Recent reviews by FrenZie

In the name of Super Earth, I'm doing my part!

As my first experience with the Auto Battler genre, Tower of Chaos has been delightful. I'm enjoying the challenge, although some of that may come from my inexperience. The design and art style are fantastic and the story uncovered so far has been great!

Trust only in the force.

Now this is what I call peak Resident Evil. 10/10

Yeah the game has performance issues, they will surely be addressed. Turning on DLSS and running settings on HIGH instead of ULTRA has fixed all crashing issues I was having and the game is running smooth on an i7-13700kf and RTX 3080.

If you really want to play the game now, mess around with the settings and try to find something that works for you. Otherwise wait for the inevitable updates to get a smoother overall experience. At it's core, it's still The Last of Us, now on PC!

Let me get this out of the way right off the bat. I did refund this game on Steam due to the performance issues on launch. I have heard they are significantly improved but there are still issues present in the current PC release as of me writing this review. I bought the game on PS5 on launch day as well and it has run almost perfectly since, with a single crash and a couple of very minor frame drops (nothing unplayable whatsoever) over my nearly 30 hours of this game. As such I will be reviewing the game itself as it runs on PS5 and hopefully PC performance will be smoothed out quickly.

I have beaten this game three times already in the few days it has been out. Twice on Maximum Security and once on Minimum Security. While some have complained of no replay value or post game content, and I completely understand this sentiment, the game alone has drawn me in like almost no other. It's a fairly simple if not cliche story that is told extremely well which I think is something to be proud of in and of itself. It executes exactly what it sets out to do with flying colors, top marks on every single aspect. Facial animation, actor performances, graphics, ambiance, sound. The story is great it's just not pushing boundaries, which I don't think it needs to in a game like Callisto, the first project from a newly formed company. And the opening sequence is a straight 10/10 for game openings in my humble opinion.

I love the gameplay in this game. I heavily enjoy the Mike Tyson's Punchout style combat that people have been referring to. Being able to dodge any and all melee attacks if you are quick enough truly feels great and like you are mastering a system, similar to how The Surge 2 feels with it's directional parry feature that I absolutely loved in that game. People have said it falls apart when multiple enemies appear and I just have to disagree. The game provides three tools for combat, melee, firearms, and the GRP. You are meant to use these in combination to succeed in many instances and if you take the time to learn all three mechanics combat can feel like a dance. Truly overpowering and dominating these wretched biophages.

That leads to the final point I have. I did not play Dead Space, I am fairly knowledgeable of the game however and am completely aware of the history and influence it's had on The Callisto Protocol. This is NOT Dead Space 4. Striking Distance went on record many times telling people this but it seems no one heard it. It clearly invokes the same themes, tone, and atmosphere, but I repeat this is NOT Dead Space 4. The game isn't as scary as some might have hoped, that's not a problem for me as I love the world-building and atmosphere in the game and I don't really need jump scares to yell "Look at me, be scared!".

Overall I just loved existing in the world this game created. If you're like me please go listen to the Helix Station podcast the developers put out shortly before the release of The Callisto Protocol as it's simply more story within this world. Starring Gwendoline Christie and Michael ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Ironside, I mean c'mon can't get better than that. Plus the one and only Sam Witwer cameo's in the first episode as the ever so lovely Cpt. Ferris. The Callisto Protocol is a 9/10 from me. Go Buy It and support these devs so we can get a sequel to this absolute gem.

Writing your memoirs? Don't forget the hyphen between "Spider" and "Man"

Ahh, what a game. Gorgeous to look at, my eyeballs have been truly blessed. In my opinion, perfects the combat loved by many from the Arkham games. It's the best Spider-Man "movie" to exist following Peter Parkers Spider-Man, with a compelling, funny, and tear jerking story full of fantastic characters portrayed by insanely talented voice actors. Game also tried to turn me into a photographer along the way with it's amazing photo mode.

Couldn't honestly ask for a better Spider-Man experience, and I anxiously await Miles Morales on PC and Spider-Man 2, 10/10.

The most moving video game narrative I've ever had the privilege of experiencing.

Ya know, beating up multiple children as the man of steel really just hits the spot.

Visually great, fun combat with multitudes of different, sometimes hilarious, weapons to choose from. It's a Rogue-lite so it may not be for everyone as you have to restart from the beginning with each death. Although you keep some progress and slowly level yourself up with each loop. Story is fairly simple if not cheesy but honestly in a good way. Voice acting is hit or miss, except the Director, that man can do no wrong.

The game is pretty difficult, I decided to play on Challenge mode as I had played the demo and felt a false sense of confidence. I've played for nearly 20 hours and the game tells me I'm less than 30% through. If that sounds like a problem, maybe choose an easier difficulty to begin with but no complaints from me there, I love a good challenge.

Overall I would give Loopmancer an 8/10. A few fumbles here and there but certainly an entertaining experience! I may be a bit biased as I happen to have worked on the game, but everything I've said has been divorced from that process.

- The man who may or may not have voiced the Director