Author: George

Pokemon GO was one of the most hyped-up mobile games, as well as one of the most hyped-up Pokemon games.

The reason is simple. Everyone’s number 1 fantasy since 1996 (when Pokemon began) was to have Pokemon in the real world. Pokemon Go would come to fulfill that fantasy, but did it actually hit that mark, or did it fall short?

Being a mobile game, this review will have a general, gameplay and finally, personal thoughts section. Without further ado:

General

Though the Pokemon franchise belongs to Nintendo, most of their side series games are developed by different companies in collaboration with Nintendo.

Niantic is the company behind Pokemon Go, and they used the tools from their previous game called Ingress to build it. The game belongs in the small augmented reality subgenre, which is what it implies.

The game was so hyped up (due to the popularity of the Pokemon franchise) that, on release, millions of non-Pokemon fans downloaded and continue to play it to this day. Perhaps its simplicity as a game helps, but what is for sure is that the game is extremely popular to non-gamers too.

Gameplay

Being a virtual reality game, Pokemon GO utilizes the real world. It uses an internal GPS signal to generate the landscape around you and some points of interest/gyms based on real-world locations of interest. Close to points of interest (called Pokestops) spawn random Pokemon.

They are not fully random of course, there are some Pokemon that are more common than others, and their type is loosely based on your location (you’ll find more Water Type Pokemon near ports and beaches).

Every continent has its own exclusive Pokemon too. There are different exclusive Pokemon for different areas on the same continent too!

Your purpose is… well, to catch ’em all. Pokestops give you essential items to help you with your cause (mainly Pokeballs).

There are other items that can be used too, like potions for healing or berries that help you with catching wild Pokemon or might give you bonus rewards after you catch them.

To actually catch a Pokemon, you just need to flick a Pokeball at it and hope you catch it.

To move from one Pokestop to another, you must actually move, as in, use a vehicle or your own two legs.

This aspect of Pokemon GO helps with local businesses, as they can have a Pokestop. Some local businesses use an item called lure module which attracts Pokemon to that Pokestop, and offer free internet should someone buy something from them.

When you catch Pokemon, you earn some stardust and that Pokemon’s evolutionary line candy (i.e. Eevee and all of its evolutions will be using Eevee candies). stardust and candies can be used to strengthen the Pokemon, but you can collect the candies in order to evolve the Pokemon instead.

Pokemon have different strengths and potential (similarly to the main games) and there is a lot of micromanagement involved, which is why I recommend a guide if you want to play seriously. There is also a buddy system, which allows you to earn a specific Pokemon’s candy by walking.

You can also find (usually) rare Pokemon from Pokemon eggs, which can be found randomly from quests and Pokestops. There are 3 tiers of eggs, with each tier giving you more powerful and rare Pokemon.

There are the 2K eggs, the 5K, and the 10K eggs, which all imply the amount of walking you must do to hatch it.

To hatch an egg you need an incubator. You are given 1 basic incubator for free and you can find more from quests and level up rewards, or buy some.

By leveling your Pokemon, catching them, or evolving them you gain player experience. As you level, more and better items become available to find in Pokestops, and you gain some rewards.

After a specific level, you must choose which team you want to be a part of. There are 3 teams to choose from:

• Team Valor, which is the red team, with Moltres as their mascot. Team Valor believes that strength should be above all.
• Team Mystic, which is the blue team, with Articuno as their mascot. Team Mystic believes in knowledge and how it can be used for benefit.
• Team Instinct, which is the yellow team, with Zapdos as their mascot. Team Instinct relies on… instinct and intuition.

The teams won’t affect your gameplay too much so don’t worry about picking one.

However, every Gym is controlled by a team, and if it’s not your team, you can go fight the Gym Pokemon left behind until you take the Gym for your team.

If the Gym belongs in your team, you can leave a Pokemon behind to defend it if there is enough space to do so (and heal it if it battled).

Leaving Pokemon in a Gym will give you gold which is the game’s currency. You will get more gold if the Pokemon stayed there for a lot.

Gyms have raids periodically. There are super rare (and sometimes exclusive) Pokemon. These usually need 5 or more powerful trainers to defeat, and once defeated, you have a chance to catch it.

Raids are announced an hour beforehand (but not the Pokemon, just its strength) so you can plan accordingly. Every player has only 1 raid pass per day, except of course if you pay.

There are also battles, either Gym battles or trainer to trainer battles. Both work pretty much the same, you tap for your basic attack until your strong attack meter fills up and den you tap and hold to do the powerful move. Niantic will try to shake things up a bit but there won’t be much difference.

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Personal Thoughts

I have been a long time fan of Pokemon. I will really try to be objective about this since it involves one of my all-time favorite series even to this day.

I really think that Pokemon GO is… meh. The fantasy of catching Pokemon in the real world is swell and all, but it gets really obnoxious when you find out that it literally sucks your mobile’s MB or GB supply like a black hole.

Plus, the combat system is really dull, it gets monotonous after 2 or 3 battles. The changes won’t help much. I also dislike the power creep, where some Pokemon are generally going to be optimal.

I always thought that in the real world, Pokemon could be as strong as the trainer makes them (with the exception of legendaries and maybe pseudo-legendaries).

But, there are positives too. First things first, Niantic tries very hard to deliver new and exciting events, separately to the release of every generation, and to great success might I add.

If you are a working adult and don’t mind your cellular data, you will have a great way to pass the time if you are just walking.

Honestly, while it shouldn’t be supported as it is illegal, the most fun you can have is to use a tool that allows you to move your character without moving, i.e. a hacked or cracked version that allows GPS manipulation.

You will probably be caught for it and Niantic is extremely strict with them and rightfully so.

General Rating: 4.5

It’s not that the game is a disappointment, but if you are a hardcore fan of Pokemon, you know how great their games can be, so this rating is compared to the general franchise.

Do you play Pokemon GO? Do you like it? How much of a fan of Pokemon are you? Write so in the comment section down below.

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The images I used are from the following sites:

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With over a month of its release by the time this article is posted, TFT generally had as big of a reception as expected, if not bigger. Now that the dust has settled, and ranked play has been released (and I playtested it to my heart’s content), I can write my review with better judgment.

As always, there will be a storyline, gameplay, graphics & SFX, and finally, a personal thoughts section. There is already an article explaining TFT in general but it isn’t a review. You can check it out here. Without further ado:

Storyline

There is no actual storyline for this game, so practically it’s the same as League’s storyline as the same champions are used. You can check on League’s storyline on my review.

Gameplay

Again, most of the gameplay (if not all) is covered on my previous article about TFT. But, this is a review, so I’ll give you the basics.

TFT is a strategy game. Your aim is to buy the right champions in order to form the best comp. There is also the matter of how you position them so they can optimally use their abilities.

Every champion has 1 class and 1 (or very rarely 2) origins. You can combine a number of those classes and origins of different champions (the number is dependent on the class/origin itself) to gain a huge bonus that buffs up the champions sharing that class/origin. Sometimes, the buff may help the whole team.

It’s your goal to find the best possible synergies and utilize them. But it isn’t as simple as choosing your favorite comp (or the most OP if you are a meta slut), as the shop has generally random champion drops, so you will have to learn to Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.

The number of champions you can have is dependent on your level, but you also have a bench for keeping champions you might need later or some duplicates.

And I know what you’re thinking. The answer is no, duplicate champions don’t count toward the bonuses but you need them for something else.

And it’s not even as simple as finding the perfect champions for your comp. You must upgrade them too!

By finding 3 copies of the same champion you upgrade him to a silver version which is much stronger, combine 3 silvers (or a total of 9) and you get the super-duper gold version that kicks ass.

Just be careful as your bench only has 9 spots, and you will need to keep many champions that you might either need later on or are just waiting for an upgrade.

The game is separated with rounds. the first 3 rounds are PvE and it’s nigh impossible to lose unless you’re trying to.

Afterward, you fight with a random player every time, with the loser taking damage depending on how many champion the opponent has alive.

The objective is to be the last player alive, but the winners (from a ranked perspective) are the top 4 players from a total of 8 players.

Every 4 rounds, you will have a shared draft phase, where each player, starting with the last, choose a champion with an item from a pool of 12 champions and removing that champion from that pool. 2 rounds after the shared draft phase, there is another PvE round.

PvE rounds are useful for their drops. Generally, the monsters you kill will drop an item, gold, or even a high tier champion.

The items give your champions base stats (except the spatula…) and you can combine 2 of them to make a combined item which gives you both of its component’s stats plus a bonus effect. Rarely, you will get a whole item instead of 3 components.

Every champion can have up to 3 combined items. Items are very important, as sometimes you will want to shape your team around the items you find instead of the champions.

Also, some comps are extremely item reliant, and specific items, not just any items, so you’re gonna have to pray to get what you want some times.

Lastly, there is also the economy part of the game.

Generally, by playing the game you win gold (and not much change if you’re losing or winning, as long as you’re streaking). That gold is used to buy champions or experience, or reroll your shop to find the missing key component. But alas, it’s still not that simple.

You can actually go ham with your gold, or you can save up and get some interest, basically 10% of your gold for up to +5 from 50 gold.

So everything you do is very important because even when you are in the first place if you have no economy, even the last can eventually catch up and topple you.

You might have noticed the word luck (or any synonym or phrase that indicates RNG in general) in most of my paragraphs.

Many think that this game is heavily luck-based, but I beg to differ. Even though luck is an important factor, you don’t need it at all to get top 4 if you’re good.

Unless you’re playing with 7 equally good players and they are all luckier, so I guess… tough luck? But jokes aside, the RNG isn’t game breakingly deciding, and Riot will probably reduce it more if it affects gameplay.

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Visuals

Again, the same as League’s plus Little Legends. Little Legends are your avatar, and there are plenty to choose from, but you’re gonna have to pay to get some of the better ones (Rito pls).

Now something else, but that is for the ones who already played League before and had a dedicated account. If you didn’t just skip to the Personal Thoughts section.

Still here? So, Riot has most champions on their base skins, but some champions might have another skin. And you also don’t get a choice to flex showcase your wallet rich skin collection.

Why is that? It’s due to their origins. Riot wants new players to be able to understand a champion’s origin by just a glance, so most origins are color-coded after their element.

Personal Thoughts

TFT definitely deserves its praise, and there certainly is a reason for being so loved and popular.

The feeling of sitting relaxed while playing, without the need to be careful about the minimap, a gang, or anything fast-paced related, is unparalleled.

The fact that you don’t have a useless team to drag you is the frosting on the cake and the cherry on top.

Final Verdict

Storyline: –

Gameplay: 8.0

Visuals: 7.0

General rating: 7.5

Do you play TFT. What is your rank? Do you prefer it more than League and other MOBAs in general? Write to me so in the comments.

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Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) is among the most competitive and popular first-person shooter games in the world. The game also comes from a long-standing series.

Does it deserve all the popularity? This review will have a storyline, gameplay, graphics & SFX and finally, a personal thought section. Without further ado:

Storyline

The storyline is the simple and usual Terrorists versus Counter-Terrorists (CT) trope the series had since the beginning.

Gameplay

The gameplay is where all the game is at. The fact that you can be a Terrorist or a CT is not just cosmetic, you don’t just grab a few weapons and start slaughtering each other.

Each team has a different objective, a different start point and a few differences in equipment and weapon choice. Fortunately, to stay balanced, you’ll be playing half the game as one team, and for the rest of the game with the other.

Let’s start with their objectives:

There are (usually) two sites in any given map called the A Site and the B Site. The terrorists can use any of the two sites to plant their bomb. As a CT, your purpose is to guard both sites so no terrorists go through and kill them all.

If the terrorists get to plant the bomb, then the CT must defuse the bomb before it explodes in 40 seconds.

If the CT defuse the bomb they win the round, regardless of how many terrorists are alive.

Another alternative way of winning as a CT is to wait out the 3-minute timer, however, the timer is canceled if the bomb is planted.

The Terrorists have the exact opposite win conditions. They must either kill every CT or by the bomb exploding.

If the terrorists plant the bomb and then die, they can still win, as long as the bomb sets off.

As mentioned earlier, the bomb explodes in 40 seconds, and a CT need 10 seconds to defuse it without being interrupted (or 5 seconds if they bought a defuse kit).

There is a casual and competitive game mode, and they have quite some differences.

The competitive is the classic one; there are at most 30 rounds, but the games usually don’t reach that far.

The game is 5v5 and the first team to get to 16 points win. In the case of 15-15, the game is declared a draw. After the first 15 rounds, the players switch sides; the CT become terrorists and vice versa.

The ranking system is unknown as Hidden Path Entertainment and Valve maintain a silent state about it, but there are speculations. The general idea is that the better you play, the easier you climb.

The game is extremely competitive due to its complicated mechanics. Despite the objectives, it’s still not just a simple gun fest. The game has many micro and macro mechanics.

For starters, each game has a dedicated economy.

Each player has his own pot. You win money as a team based on a number of things like way of winning, the status of the bomb, opponents and allies alive, the weapons you use to kill and most importantly, early streaks.

There are many more things with the game’s economy that you’ll learn by playing. One simple thing is an “eco” round, in which you buy nothing to save money. The economy fully resets when the players switch sides.

You can use your money to buy a gun, a pistol, a Kevlar and helmet, a defuse kit if you are a CT, and up to 4 grenades (from a choice of 5).

The grenades are another thing on their own, as you have to learn how to effectively and optimally throw them, and their effects.

Each grenade is a lot different than the other, they even need a different number of bounces to explode. Some grenades can be used together as a combo.

The weapons are also quite complicated. As expected, each weapon has a different recoil, magazine, power, etc.

You will need to learn which weapon is optimal in which situation, when to burst fire, continuously fire, or one-tap (throwing a bullet at a time), which weapons can penetrate which materials, how much damage you deal and most importantly, where to aim to hit the head.

The game has friendly fire as well, this goes for anything. You lose money for killing a teammate and by killing too many teammates, or one teammate for too many rounds, you get kicked and banned temporarily.

Competitive requires A LOT of communication. The game has in-game voice chat, and you must use this to the fullest lest you want to lose every time. You must use it to give info on the enemy position, or enemy damage taken.

You can also use it when you want to cover a specific point, or trade a weapon, or before you use a grenade. Generally, you’ll want to use it as much as possible, as info is key to victory. I’m not even exaggerating!

It’s even possible to hear someone coming (unless he’s sneaking).

As you see, the game has a lot of macro (economy and positioning) and micro (grenade placement and weapon usage) to handle. That’s why I recommend trying out casual, despite it not being 100% accurate representation.

Firstly, casual games have half the rounds and the switch happens at 8 rounds.

Secondly, there can be up to 10 players in each team. The economy is also a lot different and there is no friendly fire.

There are also other game modes, like hostages and deathmatch. In hostage mode, the CT have to rescue at least one hostage and the Terrorists must make sure this does not happen.

In deathmatch, everyone spawns on random points in the map, with any weapon they choose (or a random one) and spawn immediately when they die.

The collect points by killing enemies. Deathmatch doesn’t have any competitive game mode, and hostages do have competitive but it’s not nearly as popular as the classic bomb scenario.

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Visuals

CS:GO has adequate graphics, especially for a game that can run on most PCs.

The maps are also well done, with some nice details along the walls and doors. CS:GO also has weapon skins unlocked either by buying them with real money or through various loot boxes that drop randomly when you play.

But to open them you need keys, which also cost real money. There are also some “stat-trak” weapons that count every kill you take with that specific weapon. The counter persists through games.

Personal Thoughts

CS:GO is a very well made game, and this shows as it is among the top 5 in the esports department. The game lives from the competitive nature, and is the go-to game for anyone who likes FPS games and competitiveness, especially now that the game is free.

Unfortunately, the game lacks in one department. Like every competitive multiplayer team game, the team will usually drag you down. Unless you have your own squad, be prepared for some serious trolls.

Final Verdict

Storyline: –

Gameplay: 9.0

Visuals: 8.0

General Rating: 8.5/10

If you have any questions or requests, just leave a comment below and I will answer as soon as I can.

You can support us and get notified when we post a new article by following us on Twitter, liking our Facebook Page and sharing our articles.

The images I used are from the following sites:

www.igdb.com

Crusader Kings II is a grand strategy game able to rival other major strategy games like Civilization and Europa Universalis (with which they connect). This review will have a storyline, gameplay, graphics & SFX and finally, personal thoughts section. Without further ado:

Storyline

The game doesn’t have a storyline. It’s set usually in the early medieval times, but generally, any game can start from 769 to 1066 and the game ends in 1453.

Many historical events happen in the game regardless of the in-game events. A good example of this is the Ottoman Invasion in Constantinople.

Gameplay

Crusader Kings II is not like any traditional strategy game as it has some RPG elements to it. Before you begin, you can choose your empire, kingdom, duchy, county, etc…

Beginning as a count is considered the hardest option, as you don’t have many options during the early game, and you are always under many others who are able to stop your advances through just a command.

Before you begin, you have the option of creating your own ruler, in appearance, religion, culture, and nationality.

You can also some of his stats, but every stat alters his age based on its power. You can likewise give him some characteristics that also change your age.

These characteristics range from brave and strong to hunchback and lustful, and just about anything you can think of. Finally, you choose the number of children, and each child also increases your age.

Once you are in the game, you have two purposes.

Firstly it is the usual one. Sustain your provinces to stand the test of time.

The second one, however, is far more interesting, due to its uniqueness. You have to sustain your Dynasty (family).

This means that before your character dies (and trust me, this can happen at any time!), you must have a valid heir from your bloodline. Once you die, you take over as the heir you sculptured.

Before I delve deeper into the Dynasty system, let’s get to the actual gameplay.

The game has many complicated systems. Generally, the map is split into counties. Each county has a major city that can have 1 or more provinces. You cannot control more than a specific number of them (a number that is calculated from some of your stats).

If you exceed the number, you must set some of your vassals to rule over some of your territories, for a price of course.

By controlling enough (specific) counties, you can create a duchy. Have enough duchies and you can create an independent kingdom. And like this, you can work your way up to an emperor.

You also have your own council, with 5 positions, each representing one of the 5 stats. You also choose your councilors and their tasks in order to better manage your lands.

Warmongering in this game is different. You cannot just create units by paying resources, instead, every province has its own number of levies (troops) dependent on each province’s buildings.

In order to declare war, you must have a valid Casus Beli, and you win the war by defeating enemy armies and towns enough times to make them surrender.

You can also take a county by birthright; if you marry one of your children with that county’s count, heir, or any heir in line after the first.

Afterward, you can try to assassinate every heir until you reach to your child, which will give you a strong claim to that county. These apply (but are harder to do) to duchies, kingdoms, and empires.

Now, on to the character system. Your first goal should be to get married. But that is a hard decision to make.

Firstly, if you get married to some nobody, you will lose prestige, which is important to the game.

Secondly, her stats, nationality, culture, and religion are very important, as there is a high chance that your children will inherit some of her characteristics.

Following that, you have to care for your children. You have to choose a guardian, which will be the central figure in their life.

You must also choose childhood and teenage focuses, which determined their characters and stats as they grow.

Finally, you have to decide which one will be your heir (also depending on the succession law of your realm).

Throughout the game, you will get some random events. These determine things like characteristics (which affect your stats), or other events that are about your realm.

There are also some paranormal events like meeting with death, which gives you a high chance of dying, and an event that makes you practically immortal (you can only die in war or from assassination).

The game has many other game concepts and mechanics, but I suggest you learn about these as you play, as if I start explaining, it might get too overwhelming.

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Visuals

The graphics aren’t anything amazing. In fact, this game can be played without a problem on most PCs, even some of the toasters. It is a low-spec game, which actually gives it a bonus, as most other grand strategy or 4X games require very good specs.

Personal Thoughts

Crusader Kings II is a very fun game to play, especially if you are a strategy game fan and don’t have the PC for higher-spec games.

The overwhelming amount of mechanics is bound to keep you for hours, and the randomness of the game and the Dynasty system will keep you hooked.

The negatives include its win conditions and its price. About the win condition. There is no clear win condition other than having the highest score when the game ends, or when all players die.

About, the price, since this is a still updating game, there are many expansions and DLCs, which all cost extra, so I highly recommend you buy them all on Steam sales.

I forgot to mention that if you finish a game without dying, you can take that game’s data and transfer it as it is to Europa Universalis IV.

Final Verdict

Storyline: –

Gameplay: 9.0

Visuals: 7.0

General Rating: 8.0

Have you played Crusader Kings II? Have you enjoyed the review? If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments below.

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When playing games, what excites me the most is anything element related. Most games fail to implement elements correctly and you wind up with characters that control 2 or 3 of the elements.

I personally always wanted to play a game where you feel like the Avatar (from the masterpiece series Avatar: The Last Airbender and Avatar: The Legend of Korra) and with Wizard of Legend, you do just that.

This review will per usual have a storyline, gameplay, graphics & SFX and finally, personal thoughts section. Without further ado:

Storyline

You begin as a simple visitor in the museum of …… where after a small tutorial tour where you learn the basic controls and storyline elements, a portal opens up and takes you to the past, at the time where the Chaos Trials were held.

Any wizard who beat the Chaos Trials will be crowned Wizard of Legend and that is your ultimate goal.

Gameplay

The game is a classic dungeon crawler game (the newer generation ones). Unlike most of them, however, you do have a basic setup that you choose before you enter which is entire of your own making instead of beginning with the same types of attacks every game and progressing through the dungeon. There is however progression, or else it wouldn’t be considered a dungeon crawler game. 

Inside the dungeon, by defeating monsters and bosses you gain gold and chaos gems. Gold is the in-dungeon currency used to buy arcana (the arcana are the objects which allow you to channel each spell) and relics (relics are passive items) from the shopkeepers in each floor.

Those spells and items are temporary and are lost when you leave the chaos trials. Chaos gems are the out of game currency, used to permanently unlock spells and relics for future use when entering the dungeon.

The arcana are divided into 5 elements, water (and ice), fire, electric, air, and earth (and poison).

Each spell has a variant in all 5 elements but there are some that are unique to each element.

Each element has loosely their own playstyle too, but you can combine anything successfully if you find it fits you. As is the case with those kinds of games, each element is strong against one and weak against another in a perfect cycle of fire -> air -> earth -> electric -> water -> fire.

There is also a secret sixth element, chaos, which is unlocked upon beating the chaos trials for the first time. Chaos arcana are generally stronger due to their rarity.

Arcana are further divided into 4 subcategories: basic, dash, regular, and signature. You will pick one of each prior entering the dungeon.

Inside the dungeon, you may find or buy more regular arcana. Each arcana has an upgraded version. More analytically:

• Basic Arcana are your basic attack. They have no cooldown and are your go-to arcana for most situations.
• Dash Arcana are your movement spells. Defaulting with space, generally, dashes have no cooldown so you can dash all you want, but the dash arcana effect (like leaving behind traps or an ice clone) will (almost) always have a cooldown.
• Regular Arcana is your basic un-upgraded spell. Pretty simple, it has its effect (which you should know since you chose it) and you use it whenever you deem necessary and is off cooldown.
• Signature Arcana is your combo maker and your most powerful spell. You might notice that it’s an upgraded version of a regular arcana (and that is true, every signature arcana can be used as a regular spell if one wishes), but there is a catch. There is a meter that fills as you hit monsters with your other arcana. Once that meter is full your signature arcana goes automatically off cooldown and can be used for a bonus effect that is usually 3 times as strong as the original. The signature arcana cannot be replaced nor changed while inside the Chaos Trials. They are also unlocked differently from the other arcana, by defeating a stage boss.

You will also choose two more things before entering, your staring relic and your cloak.

Relics, as stated, are passive items, and cloaks, besides making you look stylish, also give you (or take away) some stats.

Depending on the cloak, you might have a bonus effect (like being able to heal out of combat).

There are also other changes you can make before entering through the various NPCs but I’m only gonna focus on the two most prominent.

The first is the cursed relic shop. Cursed relics are relics that give you a powerful effect and a big disadvantage, and you cannot get rid of them unless you die.

The cured relic shop has a random choice between three, and there is no inventory which means that you buy it only once, and if you want to use it again you will have to wait for it to reappear in the shop. You can also find cursed relics inside the dungeon.

The second is practically the hard mode. After beating the chaos trials for the first time you can make the game harder.

Normally, the game has scaling difficulty, as you move forward, the harder it gets.

However in the hard mode, every enemy and boss is as hard as it would be if you were on the final stage.

The game is split into 3 (+1) stages each with 3 sub-stages for a total of 10 levels. Each stage (except the last) has a main element, and its final boss on its final substage is the master of that element. The first two sub-stages contain two mini-bosses that unrelated to any element.

The game also has a co-op mode, but that requires 2 controllers or one controller and one keyboard, sadly, you cannot play online or even LAN. In co-op, every player has his own build, but share gold, which makes the game more tactical. When one player dies, he can be revived when the other player defeated enough monsters.

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Visuals

The game’s graphics are plain 2D looking graphics which is as it should for a dungeon crawler. That is not to say however that is doesn’t look good, the arcana animation is amazing and when comboing, you really do feel like the Avatar.

One thing I have to note is the level of detail that went inside each dungeon, each one is very fitting with its respective element.

Personal Thoughts

Wizard of Legend is a dungeon crawler that is definitely worth its money. It has an active community and developer team that introduces new features and arcana very frequently. It also fulfills your fantasy of controlling the elements. It is very versatile and every build has potential.

I suggest you wait for it to go on sale to buy it, and I’m sure you’ll like it.

Final Verdict

Storyline: 6.0

Gameplay: 8.5

Visuals: 8.0

General Rating: 7.5

That’s it for my review. Have you tried this game? Do you have any questions? What is your favorite build? Just leave a comment below.

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The images and gifs I used are from the following links:

www.wizardoflegend.com

www.igdb.com

The two Portal games are puzzle-platforming games released from Valve, which explains why there isn’t another sequel as Valve seems to be allergic to the number 3.

A legendary game, the legacy it left behind is huge. Why did such a seemingly simple game become so popular? The review will be split into storyline, gameplay, graphics & SFX and finally, personal thoughts. Without further ado:

Storyline

The storyline is mostly experienced by the in-game dialogs (mostly from the game’s other characters, the main character is the classic “silent protagonist” archetype).

Most of the story (backstory rather) is also experienced in the second game as the first game is quite short on its duration.

The general idea is that you are being used as a test subject for a facility known as Aperture Science, testing their newest invention: the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device, or the portal gun, a gun that lets you fire two different portals that you can teleport from the one portal’s location to the other’s.

Other than that, it is heavily implied that the game takes part in the same universe and timeline as the Half-Life series, and the game’s events run parallelly to Half-Life.

Gameplay

The portal gun is the game’s main gimmick. You are tasked with solving puzzles that require you to place the two portals creatively in order to clear objectives and move on.

Sometimes, key timing is required, and other usage of momentum and gravity are used.

Seldom, reflection mechanics are to be used, and/or any combination of the above.

The puzzles get more and more complicated as you move on, but there isn’t a puzzle that can’t be solved with enough thinking; the game is not known for being difficult after all.

Besides the puzzles you must solve, there are oftentimes some obstacles and hazards in the environment.

The obstacles are mainly turrets, either regular sentry turrets that shoot on sight or rocket turrets, which shoot a rocket after locking on.

The second game also has a co-op multiplayer mode that takes place right after the events of the single-player campaign.

The gameplay remains largely the same except the fact that you have to think more cooperatively on where each player should place his portals.

The SFX of the game is mostly ambient sound, as it should be, as you don’t need any distractions on a puzzle game.

There are however two ending songs, one for each game, and I must say, they are amazing!

The songs are sung by the game’s antagonist, GLaDOS, a character that you are bound to love.

The voice acting, the lines, even the character herself (she is technically an A.I.) are delivered flawlessly.

The killer robotic turrets also sympathize with you if you kill them. Generally, the voice acting in both games is perfect, and it specifically Elaine McLain’s performance helped GLaDOS won many best character awards. Her song, Still Alive, also won some awards itself.

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Visuals

The graphics of the game are similar to Half-Life 2’s graphics, as due to their restrictions, the team working on the original game re-used the art style from Half-Life 2. That is no detriment of course, as the graphics are quite polished. Generally, the games don’t look their age.

Personal Thoughts

Portal might not seem much at first glance, but firstly, the game was very innovative. There never was another game to utilize the mechanics that Portal does.

Plus, there were many memes left in the gaming community after its release, and the game also left us GLaDOS and her witty lines and songs. Even though I keep mentioning GLaDOS, the other characters are likable too, even the game’s silent protagonist, from what you can gather about her at least.

Objectively, despite the game being a puzzle game, it will definitely make you have the feels at some point or another. The game is fluid and fun, and there is a certain amount of satisfaction after you solve each puzzle.

There is a reason after all, that the first game was voted best game of 2007. The game has numerous other awards and very scarce complaints. The game even has an award for the best sidekick character give to a literal object!

In all honesty, I really believe that the games only have two negatives: first, they never had another sequel, and second, once you play them, you will never be able to relive these experiences for the first time.

The game is more than worth its price.

Final Verdict

Storyline: 9.5

Gameplay: 9.0

Visuals: 8.5

General Rating: 9.0

Have you played Portal? Do you consider playing it? Do you have any questions? If so, just leave a comment and I will answer as soon as I can.

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Heroes of the Storm (abbr. HotS) is another one of the popular MOBAs, but it has been declining steadily in the past years. Is it due to it being a bad game, or is there another reason?

The review will per usual have a storyline, gameplay, graphics & SFX and finally, personal thoughts section. Without further ado:

Storyline

There is a big, multi-dimensional storm called the Nexus. The Nexus itself can destroy universes, but it can stabilize others.

Those stabilized inner universes are called Realms, and each Realm has its own lord. Some Realm lords fight with each other for dominance.

In order to wage their wars, they use the heroes that are transported there from the universes of Warcraft, Diablo, and Starcraft. The heroes themselves can’t die; their death is only temporary.

The lore isn’t something too big if you want to get into it, and it only recently started forming.

Gameplay

The gameplay is the classic MOBA one, on its basis at least. Blizzard decided to change it up a bit, so the game could be independent, not just another usual MOBA.

One of the main differences in HotS is that it doesn’t have a stable game mode, rather there are different maps with different layouts and strategies.

Another difference is the game structure. HotS is not reliant on grinding for gold and experience, on the contrary, HotS doesn’t even have a shop and items. The experience is shared among the team, which means that no one player can snowball and carry the game.

The game is also very objective focused. Each map has its own big objective (like holding an area for some time, or killing some minions, or even escorting the payload!) which helps a lot toward winning the game. These objectives are almost always heavily contested which makes the game very fast-paced.

There is a progress system, of course, it wouldn’t be a MOBA without it. As the team levels, every hero has a choice of talents to enhance their skills or some sort of passive.

Overall, HotS tends to be a very teamwork-oriented game and quite fast-paced too. It can, many times feel like you are being dragged down by your team.

There are also some weird heroes that totally bend the rules, but that is more fun than not.

The SFX are what you’d expect. You can understand what’s happening and the announcer never confuses you.

What’s really good is the fact that you can see and hear your favorite characters from any of Blizzard’s popular games with new lines and their iconic traits and skills, albeit a bit renewed and rebalanced.

There are also many announcers to choose from, all heroes within the Nexus.

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Visuals

The graphics are a little more polished than its would-be competitors DotA and LoL, which means that by a small margin, it’s harder to run. It’s nothing too obvious though.

Other than that, the graphics are good, there is never a cluster of effects to confuse you and you can understand what’s happening. The maps look very good, it is Blizzard after all.

There are also many maps based on the universes from the popular games and Blizzard did an excellent job at reimagining them.

Personal Thoughts

Generally, HotS is a very fun game, fast-paced and teamwork-oriented. The bonus of characters you already know and love makes for a very good combo. In fact, as I have stated before, it is my favorite MOBA. Alas, it comes with negatives.

Firstly, HotS is very casual. There is no other way to see it, the game is not as intense as the other MOBAs.

That is fully evident now that the esports scene is no longer supported, and thus, doesn’t exist anymore. Which is another con.

No matter how good you are, you can’t profit, and you will not be rewarded for your skill.

The future of the game seems stable, but with a game that doesn’t have an endgame, no goal, and is doomed to be played just for fun, it really doesn’t seem sustainable.

The game is free to play (which is very weird, considering we’re talking about Blizzard), and the company is pouring money for it. If they see that they are only losing money, they will slowly cut it out. They won’t delete the game or anything, but they’ll stop supporting it with further updates.

I’m very sad about this development, as I really thought that HotS had potential. But I still do recommend you to play the game.

If you don’t want an intense experience and looking for the meta and the optimal strategies and builds, or if you just want to get in touch with some of your favorite characters, I wholeheartedly support this decision.

The game is worth it while it’s still supported, so I recommend it to anyone willing to look past its flaws.

Final Verdict

Storyline: 7.0

Gameplay: 7.5

Visuals: 6.8

General Rating: 7.1

That’s it for my review. Have you played HotS? Do you enjoy the game and its wackiness? Were you disappointed when you heard about the cut in esports? Let me know in the comments below, and I will get back to you.

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The images I used are from the following sites:

www.igdb.com