Recent reviews by GRAE

Is good game. Janky. Buggy. But great Battlefield 2-like gameplay. Probably the best large-scale cooperative game out there; on par with MMO raids, each game. VOIP proves to be amazing.

A new *Free-To-Play* game launched today: **Highguard**. It received an *ENORMOUS* amount of flak online, when it was announced with the "closing trailer" slot, a couple of months ago at The Game Awards 2025. People ♥♥♥♥ on it endlessly, claiming it to be "*Concord 2*", meaning it won't last longer than *that* game (which infamously closed down not long after launch). **Highguard** was criticized due to its (admittedly) uninspired aesthetics, and presumed gameplay. Even the name begged comparisons to **Overwatch** (*Over = High, Watch = Guard*). It being F2P, and not wanting to be one to put the cart before the horse (*ahem*), I reserved judgement for the game's release. That game is today, and I'm here to report my first experience in the game...

I spent ~2 hours, playing with, and without, friends. I'll say right now: I'll play it again. Prior to launching it, I had only watched the trailer, and purposefully avoided watching any gameplay. All I knew was: it's a 3v3 Hero Shooter. Which, I can report, is indeed an accurate description. The game itself currently has only one game mode, which reminds me more of the **Assault** game mode from the ***Halo*** series, with a mix of ***Rainbow Six: Siege***. The gunplay feels very much like ***Apex Legends***, and takes the look of ***Valorant*** aesthetics. That's honestly a pretty apt description; it merges all of these things into one- and handily so! The game seems actually *very* solid, and well done. Everything seems balanced, and appears to lend the game in taking a markedly *competitive* stance. A lot of people have cried that there's "too long of just running around doing nothing", by people who put in 30 minutes. In reality, they actually weren't doing what they should've been doing (grinding currency and upgrades in the mid-game).

As far as how a match breaks down: Two teams prepare a few base defenses, before you're allowed to leave to scrounge up mats / upgrades, and wait for the *Shieldbreaker* to spawn. The Shieldbreaker is the only way to force your way into the enemy's base. Once it spawns, the two teams fight for control of it, in order to insert it into the enemys' base's shield. A new phase of the game begins, where it then becomes an "*Attack & Defend*" game mode, where the Defenders need to fend off the attackers for a certain amount of time. The Attackers, in turn, need to destroy 2 core generators, and finally, the base's core. Each of these 3 base components are housed in 3 separate buildings, whose walls can be reinforced by the Defenders.

If you're overrun during the mid-game, but defend 3 siege attempts to your base, you win. If the attackers destroy the core, they win. And that's the game. Seems to take between 15 and 30 minutes for a game, but it felt to vary widely.

Overall? It's a good game. It's really well done. I've read that the controller (aim) support is lacking for the fast-paced gameplay, but that could just be CoD kids complaining; I can't speak to that. But, for free? It's a game I'll come back to, and play quite a bit. Understand that, with the Apex comparison, the skill ceiling is relatively high, and competent players will absolutely *shred* in gunfights. Fun, fast-paced, competitive gameplay, with a bit of down time in-between fights to recover. Good game.

(Another) new survival crafting / base building / automation game? Sign me up! The progression is relatively slow, but not a slog; and even better with friends! Even in Early Access, StarRupture actually feels closer to a finished product than most EA games. There's a lot of Quality of Life features already built-in to the game, which is an extremely pleasant surprise - and greatly appreciated by my friends and myself! I gravitated more to this than recent standard-bearers, like Satisfactory.

The map is enormous - and absolutely gorgeous. The "reset" mechanic effects are stunning. The shooting is actually super solid. The material / progression grind actually feels just about right. The character integration (lore / voice lines, customization) is probably the weakest part, but that's okay, because everything else seems to be so good already. With the quality of the Early Access launch here, they devs have proven they're serious about producing a quality automation & exploration game here. Love it, can't wait for more (and I've only just gotten to Tier 2 Core, at ~20 hours solo). Highly recommend!

Absolutely beautiful game. Gorgeous aesthetics. The sound is unparalleled; proximity voice is so excellent, and the environmental audio is some of the most realistic, serene, frightening, atmosphere ever delivered in a game. Gunfights are a blast. The NPC AI are so unique, and combined with the PVP, it is such a dynamic battleground. Some of the most engaging & exciting gunfights of any game. Truly rewarding, and it gets better the more you play. As someone with almost 4,000 hours in Tarkov, nearly 1k in Hunt: Showdown 1896, this is the BEST introduction for ANYONE into the extraction shooter genre.

Embark are at the top of quality game developers in the modern gaming landscape. If that wasn't clear before, it is from 2025 on. I was a fan of Embark Studios before the ARC Raiders Tech Tests. Now I'm a Stan.

>500 hours in: The first Expedition (ARC Raiders' "prestige" system) - as a personal achievement - wasn't worth the grind, personally. In retrospect, I would have preferred to have savored more of the experience. But I've played for twice a much time beyond what I put into it leading up to that first one. Every raid is different, and the gameplay is always satisfying. It's always a good time. And everyone who says this is right: this is a "generational" kind of game. Something that only shows up every 5-10 years. A game that up-sets the industry, and shakes up the norms of gaming. Trust in Embark. I've come to trust them, as a developer, in ways I haven't been able to in a decade.

Very fun, and challenging! Play with friends.

I'll start by saying that I love competitive FPS games; I come from Counter-Strike, classic Rainbow Six, Unreal Tournament, Quake, PUBG, and most recently The Finals. As I've gotten older, what's really appealed to me is the experiences I share with my friends in said games (or any game, for that matter). My skill hasn't waned (it's only gotten better, truly), but I've grown to appreciate more complex team-based strategy & tactics over the years.

It took me 3 years of off-and-on playing with a friend before I truly began to enjoy Overwatch. I wasn't a fan right away. Then, they ruined the experience entirely. I did (and DO) appreciate the approach to a team-based shooter that the "hero shooter" genre has offered. The constant flux of balance due to evolving player strategies is infectiously engaging, competitively. It's the appreciation for that human element: a convergence of minds, constantly experimenting, to find the best moment to capitalize upon, with which to best your opponents- together. It is a beautiful experience.

All of that can be said here, about Marvel Rivals. It's been out 2 months, and I've put 200+ hours into it, almost entirely competitive. It offers a balanced (yet fun), team-based, competitive gaming experience that is extremely difficult to find. The game isn't so satisfying, immediately. But, the more you play it - WITH people - the more you appreciate about it. Working TOGETHER is what makes this game great, and the gameplay extremely satisfying (when, for many, simply winning a game doesn't quite hit that nerve center).

A HUGE portion of respect has been deserved, as well, as it ACTUALLY launched "esports-ready"; where that's typically used as an insult, here it is truly impressive, the quality of game on display. Few bugs, decent performance, FUN balance - it's honestly an achievement. Bring some friends, or make some, to enjoy a good journey together. It is as deep and rewarding an experience as you can make out of it.

Love Phasmophobia? Love Prop Hunt games? This is the best of both worlds (truly- the dev team is much more skilled than your typical "indie" games). It's MUCH more polished than typical games of it's ilk. And- WHAT A BLAST WITH FRIENDS!!! Additionally, the progression system is enough to stay engaged for quite a while. I'm looking forward to what comes ahead for this game!

10 years after debut. 3 months after purchase. I'm almost 300 hours in, fourth wipe upcoming. It's a terrible game; my fiancee compared it to the Stanford prison experiment. I tend to agree.

UPDATE 11/27/2024: My favorite game. Top 2 best shooter of the last 10 years. Doesn't matter how bad I'm doing, I'm always having FUN, in the very least. Can't say the same about most competitive shooters.


So, there's some dissent over this game, including some "review bombing", which has become fun for some sad people for some reason - why? I don't know. But, for whatever reason it's there. Gaming is meant to be fun. And, stress can be a part of fun. But negativity doesn't have to be. I say: appreciate games for what they are, not what they aren't, but also know where YOU find the fun.

I write few reviews, despite being a very avid gamer, and wish to share my appreciation for gaming. It's a part of my life, and has been for almost the entirety of my 37 years. I prefer PC gaming, but harbor no ill will to anyone who prefers a console, and/or a controller, and recognize (and respect) the unfortunate - and fortunate - consequences of competitive cross-play. All of the above being said, I'll tell you why I like The Finals.

I've been a PC FPS player for decades at this point. I started playing competitively with Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear, and Unreal Tournament 2003. I never decided to pursue any of that professionally, I simply appreciate the structured approach to these games (despite any inherent flaws with any "online" competition in gaming).

I'll attempt to sum my opinion thusly: The Finals aims for a familiar & fun gameplay loop of fast, competitive, arena-based FPS games, but from a fresh perspective; not gameplay on the verge of being old enough to legally drink in the United States. Games like COD are the same-old, same-old. It hasn't - and won't - change. **The Finals** FEELS new, and takes the exciting, frenetic, fast-paced core of a good arena gameplay loop, and focuses on small, multi-team competition. It has a unique - and often beautiful - aesthetic, and offers new freshest vibe to a new FPS in years. It's a good game, and feels very unique. While I take umbrage with the devs instituting a COD level of offensively-overpriced monetization (edit: honestly they've been much more fair than that, and offer as much free cosmetics as paid), it's something expected and inherent to any F2P, or "service" game, in 2023/24 & beyond.

TL;DR: The Finals has legitimate solid, and fresh-feeling, gameplay; a very rewarding gameplay loop. The best cosmetics in gaming, to whit: Free is good; Overpriced skins not great. Excited for it's future. Makes me excited to game again!

PRE(R)AMBLE: I pre-ordered the game, played it on launch day, and didn't touch it again until February, after I'd began streaming. At launch, I believed in the series' development, and felt it was a relatively rare occurrence for BF. I've been a fan since BF2, you see, and was excited to begin my new career building off of one of my most-beloved franchises. After some months of fuss, I picked it up in earnest in February.

The primary offering of BF 2042 is another “games as a service” piece: consistent updates, Battle Passes, weapon, vehicle, and character skins, etc. Anybody who was aware of the game, pre-release, understood this. And I’d point out to you that it’s not much change from the history of the series as a whole; it’s just presented in a modern context: BF1942 had Secret Weapons of WWII, BF2 had many expansion + “booster” packs, etc. Keep this in mind when going about rolling your eyes.

To fit in line with the service feature, there are weekly matchmaking playlist updates, highlighted custom game types, monthly “double XP” events, and small updates in-between the more major updates that remind you that this is a game that is in active development. I say this all appears to actually bolster a positive relationship between the player’s trust in the game’s development promises; especially for the more passively-engaged players out there who don’t care to read articles, Twitter, and patch notes. It somehow feels a more reassuring relationship than other games. I feel they’re working hard here - and they’ve certainly won me (and almost my entire friend group) over.

Game Types
The primary game type matchmaking is easily accessible from the main menu, arranged via simple click-through categories. The Custom Server Browser can be found under the Portal header. The first of each noted here tend to rotate on a weekly basis:
•CONQUEST: Weekly / 128-player / Solo/Co-Op
•BREAKTHROUGH: Weekly / 64-player / Solo/Co-Op
•RUSH & TDM
•PORTAL: Weekly / Weekly / Server Browser / Server Host
•HAZARD ZONE

The Portal... it still feels like there's untapped potential here. There's GREAT redux on classic games in the series. But a small spark, that might explode into something fantastic if given the right amount of attention. Good stuff, but I'm waiting for more.

BF2042 actually still has a (Custom) Server Browser. Fewer and fewer games provide this feature. Gamers of my aging generation (read: Millenials) continue to complain endlessly about the waning community and customization aspects of yore - particularly of PC games. They appear to do so without willingness to accept that change is inherent to existence - to change is to live. "But muh server browser! And custom hosting! And scripting/modding capabilities to change the game how -I- want to play it!". I suspect these people are mostly projecting; perhaps they feel as if they've had less control over their personal lives throughout the years, and whose opinion is based more in fear of their own mortality, than it is about what options are available in the games they play. But I digress - that's another topic. (And maybe I'm projecting, myself, but this is my review.)

The game launched (infamously) without the Class system, replaced entirely with a focus on uniquely-abled Specialists (a la Quake Champions, Rainbow Six: Siege, Overwatch, etc.). Aside from the sub-hour of gameplay I gave it on launch, I cannot comment on how this made the game originally feel. But with the reintroduction of the Class system, it's led me to appreciate the game much more. It was immediately more accessible; albeit because it was built off of what I was already familiar with - which made understanding the game and gameplay (particularly learning the Specialists) a much more reasonable feat, or expectation. And I suppose the rising player count might indicate an agreement to that. I think it's almost inarguable that this is how the game should've launched. C'est la vie.

In addition to the Class system change (which I wish they'd made even more restricting - class-based weapons?), the individual’s gameplay potential is fantastic. There's a learning curve to all of the abilities within the already dense (yet still relatively simple and arcadey) gameplay mechanics, but it adds a matter-of-fact new and versatile dimension to the classic BF formula. Like the implementation in Quake Champions - I love this.

Regarding set and setting - honestly, the maps and environments feel more unique and fun, compared to BF1 & BF5). Lore is...well, this is Battlefield. Let's stay focused here...

I can honestly say that regardless of any issues or former preconceptions: I love this game. It's not perfect, and it's still missing some things. But the patches have been consistent (at least since February), introducing more bug fixes, some solid content, and re-introducing Battlefield series elements that - without which - this game didn't even fit NEAR the classic franchise entries, let alone alongside them. But, as of now, this game feels as solid as any other Battlefield. And it feels like Battlefield again.

To be more direct about it…
CONS
•Still no Squad Management.
•Too few maps, which after a couple hundred hours begin to become a bit stale, no matter the game mode.
•Team balancing still not great; the series may never get it right.

PROS
•128-player games don't feel like a particularly big change to the series. Still, it somehow feels more balanced than 64 or 32-player games. (I think it might be easier to naturally balance due to the dilution of the skill pool, with so many people.)
•Conquest is king. It's what Battlefield is made of. Always good; never change.
•Breakthrough is still a great game mode, though Rush (& especially the XL variant) offers a more cohesive gaming experience in my opinion.
•The reintroduction of Classes - in addition to the new Specialists system - works excellently in 2042.
•The Portal - while particularly under-explained/under-focused - offers pretty fantastic customizability in fun to the game. Unfortunately, it's a relatively sparse part of the overall population that will join you in a custom game, and can be difficult to get a unique server populated (especially outside of peak hours in your region).

TL;DR
April 2023: As a series veteran, Battlefield 2042 is now in a great state, & fits nicely when stacked up against its older, bigger siblings in the franchise. It's still lacking in some departments, but it's great - & only getting better. I know there are a lot of people who still feel burned - with good reason. But as long as I've been paying attention to the gaming industry as a whole, I can't often blame the developers for being pushed by their publishing companies' direction, and shareholders' demands. That was the case here, and It just sucks. Explain it as another symptom of failing capitalism. But that same system has also driven the continued development that has brought such a great time to the fore. If you love Battlefield, this game is good. If you’re a new player who loves action, may or may not struggle with symptoms of ADHD, there is enough here to quell all of those brains inside your head. The amount of chaos at times is one of two things for people: overwhelming, or orgasmic. Either way, it’s a blast - especially with friends.