Star Wars Jedi Survivor – Master of Parkour

In my Quick Impressions of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, I wasn’t very impressed by the game, but I went back in and to my surprise, I started to enjoy myself… a bit at least. The things I brought up in that post still stand, though. Actually, things get worse from that point on. It becomes even more “anime” and absurd, with the addition of another problem: a disconnect from story to gameplay, and vice versa. The story and cut-scenes are presented rather realistic within the setting, however, the gameplay turns crazier and crazier the further you get into the story. Hence the disconnect, and to me this is usually immersion shattering, especially when cut-scenes dictate how my character acts. Like when taking a wound, but just moments before I could eat blaster fire all day. The game is filled with issues like this, and this is on top of the things I already mentioned in my quick impressions.

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XCOM: Chimera Squad – Prepare for Anarchy

Chimera Squad is both a spin-off series of Xcom, and a continuation of the Firaxis Xcom storyline, and overall, I think it’s a great addition to the series, both from a gameplay and story perspective. It’s not without problems, though. While the setting, background lore, and plot of the game are interesting, the characters you play leave much to desire. You see, it suffers from something most modern writing suffers from nowadays – quirky Marvel humor. Yet, it’s tolerable by presenting the story as something serious, it’s just that the tone gets constantly shattered by the quippy and sarcastic characters you are forced to drag along.

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Homefront – Korean Rage

Must be hard doing rebel stuff with your eyes covered

Homefront is Kaos Studios‘ second and final game. After the disappointing release of Homefront, THQ at the time decided to axe them. Another studio and brand are dead, in a sea of publishers looking for that sweet Call of Duty 4 money. This is a tale old as religion. Instead of focusing on what made their game good, they decided to chase trends, which in the end proved to be a futile endeavor. However, the game is not all bad, the campaign is entertaining at times, but long gone is the cool futuristic setting. Now, it’s set in a more contemporary setting with some light sci-fi stuff. Just like Frontlines: Fuel of War, Homefront has a strong multiplayer focus, but unlike Frontlines: Fuel of War, it never grabbed me as that game. It feels way too much like CoD. It also comes with added XP, leveling, and soldier kit upgrades – stuff that I don’t enjoy in an online shooter since it makes the immersion and balancing absolutely dreadful.

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Frontlines: Fuel of War – Nostradamus Edition

I used to play Frontlines: Fuel of War by the now-defunct developer Kaos Studios on the good old Xbox 360 because my PC was crap at the time. It was a hell of a game, the multiplayer was awesome, the setting cool, and the weapons interesting and deadly. I would even consider it better than the Battlefield series. It was an entertaining game with great gameplay that was ahead of its time in more than one aspect when it comes to multiplayer. Unfortunately, it didn’t take off, much to my dismay, and since then the genre has fallen off a cliff in my opinion.

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BROK the InvestiGator – Gator eats Gator World

Point & click and the beat ’em up genre combined, two genres that should never cross, like the beams in Ghost Busters. What is next, horror and comedy? Oh wait, that is a thing. Unlike that unholy meld, Brok the Investigator does the blending fairly well, which adds some gameplay to the otherwise pretty static adventure gaming. However, it’s not all happy sunshine, but COWCAT almost succeeded!

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