Recent reviews by Aelius

This is the best cRPG of all time. A vast improvement over all previous DnD-based games from Bioware/Obsidian/Beamdog etc.

Decent tactical RPG.

The highlight of this game is the combat system and the character customization. Every just works together really well. The weapon choices, special party members, skill system all combine to make really fun combat gameplay.

The story elements are lackluster. You have choices that literally boil down to 'Help team A' vs 'Help team B'. You should treat this game more like XCOM and not expect something more story-focused than that.

Really addicting roguelike. The core gameplay will come naturally to anyone with card game experience, and it's approachable for others as well.

Only downside it there's not much content beyond increasing the difficulty with repeat runs. Eventually the boss fights get repetitive.

I legitimately think Quake Champions is a better game.

Reflex is hopelessly inaccessible to anyone who didn't play a late 90s/early 00s multiplayer shooter. I have thousands of hours in TF2 and hundreds in each Counter Strike so I'm approaching the game from someone newish to Arena shooters. This game is dead and it made decisions that will keep it dead.

If you want to screw around with friends Quake Champions is free and better than this.

This is everything you want in an aim trainer.

There are some F2P ones that are similar but they're all inferior overall. Get this one if you're spending any money.

This game is boring. It did not age well. Don't waste your time on this.

The main problem is that other games have far exceeded Assassin's Creed 2. When playing this game today you will notice the awkward controls, the bad climbing and movement, the restricted copy-paste maps, and the lackluster combat.

More recent games (including ones also from Ubisoft) do the action-sandbox better. Think Far Cry or GTA or Breath of the Wild.

To be fair, the story is decent. But that does not redeem the gameplay's faults.

I review games based on the gameplay. I think that gameplay is more important than story, worldbuilding, music, graphics, etc. If you agree with that idea, then don't get this game.

The gameplay is very mediocre and repetitive. The weapons and abilities are very poorly balanced and aren't meaningfully different from each other. The upgrade system is also extremely boring, it feels like pressing buttons to make numbers go up instead of customizing your character. The controls are janky and aren't as fluid as a real 3rd person action game. I definitely had issues with weird camera angles and getting caught on world geometry.

In summary, Control is a Sci-Fi/Horror short story collection that the devs slapped a mediocre shooter game on top of.

It's a good game but it's undeniably dated by modern standards. It's worth the $10, but I don't recommend it over Doom 2016.

The overall gameplay is great. The movement, weapons, and enemies are all fun.

The main issue is in the maps. Some of the levels are great and some are awful. Playing through the base game you really feel that the level design is "from 1996". It can also get repetitive with the jump scares and corner camping.

If you get this game, you absolutely need to play through the 'Dimension of the Machine' expansion. The level design here is night and day compared to the base game. This expansion pack was made exclusively for the 2021 remaster and the improvement in game design over 25 years shows.

Great FPS game, great action game. This is easily the best singleplayer FPS released in from the mid-2000s until 2020.

The guns are varied and feel good to use. The enemies are also meaningfully different from each other. The environments are a good mix of open space, closed rooms, and verticality. This all combines to give a ton of variety in the game. I normally get bored playing singleplayer FPS campaigns and the last few levels are usually a slog, but Doom kept me interested until the end.

The music is excellent. The music and gameplay are perfectly crafted to fit together and support each other.

Incredibly mediocre game. This is forever in the shadow of Doom (2016).

It gets very repetitive because you're always in a tight corridor and the enemies are samey. Your guns are also too similar, there's no reason to choose one over the other. Fights are only hard because the enemies are bullet sponges. You'll get bored of the main gameplay after 2 hours.

The only positive is the boss fights and cinematics are nice. It's also decently funny.