Recent reviews by Grid

EDITING REVIEW POST HOTFIX:

Crazy that one little hotfix completely resolved my performance issues! Thanks PGi

The game is a vast step up in quality and production value from the previous Mechwarrior 5 Mercs, and a terrific addition to the 'sim' style Mechwarrior games.

So far, it's a rock solid 8/10, and I don't mean an IGN 8.10 either, I mean a proper 8/10 that's worth your time.





ORIGINAL REVIEW==============================

Seems like a good game, but this is in no way ready for prime time.

i9-9900KF CPU @ 3.60GHz
3070
32gig DDR4 1333hz
SSD

I get 10-15fps in combat, at lowest settings with performance DDLS active. This is unacceptable. Sure, I don't I don't ahve a top end rig by any stretch, but it's not exactly a poor one either.

It is the greatest example, of arguably the greatest videogame ever made.

Wether you want to chill and relax to the audio/visual delight that ensues, or be incredibly competitive with the other players online, Tetris Effect: Connected is the best puzzle game ever made.

I just wish they released DLC with more Journey stages and songs.

You click cookies, you get more cookies.

You then get sweet old grannies to back more cookies.

You then cultivate and mine even more cookies out of the ground (wtf?).

Is this a very simple and fun game about making cookies? Or an artistic impression of the human compulsion to accumulate more, and more, and more? Who knows, but it's a fun 5 minute distraction every few hours to have on your desktop between doing IRL tasks.

A pretty decent game, which starts off incredibly strong, and then slowly peters out somewhat.

I think describing the game Conan Exiles in a Stranger Things skin is accurate only with some Days Gone open world shenanigans in it too, and Once Human pulls elements from each of those games well. The base crafting imho is my favorite part while the combat is serviceable, the theme is engaging and the open world starts off dense and interesting.

Early game, the zones are overflowing with stuff to do, there's lots of voice over, etc etc and the game just feels more and more unfinished the further you get into it. One of the bugbears for me is the phase model they are using where each season is broken into 6 weekly phases, which hard locks quest and zone progression. At the end of these 6 phases, the servers are wiped and the cycle starts again, presumably with some new content added or some changes (yet to see this happen). There is the 'Eternaland' mechanic which is supposed to give you permanent progression, but the meat of the game is in the main world and is subject to wipes. This minimises the desire to make great bases etc, as they will be gone shortly.

The game is free to play and surprisingly has zero pay to win. It's all battlepass and cosmetics, although I fear that they've released this too early as it feels a little unfinished already, and at point of writing this, we're on phase 3/6.

In short, good game, I hope it has a bright future.

Arguably the best co-op game ever made. It's just plain FUN to play.

If you just want to have a good time, go in, hunt some bugs or bots and accidentally kill your mates many, many times. Especially when one grabs the last box of ammo that you needed.

If you want a proper challenge, get organised and tackle some of the higher difficulty levels like a true sweat lord.

There is a lot of misinformation regarding monetisation about. If this is an issue for you, do your homework first. My opinion is that this is as fair as a longterm live service(ish) game could ever be.

Edit: 15/12/23

The game today received a combat update and it plays SO much more fluidly :) I'm so pleased that this game is getting better, i'd love to see it expanded on. Kudos to Beamdog, the game has improved by a large margin in only a few months. THEY'RE ACTUALLY DOING IT GUYS!

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Edit 10/12/23:

The issue noted below with hit registration with magical attacks seems to have been largely resolved! Please disregard that below as it seems fixed :)

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Mythforce is a great little title, with a hopefully bright future ahead of it.

It's a co-op roguelike with a cracking art style. I often see 'melee focused' mentioned when talking about this, but I think that depends on what character you play as, as of the four currently in the game two are melee, and two are ranged focused.

You journey through 3 sets of levels in each biome, of which there are 3 with a selection of secrets smattered through, and a boss/horde/special encounter at the end. It starts slow as the first sort of half of the game is very easy, but once the enemies start displaying some slightly different behavior the game becomes A LOT of fun, especially with a friend or two in tow.

Progression is drawn out nicely, without being too long to feel unrewarding, and the weapons feel decent.

There are some hit registration issues however currently particularly with the mage character, which has been identified as a netcode issue and is expected to be rectified shortly. This issue does not seem to exist when soloing, or if whoever plays mage is hosting the session though.

I keep seeing this referred to as Dark Souls with guns, but that is doing the game a massive disservice by narrowing that scope. The first couple of hours maybe feel like it as there are a couple of similarities (combat style, bonfires, boss focus etc), but I think it's far closer to a blend of Destiny 1, Diablo and maybe Elden Ring.

The sense of exploration, awe and wonder given on your first run (took me 25/30 hours) as you search around the huge zones, really reminded me of vanilla Destiny 1. Then, you get to the combat, which is as described, Dark Souls with guns. Then end game has you on a diabloesque loot grind.

The amount of variety in each run is impressive, with multiple quest options and locations that can spawn for each world. You and a friend could both play the game single player, and end up with 2 vastly different middles of the game. I don't just mean the middle but literally 90% of the game, outside of tile sets used, can be different each run. It's incredible what they've done here. The cynic in me wishes now i've completed the game they took those overlaid quests/content and had the artists create another 3-4 worlds to explore for it, but I think then the game would lose a certain quality by doing that.

I see other developers concerned about how good Larian have made Baldurs Gate 3. They should be more concerned about Gunfire Games! (If you guys at GG are reading this, well bloody done!)

This game is coming up 8 years old and has never been in a better spot. Mechanically its a thinking mans shooter, with a sim edge to it. Strategy weighs more here than a quick wrist and reflexes.

The gripe I had with this it's first few years wasn't that it's not fun, it was that it was so expensive to play properly. This has finally been addressed, and the game while still incentives you to spend (thats the nature of free to play) it doesn't feel like it wastes your time by not doing so. With the frequent events, it's not difficult to build a small stable of mechs/gear. The current Big Beach Party one is incredible generous too, and I highly recommend playing it while its on.

Congrats PGI on turning that ship around.

7/10 update - In Short: Excellent update for existing Destiny fans, which is likely who this is aimed at.

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Campaign is typical Destiny mystery box syndrome. While I think the review bombing the whole expansion is a little unfair, it's absolutely true that the campaign does not tell a fulfilling story and is a confusing mess. The new enemy unit is a great addition though, I just wish there was more than a solitary addition. New characters are a mixed bag. The main location vendor's writing is irritating (think TMNT Michealangelo on turbo cocaine, cosplaying as the silversurfer) which is a shame because they are constantly chattering in your ear. No shade at the VA who does a cracking job, but the dialogue for them is just eye rollingly bad.

The QoL changes are excellent although well overdue at this point. Mods rework is a mixed bag, Likely slightly over simplified to allow for the power creep as new mods are added over the lifespan of the game. This is probably the best thing for newer players.

Seasonal Loop (in so far as the first Season of the year) is also excellent, as it doesn't overtly punish you for doing activities that you want to more than others, but still does reward engaging with multiple systems.

Gameplay is Destiny you know with Strand being an insteresting addition. It's AMAZING during the campaign when you're empowered by it, but seems undercooked after you're on regular subclass power. Again, this will likely be better balanced once all the upgrades are unlocked.

PvP has had practically zero updates, and it'll be interesting to see how strand affects the sandbox. It's otherwise still as fun as it ever has been.

The Cycle: Frontier is a great little game with a bright future ahead of it.

The world is tense and dangerous, colourful and vibrant, and theres plenty to go out an look for and do.

The game plays differently depending on how many of you are playing together. As a solo, the game makes you focus on stealth, guerilla style tactics. As a group, you feel more like you're in a hunting party. Then again, are you the kind of person to pick off players carve out a legacy as a raider/pirate? You can do that too.

The gunplay is decent, the enemies and flaura interesting, and with a little more polish this will be an excellent more arcadey alternative to games like Escape from Tarkov.