Recent reviews by Captain Parallax

I'm only not recommending this on principle for including "Always Online" connectivity in what is primarily going to be an offline experience. It's a scourge on video games and has no place in a sim.

Otherwise, it feels good on my Thrustmaster TS-PC, it runs nicely on a 3090 and like I did with AMS2, I'll stick around for the development journey. There's just not much content at the moment, so if you crave variety but don't want to risk your money, it's probably best to wait for more content updates.

Abandoned game, Take Two absolutely destroyed the studio working on it and are now sitting on the IP with no active development currently happening. Under Australian Consumer Law, this game shouldn't even be sold - it isn't and does not show any sign of becoming the product that we, the consumer, were promised. Just buy KSP1 and mod the everloving ♥♥♥♥ out of it.

Tabletop Simulator is responsible for:

- Getting me to learn Catan and its expansions
- Going down the rabbit hole of purchasing IRL Catan and Seafarers boxes
- Establishing a new board game king at family game nights on New Year's Eve
- Starting a 6 player game that agonisingly played out until 3am

oh and apparently there are countless other boardgames, D&D campaigns and any other tabletop activity you can imagine on the steam workshop

BUT

if you have to choose just one board game to keep coming back to, make it Catan.

TLDR: it very good

The slew of new items, new enemies and 2 new survivors that come with this DLC breathe new life into Risk of Rain 2. Simulacrum mode is a nice change of pace to a standard playthrough as well, challenging you to pass as many waves of enemies as you can.

The one major gripe I have with the update is that it's slowed down the game's loading times a ridiculous amount. I have RoR2 installed on an M.2 drive and it has taken upwards of 5 minutes to even get to the opening cinematic. Definitely annoying when I just want to get right into the action, but once loaded in, everything's fine.

If you've found yourself at the store page for this soundtrack in the first place, you should get it.

Currently I've played through Adventures and the first trial of Resolve on Switch and, barring a few confusing court segments, thoroughly enjoyed it. The Great Ace Attorney is probably one of, if not the strongest entry in the entire series when it comes to the OST.

Special mention for my favourite songs include Suspense 1, Court is Now in Session and the entire Dance of Deduction suite

So it's been over 2 years now since Automobilista 2 has been out and about in the simracing market - what's it like compared to the others?

I'm one of the early backers of the game, so you have every right to take this review with a massive grain of salt as I am a big fan of the work that Reiza Studios did with AMS1.

TL;DR - it's pretty darn fun. If you're looking for multiplayer, the devs have acknowledged it still needs work; I'd recommend finding a league or group of others for serious/casual races.

It does have its flaws, I won't try to dance around that. As the Reiza team had adopted the Madness Engine used by the Project Cars games, the game took a while to find its footing from initial release. Cars felt slidey, AI were underwhelming and the game had no shortage of bugs.
For those who knew Reiza, however, this was not to be the game's final state.

Since then, thanks to the support of staff, many beta testers and customers curious enough to buy the game, Automobilista 2 has blossomed into a wonderful driving experience. Car handling has developed greatly with the revisions to the differential, driveline elasticity and more recently, improvements to tyre carcass and tread behaviour, helping the cars feel more and more as one would expect.

Along with the recent announcements discussing oval racing, full course yellows, safety cars and more content, in my opinion it's not fair to call AMS2 "Project Cars 2.5" or "What Project Cars 3 should've been" when the team at Reiza Studios are getting more out of the Madness Engine than the people who actually CREATED it. Momentum is only increasing with development - not being left by the wayside after a year of lackluster support.

This isn't a simulation you can compare to anything else - this is Automobilista 2.

TLDR: AMS2 not complete yet, AMS1 complete and an amazing simulator that feels great to drive + so many mods + modded VR support

As a quick note, I became an early backer of Automobilista 2 shortly after it was announced. The allure of Reiza's cars and tracks in pretty Madness Engine graphics with wet weather means I was near instantly sold. The new additions such as the BMW M1 Procar and late 90s GT1 cars show massive potential of what the future holds for the sim. What I forgot to factor in is that the game will be improved upon for a long time and not necessarily "complete" at the moment.

Until it's declared finished and I can judge it as such, my favourite sim is still AMS1 without a doubt.

Even though it doesn't support VR natively, that's been modded into the game, among the many other mods that have made the jump over from the rFactor days. Without modded cars and tracks, Automobilista still holds its own extremely well with the unique choice of circuits and racing series provided, many from Reiza Studios' home country Brazil. My eyes have been opened to the fast, flowing circuits of Goiania and Cordoba, the tight street tracks of Salvador and Riberao Preto, and the short but satisfying Velopark. Of course, if you want something more well-known and laser scanned, there's DLC for Hockenheim, Imola and Adelaide, modern and various historic layouts to whet your appetite.

The cars, some of which are monsters if you don't treat them with respect, even feel natural after you get to grips with them. The Formula V12 is the most rewarding car to drive on the edge, with the constant thought of oversteer on corner exit in the depths of your mind. I recently took the V12 for a race around the narrow streets of Salvador against over 20 AI and while I did end up upside down, crashed into by another car, I still enjoyed every moment.

It's near impossible to describe how enjoyable the driving is to someone who hasn't played Automobilista, but I would easily say confidently that it's worth the money at full price. Especially the ultimate edition, that's an absolute steal!

the combination of me not being a good liar and games turning into accusation-fests means I didn't really find it enjoyable, even when playing with friends I knew

Risk of Rain 2 was an impulse purchase for me. A few of my friends described the game to me when it first appeared on steam and I just sorta... bought it. I had heard of the first game but never played it. I had no expectations, no idea what I was getting myself into.

Boy do I not regret it.

I've never been one for roguelike games but Risk of Rain 2 just hits the spot. It's a fantastic experience whether you tackle the elements alone or you conquer them with 3 others (highly recommended). The environments are beautifully designed, the music makes me wanna buy an official soundtrack and the gameplay itself is addictive and punishing if you choose to play on the hardest difficulty. I've been blown away by how progression works in the game. The madness of being able to stack the effects of the items you collect means your character can become near-godlike. It also means no two runs will be the same. One run, you'll be stacking damage items and you'll destroy enemies in a few hits, in another run you'll be jumping in midair multiple times and running across the map in seconds.

There aren't many games where I don't have to hesitate and ask myself "do I really wanna play this right now?"
Risk of Rain 2 keeps me wanting more after each run. I can go further. Faster. I can do better. I need to go AGAIN.

EDIT// Artifacts just released and they change the entire game up. Wanna do insane damage but have to worry about dying to someone sneezing on you? Get that glass right up ya.

Quick disclaimer, I wouldn't exactly call this a game. It's more of a program which lets you fly around the universe exploring real catalogued stars and planets along with procedurally generated systems filling in the vast gaps of what we can't see in real life. There is a flight simulator mode which I'm not familiar with using, I find most of my enjoyment flying past galaxies at warpspeed, searching for interesting looking star systems and planets to take photos of. For that, I can recommend Space Engine, but if you're looking for a game with story or objectives, you will have to look somewhere else.