Recent reviews by Alkasnikov-47

The original Talos Principle game was released around 10 years ago and it still holds a 95% approval rating in Steam.

The sequel doesn't disappoint.

This time around, the puzzle mechanics are actually very deeply integrated to the main story so it's impossible to ignore it. But it doesn't matter, it's all very well done. Here are the key takeaways:

- graphics are amazing (thanks to the new Unreal Tournament engine)
- the levels/environments are very expansive
- the puzzle mechanics are still fun, there's a lot of new stuff all though I must say the overall difficulty curve wasn't really that linear; the overall difficulty was perhaps on par with the original game but didn't reach the Road to Gehenna levels (I hope there will be a DLC with super difficult puzzles!)

Without any shred of hyperbole this is one of the best games ever made and also a wonderful way to prove that you are smarter than the people who surround you. Which I am of course. Because I completed the game and every puzzle in it.

Why aren't you playing it already?

How this game skipped my attention until now is a complete mystery. Let's go over the basics:

- cool military sci-fi story? Check.
- good graphics with excellent atmospheric level design and some truly epic scenes? Check.
- crisp and accurate movement and weapon mechanics? Check.

The only downside? The game is very short, it should've been at least two times longer! Other than that, fantastic.

Unfixable performance issues on Windows 10 with newer AMD video cards. Apparently the new Remastered version of the game fixes most of the issues, but it is not available on Steam. What a pity.

What a fantastic classic FPS game.

Great atmosphere and level design, simple story, good weapons and game mechanics. No weapon upgrades, on secondary skills and all that bollocks. Slay all the demons and battle your way to the next mission checkpoint.

The updated BFG edition still looks good today, some people are recommending you should check out the high-res texture pack as well.

Again, this is one of the greatest FPS games ever made.

I played the original Doom in 1993 (yes, I'm that old). I liked Doom 3 which a lot of people hated and I loved the 2016 remake and pre-ordered Doom Eternal as well. Just to make it absolutely clear: I love all things Doom.

The main issue with reviewing Doom Eternal is that this game in fact requires two reviews. One where you compare it to other recent triple-A FPS titles and then the game gets a resounding 9 out 10. There isn't any hiding behind covers and any generic killing terrorist in the desert nonsense. Very good.

Things get more complicated when we try to compare this game to the 2016 one. So let's try to break it down by categories.

Generally speaking, the game's atmosphere is not as dark and ominous as the original game, the game's pace seems to be more fast and arcade-like. They've tried to add elements to the gameplay mechanics to give it more depth and for the most part they've succeeded. The elements can roughly be divided into movement and battle.

Let's take movement mechanics first. I really like the dash ability. The wall-climbing is pretty interesting as well but the monkey bars is a step too far in my opinion. It just doesn't fit very well with a game like this. A lot of people are complaining about the excessive amount of jump puzzles in this game and I tend to agree.

There's tons of stuff added to fighting mechanics as well. Shoulder-mounted equipment launcher, the blood punch and flamethrower. I found the frag grenades and ice bombs really useful, but the flamethrower (or "flame belch") is a missed opportunity. It doesn't seem to do any damage or cause behaviour changes in the demons. Wouldn't it be cool if they panicked and started attacking everyone around them randomly? Basically the flamethrower is used only for farming armour, and quite a small amount at that. The blood punch is a cool addition but now normal melee doesn't do any damage even against fodder demons. What the hell?

The weapons and their mods are mostly fine. What isn't fine is the level design and the environments. First of all, the game felt a bit shorter than the 2016 game. The level design generally felt a lot more linear and flat. I just loved the environments in the first game, the Mars bases were fantastic, they had a very polished and distinct feel. Here for me the only highlights were the Sentinel worlds, there was something extremely pleasing about the visual aesthetic of that style. The main hub, called the Doom Fortress is a very cool idea as well and again the visuals here are superb.

This time around they've focused a lot more on the story. I think it turned out well, I can't see how they could've done a better job with the way the first game ended. Perhaps they gave away a bit too much about Doomslayer's past, it would've been better if he had remained a bit more mysterious.

A lot of the demons are the same as in the first game with some new additions, the best of whom is the Marauder. I've rarely seen a mini-boss who is so challenging to fight in an FPS game. Even the backstory to this class of character is cool.

Thankfully I only experienced one crash to desktop this time around, but a special word of warning about the "fast travel" system that allows you to go back once you've completed 95% of the level and search for secrets and missed items (and missed fights that give you extra weapon points and keys). The problem is that I got shafted by this system multiple times and other people have reported similar things. Sometimes once you go back and complete a fight the progression gets messed up and some parts of the map get blocked off by forcefields so you can't actually finish the map (Taras Nabad). There is no way to fix this apart from replaying the entire map. Another time as soon as fast travel was enabled you enter a timed sequence which immediately disables fast travel until you exit the level (Super Gore Nest). And most annoyingly, sometimes the end of the map and exit from the level isn't clearly marked or apparent and you exit the level instead of just progressing along a bit further (The Cultist Base).

From a technical standpoint this game is excellent. The graphics are top notch and it all ran very smoothly on QHD resolution with "nightmare" quality setting on my RX Vega 56. I suggest lowering the shadow quality by one notch, it gave me a significant FPS boost without any detectable loss of quality in the graphics.

So what's the verdict? 7.5 out of 10. A solid game, I had tons of fun, but slightly let down by weaker level design and environments and some game mechanics/balance additions that just didn't pay off.

This is going to be my shortest review yet.

What a fantastic game! I put almost 50 hours into this one. The story and premise are exquisite. Clearly one of the best games I've ever played. At first the RPG/character development stuff was a bit overwhelming, but once you get into the game it all becomes great fun. There are so many different options, side quests and ways to approach objectives.

People have called the Bioshock series games the spiritual successors of System Shock, but this is the real deal.

You can think of SOMA as Doom 3 without fighting the demons part.

I know it may not sound like a compliment to many people, but the atmosphere of the game is brilliant and the graphics (once you get to the scene of the action where the actual game takes place) are top notch. The way the game creates this subtly creepy setting is similar to how Doom 3 did it. There are some unique sections in the game, like walking at the bottom of the friggin ocean (uh, spoilers). Overall, it's a horror / exploration / puzzle game, with the puzzle element being very slight.

The story aspect is pretty interesting as well, definitely above average.

So thumbs up, go buy this game, especially if you thought "damn this Doom 3 game would be nice if it wasn't for the dumb demons littering up the place."

Is Talos Principle the best puzzle game ever made? In other words, is it better than Portal? That is probably the question that is on your collective minds.

Yes and no. It is a lot more cerebral than Portal. Portal was much more based on fast-paced action and timings, in Talos you can take your time. There is a very nice difficulty curve to this game. At times it feels like you've done many similar puzzles in a row and it gets a bit stale and then the game immediately throws something hard and different your way. Some of the puzzles are ridiculously hard, some require (literal) out of the box thinking, some are trying to misdirect you from the real solution.

There is a heavy story element to the game which I personally didn't care about. It is a nice addition and probably many people liked it. I only cared about the puzzles and sharpening my own logical thinking skills.

Technically this game was refreshingly good. The graphics are nice for a puzzle game, the voice acting and writing is top notch, I didn't remember seeing any glitches and I had zero crashes. Very rare in todays world, indeed.

I've had a lot of fun with this game. I did enjoy it as much as the original Portal and it is definitely worth every penny. I would personally rate it 10/10 because I can't really think how one would improve this game.

I played the original Doom games when they came out in the beginning of the '90s and was blown away. I played Doom 3 and liked it, even though it received a lot of criticism. So how does the new, rebooted Doom 2016 stack up?

First of all, it's a great game. The praise from the players and critics is well deserved. I feel it is the spiritual successor of the original Doom games. Even though they are worlds apart from a technological standpoint, you can *feel* the influence of the original games all over this game.

The combat is fast-paced. There is no hiding behind covers and waiting for your health to regenerate in this game. If you try to stay hidden, you die. If you try to escape, you die. The only way forward is to battle your way through the hordes of demons. The weapon balance is pretty spot on. There are a lot of upgrade options for weapon mods and your suit, which I first thought was completely unncecessary in a game like this, but I later changed my mind because they give you the freedom to upgrade your character according to your playstyle.

The level design and the environments are very good, you will have a lot of fun exploring and trying to find the secrets. The game engine is very impressive and the recent VulkanRT renderer update did wonders (at least for AMD video card owners).

What are some of the negatives? The random crashes to desktop are annoying, but most of all the bloody checkpoint system which the absolute cancer of the modern FPS genre. This has no place in a game like Doom.

Overall I would rate this game 9.5/10. I wish it was a bit longer. I had tons of fun and it is by no means a short game, but I just wanted *more*.

I played the original Wolftenstein 3D and Spear of Destiny when they came out in the beginning of the '90s and they are still one of my all time favourite games. So, does The New Order capture the feeling of the original games? Not quite, but I don't think it's meant to.

The game has a nice pace and a pretty well executed alt-history/steampunk theme, so in both these regards it's quite similar to Bioshock Infinite, another game that I very much enjoyed. (Strangely enough I think I even spotted sound effects that were very similar if not the same in those two games.) The game doesn't take itself too seriously, but at the same time manages to convey an engaging story with interesting characters. Most of the time, this game is not too challenging in terms of difficulty of opponents apart from a few key sections, even when played on the harder skill settings. In those few places usually the correct tactic is to kill the nearest bigger baddie and just run for it. In any case, it's practically impossible to run out of ammo, weapons or health. I think the game would need some serious balancing in this regard.

However, the level design is pretty neat. The weapons/inventory/perks/notes/maps system is perhaps a little bit too complicated or cluttered for a game like this, I mean this is the game that spawned the entire "run and gun" genre, but I guess you don't have to pay too much attention to that if you don't want to. Overall the range of weapons was fine, but if you are like me you will be using the standard rifle most of the time. Against mechanical enemies you want to use grenades and the laser. The stealth aspect of the game was OK, but not as well done as in the Metro games in my opinion.

So in conclusion a very solid single player game with a lot of history and baggage, despite which it manages to impress. It is miles above any Call of Duty style nonsense. If you manage to grab this during a sale, you've got a fantastic deal but even with its full price it's probably worth it. I'd rate it 8.5/10.