Recent reviews by Billy_Brightside

Chocolate crack.

A friend of mine once worked at one of the biggest hog farms in the state. He did everything swine related from feeding the pigs to cleaning their pens, to castrations, and culling weak or sick hogs. The pigs were never allowed to be free, but kept in pens in modern style aluminum "barns." He happened to befriend a sow who seemed to take a special liking to him each day while making his feeding rounds. She gave birth to piglets, and in his role on the hog farm, he had to dispatch one of the piglets who was born crippled. He clasped the baby pig's hind legs in one hand and bashed the piglet against the concrete floor which instantly killed it. The piglet's mother looked at him in a quizzical distraught way as if to say, what are you doing to my baby?

Not long after her piglets were weaned, they were taken away from momma sow. She cut her leg on a serrated piece of metal (that my friend had complained that the piece of metal should be removed or filed down or something) and the hog's leg got infected. Badly. My friend was instructed to destroy her. He was given a small caliber pistol to do the job. When he shot her in the front of her skull, stunned by the percussion and the sound, she fixed her eyes on him, this time, expressing, why did you do this to me? She dropped with a sickening thud. My friend quit the hog farm the next day and found another line of work.

Playing this game was worse than my friend's story.

I played on Realistic. It was beyond realistic to the point of fakery. Every AI bot knew exactly where I was and had sniper accuracy with pistols. Checkpoint saves were too far and few between. The final boss took me 33 attempts. It was an 8 hour game that took me over 30 hours to beat. But I did.

I got to experience crash landing on a planet and tried to find parts to get my ship functioning again. While embarking on this futile hunt and realizing my impending doom, I got to aid the planet which shared my own similar fate. I saved the planet, and discovered the sweet hereafter really is just that: sweet. I did this all in about 60 minutes . . . in my Mike Brady pajamas.

One great thing about growing old is having the fortitude to admit defeat. And I can admit with a smile, this game busted me. I played probably 12 hours straight and being this is a roguelike RPG, I was forced to start over four times. The last time my party arduously achieved level 6 and were horrendously wiped out in an ambush consisting of gank level characters. Emitting a sigh of disgust (and defeat) I hit the uninstall button.

Starting life as a Kickstarter project, this game exudes attention to detail and an obvious love from its creators. The artstyle is reminiscent of something that looks like the lovechild of Minecraft and a Pixar animated film. The characters reminded me of old Fisher-Price figures stolen from a child's playset. Seeing these characters getting blown to pieces by blunderbusses or perforated with arrows due to the game's rag doll physics were comical. Being from a country that embellishes television comedies with laugh tracks, I never had much appreciation for the genre, but this game made me laugh numerous times. Behind the scenes, however, we have a genuine dungeon crawler with campaigns of various degrees of difficulty. The quests were compelling and reminded me of the tabletop DnD sessions I enjoyed in my youth.

I feel almost hoodwinked with how easy it was to lose hours to this game and ultimately realize it defeated me. I like difficult games, but the deaths in this game just didn't feel fair. Barely surviving a dungeon and going back to town to heal up, and then getting ambushed by a trio of cursed witches or werebears at full health just felt contrived. (To its testament as a roguelike, one cannot save in the game.) Admittedly, my lack of prowess with this game (and enjoyment of it) could be ascribed to how I was playing it. The designers made it to be a multi player game, and I've read the game is easier played with other people, but there are some games I just prefer to play alone. I wish I could have finished this delightful little gem of a game.

Are you one of the weird ones who bought every Grand Theft Auto game but never finished one? Lost your way in all of the side quests that distracted you from the main story? Did you get enthralled in the main story, but found the main characters so glossed over you lost interest? If you answered yes to any of these questions then do yourself a favor: pick up Mafia: The Definitive Edition.

I played the original game back in the early aughts, but found the game so bugged I couldn’t complete it. Finding the remastered version recently on a Steam sale I picked it up thinking I’d give it a go. Boy howdy! The game exudes atmosphere as lively and seemingly lived in as anything Rockstar produced. And just so you know, there’s no Ray Tracing or Nvidia DLSS here. This is just a handcrafted redux of a medium release game by Hangar 13, initially created by Illusion Software back in 2002..

I’ve not been captivated by a story like this in a PC game in quite some time. Family ties, greed and corruption, moral ambiguity, it’s all here. Hangar 13 openly stated they “stole” ideas from The Godfather Trilogy and GoodFellas movies and they wear it like a badge of honor here. (Not that that’s a bad thing). The game’s protagonist, Tommy Angelo, is a character I really grew to care about, a character I wanted good things to happen to despite his tendency to follow through with orders to do bad stuff. And his sidekicks, hardcore gangsters, Paulie and Sam are guys hated at first, but as character development occurred, I was fooled into caring about them deeply. The game’s length prevented this from becoming a tome and the ending felt a bit rushed, but I came away feeling as if I’d watched a saga mini-series on television or stepped out of a movie theater after watching an epic feature we’d been teased with trailers of for two years. There were music licensing issues that became an imbroglio which affected the remake. I found the OST to be a wonderful accompaniment to the game, although some of the music seemed as if it had been ripped from a Lassie episode. The music was era appropriate and was instrumental (pardon the pun) in pulling me into the world of Mafia: The Definitive Edition.

If you want a taste of 1930s Chicago, Illinois through the façade of the fictitious “Lost Heaven” and you want to indulge in something that’s going to make you want to rewatch the Godfather movies, or revisit Goodfellas, play Mafia: The Definitive Edition. It may even put a slight swagger in your step or make you want to step into a Brooks Brothers store.

At first glance, Ubisoft’s seminal Far Cry 4 with its storyline and hella fun outpost and fortress side missions might seem like a typical open world filled with lush graphics, but it’s also a well designed brilliantly made shooter. We’ve been here before with Far Cry 3, being a story of a spoiled rich kid left to his own devices to become a man, whereas Far Cry 4 tells a more engrossing story of a lost tourist rising to free a whole country from a nefarious despotic ruler. The side missions are a blast, sneakily sniping your way into army controlled outposts or going guns ablaze with powerful weapons that are weighty and invite experimentation.

Its wildlife, the wonderful muted color environments, and especially the two main NPCs, Amita and Sabal (wonderfully voiced by Lost’s own Naveen Andrews) you ultimately have to pick sides with, assisting one’s efforts and alienating the other. I genuinely sympathized with the cause each entity sided on, and it made my decision making difficult. I love books and movies, but the intensity of this predicament can only unfold through the magic of a PC game in which you are taking part as a player-character. And the game’s archvillain, Pagan Min, who has an unctuous intriguing charm any Bond villain would be proud to acquire even tugged at my heart strings when I was given the choice to end his life, despite the heinous things he did in-game.

There was a lot of repetition in the game, but I never lost my way. Kyrat was a compelling place I felt I was given a ticket to visit each time I clicked the icon button. It became a game I thought a lot about when I was away from the PC. I finished the game in 117 hours which is a heady time investment. Yet, I was actually saddened at the game’s end when I realized the experience was going to be over with. I completed most tasks and collectibles. I abandoned the Shangri-La missions when scaling mountain sides to find appropriate grappling strongpoints became an exercise in frustration. (I hate when game developers use such augmented difficulty devices to artificially lengthen a game.)

Cliff Martinez was commissioned to do the spectacular soundtrack which is a mix of Nepalese instruments and Hendrix style guitar music. The game’s ambient sounds were amazing through my Steelseries Arctis Pro Hi-Res headset. It’s not often a game has me removing my headset because I thought an in-game sound was a RL sound causing me to glance out the window next to my PC. And I’ve always maintained 1440p is the current sweet spot for PC gaming. The 1440p settings on this game betrays its 2014 roots. The game looks fantastic.

Sam Fisher is a broken man who's worked for an organization that has lied to him, abducted his daughter to coerce him to carry out tasks for them, and he's been betrayed by his best friend in the organization. In Conviction you get payback with extreme prejudice.

I've played every Splinter Cell game from this one back, and I have to admit this one is one of the most violent and frenetic games I've played. Michael Ironside returns as the voice of Fisher, which seems to be a role he was born to be cast in. The visual style of the game is superb, especially the in-game GUI which highlights mission objectives. There is a welcome desaturation of the screen to signify when Fisher can't be seen by patrolling guards and security cameras. Speaking of guards, the guards in this game say things that had me laughing out loud, the threats they call out to Fisher, whom they know is hiding in the shadows but can't locate him. I haven't found guards so hilarious since Fox Interactive's delightful No One Lives Forever and that game was trying to be funny!

With a nod to my favorite PC Gamer Magazine editor, Andy Kelly, who always writes so eloquently about game environments, the set pieces in this game were done amazingly well. I now know what the Blue Room and the Oval Office look like in The White House because I feel I've been there. The Lincoln Memorial set piece also gives me a vicarious feel of a real life visit, though I've never been there. This game is a testament to why FPS games are my favorite genre simply because of their environments. Conviction deals that out in winning hands.

At 12 hours on Medium difficulty this game seemed to be a perfect length. There was one section in the Third Echelon building where I had to infiltrate the building's security system, running, sliding, and shooting my way under steel gate barriers closing down to a lockdown situation. It took me 34 attempts, each one preceded by an unskippable cut scene that lasted over a minute. It's a shame developers still feel the need to implement such horrid game mechanics.

Tom Clancy is no longer with us, but if you're a fan of his works you'll enjoy the story this game has to tell. I have one more Splinter Cell game to play after this one, though rumor has it there is another game in the works. One can only hope.

Gorgeous artwork and quaint animations abound. There is a slight musical score in the background (that wears out quickly), but the designers put their hearts into this. One can easily see it was a labor of love. The game certainly captures the WWII era, and were this to be released as a physical CCG I'd be all over it. Obviously, I like the game, but as a veteran of CCGs, this one is lacking something. I struggle to win in any game, and I bought in to the draft mode the day it was introduced. I played 13 games straight and lost them all. I had pretty decent decks. It just felt like I was massively outplayed with every hand. Of course, the fanboys and Steam apostolates are going to chime in about "get gud" (sic) and "learn to play," but, as aforementioned I've played CCGs for over two decades now and I'm probably average, but I shouldn't be losing hand after hand. I play the Germans more than anybody, and maybe they're just under powered in the game. Even when I lose I'm always tempted to play one more hand. I eventually uninstalled it.

This is a more modern rendition of the old Commandos (1998) that we used to know and love. It's every bit as difficult but hosts prettier graphics; this was a sort of forerunner to Relic's venerable Company of Heroes with similar map views and destructable environments. I've not struggled in a game so much since Dark Souls. And I hate how that game has become a meme for any other game with any degree of difficulty, but to give you an idea I played this on medium difficulty and it still took me 96 hours to beat. Doh!

Typically when I play games this difficult I do one of two things. I either rage quit and get it off my HDD like it was an HIV saturated cloth bandage or I embrace the anger and maintain tunnel vision until I defeat the game (vehemently proving the game will not defeat me!) And of course that's what happened here. Most of the missions involved taking four men, under equipped, under armored, and taking over a whole town. And as professional reviews lamented when this game first came out in 2004, it's absolutely asenine the game doesn't have a quick save feature. Heaven knows I must have reloaded games over a hundred times.

Graphics and sound effects are to par considering the game's age. Music, on the other hand? Not so much. Each mission soundtrack involved a ditty composed of 3 notes. Imagine a first grader running home from school to show off to his or her parents that he or she could play something familiar on the piano comprised of hitting three different keys. The score in this game must have been created by that child's uncle who was there to witness the kid's newly discovered music talent. By the end, the music was fingernails dragging across a chalkboard.

The historical location accuracy and the missions seemed plausible (though the last German mission involving holding the Allies back during the Normandy invasion was a bit farfetched.) I enjoyed the atmosphere with the semi authentic accents and the physics/ballistics model--not too shabby.

When Codemasters released this game it was met with mostly favorable reviews, however one thing all reviewers agreed on was the game's difficulty. The game goes on sale on Steam quite often. You can find it on those Monday deals that host a gazillion other "less than stellar" games, but for $1.49 you get the chance to work out some scream therapy. It took me, like I said, 96 grueling hours. And that was done on medium difficulty. The boxed game now sits completed on my shelf and I'll probably growl every time my eyes pass over it.

I just noticed a fellow Steam reviewer proclaimed this game got mixed reviews. Actually Metracritic gave it a 79. And PC Gamer Magazine awarded it 90. That’s high praise coming from them. Still, I debated before picking up the full game (not the infamous Starter set which limits your operators to a paltry pair.) Reviewers decried the microtransaction mechanic (which is all cosmetic weapon skins – no pay to win here.) And then Steamers cried foul when the game required Uplay (a third party launcher/overlay). I actually found Uplay’s in game VOIP crisper and clearer than Steam voice. So, at the bequest of some buddies dedicated to playing the game consistently I took a chance. Boy howdy!

There are two modes of play, either attack or defend. Given a single minute to devise a plan the defenders fortify bases and safeholds, erecting wall supplements, planting Claymore anti personnel mines and ensconcing themselves in efficient (or not so) defensive postures awaiting the onslaught of the attackers.

The attackers have that same minute to send in radio controlled wheeled “drones” to espy the defending objectives (defuse bombs, rescue hostages, etc.) And then the action phase begins. Each mission is a mere four minutes. I’ve talked to amateur boxers and they can tell you a three minute bout can last forever. This game is akin to that. Now imagine an extra minute added to that. Racing hearts, beads of sweat trickling down underarms, adrenaline surging with the thought that in your five man crew one mistake can wreck the whole mission.

As an older gamer my twitch reflexes just aren’t there anymore. They simply disappeared over the horizon like yesterday’s setting sun. And that’s the true beauty of this game. It takes the idea of teamwork and support and makes a wondrous marriage of the two concepts. Playing “Rook”, a heavily armored operative who tromps along wearing Frankenstein monster boots, I can drop armor packs that award me points each time a team member plucks an armor kit and dons it. Rook has become my own personal favorite, a true extension of the role I would play were this to be real. Like James Davenport from PC Gamer Magazine said, this game relies more on slow burn psychology than fast twitch reflexes. This is a game even I can be good at.

This is by far the best multiplayer game I’ve played in 2017. Honestly, as far as a group of five people generating cohesive plans and working constructively to a goal, I’d be hard pressed to not say this is one of the best multiplayer games I’ve ever played period. Even the community isn’t as acerbic as so many I’ve encountered. When that three minute action phase kicks in, all of the vocal hijinks and stupidity by the 15 year olds acting like 9 year olds seems to dissipate. Winning a match is serious business after all. And I’ve never played a game in which after a successful match I get unsolicited friend requests from guys I just played the match with. I generally get more satisfaction playing solo games, but Rainbow Six: Siege has me completely rethinking that paradigm. Lately, it’s had me going to bed late and awakening early just to jump on and play again. Imagine playing Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six games, the ones you played many moons ago, only recrafted for this generational graphics, sound design and optimization for current PC hardware. Teaming up with four other people you will have to plan, communicate with and act with to see a goal to its end all within four minutes. PC gaming doesn’t get any better than this.