I'm in the minority, that thinks ID2 is superior to ID1. There is much to cover. Graphics - it's pretty obvious that ID2 is by far the best looking game running on the legendary Infinity Engine. That's one of only two comparisons between ID and BG series . Pairing ID with BG & PS:T is frankly unnfair: BD PS:T are more story-oriented, while ID is combat oriented. Music - Inon Zhur made a terrific job. Targos & Kuldahar themes, Shaengarne + Sherincal + Lysara and final battle themes. If Zhur just combined his and Jeremy Soule's takes on the main theme - this would be epic. Story-wise: I agree with eraserparticles, ignatius_reilly, LegendaryStud & Elandryl. Having played both games I think ID2 has the better, more coherent story. Linear story doesn't make a game bad. Actually, the most revered RPGs of old, like Ishar, Dungeon Master, EotB, ARE LINEAR, but no one *dares* to criticise those games for it. To me ID1's story was an incoherennt jubmle of plots. ID2's progression seems more natural. It's good to see that some quests can be dealt with in more than one way. Plus, i think the bosses in ID2 are more memorable. Like others, I absolutely adore 3e D&D. True, more careful decision-makingis needed, but that enables building versatile characters. Battles can be challenging, especially early on. Yet later on some battles can also give a challenge. And there are also two optional epics battles: for the Cera Sumat blade and against Chult portal guardian. Lastly: a wide array of spells ann a customizable UI Window, a welcomed addition. As far as AI is concerned: it sucked in all 4 infinity-based great games (BG, BG2, ID, ID2). There you have that second comparison point. I won't lie: to me ID1 is somewhat meh, while ID2 is great. I hope this review does the ID2 some justice.
I agree with fahbs' reservations. The game's system is quite punishing. Only one travel action can be made per turn, either: standard travel (adjacent locations) or quick travel (moves two locations). The other 4 options are: Investigate, Rest, character-specific ability, Develop. In total one can use two abilities per turn. Unless some omen cards or enemies delay you cutting your turn short. Or sustained injuries that need resting to heal. Investigation is necessary to obtain leads and proofs. Development yields spell, elixirs, weapons needed to augment fighting abilities. So one cannot neglect any of them/ It's hard choices every turn. Bad omen cards spawn very frequently some affect everyone playing. It takes time, patience and good decisions to balance completing missions with character development. Still I think characters aren't balanced that well. Dandelion's luck procs like crazy, Yarpen is one easy to play SOB. Triss is quite fragile unless she has a full repertoire of her spells. Geralt is less squishy but gains much from his signs and elixirs. There's one more thing: aside from film instructions, there should be a trial playthrough to get a hang of playing. I remember how furious I was on my first session, because I didn't understand any of the rules. Blizzard did a great introduction in Warcraft 3 prologue - TWAG could have a similar introduction. Still, I do see potential in this game. Doing missions combined with fights is a good mixture, though it's tedious at times. As for me, bad omen frequency could be nerfed. Graphics and music are easily the strongest points of the game. So is the spirit of competition, although I haven't been able to win a session so far. I can easily see why half of people reviewing the game has mixed feelings. But to say that the game is terrible and unplayable would be plain unjust. Some tweaks are need to make this game more accessible for a wider audiennce. Or there should be the option to change game difficulty
It doesn't matter if it's called 'Overload'. Gameplay is from Descent, weapons are from Descent, game concept is Descent, in-game universe is Descent-ish (PTMC references). It was made by the creators of Descent. This IS Descent IV. Period. Now, why not 5 stars? Because the game is unbalanced. First twelve levels .are classic Descent. Difficulty goes up a bit compared to Descent 3: shield-protected Mat-Centers, wall-mounted indestructable cannons, a mine just crawling with 27 cloacked bots. But it's acceptable. Then come last four, alien levels. There you are pitted against numerous, feisty, and seriously beefed up bots. Cygnusoria (lvl 13) is still manageable, though barely at times. But Lyranicus and most notably Vulpecular and Ymirus are insanely unbalanced. Hordes of bots that fire non-stop shot series like DS9's Defiant on steroids. I can really understand that most players give up at some point. Getting numerously rapid-shot by a band of 4-5 Defiants is no fun at all. Then there's Stratalustar, the lvl 15 boss that spawns deadly kamikaze Sperions and Ymirus reactor core. Just when you thought Reaver kamikaze were bad, enter the Sperions. Ouch now that really hurts. Kill, save, load, kill, save, load. On the brightside: first of all, the music. Overload's music score attended to my rocker heart's desires. Hostillity on Ymir really got me hooked up to the game. Ship and weapons upgrades are a welcomed novelty. They do remedy some weapon-related performance issues. Story-telling is acceptable. so I don't share Spirittt's reservations. I didn't play multiplayer so I have no idea how accurate supp99's reservations are. But I am going to give the guy his credit. Overall, Overload/Descent 4 is a solid game. Some elements excell, others simply annoy. Therefore it can be best described as that proverbial barrel of honey that got spoilt by a spoon of tar.
It's rare nowadays that a sequel is on par with its predecessor. I see other reviews that are overwhelmingly positive. Yet somehow Descent 2 doesn't work for me. No, I don't have any technical issues. The concept is the same as in original Descent and Descent 3. Clear out the dungeons, kill bosses/reactors and run like hell. You have more arms than in Descent, the guidebot and other improvements. Technically Descent 2 is miles better than Descent. Yet Descent 2 still doesn't feel right for me. Descent and Descent 3 are fantastic - i absolutely love both games. My reception of Descent 2 is lukewarm at best. Maybe its grandiloquent but I believe Descent 2 is missing its soul. The music is dull compared to D1's or D3's scores. Level design in D2 doesn't 'feel right'. Gameplay feels alien. The game is not as engaging as the other two, in my opinion. I would wrong Descent 2 if i said the game is terrible - it is not. But I just don't enjoy it. I know this is a very different review than my usual routine. Normally I justify my reason when I criticize a game. But in this case there's noghting tangible to point out. This is a case that despite everything being in its place the game is missing that special something, its soul.
Bioware stands for great RPGs. KOTOR is no exception. I heard a lot of praise back when KOTOR was originally published. But SW was not my cup of tea - I'm a Trekkie to the bone. So it wasn't until some sale...lol… December 2016, that i bought it here on GoG. It was waiting in a long cue of games to play. And that day has come a month ago. Why did I wait so long to play it is beyond me. I'm quite happy with the game. The game is full of funny character interractions, both with NCPs and team members. Similarly to BGs there are a few ways to progress through a given situation, be it diplomacy, brute force, subterfuge or force mind control. Some actions have their consequences and repercussions. Although it is based on SW canon, the game still tells a story quite convingly. You might as well turn away from canon and choose to go dark side once more. Graphic esthetics is very reminiscent of what Gearoge Lucas showed in his movies. It gives the game a sense of cohesion with SW universe. On today’s computers with a maximum settings graphics is fine. Same for music. Although there aren't many musical motives they all feel star-wars-like.No qualms there. The game works fine under Win 7 and Win X. I didn't nail my character to be perfect the first time. So 'm in the middle of my second walkthrough. I'm doing some things differently this time. It's a good thing the game does not punish you too severly if you mess your character's development. It's a lot harder to beat the final boss with a weak character, but if you're clever enough, you can beat Malak without the Force, with brute strenght of explosives (you have to time it right, though). My two titular buts: 1) why isn't it possible to go back to Yavin or any other shot after visiting rakata homeworld - this was possible in BG until the final battle. 2) the game is too short compared to BG. I think there was room for more. Still, a very good RPG. I recommend it. Live long and may the Force be with you.
My thoughts on this game: FINALLY an ST game deserving 5 stars. Aside from a Trekkie rant there's nothing for me to complain about. I'm a huge fan of TNG-era ST, which is here both a blessing and a curse. It's quite refreshing to have a game focused on Voyager, whereas most ST games are focused on Kirk's or Picard's Enterprise. Kudos points for Raven Software and people involved in Star Trek (Michael Okuda and Rick Sternbach) for going out of their way to make Elite Force just like an actual episode of Voyager. They almost succeded. The levels designed to be a Borg cube and Voyager - masterfully done: I felt as if I really was there. More so: during cut-scenes and in Virtual Voyager mode there were many little nods to famous Voyager lines and events. Basicly fan service. RANT ALERT: The only thing that didn't fit was making Scavangers comprised of Klingons, Malon, Hirogen and Kirk-era Mirror Universe Terran Empire Soldiers. Sorry, if you go Trek, then you have to do it right. I respect creative freedom but if you label a game ST Voyager then you have to stick more or less to the cannon. There was no Mirror Universe arc in Voyager and so it's a thing that should not be in Elite Force. I understand this was supposed to be an homage to TOS. Graphics: I honestly can't complain - looks good (detailed) on high settings. Gameplay - fun and balanced. Basicly it's a very solid shooter with some known ST toys, There's no map, but levels are mostly intuitive. There are some challenges (like that looong jump on the Gunship). Story: coherent and engaging, true to Voyager mythos. Most of it fits with Voyager reality, so it does resemble a Voyager episode. Missions are divided into segments which helps game experience. Good to hear all the original main cast of senior staff. There's even the late David Graff (Tackleberry) who guest starred on Voayager too. Overall: a very good game set in ST Universe. Just don't mix Mirror Universe with our reality without a good reason.
Another Star Trek game and another one, in case of which technical issues cloud the overall positive experience. I'm quite far into the story and I can feel that the writting matches stories told in TNG-era Star Trek. The first few missions seemed independent but the farther I went, the more the lines between the dots connected all by themselves. Missions are varied and at times precision and thinking are of the essence. So, even at the lowest difficulty setting you can fail a misison. The missions themselves are varied just like assignments good ol' cap. Picard or cap. Sisko used to get Combat is fun. It takes a minute or two to get used to the interface, but overall all seems to be in its place. Now the down side. Saving is done only automaticly, between mission progress. Given the game's instability it is frustrating. Mostly because the game loads a new mission and then autosaves. And it is during that time that the game crashes from time to time. This is mostly evident during a long game session. You do all that is required, go back to the starbase to get your mission updated and during data load the game crashes, No save was done, so you get to do the mission all over again from last saved check point. Given the fact that some missions aren't easy, the prospect of being forced to do it all over again isn't appealing. I would love to give this title 5 stars - it felt so good fighting alonside the Enterprise E under Picard - it's like a childhood dream come true. But to be honest I can't overlook the fact that technical issues impede game progress and spoil game experience. So it's just 4 stars, no more.
The ideas behind DLC, both cause- and gamewise are generally good. The DLC gives the animals we see in the game some or (in some cases) some more purpose than in the base game. It expands the role of Ryker wolf cub as well as the fish in the fishpond we recover early on in the base of the game. The bonuses the animals give are generally a welcomed addition if one aims to max out all characters (max lvl is 50). But remember: there isn't enough points to max out all skills so distribute your points wisely (you can respec using a mysterious egg). Well, it's the mechanics that bothers me a bit. Feeding animals is OK: it's what we pet owners do - it's a sign of care for our animals. I can live with a mechanism that works like this: the hungrier the pet the less of a bonus it gives. But to a point. Decreasing the bonus all the way to zero depending on dungeon runs made is where the idea of this DLC, based upon the bond between us and our pets, falls short. Yes, pets do like when we give them treats, just like my cats I treated just a moment ago. That can temporarily boost our pets' attention towards us (hence the increase of the bonus). However, our pets don't love or like us just because we give them food. There's more to a bond between a master and his/her pet. Tying the love of a pet for its master just to its 'hunger meter' disconnects this DLC idea-wise from the rest of the game. This is most evident in the case of Riker wolf cub - we saved that fellow from danger, then healed it and through the Bergsons we took it on as a pet. That cute wolf has more reasons to love the Bergsons than just because they feed it. So i think that for Riker and the fish there should at be some minimum level of their meter that will always stay higher than 0. I know it's tricky to balance this out. But for this DLC to be more enjoyable and engaging, and thus to be more rewarding than just donating $4 for animals, I think it should see some rebalancing with master-pet relation in mind
My God... it's finally here... Somebody, please, pinch me and tell me this is not a dream... > Very excited to FINALLY see this on GOG. Instant buy for me. OK, excitement aside, I can onsly second what others already wrote: MKT is the pinnacle of 2D Mortal Kombat games. All the characters from the first three games are available, including bosses like Shao Kahn, Goro, Kintaro and Motaro. I used to play this to let off some steam when I was younger. For me it's both nostalgia and devotion to the game I sunk hours into - I used to beat this on very hard, expert tower with Noob Saibot, when I was in top form. As for the port: I had no problems running the game so far. Win 7 64 bit GeForce GT 730. And this time I finally get to hear the music in the background. You like MKX or MK11? You want to go back to the roots but MK and MK2 are to clunky for you? Then go for MKT. I highly recommend it, just like most of the people who reviewed this entry i GoG catalogue.
No, you read right. IMHO the game entalis: 1) game graphics and boss battle mechanics straight from several NES games; 2) Diablo series (D1-D3) - most heavily from D1; 3) John Wick atmosphere (currency system, vendors, some heavy guitar music). NES inspiration: boss battles easily remind some best NES titles like Bucky O'Hare or Batman Returns. Bosses & act bosses usually have some mechanics you need to learn to avoid or use against them. This becomes very evident in case of Terrelava bosses. They also have those long health bars just and attack animations reminiscent of NES games. Diablo portion: CoM is an aRPG. You crawl trough dungeons etc., kill mobs and baddies, level up your characters and empower them with new abilities and stats improvements (workshop & book of Rea). Family members have unique abilities but some are shared among all the family just like ability synergies in D2. Characters resemble Diablo classes from D-1-D3. Side quests, souvenirs, journals and story tidbits can be found in dungeons similar to D1. Oh yes and instead of Mt. Arreat we have Mt. Morta as the ultimate goal. Obelisks work just like D2 shrines. Runes work just like in D3. Terralava music in CoM relies heavily on guitars that reminds me of Tyler Bates' OST for John Wick. Also, aside from Morv (standard gold) there also Jewels that act as both keys to premium chests and trade tokens with the vendors (shopkeep, gambler, rune mender) You'll need those to trade divine rellic, blessings, talismans. L8r on some recued NPCs will offer a free item in a dungeon. Children of Morta also includes three minigames: pong, three cups and "press plates in the right order". if you win you get either a random item. The game has a linear but rich and compelling story that is told piece by piece. Some tidbits are told once you exit5 a dungeon. That way the game fakes convincingly to be a RPG instead of aRPG Overall, Children of Morta still has its own style despite borrowing from Diablo. Thumbs up!
