I went to all the trouble to write a detailed long review of why this DLC is bad. Not the 7.00 update, but the Timelines DLC. But wierdly the review did not take and got wiped. So I'll just say: this is not X4 and definitely not advised for newbies even though the blurb says it is. It's a bad slog of repeat linear play for experience players that tries to kill any spirit you may have. The only reason to play this in the hope of nunlocking the stuff for the Sandbox, that's it. But there are other ways without going through this toture. 2 stars only. Worst DLC in my humble opinion. I have saved a copy incase it mysteriously wipes itself again.
Ok so you start as a new person (which is already annoying cos you could usually be whoever you want in custom mode) in a separate game, so you're not in the sandbox, and are mysteriously joined in some agency doing missions in different past situations in time, though it tries to gaslight it isn't time missions. There is some story that something slightly weird is going on in this agency cos you have no real idea how you're there or really why. And that could've been interesting... You are tasked to do these `time` missions of separate events in the past and let's be blunt, this is some of the worst gameplay ever for new or old players. Some missions are definitely not for new guys and some not for new or old guys. There may be racing for some reason, (racing never happens in the sandbox) or space-walk speeding or taking on waves of enemies like in some arcade game. And if you don't get 1 star in the mission you cannot progress, even if you have enough stars to move on to the next level (there are 6 levels of about 5 missions each) you cannot progress if 1 mission has not got a star, so if you're having a problem with one particularly tedious mission, and there are seriously a few, you are stuck. Basically, it's repeat the same linear missions over and over and over until you get that ONE star. I spent nearly an hour on one water-torture mission and still got no Star, so can't move further. That was on level 5 and that was enough for me and my sanity. Why go through any of that, you ask? Cos it frees up stuff for the Sandbox which is the TRUE and excellent game. Some may love this kind of wasting time in hours of repeating a level, I do not. Now do not mistake Timelines with their 7.00 update which was released at the same time. That update is very good. In fact the 7.00 update is worth paying for not Timelines. Timelines is not X4 or X4 gameplay, and the worst of all the DLCs by far. Thumbs down for this experiment.
There's good ethical capitalism, then there's bad unethical capitalism. this is bad, unethical capitalism. beamdog are deceivers who pretend to be all good to people, but just really want your money while depriving others of theirs by ripping their free work. I'm an artist and if my work was ripped off like this, I'd be suing them right now.
...that I would be standing IN this game in the 2020s! This game looks great in VR. Specifically on the HP Reveb G2. Neither are you stuck on Teleport, you have the option to freely smooth walk, which I prefer. There are a decent number of options to alter the VR experience to your tastes. The moment I started this game I was brought right back. Graphics is really good, improved greatly. Water looks really good, birds fly in the sky, leaves move. Sound is really good, especially the great original music and voices. The CGI of the talky guys is not too bad at all - Acceptable. Though I will say why not use new real actors for that absolutely real look? There's a Classic mode and one other mode where maybe the puzzles change? Haven't tried it. Classic seems pretty much the same as I remember, with very few changes to the visuals and puzzles. It's pretty much as I remember. Right from the start with the book falling (and the man, I'm pretty sure there was no falling man originally) brought me back. The place feels smaller, but I guess it would in VR, since you actually take up space IN it. Criticisms? I couldn't walk/run between 2 trees when there was a clear space, there was just an invisible wall. I wish I could run up/down the bank instead of having to take the path every time. strange when you have freedom of movement to be restricted for no reason. But these are very small criticisms. Recommended, especially in VR. p.s. I wonder if my daughter will remember this game as I played this with her watching on my knee at the time?
I patiently waited a year, before buying this game which has given it time to be patched reasonably. You play a guy in the near future where Tech has exploded. Now people routinely have all sort of technology shoved into their bodies as easily as taking a pill. You can choose your character from 3 origins, design your look and stats. I found the body/face design quite limited. Sure you can pick the size of your nether regions, but it's a gimmick. Only 2 sizes for boobs, flat and not flat? Really? Pretty sure women have a whole classification of boob sizes. I chose a male with a big dick, (why would I choose small?) and once done I'm off . You'll find yourself in a huge skyscraper world of bustling people. It's amazing to explore around. You can do odd jobs, be a criminal or enforce the Law, fight gangs, drive around. Missions seem endless. Plus there's a looong interesting main storyline through it. You can enhance all your abilities with Tech or focus on physical abilities. On higher difficulties you'll need to really know your tech enhancements as the enemy will use it all against you. There are plenty of weapons from guns to swords. The game is adult. Nudity is all in and there are some other minor sexual aspects too which may offend some. I'm always fine with nudity. There is some gay stuff about which is not for me. It's also quite distopian. Everyone is whatever they want to be, but you can tell no one is happy while huge nanny corporations rule over them. I also like how your responses can be positive or negative. You're not forced into one point of view like some rpgs make the mistake of doing. You can annoy someone by saying "No!" when they think you'd say yes. Pros: Well imagined, great detail. Very good main quest story. Some interesting characters. Cons: Some bugginess still remains. I don't like that my character audibly talks for me. I installed a Silent Protagonist mod off the Nexus. Recommended, but only for adults.
When I got this game I thought I'd be playing the Human leader, so it was a bit of surprised when I found myself being told to chase away the annoying flying thing that was buzzing around a huge spire that had just landed in the middle of S. Africa devastating the little homes. A deep voice echoes, "That flying thing is too close, chase it away." Police, ambulances, fire engines were buzzing about, plus a news chopper and I thought, "How do I chase the chopper away?" You don't, you just shoot it. Well that set off a hornet's nest. All the emergency vehicles start rushing to get out of there and I thought, "Oh well, looks like I'm the evil Alien today!" And I blasted them all before they could escape. A couple of fighter jets and tanks arrive which I blew away with ease - panick strickened little humans screaming as they're vapourised. "They're killing innocent civilians!" Yep, sure am. We just want your delicious resources. It's nothing personal, inferior things. We're surprised you're even aware, we thought you were just algae or something! Anyway, after that, you in your little, but owerful, alien ship, are attacked in waves by the hapless angry Humans and must defend your growing alien base. The Humans have some rather advanced weaponry though later... It's strange wiping out people who are clearly trying to defend and save themselves, yet it comes across like we (the aliens) are defending ourselves! It actually plays really well with lots of detailed destruction on my humble rubbish 2 gigahertz i3, 16 gig laptop (my main better one is in repair). It's good for a quick play.
I'm not much into these cyber games, but this wasn't bad at all. I didn't expect to play it right through. You play some near future cybernetically enhanced agent dealing with terrorist activities and what not. As you might expect things get a little more mysterious and soon find there are few people you can trust. Anyway, this has quite a lot of random stories and Questlines. There are a few I quite enjoyed because they made use of my suspicious nature. Don't trust someone just because they appear to be a 'victim'. 'Get the evidence applies' well here. The game also changes over time. You every now and then have to make quick decisions depending on your view of that person. You are also timed so can't sit there forever thinking about it. You must react there and then like in reality. Some of your decisions have real consequences into the game, so no pressure! It don't play silly 'sjw/pc' games either (or every little) which makes the game even more enjoyable. The upgrade mechanics seem convoluted at first but soon make a lot of sense. The shooting mechanics are pretty good. Great graphics, good people models, etc. Criticisms? Small ones. I'd like a custom avatar that I could make look like me. The city you're in isn't as big as it first appears. The train you take always has the same mother and small child that looks at you suspiciously. Sometimes forced to talk to a person I really don't feel like talking to. I was even quite sad when I finally completed it and might give it a second run.
Why has nobody mentioned this. It's in the game so should be part of any review. I'm one of those guys who checks the OPTIONS first. I immediately noticed a section that wants to track me. On checking it, it takes me to a site that explains it will track my game playing details, my IP, pc stats, etc, etc, but I can OPT out. So when I chose to opt out it says, "Please note that this will result in a non-personalized game experience." What? Am I being blackmailed for a game I PAID for? Now on a forum someone told me that I won't lose anything from opting out, but too late, this put a very bad taste in my mouth. I wanted to enjoy a game and instead I'm now worrying what this game is doing in the background? Unacceptable. Refunded. Not what I expect of a game on GOG and I support GOG a lot. But I will NOT support this.
Pros: 1. Good Strategic stuff. You wonder about a planet as the Faction you want grabbing land and finding old ruins, scfi-fi ruins and stuff. You do some resource grabbing, cash building, research for ever better sci-fi kit, etc,etc against other competing AI Factions. 2.The good Tactical old chess piece turn system for battles remains which works very well and allows for indepth or fast tactical thought depending on your tastes. You ccan your teeth into some really meaty tactical battles. 3. The AI is not bad. It generally knows how to counter everything. It gives me a good kicking once it starts getting all its forces together. be wary of war with them! 4. Diplomacy is quite indepth as well, form alliances, go to war, pretty indepth. you can even annoy them by making outrageous demands. 5. Huge amount of Sandbox campaign options, which I prefer way over the scripted childish story campaigns. this pretty much gets the game to 4 stars. The meh! 1. Not exactly the most imaginative game for a sci-fi. It's basically Age of Wonders III reskinned. There are some typical sci-fi units, but no really knew or interesting units or game mechanics. for instance how boring can the DLCs be? Paladin aliens, ugly amazon female aliens (gee what a surprise). 2. Music is nice. The ugly. The character clothing/ face/hair customisation of your leaders/heros is very spartan. It pretends to give you plenty of custom options, but there really isn't much. Hairstyles, face styles, poses are so few, maybe 10 per faction. Terrible. Also female characters appear to be made intentionally ugly, they are basically ugly butch men. Only the females of the Paladin (DLC) kinda look ok. The Devs just don't want to do pretty women. I'd love to see at least 50 more customisations of clothes and hair at the very least. Anyway, if you can get past that it's not a terrible game. They get a grade C, must do better.
Planetfall IS Age of Wonders, but in the future. Most of the mechanics are very similar. You make YOU, then you start off in some randomised world map, except this time it's an alien planet, sometimes with Humans you know and sometimes aliens and often both. You start off with your standard sci-fi troops and begin investigating old and futuristic ruins, some cities held by Independent Factions that may be violent or work with you and give you Quests, etc, etc. Battles on the battle map are pretty much the same excpet instead of flying dragons, you have floating anti-gravity probes and robots, instead of huge trolls you have mechs. Sometimes you do get alien lizards and even alien females that remind me of the fantasy succubus. The options are extensive if you spend time to look through them. You can make a completely sandbox game without any storylines at all, just make your own story, which is the mode I prefer. However there are several storyline campaigns which I was not impressed by. They seemed written by an intern. Little robot runs away let's go find it, 'oh my brother is mean let's find some old thing to make him believe me' childishly narrated. While the game modes choice is extensive, the customisation of your Avatar and other Heros is VERY limited. Very few clothes or face options. Also all female characters are incredibly ugly. It's like the Devs went out of their way to turn them into discount ugly males. Sad. Not a single feminine pretty female in sight. I hope a Modder will fix this. Oh and Paradox tries too hard to get me to register on their server which I refuse to do, but, thankfully you can still play the game or I wouldn't have bought this. Other than those qualms it's not a bad game in itself. Pretty good gameplay that'll keep you going for hours.
