Recent reviews by WinD

I like rockets.

#keymailer
Advising anyone buys this game at 8 dollars is the opposite of my morals. You could play excellent slot games online in free-play mode without spending a dollar if you are only interested in slot play (Leader-boards and REPLAYS are included in Pragmatic brand games) This game does not feature replays; the slot itself is so basic its almost laughable. I contain the all-time highest score but it displays me as fourth on the leader board....
If it was free, I'd give it a "give it a try" as it seems to be someones proof of concept.
As a game that costs money? No.

I received a key for this and another slot game by the same developer and publisher that is essentially the same.

The ultimate online fighting game... The ultimate boxing game that only needs to fill-out the roster displayed during the ESBC reveal videos | I would love to play as Nonito Donaire and fight against Inoya, or.. the Barrera / Morales additions.
For welterweight so many amazing boxers had been announced - Hell I'd love to play as Tim Bradley!

The only disappointing thing thus far is no announcement for Manny Pacquiao - We have legendary boxers in various weight-classes | I need to have both Pacquiao and Mayweather in the game.
I understand if the developers don't know how to balance Manny Pacquiao's overall rating compared to everyone else... any other excuse isn't acceptable. With the motion capture for the most accurate movement from boxers for me the most interesting punching style, defensive and movement style would be Manny.

With that rambling complaint aside the game itself feels like Fight Night with additional strategic movement and punch options. Cutting angles feels amazing - nothing like getting beat round after round to get a one punch (near no stamina) uppercut after reading my opponents defenseless movement.

(Fury vs Ali - clip link is here: https://clips.twitch.tv/FurryIntelligentRutabagaStinkyCheese-X3rRJelbbVz71v8p )

Sugar Ray Robinson vs Sugar Ray Robinson - round 3: I have been knocked down twice, but I utilized near perfect defense while staggered and at immediate recovery allowing this brutal power KO (power left hook, moving into a power right hook). My ranked opponent seemed to break his controller or leave in anger as it was only the first knock-down and he would have been able to get up with more stamina than I had remaining. That's a complaint for my opponent but it makes a helluva KO in a cinematic sense.
Clip of this below:
https://clips.twitch.tv/SillyStrangeTubersRickroll-qF16tqI32pXlgemX

I love playing the weekly (once a day attempt) match-ups, I often will play against the CPU in 15 rounds to work on my stamina moderation to translate over into my ranked multiplayer play.

outside of missing 100 of the boxers announced during a year long reveal campaign... I hope these are still included in the road map (ESBC turned into Undisputed therefore I am unsure... someone will clarify in the comment section).
I look forward to the boxer creation, career mode and all of the great stuff coming to the game - now is the time to start playing - get the advantage and start learning the best boxing experience ever made.

Let's work dedicate servers for fights rather than player lobbies | Leap is a recent crossplay game that has a server browser and is better for having dedicated servers.
If the server number is over-allocated it would essentially still be the same queue as waiting for a lobby formation... or even better add a SPECTATOR MODE for servers. By hitting Ready Up you are confirmed to fight next and get to watch the fight as if it was a duel in an arena shooter! This would be a HUGE move for not only the esports community but casual players as well.

Let's get some chat in game (keyboard / text based is fine as the primary method - voice can be a secondary option).

Let's hurry up and patch in being able to switch stances as many boxers I want to play as my MAIN (Crawford) his benefits are destroyed for online play; if I can't rapidly switch stances I am unable to cut angles / utilize the closest punch or to utilize it for defensive purposes.

Alright with that said the base experience we have thus far is easily the best boxing game released | I'm going to score it based on just the feel of the game-play

88/100 | Can easily be a 94-95 rating with these fixes and additions - perhaps even a close to perfect / the definitive fight game experience with dedicated servers and the ability to spectate players.
I'd just add a lobby of all current matches in-game with the ability to view them from the menu or load in full-screen.
( this is something Project 1v1 had during it's QA phase before development stopped )

- PS -
Online leagues currently exist but some force players to use some sort of cloud gaming network for consistent network play which has its own input latency problems according to the various streamers I spoke with about this topic.. I have not tried this software myself but this is a huge problem when the community needs to engage in downloading and enforcing restrictive rule-sets | when the game is released on console platforms cross play will be tarnished with having enforced software in order to play.

Let's just get those dedicated servers going.

Incision is the vision of Sami "SmoothBrain" Malaska - The vision of Quake Silent Hill Blood with an absolute awe inspiring level geometry; map sizes are more akin to Doom 2016 / Doom Eternal in design with numerous large areas above and below.
The game is absolutely enhanced by the EXCELLENT soundtrack by Frederick "iNi" Chicoine, iNi summons touches of Trent Reznor (the ambient and atmospheric side) with Sonic Mayhem and Mick Gordon for the heavier moments.

Sound design is also as strong as the music if not stronger; I was under heavy enemy barrage and it sounded like double kick drums being shot at me as I strafe'd around to survive.

I do not want to spoil the bosses - I don't want to spoil the enemies -
I will say that we have another awesome E1M1 with a legacy name "Hole In The Sky" - Bringing forth not just the literal imagery but the Black Sabbath anthem off of the SABOTAGE album.

Crank the in game sound and music, crank it to 6K if you can - Keep the flashlight handy and "Prepare to Die", every battle ends up as an arena dance of death. That is HIGH PRAISE.

This is a must buy for any fan of Arena Shooters / Classic single-player campaigns and for the newer generation that adored Doom 2016/Doom Eternal - You get all of the exploration and combat finesse with well written messages left for you to find as you frag away using a solid selection of weapons with alternate fire modes.
My personal favorite is the Rocket Launcher and the alt-fire :D - The BOOMSTICK also has an insane automatic alt fire.
As for other weapons I'll leave y'all to discover them.

Remember... pet the kitty.

(Review copy only contained 1 boss initially, today it increased to feature all the way to the end of the Episode another Boss! Thus, this review is for EPISODE 1 - Speed-runners get ready to make some insane times!)

Accelerated Evolution Score: 9.0/10 -Editor's Choice-

Spoilery video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omSVwdAI7hE

I have been playing since early closed testing. It is a splendid mix of arena shooters with modern shooters.

Imagine if Quake, Unreal Tournament, Halo and Lawbreakers had a child with Tribes, Enemy Territory / Quake Wars ET, Battlefield and Call of Duty.

I drop on a squad-mate to take C from the enemy - I arrive via a hover-board and dodge incoming fire from a player-placed turret. As the "Titan" class I hop-off the board and quick-swap to my Rocket Launcher. Lead my target running towards the damaged turret. He revives someone as the rocket is about to hit - Spawn - DOUBLE KILL Turret.

Would invade C with my squad any day.

PS: The Titan gets a weapon that shoots exploding circular saw things: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPRBPHOAkso

Get that timing down.

Using this as a placeholder:
I am legit surprised at how well this game turned out. I did not doubt the game nor the development team; I just... felt we would have some intellectual property half-thought-out titles after a smash hit like the modern Dune.

Spice Wars after about 5 hours in a single-player map set to "Large" (with no-end in sight at that length / my initial progression) the time FLEW by. I was negotiating with each house to fufil the resources I required while smashing the locals.

Will be waiting for Multiplayer for my full review.
Special thanks to Shiro Games and Funcom for the press copy.

After some rebinds it feels groovy on Keyboard and Mouse ;).
Decided months ago I wanted to be a Dexxer - when I found out certain spells scale with DEX I planned a Prisoner build.
I started my Prisoner Class and can safely say "Magic is LIT" in Elden Ring - Melee Combat feels somewhere between a combination of DS2/DS3 with Sekiro's push-forward mentality.

I have a spoiler free clip displaying how awesome the Prisoner's starting spell is in an early game mini-dungeon boss fight:
https://clips.twitch.tv/RelatedCarelessWrenchFeelsBadMan-ZSpTtz6-Wn0i-9QO
- Roll a ton of times
- Cast
- ROLL SOME MOAR OMG
- Cast, Cast
- Rollergoggles
- Cast
- Slash
FTW!

Elden Ring is what I wanted from the concept of "An Open World Dark Souls". It has a beautiful visual style that expands upon the Souls/Borne art-style and is immediately unique standing out as what could on;y be Elden Ring.

While immersed visually, sophisticated models are not present and happen to be more visually comparable to prior games. The dressing around the models makes up for this. The draw distance is exceptional to gaze out and to aid immersion; currently I have noticed some models appearing in a pop-in which harms that immersion a bit; I am sure this will be fixed (It does not happen with all mobs; I noticed humanoids with torches in an early-game area seem to be keen on being invisible while moving rapidly forward. (Nothing else is popping in; all terrain is loaded and looks great
- Most mobs you can see rendered most likely as a sprite far off in the distance and as you get closer it seems to take the sprite and render it in 3D; I believe the pop-in is literally taking a sprite and replacing it; for some reason these mobs like to take a few seconds before re-appearing.)

The audio is really crunchy and has weight to it, adds further immersion. Sound Design is equally important in game design and From Software crushed the effects and screams of agony from crucified beings for example.
Musically a droning ambient sound-track has been present thus far that allows you to soak in the present mood from the time of day, surroundings and sense of dread. As Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails showed scoring 1996's QUAKE "Less can be more" especially when going for "ATMOSPHERE".
Atmospheric quality is thru-the-roof.

So far my only complaints are lack of Ultra-Wide support / FOV slider and the lock-on during combat is... annoying; I haven't figured out a method of making the camera more fluid, The Witcher 3 had a phenomenal lock-on system with the ability to use the Camera at the same time to gauge the surrounding threats.
I have been killed a few times that annoyed me due to stiff camera lock screwing me over.
It seems this lock-on effects melee combat a bit too much in general as well; when attacking mobs that are not the same height or taller the camera literally locks to the ground, looking down allotting less than 1/5th of the screen to see any incoming threats not on the darn ground!

I will be editing this with an eventual score and video review; for now this Review in Progress for Accelerated Evolution will remain here as a "Must Buy" with the asterisk *Assuming in good faith these problems get resolved*

As a last note Flawless Widescreen does have a fix for the FOV and Ultra-wide support; I have installed the plug-in although due to EAC have been worried to even try it with off-line mode; afraid of a retroactive suspension or ban in the future for using a utility to fix or add simple features NOT present.

I want to be fully immersed in this game world, I am very much so immersed and invested - having two large black bars destroys the cinematic scale and the "WHO DAT?" FOV feels like Gears of War on console; it's just too close and does not add to the game as a "cinematic quality".

Update: From what I've heard it seems to be a safe solution for FOV and Widescreen play as long as you are offline... it's been advertised in publications of international note which you would /hope/ makes it safe to use. I'll be giving it a shot and adding my findings here.

PS: I have an eye patch, and the Prisoner's starting helmet only has one eye opening... it's on the eye with the eye-patch. In conclusion; my character is an fing Jedi.

Elden Ring: When Dark Souls meets Morrowind.

Edit: After 25 hours of absolute addiction I chopped a tree with a torch. LARPing. https://www.twitch.tv/aewind/clip/PleasantSpineyKoalaTinyFace-dQKD-MELhkhP2y-U
That means it is really good.

Everyone else already brought up how this is the true modern Ultima Online style MMORPG of the old-school days...
I'll just display my first 60 seconds in game: It will give you all of the information you need to buy this game. *YES, BUY IT*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izcF_beLp88

8 hours played as of the time of this review, pre-launch season global rank 11, so far in season one rank 20.

As a professional tier player in just about every shooter than has come out since the early 2000's - I am often looking for tools that I could utilize as practice for students or to keep myself sharp in-between the launch of games.

This is the ultimate Speed-Running Aim Racing experience - Killer soundtrack - Easy to understand - various routes in levels - Feels like you are bouncing off boost pads or jump pads at max speed in quake while railing enemies mid-air. Always a plus in my book.

I will edit this review with more information and details as I have yet to complete the game, currently finished with Sector 2; working on the third.
As a competitive person the leaderboards keep be 'warping' constantly - Prior to the release I was ranked #3 in the first map and spent over 4K tries attempting to best the first and second place spots - I can see myself spending far too many hours in this game with the season rankings.

The only complaints I have would be two
1) lacking cross hairs / or a selection of cross hairs
2) Sensitivity: Would love for the game to add in a calc from various games to figure out a matching sensitivity. After a 5 hour session in Rayze I ended up hopping into quake live and was like "Woah; I need a few games to adjust".

It's exceptional; I was quoted previously on the front of the store-page - that quote holds up and then some.

- WinD

Specs:
--CPU: Intel® Eighteen Core™ i9-7980XE Processor OC @ 3.8GHz
--GPU: EVGA GeForce™ RTX 2080 Ti XC Ultra
--Memory: 64 GB RAM (DDR4 3200MHz G.SKILL Trident Z RGB)
--Sound: Creative Sound Blaster AE-5
--Motherboard: MSI X299 GAMING PRO CARBON ATX
--HDDS: 2x 1TB m.2 SSD 670R, 640W 1TB Samsung Evo SSD
--Display: ULTRA-WIDE CURVED LG 2650x1080, 166Hz W/ G-Sync
--PSU: Corsair AX1200i Modular Power Supply
--LED Fans: 6x Corsair LL series RGB 120MM fans
--Liquid Cooling: CORSAIR Hydro Series H100i V2 Water Cooler
--LED Strips: 4x SATECHI Strips with IR Remote
--Operating system: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
--Noise Dampening: Professional Quiet-Tech Sound Deadening
--Sound System: 2.Stereo- 2x Infinity 180ohm "Studio Monitor" speakers with Pioneer Optical/HDMI Stereo Receiver.
--Headset: Audio Technica ATH-M50X
--Microphone: Audio Technica AT20-20

I luckily seem to have none of the problems others on high end rigs are experiencing, I am playing the game at 2650x1080 on all the highest settings with the ray-traced lighting on for an average of 70-90 FPS.

I have put 5 hours in thus far and will update and edit my review as I continue forth, although thus far after my first stream of playing - I can safely state Arkane nailed the immersive sim genre's newest gem.

Elements from every Arkane title /including Arx Fatalis/ are present (Although you can Kick like in Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, I haven't found any environmental hazards such as spikes to kick people in. You have to build these moments).
An example being setting up a tripwire and kicking them into it to frag 3 others. You can also just kick a bunch of windows - I no longer need therapy as long as this game has windows.

Thus far the only confusing aspect of the game for me is "Can I only save my weapons via this one area and this one time of day? if so; how am I able to save more than just the singular weapon I was able to keep... what about my abilities/trinkets? Also do you always have to die when you do this process?" I am unsure if that was a story moment death or if each time you will have to start from the opening of the loop when you save your item progress. Will get back to y'all on that.

Combat is fluid along with the games movement. You have this really nice feeling dash for left, right and backwards; it feels a bit like the Doom Eternal dash without the steroids; more like a Football player juke, which still feels great.
The slug sniper is fantastic along with the Nail-Gun.
I initially got my "Blink" (I will always call the variations of Dishonored's blink ability simply blink; deal with it) ability from killing an AI Juliana invasion; although I got my butt merked and would really really like to get my hands back on it. It was fun Boinking all over the place.

You can follow my progress on twitch, I'll post the first stream vod below

Thus far this is a highly recommended BUY - especially if you want to F with your buddies runs in PVP. Playing offline mode with invasions of Juliana is too easy; when you get another player that is a crack shot and utilizing movement, map knowledge and abilities you have an epic showdown that feels LEGIT when you come out victorious; you also learn from why that player bested you.
You want them to invade again so you can get revenge.

" I’ve played a few time-loop games, the one thing they usually miss is the part of Groundhog Day that would actually be the most fun in real life: using your preternatural knowledge to breeze through otherwise unexpected situations. While something like The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask—still an amazing game, don’t get me wrong—relies on learning routines, it’s all at a macro level, so you can plan where to go and when. But Majora’s Mask really sidelines the active fun of mastery through repetition, the moment-to-moment.

That’s what Deathloop nails, above all else. By the time you finish out the main storyline, you’ll probably have a strong feel for what enemies spawn where on what maps at what time of day, and what routes they’re walking on when you first encounter them."

Dishonored Messiah of Prey and Zelda Souls
Feat. Bill Murray

-Graphics and Art Design 9/10 (8 on actual Graphical fidelity in the engine, 10 on Art Design)
-Game-play 10/10
-Story 8/10 (Intriguing thus far, interesting delivery; Hitman esque menu system is slightly over-whelming at this length of play thus far) This will increase as I play; I can tell its evolving and I want to know more after ever snippet of information I receive
-Audio 9.5/10 (I'd 10 this if it wasn't for some-times getting some audio that makes an enemy sound closer; or above/below *this was a problem also present in Dishonored 2. The soundtrack is an absolute JAM - If you dig late 60's early 70's Hammond Organ art rock or some groovy funk jazz twisted into a James Bond style then this soundtrack is for you.
Ambient music is present although a lot of time is spent in the quiet; the grooves usually pop up during combat, you have some ambient music while exploring specific locations; other times it just gets quiet until you start shooting and bring the funk.*
Added 0.5 to the audio for the FANTASTIC voice acting for all characters, not just the main characters and visionaries; but the poor crazed mask wearing bags of Residuum you are ready to frag and harvest.

Overall: 5 Hours in with a grip of core mechanics and use of some of the abilities I have a whole lot to unpack before giving scores out; these are temporary until I write up my actual review. This will be here with edits after each play session.

Check out my initial 5 hours with the game here:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1148803540