Recent reviews by Revolver Ocelot

♥♥♥♥ Creation Club

Positives:

+Easy to learn, "casual" ARPG. One of my favorites when I'm in the mood for an ARPG but lack the mental energy for some of the more min/max heavy ARPG's out there like Path of Exile.
+Enjoyable art style. While some people may be turned off by the game's toony style, I feel that it pulls this off well and overall is very easy on the eyes.
+Huge loot variety, always nice in an ARPG
+Steam Workshop support with tons of quality mods, gamemodes, etc.
+Seamless multiplayer, both online and proper LAN. Hard to find LAN in many ARPG's these days, and the game is a blast with a friend in tow.
+Memorable soundtrack that fits well within the tone of the game.

Negatives:

-Utterly unengaging story. It really failed to grip me in any way here, though I've almost come to expect this from ARPG's.
-A bit on the easy side. Playing on normal, I felt utterly unchallenged for 90% of the game. Actual min/maxing would probably break it. Potential buyers looking for a challenging, mechanically deep RPG should probably look elsewhere.

Conclusion:

Overall, Torchlight 2 is a high quality ARPG and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to fans of the ARPG genre, so long as they don't go in expecting a great story or mechanically deep experience.

Positives:

+Dynamic story that reacts to the choices you make, and not in a cheap, inconsequential way like the Mass Effect games have.
+Deep dialogue system that allows for great roleplay possibilities and character development.
+Memorable characters and locales, all very well realized.
+High replay value, no two playthroughs will be the same, and no two Agent Thorton's will be the same.
+Excellent writing.

Negatives:

-Poorly balanced. Not all skills are created equal, stealth and pistols are game breakingly OP and many other skills are just entirely non-viable for "builds".
-Somewhat buggy. While not frequent in my experience, many users report small bugs breaking a sequence and forcing a reload to fix.
-Arbitrary checkpoints are the only real means of saving your progress.
-Controls are rough around the edges, and unfortunately this extends to the shooting as well.

Conclusion:

Alpha Protocol is a game I'm hesitant to recommend for anyone who values mechanics over storytelling, as Alpha Protocol fails in the former while blasting expectations of the water with the latter. If you can forgive the games many failings, you will find a captivating RPG there within the rough.

Positives:

+Vast open world to explore as you see fit.
+Classic RPG mechanics that are well implemented. Levelling up is something you start to really look forward to, and your character steadily grows in an apparent way.
+Excellent, well delivered story. The Fallout universe is ripe with interesting subplots and lore for those with the urge to seek them out, while never being too heavy handed about it. Even seemingly minor side quests have well fleshed out stories that all tie in to the main narrative.
+Nearly unparraled player agency. This game is a must have for anyone who really enjoys "getting into character". A massive amount of effort was put in by the devs to allow for emergent character development, and it really shows.
+Well delivered, dark humor. The Fallout IP has come to be an example of how to do this right, and New Vegas is no exception. I often found myself laughing aloud at the game, then immediately sobering up as the weight of what I was laughing at sunk in. That's the type of humor the game does best, and it's usually quite subtle.
+Massive replay value. No two playthroughs are quite alike. In fact, it would take no less than 5 by my estimations to see everything this game has to offer. After hundreds of hours of play and more than 20 playthroughs, I still find myself coming back to this game on a constant basis.
+Massive modding community. It only takes one look at sites like the Nexus to realize that Bethesda's support of the modding community is a game changer. Practically any gripe with the game can be fixed if you're willing to go hunting for the right mod. The massive amount of free, community made content has given the game even more replay value.
+Excellent DLC. The DLC for this game is some of the best you'll find out there. Each has a very unique flavor and adds a ton of new content, gear, places to explore, and subplots that all tie into the base game seamlessly.

Negatives:

-Poor QA. There will be bugs, some may completely break certain quests. Save often.
-Graphically unimpressive. While functional, the outdated engine isn't doing this game any favors graphically.
-Quirky menus and inventory. Annoying mouse acceleration in menus, though none to be had in game. Inventory management could use some improvements as well.
-Mediocre as an FPS. If you go in expecting an FPS with RPG elements, you will be dissapointed. The game is an RPG and a shooter second, and this becomes abundantly clear as you play.
-Terrible AI. NPC's actions and behaviours are just plain erratic at times.

Conclusion:

I've tried to be objective as possible, and feel that I've succeeded at that, but I have an admitted bias for this game. Fallout: New Vegas is a unique experience, even compared to other installments in the franchise. If you come into it with the understanding that it is an RPG first and foremost, I predict you will instantly fall in love with the engrossing world and story lines that the game portrays so well. If, like me, you love to get into character and truly roleplay, you really need to just stop reading about this game and buy it, as it's one of the best out there in that regard. You will experience bugs, they may break some quests, but with smart use of the "console", you should be able to fix or work your way around any of them.