XIII is from 2003, so obviously the graphics are not what you'd expect from a modern game. However, I still quite enjoyed playing it. The game play is pretty much a simple, straight-forward FPS, with some stealth missions here and there. However, the comic-book graphic style not just during the missions, but also the comic-book style intermissions give it a quite unique feeling. I also liked the soundtrack, that adapts quite well to the game situation. What I didn't really like is that the game didn't support wide-screen mode, and overall the game is quite short, you'll probably need less than ten hours. Overall, I'd say this is a decent game. If you can get it on a sale (and you'll actually play it rather than just adding it to your backlog), it's definitely worth the price.
Overall, Greedfall isn't a bad game. But it could have been so much more. The game ticks a lot of boxes of what I like to see in an RPG: a main story with unexpected turns, decisions that influence the overall story and lead to different endings, interesting and varied characters (including companions), diverse side quests, character development, a (mostly) open world to explore, monsters and humans to fight, several competing factions, a crafting system, too name a few. So, why only three stars, then? My answer is that while Greedfall has many features, it's not doing anything in a great way. For example, the main story has many somewhat unexpected turns, but the writers always hint at it 2-5h before, so that when the turn arrives it's not really surprising anymore. All the side quests are written in a way that maximizes the drama in every imaginable way, it's just not credible anymore. Everytime something "unexpected" is going to happen, the background music switches to a "suspense" theme 10-20 seconds before, so (again) the surprise is spoiled. The inventory management is clunky. As a maxed-out mage, I only have 4 different spells/skills (besides the two standard attacks), and no way to deal fire or poison damage (no, there's no "fireball" skill) to use my opponents' weaknesses. The building interiors all have the same room layouts and feel pretty much the same. But, above all, the game lacks atmosphere. To me, the game feels a bit sterile. It got me somewhat hooked to the story, but not to the game itself. The voice-acting is okay, but overall the emotions displayed by the characters remain shallow. "My husband/wife died? Oh, I'm so sad! I'll prepare the burial now." And the game goes on. I was seriously considering not finishing the game. So, in summary: Nothing about the game is done really *badly*, but nothing is done really well, either. It's a shame, I think the game had the potential to be something really amazing with some more polishing.
For me, Supreme Commander is the definition of an RTS game. It has many interesting concepts, sadly, these reviews are too short to explain all of them. For example, rather than saving up a lot of resources to then build or research something big (as in the Age of Empires series), you have quite limited storage for resources, but whatever you do (build a new building, produce a unit, ...) slowly but constantly consumes some resources while it's in progress. As a result, you constantly have to balance your resource consumption with your production. As another example, there's only two resources: mass and energy. Energy is available in abundance (just build a few more generators if you need more energy), however, mass can only be produced at certain points on the map, making you fight for the control of each of them. Another interesting concept is radars/sonars. Generally, your units can shoot farther than they can see (and your opponent can shoot at your units without these units being able to fire back - because they can't see the enemy units). You can build radars and sonars to detect enemy troups before your units can see them. However, if you encounter a shortage of energy, these will stop working (as will shield generators), leaving you blind and your units vulnerable. Later in the game there are stealth units, which are invisible to your normal radar (but can be detected using the highest level radar). These are just some of the things that make this game so unique. However, the best thing about this game is the EPIC scale. Each match starts with a period of exponential growth. At the end (after 30-60 minutes) you can build super-massive experimental units, which can be more than enough to destroy a medium-sized army and level an enemy base. Overall, this game is a true RTS gem. I'm not much into RTS usually, but this game is so exceptional I can't help but love it. 7/5 stars!
Horizon: Zero Dawn is a bit dated now (graphically and technically), but it's still a nice game. The setting is quite unique: You enter a world where humans live in primitive tribes. The main character belongs to the Nora tribe, where people live in primitive wooden huts, their villages are often surrounded by wooden palisades and watch towers. The Nora survive by hunting. However, it's not just animals that roam the wilds: Machines (robots in animal-like shapes) also frequently roam the wilderness. As the NPCs will tell you: The machines used to be calm and peaceful, but have become more aggressive over the last 10-15 years. Also, ever more dangerous types of machines are appearing. I won't spoil the story here, suffice to say that it's unique, captivating and takes a few surprising turns. You'll uncover secrets about a sect that unearthes machines slumbering in the ground, covered by the centuries of dust. And that's just the beginning. The game has a huge open world, and it's kind-of engaging to explore (there are some surprises), however there's not much to do in this world. Some side quests here, some hunting challenges there... (Don't get me wrong: the world is certainly doesn't feel empty.) On the positive side, the things that you *can* do offer a good amount of variety, and don't feel generic. What I don't like about the game is that the controls feel clunky and slow, and your character's strength plateaus quite quickly. The skills you unlock through levelling don't make your character that much stronger, and when you buy new bows (or so) usually they don't make more damage to the enemies than the previous ones, they just offer an additional type of ammunition. (However, I find myself using mostly two types of ammunition: One to deal damage, and one two detach pieces of the machines I'm fighting, usually to deactivate their most dangerous types of attacks.) Overall, it's a solid game. Expect 40-60 hours of gameplay. Get it when it's on sale.
Evoland II is a unique blend of humorous references to other games/movies/series and video game culture in general, a totally non-linear story (with lots of time travel), lots of "excursions" where the game mechanics change completely for some time, and lovely characters. The world is full of details, with lots of references and jokes to be discovered. I won't spoil any here, but I had to laugh out loud numerous times during the game. The "main" game play is similar to old game-boy 2D Zelda games. As you travel back and forth in time, the graphics change accordingly, from very pixelated to less pixelated to 3D. But every now and then, the gameplay changes to completely for a while (say, half an hour or so). In this "excursions" you get to play remakes of Tekken, Bomberman, Kanabalt escapes, Candy Crush, some generic concepts like Shoot-em-Up and Beat-em-All, and many more. (There's also Pong, PacMan, Space Invaders, Snake, Guitar Hero, and more, but they're rather short.) Evoland II even includes a collectible card game as an additional minigame. The story revolves around time-travel. At first it's accidental, but as the story progresses, the characters decide to travel to earlier epochs to change certain things - and the future version of the world adapts accordingly. The fact that the overall story-line still makes somewhat sense in the end is a marvellous accomplishment of the developers. Overall, Evoland II is a really great game that fails to fit into any category. So be prepared that you will most probably get something very different from what you expect.
I cannot recommend this game if you have other hobbies, friends, family, a job, or (generally speaking) a life. Seriously, this game is addictive. I start the game, get absorbed, and some hours later I find myself wondering what time it is, just to find out that I've played 6 hours straight without noticing it. I'll let that speak for itself.
The title says it all: The gameplay is pretty repetetive. Missions from the mission board are randomly generated, and there are only a few types, like "fly there, kill this guy", "fly there, kill everyone", "here is some cargo, bring it there and either kill or escape the pirates attacking you", "escort this ship" (i.e. kill all the enemies attacking the ship in midflight), and so on. There are some "there's a distress signal" random events mixed in, which amount to shooting down more pirates attacking traders. Even the main missions don't differ too much (as far as I've seen). Still, the game is surprisingly fun to play. I attribute this to the soundtrack which makes you feel like the most bad-ass human to travel space ever. Its hard to describe, but I'd say it is some (very heavy) rock with a slightly western/country touch to it. The graphics are solid. The functionality to fly in formation when escorting ships is sometimes a little buggy, but apart from that everything works smoothly. Controlling the ship with my gamepad works flawlessly. It's a little weird though that you can not fly up nor down - only left, right and forward. That feel's quite strange for a space game. All in all, I'm deducting two stars for the very repetetive gameplay, but adding an extra one for the absolutely awesome soundtrack.
