6 Yrs♥$✓#
TheAutisticGamer
6 Yrs♥$✓#
Quickviews!
Serious Sam 4 (PS5 Replay)
System: PS5
Developer: Croteam
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Genre: Old School Shooter, FPS, Horde Shooter, Comedy, Science Fiction
Rating: 10/10
Please Be Aware: A Full Length Review of This Game will be coming soon as I continue to replay the series on PC.
Last year, I ended up giving Serious Sam 4 a 10/10. It was a game I was heavily anticipating ever since it got announced back in 2018 or so. While the PC Version of the game wasn't perfect by any means, being heavily unoptimized and running at an inconsistent 25-35 FPS with constant drops, it was still a massively enjoyable experience from a hardcore fan of this series. To putt it shortly, it was the much needed evolution this series needed in terms of gameplay. It took pretty much any element from the previous entries that worked and didn't work and ended up making them better than ever. What we got is a game with some of the meatiest, most enjoyable gunplay I have ever played in an FPS Game, amazing gore effects, stellar graphics (with the exception of the miniscule pop in), lovable and returning characters from past entries, an amazing voice cast lead by Sam Stone himself John J. Dick, beautiful, epic and kick ass musical score by the legend Damjan Mravunac (whose likeliness is used for character Father Mikhail), brilliant comedy with plenty of laugh out loud one liners, new gameplay elements that are scarce but interesting and has a very enjoyable if simple story with one of the most mind blowing plot revelations the entire series has had so far, leading many to speculate that each game is in their own canon (I will talk more about this in my full review).
What we got was a massively entertaining game that proved to be Croteam's best work yet. However, as mentioned, the PC version is heavily unoptimized and not the best way to play the game. So you might ask, what is the definitive way to play this game? And I say, look to the PS5. YES! The Playstation 5 Version of this game is heavily improved port of the PC Version. It's mostly due to one reason and that is because the game has a performance mode. If you put that sucker on, you'll get the most consistent frame rate for this game yet. Serious Sam 4 runs like a dream on PS5 and it features the use of the Adaptive Triggers which makes gunplay feel more spectacular than ever before. This is the version to get if you're wanting to play the game at a great FPS. However, things aren't perfect as aim assist can be problematic especially when using the cannon against Major Bio Mechanoids, as the cannons will 90% of the time go through their feet which can be very frustrating.
And that's not to say Serious Sam 4 is an absolutely flawless experience. As said, the story is fun but incredibly simple. Plus if you're not paying attention to dialogue having played other Sam games before this, you're not going to understand why one character in particular is dead but is in Serious Sam 3. Lord Archiman is also a terrible villain. His dialogue consists of monologues 100% of the time, and their not only cliched and boring, but they're overlong, feeling like their lasting 5-10 minutes as he blabbers on and on and on without any pause. If the writing was cut down for him, he would have been a much more effective villain but he becomes a hinderance on the story. You can thankfully skip cutscenes, but you'll miss out on important moments with him specifically in the cutscene you're watching, so you basically have no choice but to watch the cutscenes which is absolutely aggravating.
And on one more note, this is the first game I actually managed to Platinum entirely on a Playstation Console (Seems fitting knowing me right?). However, the Platinum Trophy bugged out and on my Trophies screen it says I only have 98% of the trophies. However, I can confirm that I do end up having all the trophies as after I got back to the title screen, the Platinum trophy popped up. So please note that the only trophies that are bugged is completing the final level and the Platinum trophy itself. I pretty much got every trophy though, so I don't need to worry. It flashed on the screen I got the platinum and that's all that matters. It also took me around 10 Hours to 100% the entire game, so there's that.
The Glitched Platinum. I pretty much got every Trophy though and it did flash on the screen I got the platinum. So I'm satisfied.
FINAL VERDICT: Serious Sam 4 is the best game Croteam has ever made by far with huge gameplay and gunplay improvements, the franchise's best musical score yet, lovable characters and fantastic voice acting. The PS5 Version is the way to go for smooth performance and might be the definitive version to play.
Serious Sam 4 (PS5 Replay)
System: PS5
Developer: Croteam
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Genre: Old School Shooter, FPS, Horde Shooter, Comedy, Science Fiction
Rating: 10/10
Please Be Aware: A Full Length Review of This Game will be coming soon as I continue to replay the series on PC.
Last year, I ended up giving Serious Sam 4 a 10/10. It was a game I was heavily anticipating ever since it got announced back in 2018 or so. While the PC Version of the game wasn't perfect by any means, being heavily unoptimized and running at an inconsistent 25-35 FPS with constant drops, it was still a massively enjoyable experience from a hardcore fan of this series. To putt it shortly, it was the much needed evolution this series needed in terms of gameplay. It took pretty much any element from the previous entries that worked and didn't work and ended up making them better than ever. What we got is a game with some of the meatiest, most enjoyable gunplay I have ever played in an FPS Game, amazing gore effects, stellar graphics (with the exception of the miniscule pop in), lovable and returning characters from past entries, an amazing voice cast lead by Sam Stone himself John J. Dick, beautiful, epic and kick ass musical score by the legend Damjan Mravunac (whose likeliness is used for character Father Mikhail), brilliant comedy with plenty of laugh out loud one liners, new gameplay elements that are scarce but interesting and has a very enjoyable if simple story with one of the most mind blowing plot revelations the entire series has had so far, leading many to speculate that each game is in their own canon (I will talk more about this in my full review).
What we got was a massively entertaining game that proved to be Croteam's best work yet. However, as mentioned, the PC version is heavily unoptimized and not the best way to play the game. So you might ask, what is the definitive way to play this game? And I say, look to the PS5. YES! The Playstation 5 Version of this game is heavily improved port of the PC Version. It's mostly due to one reason and that is because the game has a performance mode. If you put that sucker on, you'll get the most consistent frame rate for this game yet. Serious Sam 4 runs like a dream on PS5 and it features the use of the Adaptive Triggers which makes gunplay feel more spectacular than ever before. This is the version to get if you're wanting to play the game at a great FPS. However, things aren't perfect as aim assist can be problematic especially when using the cannon against Major Bio Mechanoids, as the cannons will 90% of the time go through their feet which can be very frustrating.
And that's not to say Serious Sam 4 is an absolutely flawless experience. As said, the story is fun but incredibly simple. Plus if you're not paying attention to dialogue having played other Sam games before this, you're not going to understand why one character in particular is dead but is in Serious Sam 3. Lord Archiman is also a terrible villain. His dialogue consists of monologues 100% of the time, and their not only cliched and boring, but they're overlong, feeling like their lasting 5-10 minutes as he blabbers on and on and on without any pause. If the writing was cut down for him, he would have been a much more effective villain but he becomes a hinderance on the story. You can thankfully skip cutscenes, but you'll miss out on important moments with him specifically in the cutscene you're watching, so you basically have no choice but to watch the cutscenes which is absolutely aggravating.
And on one more note, this is the first game I actually managed to Platinum entirely on a Playstation Console (Seems fitting knowing me right?). However, the Platinum Trophy bugged out and on my Trophies screen it says I only have 98% of the trophies. However, I can confirm that I do end up having all the trophies as after I got back to the title screen, the Platinum trophy popped up. So please note that the only trophies that are bugged is completing the final level and the Platinum trophy itself. I pretty much got every trophy though, so I don't need to worry. It flashed on the screen I got the platinum and that's all that matters. It also took me around 10 Hours to 100% the entire game, so there's that.
The Glitched Platinum. I pretty much got every Trophy though and it did flash on the screen I got the platinum. So I'm satisfied.
FINAL VERDICT: Serious Sam 4 is the best game Croteam has ever made by far with huge gameplay and gunplay improvements, the franchise's best musical score yet, lovable characters and fantastic voice acting. The PS5 Version is the way to go for smooth performance and might be the definitive version to play.
6 Yrs♥$✓#
TheAutisticGamer6 Yrs♥$✓#
TheAutisticGamer's Behemoth Backlog:
The Complete First Season
Introduction:
The sun had not risen since he left to finish the war. But today is different. The person known as TheAutisticGamer, known by many as TAG, had returned. They knew he had returned as the sun had risen once more. He arrived back home in British Columbia and the citizens looked as if nothing had changed. He said he wanted that to be the way when he returned and the people respected his option. TAG sat back down in his office chair in his home and reflected on the things that had happened or came to pass. He had lost so much. John "Soap" MacTavish was killed in a firefight during a long day of defense, Sam "Serious" Stone had traveled into the Time Lock to stop further conflict from occurring in the present and future, the words "Would You Kindly" kept running through his mind as they were written in blood, the rebel leader Eli Vance was murdered by the opposing force as his daughter Alyx cradled his body as she cried, supposed treasure from a thing called a Vault nearly destroyed an entire European town and his mentor William "Bill" Overbeck seemingly sacrificed himself to get his men across a bridge, blowing himself and the bridge up to prevent enemy forces from crossing.
He had lost so much. Time had shattered for so long and old memories seemed to be distant dreams. He looked at the date on the calendar pinned to the wall. January 1st, 2022. He thought about his past memories, his triumphs and great times. "But were they all justified? Is this the truth?" He thought to himself. As fireworks blasted in the sky and firecrackers were set on the streets, he couldn't sit and mourn anymore. He was going to find out the truth behind his past memories. He would be going on an adventure to rediscover not only the past, but himself. He took with him a couple of items. A personal bottle of Kraken Black Rum, his mentor's hat, his Serious Bomb shirt, a pair of matching Berettas from his days in the Counter Terrorist unit and a laptop in a suitcase which he would connect with the world and tell them the truth.
The sun rises. The adventure begins.
Main Menu:
How'd you like that? I wrote this written introduction to explain what my goals in 2022 would bring for me. If you were paying close attention, you would notice this introduction is a continuation of my rewritten first post on the blog where I ended up going to save the world. Well, it seems after a while since that was written, I'm back, TAG is back. Also, I hope you noticed some of the references to some of the games I mentioned, mostly games I have a deep respect for.
This year begins the very first season of my blog. Last year and the year before consisted of a Pre-Season and anything before that was considered a Practice Run. The entire season will end on December 31st of this year and the main focus, as you can tell for this season, are themes of nostalgia, past, present and objectivity. For those unaware of what I've been doing, I've been replaying games on harder difficulties to see them in a more objective light. So many of the games I will tackle this year are ones I have already played, but will they be as good as I remember? Who knows? We'll just have to wait and see what happens throughout the year. Expect many reviews of old and new games as I also attempt to tackle one big RPG this year and a couple of Current Gen games.
These are some of the games you can expect me to be talking about in 2022: Yakuza Kiwami, Warhammer 40K: Space Marine, Half-Life Series, Serious Sam Series, Doom Series, Halo Series, Call of Duty Series, Bioshock, Bioshock 2 + Minerva's Den, Bioshock Infinite + Burial At Sea Episodes One and Two, Borderlands 2, Torchlight 1 and 2, Sniper Elite Series, Zombie Army 4: Dead War, DMC: Devil May Cry, DUSK, Prodeus, Dread Templar, ULTRAKILL, Batman: Arkham Asylum, RAGE, Agent 64: Spies Never Die
To make things consistent, I will be linking all my Full Length Reviews and Quickviews to this post for easy access for all to see. I of course, haven't posted any new reviews just yet, but they will certainly come! Hope you guys will have a nice year. New Adventures await us!
-TheAutisticGamer
-------------------
REVIEWS:
Review #1: Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter (2010, 01/14, PC)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum?thread=1729&page=17&jump=to#post90656
Review #2: Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force (2000, 01/21, PC)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum?thread=1729&page=17&jump=to#post90934
Review #3: The Spy Who Shot Me (2019, 01/23, PC)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum?thread=1729&page=17&jump=to#post91028
Review #4: Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem (2022, 02/04, PC)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum?thread=1729&page=17&jump=to#post91500
Review #5: Half-Life 2: Lost Coast (2005, 02/23, PC)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum?thread=1729&page=17&jump=to#post92123
Review #6: Half-Life (1998, 03/04, PC)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum?thread=1729&page=17&jump=to#post92477
Review #7: Kirby Star Allies (2018, 03/16, Switch)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum?thread=1729&page=18&jump=to#post92859
Review #8: Chex Quest HD (2020, 03/20, PC)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum?thread=1729&page=18&jump=to#post92981
Review #9: Brave: The Search for Spirit Dancer (2005, 03/27, PS2)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum?thread=1729&page=18&jump=to#post93277
Review #10: Turbo Overkill (Early Access, 2022, 05/25, PC)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum?thread=1729&page=19&jump=to#post94347
Review #11: Prey (2006, 05/25, Xbox One X Backwards Compatibility)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum?thread=1729&page=19&jump=to#post94847
Review #12: Rage + The Scorchers DLC (2011, 06/04 + 06/27, PC)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum?thread=1729&page=19&jump=to#post95773
Review #13: Call of Duty (2003, 07/28, PC)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum?thread=1729&page=20&jump=to#post96623
Review #14: Forza Horizon 5 (2021, 08/11, Xbox Series X)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum?thread=1729&page=20&jump=to#post97035
Review #15: Half-Life: Restored (2020, 09/06, PC)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum?thread=1729&page=20&jump=to#post97832
Review #16: Soldier of Fortune (2000, 09/24, PC)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/1729/20#post98378
Review #17: Prodeus (2022, 10/25, PC)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/1729/20#post99263
Review #18: Sniper Elite V2 Remastered (2019, 10/27, PS5)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/1729/20#post99333
Review #19: Requiem Of Science (2022, 11/20, PC)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/1729/20#post100019
Review #20: Chasm: The Rift (1997, 11/27, PC)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/1729/20#post100203
Review #21: Singularity (2010, 12/7, PC)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/1729/21#post100546
The Complete First Season
Introduction:
The sun had not risen since he left to finish the war. But today is different. The person known as TheAutisticGamer, known by many as TAG, had returned. They knew he had returned as the sun had risen once more. He arrived back home in British Columbia and the citizens looked as if nothing had changed. He said he wanted that to be the way when he returned and the people respected his option. TAG sat back down in his office chair in his home and reflected on the things that had happened or came to pass. He had lost so much. John "Soap" MacTavish was killed in a firefight during a long day of defense, Sam "Serious" Stone had traveled into the Time Lock to stop further conflict from occurring in the present and future, the words "Would You Kindly" kept running through his mind as they were written in blood, the rebel leader Eli Vance was murdered by the opposing force as his daughter Alyx cradled his body as she cried, supposed treasure from a thing called a Vault nearly destroyed an entire European town and his mentor William "Bill" Overbeck seemingly sacrificed himself to get his men across a bridge, blowing himself and the bridge up to prevent enemy forces from crossing.
He had lost so much. Time had shattered for so long and old memories seemed to be distant dreams. He looked at the date on the calendar pinned to the wall. January 1st, 2022. He thought about his past memories, his triumphs and great times. "But were they all justified? Is this the truth?" He thought to himself. As fireworks blasted in the sky and firecrackers were set on the streets, he couldn't sit and mourn anymore. He was going to find out the truth behind his past memories. He would be going on an adventure to rediscover not only the past, but himself. He took with him a couple of items. A personal bottle of Kraken Black Rum, his mentor's hat, his Serious Bomb shirt, a pair of matching Berettas from his days in the Counter Terrorist unit and a laptop in a suitcase which he would connect with the world and tell them the truth.
The sun rises. The adventure begins.
Main Menu:
How'd you like that? I wrote this written introduction to explain what my goals in 2022 would bring for me. If you were paying close attention, you would notice this introduction is a continuation of my rewritten first post on the blog where I ended up going to save the world. Well, it seems after a while since that was written, I'm back, TAG is back. Also, I hope you noticed some of the references to some of the games I mentioned, mostly games I have a deep respect for.
This year begins the very first season of my blog. Last year and the year before consisted of a Pre-Season and anything before that was considered a Practice Run. The entire season will end on December 31st of this year and the main focus, as you can tell for this season, are themes of nostalgia, past, present and objectivity. For those unaware of what I've been doing, I've been replaying games on harder difficulties to see them in a more objective light. So many of the games I will tackle this year are ones I have already played, but will they be as good as I remember? Who knows? We'll just have to wait and see what happens throughout the year. Expect many reviews of old and new games as I also attempt to tackle one big RPG this year and a couple of Current Gen games.
These are some of the games you can expect me to be talking about in 2022: Yakuza Kiwami, Warhammer 40K: Space Marine, Half-Life Series, Serious Sam Series, Doom Series, Halo Series, Call of Duty Series, Bioshock, Bioshock 2 + Minerva's Den, Bioshock Infinite + Burial At Sea Episodes One and Two, Borderlands 2, Torchlight 1 and 2, Sniper Elite Series, Zombie Army 4: Dead War, DMC: Devil May Cry, DUSK, Prodeus, Dread Templar, ULTRAKILL, Batman: Arkham Asylum, RAGE, Agent 64: Spies Never Die
To make things consistent, I will be linking all my Full Length Reviews and Quickviews to this post for easy access for all to see. I of course, haven't posted any new reviews just yet, but they will certainly come! Hope you guys will have a nice year. New Adventures await us!
-TheAutisticGamer
-------------------
REVIEWS:
Review #1: Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter (2010, 01/14, PC)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum?thread=1729&page=17&jump=to#post90656
Review #2: Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force (2000, 01/21, PC)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum?thread=1729&page=17&jump=to#post90934
Review #3: The Spy Who Shot Me (2019, 01/23, PC)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum?thread=1729&page=17&jump=to#post91028
Review #4: Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem (2022, 02/04, PC)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum?thread=1729&page=17&jump=to#post91500
Review #5: Half-Life 2: Lost Coast (2005, 02/23, PC)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum?thread=1729&page=17&jump=to#post92123
Review #6: Half-Life (1998, 03/04, PC)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum?thread=1729&page=17&jump=to#post92477
Review #7: Kirby Star Allies (2018, 03/16, Switch)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum?thread=1729&page=18&jump=to#post92859
Review #8: Chex Quest HD (2020, 03/20, PC)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum?thread=1729&page=18&jump=to#post92981
Review #9: Brave: The Search for Spirit Dancer (2005, 03/27, PS2)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum?thread=1729&page=18&jump=to#post93277
Review #10: Turbo Overkill (Early Access, 2022, 05/25, PC)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum?thread=1729&page=19&jump=to#post94347
Review #11: Prey (2006, 05/25, Xbox One X Backwards Compatibility)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum?thread=1729&page=19&jump=to#post94847
Review #12: Rage + The Scorchers DLC (2011, 06/04 + 06/27, PC)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum?thread=1729&page=19&jump=to#post95773
Review #13: Call of Duty (2003, 07/28, PC)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum?thread=1729&page=20&jump=to#post96623
Review #14: Forza Horizon 5 (2021, 08/11, Xbox Series X)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum?thread=1729&page=20&jump=to#post97035
Review #15: Half-Life: Restored (2020, 09/06, PC)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum?thread=1729&page=20&jump=to#post97832
Review #16: Soldier of Fortune (2000, 09/24, PC)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/1729/20#post98378
Review #17: Prodeus (2022, 10/25, PC)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/1729/20#post99263
Review #18: Sniper Elite V2 Remastered (2019, 10/27, PS5)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/1729/20#post99333
Review #19: Requiem Of Science (2022, 11/20, PC)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/1729/20#post100019
Review #20: Chasm: The Rift (1997, 11/27, PC)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/1729/20#post100203
Review #21: Singularity (2010, 12/7, PC)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/1729/21#post100546
6 Yrs♥$✓#
TheAutisticGamer6 Yrs♥$✓#
What I've Been Playing:
So it's been a very, very rough few days, especially today. My mom is getting surgery to remove a lump from her breast as it has developing cancer in it next Monday and I was insanely stressed out today. I haven't really updated because of this, but I have been going through some games and am really hoping to play more stuff on PC right now. So, lets get down to work! Here are a couple of games I've been playing:
I've been playing a bit of Samurai Warriors 5 since I got this for my Switch OLED for Christmas and I've been very much enjoying the game. It's a much more unique game compared to some of the other Warriors titles as this one has a lot more depth into it's combat mechanics and content. I'm really enjoying the story so far on this one, just got to Chapter 2 and I'm hoping to play a lot more of it throughout the month. I'm definitely preferring the combat of Samurai Warriors over Dynasty Warriors as every hit feels impactful whereas Dynasty Warriors feels like you're cutting through enemies like butter. Still, there's no denying that this is a great story and I'm really enjoying the characters. Hoping to put more hours into this soon!
On another side, I've been replaying Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter and decided to go through the entire game on Hard Mode. I've been wanting to replay a lot of games on harder difficulties but at this point I've come to the conclusion that I'm probably not going to do it all the time. It's nice to have a challenge every once in a while, but then again, it's always fun to play games on easy settings and just have a blast and chill out with them. So far, I'm about 5 or so hours through the campaign? I'm on the Tower of Babel, the final level of the second episode so this shouldn't take too long. Maybe 4-5 more play sessions as I am taking my time with them. I'll be posting a review of this game once I'm finished but just be aware that I'm not always going to play games on harder difficulties if I don't feel like it. Still, I'm enjoying playing on Hard Mode a lot. It actually feels like a step up from playing on Normal in The First Encounter. Although the AI is kind of broken as they ramped up the speed of the Kleers and they spin around in circles making it sometimes impossible to predict their movements. Still, lots more variety to the levels than in First Encounter and all the improvements of the HD Version are still here.
And on another note, take a look at this!
This month I'll be starting the newest Serious Sam game, a standalone expansion called Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem which is releasing on the 25th of this month. I'll be doing a huge review of the game once it's complete so you better look out for that. I immediately pre-ordered as soon as I saw this and I'm excited as all hell to play this. It seems to be a midquel to Serious Sam 4 branching between The Oil Rig Level and Final Tunguska level like how Jewel of the Nile was a midquel to Serious Sam 3: BFE. From what I'm understanding, this is supposed to be 5 levels long. Thankfully, it will probably turn out great as I absolutely adore the franchise and haven't been disappointed with any of the titles released. I'm glad we're getting new Sam content sooner than later, but lets hope that Croteam doesn't constantly milk the series now that they are under Devolver's belt. Still, I think they'll be smart enough not to do that.
The Game Plan (For Now):
I've been taking a keen interest into PC Gaming again recently and am hoping to start and replay a lot of games I have loved in the past. Again, one of my goals for this year is to revisit games I love and see if they hold up in an objective standpoint while also taking a look at newer games or stuff in my library I haven't really touched. So here is what I'm planning on doing as of now:
-Finish Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter on Hard Mode (If Mental Health is stable)
-Continue Playing Samurai Warriors 5 (May not beat it this month/might discontinue if I lose interest)
-Start Doom 3: BFG Edition Playthrough (Recruit or Marine Difficulty)
-Go Through Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem (On Tourist Difficulty)
-In the meantime while I wait for Siberian Mayhem, continue exploring mods for Serious Sam 4
-Replay Guns Gore and Cannoli and also play it's sequel
This is so far what I've had in mind for the moment, but we'll just have to see how my mood is during these next few weeks as I'm definitely mentally stressed about my mom's upcoming surgery. Other than that, we'll have to see what happens next. I'll definitely finish Siberian Mayhem this month for sure since I'll probably be binge playing it for hours on end and it's only 5 Levels. Again, sorry for the lack of updates but I'm in kind of a dark place right now and don't really have the strength to update as much. But I'll hopefully get more out later. Thanks again for tuning in!
-TheAutisticGamer
So it's been a very, very rough few days, especially today. My mom is getting surgery to remove a lump from her breast as it has developing cancer in it next Monday and I was insanely stressed out today. I haven't really updated because of this, but I have been going through some games and am really hoping to play more stuff on PC right now. So, lets get down to work! Here are a couple of games I've been playing:
I've been playing a bit of Samurai Warriors 5 since I got this for my Switch OLED for Christmas and I've been very much enjoying the game. It's a much more unique game compared to some of the other Warriors titles as this one has a lot more depth into it's combat mechanics and content. I'm really enjoying the story so far on this one, just got to Chapter 2 and I'm hoping to play a lot more of it throughout the month. I'm definitely preferring the combat of Samurai Warriors over Dynasty Warriors as every hit feels impactful whereas Dynasty Warriors feels like you're cutting through enemies like butter. Still, there's no denying that this is a great story and I'm really enjoying the characters. Hoping to put more hours into this soon!
On another side, I've been replaying Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter and decided to go through the entire game on Hard Mode. I've been wanting to replay a lot of games on harder difficulties but at this point I've come to the conclusion that I'm probably not going to do it all the time. It's nice to have a challenge every once in a while, but then again, it's always fun to play games on easy settings and just have a blast and chill out with them. So far, I'm about 5 or so hours through the campaign? I'm on the Tower of Babel, the final level of the second episode so this shouldn't take too long. Maybe 4-5 more play sessions as I am taking my time with them. I'll be posting a review of this game once I'm finished but just be aware that I'm not always going to play games on harder difficulties if I don't feel like it. Still, I'm enjoying playing on Hard Mode a lot. It actually feels like a step up from playing on Normal in The First Encounter. Although the AI is kind of broken as they ramped up the speed of the Kleers and they spin around in circles making it sometimes impossible to predict their movements. Still, lots more variety to the levels than in First Encounter and all the improvements of the HD Version are still here.
And on another note, take a look at this!
This month I'll be starting the newest Serious Sam game, a standalone expansion called Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem which is releasing on the 25th of this month. I'll be doing a huge review of the game once it's complete so you better look out for that. I immediately pre-ordered as soon as I saw this and I'm excited as all hell to play this. It seems to be a midquel to Serious Sam 4 branching between The Oil Rig Level and Final Tunguska level like how Jewel of the Nile was a midquel to Serious Sam 3: BFE. From what I'm understanding, this is supposed to be 5 levels long. Thankfully, it will probably turn out great as I absolutely adore the franchise and haven't been disappointed with any of the titles released. I'm glad we're getting new Sam content sooner than later, but lets hope that Croteam doesn't constantly milk the series now that they are under Devolver's belt. Still, I think they'll be smart enough not to do that.
The Game Plan (For Now):
I've been taking a keen interest into PC Gaming again recently and am hoping to start and replay a lot of games I have loved in the past. Again, one of my goals for this year is to revisit games I love and see if they hold up in an objective standpoint while also taking a look at newer games or stuff in my library I haven't really touched. So here is what I'm planning on doing as of now:
-Finish Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter on Hard Mode (If Mental Health is stable)
-Continue Playing Samurai Warriors 5 (May not beat it this month/might discontinue if I lose interest)
-Start Doom 3: BFG Edition Playthrough (Recruit or Marine Difficulty)
-Go Through Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem (On Tourist Difficulty)
-In the meantime while I wait for Siberian Mayhem, continue exploring mods for Serious Sam 4
-Replay Guns Gore and Cannoli and also play it's sequel
This is so far what I've had in mind for the moment, but we'll just have to see how my mood is during these next few weeks as I'm definitely mentally stressed about my mom's upcoming surgery. Other than that, we'll have to see what happens next. I'll definitely finish Siberian Mayhem this month for sure since I'll probably be binge playing it for hours on end and it's only 5 Levels. Again, sorry for the lack of updates but I'm in kind of a dark place right now and don't really have the strength to update as much. But I'll hopefully get more out later. Thanks again for tuning in!
-TheAutisticGamer
6 Yrs♥$✓#
TheAutisticGamer6 Yrs♥$✓#
UPDATE:
So a couple of things have changed in the last days after I last posted. Due to my mental stress I will be unable to complete Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter on Hard Difficulty. So instead, I have opted to continue playing the game on Tourist, which is the mode I've always played on. A review for this game will be probably coming tonight as I'm almost at the last level. Right at this moment I'm taking some notes on the game's positives and negatives to get ready for my review. Since my enjoyment of the game itself has gone up after moving difficulties, I'll be attempting to review the game like it was on Tourist the entire time. The problem was I didn't want to start the entire game over again but thankfully I know most of the game pretty well so there is no need to worry about me forgetting any important details.
Thanks again! I'll be updating more tonight after I complete Second Encounter!
So a couple of things have changed in the last days after I last posted. Due to my mental stress I will be unable to complete Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter on Hard Difficulty. So instead, I have opted to continue playing the game on Tourist, which is the mode I've always played on. A review for this game will be probably coming tonight as I'm almost at the last level. Right at this moment I'm taking some notes on the game's positives and negatives to get ready for my review. Since my enjoyment of the game itself has gone up after moving difficulties, I'll be attempting to review the game like it was on Tourist the entire time. The problem was I didn't want to start the entire game over again but thankfully I know most of the game pretty well so there is no need to worry about me forgetting any important details.
Thanks again! I'll be updating more tonight after I complete Second Encounter!
5 Yrs♥$✓#
Glad to see you pivot and change the difficulty so you have more fun and prioritize your well-being. We play these games to have fun, after all. Looking forward to your review!
6 Yrs♥$✓#
TheAutisticGamer6 Yrs♥$✓#
Replay Complete!
Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter (Fusion 2017)
System: PC
Developer: Croteam
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Genre: FPS, Old School Shooter, Horde Shooter
Rating 9/10
This is a re-review of a game I reviewed back in 2020? I'm pretty sure I did. This review will try to be more objective than the previous review of this game.
So before I begin this review, I just need to ask you guys a quick question. During the level "The Citadel" this music plays (Just listen to the first half):
There is this kind of mysterious "Duuuu-duuu-du-duuuu" music playing when there are no enemies around. However, It makes me wonder if Croteam was inspired by Toto's Main Title to 1984's Dune in anyway.
Do you see any similarities? Because I sure as hell do. Anyways, REVIEW TIME!
So this review is going to be a bit weird. My intention was to complete Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter on Hard mode since I felt the difficulty in TFE's Normal mode was a bit unchallenging. However, stuff in my life spiraled out of control with my mom having to go get surgery this coming Monday to remove a lump in her breast with developing cancer and with my mental health not being in the best spot right now, I ended up quitting the game when I got to the Tower of Babel level. Instead, what I opted for was to continue to play the game on Tourist, which is the difficulty I usually play for these games. Now, Tourist is a cakewalk, but for me when I started playing this game again tonight it made me realize why I liked playing FPS Games in the first place. I want to be the hero. I want to obliterate aliens with massive cannonballs. I want to annihilate every enemy on the battlefield with a Serious Bomb. I want to be an unstoppable force of nature. So expect some of these upcoming re-reviews not to be played on harder difficulties due to the sudden complications in my life at the moment. Still, I will look at these games as objectively as I can.
Okay, so Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter (Abbreviated as TSE) is technically a part two to The First Encounter. It's definitely not an expansion as some might be fooled to believe, it's a fully fledged game with a much meatier and longer campaign than it's predecessor. Which is actually a great thing once you consider many of the improvements this game has over TFE. Again, the HD Versions implement much more smoother controls and add one or two new lines exclusive to the HD Versions which was part of a contest where Sam voice actor John J. Dick asked the fans to make new lines for Sam in the HD releases. So, what's new in this game? What did Croteam do better than in TFE?
Well, there are plenty of things. I'll go over them mostly quickly so this won't take too long. For one, TFE took place entirely in Egypt, meaning a lot of the locations got stale and tiresome to be in. TSE has three major locations in the entire game split into three episodes. The first takes place in the Mayan Jungles and Temples which are full of rich locals and exotic deathtraps where one bad thing can go all wrong. The second takes place in the Persian Empire, specifically Babylon and you'll go through beautiful exterior locations and cool mystical places that will surely make you want to continue exploring. The third is the best part of the entire game. A Medieval Europe section with Empty Dark Atmospheric Castles, Snowy Villages (Where a rocking version of Jingle Bells plays) and a final showdown to get into the Grand Cathedral. All in all, there are plenty of environments to bathe in which makes looking for secrets even more fun to do.
Also to mention is that the campaign is much lengthier this time around. It will probably clock you in at around 7 Hours or so, which ain't too bad for an FPS Game. It definitely delivers more content than TFE. But you might be asking, what has changed in terms of gameplay? Well... nothing really. Okay, that's maybe a lie since there are three new weapons and a bunch of new power ups to collect in this game. Weapons include a very handy Sniper Rifle which you'll be using a lot if you want to survive, there is also a chainsaw for early episode use and a flamethrower to burn enemies to a crisp. Now, it kind of weirds me out that the flamethrower has never really been in any other Sam game and I'm not sure why. Some say it's overpowered, but if that's the case there is not many points where the flamethrower is useful at all even on harder difficulties. Especially not up against Bio-Mechanoids or Kleers or Arachnoids. Hell, anything fast and big. Oh wait... WAIT! I get it now, they don't have it because the flamethrower is a useless filler weapon! Now my eyes really are starting to see straight. I see.
Power ups are also there including some for temporary invincibility that makes Sam turn nice and golden, Serious Damage to destroy all who oppose you in tough situations and Serious Speed, a powerful which makes you go NOOOM really fast and is useful during many parts of the game. Although they aren't used a lot, you'll be lucky to find one just in the right spot when a big battle is about to happen. Sam also has a powerup called a Serious Bomb and here it's much better implemented. Instead of having to clunkily press a storage key to use one in the classic versions which are bloody annoying since sometimes you're fingers will slip on that button and you'll waste one, the Serious Bomb has it's own slot as a weapon. You can carry about 3-5 depending on the difficulty you're on and they're best used for taking down big hordes of enemies especially in the third Mayan episode level involving Werebulls with Cannons strapped to their backs that can one shot you. The Serious Bomb didn't make a return after Serious Sam 2 until Serious Sam 4 where it was renamed to Mini Nuke, but it's nice to have that option when needed.
So now that we've got that out of the way, I can tell you at this point everything I liked about TFE is still here. The weapon management is still the best gaming can offer today. I can describe it as "Dances With Guns", which would honestly be a joke NETRICSA would say in this game. What I mean is you're smoothly taking out different guns to react to different situations and it's done in a smart way. Pretty much everything is the same here aside from a few different things. So you might be asking, what does that leave us with? A Carbon Copy of TFE but in different settings?
HELL NO. Aside from location variety and new weapons and powerups, the comedy has been massively improved. Sam's one liners are much funnier now and they hit a lot harder then they did in the previous game. Most of Sam's humor some might say consist mainly of terrible "Dad Jokes", but in all seriousness, I love that. His jokes are so god damn stupid they make me laugh really hard. It's great! Even NETRICSA gets a bunch of laughs when looking through it's hints and enemy facts. Clearly (or should I say Kleerly?) they were tongue and cheek to reference Clint Eastwood and many other famous film stars not in name but in their own fictional world. I got some great laughs out of most of them. I know some people hate the humor in these games but I can't help but laugh constantly at them and I assume my replay of Serious Sam 2 will end up being something similar.
And lets not forget about the music. While TFE provided an interesting soundtrack that strayed away from the tropes of Metal and Hard Rock OSTs that many Old School Shooters of the day had, Damjan Mravunac continues to pull a Kelly Bailey on us by have more foreign and exotic sounds while also continuing to provide a couple of great rock moments featuring the band Undercode which are featured during the boss music segments of the game. But that isn't it. Mravunac's magnum opus is in this game and it might be the most famous track in the series besides the score to the level Dunes.
The Grand Cathedral stands as not only one of FPS Gaming's best tracks, but it's in one of FPS Gaming's greatest finales (That is, if you don't cheap out of doing it. I'll explain later). This final level has you mowing down endless enemies as this emotional, epic and intense song repeats on loop. You inch your way further and further to this Cathedral only to be ambushed by more enemies on a large field. You have respawning armor, Serious Damage, Serious Speed, and Ammo Packs to help you. To describe this level is not the same as playing it. You're going through the entire game trying to save humankind, and this music plays giving emphasis on the situation. The world is counting on you. The universe needs you to live and be victorious. Sam yells "YOU BASTARDS!" as he continuously attacks enemies as meteorites slam down into the field as the carnage is endless. Finally, the sky opens up and light beams down from the sky and after you've killed everyone, it seems to be over. You're going to save the world and you're going to get the Magic MacGuffin to save it. It's perfect if you don't cheap out on the final boss, because you can bring along a Serious Damage just in time with your Serious Speed rush to the Cathedral and kill the final boss with a bunch of cannons with Serious Damage on and it becomes anti-climatic. Don't do that. You're going to ruin the fun.
Even as the game ends, Sam promises to come after Mental. He enters a Spaceship with all of the nationalities flags on it as the Croteam Heads cheer him on as he flies away. It's a marvelous ending if you don't again cheap out on the final boss.
I only have really one negative to complain about. If you plan on playing this on anything more than Normal, that might not be a good idea now that I've thought about it. I found myself being angered and baffled by the terrible enemy AI Pathfinding on harder difficulties as enemies like the Chainsaw Pumpkin Guys, Kleers and Floating Gnaars seem to spin around at the speed of sound making them impossible to predict. I'm beginning to think they weren't programmed right for this difficulty with an exception to a couple of things, but it makes playing on hard a nightmare especially in the later levels. I know I complained that Normal on TFE was to unchallenging, but please maybe just stick to Normal for this one? This broken pathfinding might also have to do with the fact I'm playing on Fusion 2017 and while an improvement, is considered abandoned after plans to launch Serious Sam 4 on it backfired meaning there are tons of bugs that have yet to be fixed.
Other than that I would definitely recommend The Second Encounter HD. If you just want a game where you just want to mow down thousands of enemies in total carnage, then this should be an obvious option. If we're counting the classic games (TFE, TSE, SS2) then TSE is the one I would probably go back to the most nowadays due to having more variety in locations and a strong final episode involving Medieval Europe. Still, I enjoyed coming back to this again.
I just want to finish by apologizing that this review might have been written a bit off (or way off in that case) compared to my other more focused reviews, but considering my mental health isn't the best right now I did the best I could to make a comprehensible review of what I thought coming back to it from a more objective standpoint. Hopefully I'll be much better in the coming weeks as my birthday is next Friday, so hopefully I'll be in better spirits then. Thanks for reading as always guys!
PROS:
-Much of the improvements from the HD Release of TFE are still in tact
-Gunplay and Weapon Management is still super satisfying to use
-New Powerups that are useful in helping you overcome impossible odds
-More variety to the locations compared to TFE
-Some Excellent Music especially during Boss Fights and the Final Level
-Hugely improved humor compared to TFE, with many laugh out loud moments from Sam and NETRICSA
-NETRICSA actually feels more like a friend than a database which is kind of sweet and nice
-A much lengthier campaign that will take you around 7 Hours to beat
NEUTRALS:
-Some might groan at the humor but honestly I love it
-You can technically cheap out on the final boss but it's recommended not to
CONS:
-Broken Pathfinding on Enemy AI on Difficulties above Normal
-The Flamethrower is surprisingly a useless filler weapon
FINAL VERDICT: Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter is a much improved version of The First Encounter, with much more locational variety, powerful new power ups, interesting level designs, epic music, hilarious jokes and one liners and the same good ol' old school shooting action and weapon management we've seen before.
Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter (Fusion 2017)
System: PC
Developer: Croteam
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Genre: FPS, Old School Shooter, Horde Shooter
Rating 9/10
This is a re-review of a game I reviewed back in 2020? I'm pretty sure I did. This review will try to be more objective than the previous review of this game.
So before I begin this review, I just need to ask you guys a quick question. During the level "The Citadel" this music plays (Just listen to the first half):
There is this kind of mysterious "Duuuu-duuu-du-duuuu" music playing when there are no enemies around. However, It makes me wonder if Croteam was inspired by Toto's Main Title to 1984's Dune in anyway.
Do you see any similarities? Because I sure as hell do. Anyways, REVIEW TIME!
So this review is going to be a bit weird. My intention was to complete Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter on Hard mode since I felt the difficulty in TFE's Normal mode was a bit unchallenging. However, stuff in my life spiraled out of control with my mom having to go get surgery this coming Monday to remove a lump in her breast with developing cancer and with my mental health not being in the best spot right now, I ended up quitting the game when I got to the Tower of Babel level. Instead, what I opted for was to continue to play the game on Tourist, which is the difficulty I usually play for these games. Now, Tourist is a cakewalk, but for me when I started playing this game again tonight it made me realize why I liked playing FPS Games in the first place. I want to be the hero. I want to obliterate aliens with massive cannonballs. I want to annihilate every enemy on the battlefield with a Serious Bomb. I want to be an unstoppable force of nature. So expect some of these upcoming re-reviews not to be played on harder difficulties due to the sudden complications in my life at the moment. Still, I will look at these games as objectively as I can.
Okay, so Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter (Abbreviated as TSE) is technically a part two to The First Encounter. It's definitely not an expansion as some might be fooled to believe, it's a fully fledged game with a much meatier and longer campaign than it's predecessor. Which is actually a great thing once you consider many of the improvements this game has over TFE. Again, the HD Versions implement much more smoother controls and add one or two new lines exclusive to the HD Versions which was part of a contest where Sam voice actor John J. Dick asked the fans to make new lines for Sam in the HD releases. So, what's new in this game? What did Croteam do better than in TFE?
Well, there are plenty of things. I'll go over them mostly quickly so this won't take too long. For one, TFE took place entirely in Egypt, meaning a lot of the locations got stale and tiresome to be in. TSE has three major locations in the entire game split into three episodes. The first takes place in the Mayan Jungles and Temples which are full of rich locals and exotic deathtraps where one bad thing can go all wrong. The second takes place in the Persian Empire, specifically Babylon and you'll go through beautiful exterior locations and cool mystical places that will surely make you want to continue exploring. The third is the best part of the entire game. A Medieval Europe section with Empty Dark Atmospheric Castles, Snowy Villages (Where a rocking version of Jingle Bells plays) and a final showdown to get into the Grand Cathedral. All in all, there are plenty of environments to bathe in which makes looking for secrets even more fun to do.
Also to mention is that the campaign is much lengthier this time around. It will probably clock you in at around 7 Hours or so, which ain't too bad for an FPS Game. It definitely delivers more content than TFE. But you might be asking, what has changed in terms of gameplay? Well... nothing really. Okay, that's maybe a lie since there are three new weapons and a bunch of new power ups to collect in this game. Weapons include a very handy Sniper Rifle which you'll be using a lot if you want to survive, there is also a chainsaw for early episode use and a flamethrower to burn enemies to a crisp. Now, it kind of weirds me out that the flamethrower has never really been in any other Sam game and I'm not sure why. Some say it's overpowered, but if that's the case there is not many points where the flamethrower is useful at all even on harder difficulties. Especially not up against Bio-Mechanoids or Kleers or Arachnoids. Hell, anything fast and big. Oh wait... WAIT! I get it now, they don't have it because the flamethrower is a useless filler weapon! Now my eyes really are starting to see straight. I see.
Power ups are also there including some for temporary invincibility that makes Sam turn nice and golden, Serious Damage to destroy all who oppose you in tough situations and Serious Speed, a powerful which makes you go NOOOM really fast and is useful during many parts of the game. Although they aren't used a lot, you'll be lucky to find one just in the right spot when a big battle is about to happen. Sam also has a powerup called a Serious Bomb and here it's much better implemented. Instead of having to clunkily press a storage key to use one in the classic versions which are bloody annoying since sometimes you're fingers will slip on that button and you'll waste one, the Serious Bomb has it's own slot as a weapon. You can carry about 3-5 depending on the difficulty you're on and they're best used for taking down big hordes of enemies especially in the third Mayan episode level involving Werebulls with Cannons strapped to their backs that can one shot you. The Serious Bomb didn't make a return after Serious Sam 2 until Serious Sam 4 where it was renamed to Mini Nuke, but it's nice to have that option when needed.
So now that we've got that out of the way, I can tell you at this point everything I liked about TFE is still here. The weapon management is still the best gaming can offer today. I can describe it as "Dances With Guns", which would honestly be a joke NETRICSA would say in this game. What I mean is you're smoothly taking out different guns to react to different situations and it's done in a smart way. Pretty much everything is the same here aside from a few different things. So you might be asking, what does that leave us with? A Carbon Copy of TFE but in different settings?
HELL NO. Aside from location variety and new weapons and powerups, the comedy has been massively improved. Sam's one liners are much funnier now and they hit a lot harder then they did in the previous game. Most of Sam's humor some might say consist mainly of terrible "Dad Jokes", but in all seriousness, I love that. His jokes are so god damn stupid they make me laugh really hard. It's great! Even NETRICSA gets a bunch of laughs when looking through it's hints and enemy facts. Clearly (or should I say Kleerly?) they were tongue and cheek to reference Clint Eastwood and many other famous film stars not in name but in their own fictional world. I got some great laughs out of most of them. I know some people hate the humor in these games but I can't help but laugh constantly at them and I assume my replay of Serious Sam 2 will end up being something similar.
And lets not forget about the music. While TFE provided an interesting soundtrack that strayed away from the tropes of Metal and Hard Rock OSTs that many Old School Shooters of the day had, Damjan Mravunac continues to pull a Kelly Bailey on us by have more foreign and exotic sounds while also continuing to provide a couple of great rock moments featuring the band Undercode which are featured during the boss music segments of the game. But that isn't it. Mravunac's magnum opus is in this game and it might be the most famous track in the series besides the score to the level Dunes.
The Grand Cathedral stands as not only one of FPS Gaming's best tracks, but it's in one of FPS Gaming's greatest finales (That is, if you don't cheap out of doing it. I'll explain later). This final level has you mowing down endless enemies as this emotional, epic and intense song repeats on loop. You inch your way further and further to this Cathedral only to be ambushed by more enemies on a large field. You have respawning armor, Serious Damage, Serious Speed, and Ammo Packs to help you. To describe this level is not the same as playing it. You're going through the entire game trying to save humankind, and this music plays giving emphasis on the situation. The world is counting on you. The universe needs you to live and be victorious. Sam yells "YOU BASTARDS!" as he continuously attacks enemies as meteorites slam down into the field as the carnage is endless. Finally, the sky opens up and light beams down from the sky and after you've killed everyone, it seems to be over. You're going to save the world and you're going to get the Magic MacGuffin to save it. It's perfect if you don't cheap out on the final boss, because you can bring along a Serious Damage just in time with your Serious Speed rush to the Cathedral and kill the final boss with a bunch of cannons with Serious Damage on and it becomes anti-climatic. Don't do that. You're going to ruin the fun.
Even as the game ends, Sam promises to come after Mental. He enters a Spaceship with all of the nationalities flags on it as the Croteam Heads cheer him on as he flies away. It's a marvelous ending if you don't again cheap out on the final boss.
I only have really one negative to complain about. If you plan on playing this on anything more than Normal, that might not be a good idea now that I've thought about it. I found myself being angered and baffled by the terrible enemy AI Pathfinding on harder difficulties as enemies like the Chainsaw Pumpkin Guys, Kleers and Floating Gnaars seem to spin around at the speed of sound making them impossible to predict. I'm beginning to think they weren't programmed right for this difficulty with an exception to a couple of things, but it makes playing on hard a nightmare especially in the later levels. I know I complained that Normal on TFE was to unchallenging, but please maybe just stick to Normal for this one? This broken pathfinding might also have to do with the fact I'm playing on Fusion 2017 and while an improvement, is considered abandoned after plans to launch Serious Sam 4 on it backfired meaning there are tons of bugs that have yet to be fixed.
Other than that I would definitely recommend The Second Encounter HD. If you just want a game where you just want to mow down thousands of enemies in total carnage, then this should be an obvious option. If we're counting the classic games (TFE, TSE, SS2) then TSE is the one I would probably go back to the most nowadays due to having more variety in locations and a strong final episode involving Medieval Europe. Still, I enjoyed coming back to this again.
I just want to finish by apologizing that this review might have been written a bit off (or way off in that case) compared to my other more focused reviews, but considering my mental health isn't the best right now I did the best I could to make a comprehensible review of what I thought coming back to it from a more objective standpoint. Hopefully I'll be much better in the coming weeks as my birthday is next Friday, so hopefully I'll be in better spirits then. Thanks for reading as always guys!
PROS:
-Much of the improvements from the HD Release of TFE are still in tact
-Gunplay and Weapon Management is still super satisfying to use
-New Powerups that are useful in helping you overcome impossible odds
-More variety to the locations compared to TFE
-Some Excellent Music especially during Boss Fights and the Final Level
-Hugely improved humor compared to TFE, with many laugh out loud moments from Sam and NETRICSA
-NETRICSA actually feels more like a friend than a database which is kind of sweet and nice
-A much lengthier campaign that will take you around 7 Hours to beat
NEUTRALS:
-Some might groan at the humor but honestly I love it
-You can technically cheap out on the final boss but it's recommended not to
CONS:
-Broken Pathfinding on Enemy AI on Difficulties above Normal
-The Flamethrower is surprisingly a useless filler weapon
FINAL VERDICT: Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter is a much improved version of The First Encounter, with much more locational variety, powerful new power ups, interesting level designs, epic music, hilarious jokes and one liners and the same good ol' old school shooting action and weapon management we've seen before.
6 Yrs♥$✓#
TheAutisticGamer6 Yrs♥$✓#
What I've Been Playing:
Another update! The first thing I will quickly mention is that I once again attempted to start Black Mesa and after finally getting through the hoops of the awful awkward word for word reading of the original Half-Life script, I managed to get to We Got Hostiles and was really enjoying it! It felt like exploring Black Mesa all over again! Unfortunately, I'm not adding it here because I will be unsure If I will be continuing to play it at the moment. I ran into massive stuttering/freezing issues during marine combat which I can't seem to figure out. Apparently it has to due with playing the game on Headphones or having the game audio set to Stereo or something? So unless I can find a fix for this I will have to wait months till I finally upgrade my PC this year to get this game running properly which is ridiculous.
Anyways, this is what I've been going through recently:
I couldn't find a properly sized PC Box Art so this will have to do in the long run.
An FPS Game and Star Trek shouldn't work. Star Trek is basically the furthest thing you can get when making an FPS Game. Unless you count modern Star Trek which features F-Bombs, Eyes being ripped open and countless, mass murder and ridiculous firefights of millions of battleships duking it out in space, which then yes, this is completely perfect for an FPS Game. But we don't talk about modern Star Trek here. So to my surprise, GOG had Star Trek: Elite Force 1 and 2 available to purchase and I ended up buying the first game wanting to take a look at this not knowing if I was in for a mess or what not. The game is basically Voyager gets lost in a Space Bermuda Triangle and now they got to get out of it. You're a guy (or girl, sex is customizable) working for Hazard Team and now you got to shoot baddies and get Voyager out of there.
It's... adequate! For the most part. There are annoyances like how the Friendly AI will constantly run into you all the time (Why can't FPS Games get this right!?) and the first real mission of the game is where you go onto an abandoned starcraft enemies start constantly teleporting down your throat but for what it does wrong it does maybe three more things right. There is a great sense of immersion and I like how a couple of the characters are a bunch of one note stereotypes like how there is a cowardly alien and a meathead jock douchebag and... girl who gets evaporated on the very first actual mission. It might be considered a flaw but I like laughing at it a lot. I kept thinking the meathead was going to go all Biff and say to the main character "What are you looking at BUTTHEAD?" Not to mention the weapons are interesting and there isn't many at the moment (there might in fact be only 5 actual weapons in the entire game but I might be wrong at the moment) which makes getting to know which weapon to use valuable for taking down certain enemies. I also think the FMV Cutscenes are surprisingly very good for it's time and the voice acting, again of it's time is still kind of good as well! Although there is bits of corridor shooting which I'm not a fan of especially when you considered the first level after the tutorial where you fought Klingons in an open space on the ship itself.
Will definitely be playing more of this and I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out in the end. Lets hope this stays consistently good.
Another update! The first thing I will quickly mention is that I once again attempted to start Black Mesa and after finally getting through the hoops of the awful awkward word for word reading of the original Half-Life script, I managed to get to We Got Hostiles and was really enjoying it! It felt like exploring Black Mesa all over again! Unfortunately, I'm not adding it here because I will be unsure If I will be continuing to play it at the moment. I ran into massive stuttering/freezing issues during marine combat which I can't seem to figure out. Apparently it has to due with playing the game on Headphones or having the game audio set to Stereo or something? So unless I can find a fix for this I will have to wait months till I finally upgrade my PC this year to get this game running properly which is ridiculous.
Anyways, this is what I've been going through recently:
I couldn't find a properly sized PC Box Art so this will have to do in the long run.
An FPS Game and Star Trek shouldn't work. Star Trek is basically the furthest thing you can get when making an FPS Game. Unless you count modern Star Trek which features F-Bombs, Eyes being ripped open and countless, mass murder and ridiculous firefights of millions of battleships duking it out in space, which then yes, this is completely perfect for an FPS Game. But we don't talk about modern Star Trek here. So to my surprise, GOG had Star Trek: Elite Force 1 and 2 available to purchase and I ended up buying the first game wanting to take a look at this not knowing if I was in for a mess or what not. The game is basically Voyager gets lost in a Space Bermuda Triangle and now they got to get out of it. You're a guy (or girl, sex is customizable) working for Hazard Team and now you got to shoot baddies and get Voyager out of there.
It's... adequate! For the most part. There are annoyances like how the Friendly AI will constantly run into you all the time (Why can't FPS Games get this right!?) and the first real mission of the game is where you go onto an abandoned starcraft enemies start constantly teleporting down your throat but for what it does wrong it does maybe three more things right. There is a great sense of immersion and I like how a couple of the characters are a bunch of one note stereotypes like how there is a cowardly alien and a meathead jock douchebag and... girl who gets evaporated on the very first actual mission. It might be considered a flaw but I like laughing at it a lot. I kept thinking the meathead was going to go all Biff and say to the main character "What are you looking at BUTTHEAD?" Not to mention the weapons are interesting and there isn't many at the moment (there might in fact be only 5 actual weapons in the entire game but I might be wrong at the moment) which makes getting to know which weapon to use valuable for taking down certain enemies. I also think the FMV Cutscenes are surprisingly very good for it's time and the voice acting, again of it's time is still kind of good as well! Although there is bits of corridor shooting which I'm not a fan of especially when you considered the first level after the tutorial where you fought Klingons in an open space on the ship itself.
Will definitely be playing more of this and I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out in the end. Lets hope this stays consistently good.
6 Yrs♥$✓#
TheAutisticGamer6 Yrs♥$✓#
Game Complete!
Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force
System: PC
Developer: Raven Software, Aspyr Media (Mac OS), Pipe Dream Interactive (PS2)
Publisher: Activision (PC Version), Majesco Entertainment (PS2 Version)
Genre: FPS, Space Opera
Rating: 6/10
Couldn't get a proper image off my computer from ShareX so I took the end screen photo from my phone.
There is no denying Star Trek would be a massively popular IP to profit off of with games. There were countless adventure games, FMV games, Strategy Games, Role-Playing Games, MMORPGs and Action Fare that have been made since the dawn of video games, but one genre seemed too impossible for it to conquer. The FPS Game. Classic Star Trek and FPS Games seem so far apart from one another unless you count awful modern Star Trek where eyes are being ripped open, F-Bombs are being dropped left and right, mass murder happens daily and idiotic gigantic space battles happen for no reason other than action. Modern Star Trek could possibly make use of the FPS Genre, but in 2000, the great Raven Software decided to tackle the impossible. Making a FPS Game out of Star Trek: Voyager. Now I have never seen Voyager but the idea seemed ridiculous to me that an FPS game could work in the Star Trek universe.
The end result is Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force, a huge mixed bag of a game that I can't really decide if I like or don't like, because there are several great things going on here and several terrible dated things going on here as well. For those unaware, this was released on GOG last year alongside it's sequel which I might tackle later in the future. So I decided to buy it and check it out since I was waiting for Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem to come out. There is a lot to talk about here, so why don't we just get into the review and cut out all the fat from this introduction?
Elite Force stars Ensign Munro, a guy (or girl) who works for Voyager's Hazard Team, basically a group of people who tackle tough combat situations to protect the crew of the already lost ship Voyager. To put it mildly, Voyager gets lost in a Space Bermuda Triangle and are trying to get out of there before they begin to suffer greatly. Ensign tackles 6 Main Missions throughout the game with his crew. These include Chell, an nervous wreck of an alien who is my personal favorite of the group, Chang, a demolitions expert, Telsia, a scout, and Biessman, who is played by the legendary actor Thomas F. Wilson who starred as Biff in Back to the Future, providing a great voice performance, but we'll get to the voice acting in just a second. So basically, the stage is set and the adventure begins to save Voyager from being stuck in the Space Bermuda Triangle.
So I guess I should start out with positives since that's pretty much what I always do for these games. To start, I think the story is incredibly compelling and immersive. It perfectly captures classic Star Trek well. There are dozens of cutscenes sprinkled throughout the game and it does a great job at developing Ensign and the Hazard Team throughout the game. The idea of being stuck in a Space Bermuda Triangle is intriguing and there are plenty of interesting moments in the story that are worth not skipping over cutscenes for. By far the story is the best part of it because it is super immersive and you feel like you're a part of the team.
And it's also thanks to an amazing cast of characters, whose voice actors are all fantastic in this game. From the moment you start playing as Ensign, you see he wants to do the right thing for his team and Voyager and throughout the game makes hard decisions that take him to the top. He is honestly a great protagonist and it's very surprising I'm saying this, because I thought Ensign was going to be a throwaway unmemorable character that I would forget after I finished it. But Ensign is seriously a great character due to his personality and leadership. That's not to mention the rest of the side characters who are fun. Chell is obviously my favorite and every time I was with him it was fun to see him be incredibly nervous. I also kept talking to the screen and encouraging my team to try harder and follow along despite the AI, which we'll get to later in the negatives.
We also have some pretty nice graphics on the Id Tech 3 engine and it creates the universe of Star Trek very well. There are plenty of enemies new and old to fight and the designs for these alien enemies are pretty unique and showcase the wonders and dangers of the universe as a whole. This is also boasted by some pretty great FMV Cutscenes that are mostly just exterior shots of Voyager or other space stations, but they are rather pleasing to the eye despite their 22 Year Old Age.
In terms of missions, the best mission in the entire game is a stealth mission aboard a space station with Klingons and other alien species and human bandits. Although it's a bit annoying at first, it really grew on me and immersed me even more into the gameplay which was a big rarity during this game. Afterwards, there is also a rescue mission section during this part that is pretty fun to play and the game during this part never lost my interest. There are also moments where there are breaks between missions and you go back onto Voyager and interact with your crew members. In terms of gunplay, you only have two ammo types that keeps things simple and I'm not sure how to entirely feel about it at this point, but it was an interesting decision from the developers to only have two ammo types for the 9 guns in this game, ranging from blue to red colored variants.
That's it for the positives, lets get on with what I didn't like, and oh boy, there is a lot here.
So I need to address something really important here. The story is great, don't get me wrong, but the problem with the story is that there feels like there is no consequences to anything that happens throughout it. One of the earliest missions is your team arriving on this weird alien station where these annoying teleporting enemies come running after you one by one. You continuously kill them being insanely annoyed by them, but by the end of the mission, things take a turn for the worst. These aliens, known as the Etherians, are attacking you because they thought they were being invaded. Ensign explains the misunderstanding and now they realized they've killed a bunch of this leader's people and apologize for it. This could lead to some interesting consequences if written well. Unfortunately, the Etherian leader says "Oh! Don't worry, we just regenerate when we die anyways! So there's nothing to worry about!"
There are some moments like that throughout that feel like wasted opportunities for something interesting to happen. Another point is not really about that, but just a story thing in general. Ensign points out by the end that the morale for Voyager's crew is low due to them being on the defensive all the time with aliens attacking them. Captain Janeway is then like "Uh... oh yeah! Uhm... we should probably fight back shouldn't we?" like she just realized and cared at that exact moment when Ensign brought this back up. So did Janeway really never think to put a full on attack and just let Voyager's morale get lower and lower? The conference of people say they don't have enough ammo or weapons, but that doesn't seem to matter in the end since they succeed by blowing up the big evil alien spaceship at the end, so why couldn't they have just done it when they got the materials they needed after the whole Borg mission?
I don't know, maybe there is a reason, butt I'm not entirely sure. Just something I felt was off about this scene.
The main problem in Elite Force lays in it's gameplay. While there are some great levels like the aforementioned stealth level, most of the levels consist of standing still and just shooting enemies who don't really pick up a fight. To note, I played on Easy because I usually just do that nowadays, but there were no interesting things going on with the enemy AI. All they seem to do is run face first into you without any thought and you just shoot them constantly to death with whatever weapon you feel like, because the weapons in this game are kind of dull and uninteresting. EXCEPT ONE. Which has got to be the stupidest weapon I have ever seen in a video game. A FUCKING PHOTON TORPEDO LAUNCHER. A-- Ex--- Wh--- EX-FUCKING-CUSE ME!? HOW THE HELL DOES THAT WORK!? Aren't Photon Torpedoes like ammo to be used on ships? That do massive damage towards enemy vessels? WHY THE FUCK IS THERE A FUCKING PHOTON TORPEDO LAUNCHER AND HOW IS THAT EVEN USABLE?! Wouldn't the entire room explode from one burst?! Apparently not, which makes this the dumbest weapon I've ever seen because it makes no sense. You know what? I'm taking one point out of ten off due to how idiotic this is.
And to point out, I'm not overly familiar with Star Trek except for the movies, so please correct me if I make any mistakes or clear things up that I don't understand.
But yeah, gunplay is boring because it's redundant and unexciting and you do the same stuff every time. But what makes Elite Force kind of infuriating to play is the Friendly AI, which FPS Games seem to never get right. To put it mildly, your team is a fucking hassle. They will ALWAYS GET IN YOUR WAY NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO. Sometimes they will just magnetize to you for no reason and you can't get them off! It also doesn't help that almost every time during combat, they'll always be in the way of an enemy and not even shoot at it, so not only is it hard to hit enemies because your teammates are in front of them, but they're fucking inept because they barely shoot their weapons at them most of the time so you have to do all the babysitting and heavy lifting. It makes these great characters with fun personalities aggravating to be around unfortunately.
Also, the sound mixing is terrible at points. Gunfire and Music drown out the characters dialogue at multiple points during the game which makes it impossible to understand anything they are saying. Thankfully subtitles are always on so there is no need to worry about missing anything important, but it sucks because the voice acting in general is great and you want to listen to what characters are saying.
All in all, it ends up being a very lacking experience. It's a weird game because the story, characters and voice acting are genuinely awesome but they're in a game that's bogged down by boring gameplay, horrible AI both friendly and enemy, terrible sound mixing and non consequential writing that if done differently could have made the story even more compelling. Don't get me started again on the god damn Photon Torpedo launcher. It's a very, VERY mixed bag that I can only say play once if you are really curious about it. I probably wouldn't play it again but I hope the sequel will be a massive improvement towards it's AI and Gameplay. The game also took me around 5.5 Hours to beat, so it's a standard time to be an FPS Game for me. Still, there is no denying that there are many great things going for Elite Force despite it's faults which makes it a pretty interesting experience.
PROS:
-A Compelling and Immersive Story that engages the player
-A Fantastic Cast of Characters who have colorful personalities that you want to root for
-A Great Voice Cast that does an excellent job with the voice acting
-Very Good FMV Cutscenes for the time despite mostly being filler
-The Graphics convey classic Star Trek very well with fantastical creature designs that are interesting
-The Stealth Mission is by far the best level in the game
NEUTRALS:
-Some Story Moments felt off despite it being strong overall, but that might just be me
CONS:
-Terrible Friendly AI that always gets in the way during battle
-Non Consequential Writing that feels like total wasted potential
-The Gunplay is boring, unexciting, dull and redundant
-The Photon Torpedo Launcher. What The Hell Even is this stupid thing?
-Terrible Sound Mixing at points that drown out dialogue with gunfire and music
-The Enemy AI is equally as dumb constantly running and teleporting into you with no thought at all
FINAL VERDICT: Despite a fantastic story, cast of characters and convincing and good voice acting, Elite Force never manages to reach it's fullest potential due to clumsy AI, generic and boring gunplay and decisions that hamper the experience overall.
Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force
System: PC
Developer: Raven Software, Aspyr Media (Mac OS), Pipe Dream Interactive (PS2)
Publisher: Activision (PC Version), Majesco Entertainment (PS2 Version)
Genre: FPS, Space Opera
Rating: 6/10
Couldn't get a proper image off my computer from ShareX so I took the end screen photo from my phone.
There is no denying Star Trek would be a massively popular IP to profit off of with games. There were countless adventure games, FMV games, Strategy Games, Role-Playing Games, MMORPGs and Action Fare that have been made since the dawn of video games, but one genre seemed too impossible for it to conquer. The FPS Game. Classic Star Trek and FPS Games seem so far apart from one another unless you count awful modern Star Trek where eyes are being ripped open, F-Bombs are being dropped left and right, mass murder happens daily and idiotic gigantic space battles happen for no reason other than action. Modern Star Trek could possibly make use of the FPS Genre, but in 2000, the great Raven Software decided to tackle the impossible. Making a FPS Game out of Star Trek: Voyager. Now I have never seen Voyager but the idea seemed ridiculous to me that an FPS game could work in the Star Trek universe.
The end result is Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force, a huge mixed bag of a game that I can't really decide if I like or don't like, because there are several great things going on here and several terrible dated things going on here as well. For those unaware, this was released on GOG last year alongside it's sequel which I might tackle later in the future. So I decided to buy it and check it out since I was waiting for Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem to come out. There is a lot to talk about here, so why don't we just get into the review and cut out all the fat from this introduction?
Elite Force stars Ensign Munro, a guy (or girl) who works for Voyager's Hazard Team, basically a group of people who tackle tough combat situations to protect the crew of the already lost ship Voyager. To put it mildly, Voyager gets lost in a Space Bermuda Triangle and are trying to get out of there before they begin to suffer greatly. Ensign tackles 6 Main Missions throughout the game with his crew. These include Chell, an nervous wreck of an alien who is my personal favorite of the group, Chang, a demolitions expert, Telsia, a scout, and Biessman, who is played by the legendary actor Thomas F. Wilson who starred as Biff in Back to the Future, providing a great voice performance, but we'll get to the voice acting in just a second. So basically, the stage is set and the adventure begins to save Voyager from being stuck in the Space Bermuda Triangle.
So I guess I should start out with positives since that's pretty much what I always do for these games. To start, I think the story is incredibly compelling and immersive. It perfectly captures classic Star Trek well. There are dozens of cutscenes sprinkled throughout the game and it does a great job at developing Ensign and the Hazard Team throughout the game. The idea of being stuck in a Space Bermuda Triangle is intriguing and there are plenty of interesting moments in the story that are worth not skipping over cutscenes for. By far the story is the best part of it because it is super immersive and you feel like you're a part of the team.
And it's also thanks to an amazing cast of characters, whose voice actors are all fantastic in this game. From the moment you start playing as Ensign, you see he wants to do the right thing for his team and Voyager and throughout the game makes hard decisions that take him to the top. He is honestly a great protagonist and it's very surprising I'm saying this, because I thought Ensign was going to be a throwaway unmemorable character that I would forget after I finished it. But Ensign is seriously a great character due to his personality and leadership. That's not to mention the rest of the side characters who are fun. Chell is obviously my favorite and every time I was with him it was fun to see him be incredibly nervous. I also kept talking to the screen and encouraging my team to try harder and follow along despite the AI, which we'll get to later in the negatives.
We also have some pretty nice graphics on the Id Tech 3 engine and it creates the universe of Star Trek very well. There are plenty of enemies new and old to fight and the designs for these alien enemies are pretty unique and showcase the wonders and dangers of the universe as a whole. This is also boasted by some pretty great FMV Cutscenes that are mostly just exterior shots of Voyager or other space stations, but they are rather pleasing to the eye despite their 22 Year Old Age.
In terms of missions, the best mission in the entire game is a stealth mission aboard a space station with Klingons and other alien species and human bandits. Although it's a bit annoying at first, it really grew on me and immersed me even more into the gameplay which was a big rarity during this game. Afterwards, there is also a rescue mission section during this part that is pretty fun to play and the game during this part never lost my interest. There are also moments where there are breaks between missions and you go back onto Voyager and interact with your crew members. In terms of gunplay, you only have two ammo types that keeps things simple and I'm not sure how to entirely feel about it at this point, but it was an interesting decision from the developers to only have two ammo types for the 9 guns in this game, ranging from blue to red colored variants.
That's it for the positives, lets get on with what I didn't like, and oh boy, there is a lot here.
So I need to address something really important here. The story is great, don't get me wrong, but the problem with the story is that there feels like there is no consequences to anything that happens throughout it. One of the earliest missions is your team arriving on this weird alien station where these annoying teleporting enemies come running after you one by one. You continuously kill them being insanely annoyed by them, but by the end of the mission, things take a turn for the worst. These aliens, known as the Etherians, are attacking you because they thought they were being invaded. Ensign explains the misunderstanding and now they realized they've killed a bunch of this leader's people and apologize for it. This could lead to some interesting consequences if written well. Unfortunately, the Etherian leader says "Oh! Don't worry, we just regenerate when we die anyways! So there's nothing to worry about!"
There are some moments like that throughout that feel like wasted opportunities for something interesting to happen. Another point is not really about that, but just a story thing in general. Ensign points out by the end that the morale for Voyager's crew is low due to them being on the defensive all the time with aliens attacking them. Captain Janeway is then like "Uh... oh yeah! Uhm... we should probably fight back shouldn't we?" like she just realized and cared at that exact moment when Ensign brought this back up. So did Janeway really never think to put a full on attack and just let Voyager's morale get lower and lower? The conference of people say they don't have enough ammo or weapons, but that doesn't seem to matter in the end since they succeed by blowing up the big evil alien spaceship at the end, so why couldn't they have just done it when they got the materials they needed after the whole Borg mission?
I don't know, maybe there is a reason, butt I'm not entirely sure. Just something I felt was off about this scene.
The main problem in Elite Force lays in it's gameplay. While there are some great levels like the aforementioned stealth level, most of the levels consist of standing still and just shooting enemies who don't really pick up a fight. To note, I played on Easy because I usually just do that nowadays, but there were no interesting things going on with the enemy AI. All they seem to do is run face first into you without any thought and you just shoot them constantly to death with whatever weapon you feel like, because the weapons in this game are kind of dull and uninteresting. EXCEPT ONE. Which has got to be the stupidest weapon I have ever seen in a video game. A FUCKING PHOTON TORPEDO LAUNCHER. A-- Ex--- Wh--- EX-FUCKING-CUSE ME!? HOW THE HELL DOES THAT WORK!? Aren't Photon Torpedoes like ammo to be used on ships? That do massive damage towards enemy vessels? WHY THE FUCK IS THERE A FUCKING PHOTON TORPEDO LAUNCHER AND HOW IS THAT EVEN USABLE?! Wouldn't the entire room explode from one burst?! Apparently not, which makes this the dumbest weapon I've ever seen because it makes no sense. You know what? I'm taking one point out of ten off due to how idiotic this is.
And to point out, I'm not overly familiar with Star Trek except for the movies, so please correct me if I make any mistakes or clear things up that I don't understand.
But yeah, gunplay is boring because it's redundant and unexciting and you do the same stuff every time. But what makes Elite Force kind of infuriating to play is the Friendly AI, which FPS Games seem to never get right. To put it mildly, your team is a fucking hassle. They will ALWAYS GET IN YOUR WAY NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO. Sometimes they will just magnetize to you for no reason and you can't get them off! It also doesn't help that almost every time during combat, they'll always be in the way of an enemy and not even shoot at it, so not only is it hard to hit enemies because your teammates are in front of them, but they're fucking inept because they barely shoot their weapons at them most of the time so you have to do all the babysitting and heavy lifting. It makes these great characters with fun personalities aggravating to be around unfortunately.
Also, the sound mixing is terrible at points. Gunfire and Music drown out the characters dialogue at multiple points during the game which makes it impossible to understand anything they are saying. Thankfully subtitles are always on so there is no need to worry about missing anything important, but it sucks because the voice acting in general is great and you want to listen to what characters are saying.
All in all, it ends up being a very lacking experience. It's a weird game because the story, characters and voice acting are genuinely awesome but they're in a game that's bogged down by boring gameplay, horrible AI both friendly and enemy, terrible sound mixing and non consequential writing that if done differently could have made the story even more compelling. Don't get me started again on the god damn Photon Torpedo launcher. It's a very, VERY mixed bag that I can only say play once if you are really curious about it. I probably wouldn't play it again but I hope the sequel will be a massive improvement towards it's AI and Gameplay. The game also took me around 5.5 Hours to beat, so it's a standard time to be an FPS Game for me. Still, there is no denying that there are many great things going for Elite Force despite it's faults which makes it a pretty interesting experience.
PROS:
-A Compelling and Immersive Story that engages the player
-A Fantastic Cast of Characters who have colorful personalities that you want to root for
-A Great Voice Cast that does an excellent job with the voice acting
-Very Good FMV Cutscenes for the time despite mostly being filler
-The Graphics convey classic Star Trek very well with fantastical creature designs that are interesting
-The Stealth Mission is by far the best level in the game
NEUTRALS:
-Some Story Moments felt off despite it being strong overall, but that might just be me
CONS:
-Terrible Friendly AI that always gets in the way during battle
-Non Consequential Writing that feels like total wasted potential
-The Gunplay is boring, unexciting, dull and redundant
-The Photon Torpedo Launcher. What The Hell Even is this stupid thing?
-Terrible Sound Mixing at points that drown out dialogue with gunfire and music
-The Enemy AI is equally as dumb constantly running and teleporting into you with no thought at all
FINAL VERDICT: Despite a fantastic story, cast of characters and convincing and good voice acting, Elite Force never manages to reach it's fullest potential due to clumsy AI, generic and boring gunplay and decisions that hamper the experience overall.
6 Yrs♥$✓#
TheAutisticGamer6 Yrs♥$✓#
What I've Been Playing:
This is yet another Boomer Shooter I've been eyeing for quite some time but was hesitant to try it out mainly because I thought it would be another dreadful game that got the formula wrong. This game is basically a full blown parody of Goldeneye 64 but there is a catch. It's Funny as Fuck. I was shocked when I started playing this game how much I was laughing. The voice acting is so cheesy and terrible in the best way possible that it borders on being so bad it's good. The guy playing the parody of James Bond is hilarious, spouting some of the dumbest, douchiest one liners and double entendres imaginable. I couldn't stop laughing during the first 25 minutes of this game and as fan of the 007 Films I knew this game would be for me.
It's a rather easy game despite there only being two options of difficulty, Normal and Hard. There are different side objectives to complete but thankfully unlike Goldeneye 64 only the main objective is necessary to complete the levels. It's also rather short from what I understand and I pretty much have played half the levels already since they only last for a couple minutes each, but I'll definitely be doing a review of this in the coming days as this is a hilarious game with a fun retro style and some of the cheesiest most hilarious voice acting and dialogue imaginable. I can definitely recommend the game as of now but again, we'll see if anything changes.
This is yet another Boomer Shooter I've been eyeing for quite some time but was hesitant to try it out mainly because I thought it would be another dreadful game that got the formula wrong. This game is basically a full blown parody of Goldeneye 64 but there is a catch. It's Funny as Fuck. I was shocked when I started playing this game how much I was laughing. The voice acting is so cheesy and terrible in the best way possible that it borders on being so bad it's good. The guy playing the parody of James Bond is hilarious, spouting some of the dumbest, douchiest one liners and double entendres imaginable. I couldn't stop laughing during the first 25 minutes of this game and as fan of the 007 Films I knew this game would be for me.
It's a rather easy game despite there only being two options of difficulty, Normal and Hard. There are different side objectives to complete but thankfully unlike Goldeneye 64 only the main objective is necessary to complete the levels. It's also rather short from what I understand and I pretty much have played half the levels already since they only last for a couple minutes each, but I'll definitely be doing a review of this in the coming days as this is a hilarious game with a fun retro style and some of the cheesiest most hilarious voice acting and dialogue imaginable. I can definitely recommend the game as of now but again, we'll see if anything changes.
6 Yrs♥$✓#
TheAutisticGamer6 Yrs♥$✓#
Game Complete!
The Spy Who Shot Me
System: PC
Developer: Retro Army Limited
Publisher: paulstephendavis
Genre: FPS, Boomer Shooter, Comedy
Rating: 8/10
For those unaware, I've been marathoning the 007 Saga of films since July or August of last year, and I have two more films left on that list (The World is Not Enough and Die Another Day) before I finally complete this long haul through the series. I absolutely adore James Bond and the franchise is one of my favorites, with three of the 25 films made being in my favorite films of all time. Of course, I've dabbled in many Bond Games before such as Goldeneye, The World is Not Enough 64, 007 Legends, Quantum of Solace and From Russia With Love, which started my love for one of the best Bond films ever. But since 007 Legends the series has become dormant until now with a new game being developed by the makers of Hitman. However, we're not talking about that today. We're talking about a love letter to James Bond and the spy film craze of the 1960's as a whole, a game that came out right around the time DUSK did but went far under the radar. That game is The Spy Who Shot Me, a rather fun and hilarious parody of James Bond as a whole.
To begin with, The Spy Who Shot Me is obviously inspired by Goldeneye 64, but there are some big improvements to that game that are here in this one. In Goldeneye, there were no health pickups, only armor pickups, meaning hard levels would have to be done entirely in one go or else it's back to the start. The Spy Who Shot Me knows that would be extremely annoying, so instead they offer Health Pickups despite there not being armor. You don't have to worry about dying much in the FPS Sections of the game since the enemy AI is quite predictable and it will mostly be your fault if you're in the open when a bunch of enemies start shooting at you.
Another great thing this game has over Goldeneye is that in that game, you would have to complete literally every single objective depending on what difficulty you were on. This would already be annoying if you left the level and missed something causing you to fail, but if you mess up, the game would say the mission has failed and you would have to quit out and restart. The Spy Who Shot Me, again, doesn't do that. Instead, the only failure in this game is the player dying. There are side objectives that lengthen this already short game, but they're not required to beat the level. Instead, you can just do the main objective every single time which is nice and doesn't stress the player out and punish them if they missed anything significant.
So with that out of the way, I should talk about the premise. The game is heavily inspired by the Sean Connery/George Lazenby Era of James Bond from 1962-1971. The game has you playing Agent 7 (Clever huh?) for the British Secret Service. This smug, douchey, full of himself spy who is absolutely hilarious to listen to throughout the game. The main story is rather short and can be beaten in about 2 or so hours, maybe even in one sitting. But the game mostly revolves around capturing nuclear devices and finding a traitor in the agency. You know, classic spy stuff. The story also adds in a father figure/uncle to the main character who has thought to have been killed but *GASP!* he was the traitor all along! There are plenty of carbon copies of characters. We have the Bond Girl obviously inspired by Honey Ryder from Dr. No, we have the M stand in named Mother, we have also have a Q Stand In named Smithers and a 006/Alec Trevelyan named 6, but he doesn't end up backstabbing you like 006 did, although the father figure/uncle Agent 1 is basically the Alec Trevelyan character in terms of character arc except he doesn't die. And yes, there is a Spectre stand in called S.C.U.M and they even have a white cat!
The first thing I need to point out is that this game is hilarious. I laughed so hard in the first 20 minutes due to how much they were taking the shit out of Connery and Lazenby's Bond, with some of the corniest and most awful one liners imaginable. It also helps that the voice acting throughout is god damn cheesy and terrible in the best way possible, almost like they're parodying what to expect from an old school shooter/Boomer Shooter. It makes the game really funny, although you kind of mellow down when the plot kind of gets going and you're mostly focused on the gameplay, which is a super arcadey and simplistic version of Goldeneye. It doesn't copy the controls of Goldeneye, you'll just have to wait for Agent 64: Spies Never Die to get the true Goldeneye Purist experience, but the gunplay is executed very well with a couple of fun weapons like your pistol, magnum, shotgun, rifle, grenade launcher and machine gun. Plus you have grenades you can throw if you're not using the Grenade Launcher on your shotgun.
It makes for a very fun experience overall and the graphics help this as well. The visuals are extremely charming mimicking a PS1 game. It makes some of the more ridiculous parts even funnier. There are plenty of moments in the game that make you feel like a total badass. Shooting explosive barrels as enemies blow up from them and shooting chandeliers that drop on many enemies make the game super enjoyable since there are always interesting moments where you feel empowered as a 007 like spy. There are also a couple of hub worlds throughout the game, but mostly you'll be going back to your base to check in on Smithers with his useless gadgets and be informed by Mother what mission you're on next. The hub worlds can also let you replay levels to get the full marks for completing everything, so that's nice, but those are so far and few inbetween that a menu outside the game like Goldeneye would have been more intuitive then waiting to complete a bunch of levels and then replay previous ones after. The music is also very goofy, with the same music cue being played over and over again making scenes way funnier than they already are.
Is there any problems with the game? Maybe one or two. There are minigames but most of them are atrocious and not worth your time. You can find them in the hub worlds but trust me, don't do them. They're a waste of time. But the thing that really frustrates me are the driving/on rails sections the game throws at you. The game has these moments where you're on rails and you have to get to a certain destination before the time runs out. I'm not sure why they have these countdown timers that make you rush to finish the levels but I think it's a bit unnecessary. However, the driving/on rails parts are shit. The ones where you're on foot on rails aren't too bad as they only take a couple tries before you really get it. However, anything that requires driving or being on something is terrible.
There is a boat level where you have to drive around hitting circles that get you further into the game, which is a standard thing in this game, but the driving is hideous. You can't fully stop your vehicle. Instead, pushing back drives you backwards which is something you don't want to do. It doesn't help that all these vehicle levels have some of the most slipperiest controls imaginable where you crash into literally everything even if you force push the WASD keys in the direction you want to go. But the downhill Skiiing section is fucking abysmal. You cannot slow down and stop. Instead, the game wants you to rush through it because there is a timer that counts down but it's unintuitive due to the slippery controls that make you crash into everything and get killed. Even things that should kill you get you killed.
It also doesn't help that while Agent 7 is hilarious most of the time, there is no denying that this is another one of those games where the character repeats the same one liners sometimes. It's worse when you die because he'll say the beginning level quote over and over again every time you respawn, even when you're at a checkpoint and that shouldn't happen. It becomes annoying especially in that god damn skiing level. Still, the good news is that these moments are very few, so that's good news.
Still, there is no denying that this game is a ton of fun despite it's short length and the developers did a fine job at making a hilarious parody of 007. It's rather cheap to buy on Steam and I would fully recommend you try it out especially if you love James Bond. It's a great love letter despite a couple of missteps along the way and it's absolutely worth your time to play this game. You'll laugh really hard and will smile throughout. I'm so glad I finally got to play this. I was dreading this was going to be terrible but it's definitely one of the better boomer shooters I've played as the formula here works really well.
PROS:
-A Hilarious Love Letter to James Bond with plenty of laugh out loud moments
-The voice acting is cheesy and terrible in the best way possible making the comedy even funnier
-The Graphics are extremely charming with it's PS1 aesthetic
-The gunplay is a lot of fun and there are a good amount of weapons that are a blast to use
-Plenty of moments where you feel like an awesome spy in combat
-A Fun if Simple Story homaging classic Spy Film Tropes
-Some Big Improvements from the games it was inspired by
-Goofy Music also makes scenes funnier than they already are
CONS:
-Terrible Minigames that are a complete waste of time
-Awful Driving/On Rails sections with horrid slippery controls
-Pointless Countdown Timers that make players rush to the end of a level for no reason at all
-Redundant Reused Voice Lines from our main character
FINAL VERDICT: The Spy Who Shot Me offers some great nostalgic thrills and is a fun and laugh out loud love letter to James Bond and the spy film genre of the 60's despite some questionable choices.
The Spy Who Shot Me
System: PC
Developer: Retro Army Limited
Publisher: paulstephendavis
Genre: FPS, Boomer Shooter, Comedy
Rating: 8/10
For those unaware, I've been marathoning the 007 Saga of films since July or August of last year, and I have two more films left on that list (The World is Not Enough and Die Another Day) before I finally complete this long haul through the series. I absolutely adore James Bond and the franchise is one of my favorites, with three of the 25 films made being in my favorite films of all time. Of course, I've dabbled in many Bond Games before such as Goldeneye, The World is Not Enough 64, 007 Legends, Quantum of Solace and From Russia With Love, which started my love for one of the best Bond films ever. But since 007 Legends the series has become dormant until now with a new game being developed by the makers of Hitman. However, we're not talking about that today. We're talking about a love letter to James Bond and the spy film craze of the 1960's as a whole, a game that came out right around the time DUSK did but went far under the radar. That game is The Spy Who Shot Me, a rather fun and hilarious parody of James Bond as a whole.
To begin with, The Spy Who Shot Me is obviously inspired by Goldeneye 64, but there are some big improvements to that game that are here in this one. In Goldeneye, there were no health pickups, only armor pickups, meaning hard levels would have to be done entirely in one go or else it's back to the start. The Spy Who Shot Me knows that would be extremely annoying, so instead they offer Health Pickups despite there not being armor. You don't have to worry about dying much in the FPS Sections of the game since the enemy AI is quite predictable and it will mostly be your fault if you're in the open when a bunch of enemies start shooting at you.
Another great thing this game has over Goldeneye is that in that game, you would have to complete literally every single objective depending on what difficulty you were on. This would already be annoying if you left the level and missed something causing you to fail, but if you mess up, the game would say the mission has failed and you would have to quit out and restart. The Spy Who Shot Me, again, doesn't do that. Instead, the only failure in this game is the player dying. There are side objectives that lengthen this already short game, but they're not required to beat the level. Instead, you can just do the main objective every single time which is nice and doesn't stress the player out and punish them if they missed anything significant.
So with that out of the way, I should talk about the premise. The game is heavily inspired by the Sean Connery/George Lazenby Era of James Bond from 1962-1971. The game has you playing Agent 7 (Clever huh?) for the British Secret Service. This smug, douchey, full of himself spy who is absolutely hilarious to listen to throughout the game. The main story is rather short and can be beaten in about 2 or so hours, maybe even in one sitting. But the game mostly revolves around capturing nuclear devices and finding a traitor in the agency. You know, classic spy stuff. The story also adds in a father figure/uncle to the main character who has thought to have been killed but *GASP!* he was the traitor all along! There are plenty of carbon copies of characters. We have the Bond Girl obviously inspired by Honey Ryder from Dr. No, we have the M stand in named Mother, we have also have a Q Stand In named Smithers and a 006/Alec Trevelyan named 6, but he doesn't end up backstabbing you like 006 did, although the father figure/uncle Agent 1 is basically the Alec Trevelyan character in terms of character arc except he doesn't die. And yes, there is a Spectre stand in called S.C.U.M and they even have a white cat!
The first thing I need to point out is that this game is hilarious. I laughed so hard in the first 20 minutes due to how much they were taking the shit out of Connery and Lazenby's Bond, with some of the corniest and most awful one liners imaginable. It also helps that the voice acting throughout is god damn cheesy and terrible in the best way possible, almost like they're parodying what to expect from an old school shooter/Boomer Shooter. It makes the game really funny, although you kind of mellow down when the plot kind of gets going and you're mostly focused on the gameplay, which is a super arcadey and simplistic version of Goldeneye. It doesn't copy the controls of Goldeneye, you'll just have to wait for Agent 64: Spies Never Die to get the true Goldeneye Purist experience, but the gunplay is executed very well with a couple of fun weapons like your pistol, magnum, shotgun, rifle, grenade launcher and machine gun. Plus you have grenades you can throw if you're not using the Grenade Launcher on your shotgun.
It makes for a very fun experience overall and the graphics help this as well. The visuals are extremely charming mimicking a PS1 game. It makes some of the more ridiculous parts even funnier. There are plenty of moments in the game that make you feel like a total badass. Shooting explosive barrels as enemies blow up from them and shooting chandeliers that drop on many enemies make the game super enjoyable since there are always interesting moments where you feel empowered as a 007 like spy. There are also a couple of hub worlds throughout the game, but mostly you'll be going back to your base to check in on Smithers with his useless gadgets and be informed by Mother what mission you're on next. The hub worlds can also let you replay levels to get the full marks for completing everything, so that's nice, but those are so far and few inbetween that a menu outside the game like Goldeneye would have been more intuitive then waiting to complete a bunch of levels and then replay previous ones after. The music is also very goofy, with the same music cue being played over and over again making scenes way funnier than they already are.
Is there any problems with the game? Maybe one or two. There are minigames but most of them are atrocious and not worth your time. You can find them in the hub worlds but trust me, don't do them. They're a waste of time. But the thing that really frustrates me are the driving/on rails sections the game throws at you. The game has these moments where you're on rails and you have to get to a certain destination before the time runs out. I'm not sure why they have these countdown timers that make you rush to finish the levels but I think it's a bit unnecessary. However, the driving/on rails parts are shit. The ones where you're on foot on rails aren't too bad as they only take a couple tries before you really get it. However, anything that requires driving or being on something is terrible.
There is a boat level where you have to drive around hitting circles that get you further into the game, which is a standard thing in this game, but the driving is hideous. You can't fully stop your vehicle. Instead, pushing back drives you backwards which is something you don't want to do. It doesn't help that all these vehicle levels have some of the most slipperiest controls imaginable where you crash into literally everything even if you force push the WASD keys in the direction you want to go. But the downhill Skiiing section is fucking abysmal. You cannot slow down and stop. Instead, the game wants you to rush through it because there is a timer that counts down but it's unintuitive due to the slippery controls that make you crash into everything and get killed. Even things that should kill you get you killed.
It also doesn't help that while Agent 7 is hilarious most of the time, there is no denying that this is another one of those games where the character repeats the same one liners sometimes. It's worse when you die because he'll say the beginning level quote over and over again every time you respawn, even when you're at a checkpoint and that shouldn't happen. It becomes annoying especially in that god damn skiing level. Still, the good news is that these moments are very few, so that's good news.
Still, there is no denying that this game is a ton of fun despite it's short length and the developers did a fine job at making a hilarious parody of 007. It's rather cheap to buy on Steam and I would fully recommend you try it out especially if you love James Bond. It's a great love letter despite a couple of missteps along the way and it's absolutely worth your time to play this game. You'll laugh really hard and will smile throughout. I'm so glad I finally got to play this. I was dreading this was going to be terrible but it's definitely one of the better boomer shooters I've played as the formula here works really well.
PROS:
-A Hilarious Love Letter to James Bond with plenty of laugh out loud moments
-The voice acting is cheesy and terrible in the best way possible making the comedy even funnier
-The Graphics are extremely charming with it's PS1 aesthetic
-The gunplay is a lot of fun and there are a good amount of weapons that are a blast to use
-Plenty of moments where you feel like an awesome spy in combat
-A Fun if Simple Story homaging classic Spy Film Tropes
-Some Big Improvements from the games it was inspired by
-Goofy Music also makes scenes funnier than they already are
CONS:
-Terrible Minigames that are a complete waste of time
-Awful Driving/On Rails sections with horrid slippery controls
-Pointless Countdown Timers that make players rush to the end of a level for no reason at all
-Redundant Reused Voice Lines from our main character
FINAL VERDICT: The Spy Who Shot Me offers some great nostalgic thrills and is a fun and laugh out loud love letter to James Bond and the spy film genre of the 60's despite some questionable choices.
6 Yrs♥$✓#
TheAutisticGamer6 Yrs♥$✓#
What I've Been Playing:
You wouldn't believe how fast I clicked play when this thing got done downloading. It was probably like half a second after it completed installing. So here we are! A New Serious Sam Game that I've been waiting for since a couple weeks ago. This one is developed by a new team at Timelock Studios (A New Studio Related to more Serious Sam content?) and is essentially similar to another Serious Sam expansion, Jewel of the Nile. It's a midquel that takes place right after the 14th Level in Serious Sam 4 "The Package" focusing on Sam's journey to get to Tunguska with a little help from some Russian Friends. Now I was super excited to start playing this but first impressions were... underwhelming. Sam's dialogue and one liners were not that great not to mention most of his one liners are during combat which is drowned out by snarling enemies and gunfire meaning I had to put on subtitles when I got to Level 2. I also didn't understand why Sam would just desert his weapons from The Package level even though he has a good amount, or why the S.A.M Upgrade system is now empty despite Sam collecting them throughout SS4. To be honest, I thought as I continued playing this it might be the worst Sam Game considering this is by a new studio with Croteam overlooking them. Also, why are the developers focusing on a part of the game that didn't need to be explained? Sam goes to Tunguska and essentially defeats General Brand and the new Ugh-Zan boss. Nothing more nothing less.
HOWEVER, The game definitely gets better as you go along so far. The One Liners become way funnier, the new enemies are a nice addition, there are some interesting puzzles added into the mix, the visuals in some of the stages where it's freezing cold look incredible by Croteam's standards, not to mention you get a CHAINSAW WIELDING MECH which is absolutely awesome. Hopefully these assets will be added into Serious Sam 4's base game for use in the workshop, but I'm not entirely sure if it will at the moment. And again, the gunplay is still the best in the entire series.
The game is only 5 Levels long from what I read and I'm already on the third level after playing for a little over an hour, so it should be done in another sitting or two. I'll be covering this in a full review later on so check that out soon!
You wouldn't believe how fast I clicked play when this thing got done downloading. It was probably like half a second after it completed installing. So here we are! A New Serious Sam Game that I've been waiting for since a couple weeks ago. This one is developed by a new team at Timelock Studios (A New Studio Related to more Serious Sam content?) and is essentially similar to another Serious Sam expansion, Jewel of the Nile. It's a midquel that takes place right after the 14th Level in Serious Sam 4 "The Package" focusing on Sam's journey to get to Tunguska with a little help from some Russian Friends. Now I was super excited to start playing this but first impressions were... underwhelming. Sam's dialogue and one liners were not that great not to mention most of his one liners are during combat which is drowned out by snarling enemies and gunfire meaning I had to put on subtitles when I got to Level 2. I also didn't understand why Sam would just desert his weapons from The Package level even though he has a good amount, or why the S.A.M Upgrade system is now empty despite Sam collecting them throughout SS4. To be honest, I thought as I continued playing this it might be the worst Sam Game considering this is by a new studio with Croteam overlooking them. Also, why are the developers focusing on a part of the game that didn't need to be explained? Sam goes to Tunguska and essentially defeats General Brand and the new Ugh-Zan boss. Nothing more nothing less.
HOWEVER, The game definitely gets better as you go along so far. The One Liners become way funnier, the new enemies are a nice addition, there are some interesting puzzles added into the mix, the visuals in some of the stages where it's freezing cold look incredible by Croteam's standards, not to mention you get a CHAINSAW WIELDING MECH which is absolutely awesome. Hopefully these assets will be added into Serious Sam 4's base game for use in the workshop, but I'm not entirely sure if it will at the moment. And again, the gunplay is still the best in the entire series.
The game is only 5 Levels long from what I read and I'm already on the third level after playing for a little over an hour, so it should be done in another sitting or two. I'll be covering this in a full review later on so check that out soon!
6 Yrs♥$✓#
TheAutisticGamer6 Yrs♥$✓#
What I've Been Playing:
So I'm still continuing Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem after a couple day break from it and I'm about 3 Hours into the game so far, which is surprising considering that this is a standalone expansion to Serious Sam 4, but they have lots of content here over these 5 Levels. I'll give you a quick rundown on where I'm at. I'm on the 4th Level right now and I've just met up with Ledov's group and now we're supposed to take a train out of here I guess? Unfortunately Ledov is by far the worst character introduced in this entire series. You can complain as much as you like about the dumb set up punchline characters in Serious Sam 2, but holy crap do I hate him. This guy is not only forgettable but he is a fucking asshole as well, constantly using the dumb gruff meathead of his group as a punching bag and being really vicious to him. I just loath being with him and his forgettable group of characters and hopefully I won't have to deal with him much longer. To say the least, it's very clear now that Siberian Mayhem is heavily inspired by Half-Life 2 especially that game's driving section where you drive across the country, although a lot of it is on foot. It's a lot of fun to explore the levels especially to find side quests. One of the best by far is Sam going into a bunker to discover what's in it and you have to fight two giant Ice Gnaars which is insane.
However, the game just keeps escalating with it's gunplay. Because the newest weapon I got is a straight up masterpiece of weaponry:
The Ray Gun is this game's Laser Rifle, but FUCK does it slap. It obliterates basically anything on screen and it's by far the best weapon I've come across in the game so far. I'm just loving it and you even get to use a drivable tank in this game which is insane as well. So overall I'm loving it despite my problems with the cast of characters presented here. I'll hopefully complete it on my next sitting and if not that, the sitting after that.
Anyways, here are some other games I'm going through at the moment:
Finally, I am attempting to finally complete Yakuza Kiwami. I had to stop as when I was playing on PC the game just started to break because I couldn't open up the map anymore, which is a hugely important thing you need to use at points. So my progress was essentially destroyed because of this. So now after a couple months I'm going back to the game on PS5 and finally getting through it. I'm probably going to be on Chapter 3 soon, the one where Kiryu attends Chairman Sera's funeral and has to meet up with Kazama while avoiding detection from the other family members. I've played about two or so hours so far tonight and I'll be playing much more later this month. I'll need to pay attention to the game and story again and take major notes during the playthrough, but for now it's smooth sailing and I got my first Majima Encounter done so hopefully I can progress through the Majima Everywhere part of the game further than I did before.
This started out as just a game I wanted to play with my sister and now it's probably going to be it's own separate playthrough when I'm not playing this with her. I like LEGO Games fine but I don't play them often. I don't mind that they have the same "Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It." formula for most of them as that type of gameplay does work for this series. But because my LEGO Skywalker Saga hype was getting higher I decided to go and play this one myself in anticipation for the newest game. What can I say but DAMN, I'm having a blast with this one. It's not only super hilarious at points but there are some great new ideas for this game. The multi build system is a great new addition to the formula and I hope later LEGO Games are going to use it when I eventually get to them. I'm also a huge fan of the combat despite it being mostly samey from the other games, but the cover shooting sections are really fun and I absolutely love using the weapons here. I'm having a blast so far and I'm hoping to play more this month.
That's all for now! Catch you guys later.
So I'm still continuing Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem after a couple day break from it and I'm about 3 Hours into the game so far, which is surprising considering that this is a standalone expansion to Serious Sam 4, but they have lots of content here over these 5 Levels. I'll give you a quick rundown on where I'm at. I'm on the 4th Level right now and I've just met up with Ledov's group and now we're supposed to take a train out of here I guess? Unfortunately Ledov is by far the worst character introduced in this entire series. You can complain as much as you like about the dumb set up punchline characters in Serious Sam 2, but holy crap do I hate him. This guy is not only forgettable but he is a fucking asshole as well, constantly using the dumb gruff meathead of his group as a punching bag and being really vicious to him. I just loath being with him and his forgettable group of characters and hopefully I won't have to deal with him much longer. To say the least, it's very clear now that Siberian Mayhem is heavily inspired by Half-Life 2 especially that game's driving section where you drive across the country, although a lot of it is on foot. It's a lot of fun to explore the levels especially to find side quests. One of the best by far is Sam going into a bunker to discover what's in it and you have to fight two giant Ice Gnaars which is insane.
However, the game just keeps escalating with it's gunplay. Because the newest weapon I got is a straight up masterpiece of weaponry:
The Ray Gun is this game's Laser Rifle, but FUCK does it slap. It obliterates basically anything on screen and it's by far the best weapon I've come across in the game so far. I'm just loving it and you even get to use a drivable tank in this game which is insane as well. So overall I'm loving it despite my problems with the cast of characters presented here. I'll hopefully complete it on my next sitting and if not that, the sitting after that.
Anyways, here are some other games I'm going through at the moment:
Finally, I am attempting to finally complete Yakuza Kiwami. I had to stop as when I was playing on PC the game just started to break because I couldn't open up the map anymore, which is a hugely important thing you need to use at points. So my progress was essentially destroyed because of this. So now after a couple months I'm going back to the game on PS5 and finally getting through it. I'm probably going to be on Chapter 3 soon, the one where Kiryu attends Chairman Sera's funeral and has to meet up with Kazama while avoiding detection from the other family members. I've played about two or so hours so far tonight and I'll be playing much more later this month. I'll need to pay attention to the game and story again and take major notes during the playthrough, but for now it's smooth sailing and I got my first Majima Encounter done so hopefully I can progress through the Majima Everywhere part of the game further than I did before.
This started out as just a game I wanted to play with my sister and now it's probably going to be it's own separate playthrough when I'm not playing this with her. I like LEGO Games fine but I don't play them often. I don't mind that they have the same "Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It." formula for most of them as that type of gameplay does work for this series. But because my LEGO Skywalker Saga hype was getting higher I decided to go and play this one myself in anticipation for the newest game. What can I say but DAMN, I'm having a blast with this one. It's not only super hilarious at points but there are some great new ideas for this game. The multi build system is a great new addition to the formula and I hope later LEGO Games are going to use it when I eventually get to them. I'm also a huge fan of the combat despite it being mostly samey from the other games, but the cover shooting sections are really fun and I absolutely love using the weapons here. I'm having a blast so far and I'm hoping to play more this month.
That's all for now! Catch you guys later.
3 Yrs✓#
Skyhler
3 Yrs✓#
Currently playing through Yakuza 0 and I intend to marathon the entire Kiryu saga. Really looking forward to it, good to hear you're getting through this game. Who knows, I may even catch up to you :P
6 Yrs♥$✓#
TheAutisticGamer6 Yrs♥$✓#
I'll be taking breaks between playing every Yakuza game as they are kind of long. So far, my friend is currently two games ahead of me and I think just beat Yakuza 3. 0 took him over 100 Hours to beat since that game is jam packed with side content but 3 might actually be the shortest he's played so far despite him doing many of the sub stories. You'll probably be further into the series than I am considering you're marathoning it but after Kiwami I'll probably be playing Kiwami 2 this year as well but not until much later. Hopefully you are enjoying Yakuza 0! It's honestly one of the best games I've ever played and the twists and turns kept me in audible shock throughout the entire game.
6 Yrs♥$✓#
TheAutisticGamer6 Yrs♥$✓#
Game Complete!
Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem
System: PC
Developer: Timelock Studio, Croteam
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Genre: FPS, Old School Shooter, Horde Shooter, Expansion Pack/DLC
Rating: 10/10
This review is gonna be a long one folks. So strap yourselves in, because this review is going to be me literally gushing about this game as expected. So lets get started!
As you guys all know on this site, I'm a die hard Serious Sam fan. I'm one of the few Hardcore North American fans who absolutely eat up this series of games. I've spent 500 or so hours replaying this series back to front and it never gets old. I love John J. Dick's witty portrayal of Sam, a wise cracking one liner and pun spouting action hero who is hilarious to listen to, fighting off thousands of enemies in hopeless situations and overcoming impossible odds, the epic music Damjan Mravunac composes for this entire series, the classic and iconic enemies, it all makes for a highly enjoyable series. Even the weakest mainline games still offer lots of fun with it's humor. Two years ago, I gave Serious Sam 4 a 10/10. It wasn't a perfect game as it included long stretches of overdone villain monologues that were absolutely pretentious and the side quests lacked enemies to fight once you were on your way back from a fetch quest, but the gameplay, graphics, characters and level design made for what I consider the best Sam game yet. I thought we wouldn't get another Sam game in another 5-7 years, but here we are!
Timelock Studio, a new studio who I'm assuming is going to make more Serious Sam content considering their name is a reference to the classic Sam games, has provided not only what I think will be one of my favorite gaming experiences of 2022, but IN ALL HONESTY, I'M NOT LYING, THE *BEST* SAM GAME EVER MADE. YES. Even outdoing Serious Sam 4, this might be the greatest achievement the series has ever had, it mixes Serious Sam 4's style of gameplay and progression with the nostalgia of the classic TFE and TSE games making for one of the most unforgettable experiences I'll be playing all year. So, without further ado, lets get into this and explain why this is the best Sam game yet.
On another note, this will contain MAJOR SPOILERS to the story and gameplay elements which will be hidden. Read them at your own caution if you haven't played it yet!
Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem begins as you think it would. It's a midquel to Serious Sam 4, taking place after the 14th Level, The Package where Sam heads to Tunguska to join the battle and fight General Brand who has betrayed them and turned himself into a big buff alien. The game has Sam landing on Russian soil as he scavenges the place looking for help to get to Tunguska. The game starts off simply although my first reactions were not as positive as I thought they would be. For one, I'll bring out one of the biggest negatives and a downgrade in terms of Serious Sam 4. The sound mixing is absolutely terrible in this game. While you could hear battle banter and Sam's one liners fine in Serious Sam 4, the game is so loud that it drowns out the dialogue with music and gunfire constantly. I had to turn on subtitles to even understand what Sam was saying, but after that it was mostly fine despite my continuing problems with it.
I had minor issues with the game at first, but all those issues seemed to dissipate as I continued playing throughout my 4 Hour First Playthrough of the game. So lets get into the nitty gritty. Siberian Mayhem looks amazing at points considering Croteam is mostly a mid-budget studio. But Timelock somehow manages to make some visually impressive moments in the entire game. The beginning has a blizzard that has some incredible effects as snow constantly is blown into the wind which is pretty shocking how good it is considering who we're dealing with. There are many interesting locations in the game and I'm going to say it right now, the developers were seriously in love with Half-Life 2 when they made this game. There are constant points throughout the levels where you walk along barren wastes of land seeing abandoned towns or houses. It is obviously inspired by Half-Life 2's driving sections, but I think Timelock and Croteam have done a much better job when compared to Valve's classic game. In Half-Life 2, I found the airboat level to be rather unenjoyable, but throughout Siberian Mayhem I wanted to continue exploring the entire landscape of Russia. It made for some seriously great moments and a lot of fantastic side quests.
And another thing I have to mention here is that Siberian Mayhem's side quests absolutely outdo the ones in Serious Sam 4. Sure, you got to meet a lot of funny or quirky characters in Serious Sam 4's side quests, including a Southern Lesbian Couple, A Mad Scientist Who Hates Worms, A Rebel Fighter who wants you to sign his gun, but that game also had the problem of not having any enemies to fight on your way back. Siberian Mayhem fixes these issues by doing two things. 1. They end up giving you tons of enemies to fight back so you're not bored. 2. They give you shortcuts to get back onto the main path really quickly so that problem doesn't occur. This is smart, intelligent level design boasted by the fact that there are so many moments that continue to humanize Sam as a character throughout. I really want to talk about Sam as a character and the story, but that will have to wait for a bit. But to put it lightly, the side quests here are incredibly powerful at points and refrain from making jokes at the wrong moment.
The music is again composed by Damjan Mravunac tagging along with another guy in the mix (I forgot his name) and the music here is exquisite and excellent. There are even throwback tracks from The First Encounter which took me by surprise and many of the battle tracks are exciting as ever. But lets talk about Serious Sam's main bread and butter. The gunplay. The gunplay is the best the series has ever had. SS4 had it good, but Siberian Mayhem kicks it's ass. It adds three new replacement weapons, an AK-47, A Crossbow that explodes enemies into chunks and a Ray Gun that obliterates all who come in it's wake. Because of these new additions, the gunplay is even more fun especially with a boatload of more enemies to kill, more so than in some parts of SS4. There are plenty of vehicles to try out as well, including A BLOODY CHAINSAW WIELDING MECH and a Serious Tank that are absolutely blasts to use. The gameplay is just great here and I don't have any problems with it.
NOW. FINALLY. Lets talk about the story. MAJOR SPOILERS HERE! BEWARE! The main story is that Sam is trying to get to Tunguska as stated and he meets many people along the way. The first is a character only mentioned in Serious Sam 4 that was thought to have been killed off. One Eyed Olga. You meet her at a church and she gives you the crossbow to use. It's insane how if you were at all paying attention to Bill Corwin's radio broadcasts in that game, you are rewarded with things you would never have expected. But the main characters you will meet are Igor Ledov and his somewhat forgettable team of heroes. To be frank, I didn't like Ledov to begin with. I thought this guy was an asshole and he also dressed like an asshole, so I thought I was going to hate him throughout. He uses the gruff meathead Ivan as a constant punching bag and I thought, this guy sucks. Not to mention that two of his heroes are "Guy" and "Girl" in the most generic sense of the word and their battle banter is generic and cliched as well.
However, things started to change. As mentioned, there are many moments in the game where Sam is humanized. In some side quests, you can feel his disgust and anger at General Brand, and he ends up taking it all out on him in the game's final boss. However, many things happen before this. There is a great moment where they are on a train and Ledov is talking about how even though he was an atheist, he greatly respected Father Mikhail (a character from Serious Sam 4) and misses him. This one moment made me realize something. I was too harsh on this character. There is a human side to him. He is not really an asshole. And that changes during the game's mind blowing and hugely emotional finale. The Gruff Meathead of the group, Ivan is killed by Brand and you see Ledov, who has done nothing but have him as a punching bag, SCREAM IN ABSOLUTE AGONY that his friend has died. There is a sense of regret in his voice and the anger and stress he is in is masterfully portrayed here. Ledov and his group eventually all die in the end leading for Sam to fight Brand in a final boss fight that's short but sweet. These characters, who I felt nothing for at first, actually started to make sense in terms of the story. Brand was right in a way. Sam does keep losing friends despite him fighting valiantly. How much more can it go on for? It makes for some thought provoking stuff.
And to put it mildly, John J. Dick, Sam's voice actor absolutely puts on the best performance of his entire career here. Behind the good natured person who is trying to help people and his witty exterior, inside he is an angry man who has been betrayed by his superiors. You see this in many scenes, but it's clear at the end when Sam lets it all out and defeats Brand, it seems to be all over.
HOWEVER...
Brand is supposed to be killed in Tunguska, not here. Sam kills him with a double shotgun blast to the face. I was like "Wait, what? That shouldn't happen." AND THEN IT HITS US WITH A BIG ONE. There was a huge twist in Serious Sam 4 where a future Sam informs Sam that he is in a different timeline than him, meaning that there are multiple timelines and canons going on at once which made for one of that game's best moments. However, they really push the fact here that there are different canons and timelines as Future Sam and One Eyed Olga step from a portal and tell the Sam in this game that "Things don't end well in this timeline. Killing Brand here doesn't do good." And so, Future Sam and One Eyed Olga take this game's Sam into the portal for another mission. That's right. Serious Sam is now a series involving time travel and multiverse jumping. WOW. You wouldn't believe how insane this ending was. I reacted so loudly to it in shock and awe that it makes the entire game worth it despite it ending on a very somber and gloomy mature note.
Screw it. This game is a 10/10.
Yes, the load times are still atrocious when booting up and loading into a level, Yes, the sound mixing is terrible, Yes, some might see this as a complete filler episode to Serious Sam 4, but underneath all that was the experience of playing it. What we ended up getting here might be the best Sam Game to date. Everything has been improved so much, everything that Croteam has accomplished has lead to this, a new studio taking over and masterfully executing what will surely be a contender for my Game of the Year 2022. YES. This early on. I loved it and adored it and I cannot wait to play it again and again. Hopefully this means more Sam Content from Timelock will be coming in the future as Croteam continues to work on other projects like The Talos Principle 2 and hopefully the Serious Sam 2 Reboot they've mentioned years ago. Siberian Mayhem is the reason I love not only Serious Sam, but why I love FPS Games in general. DON'T MISS IT. You'd be a fool to avoid it if you love FPS Games.
PROS:
-John J. Dick gives the best voice performance of his entire career here
-So many moments of humanizing Sam and developing him as a character that are absolutely enjoyable
-The Finale is Grand, Emotional and Mind Blowing, leaving so much potential awaiting us next
-The Music again by Damjan Mravunac is fantastic.
-The Level Design is superb, with superior side quests compared to Serious Sam 4
-The Best Gunplay and Carnage the series has ever had
-Visually amazing moments that are incredible
-Plenty of Nostalgia Tinted Boss Fights that brings us back to the days of TFE and TSE
-Incredibly Atmospheric and Reminiscent of Half-Life 2 in a good way
-Great Vehicle Sections that are a blast to play
-Rewards the player with characters only mentioned in Serious Sam 4 if they were paying attention
-New Puzzles to break up gameplay which are refreshing
-Still provides some great comedy with hilarious one liners and puns from Sam
CONS:
-The Atrocious Load Times from Serious Sam 4 still haven't been fixed here, leading to 2.5 Minute waits
-Awful Sound Mixing that requires Subtitles to be turned on
FINAL VERDICT: Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem is the best Sam Game to date, and that's a huge accomplishment from a studio other than Croteam, with an excellent story that humanizes our main character greatly, amazing gunplay, awesome music, superior level design and a grand, emotional finale that will blow your mind.
Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem
System: PC
Developer: Timelock Studio, Croteam
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Genre: FPS, Old School Shooter, Horde Shooter, Expansion Pack/DLC
Rating: 10/10
This review is gonna be a long one folks. So strap yourselves in, because this review is going to be me literally gushing about this game as expected. So lets get started!
As you guys all know on this site, I'm a die hard Serious Sam fan. I'm one of the few Hardcore North American fans who absolutely eat up this series of games. I've spent 500 or so hours replaying this series back to front and it never gets old. I love John J. Dick's witty portrayal of Sam, a wise cracking one liner and pun spouting action hero who is hilarious to listen to, fighting off thousands of enemies in hopeless situations and overcoming impossible odds, the epic music Damjan Mravunac composes for this entire series, the classic and iconic enemies, it all makes for a highly enjoyable series. Even the weakest mainline games still offer lots of fun with it's humor. Two years ago, I gave Serious Sam 4 a 10/10. It wasn't a perfect game as it included long stretches of overdone villain monologues that were absolutely pretentious and the side quests lacked enemies to fight once you were on your way back from a fetch quest, but the gameplay, graphics, characters and level design made for what I consider the best Sam game yet. I thought we wouldn't get another Sam game in another 5-7 years, but here we are!
Timelock Studio, a new studio who I'm assuming is going to make more Serious Sam content considering their name is a reference to the classic Sam games, has provided not only what I think will be one of my favorite gaming experiences of 2022, but IN ALL HONESTY, I'M NOT LYING, THE *BEST* SAM GAME EVER MADE. YES. Even outdoing Serious Sam 4, this might be the greatest achievement the series has ever had, it mixes Serious Sam 4's style of gameplay and progression with the nostalgia of the classic TFE and TSE games making for one of the most unforgettable experiences I'll be playing all year. So, without further ado, lets get into this and explain why this is the best Sam game yet.
On another note, this will contain MAJOR SPOILERS to the story and gameplay elements which will be hidden. Read them at your own caution if you haven't played it yet!
Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem begins as you think it would. It's a midquel to Serious Sam 4, taking place after the 14th Level, The Package where Sam heads to Tunguska to join the battle and fight General Brand who has betrayed them and turned himself into a big buff alien. The game has Sam landing on Russian soil as he scavenges the place looking for help to get to Tunguska. The game starts off simply although my first reactions were not as positive as I thought they would be. For one, I'll bring out one of the biggest negatives and a downgrade in terms of Serious Sam 4. The sound mixing is absolutely terrible in this game. While you could hear battle banter and Sam's one liners fine in Serious Sam 4, the game is so loud that it drowns out the dialogue with music and gunfire constantly. I had to turn on subtitles to even understand what Sam was saying, but after that it was mostly fine despite my continuing problems with it.
I had minor issues with the game at first, but all those issues seemed to dissipate as I continued playing throughout my 4 Hour First Playthrough of the game. So lets get into the nitty gritty. Siberian Mayhem looks amazing at points considering Croteam is mostly a mid-budget studio. But Timelock somehow manages to make some visually impressive moments in the entire game. The beginning has a blizzard that has some incredible effects as snow constantly is blown into the wind which is pretty shocking how good it is considering who we're dealing with. There are many interesting locations in the game and I'm going to say it right now, the developers were seriously in love with Half-Life 2 when they made this game. There are constant points throughout the levels where you walk along barren wastes of land seeing abandoned towns or houses. It is obviously inspired by Half-Life 2's driving sections, but I think Timelock and Croteam have done a much better job when compared to Valve's classic game. In Half-Life 2, I found the airboat level to be rather unenjoyable, but throughout Siberian Mayhem I wanted to continue exploring the entire landscape of Russia. It made for some seriously great moments and a lot of fantastic side quests.
And another thing I have to mention here is that Siberian Mayhem's side quests absolutely outdo the ones in Serious Sam 4. Sure, you got to meet a lot of funny or quirky characters in Serious Sam 4's side quests, including a Southern Lesbian Couple, A Mad Scientist Who Hates Worms, A Rebel Fighter who wants you to sign his gun, but that game also had the problem of not having any enemies to fight on your way back. Siberian Mayhem fixes these issues by doing two things. 1. They end up giving you tons of enemies to fight back so you're not bored. 2. They give you shortcuts to get back onto the main path really quickly so that problem doesn't occur. This is smart, intelligent level design boasted by the fact that there are so many moments that continue to humanize Sam as a character throughout. I really want to talk about Sam as a character and the story, but that will have to wait for a bit. But to put it lightly, the side quests here are incredibly powerful at points and refrain from making jokes at the wrong moment.
The music is again composed by Damjan Mravunac tagging along with another guy in the mix (I forgot his name) and the music here is exquisite and excellent. There are even throwback tracks from The First Encounter which took me by surprise and many of the battle tracks are exciting as ever. But lets talk about Serious Sam's main bread and butter. The gunplay. The gunplay is the best the series has ever had. SS4 had it good, but Siberian Mayhem kicks it's ass. It adds three new replacement weapons, an AK-47, A Crossbow that explodes enemies into chunks and a Ray Gun that obliterates all who come in it's wake. Because of these new additions, the gunplay is even more fun especially with a boatload of more enemies to kill, more so than in some parts of SS4. There are plenty of vehicles to try out as well, including A BLOODY CHAINSAW WIELDING MECH and a Serious Tank that are absolutely blasts to use. The gameplay is just great here and I don't have any problems with it.
NOW. FINALLY. Lets talk about the story. MAJOR SPOILERS HERE! BEWARE! The main story is that Sam is trying to get to Tunguska as stated and he meets many people along the way. The first is a character only mentioned in Serious Sam 4 that was thought to have been killed off. One Eyed Olga. You meet her at a church and she gives you the crossbow to use. It's insane how if you were at all paying attention to Bill Corwin's radio broadcasts in that game, you are rewarded with things you would never have expected. But the main characters you will meet are Igor Ledov and his somewhat forgettable team of heroes. To be frank, I didn't like Ledov to begin with. I thought this guy was an asshole and he also dressed like an asshole, so I thought I was going to hate him throughout. He uses the gruff meathead Ivan as a constant punching bag and I thought, this guy sucks. Not to mention that two of his heroes are "Guy" and "Girl" in the most generic sense of the word and their battle banter is generic and cliched as well.
However, things started to change. As mentioned, there are many moments in the game where Sam is humanized. In some side quests, you can feel his disgust and anger at General Brand, and he ends up taking it all out on him in the game's final boss. However, many things happen before this. There is a great moment where they are on a train and Ledov is talking about how even though he was an atheist, he greatly respected Father Mikhail (a character from Serious Sam 4) and misses him. This one moment made me realize something. I was too harsh on this character. There is a human side to him. He is not really an asshole. And that changes during the game's mind blowing and hugely emotional finale. The Gruff Meathead of the group, Ivan is killed by Brand and you see Ledov, who has done nothing but have him as a punching bag, SCREAM IN ABSOLUTE AGONY that his friend has died. There is a sense of regret in his voice and the anger and stress he is in is masterfully portrayed here. Ledov and his group eventually all die in the end leading for Sam to fight Brand in a final boss fight that's short but sweet. These characters, who I felt nothing for at first, actually started to make sense in terms of the story. Brand was right in a way. Sam does keep losing friends despite him fighting valiantly. How much more can it go on for? It makes for some thought provoking stuff.
And to put it mildly, John J. Dick, Sam's voice actor absolutely puts on the best performance of his entire career here. Behind the good natured person who is trying to help people and his witty exterior, inside he is an angry man who has been betrayed by his superiors. You see this in many scenes, but it's clear at the end when Sam lets it all out and defeats Brand, it seems to be all over.
HOWEVER...
Brand is supposed to be killed in Tunguska, not here. Sam kills him with a double shotgun blast to the face. I was like "Wait, what? That shouldn't happen." AND THEN IT HITS US WITH A BIG ONE. There was a huge twist in Serious Sam 4 where a future Sam informs Sam that he is in a different timeline than him, meaning that there are multiple timelines and canons going on at once which made for one of that game's best moments. However, they really push the fact here that there are different canons and timelines as Future Sam and One Eyed Olga step from a portal and tell the Sam in this game that "Things don't end well in this timeline. Killing Brand here doesn't do good." And so, Future Sam and One Eyed Olga take this game's Sam into the portal for another mission. That's right. Serious Sam is now a series involving time travel and multiverse jumping. WOW. You wouldn't believe how insane this ending was. I reacted so loudly to it in shock and awe that it makes the entire game worth it despite it ending on a very somber and gloomy mature note.
Screw it. This game is a 10/10.
Yes, the load times are still atrocious when booting up and loading into a level, Yes, the sound mixing is terrible, Yes, some might see this as a complete filler episode to Serious Sam 4, but underneath all that was the experience of playing it. What we ended up getting here might be the best Sam Game to date. Everything has been improved so much, everything that Croteam has accomplished has lead to this, a new studio taking over and masterfully executing what will surely be a contender for my Game of the Year 2022. YES. This early on. I loved it and adored it and I cannot wait to play it again and again. Hopefully this means more Sam Content from Timelock will be coming in the future as Croteam continues to work on other projects like The Talos Principle 2 and hopefully the Serious Sam 2 Reboot they've mentioned years ago. Siberian Mayhem is the reason I love not only Serious Sam, but why I love FPS Games in general. DON'T MISS IT. You'd be a fool to avoid it if you love FPS Games.
PROS:
-John J. Dick gives the best voice performance of his entire career here
-So many moments of humanizing Sam and developing him as a character that are absolutely enjoyable
-The Finale is Grand, Emotional and Mind Blowing, leaving so much potential awaiting us next
-The Music again by Damjan Mravunac is fantastic.
-The Level Design is superb, with superior side quests compared to Serious Sam 4
-The Best Gunplay and Carnage the series has ever had
-Visually amazing moments that are incredible
-Plenty of Nostalgia Tinted Boss Fights that brings us back to the days of TFE and TSE
-Incredibly Atmospheric and Reminiscent of Half-Life 2 in a good way
-Great Vehicle Sections that are a blast to play
-Rewards the player with characters only mentioned in Serious Sam 4 if they were paying attention
-New Puzzles to break up gameplay which are refreshing
-Still provides some great comedy with hilarious one liners and puns from Sam
CONS:
-The Atrocious Load Times from Serious Sam 4 still haven't been fixed here, leading to 2.5 Minute waits
-Awful Sound Mixing that requires Subtitles to be turned on
FINAL VERDICT: Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem is the best Sam Game to date, and that's a huge accomplishment from a studio other than Croteam, with an excellent story that humanizes our main character greatly, amazing gunplay, awesome music, superior level design and a grand, emotional finale that will blow your mind.
3 Yrs✓#
Skyhler3 Yrs✓#
Oh nice. Yeah some people like to REALLY get into the side-stories and that, but for me I think I'll primarily focus on the main narrative. I'll do a side-story here and there, but my backlog is too immense to allow me to have my attention diverted. I have a feeling that the playthroughs (on average) will be about 40 hours each, so I think they will keep me occupied for a decent amount of time. Of course, if I begin to feel burnt out (which may happen, I mean look at how I felt about the entire Trails series) I'll switch it up with either a shorter game, or a game that refreshes the palette. Yakuza 0 is proving to be really good! I'm only playing it on weekends (although recently it's just one day of the weekend, and one chapter at a time) but it's proving really interesting!
6 Yrs♥$✓#
TheAutisticGamer6 Yrs♥$✓#
What I've Been Playing:
Without a doubt, the first time I played Bioshock, which was about 4 years ago was an experience I still think about every now and then. From the world the developers built, to it's classic characters and immensely shocking twist during the third/fourth quarter of the game, I really REALLY wanted an excuse to play it again. So I decided to get this from Playstation Now and start playing through this game again and what do you know? I'm loving it even more than before. I absolutely love playing with the Plasmids in this game which is something I kind of ignored when I played through it the first time, but holy shit is this game super atmospheric. I was playing with the Pulse 3D Headset for PS5 and my god does the game sound absolutely fantastic which boosts it's already unsettling and creepy atmosphere. It's stunning to say the least. Right now, I just got to Neptune's Bounty and just saved the first two little sisters. I am going for the happy ending again since I can't stand or even think to be bad in video games unless you're playing as a true villain. What can I say? Bioshock is becoming one of my favorite games ever. The only problem here is that the game suffers from audio stuttering issues where character dialogue and words will stutter/loop which can immensely detract from the amazing atmosphere the game builds around you. Hopefully there will be no crashes in general since when this launched on PS4 years ago (at least on Steam with the Remastered version) it had a ton of problems.
But yeah, so far this game rules and I cannot wait to play more of it.
In the meantime, I'll probably continue playing Yakuza Kiwami since I haven't touched it since I first sat down to play it a week or so ago and I need to continue through that. I'll also continue going through LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens with my sister before Skywalker Saga launches and also might finish up Cruis'n Blast, which for some reason doesn't show up in the search bar on HLTB, neither do any of the other Cruis'n games (unless I'm spelling it wrong by accident). I only have half of the the tours left to complete which isn't too much of a task since there are 6 Total.
Without a doubt, the first time I played Bioshock, which was about 4 years ago was an experience I still think about every now and then. From the world the developers built, to it's classic characters and immensely shocking twist during the third/fourth quarter of the game, I really REALLY wanted an excuse to play it again. So I decided to get this from Playstation Now and start playing through this game again and what do you know? I'm loving it even more than before. I absolutely love playing with the Plasmids in this game which is something I kind of ignored when I played through it the first time, but holy shit is this game super atmospheric. I was playing with the Pulse 3D Headset for PS5 and my god does the game sound absolutely fantastic which boosts it's already unsettling and creepy atmosphere. It's stunning to say the least. Right now, I just got to Neptune's Bounty and just saved the first two little sisters. I am going for the happy ending again since I can't stand or even think to be bad in video games unless you're playing as a true villain. What can I say? Bioshock is becoming one of my favorite games ever. The only problem here is that the game suffers from audio stuttering issues where character dialogue and words will stutter/loop which can immensely detract from the amazing atmosphere the game builds around you. Hopefully there will be no crashes in general since when this launched on PS4 years ago (at least on Steam with the Remastered version) it had a ton of problems.
But yeah, so far this game rules and I cannot wait to play more of it.
In the meantime, I'll probably continue playing Yakuza Kiwami since I haven't touched it since I first sat down to play it a week or so ago and I need to continue through that. I'll also continue going through LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens with my sister before Skywalker Saga launches and also might finish up Cruis'n Blast, which for some reason doesn't show up in the search bar on HLTB, neither do any of the other Cruis'n games (unless I'm spelling it wrong by accident). I only have half of the the tours left to complete which isn't too much of a task since there are 6 Total.
6 Yrs♥$✓#
TheAutisticGamer6 Yrs♥$✓#
What I've Been Playing:
So, I haven't really had the motivation to beat any game recently and for good reason. My mom had a health scare back in December where they found developing cancer in her breast and she had surgery just last month and now she has to go for Radiation Treatment and chemotherapy for the next four or so months so my mood and mental health has been going back and forth and back and forth. So updates might be infrequent while this is going on. Right now I'm just trying out different games and just seeing how they first impressions wise. If I do end up beating a game and doing a review, it will be a Quickview, which will be much shorter than my normal reviews as I've done a couple of them recently. Anyways, this is what I've been playing:
This game is so odd because it's unlike any other shooter I've played. For one, it's in a military setting but it's WAY more humorous than any popular modern FPS Franchise I've played. Not even Modern Warfare or old school shooter franchise revivals like Doom 2016 have this much humor in them. There are a couple of good laughs throughout the opening mission and I was pleasantly surprised by the tone they took which was very refreshing. The characters each have a quirk to them, the main character is the fresh new meat of the group, one of them is a demolitions expert who keeps mentioning some kind of Dinosaur vehicle which is funny, ones the level headed guy of the group and the other one talks a lot. So from the very beginning the characters are very fun to be around.
As for the overall feel of the game it's... unique. Lets just say that. For one, the movement feels like there is an anvil attached to your character's back or something because he moves really slow, but because of this it makes the game have this unique feel especially with the gunplay. The controls however are not perfect and some of them are so unintuitive that I'm shocked it actually made it into a game like this. Left Trigger and Left Bumper are for accelerating and reversing your car. WTF? Also, your inventory system isn't perfect and you can only carry one weapon through the entire game but thankfully there is plenty of ammo lying around to grab.
Not to mention I learned something the hard way. In games like Modern Warfare 2, when you get a special weapon/equipment to use for one part of the level, once you use it you don't have to use it anymore and if you need to have it again despite getting rid of it, they have it placed in a spot where you need it again. Bad Company does not do that. I used C4 to destroy artillery and thought I didn't need it anymore so I switched back to my other piece of equipment (you can only carry one because your other is your health boost thing that regenerates) only to discover on my drive to the next part of the map I couldn't destroy an armored vehicle that had perfect auto aim at me because I needed that C4 and the grenade launcher on your gun does jack all. So I had to drive across the map again to get the C4 and drive back, place the C4 on the vehicle and blow it up. This is so fucking unintuitive and a waste of time. If they wanted you to keep it in the first place, why didn't your characters say "Maybe you wanna keep that C4 for later?" or have a text message appear saying you should keep every piece of new equipment you get. It's ridiculous. Then again, I've replayed the main COD Entries from 2005-2011 so much that I couldn't help but think that.
I might continue trying this if my interest keeps up but with my mental health and mood being so all over the place at the moment it might be another game I just completely drop entirely and move onto another thing. We'll see.
So, I haven't really had the motivation to beat any game recently and for good reason. My mom had a health scare back in December where they found developing cancer in her breast and she had surgery just last month and now she has to go for Radiation Treatment and chemotherapy for the next four or so months so my mood and mental health has been going back and forth and back and forth. So updates might be infrequent while this is going on. Right now I'm just trying out different games and just seeing how they first impressions wise. If I do end up beating a game and doing a review, it will be a Quickview, which will be much shorter than my normal reviews as I've done a couple of them recently. Anyways, this is what I've been playing:
This game is so odd because it's unlike any other shooter I've played. For one, it's in a military setting but it's WAY more humorous than any popular modern FPS Franchise I've played. Not even Modern Warfare or old school shooter franchise revivals like Doom 2016 have this much humor in them. There are a couple of good laughs throughout the opening mission and I was pleasantly surprised by the tone they took which was very refreshing. The characters each have a quirk to them, the main character is the fresh new meat of the group, one of them is a demolitions expert who keeps mentioning some kind of Dinosaur vehicle which is funny, ones the level headed guy of the group and the other one talks a lot. So from the very beginning the characters are very fun to be around.
As for the overall feel of the game it's... unique. Lets just say that. For one, the movement feels like there is an anvil attached to your character's back or something because he moves really slow, but because of this it makes the game have this unique feel especially with the gunplay. The controls however are not perfect and some of them are so unintuitive that I'm shocked it actually made it into a game like this. Left Trigger and Left Bumper are for accelerating and reversing your car. WTF? Also, your inventory system isn't perfect and you can only carry one weapon through the entire game but thankfully there is plenty of ammo lying around to grab.
Not to mention I learned something the hard way. In games like Modern Warfare 2, when you get a special weapon/equipment to use for one part of the level, once you use it you don't have to use it anymore and if you need to have it again despite getting rid of it, they have it placed in a spot where you need it again. Bad Company does not do that. I used C4 to destroy artillery and thought I didn't need it anymore so I switched back to my other piece of equipment (you can only carry one because your other is your health boost thing that regenerates) only to discover on my drive to the next part of the map I couldn't destroy an armored vehicle that had perfect auto aim at me because I needed that C4 and the grenade launcher on your gun does jack all. So I had to drive across the map again to get the C4 and drive back, place the C4 on the vehicle and blow it up. This is so fucking unintuitive and a waste of time. If they wanted you to keep it in the first place, why didn't your characters say "Maybe you wanna keep that C4 for later?" or have a text message appear saying you should keep every piece of new equipment you get. It's ridiculous. Then again, I've replayed the main COD Entries from 2005-2011 so much that I couldn't help but think that.
I might continue trying this if my interest keeps up but with my mental health and mood being so all over the place at the moment it might be another game I just completely drop entirely and move onto another thing. We'll see.
6 Yrs♥$✓#
TheAutisticGamer6 Yrs♥$✓#
Replay Complete!
Half-Life 2: Lost Coast
System: PC
Developer: Valve
Publisher: Valve
Genre: FPS, Old School Shooter
Beat in 14:20
Rating: 7/10
Can I do a full multi paragraph review of a 15 Minute Level? Hmm... lets find out!
So to begin with, as I mentioned in previous posts my mental health has gone off the rails throughout the past two months as my mom had surgery to remove developing cancer in her breast. So all my plans kind of went out the window to complete anything new and now I just go back and forth through different games because I don't know If I'll complete anything in general. Throughout the last month I've dropped 7 Games in total probably which is NOT GOOD. So I looked on where to go next and I found that I could probably go back to the series that started my love for FPS Games in general. And yes, that series is Half-Life.
I'll be talking more about the original Half-Life and how it impacted me greatly in a full length review, but to briefly summarize, I was incredibly immersed as a kid in the world of Black Mesa, the amazing 1998 graphics, the music by Kelly Bailey, the characters, the quirkiness of how the game aged, it became for a long period of time my all time favorite video game. Will that still be the case when I replay it? I don't know, but Half-Life and it's expansions and sequels made me fall in love with the genre of FPS Gaming. So today, as a kickstart to what will hopefully be my 2022 Replay of the entire series, I will be talking about Half-Life 2: Lost Cast. Because why not? It doesn't get much attention because it's basically a 15 minute level but I think it's super underappreciated and does what it sets out to do well.
So to briefly summarize the level, you have to take out this Island full of combine that has been taken over by them. You ascend up the cliffs to get to the main area where you'll destroy a shelling device and make your way to blow up an attack helicopter, leading to the game's "To Be Continued!" ending where Gordon Freeman blacks out and is teleported to another place. It's simple, it gets the job done and it showcases a pretty quirky character who supposedly eats "Leeches" for some reason. You only see him twice. At the beginning and at the end but his design is striking and it stays in your mind after you've finish playing it.
Again, I've talked about the Source Engine briefly in my Left 4 Dead 2 review last year and I will talk about why the Source Engine really kicks ass in my Half-Life 2 review, but to put it mildly, no games coming out during this time looked like Half-Life 2. None. Zilch. It was completely unique and ahead of the game. And the entire Island is such a cool place especially when you get to the top. The church you go into to destroy the shelling device is incredible full of meticulous detail and care that so many games would just look over.
What I really need to explain though is why I really like this level in general. I've played Lost Coast many times just to get a short dose of Half-Life 2 when I'm not replaying those games. However, I didn't realize why I liked it so much until today. Lost Coast is a very good introduction to Half-Life 2 and it's mainline episodic sequels. For one the game is about 15 minutes and it teases and tells you what you really need to know about the full game in general. It showcases what the game will look like, it showcases the enemies you will face, but more importantly, it showcases every gun you'll use and the challenge that awaits you. I played on Medium Difficulty and the game definitely has a kick to it's enemies, especially the Combine Shotgunners who will probably seem like a pain in the ass in the main game. I cannot recommend enough that if you're new to Half-Life 2, play this first. It comes with every copy of Half-Life 2 and it's showcases what you'll need to know before going into it. There are of course no Strider Battles because it's an Island but it teases you of what is to come from the full game.
Do I have any complaints? I guess when I first played it I expected the level to be much longer. I actually got the wrong impression this was an entire cut chapter when I was young which disappointed me at the time. The other thing I should say is that while the Island is impressive to look at due to the Source Engine, it doesn't make the full impact like the full game does. There are plenty of great looking parts to Half-Life 2 and you're only getting a small slice of it in the most minor degree. If this was maybe an entire chapter, I might have not been so hard on it, but the level leaves lots more to be desired. It reminds me of Half-Life: Uplink in a way which is yet another level cut from the original Half-Life.
Still, despite it feeling underwhelming most of the time, I still like to dabble in it when I need a burst of Half-Life 2 when I'm not playing the main game or mods. Definitely recommend newcomers to play this first as an introduction to HL2. I don't think you'll regret that decision. If you've already played Half-Life 2, I don't know if I could totally recommend it. It might give you a couple of thrills but otherwise it can very much be avoided.
That's all for now folks. Hopefully I'll actually commit to a game soon since I'm planning on replaying the Half-Life series.
PROS:
-A Great Introduction to Half-Life 2 in general showcasing many elements that help the players understand the game
-The Source Engine still impresses with it's unique look which is unlike any game released during this time
-Starting off with all the guns to showcase what works and what doesn't against enemies is a smart move
-Some of the more scripted elements are quite good and still stand strong to this day
-It comes with every copy of Half-Life 2 so that's nice
CONS:
-It's a rather underwhelming level that serves as an HDR Lighting demo rather than a game despite strong moments
-Despite it being free with Half-Life 2, you'd expect more like an entire chapter besides what you get
FINAL VERDICT: Despite it's intention to be an HDR Lighting Demo, Half-Life 2: Lost Coast serves as a fun introduction to the mainline Half-Life 2 game despite it's underwhelming length, giving players an idea of what challenges await, how the game looks and how the gunplay feels.
Half-Life 2: Lost Coast
System: PC
Developer: Valve
Publisher: Valve
Genre: FPS, Old School Shooter
Beat in 14:20
Rating: 7/10
Can I do a full multi paragraph review of a 15 Minute Level? Hmm... lets find out!
So to begin with, as I mentioned in previous posts my mental health has gone off the rails throughout the past two months as my mom had surgery to remove developing cancer in her breast. So all my plans kind of went out the window to complete anything new and now I just go back and forth through different games because I don't know If I'll complete anything in general. Throughout the last month I've dropped 7 Games in total probably which is NOT GOOD. So I looked on where to go next and I found that I could probably go back to the series that started my love for FPS Games in general. And yes, that series is Half-Life.
I'll be talking more about the original Half-Life and how it impacted me greatly in a full length review, but to briefly summarize, I was incredibly immersed as a kid in the world of Black Mesa, the amazing 1998 graphics, the music by Kelly Bailey, the characters, the quirkiness of how the game aged, it became for a long period of time my all time favorite video game. Will that still be the case when I replay it? I don't know, but Half-Life and it's expansions and sequels made me fall in love with the genre of FPS Gaming. So today, as a kickstart to what will hopefully be my 2022 Replay of the entire series, I will be talking about Half-Life 2: Lost Cast. Because why not? It doesn't get much attention because it's basically a 15 minute level but I think it's super underappreciated and does what it sets out to do well.
So to briefly summarize the level, you have to take out this Island full of combine that has been taken over by them. You ascend up the cliffs to get to the main area where you'll destroy a shelling device and make your way to blow up an attack helicopter, leading to the game's "To Be Continued!" ending where Gordon Freeman blacks out and is teleported to another place. It's simple, it gets the job done and it showcases a pretty quirky character who supposedly eats "Leeches" for some reason. You only see him twice. At the beginning and at the end but his design is striking and it stays in your mind after you've finish playing it.
Again, I've talked about the Source Engine briefly in my Left 4 Dead 2 review last year and I will talk about why the Source Engine really kicks ass in my Half-Life 2 review, but to put it mildly, no games coming out during this time looked like Half-Life 2. None. Zilch. It was completely unique and ahead of the game. And the entire Island is such a cool place especially when you get to the top. The church you go into to destroy the shelling device is incredible full of meticulous detail and care that so many games would just look over.
What I really need to explain though is why I really like this level in general. I've played Lost Coast many times just to get a short dose of Half-Life 2 when I'm not replaying those games. However, I didn't realize why I liked it so much until today. Lost Coast is a very good introduction to Half-Life 2 and it's mainline episodic sequels. For one the game is about 15 minutes and it teases and tells you what you really need to know about the full game in general. It showcases what the game will look like, it showcases the enemies you will face, but more importantly, it showcases every gun you'll use and the challenge that awaits you. I played on Medium Difficulty and the game definitely has a kick to it's enemies, especially the Combine Shotgunners who will probably seem like a pain in the ass in the main game. I cannot recommend enough that if you're new to Half-Life 2, play this first. It comes with every copy of Half-Life 2 and it's showcases what you'll need to know before going into it. There are of course no Strider Battles because it's an Island but it teases you of what is to come from the full game.
Do I have any complaints? I guess when I first played it I expected the level to be much longer. I actually got the wrong impression this was an entire cut chapter when I was young which disappointed me at the time. The other thing I should say is that while the Island is impressive to look at due to the Source Engine, it doesn't make the full impact like the full game does. There are plenty of great looking parts to Half-Life 2 and you're only getting a small slice of it in the most minor degree. If this was maybe an entire chapter, I might have not been so hard on it, but the level leaves lots more to be desired. It reminds me of Half-Life: Uplink in a way which is yet another level cut from the original Half-Life.
Still, despite it feeling underwhelming most of the time, I still like to dabble in it when I need a burst of Half-Life 2 when I'm not playing the main game or mods. Definitely recommend newcomers to play this first as an introduction to HL2. I don't think you'll regret that decision. If you've already played Half-Life 2, I don't know if I could totally recommend it. It might give you a couple of thrills but otherwise it can very much be avoided.
That's all for now folks. Hopefully I'll actually commit to a game soon since I'm planning on replaying the Half-Life series.
PROS:
-A Great Introduction to Half-Life 2 in general showcasing many elements that help the players understand the game
-The Source Engine still impresses with it's unique look which is unlike any game released during this time
-Starting off with all the guns to showcase what works and what doesn't against enemies is a smart move
-Some of the more scripted elements are quite good and still stand strong to this day
-It comes with every copy of Half-Life 2 so that's nice
CONS:
-It's a rather underwhelming level that serves as an HDR Lighting demo rather than a game despite strong moments
-Despite it being free with Half-Life 2, you'd expect more like an entire chapter besides what you get
FINAL VERDICT: Despite it's intention to be an HDR Lighting Demo, Half-Life 2: Lost Coast serves as a fun introduction to the mainline Half-Life 2 game despite it's underwhelming length, giving players an idea of what challenges await, how the game looks and how the gunplay feels.
6 Yrs♥$✓#
TheAutisticGamer6 Yrs♥$✓#
What I've Been Playing:
So I've talked in my last few posts that my mental health has been all over the place especially recently, but I find myself becoming more committed to some games! I'll be timing my completions for the next little while since that kind of keeps me committed at the moment, but lets talk about some of the games I've been playing!
As said in my review of Half-Life 2: Lost Coast, I'm replaying the entire Half-Life series at the moment starting with the classic first game! I'm really excited to review this for you all since this is one of my favorite games of all time, and the game that absolutely changed my life getting me into the First Person Shooter genre in 2009 at 12 years old so I'll be talking about my nostalgic connections to this game in particular. Playing it in 2022, things aren't perfect. The game has issues involving keyboard drift which seems to happen only in these Gold Source games, the AI sometimes just stands around taking all my gunfire, there are some ridiculously tedious moments that require loads of quick loading (Chucking Grenades into Sniper Nests that don't kill them because you have to throw the grenade in a very specific spot in their nest) and the Friendly AI has always been a god damn hassle and FPS Games can't seem to get this right at all.
Still, I think the game is still fantastic at points even to this day. I'm playing on Medium and the game has pretty much a perfect difficulty curve and the atmosphere is still strong especially when immersing the player into the world of Black Mesa and the graphics are still charming (NOT THE HD MODELS, I'm playing with the classic models as it was meant to be played) even for 1998. I'm currently about to enter Xen and I've heard countless people say this part sucks, but I don't know, I don't hate playing it? Maybe I'll get the hate this time around but who knows. Anyways, I'm nearly done and expect a review soon!
I guess you didn't expect me to play this especially with whats going on at the moment added with my shifting mental health, but I wanted some thrills and I thought revisiting this COD Game I haven't played since it came out would be cool! Back in November I gave Modern Warfare 2 a Full 10/10, which is one of my only perfect scores I gave in 2021. I must admit I didn't think I could get the game running because it wouldn't launch on Steam but after verifying the game files it's all smooth sailing! So far this is a WAY MORE Testosterone filled game than the previous COD Games. Price sounds way more aggressive in this game (I don't know why his voice actor is doing that when in the past two games he wasn't Growly McGrowlerton) and the general tone of the game is WAY more serious than the previous games which had slight bits of humor in some of the dialogue (Although Price telling Soap not to die again is funny except it's really not since he dies three quarters into the game from what I remember and Soap is one of the best COD Characters) so I'm not too sure if I'm fully on board with the overexaggerated serious tone here.
I noticed when I first started playing the guns have WAY more recoil than in Modern Warfare 2 for some reason and I don't know why, but I got used to it after half an hour so it's not a totally big deal. Still, the gunplay is still classic COD from this time and there are still plenty of weapons to choose from throughout the game to try out which is always a pleasure. The best part so far was the whole Plane Attack trying to protect the game's fictional Russian President as you play as some random agent trying to save him. Not only does it result in one of the most over the top set pieces ever in an FPS as you keep getting slammed across the plane as it twirls and turns, leading to a huge chunk of the plane ripping off, but the re-reveal of Makarov right at the end is bloody awesome and reminds me of why he is one of the best villains in the entire franchise. Overall, I'm enjoying it but not as much as Modern Warfare 2, but I'm still getting a kick out of the gunplay, the returning characters and fun levels but I feel the game is too easy right now. I'm playing on Regular but hopefully it will pick up. Otherwise, next time I pick it up it will be on Hardened.
So I've talked in my last few posts that my mental health has been all over the place especially recently, but I find myself becoming more committed to some games! I'll be timing my completions for the next little while since that kind of keeps me committed at the moment, but lets talk about some of the games I've been playing!
As said in my review of Half-Life 2: Lost Coast, I'm replaying the entire Half-Life series at the moment starting with the classic first game! I'm really excited to review this for you all since this is one of my favorite games of all time, and the game that absolutely changed my life getting me into the First Person Shooter genre in 2009 at 12 years old so I'll be talking about my nostalgic connections to this game in particular. Playing it in 2022, things aren't perfect. The game has issues involving keyboard drift which seems to happen only in these Gold Source games, the AI sometimes just stands around taking all my gunfire, there are some ridiculously tedious moments that require loads of quick loading (Chucking Grenades into Sniper Nests that don't kill them because you have to throw the grenade in a very specific spot in their nest) and the Friendly AI has always been a god damn hassle and FPS Games can't seem to get this right at all.
Still, I think the game is still fantastic at points even to this day. I'm playing on Medium and the game has pretty much a perfect difficulty curve and the atmosphere is still strong especially when immersing the player into the world of Black Mesa and the graphics are still charming (NOT THE HD MODELS, I'm playing with the classic models as it was meant to be played) even for 1998. I'm currently about to enter Xen and I've heard countless people say this part sucks, but I don't know, I don't hate playing it? Maybe I'll get the hate this time around but who knows. Anyways, I'm nearly done and expect a review soon!
I guess you didn't expect me to play this especially with whats going on at the moment added with my shifting mental health, but I wanted some thrills and I thought revisiting this COD Game I haven't played since it came out would be cool! Back in November I gave Modern Warfare 2 a Full 10/10, which is one of my only perfect scores I gave in 2021. I must admit I didn't think I could get the game running because it wouldn't launch on Steam but after verifying the game files it's all smooth sailing! So far this is a WAY MORE Testosterone filled game than the previous COD Games. Price sounds way more aggressive in this game (I don't know why his voice actor is doing that when in the past two games he wasn't Growly McGrowlerton) and the general tone of the game is WAY more serious than the previous games which had slight bits of humor in some of the dialogue (Although Price telling Soap not to die again is funny except it's really not since he dies three quarters into the game from what I remember and Soap is one of the best COD Characters) so I'm not too sure if I'm fully on board with the overexaggerated serious tone here.
I noticed when I first started playing the guns have WAY more recoil than in Modern Warfare 2 for some reason and I don't know why, but I got used to it after half an hour so it's not a totally big deal. Still, the gunplay is still classic COD from this time and there are still plenty of weapons to choose from throughout the game to try out which is always a pleasure. The best part so far was the whole Plane Attack trying to protect the game's fictional Russian President as you play as some random agent trying to save him. Not only does it result in one of the most over the top set pieces ever in an FPS as you keep getting slammed across the plane as it twirls and turns, leading to a huge chunk of the plane ripping off, but the re-reveal of Makarov right at the end is bloody awesome and reminds me of why he is one of the best villains in the entire franchise. Overall, I'm enjoying it but not as much as Modern Warfare 2, but I'm still getting a kick out of the gunplay, the returning characters and fun levels but I feel the game is too easy right now. I'm playing on Regular but hopefully it will pick up. Otherwise, next time I pick it up it will be on Hardened.
6 Yrs♥$✓#
TheAutisticGamer6 Yrs♥$✓#
Game Complete!
Half-Life (2022 Replay)
System: PC
Developer: Valve
Publisher: Sierra Studios (Original Release), Valve (Steam Release)
Genre: FPS, Old School Shooter
Completed in 5:00:29
Rating: 9/10
To start this lengthy review, I have a very special history with this game. In 2009, I was 12 years old and was scrolling for games I wanted to check out during the time. I came across a list on IGN about Greatest Games ever or something and this one game caught my eye on the list. It was unlike anything I had seen before and it looked amazing. It was called Half-Life, an apparently it was what they called a "First Person Shooter". To me, I knew very little about the FPS Genre as a kid. I managed to play games like Goldeneye 64 and The World is Not Enough 64, but Half-Life seemed different to me. It looked awesome. I looked up gameplay from a Youtube Channel called "ChildFromTheDamned" or "DazzaW" as he was known recently. With the Unregistered Hypercam 240p footage I saw, I was blown away by how exciting the game looked. I was however worried because my parents at the time wouldn't let me play Grand Theft Auto or M Rated games like that, but they seemed fine with this because it was like "Those James Bond Games.".
So I asked my dad if he could find a copy of this game. He agreed and he pirated a copy. YES YES. I know what you're thinking. But my dad doesn't do that anymore. Besides, this was an 11 Year Old game at the time and I had no money as a middle school student and they probably weren't going to be selling Half-Life boxed at EB Games (Or Gamestop Canada now) so this was my only source before knowing about Steam. I booted up the game and actually played with the arrow keys since that was what I was used to as a kid having played many Flash Games during the time on Addicting Games and Miniclip.
To say my life changed that day was a huge understatement.
Half-Life without a doubt is the most significant game of my entire life. Not only is it one of the first M Rated Games I ever played, but it was also one of the most immersive experiences I have ever sat through and by far started my love for the First Person Shooter genre, especially the Old School Shooter subgenre (1992-Mid 2000's) that I absolutely adore now. Half-Life showcased me the possibilities of mature storytelling, it showcased me the joys of the First Person Perspective where I could feel like I was firing a gun, it changed how I played PC Games, going from arrow keys to the now typical WASD movement and it showcased me things that shocked and excited me. To 12 Year Old TAG, this was the greatest thing I have ever played and now, I'm going to be doing a full review covering why I love this game despite it's problems today.
Where to start?
I guess the training course? Half-Life has an optional training course that MUST be played before entering the main game. Not only is this a fantastic way to get to know the controls and how the gameplay mechanics work, but it also features a very rare type of jumping that I'm shocked more games haven't used since and is necessary to learn before playing. Crouch Jumping. If you press the jump key and then CTRL at the same time/afterwards, you'll get a boost in your jump. This is one of the most natural controls I have felt in an FPS Game and I don't get why games have not used this since. Crouch Jumping is such a useful tool and it would make so many FPS Games be much better. But yeah, the training course showcases you basics like firing your weapon, getting health and armor, damage types, getting help from friendly characters to open doors, all that. So if you're new to this game, play this first!
But when you do get into the game, you'll be immediately immersed in the game's 6 or so minute opening train ride, where it showcases your workplace Black Mesa perfectly. Now this is where I need to talk about the graphics. The graphics in Half-Life are fantastic even to this day. The unique and quirky if dated character models are very charming and environments are astonishing and feel quite massive. The entire game has a seamless feel since loading screens are only a split second compared to the later Half-Life 2. Black Mesa is massive as said and you'll be constantly immersed in the environments which is also thanks to it's soundscape and excellent kick ass music by composer Kelly Bailey, who provides some fantastic pieces of music during the game.
But when I talk about the graphics, I'm talking about the original graphics. For those unaware, the game when you first boot it up uses the HD Model Pack for the game. This pack was released to coincide with Half-Life: Blue Shift in 2001. DO NOT PLAY WITH THIS PACK ENABLED. Not only does it drastically change all the models to look more "Realistic" which dates the game even more horribly, but it changes many of the gun models and gun sound effects which is not how the developers intended their game to be played. It's shocking that so many people play with this HD Model Pack enabled, because that's not the true way to experience Half-Life at all. Tick that box off and enjoy the game as intended from the options menu.
Anyways, the game might have a simple "Experiment Goes Wrong" story, but the way it's all executed is done in such a classy way. There are no FMV Cutscenes like you would expect from this time. Every moment of the story is done in engine meaning the game has a much more timeless feel than most from this time. There are subtle hints that something is up and that someone is tracking your progress with the game's blue suited character. He doesn't really have a name, but he now goes by G-Man (G probably standing for Government) and for first timers of the series, you might be surprised by the impact he has on this game throughout. The Scientists screams and grunts have become huge meme material in recent years and the looks of them are just great.
The gameplay in Half-Life is what really makes the game kick. Sure we have an already immersive game here, but the gameplay really helps make the game enjoyable from start to finish. The gunplay in Half-Life is excellent and it still feels crunchy and weighted even to this day. From the moment you get the famous crowbar, you have a choice to help a security guard kill some Headcrab Zombies. BUT... you can do something else. You can actually kill the security guard and take his pistol so you have a pistol a couple of parts earlier. It has barely any ammo, but if you explore the environment and backtrack, you can get lots of ammo for it quickly. As a kid, when I first did that, I had no clue about this. I probably sat there, paused the game and looked shocked for a long period of time before pickign it up. Not to mention you can gib enemies with the crowbar adds another exciting and shocking part that little 12 Year Old Me loved.
There are plenty of guns here. A Glock 17, an MP5K, A SPAS Shotgun, a Tranquilizer Gun (wrongfully called a Crossbow by many as a character blatantly states it is a tranquilizer gun) that can kill many enemies in one shot, a Magnum, A Rocket Launcher, The Tau Cannon and Gluon Gun, two prototype weapons that are extremely powerful, Snarks, alien like creatures that attack nearby enemies (or you if you're not careful), this weird alien gun that has regenerating ammo and that's not to mention the amount of explosive weapons you get like Greandes and Satchel Charges. Some guns become useless later on (The Gluon Gun replaces the Tau Cannon essentially), but the game does have moments later on where you'll need to use some of them if you're in a tight situation.
So you might be wondering with the amount of guns, how does the challenge fare? Well, thankfully it's safe to say Half-Life has a perfect difficulty curve. The game starts out easy and then progresses harder and harder until the final boss. I played on Medium and the difficulty never felt unfair or brutal at any point. It's also thanks to some very intelligent enemy AI including the dreaded Marines that help boost the challenge up a lot. Most of the time Half-Life never feels frustrating and with the gunplay, the fine (but sometimes problematic) level design, graphics, music and great enemy AI you're in for a treat. On one final note, prioritizing weapons in later sections of the game is helpful and rewarding since you'll be using the tranquilizer gun, magnum Tau Cannon a lot during these sections.
But it's not without problems. Back in the day I would have said it was flawless, but in all honesty it's not. The game has some big issues at points that really detract from the game's immersion. I've talked about this problem in my Counter Strike: Condition Zero Deleted Scenes review on my Blog, but like with pretty much all the Gold Source Games Valve made, Half-Life is prone to an issue I have not seen anywhere else that seems to be exclusive to this engine. Keyboard Drifting. You know when you play an Old Console and your controls start to drift without touching them? Well, for some reason, Half-Life has this big problem at points where the game will take away your control and make you slide to the other end of a room and it can be god awful if you're on a cliff or theres many enemies around you. You can fix this by rebinding the WASD keys, but it's such a god damn pain in the ass to do since it takes away a lot of my enjoyment. The original Half-Life is not terrible when it comes to this, but I'm hoping my replays of Opposing Force and Blue Shift will not have this happen.
Another big thing, and I've talked about this a lot with FPS Games is that the Friendly AI is insanely unreliable at points. This seems to be a problem synonomous with Valve titles, but the Friendly AI has not aged well. There are multiple problems here. To get them to follow you, which you'll need for some parts. You need to press the Use Key to get them to follow you. But sometimes they'll just stop and not move at all. Then you realize that your follow command just stopped working and you have to get them to follow you again. Not to mention the way they move in whatever direction when following is clunky. It's like they're either drawn on a pace with no curved edges or they're completely on rails. And that's not to mention the fact that if you get in the way when a security guard shoots at an enemy, you'll take damage. Why would that be a thing? He's my ally, why am I taking his bullets for him? I also found something stupid out as well. If you have a security guard and see a dead scientist, and hit his body with a crowbar, HE'LL FUCKING START SHOOTING AT YOU FOR NO REASON! WHY!? HE'S DEAD! HE DOESN'T MATTER!
But that's not exclusive to Friendly AI. Even though the Enemy AI is very intelligent at points they'll just seem to stand there randomly taking all your hits and that's really annoying when it comes to the marines who are the most challenging enemies in the game but sometimes they'll not put up a fight. There were also a couple of random glitches I found by accident. If you attempt to throw a grenade, then switch to a different weapon before throwing it, you'll fucking explode for no reason as if the grenade was still cooking even though you canceled out this action.
Finally, there are some extremely tedious moments in the game. Xen of course is one of them and I get why people hate it, especially the lack of ammo you get throughout the course of this part until the final boss of the game. But the worst moment for me is trying to take out snipers. To do so, you need to throw a grenade into their sniper nest. Sounds simple right? Well, it isn't. YOU HAVE TO BE EXTREMELY PRECISE on where the grenade lands, because if you're not, the sniper will not die. I threw probably 30 grenades into the first sniper nest alone and there are only two of them in the entire game and in the same area! You need to get it as close to the gun as possible or else it won't count. It sucks hard. But these flaws do not detract from the immense enjoyment I still get from this game.
To end it off, Half-Life is the most important game I have ever played. It changed my life and has influenced not only my gaming tastes, but it grew my love for gaming even further having been restricted to Nintendo Consoles at the time. Without Half-Life, I wouldn't have gotten into Call of Duty, Bioshock, Battlefield, Halo, Doom, Quake, Painkiller, Boomer Shooters like DUSK and PRODEUS, and without Half-Life, I probably wouldn't have fallen in love with Serious Sam, my favorite series of all time. Half-Life is not a perfect game, but it's so good at everything it does right that it's hard not to call it one of the best games ever made. As the closing credits music plays this killer techno dance tune, you know this will be an experience you will never forget and it will live with you for the rest of your days. It's immersive world, giant heaps of atmosphere, charming graphics, fun voice acting, great seamless storytelling, excellent gunplay, intelligent AI, perfect difficulty curve and amazing music make this one of the greatest games of all time as many have pointed out. Is it my favorite game ever? I would have said Yes back then, but knowing the problems now I cannot say it's in the top spot. More recent games I played/replayed like Yakuza 0, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Little Big Planet 2 and Forza Horizon 3 are good contenders to take the Top Spot nowadays, But Half-Life will easily be in the Top 10 for sure.
I love Half-Life and I always will.
PROS:
-An Incredibly Immersive World with tons of great atmosphere
-Extremely charming graphics that are still magnificent to this day (Old Models)
-Excellent Gunplay with tons of weapons to choose from
-A Kick Ass EDM/Techno Soundtrack from Kelly Bailey that absolutely delivers on all fronts
-A Perfect Difficulty Curve that will constantly challenge players throughout the game
-Prioritizing Weapons for later parts of the game can be extremely rewarding to the player's progression
-The Ability to kill Friendly NPCs still is effective and amazing to this day despite it being somewhat pointless
-The Most Significant Game of my entire life, which helped define my tastes in games forever
-Intellgient, Challenging Enemies that will keep you on your toes
-Seamless Storytelling with no breaks in between keeps the action going
CONS:
-The Friendly AI is not reliable most of the time and has dated poorly
-Keyboard Drifting Issues that are exclusive to these Gold Source games are apparent here
-Tedious Moments like the Sniper Nest Section ruin the flow of the game constantly having to quick load and waste grenades
-Xen is definitely the weakest part of the entire game although I wouldn't say it's downright awful
-Random Glitches that shouldn't be there
-The Enemy AI can sometimes have a brain fart and not move taking all your gunfire
-The HD Model Pack dates the game horribly and ruins the developer's intended way to play the game aesthetically and sonically
FINAL VERDICT: Half-Life is still one of my favorite games ever made despite it's flaws thanks to it's immersive world, large amounts of atmosphere, seamless storytelling, excellent gunplay, charming graphics, excellent soundtrack, challenging enemies and perfect difficulty curve. An all time great that you need to play if you haven't!
Half-Life (2022 Replay)
System: PC
Developer: Valve
Publisher: Sierra Studios (Original Release), Valve (Steam Release)
Genre: FPS, Old School Shooter
Completed in 5:00:29
Rating: 9/10
To start this lengthy review, I have a very special history with this game. In 2009, I was 12 years old and was scrolling for games I wanted to check out during the time. I came across a list on IGN about Greatest Games ever or something and this one game caught my eye on the list. It was unlike anything I had seen before and it looked amazing. It was called Half-Life, an apparently it was what they called a "First Person Shooter". To me, I knew very little about the FPS Genre as a kid. I managed to play games like Goldeneye 64 and The World is Not Enough 64, but Half-Life seemed different to me. It looked awesome. I looked up gameplay from a Youtube Channel called "ChildFromTheDamned" or "DazzaW" as he was known recently. With the Unregistered Hypercam 240p footage I saw, I was blown away by how exciting the game looked. I was however worried because my parents at the time wouldn't let me play Grand Theft Auto or M Rated games like that, but they seemed fine with this because it was like "Those James Bond Games.".
So I asked my dad if he could find a copy of this game. He agreed and he pirated a copy. YES YES. I know what you're thinking. But my dad doesn't do that anymore. Besides, this was an 11 Year Old game at the time and I had no money as a middle school student and they probably weren't going to be selling Half-Life boxed at EB Games (Or Gamestop Canada now) so this was my only source before knowing about Steam. I booted up the game and actually played with the arrow keys since that was what I was used to as a kid having played many Flash Games during the time on Addicting Games and Miniclip.
To say my life changed that day was a huge understatement.
Half-Life without a doubt is the most significant game of my entire life. Not only is it one of the first M Rated Games I ever played, but it was also one of the most immersive experiences I have ever sat through and by far started my love for the First Person Shooter genre, especially the Old School Shooter subgenre (1992-Mid 2000's) that I absolutely adore now. Half-Life showcased me the possibilities of mature storytelling, it showcased me the joys of the First Person Perspective where I could feel like I was firing a gun, it changed how I played PC Games, going from arrow keys to the now typical WASD movement and it showcased me things that shocked and excited me. To 12 Year Old TAG, this was the greatest thing I have ever played and now, I'm going to be doing a full review covering why I love this game despite it's problems today.
Where to start?
I guess the training course? Half-Life has an optional training course that MUST be played before entering the main game. Not only is this a fantastic way to get to know the controls and how the gameplay mechanics work, but it also features a very rare type of jumping that I'm shocked more games haven't used since and is necessary to learn before playing. Crouch Jumping. If you press the jump key and then CTRL at the same time/afterwards, you'll get a boost in your jump. This is one of the most natural controls I have felt in an FPS Game and I don't get why games have not used this since. Crouch Jumping is such a useful tool and it would make so many FPS Games be much better. But yeah, the training course showcases you basics like firing your weapon, getting health and armor, damage types, getting help from friendly characters to open doors, all that. So if you're new to this game, play this first!
But when you do get into the game, you'll be immediately immersed in the game's 6 or so minute opening train ride, where it showcases your workplace Black Mesa perfectly. Now this is where I need to talk about the graphics. The graphics in Half-Life are fantastic even to this day. The unique and quirky if dated character models are very charming and environments are astonishing and feel quite massive. The entire game has a seamless feel since loading screens are only a split second compared to the later Half-Life 2. Black Mesa is massive as said and you'll be constantly immersed in the environments which is also thanks to it's soundscape and excellent kick ass music by composer Kelly Bailey, who provides some fantastic pieces of music during the game.
But when I talk about the graphics, I'm talking about the original graphics. For those unaware, the game when you first boot it up uses the HD Model Pack for the game. This pack was released to coincide with Half-Life: Blue Shift in 2001. DO NOT PLAY WITH THIS PACK ENABLED. Not only does it drastically change all the models to look more "Realistic" which dates the game even more horribly, but it changes many of the gun models and gun sound effects which is not how the developers intended their game to be played. It's shocking that so many people play with this HD Model Pack enabled, because that's not the true way to experience Half-Life at all. Tick that box off and enjoy the game as intended from the options menu.
Anyways, the game might have a simple "Experiment Goes Wrong" story, but the way it's all executed is done in such a classy way. There are no FMV Cutscenes like you would expect from this time. Every moment of the story is done in engine meaning the game has a much more timeless feel than most from this time. There are subtle hints that something is up and that someone is tracking your progress with the game's blue suited character. He doesn't really have a name, but he now goes by G-Man (G probably standing for Government) and for first timers of the series, you might be surprised by the impact he has on this game throughout. The Scientists screams and grunts have become huge meme material in recent years and the looks of them are just great.
The gameplay in Half-Life is what really makes the game kick. Sure we have an already immersive game here, but the gameplay really helps make the game enjoyable from start to finish. The gunplay in Half-Life is excellent and it still feels crunchy and weighted even to this day. From the moment you get the famous crowbar, you have a choice to help a security guard kill some Headcrab Zombies. BUT... you can do something else. You can actually kill the security guard and take his pistol so you have a pistol a couple of parts earlier. It has barely any ammo, but if you explore the environment and backtrack, you can get lots of ammo for it quickly. As a kid, when I first did that, I had no clue about this. I probably sat there, paused the game and looked shocked for a long period of time before pickign it up. Not to mention you can gib enemies with the crowbar adds another exciting and shocking part that little 12 Year Old Me loved.
There are plenty of guns here. A Glock 17, an MP5K, A SPAS Shotgun, a Tranquilizer Gun (wrongfully called a Crossbow by many as a character blatantly states it is a tranquilizer gun) that can kill many enemies in one shot, a Magnum, A Rocket Launcher, The Tau Cannon and Gluon Gun, two prototype weapons that are extremely powerful, Snarks, alien like creatures that attack nearby enemies (or you if you're not careful), this weird alien gun that has regenerating ammo and that's not to mention the amount of explosive weapons you get like Greandes and Satchel Charges. Some guns become useless later on (The Gluon Gun replaces the Tau Cannon essentially), but the game does have moments later on where you'll need to use some of them if you're in a tight situation.
So you might be wondering with the amount of guns, how does the challenge fare? Well, thankfully it's safe to say Half-Life has a perfect difficulty curve. The game starts out easy and then progresses harder and harder until the final boss. I played on Medium and the difficulty never felt unfair or brutal at any point. It's also thanks to some very intelligent enemy AI including the dreaded Marines that help boost the challenge up a lot. Most of the time Half-Life never feels frustrating and with the gunplay, the fine (but sometimes problematic) level design, graphics, music and great enemy AI you're in for a treat. On one final note, prioritizing weapons in later sections of the game is helpful and rewarding since you'll be using the tranquilizer gun, magnum Tau Cannon a lot during these sections.
But it's not without problems. Back in the day I would have said it was flawless, but in all honesty it's not. The game has some big issues at points that really detract from the game's immersion. I've talked about this problem in my Counter Strike: Condition Zero Deleted Scenes review on my Blog, but like with pretty much all the Gold Source Games Valve made, Half-Life is prone to an issue I have not seen anywhere else that seems to be exclusive to this engine. Keyboard Drifting. You know when you play an Old Console and your controls start to drift without touching them? Well, for some reason, Half-Life has this big problem at points where the game will take away your control and make you slide to the other end of a room and it can be god awful if you're on a cliff or theres many enemies around you. You can fix this by rebinding the WASD keys, but it's such a god damn pain in the ass to do since it takes away a lot of my enjoyment. The original Half-Life is not terrible when it comes to this, but I'm hoping my replays of Opposing Force and Blue Shift will not have this happen.
Another big thing, and I've talked about this a lot with FPS Games is that the Friendly AI is insanely unreliable at points. This seems to be a problem synonomous with Valve titles, but the Friendly AI has not aged well. There are multiple problems here. To get them to follow you, which you'll need for some parts. You need to press the Use Key to get them to follow you. But sometimes they'll just stop and not move at all. Then you realize that your follow command just stopped working and you have to get them to follow you again. Not to mention the way they move in whatever direction when following is clunky. It's like they're either drawn on a pace with no curved edges or they're completely on rails. And that's not to mention the fact that if you get in the way when a security guard shoots at an enemy, you'll take damage. Why would that be a thing? He's my ally, why am I taking his bullets for him? I also found something stupid out as well. If you have a security guard and see a dead scientist, and hit his body with a crowbar, HE'LL FUCKING START SHOOTING AT YOU FOR NO REASON! WHY!? HE'S DEAD! HE DOESN'T MATTER!
But that's not exclusive to Friendly AI. Even though the Enemy AI is very intelligent at points they'll just seem to stand there randomly taking all your hits and that's really annoying when it comes to the marines who are the most challenging enemies in the game but sometimes they'll not put up a fight. There were also a couple of random glitches I found by accident. If you attempt to throw a grenade, then switch to a different weapon before throwing it, you'll fucking explode for no reason as if the grenade was still cooking even though you canceled out this action.
Finally, there are some extremely tedious moments in the game. Xen of course is one of them and I get why people hate it, especially the lack of ammo you get throughout the course of this part until the final boss of the game. But the worst moment for me is trying to take out snipers. To do so, you need to throw a grenade into their sniper nest. Sounds simple right? Well, it isn't. YOU HAVE TO BE EXTREMELY PRECISE on where the grenade lands, because if you're not, the sniper will not die. I threw probably 30 grenades into the first sniper nest alone and there are only two of them in the entire game and in the same area! You need to get it as close to the gun as possible or else it won't count. It sucks hard. But these flaws do not detract from the immense enjoyment I still get from this game.
To end it off, Half-Life is the most important game I have ever played. It changed my life and has influenced not only my gaming tastes, but it grew my love for gaming even further having been restricted to Nintendo Consoles at the time. Without Half-Life, I wouldn't have gotten into Call of Duty, Bioshock, Battlefield, Halo, Doom, Quake, Painkiller, Boomer Shooters like DUSK and PRODEUS, and without Half-Life, I probably wouldn't have fallen in love with Serious Sam, my favorite series of all time. Half-Life is not a perfect game, but it's so good at everything it does right that it's hard not to call it one of the best games ever made. As the closing credits music plays this killer techno dance tune, you know this will be an experience you will never forget and it will live with you for the rest of your days. It's immersive world, giant heaps of atmosphere, charming graphics, fun voice acting, great seamless storytelling, excellent gunplay, intelligent AI, perfect difficulty curve and amazing music make this one of the greatest games of all time as many have pointed out. Is it my favorite game ever? I would have said Yes back then, but knowing the problems now I cannot say it's in the top spot. More recent games I played/replayed like Yakuza 0, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Little Big Planet 2 and Forza Horizon 3 are good contenders to take the Top Spot nowadays, But Half-Life will easily be in the Top 10 for sure.
I love Half-Life and I always will.
PROS:
-An Incredibly Immersive World with tons of great atmosphere
-Extremely charming graphics that are still magnificent to this day (Old Models)
-Excellent Gunplay with tons of weapons to choose from
-A Kick Ass EDM/Techno Soundtrack from Kelly Bailey that absolutely delivers on all fronts
-A Perfect Difficulty Curve that will constantly challenge players throughout the game
-Prioritizing Weapons for later parts of the game can be extremely rewarding to the player's progression
-The Ability to kill Friendly NPCs still is effective and amazing to this day despite it being somewhat pointless
-The Most Significant Game of my entire life, which helped define my tastes in games forever
-Intellgient, Challenging Enemies that will keep you on your toes
-Seamless Storytelling with no breaks in between keeps the action going
CONS:
-The Friendly AI is not reliable most of the time and has dated poorly
-Keyboard Drifting Issues that are exclusive to these Gold Source games are apparent here
-Tedious Moments like the Sniper Nest Section ruin the flow of the game constantly having to quick load and waste grenades
-Xen is definitely the weakest part of the entire game although I wouldn't say it's downright awful
-Random Glitches that shouldn't be there
-The Enemy AI can sometimes have a brain fart and not move taking all your gunfire
-The HD Model Pack dates the game horribly and ruins the developer's intended way to play the game aesthetically and sonically
FINAL VERDICT: Half-Life is still one of my favorite games ever made despite it's flaws thanks to it's immersive world, large amounts of atmosphere, seamless storytelling, excellent gunplay, charming graphics, excellent soundtrack, challenging enemies and perfect difficulty curve. An all time great that you need to play if you haven't!
6 Yrs♥$✓#
TheAutisticGamer6 Yrs♥$✓#
What I've Been Playing:
As I continue going through Modern Warfare 3 and will probably start Half-Life: Opposing Force this week, I've again started a new game that recently came out a couple days ago which is unusual for me. But, thought I would talk about it since this game is well worth playing.
Now I've attempted to play through the first Shadow Warrior many times, but never seemed to complete it due to many factors. One is that the game isn't funny at all and the second being despite the gameplay holding my attention for maybe the first one or two hours, I end up dropping it due to extreme boredom afterwards and I could care less about the story and characters. My plan was to go through Shadow Warrior 2 since I had no luck with the first game, but this game just dropped and I wasn't initially going to play it, but considering this was a game that released on Playstation Now day one, I thought I would end up giving it a try despite me not knowing the entire plot of the last two games.
Many people have given it average reviews so far citing that it's way too short for the $54.99 CDN Price Tag, but considering I didn't have to pay for it and knowing the game will be much shorter (4-5 Hours is the tops for these types of games anyways) my experience is WAY more positive than anyone elses thus far. I'm going to be honest and say this is one of my favorite modern shooters I've played in a long time. Probably since Titanfall 2 which this game is influenced by in some regards. The movement is absolutely amazing even on a controller with all the grappling hook movement, automatically climbing up walls and doing lots of wall running which makes the game feel a lot like Titanfall 2 in some aspects which is great. Not to mention the game's brutal gunplay and swordplay is hugely improved here and every moment I'm playing this game is just joyous. Combat is so smooth and dare I say, sexy and desirable that it's hard to put down the controller. I probably played for an hour and a half straight today and am just loving the gameplay. The graphics are also fantastic and is one of the best looking games to have come out this year in my eyes.
And guess what? IT'S HILARIOUS! It's a much funnier game than the first and throughout the first hour or so I couldn't stop laughing it was just so funny. People are obviously going to call the humor unfunny garbage and cringe but with these wise cracking FPS Heroes I'm usually all fine with them having grown up on Serious Sam. The voice acting is also excellent for the most part so the game is honestly one of the strongest newer titles I've played in quite some time despite some visual glitches, predictable storybeats and forgettable music. I'm definitely going to spend a lot of my time this week playing this so hopefully expect a review of this game soon!
As I continue going through Modern Warfare 3 and will probably start Half-Life: Opposing Force this week, I've again started a new game that recently came out a couple days ago which is unusual for me. But, thought I would talk about it since this game is well worth playing.
Now I've attempted to play through the first Shadow Warrior many times, but never seemed to complete it due to many factors. One is that the game isn't funny at all and the second being despite the gameplay holding my attention for maybe the first one or two hours, I end up dropping it due to extreme boredom afterwards and I could care less about the story and characters. My plan was to go through Shadow Warrior 2 since I had no luck with the first game, but this game just dropped and I wasn't initially going to play it, but considering this was a game that released on Playstation Now day one, I thought I would end up giving it a try despite me not knowing the entire plot of the last two games.
Many people have given it average reviews so far citing that it's way too short for the $54.99 CDN Price Tag, but considering I didn't have to pay for it and knowing the game will be much shorter (4-5 Hours is the tops for these types of games anyways) my experience is WAY more positive than anyone elses thus far. I'm going to be honest and say this is one of my favorite modern shooters I've played in a long time. Probably since Titanfall 2 which this game is influenced by in some regards. The movement is absolutely amazing even on a controller with all the grappling hook movement, automatically climbing up walls and doing lots of wall running which makes the game feel a lot like Titanfall 2 in some aspects which is great. Not to mention the game's brutal gunplay and swordplay is hugely improved here and every moment I'm playing this game is just joyous. Combat is so smooth and dare I say, sexy and desirable that it's hard to put down the controller. I probably played for an hour and a half straight today and am just loving the gameplay. The graphics are also fantastic and is one of the best looking games to have come out this year in my eyes.
And guess what? IT'S HILARIOUS! It's a much funnier game than the first and throughout the first hour or so I couldn't stop laughing it was just so funny. People are obviously going to call the humor unfunny garbage and cringe but with these wise cracking FPS Heroes I'm usually all fine with them having grown up on Serious Sam. The voice acting is also excellent for the most part so the game is honestly one of the strongest newer titles I've played in quite some time despite some visual glitches, predictable storybeats and forgettable music. I'm definitely going to spend a lot of my time this week playing this so hopefully expect a review of this game soon!
3 Yrs✓#
Skyhler3 Yrs✓#
Ooooh. The Shadow Warrior games are definitely high on the list of games I'm wanting to play... granted... so many games are, that I suppose in reality it's actually quite low. The fact that you positive reviewed this game though has definitely helped focus my attention on it. Hearing you talk about Titanfall often has definitely caught my attention, and I low-key am tempted to add it to my Steam wishlist... who knows... I might play the game sooner rather than later. Good to hear you're enjoying yourself :)
6 Yrs♥$✓#
TheAutisticGamer6 Yrs♥$✓#
Both Shadow Warrior 3 at the moment and Titanfall 2 are amazing, especially Titanfall 2. I would say its one of the best games released in the 2010's in general besides Forza Horizon 4, DUSK and Yakuza 0. I hope you love Titanfall 2 as it is just amazing from it's movement system, it's gunplay, mech gameplay, speed and story. As said, not a big fan of the first Shadow Warrior (the 2013 Reboot) but I really am digging Shadow Warrior 3! The whole gameplay and movement system is just to die for at points. I'd say if you have PS Now try it out since it's available until July 4th or if you don't have that wait for a discount. Many have complained about the short length and the price point not totally be fair but since I'm playing it for free my experience has been hugely positive towards it.
I'm hoping this decade we'll eventually get Titanfall 3 especially since so many loose ends are not solved at the end of 2, but with Respawn being so busy with the success of Apex Legends (set in the Titanfall universe) and a couple of other projects that might not be for a while. But I'm so glad the game has gotten cult status. I got it for Christmas of 2016 and it's still probably in my favorite games of all time, probably in the Top 15-20 or so.
3 Yrs✓#
Skyhler3 Yrs✓#
Damn that good then? I will definitely keep it near the forefront of my mind.