Recent reviews by w0cks

Good if you have $200 to burn

If the 95% positive reviews isn't enough, I'll just say this is one of the best games I've played in a long time. The game extremely faithfully recreates 90's shooters while also being exceptionally good in its own right. Authentic visuals, great sound, great enemy design, great gameplay, great great great great great.

I also didn't expect it to be a full on horror game, but it was excellent as that. The sound design and use of light make it genuinely eerie at parts, and it genuinely got under my skin at parts, which I didn't expect from such (intentionally) primitive graphics.

I also love the stages. Some of the are a little labyrinthine for my tastes, but I also enjoyed exploring and seeing what would come next. I also liked the escalation of the stages, as things get progressively more insane as the game goes on. That being said, there were a few gimmicks which were kind of underutilized (ex. the miniature room).

My complaints are very few: Some of the enemies were a little obnoxious. Also, when it comes to moving vertically, the perspective kind of freaks out, meaning you can get very disoriented about where you're actually looking; this is especially true whenever you go underwater. I'm also not personally a fan of the hard rock music, but that's a really subjective criticism (the more eerie ambient music is excellent). That's about it. Some might complain about the game being too short, but if you play as is intended (i.e. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ around to find secrets / explore the level), I think you can probably get enough enjoyment to justify a purpose, though I'm a little skeptical about it being worth $20. Maybe wait for a sale if you're skeptical, but it's definitely worth your time.

I'm looking forward to trying this after the beta ends.

Speaking as someone who has only played "Saint's Row the Third" and this one, I can safely say this is one of the best games I have ever played. It is such an enjoyable experience there is no person I would not reccomend this to. Coming off "Saint's Row the Third", I was enjoying my time with the franchise, but it didn't stand out to an amazing degree, but this game took everything I hated about 3, fixed it, and added in all new things to enjoy.

So why is it so good? Well, I'll start with the central combat mechanics, which I would say are overall better than in 3, with a ton more weapon variety, including all sorts of crazy and amazingly fun weapons, including the Dubstep Gun and the Black Hole Launcher (My personal favorite!), though alot of the more ordinary guns feel alot weaker than in 3. For example, the Alien SMG felt more like it was firing air powered brussel sprouts than laser shots. Also, I feel the weapon balance is a bit off. Though it may be really fun, and I definately prefer it to the alternative, from a technical standpoint, I shoud not be able to one shot with a completely unimproved melee weapon, recovering all lost health from a pickup he drops. Later on, I would clear entire flashpoints with nothing but a tentacle bat or a laser sword. Combat also includes the brand new superpowers, which are mostly really fun to play around with, and can do some real damage. However, I think alot of powers are either useless, or made obsolete by other powers. Why would I shoot a fireball at one enemy when I can surround myself in a temporary aura of fire, burning all nearby enemies as I get them well acquainted with my tentacle?

Alot of people point at the character customization in 2 as being incredible, and say they were dissappointed in customization in 3 and 4. Having very briefly played 2, I can say there is such a thing as too much detail, and that has it. 4 has plenty of choices to make whatever character you want, including different voices with different dialogue, though I found the developers really didn't put a whole lot of effort into the voices other then Male Voice 1 and maybe Male Voice 2, since, in my first playthrough as Female Voice 1, the subtitles constantly said something different to my character, which is a minor complaint, but it really annoyed me. Another complaint is they didn't seem to build on the wardrobe from 3, and rather replaced it, so alot of clothes I liked from before are gone, in favor of four of the same fedora with a slightly different rim.

Until I heard complaints about it and actually took a good look at the map, I couldn't even tell it was Steelport again. The jump and sprint powers make travel so much fun for awhile, though it did eventually become routine, and that verticality to moving on foot makes it feel like a different city, at least to me. However, that hits upon one of my main complaints: cars. In 3, cars were vital, and in 4, they added tons of new cars, most of which are incredibly interesting and funny in concept and execution. There's a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ man-a-pult, for God's sake! However, I was almost never tempted to use vehicles of any kind, since traveling on foot was so much faster and more efficient, which is a real shame, because vehicles seem so interesting. The problem is really exemplified whenever a mission requires you drive around and you realize how much you want to get out, jump into the air, and dive nuke a city block.

*YOU MAY FIND SPOILERS IN THIS PARAGRAPH* The story is honestly pretty shallow in its broad concept. Break the simulation by doing activities while rescuing your crew. It's a means to an end, but alot of the individual missions, particularly the rescue missions are very fun, though many of the normal missions are very very repetitive and even kind of 'grindy', you could say, which is one of the biggest criticisms of the game by most. But all these missions present a bonding experience to get you to care about each and every character, and that's really the games strongest point: the characters. I absolutely love every character in this game. They are all well defined, and the game lets you spend casual bonding time with each one to make you actually enjoy having them around, not to mention every one is enjoyable in their own way. I'd imagine this would be rapidly trumped in a story-focused game, but as someone who hasn't been exposed much to those, one of my favorite character moments came in this game, and it was when Pierce and the Boss start singing along to the radio during a mission. The dialogue, humor, and sense of absolute careless fun from the voice actors makes it a scene with not much depth, but just a flat out good time, a scene that just makes you feel happy and invested, which is really what games are about, right? And the ending. I ended up getting the good ending first time, and it is such a good ending. No poetic depth, no thought-provoking parting message, no final riddle, but just a good, light-hearted ending that made you feel accomplished and all warm inside, seeing the characters have just a good a time as you.

Switching over to the other main strength, let's talk about the humor. This game is filled with absolutely hillarious moments. One big complaint I have about 3 is it really just has one joke: ♥♥♥♥♥, BUMS, TITS, SEX, GET IT, IT'S FUNNY RIGHT?, which can be good when done right and in moderation, but was seriously overdone. This game has references, parodies, that oh so random humor that's fun when done right, which it is here, original dialogue humor, and it still retains that dirty humor from 3, but in a much better balance with the rest of it to make those jokes consistently funny. The dialogue is amazing, and I willingly listened to all of it and wanted more just because it was so good.

In conclusion, I highly reccomend this game. Sure there are some goods and bads I left out, but I think this covers the important points, at least in my experiences. It had plenty of flaws and missed alot of potential in alot of its elements, but the action, powers, characters, and humor in this game, combined with an obvious sense of absolute dedication to fun has this game stand out as being superb, and I truly cannot understand how people would rather have some dark and serious "Grand Theft Auto" clone over this gem.

The greatest, worstest, stupidest, geniusest, mind-meltingest, brain-enhancingest, ridiculousest, seriousest, Nazi-Dinosaur-Viking packedest, kung fuest, funniest, and incoherentest acid trip I have ever been on.

Honestly, I came into this game with relatively low expectations. I had played Super Meat Boy, and was not a fan. I am not one for sadistic levels of challenge in a game. Though many would argue that is what this game is, I would say it may be, but there is a certain level of progression available here. Though you will probably die, you can say, "I made it to the Basement 2", or "I unlocked Magdalane". And, though very challenging the game never rides on that to make you enjoy it. It has very fun upgrades, characters, enemies, and a very strange sense of humor to compliment it all. The game is literally 8 levels, but it is so fun, and the random generation causes such variety that it can be played for hours with no boredom. The only complaint I can make is at times the game feels a bit needlessly disgusting just for the sake of it, which feels a bit off putting at times, but not nearly enough to want to stop playing. Definately worth the money. Buy. Right now. Stop reading and go buy it. Seriously. Go do it. I'm done now.

Definately my favorite game of all time WITH Brave New World.

Having barely played the default game, I have in fact heard the various negative criticisms of it, and I entirely agree. But with Brave New World included, the game is a fun, varying, strategic experience which has several play styles to offer.

Balance and pacing are very well done, along with units, maps, and AI behavior, which was a considerable flaw in the default game. The sheer variety this game presents in civilizations, tech tree paths, victory conditions, and much more is astounding.

The game is a turn-based strategy game through-and-through, which may turn some away, but I found to be a wholly enjoyable experience. Gameplay is very refined, and has various balancing features, both good and bad, which help to create a need for decision on every question, and never an obvious solution. For example, more cities helps to consume more land, increases gold, culture, and science output, but it also damages happiness, may possibly anger another civ, and increases social policy and technology costs. Both multiplayer and singleplayer pose their own certain appeal, and have many different customizable options for a different experience each time. This is further benfitted by scenarios, pre-built situations with a certain goal, such as the American Civil War.

There are several, very clear victory conditions, each of which are very well defined, and completely viable. That is, except for Time Victory, which I recommend immediately disabling, as it is an annoying interruption right in the middle of the fun. Other then that, Cultural, Science, Diplomatic, and Domination are all fair and fun victories which, once again, provide much variety.

However, my absolute favorite feature this game provides is the incredibly in depth historical accuracy with each of these leaders and their peoples. As someone who can appreciate a dedicated and intelligent game, that immediately drew me in, and tempted me to learn more about the real history of the leaders I was unfamiliar with. After playing a game as Venice, I actually researched Doge Enrico Dandolo, and I discovered he was a remarkable person in 12th Century Venice.

Special units, buildings, tile improvements, and even behavior vary from civilization to civilization, reflecting their real world counterparts, such as America's very aggressive spreading, reflecting its expansion throughout the 19th Century, Germany's bonus demonstrating the nation itself beginning as a collection of barbaric tribes, and Queen Maria I of Portugal, who has the occasional sporadic act of aggression, which, after checking the wiki, I discovered is an intentional feature to reflect her madness in later years.

However, no game is perfect, and Civilization V + Brave New World has its own fair share of issues. Sometimes, games are very slow, and can be very very boring at times. Most scenarios, if not all, though they may interest others, I was very against, due to the pre-built empire, and set goal. Some civlizations, such as The Huns, Sweden, and Carthage, never seem worth playing (If you enjoy these civs, more power to you, they simply seemed a poor choice to me compared to others), due to being outclassed by many others. However, the difficulty I had choosing those three should be an indication of the overall quality present. Most people consider Civ to possess very poor combat, especially in multiplayer. I do not agree with this, and find it very nice, only mentioning it based on popular opinion, which is, once again, just opinion, and by no means fact. One last issue worth mentioning is the poor quality of Multiplayer connectivity. Servers often lag, sometimes not even functioning all together, though I fail to experience this as much as many people seem to hype it.

Overall, I HIGHLY reccomend Civilization V with Brave New World. The $60 price tag with the DLC may turn many away, and I can agree the price is a bit high, but considering the average console game, which offers much less, goes on average for $60 as well, I think it's well worth it. If not, there are sales. Great gameplay, balance, variety, historical accuracy, strategy, graphics, audio, and much more, definately buy this.

If you sat through this whole review, nice job! You are a true American, Swedish, Spanish, English, German, or Portugese hero! If you live in none of those places, stop reading now! This game has its flaws, but unless you play it non-stop forever, in which case you will get sick of it, or you are no fan of turn based strategy, then you will love it. Buy ASAP.

Would get nuked by Gandhi again

Definately give this game a look. Equipped with great items, amazing maps, fast-paced action, and a wide assortment of weapons, this game is amazing. Although, surpassing all that would be the hillarious character personality and humor. Each character is so defined and quirky, it's sure to get a lol.

Very excellent title.