arsed. You can off set the limitations by upgrading and getting various skills (like being able to spring back to action after being knocked down instead of bouncing around like a rag doll), but still it does feel a bit clunky to play. of course, you could just whip out a weapon and go to town as few people have any defense against it. Once you find the indestructible weapons and fully upgraded, the game is officially over.
The other problem with the combat is that the game doesn't have a move list of any kind so i can't see what button presses work, combo lists etc. Hell, i still don't know how to get behind someone after i grabbed them! It seems to I'm just rinse and repeating the same combo till i win and that's a bit of a shame.
But if the game wasn't entertaining, i wouldn't have spent 97 hours over 3 months playing it. i did have fun bashing the low level goons and exploring the 2 city districts and the various side activities. Besides the usual gambling, mini games (like golf, baseball, darts), to its credit, they've managed to add 2 arcade games! There are some main activities i want to discuss:
The first that i played obsessively was the Cabaret club management quest. Apart from being an easy money earner, the management side of things was what clinched it for me. I can't quite explain it, but it was like XCOM, I enjoyed hiring new girls, picking the relevant staff for work to maximize profits. To top if off there is even a pretty comprehensive customization for the 6 key ladies from make up, clothes and accessories. To top it off there are a couple side stories with the ladies at certain points on progression. That said, it can be a bit of a grind and honestly the only strategy to winning is bringing in a maxed lvl of all your best girls (especially those with a high party stat) and activate fever time at the right time.
The other main game is the clan creator game. Honestly i found it deeply disappointing. its very basic defender game. The problem is that the AI isn't very good, frequently i find them just running towards the enemy or just ignoring the enemy sometimes. Hell, on some occasions i found them stuck on each other or defenders not defending an area (perhaps a ring or sphere of influence or some behavior mechanics would be good). Playing it with a joypad and its very clunky to boot. The second problem is the amount of time to invest in the game as upgrading takes time. There are several means of recruitment like hiring the defeated street bosses or defeated opponents in the coliseum , but you still require some grinding to get them to a top level. But thankfully, once you have a top team you rarely need to switch members around.
The bouncer missions are a whole load of straight up fights and is a good way to make money/powerful gear/points and satisfies that violent itch. For the most part the fights are a cake walk, but the last 9 set dealing with the Amon brothers are where things get really challenging and its at this point i haven't beaten the last 2 legendary difficulty ones. mainly because the boss is a gun welding smg user and i'm struggling to beat it. It verges on unfair, as they hit hard, are quick and immune to heat actions you use twice.
Substories are your secondary quests. For the most part they are simple enough and some of them are quite amusing encounters that are well worth going through as many as you can. The only problem is that some of them are obnoxiously difficult or tough. In my case, beating a golf course that's a nightmare to play and the need to play mahjong . The last one is where i crash and burn. never played a game in my life and i can't get my head around the game.
Lastly as side game of sorts, there is a 2 chapter story campaign with majima. Its quick and simple and feels like DLC as it adds very little to the main game other then explains how Majima was working in a construction company etc. But thoughtful of them to provide it all the same.
Speaking of DLC, there is only one piece of DLC (which was all the DLC combined into one). All of it is completely optional as its basically additional unique characters for the clan creator (which i found disappointing and you can get decent members without them) , 2 unique cabaret ladies (beat it without them as in truth the key ones are the diamond models and one or 2 gold ones to round off the team) and some suits.
i could go on, but lets wrap it up, would i recommend it? Absolutely. For the price it goes for on sales its a huge amount of bang for your buck for under a £10-£5.
Clocking in just shy of 97 hours, i have to say i enjoyed this one a lot. The game is fun and it has a good balance of serious, funny and ott that makes it both daft yet awesome at the same time. Like fighting ninjas/samurais in a gold Osaka castle or punching a tiger in the face.
But lets address the elephant in the room: The gameplay or more specifically the Combat mechanics. I must stress for the most part its functional and satisfying, but it could be better. It does at times feels clunky and scrappy at times as enemies can dodge, weave around you and smack you from behind and this is not more apparent when fighting the bosses themselves. Bosses with guns are even worse. Part of the problem is that the lock on feature doesn't really work and instead just locks you in a direction as opposed to a target. if the mechanics was like assassins creed/arkham Asylum i think it would have played much much better. That said, i might play it a bit with keyboard and mouse and see how that's like and whether its me just being half-arsed. You can off set the limitations by upgrading and getting various skills (like being able to spring back to action after being knocked down instead of bouncing around like a rag doll), but still it does feel a bit clunky to play. of course, you could just whip out a weapon and go to town as few people have any defense against it. Once you find the indestructible weapons and fully upgraded, the game is officially over.
The other problem with the combat is that the game doesn't have a move list of any kind so i can't see what button presses work, combo lists etc. Hell, i still don't know how to get behind someone after i grabbed them! It seems to I'm just rinse and repeating the same combo till i win and that's a bit of a shame.
But if the game wasn't entertaining, i wouldn't have spent 97 hours over 3 months playing it. i did have fun bashing the low level goons and exploring the 2 city districts and the various side activities. Besides the usual gambling, mini games (like golf, baseball, darts), to its credit, they've managed to add 2 arcade games! There are some main activities i want to discuss:
The first that i played obsessively was the Cabaret club management quest. Apart from being an easy money earner, the management side of things was what clinched it for me. I can't quite explain it, but it was like XCOM, I enjoyed hiring new girls, picking the relevant staff for work to maximize profits. To top if off there is even a pretty comprehensive customization for the 6 key ladies from make up, clothes and accessories. To top it off there are a couple side stories with the ladies at certain points on progression. That said, it can be a bit of a grind and honestly the only strategy to winning is bringing in a maxed lvl of all your best girls (especially those with a high party stat) and activate fever time at the right time.
The other main game is the clan creator game. Honestly i found it deeply disappointing. its very basic defender game. The problem is that the AI isn't very good, frequently i find them just running towards the enemy or just ignoring the enemy sometimes. Hell, on some occasions i found them stuck on each other or defenders not defending an area (perhaps a ring or sphere of influence or some behavior mechanics would be good). Playing it with a joypad and its very clunky to boot. The second problem is the amount of time to invest in the game as upgrading takes time. There are several means of recruitment like hiring the defeated street bosses or defeated opponents in the coliseum , but you still require some grinding to get them to a top level. But thankfully, once you have a top team you rarely need to switch members around.
The bouncer missions are a whole load of straight up fights and is a good way to make money/powerful gear/points and satisfies that violent itch. For the most part the fights are a cake walk, but the last 9 set dealing with the Amon brothers are where things get really challenging and its at this point i haven't beaten the last 2 legendary difficulty ones. mainly because the boss is a gun welding smg user and i'm struggling to beat it. It verges on unfair, as they hit hard, are quick and immune to heat actions you use twice.
Substories are your secondary quests. For the most part they are simple enough and some of them are quite amusing encounters that are well worth going through as many as you can. The only problem is that some of them are obnoxiously difficult or tough. In my case, beating a golf course that's a nightmare to play and the need to play mahjong . The last one is where i crash and burn. never played a game in my life and i can't get my head around the game.
Lastly as side game of sorts, there is a 2 chapter story campaign with majima. Its quick and simple and feels like DLC as it adds very little to the main game other then explains how Majima was working in a construction company etc. But thoughtful of them to provide it all the same.
Speaking of DLC, there is only one piece of DLC (which was all the DLC combined into one). All of it is completely optional as its basically additional unique characters for the clan creator (which i found disappointing and you can get decent members without them) , 2 unique cabaret ladies (beat it without them as in truth the key ones are the diamond models and one or 2 gold ones to round off the team) and some suits.
i could go on, but lets wrap it up, would i recommend it? Absolutely. For the price it goes for on sales its a huge amount of bang for your buck for under a £10-£5.
Yesterday evening, my wife and I finished It Takes Two. What a great game! I think any couple should play that game together.
Zloth
Community Contributor
I thought each upgrade you get explains the move?
Yeah, that was pretty good. I didn't finish that part, but it was a good change of pace. 1 2 3 4Shine!
I played that once or twice and I was done. I did some bouncer missions were better.
Yeah, REAL mahjong, not that little memory game that used mahjong tiles we kept seeing back in the 80's and 90's.
Speaking of bang... Majima doing a bomb defusal was awesome. He was a lot better in this game than in Kiwami 1, IMHO.
P.S. You haven't finished the game until you've beaten at least one enemy with the giant traffic cone.
P.P.S. Lower your expectations for 3.
Kaamos_Llama
Moderator
I finished a playthrough of Dead Space (2023) this morning. Did all side quests, explored most of the game except a few security doors I didnt back track to after getting master access. Took me 17 hours apparently. Its very good.
8.5/10
Its Dead Space but better for 2023. Good remake.
Gameplay wise its the best version of that game. I'm not much of one for playing survivor horror games alone, but for some reason the series really caught me. Maybe because there isn't half as much ammo management or inventory tetris as an early Resident Evil. Even if you run low on ammo just Kinesis up a sharp object and throw it, a necromorph limb will do. The normal combat is great fun, and the subtle differences in enemies keeps normal encounters engaging until the end.
The new content was added in a way that felt natural, I havent finished the original in a long long time, so its hard for me to remember what the differences were exactly to level design in the late game. This just all felt like a natural extension of the original.
Weapons and upgrades have been rejiggered, I used Plasma Cutter, Line Gun, Contact Beam and Flamer and all were useful, which wasnt the case in my experience with the original.
They also added an 'AI Director' which in practice means if you are backtracking through previously explored areas the game can throw random encounters at you. Can be more enemies, or could be just the lights flicking on and off or a vent exploding. Nice addition.
Bigger enemy encounters are a bit of a let down in some ways. Stasis makes Brutes and the Hunter trivial, and late game encounters were at times more of a case of applying Stasis, and wandering around looking at the ceiling to figure out what to do to get the doors open. Might have been more tense if I wasnt carrying around several Stasis packs at all times. There isnt any real need to used them in normal encounters on medium difficulty.
The set piece boss fights were alright but also where the bones of the game shows its age the most. Isaac is not the most mobile protaganist and his movement is a little awkward. I felt like I wanted to roll or dodge out of the way of giant tentacles and the like, the way Isaac just shift moves to jet or run-strafe to avoid doesnt feel like you're in a lot of control. Not too annoying because you could get away like that fine, it just feels a bit older in those sections. It was the best it could have been considering everything
The story is still decent and well done, but I'm not sure if the additions to the lore taken from later games in the series made it better or just more hokey. I liked the story much more when I played the first game than I did after they started to explain it more in later ones.
The new content was added in a way that felt natural, I havent finished the original in a long long time, so its hard for me to remember what the differences were exactly to level design in the late game. This just all felt like a natural extension of the original.
Weapons and upgrades have been rejiggered, I used Plasma Cutter, Line Gun, Contact Beam and Flamer and all were useful, which wasnt the case in my experience with the original.
They also added an 'AI Director' which in practice means if you are backtracking through previously explored areas the game can throw random encounters at you. Can be more enemies, or could be just the lights flicking on and off or a vent exploding. Nice addition.
Bigger enemy encounters are a bit of a let down in some ways. Stasis makes Brutes and the Hunter trivial, and late game encounters were at times more of a case of applying Stasis, and wandering around looking at the ceiling to figure out what to do to get the doors open. Might have been more tense if I wasnt carrying around several Stasis packs at all times. There isnt any real need to used them in normal encounters on medium difficulty.
The set piece boss fights were alright but also where the bones of the game shows its age the most. Isaac is not the most mobile protaganist and his movement is a little awkward. I felt like I wanted to roll or dodge out of the way of giant tentacles and the like, the way Isaac just shift moves to jet or run-strafe to avoid doesnt feel like you're in a lot of control. Not too annoying because you could get away like that fine, it just feels a bit older in those sections. It was the best it could have been considering everything
The story is still decent and well done, but I'm not sure if the additions to the lore taken from later games in the series made it better or just more hokey. I liked the story much more when I played the first game than I did after they started to explain it more in later ones.
8.5/10
Its Dead Space but better for 2023. Good remake.
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yes and no. unfortunately the game does seem to be missing some info. case in point how to move behind someone once you've grabbed them. i've done it once or twice and the other option is to use the grab them when they have your back turned. Most of the time i just said screw it, i'll just do the other heat special attack. Its not just that they didn't even give proper move lists for virtual fighter 2 or virtual-on arcade machines so didn't know the finer points of them as well.
yeah the bouncer missions were a lot of fun and mixed bunch of interesting scenarios. My fav is probably when you have to fight a bunch of sex starved perverts that have decided to cause trouble after being booted out and have begun dressing up as ninjas and samurai and its up to you to clear them away. the other one is clearing a bunch of kids dressing up as ninjas at the batting range.
Funny thing is that i own a mahjong set in real life, just never got around to playing it nor learning to play it. Apparently its the Japanese rules for mahjong (whatever the hell that means) and just reading the yakuza fandom page was like trying to study at school. I might try and play it but most of the traditional japanese games i avoided. Which is a shame as I appreciate being able to play/experience traditional games from other cultures. Just don't have time to learn when i have to bash baddies.
Playing poker was just torture to me and i had to beat it to complete Haruka's final challenge . It took me nearly an hour of patiently playing the slow game and cheating my balls off with the few joker cards. Come to think of it, yakuza 2 reminded me how much of a mugs game gambling really is as the odds of winning were so low. To ease the pain i just played in the highest betting tables winning one or 2 games and crossing it off.
Agreed. The traffic cone/ Soda can/ beer bottle special is both satisfying and damn powerful to boot. One of my personal favs as well.
Will do. The current concern is that all the games are set in the same location and i'm pretty sure the novellty will disappear very quickly.
Zloth
Community Contributor
Well, I sure wouldn't play them back to back. Maybe give them a year between games?
Well, just a quick update, i finished the standalone DLC of Shadow tactics: blades of the shogun - Aiko's choice. Set around 2/3 of the way into the game. just before the swamp/forest where you kill kaga-sama, Aiko's old sensei makes a surprise visit to the blades of the shogun and sets them on a detour to eliminate another of his conspirators.
Whilst i enjoyed the small slice of content, the best way to describe it would be ; absolute rip off for the full £16.99. All you get are 6 chapters. 3 of them you could classify as full maps like the main game, the fourth is set in one of the maps of the main game (and that's just a quarter of the map), the other is a tutorial map is set on a galleon ship and the final one is an epilogue story map.
i took my time and clocked in 8 hours, so its not that long on normal and i wasn't going to play it again after one play through. So is it worth a play? yes, but only when its on a seriously knocked down price. You do see this game like for £3 so i guess its worth it.
Whilst i enjoyed the small slice of content, the best way to describe it would be ; absolute rip off for the full £16.99. All you get are 6 chapters. 3 of them you could classify as full maps like the main game, the fourth is set in one of the maps of the main game (and that's just a quarter of the map), the other is a tutorial map is set on a galleon ship and the final one is an epilogue story map.
i took my time and clocked in 8 hours, so its not that long on normal and i wasn't going to play it again after one play through. So is it worth a play? yes, but only when its on a seriously knocked down price. You do see this game like for £3 so i guess its worth it.
Since the Christmas break I've done Half-Life 1 and 2 which I hadn't played since they came out basically. Both on hard and the playthoughs took me 30 hours each. These games are long and consistently awesome throughout. Even the levels that are generally unpopular are high quality affairs and finely crafted. Sure rail and boat levels are long but you can tell they're well made and still decently paced.
Then Max Payne 1 and 2. Also both of them on hard (had to edit some registry keys to unlock, and Max Payne 1 required the Fix It All mod to make it playable and fix the audio).
Max Payne 2 I had never played. It was pretty good, the havok physics do add something nice to the set pieces but overall it was much easier and much shorter. The first game is BRUTAL in some places but restarts are quick so it keeps the excitement going. Max Payne 2 has some frustrating parts like the Sniper overwatch section playing Mona but the bullet time recharge and combos add up to a point where it's not really a gamified representation of great reflexes, but just a legit superpower especially with instant reloads.
I liked the bullet time management more in the first, but I think the second game's bullet time with its two different speeds depending on your kills is a better idea. It's just completely ridiculous that you move at pretty much normal speed and reload instantly.
I missed Sam Lake's scowl in Max Payne 2. I just like he first game's vibe a little better because even though it's occasionally stupid hard, I felt like it didn't take itself as seriously as 2 and fully embraced the campy noir setting.
Max Payne 1 took 20 hours, the sequel half of that.
Started Heroes of Might and Magic 5 last week. Had played 3 a few years ago and was in the mood for some fireballs.
Then Max Payne 1 and 2. Also both of them on hard (had to edit some registry keys to unlock, and Max Payne 1 required the Fix It All mod to make it playable and fix the audio).
Max Payne 2 I had never played. It was pretty good, the havok physics do add something nice to the set pieces but overall it was much easier and much shorter. The first game is BRUTAL in some places but restarts are quick so it keeps the excitement going. Max Payne 2 has some frustrating parts like the Sniper overwatch section playing Mona but the bullet time recharge and combos add up to a point where it's not really a gamified representation of great reflexes, but just a legit superpower especially with instant reloads.
I liked the bullet time management more in the first, but I think the second game's bullet time with its two different speeds depending on your kills is a better idea. It's just completely ridiculous that you move at pretty much normal speed and reload instantly.
I missed Sam Lake's scowl in Max Payne 2. I just like he first game's vibe a little better because even though it's occasionally stupid hard, I felt like it didn't take itself as seriously as 2 and fully embraced the campy noir setting.
Max Payne 1 took 20 hours, the sequel half of that.
Started Heroes of Might and Magic 5 last week. Had played 3 a few years ago and was in the mood for some fireballs.
Pass it? Like not play or? If so, might I ask what you did not like? I heard it was a bit lacking on the crafting side.
Gosh, has it really been a month and none of us has finished a game?! Anyway 2 to add to the list.
lets start with a doom wad. Ray mohawk 2 - a winner of a cacoaward the game plays like a terrible 80s action movie and its awesome. The weapons are so over powered (x7) that the weaker enemies die in one shot and the monsters have to come in large groups to even put up any resistance. The level design is also good, filled with 80's midis and much of the level design expects you to just hold down the trigger and just charge through corridors blowing past waves upon waves of monsters.
For the most part, the game is relatively easy thanks to the OP weapons. but thats not to say the game doesn't have teeth, by end game archivile's, cyber demons with be deployed in pairs or more. One level you have to contend with 10 at once with a mob of cyber demons it was so difficult i had to cheat through the map. but besides that the rest of the later maps are challenging. A real highlight is the icon of sin battle where ray has to jump down the throat of the demon and then blow the monster apart inside out and exiting out from the demons anus. Awesome. Absolutely bad ass (literally).
Would i recommend a play? Absolutely.
i'll discuss the next game in the next post as i have a lot to talk about...
lets start with a doom wad. Ray mohawk 2 - a winner of a cacoaward the game plays like a terrible 80s action movie and its awesome. The weapons are so over powered (x7) that the weaker enemies die in one shot and the monsters have to come in large groups to even put up any resistance. The level design is also good, filled with 80's midis and much of the level design expects you to just hold down the trigger and just charge through corridors blowing past waves upon waves of monsters.
For the most part, the game is relatively easy thanks to the OP weapons. but thats not to say the game doesn't have teeth, by end game archivile's, cyber demons with be deployed in pairs or more. One level you have to contend with 10 at once with a mob of cyber demons it was so difficult i had to cheat through the map. but besides that the rest of the later maps are challenging. A real highlight is the icon of sin battle where ray has to jump down the throat of the demon and then blow the monster apart inside out and exiting out from the demons anus. Awesome. Absolutely bad ass (literally).
Would i recommend a play? Absolutely.
i'll discuss the next game in the next post as i have a lot to talk about...
So after 73 hours i have finally finished my first playthrough of Phantom doctrine. Would i recommend it? considering the game can be bought on sale for less then a £5 I would say yes. Its a competently made game but it has some (serious) issues that makes it means it doesn't stick the landing.
The best way to think of PD? Think a stealthy version of XCOM. The mission starts in infiltration mode and when cover is blown you go to full combat mode. on the whole, the stealth mechanic works fine and there are some tactics involved when sneaking (ie hide around corners, close doors, hide bodies, don't take out too many guards and/or disable security etc. its all very compelling stuff as you methodically complete the maps etc.
Not going to lie, the game does come with some interesting features that even give XCom a run for its money. The stealth mechanics is PD's strong point. The breach mechanic for rooms is seamless and pretty cool. The fact you can use support your agents is a good a idea, simple stuff like clearing fow to lobbing smoke and explosives. MK ultra is a neat feature - as you interrogate agents and do all sorts of nasty things. By the end game it became a human bomb factory; kidnapping enemy agents, get all the info out of them and then releasing them back into the wild and blow up their own hideouts. The overworld strategic element as you manage your agents across the world is quite good. Problems arise when trying to have enough resources in the US and in the far east as they typically take the longest to travel to.
There is an interesting story in the game as you try to uncover what beholder is, what they're planning and trying to stop it. its not the longest game, its only 7 chapters long and there is no real dooms day clock unless you ignore far too many things. There is some longivity though. The opening chapters are different for each facton (KGB/CIA) and if you beat the game you get new game plus where you play as mossad and apparently the main missions are changed up a bit.
Apart from a couple of Ui issues, flawed crafting/acquisition mechanics. PD does have some seriously glaring problems that seriously hurt the game's enjoyment. The combat isn't all that great and the mechanics just doesn't feel like it works properly. Attacks either hit or miss and either does serious amounts of damage or do minimal damage frequently. There is strategy like flanking, using LMGs to suppress and strip awareness etc, but too often the best strategy is to get in close (ie standing next to the enemy) and just letting rip as they can't avoid the attacks. Enemy agents especially can be troublesome as their awareness is what determines evasion and use of skills and this can burn away extremely quickly leaving you getting picked off. Failing that, grenades works wonders in all situations and the enemy knows this as well.
Unfortunately in this game you can't hide from combat forever, the game has an annoying feature where on some missions after 3 turns the enemy just becomes alerted and you're forced to fight. It doesn't happen too often, but when it does its either load the game before you started or struggle through a mission (usually prepared for stealth rather then combat). Another annoying feature is how some main missions just forces combat onto you. You may have stealth/sneaked your way to the objective but open the box etc and all hell breaks loose. Starts off with reinforcements before they send a helicopter gunship to start firing explosives at you.
The other bigger issue is the repetitive nature of the game. Too often i visit the same locales and each one has the same building layout/restricted areas. Sure, the enemy placement is slightly different as are the collectibles but its still far too predictable, played some maps often enough that i had a rough idea where enemies will be and it remove the tension.
But that's not all, the problem the whole thing is just rinse and repeat. The same type of missions and the same strategy. The repetitive nature is not just in maps, its also management activities. New agent recruits frequently use the same handful of photos, nicknames or designs (at one point i had 2 new recruits wearing the same clothes and head, hair style etc!), the cork board whilst initially compelling slowly became a chore as the same documents and words are rotated constantly. its probably why you have the option to fill analytics department with agents to do the work for you. So that streamlines all the processes but you'll probably spend large periods of time twiddling your thumbs waiting for things to happen.
The best way to think of PD? Think a stealthy version of XCOM. The mission starts in infiltration mode and when cover is blown you go to full combat mode. on the whole, the stealth mechanic works fine and there are some tactics involved when sneaking (ie hide around corners, close doors, hide bodies, don't take out too many guards and/or disable security etc. its all very compelling stuff as you methodically complete the maps etc.
Not going to lie, the game does come with some interesting features that even give XCom a run for its money. The stealth mechanics is PD's strong point. The breach mechanic for rooms is seamless and pretty cool. The fact you can use support your agents is a good a idea, simple stuff like clearing fow to lobbing smoke and explosives. MK ultra is a neat feature - as you interrogate agents and do all sorts of nasty things. By the end game it became a human bomb factory; kidnapping enemy agents, get all the info out of them and then releasing them back into the wild and blow up their own hideouts. The overworld strategic element as you manage your agents across the world is quite good. Problems arise when trying to have enough resources in the US and in the far east as they typically take the longest to travel to.
There is an interesting story in the game as you try to uncover what beholder is, what they're planning and trying to stop it. its not the longest game, its only 7 chapters long and there is no real dooms day clock unless you ignore far too many things. There is some longivity though. The opening chapters are different for each facton (KGB/CIA) and if you beat the game you get new game plus where you play as mossad and apparently the main missions are changed up a bit.
Apart from a couple of Ui issues, flawed crafting/acquisition mechanics. PD does have some seriously glaring problems that seriously hurt the game's enjoyment. The combat isn't all that great and the mechanics just doesn't feel like it works properly. Attacks either hit or miss and either does serious amounts of damage or do minimal damage frequently. There is strategy like flanking, using LMGs to suppress and strip awareness etc, but too often the best strategy is to get in close (ie standing next to the enemy) and just letting rip as they can't avoid the attacks. Enemy agents especially can be troublesome as their awareness is what determines evasion and use of skills and this can burn away extremely quickly leaving you getting picked off. Failing that, grenades works wonders in all situations and the enemy knows this as well.
Unfortunately in this game you can't hide from combat forever, the game has an annoying feature where on some missions after 3 turns the enemy just becomes alerted and you're forced to fight. It doesn't happen too often, but when it does its either load the game before you started or struggle through a mission (usually prepared for stealth rather then combat). Another annoying feature is how some main missions just forces combat onto you. You may have stealth/sneaked your way to the objective but open the box etc and all hell breaks loose. Starts off with reinforcements before they send a helicopter gunship to start firing explosives at you.
The other bigger issue is the repetitive nature of the game. Too often i visit the same locales and each one has the same building layout/restricted areas. Sure, the enemy placement is slightly different as are the collectibles but its still far too predictable, played some maps often enough that i had a rough idea where enemies will be and it remove the tension.
But that's not all, the problem the whole thing is just rinse and repeat. The same type of missions and the same strategy. The repetitive nature is not just in maps, its also management activities. New agent recruits frequently use the same handful of photos, nicknames or designs (at one point i had 2 new recruits wearing the same clothes and head, hair style etc!), the cork board whilst initially compelling slowly became a chore as the same documents and words are rotated constantly. its probably why you have the option to fill analytics department with agents to do the work for you. So that streamlines all the processes but you'll probably spend large periods of time twiddling your thumbs waiting for things to happen.
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