Recent reviews by itzuma

A long time ago, I read Joseph Conrad's The Heart of Darkness. That book featured Marlow's journey down the Congo river in search of a man named Kurtz. As Marlow and his crew descended down this river on their boat, they discended into darkness and saw unfathomable savagery. They witnessed the true brutality of man and discovered horrors that can drive a man insane. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Specs Ops was based off of Heart of Darkness.

Like the film adaption of Heart of Darkness, Apocalypse Now, Specs Ops attempts to modernize the story of Heart of Darkness and add a military element. However, instead of the setting being in Vietnam like Apocalpyse Now, Specs Ops takes place in the Middle East. I enjoyed seeing all the little parallels to Apocalpyse Now and Heart of Darkness. A big theme in The Heart of Darkness was one man not being worth all the danger and inevitable carnage, but the main character dragging the crew along anyway because of obsession and mental instablity. Specs Ops offers parallels to Heart of Darkness and offers its own little unique spin to this internal conflict.

The game is also very fun to play. However, I did have a few problems. There are a few instances where the game is frustrating. Sometimes I'll be taking cover from fire, my health will be low, and an enemy will throw a grenade. This leads to either two choices: die from the grenade or die sprinting into gunfire. These levels are very small, many of them have limited places to take cover from gunfire. It's a tedious experience to die over and over because the cramped level design leaves you nowhere to take cover when a grenade happens to fly in your direction. It doesn't leave players feeling like they died because of an honest mistake. I also encountered glitches where the sniper rifles wouldn't register a lot of headshots. Incidentally, the stealth mechanics and tactical commands feel bare bones and leave much to be desired.

Despite all my problems, I would recommend this game. There are a few problems, but it doesn't ruin the experience entirely. The game is a little short (under seven hours), but the story and atmosphere are absolutely chilling. It's a well directed game. If you ever see this game on sale, be sure to buy it!

Kojima made a prologue so great, that he decided to release it as a full game. Ground Zeroes may be short, but it does not disappoint. The story is emotional and full of twists. If you rush through the story mode, you could probably get it done in an hour and a half. Don't be fooled because the map is massive and there are enemies everywhere. One could easily spends hours messing around.

I'm pleasantly surprised by the new features in Ground Zeroes. You can run with unconscious enemies on your back and it makes the game feel much more fast paced compared to slowly dragging enemies in previous Metal Gears. And the health is now regenerative! It encourages players to play the game in whatever method they prefer: sneaking, full on assault, and even a little of both!

Highly recommend this game. If you see it on sale, be sure to buy it. :)

Very fun game. If you haven't picked it up, please do!

I haven't even done the quests yet or visited the abudance of other planets. I'm already having ten hours worth of fun just building a house, mining, hunting enemies for meat, and connecting all the caves I dug to the basement in my house.

I have never really been into sandbox games before, but I've found this to be really addictive. I've always found crafting in other games like to be really confusing, but it's easy to learn in Starbound.