Recent reviews by Thable

A good book

I can't afford Dwarven Forge but this will do nicely!

Reviewing this game after the release of the 2089 campaign mode. My only complaint about the game before this was that it was hard to convince myself to play more than one song because of how physically exhausting this game is! The fact that that's my only complaint (and not even a complaint against the game, rather my own laziness) should already go to show that this was a great game pre-2089. But having just blitzed through the campaign, it really is the icing on the cake. I ended each level feeling completely exuasted, but drawn in by the beautiful graphic-novel style art and over-the-top 80s style plot in the cutscenes that by the time the next level had started I couldn't help but play on.

A fantastic game that has regular free updates. I'd recommend it to anyone who owns a VR headset and is okay with waking up the next day with very achy muscles!

Great fun with lots of control options. The grapple was easy to use, but I got the sense that there was a real skill to using it at the right times and in the right places during a match. The gun variety is nice, each weapon feels distinctive - I already started to find my favourites after a short while playing. I got thrashed in multiplayer and had a great time in the process!

A fantastic step forward in VR locomotion. This game paves the way for advanced movement systems in VR. It took me about 10 minutes to get used to the controls, but once I did this was a blast. I've just checked out the new Arena mode (new as of writing) and I'm very impressed by what it has to offer. This is still definitely an indie game and early access means it's lacking things like a full campaign, but regardless I'm really impressed by what JoyWay have managed to do here.

A wonderful experience, terrifying in places and action packed in others. It all feel smaller and more intimate than earlier Half Life games, which works well for VR. I played with smooth locomotion which worked nicely, though movement feels a tad slow at times and there were a few janky moments that made me wonder if the rumours that smooth locomotion was added in late in the game were true. But it was hard for any of that to detract from what was a stunningly beautiful and wonderfully interactive experience which immersed me like no VR game has before. I thoughtfully recommend it to anyone with a VR headset.

Fantastic if occasionally janky physics system which gets better the more you play it and the more adventureous you become with your interactions. My first play through felt underwhelming, but in the 2nd playthrogh the magic really shined. Opening doors with my weapons, jumping on boxes to break them, flinging enemies are other enemies. Whilst the game itself isn’t exactly pretty to look at and has a tech demo feel (something that’s ‘ironically’ pointed out in the “what if this just a tech demo” graffiti in-game), I still had a blast. I’d recommend it if you have the VR legs for it.

I'm exactly as bad at this as I am at table tennis in real life, which just goes to show how realistic the physics / haptics are.

Some other things I like about this game:
- Human-like AI opponents to practise against
- Friendly community
- No 'gimmick', just table tennis

Graphically this game is awful, and I can tell you next to nothing about the single player campaign, as I think I got about 20 minutes into it before I decided I just didn't care. I bought this game for the online battles, and it didn't disappoint. The direction based attack system works well, and the timing and aiming skill required to be any good at archery make you feel like a badass when you find your target. Alas, I died a lot, but I still had a great time. There's an interested mod which I would recommend called cRPG where you start with terrible gear and stats, gaining gold and stats with each battle. It's not so fun at first, but the sense of progression is enjoyable once you're a few hours in.

However, since Chivalry: Medieval Warfare came out I have had no desire to hop back into Mount & Blade: Warband. Chivalry just feels more precise, although the battles are no where near as large.

I'm actually surprised to see that I've sunk 51 hours into this game. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it - I did, and I'm giving the game a thumbs up because of that - but it didn't quite capture me as much as the previous Total War games did. I think some of this is personal preference, in that I'm just not as interested in this era of history. But I also think the game became unnecessarily complicated in its mechanics, and for some reason I never quite 'got' the combat like I did in the more traditional swords and shields combat of the previous games. I haven't played Napoleon, but I'm reliably informed that it's basically a better version of Empire, so if you're looking for a Total War game with muskets and bright uniforms, you should probably buy that instead.