GSC sought to be true to the STALKER legacy when they created this game, and that is precisely what they have accomplished - in more ways than one, and not always positively. What they have released is a game that absolutely oozes atmosphere, but has some rough edges. Before we get into it, my PC specs are as follows: - CPU: Intel i7-8700k (stock clocks, 3.7GHZ) - GPU: Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti-8GB - RAM: 16GB @ 3200 MHz - Primary display: 1920x1080 @ 60Hz I can hit 60FPS no problem on a mix of High and Medium settings, only experiencing frame drops in settlements. To ensure I hit 60 as often as possible, I play with DLSS "Quality." I have not experienced any crashes, serious stuttering, or major bugs as of this writing. First, the bad, since it's noticeable but pretty quick to sum up. - AI spawning and persistence (called "A-Life" by the devs and community) is a bit busted. This is my biggest disappointment, since it's constantly palpable; the Zone isn't as lively as it used to be. I say "busted" rather than "absent" because the devs seem to indicate that it's not working as intended. - The difficulty curve is a bit off. HP/damage of mutants are way too high for how often you encounter them, and you find mutants that were considered rare or late-game in previous entries much more frequently. - The quick selection controls are pretty strange on PC and there's no good way to rebind them. - Sometimes, the lighting effects freak out a bit, creating overly dark situations. The rest is so, so good. Sound effects, textures, models, and animations are top-notch, aided by some truly impressive lighting effects. UE5's Lumen is definitely a bit heavy on performance, but with the shadow quality turned up it's often very beautiful (though I do hope for a hardware RT solution to be available in future patches). I've managed to squeeze just under 9 hours of play in a few very busy days' time. After a few patches - and a few mods, no doubt - STALKER 2 will shine brightly indeed.
...it's hampered by technical issues that, hopefully, will be resolved. Battletech is at its core a solid, well-executed turn-based tactics game that is a faithful adaptation of the boardgame. Although some rules differ, the spirit of the game is definitely the same. It's a game of highs and lows; the highs of kneecapping an assault Mech, incapacitating the pilot and allowing you to salvage it intact, and the lows of losing an ace MechWarrior to a freak PPC headshot ten minutes into the mission. This marked disparity between highs and lows are evident in all facets of the game, including, unfortunately, its presentation. The game's lovely art style and pleasing graphics are offset by the performance issues: long load times hamper the whole experience, and the combat portion in particular is marred by stuttering during what should be the most satisfying moments - kill animations, explosions, etc - but aren't because of said stutter. Further, the game provides a complex and granular UI that allows you to control weapon groups, see chances to hit, get an understanding of what damage your Mech has taken, and so on, but nowhere in the game is it adequately explained. While I personally found it easy enough to wrap my head around, I'm also speaking from a place of experience, having both played the Backer Beta and plenty of tabletop games. The storyline, too, has its highs and lows. It provides plenty of options to flesh out your character's background, but your character portrait looks markedly worse than the other major characters' portraits. The actual storyline itself is well-executed, but has its occasional fumbles. However, there's a lot to love here; if you enjoy stories of hardscrabble mercenaries struggling to stay afloat while getting embroiled in conflicts far beyond them, you'll probably enjoy what's on offer here. In short, despite deducting a star for obtrusive (and hopefully fixable) technical issues, I really, really enjoy Battletech.
...it's hampered by technical issues that, hopefully, will be resolved. Battletech is at its core a solid, well-executed turn-based tactics game that is a faithful adaptation of the boardgame. Although some rules differ, the spirit of the game is definitely the same. It's a game of highs and lows; the highs of kneecapping an assault Mech, incapacitating the pilot and allowing you to salvage it intact, and the lows of losing an ace MechWarrior to a freak PPC headshot ten minutes into the mission. This marked disparity between highs and lows are evident in all facets of the game, including, unfortunately, its presentation. The game's lovely art style and pleasing graphics are offset by the performance issues: long load times hamper the whole experience, and the combat portion in particular is marred by stuttering during what should be the most satisfying moments - kill animations, explosions, etc - but aren't because of said stutter. Further, the game provides a complex and granular UI that allows you to control weapon groups, see chances to hit, get an understanding of what damage your Mech has taken, and so on, but nowhere in the game is it adequately explained. While I personally found it easy enough to wrap my head around, I'm also speaking from a place of experience, having both played the Backer Beta and plenty of tabletop games. The storyline, too, has its highs and lows. It provides plenty of options to flesh out your character's background, but your character portrait looks markedly worse than the other major characters' portraits. The actual storyline itself is well-executed, but has its occasional fumbles. However, there's a lot to love here; if you enjoy stories of hardscrabble mercenaries struggling to stay afloat while getting embroiled in conflicts far beyond them, you'll probably enjoy what's on offer here. In short, despite deducting a star for obtrusive (and hopefully fixable) technical issues, I really, really enjoy Battletech.
SWAT 4 was, for much of my gaming life, a sort of White Whale. Born in the 90s, I grew up just a few years too late to appreciate a lot of classic games as they came out; if the game came out between 1990 and 2004, there's a very high chance I didn't get to play it in its heyday. MechWarrior 2, System Shock and System Shock 2, X-Wing and TIE Fighter... the list goes on and on. Enter GOG. First System Shock, then X-Wing, and now... SWAT 4. As an FPS player, I cut my teeth on Halo CE for the Xbox and James Bond Nightfire for the Gamecube. However, eventually I discovered the original Ghost Recon and fell instantly in love. Ever since then, I've sought out squad-based tactics games of that sort, but SWAT 4, widely regarded as the Holy Grail of the genre, eluded me until now. Now, after a dozen hours of playtime, I feel ready to provide a newcomer's insight, free of nostalgia. SWAT 4 is not quite like any game I've ever played before. Certainly, the squad-based first person shooting gameplay is very similar to Rainbow Six, with its tight urban areas and door-breaching, but SWAT adds extra layers of complexity that Rainbow Six never had. As a police officer, your rules of engagement are much stricter than an elite special forces soldier - you must give criminals a chance to surrender, and any use of lethal force is highly scrutinized. The people you face are not, at least initially, terrorists - they're civilian criminals committing largely mundane crimes. However, SWAT 4 is not content to stay within the safe confines of regular, routine police-work. On many occasions the designers were clearly allowed to have fun, having you go after a suspected serial killer on one occasion and break into a cult's compound on another. In these levels in particular, the skill of the designers in environmental storytelling is on full display, allowing you, the man (or woman) in the field, to discover the truth for yourself. SWAT 4 richly deserves its reputation as a classic.
