TL;DR this game was not good when it was first released, and it has not gotten better. But it may provide enjoyment for fans of WH40K and/or Tau. Fire Warrior was touted as a competitor to Halo: CE but such a comparison is laughable at best. Fire Warrior is a last generation FPS that would have blown the minds of fans of the original Medal of Honor, but has nothing to offer the modern FPS fan. The most fundamental aspect of a shooter: the shooting, is done terribly. Playing this game without auto-aim enabled is the objectively inferior way to play. Due to how aiming and mouse-look is programmed, you will not hit what you aim at, instead you are better off relying on the game to make the calculation for you as your focus on keeping the reticule in the general area of your target. This is further compounded by the offensively bad auto-save system. It's that old style of auto-save where you get them only very occasionally, so an ill timed death can undo a significant amount of progress. These two things make Fire Warrior a hopelessly frustrating experience. So why 3 stars instead of 1? Because this game offers something very few games do: a first person look into the world of 40K, and a microcosm of the design and vibe of 3rd edition 40K. Fans of the original Tau, back when they were first released will delight at the opportunity to see the world through the eyes of a rank-and-file Tau. We get to see an interpretation of "Oldhammer" aesthetics and ideas explored in a way that has never been seen since. For me as a Tau fan, I willingly suffer through the frustration and mediocrity for the nectar that is the Tau perspective in an old universe from 2003. If you want to see Oldhammer as it was back in the day, you may have a great deal of fun with this game. I loved walking through Tau ships and seeing their culture, and seeing Blanche painting on display in Imperial ships, and you may too. But if you don't care for 40K or Tau, then you're better off skipping this one.
Only Lead Can Stop Them (Only Lead) wears its Wolf 3D inspiration proudly on its sleeve and comparisons to this game are unavoidable. As far as capturing action-hero vibe of Wolf 3D, Only Lead delivers this in droves with you playing the part of a side-strafing militiaman cutting down pixelized badguys. Where Only Lead surpasses Wolf 3D is by expanding upon existing mechanics adding a level of complexity that Wolf 3D sorely lacked. While I enjoy Wolf 3D it gets stale after the first episode, an issue that Only Lead solves by: adding a broad array of weapons, intricate and well furnished levels, and a new resource called conviction that lets you enter a "berserk mode." Finally: not only does this game deliver mechanically, but also with great personality. The Spanish Civil War is one of many "forgotten" wars that barely exists in the popular memory, it is such a delight to interact with this period of history through a video game. The art direction is excellent, combining a retro vibe with a unique Spanish-core dieselpunk style. Instead of swastikas you have Falangist arrows, and many more things to add local flavor. Worth mentioning: there is a level editor and the ability to play custom levels, though I have not tried this myself. I strongly recommend this game to fans of historical games, boomer shooters, and especially fans of Wolfenstein 3D or Wizordum.
The year is now 2024 and I must unfortunately inform you all that the "overall most helpful review" published in 2021 is still relevant. There is still no patch for the game breaking bugs, and you are still locked to a 40 second turn timer. For some context this turn timer is way too short for a human player rendering the game unplayable.
Hedon is hands down my favorite boomer shooter/retro fps, and now with update 2.4.0 I no longer have a single negative thing to say about this game. What happened in 2.4.0? The movement got fixed and now feels much more responsive and less icy. The game itself is a masterclass in level design and ambient storytelling. Every level is lovingly crafted with beautiful spritework, spanning lived in areas, epic combat arenas, and countless cleverly hidden secrets filled with powerful items. The player character is Zan the Bonebreaker, and she is every bit as rip and tear as the beloved Doomguy. Combat is an exciting and challenging orgy of pixelated ultraviolence to delight even the most jaded shooter fan. The feel of the weapons is spot on, with a sense of weight and power to a varied and interesting arsenal. And for those that need something completely different can play Bearzerker mode where all your weapons are replaced by magical melee weapons that significantly changes how the game is played. I cannot recommend this game enough: if you love boomer shooters then this is a must play.
When playing point and click logic you have to take things in stride, realize it's a game with silly characters doing absurd things. Sometimes the puzzles are weird and defy logic, but they at least make sense within the context of the game world. This is all too often not the case in Wet Dreams Don't Dry. I cannot count the number of times I screamed in frustration "that was the solution?" So many of the puzzles lack any form of context or hint and the only way to discover them is by mashing items with eachother or with the scenery. This is an adventure game sin, and just poor design. To add insult to injury the game only has jokes that will offend the smallest number of people, and can be boiled down to: "Wow that's silly isn't it? roll your eyes now!" or "Look! An internet stereotypes!" The supposedly raunchy humor is overall a disappointment. Yes a few made me chuckle, but for the most part it all felt more in line with school yard shock value as opposed to actual adult jokes. Check out the original Leisure Suit Larry games instead, you're not missing anything here.
Firstly, this game is a mediocre Darkest Dungeon clone. But why are mods important, and why is my perception of the game so effected by this? For the same reason it's important in Darkest Dungeon. This game is a reskin of Darkest Dungeon but a very good reskin mind you. Indeed: while some management aspects are different, the core gameplay loop feels identical. This is a bad thing in a market where everyone has already played and replayed the game you are copying. To put it bluntly: this game bores me, since I may as well be playing Darkest Dungeon for the tenth time. But at the same time, I see the game comes with some great ideas. Leading an insurgency is not an idea you see often, and I really wish this game wasn't so bland. Which is why it's such an idiotic and self-sabotaging decision to prevent modding. The reason I still play Darkest Dungeon after 200 hours is because the mods reinvigorate it with new gameplay. Additionally, mods allow players to customize their experience, letting them change dev decisions such as slow combat speed, which can become quite annoying after the hundredth hour. Through mods, this game could become something unique and amazing, instead the devs have condemned their work to obscurity due to petty and small minded reasons. Play Darkest Dungeon instead, it is far more competently put together and can actually entertain you without mods. And when you've gotten all the fun you can out of the base game, mod it for even more hours of fun.
Necromunda is very much a "budget AAA game" in that it was produced with a tight budget in order to give it a 40$ price tag as opposed to the arbitrary 60$ common in the industry today. Unfortunately, the old modicum "what you pay for is what you get" is very true in this case. The game is poorly optimized and bloated, but offers some magnificent screenshots. First you have to download a massive 50gb, and later download regular 20gb updates. But even after all this the game still runs like garbage on most high end machines, and all these massive updates have done very little to alleviate the problem. Not to mention that loading times are unforgivably long, it takes upwards of a minute to load into a mission that is over in four minutes. In terms of gameplay, imagine a more janky and repetitive version of Doom: Eternal. Apart from this the game is extremely uninspired, consisting of the same formula: enter combat arena, kill/destroy something, go to score screen. This gets boring after a measly 4 hours. And as for story, it may as well not be there. They try and do fan service by featuring Kal Jerico but he doesn't fill any significant role beyond giving quests. Instead of wasting your money on a mediocre ripoff of Doom: Eternal, just suck it up and pay the extra 20$ for a vastly superior experience.
I have tried all the fixes, browsed all the forums, done everything I can but this game no longer works. I do not know why Fallout 3 suddenly crashes immediately after pressing "play" but I have really tried everything. Buyer beware, this game will not run, do not buy it.
