Recent reviews by Dai

multiplayer is pretty great as a halo vet imo. adds just enough to the game to keep it fresh while still feeling like halo should. gunplay is very solid, fun and easy to pick up. new gear/abilities (grapple etc) are fun without being too intrusive to the halo formula and still feel balanced. community support is pretty good with modes like husky raid which use player made forge maps, keeping the game fresh and adding some interesting backdrops, and plenty of custom game modes. the new seasonal model is stellar with shorter seasons and free battle passes with only minor benefits to buying the premium pass, and then getting a free premium pass after completing even a free battle pass is incredibly good, plus none of the passes ever expire. you get it once you can switch to it whenever and work on it which greatly decreases FOMO and makes grinding a lot more fun. the armor system is stellar, if a little too microtransaction heavy, but there's plenty of free armor to get in the prior mentioned free passes, and the microtransactions aren't super egregious if there's a piece you really want to get. solid 8/10

Ert plus. Y76P! Olyu 8 juh... what is this? Did the quadratic formula explode? I'm seeing a "Strong Ba" in there, but uh... It's getting eaten. By some... Linux, or something.

Core gameplay and mechanics are a lot more fun than the base game IMO. This feels a lot more like an all-out bloody slaughter (partially because it is a little easier- don't worry, you'll still be swearing at the screen) as opposed to the more calculated nature of the original. Hel is introduced as a purpose-built killing machine, and the gameplay definitely reflects this; the narrative and the interaction you have with the game match perfectly, and some of the darker moments in this expansion really add to the depth of the universe- not to mention the feeling you get after harvesting a mass of near unarmed bodies in one fell stroke. It all ties back to itself really nicely and gives you some interesting lore and story context to the base game.

That being said, the length of this DLC makes it feel like wasted potential. Playing as Hel is an absolute romp, but you're not given enough time in the story to really perfect your technique as opposed to the original game. The ending is very "oh, that's it?", the bosses are either recycled or irritating, and while I understand that it's only a £13 expansion, I'd much rather have paid the same price as the original game and got more content for it. Not to mention that there's still some infuriating platforming and wallrunning bugs & growing pains- though not nearly as bad as the base game was at times.

TL;DR and closing thoughts: Very good. Incredibly fun but too short. If you like the base game, you'll like Project Hel, but just keep in mind that it is a far shorter narrative.

Very satisfying movement & combat, very intuitive and easy to learn but with a very high skill ceiling. Story isn't breaking any new grounds- very much the tried and true cyberpunk schtick- but definitely passable, the gameplay is the main draw here though. The only thing that really lets it down for me are a few poorly designed platforming segments that really slow down the pace & don't make any sense.

once a good game that had flaws, now just a really good game. only let down by some minor bugs and the gunplay, everything else is stellar and 100% worth your time if you enjoy story games.

what once was a great time has been reduced to an absolute ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. story is the same recycled ♥♥♥♥, just when it started to get good around the release of beyond light it became so anticlimactic that i just lost all interest, which was such a kick in the teeth seeing as the lore is incredibly well written and fascinating but the game itself always fails to meet the heights of the lore. content isnt fun, seasonal model is the same recycled ♥♥♥♥ since like season of the warmind, not to mention i preordered this game when it first came out plus the first two expansions for like £80 and i have nothing to show for it + a further £100+ robbed after buying it on pc with forsaken all for nothing once it became f2p and previous content sunset. not an emblem or anything just saying i was there. everything i worked so hard for is useless due to sunsetting and anything remotely fun/good immediately gets nerfed into the ground. balancing is awful they single out the nails that stick out and hammer them so far into the wood that you cant even see the head. instead of balancing things to work around the new meta they just crush the "best option" so you're just essentially forced into using the same cookie cutter build everyone else is. zero diversity zero fun zero motivation to even continue. pve just gets a new coat of paint every few months and pvp is essentially unchanged since forsaken. i quit a long time ago but unless something big changes with this franchise i do not forsee myself returning to it ever again. a true shame considering the height this game once reached but bungie has made it increasingly clear that they simply dont give a ♥♥♥♥. :)

Easily one of the best games of the last 10 years. So much care has been put into the detail of this game from the gripping story, stunning visuals, classic beat-em-up gameplay and the construction of the world. If you have an interest in Japan, play this game. If you enjoy beat-em-ups, play this game. If you enjoy singleplayer games, play this game. If you enjoy dramatic crime stories that keep you engaged throughout, play this game. Not once during play did I put my controller down and think "I just don't really wanna play Yakuza right now". Once again, play this damn game. And use a controller.