I did enjoy the game a lot more then I thought I would since it had such a weird mix of middle age and sci-fi in the game. It actually worked out very well. The story, characters, music and the world is great. There is so much to explore and many times you get rewarded for it. Combat felt a bit like Risen 3 again and I didn't like it then and I still find it to be the weak part of the game. These teleporting attacks are just silly and yes you can learn how to deal with it but still. Hitboxes are also weird especially with 2h weapons. There is crafting in the game for weapons, foods, potions, chems and gems. You also have to pick a faction but you can wait to do that until very late so you can do plenty of quests for each one. Many choices you do will affect the outcome of quests, characters, companions and the ending. For some reason they made nights almost bright as days. Luckely there is a mod to fix only that. Enjoyed the game even with its flaws. If you will play it on ultra difficulty don't worry. You can do so many quests without fighting. Also use companions, guards and other ways to get things handled. Be creative!
The game has the good old FPS style where you have big levels and the design of them are great. Played it on hard difficulty and sure it had its difficult parts but wasn't to bad at all. Think there were 2-3 spots that was rough. The story is ok but nothing special. One is here for the action which is plenty. I really enjoyed the level design. The problem I found with the game was how enemies spawn in. You think you have cleared out an area but enemies can just randomly spawn in behind you. The jumping can be a bit tricky as when you jump you also have to press the crouch button for your character to pull up his legs. Some weapons felt useless so you stuck with pretty much 1 or 2 of them. Had a great time with the game.
After having played Risen 1 and 2 and then coming to Risen 3 and all of a sudden the main character is somebody else. Must say I didn't like the main character. Also what is up with all the f* words all over the place with the main character and also Patty. The game looks great. Music is great. The characters you meet are great. Story is ok. Enjoyed the quests you got. The combat is changed yet again. They changed it for every Risen game released. They succeeded in making it worse. What is up with the teleporting attacks. You or enemies can stand way far from each other and teleport all the way to the targeted enemy. Also whats up with being stuck with the enemy targeting even if the enemy is dead. It was an ok experience.
The story telling and characters you meet are great. Love the settings for the different island and the music. It feels like there is so much traveling back and forth between the islands as one who wants to lockpick all the chests and mine and explore everything. Meele combat felt even worse then Risen. Good luck hitting what you want when you got multiple enemies around. Be prepared to be carried by follower in the beginning. Not unusual with it comes to Piranha Bytes games. I felt like the ending was a bit meh. Not saying why as don't want to spoil anything.
Wish I could have set it to 3.5 stars but I did enjoy playing through it even with its faults. I did enjoy the story, characters and the setting for the game. It looks great. Music is very good. You get to meet many interesting characters and a lot of interesting stories tied up to each other between characters. I enjoyed the story and was looking forward to see where it was going. I like to play melee and with that you will have a rough time in the game until later then you become so good nothing stands in your way instead. I just felt the combat balance was off. Did have a good time exploring all over the place. Still thou with all the chests you find they are extremely seldom really worth all the exploring it feels like. Felt like chests are just there to make you feel happy until you open and find 2-5 gold and a fork after fighting 10-20 enemies to get just there. Would rather not have any chest there or just put a decent herb or at least somewhat worthy gold in the chest. Not like gold was an issue except very early in the game. A bit more variation of enemies would be nice too.
Soldier of Fortune: Payback felt like they took steps back from the previous games in the series. All of a sudden the control of your character is a bit wonky. With limiting your fps in the game I had no problem with hitting enemies. The levels in the game didn't feel at all polished like in the previous games. Then there are yet again enemies that can 1-shot you (at least on hardest difficulty). You are just at the end of a part to get a checkpoint but lets put an enemy that can 1-shot you just peaking inside. Last boss was just another one that could 1-shot you instantly while could himself tank several hits. Felt just very badly designed. Felt like the story was cut and there should be more. Still had an ok time with the game until the final part of it.
Soldier of Fortune 2 is a good FPS but it is difficult one at times(this is from the hardest difficulty point of view). Enemies can see you before you see them and can 1-shot you. Taking cover is very important to survive especially on the hardest difficulty as if you do not enemies easily 1-shot you. I did enjoy this just that sometimes the 1-shot killing felt very unfair. They can many times just come running quick from a corner or hiding in some spot or spawning from some unexpected spot. Wasn't as bad as in the first one. It was a hard and sometimes rough but an enjoyable ride. If you want an FPS that will challenge you I will recommend it.
This review is from playing it on challenge difficulty (2 saves per level). I also used the SoFplus mod which worked great. The enemies are so quick to react it is nuts at times. There are some issues when there is fog and you can barely see anything in the distance but the AI sees you perfectly. Had a blast with it and enjoyed it even thou it was hard. Using cover and leaning is just very crucial. One mistake and you will either die or be very low on health. Enjoyed the levels and all. A great fps that I can easily recommend.
There are a lot of good things with the game. Soundtrack, graphics, characters and voice-overs. Sadly the main story gets drowned out with all these side stories(side quests) that you forget what are we doing all this for. It becomes more about the place where we are at. You got some more in-depth knowledge about your brother and dog-robot which is nice. I agree with what others have said that there is a lot of backtracking to previous areas which can gets tedious with flying back and forth through the portal and then to where you need to go. I do explore as much as possible most of the time but to find things to make money in the game are hidden until you walk just by it. There is nothing showing graphically that there should be something there to find. Specific items for quests are shown. Was hoping for more after having enjoyed Stasis and Cayne.
The game is visually stunning but sadly it uses the same graphics with some very minor different through the game. The thing that made me continue and enjoy it was the challenges escaping the levels and how you can do it in different ways. The story is decent and the sound/music is fitting. Picked it up on a sale and it is worth it.
