Zen Studios’ been doing a great job bringing new content to their flagship product, Pinball FX2. But I guess I already said that before. That’s a great thing. Very rarely do we get to see such a following from a developer for their game post release. Considering how one of these tables was free for a couple of weeks to begin with, it’s hard not to like it. It helps that it’s also an awesome Pinball FX2 table.

THE GOOD:

Humorous!

The Paranormal table explores the funnest and most influential clichés in popular tales of sci-fi and paranormal activity. The main character is a mix of Fox Mulder and David Lynch who’s always getting too far into his cases. Considering this is a simulation of a pinball, there’s only so much they can cram it in but man, there’s a ton of hilarious hidden kinks to find.

Discovery!

If you were lucky enough to grab this for free, there’s a ridiculous amount of content to flip your way through. Regardless, if you’re buying this later on, you won’t have much to regret. There are plenty of levels and challenges to tackle later on. Like the previous PBFX2 releases, you’ll find a heavy dose of challenges in Paranormal. I was also refreshing to see how missions are served out – by placing bullets in a gun chamber, looking your pinballs and culminating in a multiball frenzy.

THE BAD

Cramped!

At points, it feels like this table is cramped. This might sound ridiculous, considering this is a videogame and practically anything can happen but that’s exactly the problem here. There’s so much happening at once that Paranormal feels really cramped. It looks a little smaller that the usual FBFX2 table too, so that’s probably the reason why I had this feeling.

THE UGLY

For a temporarily free table, Paranormal was one hell of a deal. For 240 MS Points, the usual price for Pinball FX2 DLC, it’s still very much worth it. Just like previous downloadable content, there’s a enormous amount of replayability in the form of online scoreboards and the Pinball FX2 friends list integration.

THE GOOD

Fresh… sorta.

Sorcerer’s Lair started out as a Zen Pinball PlayStation3 table and now it’s part of the Pinball FX 2 catalog. We’ve been getting a wave of licensed tables lately, so it’s refreshing to see an original theme dropped into Pinball FX2. The fantasy theme of exploring a sorcerer’s castle is an interesting premise for a pinball table and Zen Studios managed to cram a lot of secrets into this table.

Layers… more than a wedding cake!

Do you remember the NES version of Pinball? No? Well I do. I used to love playing that game with my brother and uncle when I was a kid. Granted, these days it’s considered to be the worse of the pinball games on that system but I wasn’t aware of that fact at the time nor cared. It had special levels that could be accessed by doing certain mundane tasks like lining up icons and scoring points. Sorcerer’s Lair takes that concept further by opening up challenge sections off table, like a complex series of gears that are used to guide the pinball or using flippers to kill spiders.

Light show… to a point.

Like the Marvel tables, this particular table is extremely flashy. Falling in with its name, magic is shown off with plenty of flashing lights and colors.

THE BAD

Alone in the dark

Similarly to the hero tables, things tend to get a little confusing at times due to the table layout, which twists and turns rails that arch over each other and can easily confuse you if you’re not paying attention. That’s made relatively worse due to lack of lighting during special portions of the game, like when multiball mode is activated.

THE UGLY

Pinball FX2 fans have plenty to be happy about with Sorcerer’s Lair. The theme is relatively new to the game and the table design is extremely fun. It’s easy to go into the million point area right away, so don’t be surprised to see +8 digit scores in the online leaderboards. The many layers of special stages and secret sections are also very fun to unlock and go beyond the mechanic of nailing a trick shots repeatedly.

I had the chance to play and preview this game during my visit to E3. During my play time at that event, Kill Team seemed like a cool twist on the 40,000 franchise, which up ’til now had only been used as fiction for a few RTS games and a couple of forgettable shoot ‘em ups. So how did it end up?

THE GOOD

Cool classes

The Space Marines are tough dudes and the classes you can pick from show it. Each has its own pros and cons, some favor ranged fighting, while others like to get in close and melee the crap out of Orks. There are some twists in that ying/yang relation though, one class in particular serves as a support unit, with its own special power up in the form of a deployable turret. I enjoyed jumping around the classes but ended up sticking with the guy that carries around a huge rocket launcher. Call it ‘playing it safe’! You can even pick which sect your space marine is from, which boils down to which color his armor is, really.

Somewhat hectic gameplay… but fun?

Kill Team is played pretty much the same way you would play a game like Robotron. You’re constantly flanked by attacking Orks that charge at you with no regards to anything. There are a few different types of enemies, including bosses that try to vary things up a bit but the main thing you’ll be doing in this game is walking back and laying down the lead on foes. The few power-ups that you can uncover for your weapons help out your odds of surviving the onslaugh and are the basic offerings you’d expect to see in a game like this: shields, weapon buffs and health pick-ups. There’s also a few perk upgrades you can earn which add a few options for you to customize your marine with as well as two or three new guns that are unlocked as you progress through the game.

THE BAD

Can’t see where I’m going or doing!

It’s really tough when a developer tries something different or stylish within an already well developed genre. Although Kill Team is a competent dual stick shooter, there are times where I didn’t know where the hell I was going thanks to some insane camera shifts, tilts and angles. Not to mention the overuse of slow motion during certain kills. What’s even more annoying, you can’t skip cutscenes either, and those are pretty darn long to begin with. If you die during a stage, get ready to watch these over and over again.

Grabbing a friend to play… locally!

How are we still getting local only multiplayer in downloadable games these days? Sure, playing locally with a friend is fun but the option to take things online is vital for a game like this. Tough luck, you won’t see it in this game!

Over in a whim…

Kill Team’s only five levels long. If you want to stretch the game out a little, you can go after the scattered collectible aquila badges hidden throughout levels, but beyond that, there’s only a handful of survival stages that take place in enclosed parts of the campaign stages. You’re able to battle friends over leaderboards in regards to how long they can last in this mode. Beyond that, there’s very little to do in this game after you’re doing with the “story” mode. There isn’t even the option to rank up the difficulty.

THE UGLY

Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team isn’t a bad game. It’s a pretty competent twin stick shooter. That’s the problem. It’s just competent. There’s a metric ton of better shooting games out there in the download space. It’s a saturated market and if you don’t try to set yourself apart from the pack, you’re doomed to be forgotten. There’s a small tie-in to the actual Space Marine game set for release later this month in the form of an unlockable power sword. That’s it. Emperor or not, Kill Team is just another forgettable game that you’ll be done with in a weekend.

Does this table stack up with previous pieces of downloadable content for the excellent Pinball FX 2?

THE GOOD:

Sploding with character!

Ms. Splosion Man is probably one of Twisted Pixel’s funniest characters and that’s saying a lot. The transition from an action platforming game to pinball was done perfectly. Not only that, but all the charm from the original game is intact as well. Be ready to get the same funny quips from the Ms. Splosion Man game along with a few new ones.

Miiiiiiillios of points…

Seriously, I stink at pinball games. Things get way too hectic and I don’t really keep up. Even so, the Pinball FX2 tables manage to help me squeeze out a lot of fun in the limited time my skills let me keep a ball in game. Ms. Splosion Man’s table is no different, in fact, this is probably my most successful scoring table for this particular pinball game. I was able to do a lot of the objectives in my first run through and was even placed in the top scoring leaderboards among my game reviewing friends, with a few million points to boot.

Don’t get her wrong!

That’s not to say this Ms. Splosion Man table is a walk in the park. Just like her actual game, this lady does not pull any punches. There are a lot of layers of missions and quests to play through as you progress in the table, like taking down the hunkering Mighty Eternal bot, blowing up scientists and even saving Splosion Man from the clutches of evil. All’s done through a variety of objectives that involve this table’s many twists and turns, some of which are extremely tricky to do and require a ton of skill to pull off. All in all, expect to spend a lot of time with this lady and her table’s balls in play.

Her looks are also explosive

Pinball FX2 is a very colorful and vibrant game and this Ms. Splosion Man table only carries that notion forward. The visual style and character design of the Twisted Pixel games was carried over perfectly, along with the rest of the presentation. This is one truly beautiful table, for sure.

THE BAD:

The lights! They buuurn!

Like I mentioned before, Pinball FX2 is an extremely busy game. If you don’t get ‘into the game’ and focus on the pinball, you won’t last long. There are a ton of lights and flickers doing their best to draw your attention away from the game at all times. That really isn’t a detractor to PBFX2, all pinball games are like that, but be prepared by a double dose of crazy if you decide to get this table.

THE UGLY:

Pinball FX 2 was already a blast to begin with and pardon the pun, but Ms. Splosion Man’s even more of a bomb. It’s a fully featured piece of downloadable content that expands PBFX2′s truly awesome gameplay even further. If you like Twisted Pixel’s games, you shouldn’t waste any more time. Just go get this table and have a go at it. You’ll thank me later.

THE GOOD:

Variety is the piece of the universe

Having the ability to switch from various factions is Retribution’s greatest strength. It’s a lot of fun to see each of the factions’ unique abilities. Tyrannids have swarms of units that literally swarm enemies for instance, while the imperials tend to stick back, pick off targets, with longer range firepower. Orks are completely bananas, building their own contraptions with parts littered from space. It’s awesome to see a particular mission from various angles as well as employing different tactics in the other game modes.

The return of bases… somewhat

Relic’s been trying their best to move away from the base game with Dawn of War II but Retribution somewhat brings back a few base build elements. You don’t build bases per se during missions, but you’re able to fortify capture points and get expendable ground forces that can help out your hero characters. Keeping these fortifications is vital during most of the missions and do play a big role in later difficulty settings.

MULTIPLAYER!

Dawn of War II had a pretty decent multiplayer host of options but Retribution takes it to another level. The Last Stand mode is a survival based multiplayer level that pits you and up to three other people against increasingly tougher odds. Although there are only two maps to pick from, The Last Stand is a lot of fun to play with friends or even randoms, even more if your character is already somewhat leveled.

Leveling… the best of…

Character development plays a big part in Dawn of War II and even though Retribution is a standalone product and not an expansion, it borrows a lot from the previous game. The upgrade system is very complex and you’ll be more often than not having to make tough choices in terms of what abilities to pick when you level up, thanks to all the roads you can take in a skill tree, like a powerful gun upgrade in place of a movement speed upgrade. You can ticker and build a big deck of characters from just the base faction choices, which adds a lot of replay to Retribution.

Holy crap… achievements

If you’re into Steam achievements, holy crap, be ready to spend a LOT of time in this one. There are over 70 unique achievements to earn that take you through the entire game and challenge you to be increasingly better. This is a pretty creative set of achievements for sure.

THE BAD

Weaker campaign

Retribution does have as good of a story campaign as Dawn of War II, feeling more like a mosaic of back stories thanks to the fact that it sports so many factions.

THE UGLY

Dawn of War II: Retribution is one of the best follow up pieces of content around. The fact that it’s a standalone product makes it an easy choice for newcomers to jump aboard, the kind that doesn’t want to worry about picking up every single shred of story. The other kind, though, that does want to dive into the lore, there’s plenty of threads that can lead you further down the 40K rabbit hole, as well as introduce you to the best gameplay features from the original Dawn of War II. For veterans, this is a great set of missions and game modes to play through and shouldn’t be missed if you already enjoyed previous Dawn of War games.

So what makes Bastion so great?

THE GOOD:

GORGEOUS!

This is one of the best looking downloadable games around. The art is amazingly colorful and detailed all throughout the game. Every environment you visit has its own look and feel, and the characters you’ll interact with, both allies and foes
feel like live, breathing creatures and not just sprites.

Atmosphere… breathe it all in!

Awesome art is just a slice of Bastion’s charm. The inclusion of a dynamic narrator is sure to keep you glued to the game until the end and probably beyond that. The way the narration follows your actions is easily one of Bastion’s coolest features. It hardly repeats, either, so the added challenge of discovering what else that guys has to say about the story if you do something different here or there is yet another reason to keep playing. Bastion’s soundtrack is also noteworthy, featuring some of the best tunes I’ve heard in a game, period.

So much in such a small download!

There’s a lot to do in this game. Depending on the combination of weapons you choose to use, there will be numerous other ways to play the game that will take you more than one playthrough to see. Some of which them are vastly different than the rest and require a whole other style of playing Bastion. Plus, you’ll want to discover all of the hidden idols and runes that add an extra layer of challenge to the game, along with making your score ever so popular in the leaderboards.

Combat revolved!

Bastion takes a cue from popular dungeon hacking games like Diablo but manages to carve its own style with much simplified controls. It’s all down to evade dodging incoming attacks and countering with your own. There are no magic bars preventing you from using certain weapons repeatedly, it’s all down to a very well designed cooldown system. Extra props to allowing the interchange between buttons when picking weapons – if you’re down to going with just ranged weapons, be Bastion’s guest!

THE BAD:

Chaos…

The combat in Bastion is tight and works extremely well regardless of the weapon combination you choose to implement. However, there are instances where you can get a little too busy, mainly at the beginning of the game when you don’t have as many weapons or power-ups, with enemies swarming you left and right. This happened very rarely during my playthrOugh and maybe it’s just my fault for not being very good at games! Who knows?

THE UGLY:

SuperGiantGames’ debut game is absolutely phenomenal. The influences from games like Diablo and Torchlight are obvious, but Bastion has a lot of personality and more than enough content to stand on its own as an unique game. From the start screen down to the final stage, Bastion has variety and challenge to keep you coming back for a long while.

Editor’s note: Special thanks goes out to SuperGiantGames Creative Diretor Greg Kasavin for kindly providing a review code for the game. Also, if you aren’t very interested in diving into this title on an Xbox 360, be sure to check out the upcoming Steam version of Bastion on August 16th.

THE GOOD

Great, ’cause otherwise, I’ll erase your ass!

Mars is a fun little table for Pinball FX2. It isn’t as busy as the Marvel Pinball or Fantastic Four tables and it’s on par with the main set you got with the original game. You still get a fair share of missions to partake which are very fun to play through, like navigating your space shuttle in order to avoid solar flares, by shooting the pinball through different corridors. Other quests like gathering soil samples aren’t nearly as tense but work within the theme.

Liberals! Intellectuals! Peacemongers! IDIOTS!

Thankfully, Zen Studios avoided most of the Mars clichés. There aren’t any green men running around the pinball table at any time. Mars is mostly bereft of life this time. No one at home. This is mostly set in space and for that, they’ve done a great job with the presentation. You’ll see your space shuttle fly in from off screen, little robots doing their thing and even a probe here and there scanning the table. Everything looks and sounds as good as you’d expect after playing the other Pinball FX2 tables. There are lots of lights, flickers and sounds all the time.

Anyone keeping tally?

This plus is pretty much a given when we’re talking about Pinball FX2. The online leaderboard system is amazing and ridiculously fun. Battling friends online for the top score is still one of the best parts of FX2, proving that they got a great and viable platform that can be kept alive by quality downloadable content.

THE BAD

I saw Elvis

There really isn’t anything particularly wrong with the Mars DLC. It plays exactly like the original set of Pinball FX2 tables (read: fun!). The theme, though, is a little stale in comparison to the previous DLC packs, which made great use of the Marvel Comics properties. Mars is just okay as a theme. It isn’t bad. Just okay.

THE UGLY?

The Mars DLC for Pinball FX2 is a great table. Even though it isn’t as interesting theme-wise as the previous download packs for the core FX2 game, it looks just as good and play as well as any of the other tables you’ve played in the past. So if you’re looking for an excuse to keep Pinball FX2 in your hard drive (and why wouldn’t you?), Mars just might be it.

THE GOOD:

Fun, fast… furious?

Pinball is a guilty pleasure of mine, even though half of the time I’m so concentrated on where the little metal ball is going that I have no idea what the hell is going on. The Fantastic Four table is very well made and it’s full of missions that are waiting to be activated.

Fantastic presentation

While not as visually busy as the Spider Man table featured in the original Marvel Pinball DLC, Fantastic Four is pretty damn colorful and well animated. Luckily for us, the voice acting is actually much better this time around and characters like The Thing actually sound like the “real” thing.

Lots to do

The entire roster for Fantastic Four make appearances at the table, including Doctor Doom. Each of them present you with a quest of their own that usually involves having you make a trick shot of some kind under a strict time limit. These missions are layered, so you’ll have to finish a certain set of quests before moving on to what can be called “endgame”, where you face off against the usual evildoers and save the world, all the while racking up ridiculous scores.

Challengers welcome

Once again, Zen Studios does a great job setting up a competitive scene for Pinball FX2. You’ll face off against your friends in personalized leaderboards and like past DLC packs, your highest scores go to online score boards, against people from all over the world. It’s very fun to go for higher and higher high scores just to see your friend’s avatar hang its head in shame or just for personal satisfaction. This is one of the very few online components in a game that I can actually see myself getting back to time and time again.

THE BAD

Focus on what yer doing, kid!

With so many little lights and distractions going on at once, it’s sometimes easy to get lost and lose track of what you’re doing while playing Marvel Pinball: Fantastic Four. This is an issue that’s been present in Pinball FX2 since the beginning due to how crazy most of the tables get. This is a very minor but still valid nitpick for me, personally. I did, however, find myself getting into the “zone” while playing, but it required me totally zoning out of everything else around me and just focusing exclusively in the game.

THE UGLY?

Sweet Aunt Petunia… Marvel Pinball: Fantastic Four is by far one of the best uses of the Fantastic Four license. Sorry, Jessica Alba, but your movies were awful. This table is ridiculously fun to play and it’s full of little things for the inner comic geek in all of us. With that in mind, do yourself a favor and download this DLC. For three dollars (240 Microsoft Points), you could do a lot worse.

Following in the trend of re-releasing previous retail games as cheaper downloable times, SEGA and Sumo Digital Ltd. just dropped Sega Rally Online Arcade. Similarly to last year’s OutRun Online Arcade approach to the classic Xbox titles OutRun  and OutRun 2006: Coast to Coast, SROA is an shrunken down version of the previous Sega Rally retail release from 2007, Sega Rally Revo.

The Good:

Looks great…

… for a downloadable game. Yep, you’re probably sick of reading this sort of description for downloadable games, but it’s pretty fitting for SROA – the track deformation, particle effects and car models look good and are serviceable enough to be in a PSN/XBLA download.

Easy to pick up, a blast to play

Unlike DiRT, SROA is playable from the get-go. Even if you’re a lead foot, SROA is friendly enough to provide a fun experience. This is an arcade game through and through, and the gameplay shows. There are more advanced techniques to master, like powersliding, too, which gives this game a little bit more depth.

Progressive rewards

I have to admit I dug the progressive reward system in this game. Regardless of how few and far between these rewards are (this is a short downloadable game, mind you), the way that it delivers new cars and tracks makes great use of the entirety of the game. For instance, beating a certain number of time trial scores gives you access to a new car, or winning a race in a particular track gives you access to that course in other modes.

The Bad:

Not much to go back to

This issue is tied to the previous “good”. There isn’t really a lot to play through in this game. Granted, it’s a ten dollar downloadable and SEGA is sure to stuff some DLC down the road, but the content from Revo was trimed down to the very, very basic. There are only three tracks to race in, with two unlockables. Unlike Revo, there aren’t alternative paths or versions, so every time you race in the desert track, you’ll go through the same course. Even mirrored versions of the tracks would’ve been nice here…

Dead multiplayer

One week into SROA’s lifespan, the online multiplayer is a barren wasteland. Even though there is the option to multiplay locally, it’s a shame not to have very few opponents to race against over the web.

The Ugly?

Sega Rally Online Arcade is a quick game to jump into and have fun. Sadly, there’s very little to go back to once you see all the tracks and unlock all the secret cars. The achievements/trophies are extremely easy to conquer, so even achievement junkies will find little to work towards in this game. If you happen to find a copy of Sega Rally Revo in this price range, go for it, which is completely possible at this point. If not, SROA does about as much as a ten dollar (800 Microsoft Points) game normally would before you hit the inevitable GAME OVER YEAAAH! screen.

It features two new challenge scenarios and a few new weapons based on the war, like the Moisin Nagant, a rocket launchers and even the famous AK-47. And napalm of course, for your spell book.

The Good

Funny!

Magicka was hilarious and Vietnam is just as, if not little more overboard. Sensitivies might be put to test due to the subject matter, though, since you’ll be killing hoardes of “Goblincongs” along the way and burning miles of forest… all in good fun.

Join the army they said… meet different people they said…

Vietnam ups the challenge to new heights, which really drills in the point of cooperative play. Enemies are dastardly placed along the way and due to the nature of one of the challenge maps, you’re gonna need a lot of help clearing out objectives. Plus, it’s always good to have a friend to bring you back to life (if they aren’t dead themselves).

Cool new weapons

The M-16 was a huge surprise in the original Magicka and Vietnam only racks it up, adding a few new firearms, each with its own unique attributes – the aforementioned Moisin Nagant fires slow, but extremely precise shots, while an Uzi, for instance, is quick but spreads bullets all over the place. I dug the variety.

The Bad

Bugs’ aplenty!

The original game was no stranger to bugs and Vietnam inherits most of the problems. You’re still liable to get stuck in the environment and crashes, although much rarer than before, still happen.

The jungle doesn’t like single dishes…

Vietnam is even harder to play alone than Magicka. I had a ton of trouble making my way through the objective based challenge mode, let alone the survival, wave-based scenario. If you’re a solo player, be prepared to get a boot in your face… Magicka is not playing around. Checkpoints are very far in-between and you’re likely to start over a lot. This isn’t a very friendly game for lone wolves.

Only two ‘new’ modes

I’m calling these ‘new’ because technically, only one can be truly considered new – the time-based objective mode. The other is a survival map set in the jungle and the survival challenge mode was already a part of Magicka in its original release. The objective mode is fairly short too, especially after you’ve made your way through it a few times.

The Bad?

Magicka Vietnam does a few things right, keeping the original’s humor intact, breaking the fantasy wall somewhat even though it is fairly light in terms of new features and content. It surely won’t keep you busy for too long.

Magicka is one of those games that is easy to love but tough to handle in the long run. Often compared to Gauntlet, it far surpasses the old arcade game by presenting some of the most creative use of magic spells ever seen in a game. And even so, it can get extremely repetitive and formulaic rather quickly.

The world of Midgard is a weird fantasy realm that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Things are hairy nowadays with the return of an ancient evil. The famous school of mages sends you, and up and coming sorcerer to save the world, either by yourself or with a few friends by your side.

The Good

Fun and challenging

Like any quest worth its salt, the adventure mode in Magicka is a tough cookie right from the start. As a mage, you’re not particularly resilient and must rely on smart use of the elements in order to defend yourself. Want fireballs? Fuse rock and fire. Rain? Easy! Add some water to your arsenal. Super laser beam of death? Hah, I won’t divulge this particular one!

Creative use of the magic mechanics leads to chaotic fun

You’ll be having a lot more fun if you invite some peeps into your game. Not only can you revive friends as much as needed, spells can be combined and thus further empowered and crossing your beams is an extremely effective tactic (against Dr. Spengler’s advice).

Lots to do beside single player

Once you’re done with the main adventure mode, which can take you up to six hours to complete, you can tackle Magicka’s arena setting, called Challenge Mode that locks you into a closed off stage and launches wave after wave of fiends. This is by far the most hectic of situations you’ll get into in Magicka and it’s practically impossible to do so alone. There are similar spots in the story where the odds stack up incredibly high against a lone mage, resulting in a game that can only be (sanely) played solo so far before the need to call for some help.

Funny!

The amount of charm in this game is just plain staggering to me, down to the graphical presentation. Sure, some of the interface is kind of muddy, particularly the elemental symbols that tend to blend together when you’re trying to get a specific spell off the ground. Character designs are pretty well thought out, especially mages (of course!) that borrow something off from Orko, a hood with no face and a funny way of talking. There’s complete voice acting in this game but it’s delivered in a strangely mumbling language that sometimes sounds intelligible but when it does you’ll probably think you’re getting insane. There’s a narrator that speaks English in between the stages and that’s about all you’ll understand with the rest of writing being delivered well… in text.

The Bad

Magic works both ways…

The use of spells in Magicka is one of its strong points and one of its limitations. Some combinations are pretty game-breaking, like the aforementioned death ray and really become the backbone of your attacks. This becomes evident later on in the game, where climatic changes like rain really add to the benefit of sticking to a particular spell.

Some quinks and issues…

The game’s performance drops severely when playing online, even after a lot of patches since release. Lag is one of the worse problems with this game and it gets in the way of spell casting which causes some annoying deaths. Luckily, dying in multiplayer might not be the end of your adventure online if your pals are still kicking, since they can resurrect you but with so many performance issues, they probably won’t.

The Ugly?

It’s tough to unconditionally recommend Magicka. On one hand, it only costs ten bucks on Steam and the investment pays itself rather quickly, thanks to some undeniable charm and fun gameplay mechanics. On the other, there are some issues that will keep you from getting to the end of the game on your own. Even worse, things get buggy when you call in friends and when there are bugs on a game’s flagship feature, not even a keyword like BANANERS can save you. Hopefully things will get better a few more patches in.