-For everyone who said, "There's nothing wrong with X-Com's gameplay, leave it alone," we give you 'X-Com Terror from the Deep'- essentially the same game, only much, MUCH harder. You thought you had it rough before? Get ready for underwater-exclusive weapons that do nothing for you when you're forced to fight on land. Oops, forgot to swap out your rotating harpoon shooters? Tough mustard. Do you like scouring a map for some hiding cold-blooded horror that just WILL NOT come out of hiding, then pops out of a closet door you thought you'd already checked and guns down your favourite soldier? Are you ready for shots to slam into enemies and watch in dawning horror as they just keep stalking forward, riddling your poor grunts with accurate fire? -The shift to the oceans as a battleground and the tougher, meaner, smarter adversaries you fight can make the game a grind. Ocean liner attacks can be particularly frustrating... good luck finishing one without casualties. Worse, there are missions that you MUST complete to have a chance of winning the game, a fact you might learn when it's too late. Ruthless, difficult, frustrating and wonderful, this game will leave you tearing out your hair and swearing at the screen... but it makes it so satisfying when you win and crush the loathsome alien invaders into fish paste. This game is ideal for micro-managers with an eye for detail and lots of sneaky tricks. It's particularly harrowing if you play it with Iron Man rules, but don't get attached to your soldiers, because casualties will be high.
-Freedom Force is Irrational Entertainment's love letter to early Marvel Comics, a corny, high-energy quip-filled adventure with larger than life heroes and colourful villains. It is also one of my favourite all-time games. The gameplay is real-time strategy with a team of four heroes, each with powers and abilities that make them effective against some enemies and all-but-useless against others. Choosing a proper team to respond to a specific mission is an important initial part of the strategy. If you're fighting on top of a skyscraper high up in the clouds, maybe don't pick one of the teen sidekicks who fly so far when they get hit. If you're duking it out against lumbering bulletproof robots, electricity will get you farther than brute force. If your bare fists aren't getting the job done, maybe pick up a car and lob it at your foe? Whenever the chaos of battle becomes too much a quick pause allows you to gather your wits, issue new orders and shift tactics. -And of course, no review would be complete without a mention of the huge community of fans who created so much material that can be added to the game. These include Mods (whole new adventures and settings with their own narratives), Meshes (3d animated figures that can serve as new heroes in the game), Skins (painted 'costumes' for a Mesh), special effects packs that add to weapons and powers you can add, modding tutorials, danger rooms, fan updates that add new abilities like transforming/replacing characters (great for Transformers meshes!) and so much more! Sites like Alex's Freedom Fortress, Tommyboy Meshes, Freedom Reborn, Catman/Sick Alice and Heroforce provide enormous variety of material, helpful tips and links to Yahoo caches with loads of work from Freedom Force pioneers like Grenadier, DaGlob, Courtnall6, Beyonder and KennX. The support for this title (and its sequel) is absolutely amazing. -Freedom Force Forever!
An absolutely superb role-playing game that succeeds in capturing the wonder and excitement of Star Wars, while still conforming to the requirements of an exploration/adventure game. The game conforms loosely to the Wizards of the Coast d20 Star Wars rules, so you'll see the familiar Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, etc. combinations, skills and feats that D&D players are used to. After creating your main character as either a fighting soldier, cunning scoundrel or resourceful scout you'll be thrown right into the action in the depths of space, and will soon travel to fantastic worlds populated by strange and dangerous creatures. Simple exploration and discovery is a real treat, but the overarching plot is excellent and engaging as well, with twists, surprises and secrets galore. You can recruit a group of heroes and villains to assist you, with two being direct companions at any one time, and each has their own dialogues, interactions with other allies and significance to the plot- one play-through will not be enough to discover everything they have to offer. Finally, the decision to play light or dark side create two parallel major plot lines- you can even start dark and redeem yourself to the light side, or begin a hero and drift into ultimate villainy. This is some of the finest work Bioware ever did... and that's saying something.
Wonderful. Savage Empire is a tribute to trashy pulp novel science fiction with strange, uncivilized lands to be explored. It uses the Ultima 6 game system, excellent writing and fun characters to evoke primitive surroundings and adventure. Fans of other Ultima games will find a lot to love, including the reappearance of some old friends, the ability to create bombs and firearms, and best of all, battle against dinosaurs. This game is a gem, and it's free! Thank you GOG!
