This is what you play when your latest Gary Grigsby conquest has collapsed into a pit of fire. Operation Barbarossa? Oh that's like six hex units upper cutting their way into Russia with some little plane icon wrecking havoc on all. Things looking bad? Don't worry, one reinforcement unit takes up about on fifth of the map and it will come drop kicking onto the scene like a hurricane. The simplicity of the game makes it epic. If you have ever found yourself interested in hex based war games but unwilling to dive into the labyrinth, this is the best jump off point you could wish for. Enjoy!
3.5 Stars I really wanted to enjoy this game more then I did. Largely because it starts off so strongly. It is like a high stakes version of Hotline Miami, replacing artsy flare and chaos with grit and tactics. Sadly everything about this game slowly comes a part towards the end. At first you will be struck with the difficulty, then once you get a hang of things it becomes almost easy, and thats when they go about things all wrong in racheting up the challenge. All of the flaws of the game begin bursting from the seams. The more tactical equipped enemies seem to suffer from all sorts of spuratic nonsensical behavior, which tied with your partners clunky AI creates damning situations, especially given the absolutely razor thin margin for scoring enough points to unlock the next level later in the game. The situations in which it is OK to fire on an enemy also begins to suffer as more variables in their behavior come tumbling in, and things often devolve into a chaos that doesn't resemble any sort of tactics or realism. Now you could say this represents the chaos of such tense situations, but it really doesn't come off as that at all, it just seems like half finished AI. On top of this the early game equipment that you get, which seems well thought out and interesting, is followed by later items that seem almost unfinshed or useless. Just throw a smoke grenade and stare in wonder at the ridiculously poorly rendered animation that erupts from it, which seems to be taking place in a completely different set of graphics, almost in a completely different game. Or get a new sort of sensor grenade, that does exactly what an item you already has does. That said, this is all from my experience playing single player, in the recommended difficulty by the developers. I could definitely see having a lot of fun playing multiplayer with a buddy, or if your looking for a top down action fix, just know that the quality comes at a downward slope.
If you ever wished Wolfenstien 3D and Doom had skipped any imaginative undertakings and just went full on Missing In Action 3 Chuck Norris rampage, then check this bad boy out. Clearly repetative in nature, but will hit you with some grit that is hard to come by these days.
I really wanted Scratches to be my all time favorite adventure game. In fact, I would say, within scratches IS my favorite adventure game, but it had a bunch of loose ends hammered on to it, offering an unfortunate buzz kill.. But with that said, without question it is the only game I that has had me trembling in my boots! Ultimately they dragged it out with arbitrary inventory puzzles, and had you scouring through the same rooms again and again trying to move on to the next hour. This time should have been invested in further developing the plot. I found the first day delightful, reading the journals and articles, piecing together the story that accompanies this wonderfully spooky house, but by the second day, it goes from being immersed in story, to cliche plot twists and redundant tasks - god forbid you miss some small object in a dark corner, or you will be running in circles for hours, going completely numb to the atmosphere of the game. I give it credit for being quite logical, even though the fact that certain tasks could only be achieved at certain hours can hamper with what would seem logical in the moment, and the inventory concoctions get wackier as the game rolls on. All and all, if you love adventure games and some slow spooky goodness, check it out! Just keep the lights turned off, and a diaper strapped on tight!
