Recent reviews by Shockal

Tｈiｓ iｓ ｍｏrｅ oｆ ａ ｍiｘeｄ ｒeｖiｅw．

I would say it's 60% good, 40% bad.

I've now beaten the final boss on official (PvE). I like the map's varied terrain and new creatures. Plus, this is the first map with actual human NPCs, and I was delighted to see they were programmed to wield weapons, toss cryopods and use mounts. It gives this map more life than others before it.

But ARK being ARK, it's not free of problems...

The Skill Tree and its flashy notifications should NOT be visible to non-DLC owners. It's obviously there to tempt players to acquire the DLC, but to those who simply aren't interested, it becomes a significant annoyance. Then there's the missions, which sometimes asks you to kill enemies that are nowhere to be found, and entering the Lost City hits you with a steep framerate decline.

There's also the Official PVP issue. However, I do not care for Official PVP so this doesn't concern me.

On the bright side, many glitches errors I encountered back in December are gone today, so I hope things get better.

"Puzzle-game" is not something I've heard anyone describe PEAK as, but I personally would. As the ever-shifting layout of the mountain offers no predictable paths to the top, you're encouraged to seek a pattern in the rocks; plan and analyse the safest way up, and resourcefully decide what tools you'll expend to creatively overcome the next obstacle. This game makes you feel powerful for thinking ahead, but never once gives you the comfort of being unstoppable, for the hazards - as cruel as they are - always manage to feel like a just punishment on the player's missteps.

Playing this game, you will feel challenged. You will feel tiny in a giant world full of unknown surprises. And most of all, you WILL scream at your friends for feeding you a poisoned crispberry.

Think of this as more of a mixed review than an inherently negative review.

There's so much brilliant soul and creativity put into the characters, their animations and voices, and the world around them. Compared to the first Rivals of Aether, this game feels more alive. And my gosh, the SOUNDTRACK - it is so good. But the gameplay often felt like a struggle, because it was designed around hyper competitive aspects and not new/casual players, and has one of the harshest learning curves of any game I've played.

During a fight, you need to constantly micromanage animation cancelling, active frames, end-lag, DI data, ledgehopping, falling tech and more - at all times. Make just a few mistakes, and you'll be taken advantage of and crushed by most online players, because the game will frequently matchmake you against players above your level, even if you're not playing ranked. I still intend to learn more of the game, but 40 hours in and I still feel powerless.

Beyond multiplayer, there's not much you can do. Singleplayer's content is lacking, limited to bot fights and a target practice minigame. So multiplayer will inevitably comprise of most of your gameplay. I recommend going for lobbies or playing with a friend over the matchmaking system.

Things I am hoping for are a singleplayer storymode, mod support, and just a little tinker of how players are matchmade. The simpler mechanics, mod support and the casual tomfoolery it brought along is what definitely carried it for RoA1.

I was humorously recommended this game by Monster Hunter friends and found that the game was nothing like it at all.

This game tests your patience and awareness like no other game I've played before. Of course, you gotta go up to animals and shoot them, but animals get startled by all sorts of things: the noise produced from the speed you're moving, your scent drifted off by the direction of wind, your overall visibility and exposure in or beside foliage, etc. It's a surprising level of immersion that will make every animal you bag feel so rewarding, and every animal you miss feel awful. That soon turns into an addiction to improve your skills, and before you know it, you're hunting bigger game and unlocking new tools with a whole variety of personal expression.

Unfortunately, this game has a rather ridiculous number of paid DLC, but the base game is still great for its price. I ended up buying quite a lot of DLC regardless, since there's a lot of great detail and content that gets pushed into new maps and items. That said, I recommend waiting for a sale, since ideally, you wanna snag all the little things while they're cheap.

The strongest creature to exist in the Monster Hunter universe. Puffy Penguin consumed elders for breakfast.

Do you like Revontuli Coast? Do you like it so much that you'd buy a DLC that literally does nothing but give your guns bird-patterned spraypaint? Probably not.

I bought it anyways.

Your Orycto is unlikely to go to war with this paint. War aside, this is some very nice paint.

A game that'll keep you on the edge of your seat, and your heart beating faster as you sink further into its ever-progressing stages. Lethal Company delivers a crunchy pixelated aesthetic, thrilling monster designs, and a whole lot of stupid things that a good party of friends will absolutely trash around with.

Yes, that's right. BRING FRIENDS. You won't get quite the same experience with match-made strangers.

Since it was optimised for the Switch, Rise doesn't have the greatest graphics, nor particularly large maps. But I do find it to have an enjoyably unique combat system, boasting a huge platter of customizable attacks and some unusual armor skills, not to mention the highly-mobile wirebugs. Rise also doesn't waste any time getting you to the monster, and so reveals your target on the mini-map without needing to search for it first, and provides plenty of options to get there in a hurry. Overall, it's more focused on the fight than anything, although you'll still need to do the typical grinds' worth of gathering.

Now you can show off your 72-vertebrae neck in amazing, glowing fashion.