FAQ

Q: What is the Archive?

A: It's just a fancy name for this review blog.


Q: How do you score games?

A: After I'm done with a game I'll give a gut preliminary score based on my experience and how I'm feeling about it at the moment.

Once that preliminary score is given, I follow through with the analysis and reviewing process. Was it fun? Mediocre? Exceptional? Creative? Experimental? Fulfilled its premise? Check its development history if documented, how it was initially received if the perception about it shifted over time, the "consensus" on the game, and if I agree/disagree with such and why.

Once words start to hit the paper only god knows in what direction I will go, but I'll often focus on what I consider the "main draw" of the game, for instance, I won't hyper-focus on a narrative that is there simply as set dressing to support gameplay and vice versa. With the review process finished I will revisit the preliminary score and see if I still agree with my past self on it, and if not adjust the score now that I had time to really think about it.


Q: But that is like, just your opinion man.

A: YES. Can't state this enough, play the games for yourself and form your own opinions. No matter how I slice it, it all comes down to my point of view and experience. Whether you agree with me or not.


Q: 6/10 is a good game? That sounds low.

A: A 6 out of 10 to me is a decent game. It is technically competent and the sum of its parts (even if not individually perfect) is larger than the whole, resulting in an enjoyable experience. It's no Master Crafted game, but it's still good in its own right, and it's worth a try. Think of it as a mindless fun movie, the plot won't change your life, and the action is average but fun enough to be entertaining. TL;DR: It's not an IGN 6/10.


Q: A game with a Score of 6 gets an "Approved" and one with 5 Doesn't?

A: Relax, the stamps are just a review gimmick. Again overall I consider 6 to be an enjoyable and fun experience, 5 I take it as a mediocre experience, competent but there isn't much there.

I don't enjoy mediocre games, thus the Reject stamp. They won't always be the worst thing in the world, but I just don't think it's worth going out of your way to play them unless there is some personal interest or curiosity in it. Like Daikatana did for me.


Q: What's a "Mini"?

A: Shorter reviews that fit in less than a thousand words or under 2 pages. Sometimes I feel like writing about a game but don't have a whole lot to talk about. The category exists mostly so it's clear the review will be shorter.


Q: What's with the Stamps at the end of each review?

A: Think of it as Ross Scott's Game Dungeon awards. Just a gimmick to make it more fun.


Q: There are not a lot of negative reviews, why?

A: I generally don't bother wasting my time playing games that I clearly won't enjoy. I will try to put in the effort though.


Q: Favorite game?

A: Killer7


Q: Favorite type of cheese?

A: Gorgonzola.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

[Review] Project Zomboid

Image
Project Zomboid is an isometric zombie survival game with an emphasis on player freedom, RPG elements and simulation. Developed by Indie Stone , released in early access in November 2013. This is a review for the beta build 41, accessible via the game properties beta tab on steam. Build 41, released in November 2020, is the largest update the game ever received, with a complete overhaul to the base code. Facilitation modding, multiplayer net coding, and several new features that were lacking before it. Work on this build began in 2015, developed simultaneously to other builds that shipped to the public in the meantime. /// Premise Set in Knox exclusion zone, Kentucky 1993, after the initial zombie outbreak caused by a disease of unknown origin. As a customized survivor with its profession and traits, your goal is to survive this evolving world and the ever-growing hordes of infected. /// Structure The game doesn't have a fixed structure outside of the basic survival loop. It fall
Read more

[Article] Daikatana, Development and Reputation

Image
/// Calm before the Ion Storm The story of Daikatana begins before Ion Storm was even founded, during Quake's turbulent development at id Software. Quake's concept was originated from id's D&D sessions, and it was completely different from the final product. Unlike Doom, it would have focused on melee and magic combat with RPG elements. A legendary hero, casting spells, smiting its foes with his powerful hammer, and jumping between different dimensions. For John Carmack, the lead programmer at id, the next logical step to push the technology further was to go full 3D. With Carmack working on the engine from scratch, all that was left to do for the rest of id was to blindly design mechanics, enemies, and levels, before the engine was even finished, and hope it could support the content created. Due to time constraints compromises to the original design of Quake started to be made. This left John Romero, designer and co-founder of id, disillusioned with how Quake was bein
Read more

[Review] Painkiller: Black Edition

Image
Painkiller is a first-person shooter running on the Pain Engine, debut title of the Polish studio People Can Fly, it was published by DeamCatcher Interactive in April 2004. About a year later, it was re-released in its current Black Edition form which includes the Battle out of Hell Expansion. I will focus on the original game and not the Unreal Engine 3 remake called Painkiller: Hell and Damnation pushed out the door by Nordic Games in 2013, with less content, recut story, and it removed levels to be resold as individual DLC. It's just awful, I recommend sticking to Black Edition. /// Premise After a deadly car crash with his wife, Daniel Garner finds himself stuck in purgatory, an angel named Samael offers him a deal, become Heaven's Hitman, kill Lucifer's generals before a full war escalates, and he will be granted Heaven ascension and meet his wife again. With the hell horde marching through Purgatory, Garner has no time to waste. He signs the pact. /// Structure The ga
Read more

[Review] Homefront

Image
Homefront is a modern military first-person shooter developed by Kaos Studios and published by THQ (the old one) in March 2011. /// Premise The year is 2027. The world has suffered a decade-long energy crisis, and economies have crumbled. Reduced to a mere shadow of the superpower it once was, the United States became the target of a North Korean takeover. American malls, suburbs, and city streets are now battlegrounds as the civilian resistance fights for freedom. (Side note) THQ 's marketing said the script was written by John Milius (of Apocalypse Now ), a blatant lie. In a report by Gamasutra later corroborated by Kotaku , former Kaos employees confirm Milius never wrote a single word of the script, affirming C.J. Kershner is the true writer, and that Milius's role was nothing more than a consultant. /// Overview Preamble: The COD comparisons. It is inevitable to talk about Homefront without mentioning the Call of Duty games. Regardless of the series current quality,
Read more

[Review] Serious Sam 3: BFE

Image
Serious Sam 3: BFE is an FPS game developed by Croteam and published by Devolver Digital  for PC on November 22, 2011. It received a host of improvements through the Fusion version of the game that was released on March 21st, 2017. Serious Sam 3 is Croteam's return to the series, between the release of Serious Sam 2 , they were busy with a legal battle with 2K Games for the publishing rights of the franchise, a canceled military shooter for another company, and believe it or not, a Doom game pitch for ID Software  that only fell  through due to time zone and staff size issues . Once those did not pan out, Croteam put their heads, ideas, and assets together to turn things around for the studio and make this game. The game had a rocky launch at first, did not have the best performance, garnered mixed reviews, lots of negative opinions, and for quite some time it was considered the worst game of the franchise. And there are still a few who firmly believe that. I held that opin
Read more

[Review] John Romero's Daikatana

Image
Daikatana is a First Person Shooter with RPG elements, developed by Ion Storm , with John Romero as the primary figure behind the game. Published by Eidos Interactive in April of 2000, three years after the planned 1997 release. This review is for the 1.3 patch version of the game. I also wrote a short article about its development and the uphill battle Ion Storm faced with the title. /// Premise Hiro Miyamoto, must wield the most powerful sword ever made, the Daikatana, and travel through time to find and stop Mishima Kage, a time-traveling warlord who altered time to become a supreme dictator. With the help of his two newfound allies, Superfly Johnson and Mikiko Ebihara. /// Structure The game's split into four separate episodes, consisting of around six maps each, culminating in a boss encounter. These are set in different ''eras'' with unique aesthetics, set of weapons, and enemies. Inconsistency is the term that better describes this game's quality. It
Read more

[mini] Bulletstorm: Fullclip Edition

Image
Bulletstorm is a first-person shooter developed by People Can Fly (the same studio behind Painkiller ) in collaboration with Epic Games . Published by Electronic Arts for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC. Later remastered and re-released in 2017 by Gearbox Software under the title Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition which is the version played for this review. /// Plot Bad boy black ops soldier Grey turns into a space pirate and swears revenge after being tricked into killing civilians by a comically evil, space confederate General Serrano. Years pass and Grey crosses paths with Serrano's capital ship, the situation goes south, leading to an emergency crash landing on the planet below. His friend gets injured, turned into an unstable cyborg, and off they go to enact revenge on the General, and maybe find a way out of the planet. It's a clichê fest and the game is aware of it. File it under Carmack's porno plot rule, expected story to be there but not the main draw. Als
Read more

[Review] Serious Sam 2

Image
Serious Sam 2 is an FPS game developed by Croteam , published by 2K Games (Take Two) released for PC and Original Xbox on October 11, 2005. The game was later re-released on Steam on January 31, 2012, this version was the basis for this review, using the most recent patch 2.90 , which added more features and restored some cut content from the game. Quick disclaimer, Serious Sam 2 is NOT Serious Sam: The Second Encounter , the whole thing is confusing but the first Serious Sam game was published divided into two games First and Second Encounters, for the sake of convenience I will refer to both games in this review as '' Encounters ''. /// Premise Serious Sam 2 is a direct sequel to previous Encounters , once again you take the role of Sam Stone, the one-liner spouting one-man army, continuing his quest to stop Mental and his hordes. This time Sam takes a trip to several different planets to acquire pieces of a special medallion that could help him in weakening Menta
Read more

[Review] Far Cry 2

Image
Far Cry 2 is an open-world FPS game, developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft . Released in North America on October 21st, 2008, followed by a global release in the following days. /// Premise The player takes control of a mercenary, hired by an unnamed third party to fly to this sub-Saharan African country, to assassinate the arms dealer fuelling the civil war, only known as The Jackal. Five minutes into the country and things don't go as planned. The cease-fire between factions is breached, and you find yourself stuck in this war-torn country with its borders closed, ridden with malaria, all that is left to do is mercenary work for both sides of the conflict, while you try to track down your target. Using smuggled weapons that came from the same guy you were hired to kill in the first place. Performance addendum Far Cry 2 nowadays is one of those games that need some fixing to work properly in modern systems. As Ubisoft hasn't updated the game over time to kee
Read more

[Review] Deep Rock Galactic

Image
Deep Rock Galactic is a co-op first-person shooter developed by Ghost Ship Games and published by Coffee Stain . Officially released May 13, 2020, after two years in early access period. /// Premise Congratulations miner, you have been hired by the Deep Rock Galactic Space Mining Corporation, to be part of the mining operations of Hoxxes IV, the single most lucrative (and hostile) planet in the galaxy. Infested with Glyphid killer bugs, Mactera, and all sorts of deadly creatures. That's where you come in, to subjugate a wild planet, we need the most tenacious, strong-willed, underground survivalists we can find. Mighty Dwarfs. /// Structure Deep Rock is a horde shooter with an emphasis on exploration, teamwork, and continued progression. There is no definitive end to it, and your mileage may vary based on how engaged you are in its core gameplay loop and progression systems. The more you play, the more content you come across naturally, flowing well in a simple but addictive loop
Read more