Tag: Reviews

I have a weird history with the Monster Hunter series in the past. I never loved or hated them, which is probably why I played a few. I jumped at the chance to play the Monster Hunter World Beta, but I wasn’t in any real hurry to buy the full release. After playing the beta it was simply another Monster Hunter game for me. It still is by the way, and before anyone jumps on me admittedly it is the best Monster Hunter I have played, Monster Hunter World is still Monster Hunter.

The idea is still the same as always, kill stuff, get new gear, kill more stuff repeat. This isn’t a bad thing, its what the series is. It is why the fan base plays the game and it looks and plays better than it ever has before. The game is stunningly beautiful and the controls are more fluid than they have ever been. Tho seeing creatures disappear inside of rocks and stuff just to smack the hell out of me when the lunge or spin out will always piss me off. Don’t worry tho, its not a bug it’s a feature.  There are some things most reviews I have seen don’t mention, so those are what I will focus on. The game is grind heavy, and I do mean HEAVY. You can spend hours just farming for items to build weapons and armor you need to make equipment you need at the higher level hunts. So if you are easily discouraged or simply hate that sort of thing, this may not be for you.

While there is a story to Monster Hunter World, its very basic and isn’t why most people play the game. If you are looking for a well written in depth story, you probably won’t consider this to be it. It isn’t bad by the way, but its really only about 30 hours or so and doesn’t exactly have a ton of twist and turns. It is almost like a tutorial to introduce you to the mechanics and ease you into why people play the monster hunter series, which is to hunt huge monsters with huge weapons and create characters capable of killing them.

Monster Hunter World is the most approachable game in the series, but it isn’t exactly approachable for casual players. That isn’t to say the game us hard or impossible but it does take some getting used to and practice. You aren’t likely to have success picking random hunts and mashing buttons while picking armor and weapons you think look cool. I have a friend that tries that and keeps asking me to help him kill stuff, then fails the hunt when stuff one shot kill him. He gets a pissed and I tell him why he dies then he doesn’t listen anyway, and it makes me laugh. Anyway, for me the game isn’t worth $60, but the $20 on a sweet sale I found makes it worth it. I know others that spent $60 and never looked back. This game is one of those games that is worth different to different people specifically because of what it is. I won’t say to buy it or not, but if you can rent or play with a friend if you have never experienced the Monster Hunter series before because it is vastly different than what most people have played. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

So me and @torstenvblog have been trying to find a game to play recently, and with Dead by Daylight being free this month on PSN we started there, and well you can read to see how that went. We then said let’s try Planetside 2, which me and Torsten actually have conflicting opinions on. See he hates it and used some, colorful, terms to describe it. Full disclosure he died, a lot and often.

On the other hand there is me, I also died quite a bit to be 100% honest but unlike him I got better as time went on. The game has some huge maps, that for a free game look pretty damn good. Admittedly Warframe is still the pinnacle of free games in my opinion, in case you are looking for a bench mark. Planetside 2 also comes nowhere near that mark. The looks and sounds however are nothing to sneeze at however.

The controls function just fine as well, and in out time playing I never really had any issues that I would consider game breaking or even annoying. The layout is pretty standard, so really its hard to mess up and the aiming speed is always going to be subjective to how goo or bad it is, so tasters choice there.

The game however isn’t great and suffers from some flaws. First, it gives you no real guidance on what you should be doing. You pick a faction, but it doesn’t really tell you anything about them. I googled them prior which seems to be your only option. The game then tosses you right in with no explanation on how to even get into battle or how to really even find one. I wouldn’t call it hard to figure out, but I’ve been paying games longer than many of my readers have been alive and I mean that in a very literal way. One of my first memories is of sitting with my dad playing asteroids on Intellivision and thinking the NES was the greatest thing to ever be invented because the graphics were amazing. @torstenvblog was a bit more confused than I was, he is also a bit younger and a bit less experienced. To say its a huge problem would be an exaggeration, to say it is not a problem or could not be a problem would be a lie.

The game however with some practice and time is quite a bit of fun. I found myself using a jet pack to maneuver up a mountain to sneak around the side of a base to take a location or fighting with 5 or 6 other guys up a mountain path trying to push our way to a building wishing our idiot air support would fly over and hit something. There are long bouts of nothingness on huge maps followed by intense moments of fighting and that is where the game is very hit or miss. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

This game in theory, is dumb as hell. Hey let’s make you drive a truck, following actual European traffic laws, while delivering goods, for no other reason than to buy better stuff than to do it again. Seriously, tell me in theory this game shouldn’t be garbage.  However, the game is actually quite fun and amazing. I don’t know how or why. But it is. The game is exactly what I described, and it isn’t even graphically amazing. It is simply relaxing to just drive your truck around.

Here are some issues tho I had with it. I have never been to Europe. So I don’t really understand their traffic laws. That being said, I am 100% positive no cop on earth is going to nail me only for speeding while I am driving down the wrong side of the highway. Not to mention some times my trailer would hit shit and get stuck on stuff that doesn’t seem to exist at all.

The game tho is weirdly fun and is aside from backing up a damn trailer is quite simplistic, but is just fun and relaxing, and I do appreciate the ability to stick music into the sound folder and play music on the radio. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Oh No Man’s Sky, we meet again. By now you all know the history with this game and Hello Games. We aren’t going to waste much time on that but will just dive into the game itself.

The basics haven’t changed. You will spend a ton of time wandering around collecting various minerals simply finding stuff to build or discover. This hasn’t changed and basically never will. Nobody however expected it to I hope. It’s also quite fun, and now the base building is important enough to be worth it and even is easy enough to teleport around to make it worth it. And most importantly, we have true multiplayer. Your friends can now join you and help build an awesome base, fight pirates or simply just wander aimlessly. The game as a few of my friends out it, is finally fun. Now I enjoyed the day one version but admittedly it had its issues, many of which are now fixed. That being said, its Hello Games.

Yup there is a but coming. The game has an issue. While playing with friends, I am bopping around my new base and boom, I am disconnected. No big deal it happens. The issue is this happens a lot, and while I don’t know if it’s an issue on PC I can confirm it happens on both Xbox and PS4 and it happens a lot. I am talking double ten plus an hour at times a lot. It isn’t truly a deal breaker but I can’t lie it has driven me away from the game at times. It also does seem to me an issues on some planets more than others for me as well. I have a base I built that I essentially can’t go near because I get tossed from my game constantly, but if I am anywhere else in the solar system I can play just fine it seems. This may just be a coincidence tho.

The game is fun, and I am having more fun than ever playing with friends, but damn this new issue may keep me away. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

Guts and Glory is a PC game and recently popped up on PS4 surprisingly. I say surprisingly because the game is pretty messed up. The game is all about getting your character through obstacle courses. Some times in a park, or a small city or maybe in a sort of camp ground. The courses are made up of spinning saw blades, flying arrows, cannon balls and other assorted things to kill you. I’ve been shot in the head with arrows, been blown to pieces by landmines and even had my head blown off with a cannon ball.

The game has its issues, for example the controls aren’t very good. The are kind of clunky, and the games physics can be wonky to say the least. The game does have one big thing going for it tho. The game is fun. That is it, the game is just dumb fun. For $15 if you like a semi gory type game that serves no real purpose, this game may be for you. If not, should probably skip this one. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.