Recent reviews by A Standardless Unprofessional

I've played a good amount of the 'MOBA' games on the market right now (Smite, League of Legends, Heroes of Newerth, to name a few of the more noteworthy ones.) And I can legitamently say; this is one of my favorites. Nothing else really captured my interest like DotA 2 has; although it's definitely not for everyone. There are alot of complexities in this game that make it stand out from pretty much everything else on the market (Aside from Heroes of Newerth; which was just a direct copy of the Warcraft III mod with some features tacted onto it.)

There's sort of a hidden complexity in alot of the mechanics; even the way Heroes play feels rather unique when compared to say, League of Legends. Heroes are more Dynamic -- they've actually got mechanics that require team cooperation. Valve has also managed to create a large variety of very interesting game modes; such as random ability draft, where you're able to mix-and-match your Hero's abilities from a large randomized list. Each game mode feels fun to play and rather well polished; unlike some of it's competitors; these game modes do not sacrifice the spirit of the game.

There are a few things to mention though; the community -- like most other 'MOBA' games, is rather toxic; while I find this community to be a little more forgiving than other communities; that's mostly subjective. It's a game i've been playing far longer, thus I know better -- which means there are less people going to yell at me for making a dumb decision... That said, there's a rather irritating issue with leavers, especially at the low level brackets, but it does get better I assure you! There are plenty of helpful guides and people out there who'd be okay with helping you learn the game more; even youtubers such as 'PyrionFlax' or 'dopatwo', while they don't create the most... 'serious' guides, certainly have some sort of merit to them.
For a newcomer; though -- I realize it's alot of information to take in, i'd suggest picking a Hero that looks enjoyable and fits your playstyle and sticking with it until you become better at the game.

Another issue I see is a overwhelming amount of non-english speaking people on American ques -- while this sounds rather harsh; hear me out. This is a game about communication. Without communication; you WILL lose, theres no avoiding it. It's as simple as that. It's far more team-orientated than most other 'MOBA' games; which for me, leads to a more enjoyable experience.

Overall, it's a far more complex experience than most -- and I recommend giving it at least a try. It's soaked up alot of my time but i've never felt as though i've regretted the time i've spent with it.

The pinacle of exploration games; although the countless praise from others is rather undeserved. I've been a long-time 'fan' of the TES series, but i'm not blind to the series flaws (Yes, all TES games seem to have most of these flaws,) unlike most of the reviewers whom sang praises of this game to the heavens I will attempt to do something different -- I'll explain the flaws this game has.

First; the game is highly bugged. Even today it is incredibly bugged; modders have actually needed to fix a majority of problems Bethseda 'forgot' to fix before releasing the final version. The massive amount of bugs is staggering -- to the point of where you can literally walkthrough walls by using bowls; it's not even that hard to replicate, but, if you don't think that's bad enough just wait 'til you run across one of the many game-breaking bugs that prevent you from going further throughout the game. Although fans of the series are already aware of the bug-ridden nature of TES games.

Next we'll cover an upside of the game (and all of the other numerous TES games) is; the modding potential. I'll say it right now; there's no other series with a stronger modding community than the TES series. Veteran modders as far back as Morrowind, released 11 years ago. This game fortunately has the best modding potential in the series but unfortunately has numerous issues which prevent you from installing too many mods due to the memory usage limit, various issues with papyrus scripts, and save bloats. Regardless though -- coming from someone who has 75 mods installed; modding adds alot to your gameplay experience.

And so we come to another downfall of this game; the shallow story. I realize this is more or less opinion based, but theres a good deal of people who feel that the story of this game really isn't upto par; and I wouldn't really tend to argue with them.
Theres never really been a TES game with a capivating story in my opinion, so it's more of a problem with the franchise than the actual game. (And yes, that includes Morrowind, sorry die-hard fans -- I don't find the story all that good!)

Overall though; this game isn't really about the story. It's about the immersive feeling the game provides in spades and the exploration it provides -- if you're using fast travel then you're doing yourself a HUGE disservice, plus the modding community will keep you playing for years to come!
...So overall, i'd recommend this game as a whole to those who're looking for an immersive experience with near infinite replayability (Coming from someone who's clocked 300+ hours into this game, it's a real time sink!)

It's a decent enough game with some very heavy flaws; you can very easily tell its a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ console port from the get-go, the UI is just disgraceful and the fact it lacks an option menu from inside the game is downright atrocious; the controls are also pretty terrible, too -- also the random shoe horning of random characters is abyssmal (eg, Yogscast, Wreck-It Ralph, 'Football' Manager (Who's actually not related to football at all; apparently (Yes, I know that in other countries besides america football has a different definition -- but my opinion isn't swaded by this.))

That said; however -- the level design is spot on, incredibly bouncy happy and colorful on most levels -- some levels I arguably find better than some of Mario Kart's; the addition of much needed variety to this game genre is also a welcomed edition; I quite liked the battle racing mode. The upgrades are for the most part fairly interesting and fun to use; with the exception of the whole Superstar mechanic which i'm still trying to figure out -- it's not explained very well.

So, would I buy it on steam? Hell no. It's a terrible console port -- that said however; i'd recommend it to someone interested in a kart racer on a console; as the game really isn't that bad; especially considering what i've came to expect from the Sonic Team over the years (*cough cough* Sonic '06 *cough cough*)
Overall it's a solid game; just heavily flawed on PC.

I have honestly never been sucked into a game the way Sid Meier's Civilization V managed to suck me in.

This is definitely a "don't judge a book by it's cover" message. I've clocked at least 81 hours into this game in the short one week i've had it, that is extremely good considering I would have never bought the game myself. I owe a certain brazilian friend of mine a great deal for showing me such a well polished, fun, and addicting game.
For those who are worried you must have played the series before to understand the game, don't be worried! This game had me learning it within the first few hours I had played it -- having only touched a previous civilization earlier in my life and only playing it very shortly. It's very deceptive in the way it looks, it looks like it's extremely confusing at first glance when it's actually far from it.

And that's not even the best part. I actually LEARNED while playing this game. Amazingly enough this game despite not having historically accurate battles manages to still teach you a good deal about the real-life civilizations you play as, the actual (ancient/standing) wonders you construct and find, and finally each research and wonder has it's own interesting qoutes from famous poets, theorists, and even prophets. Such as Shakespheare, Sun Tzu, and The Bible. These qoutes can be about anything but they are usually relevant to the upgrade/structure you finished construction/researching

So, what is this game like then? Well essentially the best way I can describe it is saying Risk with RTS elements and some light economic management. You pick from any of the massive number of Civilizations, each with their own strengths and weaknesses -- Personally my favorite is Ramesse II, Ancient Egypt. You are then given a settler and must settle a city. After you settle your city you can expand it until you meet 1 of 5 conditions; Cultured, Diplomatic, Domination, Science, and a final fifth one which I currently cannot remember unfortunately.

TL;DR -- Essentially, get this game even if you don't think you'd like it. You might be pleasantly surprised as I was. If you have even the remote passing interest in RTS games then you owe it to yourself and this game to give it at least one try.

I cannot recommend this enough.

Literally; go open the steam store and switch the "Free to play" and download this game. Now.

It's an arena game based entirely around skill with knife-edge balance, every death will feel like it's YOUR fault as opposed to knowning dying was because of a unbalanced Champion. You might make connections to League of Legends; and to be fair it is similiar when you break it down... But it's like League of Legends in an small arena with no creeps, no runes, and no ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ (I'm look at you, Trynhardamere). It's based entirely on how skillful you become at your champion.

The only flaw with this diamond is the fact there isnt a incredibly large amount of people playing it so it's match making is a little... wonky at times, but it's not to bad usually.

Aside from the disgustingly malicious microtransaction model this game has it's actually really enjoyable. It's an original mobility based FPS in a sea of CoD clones. At least 90% of the weapons in this game are not hitscan, forcing you to actually aim your shots and lead on your opponents; kills in this game are extremely rewarding aswell!

Although I won't blame you if the microtransactions are enough to ruin the game for you considering the constant vibes of "Pay to win" it emits. It personally does not bother me because (most) of the things you can purchase with tribes gold you can purchase with XP (Which is the in-game source of currency; you earn it by winning games... Kind of like Influence points if you've ever played League of Legends). If you are considering trying it I do suggest the Steam Starter pack (After a few games of playing it; of course.) it's a good deal with some decent side-grade weapons. (Admittedly one of the packs you get from it is a complete upgrade).

Oh... This game.

This game is worth playing just to see how legendarly bad it is.

In my adventures during this game I made a topless dude in a G string with a pink mohawk with the utmost classy name "Bondageslave" and trolled so hard that the butthurt admins banned me despite not breaking a single rule.
There's not many games that has the potential lulz factor of how bad this game is and even less with butthurt admin, but I assure you the admins here are a breed of their own.

Never have I seen a more raging group of admins on anything. Not even TF2 servers.
So yes, I do recommend it. For the wrong reasons? That depends how you look at it.
But personally I have never laughed so hard in the 0.9 hrs i've had on this game, untill I got banned.

If you ever get the desire to troll for 0.9 hrs and don't mind installing game that takes roughly 50 minutes to a hour, I assure you that you'll never run across more vulnerable victims.

The game is bad but the lulz is good.