Recent reviews by Ypres

The single best zombie game out there.

The gameplay is fantastic. There is great diversity in the weapons that you can choose from, and it's balanced in a way that no other zombie game is. Almost every weapon in the game is useful, so even if your mini chainsaw (the most OP weapon in the game) breaks in the middle of a zombie horde, you can grab that mannequin torso from the nearby clothing store and still be fine. The timer is a fantastic addition, but it's not for everyone. It adds a certain level of stress to the game, however if you're interested in exploring instead of the quests or subquests, just ignore the timer and you'll be fine.

The setting is incredible. This is one aspect that the sequels to this game failed at. DR1 combines seriousness and spookiness with just the right about of silliness. It's a goofy game at times, but at other times there is a very serious horror/drama undertone. I personally think that DR2 and 3 took the silliness to the extreme and ruined the tone of their games.

Overall, I cannot recommend this game enough. As a port it had a few issues at launch, particularly with saving, but I've updated to the latest patch and it runs like a dream. Up to 4k resolutions supported and uncapped FPS. Easily one of the best games of the year, despite being originally released over 10 years ago.

It really, really pains me to dislike this game so much. I was so excited, Hotline Miami 1 was one of my favourite games to come out on PC in recent years. It was a non-stop adrenaline rush. Unfortunately HM2 is nothing at all like that.

Before I begin, I'd just like to clarify what made the first game so great. It was difficult, but doable, and you could adapt to it on the fly if you had the skills for it. In HM1, you started the level, surveyed the floor, and then you just went. You charged in, executed the first step of your plan, then quickly reacted to what happened, because nothing ever went according to plan.

You can do none of this in 2. For whatever reason, the levels in Hotline Miami 2 are massive and filled with tons of enemies. This puts a big emphasis on scouting the level and firearms, as there are many times when you are running down a hall and someone will snipe you from across the map. This focus on long ranges and firearms basically slows the game down to a crawl. Instead of running in and reacting to what happens like some wired up coke fiend, you have to carefully plot your movements and go at a snail's pace, because if you don't some guy with a shotgun will instantly kill you. With the massive amount of enemies with firearms, huge levels, and large amounts of fat enemies, (which can only be killed with guns), HM2 encourages you to play cautiously and slowly, which just ends up being tedious and frustrating. It devolved from an adrenaline rush into a trial and error puzzle game.

Besides the horrible pacing due to terrible level design, there are numerous problems with the rest of the game. With their awful AI, followers are useless, turning one of the most interesting characters (a brother-sister combo, one with a gun one with a chainsaw) into a chore to play as. Bad AI also extends to the enemies, and you will frequently see enemies get stuck on doorways. The plot becomes very convoluted quickly, as there are multiple parallel plotlines, going along with the alternate history plotline. The game jumps back and forth between perspectives, settings, and times, which would be okay, if they were all interesting. Half of the characters aren't much better than filler.

HM2 is a sequel that forgot exactly what made the first one so great. The awful focus on sniping, baiting enemies, and guns makes the game simply not fun to play, and the lack of choice with playstyles (each level has at most 4 different options of masks/characters, and most only have 1) really limits replayability. I'm hoping that the level editor will allow the Steam Community to make some good levels, but for now, I simply can't recommend this game. It takes 1 step forward, and far too many steps back.

Sniper Elite V2 is a bad case of a game trying to do what it isn't supposed to do.

It markets itself as a sniper game. And I will admit it is very good at that. The sniping in the game is very satisfying and interesting. It's very fun trying to line up a good shot after factoring in the bullet drop and other factors. The slow motion and X-ray effects are great, they make you feel like you're powerful.

Unfortunately, the game tries way too hard to be an action game at the same time. You spend more time sneaking around and shooting than sniping. Stealth plays an important part in the game, but it's done very poorly. There are no ways to easily kill guards silently, and your 'silent' crouch is extraordinarily slow. Simply put, stealth feels very sluggish and forced into the game. I found it a lot more satisfying just to pull out a gun and force my way through the stealth sections.

Speaking of which, the gunplay in this game is awful. The camera controls don't work very well, and the guns feel completely useless. You feel like you're using a peashooter as the enemies shrug off bullets. No to mention there are way too many of these sections in the game. Why is it called "Sniper Elite" when you're using an SMG or pistol for 50% of the game?

Overall the game is so terribly mediocre in all aspects I find it impossible to recommend. If you're looking for a really good stealth and sniping game, try the first game. But if you're looking for a competent game that doesn't bore the hell out of you, don't try this.