Oh Magicka. You are totally unstable, but you are a ton of fun. Magicka is the definition of a game that was released without actually passing QA. But here’s the odd thing, it’s actually a good game.
Basically, I could go into the game, but I rather just skip to the point and tell you that while it is a bit difficult to control, hard to get used to and full of co-op bugs, Magicka is still a game you should get (besides, the devs are actively working on bugs [the game has gone through like nine patches as of writing and it only released earlier this week]).
The game’s story is weaved with the perfect amount of humor, not too much to make you despise it, and not too little to make you want for it. The achievements are some of the game’s finest points (each contain a reference to some pop-culture item [firin mai lazer be one of them]). And to top it off, all of the game’s voice actors (minus the narrator and Vlad) are the Swedish Chef from the Muppets (and it isn’t annoying).
I cannot stress this enough, you ABSOLUTELY NEED to get this game.
Verdict: BUY
There is one outstanding game mechanic in SWRC, and that is that you can never really die. When you “die” you are really just incapacitated. And when you are incap’d, you have the ability to force the AI to come heal you or to make them follow current orders (btw, the menu looks awesome here).
Republic Commando has another amazing game mechanic, and that is to be an utterly INANE, EXTREMELY GENERIC FIRST PERSON SHOOTER. There is absolutely nothing else in this game that makes RC stand out against other games. It’s like the developers just gave up after making it just like Rainbow Six or any Tom Clancy game.
That’s not to say it’s a terrible game…well..actually, come to think of it, Star Wars Republic Commando is pretty bad. The levels can be rather confusing and full of tedious objectives and enemies (many of which [I'm looking at you Super Battle Droid] have obscene amounts of health and take forever to die).
Hell, the story isn’t all that great. They even pull the same stupid “Your team will be split up for the rest of the mission, and you will have to save at least one of them” crap that literally every squad FPS game does. Either way, this ended up being my favorite level (the death star like one).
The weapons are rather generic and rarely do anything against any enemy. Most of the time you can kill them with one stab of your Assassin’s Creed wrist blade (I’m not joking). This is a necessity as you’ll have no ammo after all the stupid Super Battle Droids you’ve encountered.
But overall, is it a bad sign that I enjoy dying in an FPS? Maybe. Either way, Republic Commando is the very definition of the word bland.
Verdict: PASS
Let’s face it, the majority of games based on existing properties tend to be really really terrible. But the few gems, like Batman Forever 64 and Transformers: WFC really stand out.
I absolutely adore this game. War for Cybertron is an extremely well executed game. The transforming mechanic feels natural and really contributes to gameplay (unlike what other people say, vehicle mode is a great way to get around and beat bosses). The downside is that a lot of the minibosses are rather generic and can get pretty boring.
But the locations, OH the locations. Whoever was the environmental artist is awesome. The levels look amazing and are easily navigable (there’s a few parts where this isn’t the case).
The singleplayer lasts for quite a while and is a lot of fun to play. The multiplayer is also good. There are a few weapons that are overpowered, but overall, it’s okay. Disappointingly, there are very few people online, with the most I’ve seen being about 132.
Verdict: BUY
Additional Notes:
This game is not a part of the movie series. It does not tie into the movies what-so-ever. Nor is it relatable to the previous games (WFC was made by High Moon Studios. The previous games were made by Traveler’s Tales [who make really crappy games]).
Writing a review about Section 8 is rather difficult. I’m so conflicted with this game. I played the beta for it way way back and I told the developers that the game needed a lot of work.
To tell you the truth, I have not played the full version yet, but I can tell you that if you are looking for a good single player experience, you should look somewhere else.
Section 8 is a hard game to review. It has so many interesting and well executed mechanics (and several poorly executed ones), but it’s broken by unbalanced fractions, obstructive objectives (DCMs) and maps that just fail.
That said, the running system is the best implementation of sprinting I’ve ever seen. It feels natural and looks amazing. Plus the ability to spawn anywhere isn’t too bad. Multiplayer was a lot of fun provided your team actually did anything. But the DCMs were too forced to make the game any fun.
All in all, this is a game you should not pay full price for. It is not worth anything over $10 dollars (judging from the beta).
Verdict: PASS
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