Recent reviews by The Softies

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, the follower to the game I've played the most, ever.

I was an avid Source player, with about 1500 hours in it total, if we count more than one account. I loved the counter-strike games. This, however, felt too much like a modern shooter.

now let me explain myself, I'm not saying this is cod/bf4 or anything like that, or saying that it's trying to be that.
But first thing I noticed, is that when I get in, there's matchmaking. I didn't like that honestly, because I always felt that the strength of counter-strike, was all the independent servers, running their own gag. And true enough, there's not been as much of a great many mods and special maps for Global Offensive as there was for previous titles.

Now on to the problem that ruined it for me. This might just be me, since I must confess - I'm slightly blind, and therefore might be overly affected by this. But the game has gone too modern with its graphics. I don't mean that they are too realistic, or good, no, what I'm saying is that it has just become too modern. More specifically, characters are no longer as distinct from the background as they used to be, which for me is a problem, because it makes it harder for me to shoot accurately at them. This might be an isolated issue for me, personally, but hey, then you know this: If you are blind, in any way, be careful before buying this, just because you enjoyed previous titles in the series.

overall, it's still a CS game, so I'm not sure what else to talk about, I guess the new maps are 'okay', I guess the guns are 'okay', but I still don't see why they felt a needed to change much in these areas. There's also ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ microtransactions for weapon skins, which I don't mind, except that they are a pain when you want to identify what weapon your opponent is using. This is something I've heard complaints about from other friends who plays the game more seriously than I.

TL:DR: It has lost the charm of the CS games, which was the rich mod community and plentiful maps and dedicated servers.
Aside from that there's minor issues, but it's still a decent shooter. Take what you will from that.

So... Blood Bowl. This is gonna be a weird review for me - since I'm on one hand going to praise it to heaven, and on the other, slam the developer for being bad.

About the game: Blood bowl is a turn-based mix between chess, american football and warhammer fantasy. You get over 20 races to pick from, with different players, each with their own stats and starting abilities. A lot of the game is based on dice-rolls, with modifiers, so that you can 'control' the risks you take with each dice roll. And it is a risk each time. Because failing the roll can often end your turn.

So, the good part: The game feels awesome, the wealth of different races, abilities, etc. are great, the rules are well-fleshed out, and some of the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ that can happen, if you are lucky enough, is amazing (If a bit infuriating for the one losing because of it). What I'm saying is, basically: The boardgame is AMAZING, and the idea of having a digital version, that does all the dice-rolls and remembers all the rules about dodging, throwing, catching, blocking, etc. for you, is nice.

Now for the bad part: Cyanide, the developer.
Basically, this game is just not well made. You'll constantly ask yourself what the hell went through the developers mind when they made it like this. All the parts that is the game itself is brilliant, since it's a straight copy of the boardgame, but stuff like the interface, the online lobby system, the terrible path-finding, the few bugs, graphical choices, there's so many times when you just don't understand why they made it like they did.

Conclusion: I still love this game to death. Cyanide didn't ♥♥♥♥ up enough that I don't love it. There's luckily not that many bugs left, and the game itself functions well enough. You'll just have to get past the stupid design decisions first.

TL:DR This game is awesome, if you love Turn Based Strategy, Warhammer, and violent sports. Developer is a Piece of ♥♥♥♥.

This game is the only shooter that delivers this kind of experience. It is massive - with tons of people and vehicles everywhere. And all of those people will be other players. It's a constant game of large-scale war, with big vehicles, 3-way fights, and a lot of different areas to fight, with continious updates and new content.

On the technical side, while the game sometimes look rather nice, it's not amazing looking, and the specs are pretty high for this game, so don't run it on a crappy laptop. There's also some lag-compensation going on that results in that actual shooting part of the game maybe not feeling as great as other shooters - although it's a problem that can be found in those shooters as well. The game does have a pletora of bugs, and technical issues, but they are slowly being removed, and optimization has been greatly improved.

The game is f2p, with a 2-sided progression system. Guns and weapons for vehicles can be bought with money and ingame currency, but 'certifications' which is upgrades for your classes and your vehicles, can only be gotten through in-game currency. The certifications can feel a little grindy at first - but later in the game you will not really focus much on it, as you will more focus on the epic fights.

This game is only enjoyable if you find other people to play with. Do not play this lone-wolf, because all the other shooters will do that better. Either find a good outfit (that's what clans are called in the game), or when you are online, join one of the squads, and try to interact with people there.

TL:DR: This game is free, and it delivers a shooter experience like no other game. Why aren't you playing it?