Nylige anmeldelser av Chabs

Originally, I didn't want to get Like a Dragon at all. The radical change of gameplay-style really didn't appeal to me, I wanted my good old brawler, I wanted my direct control.
Few years later, I caved. I figured "if anything, at least the story will keep me going". It took a bit of time for me to swallow the "no punching anymore" pill, but ultimately, the game really grew on me!
While I really do miss the OG mechanics, Like a Dragon proved to be a very refreshing take on the turn-based genre, set in the Yakuza universe.

Story is of course a banger as always. A beautiful mix of wacky and serious. Much more wacky this time around. AND you get companions, which really adds a lot to the mix. Ichiban Kasuga, the main character, is just amazing. He's no Kazuma Kiryu, but Kiryu is no Kasuga either!

If you are a Yakuza purist and are still on the fence (somehow), just dive in, seriously.
If you're new to the Yakuza franchise, what the hell are you doing here? Go play Zero first!

It's a big game alright! There's no challenge whatsoever (younger or less experienced players might find some), but it's sort of fun in a goofy kind of way.

Lego Star Wars is really just a massive collect-a-thon. In fact, that's what 90% of my played hours were about.
The remaining 10% was super-short, condensed missions. And in typical Lego games fashion, it's all very slapstick and goofy.

Good fun to pass the time, ultra-repetitive for sure, but I do appreciate the level of detail (for a Lego game) and attention.
Grab at a discount for sure!

By far one of the greatest piece of additional content since... Forever. It's right there alongside Blood and Wine, Shivering Isles and the GTA IV's expansions.

Phenomenal execution throughout, with very little moments that suspend your disbelief, if at all. Plus, it integrates perfectly into the core experience, especially if you've already done a tour of Night City.

Ready or Not is alright. But is it Ready for 1.0? I think Not.

Why?
Because it fumbled its most crucial characteristic, something I'm sure a lot of SWAT 4 fans could relate to, and frankly something that a singleplayer-focused game should nail: the atmosphere.

Ready or Not feels like it kind of lost its way on the road to SWAT 4's success.
While the game plays alright (gameplay, performance), it completely fails to ground you to its world. In its current state, it's like the "campaign" (if you could call it that) is just a pretext to give the "Terrorist Hunt" gameplay some sense.

For example, you've got the Los Sueños police precinct, a sort of staging area much like the social zones in multiplayer games.
The only problem is that it's completely dead. You can't interact with anyone or anything. There's no chatter, no action, just lifeless NPCs who occasionally stare at you. And that's a shame, because it feels like they wanted to do something with the place. It's where you start your missions, where you kit up, where you lick your wounds after a hard fought mission. Speaking of missions, picking one feels like queuing for an MMO's bounty board quest. It literally was, even in single player! You press a button to ready up and there's a counter. And you can also very easily miss the "Hold Tab" prompt to open up the briefing, skipping to the start with 0 context and buildup. There's a whole ass briefing room for crying out loud! It was strange to see this sprawling building with tons of purpose-built rooms serving only as a backdrop.

On top of being a super crisp game, SWAT 4 boasted a banger campaign, beautiful (for the time) and varied environments, and a strong emphasis on environmental storytelling. It was gritty, often very tense, and sometimes downright disgusting.
It worked extremely well at making you feel like you're part of a SWAT team, with each team member having a distinct personality, often making comments about the world around them and so and so. It didn't have a fancy precinct, but it didn't need one either. Before every mission, you were met with an extensive briefing, sitrep and approach selection. It effectively set the tone for what was to come.

Another more critical example of how Ready or Not misses the mark is how missions feel disjointed... Almost disconnected from the world around you. I described earlier how you take on missions, like in an MMO. And the missions themselves just don't quite hit.

I'll always remember that one legendary SWAT 4 mission: Children of Taronne Tenement.
You are tasked with raiding an apartment building occupied by cult members. Very hard to tell friends from foes, everyone is aggro, civilians included. Throughout the building, you are accompanied by an eerie soundtrack as you navigate the building's darkest corners. When shots are fired, the soundtrack gets bombastic in the chaos that ensues. The deeper in the building you go, the more the tension rises, as you get further away from the outside world. It becomes increasingly clear that the cult has some deep dark secret. Then comes the macabre discovery, little graves in the basement, messy messages on the walls. They look like they were written by the parents of those children. Throughout the ordeal, your comrades had plenty to say about what you all witnessed. Those dialogues were simple, short, but added tons of flavor to the mix. The whole experience was just IN-SANE. And that's just one of the classic's many gems.

Ready or Not's missions on the other hand feel bland, almost barren. Jumping from mission to mission with no intermission feels like playing an MMO at best, or an incomplete game. The whole "lore" feels under-utilised, or just lacking. Story missions make no sense, often sounding like something some Hollywood guy who'd talk about. Sure, your teammates say a few things here and there, but it's like it was an after thought. Suspect placement, amount and behavior are often nonsensical and divorced from the context the mission's established. In SWAT 4, npcs had a variety of characteristics that varied depending on the mission's "lore", things like morale, experience... And these had an impact on how they respond to you and the world. It determined whether they'd give up easy or not, whether they'd gun down their hostages or run away. In Ready or Not, there's only 1 mode it seems, and it's "I'll shoot you down the second I see you, and I'll even shoot you through walls if I have to". Seriously, it makes all situations feel like you're raiding a military HQ, and that just sucks.

Frankly, that's a real shame. I really had high expectations for this game. The gameplay was solid, like HD SWAT 4 really.
But unfortunately, narrative-wise it is a miss. And I genuinely hope it will be improved one way or the other.

That is why I think that a 1.0 version this is not.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the game for what it is, despite the wonky AI that you've probably already read about. But I find it hard to believe it's ready for release. It desperately needs better writing if it is to stand out.

Runs as tight as a rope, as always.
Same gameplay a 6, with a few twists and some quality of life added (it's more forgiving).
Combat's partly a bit downgraded vs. previous entries, but still enjoyable.
Wacky stories just how you like 'em.

If you're a regular, don't think twice about getting it.

Great game to drive around and kill time.
Who knew driving through rough terrain, transporting all manner of cargo and flipping your vehicle would be so fun? These guys, clearly.

Worth it at a discount.

Storymode is pure CoD galore. It's an action packed, carefully crafted, 6 to 8 hours ride.
There's nothing groundbreaking, it's just dumb old "fun", with a few hard-hitting set-pieces. The story is obviously your typical America World Police, but hey that's CoD, what do you expect.

The multiplayer, as of when this was posted (28/11/2023), is still live and alive. No issue finding people to play with (Europe region).
You might have some trouble finding people for some game modes, but the rest is ok.

As a whole, the game runs well and looks great doing it.
One pain point is the sheer size of the beast, which is frankly unjustifiable... Note that you can uninstall some of it's components (Multiplayer, Story or Coop).

It seems a bit silly to leave a review for something that's so obviously an all-time GOAT, but this game was so fundamental to my appreciation for video games that I just had to.
Cheers to a game from a time when passion prevailed over pure economic interests.

Just like the old days, but HD.

It's hard for me to come up with any negative criticism of this remaster.
It's smooth, captures the original exceptionally well, and is just plain old fun!

I don't know how I used to grind the crap out of it with a keyboard back in the day, but I strongly advise you use a controller!

Starfield has the makings of a great game, but remains utterly mediocre.

Like Ubisoft, which has slowly but surely turned its games into some kind of formulaic slop, Bethesda has done the same, and lost whatever goodwill it had in the process.

Their past games were rich, genre-defining and a fountain of entertainment. They had their flaws, sure, but they stood well enough on their own. Mods only enhanced the basic offering.
Then came Skyrim, a good game but one that took a number of narrative shortcuts and step backs in the process. Then Fallout 4, which took even MORE shortcuts but kept the environmental storytelling and exploration strong. And finally... Starfield, the subject of this review.

It's got most good things: a credible backdrop, the foundations of a story, superb assets... In short, a pretty solid universe, as wide as an ocean.

But this universe is as deep as a puddle. Once you get to the heart of the matter, you start to realize how superficial the whole thing is. The writing in this game, the centerpiece of any RPG, is abysmal.
The main story is some doo-doo level narration. Uninspired, lacklustre, slop.
Environmental storytelling? Some set-pieces here and there, for a few stories, but the game hinges on procedural generation that just voids this notion almost completely. The game world had frankly no business being that big either, making exploration an unrewarding chore.

Now look, I know what you might be saying... "You don't recommend it, yet you spent 200+ hours playing it. Can't be that bad?".
And that's true, it's not that bad. The shooting is kind of alright, albeit very watered down. Weapons and arms never felt heavier tho. Ships look hot, and are somewhat fun to design. Some missions, albeit a very small minority, were a blast.

This review is built atop my expectations, my utter disappointment and years of experience playing Bethesda games and other RPGs.
The game is pretty easy to get lost in. When you pick it up, you could spend hours playing. They designed it pretty well.
But it's also a glaring symptom of an industry far more concerned with profit margins than creating a quality product. It's nearly all hype building, marketing gimmicks and taking advantage of years of your trust to make a quick buck.

Long story short: No, I do not recommend Starfield.