Recent reviews by Balucha

This game does what Battlefield couldn't, what Squad hasn't, and what no other game has attempted. Sounds dramatic, and it is, but this game is really good.

Some pros:

-Dragging bodies
-Helicopter fast roping
-Fully destructible maps and environments, whole buildings can be leveled or granularly destroyed by explosives.
-Night maps with working night vision and point shooting with lasers
-Proximity voice, can even hear enemies talking and active micing when they die like MW lobbies makes it hilarious
-Tons of weapons and very in depth attachment customization
-Lots of maps, with different modes with and without vehicles
- 128v128 servers if you're into that (personally think it's too much but cool to have the option)

A great lil hockey game made by passionate devs who care. Easy to pick up but impossible to master, if you commit to playing this game, you’ll always have more room to grow as a player. The community is active and there are competitive leagues to try out when you need some extra stress in your life. It’s free to play, with a non predatory monetization model. If you like hockey, or like losing a lot, definitely play Slapshot Rebound.

I had my problems with it for a long time, but with this 1.0 update, they are making great steps in the right direction. Proud of the devs for sticking with this game after all this time, and I'm sure it will continue to get even better in the future.

Okay so basically this game is mad fun. Play game. Good game.

Insurgency Sandstorm has some of the most visceral and intense gunplay of any game I've played before. The guns have weight and power, making shooting them an exciting experience, every single time. The PVP gameplay is very fast-paced, but still tactical and the CO-OP modes have smart AI and are very fun as well, especially with friends. Creating your loadouts is interesting and offers a lot of choices, as there are a ton of different weapon options, each with their own attachments, allowing many different playstyles. If I had one complaint for this game, it would be that some of the maps have a lot of dead ends, so navigating them isn't always intuitive, which is sometimes frustrating. Otherwise, the gunplay, animations, and sounds all build out a very immersive package that is a blast to play. I would definitely give this game a try if you are looking for a realistic/authentic fast paced FPS.

Post Scriptum is Squad, but WW2. The vehicles, weapons, characters, and sounds are all authentic and very immersive. It can be a little slow at times, but it's sort of what you make of it. It is fun to talk with your squad over the proximity voice chat, and some matches can actually get very intense! I would definitely recommend playing this game if you have ever wanted PTSD.

Battalion 1944 is basically a revival of Call of Duty 2, with all that entails. The TTK is extremely fast and quick-scoping, drop-shotting, and jump-peaking, all the staples of old, are abundant within this game. Battalion brings fresh, updated graphics and a highly competitive environment to play. Since the competitive mode runs through FaceIt, getting into it for the first time is a bit of a hassle, but once you do the gameplay is fun, fast, and punishing. One downside is that some of the maps are a bit unbalanced, so you might find yourself playing the same few over and over, but this does allow you to develop game-sense and higher level strategies. Overall, if you ever played competitive Call of Duty or any iteration of Counter-Strike, I'd say you'll find value in Battalion.

The level of skill of other players in this game will leave you bored if you've ever played an FPS before. The spawns are broken and leave most gamemodes unbalanced. Most egregiously, the game is the clearest cut definition of pay to win, with better weapons literally only coming from loot boxes. The game looks better than most of the Roblox FPS clones, but plays just as poorly.

Arma 3 is in a class of its own, standing alone in the military simulator genre. It is not a tactical shooter like Squad, Insurgency or Post Scriptum. It is a simulator. Along with that comes some baggage. The game itself is vast, technical, and highly customizable, although rather than giving you the option to do so, it is all but required. To enjoy Arma 3, you will need to download an insane amount of unofficial mods from the workshop, and either have a ton of friends to play with, or end up joining a milsim community that does regular missions on the game. It can be fun to poke around in the sandbox and stage small battles on your own, however without structure, this style of play can lose its charm quickly. If you plan on joining a milsim clan, I think you could find fun with this game, but otherwise maybe go with more a more structured tactical shooter like Squad.

There are currently only 3 maps, however there are multiple map layers that help keep things fresh. The action is more narrow and focused than other games in the genre like Squad and Post Scriptum, but I find that people still put forth a similar level of strategy and teamwork as they would in those titles. The gameplay is like a mix of Squad and Rising Storm 2, with the commander playing an important role in dropping ordinance and directing the flow of battle. Smaller squad sizes also help to keep things focused, and with a good squad leader I didn't feel like my squadmates were off roaming and doing their own thing. At the moment the game has some visual bugs and has pretty poor performance, so if you don't have a current high-end computer, you probably won't be able to run it. However, if you do, and you're a fan of either tactical shooters or WW2, Hell Let Loose is definitely worth giving a try!