Recent reviews by haloboi

Having played the Closed Technical Test, I was able to see the vision for Marathon almost a year early. And boy have I waited so long for that NDA to lift. I know the initial design and concept really detracted from player interest but the Alpha builds I played, were with the new graphical details.

I wont say that Marathon is a beautiful game. That is way too subjective and you will have already made your mind up. People unfamiliar with Bungie titles called it "weird looking". And I cant help but shake that as the general first impression. I "like" weird looking but the game does have very reminiscent design to Destiny. For better or worse.

Destiny and Halo family, you WILL love Marathon. Even if you dont like PVP or extraction shooters. It has that familiar allure, dread and anxiety of Grandmaster Nightfalls, Halo LASO and a mix of Apex Legends in between.

They clearly took successful ques from Hunt Showdown, Tarkov, Destiny and even some REALLY old legacy design choices from the Marathon games of old.

The Halo CE Magnum is back, the ODST pistol, the Halo Battle Rifle, the Dead Man's Tale is back, the Rat King, the MIDA is (of course) in it's true form, the needler, the Huckleberry, the plasma pistol, the double barrel shotty and the One-Shot-Body Sniper. All the fan favorite weapons you have known for 20-30 years.....are in Marathon.

The only question is; do you have the sekiguchies to fight for them? PVP is part of the game. With a TTK similar to Halo and Destiny. You will kill or be killed very quickly and most likely in the first few raids. And this is fine. You can load into a next match with a Sponsored Free Kit and try again with no loss to you. But the game gives plenty of options if you are smart.

You can loot weapons off the tough as nails UESC AI. Who are quite intelligent and can ruin a run just as fast as any player can(Just ask Ninja).

Without dragging this review on too long. Marathon is a game just like any other extraction shooter in the genre. You need to think about every option before you make a play. Do you go for the guarded extract which could have a deadly Rook camping for your squad? Or do you wrap around the map with 2 minutes left to take the Safe Exfil.

Plenty of options are available each match, its up to you to make the call. And yes, ive seen players ditch their squads to get out alive and yes ive seen loot goblins take your downed kills and loot. But the beauty of it all, is that you have the option to do the same next match ;)

The last thing I will say that has been hinted on so far, is the game is dynamic to player action. You can hear when other squads call in UESC reinforcements, you can see a Lockdown event cut off entire portions of the Dire Marsh for the willing to challenge. I have heard people insult Marathon by saying it is Destiny 2 patrol but with PVP. And I really cant argue that to be honest. But it also doesnt sound half bad to me(a Gambit main).

If you like D2 pvp, this is your calling. If you like D2 Gambit, solo runs are a literal horror game at your disposal. If you like Halo, this is the closest you're ever going to get again to the old days.

The lore is Bungie's bread and butter.
The gunplay(pvp and pve) is Bungie's love letter.
The Marathon awaits, join us on Tau Ceti IV and discover the secrets that lie among the heavens.
..........or kill everyone else in the process.

"Tarkov giveth, Tarkov taketh away"

Having over 300 hours from the Alpha and Beta version of Tarkov. I pretty much know that line like gospel.

Tarkov is a visually demanding and beautiful game. With decent audio and gunplay. I wish it were more than "decent" but even that is giving it too much praise.

The weapon customization and quest system is seemingly endless. With many real world favorite firearms that drives a gun-nut into a frenzy. And a micromanager into heat.

But here lies its downfall. Tarkov is too bloated and serious to the point where it drags itself down into an extract campers grave.

The emphasis on fun is brutally(and par for the course really) ripped away from you. As the game suffocates you with 18 different survival mechanics, maps that take 15-20 minutes to traverse safely, aimbot PVP and PVE enemies and a headache of a prematch set up.

For example, later quests in the game focus on insanely idiotic requirements like shoot a SCAV with a 360 no scope headshot from across the map with a pistol. Like it makes no sense and is just there as a roadblock to prevent players from moving along too easily.

Then you have the launcher which I paid $40 for, thanks to the greed of BSG who cannot even follow their own commitments to the EOD owners of the original Beta. Its insulting and a pure money grab. Which isnt anything new for BSG. They are charging for the PVE version which gives more casual players a chance to actually play the game without getting steamrolled. But just a heads up because of course they dont make it clear, you CANNOT PLAY TARKOV OFFLINE. And there is no reason for this, other than that they want every player to be binded to the launcher.

I still enjoy the exhilaration of a good run. But the final product of Tarkov 1.0 is not any different from the Beta. There is a sick opening cutscene, tutorial mission and finally a somewhat coherent story plot.

Which is all ruined most likely after your first or second raid. I keep spawning in and dying in the first minute or two because they spawn players either behind me or within 50 meters. Frequently dying at basically the very first loot location or before getting any loot at all.

And this is with my secure container which I have always used to secure items even in the case of death. I simply cannot play the game half the time. Cheaters aside.

A level 3 player is not going to win a fight against a level 20 off the rip. Even with getting the jump on them. For the first 3-5 levels. You have such little health that you get crumpled by anything that has ammo.

So how am I supposed to enjoy my runs when im not getting any breaks? And again, its by design. You have 90000 spawn locations for loot and 200 extract locations across all the maps and bosses spawn here and players camp there. There is way too much to even remember. And again this is coming from an experienced player. Ive been here since the beginning almost. And I just dont have the care in the world to pull up a spreadsheet, map and tactical analysis video on how to get the first mission done.

Too big to fail. And over encumbered to Escape.

The greed has caught up to you, and now you have a blacked out stomach until the playerbase leaves you to the Scavs of the Steam graveyard.

A pathetic launch, ripe with excuses for a company that has juiced their loyal players at every opportunity and has earned a reputation as rank as one of the in-game characters.

There is no room for change here. Its going on 7 years now.

Waited too long to extract and now BSG is The Left Behind.

As a Killing Floor fan since the early days of the Unreal Tournament mod, I have watched this series grow from the very beginning.

And while KF has had its shares of ups and downs. It has never reached a level this low. And while I do think that KF3 is a good game and while I do think that Tripware is trying their hardest to fix many glaring issues. It simply isnt ever going to be enough.

It would be a disservice to the Killing Floor community that I love so much to recommend this game. I had waited for the Rearmament update to post this review in case drastic changes from launch were implemented. The main being the operator decoupling. Which was a huge debate going way back to the Alpha stages of KF3. Tripwire didnt need to listen to the feedback, but they were kind of forced to. So I commend them for getting it done and I truly do trust them to keep supporting this game. Which is why I preordered it and continue to play.

That said, to waste time fixing problems they created in the first place, is the absolute definition of this game. It didnt need to be released on a broken UE5 engine, but they went with it. It didnt need a paid battle pass and cosmetics in 2025 but they went with it. It didnt need customizable weapons(AND I TRULY MEAN THIS ONE) but they went with it.

Killing Floor was always defined as a horde based shooter with fast action gunplay and slight horror elements. Allowing players to choose from a MASSIVE selection of cheeky characters and customize their perk to meet their playstyle.

While that still exists, it is severely hampered in KF3. The guns are boring lego block abominations that have no identity in sound, design or feeling. The operators were initially locked to your class but represent a very boring cast of generic punk girl, generic spanish girl, generic ninja guy, generic engineer guy and ......Mr. Foster.....but a clone?? I dont even know or care about these characters. Nor did I care about the cast in previous Killing Floor games(probably because you didnt need to) but they still managed to have more charm somehow. The perk system is nicely laid out in KF3 but I didnt feel that progressing through more than half the tree even mattered. With the slight incremental gains but no real noticible perk upgrades compared to KF2

KF3 has a decent story and campaign actually. Which is ruined by its random map design which doesnt play out as good as it sounds. You basically go from Lab 1 to Streets to Lab 2 to Forest to Lab 3 on a roof this time. Like its not bad but its not memorable as something like Nuked or Evacuation Point in KF2.

The Bosses in KF3 are also pretty good compared to previous games and the music slaps as good as always. But performance issues aside(which have improved over time drastically), even if you wanted to play the game stable. The movement and flow are way off. Everything from healing, to using the map traversal shortcuts is so much less fluid.

So while the game is good. I dont have the same itch to play as much as I did the previous games. It sounds and plays the part slightly. But it has lost too much of it's identity along the way. I really would like to come back to KF3 in like 3 years to see where the progress is at because KF2 didnt have a very good beginning before becoming great. But there is a lot of work, so much so that it would basically require most of the base game to be reworked. And for that I dont see it even with the impressive roadmaps and commitment from Tripwire.

The communication is out there from them and I want to give them full credit for addressing the issues. I hope to give them another shot in the future. But there is a lot to be learning from KF3.

Birthplace of Halo and Bungie.

Marathon has been under the protective care of the Aleph One Dev Team for literally decades now. If you love Halo and/or Destiny; then there is no reason whatsoever why you shouldnt grab this FREE Marathon trilogy. The ports on IOS are amazing as well and even the unmodified originals released as Freeware from Bungie hold up well.

Where the Aleph One team comes in, is polish. While the release on Steam is still undergoing some minor tweaks you can be assured that the game code is in good hands. Really cant wait to get some multiplayer on like the good ole days and even if PVP isnt your cup of tea, then the coop surely will be.

Pfhor the win!

Pain, Regret, Despair, Trauma, Darkness, Dread, Fear, Doubt, Failure, Fury, Rage, Confusion, Isolation, Loneliness, Self-pity, Self-loathing and even love. All of these "negative" emotions that make us who we are feel so familiar. But many of the times we dont acknowledge them. We are fearful of our inner demons and dread the darkest thoughts in our heads. The emotions that make us what we are. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice takes you to those places.

Hellblade might have captured the absolute horrors of mental disorders to a perfection. From psychosis, to psychopathy, from bi-polar disorder to paranoia. To someone who suffers from them the game will feel uncomfortably familiar and to someone who doesnt, it will open your eyes to the horrors that live within ourselves.

Hellblade isnt a horror game, the gameplay is pretty standard mix of hacknslash and puzzles. The combat is also pretty buggy. The game warns of permadeath if you die too many times but apparently that was a trick to empower players to become invested. So sorry if that is a spoiler but should be noted. Despite that the messaging is clear that its supposed to feel like a high stakes race to your destination. The Norse lore is absolutely incredible even if it isnt your cup of tea and the graphics are a powerhouse. Despite all this the message of this game will stick with you. Particularly those who deal with anger management, loss and issues controlling their fury. You cannot fight your demons forever. And the game makes it very clear from the start that sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel isnt an achievement, isnt a bombastic boss fight and isnt a sense of closure OR a cliffhanger. Its just being able to make it out of what we all struggle from.

There is no doubt that this game has earned its accolades and praise. Do yourself a favor and take the dive into the worst parts of yourself, that is of course; if you can handle the long and difficult journey forward.

EDIT:
You are DONE Void Interactive. The reason this game succeeded in the first place and was praised for it in my initial review was for it's "visceral realism". Before the woke articles, before the political pandering and the impending console launch FAILURE; what held this game together was it's ability to strike a brutal cord with reality.

Now VOID is using the same old censorship semantics of "toning down" and being "responsible" on "sensitive topics". You've lost the vision, you've lost the YEARS of respect and drawn your last straw with the community who has had your back since BEFORE the start.

You want to do your own thing on console? Fine. But leave the PC version alone. Of course they want that money bag for "cross-play" support so PC will be dragged into ESRB hell now. Not going to matter for the 5 console players when the Steam crowd jumps ship. I honestly cant say im surprised but I just cant believe this was kill shot. Now we will need the modding community to give us what we paid for. Just another day in modern gaming. Sacrificing artistic vision and brutal realism to make a little bit more cash.

EDIT/

As one of the first 1000 people to back this game in 2019, I took a massive risk spending over $120 backing this game in it's earliest stages. Participated in various closed NDA alpha builds and held a very high expectation for Ready or Not.

If the recent popularity surge isnt enough to go off of, then let me explain if I feel ready or not is worth being in the Supporter Build or just the $40 entry fee.

For $40, the game is absolutely worth the money. High resolution graphical lighting and shadowing, really takes the cake over textural or powerhouse polygon count. UE4 is aged by today's standards. But ready or not really pushes the engine to the limits. The gameplay is tight. VERY tight. You will rarely get caught up on the environment, giving you a feeling of being in a tube like a real SWAT situation. Hyperfocused on every corner, door and crevice that might expose an angle for you to be ambushed. The AI has undergone massively impressive improvements. Further showing the dedication VOID has to addressing the big issues that plague every other tactical shooter.

Then you have the visceral realism of the subject matter. Ready or Not has had a bunch of political controversy during its relatively short development cycle(for a team their size). Everything from calling the game a police backed murder simulator; to a towing the line glance at the real world atrocities that the media loves so much.

The absolute shocking and brutal nature of the game is where the main focus SHOULD be. After adding in the Nightclub massacre map, VOID crossed a line in a very big way. And that line I argue, should be crossed further. Where the game really comes to be worth any price really; is the experience. You have active shooter scenarios, bomb threats, hostage situations.......and even worse examples of human depravity featured in this game.

And yet I feel they should take it EVEN FURTHER by adding in Schools, Malls, Churches/Mosques and other real world scenarios like subways or grocery stores. And why would I say something so horrible? Why would I want to live out that experience in a video game? Because it isnt a game. It is the sad reality of the world we live in. The city of Los Suenos feels eerily similar to many of the crime ridden cities in the US at the moment.

The AI have an incredibly feeling of scorn towards the police and the criminals alike. Also drawing a very realistic parallel to the real relations of officers in the US. When I say "It isnt a game". I of course have to draw the comparison to SWAT 4. A game in which I had hoped ready or not would copy exactly. And while they are close to it(very close), I feel like they could carve a path of their own by focusing on copying the real world instead. If this game was aimed out to be SWAT 5 then I would be happy enough. But the audio in this game is one of the best there is, bar none. Its so gripping that hearing the actual bullets penetrate, seeing the gory aftermath and listening to a target(intended or not) dying, is so close to the real thing that it would be considered disturbing to most.

So how do I wrap this up? Disturbing, realistic, visceral. A simulation of the most atrocious and violent acts that human beings can commit. Ever wanted to hunt down child traffickers? Drug lords? Terrorists? They are all here. But the experience is so close to home, that it might actually leave you needing to reflect on how much of it is just a game.

As I said, they have teased a School Shooter level before and a "Swatting" scenario as well. These type of big leaps into controversial topics are what would make this game stand above not just SWAT 4 but literally every other SWAT genre game to exist. If VOID can continue to ignore the publications and potential controversies and just jump for it, then I have no doubt the outcome would be so profound, it would shake the entire industry.

As a loving supporter for over 5 years now, I have to thank VOID Interactive for maintaining their commitment to providing supporters/players with the best possible experience. An experience of real world tension, that my only request is, they turn the dial to max.

How do you define a memory?

For the longest time, I have had a hard time determining if I actually think Destiny 2 is a game that is "good". Or if I even actually like the game. How can I say that when, Ive accomplished some of the greatest accomplishments in all of gaming WITH Destiny 2. Ive been Flawless, Ive completed a 24-hour raid race, Ive climbed the ranks and achieved exotic/pinnacle weapons and earned coveted titles. So why is Destiny not one of my favorite games. Why is the spiritual successor to Halo, not even in my top 10? I have the most hours in any game played on Destiny 2, but most of that is spent grinding countless hours on repetitive content and a lackluster story.

So what is it that makes Destiny 2 "good". It is a mixture of the community and the support from Bungie. If you have ever even tried the Free2Play version of the game. You have probably noticed the players emoting in the Tower, displaying tasteful "expressions" in the Crucible and submitting LFG requests for carries through tough content. These are all joked upon since Destiny 1 but make up a defining aspect of the community. You will find HOURS long videos talking about lore, thousands of videos talking about 1 single weapon and how it is the meta pick. The meta build. The meta strat. The community has a love for the game. And something as simple as a "Space Walk" can change your life if looked at in the right light.

And then you have Bungie. Whos very name is in spite to the playerbase that they support. Bungie has had dynamic shifts and changes throughout their history, regardless of Destiny 2. But I find that I am usually satisfied with how they maintain the game. Not anything to win a Community Support Award over. But when players requested transmog they added it. People wanted Ghally back, they added it.....at a cost. When players wanted loadouts and commendations. They added it. They didnt HAVE to add these requested features. But the game is from 2017. It needs to adapt hard.

Destiny 2 hasnt aged well in terms of looks but its got one of the most beautiful landscapes/colorscapes. It doesnt have Marty O'Donnell, but it has some of the best scores in gaming. It doesnt have the best anti-cheat. Doesnt have the best physics. Doesnt have the best storyline....by a longshot.

But yet it still has record player numbers. It still grows friendships, memories and accomplishments. It still builds the bonds that other MMOs do. And speaking of MMO. Destiny 2 still has a long way to go before they can meet what they claim to be. But over the years they have done amazing tests of what the game can handle. Including a much looked over 12 man raid. Which kind of broke things. But again, created an astounding memory that people certainly didnt forget.

Its about those small memories. Maybe they are bad memories. Maybe you got to 6 wins on a card and got shafted by cheaters. Maybe you failed the 24 hour raid race. Got kicked from a LFG group because you didnt have Ghally. But for every bad memory. You remember the road that got you there. When you finally got that Trials carry, when you gave the raid race another attempt next time around. When you FINALLY got that exotic. Or when an LFG team treated you with the respect a fellow Guardian deserves.

Destiny 2 like any game has a lot of issues. It is not even close to being perfect. But I honestly couldnt trade the memories in place of putting it in my top 3 spot. Its aggressive with selling expansions. Annoys you with microtransactions and the grind to get a decent weapon is a slog to say the least. But I cant pry away from clutching up a Nightfall. I cant forget every single Raid boss kill. I cant wash how dirty Gambit Invasions make me feel. Its just a memory that keeps on giving. Despite all its flaws.

As long as the community to share it with is here. I cant see myself getting away from it.

Not only is this game nostalgic. But it has historical significance. Being the cheapest game at the time when Xbox Arcade first came out as the first digital storefront for the Xbox 360. Microsoft was still using Microsoft Points at the time and many titles including indies, ran for $10 or $20 respectively. Despite the unforgettible soundtrack, the game plays pretty smoothly as a twin stick shooter. What else could you ask for, for a dollar? Now its FREE.

Revised Review.

I shouldnt have to come back and write this review again but if EA is willing to listen to the community and rollback their prior decision to increase the price of the battle pass then I can at least try to summarize the actual game itself now.

So I dont particularly feel the battle pass is a bad consumer practice for Apex SO LONG AS they keep allowing you to "buy back" the battle pass upon completion. This keeps the playerbase healthy and despite the other issues in the game $10 barrier to entry is pretty hard to beat.

Over the last few seasons they have been freshening up the gameplay loop and adding in some pretty nice cosmetics to the season pass as well. This makes the game fun for veteran players and a little easier for new players to adapt and not get brutally wiped out during the steep learning curve.

If you werent aware EA previously tried to charge double for the season pass and removed the ability to buy with coins to buy back your season pass. This would have killed the game for sure. What they ended up doing in season 22 as an apology for this MORONIC decision was actually quite rare to see. They reverted most of the pricing changes and despite splitting the season into 2 "splits" they also gave everyone the battle pass for FREE.

So sorry to say if you came into the game at split 2 of Season 22 onward but you missed out on that. However, EA does now allow players to more easily unlock legends as well. Over the past few years you can usually find 2-6 legends available to unlock for Free if the challenges are met. Making the game much less restrictive to new players who want to try out ones other than the starter ones.

The core gameplay loop of Apex as a battle royale is addicting. And EA has made an effort to improve that in performance as well. Cheaters are a huge, rampant problem that is currently being heavily focused on from just about every person involved in the game. I estimate that around 80% of matches has them in some form. Some statistics are even higher than that which is wild.

Which is even more testament to the skill and competitive aspect of the game. You have absolute losers, garbage players who are using 3 stack boosting lobbies with comms, aimbot, no recoil, wallhacks, strike packs with macro settings, connected to PC for better aim assist and then they STILL.....>STILL get destroyed by high skill players.

Its very rare to see that cheaters can still be outclassed by the right skill, tactics and shots. But Apex does at least give you the opportunity even when the odds are heavily against you. And I get it, that cheaters are going to roll over most of the playerbase and ruin the gaming experience. But in modern gaming its just something that people need to accept as part of the game regardless. EA is never going to get them all.

During a time where the game had less than 50% cheaters in the lobbies it was a far more enjoyable experience but there is a long way to get there.

To wrap up. EA listened to the feedback and not only rolled back their decision but they also gave players the $10 battle pass for free. Which was a gesture nobody would have bet money on. Its very rare to see a company accrue a loss in revenue to save themselves. It does seem that EA sees Apex as a big earner with continued success. So at least the game is valued at higher than what we can say for other AAA shooters.

Ive been playing the game on and off since release but even with the cheaters and other aggressive monetization of the skins, events and battle passes; as long as they keep the current tried and true battle pass system I am satisfied with the game overall. Despite its huge flaws.

Nothing really compares to a "GOOD" game of Apex. Not just a winning match but an Intense one. Something you already know if you happen to experience it.

Halo Infinite is The Girl that Ghosted You:

You hit it off great at first, almost perfect.
She promises you a great time and a major commitment.
Immediately, you notice some red flags.
But she promises to work on them.
Issues continue to mount fast, and you're wondering if this is really worth your time.
She reassures you she is working on it and promises to be better.
After months of waiting, you hardly see each other anymore.
Things are stale and all those promises become a shell of what they were.
She comes up with an idea to take you out to eat at a fancy restaurant.
But she ends up taking you to Mickey Moaburgers instead........and makes you pay.
You keep telling yourself things will get better, but you know they wont.
She wont keep up on her end of the bargain.
It's time to let her go Chief.