Not really a bad game, but it needs a better campaign. The story was very post-2016, if you know what I mean. The career mode makes up for this to some degree, but it starts to feel like a grind after awhile without a story tying it all together. Graphics and gameplay are still pretty good though. I want to like it a lot more than I do since I love the Battletech universe, but it just doesn't hook me like the old games did.
Gorgeous game. Many scenes made you stop and admire the views from a distance, but also the clutter in tight spaces really gave a sense of the world being lived in. Had a real bladerunner vibe to it in terms of lighting and art direction. Gameplay only falters in terms of length as it only really has about 7 missions in it: Dubai, Prague, Golem, Prague, Garm, Prague, and London. The side missions are okay, but just felt like little backtracks here and there. Shooting was much improved over the rest of the series and most of the augs were interesting. Only wish they had slots this time, so you would have to choose armor vs cloaking or something to encourage role playing and multiple playthroughs like the original DX. Nothing really stood out to me in terms of the story. Compared to DXHR where the big bad had a great point about warning people of the dangers of tech oligarchies and their ability to push propaganda, I can barely remember what the point of this one was. Something about a plot to destroy the aug industry in order to corner the market. Straight up bad guy motivations left little to the imagination. The protagonist being manipulated to find Janus would have worked better if the story had more time to flesh that out, but it all ended too soon. Also, none of the characters had much of an impact on me. They had a great cast from DXHR and no reason not to bring them back. You had a jerk friend, a tragic mentor, a love interest, and several others that were made to work together. I never really got the same sense of cohesion from the new characters. In general sequels should carry over at least half of the cast from the previous entry for the sake of continuity, otherwise the new cast of characters will start off at a disadvantage. Overall better than most games on the market and definitely due to be given a sequel. Just hope the developers take another look at DX and DXHR, where the conspiracies were handled much better, before they start on the next one.
Straight forward mechanics and good story without a lot of modern politics shoehorned in for no reason. I didn't like it at first because it does feel a little dated, but stick with it for a level or two and you'll hit your stride with the game. The scripted battles kinda suck, but the wide open areas have a Fallout vibe that I like. Just don't waste your medkits on the scripted battles because they will keep focusing you down but rarely kill you, like the devs wanted you to stay depleted through the whole run. Your allies are invincible so just take your time and keep your head down. Overall, pretty good throwback to the good old days of gaming. Reminds me of DXHR or FONV in this sense that it's like an older game you go back to because it was so memorable. I'd definitely like to see a sequel, but maybe as a reprogrammed terminator so it makes more sense that plasma rifle shots aren't a one hit kill.
I keep uninstalling this game because I think I'm done with it, but then I want to play it again. It kinda reminds me of chess or an old board game. Like a kid's toy or something. The game is set and there isn't anything there I haven't seen or played before, but I want to do it again. Now that I think about it, it's funny how most games these days want to make you work for progress in order to have fun. This one just wants you to have fun. Classic design philosophy I guess. Hopefully more developers will go back to this way of thinking.
I was originally disappointed with this game compared to the first 2, but once I went back and played the Director's Cut I realized it was probably my favorite in the series. The polish and changes to the boss battles really made a difference. Also the removal of the yellow filter by unchecking post processing is great. Never liked the original look of the game, but without that it's actually aged really well. I've heard the game received a facelift since the original release, and I could believe it. I don't remember it looking this good. Get the Casie Aug early and use it to see your dialogue options, but don't use the phermones to force conversations. You can see the impact of your dialogue options and it actually makes sense like if you were having a real conversation with someone. There are multiple ways to get people to do what you want through conversation, not just right response / wrong response gate keeping. It feels like an actual detective story. With Sgt Haas at the beginning for example, you can bulldoze him to get what you want, leaving him hating you, or reconcile your past getting him to want to help you, or tick him off in a way where he won't help you at all. It needs to be played on Give Me Deus Ex difficulty. With so many options, the enemies need to be able to mess you up if you make mistakes and it makes more sense if you aren't OP compared to everybody else in the world.
Played this on Game Pass for a dollar and it was worth every penny. Spiritual successor to Fallout or any other Obsidian game, it is not. Feels like a case of the developer losing all it's talent in between game releases as the best reason to explain the drop in quality from previous titles, or maybe it's the B team. Either way, it's so bad it makes you wary of any future releases they might announce. Characters are impossible to like. Enemies are impossible to hate or understand because they are so comically evil, self-hating, and stupid. There no way the world could exist within the rules it sets up because no one here could have accomplished the things they are blamed for. It's not an RPG, in the choose a role and play it sense. You either do what the devs want and are the good guy or choose the wrong option and are the bad guy. There's no ownership in anything you can do. Every choice is artificial and has no impact. Equipment options make no difference and economy is easily broken by basic level of exploration. You will be god-tier before the prologue ends. Character growth strongly leads you to generalize instead of specialize so you can see everything in one playthrough. Challenge is non-existent. Seriously, the planet where they talk up the challenge ahead of time can be bypassed by running ahead and then going back. All the monsters that one shot you if you let them will be dead for no reason. I didn't do this intentionally, I was just bored and wanted to scout ahead to see if it was worth continuing to play. Scouting ahead in the one direction you can go I mean, since this game is so linear. Pretty though. Kinda has that Ratchet and Clank look. Too bad the character design is so one note. A lot of people going to the same barber if you know what I mean.
Difficulty is perfect where you have to make just enough attempts at each level/boss that it feels rewarding once you beat it without spilling over into frustration. Story and writing is excellent with a lot of little jokes and jabs between the characters that fit the game perfectly. Some retro games go so old school that they lose that artistic quality, but graphics in both the 8bit and 16bit portions of this game look gorgeous. Controls where handled much better here than other retro games that lock you in to certain movements. You'll never feel like you died because you couldn't do what you wanted to. Of all of the retro games to come out recently, this is hands down the best.
Surprised this is getting such glowing reviews. Game play is super simplistic and the story lines are poorly chosen and told for the factions I've played so far. It's obvious which factions the developers hate from a historical perspective. Pro tip for writers is that everybody views themselves as the hero of their own story, so if you have to tell a story about a faction you hate such as Teutonic Knights, you have to build a world in which they are able to view their actions as justified even if the player/reader isn't supposed to. Making them mustache twirling cackling villains is lazy enough when you are playing against them, and downright stupid when they are supposed to be the protagonist of the story being told/played. If you can make vikings and Muslims come off as noble, which I'm not at all against for good storytelling, surely you can give Teutons or Christians the same treatment. And I'm not German or Christian so no bias here, just common sense. Game play is quite one note as each faction only has access to 10 units at a time of a limited variety which is even more limited once you realize spearmen fair better on average than anything else. Also units stop responding to orders once they engage in melee so micromanagement is artificially more difficult as you have to kite them around the opening engagement or retreat them out if they get touched by an enemy squad before they get into position. You can hammer and anvil a little with cavalry, but they melt pretty fast. Factions are no different from each other, just skin changes, so it gets old before you get through two of the five campaigns. Compelling story lines could have made up for this as is true for other games, but these flaws in game play are more evident due to the lack of them.
