Recent reviews by Archon

Combining high-speed/risk-reward gameplay evocative of RE6/Devil May Cry, and Michael Bay action/explosions Vanquish is an interesting blend of a bullet hell game mixed with stylish action. Getting up in the faces of enemies and learning their weaknesses to take them down efficiently combines with Max Payne-like bullet time to compensate for the sheer amount of enemy and enemy projectiles onscreen while making the player feel like a badass when they pull off multiple kills.

The most interesting aspect of putting pressure on the player is that aside from your ammo stores, your A.R.S meter is also linked to your reserves for sliding about and maintaining your mobility. The A.R.S meter drains whenever you use it to slow time down. In otherwords: Abusing and mismanaging bullet time is penalized heavily if you accidentally drain your bar fully, at which point you will be unable to slide and the I-frames and speed of your dodges are severely reduced. If you do not learn to maintain a balance and synergy in your tactics you will eventually get yourself killed. The bar will also rapidly drain if you take far too much damage, this again emphasizes the need to understand how enemies attack and how to quickly dismantle them if you want to get out unscathed. It feels great once you get the hang of it all and there are a few hidden mechanics to learn (deploying grenades while sliding and the "Smoke break." tricks.)

Each weapon has a unique functionality to varying levels of usefulness depending on how one plays. And certain enemies have specific behaviors that can be used against them (Romanovs). Flamethrower Romanovs can be killed instantly by shooting their fuel tanks enough, and the missile variant will somethimes fire a large warhead that can be shot as it is launched for an instant kill.

My biggest gripe with the game would be with God Hard difficulty, where the A.R.S bar depletes twice as fast in bullet time. The game starts to fall apart mechanically and rewards the player more for cheesing/abusing cover instead of getting into the fight, as A.R.S is much less useful, I concede that even in the "regular" difficulties the A.R.S bar should recharge a bit faster and have its duration reduced a bit to incentivize the player into using cover as little as possible if they're playing well. On God Hard, the game starts to become way too cover-centric and more of a frustrating ordeal.

As a PC port I'm extremely impressed, pretty well-optimized, SSAO support very straight-forward and functional keyboard/mouse support as well as the standard 360 controller. It's one of the few console TPSes I've ever played that felt just as much at home on mouse and keyboard as on its native controller.

The game is short and the story isn't really all that interesting, the learning curve is also a bit too oriented towards simply having good reflexes than I'd like, but it's definitely an experience I'd recommend.

8.4 out of 10.

The best F2P game I've ever come across. A fair bit buggy, but that's to be expected. The amount of content/updates that are constantly added to the game are insane. To give an example: If you were to compare what Warframe is now to what it was back in 2013, you'd be playing a completely different standalone game in a technical sense. There's so much to cover that I cannot fit it all into one review, but let's start with the fundamentals. The only other shooter I've played with mechanical depth that can hold a candle to what Warframe allows would be Resident Evil 6. This game's combat system is that deep. I'm not talking about things like Mods or attribute values, I'm talking about the sheer number of movement and attack options you have.

In default mode, the shooting mechanics are pretty straight-forward. But the moment you hit the key to switch to a dedicated melee mode, the game reveals its mechanical complexity. With melee now your primary means of attack, you're able to empower attacks, block/parry, do combos through the use of Stance mods. The game now resembles something closer to a simplified version of Devil May Cry than an traditional shooter. Delaying your melee attacks at key points in animations will allow you to do a comboed move rather than a generic slash. And with most Stance mods having at least 5 combo chains, (in addition to some weapons having multiple dedicated Stance mods) the skill ceiling is significantly increased.

Beyond that are your movement options. You can do a sliding slash both on the ground and mid-air. You can run on and scale/hang from walls, dodge in any direction, and can even divekick enemies to knock them down or springboard off of friends and foes alike to complement your standard double jump.

The basic aspects of combat are further supported via the use of Mods. Mods are items that fit into weapons and Warframes alike to help improve and tailor the player's chosen combat style. Every item has 10 Mod slots and 1 Stance or Aura slot. Each Mod has a number value that deducts from a point pool on a chosen item. Mods can also be fused with other mods to improve their effects. Weapons are also able to be fitted with different combinations of elemental mods to produce a new effect. It it through this system that allows Warframe to appeal to virtually any type of player's preferred approach to combat.

Customization is a large part of Warframe, whether aesthetic or stat-wise. You're even able to choose your own ship (though such a choice is purely for show), customize the interior of it along with your frames, weapons etc. Better yet, most Warframes and even certain cosmetic items can be aquired simply through grinding.

This, however, brings us to some of the cons that Warframe can rely on a bit too much at times. The game is very grind-heavy and can eventually wear an individual down as you run the same missions over and over to acquire a certain blue-print, To its benefit, there are a variety of mission types and enviornmental tile sets to go along with them. Furthermore, the game is exceptionally optimized; and is able to keep literally dozens of enemies on screen with respective particle and weapons effects without dropping below 45-50 on a mid-range computer (I had an GTX 660 as reference).

Another problem the game has is its inclination towards being buggy. One of the worst I've heard of so far is the inital Archwing mission causing the game to outright lock up when the game is in Directx 11 mode. There are also numerous other bugs that will crop up as a player puts more and more time into the game.

Certain cosmetic items (and even Warframes) are sometimes only purchasable with Platinum, which requires that players spend real money or trade/sell in-game items to other players for Platinum (if one does not wish to spend real money).

Story-wise, the game explains very little to the player up front and uses Codexs to allow the player to piece the lore together ala. Dark Souls. With multiple factions each having their own agendas in addition to the Tenno themselves, there is a lot of world building content for players to go through.

Overall though, it's an amazing and unique F2P game that will likely not be outdone by its competitors anytime soon. If ever.

8.2 out of 10.

Hmm. Where to start? I guess I'll be blunt and say this one of my favorite Capcom games/favorite RPGs of all time. The game feels like a combination of Monster Hunter and Devil May Cry, albeit amplifying and capitalizing on the former's missed potential. The gameplay is smooth and has a touch of DMC-inspired action to it, though not as over-the-top. The Pawn system is an interesting concept and appeals to the side of me that likes watching the AI do the dirty work for me. There are times though when the AI does come up short, but even still it is very competent.

The Monster Hunter aspect of combat is more-or-less fully realized in letting you actually climb on monsters in real-time while they try to shake you off, rather than a pseudo-minigame like in 4U. It's very satisfying to work together with your Pawns and watch them unleash both spell and steel in combination with your own attacks to barrage an enemy into defeat. The game also has pretty nice pacing when it comes to making each encounter more strenous and epic, leading all the way up to one of the best boss/dragon fights I've ever seen in a game. Enemies like the Gryphon actually feel like they're doing everything in their ability to take you down. Rather than have the AI purposely handicap itself by frequently staying on the ground, enemies that can fly will do so to make sure you have a hard time conquering them (which is where the Pawn/AI system works to compliment your tactics). Wrangling a large creature also feels more like a risk/reward tactic rather than a push "A" to win scenario. An enemy will do their best to shake you off, robbing you of stamina, and possibly your life if they fling you off the edge of a large drop.

The implementation and execution of the Pawn system is, for the most part, well done. Players can "share" Pawns with other players around the world. While with them, or with you they will level and can learn about new tactics for enemies or how to fulfill quests. When they are returned to their original owner, they will keep this knowledge to better serve you.


The negatives to the game come in the form of the camera sometimes being erratic when mounting a creature, or being under the feet of a large enemy. I would have liked some alpha transparency use for when the camera collides with models in a fight. Though considering how easily the fighting system lets you pull out of a bad situation, such an issue will rarely be the cause of death. Pawns can also seem a bit too timid at times, and will refuse to capitalize on chances to heavily punish an enemy. Traveling may also grind on players until they start knowing when and where to place down port crystals. It seems this issue was partially mitigated with the addition of an "Eternal Ferrystone" with infinite uses, though you will at some points have to plan out long journeys on foot. If you're expecting a heavy emphasis on RPG choice elements like in a Bioware game, you'll be left wanting here. There are some sections of the game that are dependant on how you approach a situation, but most are black and white choices.

As a port, the game is well-optimized and further remedies any camera problems by allowing one to change the FOV. There are 4k textures as well for more powerful setups, though don't expect the game to look amazing even with them on.

Overall, if you're looking for an Open-World, RPG with a intuitive combat system/AI creation and some epic fights I'd highly recommend Dragon's Dogma.

8.8 out of 10.

I haven't had this much fun with an open-world sandbox game since Skyrim. It's like the developers finally decided they couldn't compete with GTA on its own turf, so they said "#$% it! We'll just make the most insane, warped and over-the-top game that we can!" And it works, the game's twisted sense of humor and jabs at pop culture are delightfully delivered by an entertaining cast of voice actors. The game itself plays like a combination of GTA and the 1/2nd Saints Row games mixed with the empowering superpowers of Crackdown and Prototype. The game also has an myriad of variety thrown into it (including a side-scrolling section/parody of Streets of Rage.)

8.9 out of 10.

From Software has managed to outdo themselves again with Dark Souls 2. Most every problem I had with the original Dark Souls has been fixed. Input buffering has been reduced, you're now allowed to redestribute stat points via use of an item, ability to summon people after killing an area boss, being able to reset the boss in an area via the use of a Bonfire Ascetic, and best of all the game now runs on dedicated servers!

This is all in addition to countless other small changes to the overall experience. And don't think that just because this game is a sequel it's easier than the first Dark Souls. Quite the contrary. With the addition of a 'Health Reduction' mechanic for each time you die (up to 50%), inspired by Demon's Souls, failure in battle now carries a lot more weight than it did in the first game. I've never looked at the Souls games as being fair, but rather a representation of how patience can overcome even the most lopsided of situations. Dark Souls 2 capitalizes on this aspect, possibly even more than its predescessor.

While the diminished graphical fidelity compared to the E3 showing is indeed unfortunate, this is still a game that RPGS and hardcore gamers alike should not miss! Though, be warned. Do not play this game without a 360 controller until the M&KB issues are fixed!

While not the deepest hack-and-slash game I've ever played (Ninja Gaiden still holds that honor), Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is certainly a good title to play for some stylish fun. It has its issues like any other game, but these are generally overshadowed by the game's positives. The combat has a very natural learning curve compared to most others within its genre, which makes it easier for new players to ease into the mechanics.

I'd give it an 8.5 out of 10.

Simply put: One of the best games I have ever played, alongside the Elder Scrolls series. The art direction, lore and player interaction are masterfully done. The amazing artstyle alone should come as no surprise from the individuals that have been creating numerous-but-unique mech designs for over a decade.

The game mechanics are simple, but satisfying. Allowing you to block, parry, dodge, light attack and heavy attack your enemies. What I like about the way the game handles itself with the combat system is how methodical it forces the player to be in unevenly matched fights. A lot of the enemies can be ran past once you understand the layout of the areas, but it can still be a rather tricky endeavor because of various environmental hazards that you'll find along the way.

The only true complaint I can lodge against the game mechanics are the absurdly generous input buffering for actions that usually do more harm than help. Also, be warned that since this game uses a peer-to-peer system for its multiplayer component, establishing sessions with friends or other people can turn into a frustrating ordeal.

The game itself is not nearly as diverse in terms of character creation/input as something like an Elder Scrolls game, but this is more than made up for with the gripping and unique world that From have managed to create. Obscurity is a major game mechanic theme of Dark Souls, and is what makes it so much fun to play. The joy of exploring areas that you previously had believed to be thoroughly searched, only to discover a new secret hidden within its crevices. It is this sense of exploration coupled with the very macabre atmosphere that make Dark Souls a truly wonderous experience.

It's about time I got my hands on this great game! The atmosphere and pacing are exceptionally done, and though the game isn't technically an RPG, it definitely excels at being a Survival Horror/Action game. System Shock 2's controls are pretty standard fare for its time. That is, simple and straight-forward. Don't let that fool you though. This is a fairly deep and complex game as far as general mechanics are concerned. You use Cybernetic Modules as something equivalent to stat points to enhance and customize your preferred skills. There are also a number of weapons that can be both found or researched. Weapons come in two types (Not counting your Psi Amp): Ranged and Melee, which are broken down further into Standard, Energy, Heavy, and Exotic. So, as you can see there is a lot of variety in armaments. There is also armor which is divided between Environmental, Light, Heavy, and Powered.

Due to the fact that you can customize everything ranging from your melee damage to your running speed, this is one of the few FPSes besides Breakdown that makes focusing on melee-only a viable option. The ways this game lets you approach a situation is limited only by your imagination. However what really makes this game a gem is its story and the overall atmosphere. Enemy and level designs are done exceptionally in a way that makes you feel truly alone and hopeless. Even with the patched in co-op feature the game's atmosphere still shoves itself to the forefront and keeps you and your friend in a constant state of tension. Whether it's because you accidentally triggered a security camera/alarm, or simply got too close to an Annelid egg, the sound effects in this game seem to pierce your senses to the core.

Helping this further is the fact that by the time you start the game, all Hell has already broken loose on the Von Braun and your only clues towards piecing it together are the Audio Logs and the mysterious Dr. Polito. You soon learn that the crew has suffered a fate worse than death and your struggle only seems to get more desperate once you attempt to rendevous with Polito in one of the better plot twists in gaming. I won't spoil the penultimate end-game, but I will say that it takes the already repulsive physical nature of the Many and cranks it to 11.

With all that high praise aside, the game does feel quite dated both mechanically and graphically. Sadly only the latter can be fixed via the use of fan-made High Resolution mods (Don't expect them to bump the game up to next-gen standards, but you can expect them to look at least as nice as an early Dreamcast game.).

I would not suggest passing this game up considering how cheaply you can get it on Steam.

11/27/16 - Nominated

Each one of the 4 campaigns focuses on a different aspect that the RE games have covered. Starting with Leon's campaign we have a more old-school and slower-paced experience that aims to recapture the urban pandemonium of Raccoon City, except on a much larger scale as it takes us into China. Zombies and their assorted variants are the only enemies you'll face here (with the exception of the Rasklapanje, which shows up in all the other campaigns, and Ustanak) and you can tell that Capcom made a conscious decision to make sure that any other types of enemies did not appear within this campaign. The overall theme of horror is maintained all the way up until the middle of the 4th chapter when all hell breaks loose. Ending in true Resident Evil style via the use of a rocket launcher on the antagonist of that campaign.

Next up is Chris' campaign. As you'd have guessed after playing Resident Evil 5, his campaign focuses on mostly action with one segment that is a tribute to Yawn from the original Resident Evil. Enemies in this campaign are strictly the gun-toting J'avo and their subsequent mutations. The J'avo are not to be confused with zombies, and as such do not fit any criteria of that word's definition. J'avo are the main reason for the more action-oriented segments within that campaign. Chris' story ends in one of the more dramatic scenes in Resident Evil history that truly sets the overall theme of redemption and sacrifice which his campaign covers.

Jake's campaign sees the illegitimate son of Albert Wesker being pursued by Neo Umbrella. I'd say that if there were one word to best describe the aspect that his story covers it would be "Retreat". Appropriately so, as the C-Virus B.O.W "Ustanak" hunts Jake down every step of the way in a clear nod to the Nemesis Tyrant from the game of the same name. Again, J'avo are the only enemies you'll encounter within this scenario.

Lastly we have Ada's campaign which is the most varied of all the stories, though it focuses more on stealth, survival and puzzles. In it you'll fight both zombies and J'avo as you try to unravel the mystery of Ada's doppleganger.

So now that we've covered the overall themes of the campaigns, let's get into what really sets this game apart from other Shooters. This game easily has the most fluid controls of any TPS I've ever played. Though at first glance, the game's controls seem pretty straight-forward for a TPS. L-trigger aims your weapon, right trigger shoots when your weapon is readied and melees when it isn't, while L3 makes you sprint. There is a cover system as well, but it's rudimentary and not nearly as elaborate as something like GoW or AoT. (Think of its inclusion in the same way that multiplayer functions in Dark Souls. It's implemented on a basic level and usually won't be used, but still useful when you find yourself in a bad situation.). Here, the game passes itself off as a generic shooter until you actually discover the dodging and melee mechanics. There is a good deal for me to cover, but let's start with the basics and a video of how well the combat system works when mastered https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUjmW5GgU_c

Hitting A or L3 (360 Controller) while your weapon is readied will cause you to dodge in place. Combining this with different directions on the left stick will allow you to dodge in the corresponding direction. Releasing the left trigger allows you to resume normal movement, but holding on it will cause you to lie prone with your weapon drawn. While prone, you can move in the same directions that you can while standing. Flicking the left stick will cause you to either roll to the left or right, or make you scramble backwards. This is an invaluable skill to learn for dodging/animation cancelling and setting yourself up for retaliatory attacks.

Sprinting while hitting the L-Trigger will cause you to slide on your back. This can be useful for getting through a bunch of enemies relatively safely, or to stun them for a melee attack. As with dodging, if you keep the L-Trigger held after sliding you'll go into a prone state. Quickly reversing your direction while keeping your weapon drawn will also allow you to flip yourself in the opposite direction while going prone. Next up is Quick-Shotting. Quick-Shotting is (as far as I know) a mechanic unique to Resident Evil 6 that allows you to fire a non-precision shot at your target. It is a crucial mechanic to master for quickly dispatching enemies with melee or for stunning them so that you can get into a better position. A Quick-Shot is performed by hitting L and R at the same time while using either the left or right analog stick to aim the direction of your shot. Keep in mind that the tracking radius for Quick-Shotting is rather small and it will target the nearest enemy in the direction you aimed. A Quick-Shot is always a guaranteed stun on most standard non-mutated enemies. Finally we have counters. Countering in this game is a mechanic that allows a player to evade an enemy attack and respond with one of their own. A counter can be performed on most non-boss enemies by hitting the R trigger (without your weapon drawn) at the appropriate time. Not only does this grant invulnerability frames, it also allows you to dish out a massive amount of damage within a short time (and is particularly useful for extending the Time Limit in Mercenaries mode.). Some enemies have counters unique to them (such as Bloodshots) that allow you to severely damage, if not outright kill them.

So yeah, sounds complicated? And you're probably wondering how well all of what I've mentioned in the previous paragraphs functions together. Well, sometimes Quick-Shotting can hit the wrong target if you fire it into a group (Though this rarely happens if you're keeping track of where enemies are around you.). The contextual action to parkour while sprinting is also a bit too sensitive, but can be easily managed by learning what you can and cannot parkour over, and when you should sprint. As for the cover system. You'd think that going into cover when your weapon is drawn and you're close enough to something would be a horrible game mechanic, but the game is very, very strict about how close and which way you have to be positioned for this to even happen. The cover system does its job well enough despite lacking a bit of polish, as this isn't a cover shooter. Control of the camera in this game will also be sometimes taken from you to focus on a point of interest or objective during the campaigns (you are usually invulnerable while this occurs, though enemies still move around), but generally not in a way that feels disorienting as long as you're actually paying attention to the game. Though, since you're not invulnerable once the camera control is returned, it can somtimes lead to enemies getting a cheap hit in on you. It's a minor issue, but is something that happens from time to time. There are a fair amount of QTEs in the game, similar in number to RE4's, but if you were able to handle the QTEs that RE4 threw at you, then RE6's should pose even less of a problem to you. There are also about 5 brief driving segments in this game (they're not really anything special, but they're handled well enough for what they are). Most bad reviews of the game like to hyperbole the camera and QTES in the game to absurd degrees. Again, as long as you're paying attention, you should not be failing the QTEs in this game (and there is an option that was patched in to allow the game to perform them for you, for the most part). One last thing to note is that the progression of chapters is pretty much straight-forward and linear (though there hasn't been an RE game since Dead Aim that wasn't as such).

Overall, the game has a lot to offer for those actually willing to learn and master its controls, despite some poor design choices.

8.75 out of 10

Video review can be found here: http://youtu.be/PjysLBQAY6o

Superior in some ways to its predecessors. Skyrim still retains the open-world feel that made past games in the series a wonderous adventure. Reinventing its leveling system and mechanics while still maintaining the ability to be who you want.

While fans of Morrowind and Daggerfall (and possibly Oblivion) may find that some of these changes dilude the RPG and immersion aspect. You'll still be hard-pressed to find a game beyond those of the Pen and Paper variety that offer a similarly deep experience.