Recent reviews by vmenge

this is some good shizz

Hardware: i7-7700HQ, 32GB RAM, GeForce GTX 1070
OS: Windows 10

>Pros:
+Looks good, cool art direction with moody and atmospheric visuals

>Cons:
-Just combat encounter after combat encounter
-Absolutely terrible design relying on cheapest of techniques to artificially increase difficulty
-Short and overall just not worth it

Hardware: i7-7700HQ, 32GB RAM, GeForce GTX 1070
OS: Windows 10

>Pros:
+Looks amazing, even in 2021.
+Great sound effects, great visuals, extremely polished

>Cons:
-Progression system is absolutely ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ moronic. Punishes anyone new to the game, and gives more advantage to people who have grinded credits
-No campaign or meaningful singleplayer content

Started playing this game doing some offline missions to familiarize myself with it. Had quite a bit of fun playing them. Then unfortunately tried to play online, only to realize all the weapons and loadouts available for me in singleplayer missions weren't available online, where I had to play with a severely gimped loadout against players completely decked out.

I have never played a shooter where your actual ability to not be completely destroyed by the enemy is tied behind some sort of ridiculous arbitrary grind that's there just to pad out the game itself and try to increase player retention.

Maybe after a few more hours I'll change my mind, but as of right now this is a really good looking game, with really good production that is just simply no fun at all to play. Absolutely do not buy this game.

Hardware: i7-7700HQ, 32GB RAM, GeForce GTX 1070
OS: Windows 10

>Pros:
+Visually a much bigger jump from HL2EP1 than EP1 was from HL2
+Has a distinct feeling, setting it apart from HL2 and HL2EP1
+Everything feels a lot more detailed
+As expected, tight pacing.
+A lot of intense memorable moments spread throughout the game
+Soundtrack still as good as ever
+Cast of characters have a bigger presence than in Episode 1
+Great dialogue all around
+Vortigaunts are cool af
+Hunters are a great new enemy

>Cons:
-♥♥♥♥ that gnome

This game still looks great, and definitely aged the best out of the Half-Life 2 trilogy. While EP1 felt like more of Half-life 2, EP2 feels in a lot of ways like its own thing. The game is still short, a bit longer than EP1 but all of it's short bursts of intensity will stick with you after you leave it.

Hardware: i7-7700HQ, 32GB RAM, GeForce GTX 1070
OS: Windows 10

>Pros:
+Pacing is as good as ever
+Cool gameplay dynamic with Alyx
+Improvements to the lighting system makes things even more atmospheric and moody
+Some great set pieces
+Cool environmental puzzles
+Soundtrack as good as ever

>Cons:
-Alyx AI will a lot of times literally get in your way
-Doesn't really bring much new to the table
-No new weapons
-Visually, environments mostly feel like a retread

A few subtle visual improvements like HDR really help make a difference, but in the end it looks just a tiny bit better than HL2, which isn't a bad thing per se since HL2 looked pretty good back then, but HL2EP1 definitely has a few visual effects going here and there helping it age better in that regard.
The game is short, as it was meant to be, but it's a formula that feels tuned to near perfection. Moment to moment gameplay is great, and the little they add to the story is enough to pique curiosity for EP2.
Anyone that liked Half-Life 2 should play this game.

Hardware: i7-7700HQ, 32GB RAM, GeForce GTX 1070
OS: Windows 10

>Pros:
+Great, tight level design
+Varied, polished gameplay mechanics introduced consistently throughout the game
+Great pacing
+Great arsenal of weapons each with its unique flavour
+Incredible atmosphere
+Facial animations are still impressive

>Cons:
-Human enemy AI can be very poor sometimes
-Some textures have not aged well at all
-Frequent loading

This game still holds up. Yes at some points it still shows its age, but the tight pacing, level design and atmosphere are jut as engrossing as they were back then. Everyone should play this game.

Hardware: i7-7700HQ, 32GB RAM, GeForce GTX 1070
OS: Windows 10

>Pros:
+Even though sometimes it shows its age, art direction hold up and game can look really nice at times
+Xen looks absolutely amazing
+All weapons get a bit more chance to shine than in the original Half-Life
+Shooting is improved over the original
+Soundtrack is consistently great throughout the game
+Atmosphere is still there
+Really well done and consistent remake

>Cons:
-Occasional slowdowns in some areas
-Xen is so long that it wears out its welcome
-Graphics can look a bit dated here and there
-Some parts towards the end get a bit annoying and encourage save scumming
-Too much Loading screens, just like the original

Black Mesa is a really good game. Congratulations to the team behind for finally finishing the remake. While it shows its age, its clearly a top notch production and worth the time of everyone who likes the Half-Life series.

Issues: had to delete systemdetection.dll from main game folder to stop image from flickering. Rare crashes during loading screens
Hardware: i7-7700HQ, 8GB RAM, GeForce GTX 1070
OS: Windows 10

>Pros:
+Graphics slightly upgrade as they were for each game before
+Visually the game aged very well, great artistic direction, looks awesome in 4K
+Presentation is better than ever, cutscenes are impressive and full of energy
+Constantinople looks gorgeous, buildings now sport higher polygon count
+Voice acting continues to be great
+Solid performance overall
+Hook blade is a wonderufl addition to gameplay, making traversal quicker and more engaging
+Tower defense mini-game is fun and a nice change of pace
+Altair 's story is very interesting
+Amazingly gorgeous environmental design

>Cons:
-Desmond and Ezio both had a very jarring change in facial structure
-Ezio's story is kind of boring this time around
-Counter/parry window is still too wide
-Killing animations will bug out of sync quite frequently
-Keeping your notoriety down is a bit of chore, quite more than in past few games
-Game stutters quite frequently even when performance is smooth
-Very poor NPC draw distance

I liked this a lot better than Brotherhood. Visually, it aged much better, but the core gameplay loop feels a lot less like a chore to me. Characters here are likeable but the story meanders too much and the strongest part comes from the flashbacks into Altair's life.

Overall story is mostly filler, but still an enjoyable time if you like the franchise, gameplay or just want to see more of Ezio.

Issues: Game crashes every 20 to 30 minutes until decals were disabled in the options. That introduced some infrequent visual glitches is some areas, but nothing game breaking or too bothersome.
Hardware: i7-7700HQ, 8GB RAM, GeForce GTX 1070
OS: Windows 10

>Pros:
+Graphics are a HUGE jump from the first Just Cause. Everyone and everything looks infinitely better. This game has aged visually very well.
+Great performance
+Production values also are immensely superior to the previous game.
+Some nice visual variety, from tropical islands to snowy mountains and sprawling deserts
+A lot of funny lines sprinkled throughout the game
+Villain's and protagonist's voice acting in game is hilariously on point,
+Shooting is better than the first game, albeit still not good enough
+Grappling hook as a mechanic is expanded, increase the number of gameplay opportunities and changing how the game is played.
+Locomotion is very enjoyable when coupling grappling hook + parachute
+So. Much. Chaos! Destroying things is incredibly fun and never really gets old
+A tiny few missions that are very creative and set up some nice cinematic moments that are fully under player control

>Cons:
-Main characters which were endearingly so-bad-it's-good on JC1 appear quite a bit less in this game
-Different voice actors for Tom Sheldon and Maria Kane
-Only a third as main Agency missions as the first game. The rest while fun feels very much so like filler
-Faction leaders are quite boring, they feel like throwaway characters
-Shooting is still not good enough, even if a large improvement over the first game
-While miles ahead of JC1, driving is still terrible and you end up just traveling by chute + hook instead of driving most of the time
-Missions are in general very repetitive
-The Panau army has an incredible response time, they show up out of nowhere and have shamelessly high respawn rates
-Weird difficulty curve, out of nowhere helicopters will randomly get called for even the smallest things

JC2 is a flawed but very fun and funny game. Destroying things and causing chaos has an irresistible draw and I just can't help myself but blow ♥♥♥♥ up. While the mechanics around driving and shooting are rough, and there is a lot of padding and not enough of the main missions... the game manages to shine through that and is a hell of a time. An improvement over the first one in every single way except character screen time.

Hardware 1: i5-4690K, 12GB RAM, Radeon 290X
OS: Windows 10

Hardware 2: i7-7700HQ, 8GB RAM, GeForce GTX 1070
OS: Windows 10

>Pros:
+Superb presentation values
+Game looks amazing
+Level/map design is impressive, Harran feels like an actual city with spots that you won't forget anytime soon
+Great performance even with lots of zombies on screen
+Great voice acting and sound effects
+Gameplay is top notch, both combat and parkour feel very rewarding
+Driving gameplay is also very good
+Leveling system works incredibly well, with each level up feeling meaningful
+Day and night systems can be extremely thrilling offering a enticing risk/reward situation for the player
+Multiplayer works fantastically, with friends being able to join in and help you at any point
+Soundtrack does a great job at setting the mood
+Some of the side quests are incredibly atmospheric and creative
+Continued support over the years with free content

>Cons:
-Shooting is very barebones
-Human enemy AI can be lackluster
-Some side quests are boring
-Main quest can be a bit tropey at points



This stands for both Dying Light and the The Following DLC. You can clearly see the developers were enjoying themselves making this game, it just shines with passion. Dying Light is worth every penny, I can't really recommend it enough.