Recent reviews by Trevor Philips

A Short review of a forgotten classic

After a long time I have played Driver Parallel Lines again. This was my first Driver game when I was
a kid. I was too young for a PS1, so my first console was a PS2 and after a few years I have found my love for PC gaming. Since I was a kid, I am a big fan of open world action games. I remember when I was searching all over the web about open world action games. Because I have played so much GTA, especially the Trilogy (no, not the Definitive Edition :D ), I wanted to play other open world games. I have played many of them: Scarface, The Godfather, Wheelman (please, re-release it Ubisoft), True Crime, Just Cause, Boiling Point, Saints Row, all other Rockstar Games, Mafia ... you name it, I have played all of them. One of these games was Driver Parallel Lines. I remember when my friend came to me and we tried all the open world games. We instantly have fallen in love with Parallel Lines. We loved the cars, the time periods, the soundtrack, the car crashes, the tuning options and the FMV sequences. Plus for such an old open world game, the streets are full of cars, even for today standards (I am looking at you Saints Row 2022...).
Because of my sweet memories, I have replayed it. And yes, I can confirm my memories, the game aged well and it is a fun, but short game. There were some really cool missions. Reflection was really creative back then, for example in one mission you have to manipulate a race, so a buddy of you wins it and gets the first place.
Of course there are some downsides. The NPCs walk really strange, the shooting system is garbage (there is an auto aim system and the shooting is inaccurate) and although i like the world (it is New York City), they reused many assets.
But yes, I like the game, especially for the low price right now (summer sale). The game is from a time, when there was more freemdom in developing games. A time, where Ubisoft released many creative and good games. Altough the game feels rushed respectively had a tight budget, because of the Driver 3 failure. But all in all it is a great game and I enjoyed the story (the FMV sequences are the highlight in this game) and the missions.

The Saboteur - A masterpiece ignored by EA, press and players

I'm thrilled to finally see that EA has released this game on Steam after all these months and years of regular checks on the SteamDB entry. Thank you!
I have played this game a long time ago on my Origin account. I replay it now and I remember again why I love this game.

The story, atmosphere, world, missions, and gameplay—everything about this game is fantastic, in my opinion. It's easily one of the best games in EA's portfolio, as well as being a genuinely unique title.
As Sean, an Irish racecar driver living in Nazi-occupied Paris, you can even travel to parts of Germany.

Pandemic did an excellent job with many aspects of the game, pouring their hearts and souls into it. The main and side missions are both spectacular, each offering something different from the others.
Unlike modern games where missions tend to feel repetitive, The Saboteur stands out with its diverse range of challenges.
The use of black and white filters adds to the game's somber mood while highlighting the oppression of the era.
Other notable features include various weapons, climbing abilities, stealth options, destructible environments, detailed settings, and populated streets filled with recognizable landmarks.

Despite knowing it was their final shot at survival, Pandemic took risks and delivered an impressive experience. Unfortunately, EA shut down the studio shortly after, leaving behind a legacy of unfulfilled potential.
Although the game received little attention upon release, it has gained traction over the years, albeit too late for those involved. This reminds me of other overlooked titles like Sleeping Dogs, Assassin's Creed Unity, and L.A. Noire.
Because of the closure, the game is not perfect. There are some graphical and audio bugs, a 60 FPS cap and sometimes it crashes. The menu feels really "cheap", for example there is no button to open the map instantly.
The graphics are pretty outdated and worse than other games in this time period like GTA 4, Mafia 2 or Just Cause 2. The speakers in this game are weird. German is my native language and these speaker are clearly no native speakers (I play in English). The really good cutscenes are too rare. There is a loading screen when you enter buildings. In these moments, you can sense that the game was developed in a hurry and on a tight budget.
With more time and a higher budget, it could have been a masterpiece and easily the game of the year 2009 (or 2010). But EA did not see the potential and closed Pandemic before (!) the release of The Saboteur, after they have bought them two years earlier. Such business practices should be prohibited. I am still angry about this. I would love to see a remaster of The Saboteur, a second part, a new Mercenaries or the a remaster of the old ones.

Now we are here in 2024. I can fully recommend you this game. It is better than many new games, but you have to live with some bugs, 60 FPS and poor graphics.
If you go for it, you will be playing one of the best games of recent years. And the last project of the beloved Pandemic studios. We, the players, miss you and your games...

The initial release version was not really good: long loading times, the mouse stutter and for some people many stutters and bad textures with 8 GB of VRAM. But I have to be fair: Sony has proved themselves and they have fixed the most issues. Now it is a really good port in my opinion. Of course, the loading times are still long with older CPUs, but I prefer the shader compilation above bad frametimes. The FPS are good, even on low end hardware and it looks great on maximum settings.
I just dont understand why they have not released it later. In the state of now there would not have been many bad reviews. It is a pity that Sony have damaged their reputation.
But all in all: yes you can buy it now, it runs good, it looks very good and it is a decent game (although there are better games in my opinion). Thanks for fixing the issues Sony. It is not state of the art that bad ports are getting fixed.
But for the next time: fix it before the initial release!

Sleeping Dogs - one of my all time favorites
After years of playing (10 years by now, crazy how the time flies) it is time for a review of this masterpiece.
Sleeping Dogs is an action open world game and in the beginning it should have been a part of the True Crime series. But as Activision did not see quality in this game they have abandoned it (until now I dont unterstand which maniacs are working at Activisions management).
Luckily Square Enix have picked it up, so that we can enjoy this fantastic game. But now you may ask, why it is fantastic.

The Story:
There are several reasons. Lets begin with the games really good story. From the beginning until the end you will love this story. It is exciting, well written and very deep.
I will not spoiler here, just trust me that the story is worth their time. I mean the story is so good that there will be a movie about Sleeping Dogs in the next few months.

The World:
Besides the story the world in the game (it plays in Hong Kong) is great and lively. In some aspects better than GTA. Just a few examples:
- many people on the streets (especially in the definitive edition)
- people are working in daytime
- when Wei do something "special"/uncommon they shoot photos from him with their cellphones
- when it is raining they take umbrellas
- daytime the clubs are empty and there is staff which clean the club, in the night it is full of people and interaction
- the same for the night market
- people are eating or take a look in the different shops too (for example: in a clothing store the people are given advise for a suit)
United Front Games cleary know on which points they had to focus to deliver a believeable world. Of course, the 2D sprites of some shops are not so good and maybe there is some "copy and paste" from some buildings and shops but all in all the world is great and in my opinion one of the best open worlds in the last few years.
And I mean how often you visit an asian city in an open world action game?


The Gameplay:
After all this praise, lets take a look at the gameplay. And even here Sleeping Dogs makes (almost) everything right. The heart of the game is the combat system.
If you have played any of the Batman titles you will have no problems with the combat system in Sleeping Dogs because it is really similiar. It works well and it is funny to make some combos and special attacks. Besides the combat the parcour system is really nice too. Of course, it is no comparison to Assassins Creed, but it works well and is something you dont see in every open world action game. In addition you can drive many cars, motorbikes and boats, like in GTA. Unfortunately the handling is not so good compared to GTA or other games. But to make it more vibrant, it is possible to shoot from the car and you can ram other cars.
Besides the main missions there are many side missions and activities. Sometimes the side missions are very repetitive and I wish that United Front Games had been more creative here.
But it is just a bonus. If you dont like the side missions or activities, then you can just enjoy the main story. Just a few examples for the side content: you can gamble, collect money, fight in an arena, races etc. Like I said some side missions are great, some are repetitive and in my opinion less would have been more in this case.

Conclusion:
Sleeping Dogs is one of my personal all time favorites. Of course the game has its flaws (but I mean, there is no perfect game) but you can clearly see that United Front Games put all their heart in this game. It is a pity that they have closed their doors a few years ago. If you are a fan of open world action games, this game will be the right choice
for you and on sale it just costs 3€. But for 3€ you will get a massive game and something you wont experience everyday, innovative games like Sleeping Dogs are rare these days.

PS: I am sorry if my english is not perfect, I try to improve my english, so I am writing this in english and not my mother language. So if there are any mistakes feel free to comment :)

Assassins Creed Unity is my favorite Assassins Creed, this game did so many things right, and it is a pity that the people hated it because of the performance and bugs. I have played it again this year and it still holds up with newer games. There are games which are newer than Unity but look worse. There are still some bugs, but nothing gamebreaking. The performance is good (always 60 FPS on ultra settings and 4K resolution via downsampling and a RTX 3080).
A short summary of the many positive aspects:
- great and interesting story, characters and plot twists
- the world is huge, maybe smaller than Odyssey, Black flag... but much more detail, Paris is a fest for the eyes, especially the interiors, just amazing, take a look for yourself, there are not many games which can hold up; in my opinion one of the best open worlds from Ubisoft
- the climbing is perfect in this game, very fluent and logical, better than in the predecessors
- the fighting is very funny and exciting because it is much harder and you can carry many different weapons, so you have to upgrade your skills and weapons, something that was not really necessary in the other Assassins Creeds
- you can aim freely (yes I am looking at you Assassins Creed 3)
- there is a proper cover system (unfortunately with some bugs)
- the game plays within the revolution, there are so many people on the streets, the city breaths and is just alive, amazing
- many possibilites to assassinate the enemies
...
I could go on for hours but this should be enough. I have played every Assassins Creed (except Liberation and the 2D ones), but this one is in my opinion the best, although Origins and Odyssey were not bad either. But Unity is different. It has a heart and I can clearly see that the developers invest their lifeblood in this game. Unfortunately Ubisoft was greedy and released it too early. If you have not played it until now, play it, in my opinion it is the best Assassins Creed and for me personal one of the best games which Ubisoft has ever released.

PS: I am sorry if my english is not perfect, I try to improve my english, so I am writing this in english and not my mother language. So if there are any mistakes feel free to comment :)

Mafia Definitive Edition - A masterpiece remastered
First of all I would like to mention, that I am a big fan of the Mafia series. Mafia 1 is a masterpiece and even many years after its original release there are not many games which can match up with the story, atmosphere and mission design of this game. Mafia 2 is a masterpiece too and even 10 years after its release it is still better than many other games (just my personal opinion). Thanks to Illusion/2K Czech for these great games.
Ok, and we all know that Mafia 3 was not the game which we wanted although there were some great aspects in the game. So I was a bit sceptical that Hangar 13 wanted to release a remake of one of my favorite games. But what should I say, this game is beast. Hangar 13 did a nearly perfect remake in my opinion. So lets take a deeper look why.
First of all the heart of the game is still the same. Hangar 13 took the original game and invested the manpower in better graphics of course (it looks really good on maximum settings though) and modernized the game. Now there is a proper cover system and minimap and your health regenerates a bit. Plus they extended the story in a great way, but I do not want to spoiler here. I am very happy that it is still Mafia 1. The minimap is not flooded with icons and there are not many side quests. Hangar 13 have learnt from Mafia 3 I guess. And the game is not too easy like the original (especially when you play in the classic mode). If you just run in the crowd and try to shoot your opponents then you wont stand a chance. The voice acting and the new actors are great and they do a good job. Especially the new Salieri and Frank did a very good job and I like it that Hangar 13 take a closer look in the relationship between Salieri and Frank.

Although there are some things which I am missing.
1. The tram, it is a classic one, they should have implemented it. Besides the tram is driving and people get on and off, so I dont really understand why you cant drive with it (besides there are videos where Tommy sits in the train, so it is possible, just not "official")
2. Yellow Pete, I dont understand why he is not in the game
3. Some weapons from the original are missing.
4. I dont like the new crosshair. It is a bit hard to aim, but maybe it is their intention, because Tommy is just a taxi driver and not a soldier.

But all in all I recommended you this game if you love Mafia 1 or you are tired of the new open world games which are filled with so much stuff that you cannot even recognised the map.

PS: I am sorry if my english is not perfect, I try to improve my english, so I am writing this in english and not my mother language. So if there are any mistakes feel free to comment :)

Grandioses Rockstar Spiel. Die Welt und der damit einhergehende Grafikstil ist bombastisch. Kombiniert mit einer fesselnden Story und interessantem Gameplay. Natürlich mangelt es nach ein paar Stunden an Abwechslung, aber die Fälle sind so spannend aufbereitet worden, dass es im Grunde genommen kaum stört. Kurz und knapp: Kauft es euch, wenn ihr Fan von Rockstar Spielen seid oder/und ihr Lust auf euren spielbaren Film habt, wo ihr in die Rolle eines Polizisten schlüpft.

Mafia III - Eine Abrechnung
So nach langer Zeit muss ich persönlich mit diesem Spiel und deren Entwicklern abrechnen, um in Mafiasprache zu sprechen, eine Vendetta.
Was war das für eine schöne Zeit damals in meiner Jugend als ich Mafia 1 gespielt habe. Eine wirklich großartige Spielwelt, eine kinoreife Story und Inszenierung und dazu noch eine Portion abwechslungsreiches Gameplay. Dann kam mit viel Verspätung Mafia 2. Zugegeben, die Story war ebenfalls extrem spannend und kinoreif, allerdings doch nicht so emotional wie in Teil 1. Desto mehr hat 2K Czech damals am Gameplay gefeilt, welches auch noch heute (nach 7 Jahren!) extrem modern und flüssig spielbar ist. Sei es die Fahrphysik, die Schießereien inkl. PhysX oder auch die relativ gute KI.
Warum zähle ich das nochmal alles auf? Einfach um euch (und mich) daran zu erinnern, was für brilliante Spiele Mafia 1 und 2 waren und dies nun mit Mafia 3 zu vergleichen.
Es hätte alles so schön sein können: die Spielwelt passt, die Schießereien gehen gut von der Hand, die Fahrphysik ist ganz gut umgesetzt und die Story an sich ist vielleicht nicht die Beste, dank guter Erzähltechnik und Zwischensequenzen aber gut umgesetzt. Kann mir nun einer von den Strohköpfen bei Hangar 13 erklären wie man mit so einer guten Basis ein Spiel teilweise so ruinieren kann?
Fangen wir mal beim Gameplay an: es läuft so ab, dass man die ganzen Distrikte erobern muss damit man die Hauptmissionen spielen kann, ein ähnliches Prinzip wie beim Mafia 2 DLC Joes Adventure. Dieses Erobern ist allerdings eine Frechheit für sich. Im Prinzip läuft es immer nach Schema X ab: man fährt zu Gebäuden oder Plätzen und tötet/rekrutiert dort Informanten oder/und zerstört ein paar Sachen der Gegenseite. Dies macht man in jedem Distrikt so 4-5 Mal um dann anschließend nochmal zwei Unterbosse zu töten - wieder nach Schema X.
Dann hat man es endlich geschafft und man darf die Hauptmission spielen. Ich habe die Anzahl der Distrikte nicht mehr genau im Kopf, ich glaube es waren acht, die man erobern musste, also macht man ca. 40 Mal die selbe Mission (plus die beiden Unterbosse in jedem Distrikt) : Hingehen, töten, zerstören.
Und das Beste dabei ist, dass man teilweise die Unterbosse im selben Gebäude töten muss, wie die Informanten :D
Das wirklich traurige dabei: die freigeschalteten Hauptmissionen sind genauso, wie ich es mir von einem Mafia wünsche,
eine bombastische Inszenierung gepaart mit netten Zwischensequenzen.
Und im Prinzip habe ich mich nur wegen den Zwischensequenzen und den Hauptmissionen durch das repetitive Gameplay gezwungen.
Mafia 3 ist ein Paradebeispiel dafür, dass Open World ein Spiel komplett zerstören kann. Mafia braucht keine Open World. Mafia 1 und 2 haben super ohne funktioniert. Hangar 13 hat mit Gewalt versucht ein schlechtes GTA 2.0 zu erschaffen gemischt mit einer Priese Ubisoft und The Godfather. I am sorry Hangar 13, but thats not Mafia! Wenn das Erobern der Distrikte wenigstens noch optional gewesen wäre, aber das man gezwungen wird, zeigt nur, dass Hangar 13 versucht hat, mit so wenig Arbeit wie möglich, die maximale Spielzeit herauszuholen.
Ganz ehrlich, ich weiß nicht wie andere Leute das sehen, aber ich habe lieber 10-15h eine richtig tolle Erfahrung, als eine Spielzeit von 30-40h, wo ich die wirklich tollen Momente an einer Hand abzählen kann. Warum haben soviele Spieler tolle Erinnerungen an Spiele wie San Andreas, Mafia 1 oder Bioshock? Bestimmt nicht, weil die Spielzeit künstlich in die Länge gezogen wurde...
Zweiter Punkt: Bei aller Liebe, Mafia 2 hatte soviele tolle Features, angeblich hat sich Hangar 13 mit der Mafia Reihe beschäftigt, anscheinend aber nur eben den Wikipedia Artikel ausgedruckt, einmal durchgelesen und drauf los programmiert. Wo sind die ganzen betretbaren Geschäfte, in denen man interagieren (!) konnte? Die KI der Polizei? Die Kämpfe? Überhaupt der ganze Realismus in Mafia? Selbst Mafia 1, das bald seinen 15. Geburtstag feiert, war in vielen (oder allen?) Dingen realistischer als Mafia 3, schaut euch gerne Videos auf YouTube an. Ich erwarte von einem Videospiel keinen vollkommenen Realismus, aber ich erwarte schon, wenn ich in einem Mafia auf Autos schieße, dass sie nicht sofort explodieren oder, dass ich Fußspuren hinterlasse, wenn ich durch eine Blutlache laufe.
Und dass sie das Tanken-Feature und das Aufknacken der Autos weggelassen haben... Das sind alles kleine Dinge, die aber im Gesamtbild die Authentizität der Spielwelt zerstören, obwohl das doch immer die Stärke in den Mafia Spielen war.
Dritter Punkt: Die technische Umsetzung war, nein, ist eine Katastrophe. Wenn man bei einem teilweise solch hässlichen
Spiel eine GTX 1080 und einen i7 benötigt, um konstante 60 FPS zu halten ist das einfach nur eine Frechheit. Mafia 1 und 2 waren reine PC-Spiele, 2K Czech hat viel Arbeit in die PC-Umsetzungen investiert, Hangar 13 ist das anscheinend egal. Wobei gesagt werden muss, dass auch die One und PS4 Fassungen technische Katastrophen sind. Wenn ich sehe, wie das Spiel am Tag aussieht, könnte ich echt kotzen. Ich erwarte keine Bombast Grafik, aber wenn ein 7 Jahre altes Mafia 2 in vielen Dingen optisch besser aussieht, als Mafia 3 ist definitiv etwas falsch gelaufen. Alleine dieser Licht-Bug ist ja wohl eine Dreistigkeit für sich, sowas habe ich in noch keinem Videospiel gesehen.
Dazu kommen dann noch unzählige Bugs und Glitches, dank eines Bugs weiß ich bis heute nicht, was mit Joe passiert ist.
Das Sahnehäubchen ist dann die äußerst dämliche KI, ich spiele Mafia, kein Saints Row!
So, jetzt habe ich fast nur gemeckert, aber es war echt mal nötig, denn auch nach sechs Monaten bin ich sauer, was 2K
und Hangar 13 meiner Lieblingsfranchise angetan haben. Wie oben erwähnt, das Spiel hat positive Aspekte, allerdings lassen mich die negativen Punkte so sauer aufstoßen, dass die positiven Aspekte nicht mehr viel retten können. Mafia 3 wäre an sich vielleicht auch kein schlechtes Spiel, aber es steht Mafia drauf und dann möchte ich auch ein Mafia spielen und kein GTA: Assassins Godfather.
Aber wir leben im Jahre 2017, das heißt für AAA-Titel: viel Spielzeit, wenig Inhalt und Gewinnmaximierung. Und es scheint noch schlimmer zu werden.

Life Is Strange zeigt nochmal, was für ein super Entwickler Dontnod ist. Bereits mit Remember Me haben sie bewiesen, dass sie keine Mainstreamspiele machen möchten - und das ist auch gut so. Anstatt Dauer Action, Quick Time Events und Ballereien, zeigt Life Is Strange, dass Spiele auch eine Kunstform sein können.
Viel zu selten wird das Leben eines jungen Teenagers in einem Spiel thematisiert, die Probleme und Konflikte, die moderne Kommunikation und Technik. Die Entscheidungen die man zu treffen hat, sind gar nicht so einfach - man hinterfragt: Ist das gut so? Habe ich die richtige Entscheidung getroffen? Und die Protagonistin konfrontiert euch ebenfalls mit dieser Frage, es ist also teilweise echt nicht einfach Entscheidungen zu treffen, behaltet im Hinterkopf, jede einzelne Entscheidung verändert die Story, manche wahrscheinlich mehr, manche wahrscheinlich weniger, das wird sich in den kommenden Episoden zeigen.
Ich möchte auch eigentlich nichts weiter erzählen, denn die Story solltet ihr schon selbst miterleben.

Fazit:
Wer sich nicht die Zeit nehmen kann, liebevoll gestaltete Umgebungen zu erkunden und/oder Daueraction braucht, ist hier eher an der falschen Stelle. Wer sich allerdings in eine Person hineinversetzen möchte, einer Story folgen möchte und auch nichts gegen ruhigeres Gameplay hat, der wird mit Life Is Strange höchstwahrscheinlich seinen Spass haben.
Fakt ist jedenfalls, dass ich bereits sehr ungeduldig auf die zweite Episode warte ;-)

Dying Light ist ein sehr guter Mix aus Dead Island und Mirrors Edge, allerdings hat Techland sich mit Dying Light selbst übertroffen: das Kämpfen ist nun viel komplexer und komplizierter als noch in den Dead Island Teilen, die Story wurde stark verbessert und die Spielwelt ist einfach nur geil :D
Außerdem verschafft sich Techland leichte Anleihen bei Far Cry, wie u,a, den "Feind" und erkletterbare Funktürme.
Durch das Parkour Element kommt ein gewisser Spielfluss auf und die Steuerung geht sehr flüssig von der Hand.
Zu Bemängeln habe ich eigentlich nichts, außer bei den Quests, diese ähneln sich sehr oft.

Insgesamt eine klare Kaufempfehlung für Fans von Dead Island und Mirrors Edge.