Oof! Technically this hasn't aged all that well. It uses a modified version of the Dark Forces engine, and it very much shows. Also, since it is an older Windows game it may exhibit some peculiarities. That said, the actual game is still quite fun to play, and the superbly animated cutscenes do an excellent job telling its story, Sergio-Leone-style. ;) This is without a doubt more than your average Doom clone, and it shouldn't be missed by fans of classic shooters.
No, I can't pretend it has aged all that gracefully, and the lives system (instead of in-level saves) may not be for everyone. That said, blasting Imperials is still a hoot. Star Wars fans may love their light sabers (maybe a little too much so), but for me running and gunning in this and Jedi Outcast is some of the most fun I've had in this gaming franchise. :)
Sure, it is not much more than a reskinned conversion of AoE2, but using the Star Wars theme does add a lot of charm to the formula, even though it is a bit odd that droids would need food. ;) At the same, it does add something new with its flying units. It's also the only occasion where I don't mind the Gungans. It may not be the best RTS ever made, but it's quite fun to play still.
While it's not a perfect game, I had a good time with it. Yes, the timer in most missions can be a bit annoying, but early on you can get a resistance order that makes it pretty much irrelevant unless the player rushes head-on out of concealment. I did enjoy setting up perfect ambushes that wiped out pretty strong patrols within a single turn, but the whole thing did get a bit repetitive after a while. The Avatar project, the game's doomsday clock mechanic, was also easy to keep at bay with covert sabotage orders and facility-attack missions. I really did turtle my way to victory. I've seen a few weird complaints about enemies constantly taking cover: well, duh! It would be way too easy if they didn't. Besides that's what are all these explosives are for. Grenades are your friends! I always made sure to have at least one if not two grenadiers on my squad to remove that pesky cover (and armor). I do love the level of destruction in this game. In the late game it isn't uncommon to be leveling entire city blocks with the destructive arsenal the game provides. The game does still have some bugginess and oddities. Sometimes after an in-mission action the game will just sit there for a moment before continuing for no obvious reason, go into severe slow-mo effect (not hardware related), or enemies will occasionally zip across the map and out-of-bounds visually even if they're still within actual game sight and can be targeted. None of these occurrences had a real negative effect on the overall game, and they really only happen once in a blue moon. As for the DLC, the War of the Chosen was pretty decent and the Tactical Legacy Pack is pretty fun with some backstory prior to XCOM 2's events, but the Reinforcements & Resistance Warrior packs can be safely ignored. Those extra costume outfits just seem out of place (and ugly), and the special alien rulers were more annoying than fun to beat as they get an action for every one of your actions in a single turn.
I really enjoyed how the game toyed with idea of using the change of perspective that lead to some often quite delightfully surprising solutions. The puzzles are good, while the story bits are pretty inconsequential. On the downside, Superliminal is incredibly short. It took me just a bit over 2 hours to beat the regular campaign, including some time spent on head-scratchers. There is also the challenge campaign which is the same as the regular but with a limit to allowed moves/actions. I tried it for a bit, but I found it to be more frustrating than fun.
Although some of the recorded double mechanics I found a bit frustrating due to the whole timing bit, overall I had a good time with this one. As is typical, I found myself overthinking some solutions, smacking my forehead when I realized a much simpler fix was in order. I couldn't be bothered to collect all stars though. I'm not quite that masochistic. ;) Anyway, the pleasant environments and soothing soundtrack also helped a lot in my enjoyment of Talos. The story is decent, but it's really the puzzles I came for, and the game quite succeeded here. On that note, I actually thought the writing in the Road to Gehenna expansion was actually better and more fun with these AI constructs trying to make sense of what the human world was like through the imperfect knowledge they had of it.
I love the Metro series, and it's become pretty much my favorite within the realm of modern FPS. To that end, Exodus didn't disappoint one bit: bigger, better, prettier. I liked the shift to more open level design for exploring the world setting while still retaining tighter-designed ones at key points in the campaign. The games were always good at a slower, plodding story between missions, and the same can be found here. I really enjoyed the interludes with Artyom's friends and comrades aboard the train while traveling from one area to the next. I didn't really encounter any bugs or technical hangups throughout the game. The only bad thing to happen was that it eventually ended. ;) The two story expansions were quite good, too, especially Sam's Story.