Recent reviews by ZestyBeelzebub

Why haven't I made a review for this already? I must be stupid. This game is pure gold and deserves a higher price than it's currently being sold for. It's actually a steal. Don't watch any walkthroughs or playthroughs, and don't read any guides. Sure, it doesn't have a randomly generated map, but it's BEAUTIFULLY crafted, and I can assure you that you will love this game if you like anything based on survival, exploration, or just anything underwater.

THIS GAME IS ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ AMAZING. GET IT, SERIOUSLY. I'm only writing this review because I've come back wanting to play it again, finally forced myself to forget enough of it to want to, and found I hadn't made a positive review yet. I should have ages ago. This game is, and always will be, one of, if not MY MOST, favourite of all time.

Some truly and absolutely thrilling gameplay I had. Wanna know what it was like..?

So, I was sitting there, right? All excited to play. Ready to go. Tons of ideas and brimming with hope. And...

...The game doesn't launch. It doesn't launch if your processor doesn't support AVX. If you're wondering what the ♥♥♥♥ that is, welcome to the rest of us who are now just finding out they don't have it because Paradox makes decisions to dunk on the financially unstable. I will reserve my refund for a couple of days yet to see if this requirement suddenly "disappears", but I have a feeling it won't. If it doesn't, this also means Paradox Interactive made one of the DUMBEST conscious decisions ever to basically screw over anybody who has a REMOTELY older or low end PC that doesn't support some obscure file extension literally nobody besides that one awkward MAC user in the corner has ever even heard of.

If you can detect some salt flowing from my words, let me explain: I waited the entire night, staying up and missing VITALLY important sleep, so I could play the launch of a game I was genuinely hyped to play, (despite the bad things I consistently saw about its quality), only to find a big "♥♥♥♥ YOU" in big, bold, capital letters because I'm not posh enough and didn't read the fine print.

Moral of the story? Check your wealth status and read the fine print prior to even stepping NEAR this game before it vibe checks you into depression.

This game is great. It really is. The combat gameplay and story make it a great game, but what makes it horrible is the progression. After you've awakened and gotten both sets of abilities to choose from, equipment progression is entirely RNG based, with a 50/50 chance starting from awakened equivalent gear. Not only that, but the currency you use for said process is limited, and although farmable, is extremely tedious to do so. If that's not bad enough, if the upgrade fails it actually degrades your gear, bringing that piece of gear back a level and causing you to spend more of the currency to get it back to where it was. You'll spend 20 minutes killing 300 enemies for 20 of them, only to find the upgrade that cost 30 failed and DECREASED your level.

The combat is fantastic. The gameplay is thrilling and the story actually decent for an RPG. But holy ballsack does an RNG based progression system take the life out of a game for me.

This game offers some of the most beautiful and heart-pounding dinosaur experiences I have ever played, by far. Its map is vast and varied in different places, there are a fair selection of dinosaurs to choose from, and the animations and models are spectacular. It's not a game for the impatient, and although boring at times, it makes up for it with the 'fight for survival' nature of the game. Constantly needing to find food and water to sustain yourself. For carnivores, it's all about finding where your prey might be, while avoiding bigger things that might eat you. For the herbivores, you have to sniff out a certain type of bush you can eat, but the resource is finite. Although a single herbivore could live in an area until becoming a full adult and then some, a herd will find themselves running out of food and migrating. Both need water, and its there that most of the action happens.

Yet for all this, I cannot recommend the game, unfortunately. The game is plagued with lack of development, poor game optimization, rather buggy moments, server connection issues, and extreme rubber banding even when both ping and frames are perfect. The current sniff mechanic in the vanilla version of the game (Legacy as its known in the community) is rather half patched together.

In order to find food and water, like an actual dinosaur, you have to sniff and catch scents. Only you're not really catching scents, and more just highlighting the nearest point of food and/or water. For herbivores, food is a glowing green bush. For carnivores, they can only see the gore left behind after a corpse has been eaten, and it glows red. Dead carcasses, however, are left without notification and thus the biggest sources of food for carnivores are hard to find unless you are the one that hunted and killed said dinosaur. This is really unfortunate when you're something like a lone Raptor, and trying to scavenge to survive. As for water, its just a giant, flat plane of glowing blue. It clips underneath where the ground is located, so bodies of water seem larger than they actually are, and rivers/running water isn't modelled to be highlighted.

They have addressed this issue in the newer Evirma version of the game, which the developers are much more actively working on, but it is still not very good. The concept they have in place works a lot better than the one currently in Legacy. By catching small orb-like particles in the air, you can trace it to its origin. Green for plants for herbivores, red for carcasses and blue for water for both. Though this concept works well and does simulate how they actually scent things out, it doesn't work very well in practice. To give you an example, I played a lone raptor in Evirma. I got relatively large and was running in essentially a zig-zag pattern to cover the most ground. The only problem was, despite being in the middle of the map, there was no AI, players, or carcasses to speak of. I figured maybe it was my positioning, right? I must be in the corner of the map. Nope, I was pretty much in the middle, near the biggest body of water that is the most active.

While this will eventually get fixed, the experience of Evirma is still nowhere near the experience of Legacy. For one, you can only play 2 carnivores rather than the 8 or so you can in Legacy survival (that's not including the ones aren't perfected for survival, like the Spino and Alberto for just an example). The herbivores options isn't great either, with only 3 compared to the 7-9 of the ones in survival Legacy. And, again, that's not including those not perfected for survival but still very playable.

The game, though it offers moments of unparalleled beauty, is often marked with glitchiness in both the graphical compartment and the gameplay compartment. For one, the shadows will often flicker, making shots that should be absolutely stunning look really glitchy and unnatural. However, that's not my main issue with its apparent glitches and bugs. I run the game at a solid 60 frames a second, and though the game has unnaturally good ping levels when inside a server, it really suffers from rubberbanding. Let me give you an example:

Playing a fully grown Tyrannosaurus Rex, I am attacked by a Ceratosaurus while I am lying down. For those who are unaware, a Ceratosaurus is like a bigger raptor that kinda looks like a T-Rex and a Gigantosaurus had a child. Now that we have that half-arsed description out of the way, you understand the difference in size and power between either dinosaur. Naturally, I stand up and begin to attack too, but he says underneath me at my tail. Smart move, real smart. Using his agility and height to his advantage. Yet I can get around that by running forward, as my top speed is higher than his, and turning into him as he tries to catch up. He's really good, and knows what I'm doing, so he doesn't let me do it. I have to resort to running into the trees and getting him caught on one. THAT works, and I'm able to get a bite on him. And then another. And another. By the fourth bite, I'm wondering why he isn't a bloody pulp before me, and he's still biting and killing me. I get frantic, and annoyed (obviously), and begin to do the same tactic again. It works, and I get him underneath my head and I chomp. On my screen, I see my mouth clearly hit him. Clean hit. But he doesn't die, and he keeps biting. As I continue to do this, I begin to rubber band, but I'm at 50 ping and 60 FPS. After the fight is over and he's killed me, people who witnessed the fight (as it was at a large lake) tell me he was actually behind me the whole time, and that I never once actually bit him.

So, if my point isn't made already, the game is a big buggy and needs a lot of work. Which, unfortunately, is all being spent completely reworking the game into 'Evirma'. No updates will come to the current vanilla, or 'legacy' version of the game, and it is plagued with bugs and glitches that both ruin immersion AND fun. As much as I love this game and its beauty, I cannot recommend it in its current state.


P.S. It takes about 6-7 hours IRL time to grow a Tyrannosaurus Rex from a juvenile to a full grown adult. I hate this game as much as I used to love it.

The gameplay for this game is really, really great. The guns feel amazing, the community is great, and the developers continue to work on the game at a seemingly better pace than Post Scriptum. The squads work well, and the roles the developers have made for a person to fulfill is quite diverse. Even if you're equipped with the same gun as another role, you don't share the same experience as you would with another role. That isn't the main issue for this game, however. It's the servers and performance. First of all, the minimum requirements are pretty bogus. I have fairly close to those specs and the game barely runs at 45 frames consistently with a few rises to the 60 range. But, again, that's assuming you've actually gotten into a server. This game is plagued by horrendous queues, servers always being full, and loss of connection. At the point of writing this review, I felt I have to share the experience I received not 10 minutes ago from this post. So here it is: I launch the game, expecting to find a game and easily be able to hop in on the action. I even found a server that wasn't full and has pretty good ping. So, of course, I join it. After about 6-8 minutes of staring at a loading screen, I find I've lost connection to the host upon finally getting into the game. Trying to close the notification causes my entire game to freeze. I open the task manager and find it still says its running smoothly and without interruption. So I'm forced to end it through the task manager. Fine, no big deal. It's early access and bugs are to be abound. Getting back into the game, I find all the servers are full unless I want to join a server where I have 250 ping. Waiting in queue for another 5 minutes, I finally get into a pretty good server.... ...And by get in I mean load for 10 minutes, somehow lose connection to the host again, and then have my game freeze like before. Maybe it's the server..? Do it again on another server, same affect. So, what's my point? The base game is great, but as of its current state the game is not worth it. 90% of your steam hours will come from waiting in queue, trying to find a server you can actually get into a queue, or reloading the game after its crashed. I'll come back to Hell Let Loose at a later date, perhaps when it's finished, but I simply can't recommend this game to anybody right now. If you're looking to try this game, you need it on an SSD and be past the recommended requirements. If you meet that criteria, then you might be able to run the game somewhat smoothly... Though I wish you the best of luck trying to find a server. :P

Hardship Spacebreaker is honestly one of the best Early Access games I've played yet. Though it warns of its early development and possible lack of content, I'm pleasantly surprised by the diversity even among the same class of ship. It's wholehearted, funny, and a seriously unique gameplay experience despite it appearing close to games like Space Engineers. Despite a few crashes, I have yet to find any issues with Hardship Spacebreaker.

Personally, I run an i7 920 with a GTX 1070 Ti and 8 GB's of RAM. As you might have guessed, I'm pretty bottlenecked by my processor and RAM, yet I am actually able to run this game without any loss of frames. WIth a unique style akin to that of Firefly, this Early Access is damn worth the 30 Canadian Dollars its asking for in my opinion.

If you got any interest in Firefly or Sci-fi games dealing with ship mechanics and engineering, this is the game for you. GET IT!

I bought this game quite a few years ago, and after coming back to it recently, it's definitely an improvement from its initial start. Though it may be a bit heavy on the wallet, the Total War, and more specifically Rome 2, are great Grand Strategy TBS and RTS games. Total War: Rome 2 allows you to take the reigns of ancient empires, controlling your nation through internal politics, influence manipulation, and military conquests. With great depth into the political structures, familial intrigue, and internal political mechanics of each nation and culture, you really get the feel of being King, Queen, or Emperor of your nation.

In my Rome grand campaign, I have only just begun my invasion of Spain, using the same Legions I used to conquer Carthage, Sicily, and the other Mediterranean islands. I've decided to go historical as much as I can be, using real roman formations and army setups, with foreign Auxiliary Infantry supporting my main Legions of Roman men recruited from Roma itself. Each new land I invade gives me tastes of new culture as I face them in battle. Just like the Romans, I have to change and shift my tactics based on the enemies I go against. All this experience is only from the Roman perspective, and I've barely begun my campaign.

Long story short, Total War: Rome 2 is one of the greatest historical Total War games. It provides in-depth vastly different cultures, unique army playstyles, and countless hours of replayability. I HIGHLY recommend this game.

So, first things first, I've played a lot of this game. While my hours may not seem like a lot, I easily have over a thousand hours on multiple accounts. I've been playing this game series since the first warhammer released, and I've bought every DLC. I'm also a HUGE fan of both Warhammer fantasy, Warhammer 40k, and the Total War series. So take all of this with a grain of salt and a pinch of bias.

I want to start this review off by saying that this, by all means, is not a historical title nor is it based in reality. As a huge fan of the Total War series, I can say that Total War: Warhammer is probably the best one yet. A huge struggle they have been having with historical titles is the diversity between factions and units. With Total War: Warhammer, this is no longer a problem. Factions are spread out, not only by statistics and culture, but races and units. One of the many things this game specialises in is giving you a unique and interesting time when playing different factions/races.

As a hardcore fan of both Warhammer fantasy, Warhammer 40k, and Total War, I may be a bit biased when I say this is easily one of the best RTS games out there. The only issue people may have about the game is the amount of DLC and the cost of which they go for. It can seem quite stupid to buy a 5 dollar DLC for blood effects, but that's the way CA has evolved. Although I do hate that CA has turned into a money grab company, Total War: Warhammer 1 and 2 are possibly the only money grab games I actually say are worth the money.

Now that we've gotten all that out of the way, I can actually start to talk about the game. This game has 2 modes, multiplayer battles and singleplayer campaign. Multiplayer battles is a mode that gives you a limited amount of funds, makes you create an army, and then face other players who have also made their armies with the selected budget. The balancing for multiplayer is a little off in that some DLC units and lords can be really good for that specific army. A good example is having the Grim and Grave DLC which gives you Regiments of Renown and new units for the Vampire Counts and the Empire. This DLC adds a specific unit to the Vampire Counts roster that heavily supports and affects their capabilities. So, while the multiplayer is really good, there can be some balancing issues when it comes to different factions, units, and tactics.

The second part of the game, or first depending on point of view, is the campaign. Currently within Total War: Warhammer 2 there are 2 campaigns. Mortal Empires, which includes all the factions and races of both Total War: Warhammer 1 and Total War: Warhammer 2, and the Eye of the Vortex campaign which includes the 4 starting races of Total War: Warhammer 2 and the 2 DLC factions. The Eye of the Vortex is more of a story based campaign that revolves around taking control of the Vortex, which is a huge source of magic, for your own race. That is an over simplified explanation of the Eye of the Vortex campaign. Mortal Empires is more along the lines of the classical Total War play style in that you must conquer most of the map and complete certain objectives to win the game. Note that the Mortal Empires campaign is only playable if the player owns the first game, Total War: Warhammer 1, and that the Mortal Empire campaign is both larger in regards to the amount of different races and overall map size.

The campaign is split up into 2 different areas. The first is the large TBS (Turn Based Strategy) map of which you take control of a nation, build armies, and conquer other nations/races. Each race plays differently according to their theme/lore/play-style. The second is when 2 armies collide and enter an RTS (Real Time Strategy) battle. You load into a map based upon the area of which these 2 armies met and take control of your army. A full army, or full stack as veterans call it, is made up of 20 units. Each unit, depending on your settings, will have about 120 men/beasts that also depends on who you're playing. For example, the elves have a lower unit count that the rat people Skaven because they are more trained on a single person basis. You start the battle in a preliminary stage where you are allowed to set up your units within a large box area and make a formation depending on what units you have and what tactics you want to achieve. Then, when the battle is started, you command your 20 units (if it's a full army) in real time against whatever enemy you're versing and try to use tactics and specific units to win the battle.

That is, probably in a very small and dumb said way, the basics of the game. There is much more detail as each unit is based on statistics that affect their capabilities. Another thing that makes this game great is the universe of which it is set in and the Steam Workshop. There is an entire library of mods that can change anything you want. Should you find something you dislike about the base game, it most likely has a fix and/or mod for it on the steam Workshop. The Warhammer fantasy lore is also gigantic and spread over literally thousands of books. This means the developers have a never ending source of content to add to the game.

This game is revolutionary for the Total War series for multiple reasons. For one, it is the first Total War game not based in reality. Secondly, this is the first Total War game to include flying units, single entity units (like commanders and heroes), as well as magic. Thirdly, it is the first time Total War, or CA for that matter, can make drastically different styles of playing between the factions because they are different races. Fourthly, the Eye of the Vortex campaign is the first story based campaign in all the Total War franchise. Lastly, it is the first Total War game to add HEAVY variations between factions/races in terms of campaign mechanics and play style.

Overall, this game is my favourite among all the Total War games and can easily be considered the best warhammer game out to date. With its huge faction and race diversity, there is something for everyone in this game. While the game might be a bit expensive, I believe it is worth the money. If you don't have a lot of money, worry not! The game often goes on sale at least once or twice a year for a minimum of 25% off. If you're searching for a warhammer RTS game that is cinematic, fun to play and loreful, you can stop searching. It's right here.

This game is awesome WHEN IT WORKS. about 80% of my gameplay time is trying to get into a game or keep myself in a game. If I simply launch the game and try to join a populated server, the game will get stuck at the last part of the loading screen. To counter this I must join an empty server. Fine, no big deal. If that's the price to play this game, so be it. Only upon exiting the empty server you have a chance for the game to crash. Then, even if you do get back to the main screen, there's a chance that it could crash upon trying to join the populated server. If you manage to get past all these without crashing, good for you, but it's not over yet. Spend maybe 5-15 minutes playing before everyone freezes in place, causing you to rejoin the game.

I like this game, I really do, but it's bugs far outweigh its gameplay. There's no point in trying to play if most of your gameplay time is going to come from trying to get around bugs and glitches. Please, campfire games, fix this ♥♥♥♥♥♥' thing. I'll come back at another date to check its progression and hot fixes, but as of right now I would not say it is worth 34 dollars. If you're a hardcore civil war fan, then that might be a different story entirely.

I both love this game and ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hate it. The gameplay is amazing and immersive. I would love to play this game more, if there was a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ server to play on. It might be due to my ♥♥♥♥ internet, but very few servers are open with good ping. Despite the lack of joinable servers, the game is superb. I highly suggest this game to anyone who loves realistic shooters and/or the vietnam war era.