Скорошни рецензии на Jumbo Slice

7/10. Takes about 20 minutes to beat and has an interesting story that makes it worthwhile.

tl;dr 8/10 A bit pretentious, but still good story with a gameplay loop that's fun.

Death Stranding is a beautiful game about a delivery man who single-handedly tries to rebuild America. The world has fallen apart after an event known as the Death Stranding, where the worlds of the living and the dead have collided. It is up to porters like the main character, Sam Porter, to brave the post-apocyliptic world and connect people together.

Let me start by saying this game requires a special kind of patience to enjoy. I don't like using the word "pretentious" when it comes to talking about video games, mostly because that word gets thrown around for any game with the slightest hint of an important message, but I'll admit this game spends quite a bit of time hung up on it's self importance. I mean, just look at the main character's name. He's a porter, someone who transports mail, named Sam Porter. The game continuously throws stuff like that at you and then acts like it's one of the deepest stories written in video game history. That said, if you look past these aspects, the story that's hidden there is really interesting. I snickered and groaned whenever the game makes a huge deal about obvious symbolism, but at the same time felt the emotions behind character interactions and was hooked by the overarching mysteries of the Death Stranding.

Another aspect to this game that requires a bit of patience is the gameplay. It should be noted that at the very least, it's good. Everything works as intended(except maybe vehicles, those control absolutely terribly), and the game gives you tons of fun gadgets, tools, and weapons to try out. Combat is about as good as it is in MGSV, which is to say pretty good. That said, about 80% of the game is just going from point A to point B. And no matter how creative you can get or how great the controls are, by the third time you've traveled the same path you're likely to be bored with it. Thus, it becomes harder to motivate yourself to continue making deliveries in the same areas, and you need to make more deliveries to unlock more of the fun parts of the game(new items to do new cool stuff). If you have the patience for it however(and a podcast or two to listen to), you'll find the boring stuff worth it to get to the fun parts.

The only objective criticism I can make is the overuse of cutscenes. Most of the story happens outside of the gameplay, and for a game that's trying to be more than just a game, that's kinda disappointing. That's not to say there aren't cool story moments in the gameplay, there certainly are, but the ratio of story in cutscenes to story in the gameplay is faaar outweighed by story in cutscenes. Especially when considering how cool the gameplay story moments were, there's just no reason so much of this game is just sitting there watching a scene play out.

I definitely don't recommend anyone to force themselves to play through this game. If it's not for you, then it's not for you. At the very least, however, I'd say give it a try.

tl;dr 8/10. Excellent gunplay with a story that, while interesting, isn't presented in the best of ways.

Remnant: From the Ashes is a souls-like looter shooter, taking place in an alternate version of Earth. After creating your character in the admittedly barebones character creator, you set out on a quest to stop the Root, a mysterious invading force that hunts down humanity. What follows is an adventure across worlds, taking you to interesting places, introducing you to new characters, and providing tons of new enemies to battle. The game is randomly generated, meaning no two characters have the same exact experience. Keep in mind though, that doesn't mean the world is cobbled together by an algorithm; rather, the game simply orientates well crafted areas differently each time, throwing different bosses and enemies in.

The gameplay was MADE for me. As someone who's a big fan of souls-like combat, and also likes shooters that don't require you use cover, this was so much fun to play. One character I played was a sniper themed character that focused on long rifles and crits, and another(my favourite) was a shotgunnier that focused on maneuvering and dealing damage close up. Although your starting class does have an effect on future gameplay, the game is still pretty flexible in terms of the gear you can use. On the second character for example, there were times where I would switch to a sniper rifle in areas full of ranged opponents, and it would work just fine with my skills.

Unlike most souls-like games, you can actually choose the difficulty. I mention this because playing on harder difficulty provides "glowing shards", a currency that allows you to buy skins for the outfits. These unlocks are account wide, which is honestly just cool. It shows the effort you put into beating difficult bosses, and is earned purely through gameplay.

One interesting aspect are the weapon mods. These offer special abilities, such as powerful attacks, buffs, or even summons, to aid you in combat. Some weapons come with a mod, whereas others allow you to switch them out with mods you've collected. I had fun mixing and matching these abilities. As for permanent stat bonuses, you get those from Traits. I like the idea that you collect traits as the game goes on, but usually these traits require a lot of investment to be useful. It would just be nice if you could reconfigure your traits throughout the game, so that you can make use of one you find later in the game.

My biggest criticism has to do with the balancing. You can beat this game solo, and throughout 80% of the game I didn't notice any issues, but there was the occasional boss that was clearly balanced for multiple people, and these were frustrating to get through. These bosses weren't even particularly difficult, most of the time it was simply because I would get overwhelmed by a ridiculous amount of adds. There was only one playthrough where I managed to beat a particularly egregious boss, and it was one where I managed to find two summon mods to help balance the fight(keep in mind, the game is randomly generated. Aside from the dog one which you unlock for all characters, finding the other was luck).

As for the story, it's interesting but not fun to discover. A good portion of it is told through journals that are several pages long and emails on computer terminals. Other times, a disinterested NPC will provide a history lesson that's boring to listen to. There's also quite a few plotpoints that are strangely dropped or don't have the affect they should. Like, on one planet you're introduced to a rebellion, but that ends up going nowhere. And on a couple planets, despite becoming allies with the local rulers, the inhabitants still attack you on sight. Some important actions will get a handfull of characters to mention the impact, but most of the time the NPC's act like nothing's changed. As far as game stories goes, it's got some interesting moments but overall it's not the best.

Although it has some flaws, Remnant is still extremely fun, offering a shooter based souls-like experience I most likely will find myself return to. I haven't got the DLC yet, but I definitely plan on doing so in the future.

tl:dr 8/10. Good game with better gameplay than the last, but an ending that's... ehhhhh. All the DLC is worth it, recommend ending with the Citadel DLC and pretending that's how the game ends.(Scroll to bottom for short bonus Andromeda review)

In this final installment to the Mass Effect trilogy, the galaxy faces a cosmic threat unlike anything before it; the Reapers have finally shown up to destroy all that live in the galaxy, and as Commander Shepherd it's your duty to unite all the species in order to stand a chance against these virtually invincible foes. This game does an excellent job in keeping a consistent feeling of finality, and you really feel the stakes no matter where you go or who you fight. Despite this, it's also the least well written of the first three(not including andromeda, this is a masterpiece in comparison to that game). Most likely, this has to do with the last minute scramble, where they decided to scrap the story and start over. Aside from the DLC character Javik, none of the squadmates are half as interesting as the ones in ME2. They also lack "loyalty missions", which is a shame as that was the most interesting part of ME2. I put "loyalty missions" in quotes because they didn't have to be missions to gain your squadmates "loyalty", it makes sense they would be already invested considering what they're fighting. Just having missions personal to the squadmates would have been nice. As for the story itself, it has great moments, a couple dumb ones, and then an ending that... well, I'm not sure I'd say it's as bad as people made it out to be a few years back, but it does throw away all the choices and impact you had up until then, and for a game literally called Mass Effect, that's pretty grievous.

Out of all the Mass Effect games that count as Mass Effect games, *ahem*♥♥♥♥ andromeda*ahem*, this one has the best gunplay, but the least amount of RPG elements. I recommend getting mods that add different powers and new weapons, but even without these add-ons what's already there is very fun. The playstyles feel a lot more unique than before: as a vanguard, I feel like a krogan who charges in head first and shotguns everything in the face, whereas in previous games playing a vanguard was just playing a slightly more aggressive adept. That said, I kinda wish they didn't sacrifice as many of the RPG elements for combat gameplay. It may be bias; I'm able to play and enjoy New Vegas despite having horrible combat, or Pathologic despite having horrible...well, everything. I just find good RPG elements fun enough to carry a game more so than combat. Even when I take that into account, however, I still think this game is lacking in regards to RPG elements, especially considering this takes place during a time where such crucial choices are being made and the fate of the entire galaxy is at stake.

Sometimes I want to say Mass Effect 3 is a 9/10, sometimes I feel like it's closer to a 7. Despite the fact I recognize ME2 as being the best of the three games, however, every time I play through the series there's always a part of me that's excited to start this one, and I think that says something about what this game has to offer. Not the best game in the series, but at least it's not Andromeda. Speaking of which...

BONUS REVIEW: I'm not buying Andromeda again on steam just to review it, but since I played it on Origin I feel like I should get my opinion out here in some capacity. 5/10, super average at best with a story that sucks, almost a lower score but the atleast the multiplayer's kinda fun.

tl;dr 8/10 So far pretty good. Will update as more games come out.

I know most likely most people won't care, but as someone who missed out on the entire seventh generation of console games and therefore never played a Halo game before, I thought I might have an interesting perspective on these remasters. I'll update this review as more games come out.


In this prequal to Halo CE, you play as Noble Six, a new spartan member of the Noble Team. What starts as an investigation into comns from a colony going quiet leads to defending a planet known as Reach(or rather, the valuable item hidden within Reach) from an invading alien force known as the Covenant.

Overall, the gameplay is fun. As a primarily PC gamer, not being able to use iron sights on most weapons felt weird, but I quickly got used to it. I started out at a higher difficulty due to playing this one with a friend, we had to restart the flight level on an easier difficulty because of how nearly impossible it was at high difficulty, and alot of the enemies felt grindy, like the Elites and their shields that would eat whole clips of the assault rifle. Other than that though, we had fun.

The rest of this review for Halo Reach goes into plot spoilers.

Story wise, at first I felt like this was actually a bad place to start. Chronologically, it makes sense, but without the context of what this game is a prelude for it feels kinda... meaningless? Like, they're trying to secure some important AI from the covenant, but keep in mind my only exposure to the Halo universe is promotional material so the most I know about Cortana is she's a blue hologram woman that helps Master Chief do stuff. I don't know why the Covenant wants her for themselves. Meanwhile, they're burning down an entire planet in order to find it. Shouldn't that be the main issue?

However, after thinking about it for a while I came to the conclusion that playing it like this actually works really well towards the story. I feel just as frustrated as the spartan I play as, who recognizes the tangible threat that is the aliens killing an entire world's worth of people, but is instead being forced into rescuing an AI that their told is important. Just like the spartan, I lack any and all context on what this AI is supposed to do later on. So honestly I'm kinda glad I started with this, even though I don't really feel properly introduced to the Halo universe.


Here, where it all began, you play as Master Chief, the spartan after which this collection of games is named. It starts with the human ship The Pillar of Autumn, as it's chased by Covenant ships. After sustaining heavy damage, the Pillar crashes on a mysterious ring-shaped space station, with a surface that houses an atmosphere and various environments. This ring, known as Halo, is mysterious in and of itself, but the more you discover, the more secrets that reveal themselves...

Gameplay wise, this holds up pretty well. Aside from the shotgun, I rarely find myself using projectile weapons, instead choosing to pick up plasma weapons from my fallen adversaries. I will say I was missing my scout and needler rifles though, so I hope those come in soon. Hunters were also less of a pain here, though I'm assuming that's because I was playing by myself and on normal this time. To talk about my only complaint, I'll have to go into spoiler territory(and so will the rest of the review for this game): I don't know how to word this complaint, but the flood(think headcrabs and their zombies but with the ability to use guns) have... annoying spawn rates? The way flood spawning is drawn out across a long period of time makes it tedious to fight them, to the point where I couldn't tell if they were infinitely spawning or not in certain locations.

That said, the flood definitely made this game a lot more interesting then Reach, at least for me. The Covenant aren't fleshed out here, but I get the feeling they aren't supposed to be. In this game, they're just generic alien baddies for you to shoot. All the conflict really comes from the flood, an existential threat that seeks to devour all life in the known universe. Unlike Halo Reach, I'm now particularly excited to see where the story goes from here, and can't wait for Halo 2.

tl:dr 6/10. Mindless action, which is perfectly fine if that's what you come looking for. Other than that, not much on offer.

Aside from Vermintide, I have absolutely no knowledge of the Warhammer universe, and this definitely isn't the game to introduce you to this lore. This is pure action, from start to finish. Honestly, that's not a bad thing; I appreciate when a game knows what it is and sticks to it. However, when you do that all the focus lands on a specific aspect, and it succeeds or fails by it. For me personally, the action just wasn't exciting or interesting. It was fun, at the very least, which helped this game net a positive score from me, but I just can't play this game for long periods at a time.

I'm very much interested in the Warhammer universe, however, and might give one of it's other games a go sometime.

tl;dr 6/10. Gameplay lacks polish and it's too short for the story to take effect, but still fairly fun.

I don't quite remember what all the hype around this game was about a few years back. I think some commentary YouTubers used it as background footage? Either way, it makes sense I wouldn't remember because this isn't really something super memorable. I see some people describe it as "cute", and I think that just about sums it up.

The gameplay is fine. It lacks polish, making it frustrating every once in a while. More frustrating is the checkpoint style saving; I totally get why it's used in certain types of games, but not being able to quicksave and having to trek the same section over and over to get to the one part you have trouble with can get annoying super fast.

It's a short game, clocking in at around 2 hours. I have an appreciation for games that know how long they should stick around, but for this game that's just a little too short in my opinion. I hardly got to know anything about the world or the characters I'm supposed to care about. Speaking of story, the narration doesn't work that well here. Unlike the narration in Bastion, it feels almost characterless. All you get out of it is hearing a guy describe exactly what you're doing as you're doing it.

Still, I appreciate the art behind this game, and the gameplay is satisfactory. I recommend waiting on a sale.

tl:dr 8/10, fun with an excellent story. Be prepared for some heavy themes and scenes.

I want to start with a bit of a disclaimer, I don't really keep up with modern shooters. I think the most recent shooter I've played was Mass Effect Andromeda, and from what I hear that game was five years before it's time, so take my opinion on gameplay with a grain of salt.

That said, this game offers an amazing game story the uses the gameplay to effectively tell it. Now, I specifically say GAME story because it isn't that spectacular of a tale on it's own; rather, most of the story is told through a way that uses the medium of video gaming to tell it in the most effective way possible. It's impressive, and even the one twist I did see coming hit really hard because of how I took part in it. It's very difficult to describe without going into spoilers, but it'll have you questioning everything, especially the excepted norms of shooters and player choice.

I don't really have many negatives. It's short, but that's honestly the perfect length for such a story to not overstay it's welcome. There were a couple parts where the scale was tipped a little too much on the enemy's favor, but it's rare to come across. The biggest complaint I have is it's a cover based shooter, and that's more of a personal complaint. I'm just a really impatient guy who doesn't like having to stay in one spot for an entire fight.

I completely recommend this game. Just be prepared for some dark moments.

tl;dr 7/10. Pretty good story with great humor, but lacking heavily in gameplay.

It seems like TellTale knew Borderlands humor better than Gearbox. Whenever I play a Borderlands game, I have a youtube video playing on my other monitor and just enjoy the action because I can't stand the usual brand of "XD lol so WacKy POOP haha" that the series insists is funny. This game, however, had a ton of hilarious moments, and even a story that I cared about. Honestly, if Borderlands 3 had the same writers this game had, it would be perfect.

That said, I'm not a huge fan of the TellTale style of gameplay. It works, but that's all it does. Nothing about it is exceptional, or even just fun. You can make semi impactful choices, but when you realize that this game was made episode by episode, and they can't really deviate too far from the story of each episode, you realize only have so much impact. When you sacrifice so much of the gameplay like this game does here, you have to make up for it in other ways, and this game just doesn't do that.

However, the story holds up very well, and is enough to encourage you on. I recommend this game, just approach it more like a choose your own adventure movie where you occasionally press a button on the remote.

tl;dr 7/10 action game. Close to an 8, but not a lot of staying power. Purely recommend for the gameplay.

I had a fair amount of fun playing through this game. The combat is good, and the gifts system is pretty neat. I do like how you can "master" gifts, allowing you to use them no matter what "blood code"(class) you choose. It allows for some interesting mixing and matching abilities to create custom play styles.

For all the good I can say is in this game however, it just doesn't stand out. I'll most likely forget about it before the DLC comes out. There's just a lack of finer detail(aside from the character customization, which is pretty great) that makes a lot of it forgettable. I could honestly care less about the story, and this is coming from someone who plays otherwise terrible games if the story is good enough. Most of the boss fights were forgettable, the only one I really remember was the duo one because that was the most interesting they got with it. And the game play soundtrack is ridiculous. There's like four songs that get used waaay too often. The piano one is especially egregious, I die a little inside each time I hear it because they insist on using it for every single memory and emotional moment(and there's ALOT of memories and emotional moments).

But, all that said, I ultimately had a fun time. I do recommend, if only for the fun gameplay.

Oh, and uh, something something Dark Souls something Bloodborne something something. There, I said it.