Recent reviews by M1 Gerund

This game helped me to reverse my longstanding prejudices against clowns.

The most fun I've had blowing up my friends since Super Bomberman 2.

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you gave Nicole Watterson an Arwing? This game can't answer that question for you, but it does get pretty darn close.

Damocles, if it please:
You may see DEEZ made you look.

Someone from our gaming group pushed hard for us all to try out this title, so we bought it during a sale. Next game night rolls on in and we hop on voice chat to start playing. Five minutes later, one of us comments that playing this game feels like we're all sitting on the same couch, back in the days when split-screen was the multiplayer standard.

In a lot of ways, Friends vs Friends invokes a nostalgic spirit--and that's where the game draws much of its charm. The max lobby size is four players so matches are intimate affairs. Players make their own decks and choose complementing characters to create their own playstyles (anyone who's played the Pokemon TCG, Yu-gi-oh, or Magic know the kind of deckbuilding and combo-crafting that I'm talking about). Weapons have different behaviors, and the party reacts accordingly when they realize someone has drawn their strong combo and begins their rampage.

Altogether, these components create a close-knit gaming experience that a lot of contemporary competitive shooters seem to lack.

I recommend this game if you have a group of friends with access to a voice chat client. Hop on, play round after round, and imagine that you're all hanging out in the same living room. This really is a game meant for you and your pals.

Some things I wish would get added or considered in future updates:
--To really get that couch multiplayer feel, expand the private rooms feature so more than 4 people can be there at once. This would allow for spectating and possibly a "hotseat" mode where players can proverbially pass the controller between matches.
--When doing rematches in private rooms, have an option to scramble the teams instead of needing to leave the match and restart it from the main hub.

I enjoy committing acts of self-harm.

I can get drunk, boot this game up, and then get my character drunk. This is the most immersive game I have ever played.

It's all right.

A 2D stealth game which encourages solving a given situation in different ways. The game does not favor one playstyle over the other (lethal or nonlethal) except for scoring purposes or optional secondary objectives that help unlock more toys that modify the multiple solution experience. And you'll want to unlock them--you can get a cardboard box, hide in it, and shiv anybody who passes by. This game is worth playing through at least twice to see how creatively you can get through a given mission. I swear some of the ways you can dispatch guards almost makes you feel more like Rube Goldberg than a ninja.

However, I would advise against getting the "Special Edition" DLC before completing the game as the unlockables from that pack make things way too easy--you can one-shot elite guards with one dose of fungal spores and an additonal two from the resulting infected body, scaring any sap unfortunate enough to see the death you just dealt while their only solution to cope with such horrors is to recklessly shoot any friend who wants to help. You know what? Let's count this as a recommendation for the DLC too.

Just play it. And play it again. Definitely a game where you can appreciate every little detail, which makes the whole all the more worthwhile.