Recent reviews by -3xA'Lu©κy the disappearing act

HITMAN 2.

Some will argue it's a glorified expansion pack improving on the existing foundation that HITMAN 2016 laid out; others will say it's a new game that learns from most of its predecessor's mistakes. Whatever side of the fence you sit on: HITMAN 2 may very well be the last good classic AAA stealth series that hasn't gone the way of Deus Ex, Thief and Metal Gear Solid... and that's worth bearing in mind.

Before I delve into pros and cons, and whether you should buy this game, I'd first like to talk about what's different in HITMAN 2 when compared to the previous game HITMAN 2016 (which I'll refer to as HITMAN from now on). To start with we've got 2 new mechanics - pockets of vegetation/grass on maps hide us if we're crouched and you can now escape a NPC's line of sight by walking amongst a small group of people (this system is practically identical to the one used in Hitman: Absolution). There's also a less noticeable gameplay mechanic that's been introduced: NPCs can now see you in mirrors and other reflective surfaces (this change for realism doesn't make things incredibly hard but it will keep you on your toes as bathrooms used to mean a guaranteed unnoticed kill).

Next we have 3 difficulty settings - Casual, Professional and Master. Casual is a completely new difficulty setting aimed at people unfamiliar with the series and those of us who wish to muck around without having to worry about cameras or dying right away (thanks to the huge increase in damage Agent 47 can take in this difficulty mode). Professional is essentially HITMAN's Normal difficulty mode renamed, and with an extra change - cameras that spot you with a weapon or illegally trespassing will alert nearby guards. Master difficulty is HITMAN's Professional difficulty mode but slightly easier in terms of challenge - there's more enforcers, and you still only have 1 save per mission, but most items that are visibly held are no longer suspicious.

In addition to this, all difficulties are available from the start and can be effortlessly selected without having to exit out and access another menu. Lastly 2 new gameplay modes have been added outside of the main campaign: Ghost Mode (a race against the clock killing targets with a silhouette of another online player who you are competing with) AND Sniper Assassin (a mode very similar to Hitman: Absolution's "Sniper Challenge" which has you sniping targets from afar and aiming to rack up a nice score - this can be played solo or with another person online).

As you can see quite a bit has changed since HITMAN, for the better I believe. So let's get onto pros and cons!


1. The game is no longer episodic
2. 6 new maps that are of much more consistent quality than those that were offered in HITMAN and the NPCs on these maps have serviceable accents
3. New gameplay mechanics as well as new ways to play HITMAN 2 outside of the campaign
4. More unique and creative ways of killing targets
5. A better story that answers a lot of questions HITMAN raised and even explores some of Agent 47's past
6. A lot of additional free content in the works and continual live-content updates
7. The game looks breathtaking at times (try out the Whittleton Creek map and you'll see nice shades of red and yellow that just make your jaw drop)
8. The briefcase has returned - praise be!!! Sniper Rifles have been made an illegal weapon in this game, regardless of disguise, so the briefcase is now your best friend. Conceal that bad boy, go to a location, retrieve it (complete with an unpacking animation for some rifles) and deliver some Hitman justice 47-style. You can also use the briefcase to smuggle in other gear and even use it as a melee object at close and long-range. Have a rest fans of the Hitman subreddit: you did good, you did good

https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1570177950

1. Denuvo DRM - there is lots of debate on why it's needed and just how much impact it has on a PC but when HITMAN removed DRM years later, the effect on performance and stability was negligible at best. This has now been removed!
2. Quite a few reskins of HITMAN's items - I understand why this was done but it's a bit disappointing

1. 6 maps (the first is arguably more of a semi-tutorial and thus this is a smaller offering than what HITMAN gave us campaign-wise)
2. Always-online (already unlocked content can be used offline, but in order to unlock new gear you will need to be connected to the Hitman servers)
3. Performance is slightly worse when compared to HITMAN and many echo this on the forums - it's especially worse on some of the HITMAN maps that were remastered and included in HITMAN 2 as the "legacy pack"
4. Stability - I've only had 10 crashes in my 180+ hours of gametime but a lot of other users have encountered frequent crashing
5. More questionable decisions from IOI regarding time-limited content like Elusive Targets and a Christmas reskin of a map that was available permanently for HITMAN will now be time-limited for HITMAN 2 - this makes no sense!
6. Gold edition for HITMAN 2 has an unreasonable price tag IMHO

https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1595641125


To conclude HITMAN 2 is what HITMAN should've been thanks to its fun levels, extra polish and for the most part: listening to its fans. I do think HITMAN 2 and the series as a whole is often underlooked, and perhaps there's some valid reasons as to why that is the case, but I think the game and IOI is worth supporting simply because it's the last of its kind in an industry where Fallout 76 and Star Wars Battlefront II are all too often the norm. It's a breath of fresh air quite frankly and the game has amazing replay value if you dig semi-linear sandbox maps and the groundhog day gameplay where you're always revisiting a level and looking for another way to approach it and pull off that perfect kill.

With some more patches I believe HITMAN 2 can be a 9/10 game. A game that's incredibly hard to stop playing once you start... but right now I'll give it a 8/10. If you're a big fan of the series you should definitely consider grabbing it though.

http://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=854340888
^ If that doesn't sell the DLC, I don't know what will.

In all seriousness though: $5 for what is easily one of the best suits in the game, along with a ICA19 pistol and red rubber duck reskin... that's not too bad in my book. You might feel differently and that's okay. I'm just glad I can finally use this awesome suit in what has quickly become one of my favourite games.

(I got this game for free from a friend)

A fun and easy-to-learn platformer where only skill matters.


A little about the series: back in 2004 a simple free flash game was released under the name of N (which means "The Way of the Ninja"). Over the years N went on to receive several updates, won 2 audience choice awards and managed to capture people's attention due to its simple game mechanics, addictive quality and unforgiving nature. Surprisingly it managed to capture the attention of a Microsoft employee and from there the second game, N+, was born. N+ came onto the Xbox 360 in 2008 boasting new levels, refined visuals, tweaked sounds, an actual soundtrack, customisation and local as well as online co-op. I loved it, and so did many others I imagine, but even with a later Nintendo DS and PSP release... the developers still didn't have enough money for a proper PC or PS3 port. Thankfully the developers heard our pleas, and after a deal with Sony was accepted, N++ for PS4 (and later PC) was given full approval.

N++ is a solid platformer through and through. The aim of the game is to navigate the agile ninja to a switch and then to the accompanying exit in each level. This sounds simple, and it is, but you’ve also got a rather short lifespan (represented by a timer ticking down to 0 at the top of your screen) which can be extended by optionally picking up gold. As you go through the 25 “Intro” episodes: new enemies are introduced and the levels become harder too. Knowing how long to press the “Z” button (which determines how long/high you jump), when to wall-jump and how much momentum you need is absolutely vital to succeeding in this game. And that’s what I love about this game. The controls are slick, and everything feels responsive, so the only thing you can blame when everything goes wrong is yourself and tear what remaining hair you have left on your head.

http://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=756531073

Don’t get me wrong – the game’s accessible to everyone. Extra challenge however comes from players attempting to collect all the gold in each level or getting the fastest time. Heck, I spent a good quarter of my playtime just trying to compete with my Steam friends for the best leaderboard position and global rank. What's neat is that you can actually watch your friend's replays to see how they beat a certain level. If replaying levels is not your thing though, N++ has got you covered. Remember when I said that the “Intro” section had 25 episodes? Each episode actually contains 5 levels and there’s 100 more episodes in the “N++” section. If you finish that, there’s another 100 episodes (which are all old maps from previous N games) in the “Legacy” section. So altogether that’s 1125 levels and this is just the “Solo” mode. That’s right! There’s also the “Co-op” (only local co-op in this game) and “Race” modes to look forward to, so you won’t be finishing any time soon.

http://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=760447750

Outside of all of this there’s a level editor for you to play around with which is amazing. What’s even better is you can play levels made with this on the PS4 version and vice versa. The icing the on the cake is “Funlocks” though, which are little bonuses you can unlock (they’re mostly extra colours which change the look of the menus and the levels themselves). Other things worth mentioning include the soundtrack – it’s not overpowering and fits the game’s aesthetic perfectly – and the excellent port. While some PC gamers may be annoyed about the fact that the game’s locked to 60 FPS, it’s more than playable for me and I assure you that everything is super smooth. I personally would like an option to unlock the framerate but apparently this was done so everyone's replays would be the same.

http://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=760447575

That's all I can really say about this game, and I'm actually surprised this didn't end up being a longer review, but all I'll say is this: N++ is absolutely worth it. It's a 9.5/10 for me. Pick it up when you can... you will not be disappointed.



http://steamproxy.com/groups/rblc#curation

A cult classic with a unique approach to storytelling and a polarizing third act.


2005’s “Fahrenheit” or “Indigo Prophecy” (the latter was the name given to the censored version released in the USA and other countries) was marketed as the first interactive film. At a time where few games dared to be like movies, David Cage (who was lead director and writer) aimed to bridge the gap and show that video games can also tell deep and meaningful stories. Whether Fahrenheit actually did this successfully is up for debate, but what’s known for certain is that David Cage changed the landscape of video games in a huge way.

The idea that this game is indeed a movie or movie-like experience is reinforced several times. As soon as you launch the game you’re greeted with a main menu with several options. One of them happens to be “New movie”, and when you hover your cursor over the option, a billboard with the game’s title appears on your screen. When you decide to start a new game: your screen becomes permanently letterboxed (which once again gives you the impression that you are watching a movie). This game desperately wants for you to think it’s a movie but thanks to the intuitive controls and surprising amount of gameplay, you’re greatly immersed in this adventure.

http://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=686668516

Controls are a pretty simple affair. The WASD keys move your character around whilst left-clicking and swiping your mouse is needed to interact with objects and other people. This all feels very natural and you can even just hold right-click and left-click at the same time and use your mouse to move the character instead. In-between regular cutscenes are action scenes which are essentially long QTE sequences. There is a hell of a lot of QTEs in this game, which some have likened to a game of “Simon Says”, and they can be quite annoying unless you stick with them. It’s arguably Fahrenheit’s biggest flaw and I had to warn you all in case someone comes to my house and kills me for recommending this game. There are also lots of choices to make, which directly ties in with the game's mood mechanic (certain options or a combination of them will either make your character happy or send them into a depression), but the game is ultimately a linear experience in the end and this mechanic is not as irritating as it sounds.

Fahrenheit’s story on the other hand, is harder to judge fairly. Fahrenheit has arguably one of the best intros in all of video games - and there’s so much potential - but by the time you’ve reached the end of the game: the tone, pacing and story has changed so dramatically and so quickly too. This is sadly due to the fact that this game was meant to be part 1 of a trilogy, but at the last minute this plan was ditched… and the developers tried their best to conclude the game with what they had. It’s not a terrible ending, but most players will definitely be left confused after thinking that this was a crime-thriller title. I guess this is why Fahrenheit has become a cult classic.

http://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=686638376

Even as a huge fan of this game I have to admit the writing from French developers “Quantic Dream” is pretty hit and miss. One character named Tyler (who is African American) is treated in such a stereotypical fashion which undermines the serious tone of the game and David Cage’s intent to honestly tell a deep and meaningful story. Tyler has become something of a running joke in the Fahrenheit fan community but I guess it’s just another one of those things that led to this title becoming a cult classic. All of this aside, Fahrenheit’s story is still decent for me and there’s some truly epic moments sprinkled throughout. I really felt what the characters were going through at certain times (this can be attributed to some of the great tracks in this game) and most of them were relatable to me because their situations often had them doing mundane tasks.

As for the remaster done by Aspyr: most of the texture work is subtle. There’s a minor facelift throughout but in some areas the original textures might be preferred. Thankfully there’s an option to change from remastered textures to original at any given time (via a single button press) which is pretty cool. The QTE buttons that appear on your screen have also been slightly changed in both appearance and size (they’re much larger now). It's worth noting that Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy, which is the name for this remaster, is also the uncensored version of the game which very few countries ever got. Another plus in my book. The game hasn’t aged really well but apart from some minor screen tearing, which I only noticed on my last playthrough and may not have been the game's fault, it worked just fine on my PC. I wish Aspyr did get to change the models in Fahrenheit but apparently they didn’t have access to much of the original game’s art pipeline.

http://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=594985543

Obviously I’m a bit biased when it comes to Fahrenheit but I’d still recommend it to anyone who is in the least bit curious about the title. It’s a quirky, unique game and for the price of $10 you really haven’t got much to lose. I’ll give it a 7.5/10.



http://steamproxy.com/groups/rblc#curation

There's 2 things I'd like to get out of the way first before starting my review. I got the "Full Experience" (entire game) for free from a Steam friend - although this should have no effect on my review, it's obviously a bit harder for me to gauge whether this game is worth full price or not. Second, HITMAN has a "mixed" review status at the time of writing and some of its earned. The episodic model this title uses is polarizing, a lot of stupid decisions have been made and the game lacks a lot of polish like most early access games do (ironically we were repeatedly told Hitman wasn't an early access title). Now with that out of the way... how is the new Hitman game?


HITMAN is closer to the fourth Hitman game "Hitman: Blood Money" than its predecessor "Hitman: Absolution". As a big fan of the series, it was disappointing to see Hitman: Absolution divorce itself so much from the gameplay we have come to love and expect in favour of odd game mechanics. So it’s nice to see HITMAN makes a return to what made Hitman games great. Like the past games there's a story, but it exists solely to connect the levels together rather than hinder the gameplay or steal the focus. While this all sounds well and good, there's some glaring issues that people need to know about. Everyone will feel differently about these of course but here they are:

1. An internet connection being needed to get the most out of HITMAN. When this game first released you essentially needed an internet connection to do anything, but over time far more features have dropped this requirement and if you do lose your connection to the servers: there's options to reconnect or play offline now. This requirement still annoys me though, as Hitman was always a singleplayer game and the excuse that this was done to make HITMAN a "live" game is simply not good enough.

2. Features that were present in Hitman: Blood Money and in some cases, Hitman: Absolution, are currently not present in HITMAN: first person view, human shields, sniper rifle case, collecting weapons from past levels, upgrading weapons, dual wielding, civilians using dropped weapons against you, guards following blood trails and difficulty settings.

3. The "opportunities" system. I'm happy to report this isn't as much of a problem as it used to be but basically opportunities meant listening to NPCs nearby, picking up a document and activating an object or two, in that order usually, which would then allow you to murder your target in a really unique way. What I hated about this system was assassination targets refusing to go to a certain area just because I hadn't followed them around and listened to a certain conversation. This mainly applies to the Paris level, and clearly the developers learned from feedback, because I don’t remember having to do this in the later levels.

4. American voice actors being American. Personally this hasn't bothered me too much but all of the released levels feature tons of shared American actors and actresses who are very easy to recognize. I have admittedly found myself going once or twice "ah that's generic American guard actor #1". Again, it's not a huge problem but I'm a little bit baffled as to why previous Hitman games had tons of different accents and this time around the developers didn't think to put this higher on their budget list.

5. Optimization. While I haven't had too much trouble playing this game on mostly medium settings and I think the latest patch has made my performance and load times a bit better, the game still runs less than average for a lot of people and I've even had quite a few crashes.

6. Many bugs that have come and go. I believe the worst have been finally patched out for good but this game is notorious for issues that were previously fixed (like the audio missing) being reintroduced later on. I honestly haven't had as many bugs as a few individuals have had but this game is undoubtedly buggy at times.

http://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=746008024

Looking past these issues and putting aside some of the stupid decisions that have been made by IOI/Square Enix (e.g. people that didn't buy the "Full Experience" are not able to buy the bonus missions at the moment), HITMAN is a game which will easily give you value for your money. Right now I have 124 hours on this title and I've barely played half of what's been released thus far. The game's fun, highly replayable and probably the most accessible Hitman game to-date. Here are my reasons for why I think this is the case:

1. Huge non-linear sandbox levels (bigger than any of Hitman: Blood Money's maps) that are chock-full of objects, NPCs, and things to interact with. They’re mostly pretty too. If that’s not enough, you'll notice easter eggs here and there as well as areas that will remind you of a classic map from one of the older Hitman games. The "Intro Pack" (episode 1) contains 2 small tutorial maps and the first large map called Paris. Episodes 2, 3 and 4 contain Sapienza, Marrakesh and Bangkok respectively. While all of the maps are excellent in my honest opinion, episode 3's Marrakesh is the weakest of the bunch.

2. There's around 70 challenges, 8 opportunities and 20-30 hours worth of content in each map. If you don't want to do the opportunities, there's still tons of different ways to eliminate a target. Completing the challenges earns you "mastery" which will allow you to unlock new weapons, items and even starting locations and areas for you to smuggle in items. The inclusion of a score system with no negative feedback in-game, as well as leaderboards, also gives players another reason to keep playing maps over and over.

3. A few good game mechanics from Hitman: Absolution are brought back (subduing, throwing equippable objects, the cover system) which help make HITMAN feel less clunky than some of the older titles.

4. The return of traditional Hitman gameplay and the introduction of the best disguise system in the Hitman series. How the disguise system works is only a few people in your current disguise can blow your cover. There may also be a few people not in that disguise that can also blow your cover but overall it feels like an improvement over Hitman: Blood Money's unchallenging disguise system.

5. The music and dialogue. The soundtrack’s no Jesper Kyd but it’s decent. As for dialogue, it’s entertaining and at times well-written. I’m running out of room to say more!

6. Contracts mode returns and you can use it on any of the huge maps.

7. The "live" nature of this game gives us new official contracts and escalation contracts about every week. On the odd occasion there's even an "Elusive Target" which gives you one shot at taking on a target. If you kill the target you cannot restart the mission and if you die, fail to meet the requirements, or even miss the real-life time limit placed on the Elusive Target? That's it - you can't attempt it again. I personally love all of this live content.

8. Don't like some of the HUD elements cluttering your screen or the neutered-but-returning Instinct Mode being in your game? Practically everything's toggleable in the options menu.


In the end this game’s a 7/10 for me. It’s slowly shaping up to be the Hitman sequel we always deserved but make no mistake – it’s still far from perfect in its current state. As such I recommend this game to everyone, providing they’re okay with the issues I listed above (this applies especially to those who are hardcore Hitman fans).



http://steamproxy.com/groups/rblc#curation

A tough-as-nails game with pixel graphics that makes no apology for being difficult.


I was lucky enough to win a free key to Red Rope: Don't Fall Behind, from the developer, during its closed beta phase and I have to say... this game's quite fun. While my playtime may seem short, I've enjoyed every minute so far, and I honestly didn't expect to like the game this much. Because of this, I thought a positive review was only fair.

Red Rope starts you off in a labyrinth with two controllable characters on screen: a green-clad male and a brown-clad female. Soon enough you learn both characters are literally connected to each other by a red rope. It's both a curse and a gift. A curse in that you can end up getting yourself in situations like the below screenshot and a gift in that it can be used to kill any moving entity on screen by simply wrapping the rope around them.
http://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=732806018

This is easier said than done though, and the game will be a lot more fun and easier if you have another real life person controlling the 2nd character. The majority of my playtime I still managed to do what I could by myself but it definetly takes a while before you "git gud" at controlling both characters. The controls are fine but this game is one of those "easy-to-learn, hard-to-master" titles.

The game doesn't handhold you one bit and I imagine most people will spend a good half hour or so before they even know what to do (talking to NPCs will give you hints, if you wrap your rope around shadows - the length of the rope increases, killing shadows will lock all exits and make guards hostile, shadows are your currency and can be used to buy extra lives, save the game as well as lengthen your rope and so on).
http://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=732805208

For some this may be irrititating and I completely understand that. The difficulty will not appeal to everyone too (if one of your characters just touches a hostile entity: that character immediately dies and so does your other character). But that's part of what I love about Red Rope. What I also love about Red Rope is the art style, the symbolism, the rewarding feeling you get after clearing each room, the rope mechanic and the ambient sound used throughout the game.

I personally haven't even gotten far into the labyrinth and have only collected 1 bronze key, so I don't think this game's length will disappoint. On the port side of things this game runs well - as expected - but the game doesn't offer much in terms of graphics options (which the screenshot below demonstrates). It's just resolution, v-sync on or off and whether you want to run the game in fullscreen or windowed mode. To be fair: I don't think there's a whole lot more that could be added here.
http://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=732808462


Overall, there's just this strange charm to Red Rope that's hard to explain. I invited my brother to play it one time with me and he immediately got addicted to it and was cursing just as much haha. I encourage you to give this game a look simply because it's a unique indie game which captured my attention pretty quicky and very few indie games can manage to do that these days. It's also quite cheap at a normal price of $7.99. I'll give it a rating of 8/10.



http://steamproxy.com/groups/rblc#curation

A criminally underrated game, a flawed masterpiece and one of my absolute favourites. If you love point and click games, games where you play as the detective or are just a fan of the noir genre: this one's a must-buy for you folks!


I played this on the PC back in 2012 and I don't understand why it's taken me this long to make a review for this game... but here it is. I've got 120 hours on L.A. Noire and that doesn't even include the 100 hours or so I've racked up on the Xbox 360. Before I praise the hell out of this game, I'd like to go over some issues with this game in general:

1. The main campaign's quite long (~20 hours) and at-times repetitive. This might not be a con for some people but it's worth mentioning regardless. Although there's a lot of variety, you won't shake off the feeling you've already done this x amount of times.

2. The city hasn't got much to do in it. Another game, Mafia II, similarly shared this issue but there are street crimes or sidequests to participate in, vehicles to find and collectibles to attain. The stunning recreation of a 1940's Los Angeles is worth exploring but unfortunately there's not a lot of reasons to do so.

3. The port is locked to 30 FPS. This is not a dealbreaker for people like me but again, I thought it was worth mentioning. There also exists several unofficial ways of unlocking this (and there's not a lot of negative side-effects which is neat).

4. Performance can be hit and miss for a few individuals. I recommend swapping from Direct X 9 to Direct X 11 and vice versa for those people, as well as changing the Threading mode from "single" to "multi" and vice versa.

With that out of the way, here's why you should get this game:

1. The atmosphere. This game oozes it and you'll be immersed right away. Set in the 1940s you are placed in the shoes of a bright star who is rising through the ranks of the Los Angeles Police Department. As you play as Cole Phelps and go from case to case: the voice acting and dialogue, the clothing, the cars... every little detail wants to convince you that you are in this setting. And to think an Australian team (Team Bondi) pulled this off. It's incredible and simply deserves to be mentioned.

2. The story. The story doesn't reveal itself until later in the game and until then, you're working your way from one case to the next with the occasional collectible newspaper acting as a "here's what's also going on" feature. What I liked most about the story is that it's subtle early on and then it all starts making sense. It's nothing super-amazing but I would be lying if I said I didn't think it was good. Bits and pieces of the game world also serve the story well in reinforcing issues and ideas that were present in the 1940s.

3. The characters. You've got a large roster with people of all different beliefs and personalities. Everyone feels unique, multi-layered and realistic. The characters further aid in immersing you in this wonderful game.
http://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=391570251

4. The gameplay. Most of the time the game's rather slow-paced. You'll be walking or driving to a crime scene while picking up clues, but at points in the game, all hell breaks loose. A man starts a brawl with you! A criminal starts making a run for it! A shootout occurs! Moments like these help break up the monotony, and while most of them are scripted, they really are exciting. Don't go in expecting an action game though. When you're not searching for clues or being a badass: you're doing interrogations. I'll talk about this in the next point.

5. The motion capture/interrogations. Never has a game utilized motion capture like this I reckon. When you're interrogating a suspect: you're not interrogating a NPC, you're interrogating someone that looks and acts like a real human being. It's something you'll simply have to witness for yourself. And this doesn't just apply to interrogations - the whole game uses motion capture for every character's face and I couldn't be more pleased with the result. Back to interrogations though... I love them. Some find difficulty with these but it's probably because the choices you have to make - Truth, Doubt or Lie - were originally called: Truth, Coax or Force. I have no idea why they were changed for the final product, as they make less sense. Still, interrogating is where you rely on this motion capture the most to see if the suspect is lying. Just like real life though: don't judge a person soley by their looks or behaviour though!

6. The soundtrack. I could go on and on in this section but let me just say this: Team Bondi killed it here. You might not be a fan of 1940s music but you'll be able to appreciate just how accurate the setting feels.

7. Everything else. The huge open city to explore. Being able to slap on a black and white filter in the options menu is just another thing that makes me love this game. Swapping between costumes for Cole Phelps is really nice too. Making different choices and the somewhat linear missions changing up a little to reflect this. The little conversations between Cole and his partners as you're driving in a car throughout the city. And if you don't want to drive? Being able to make your partner transport you to the destination in a few seconds or so. It's all small stuff in the end but it's the icing on the cake for me.


Hopefully you can see why this game is so special to me. I believe this game still doesn't get the recognition it deserves but it's great to see more and more people experiencing this gem. It's definetly not perfect but I believe this is a game that needs to be placed in a "try this game before you die" list. Writing this review... I suddenly have the urge to revisit Los Angeles. Rating 9/10.

If you do plan on buying this game, I have to insist on getting the DLC for this game. It adds 5 great cases that slot seamlessly into the main story, as well as some new outfits and collectibles. I promise you it's worth it.



http://steamproxy.com/groups/rblc#curation

I've got 149 hours and while I can definitely say I've got my money's worth, I can't say this is a good game.

As a huge DC and Batman fan, I've religiously 100%ed the previous Arkham games with the exception of Batman: Arkham Origins (I gave up on the Predator Paragon achievement). It seems Batman: Arkham Knight will be another exception but for different reasons. I actually loved Origins despite its flaws but the more I think about this title... the more I realize it was a chore to play. Keep in mind that I got the premium edition (base game + all DLC) for ~$24 USD off of Bundlestars when they were having a sale too. Before I cover the issues that annoyed me though, I'd like to go over the positives first.


For starters, this game looks amazing -- there's no doubt about it. I've never seen an Unreal Engine 3 game that looks like this and I'm not just talking about the facial animations and expressions, I'm talking about everything. Another area the game excelled in was voice acting. Most characters were well cast and Kevin Conroy as Batman and a certain someone definitely were at the top of their game here. Also worth mentioning is the good twists and "gotcha!" moments that totally caught me off guard. The soundtrack was similarly great and hit most of the right notes, making me almost cry in one scene. Building off what Arkham City gave us, we get even more combat moves and ways to initiate a silent takedown. Not only that, we finally get to drive around in the batmobile and tear down the streets in it. I can't downplay how exciting it is to hop into this awesome vehicle the first time and then find out it's a tank! Yes, the batmobile can transform in a matter of seconds into a tank which the game calls "Battle mode". There's tons of stuff you can do while in this mode and it's all really exciting stuff.

Batmobile aside, there's no shortage of side missions and other little diversions happening while you fly around the map such as: thugs driving around in cars like hooligans or riots happening on the streets. If you've got the season pass there's also a ton of different batmobiles that you can test drive with authentic sounds and multiple characters you can play as in the AR challenges. My fondest memories are of playing the Adam West race tracks while hearing the TV show's theme song and playing as characters like Harley Quinn and Red Hood because of how unique they are. The best part of this game would have to be Photo Mode though. This wasn't even part of the base game upon launch but it was later added as a free update. A good 1/4 of my screenshots for this game were done in photo mode and what makes it great to use is that you can pause the game at any time, choose "Photo Mode" from the pause menu, manipulate the camera angles, slap on a filter, zoom in or zoom out, choose a border, and do it all in a way that's really easy to use. You end up getting some great looking screenshots like the one below. But unfortunately... all of this isn’t enough.

http://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=655193795

Even though I’d say this is the best Arkham game for role-playing as Batman... there's such a thing as less is more. The batmobile's undoubtedly great but because the story mode over relies on it, the fun factor disappears. Tank battle after tank battle and the game doesn't give up. Maybe I'm exaggerating but I reckon a good half of this game is spent in the batmobile. Winch this, dodge these tanks and blow them up (it feels like an arcade game at times honestly), drive around and use this feature from the batmobile… and repeat. I really think the batmobile should've been optional and not forced in the way that it is. The batmobile just feels a bit too destructive at times as well. I laughed as I mowed over people and slammed into buildings leaving nothing but debris. In addition to all of what I've said, the batmobile reduces the rather cool boss fights that we had in previous games to... yep, you guessed it... tank battles.

Want to battle Deathstroke? Tank battle. Want to battle the Arkham Knight? Tank battle. Want to battle Firefly? Batmobile pursuit (okay it's a bit different but still not much fun). It just shows a lack of creativity. Other side missions? Disabling bombs safely and destroying APC military vehicles. How? I won't even go there. Even some of The Riddler missions - one of my favourite Batman villains - are almost crippled because of this. I won't spoil anything but The Riddler has basically set up race tracks for your batmobile and you have to get to the finish line in time. Yay? Writing this just makes me upset at all the lost potential here (even a lot of the non-batmobile missions and sidemissions lack fun for some reason). I get Rocksteady wanted to spoil us with the batmobile as well as a large cast of villains but it came at the cost of quality and most of the game just feels extremely repetitive.

Next is the story. The writing here is noticeably weaker than any of the other Arkham games (might be because Paul Dini left) and the story has too many plot holes for my liking. Not to mention the identity of one of the villains in this game is incredibly easy to guess. There's a ridiculous amount of foreshadowing and what could've been a powerful reveal is mostly uneventful. Besides that, to get the “True Ending” players are forced to beat every side mission and get 243/243 riddles. The true ending doesn’t even answer a lot of questions or provide much closure but locking something like this behind riddles is a very silly move. Thankfully there’s a 242/243 savegame on PCGamingWiki if you don’t feel up to the task. On the port side of things, the game runs mostly decent but I had some issues that need to be addressed. The first: unlocking certain Steam achievements will actually make the game freeze for a second or two every time you satisfy the criteria once more for that achievement. I’m not joking. It’s all to do with the PCEngine.ini file. The second: I had around 13 crashes total across my playtime but 8 of those were in the same part of the story (analysing the crash site of a vehicle for someone that was kidnapped). You might not experience it, but it too has been another reported issue that remains unfixed.

Other negatives include the "Arkham episodes". 6 characters have a DLC mission made for them but 5 of them can be finished in less than 10 minutes. I could probably forgive this but these missions are divided into 3 sections with 3 short cutscenes usually. Combat room, predator room, combat room or the other way around, but I don't think that's worth applauding. Batgirl's DLC is fortunately 1 hour and man is it a good piece of DLC in the way that Cold, Cold Heart was for Batman: Arkham Origins. Season of Infamy is also good but not worth the $10. Moving onto AR challenges… most of them aren't tailored for every character. You'll notice this with someone like Harley Quinn where there's a lack of things for her to climb or jump up to. When it comes to combat, a lot of characters share a ridiculous amount of moves. Lastly, thug voiceovers are reused for most of the characters and maybe one line for some is changed. A good example would be "Batman's not going to save you now Robin!". For Nightwing? "Batman's not going to save you now Nightwing!". It's especially bad when these lines repeat over and over more than they ever did in Arkham City. Certain AR challenges have bugs where thugs stand still and do nothing. Other maps are just unfair and weren't made in mind with the current combat system (Iceberg Lounge and Catwoman's Revenge). I’ll stop here….


I've written an essay but all I’ll say is this: the PC port's better now but this game is easily the weakest in this series. If I wasn't a person with a lot of patience and/or a hardcore achievement collector, I don't think I would've made it far into this game. 4.5/10.

(I got this game for free from a friend)

My specs (relevant to the review):
Windows 7 64 bit (professional edition)
Intel Core i7 950 @ 3.07ghz CPU (4 cores, 8 cores logical)
Nvidia GTX 680 4gb vram GPU
16gb DDR3 ram


Imagine Deadly Premonition done as an episodic title by Telltale Games: that is what D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die feels and plays like. In-fact, it comes from the same guy that brought us Deadly Premonition (Swery). The game itself is great although I'm told it's incredibly short -- clocking in at just about 3 hours. The port however is somewhat decent (you can only choose your resolution and whether dynamic shadows as well as vsync are to be turned on or off) and in what actual playtime I got to test the title: performance was thankfully solid and for a Kinect title on the Xbox One, the translation to PC was done excellently.

Unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to progress much further into the title because I had a display driver crash in my first hour or so with it, when I was "pushing" a plant in David's house. The next crash happened about 1 hour later again when I was in the plane level. 5 minutes later I tried yet again (clearly not getting the hint lol) and I was met with a display driver crash on the same level.

Puzzled at this, and testing my GPU on a number of titles that day, I decided maybe my GPU drivers weren't any good (nvidia 361.43) even though I only seemed to be having issues with this title. So I downloaded and ran Display Driver Uninstaller (as recommended by my good friend PlayaOfGames), removed the driver with it when I booted into safe mode, and then slapped on the new 362.00 driver (not going anywhere near the 364.xx drivers due to concerning user reports).

I came back and this time I decided to monitor my temperatures with HWMonitor. Sure enough, in one scene alone, the game pushed my GPU to 77 degrees or more on a number of launches in just a few minutes:
http://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=668682713

I have no idea how an Unreal Engine 3 game that looks like this can be this demanding. Something's just not adding up. Not to mention there's tons of people not even able to launch the game after all this time and there have been no patches for this game since release. I do, however, thank the devs for still replying to user reports after all this time (they made a reply to my post on their hub just yesterday). There's always the possibility my PC isn't strong enough to run this game at 1920x1080 w/ dynamic shadows and vsync on, given the rather weird recommended system requirements for this game:

OS: Windows 7 64-bit edition / Windows 8 64-bit edition / Windows 10 64-bit edition
Processor: Intel Corei7 4770K @ 3.5GHz or an equivalent AMD CPU
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 or AMD Radeon HD 7850 (VRAM 2GB)
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 20 GB available space
Sound Card: A DirectX 11 compatible card
Additional Notes: Keyboard and mouse necessary. Compatible with XInput controllers such as the Xbox 360 controller. Display: 1920x1080.


Whatever the case, I just don't know. Consider yourself warned and if you have a system weaker than mine... all the best. This is an awesome game, and from the good 2 hours or so I got out of this game (the other time was spent at the main menu while I was away or replying to friends), I really enjoyed it. I won't give a score because I don't feel it's appropriate in this case but I am disappointed.

[EDIT]:

Here's another person with the same problem as me: http://steamproxy.com/app/358090/discussions/0/357286119110734030/

(I got this game for free from a friend)

Isn't it strange when you come across a mobile game that doesn't actually suck... but is instead fun and challenging? That's what my experience with Hitman GO was like.


I vividly remember playing Hitman: Absolution a few years ago and feeling like the guy from this Youtube clip: $https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31g0YE61PLQ (you'll have to copy and paste the url without the $ at the start because embedded Youtube videos tend to freeze the Steam client). Ok, it wasn't that bad. But while both Hitman: Absolution and Hitman GO are not true Hitman games... the latter's better for it. Unlike Hitman: Absolution, Hitman GO is a solid title that confidently knows what it wants to be and because of this it can stand strong on its own two feet.

Hitman GO is very much a puzzle game at its core. Each map resembles a typical game board filled with pieces. The player controls the Agent 47 piece and the ultimate objective is to reach the marked destination point (or assassination target on some rare levels) using whatever's placed on the map to your advantage (distraction objects, disguises and so on). The player always starts first and has to make their move. Afterwards, every other piece on the board gets to make their move and then it's back to the player to make their move again. It might sound simple but this turn-based game does get challenging once the player passes the early levels and new enemies start getting introduced.
http://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=631897125

Speaking of levels, there's 15 in each chapter (or game box) and 4 main chapters. A further 2 bonus chapters are supposedly inspired by levels "Curtains Down" and "St. Petersburg Stakeout" which come from games Hitman: Blood Money and Hitman 2: Silent Assassin respectively, and there's yet another bonus chapter called "Airport". So that all adds up to 91 levels (since the Hitman-inspired chapters only have 8 levels each). Truth be told I've only played a little past the first chapter but I'm really enjoying what I have played so far. Each level has a set of 3 objectives, and 2 of them are always different, so it's likely the player will be revisiting each level more than once. On top of that, most players will want to see if they can beat each level again in less moves so the replayability's there.
http://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=631897409

The game doesn't look fancy graphically but that's completely fine because it does its job. It looks just fine on my PC and I'm especially fond of the 3d sets. There's no story but I didn't expect there to be one. The game has a lovely theme that plays on the main menu and level selection screen - it's calm, soft and appropriate for a thinking game such as this one. There's not much music for the levels themselves (mostly ambient or background noise) but Ave Maria did play on one of the levels and I couldn't help but stop and listen. For those of you who are not familiar with the song, it was the main theme for Hitman: Blood Money. Fantastic choice.

As for the port itself: it's nothing extraordinary but performance and everything the player would expect out of a game like this is perfectly satisfactory. I could do with a little more options though (since the Options menu is currently very limited and I know some might not like that). Apart from that, the Steam achievements seem to be bugged at the moment (seeing as though I and several people on the game's Community Hub haven't got any achievements whatsoever) and other than the minor facelift this game's received as well as the removal of in-app purchases, there's not much difference between the mobile version and this "Definitive Edition".
http://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=631896498

Overall this is one of those rare mobile games that I can recommend and thus I strongly suggest you consider purchasing. By supporting a good spin-off game like Hitman GO, you'll be sending a message to Square Enix that games like this are what we expect of them and not anything else. I only hope the newest Hitman game will end up being this good. For all of this, I'm giving Hitman GO a 8/10.



http://steamproxy.com/groups/rblc#curation