What sets this game apart are the DETAILs, the authentic cultural and linguistic details married to the original flavor of the trademarked Shadowrun genre. There is enormous side flavor detailing that you really ought to read to get the full enjoyment of this HBS offering. Everything from Shadoweb poetry contests to job ad chitchat and hilarious banter. Every character has a different personality and some real depth. Even shopkeepers are memorable folk in this story. There are some REALLY tough challenges. Stealth was NOT my forte. Though I played a Decker, WHAMBAM was more my style most of the time. Stealth taked more skill and offers more rewards. There is more than one path forward, but the story is mostly linear. I think it might be good for 2-3 playthoughs, unlike BG & BG2 which can be played multiple times with slightly differing paths. What sets this story apart is it's flavor. HBS did an incredible job giving the feel of a gritty underworld game without forcing players into too much dirtiness. If there was any room for improvement, I would slow down the Karma point awards, offer more job options and vary the banter based upon the chosen background (from a few options) and skill set of the player character. All in all, I found this game thoroughly delightful, challenging and tense sometimes but mostly just plain like doing a deep immersion in a series of really well-written science fiction books where you get to change some elements of the story as you read it.
I wish I had tried this game out when I bought it. Sadly, I did not have time until much later. I tried jsut now to play it when I have time and wanted to try something new. It does not do ANYTHING at all except maek your screen go black. Minimzing tells you the name of the window "SH2 Screen Blacker." I can think of 1000 games more fun than staring at simple black screen. I would rather play slap wars with a hornets nest. At least that would be exciting?
I bought Stella's a couple years ago but didn't play it. I was offered a discount and figured I should check it out. BIG MISTAKE!! When you look at the Stellaris Starter kit, it is priced at $90 but w discount, just $23. Ok ... so what is in the starter kit? It lists some DLCs withe ellipses, indicating more info. Click on the ellipses & it lists a whole host of expensive DLCs totalling somewhere around $200? Ok, I thought I was getting a good deal & the game might be worth trying out later once I have more time. I paid. Then I get a message telling me only 4 of the DLCs in the list come in the starter kit plus it includes the base game. I already have rhe base game though, so I should get a 2d copy to gift, right? Yes tgat would be fair & logical, BYT NO! Not only did I get ripped off on the other DLCs not being includ3d, but I don't get the game either??? SCAM!!! DO NOT BUY THIS PRIDUCT UNLESS YOU HAVE NONE OF IT , REALLY WANTVIT & DON'T MIND SPENDING $250 total on a game you have not even tried yet. What trash!! I'd return it all fir a refund and ban it from my list if I could. I hate crooked scammy companies.
On the upside, I enjoyed the feel of the "game." A couple of the scenes were really innovative & neat. For that it gets a star. I am TRYING to be generous. There really isn't any choice offered as to what you can do or not do. You must follow along with the story-writer's decisions. This would not be bad per se, if the story was a LOT more interesting, there was sort of voice acting or a lot more more narrative. Finding the things you are supposed to find is not always intuitive & you waste a lot of time wandering about and random clicking things, trying to figure out what to do. Since there is only one way of progressing through the story, you are like a blindfolded passenger who can barely see through the scarf but must walk the path to get to the end, without caring about the 1 dimensional character, or any of the goals. I bought this on Steam and hated it so much I hid it from myself so it would not tick me off seeing the title in my inventory. In 40 years of computer gaming (yes truly!), only 2 games have I ever been frustrated & angered every time I saw them. This is one of the two out of something near 1500 games. Why should you buy this game? I do NOT recommend it, but if you have nothing ELSE to play and cannot afford any other games, then buying it at 90% off might make sense. Personally, I'd prefer picking up a stick & playing fetch with myself. It is that bad.
Playing it from Epic was .... disappointing. The Devs focused upon 2 things: 1. designing werewolves more fierce in appearance than all others in the genre & 2. writing combat & movement code that was clean & streamlined. THAT is their primary success. After school hobby skits written & performed by HS drama students have better voice acting! Soundtrack? It should be better. I wanted to feel the genre. I wanted to have options. The story is to short & too linear. Good stories have characters designed to induce emotional response. The one-dimensional characters in this attempt at WtA lack everything that makes you care. Backstory? Quirks? While the combat looks great, it lacks depth of viable tactical options. In some ways, this makes sense to outsiders trying to replicate WtG combat. Maybe people who don't understand the game should not design computer games that bear its name???? The SENSES of a werewolf are nearly completely omitted. If a werewolf wanted to be stealthy his nose & ears could tell him many things to avoid being surprised. Yet in this title ... NOPE! WHY interject political agendas into aroleplaying game??? Why take yet another shot at the Enron Corporation who suffered a disaster 40 years ago? At least, maybe don't be so transparent about the target of your ire? Don't bother reporting bugs. NOBODY is answering complaints. Despite being just released, it already appears to be abandoned. Summary: The FEEL of the genre is there but that is undercut by the poor writing apparently aimed at encouraging environmental terrorism. Combat is REALLY cool at first, but it gets old & lacks sufficient viable options. Characters & acting stinks but if you just want to rush in & rip stuff up with wolfy sharps, then you can maybe ignore that for the 3-10 hours you play this game before unloading it. If the game goes on sale for 2/3 off ($10), it is not a bad deal.
The game is set in a fascinating region of the periphery. The campaign game should be done FIRST because it tells the lore made just for this installment. The voice acting is good & Hare-Brained Schemes' version of the original tabletop game is well-designed. The expansions (mostly) add good material for the game though the advanced weaponry from the 'SECRET SOURCE' dramatically alter combat. The achievements are well-named & well-planned offering a variety of easy to moderately difficult achievements + a few that are truly a challenge. Overall, I LOVE the game ... BUT recently the number of crashes has become beyond frustrating. Crashing three times in the second mission of a new career is ridiculous. The bugs that cause complete game crashes after being released so long ago leave me to wonder what level of dedication HBS has to improving & maintaining this game for the long haul. I played this game on tabletop when it first came out & many, many (all) of its computer game spin-offs to date. The flavor of this title is top notch, but the bugs are extremely frustrating. I WISH I could rate this offering a full 5 stars, but until the bugs are fixed, I cannot.
I like the namesake for this game. I thought this game might have some strategy & tactics. I thought this game might have some intrigue. I thought it might engage my brain. I thought it might include some really cool music or opening sequences, maybe some engaging charters with which to interact. I was wrong on all counts. Those things said ... I oddly find myself returning to see how many days my selected character might live before being killed. There are trade-offs to almost every selection you make. It is inevitable -your character WILL DIE. So, that keeps to the thematic material for the series. If you want a game that is not too serious, but rather tongue in cheek, something that will occupy you for 15 minutes to an hour at a time, this game might be for you. This is a text based game in the style of some shareware games back in the early '80s. If you were hoping for some sort of grand strategy game or something involving Machiavellian intrigues, something you can invest hours into ... you should look elsewhere. In fairness, my expectations from the title might be the source of my disappointment with this title. For what it is, the game works properly. While it lacks cool sound effects, a soundtrack, clever voice acting, a strong story,etc. it still manages to entice its owner to return .. to seek frustration (or laughs at the speedy deaths) again. On sale, this is not an unworthy library addition.
NOT an easy game. If you are a tabletop player used to winning 75% of you matches, EXPECT to be in for the fight. This AI does not make stupid mistakes. It covers damaged sides, engages in good lance tactics and handles ranges and heat. As a top-tier tournament guy, I can tell you its ONLY weakness is in terrain movement but that is only a partial weakness and it is offset by the terrain design for each scenario. Do not count on it to carry you. The difficulty is similar to X-Com or to Civ 5 at the Emperor-Immortal level. The tactics are identical to many of the better players you will encounter at a tournament. Graphics: It rarely stuttered over an entire week of intense gameplay. The damage cooking off after a mech is down provided chagrined/satisfied laughter depending upon whether you downed that target hoping for good salvage, or because it was a deadly machine that you had to kill ASAP. Sometimes it takes a moment for a mech to fall. The mech deaths are sometimes instantaneous from an explosion, sometimes slower from a cockpit hit. Concerning the 'laser hardpoints,' if you read the old TROs there were numerous examples of mech mod limitations. Some things are impossible as battlefield mods in terms of T&T slot tie-in's, power hookups, ammo linkages, mech balance, etc. A lot of the custom mods we used in tourny play were real abuses of that concept (like when I loaded endo FS9s with all flamers to rush in and detonate clan heavies after they fired on my decoy FS heavies). This is a very wise game mechanic that keeps players true to the spirit of the classic game. The entirety of the Inner Sphere and Periphery is open to play once you unlock the transportation, btw. It is absolutely false that you cannot move about. Also, there is excellent info on each world in the planetary map feature and battlegrounds reflect the planetary topography, including the inclusion of variable terrain types on the worlds with more variable terrain.
