The title says it all; as a big fan of Vicky 2 I was curious to see how the predecessor played and....I can't say I liked what I played, primarily due to it's inaccesibility in UI design.
While I think BG1 is a good CRPG, I also think it's overrated by people blinded with nostalgia. The main plot in itself is pretty good, with a narratively rich underlying theme, but overall the conversations are comparatively short and drift very often into the absurd and silly humour. I have to admit, it made me laugh constantly, so that's a plus, but ultimately, I think it detracts from the potential it had as a CRPG. On a good side are the 2D environments which are really beautiful and gorgeous; an absolute joy to explore!
The soundtrack is awesome, I do like the scifi look and some of the character designs. What I remember the most is the fun multiplayer I had with friends back then; and I'm usually a person who focuses on singleplayer experiences...
Basically a tense political thriller with likeable characters. I also still appreciate how well Sam FIsher is animated, it's a joy to watch!
Among my favourite games for it's atmosphere and the rough charme of it's dialogues.
In terms of gameplay it's a rather unique blend of "Stronghold" and "The Sims", I like it! All the different characters also grew to my heart and the anti-capitalist humour is blunt and on the nose; and funny as hell!
Spellforce 1 is among my most favourite games out there; particularly with both addons. One of the primary reasons is actually the worldbuilding, story and characterwriting (which is also rather progressive for it's time). I do like the gameplay as well, but here I admit that I prefer it with cheats, the latter shorten several parts of the games which can turn into slogs.
I'm a big fan of Broken Sword 1, 2 and 5. But this one? Nope, sadly I can't really recommend it, the controls are mediocre, the amount of crate pushing is atrocious and even the writing falls short of the charme and humour of the originals. 1 of the two Stars is for having nice representation of a goth though
The thing I enjoyed the most here was the bleak, dystopic atmosphere. Earth really changed into something akin to a nightmare. Overall the gameplay was alright, I had fun with it. The story is completely forgettable, in the sense that it's neither terrible nor good, it's just there.
It works like a charm and I still have as much fun with it as with the original back then. Yes, the main campaign lacks refinement, but I think it was hated a bit too much, I was still very intrigued by several concepts and I'll always remember Aribeth, her character alone makes it worth it for me ot get back to the game. However, since both addons are included and particularly HotU is an absolute masterpiece, I can only recommend this game to CRPG fans!
