Game reviews – Page 44 – Savior Gaming

SnowRunner (PS4 Review)

First, as always, a HUGE shoutout to the fine folks over at Saber Interactive and Focus Home Interactive for hooking me up with a review copy of this one. I should also note I did buy a copy as well for myself because I wasn’t sure if I would get one, so quite a bit of my game time was also spent in multiplayer with my brother.

I will handle this review a bit differently and break it up into phases, I want to touch first on visual and sound then move on to my single-player time then talk about multiplayer before I talk about issues with the game.

First, the sound and visual. The game is beautiful. It won’t win awards beautiful, but it is beautiful all the same. The trucks getting covered in mud, snow getting tossed around the paint jobs. It all looks great. Even the smoke coming out of some of the trucks looks like smoke would as it gets in your way and then dissipates into the wind. It was truly a joy to just drive around and look.

The sound is also pretty top-notch. Each truck and engine revving and the wenches pulling down trees. And you owe it to yourself to slam your vehicle into a few things just to hear the crunch it makes when you bottom out or slam into a guard rail.

Second the solo play. You will start out with an old beat-up pickup truck. This class is known in-game as a scout and truthfully this truck is awful. Even doing the tutorial with this thing can be frustrating if you don’t pay attention to what the game says about how to use the wench. The game directs you how to use that, explains pretty much why this truck is horrible and gets you into a bigger truck so you can fix a bridge and move on to your garage. The game will then teach you how to switch zones and such.

From there much of the game is up to you. Do you want to drive around and unlock towers to see more of the map and get some of those hidden upgrades? Do it. Want to do side missions and fix up bridges that’s an option. You can also just do the main contracts and watch the world change. I wouldn’t recommend doing that tho, much of the game is about building your fleet up and upgrading it which requires experience and money.

Third, the multiplayer. The multiplayer is honestly where this game shines and I truly think it is made to be played. Don’t get me wrong, you can 100% absolutely play it alone and do everything the game has to offer. But the multiplayer just felt special to me. To be perfectly clear, the game itself does not change. You will do all the same missions drive all the same trucks and everything. In fact, you will load into someone else’s game (or them into yours) with all their progress and help them make more. You get money and experience for doing so, then you just go back to your own game sadly with none of the progress. (you will keep money and experience)

I know I said it felt special and that sounds pretty bad doesn’t it? I agree. That does admittedly suck. However, there is a certain joy to seeing someone finish a job they otherwise wouldn’t have because you helped out. When you see a friend take a turn a little to close and tip on their side so you use your wench to right them. Even better is when they can’t quite get a truck unstuck but you manage to be just that little extra help they needed to get that new vehicle they needed. Yes, it is the same game in both but admittedly the multiplayer just makes the whole game feel amazing to play.

Now for the downsides, of which there are more than a couple. First, the starting vehicles are pretty bad. There is a DLC scout truck and heavy truck that are essentially game breakingly overpowered. For less than $7 you can basically drive anywhere you want in the first area of the map. The balance there is just non-existent and I wanted to quit using the starter vehicles until I got some of the upgrades. My brother spent the cash on the paid vehicles the day he got it and had a HUGE advantage. I would actually suggest buying them if you have the means, they make the game more fun.

Another downside, the game crashed a couple times on me and my brother in multiplayer when we switched areas, and those DLC vehicles I mentioned, he lost one. We have no clue where it went. We checked the garage and the area we loaded from and into, but we just can’t find it. Now I should say crashes are rare, as in the two that lost his vehicles are the only two we ran into. But they did lose him some stuff.

My last real thing to point out is this is absolutely a simulation game and it plays like one. It is slow and you will need to put time and effort into it. You don’t need to be a car person and the game will teach you everything you need to know, but you will need to use it. This game isn’t for people that want to just drive everywhere as fast as possible. You will be switching gears and outfitting the right tires and such. This isn’t bad, it just needs to be known by people.

Now should you buy this game? In short maybe. Did you like MudRunner? If you did it’s a must buy. Are you a fan of the Farming Simulator series? You will probably like this one, its why I was interested in it. The game is a bit rough in areas but the game will be supported down the line just like the rest of their games and while there are bugs here and there I have no doubt they will be fixed. Like any game of the genre, it isn’t for everyone, but my brother that hates the genre hasn’t out the game down which says a lot to me. I will give it a 7/10 because of the lost vehicles in the crash, but it would be higher without that. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

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5 lesser known Resident Evil creatures

What do you think of when you think of the Resident Evil series? Zombies (be it man or dog)? The skinned, drooling Licker? The behemoth Tyrant variants whether it be the classic, Mr X, or the cuddly rocket launcher carrying Nemesis? Today I want to talk about some lesser known or underappreciated monsters in the franchise whether they be bosses or standard enemies. In no particular order let’s begin with…

re ustanak 1. Usternak ( Resident Evil 6 )-

Like many, I trashed the hell out of this game and while a Winter Soldier take on the Nemesis archetype, this brute was pretty cool as he hunted Jake and Sherry relentlessly with his various combat mods for his metal arm. Honestly, he was the best part of a bad game but deserves some respect.

re chimera 2. Chimera ( Resident Evil (remake) and Resident Evil 5 )- Crossing man and animal has been a long thought of ideal, but Resident evil made these gross, grasshopper like bastards freaky and extremely dangerous.

re 0 lurker 3. Lurker ( Resident Evil 0)-

Of all the animals to dread on this Earth, who would really think a frog? Well what if this frog could brutally swallow you whole, slowly digesting you alive? I can’t say why but for the love of god that idea freaks me out but c’mon, how dangerous can frogs be?

re revenant Revenant ( Resident Evil Revelations 2 ) – I loved fighting these things for 2 huge reasons. One, these things are the definition of “oh hell no” and they live up to that reputation. What I like is the tactical approach you need to take to kill them. These things were a healthy source of dread.

re scagdead

5. Scagdead aka The Comms Officer ( Resident Evil: Revelations )-

We end this list with a boss, a notorious one at that. Slimy, slow, pathetic as it is partially conscious during the battle, crying out for help as it lumbers after you. Scagdead isn’t the fastest beast but the traps he lays surely slow you down so he can give you a big ol hug with his giant saw arm.

I hope everyone enjoyed the list I came up with and it makes some of you want to check the games out. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Resident Evil 3 (2020)

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This game was my most anticipated game of the year and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (classic) scared the shit out of me and millions of fans and arguably giving us one of gaming’s most haunting and horrific figures: The Nemesis. The first 2 Resident Evil remakes were incredible improvements over the classics, so what of the 3rd game?

Jill Valentine is traumatized after her experiences in the Spencer mansion. As the T virus outbreak is in it’s early stages, Jill is getting ready to escape Raccoon City. An assailant is after Jill, relentless and towering. Jill is on the run while trying to save as many survivors out as possible. She meets up with a rescue team fronted by Umbrella after being saved by Carlos Olivera as the dreaded Nemesis is on there tail. Can Jill and the rescue team escape or will they fall to the unstoppable Nemesis?

A lot of negative things has been said about this game since release and I’m sorry to say a big part of the claims are true. This game is really, really short. Getting lost twice and backtracking the entire hospital for loot, the game took about 6 hours. Unlike RE 1 and 2, there is one campaign only but you do change perspectives between Jill and Carlos with Jill being the main protagonist. There aren’t any bonus campaigns and just one ending; notoriously the Mercenaries mode was taken out in exchange for Resident Evil: Resistance, which is a completely separate game. Also, while the characters are more flushed than the original and the voice acting, character models, and environments, everything feels sped up and rushed. While the action scenes are a huge improvement from Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6 , much of the Nemesis encounters feel on rails and I’m sad to say he lost quite a lot of his luster and unpredictable nature. Each time you down him, he does drop loot cases and his attacks are fairly easy to predict and when you have to face him, his weaknesses are pretty damn huge. Despite the huge negatives, the gameplay is really fun and the new action focus works well off of the RE2 mechanics. The score is great and visually the game looks beautiful. The characters and creatures look fantastic and all of Nemesis’s forms are terrifying in there own way and surpass the looks of the original. In the end, this Resident Evil remake is a fun time but far from perfection; if this game had another year I have no doubt it would surely measure up to the other remakes. The game is worth playing but not at full price. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Resident Evil 2 (2019)

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Resident Evil 2 ( classic) is one of the series greatest milestones, giving us two of horror gaming greatest icons as well as a truly amazing sequel. While Resident Evil (remake) took everything great about the original and touched it up, the RE2 remake was rebuilt from scratch, aiming to be the perfect fusion of old and new. Did they succeed?

Raccoon City is at the height of utter devastation after the T virus found its way into the open. Leon Kennedy, a rookie cop on his first day on the job is thrown into the madness of the zombie outbreak. He encounters Claire Redfield, a college girl looking for her missing brother Chris. Together they must face the conspiracy around the police station, waves of zombies and gruesome monsters, a unstoppable stalker, and a beast below. Will they survive the night?

The Resident Evil 2 remake soars at redefining a classic. Leon and Claire, as well as the rest of the characters, are flushed out in two lengthy main campaigns; HUNK and Tofu return as well. The graphics and score are beautiful especially on the monsters., accompanied with eerie sounds. Gameplay is a nice upgrade from the 3rd person style of Resident Evil 4 with mechanics thrown in from other parts of the series. Mr X is a force to be reckoned with and is great at adding tension. In the end, the game has plenty to offer and is a fantastic horror experience I highly recommend. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Man of Medan

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The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope reveal trailer genuinely sparked my interest and I have to admit, Until Dawn is one of my favorite horror games in recent years so I had high hopes that Supermassive games would deliver another awesome horror gem. Can lightning strike twice?

Four friends charter a boat captained by Fliss and venture off into the seas in search for a uncharted shipwreck. During the night they are captured by a group of pirates. During a botched escape attempt, their ship uncovers the remnants of a WW2 freighter that supposedly contains gold, or something much darker in it’s rusted halls…

So to answer my query, no lightning sure as hell didn’t strike twice here. What really killed this game is how fast this game ended, completing it in about 4 hours to an abrupt ending. The characters are fine but I only really cared about 2 of the 5 main characters and I wasn’t really into the pirates, who are basically generic bad guys. The scares are really hit and miss but admittedly, like much of the game, it feels lifted from Until Dawn. The score and atmosphere was nice as were the graphics but the facial animations bothered me and there were some frame rate drops. In the end, Man of Medan is a meh experience I’d think about at discount price. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Resident Evil 4

re4 It’s been 15 years since this particular legend dropped and it’s influence not only influenced the DeadSpace trilogy as well as the series leading up to the remakes of 2 and 3.

After the destruction of Raccoon City, it seems the Umbrella Corporation has finally fallen. Leon Kennedy, the once rookie cop of Resident Evil 2 ( classic) , has become a highly trained government agent on assignment in Europe- find Ashley Graham, the president’s missing daughter. Leon discovers a town overrun by a deadly cult under the influence of the Las Plagus, a mysterious parasite and masterminds Salazar and Saddler. Even with a host of new survival skills and some new weapons, can Leon save Ashley and survive the secrets of this grand conspiracy?

Resident Evil 4 took a lot of risks and made a lot of changes to gameplay and story and it was fantastic. The story is great and after completion, there’s plenty of extra modes to play which are really solid as well; Mercenaries, with a great list of characters, took weeks of my life alone. Gameplay was a humongous improvement and the game found a damn good balance between horror and action unlike Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6 . The bosses are some of the most memorable of the series and Leon is badass hero. So where is the downside? One Word: Ashley. She’s a pain in the ass who will frequently make you want to drink, but hey, fan favorite Ada Wong returns and at least you can usually hide Ashley’s whiny ass in a dumpster. The game has aged over the years but there is still a shit load of fun to be had. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Doom: Eternal

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Like many people around the world, these are trying and troubling times. Some cope with technology, some with diving into fantasies. I dove into Hell.

At the end of Doom , the legions of Hell have nearly taken over Earth after escaping Mars. It’s up to the badass Slayer to fight back alone against the Khan Makyr and her Hell Priests as she tries to sacrifice our world for hers. Armed to the brim with his fimilair but upgraded arsenal, new weapons and abilities the Doom slayers futures on a bloody, ultra-violent quest that pulls back to the enigmatic Doom Slayer’s origin as he faces the Khan Makyr and the Icon of Sin…

Doom: Eternal is simply phenomenal and a superior sequel to the reboot. Everything that was great from the Doom 2016 game is carried over and the patchy stuff like platforming and relevance on certain weapons is cured. Platforming is smoother and crazier. Guns that weren’t great before are amazing now with easily switched alternate fires; every weapon you acquire is needed in this game. The demons are way more intense and the variety is insane; playing this game on normal is way harder but a lot more rewarding. The music and graphics are outstanding with awesome collectibles. Eternal will likely be my favorite game this year for damn good reason that I couldn’t recommend more. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Review

This review is odd for me to write. First I have to say, I have NOT finished the game yet. I am on chapter 14 and have put about 33 hours into it. I have been taking my time, doing all the side quest and just taking it all in. I have been for years for this game, I am not rushing it. I will follow this up with another review after I finish it and attempt to scoop up the platinum.

The second reason this is odd for me to write is I have to say I have been wrong about many things in the past about this game ( for example see Why A 2019 Final Fantasy 7 Remake Would Be Too Little Too Late For Me ) and right at the same time. I will have a lot of unpopular opinions here, some that will probably get me some hate mail, and some that I am sure will be almost universally agreed with.

Third, while this game isn’t perfect, it is great. Right off the bat, any RPG fan should pick this one up. It is a strong buy with a great story and despite a few issues I will soon get into, the gameplay is damn near as flawless as it comes at release these days.

First the good. Graphically the game is beautiful. The slums of Midgar have never looked better, and yes I am including the movies. You can see and feel the desperation from the citizens, the children playing as if they don’t truly understand how they live in poverty but knowing the adults aren’t quite sure of what they will do next. The Seventh Heaven bar looks like a place you could truly visit and spend some time, but maybe only if you don’t mind the possibility of a bar fight.

The music in the game is beautiful, much of the original soundtrack has been remastered and remixed but it hasn’t been changed to the point it has lost what made it special in the first place. The fight against Airbuster for example still holds the same iconic music and will have you wanting to rock along to it all the same. There is musical disk to collect that you can toss into any jukebox, and you will probably have a few songs like to unwind and listen to.

The combat system is also pretty nice, the real-time ATB system works nicely and makes you think, should you use all those ATB bars or save one in case you need to heal? I find the best strategy is to switch often since the bars fill slower for characters you are not controlling. 30 plus hours in tho and I am still having fun fighting and I don’t see that changing any time soon. Each enemy has different strengths and weaknesses to exploit or avoid, and some change throughout the battle as you would expect.

The story itself has become more of a reboot than a remake. There are entire sections that have been reworked are rebuilt from the ground up, or just tweaked. Others play out quite similar to the original, for example the legendary scene in Don Corneo’s bedroom when they threaten his favorite region does still exist pretty much as it always did but the entire relationship between Cloud and the minor members of Avalanche as changed.

With all that said I do have some complaints. For example, after being announced in 2015 we got a game that ends in Midgar and can be beaten probably in less than 30 hours if you rushed it. I make this assumption based on numerous people’s claims to have beaten everything in about 35-40. To me, that is insanely short for an RPG with a 5 year development time that they decided to make episodic instead of giving us the entire game they released years ago. It now feels like the game was locked in development hell and was released as a cash grab.

Another issue I have is double-sided. The materia-system from FF7 is technically still there, but I would rather it wasn’t. It is extremely limited and has been completely destroyed compared to what it was. There are far less types and combinations and many people are simply chalking it up to “Well you can’t leave Midgar” Don’t get me wrong, I have already praised the battle system and I stand by that, but if you are going to compare this materia-system to the original it is vastly inferior.

Another issue I have had is with lighting and characters occasionally just suddenly popping in and out. I don’t really mind as it will probably be patched out, but to not mention it would be wrong and there seems to be this weird idea that to say anything negative about this game is somehow just hating it. The game does a lot of things right. I love that Barret occasionally sings the victory music from the original or that Cloud actually moves his sword when he sits down. The world feels alive and beautiful.

The game is also about half filler. There are missions that will have you finding cats or rounding up kids. That is it, you will simply go find a little girl’s cats then later in the game go find some kids for a teacher. Another mission will see Tifa doing pull-ups. There isn’t any real reason for it, a guy from the story just challenges her to a pull-up contest. A large chunk of the side quest serves no real purpose at all, and the rewards many times are things you can just walk over to the Item or weapons shop and buy. This isn’t limited to the side quest either, there are entire sections of the main story that are basically added than simply disappear like they knew someday they would use it, so they added it now and hope people remember it down the road.

Don’t get me wrong, I love this game. But we deserved better for a game that spent this long being made and is being separated into multiple games we will have to wait years to see the ending to. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Disaster Report 4 Summer Memories (PS4)

As always, a huge shout out to NIS America for hooking me up with a review copy of this one. It is always appreciated and I am very grateful as always. That being said, let’s get this started.

Have you ever wondered how you would react during a major earthquake? With Disaster Report 4 now is your chance to find out. From the very start, you will make a few choices about your character before everything hits the proverbial fan. You will then find yourself outside of a crashed bus with buildings down all around you. This first part will basically introduce you to the game. You will find some people to talk to, maybe help a teacher find some kids or give some directions and avoid some falling debris. I say maybe because with most things in the game you have some options. For example, you can be helpful at one point and get a guy some toilet paper. To do this you will need to run a store for a few minutes to find out where it is. So are you going to be decent and sell it for the price its marked, or jack the price up? Or maybe just go in between and try to pocket some of the money for yourself?

The game does give you moral points for the good and bad you do in the world, so this does put a twist on what you do, but there is a reward for the bad behavior. See things cost money, and you aren’t exactly a rich person. The game does a great job of making things feel pretty broken and run down. From aftershocks randomly shaking around to buildings falling over, which by the way they can kill you. There are even fires everywhere and cars busted and burning.

The game is beautifully crafted and the music and sound make the setting very well done tho my biggest complaint is simple. Its voice acting is all in its native language. Normally this doesn’t bother me, but it seemed particularly distracting here and really took me out of feeling like part of the world I was in. This is obviously just a personal preference, and I never came across any glitches or issues with the control. The only other issue for me was the lack of anything to really do besides talking to people and wandering around. The game was interesting it just wasn’t my cup of tea so to speak. I personally did not enjoy it much, but I wouldn’t advise against it if you enjoy this time of game or even the concept. It is a solid 7/10, it isn’t for me but there are definitely people out there that will love it. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (classic)

nemesis classic

Ok, I try not to do this often, but I have a honest disclaimer here: I never finished this game. In fact, I never even got that far in this game but holy shit did this game have an impact on me as well as the horror community as a whole, giving us the both terrifying and legendary badass named Nemesis.

Jill Valentine thought she saw the pinnacle of horror and macabre after surviving the Spencer Mansion. The terror isn’t over for Jill yet; it wasn’t long after the mansion that the T virus found it’s way into Raccoon City and the city became overrun with monsters and the undead. Trying to escape, she encounters a group of Umbrella soldiers tasked with aiding in evacuations and allies herself with Carlos Olivera to try escaping, while being hunted by a new kind of horror trying to exterminate the old surviving S.T.A.R.S members. Enter: The Nemesis.

From the get go, the intro movie blew me away as a kid. Seeing the silhouette of Nemesis in the firelight after wasting the police with his iconic rocket launcher was simply badass and set the stage. The cut scene graphics were impressive for the day and besides the intro, the Nemesis reveal was grisly and freaked me out back then. Whether you’re on the streets or in the police station before the events of Resident Evil 2 ( classic) there is a great sense of claustrophobia and even after encountering Nemesis for the first time, hearing his groans or pounding on the walls adds another layer of dread. It was cool that you were presented with choices and given split seconds to decide and each has consequences. Fighting Nemesis is hard as hell because of the sheer amount of damage the bastard takes and he can dish out just as much. So where’s the downside? Well, the gameplay. The game ran ok in the old days- mainly because it was mainly a norm back then- but now it runs like dogshit and a lot of the game’s graphics are muddy as hell, and this is amplified if you can’t fit it to your screen proportions. In the end, I have to say this game has a lot going for it but holy crap it needs a new coat of paint to it and I can’t wait for the remake. May the gaming gods bring you glory.