Recent reviews by bunjaba

So I initially bought Cyberpunk at release, and after about 70 hours, I had hit a wall where the real lack of substance (outside the story and side missions) and poor performance of the game put me off playing further.

For a few years, Cyberpunk sat and waited for me, unfinished, in my library.

Then Starfield came out. Playing Starfield, I really enjoyed the cyberpunk-theme of Neon, but felt like the game as a whole was missing lots of elements that would make it more enjoyable. And it got me thinking... the 2.0 update of Cyberpunk has just released, my memory of Cyberpunk had a lot of the elements I felt Starfield was missing (like actual, enjoyable action and combat, and great story telling), and Starfield had made me realise it's been several years since I've played an actually decent first-person RPG.

So I downloaded Cyberpunk to continue where I left off.

And ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, am I glad I did.

If Cyberpunk released today, in the state it is currently in, it would be battling BG3 for GOTY honors. Cyberpunk today completely blows out of the water nearly every campaign-driven game that has come out since its release. The Cyberpunk 2077 I remembered is no more; the 2.0 update is as good as it gets.

If you are still on the fence about this game, just buy it. At full price, it's worth it. On sale, it's perhaps the biggest steal in gaming currently. The story, the world-building, the variety in the missions, the viability of many different builds that bring different gameplay experiences, everything just comes together perfectly. Night City is one of the few virtual worlds that every one needs to experience.

Phantom Liberty has just been released. At the time of writing this review, I have not started on it yet. I'm still having such an incredible time with the base game, I cannot wait to experience what the DLC has to offer. Hearts of Stone, the DLC from Witcher 3, is my favorite story from any game I've played in the past. I've read that Phantom Liberty is comparable, if not better. I hope this is the case, because Cyberpunk 2077, in 2023, deserves all its roses.

Edited 29/09/2023

I have come to change my review from positive to negative. I have left my positive review available below unchanged, but I have come to the conclusion that, after 70 hours in, the excitement fizzles out quickly and you are left with a game that is ultimately lackluster.

The further I progressed, the more bored I became. The lack of variety in missions, as well as the meh-ness of the main campaign, left me feeling that despite the massive scale of the game and its world, it is overall a pretty empty experience.


---

Original positive review:

It starts off slow - do not be discouraged by the first 10 or so hours!

I was a bit disappointed at first, mainly because I was both overwhelmed and had no idea what to do as soon as you first finish the intro.

Once you get a sense for the game, and see what you can do, this game really unlocks itself and becomes something quite special.

Also, ship building is addictive.

Overall, this game is an easy recommendation once you get through the first few hours. It's a Bethesda game, so don't feel like you have to go straight to the story. Explore, meet side characters and companions, build outposts, get involved with the factions. I've probable spent close to 10 hours in Neon without even starting the faction questline there, just doing other side quests.

You'll have fun in Starfield. Bite the bullet and give it a go.

Horizon Zero Dawn is a great yet flawed game. Overall, I enjoyed my time playing this game, however, there are some valid criticisms about this game.

Firstly, what I loved: the world is incredible, one of the most beautiful worlds I have ever experienced in a game. Horizon is not Red Dead or Witcher 3 tier, however, I'd put it just under those two. Character and model design was also incredible, especially all the machines in this game. The best aspect of this game, however, is its combat system. Horizon's combat is, by far, the best and most enjoyable combat system I've experienced so far (coming from someone who's played Dark Souls and Monster Hunter). Oh man it's just fun. Every different machine is its own puzzle to crack, and you can get creative with how you fight and survive in this world. I bought this game for the story (I'm a big sucker for single player campaigns), but I stayed for the combat.

This brings me to my first criticism of the game, though. The story definitely had its bright spots (especially the parts revolving around the Old World, which I won't get into here). Outside of that, though, the story was on the blander side. This is not to say it was bad, and as stated just above, there were parts that were super captivating (in fact, I reckon the game would be much better if more of the story revolved around the Old World), I;m just saying that overall, better stories exist. The characters overall were also pretty forgettable outside of Sylens in my opinion. I do need to give the game devs credit for Aloy, though; they could have made a political statement with this game, or make the whole game about how you play as a woman, but instead they just give you this bad ass chick who is interesting not because she is a woman, but because she is a flushed out character who's journey you are eager to see. Still, outside of Sylens and Aloy, the rest of the characters in this game don't matter or leave a lasting impression. Another complaint is the free-climbing in this game. A lot of reviews have compared this game to Assassin's Creed because you can play stealthy and climb everything. I disagree with the 'climb everything' aspect - free-climbing was pretty restrictive, and outside of when it is required for mission progression I did not find myself climbing much the way it was intended in this game. Instead, constantly spamming jump seemed like a better way to get around the map. My final complaint is voice acting in this game. It's not great. In fact, it kinda sucks. Unless Aloy or Sylens are speaking, I found it immersion-breaking when other characters would speak because their voice acting is just weak.

Despite these flaws, I would still recommend this game to most people, especially those that enjoy single player open world campaigns. The world-building and combat system make up for all other shortcomings, in my opinion, and I am very excited to playing the sequel if it ever comes to PC.

I've just finished my first play-through of this game and I am just amazed with this whole experience.

Spoilers first for those who are interested, at the end of my play-through Kara and Alice safely made it to Canada, Connor did not become deviant and Markus decided to start a revolution, successfully liberating the extermination camp in Detroit.

Outside of the story and choices you make, which are both incredible, the world building in this game is just like nothing I've ever experienced before. If an open world game were to be made using the assets in this game, I wholeheartedly believe the end result would be more beautiful than Red Dead 2. Furthermore, everything about Detroit in this game just feels so alive. Especially early in the story, you feel like you're just a cog in a well oiled machine, and as your choices affect society, you see this reflected in the world and environment. Still, in the small amount of time you are outside om this game, it really feels like you're living in a real world. The story and characters and all that is great, but like I keep emphasizing this world is just incredible, and really needs to be experienced.

Now, this game is not for everyone. This is basically a 15 hour movie with a lot of quick time events, and for a lot of people (including me) it can get very tedious. If you do think you can push yourself through it, you will be greatly rewarded, but honestly I can't blame the people who chose to give this game a pass.

I'd love to go back and make new choices in the chapters of this game just so I can fully experience every aspect of the ever-changing story in Detroit: Become Human, but I just don't have the time to give this game any more time. Regardless, I very much enjoyed this experience, and would love to experience this game for the first time again,

Supergiant made a game about a kid going "♥♥♥♥ you dad I'm leaving".

And it's incredible.

I rate.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey is not an Assassin's Creed game.

The only thing this game has in common with any other games in the series is the name and the Isu, which has always really been in the background of most other AC games.

Before I get into my main review of this game, I just want to point out that AC Origins did a very good job explaining the 'origins' of the AC Brotherhood, and on top of that while Origins did have some mythological elements, they were implemented through DLC and were explained as hallucinations brought about by the pieces of Eden.

Compared to Origins, Odyssey is a slap in the face of what it means to be an AC game:

- Mythology plays a big part of the game, and you fight mythological creatures as part of the story, however later on you can find out that these creatures are just the result of Isu experiments, which is kind of a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ reason

- There is a large focus on the Isu, heck, you're the child of a God-like figure, and it really contradicts what is known about the Isu from previous games. The Isu aren't some mysterious Godly human-predecessors, but are really just petty magicians (especially if you play the Fate of Atlantis DLC).

- Origins explained the birth of the Brotherhood, but this game is set way before Origins takes place, so there isn't any mention of the Hidden Ones or Order of the Ancients (outside of a DLC), and really the Cult of Kosmos (the Templar equivalent in this game) has nothing to do with any AC lore.

- Layla Hassan is incredibly unlikable. In Origins, she didn't have much to do with the story and was a pretty forgettable character, but I guess I'd describe her as a boring Lara Croft. In Odyssey, she is an incredibly annoying, arrogant weird hipster, who would make sense as a side character in Watch Dogs 2, but doesn't really seem to belong in an AC game.

- The game is too arcadey. Compared to previous games like Unity, with proper, well-flushed out and somewhat realistic mechanics, this game just feels like it lacks substance. You can dance and dodge around 15 foes and take them all out without being hit once and you just float and jump around everywhere you go like you have wings. It just doesn't seem to belong to an AC game.

- Finally, the story. Past AC games have been known for their complicated, thought-provoking stories, but the story in Odyssey is just not worthy of its namesake. Furthermore, although I'd consider this game more a quasi-RPG than a real RPG like Kingdom Come or the Witcher games, you shouldn't really have the ability to make game-altering decisions in an AC game. The whole premise of AC games is that you are accessing someones memories, not making your own memories of people that died thousands of years ago.

Most of the issues I listed above are issues I'd say only people who have actually played other AC games would share with me. If this is your first AC game, you wouldn't pick up on a lot of this so it would be really irrelevant. If this is your first AC game, though, and you really enjoyed it and want to delve further into the series, be prepared to either be very disappointed or pleasantly surprised, because from mechanics to story and lore, all other AC games are very different to Odyssey. If you, like me, have played the other games and are familiar with the lore, you will find yourself very disappointed with this game.

I decided to play Planescape: Torment after completing Disco Elysium and realizing that I really enjoyed the CRPG genre.

All I can say is this: if you (like me) had no experience playing these older games, but played Disco Elysium and really enjoyed it, you will get as much enjoyment out of Planescape, if not more. This game is, as other reviewers have stated, one of the best novels you'll ever play.

The game is full of so many details, easter eggs, intricacies, and there is so much to see and do, that I cannot commend this game enough on its world building and story telling. At times, it can be a bit difficult or confusing to try progress the story, but still this is your story, and you can complete it how you see fit.

I cannot recommend this game enough to people who want a true RPG experience.

Disco Elysium is a great game.

There is a lot to love about this game; the art, the amount of lore in this relatively small game, the choices and possibilities you have, how it makes you feel as both the center of the universe and just a small cog in the system at the same time. This is a narrative driven game, but what's unique about Disco Elysium is that it's not just one story, but the culmination of every adventure you undertake in this game at the end that really makes the experience. You can be a "boring cop" and just stick to the murder investigation that is the premise of this game, or you can explore and talk to everyone, turn a church into a nightclub, hunt a mythical stick insect, and learn more about the "Homosexual Underground". You will get out of this game what you put into it.

As much as I enjoyed this game, however, I cannot recommend it to everyone; there is a lot of reading in this game, and if you don't enjoy reading you won't enjoy this game. I'm an avid reader but I often found myself taking breaks after significant amounts of reading in this game. Also, there's no combat system in this game (and there really isn't much combat at all for most of the game unless you go out and force it to happen), so people who really enjoyed games like Divinity: Original Sin II and are looking for something similar (I guess?) should come into Disco Elysium without the expectation that it will be a very similar experience.

Overall, however, Disco Elysium is a great game and if you are after a true story driven game and don't mind sitting down and essentially reading for 30-odd hours, this is the game for you. I am very glad I played this game.

One other thing; I want to give ZA/UM props for how they handled the political nature of this game. They really give you the reins to be as political as you like, and allow you to interact with politics from all along the left-right spectrum; I ended the game being a centrist fascist radical feminist. How, I do not know, but throughout the game I guess all the choices I made regarding politics made me so.

More props to ZA/UM and their writers for making me laugh. I've never audibly laughed playing a video game before, but there were quite a few times throughout the game where I just couldn't help myself. This isn't a funny game, but the choices you can make at times are hysterical.

I may have bought this game 2 days ago, and I may have already played it for 15 hours, but.......................




.........................I still have no idea what I'm doing.

It pains me to leave Assassin's Creed a negative review. This is the game that sucked me into the AC franchise over 10 years ago on the PS3, and the fun I had playing it back then was immeasurable. At the time of its release, Assassin's Creed was revolutionary. The gameplay, mechanics and complex story were all icons of their time.

Unfortunately, today this game is unplayable on PC. It would be disingenuous of me to praise this game while ignoring the issues I had playing this game on PC, mainly that the game:

- constantly froze and crashed
- has a massive array of bugs that I never encountered on the PS3, such as solid hay (meaning most the time I'd do a leap of faith, I'd die on impact with the hay)

As you can see, I only have 2 hours of playtime on Steam. I gave up on the game. If it was just the bugs, I'd probably not have quit on the game, but repeated crashes just did it for me. Also, although I understand why there is a lack of UPlay support (as UPlay was launched with ACII), it would have been nice to retroactively integrate UPlay into the game.

I won't discuss gameplay mechanics here because obviously they feel dated, but the game came out 12 years ago and at the time its gameplay mechanics were the greatest things on Earth. I will praise the graphics though; while they also look dated, they have held up pretty well, and parts of the game are still as beautiful today as they were in 2008.

If I were reviewing this game back in 2008 on my PS3, I would give it a 10/10. On PC in 2020 though, with all its technical issues and aging, I'd give it around 3/10. I would advise you to avoid this game unless you can buy it greatly discounted and feel like torturing yourself a bit.