Recent reviews by Reece

Highly addictive, and well polished building and automation gameplay. There are gaps in some of the building options, but I've no doubt mods and clever community solutions more than make up for it.
At the start, it's a little chaotic when you don't know the mechanics and nuance, though the tutorial provides an excellent introduction. I enjoy a mix of ripping down what I previously built to make it better, and starting a new "base" completely fresh to try a new approach.
Very interested to see where the game is headed with future updates. It scratches an itch I didn't know I had for building an efficient production line and laboring over logistical planning.

Years of reading reviews of Spec Ops: The Line and not playing it set my expectations for a different experience and I must admit, the game delivered.

To reiterate what has long been established, the story was captivating. A dramatic backdrop (sandstorm buried Dubai) in a fictional but close to real-world universe. This neutral foundation allowed the game to introduce controversial topics that may not otherwise come through without any obvious political bias or reference to actual events. There was definitely an "Apocalypse Now" vibe as the story was unfolding, obviously with a couple more twists. Perhaps it’s more fair to say that it’s just another story focused on the mental consequences of combat. Not exactly a typical FPS game and it would be a mischaracterization to call it one. Needless to say, the developers took some risks.

Overall, Spec Ops wasn't shy about showing the player real horrors of war. Suffering innocent citizens, blurred lines between friend and foe, mental instability etc. You're met with multiple moral dilemmas that can change the outcome of the story and the characters within. Eventually, you realize there aren't any decisions that are obviously better than the other, one may just be slightly less sinister than the other and\or make you question what exactly is going on.

Gameplay wise, it is nothing revolutionary, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The "on the rails" format fit given how tightly woven the story was. It may not be a game where you stop and smell the roses, but I caught myself taking in some of the views along the way. Some of the framed shots of the squad were well planned and executed. It doesn’t look like a 10+ year old game at all.

Along with the story and graphics style, the score and music were integral pieces to the whole experience. It was neat how some of the musical tracks were introduced via an in-game character, DJing your trip through the ruined city and buildings. Songs blaring as background music to intense firefights, carnage and maneuvering. The developers worked hard to manipulate your emotions with these scenes and it paid off.

I leave this one behind wishing I had another one like it to play. I thought about "what could have been" if they had taken the intricate narrative and added more immersion and interactivity.
But really, Spec Ops: The Line holds up very well as it stands today.

Victorian London served as an excellent backdrop to this AC installment. Syndicate is slick, with fluid movements, engaging combat and beautiful graphics even given its age.
With the addition of a grappling hook, you can Spiderman your way around the city with ease and escape just about any sticky situation in seconds. While fun, the grappling hook does nearly eliminate the challenge and perception needed to parkour effectively around the game's city. That daunting viewpoint all the way at the tippy top of a massive structure that will challenge your vertigo? No sweat with the hook.

In terms of gameplay, hands down my least favorite aspect of the game were the carriage races. I felt the rage monster from decades long past bubbling up inside of me watching opponents suddenly have bursts of speed to win a race in the final seconds.

Some quick comments and observations:

• After a lot of RDR2, the carriage driving was quite comical in comparison. I know this isn't fair criticism, but I was chuckling as I flew around corners wreaking havoc on anything unfortunate enough to be in my way.
  
• The story was decent, though predictable.
  
• The typical AC gameplay loop is there complete with plenty of climbing (grappling), jumping, diving, running, stealthing, and murdering (quite a lot of that). Collectibles? of course. Not as many as some past games, but still plenty if you're vibing.
  
• The WW1 DLC wasn't bad, though like the main story, just a little bland. An intriguing setting, but maybe a little empty.
  
• The game crashed or bugged out at least a dozen times throughout my playthrough. Not an unplayable amount, but the last few AC games seem to be a little janky like that.

Despite its flaws, Syndicate was definitely one of my favorite AC games so far. Other than what was already mentioned, no notable changes to the game experience when compared to other titles. You had 2 protagonists for the first time however and I can't decide if I liked playing as Jacob or Evie more. I tend to favor a stealthy approach so I was on Evie a lot once I had all of her skills trained up, but I certainly didn't mind having Jacob's additional combat abilities to mow down enemies.

On to Origins...eventually...

Overall, very typical installment for the AC series, though this felt like a DLC pack for Black Flag.
Depending on how much you enjoyed AC4, that could be a good or a bad thing.
Personally, I like the ship combat so it was welcome, though I again (like in Black Flag), missed having a more complex city to hop around in.

Story wise, I enjoyed the new perspective. It was an interesting twist playing as a Templar.
I went against the grain of my usual "balanced" progression and prioritized story missions over collectibles and side missions. To my relative dismay, the story was actually quite short! I had about 20-30 hours left of collectible/side mission business when it came to an end.
Though grindy and repetitive, I rather enjoy the gameplay loop in AC games so I embarked upon stomaching as much completion as possible. I stopped at 99% with only the Templar relics (treasure maps) to be found. I can't explain why I don't feel bad for leaving it at that, but unlocking another armor set and having nothing left to do in the world, didn't make sense.

I encountered more bugs in this one than in previous games. A couple times I managed to fall through the world trying to get to places I apparently wasn't supposed to go. Which actually became a bit of a common theme in Rogue. There are almost no jumping puzzles, and the environment shepherds you around every island, city, and village quite handily. Everything is well marked and otherwise indicated as a climbable object. I felt very confident moving through most areas other than some quirky jumps during missions.

Melee combat was very familiar and the gadgets you can craft/unlock are standard for an AC game. The grenade launcher being the only slight difference but really it's just a new delivery mechanism for the usual bombs of various types (e.g. sleep, berserk etc.). It felt easier than ever to kill any and everyone you encountered. If there's no requirement to stay stealthy, you may as well go on an absolute rampage. I like to be stealthy though, and once you learn the mechanics and how the "AI" respond to seeing you, it becomes quite simple to manipulate.

It was a good game, especially if you're an AC fan. It's not a GREAT game, but definitely in the above average category.
A bit of a lazy installment bringing almost nothing new except a fairly decent story.

Having played Unity out of release order (oops), I was surprised to see how Rogue had possibly take a few steps backwards. But now knowing it was released after AC4 and developed separately, I can understand the lack of innovation as the focus seemed to be more around crafting a new story.

I'll see what Syndicate has to offer when I feel the itch to play another AC game. I'll be interested to see what it's taken from its predecessors.

In my AC4 review, I ended it with the hope of forward progress in Unity.
I slogged through this installment and finished the main story and then moved on to obtain about 95% completion before putting it down.

I didn't love the Parkour, but it felt far more forgiving than prior games. The story was pretty bland and the only thing that really saved it for me was the fact that it was set during the French Revolution. The historical references were enjoyable.
Combat was slightly more challenging, somewhat satisfying at first when you figure out all the tricks, but ultimately very tedious by the end. I did like the 2H weapons, very much. Finishing moves too, even though it's all very PG-13.
Some of those crunching sounds though... *chef's kiss*

Far too much collectible crap. I usually don't mind this stuff too much, especially after playing through 6 of these games now, but it was a grind in Unity. In prior installments, I always seemed to organically have a good head start on most collectibles by the time the story was wrapping up. Not so with Unity.

The game looks great for its age. Many of the historical buildings in Paris, were recreated rather faithfully. Loved the weapons. Enemies still look like baby faced buffoons though. Brutes especially.

One of the more infuriating blows to immersion is when you climb into a window and you're in a room that has no doors and only exits through another window on the opposite wall. Yet there are 4-5 people hanging around too. Who lives like that? Yeah I get it, it's a functional way to get through a building to the other side, but it felt lazy from a design perspective.

And finally, Co-op missions.
I had no intention of doing these until I confirmed they contributed to overall completion. By accident, I queued up for one via matchmaking vs attempting it solo and lo and behold I was in a mission within 30 seconds with 3 other players. People are still playing this game?! I thought to myself. It was actually pretty fun, I'll admit, even with everyone just being mostly idiots (including me, this was early in my Unity experience), we hacked our way through, throwing stealth to the wind. Knowing what I know now about Unity, I'm even more shocked that people were still playing it. It was my first multiplayer experience in an AC game and it made me feel guilty for not giving it a go in Black Flag.

Overall, not bad, not great, somewhere in the middle. Forward progress? Not necessarily. It's a step in the wrong direction unfortunately. Here's hoping Rogue shows more promise...whenever it is I get to it.

Back in 2012, I said to myself, "Me, let's play through these Assassin's Creed games I keep seeing and hearing about, IN ORDER". That was roughly 5 years after the release of the first AC game. Nearly 10 years later, I'm only 6 games behind.

This one was good, really good. My favorite so far. See other reviews for details, I'm just here to give a thumb's up. Hopefully the good stuff was carried forward into Unity.

Decent installment for fans of the past games with one major item of criticism, it's just not very scary. It has its moments, mostly in the early "intervals". This is well documented at this point, but sometimes it's important to see it for yourself.
Additionally, the Challenges aspect made it a bit too arcadey for my liking and maybe that's part of what detracted from the fear factor for me. Also, the campaign length was shockingly short.

The shooty bang bang parts were enjoyable and seeing the continuation of the story I played so long ago was nice, though left me wanting more. 10 years later, and no follow-up. The only fear I'm left with is that this will be the last chapter in the franchise.

The siren call of XCOM is impossible to resist. I keep coming back to it year after year. I recommend creating your own custom soldiers for some extra immersion and nerdiness. The underlying story/objective is a great template for your own imagination. There are plenty of great turn based strategy games on the market, but this one is the gold standard.

The negative reviews I've read are bit unfair.

This game has had a death grip on me for which I cannot escape. Very addictive Kingdom-like experience that could use a bit more tweaking but overall is enjoyable, challenging and visually appealing.

My very first game ended up in failure, but for the 2nd go around I was more prepared and understood some of the mechanics better. Don't be discouraged if you fail early, you'll figure it out if you have any shred of patience.

There are a few minor bugs (mostly visual), but nothing game breaking. I haven't done a full multiplayer game yet, only co-op and with 2 people in my clan, we stayed very busy against the AI.

Very much looking forward to the update coming later this month (9/2019).
It's an excellent game and I really hope the developer sticks with it because it's a lot of fun.

Captured the emotion in the game perfectly. Great attention to detail. All future inspectors should watch this as part of their orientation for the game. Glory to Arstotzka!