I got this game really cheaply and I’ve only played it a little bit but I’d say that: Pros – The opponent AI is decent. Tournaments don’t run long as there are only four other players on your table. Dialogue between your AI opponents can be amusing but it’s not hilarious and will quickly get repetitive. Cons – No save function so that you can quit and resume your game later on. You can only play no limit Texas hold ‘em poker. There are only four characters at your table, which never change. They could become predictable but I’ve not played enough to see how they respond to certain plays in certain situations. In conclusion, I’d say that if you can get this game at a big discount, it is a decent introduction to the game of no limit Texas hold ‘em. It will make you familiar with how a sit and go tournament runs. There is text on the rules of the game available to you before starting a game. You might even get to like playing with these characters. I’m not familiar with other poker games available on GOG or even if there are any. If you’re serious about card games, a better option would be a game with more variety of card games, variation in players and tournament size as well as maybe a function to calculate your chances of winning a hand, given the board, which would help new players to improve. Score: 2/5
If you enjoyed playing the first in the series, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, it’s like that: starts easy (briefly) then spikes hard. I.e. unfair difficulty scaling. You can fail to get the best ending to this game because of a mysterious fail condition being met, concerning “The Avatar Project”. Unlike the first game in this series, constantly reloading to an earlier save didn’t help me in getting past that fail condition, even on the easiest difficulty level, “Rookie”. It wasn’t until my third campaign that I finally worked out how to stop “The Avatar Project” countdown, which was responsible for me getting the ‘bad’ ending on my first two campaigns, which were on the Rookie setting. Why is that bad game design? The digital version of the game has no manual which helps you learn what you need to do to stop the countdown and the game itself does nothing to help you. You are constantly presented with missions to do but none of them stop the countdown. You’d think that saving the world would be a priority in the game. It’s not. On my third campaign, I eventually got the trophy for getting the ‘good’ ending to the game: “Earth Avenged Overthrow the aliens at any difficulty level Uncommon – 23.3%”. As you can see, finishing the game ‘properly’ seems beyond most GOG gamers. It’s not as if the game couldn’t have integrated the relevant information in a natural way, with characters pointing out to you how to enable a mission which reduces the countdown. On Rookie level, you would think that that would be a given but it’s not. Having some of the hundreds of thousands, if not millions of players of this game play a game where they bumble on to the ‘good’ ending to the game by chance does not make the game design good, as that figure of 23.3% shows. Lastly. It’s best not to mention the unfair gameplay, like unseen aliens poisoning one of your troops from out of range with no previous contact and through a hill (!) or your entire squad missing overwatch shots. Some bugs too.
(It seems that the review length for games is about 393 words or 1,977 characters) Pro of GWENT, compared to “Magic 2014 – Duels of the Planeswalkers” (aka MTG): The playing deck is much smaller, so you have a much greater chance of drawing cards that you want in your hand and there are no conditions which need to be met in order to play the cards in your hand. Cons: 1) The tutorial in the game is useless and doesn’t teach you basic facets of the game like how to pass a round (i.e. cease taking your turn in a round playing a card in order to gain a tactical advantage for the next round) or how to discard a card from your hand. 2) Unlike MTG, you can’t play your decks against each other in solo mode so that you can learn how cards play or how new cards work. 3) Unlike MTG, there is no lobby, so GOG automatically assigns an opponent to you. On the official forum people often complain that the matchmaking feels rigged against you. Since players seem to copy currently powerful decks found online, this feeling is reinforced. 4) The game is modelled on gambling industry mechanics, so you can spend a lot of money for little reward, as far as getting cards that you want or other trinkets. It’s a bit like pay-to-win. 5) On the forum people often say that that they play for the rewards, not because they find the game fun. I agree with that sentiment. 6) If you do spend money for a mode like “Journey”, GOG will pester you for more money to get stuff instantly that you have already paid for and can get for free just by playing the game. Conclusion: I’d welcome a matchmaking filter to limit what sets of decks are played, as constant additions and changes to cards is overwhelming. It makes keeping up with the game a grind. I got my badge for completing the tutorial on 19/12/2019. Due to COVID-19 I’ve played this game more than I otherwise would have. It’s probably been a good run for playing the game but I’m pretty much done with the game and have been for months now.
