I bought it 80% off and it felt like a right price. Played some games against AI one evening and that's it. Never really felt the need to play it again. What's here is a pretty competent game with a competent AI and nice, simplistic presentation. It's not bad by any means, but... I'm sorry but there are so many strategy games on the market that I just don't see a reason to recommend it to anyone, other than the reason I bought it myself: trying out a random cheap game out of curiosity after playing dozens of other games from this genre. It's really hard to make strategy and simplicity mix.
My favourite game of the genre. Great progression system, distinct classes. And oh my God, a customisable difficulty system? I can adjust it however I want!? So I don't need to spend 20 hours one shotting everything on easy difficulty before I encounter the first challenge!?!? Finally! Was an easy 5/5, but then you hear how one of the major characters in the game - Perun - is pronounced as Pee Run. And you hear it A LOT. Disagree if you want, but this is my review I do honestly think this is enough to lower the rating by 1, because you just can't take this grim world and its story seriously anymore when you hear 'pee run' multiple times in a dialogue. And storytelling is an important part of this game, so yeah. My other complaint is the multitude of collection quests where you need to seach the area to collect tiny gray items on a gray background, and sometimes you are required to find ALL of them, so you can't miss even one! :) The game's tone is also all over the place. No spoilers, but in one mission, the narration ends on a depressing note about how many soldiers died in vain. The next mission is literally named 'Saving Private Brian'. Ok so we're cracking jokes now? Apart from that, I feel that the game is longer than it needs to be, especially given its huge replayability (though that's subjective) and I find Katarina too b*tchy and annoying, but I suppose that's subjective too. And these are ALL the complaints I have about this game, which should make it clear why I think it's so great. The character progression system is pure gold. The best I've ever seen in a game. Be it early game or late game, you constantly unlock fun things to add to your arsenal. And I don't mean some +0,1% crit bonuses. I mean actual skills that change your gameplay.
This game knows what it wants to be: a crazy piece of mindless fun. And it delivers perfectly. It's an action-packed third person shooter with spectacular moves, some ridiculous superpowers, and over the top silliness. And then there's music, of course. Calling it just a cherry on top would be a serious understatement. Game features a unique headshotting mechanic. It's not about precision at all, but about timing. You hold the right mouse button, and left click in the brief moment the crosshair turns yellow. Chaining kills grants you superpowers, each more stupid than the other. Summon a bazooka-wielding skeleton? Sure, why not. The main story isn't super long, but as long as it needs to be, and even somewhat competent, which is more than what I'd expect from a game of this kind. You can freeroam to find upgrades to your max health, bullet time and weapon skill which allows to dual-wield more weapon types. These are all very minor upgrades, a completionists thing more than anything else. Sidequests generally revolve around getting a high enough score through combos and chained kills to pass. If you're too boring with your gunplay, you can fail even if you clear all enemies. Unfortunately there are also driving sidequest, and driving in this game is abysmal. There are 3 difficulty levels. Easy is easy, normal is normal, hard is hard. As it's supposed to be. Surprisingly many games fail at giving the player a meaningful choice here. An easy 5/5 from me. Main complaints are driving and the shooting itself may get repetitive after a while, but that's what the highscore milestones are for, to provide a goal.
A very simple, fun, chaotic and challenging game. Tracks are designed to be annoying on purpose with many creative obstacles. Dogs, pedestrians, soldiers - everybody is out to get you. And of course there are the opponents. Bumping into them will send them flying, but they can do the same to you. This game features the most absurd rubberbanding I've seen in a racing game. You can lag 1 minute behind and still win the race. But honestly, it's required, because you will be flying off the track a lot, so the game gives you ample chances to recover. The controls are responsive and physics are good, although chaotic. Every smallest pebble is a hazard and sometimes you're not even sure why your toy car ended on its roof. Races are long. 5-8 minutes long. Perhaps it would be unthinkable in other racing games, but here something interesting is happening all the time and it honestly feels just fine. The Championship mode consists of 10 tracks, unlocked in order of simplest to most complex. After each race you get money and score. How much you get depends on track difficulty and your final placing. Money is spent on upgrades - tires, engine and nitro. The simplest upgrade system imaginable. Score is cumulative and is needed to unlock the next tracks. You don't need to place 1st in a race to unlock the next track, you can "grind" the score by replaying the tracks multiple times. The last, 10th track is the exception, you need to WIN at least once on every previous track to unlock it, which is something I simply cannot do. The later levels are seriously hard. and opponents appear to drive better too. One complaint I have, and the reason I only give 4 stars, is the confusing layout of some tracks. Sometimes you simply must know the track by heart and know where you're supposed to turn. I don't think that avoiding getting lost should be part of the challenge. Music is 10/10 and a great part of the charm of this game.
I did have a great time with M&M7, but this one is barely even a game. You do your thing, and suddenly night falls. The entire screen just turns pitch black in an instant. Of course it doesn't affect your enemies, so if it happens during combat they will keep attacking you, while you have no idea what's happening. The whole story and the objectives that connect it often feel like placeholder. Beating the tutorial island already requires a walkthrough. There's no reason why you need to click this one specific thing to progress. The game doesn't tell you to. But you won't progress if you don't. I didn't get far. Entered the sewers in the first city and couldn't find my way back. The useless minimap is well, useless. It's a shame, because it had potential. The reworked class system seemed interesting, and it has mouse controls, unlike previous games, which make it more comfortable to play. Unfortunately I really can't recommend it to anyone.
This game starts very fun but gets boring very quickly. I did finish it, but after ~25% completion I just kept sprinting to the next main objective. One thing this game does very well is the audiovisuals. It has a memorable soundtrack and it looks nice and colorful. The variety of environments do add to the overal colorfulness. Many other games of this genre tend to go for the gloomy gothic look. But this one is your typical fantasy with green meadows, icy mountains, volcanoes, swamps and deserts. And I like it this way. The other very strong point of this game are complex character classes. There's 8 of them and each has a variety of abilities which make room for lots of different playstyles even within each class. The Wood Elf has multiple ways of dealing with enemies with her bow, but maybe you prefer to turn her into a nimble melee fighter? Or she can use magic too. Heal, summon, poison, root enemies in place. All the classes are really fun. Unfortunately, here's where the positives end, since this game is a pile of all bad design decisions this genre has to offer. Here's a list: -spammable consumables, especially health potions; -enemies drop way more stuff than your inventory space allows. Combine with the previous point, since the consumables take inventory space too and don't even stack. -all skills are unlockable very, VERY early in the game, making character progression uninteresting. Basically by levelling up you only increase passive stats. -enemies level up with you, so you don't even feel these stats increase; -enemies respawn, and they do respawn fast. So doesn't matter which area of the world you're exploring, it's the same wall of respawning enemies of the same level. -unreadable map -a very common bug puts a marker for your next main story objective in the wrong place. You're going to waste an hour, then check online to learn where to go. The story is uninteresting, but I don't play such games for the story anyway. Only for genre enthusiasts.
This review is not comparing this game to other entries in the series (which I have not played), but to other games in general. I'm still not sure if I should give this game 3 or 4 stars. I did beat it, I did put tens of hours into it, if not even a hundred. But in the end, I feel this game is equal parts of fun and frustration, so an average 3/5 seems fitting. The levelling up system will be your main source of frustration from the beginning up until the very end. To increase the mastery level of your skills, you need to find a specific trainer for the skill AND mastery level in question. Most of them are just some random people chilling somewhere in the the world in their shacks. And they are gonna train you, the party of dragonslayers. This complaint is crucial, because the whole levelling up and acquiring new skills is the core of this game. And it's amazing. Lots of spells completely alter the gameplay, like invisibility or flight. But before you have fun with them, gotta find that random trainer. Even with external help, you will spend entire HOURS travelling from one trainer to another. If this doesn't scare you, it might be a game for you. The part of time you don't spend on travelling you will most likely spend in combat. It is a tiny bit repetitive due to how many monsters there are in each zone, but the variety of monsters carries this game. From rats and bats to dragons and titans, they are all well defined with strengths, weaknesses and abilities. They don't level up either. You see one and you know what to expect. This is in clear contrast to Morrowind, where many adversaries are human-like NPCs who could one hit you, or die in one hit. The story is... interesting. It's pretty random and illogical, but memorable. One last thing. The soundtrack is FAN TAS TIC. One of the best in history of gaming. I recommend to patient lovers of older games and only with help of external sites. It's seriously more fun this way.
