Recent reviews by Sysgen

WHOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What is this you say? An isometric Cyberpunk twin stick action RPG in the vein of Crusader No Remorse. Adorned with literally the whole she-bang. Top tier highly detailed prodigious environments, awesome twin stick combat with a well implemented cover system where cover matters and where shooting in and out of cover is well defined. Combat is additionally complimented with an array of varying weapons based on four ammo types, armor, Deus Ex type augments and typical RPG progression. Neon Giant for the most part nailed this. The Ascent is not perfect (5 crashes in 40 hours) but taken as a whole The Ascent is a special game and is nothing like you experienced prior. As such learn the controls, systems and the unique fast travel system asap to avoid unnecessary frustration.

Scratch that Midtown Madness itch in this well produced arcade title. I've read of scoring in hundreds of thousands but I haven't been there yet so I can't attest to elevated levels of game-play. Sweet art and chill pill music are a huge plus.

It's Christmas 2024. What y'all say we chip in and get Hideo Kojima a camera for the holiday so he can see how one really works.

8+ years old and with the 2 expansions (and a third in development) Grim Dawn is the definitive solo arpg experience packed to the brim with content and many diverse and unique functional systems. If you start on Normal difficulty, once you get comfortable you'll find the game way more interesting and challenging if you check the Veteran checkbox. Very consuming and once completed you'll be hard pressed not to start another game with another class or on a higher difficulty. Extensive replay-ability.

What a pleasant surprise and a great find. I know it's an Xbox Studios game with a AAA moniker but never did I expect such immersive Gears of War type detail in a non FPS Gears of War game. Chain saw kills and awesome executions never ever get old.

I haven't played much XCOM but I've just come off Mutant Year Zero, another turn based tactics title which I found enjoyable and thought provoking once I was able to get over the learning curve. I view Gears Tactics as a cross of XCOM and Mutant Year Zero. Like MYZ, Gears Tactics has heroes whom you encounter though-out the narrative and like XCOM, Gears has soldiers whom can be saved and customized through cosmetics and skill trees.

Gears Tactics has side quests or missions though after a while repetitive mission types eventually dominate story missions. The side missions do present specific optional challenges in an attempt to foster uniqueness.

Skill trees for the various classes are interesting and the game does provide respec tokens which you'll invariably need but save a couple for the finale. Presentation, sound, everything is top notch and what you would expect from a AAA franchise.

The base difficulty is challenging though experienced players in the genre will want to bump the difficulty. Forum posts reveal even experienced difficulty to be very accessible though insane is as intended meant for players who understand the game at a master level and all of it's idiosyncrasies.

I would like to see other FPS franchises bridge to the turn based tactics genre. Gears Tactics works very well in this context.

Some may find a high barrier to entry though that high bar shouldn't prohibit tactical strategy enthusiasts from enjoying MYZ, an excellently produced game within the tactical genre.

Interestingly once the game's systems are understood and progression reaches a certain point the high entry barrier drops significantly, reloads are far less than at the beginning and the game becomes very enjoyable.

Attention to detail from environment perspective and the environment are very high. Every stage has fully destructible immersive environments.

The game is a perfect length and the recommended dlc Seed of Evil continues with a well written and playable story.

MYZ starts with two playable characters. Three additional characters are added throughout the main campaign and one during the dlc. Characters are exchangeable out of battle and all come with their own mutations or skills.

Given the number of characters and variances in difficulty the game is highly re-playable.

Controller support is perfectly implemented though kb/m support is available if preferred.

Having completed the game and dlc I can comment on some of the complaints I've read about the game-play whether in reviews or forum posts.

• Enemies can shoot across the map. Depends on the map size but the larger the map size the less probability and the larger maps just not true so I'll rate this false. Enemies like the player controlled characters have weapons with a defined range. The farther the shot the less probability of a hit. I've found this behavior very consistent.
  
  
• Firing at enemies can alert the entire map to move against you.
  
  I'll rate this complaint false though with a caveat. NYZ has three types of weapons. Some may say two but allow me to pontificate. This is where I believe much of player frustration emanates, especially in the beginning of the game when you are just learning the game's idiosyncrasies.
  
  MYZ does very well at demarcation. That is to say movement both horizontal and vertical (*dpad on a controller) is very precise. The developers did an excellent job at illustrating action points used, enemy hit range and hit percentages for every potential square the player may move to.
  
  The issue for some is that *after starting battle* non engaged enemy alert levels for the various types of weapons are hidden from the user. Silent weapons if used too close to a non engaged enemy may alert that enemy who will in turn alert all enemies in a specific vicinity or range. What is this vicinity? I can only speculate. Same for weapons that are not marked as excessively loud (type 2). These weapons can be used without alerting enemies though again you must speculate alert distance.
  
  The third weapon type, excessively loud weapons have large alert distances, more understandable as the developer labeled them as such. Clearly alert distances are Type 1 < Type 2 < Type 3 however alert distances are not specifically disclosed or defined. Obviously intentional design by the developer and looking back at my play-through I can agree with this design but there will be many who don't. I will say that the behavior is consistent throughout the game so I don't believe it's an RNG issue.
  
  
• Frequently I'm overwhelmed this game is ridiculous.
  
  I've spoken of alerting too many enemies. The main premise of the game is stealth and managing your battles appropriately. MYZ also shares an enemy mechanic with Ghost Recon Breakpoint. Certain enemies just let's say need to managed. If you don't, yes you will get overwhelmed. You may be able to handle the rush but the odds are, especially early in the game, you won't and you'll probably uninstall, rage quit, blame the game and write a negative review or forum post.

In summary, in the beginning the game can be difficult but not everything in life is handed to you on a silver platter. Learn the game's systems and you'll be rewarded.

Haven't heard of Top Racer? The Top Racer Collection consists of four awesome racing titles in one glorious package. With great music and almost 150 racing tracks throughout, what makes the Top Racer titles stand out is the amount of depth found in each title. Sure you can pickup and play for a great arcade racing experience however to succeed you'll need to understand the in depth mechanics that encompasses each title. With split screen and added online multiplayer and a huge amount of content the Top Racer Collection is a great add to everyone's library.

- Happy Thanksgiving 2024 :)

In the context of How to Survive, the games inventory should be based on weight and not on the allocation of inventory slots.

The game has inventory stacking, a common QoL feature so I can add 20 of this and 20 of that but I can't add a 5 oz plant because there isn't a slot for it. Annoying.

Otherwise the game, though over a decade old, has many positive features like seeing the tombstones of your friends who played through the game previously and met their bitter end so to speak.

This isn't the first game with this type of inventory design. Stalker comes to mind but thankfully there is always a patch, a mod or a hack to get things sorted. Sadly there is none that I know for How to Survive. Still a thumbs up if you can get by the inventory issues.

Breakpoint offers highly customizable game-play. Play as a looter shooter or not. The open world is vast and dare I say majestic in scope. The game offers multiple vehicles including planes, military and civilian helicopters, cars, trucks and boats.

There are multiple factions you'll encounter. Solo is very viable with the added option to go solo or playing with a squad. Weapons and attachments are numerous with each weapon type offering a limited skill tree. Stealth is well done as is the combat. The A.I. on normal difficulty is O.K. though I see people recommending to set the A.I. to extreme.

I played using Mouse / Keyboard and I found the controls to be a mixed bag. There is no jump and a step over requires a button press but you must be in the correct position for the button prompt to appear. Generally not a big deal but when you're hiding in a dumpster and a grenade comes your way aligning your character (3rd person) to get out of the dumpster can lead to frustration.

As open world game Breakpoint comes with a huge caveat. The game is highly repetitive, almost a one trick pony, though as long as you enjoy stealth and infiltration type game-play you'll definitely get some serious mileage here however you'll probably tire of the game long before main and faction quests are completed.

Rush Rush Rally is a Dreamcast port done well. A difficult but fair 2D overhead racer which like most games in the genre requires track knowledge (10 tracks that I know of). Five cars plus secret vehicles with the usual varying degrees of acceleration, speed and handling. Steam integration includes Remote Play, Family Sharing, Steam Cloud and Achievements (difficult) but no global leader-boards..

Modes include campaign in which you'll play to unlock subsequent racks, a challenge mode where you'll race one on one and time challenge with local leader-boards. A review mentioned the lack of a mini map but I feel it is completely unnecessary. Multiple controller types recognized, controls are good and each car feels well differentiated.

A great addition to my Steam library.