No workie. At all. I get the startup video and then a black screen. There is supposedly a patch, but that requires creating an account on the web site of some random forum. Not worth it. If the patch is really that necessary, then maybe GOG should include it in the download. I don't like having to give my email address out again just to get the game working.
I really wanted to like this. I spent a couple of hours trying to get the perfect team. They were flush with cash. But the game is broken. I went to the first town, the first quest (rabid dog). There I was in the cave, facing Jackie (the first recruitable NPC). So, how do you talk to Jackie? I have NO IDEA. I was standing right next to her. Press right? Nope. Use Perception? Nope. Right-click? Oh, that's right. The mouse is close to useless in this game. Seriously, this game COULD have been great. The graphics are acceptable, and the plot (from what I have read) seems solid, But the user interface is a mess (a hold-over from the DOS days). I would rather have the original graphics, but have improved controls. Being able to use the mouse to navigate would have been nice. Being able to right-click to use a skill or item would also have been MUCH improved. But to have to guess to figure out how to talk to an NPC? Unacceptable. If and when the developer gives us a MAJOR update, it might be better. Until then, hard pass.
First of all, you have to keep expectations realistic. This is not an "AAA" title. It was created on a budget. So you can't expect voice acting. But if you keep that in mind, this is a great title. It captures much of the feel of other "wasteland" adventures. There is a lot of content, and many hours of gameplay. However, some comments... First, forget crafting: it is mostly useless. The weapons and armor that you can craft are vastly inferior to the ones that you loot from your foes. You should know how to make a sharp knife, cigarettes, and joints -- this is just for making money. These items can be sold for more than the cost ingredients. Second, the "lone wanderers" that you meet in the wastes never have anything interesting to say, and their speech is even stilted and just plain "wrong" to an English speaker. Finally, the FO series had a lot of cool weapons such as Gauss rifles, and laser and plasma weapons. In this game, the most advanced weapons all use gunpowder. Plus, the best ammo is rare. I also noticed that for all of the talking about communism, there was none to be found in the game. Russia is firmly capitalistic in this game Bonus game hints (mostly spoiler-free): In Krasnoznamenny, the hospital has a man who will give you a quest: do this earlier in the game. Then, go to your new house and upgrade the basement ASAP for good perks. Also, never sell newspaper, gunpowder, scrap metal. You will find a use for those.
First, this is rather linear, and you don't get a lot of choices. No sneaking, and not skills for speech or intimidation. There is only one way through, and that is to fight. So in that sense, it is rather limiting. But for what it is, it is a lot of fun. There is sort of a class system: melee, archer, or mage. You don't have to pick a class, but you sort of do by where you spend your upgrade points. All weapons have a controlling stat that means that they can't be used by non-class characters. Also, every class has a choice of 1-handed or 2-handed weapons, which means that you can choose between more damage or the ability to hold a shield for more defense. The thing that sets your "magic" users apart is just the ability to use wands or staffs. They do not learn spells. All magic comes from enhancements on your items, and the list of available spells is rather small. So, the game is fun and enjoyable for what it is. If you want an open-world RPG, this is not for you. If you want something with a bit more depth than Diablo or Torchlight, give this one a try!
I am going to compare this to the Fallout series. This is because this game INVITES such comparison, being similar -- even down to perks. First, I am stuck in an impossible situation. I'm trying to do the "rob Protectorate warehouse" mission in Core City. From what I can tell, there are two ways to do this. One requires a much higher persuasion than I have. The other way involves going through an area where nearly-invisible monsters attack you and disappear. Without VERY high perception combined with one specific perk, you will just die. So, I have NO WAY to complete this mission. Nice planning, guys. Second, you are just thrust into the game. Are you trying to save your vault/village by getting a water chip/GECK? Are you searching for your father? Are you trying to find the man who left you for dead? Nope. If this were real life, you have no reason to do anything except use your coin to get drunk. There is no motive that the character has to do any mission other than boredom. We know nothing of the main character's past at all at the beginning, no reason to keep going. Also, the original Fallout series ran just fine on a 120 MHz Pentium. Despite this having inferior graphics, it takes about a minute to start up using my 2.0 GHz AMD A10 processor. Plus, when trying to load a game, it minimizes itself the first couple of times you click on the "load game" button before it lets you actually load. This is annoying. Finally, the actual user interface is just kind of a mess: parts of it are just downright confusing. Supposedly you can use an "omni-tool" to open and close ventilation covers in order to enter the ventilation system. Open, yes. Close, I have no idea how to do this. You can also use a crowbar to open them, supposedly, but I can't figure out how. Also, neither good nor bad, but this game is more "realistic" in many ways than Fallout. Loading up heavy armors reduces your action points. Whether this is good or bad is a matter of opinion.
First, a disclaimer. This is a review of the Steam version from several years ago. I can't comment on running the GOG version on a modern windows machine. If you have played KOTOR 1, this is more of the same. It is a lot of fun but, unfortunately, I encountered a bug using a major force power towards the end on my 1st playthrough. The bug did not appear the 2nd time I played it, however. The plot isn't quite as good as the first one, but this is still worth playing. But the Ebon Hawk (your ship) still does not have a bathroom.... Imagine the smell in there!
First, a disclaimer. This is a review of the Steam version from several years ago. I can't comment on running the GOG version on a modern windows machine. This is a GREAT game. Yes, each world is rather linear, but you get to play a Jedi! How cool is that? You also get to choose between the light and dark side, and get bonuses or penalties to force powers based on your alignment. You also get a choice of Jedi disciplines, and can choose your companions from a long list for every outing. I also recommend switching up companions often just to hear the conversation between them Some quests can only be activated by having a certain companion with you on a certain world, so try them all! This also has a great plot. The graphics are definitely primitive by today's standards, but it is still VERY fun.
Ahhhh. The memories. First of all, this is a real Windows game, and it has no problems scaling up to higher resolutions (I remember playing this at 1600x1200 no problems). I am not sure how this will handle wide-screen monitors, but at least you are not stuck at 640x480. This has an excellent single-player story line and a great variety of missions. This is the best of the Star Wars flight sims, and one of the best games in the genre. You get to fly Corellian freighters (including, eventually, the Millennium Falcon), X-Wing, Y-Wing, A-Wing, and the Z-95. You even get to fly WITH Luke Skywalker on a mission. Buy it now!
Overall, this game is a lot of fun. The gameplay is definitely linear and somewhat un-original. However, the comedic elements make it worth playing.
No matter how well written it is, if it does not even run, then nothing else matters. My system is an HP laptop, Windows 7 64-bit. ATI CPU and graphics (low-end machine). I can watch the opening cut-scene, but then it crashes. I have tried the usual suspects: all switches in compatibility mode and running as admin. Still dies. Pity. This sure looked like a good game. I hope GOG actually does something to get this to run on a modern OS soon.
