Ryse: Son of Rome - spectacularly cinematic, yet unmemorable

Ryse: Son of Rome is a visual marvel, I'll give it that. It's got carnage - blood and chopped off body parts everywhere. If you demand historical accuracy and realism, give the game a hard pass. If you're looking for a game with an impactful story and memorable characters, give it a harder pass. If you're looking for a game with an intricate combat system and branching skill trees, then still, Ryse Son of Rome isn't for you. If you're obsessed with repetition to perfection and craving for a short yet dramatic cinematic experience, then it might just be up your alley. Actually, it's perfect for that, if it's what you're looking for.

Skyhill - a challenging little game of luck and gamble

You're a hotshot who just had a business in the city and are now looking for a place to wind up at. The planet is having a rough time at the moment, and word has it that the next world war is very likely at your frontdoor. But you're lucky enough to get yourself into an expensive suite at the top floor of one prestigious hotel, when out of nowhere, the city is hit by a bio-weapon and the impact turns everyone who's unlucky enough to be unprotected into mutants. Your wife is somewhere in the city, and what stands between you and her are 99 floors full of mutants and lunatics lurking in almost every corner.

Left 4 Dead - Dated But Still Very Enjoyable

We all have that one friend who seems to never have aged since they were 16, except maybe 3 days but other than that looks pretty much the same. Maybe it's just me but that's what I likened Left 4 Dead to. Remember back in 2008 when it came out and everyone went nuts over it? Yeah, I remember that too. I remember those moments - the first time I saw the release trailer, the first time I reached the top of Mercy Hospital, and the first time I confronted the Tank. That was a quite a long ago, but you'd be foolish to think that nobody's still playing this gem anymore these days.

Sanctum 2 - A Decent Tower Defense-First Person Shooter Hybrid

Sanctum was one of those games that fused together different genres; an approach that is so rare that you won't be the one to blame if you thought it has never been done before. The sequel, Sanctum 2 was released in 2013 and retains the team-based sci-fi style of the original that is mixed together with the elements of tower defense.

Counter Strike Xtreme V6 - A Brief Look

Well I haven't been posting any review for a while. I'm a bit busy with university and in the process of learning French as well, which will be my 5th language and after that Portuguese with the help of my Brazilian friend, Eric. Having been occupied for quite a while keeps me away from the desk to write some good ol' fashioned reviews. But mostly my habit of writing long and elaborated review is pretty much the cause of that, so this semester break I'll make sure to find time to sit down and finish those long overdue reviews. So here's a warm-up: a brief review on Counter Strike Xtreme V6, a fan-made mod for the ever-popular multiplayer classic shooter, Counter Strike.

Quick Impression: The First 2 Hours of Borderlands the Pre-Sequel!

Judging from the number of Borderlands posts I have written previously, you've probably guessed that I'm a big Borderlands fan. Last June, when I heard about the then-upcoming Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, I couldn't be any more excited. Finally, the game was released last Tuesday and it was only earlier today I could finally get my hands on it! So now here's my quick impression of it.

Ridge Racer Unbounded - Destructively Fun Despite Occasionally Annoying Physics

Despite its occasional bad physics and annoying camera glitch, Ridge Racer Unbounded is surprisingly enjoyable that it's one of the few racing games that I actually finished. Let me begin by saying that I have never played any Ridge Racer game before. So, I won't make comparisons with the previous games but instead I'll just focus on this game alone.

Trials Fusion - Let Me Try One More Time

What happens when you put physics and trial-and-error together and make a game out of that combination? Trials Fusion, that's what, an excellent sports game with highly believable physics and responsive controls. RedLynx Studio fused together the elements of platforming, physics-based puzzles and motorcross into one neat and beautiful package that is Trials Fusion.

Bound by Flame - Great Potential, Ignore the Flaws

Lately, I like giving a chance to less-known titles by smaller developers. Bound by Flame is one of them. It certainly is not an AAA title but somehow still received bad reviews, which I think it does not deserve. Perhaps there are too many AAA titles recently, and so people got carried away and reviewed Bound by Flame in a similar way they review AAA games, but the truth is this RPG isn't trying to be one. Whoa, there's a lot of "AAA"s here.

Dark Souls 2 - Death, Patience and Persistence

Demon's Souls came out in 2010 as a PS3-exclusive title and a notoriously difficult game, with many praising it as a genuine challenge. Dark Souls, its spiritual successor, was then released in 2012 and stood as a testimony that the developer had no intention to tone down its difficulty. Unlike most other games out there, Dark Souls' hard difficulty had been taken positively by the gaming community and received critical acclaim.

Saint Row the Third - Here Comes the Boom in Spectacular Fashion

Earlier this year, I played Saints Row IV and it was a pretty fun ride. I haven't got the time to review it, so I thought I'd just post the review for Saints Row the Third I wrote 3 years ago as a fix, haha. So here we are: say hello to Saints Row the Third! An outrageous and chaotic game that isn't the kind that holds you back from having fun. It has an open world that is not just free to explore, but offers you ultimate freedom for whatever you wish to do. There is no complex character progression or absorbing storyline. However, there are a lot of spectacular explosions, great sense of humor and awesome toys.

Deadlight - How "Puzzles" Destroyed a Potentially Good Game

This game sucks. For your information, that is not an emotionally-driven judgement. I have taken a few positive aspects into consideration, but boy, this game really sucks. Disguised as a zombie apocalypse title, Deadlight is more like a frustrating puzzle game with pointless puzzles and ridiculous plots. There are some good things that I enjoyed, such as the beautiful graphic, and... well, that's just about it.

Haunt the House - Meant to be Played With

For the record, I'm not sure as to why they chose to name this game Haunt the House: Terrortown. One, the title just doesn't sound right. For a game that is both cartoony and colourful, the title isn't complementary to those characteristics at all. Secondly, you won't actually be haunting houses, you're just stopping by to create havoc, and once the entire house is vacated, you move to another and do what you did there (in the previous house), here in the new house. OK, I'll stop complaining.

Section 8 Prejudice: PC Review

Just another review I wrote back during my school days. I'm posting it here to fill the void this December. I'll post screenshots later on. Anyway, yeah, that's about it. Behold; this is my salad-days work!

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 (PC) Review

This is an old review of mine for Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2. I wrote it about 2 or 3 years ago while I was still in school. I guess I should post it here. I know it's a pretty old game, but I still like it. I decided to leave this review untouched, please excuse my English back then. Haha... Anyway, here goes.

Io Interactive Shows How Changes Can be Good, If Done Correctly

When Agent 47 took a razor blade and cut off his iconic bar code tattoo, I was devastated. "This can't be! This isn't right!" I exclaimed. "Anything but this!" I thought the bar code tattoo would be gone forever, until I got a close-up look of the back of his head when he was hiding inside a closet in the hippie level. I could see the bar code was still there, not at all gone, but almost entirely covered by poorly placed plasters. It was a huge relief for me. The bar code means a lot to long time Hitman fans like myself. You see, this is one of the huge changes that Io Interactive took on Hitman Absolution, among others, but fortunately, the same old ways are still there.