Recent reviews by speedyboye

Very good game at its current state. It had its issues at launch, but now it is pretty clearly superior to COH2. Unit movement is less clunky, the visuals are better (post-Onyx Shark), and everything is just more thoughtfully designed for competitive play. If you remove nostalgia from the equation and play the two back-to-back today, COH3 is the clear winner. I'm very impressed by what Relic has managed to achieve since its rocky launch just one year ago.

I think what I really love about COH3 is how it taps into that old-school RTS magic, where every moment presents a set of decisions to make, and a solid strategy (and counter-strategy) reigns supreme. In true old-school fashion, there is very little "chaos" in COH3, as what effect or ability a unit may have is always predictable (e.g., a grenade never damages more than three units at once). This means games are often won or lost based on skill, knowledge, and strategy, rather than random chance. As a result, most matches come down to build order, unit timings, tech & upgrade choices, fortifications, and intel/mind-games. Having light armor out at 6 minutes can be a world of difference from 8, and being able to skip to L4 tech can lead to a blowout if the enemy player does not adequately prepare for a tank dive.

In COH3, you are always making decisions and 'bets' on what the enemy is planning or thinking. Because matches are relatively short (17 to 35~ minutes for 1v1), you can never do "everything" in a match. In the same vein, a loss of a single unit can be absolutely devastating. Therefore, every mine placed, every MG nest, and every fluke unit kill can make or break a match. This all adds up to brilliant, fast-paced competitive RTS gameplay that hasn't been seen in decades.

I highly recommend watching some competitive matches on Youtube, by the way. There's a ton of high-level strategy and counter-strategy and it's great fun to watch.

The more I play this game, the more and more I like it. There are so many things about it that genuinely captivate me.

There was a learning process I went through where I had to eventually stop thinking about it in context of other games. It's not Tarkov. It's not DayZ. It's not ARMA. It's not Ghost Recon--and it's not trying to be. It certainly borrows elements from each, but the result is absolutely it's own thing. The experiences I've had in this game (especially in the 10-30hr range when the game begins to open up) are truly unique.

This game is shockingly social. As everything exists on a singular map with three factions and 48+ players all roaming around, you are *always* running into other people--and these people talk! People at faction headquarters banter and chit-chat in-between raids. Faction members who you stumble upon will ask if you need any assistance completing a task. If you're out and about, you might get a message from a random teammate letting you know they'd run into enemy PMCs in that area, and to watch out! These social elements are VERY cool and the interactions you get are unlike those in any other game. As a result, playing "solo" is never truly "solo." It's "solo" until some friendlies run in to save you from heavy fire! It's "solo" until someone at HQ mentions there's a camper at YBL-1, and assembles a hunting party filled with random teammates.

As for the obvious--the tactical gameplay is SO nice! It feels so incredibly good, and that's as someone who's played plenty of these games. The shooting is crisp, with both fully automatic fire and ssemi-auto feeling as controllable as they would be in the hands of a trained PMC. Time-to-kill is fast, but gunfights can last quite a while! Armor will catch and ricochet rounds, internal organs will experience damage, and you'll often find yourself limping away from gunfights to recover--before hopping right back into the fray!

The progression economy, too, is very nice! I think it's interesting how you start with M4A1s and solid, Western equipment (unlike most of these games) but there is a huge and noticeable difference between the assortment of starting weapons and the highly modified MK18s and AK-74Ms you begin to find later on. Having a rifle or an LPVO or a suppressor by itself feels like a huge deal. To me, it always keeps the game feeling fun because even when you're using "cheap" kits, you're still using very good weapons and equipment. And even then, the economy isn't so punishing that you can't afford running your "ideal" kit every so often.

Also, can we talk about how cool the world is? It's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ gorgeous, and huge! I haven't felt such a rush for exploration in ages, much less in a multiplayer game. One moment you're exploring a large and intricate compound in the middle of the jungle, and in the next, two enemy PMCs fly in and start ripping rounds at you. It's extremely dynamic and just feels so alive.

I have my nitpicks--yes, server netcode is in a rough state right now (it's launch week), and the devs could do more to optimize the game. Additionally, I think enemy players need something to visually differentiate them beyond doing some map-guesswork, and there needs to be something done about LZ camping. Yet, even still, I am finding myself really adoring this game. I am damn near 30 hours in, and I just want to play more. When I'm not playing GZW, I keep thinking about how much I want to play it, explore the world, find new items, and hunt PMCs with other Crimson Shield teammates.

This game is just great. Rough on launch? Sure, but absolutely excellent otherwise. I think people will be talking about GZW two, four, six, ten months from now. I think two years from now, people will be excited about updates, and hopping in to try them. It's just *that* good. It's THAT kind of game.

Warno is one of the best RTS / RTT games on the market right now, matching immersive 'Cold War Gone Hot' simulation with thoughtful gameplay that preferences strategy and planning over clicks-per-minute.

Players' strategies come into play before a match even starts, as players assemble battlegroups in a deck-building system and make careful tradeoffs between different facets of their division (i.e. infantry, armor, artillery, air support). No one battlegroup may be equally strong at everything, so players are encouraged to specialise in a niche and create contingencies for what builds other players may have. It's an inventive system that keeps gameplay feeling fresh as players have fun experimenting with various builds.

Battles are large-scale and 'epic' (reaching gigantic 10v10 maps) whilst still remaining very comprehensible, thanks to a clean UI, consistent unit archetypes (TOW launcher vs. tank vs. infantry), and a slower pacing that offers players enough time to see and react to attacks. Warno's gameplay feels very finely tuned, rewarding both defensive and offensive play, depending on players' unit compositions. This is because effectively every unit, even the best of the best, has its hard and soft-counters. Special forces infantry (SAS, Spestnaz) can ambush & eliminate swaths of regular infantry without breaking a sweat, but run into serious trouble when attacked by armored vehicle cannons at range. Similarly, a TOW missile system may be incredible at sniping even the most up-armored tanks at a distance, but is a sitting duck to a jet fly-by. In this way, the game encourages using combined arms tactics to back up your main forces and build resilience to both known & unknown threats.

What stands out compared to Eugen's prior titles (e.g. Steel Division II) is that the game simply plays a lot smoother mechanically, with an improved moment-to-moment gamefeel and a UI that is much more readable at a glance. Warno also has strong pacing that is simultaneously much faster than previous titles, yet still slow enough to encourage defensive planning. Additionally, the AI is much more enjoyable to play against than in say, Wargame: Red Dragon. Personally, I find it difficult to return to other Eugen games because of how much better Warno feels to play.

Warno is a very good game and I would happily recommend it in its current state. I look forward to its future content updates, and especially the Army General campaigns.

Is this the best game I've ever played?

Maybe.

Even on Day 1, I believe this game is an excellent tac-shooter. It provides an intensity to CQB unlike anything else on the market, and I really don't think this is comparable at all to other CQB games (i.e. RoN). Enemies use murder-holes, position themselves carefully, constantly flank and hunt you down, and generally never let up pressure. As a result, this game is far more chaotic than one might expect from a game about room-clearing and kicking in doors, as enemies will not simply stand still and allow you to kill them. It absolutely necessitates teamwork and communication unlike anything else I've played.

I think that if you are in the market for that sort of intense CQB shooter, then this is a must-buy. It's only bolstered by EXCELLENT audio & environmental design and procedural generation. The audio is sublime, and has absolutely everything you need to get immersed -- from the rattling of a grenade bumping off each piece of junk and furniture as it rolls into a building, to bottles and dinner plates getting kicked around as Marines walk through a room, I just kept getting surprised at how much variety there was to the audio beyond the sounds of actual combat itself. I was also constantly impressed by the game's interiors, each of which feels like people actually lived there at some point. There are living rooms with the leftovers of a family's dinner, cramped kitchens with microwaves and dirty dishes, and houses with boarded up windows and ramshackle barricades set up by insurgents to serve as fatal funnels. They feel far too curated and well-crafted to be procedurally generated, yet they are! It just serves to impress every time you run a mission.

I also believe that the historical angle of this game is absolutely brilliant. It is not just 'any' vague middle eastern war, but the 2004 2nd Battle of Fallujah. There is a lot to learn about that time period that is reflected through the game's design. It makes a note to point out that not all insurgents were Iraqi, but instead that the Iraq War became a setting for various groups and militias that held a grudge against the West to flock to Iraq and kill US soldiers. This is seen in-game, as a sniper that may hunt the players may not be Iraqi, but a foreign Chechen fighter. There is also a mission where your squad is being pinned down by a shooter perched in a mosque. This is because at the time, mosques were considered no-shoots by the US Military for religious reasons, and so insurgent groups took heavy advantage of this fact. In real-life, this decision cost many Marines their lives, and the intense danger it put Marines through is reflected through the gameplay, where you must complete the mission under these strict Rules of Engagement -- even when it means having to maneuver around deadly-accurate sniper fire. There is a lot to learn here, and it's almost like playing through a documentary, just as much as it is a simulation. For me, this is a big plus. I cannot wait to see what the developers do next with it.

Prodeus easily brings the absolute best of classic shooter mayhem, not only carrying on the legacy of absolute violent carnage and viscera from cult classics like Brutal Doom in its raw gameplay, but also provides a clearly thoughtfully-crafted campaign with great level design as well as a sophisticated level editor to keep the blood flowing forever.

Basically, get it. It's amazing. If you're a fan of Doom (original & 2016), Brutal Doom, Quake, Amid Evil, Dusk, etc., you're going to fall in love with this game.

When I bought this game, I was told there would be no microtransactions. And yet, here we are, with a sickening lootbox system.

Don't buy this game. I had fun with it for a time, those hours? All in a week or so. Afterwards, I didn't care. And I still don't.

It's a fun game. But it's not a good game. Spend your money on something worthwhile.

Sure, it looks pretty, but that doesn't justify a game...

If you're into lore, you'll love this though; the books explain EVERY SINGLE DETAIL ON EVERYTHING IN THIS UNIVERSE.
Like, EVERYTHING.

Play CSGO instead you scrub

This game is like... I don't know how to put it, but it's different from anything else you've played. It's very arcadey, and it's similar to No More Room in Hell (Which was made by these developers), however it's gameplay is also very similar to something like ARMA mixed with Counter-Strike.

I'd say this game is worth it if only for the Hunted game mode, which pits a bunch of players into a Hunger Games-esque survival game where they must find weapons and items to survive and come out as victor, this is a game where camping isn't something done by noobs, but rather by the cunning; you'll find yourself in situations where you'll be shot at by a rifleman from across the block who you didn't see beforehand and must decide whether to make yourself vulnerable by running in guns blazing, hoping to collect his stash of loot or to make a B-line out of there and hope another player catches onto the shots going off to collect his bounty.