I wish, I wish they did a sequel or remaster of this game.
From the intro to the game loop, the devs wear their inspiration from Fallout 1 and 2 on their sleeve, but avoid the trappings of ripping off the game and instead took the concept in their own direction. First and foremost, it is set in the nuclear wasteland of a communist Russia, in a world where the cold war turned hot in the 80's, as opposed to the Fallout 50's/60's "Americana" world. The game features no plasma weapons or shoulder mounted nuclear missile launchers, instead focusing on a more realistic approach, filled with soviet era military hardware and a crafting system somewhat akin to that of Fallout 4, where you create rudimentary weapons from scrap you find in the wastes. The story as you set out isn't all too engaging, but the characters and side quests you come across along the way to your main objective is what makes the game engaging. A mix of relatable, quirky goofballs like the "people's commissar" you find training an army of hares to fight for the motherland, to dark, disgusting characters like the ones engaging in human trafficking and prostitution. You are allowed to play how you like. You can play as the "Wasteland Saint" going around doing your best to heal a scarred world, protecting old world values of freedom and justice, or a depraved bastard doing anything for cash, up to and including racially motivated "purges" of undesireables. Or anything in between. After 50 hours, it feels as if I have barely scratched on the surface of what's in this game, and as I understand it, things are still being added. I did have some issues though, mostly with the somewhat strange rules for random encounters, sometimes pitting you against foes you mathematically could not defeat our even flee from, promting a reload from autosave. There were also some issues with quests not updating properly, but the issue I had seemed to fix itself after a patch, and there is some "grind" involved for XP, albeit enjoyable. A solid 4,5/5. Must buy for Fallout 1&2 fans.
Here's the thing. When Telltale, as a company, set a certain standard, their costumers come to depend on that, and compare their products to the quality baseline they have set. And thus, when their game fail to meet expectations, they fail harder than they would otherwise. It doesn't matter if your product is decent compared to your competition. When people buy a lambo they expect lambo quality. Not BMW quality. Nothing wrong with a BMW, but it isn't quite a lambo. Even if you price the lambo the same as the BMW, people will still expect the quality standards of the lambo brand. I personally didn't expect much coming into this, not because of telltale or bad reviews, but because it's minecraft. Minecraft! Walking Dead lore? Check. Borderlands lore? Check. Game of Thrones lore? Check. Fables lore? Check. Minecraft lore? lul wat? There just isn't anything to build on here. Minecraft is not about stories or lore. Thus a telltale game set in the minecraft universe just doesn't work, in my opinion. But I tried it just to see if they still managed to pull it off! They are telltale after all... But honestly? No. Even if I disregard the telltale brand, it still feels like a fanfiction gone awry.
This game steals so much of your time, it creates a warp bubble! I can hardly count how many times I have put into this game, creating my own civs, trying them out, each new game a new plan to rule the world, a new experiment, new play style. Also, it mixes Age of Empires and Civilization. Could it be any better? That's like mixing bacon with another bacon strip! Enough said.
Definitively one of the worst games I have ever bought, and an insult to Empire Earth. If you were a fan of the first game, don't ever sully it's memory by paying for this sad money grab. The game is your average "Lets earn some money" kind of products with no concern for costumer satisfaction. The only kind words I can say is that they at least had some idea of trying to improve the game with new "worldmap" type of scenarios and whatnot, but just failed horribly or didn't really put too much effort into it. The only recommendation I can give is to stay as far away as possible from this rotting carcass of a game.
