Author - Judgeman

Review of Sniper Elite 5 on PC

2022/07/18

Geek News, News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

Rebellion Developments has hit us with another game in the Sniper Elite series, with the appropriately named Sniper Elite 5. This is the third Sniper Elite game that I have played, beginning with Sniper Elite 4 and Rebellion Development’s spin off Zombie Army 4. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with both games, even though I had some small gripes with some game play elements, and was very excited to get my hands on Sniper Elite 5. How does Sniper Elite 5 hold up to it’s predecessors? Let’s dive into our full review of the game to find out.

Story

Sniper Elite 5 takes place in 1944 in France. You play as the series’ protagonist, Karl Fairburne, who is working with the Allies to help put a stop to varies Axis secret operations. In this case, you are tasked to infiltrate various Nazi installations to discover the details of Operation Kraken, Hitler’s plan for the invasion of North America. Each mission begins with one specific story goal, this goal fitting into the overall story surrounding Operation Kraken and Fairburne’s actions to put a stop to it. As you move through the maps, you will discover secondary and tertiary goals, which will include assassinating key Nazi’s for the SOE (Special Operations Executive), or other objectives like removing radar installations to support the D-Day invasion or finding hidden stolen art in a large chateau.

The story line for Sniper Elite 5 is intriguing enough to keep one interested, even though it is completely fabricated for this game. The pacing for the story feels like the other Sniper Elite games, you get dropped into a map with one objective and it is up to you to figure out how to solve that objective, and to locate any or all other optional objectives to complete. Once you have completed the primary objective, then you are ready to exfiltrate and do it all again in another map. Sniper Elite 5 does have cutscenes to help the story along, but the majority of the story is told through action and how you play the map.

The characters in Sniper Elite 5 are interesting and fit the narrative well, though can be seen as stereotypical in some aspects. Fairburne is what you would usually think of as your hardened WW2 super soldier (no not that super soldier). He’s tough, never smiles, and gets right to the point. Other characters round out other roles in the game, for instance Marie Chevalier plays the typical angry French resistance soldier and your SOE contact in France is Charlie Barton, a black Irish woman who landed in France first to help gather intel. I would love to see more character development in these types of games, it’s what makes us care more about the story and character, but I also understand that there are a lot of people that don’t really play this game for character driven narrative. Overall, the plot and characters to a good job to tell the story, but it could be so much deeper and more interesting then just playing off of typical WW2 tropes.

Game Play

But you didn’t load up Sniper Elite 5 for the story, you loaded it up for what it is known for, tactical third person shooting and x-ray sniper shots. Let me put you to ease and let you know that both are still in Sniper Elite 5, and are honestly better then ever.

As I said earlier, you are dropped of in each mission with one key objective and your loadout, which can be customized as you progress through the game. Your loadout consists of one rifle, one smg, and one pistol, each of which is completely customizable as long as you can find the specific workshop for each weapon on the map. The name of the game in Sniper Elite 5 is exploration. This is how you will find these workshops, alternative starting points, the other objectives, and collectibles you need to master each map.

The maps in Sniper Elite 5 are huge and detailed! Once of the biggest improvements between 4 and 5 is the updated graphics and detailed maps. The maps feel much more complete then they did in 4. This will help push you to explore and to look for different routes to your objective, but also to keep an eye on each nook and cranny for more intel and optional objectives. The only negative I see with the size of these maps is, for me, I loose my patience and start to run a little more or not look as closely when crossing the road the more I play a map, which inevitably leads to many Nazis seeing me and raising many alarms.

The sniping in this game feels even more tighter then it did in 4. This is where the game really shines. Your sniper rifle is fully customizable, as I mentioned above, so you should feel very comfortable with your loadout as it is tailor made to how you play. Some scopes have varies levels of zoom, while others only have one, and the scopes also have range finders to help zero in your shot. You can hold your breath to tighten up your shot, then when you are ready, pull the trigger. If you are on target, you will be treated to one of Sniper Elite 5’s x-ray kills that shows you exactly what you just did you that soldier. Planning your shot around other sound sources will also help hide your shot from other soldiers in the area, or you can customize your weapon to add in subsonic rounds or a suppressor.

Sniper Elite 5 also comes with 3 other game play modes that may interest you, if the standard campaign does not. There is the typical multiplayer mode, where you can go it solo or with a team in various types of matches on much better designed multiplayer maps then 4, there is a co-op horde mode where you must defend a point against waves of Nazis, and there is a cool new feature called Axis Invasion, where you can invade another person’s campaign as an Axis sniper, adding in a new level of stress. Out of all of these options, I loved the Axis Invasion one the best as it felt more like invading a player in Dark Souls. With the maps being so large, it makes it a fun cat and mouse type of mode.

Final Thoughts

Sniper Elite 5 is more of Sniper Elite 4 but with better graphics, better sniping physics, better maps, and more customization. The core game play has remained unchanged, but everything else surrounding that game play has been given a nice upgrade. If you liked Sniper Elite 4, then you will like Sniper Elite 5. If you are new to the series, then this is a great place to start. Sniper Elite 5 isn’t perfect, but it is a fun game to play. I ran into some glitches on occasion, but nothing game breaking, and I did find that the large maps would lead me to play more run and gun the longer I played on a map. I would be so focused on the sneaky sniper aspect for the first hour or so, then just get impatient then tommy gun every Nazi I saw until I got away. Overall, I highly recommend Sniper Elite 5 and would recommend this game over the others as it is the most up to date and has the best game play of any game in the series. Sniper Elite 5 is available now on Steam.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5

WWE 2K22 Review on Steam

2022/03/30

Judgeman

Reviews, Windows PC Review

The world of professional wrestling is an interesting one – a world that I fell in love with as a young boy in the 80s. I think what still draws me to the sport is the duality of it all, the spectacle of professional wrestling. On one hand, professional wrestling is scripted, with individuals playing characters and working with their opponent and referee to put on a show for the crowd. On the other hand, serious injury and even death can occur if the actual match isn’t taken seriously by all involved. Nightly, these wrestlers put on a show and put their lives and bodies in danger for our amusement. From the indie circuit, to the weekly WWE or AEW shows, wrestlers take their craft seriously and it draws a crowd each and every time a show is put on. That is why I was excited to check out WWE 2K22 from Visual Concepts and 2K Sports.

Story

WWE 2K22 has a pretty robust story mode called MyRise, with features story line differences if you create a female or a male wrestler. The first thing you do in MyRise is create your character from the Creation Suite. The Creation Suite is a pretty standard character creation system, but felt largely unintuitive for me. In fact, I had accidently deleted my character twice during the process trying to play the MyRise campaign. You do have tons of options here available to you, including uploading images to use for your wrestler. You also get to select the size of your wrestler which then dictates the category she or he will wrestle in. My issues really come from not finding certain aspects of the character I wanted to change where they would normally be in other games, such as hair or facial hair. Normally those would be found where you tweak skin color or facial features, but the Creation Suite placed them in the attire section. Also, I never could see where I could change my height and weight, so I was eternally stuck at the 5’9″ height for all of my characters.

The MyRise story line is pretty generic wrestling story fair. You show up to the WWE Performance Center to begin your rise as the next WWE superstar. Your character is fully voiced, though you have no choice in what that voice sounds like, so my character looked and sounded like two completely separate people. Your character is introduced to 3 other competitors at the Performance Center, and your two trainers, Road Dogg Jesse James and Shawn Michaels. You will make decisions that will either lead to your character being a babyface or a heel, wrestling terms for a good or bad character. You are offered matches either through character interaction, at the Performance Center, or even through your Twitter feed. Once you accept a match, you are immediately rushed to that match, which would lead me to wonder what other opportunities did I just miss. I would much rather have a series of options laid out for a set time period then select from those matches. The way it’s set up in the game right now makes me feel like I’m missing out on other things too much.

So the MyRise story was pretty decent as far as stories go. You have a lot of control over what your story will be like, and alot of options to choose from. I do feel that the story was a little more tame then what I would be looking for as an adult fan. What if felt like was WWE really trying to push for a PG wrestling story line, instead of something that could be seen as an actual story of a coming up wrestler. I found this in other aspects of WWE 2K22 as well, like having the word “ass” censored from Road Dogg’s iconic entrance speech. You will gain points that you can put into your stats to customize your character, and all of the gear is available to you from moment one without having to unlock it or worry about loot boxes.

Game Play

WWE 2K22 is full of things to do, even if the MyRise thing isn’t your particular death match. You can just jump right into a match and set all the parameters for it, from type of match, to location, to rules, and participating wrestlers. You also have the 2K Showcase, MyFACTION, and MyGM modes to play with as well. 2K Showcase follows the career highlights of Rey Mysterio. You get to relive some of his most memorable moments and matches.

The MyGM feature was my next favorite feature of the game. MyGM puts you in the role of one of the WWE’s GMs and then has you participate in a draft to secure your stable of wrestlers for your brand. You have a set fund to spend on wrestlers, and must choose wisely between the different types of wrestlers, male or female, and heel or babyface. Once you have drafted, you then set up your show each week, with who is wrestling who, which promos are going to happen, and where the match will take place. You can also put the title on the line during your matches, and see if it changes hands. Each match can be simulated, or played out either by you or the computer. After your show, you will get ranked on your matches and how well they did, then you will see how you compared to your rival GM. Triple H will give you tasks each week, and your wrestlers may have requests of their own, so your decisions will help determine how happy your wrestlers are.

The MyFACTION mode is very similar to the Ultimate Team mode that you see in EA Sports games. This is where you put together a faction from trading cards that can be found or bought in boosters or decks from the store. While I was given a few to open, I didn’t spend much time here as it is pretty much either a time sink or a place to spend your real cash to speed things up.

The actual game play of WWE 2K22 felt very good and responsive. The moves are pretty straight forward to perform and I felt pretty much like a bad ass performing in the ring. Button combinations will make your wrestler punch or kick, then you have a grapple button that starts a grapple, which is followed up by either a strong attack or a weak attach to perform a move. What I really liked about this was the combo breakers that the opponent could do. At critical times, I could press my Y button to intercept a move, or press my weak or strong attack to match my opponent to break a combo. This made me feel like I was never stuck in a never ending combo move set, like other wrestling games of the past.

Aesthetics

WWE 2K22 is a pretty good looking game from top to bottom. I was able to tell most wrestlers immediately, but some models just quite don’t look like who they are supposed to represent. The great thing is that each wrestler that has a speaking line is actually voiced by that wrestler. Sasha Banks, Alexa Bliss, Samoa Joe, Shawn Michaels, Road Dogg Jesse James and many others are voicing themselves in WWE 2K22. The downside is that it isn’t everyone, so you pretty much get mute matches if you are not playing MyRise. I still cannot believe they censored Road Dogg’s entrance speech…..

Final Thoughts

WWE 2K22 is a very solid game, with some great aspects but some issues that keep it from being a great game. I loved the MyRise story and create a character, but felt that the story should have gone in a more realistic direction. I can see why WWE would choose to tone it they way they did, since they are aiming for a more PG experience on tv, so you get that same experience here. I really enjoyed the options for the matches and the massive amount of wrestlers we can choose from. There are over 150 wrestlers to choose from, and you can even download more from the custom community. I was able to add Danhausen and Malaki Black to my roster, which already included Alexa Bliss, Scott Hall, Randy Orton, and about 3 versions of the Undertaker.

The downside here was it took me almost 2 hours to set up the game just to play it without framerate issues or controller issues on my PC. The framerate issues where fairly easy to fix once I figured out that WWE 2K22 is preset at a specific resolution, and I needed to reset it to match my graphics settings. The controller was a whole other issue…

Overall, if you are looking for a good wrestling game, you cannot go wrong with WWE 2K22, though I would suggest checking it out on the Xbox Series X or PS5 before the PC. You may have less community offerings on console, but it could save you some time in troubleshooting the game. WWE 2K22 is available now on Steam.

Golf Club: Wasteland Putts Through the Apocalypse – Review

2021/09/28

Judgeman

Geek News, News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

I would never say that I am a huge golf game fan when it comes to video games. I think I have only owned two golf games in my entire life, and those were Mario Golf 64 and Outlaw Golf for the original Xbox. Well, now I own a third golf game, and that is Golf Club: Wasteland by Demagog Studio. This one really intrigued me when I heard about it but wasn’t sure if it would be the game for me. The other golf games that I’ve owned were mostly played in a group party setting, but this one was going to be played solo. Let’s take a deeper look at Golf Club: Wasteland and see if it held my attention.

Story

Golf Club: Wasteland is set in the future, where the Earth has become an inhabitable husk of what it once was, and humans have fled to Mars, completely giving up on saving the Earth. The Earth is not without use in this future, as it has become a golf course for the ultra-rich who can afford the trip from Mars to play a round of golf. You play one of these ultra-rich, a man named Charlie. Charlie lands on the planet, in the fictional town of Alphaville, wearing his self-contained space suit. This spacesuit is meant to protect Charlie from Earth’s now poisonous atmosphere as he plays his round of golf.

The story for Gold Club: Wasteland plays out in a very interesting way. There are small hints and Easter eggs that can be found in the levels you play, that will give you small tidbits of story or make a reference to other popular forms of art and movie. For instance, there are references to Jean-Luc Godard’s classic film Alphaville and to Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World. However, most of the actual narrative will come from Charlie’s recollections or the chatter that comes over Radio Nostalgia, a radio station that will play music and conversations that help develop the world around you.

Golf Club: Wasteland is a unique experience, where simple game play interacts with ambient story telling to make an intriguing and compelling game. This is a vastly different type of golfing game experience that I am used to, and to be completely honest, I loved every moment of it.

Game Play

Golf Club: Wasteland is golfing simplicity at its best. But that does not mean that Golf Club: Wasteland is an easy game, oh no. It is easy to understand and play, but it can be very, very hard to master.

You are first offered two choices of game types: Story Mode and Challenge Mode. Story Mode means you can play through the holes that the game offers without a stroke limit. Need to take 15 tries to get the ball over the crane and into the hole? Go for it, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t an incentive for hitting par in Story Mode. The lower number of shots that you use on a particular hole will unlock different diary entries for our boy, Charlie. You can find out more about his back story and the final days of Earth if you can sink the ball in par or less.

Challenge Mode is the harder of the two options. In Challenge Mode, each hole has a par score that you must meet, or your ball will self-destruct and send you back to the tee to try again. This mode is for those of you that are looking for more of a challenge, hence the name, while Story Mode are for those of you that want to experience the game without stressing over things like strokes or par. The coolest thing is that you can switch at any time between the two modes while you are progressing through the game’s 35 different holes. A third option, Iron Mode, is only unlocked after beating Challenge Mode.

The challenge to Golf Club: Wasteland comes from the level design, which is more mini-golf then traditional golf. Gone are the lush, green fairways that once was found on Earth, now you are driving through urban wastelands, shopping centers, and highways. You control the angle of your shot by using either your mouse or left analog stick, then selecting your desired power to hit the ball. You can also zoom in and out to see more of the entire stage, to get a better sense of where you need to line up your shot. There are no clubs in this game, so you just set the angle and the power and give the ball a whack.

Aesthetics

Golf Club: Wasteland has some of the best aesthetics in a game that I have played this year. From the visuals, to the sound design, and the soundtrack, it all works so well to create a pleasing and relaxing atmosphere. No, you will not get realistic graphics in this game, but what you will get is a design choice that puts you at ease and fits with the style of the game. This is, by definition, the best “chill” game I think I have every played.

The visuals are awash with various shades of blue and green, while details of shocking pink will highlight the remnants of human culture. The visuals are just designed to be relaxing, with the details in the foreground being easier to see, while the background is mostly hidden in the miasma that has settled on Earth.

The soundtrack is incredible. It is, from what I can tell, all original music and programming created just for Golf Club: Wasteland. It’s all very chill music, that fits the entire feeling of the game perfectly. There is about 2 hours’ worth of programming for Golf Club: Wasteland, so repetition isn’t something that I would worry about, and I didn’t tire of any of the songs that I heard.

Final Thoughts

Golf Club: Wasteland is going to be one of those games that you either get or you don’t. It is made to be a very chill experience that can be played at any skill level you would like. Playing just for the story and the scenery? No worries, Story Mode has you covered. Want to test your skills on a post-apocalyptic Earth? Then give Challenge Mode a try. Challenge mode to easy? Iron Mode it is! Golf Club: Wasteland is a gorgeous experience that I truly found enjoyable from second one of installation. Easily, this is going to be my top chill game of the year, this year. Golf Club: Wasteland is available now on Steam.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite – A Review (PC)

2021/08/26

Judgeman

Geek News, News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

2021 marks the 35th anniversary of one of the greatest sci-fi movies of all time, Aliens. Alien, the first movie to launch the franchise, was released in 1979 and quickly became the primary example of doing a horror/sci-fi alien movie right. The slow burn of the original Alien still haunts me to this day, and was wonderfully recreated in Alien: Isolation. James Cameron took a different approach with the sequel, making Aliens much more of a roller coaster ride through a bug hunt on a far away planet. We were introduced to the Colonial Marines and their iconic weaponry, such as the M41A Pulse Rifle, which makes one of the most iconic weapon sounds in movies. If Alien: Isolation was the closest thing in a video game we could get to the feeling of the first movie, then Aliens: Fireteam Elite is pretty much the closest thing we got to how the second movie made me feel.

Story

The events of Aliens: Fireteam Elite take place 23 years after the events of Alien 3. You play as a Colonial Marine, stationed on the USS Endeavor, when a distress call reaches your ship from a remote colony. As you land on the colony, you come face to face with the xenomorphs that have overrun the compound. You discover that the population of the entire colony has been killed, except for a single scientist, Dr. Hoenikker. You and your fireteam must now brave the waves of xenos in order to reach the Dr. and exfiltrate the base before being overrun.

So the overall story of Aliens: Fireteam Elite won’t win a Pulitzer prize for originality, but it hits the right beats when you need them. If you are an Aliens fan, then the story will feel familiar and that is a good thing. For others that are not huge fans of the franchise, the story will feel somewhat disjointed and a little generic. You can get more story information by talking to some characters around the USS Endeavor, or by finding file collectibles on missions. However, that felt like finding the collectibles in Outrider, like I cared for the information the first 10 times I found something, then I would just skip the dialogue after that. I had a hard time caring about the story, but would que up for the next opportunity to just start blasting xenos every chance I had.

Game Play

I went into Aliens: Fireteam Elite expecting a solid third person shooter, and boy did I get that. But I was also surprised at how many rpg elements there are in this game as well. You begin the game by making your character. You can select how your character looks, and customize your character however you would like. Then you get to pick one of five classes that you are going to be – Gunner, Doc, Recon, Demolisher, and Tactician. Each class has access to certain weapons and/or skills that the other classes do not have. If you are looking to rock the M56 Smart Gun like Vasquez, then you would want to pick the Demolisher. I decided that the draw of the M41A Pulse Rifle was too much for me, and chose Gunner. The Gunner begins the game with 2 skills and two weapons, but you will level up and earn more skills, modifiers, passive skills, and weapons as you progress. You will also earn cosmetic items such as skins, decals, and new weapon colors.

Once you have outfitted yourself, you need to select your next mission. There are currently 4 major missions, each with 3 separate stages and objectives. Your fireteam consists of 3 marines, which can be either player controlled or can be played by an AI, if you prefer to go it solo. As a solo game, the AI does a pretty good job of keeping up with you and hitting their targets, but I did find that the AI would have the annoying trait of always following me around when we were defending an area, instead of being able to stay on one side while I was on over watch on the other side.

Before each mission you also have the opportunity to play a challenge card. Challenge cards are earned by playing missions and finding hidden caches on the maps. When a challenge card is played, the game becomes slightly harder in some way, but you will earn more credits and xp at the end. For instance, a challenge may be that your weapons have 3 times more recoil then normal, but you will earn 1.5 times more credit and xp at the end of the mission.

Once the mission has started, the story will begin to play out and you will receive your orders. You will see a point to head to on your HUD, and will be constantly under heavy attack by xenos as you progress through the mission. The xenos you face will be much more varied then the movies. You will see your typical drones, but will have spitters, poppers , and warriors to also contend with. Yes, before you say it, it is very much like playing a sci fi version of Left 4 Dead. That’s probably my biggest complaint about the game, is that it is pretty much just a re-skin of Left 4 Dead, down to the sections where you need to defend an area while waiting for some slow thing to happen. This didn’t stop me from enjoying the hell out of the game and the journey through different environments, including a Weyland-Yutani held alien stronghold.

Aesthetics

Aliens: Fireteam Elite is a good looking game that feels like an Aliens game. As you progress through the missions, you will see call backs and items from movies past that will make you take notice, that is if you are an Aliens fan. You will run past giant statues of Engineers, and even see a Navigator, but to those that haven’t seen the movie you won’t feel the same connection to these environments.

Voice work is done pretty well for this game. My biggest complain here is that the mouths of the person talking do not move, like at all. When you start a dialogue with a character, you will have the ability to make choices and ask questions, but the lips of the person does not move when they talk. It’s just creepy and seems a little lazy on the part of the developer. However, the iconic sounds of the weapons are all in the game. You could not peel the smile off my face, every time I heard that classic M41A Pulse Rifle sound as I blasted xeno after xeno.

Final Thoughts

Aliens: Fireteam Elite is a very good game, especially for one that is a fan of the franchise and can enjoy the call backs and nods to the franchise. If you are not a huge fan, then this will feel very familiar to you, especially if you spent any time playing Left 4 Dead. I loved Left 4 Dead, so while it may not be overly original, Aliens: Fireteam Elite is still a blast to play. The rpg elements gives you a reason to keep playing the game so you can unlock better skills and different items, but also makes it less likely that you will play another class during a game. Why play my level 1 Doc, when I can bust out my level 8 Gunner? At the end of the day, Aliens: Fireteam Elite is a solid game that is fun to play. Sure, it may be repetitive in some parts, and sure it’s not very original, but blasting xenomorphs hasn’t been this fun in years. Aliens: Fireteam Elite is available now on Steam.

Review of THQ Nordic’s Biomutant on PC

2021/07/19

Judgeman

Geek News, News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

Biomutant is the newest open world, action-role playing game from developer Experiment 101 and publisher THQ Nordic. Biomutant is a very imaginative and unique game, but it does run into some issues for me and it may not be the next, great game you are looking for. Let’s dig a little deeper with our full review of THQ Nordic’s Biomutant.

Story

Biomutant is set in a post-post-apocalyptic Earth where humans have become extinct due to a catastrophic end to our world via pollution. You play as a furry….thing. You look kind of like a mutated, two-legged weasel, with one eye. When you begin a game of Biomutant, you immediately go into your character creation screen to create your varmint. There, you will determine your creature’s stats, character class, and appearance.

When the story begins, you are wandering through a bunker, learning more about your quest and what has happened to the world. Ages ago, humans destroyed themselves and the planet by polluting and devastating the environment. This caused various creatures and mammals to evolve into what is around today, including you. The story of Biomutant centers around the Tree of Life at the center of your world, and 4 large world eating beasts that are threatening the Tree of Life. You must either choose to protect the Tree by defeating the world eaters, or destroy the Tree by defeating the world eaters, and then letting them wake up and eat the tree anyway. Yeah, the game really doesn’t know what to do with you if you choose to destroy the Tree of Life, it kind of sends you on the same path, with mild differences in story line.

There is a lot to like about Biomutant’s story, but also a lot that I didn’t like. The story is a typical “save the planet” type story, where you have to choose a path early and pick either the clearly light path or the clearly dark path. This also will determine which tribe you ally with in the beginning. There are also flashbacks that fill out more of your back story as you visit locations, like your old village. These flashbacks gives your character more story and really fleshes them out, which I liked.

What I really didn’t like about the story is the Narrator. Your character does not talk in a language that you understand, so throughout the story you have a narrator that is summarizing every conversation that is going on, and also interjects their own thoughts into the game play. At first, I thought this was an interesting touch, but as the game continued my stamina for the Narrator quickly ran out. I am not sure exactly why that is, it may have to do with the tone of the narrator being all over the place. The Narrator goes from sounding like a wizened monk with deep words on philosophy and life, to a kindergarten teacher reading the latest book on pliff puffs. In the end, I could have done without the Narrator, and would have been perfectly fine with subtitles if the various vermin of this world were not going to speak English.

Game Play

Biomutant is an open world, 3rd person, action-rpg and is outfitted with tons of details and systems, some that work well, while others not so much. Let’s start of with combat. Combat in Biomutant feels right and behaves like other action-rpgs on the market. You begin the game with a set of weapons and moves, based on your character class. I played as a Dead Eye, a character who mostly wielded a gun, with a sword for melee situations. As you level up, you can unlock more moves for your character, and super powers called Mutations as well. What you will quickly find is, that a few of these moves and mutations will work wonders for your playstyle and you really won’t need anything else. Combat was fluid and satisfying throughout the game, which I really enjoyed.

What I didn’t enjoy was the quests that are found throughout Biomutant. Quests in Biomutant, for the most part, are repetitive and boring. There are way to many copied quests that had small alterations to them throughout the game. Not to mention that battling the world eater bosses is exactly the same whether you chose to save the Tree of Life or not. You will also run into many invisible walls that will force you into completing certain quests and fort invasions the way that the developers want you to. Unfortunately, the repetitive and boring quests, including the many, many fetch quests, really brought down my enjoyment of Biomutant. What started out as a unique, imaginative, and fun action-rpg, became a chore to slog through because of the quests.

Aesthetics

Let’s get back to being positive here for a quick moment. Biomutant looks gorgeous! You will run into so many beautiful environments as you progress through the story. The open world has so many vastly different biomes to explore, from thick forests, to desolate wastelands, and even radioactive zones. You will also run into the same temperature mechanic that Breath of the Wild had, where the zone is so cold that you can only stay there for so long before freezing to death. While that mechanic is not necessarily unique, it works out quite nicely here.

But, like most aspects of Biomutant, there has to be a negative here as well. That negative is the voice acting. While I understand the developers wanting to go with characters that had a language that we, as humans, could not understand, the language that they developed for our furry rat things sounds like gibberish instead of some sort of actual language that these creatures would development. To compound this issue, is the ever present Narrator, which I discussed earlier. I won’t beat him up again here, but I really did not like that guy. At all.

Final Thoughts

Biomutant is a game that I hope gets a sequel, mostly for the developers to realize what worked and what didn’t. Biomutant feels like a game that was developed with no clear goal in mind, with so many mechanics and systems tossed in that nothing completely feels polished in the end. There is potential here, and I believe that a sequel will come out being much better then the first game. The combat felt solid and was engaging and fun, and the environments were gorgeous, imaginative and unique. However, all of this is balanced out by boring quests, no clear difference in gameplay when it came to the world eaters, and just annoying voice acting by the creatures and the Narrator. Not all is lost for Biomutant, I still found it a very solid game that I did enjoy, just not enough to warrant another playthrough. Biomutant is available now on Steam.

Insurmountable – A Review (PC)

2021/05/28

Judgeman

Geek News, News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

One of the pleasures of doing this type of job is getting to review a game that you would normally pass right by, and finding out that the game was an absolute gem. I will start this review by saying that Insurmountable isn’t a game for everyone, but it is an enjoyable and challenging game nonetheless. Developed and published by ByteRockers’ Games, Insurmountable is the most unique and challenging roguelike game I have ever played.

Story

The story line in Insurmountable is well done, if not exactly in a narrative style. You begin your trek into Insurmountable by choosing a class: adventurer, scientist, or journalist. Each class has a different set of beginning equipment and skills, and a different reason for making this journey across 4 separate mountains. I chose the scientist for my playthrough, and the scientist was set to explore the mountain, in search of an undiscovered source of electromagnetic energy that can power the world. You task was to scale the mountain, in search of this new energy source.

As you climb, you will encounter different events along the way, that will flesh out the story of your ascension. These events are told via text, and allow you to make some choices that will affect your various statuses. I will discuss the gameplay aspects of these events in the next section, but these events will make up your entire story. In my first climb, I wouldn’t spend a lot of time looking for resources since I had plenty at the bottom of the mountain, but became much more desperate to survive as I got closer to the summit, to the point where I even raided another climber’s camp for food and warmth. It did me no good, however, as I still died on the descent, just 4 hexes away from my goal.

Taking this route in terms of the storytelling, means that no two runs will ever be the same and keeps that roguelike feel that we are all used to. I personally felt that this was a much more engaging way to tell this story, and let my imagination run wild as I watched my little guy try to climb this massive mountain. If you are looking for the perfect chill roguelike, Insurmountable is your game.

Game Play

Insurmountable is built like most roguelikes out on the market today, but does not have any combat or enemies to speak of. The mountain is your enemy, and the combat is you battling the elements to prevent from dying. After you have chosen your class, you begin your trek up the mountain. Each mountain is procedurally generated, so no two runs will be the same. You will have 5 bars that you will need to worry about as you climb: oxygen, sanity, stamina, temperature, and health. The health bar is the most important bar, as when that is completely gone, you die.

Movement is pretty simple, you select the hex you want to move to and your stamina bar will preview how much stamina you will lose in climbing to that hex. You will also see which hexes are treacherous terrain and may cause a critical event or health damage. You will see icons all over the mountain as you climb, each icon representing a different event such as a cave that you can rest in, or an area to search for possible supplies.

Your climber can find equipment as they scale the mountain, and has a set inventory that you will need to manage. Equipment can be food that will replenish stamina, oxygen tanks that will help you breathe better, or pieces of equipment that can reduce stamina cost as you climb. You also have a tent that you can use to rest in, but it will degrade the more you use it, until you are sleeping on the side of the mountain in just your bag. There is a day and night cycle as you climb that you need to be aware of. It becomes harder to climb at night as you get higher due to the freezing temperatures.

As you climb up the mountain, you will gain experience and level up. Each time you level up, you can gain a new skill that will assist you in your climb. Many of these skills are active skills with a set cooldown, counted in hours. Other skills are passive and will just make your life and climb easier.

Aesthetics

I found Insurmountable to be a visually stunning game. The game is played from an isometric point of view, to allow you to see some of the mountain but not all of it at one time. The weather changes as you climb, and will affect your game play since it will affect how much stamina and temperature you will lose. The music of Insurmountable is the perfect soundtrack for this type of game. It reminds me of the music from Minecraft, in the way that it is calm and soothing, even as you watch your sanity bar reach 0.

Final Thoughts

Insurmountable is a very challenging game, don’t let the lack of bosses or enemies fool you. You must plan your moves very carefully based on your skills and currently equipment load out, if you hope to survive the 4 mountains you need to climb in one life. The soft, melodic music is there to lull you into a false sense of security, as the biting cold and harsh conditions drains your sanity even before you have reached the summit, then you still have to reach base camp before moving onto the next peak. This is a great game that will stimulate your mind and challenge your problem solving skills, but can be used as a nice, laid back, chill type of game. It will not be for everyone, but for those of you out there that thinks this sounds right up your alley, you will not be disappointed. Insurmountable is available now on Steam.

Review of Square Enix’s OUTRIDERS (PC)

2021/04/14

Judgeman

Geek News, News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

Outriders is a cooperative, third person online looter shooter game from developer People Can Fly and publisher Square Enix. Similar to games like Destiny or Borderlands, Outriders core game play is centered around the item drops that a player can earn from playing the game, but also centers around a third person cover system similar to Gears of War. However, there is a lot more going on in Outriders then this, so let’s take a deeper look with our review of the game on PC.

Story

The story in Outriders centers around the destruction of the Earth due to massive climate and environmental damage. The Earth’s governments pulled together to create two massive starships, the Flores and the Caravel, to take part of humanity to a new planet called Enoch. However, before the journey could begin, a fatal error occurred on the Caravel, causing its destruction. This left only the Flores to complete the trip to Enoch.

Once the Flores arrives at Enoch, the forward exploration teams were sent to the planet to retrieve the forward probes sent by the Enoch Colonization Authority (ECA). This forward team, called outriders, arrived at the planet surface and found that Enoch was not as habitable as earlier thought, as a storm called the Anomaly rampages across the surface, decimating most of what it touches. In some cases, humans touched by the Anomaly are not killed, but changed and become Altered, humans with superpowers. You play as one of these Outriders who survived your first contact with the Anomaly, to become Altered. Your team heads back to base camp to warn the others about the Anomaly and want to hold off the landing, however, you and your team are branded as traitors and enter into conflict with the ECA, who are moving ahead with the landing as it cannot be stopped. You are wounded and placed into cryosleep in hopes that this will save your life. The game really begins with you waking up almost 30 years later, with the face of Enoch completely changed due to a massive civil war between the ECA and the rest of humanity called Insurgents. Your mission is to try to use your new found powers to find the last probe, and hopefully make Enoch the paradise that is was supposed to be for humanity.

Outriders first felt like every other future space dystopian shooter out there, with little to differentiate itself from games like Destiny or Borderlands, but that feeling didn’t last long for me. Outriders story is easily it’s strongest element, and we will get into where the game falters a little more down the road, but let’s sing some praises first. The world and it’s characters feel lived in and real. You will reconnect with old characters that had to change and adapt after 3o years of conflict, while meeting new characters that have never known anything different. I enjoyed how my Outrider interacted with people, and his mannerisms, humor, and cynicism seemed appropriate to his character. I had no desire to skip any dialogues scenes between my Outrider and the world around him, which is unusual for me.

Outriders also is very generous with journal entries and items that can be found throughout the game that helps tell the story of Enoch and the civil war. These entries can either be given to you when you encounter something new, or can be found as floating blue pages while exploring the world. Either way, you gain a new journal entry that will tell you more about Enoch and its’ inhabitants. The mythology, history, and world building in Outriders offers a lot to anyone who is willing to do some reading, and really makes the world feel much more lived in and real as you play through the campaign.

Game Play

So, Outriders has a great story, but how does it play? Let’s go ahead and talk about the elephant in the room first, shall we? Outriders is considered an online only game, meaning that it must be connected to the internet to play it. If you do not have internet access, you cannot play Outriders. The sad part is, there is no reason for this online only trait for the game at all, until you get to end game and choose to play in the expedition raids. Normally, I would not care if a game is online only or not, but when a game has such bad connections and server issues at launch, like Outriders did, then it matters greatly. Outriders was almost unplayable for the first few days after launch, even wiping some of my progress. I was actually disconnected right after a boss fight in which I got my first legendary, then had to replay the fight just to have zero legendaries drop the second time. The dev team has been working on stabilizing these servers, and it is much better today, but this still needs to be addressed as a huge design flaw for the game.

Outside of that, the core game play for Outriders is to work your way through a series of arena and sections of maps that are all connected by fast travel points, completing various main and side missions to progress through the story. Along the way, you can complete contract work, such as bounties or collection quests, that will reward you with better weapons and armor. Outriders is not an open world game, so each section is centered around your camp of allies that will take care of your basic needs. These include storage access, vendors, place to mod your equipment and vehicle, and ammo refill stations. You can fast travel between travel points on the map that you are currently in, or use your vehicle to travel to another campsite or town to turn in quests.

Outriders does have some elements of an rpg here for character design. As you level up, you have 4 main classes you can choose from: Trickster, Devastator, Pyromancer, and Technomancer. Each of these classes have distinct advantages over the others. I chose to play as a Technomancer for my first play through. The Technomancer is the long range fighter, who is also the support class and uses gadgets. Then each class has 3 subclasses you can gain skills in. For the Technomancer, those were Pestilence, Tech Shamen, and Demolisher. I followed the Tech Shaman path for this character and loved the way he played. There is a lot of customization that can be done to your character, and having these many options is a great way to play the game your way.

Combat feels mostly like a Gears of War game. You will walk along your pathway, then see an open space with cover set in an obvious pattern to suggest combat is coming. As you enter the space, red dots form on your mini map, and you grab some cover to kill everyone in your path, then open up the next area, rinse, repeat. Some arenas are much more open, especially when you are fighting larger monsters or completing the beast contracts, but whenever you fight humanoid enemies, the arenas are incredibly obvious when you enter them. This is the most tedious part of the game, you really do just move from one arena to the other, killing everything in your path, then moving onto your next objective. I wanted to progress the story and see what happens next, but having to do the same thing over and over does kill the joy I have for Outriders.

The enemies you will face will come in a few different flavors, but can all be identified visually to help you predict their behavior. You have your common minions, who will hide behind cover and shoot at you, and your common snipers who will sit in the back and fire at you with single shot rifles. Next up, you have a couple of rushers that are designed to keep you from staying behind your cover for too long, one heavily armored and one that isn’t. These are incredibly annoying and will force you to change up your game plan. Your first move will be to fall back, however, the game will only allow you to move back so far before it resets the conflict, which is frustrating to say the least. Finally, you have your mini bosses and bosses, which are all Altered and have special powers, which can sometimes be interrupted. Fighting these guys solo means you need to manage your interrupts to help you through the fight, but sometimes these powers cannot be interrupted, which then means you are screwed, plain and simple.

Lastly, I wanted to touch on the world tier system for Outriders, which I thought was brilliant. You begin the game at World Tier 1 and, as you progress, you will earn experience not only for your character but for your World Tier. When your World Tier levels up, you gain access to a new world tier and some rewards to go with that new access. The World Tier sets the difficulty for the game, so the lower the World Tier is, the easier the game will be, but the less impressive your loot will be as well. I was able to level my World Tier to six before I started to run into significant issues, then would play the game mostly between World Tier 3 and 4, but would go lower if I was having specific issues with a particular boss. Having this scalable difficulty level is fantastic and is a great addition to the game. Players can play and whatever level they feel comfortable with.

Aesthetics

The aesthetics for Outriders is all over the place. I loved the voice acting, especially from the main male character, and thought that the voice acting really helped create three dimensional characters that I cared about. However, some of the armor sets and items looked positively strange on my avatar. There was something about how my wrists would look like they were boneless is certain gloves, or how my arms would look too long in certain sets. My hair would also pop out of certain helmets, making it look like moss on top while I was wearing a full face covering.

I also ran into quite a few graphical glitches during game play. For a significant run in the middle of the game, the enemies refused to fire their weapons at me, but I was still taking damage and getting hit. This did work itself out, but man for a few hours there it was hard to get through the game when you can see who is shooting at you.

The scenery and environments are outstanding, and looked great at Ultra settings, though I did run into some fuzziness sometimes but a quick reload and that cleared up. You have the ability to kind of customize your Outrider, but the character creation isn’t very robust. You get to select sex, face, hair, and a few details, but your character still feels like they tower over everyone else and is just oddly proportioned.

Final Thoughts

Outriders is a hard game to pin down. Do I like the game? Yes, sorta. Is it fun? Yes, kind of. I feel like my opinion on the game is pulled into a few different directions when I think about how much I either like or find tedious. There is a lot going on here in Outriders, I feel like they took all of their ideas and implemented every one of them into the core game play. I think the game could have been made better by focusing on a few core ideas and really polishing those to perfection. I love the options for classes and the subclass trees and I love the World Tier system. I love the voice acting and the character development along with the main story line. I found the cover to cover arena style game play to be tedious, as well as the arbitrary invisible wall system when I try to fall back. The always online aspect of the game is stupid, and does nothing for someone like me who is playing the game solo. Overall, Outriders is a good game, despite it’s tediousness and bugs. I would still recommend the game for anyone who enjoyed Destiny, especially. Outriders is available now for $59.99.

Curse of the Dead Gods – A Review (Xbox One)

2021/03/01

Judgeman

Geek News, News, Reviews, Xbox One News, Xbox One Review

Curse of the Dead Gods is the newest entry into the roguelike game genre from Passtech games and Focus Interactive. Prior to playing Curse of the Dead Gods, I was honestly not aware of the genre or these types of games being called roguelike. I had been watching others playing Hades on Twitch, and made the immediate comparisons even before loading up Curse of the Dead Gods. However, Curse of the Dead Gods proved to be a deeper and more richer experiences then I was prepared for. What initially looked like a Hades clone, ended up being its own amazing experience.

Story

Unlike Hades, Curse of the Dead Gods does not have much of a story or any type of character progression arc. You are tossed into a cursed dungeon and must rely on journal entries to find out more about the enemies that inhabit each dungeon you explore. The game begins by showing the main character lighting a torch and walking into a cave entrance. You are playing as Caradog McCallister, an English explorer armed with a machete and a Webley pistol, exploring lost and ancient ruins in the 19th century. Just for clarification, this information isn’t given to you in the cut scene, but from journal entries and Passtech’s website. From there, you start your first run through the Jaguar Temple, one of 3 different types of dungeons.

The entirety of Curse of the Dead Gods must rely on its game play and aesthetics to really hold the interest of the player, and it does this successfully. If you want to find out more about the enemies you face that are protecting these temples, then really the only thing you get is the journal entries which are filled out as you kill more of certain types of enemies. Other then that, don’t worry too much about the why behind the game and just enjoy the ride.

Game Play

Curse of the Dead Gods has all the familiar parts of a roguelike game at first. You work your way through procedurally generated dungeons, collecting gold, weapons, and upgrades that make you stronger with each run. You can use crystal skulls and jade armbands that you find in your run to purchase permanent upgrades to your arsenal and character, but weapons you find during your runs will disappear once you die.

There is a lot more here, however, then that. There is an actual curse that you have to worry about during your run. It isn’t called Curse of the Dead Gods for nothing. As you progress through the temple, you will need to make decisions that will increase your curse level. Opening doors, using blood as an offering, healing at certain fountains, fighting in the dark, all of these could increase your curse level. Once your curse level reaches 100, you gain a random curse that will affect your ability to run through the dungeon. These increase in severity with the more curses you gain, finally with a real nasty one at curse level 5. The last level 5 curse I had received was particularly nasty, especially just before I reached the boss fight. It had my health levels constantly draining until I reached 1 hp. You can remove curse levels by killing bosses, so it becomes a battle to manage your curse level with your progression through the temple.

Another major difference that Curse of the Dead Gods has over other games, is the progression of difficulty with the temples. When you first start the game, you are only given the first nine levels of the Jaguar Temple. These nine levels represent the first floor. Once you beat that floor, then you unlock the second floor, and finally the third floor before you unlock the temple in its entirety. As I said earlier, you also have 3 different temples to work through. These are Jaguar, Eagle and Snake. Each temple not only has different aesthetics, but enemies as well that really will change how you play the game. Snake, for instance, really goes all in with poisonous enemies.

Combat, in Curse of the Dead Gods, is the epitome of “simple to learn, hard to master”. You begin with 3 items, a torch to light your way, a melee weapon, and a range weapon. As you work through the temple, you may find a heavy weapon as well. You also have 5 diamonds under your character, which represents your stamina. You attack your foes with various combinations of melee, range, and heavy attacks with each of these attacks having the option to be charged up. You also have the ability to dodge and block incoming attacks, with perfect blocks and dodges refilling your stamina meter. Managing all of these attacks becomes crucial in trying to save your health bar from dipping to low before you reach the boss. The more health you lose in a run, means the more you need to increase your curse level to heal, which could mean more negative aspects that will affect your health, and so on and so on. You can also lock onto enemies by clicking in the right stick, which helps in some of the more chaotic fights.

The final thing I want to mention is the temple itself, it is loaded with traps and other dangerous environment features that will really throw you for a loop if you are not careful. Spike traps on the floor, statues that will take a swing at you as you pass by, and heads that will spit out flame will all cause you to have a bad time. However, these traps can also hit your enemies too. You will need to learn how to dance around these traps, and lure your enemies into them if you are going to preserve your health and reach the boss.

Aesthetics

I personally love the aesthetics of Curse of the Dead Gods. The visuals of the game really remind me of another of my favorite games, Darkest Dungeon. In fact, at times I kept waiting for the voice of the narrator to come in and describe my new curse to me as I was playing. Curse of the Dead Gods gives me old Diablo vibes at times as well, which is never a negative. The look of each temple is based on Mayan culture, but given a darker fantasy spin on it. However, you can definitely see where the influence here is coming from. The name of the bosses, the style of each temple, even the animals that the temples represent, all stem from MesoAmerican culture and belief. While I do not want to get into the deeper conversation of colonialism and the robbing of ancient native temples by Europeans, just be aware that this is present in Curse of the Dead Gods and you should decide if that makes you uncomfortable or not.

Final Thoughts

This game is good! Really good! Curse of the Dead Gods will scratch that itch for a roguelike game if you haven’t found one you truly like yet. From the dark, MesoAmerican art style, to the inclusion of the curse system, Curse of the Dead Gods has everything I never knew I wanted out of a roguelike game. Of course, it helps that it also makes me feel like I’m playing a game sent in the Darkest Dungeon universe. Curse of the Dead Gods will give you a proper challenge, deep gameplay, but never feel like it’s too overwhelming at all. You are supposed to be weak for your first few runs at the first boss, but keep trying and you will build up enough resources to by some nice upgrades. At first, managing my curse level was difficult, but you have to get better at combat, so you don’t have to take too many curses during your playthrough. Curse of the Dead Gods is available now for $19.99.

Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate – A Review (Xbox One)

2020/12/10

Judgeman

Geek News, News, Reviews, Xbox One News, Xbox One Review

In similar NetherRealm Studios fashion, Mortal Kombat 11 is being wrapped up with an Ultimate edition. This Ultimate edition takes all four major releases and puts it all into one game, for those of you that have been waiting to pick this game up. Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate contains the base game, both Kombat Packs, and Aftermath, all contained in one green Xbox game case. Let’s take a closer look at what all comes in this newest edition of Mortal Kombat 11.

Story

Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate tells the full story of what happens in Mortal Kombat 11 with the included expansion Aftermath. Raiden begins the story by decapitating Shinnok, and then setting out to destroy all of his enemies. The decapitation of Shinnok inspires Kronika, Shinnok’s mother, to rewrite history in order to protect her son and to erase Raiden’s interference. This sets into motion the formation of a series of alliances, Raiden with Earthrealm and Kronika with Netherrealm, for each side to gain strength in the upcoming struggle. The first part of the story ends with the final battle between Liu Kang and Kronika for the fate of time and the universe.

Aftermath picks right up where the base game leaves off, with the defeat of Kronika at the hands of Liu Kang. Liu Kang and Raiden are interrupted in their attempts to balance history by Shang Tsung, Nightwolf, and Fujin. Shang Tsung tells Liu Kang that Liu Kang cannot control Kronika’s hourglass without the Crown of Souls, which was destroyed in the battle. Shang Tsung convinces Liu Kang to send the trio back in time to steal the Crown of Souls before Cetrion recovers it. Nightwolf, Shang Tsung, and Fujin return to the past and attempt not to meddle in the events of the first half of Mortal Kombat 11. Ultimately, Shang Tsung betrays his temporary comrades and claims the Crown of Souls for himself, setting up a final battle between he and Liu Kang for the fate of the universe.

Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate contains the entire story of this iteration of Mortal Kombat, all in one location. However, if you own either the base game or Aftermath, there is nothing new here in terms of story. Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate, story wise, is best for those that have yet to buy the base game to play this edition. Those of you that have waited to get into Mortal Kombat 11 are now rewarded with the full story for one price.

Game Play

Similar to what I said regarding the story, Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate has it all in terms of game play. Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate has the full roster of all combatants in the game, alternate skins that were found in the other Kombat Packs, tons of stages, stage fatalities, friendships, and both story modes.

Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate has a grand total of 37 fighters available, including the 3 new fighters that were released for this version of the game: Mileena, Rain and John Rambo. Mileena and Rain are very welcomed addition to the Mortal Kombat roster, as they are some of the more classic Mortal Kombat fighters on this roster. Mileena first made her appearance way back in Mortal Kombat II, while Rain debuted in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Both play very well, and I love the new aesthetics of Rain that help separate him from his classic origins of being just another ninja color swap. John Rambo finishes NetherRealm Studios’ obsession with 80’s action heroes for Mortal Kombat. Rambo joins other 80’s icons, such as RoboCop and the Terminator, in Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate and is probably my least favorite to play out of the new fighters for this edition. Rambo feels slow and sluggish compared to the other fighters, and I just couldn’t quite get into him as a character. I do love how NetherRealm picks a theme and goes with it when it comes to their dlc characters, but he’s my least favorite of the bunch.

Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate also gives you all the other features that were released throughout the series, including the Kombat Pack skins for the characters that were released through the packs. These are nice additions to the game and let’s you really customize your fighters to fit your own personal aesthetics. Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate also has the full list of stages that has been released for the game, which included the stage fatalities that were released in Aftermath. Stage fatalities are fun and add more variety to how you can dispatch your opponents, but the real fun comes with the new Friendships that were also released in Aftermath. Tired of seeing so much blood on your screen at the end of a fight? Be friends instead! Friendships first appeared in Mortal Kombat II along with my other favorite, Babalities. These were two ways that the Mortal Kombat developers kind of made fun of the public outcry to the blood and gore of their franchise. Friendships are back, and some of them are really funny.

Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate has it all. Any feature or character that has been released for Mortal Kombat 11 can be found here. This is the most complete and best version of the game in terms of features and characters.

Aesthetics

Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate doesn’t bring anything new to the game in terms of aesthetics, unless you own an Xbox One X/S. There is a free graphical upgrade for owners of the next gen Xbox console, but for the rest of us schlubs we get the same version of the game that has been out for a while. The looks and sounds of the 3 new characters are nice, and I really like the upgrade to Rain’s look. Rain started off as a color swap for Sub-Zero/Scorpion back in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 but now has a much more Indian look to his aesthetic, including using a katar as a weapon. I really love this new look for him, as I do the rest of the other ninjas.

Mileena’s aesthetic follows the trend to put some more clothes back onto the female characters, but it still feels like something Mileena would wear. Her biggest change to her appearance comes with her mouth this time. Mileena is back to the mouth full of razor teeth, similar to Baraka’s look, instead of the almost normal human mouth with extra side teeth like she had in Mortal Kombat X. It’s a call back to her classic look, which I am fine with.

John Rambo is designed to look like his appearance in First Blood. John Rambo is a Vietnam vet that suffers from PTSD and has crossed over into the Mortal Kombat Universe. Rambo’s looks matches his similar looks from the movie, but are still made to fit in with the rest of the roster of characters. It’s his voice, however, that gets me. There is something just off in how the voice actor sounds when comparing to Sylvester Stallone. Maybe Stallone just has one of those types of voices that is iconic and hard to reproduce, but it feels off to me.

Final Thoughts

Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate is the best version of the game that you can buy right now, especially if you haven’t bought anything Mortal Kombat 11 in the past. If you own the base game, or any of the other packs that has been released, then your mileage for Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate will vary. You can buy each item separate as needed to recreate what is in this package, based on what you already own. I feel that this is the best Mortal Kombat game released in some time. The additional features that has been added in Aftermath, along with the two full stories you can play and the large amount of fighters to choose from really makes Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate the best version to own. If you have waited for the complete package to buy Mortal Kombat 11, now is the time to pick it up. Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate is available now for $59.99.

Death Stranding – A Review (PC)

2020/10/19

Judgeman

Geek News, News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

When you talk about the top video game designers of all time, there is one name that is universally mentioned in the top five, and that is Hideo Kojima. For most of his career, Hideo Kojima has worked for Konami, designing and developing some of Konami’s biggest hits. Known mostly for his creation and development of the Metal Gear franchise, Hideo Kojima was set to branch out with this work on PT however that project was canceled and Hideo Kojima left Konami. Operating as a new, independent entity Kojima Studios created their first game for release, called Death Stranding.

Story

Oh, where to begin….

Death Stranding is set in a post-apocalyptic Earth, after a devastating event that caused only a handful of groups of humanity to survive. You play as Sam Bridges Porter, a mail man of sorts, tasked with the reconnection of these groups of humanity across what was formally the United States of America. Sam must do this by completing tasks and deliveries for this groups to regain their trust and connect them back to the “Chiral Network”, a government network that helps groups communicate.

This is a monumental task by itself, however, Sam will be tested in many ways by facing not only the vast space in between settlements, but will also need to be wary of humans that don’t want to be reconnected to the network, rain that will accelerate time of anything that it touches and BTs. Look, human survivors that want my blood I can deal with, but these BTs (Beached Things) are something different entirely. BTs are nearly invisible, paranormal entities that will attack anyone that comes near. It is the BTs that has caused humanity to live in small, structured cities instead of expanding as much as they could. Sam does have a few advantages that helps him maneuver around the BTs: a backpack that will point to the nearest one, a baby in a jar that will help in detection called BB, and the ability to resurrect when killed.

Like most of Kojima’s games, Death Stranding is ambitious in its storytelling. In the first 3 hours of gameplay, you only have control of Sam twice to complete the tutorial missions, the rest is cut scenes setting the stage for your massive journey. If you have played any of the most recent Metal Gear games then you are used to Kojima’s story telling style. A lot of times I will just hear something that I’m not familiar with, in hopes that it will be explained later. Sometimes it is and sometimes I will need to do more research to understand what is going on. However, this is one game that the story truly is the centerpiece of the production.

Game Play

The game play for Death Stranding is an interesting thing to describe. If I was going to come up with an alternative name for Death Stranding that best described how it played, it would be called “Walking Simulator and Inventory Management: The Video Game”. Death Stranding is a series of objectives and missions that you must complete in order to progress the story line, like pretty much most of the games out there. There are optional missions that you can also complete for extra items and gear, but these are apart from the main story line. The biggest difference is that you will actually need to walk from point A to point B, over grueling terrain, avoiding BTs, and managing your inventory as you go along. The best way to describe most of the game play of Death Stranding is that it is an endurance test, not for Sam but for you, the player. It’s a good thing this game is so damn pretty, because you are going to be looking at a lot of terrain.

The inventory system is also a test for the player in Death Stranding, but this time a test to see what you are willing to keep or toss out. Most gamers are pack rats, we pick up items that we think might be useful down the road. In Death Stranding, the more you pick up, the more encumbered you become, the slower you walk. You will need to manage everything in your inventory, and I mean everything. Everything has a weight and takes up a set amount of space that you need to be aware of, which will slow you down, making this very long walk even longer. You will face decisions constantly of either pushing ahead and walking like an overburdened elephant for the next hour, or backtracking and returning to town to shed some of your inventory. When overburdened, you will need to use the triggers of your controller to help shift your weight and maintain balance. This becomes a constant fight with all of the material you have stacked on your back as you walk, making the journey that more treacherous and laborious.

Combat isn’t much of a thing through the first part of Death Stranding, but does ramp up later in the game. This is where the Metal Gear influence felt the most strongest to me. You will be able to do stealth takedowns pretty early, but as the story progresses and your gear gets better, you will be able to choose different ways to engage with the human enemies you encounter. Combat felt right in Death Stranding, like an old friend. While it doesn’t do everything you want it to do, combat in Death Stranding is a huge relief to the rest of the walking and managing inventories that you have done up to that point.

Aesthetics

This game is gorgeous, simply put. It is the only reason that a walking simulator will get played as much as it does, because every time you walk outside you are hit in the face with gorgeous terrain that you want to explore. While my PC is a few years old at this point, it surpassed the recommended settings so I could run the game at a pretty high level of graphics without much issue. As with all major PC game releases, I would suggest checking out the minimum and recommended specs for Death Stranding before purchasing it to make sure your pc will be able to run it. This may be more important with a game like Death Stranding, since the terrain beauty is the only thing that will keep your mind off of the gruelling miles you need to walk while flicking the triggers to keep from falling over.

Voice acting is top notch, as in most of Kojima’s games. Norman Reedus (The Walking Dead) plays Sam, and plays him very well. While Sam looks exactly like Norman Reedus due to the photo capture of the actor’s face, there is still something off with how humans look in video games to me. It’s in the eyes, they still look lifeless, soulless. However, that’s easy to not notice with a game this pretty. Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy) is also in this game, playing the coroner named Deadman. Again, the actor/director nails his roll and looks good doing it.

Final Thoughts

Death Stranding is the most beautiful, interesting and boring video game you will play this year. You will be mesmerized by the gorgeous graphics, intrigued by the story, bored by the walking, and frustrated by the inventory system. I have played great games that had no story, this is a great game that has very little to offer in terms of gameplay. I do recommend Death Stranding as a game to play, especially in this day and age when we may not be able to get out and go for a walk. Just be prepared to change gears in your game playing mentality, especially if you come from a game like Call of Duty or Apex Legends. Death Stranding is a great way to take a break from the frantic game play of the modern shooter, but be prepared for that shift. Death Stranding is available now for PC through Steam for $59.99.