Recent reviews by Jump Mustard

Skyrim's weird uncle who can't stop talking about vaguely Arthurian legends.

I'd like to give this a neutral review as I can see why it was so popular on release and there are many cool elements here in the actual gameplay, but it is absolutely riddled with bugs in a way that I have never encountered in a AAA game before. Specifically, there are multiple game-halting persistent crashes and mission-specific crashes that when paired with a system where you have to endure the same very long mission setup every time make for a miserable experience. Worst of all is that it's very easy to find thread upon thread dating back to the game's release that deal with these same persistent crashes.

It's almost as if Rockstar promptly cashed out once they had the money and never looked back. Caveat emptor.

This is the best extraction shooter on the market in large part thanks to its unique setting, well-crafted maps, great sound design and most importantly...legitimate threats that aren't just players (and may even require cooperation).

One major demerit due to the obscene shop prices for cosmetic items. This is a paid game between $40-60 depending on whether you grab the deluxe version. There's no reason to have single cosmetic sets that cost half the price of the game itself.

More of a neutral review. This is a poor man's Dark Souls with the "Dark" part ramped up to 11. The layered worlds mechanic is probably the most interesting addition to the standard Dark Souls formula here, but as with most Dark Souls clones, it doesn't quite hit the mark on the rest of the mechanics. Not a bad try though and probably worth a buy on sale.

Recommended with caveat. This game has a very solid foundation for a park builder with a good opening selection of dinosaurs and other extinct beasts. The park building itself allows for extremely complex creations built piece by piece and is almost fully modular down to individual lighting elements and paint on singular objects, but also provides all of the standard prefab options in multiple formats.

Right now, the game is very playable as is, but is definitively EARLY access. It is riddled with minor bugs and they are noticeable. Development appears to be proceeding at a reasonable pace however, with multiple bugs squashed and new features added regularly.

Good buy on sale, even just to hold on to it. Might be a great buy in the future.

Sam, I need you to deliver 5000 lbs of cheese to a waystation. It's on the other side of the country, but I know you can do it. By the way, could you collect your urine for me on the way? Just put it in the chiral transfer unit when you get to the waystation. Don't worry about what I'm going to do with it. It's all about reconnecting America, after all. Reconnecting the people. We're building bridges, Sam.

And don't forget, the entire route is crawling with BTs. I certainly wouldn't want to make this delivery.

Good luck.

—Probably-Aliveman

Not your grandma's Dark Souls clone. Absurd complexity in weapon wielding that feels more like DMC than Dark Souls, and yet...

Recommended if you like dying.

If I could sum up the current state of this game in early access: Frustrating, undercooked and full of potential.

There is functional gameplay here. It is even fun sometimes, but it's very apparent that this game needs to bake for a good while in the oven. Some big issues that I'm sure will be corrected in time:

1. Poorly optimized (60-70 fps and frequent dips below with an RX 7900XT on high settings at 1440p)
2. Bizarre AI (supposedly based on value in your pack, but will suddenly appear to smash your face in instantly if you activate a timed extraction point; will rush to your location if you so much as touch water or open a door; etc.)
3. Jank! Jank! Jank! (I've seen multiple enemies skate when moving, for example)
4. Player movement is not quite right (it's slow in a displeasing way sometimes and it's possible to get stuck on terrain)
5. Multiplayer is borked

The development team behind the game has been very vocal about what they hope to achieve and the framework of ideas behind the game is solid. Time will tell if they can bake this bread properly or if it remains an undercooked, stodgy mess.

If I could provide a neutral review, I would (Valve, have you not heard this refrain enough?). Alas, I have to give it the thumbs down for now pending future changes.

~10 hour update: Having now put a solid half day into the game, I think I'll be shelving it until there are some large future updates. There is a lot of style over substance right now, which is disappointing. I expected some level of jank, but this is a very "raw" early access compared to many of the things coming out in early access today.

For days you slink around the decrepit blocks of Open Sewer ripping down boards and selling firewood. You sleep on a stained mattress in a derelict tenement, but you've made some money and soon you'll be able to renovate it. You try desperately to rid yourself of your alcohol addiction, but keep smoking because you have to do something. You smash through abandoned rooms in equally decaying buildings nearby, finding small treasures. Finally, the day arrives to put up some real walls. Maybe a door of some sort. You walk upstairs to talk to your singular resident neighbor before you head out and as you turn to leave him, it becomes too much. You brush the tarp that serves as a door to his "apartment" to the side and immediately keel over and die. You have died of desperation.

Bleak. I recommend it.

The Emperor protects, brother. Our duty is to serve and Space Marine 2's duty is to deliver on an appropriate successor to the long-languishing original. Has it? Yes, but with a big caveat for solo players.

Where it succeeds is in providing the true spectacle of combat you would expect in the midst of a Tyranid invasion (with special guest appearances not to be spoiled) and giving the world of 40K (grim) life. As a member of the Adeptus Astartes, you feel suitably heavy and all of your movements carry weight. You are a living tank, more or less, and it's a lot of fun crushing the hordes of xenos.

Where it fails, well, Emperor avert your eyes because it turns out your battle brothers are the ones who let you down. The AI is not quite there if you choose to play above normal difficulty and it is worth noting the game indicates a step up from normal is the intended difficulty level. The two AI squad mates just aren't good at doing much more than soaking damage and picking you back up when you inevitably fall over because there are two zoanthropes ceaselessly smashing your face in with green orbs while you're also being swarmed and sniped from two locations. Some heretic must have injected scrap code here because this is not behavior fit for an Ultramarine. I can only hope the code is purged by the light of the Emperor at some point in the future.