A game that has a lot going for it, but the overall impression is that even the Enhanced Edition is bit off from being completely finished. Alas, some places felt like fillers and, on top of that, were clearly in not-quite-finished stage. I completed the game on tactical. The difficulty balance is a bit off – the beginning was tough, the end more of a breeze. The sweet spot was the early mid-game where you had options without fights being pushovers. Still...quite addictive. Don't see too much replayability value tho, at least in single player.
At first I was really underwhelmed with the game, but then I understood the point: It's more an audio-visual adventure rather than a game. The setting is extremely stylish, small animations are brilliant and the radio, oh the radio! Unfortunately, it's not a 5 / 5: The actual game is really thin and some holes feel more filler than anything else. Still, the biggest downside is that it had potential to be so much more. On the other hand, it might not have fit the story that well. Oh well, I'd say 3.5 stars out of 5...which rounds to 4. Also, if you're a Tesla-fan then you might want to skip this as it comes with plenty of serious critique of the tech-lord mentality.
It sort of tries to be Guitar Hero with cars, except there's no dynamic music or beat based block creation. Instead you just collect blocks worth 10 $ each. You can get more tracks, first one at 10,000 $, and more cars...but it's tedious, tedious grinding with the same track, same car and same song before that. Tried Synthwave Burnout before this – same group behind it, a complete non-game, this one is better than that. But not by much. Avoid unless you get it for really cheap (sub 1 €/$).
It's less of a game than random C64 racer. It's kind of a shame, the graphics and music are OK, but there's absolutely no content. As for bugs, setting controls doesn't work, you start on the wrong side of the car, etc.. etc.. Difficulty? Yes, while you hit a kerb and it's game over, but as there's no time limit and no one's tracking your time or score or anything, you can just drive slowly until you reach the goal. There's nothing you can do except move forward. Overall, you're much better off watching a random synthwave music video.
Note: I could not get the game to run after installation. Noticed that I need to disable the second monitor in order to launch the game. Just have to push Win+P to set PC-only before running the game. I can re-enable the second monitor afterwards. Tropico 3 is my first game of the series. After few days of playing it's an addicting one. Essentially Tropico is Sim City on steroids, and by that I mean the game is the steroid bouncer who's always keen to make your life more difficult than it should be. Few absolutely fantastic in your face moments I've had: – It's quite early in the game, island is growing, but there are few rebels. I keep on focusing building a happier, better island instead of an army. Alas, 6 rebels start a revolution and burn down a farm. Now, I'm facing starvation and economic collapse. Great! – Later, I'm back on track, making big bucks. Start a construction spree that leaves me 5k in debt (you can go 10k with no issues). I have plenty of exports waiting, no biggie...wait...what's that? A hurricane! Suddenly I'm missing few critical buildings, over 10 k in debt...Now where's that freighter?!? – On another island, I run a large economy with around 200k money. Go on another construction spree with 20k to spare. Notice that money is running out quite fast, well, lots of expenses. Ah, yes there's the freighter, but it leaves empty as the dock isn't manned. Wait, what?!? Overheated economy! Raise dock salaries, time for industry salary check. Run into 40k debt before next boat. Back on black! Then...people start to starve! Why? Salary raises caused fisheries and food farms to lose workers...Can I buy immigrants somewhere? Except commies complain about unemployment and nationalists about immigrants...Great! Not a full 5/5 game as game's missing some tools to handle e.g. heavy traffic (public transit, 1-way streets, etc..). I also haven't figured out how to check efficiency of construction or teamster offices. Other than those, a great game!
Essentially, The Saboteur is Thief – a stealth/action hybrid – modernized and put to nazi-era GTA Paris. You have freedom to do missions in your own way; in vast majority of cases no one is railroading you to follow a certain path. You can go guns out, all ninja or something in between. After gaining silenced pistol and the perk to sabotage, i.e. plant bombs, without suspicion while disguised the game turns into complete awesomeness. If missions aren't enough, the sheer amount of free play targets (worth dough and impacts e.g. escaping pursuit) is staggering. I also like the certain adultness and rough edges of the game, which seem to missing from modern titles. However, it's not all sunshine and rainbows though: – Console saving system with checkpoints. It works rather well, but when you run out of "easy missions" exploring and causing mayhem to nazis becomes ever more dangerous. – It's from 2009 so graphics, especially draw distance, can be bit so-so. It's not ugly per se, but looks dated. – Odd glitches every now and then – SOME missions are guns akimbo shoot'em ups... – ...especially towards the end of the game. By far the most annoying aspect of the game to me. – Side quests run out: Some areas are essentially not visited unless you go there in free play. – Feels like the devs ran bit out of steam towards the end of the game. Side quests and advancement (only so many perks & guns to find!) essentially stop. Although, end of the final mission is IMO extremely stylish. As far as stars go, I'd say 5- would describe the game best. There are some issues beyond mere age that could have been polished and/or fleshed out with bit more development time. Verdict: Grab it, play it, regret that there can never be a remake due to the game's graphical content....which includes blood, nazis with real swastikas (gasp!) and nudity (double-gasp!)
Nice little game which has some design decisions that do annoy a bit. Playing the game is smooth and addictive: Having a nice transport network is satisfying. I like the way targets are represented: Commercial, industrial, hospitals, stadiums etc.. targets are abstracted behind elegant geometric figures. Track 'painting' couldn't be any simpler... However, it's not all sunshine and rainbows. First of all, you can't win. You will always lose a scenario. This is wildly different from many other "similar" games (tycoons, etc..), where you either had a goal that you could achieve or were open sandboxes from the get go. In Mini Metro you do need some 'score' to advance, but all scenarios end in game over. Game mechanically you do advance, but you don't get any Gratz for winning -type of notice, which can leave you wondering whether the score was good enough or not, and does leave a bit of a sour taste after each scenario. Secondly, some station changes are bit too stealthy. I'd prefer e.g. a short pop-up text whenever a new station appears or type of a station changes. Occasionally these tend to fade into background. Also, there is no clear indication how busy any station is or will be making network planning that much more difficult. Devs could perhaps add color aura – green to red – to represent "population density" of a station area? It would also enhance the suburbia to metropolis feel of some lines and would keep the interface elegant. Thirdly, you have no control on upgrades or clear picture what an upgrade or network modification does. Is shinkansen better than two trains? Did that line modification actually improve throughput? Please, give me a tunnel, pretty please?! Overall, a game definitely worth it. I'd give it 3½ stars, which rounds to 4: Not the best or most complex game, but definitely a decent time killer.
I tried to like this and it is better than Torchlights, but not by much. An accurate score would be perhaps 2 and 1/3. It has a lot of good things: The graphics, the performance, the setting and Katrina the loot picking ghost pet. I like the consumables: Unlimited supply of health & mana potions and town portals. The crafting mechanics are good: You can craft gear in plenty of ways, but not immediate über stuff that whacks everything to pieces. The third 'mana bar', rage, is quite decent: It enables skill modifying, but having full rage can also give a bonus. Unfortunately, if you use rage then it is just mechanical space+attack-space+attack...It doesn't bring any new depth into game play. It could..but the hordes! Every area, while graphically different, is bland. All you face are hordes, or boss fights with hordes. No variability. Your progress has no impact on challenge curve. Every chapter regardless of the level, skill choices or loot is equally challenging, or 'challengeless'. Skills are bland and you're stuck with the one or two selected skills because of the synergies...except that you can reskill, reattribute, reperk...recreate your character with gold (replayability, anyone?). The loot you gain is bland and obfuscated. For example, in Diablos you could almost immediately see whether loot is worth something and things you could find could open up a new way of fighting. Here it's just more numbers. And not only that, it's more numbers on the gear type your character class can use. For example, the class defines the weapon of choice so no rifle wielding protector or some such. Game mechanically there are two major flaws: Camera angle – You see much further up than down. Playing a ranged character is PITA about half the time. Skill binding – You can't change mouse skills with quick keys, ergo you have two (attack-)skills that are easy to use. Most buffs and semi-passives are not too painful to use from keyboard but attack skills are (thanks to hordes).
