Recent reviews by ★Brakit

let me iiiin....

LET ME IIIIIIINNNNN--

Pretty avant-garde for them to expand the heisting elements of the series by robbing their customers directly.

If you want a more nuanced look at the game's laundry list of issues, seek out the other well-made reviews by people with more time and patience than what I currently have, a petty joke is all I can muster. I'm just so tired of watching series after series that I respect drop the bag through the floor. Toss it onto the pile with Battlefield 2042, Halo Infinite, Darktide, and all the other seemingly countless examples of "games with disasterous launches that will maybe one day but probably never be made good".

First person EDF with basebuilding and a cool tie-in.

Early Access in the sense that it's a bit dry on varied content, but what's there is the bones of a very fun, chaotic co-op game. People running around quoting the movie, or just screaming as they're ambushed by bugs are a common fixture.

A good time. Pick it up during a sale, else keep your eyes on it; this one's going somewhere.

Pretty unfair that this just gets to be one of the best games ever twice, but I am by no means complaining, this more than deserves it.

So ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ fun that it makes me willing to push past the parts that make me ♥♥♥♥ my whole self, and after just finishing it I'm already wanting to go back for another playthrough. I can just call this game DAMN GOOD without the asterisk I'd usually have to put at the end like most AAA games the past few years. This is just a masterpiece, no notes.

Even if you're like me and largely stay away from horror games, I'd say this one's worth picking up and sticking with. It's a damn good time.

Game's not for everyone, but it knows it. It's in a niche, and it works to be the best game it can be within it, and I think it's a damn good time. It borders on "you must hate yourself" difficulty in the later stages of most of the rundowns, but the atmosphere, tension, and feel of the moment to moment gameplay, especially when coordinating with friends, is just superb, and scratches a certain kind of itch.

I only have two nitpicks;

1) Look, I don't care how hArDcOrE the game is, bots shouldn't cause friendly fire damage. No game has it work like that, and for good reason. I shouldn't be punished just because the AI decided shooting through me to get to a shooter I was taking care of with a bat was the winning idea. I have other criticisms of the bots, like wishing you could have them hold a position, etc, but honestly just turning their friendly fire off will shut me up, it's really the only thing I care about.

2) PleAASE let us leave permanent marks on the map that we can manually clear if we want to, like PAYDAY 2's preplanning. My short-term memory is ass, so being able to plan routes, and marking items we can't carry now but might want to double back with later, etc... it just seems like such a slam dunk for the tactical gameplay this already pushes, I'm not sure why it's not an inclusion.

Anyway,

Pick it up when it goes on sale and see if it's for you, if it is, you'll have a hell of a time. I'd strongly suggest doing so with a band of friends, though.

Fun game, bad practices. Really only playing it because my wife does.
Here's a forewarning to potential customers/victims before you download it, or god forbid, consider spending your money;

First off, if you're a free player, you have virtually no content. You're gonna get bored fast if you don't shell out for the expansions. And you're not gonna wanna do that.

It's straight-up in their terms of service that even if you pay for their content, you don't actually own anything, and they can (and have, if you haven't read/heard it before) change and more importantly REMOVE things at will. Entire campaigns vaulted. If you're new to this game, good luck being given a chance to give a damn about the story/universe since you'll be plopped practically into the middle of it and be expected to just get what's going on after a short tutorial.

But the main deal is that you have to spend money to get real content, and you don't even get to keep it. It'll eventually get shelved. Here's a direct quote from their Terms of Service:

"SERVICE PROVIDED CONTENT

"Service Provided Content" consists of those materials provided to you (e.g., unlockable content, accounts, stats, virtual assets, virtual currencies, codes, and achievements) in connection with use of the Bungie Services. While the Bungie Services may allow you to “earn”, "buy", or "purchase" Service Provided Content within or in connection with gameplay, you do not in fact own or have any property interest in the Service Provided Content. Unless otherwise specified in writing, any Service Provided Content that you receive is licensed to you as set forth herein, and you shall have no ownership right thereto. Unless specifically permitted by Bungie, you may not, sell, lend, rent, trade, or otherwise transfer any Service Provided Content. Service Provided Content may not be transferred or resold by you for commercial gain in any manner, including, without limitation, by means of any direct sale or auction service. Service Provided Content may be altered, removed, deleted, or discontinued by Bungie at any time (e.g., upon termination of this Agreement and/or cessation of online support for the Bungie Services), even if you have not “used” or “consumed” the Service Provided Content prior to alteration, removal, deletion, or discontinuation."

TL;DR - 'we're charging you for this content but you don't actually own any of it'. They can and will take it away. Want to jump back into where you left off after a long hiatus? Hope it's still there. Want to replay the old campaigns should the new ones not suit your fancy? Tough tits.

Keep in mind this game was full price on its initial release. If you're one of the poor bastards that's had this since day one (my wife, god bless her), that's money you've sunk into this game for things you can't do anymore.

I don't think I need to explain to any reasonable adult why this sucks ass through a straw, so I won't, but if you're one of those bootlickers that say "wELL it'S iN thE cOnTrAcT", that doesn't mean it isn't a load of ♥♥♥♥ that I can't criticize. Just because they legally covered their asses doesn't mean it's still not a despicable stunt that sets and/or reinforces a terrible standard should this be tried again with other games by other companies - and I wouldn't rule it out.

And before a few of you use the MMO excuse - while I begrudgingly accept the reality that pay-to-access is just how these things go for these sorts of games, I'd argue that few are this greedy about it. You can get way more bang for your buck from other games, even ones that just charge you monthly instead of the weird "pay us an entire games worth of money for like a few weeks of content" nonsense happening here, and any MMO that "vaults" content I don't think is worth your time or money, full-stop.

Like I said at the start, the game can be good fun sometimes when they don't forsake good encounter design for shiny setpieces, (though whoever thought up the Iron Banner needs to walk into the ocean) but still, on the whole, definitely would suggest looking for your looter-shooter/MMO fix elsewhere.

Props to Bungie for actually getting my lazy ass to actually want to write a review, though.