The Finals – A Year Later, Still Stealing the Show

When The Finals blasted onto the scene a little over a year ago, I expected a flashy gimmick—yet what I found was the most invigorating shooter I’ve played since hero‑shooters hit their saturation point. Embark Studios’ “combat game‑show” premise marries out‑of‑control spectacle with tight, satisfying gunplay, and the honeymoon phase never ended for me.

Gunplay & Classes – Elegant Chaos
Each of the three body builds—light, medium, and heavy—feels purpose‑built rather than shoehorned into a “one size fits all” meta. Lights dart in with katanas or zipline flanks, heavies rip whole buildings from the map with C4, and mediums glue everything together with versatile gadgets and heals. Weapons hit that sweet spot where recoil, damage, and audio feedback make every shot pop, yet the sandbox of gadgets keeps firefights unpredictable. It’s the first shooter in ages where I’ll gleefully swap to an SMG mid‑match because the arena has been half‑demolished and suddenly favors close quarters.

Maps & Destruction – The World Is Your Weapon
On paper, “fully destructible arenas based on real‑world locales” sounded like marketing fluff; in practice, it’s the beating heart of every match. Skyscraper windows become zipline entry points, marble pillars serve as makeshift cover, and entire floors collapse in a thunderous cascade—all in service of bag‑n‑tag objective modes that reward creativity as much as raw aim. I still have “did‑you‑see‑that?!” moments when someone drops a wrecking ball straight through the cashbox platform.

Modes & Updates – Consistently Fresh
Post‑launch support has been stellar. Team Deathmatch offers a breezy warm‑up before diving into Cash‑Out, while Platform Push and the rotating *World Tour* rule sets keep the ruleset feeling experimental. The most recent major update let us slap new optics on a swath of firearms—small tweak, huge impact on playstyles. It’s emblematic of Embark’s approach: iterate on depth, not just surface‑level additions.

Cosmetics & Progression – Style in Spades
Sponsors shower you with neon‑drenched threads and animated emotes, but the cosmetics avoid the “reskinned clone” syndrome plaguing other F2P titles. Nothing here screams pay‑to‑intimidate; instead, each outfit feels like a nod to the over‑the‑top game‑show lore, letting you flex individuality without breaking immersion.

Nitpicks – AI Talent, Real‑World Critique
If there’s a blemish, it’s the AI‑generated commentator lines. They’re serviceable and occasionally hilarious, yet lack the personality that a live‑recorded casting duo could bring. Still, they’re hardly a deal‑breaker when you’re busy base‑jumping off a collapsing hotel.

Verdict
The Finals doesn’t just ask whether you can aim and shoot—it dares you to think like a demolition artist on live television. With rock‑solid gunplay, destructible arenas that truly matter, and a steady cadence of meaningful updates, it stands head‑and‑shoulders above many “mid‑tier” shooters vying for attention. AI announcers aside, this is the rare free‑to‑play title that respects your time, rewards creativity, and still manages to feel utterly new after a year in the spotlight.

Score: 9/10 – The show must go on, and I’ll be front row for every season.

There’s something special about HOLE, the debut title from Japanese indie developer/publisher negafish. It’s not flashy. It doesn’t try to reinvent the genre. But somehow, this low-res, gun-jamming FPS has managed to scratch an itch that Call of Duty hasn’t touched since Black Ops 1. Yeah, I said it.

On the surface, HOLE is as simple as they come. You jump into a hole (via a floating microwave, naturally), grab a gun, and do your best to survive while everything around you wants you very, very dead. Guns jam constantly, enemies spawn infinitely, and if you want out? You find the microwave again and bail. No story, no checkpoints, no filler. Just raw, unfiltered FPS chaos.

But beneath that simplicity is a beautifully executed loop. Each stage (there are 3 in total) is a bite-sized warzone of tension, requiring just enough focus to feel challenging without ever overstaying its welcome. Stages usually last anywhere from 2 to 45 minutes, and with no time limit, you’re free to dip in and out at your own pace. That makes HOLE the perfect palette cleanser between sweaty competitive matches or during those awkward “waiting for the squad to ready up” moments.

The progression is modest but satisfying—four guns to unlock, and three unique stages. You can feasibly unlock everything in 3–5 hours if you’re determined. But the beauty is in the replayability. I’ve lost count of how many “just one more run” moments I’ve had. What starts as a quick game often turns into a rabbit hole of its own.

For $5, HOLE delivers absurd value. The gunplay feels tight, the visual style is unapologetically lo-fi, and the added twist of having to manually unjam your weapons—sometimes accompanied by a muttered curse—gives the whole thing a scrappy, DIY edge that I can’t help but love.

This might be negafish’s first title, but they’ve nailed the fundamentals. If you’re a fan of compact, skill-based shooters that don’t waste your time, HOLE deserves a spot in your library.

Verdict: 9/10
A gloriously gritty little FPS that punches way above its pixelated weight.

Ha Ha Saati go BRRRR

For most positive points the game has, there is generally a negative attached directly. Please keep that in mind when continuing.

*Combat is potentially the deepest in any game ever with 3D positioning, combos, and pseudo physics based interactions. However, it is too unclean; hard to actually see what is happening on screen beyond the static of insane effects. The latency too, as you would expect in an MMO, will kill you. Especially in mob PvP which is supposed to be a highlight of the game.

*Monsters are deeply interesting overall, not Darksoulsian, but almost. Add in their numbers and sizes, and this game had true potential but tragically PvE, all the way up is absolutely a breeze.

*Node Management + Worker system is engrossing but actually not as deep as it first looks on the surface. There are very obvious spots you pick to make money regardless of what your expertise might be in. There is still some creativity, especially with the map expanding the way it is, but I think we are at least 1 more expansion away before it gets really fun. I think adding in a few more worker types / resources could be good instead of just making the map overall bigger, add more layers to what exists already.

*RNG. There is actual fun to be had with playing the RNG game, failstacks and all that good jazz, but this game has a huge RNG wall that is NOT fun once you hit it and incentives the cash shop hard.

*Cash shop is expensive and not consumer friendly but luckily it isn't as bad as some games. P2W? Depends on your mindset/win condition. I think most people agree it is either microscopically pay to win or not at all.

*The world lore is great, the tutorial / intro story is cheesy and badly acted / animated. It doesn't really teach the player very well either. I've seen the tutorial grow over the years I have played the game. And while it is much better than it was now story wise. I still feel it falls short of teaching newer players all of the mechanics in place heavily played upon late / end game.

*The games races and characters look very good, but overall class uniquity isn't as great as it might seem from their promo videos. They have differences for sure, but many other MMO have more varying classes and roles. I can say that the two most recent class at time of writing this review, the Hashashin and Nova, short of breed new life into the different class. And while Nova does feel a lot like a variant valk at times is still overall enjoyable to play.

*PvP has potential to be my favorite game of all time on paper but it completely fails in execution. It devolves down to getting insta gibbed or flailing around desperately. I've played arena shooters, MOBA and love battleground type games from For Honor to MMO games like this but honestly if I played the PvP side of BDO first, I wouldn't have ever considered doing a full review. Many people will sell the game on its PvP, but I am not one of those people. It is simply too laggy. I heard they are working to optimize the game further which is needed greatly for aesthetics and gameplay, but I also want an update to promote 1v1 pvp. But again pvp experience will vary from person to person given server loads and personal connection strength / speed.

*Sandbox open world PvP MMO with deep mechanical gameplay, but there isn't much incentive at all to actually open world pvp. Most players just grind mobs, and / or life skilling. Not only that, but there is a big emphasis on playing solo. Group content is not emphasized through all levels. This a big negative for me given that being an MMO there should be more group based stuff to do for people starting fresh. They have improved upon this over the years, but even in hind sight the game has a long way to go for improving the group play early to mid game.

*Crafting / selling items on the marketplace is completely controlled so it is very hard to actually "play the marketplace". Crafting as a whole isn't very interesting either despite there being the whole worker / housing system.

*Has an interesting mix / matching armor system but the number of armor combinations is very limited for a sandbox game like this. Comparison, Guild Wars 2 has more even in its limiting structured pvp arenas. There are cool outfits and gear just for lifeskills like trading, but even counting those I don't consider it enough overall.

If you have a question like "how was the community" I can't really answer that since I streamed the game and so was the target of mass toxicity. In game, people seemed really nice though excluding snipers. However, I think the game really doesn't promote enough teamwork and so you'll see hundreds of bodies around, but not as much actual colluding.

Face value, Black Desert Online is worth the money as it is a unique experience but you need to know what that face really looks like. The game might seem very immersive, and it can be if you try, but it is actually extremely arcade and very aware that it is a game and you'll be reminded constantly. I think the game is worth money and trying, but maybe not worth all the time for everyone.

You can feel the love, the sheer force of will that every developer has poured into this project, which I reiterate, for me, is simply without equal. Regardless of what aspiring censors and opinion peddlers may say about it, I believe Cyberpunk 2077 will stride into the history books with confidence and conviction. Cyberpunk 2077 is a celebration of the entire medium, marrying cutting-edge technical innovation, unrestrained user agency in an authentic and immersive experience that transports you to another universe. No game has executed on the promise of gaming like Cyberpunk 2077. CD Projekt RED's artistic achievement cannot be overstated. Despite an impressive array of bugs and glitches, Cyberpunk 2077 remains an experience without peer. No punches pulled, no platitudes are given, and no compromises are made. Cyberpunk 2077 is an industry high point that, simply put, may never be bested. Right now, and without hesitation, I am overjoyed to say Cyberpunk 2077 is everything I've ever wanted from a game.

I would like to start by saying that I would have recommended this game if not for some, very large, key problem. I don't know how far the developers are into the development of the game, however, if they could take a look into some of these issues before the game is offically relaesed that would be advisable.

The first, and biggest by far, is the problem with the steering sesitivity in the game. If you don't have a driving wheel the game is kind of unplayable. There needs to some kind of setting within the game that adjusts the sesitivity for those who play on controlers. The wheel shouldn't turn all the way if I just tap the anolog stick. And I realise that there is a way to adjust some of the turning settings, however, when I have to not only buy an upgrade to the garage, but an upgarde for the car too, that's a bit much to be able to change a setting that should be in the options menu under controls.

The second problem I had was the price for everything in the game. I get at the time it might have been okay, however, in the three days that I have played this most everyone is on the "Freeroam" mode and you don't earn any "Rupees" from that. Making it very hard to get paired up with anyone in the "Rivals" mode, which it and "Events" mode are the only ones you gain and "Rupees" or XP from. And as for the micro-transactions, I get that the game is free. However, you should at least allow for everything to baught with the ingame currency "Rupees" and "Greens" instead of having only select things being able to be baught with "Greens".

My thrid and final problem with this game is the point system optimization. There was many times in which I have had high point drifts only to have it not give me any of the points that I had earned. I have had this happen in "Tandem", "Local Tandem", and in "Freeroam". Since it carries across all of these modes I know that is must be some kind of bug and that I am just not doing the game mode correctly. It seems to be anytime I get a multiplier of 10 and up that it decides not to give me any points.

I would appreciate it if you would look into these problems, and I would be happy to re-review the game once they have been fixed or changed.