- Ion Maiden is a fantastic game not without its flaws. The controls and aiming are tight, movement is solid, art and spirits are top notch. This is the most advanced and best technical of any Build Engine game. It is not better than Duke and not anywhere near as good as Blood. Shelly and Heskel are good characters, both voiced well. Music and audio is great. Shelly does need an alternative bubbly voice and a busty alt model for 90s fans. - The arsenal Shelly has is decent but feels lacking. Ion Maiden is lacking a true Inventory system, the only 2 items she has is a medpack, and a 5+ sec radar that shows where the enemies are. she has a few Quake 1 style powerups she can grab that only last for 30 sec. Here is a massively missed opportunity Ion Maiden had; Shelly needed a bigger inventory system and even an upgrade system where she could swap out different gear she is wearing. The possibilities of being able to upgrade or change armors, gadgets, gear would help increase repeatability. She needs more features. -This leads into my next issue,the enemies. all of them are designed and look great, their AI is well designed too. The issue comes with their visibility, most of the enemies perfectly hide no matter the level, now this makes sense and would easily be solved by an item or gear that would allow Light Amplification or a tactical visor item. Their voices are too low, their colors are too dull, there needs to be a bigger variety, and the flying units are THEE most dangerous and will kill you easily if you aren't paying attention. again, an item to help you pick them out easier would be good if you keep the dull style. The roaster doesn't change up until about half way. Her weapons are for the most part standard, there is a lack of standouts. With the vast open maps there is a great need of scoped rifle or something with zoom to pick out well hidden enemies. She needs a few new sci/fi weapons and to replace the redundant ones. No Rocket Launcher? GTFO
From what I have tried and played it is a fantastic title and another excellent addition from the brilliant bastards at New Blood. but my personal issue it with its optimization. Perhaps it is just my PC but I can run other higher taxing games without a problem on high settings while this game chugs and stutters even on the lowest settings. When they said it can run on a "toaster" I have to say that was just marketing and not a true statement. This could be due to GOG vs Steam but we'll have to see. I feel the biggest factor from the stuttering comes from the Unreal engine lighting. (I use Windows 7 64-bit) Maybe with an upgrade to my PC and perhaps updating to Windows 10 64-bit OS it might run smoother. I would personally would have loved if this game to have been closer to Heretic/Hexen with a similar item/armor system. I'd say Amid Evil is closer to Hexen 2 and Quake 1 but it is, in itself, it's own game that stands high and mighty. Amid Evil is worth your money (it will get 5 stars once it runs perfectly for me)
Rainbow Six is a true classic and an amazing tactical shooter that isn't for those with zero patience. Time and effort make the difference as you plan out each mission route, equipment, and the tempo. This is a game that deserves every minute you can give it to experience But, that is all on my *original experience playing it on PC and N64.* The biggest glaring issue right now is, it DOES NOT work or run on Windows 7, the game installs and opens fine but then all I receive is a black screen where I can move my mouse around with the game crashing. I give Rainbow 6: 5/5 stars for my original play back then but as of today with this current version, I give it 1 star. I will give it 5/5 if it runs
Never knew about the X series until recently but I am glad I jumped into it and other space combat/trading sims. X and Freespace, among other titles, let you know just how unoriginal Mass Effect is. X: Beyond the Frontier is a fantastic game, but a game that does NOT hold your hand. Do not go into X BtF expecting a "friendly" hand telling you what to do left and right, the Teladi Capt tells you all you need to know and how to succeed in profiting. Again, she and others do not hold your hand and that is actually a classic charm of the game and other games of the 90s. You will need to use your common sense in this one and be brave with exploring. X: BtF is two things specifically, primarily a space trading aka economic space building, and secondary a Space combat/exploration. It does both of these well, but it does have its minor quirks. My biggest recommendation with X:BtF - look for a few tip guides, a galactic map you can print out, and a few hints on how to get the story going (again you can use some common sense with what the Teladi Capt tells you) I am going to be playing the expansion X: Tension next and from reading the manual it seems to have answered, fixed, and added many of my small nitpicks I did have with X: BtF but in actuality it makes perfect sense with the state of the several galactic groups and their current level of technology. I highly recommend X:BtF
