Dean McNicol

It's a good game, based on good games. I played it on a PS5 and I have had no frame rate issues or bugs. It's generic but with things that work. It has 11 maps, currently 4 game types, and 18 rouges. It's polished and feels like a game that's been around for a while with its lack of bugs and good balanced rogues/maps/leveling/fair microtransactions. The micro transactions are vertually all for cosmetics, I played for 12 hours so far and that opened up access to a rouge and an outfit, so you can play the game without paying for anything and not feel unfairly disadvantged. It's a good start to a game, it's polished and with a gradule release of content I can see a lot of players staying long term. Online I think the longest I had to wait for a game was about 2 minutes averaging at about a minute. I give it a 10 as it has enough content for a game at launch and it's polish

It's just so much fun, don't over think it The DLC is very broad in its content with the Alan Wake crossover, continuing storyline, and new storyline. The DLC has been criticised for not concluding all the storylines but it's unrealistic for this to happen in a DLC let alone a full game. The DLC is more of an intro to the next game and it's very well balanced in introducing lots of content. For example there's one new power the triple luanch capability and the surge gun mode. Instead of introducing lots of the same type of content it adds to all areas of the game agian in a very balanced way The game mechanics have been added to with mechanics from the Alan Wake games. The level design is more linear which adds to the Alan Wake horror feel of the game while not making the the player feel as though they are funneled through the DLC IMHO I think most critics have missed the point of not concluding a lot of the storylines. To give a lot of answeres would hurt the concept of the game. The oldest house as a location is vast in its scope and what can happen there, To take away that sence of mystery about the house would simply end the IP. The protaganist accepting that the house is weired and they are OK with not having all the answers is a good concept. Many people have to have an answer to everything but understanding that somethings may never be answered and being comfortable living with uncertainty is a good lesson people can learn In conclusion the DLC is vast in scope but in a very balanced way. The Alan Wake crossover including game mechanics from the original Alan Wake game is introduced agian in a balanced way by not taking over from the vanilla control game but complimenting it. Saying all that the game with the new triple launch capability is just so much fun

Review updated Amazing game. To put it into perspective, when Horizon Zero Dawn came out it used all the game mechanics that had been tried in prevouse open world games and it really worked well. As with Horizon Zero Dawn a good story and graphics also helps At the start it felt a bit nich with the Samurai theme but soon into the game you could feel that playstation exclusive open world feel. To me the game feels like 50% Horizon Zero Dawn, 25% God of War, and 25% Sekiro. The game is well balanced in its nich Samurai theme and prevoise open world games It's fitting this is the last PS4 exclusive game as IMHO I don't think there could be a better PS4 game. Sucker Punch even with an aging console have created a visually stunning game that takes advantage of ray tracing/lighting and other PS4 Pro enhancements whilst toning down other graphics features like polygon counts and texture details. They did this so subtaly that you don't notice, This shows Sucker Punch have put so much effort into getting the most out of the PS4's specs. A lot of games studios just boost up the graphics and patch up the problems later. I did a lot of games testing years ago and the people who really cared about their games would put every little trick they could in what could be referred to as battling the consoles specs, It's more like creating art while trading off and balancing graphics vs framerates. Sucker Punch nailed this game, It's well balanced in all respects In conclusion playing this last PS4 exclusive is like the feeling when you beat a final boss, You know it can't get better after that. This game is a well deserved conclusion and epitome of a PS4 game OK about 40 hours in and it just gets better and better. Game mechanics/Landscapes/Skill trees have a good flow, consistently through the game there are subtle/slow improvements so you don't get too a stage in the game where it starts to get repetitive like a lot of open world games Again Sucker Punch have thrown in so much mechanics and given players so many options in developing their character. The flow in developing your character just flows, Some games drag at the start as they throw in tutorials or become repetitive at the end. Balancing the flow of progression through the game is the best I have seen. Most games patch up weapons and other balancing issues long after the game comes out but Sucker Punch on day one have a game that feels complete, like with Witcher 3 Goty. Agian to do this takes time/passion and with an expectation of games studios releasing games before they are ready its really appreciated the extra time and effort Sucker Punch have put into this game OK about 60 hours in. The game is still fresh with new environments/mechanics/gear. The flow of the progression of the game is still excellent. The game feels like a goty as it's polished with vertually no bugs and with the amount of diverse missions. Assassins creed games IMHO tend to drag if your a completionist, this game dosent The level design is open world but similar to days gone in the way that the map opens up after certain missions. The maps also long and thin which balances narative story telling and open world exploring. It's good to be 60 hours in and see new environments

The continuation of vibe/feel of the first game with the new mechanics/extras is perfectly balanced. Often a sequel adds too much at the expense of continuity, again the balance is perfect. About 5 hours in and I'm in two minds; do I rush ahead for the story or take time to look at the world they have created. The world seems similar to the first but bigger. Instead of upping polygon counts and adding other technical things they kept the visual feel the same but added more of it. Little things like this show how well thought out the game is. Narative/graphics/Continuity all being taken into carefull concideration unlike other games where they just improve graphics. In conclusion some times playing the sequel I felt I was playing the original, but when I step back to look at the world then I see how much more is in the sequel

It takes a while to get into this game, as it's an RPG, so you start off weak then become stronger. It's a complex game so the learning curve takes longer but it's rewarding if you stick with it. It's a very diverse game, you can build, travel, or fight to progress, so there is variety once you get into it