Recent reviews by fearofcrows

Fascinated by the guy who thought an extensive gunplay suite was the call for a game where you have a lightsaber from frame one. It's the best laser sword combat game in all of Star Wars media but admittedly that's not a terribly high bar to clear, even when I'm winning I still feel like I'm pressing the wrong buttons somehow, and when the higher tiers of sith warriors come at you there's this weird feeling that they're reading your inputs or something rather than being more competent opponents.

If the hours look funny to you it's because I tried before I buyed. Not exactly worth the wait but I'm just pleased a character I've long been looking forward to seeing show up isn't a complete and utter disappointment. (COUGH COUGH CHANGELING)

Sayl's start position is nasty and really demonstrating just how cramped the map has bcome. You start out shoulder-to-shoulder with Zhatan on one side and Vilitch on the other, with only one tribe standing between you and the great wall of Cathay to the south. Between Lokhir butchering the north-east, rats causing trouble in the centre and Dechala sweeping her way through the entire continent you'll struggle to actually fight the forces of Order as it stands.

Norsca's long-awaited expansion ranges from cool but weak to uninspiring but dependable. Bearmen, the Manbear, Kurgans and the Chimera all do their jobs well enough, with the Curs'd Ettin being my personal favourite as a giant with a couple of quirks. The Dread Maw is a very unique, micro-intensive pseudo-chariot that works well as kind of a hard-to-hit disruptor. I am admittedly enjoying "Norsca's" identity as tribesmen with all the crazy chaos beasties mixed in, with the Great-Shaman Sorcerer and the Fimir Noble helping to make some cool thematic armies in this vein. The reworked Monstrous Arcanum also gives you a grab bag of other monsters as well, even nicking Slaanesh's brand new Preyton toy. Mine now.

Nightmaw as a wind spell is obviously disappointing in its own right- but the fact that it's one of five of Sayl's damaging spells makes it just plain superfluous, topped with its pitiful casting range I was just spamming Pendulum most the time instead. It's really quite sad.

Changing of the ways gets recycled once again for the Dolgan sorcerer and while they're flavourful, impactful and even fun at points I'm more astonished that Sayl isn't actually mechanically rewarded for acts of betrayal, backstabbing or general dickery in the vein of Tretch. Even the treacheries don't let you really screw someone over enough for my liking. And while I appreciate the Gods getting rightly pissed off at you for your gallavanting with the ruinous powers- the repercussions for going too far never once affected me, sending really quite pathetic armies I was carelessly swatting away from the start.

He does have a fairly enjoyable narrative campaign of raising chaos altars and hunting wizards (when everything's functioning, that is) and the one where you have to send Sayl off on his own, rooting around for knowledge while his army defends him, then escorting him through nigh-unbeatable reinforcements- effectively abandoning his army- is all very charming stuff.

It's ultimately not terrible work for like three Bulgarians. THE YEAR OF TOTAL WAR certainly ends with a "see you next year for the REAL dlc" kind of bang. It made a noise, anyway.

Probably safe to say at this juncture that charging people $20 for the colour white was a bad call that had catastrophic consequences for the franchise's last stand.

C r e e p i n' on 'em never gets old.

Tomb Kangz are THE poster child for a great race pack and a prime pick if you love the concept of leading an army of the undead- but the vampire counts are a little too zerg rush for you. A bit anaemic when the third game comes around and I would just love a few more units to round out their roster- but they are unceasingly cool. Quote The Mummy while playing for maximum immersion.

I had kept a close eye on this one more or less since it was announced and was very excited for a Swat successor for the next generation, an uncompromising view into the horrific reality of what law enforcement teams have to fight against. This vision has been compromised by recent decisions and I see significantly less to admire as of late. I remember the removal of 'offensive' assets a couple of years ago- really minor things- but I was a little concerned on the precedent it might set in the future. Here is that future, one supposes.

Payday 3 was always going to struggle to steal the show with its predecessor boasting a decade of support but this was a particularly fantastic blunder. Recent updates show a hint of promise but the fundamental issue of the games reliance on servers buggered up its launch and spells certain doom for its future.

Why am I searching for servers for my private lobby? Why does my game need to process painting a mask or buying a gun? Why am I being ushered through the pre-game setup, as if I have to get on with it and make room for the next group of heisters? Why am I lagging in my own sodding server? Leave me alone.

It's not a terrible foundation, really. But it will need time and effort to reach the level of content and depth of its systems Payday 2 has, the only question is: how many of us are willing to risk investing in this game until that point? After feeling robbed myself here, I don't think I am.

Temu Battlefield, hollow, plastic and the only thing on the market since actual Battlefield beat itself into irrelevancy somewhere between WW2 ninja cyborgs and hero shooters that no one asked for. Not even considering the serious hacker problem, games constantly feel as if the enemy team is locked onto your head 24/7. Expect your game experience to devolve into crippling paranoia eventually.

It's really just fiddly controls, unresponsive minions and a slight grind for the later equipment holding this game back from an A-grade. Evil halflings is instant comedy.

You can find the advice you've been needing to hear all your life in the unlikeliest of places. I'm not talking about video games, I mean in a pile of reeds. You're right, reeds. She WAS hell on earth, I will turn from that ruin in time.