Recent reviews by Sysgen

Content wise Borderlands 3 is voluminous. A best in series production that feeds you an assembly line of best in series game-play. I only have one gripe and that is the game is too generous with legendary drops.

I have over 200 hours of play-time and didn't even touch 90% of the dlc. The game removes UVHM and provides a "mayhem" mode with game-play modifiers though disabled until the first NVHM play-through is completed. Honestly, I think this was the right direction as "mayhem" provides up to eleven additional levels of difficulty and environmental variation.

Given the four protagonists to choose from, each having four skill trees, the series has always supported a wealth of play styles. Unfortunatly you have to play through NVHM to enable TVHM and "mayhem" which makes the initial play-through somewhat mundane but never the less fun.

Borderlands 3 from a solo and raid perspective is very accessible. The raid mode I tried is demanding but achievable.

I understand the size of the game but given the size of the developer there is no excuse for the number of anomalies I encountered throughout. Busted quests including the main that require reloads to continue. One word of advice, when encountering such issues always exit to the main menu. Essentially a save and load. Don't use fast travel as you'll reset the entire quest line, that is of course unless you want to.

A note for those with low end computers. The game is HDD compatible and using a utility called Lossless Scaling you can set frame rates to 30 FPS and play at 60 FPS on high settings. You will require at least 12 gb of ram to offset any major disk swapping.

In summary Borderlands 3 is a great addition to the series and will have you swimming in content and high end game-play, more than just about any shooter can offer. Studios should always look to better their previous installments and that is exactly what Gearbox has accomplished. A+++

Not knowing anything about the game or the Shadowrun series and the two campaigns as they are named might confuse the average person. Shadowrun Returns consists of two campaigns; Dead Man's Switch was the first campaign released by the developer Harebrained Schemes and the second campaign Dragonfall was added about a year later. Subsequently the developer modified / restructured the Dragonfall campaign into a stand-alone campaign aptly named Shadowrun Dragonfall - Director's Cut.

This review concerns Dead Man's Switch. Unfortunately maginally buggy which can lead to frustration as levels may have to be restarted. Personally I had to restart one level though YMMV. In one of the few side quests recruit a Decker to your team when trying to extract the scientist. There are enemies in the tron like digital space that need to be eliminated.

Focusing on the dialogue and the game's writing voice overs are completely absent as in zilch and therefore what lies before you is a lot of reading. Not necessarily awful as I believe the game achieves a bond with the player by not including voice overs. The dialogues are brief and superbly penned. So superb that I'm elevating the literary prowess displayed here to be among the best I've seen in any video game. Excellent writers that know how to connect with their audiences are rare. Many forum posters complain that the game is too short. Yes they want more !!!!!!!!!!!

Additional immersion spawns via the appropriately played music though tracks are limited. Being isometric the game's set pieces are diorama like in nature. Sets are not inordinate though leave plenty of room to induce good strategic planning. Sets are lovingly adorned with beautiful graphics. Given the scope here characters are very interesting and well enough developed. The developers knew what they wanted and structured the game appropriately.

I found only the finale to be much of a challenge though by playing smart you won't have much issue though you may peruse some forum posts complaining about difficulty. You'll find in the main quest line and a side quest or two that you will need to recruit Shadow Runners to your team. Theoretically to elevate difficulty you can restrict the size of your team. Cover is important and necessary to avoid damage though once you figure out the mechanics you'll inevitably leverage the game's robust save system to avoid an ambush.

Being unfamiliar with the series or it's SNES origins I can't speak to the board game or the original SNES edition published by Data East which still retains interest to this day. Said that from my perspective available classes and roles appear befitting and a few you don't see in your everyday role playing game.

In summary despite some frustration with either anomalies, design decisions or game mechanics Shadowrun Returns -Dead Man's Switch gets a full endorsement. Yes 11 years too late perhaps but better late than never. A+++

No patience for this game. Game premise is very cool, looks great and in game radio sets the mood perfectly. Diary unlocks are well implemented and tell what looks to be an interesting story.

What's not is this is game heavily based on resets as you try for par to unlock diary entries. There is no reset button and your choice of input relegates you to the same slow menu animations over and over into infinity and beyond. Didn't get to far but already experienced a par 12!!!

@Developer; Solve the problem and add a quick reset. Not sure how a nice package like this is put together and no quick reset.

@Developer; You have a Story Mode but no diary unlocks so you don't get the whole story?

Spent a good number of hours with Silent Sector, more than I initially thought. It's Star Control (very) light implementation turns out to be a very addictive title.

Silent Sector is an overhead twin stick shooter space RPG where you roam a universe of sorts, a universe containing events and quests that drive the title's progression. You roam in your ship on a star map. There is leveling and factions of which you may or may not align through game-play and questing. Factions have their own ships of which you unlock. The further you align the more ships and weapons become available.

Weapons of course play an important role and they are very numerous indeed. What I like about the weaponry is a trait called diffusion or accuracy. Therefore the most powerful may not be the most desired. You can also purchase support gear that gives your ships special properties such as be able to break a tractor beam or accelerate mining asteroids. Ships, weapons and support equipment can be expensive though the economy meaning the quest rewards and acquired consumables allow you to build a good load-out without much trouble.

There is a story and honestly it's not terrible and there is a lot of space culture and humor in the game. The development team is very small and assets are somewhat low quality but again this is not necessarily bad. What's important is what the development team has done with the entire package. The developer has gone the extra mile by implementing alternate control schemes for users uncomfortable with the original. The game is very playable with kb/m or controller.

Perusing the forums I've observed that the developers have not realized the full potential of the title yet what's here is very good. I can only imagine if they would of realized their true vision for this title. Perhaps if I win the lottery I'll throw them a couple hundred thousand so they can finish it :).

WHOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What is this you say? An isometric Cyberpunk twin stick action RPG in the vein of Crusader No Remorse. Adorned with literally the whole she-bang. Top tier highly detailed prodigious environments, awesome twin stick combat with a well implemented cover system where cover matters and where shooting in and out of cover is well defined. Combat is additionally complimented with an array of varying weapons based on four ammo types, armor, Deus Ex type augments and typical RPG progression. Neon Giant for the most part nailed this. The Ascent is not perfect (5 crashes in 40 hours) but taken as a whole The Ascent is a special game and is nothing like you experienced prior. As such learn the controls, systems and the unique fast travel system asap to avoid unnecessary frustration.

Scratch that Midtown Madness itch in this well produced arcade title. I've read of scoring in hundreds of thousands but I haven't been there yet so I can't attest to elevated levels of game-play. Sweet art and chill pill music are a huge plus.

It's Christmas 2024. What y'all say we chip in and get Hideo Kojima a camera for the holiday so he can see how one really works.

8+ years old and with the 2 expansions (and a third in development) Grim Dawn is the definitive solo arpg experience packed to the brim with content and many diverse and unique functional systems. If you start on Normal difficulty, once you get comfortable you'll find the game way more interesting and challenging if you check the Veteran checkbox. Very consuming and once completed you'll be hard pressed not to start another game with another class or on a higher difficulty. Extensive replay-ability.

What a pleasant surprise and a great find. I know it's an Xbox Studios game with a AAA moniker but never did I expect such immersive Gears of War type detail in a non FPS Gears of War game. Chain saw kills and awesome executions never ever get old.

I haven't played much XCOM but I've just come off Mutant Year Zero, another turn based tactics title which I found enjoyable and thought provoking once I was able to get over the learning curve. I view Gears Tactics as a cross of XCOM and Mutant Year Zero. Like MYZ, Gears Tactics has heroes whom you encounter though-out the narrative and like XCOM, Gears has soldiers whom can be saved and customized through cosmetics and skill trees.

Gears Tactics has side quests or missions though after a while repetitive mission types eventually dominate story missions. The side missions do present specific optional challenges in an attempt to foster uniqueness.

Skill trees for the various classes are interesting and the game does provide respec tokens which you'll invariably need but save a couple for the finale. Presentation, sound, everything is top notch and what you would expect from a AAA franchise.

The base difficulty is challenging though experienced players in the genre will want to bump the difficulty. Forum posts reveal even experienced difficulty to be very accessible though insane is as intended meant for players who understand the game at a master level and all of it's idiosyncrasies.

I would like to see other FPS franchises bridge to the turn based tactics genre. Gears Tactics works very well in this context.

Some may find a high barrier to entry though that high bar shouldn't prohibit tactical strategy enthusiasts from enjoying MYZ, an excellently produced game within the tactical genre.

Interestingly once the game's systems are understood and progression reaches a certain point the high entry barrier drops significantly, reloads are far less than at the beginning and the game becomes very enjoyable.

Attention to detail from environment perspective and the environment are very high. Every stage has fully destructible immersive environments.

The game is a perfect length and the recommended dlc Seed of Evil continues with a well written and playable story.

MYZ starts with two playable characters. Three additional characters are added throughout the main campaign and one during the dlc. Characters are exchangeable out of battle and all come with their own mutations or skills.

Given the number of characters and variances in difficulty the game is highly re-playable.

Controller support is perfectly implemented though kb/m support is available if preferred.

Having completed the game and dlc I can comment on some of the complaints I've read about the game-play whether in reviews or forum posts.

• Enemies can shoot across the map. Depends on the map size but the larger the map size the less probability and the larger maps just not true so I'll rate this false. Enemies like the player controlled characters have weapons with a defined range. The farther the shot the less probability of a hit. I've found this behavior very consistent.
  
  
• Firing at enemies can alert the entire map to move against you.
  
  I'll rate this complaint false though with a caveat. NYZ has three types of weapons. Some may say two but allow me to pontificate. This is where I believe much of player frustration emanates, especially in the beginning of the game when you are just learning the game's idiosyncrasies.
  
  MYZ does very well at demarcation. That is to say movement both horizontal and vertical (*dpad on a controller) is very precise. The developers did an excellent job at illustrating action points used, enemy hit range and hit percentages for every potential square the player may move to.
  
  The issue for some is that *after starting battle* non engaged enemy alert levels for the various types of weapons are hidden from the user. Silent weapons if used too close to a non engaged enemy may alert that enemy who will in turn alert all enemies in a specific vicinity or range. What is this vicinity? I can only speculate. Same for weapons that are not marked as excessively loud (type 2). These weapons can be used without alerting enemies though again you must speculate alert distance.
  
  The third weapon type, excessively loud weapons have large alert distances, more understandable as the developer labeled them as such. Clearly alert distances are Type 1 < Type 2 < Type 3 however alert distances are not specifically disclosed or defined. Obviously intentional design by the developer and looking back at my play-through I can agree with this design but there will be many who don't. I will say that the behavior is consistent throughout the game so I don't believe it's an RNG issue.
  
  
• Frequently I'm overwhelmed this game is ridiculous.
  
  I've spoken of alerting too many enemies. The main premise of the game is stealth and managing your battles appropriately. MYZ also shares an enemy mechanic with Ghost Recon Breakpoint. Certain enemies just let's say need to managed. If you don't, yes you will get overwhelmed. You may be able to handle the rush but the odds are, especially early in the game, you won't and you'll probably uninstall, rage quit, blame the game and write a negative review or forum post.

In summary, in the beginning the game can be difficult but not everything in life is handed to you on a silver platter. Learn the game's systems and you'll be rewarded.