Recent reviews by Flowmad

Kino

I'm just making this review to let people know that the game is now at a state which it should have been on release and its ok to buy now. 4 Player Splittscreen has unfortinately not been added though but it works now atleast. The mostly negative reviews were deserved, maybe they will stick but overall never re-release an old game more broken than the original release ever again, thanks.

Great Game!

This game is more like Dark Souls 1 and 2 than compared to later SoulsBorne games in the sense of that the world is very interconnected and combat is a bit slower but still quick which was something i was missing in the genre.

The bosses in this game aren't as fine tuned just like how they weren't in classic Souls games which means you wont bash your head in for 5 hours if you are an experienced Souls player while still being challenging, and i prefer it this way honestly.

The game had a bit of a rocky start but most major problems have already been fixed with almost daily patches and the Dev-Team is still working hard in improving it further including a roadmap and seasonal events.

Its one of the few games where i had the urge to complete all Achievments,
so its highly recommended!

Quality of Life Update

This week's update features various quality-of-life improvements, including:
-Account linking option added in-game
-The addition of a new Launcher which includes a Store to purchase new content

Aaaaand thats it for that "Quality of Life" Update, didn't even touch the game.
I cant believe this is real..... lol

Foreword: This Review is for people who own the original DX9 version with the DLC's. If you don't own the game then what are you waiting for? Go ahead and buy the DX11 version and if you own the DX9 version without the DLC's then its deffinitely be worth upgrading too. I changed this review because after playing through the whole game, i realized that it offers a lot more than i thought after my first impression of this version which was 3 hours into the game to the last giant.

The Review:

Remember when you played the DLC's and thought "why doesn't have the base game this level of quality?" Now it has! Well, almost.

The level design is still almost the same but the changes they made make the game feel a lot more fresh and make some areas more than just a corridor with tons of enemies in them. Some people made the comparison to Zelda: Ocarina of Time Master Quest but thats not exactly right. I mean its harder than the original in some areas but it isn't much harder than the original version, just better balanced in terms of gameplay. In some areas they actually took out some enemies and replaced them with stronger ones and with some enemies you wouldn't even expect to see in certian areas, like at all. So it makes the game a bit more challanging with way less BS. There are now NPC invaders through the whole game which follow you and have actually a point to the plot (one in specific). They act like they had in the DLC's with gestures and nasty tactics which will get you off guard.

Going back to the level design; some of the changes they made are subtle but big at the same time and make the game a lot more interesting to explore, even if you already played the original version. One of the changes made me actually go "WOW". For example without any spoilers; remember the dragon skeleton in Aldia's Kept which was just a "meh" shock moment? Now it actually has a POINT in the game. Also the torch gets finally some use and can reveal some new secrets even though there aren't many new dark areas in the game but you still will use it quite frequently. There are also a lot more petrified statues in the game which will block your way which makes the world they designed a lot more interesting and make you decide if you wanna use a fragrant branch of yore now or keep it for later and you can revisit an area to see what you missed behind that statue. Also the key items for the DLC areas have to be found now and you don't get them magically into your inventory which makes these areas more connected to the main game and a little bit of a secret.

A little add up to the graphics; sure they aren't much better then the original but atleast you don't have to use any third partie tools anymore to make the game look like a current game, so thats a plus (also you don't have to fear anymore to get softbanned). Also after playing the DX11 version its hard to go back to the DX9 version because in there everything looks bland while in the DX11 version everything pops more out and looks nicer.

BTW: THEY FINALLY FIXED THE DURABILLITY BUG!

Conclusion:
This is what Dark Souls 2 should have been and feels a lot more like a true sequel to the first one. After playing the game through i feel like the upgrade for € 15.- are justefied. If you are only interested in PVP then i'm not sure if you have to upgrade, but the playerbase gets smaller in the DX9 version and i think you will need to upgrade at some point anyway but its deffinitely worth it.

Also i wanna apologize for being kind of missleading at first but the first impression i had was terrible but the changes of the game will unfold itself if you keep playing and you will think "huh, that is actually pretty damn good and makes finally sense now."


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Old first impression review
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I'm not sure for what i spend € 15.- for, i pretty much just bought the PC version again with minor changes. The graphics are better than the vanilla DX9 version but not by much and we have seen better results in the old version with mods like GeDoSaTo and ENB. But i knew befor that the graphics are not gonna be as good as in the Reveil Trailer from 2013 but i expected them to be a little bit better. Where exactly is the DX11 feature used here? I don't see how this couldn't have been implemented into the DX9 version.

But what disappoints me the most is the gameplay/level design. I expected it to be more different than the DX9 version but its in a lot of places almost the same, except a few new enemy placements here and some new item placements there and thats it. I think the biggest change is and i think for most a big deal, is the 6 player co-op. I would have loved to test that but there is a huge problem; it still doesn't work for me properly, even in the DX11 version (improved MP connectivity my arse). I always had this problem that getting invaded or summon another players doesn't really work, only sometimes but invading other players or getting summoned always worked for me and in the DX11 version it has still the same problem. There is a solution for this by opening ports in your router but i just have a modem that is a router at the same time and thats why i can't adjust the settings with that thing. I was hoping they fixed this here finaly but i guess i'm on my own in this version too. What a shame.

Speaking of shame and things that should be fixed by now; the durability bug is STILL in this version even though the so called improved engine should be optemized for 60FPS but i guess not. The funny thing is that on the PS4/Xbone is this bug now too because there the game runs at 60FPS as well. lol

Conclusion:
If you own the original with all the DLC's then you don't need this version. Its a great game and i love to keep playing it from time to time but its just not a well worth Remaster of the original game which justifies a repurchase. If it would have discounted to € 5.- for having the DX9 version with the season pass then it would have been alright but its not worth to upgrade for € 15.- because its pretty much the same game and that is very unfortunate.

Went in skeptical, end up loving it and thats from someone who played DMC3 and 4 first. Defenetly worth being part of the DMC series and worth to play. One of the best looking games on PC right now, the Artstyle is just amazing and meant to be played on a fairly good PC. I used maxed settings and got a solid 60 FPS and i don't even have a good or up to date PC and that really surpriced me, really good port.

Combat may not be as fleshed out as in DMC4 (which has the best combat system in the series in my opinion) but hell is it fun! The gaming mechanic by switching between Demon and Angel mode by using the R and L trigger might be confusing at the beginning, but if you get a hang of it then you bust out combos like crazy. One thing i didn't liked was when enemies arrived which forced me to use Demon or Angel weapons and forced me to play with a style i didn't liked but that isn't that often the case and makes it actually a bit more challanging. The platforming is also a HUGE improvment compared to previous installments and actually fun.

I also think you can give the new Dante a chance, he is not as bad as people made him out to be even though some of the stuff he said made me scratch my had and facepalm a couple times, overall he is ok like Nero from DMC4. But the Old Shool Dante will always be the best. Anyway, story and characters are ok too, but the writing is kind of terrible. Like i said, some of the stuff Dante said made me scratch my head because of the bad writing. The story still got me hooked for a while and actually surpriced me at the end, defenetly worth to check it out. To bad Ninja Theory were so dickish to the original fanbase, that is probably why this game bombed sadly, but haters and the fans should really give this game a try because its really good, i enjoyed it a lot.

Its ok for a very high discount, but not really for € 10.-, let me explain why.

Its pretty uninspired and very short (3-4 hours), its one of the worst sequel of this generation, its very insulting. The story is almost non existent, many plotholes and the game is basically "OH SH*T duck shoot duck shoot". The gunplay is not that good and thats a huge problem because thats the only thing you do in this game. Enemys take way too many hits and its hard to hit them in a long distance. If they hit you, you mostly fall down and you have to get back up, in the meantime you are a very easy target and you die fairly fast in this game, especially if some guy sneaks up to you and shoots you in the back. The coversystem is also a joke, you get hit so many times anyway. The AI is actually pretty bad, some enemys just stand in the open or take in open places cover and civilians sometimes just act like nothing is going on and walk casually into your shooting sight. Some parts are so hard because the game throws so many enemys at you that you can barely survive and there are also stupid escort missions (ugh...), all this probably because to extend the game lengh, but in a bad way.

It almost seems like the devs put most of their effort into the Multiplayer that no one wanted and cared about in the first place and also into visuals, irritating mobilephone filming filter effects and the annoying as hell shaking cam and called it "immersion", but actually forgot to make the mouths of the characters move when they talk in gameplay (they did in the first one actually). It also seems like they cut allot of content and ideas out of this game because of time isssius and rushed it out of the doors, there are some huge areas where you just run through and its nothing going on there. The ending is one of the biggest middle fingers in gaming i have ever seen, when you thought the game is finally about to start, it just ends without warning and lefts you with some stupid porn music in the credits and you're like "huh? What, thats it? THATS IT?! WTF?!".

They probably thought the Multiplayer will hold this game up and thats why there was allot of focus there, but no one is playing that anymore and thats not what the original Kane and Lynch was about. It was about the two antiheroes, one a professional criminal with a dark past and one a psychopath with mental blackouts, in a cruel and tragic storyline against a powerfull criminal organisation, all inspired by movies like "Heat". But they threw everything that made the first game good out of the window (the good characters and what made them interesting, engaging storyline, different locations etc.) and desided to make one generic immersive shooter instead and reduced the gameplay just into "duck, shoot, duck, shoot" with a annoying shaking cam and ugly filter effects which just looks cool in trailers but doesn't feel good in the game.

Kane and Lynch 2 improved nothing as a sequel gameplay wise over the original and made actually some things worse and the first one wasn't actually that good in the first place, but still much better than this. Where are the teammates which i can give orders like in the first one? There is only Kane, but he doesn't seem to do much and i can't give him any orders. In the first one we had multiple teammates that can revive you with a adrenaline shot for a second chance, but you would die of an overdose if you get another injection immediately after you had one already or if your teammates dont make it to your position in time. The only downside of this is that your teammates can die too and you have to revive them in time as well, that can be really annoying if they go down in a position with allot of enemy fire, but this does mostly only happen in later levels. There was also a system where you can change weapons with your teammates and give them the ones you want. This could have been improved in the sequel, but they desided to drop all this entirely instead and if you go down, you're just dead now, no adrenaline shot, not be able to change weapons with kane and no orders. In the first one we had splitscreen co-op on PC, but they removed it in the sequel and made it console exclusive. Why?! There is no reason to remove this, i don't get it if developers do something like that, especially if it was in the first one. They also removed grenades and smoke grenades which you were be able to throw and also the ones from your enemys back as well, but now we have fire extinguisher and oil containers which we can throw and enemys can throw them too. Its a neat idea, but there is no reason to remove grenades completely anyway. In the first one we had unique locations like the streets of an american city, the bank, the prison, the tokio nightclub, the skyscraper, the streets of tokio and also havana. In the second one we got the slums of shanghai, a skyscraper with an office and the airport, thats it! It was a game that had HUGE potential because of its predecessor, but they screwed up almost across the board.

I was actually one of the people that waited for this game because i liked the first one allot, but i'm glad that i waited for the reviews and didn't bought it on full price. I'm still dissapointed though but not as burned as others because i had patience and waited for the price drop, this is why i'm glad that a platform like Steam exist. Later i found the Kane and Lynch 2 i wanted actually in Max Payne 3 which was ironically hated by the fans of the previous Max Payne games too. But atleast it didn't forgot its roots completely and its a great game with nice value and has a engaging storyline with interesting characters and awesome gameplay, like Kane and Lynch 2 should have been.