Review Tuesday: X-Rebirth

X-Rebirth; Post Release Review

Well hey there, friends, and welcome to Review Tuesday! Whoa! Wow! Anyways, today's review is gonna be on the fantastic "X" series of games. Well, fantastic to a point it seems. I am a big fan on the previous "X" games, with "X-3 Albion Prelude" being my favorite in the series. The whole vast galaxy set before you! Do what you wanted, make ships, buy ships, trade resources, be a pirate or a military officer, build space stations, advance science, raid traders, the choices were insane. And X-Rebirth was looking like it was going to be more of the same, but with a huge expanse on it!

That is, until it actually came out. Riddled with bugs, lacking content, laggy as hell for most people, systems missing, promises not held. It was a MESS to say the least. If I were reviewing the game when it first came out, I can promise you right now, this would be a 3/10. Below average. By the way, on the subject of ratings, a 5/10 is average. It does not mean it's a terrible game, it means it's a AVERAGE game. Average in the bad way? Yeah. Still average though, it's not an imminent dismissal to me, though. Now that I've gotten that out of the way, I'd like to talk about X-Rebirth in it's CURRENT state.

All those game breaking bugs seem to be MOSTLY mopped up. There was free content added, and a really cheap DLC came out that really expanded on that and added even MORE content. The lag, of course remains, but not nearly as badly as it originally was. That lag isn't going away until you get yourself a next-gen computer build up, sorry to say. The lag is worth it though, because the visuals are STUNNING!

I love coasting around and seeing the sights

Quite honestly, the game is worth the price of admission just to fly around and look at the gorgeous universe they've created. All the random space battles looks like a light show. A deadly one, though. Anyways, onto the systems, they all appear to be back in place, and any of them still missing are easily mopped up with the new (and desperately needed) workshop system, that lets you slap a mod into the game with a click of a button. They've even added in tons of in-game options to make all the tedious stuff MUCH quicker. Tired of going through eight menus and buying an auto-pilot module just to get a ship to follow you at 1/4th human intelligence? Just hire a captain for your ship, and tell them to follow you! Problem solved. The game is filled with simple fixes giving a breath of life to a series that desperately needed it.

I give the reworked X-Rebirth a 8.5/10

Get out there and make some money, captain!

Review, Kinda: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

WELL, is it really that time again? How do you feel about hurting others, do you enjoy hurting them? Frankly, I don't think you'll like the way this review ends... Mostly because it's not a very official review. Anyways, I was a huge fan of the first game, Hotline Miami. Great gameplay, crazy story, great visuals, A FANTASTIC SOUND TRACK, a game that gives you an UNEASY feeling while you play it. It makes you feel good but BAD for killing all these bad people. Though, it's not all quite right, because you're not a good person either... are you?

No, see, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, is much of the same, and that's not a bad thing in this case. It features an all new sound track, ties up any loose ends, even BETTER visuals, a crazier story that still somehow grounds itself on the Earth, and it made me feel even UNEASIER than the first. I felt like I WAS a terrible person doing all these killings, and honestly, that's a good thing. It was fun, while it also reminded me, I don't like hurting others, a question that is asked a few sparse times, but enough times to make you really think about it. Why are you killing these people?

 It was never told to you, but you did it anyways, because it's just a game, right? Well, yeah it is. Now, I'm not a great reviewer or anything, but, lemme tell you, this game really kept at what I loved from the original game, and it did it WELL. The levels are MUCH harder, but I got through the whole thing. And enjoyed it. Plus, I loved how well they connected it with the first game's story, and made everything much clearer. And it's WORTH sticking around for the ending. If just for that killer soundtrack. Hah. Killer. And here's a song for just that!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aLOkTo3IpU

I'd say, all things considered, I'd rate it a 9/10.

Well, don't just take my word for it, give the first game a spin if you haven't!
Don't get too comfortable, though... good things don't last long, do they?

-Austin