This is a very simple point click adventure game about two guys who go on mad wacky adventures. It`s really a comedy duo thing. I did chuckle at some stuff such as when I clicked on him to get a book and he says, to paraphrase, " Books are a thing of the past, video games are where it`s at, Grandpa!" Also expect much careless British humour which I do like. Alot. Graphics are super simple intentionally, sound straight forward and I actually really liked the music. Only problem for me is the game screen is small, I can`t get it to full screen. Is that intentional? For the price and as a bit of levity, it`s a fair buy.
I really want to like this game. I`m a fan of WW2 and I like strategy games. I bought this when it first came out and tried to play it. The problem is this game expects you to manage stuff to an unrealistically complicated level. Yes, unrealistic, because if you were a leader of a country in real life, say Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin or even Hitler, there is no way you could manage this level of complexity on your own without becoming insane! Ok, maybe I exaggerate a bit, but seriously, you are expected to do complex diplomacy (which I like), then complicated war manouevering of your troops to the nth degree while also inventing your tanks or vehicles to a ridiculous level of customisation. It sounds great on paper, but nothing is presented in a graphical 3D way so you can really get infused in it for all your hard efforts- It`s a huge spreadsheet of maths, and I`m crap at maths. It`s too much! Most of this would be delegated while you got on with the most important decisions like where to put your money, whom to agree diplomacy with and where you want your troops to go. Now I`ve played the Total War games from the 1st Shogun to Atilla, the Galactic Civ strategy games from 2-3, Civilization from 1 through to 5, etc, but Hearts of Iron III is just too much! I bought it anyway off GOG again, because I still want to try this game and at this price it`s a bargain, but I have a bad feeling it will just sit on the shelf and I will every now and then just wistfully think about playing it before doing something else instead.
I don`t call many games `cool`, it`s not my way of expression, but this game is `cool`. You play a gang boss who is one of several gangs trying to take control of a entire American city. the city itself is very well done with cars, buses, aircraft, pedestrians all going about their daily lives. In fact, you can ignore the missions and just explore doing whatever you want. Not too much whatever you want, though, because the Police will come after you or the gangs or both- And you won`t last long. So you need to start doing some of the side missions or main missions to earn cash and reputation that allow you to get more gang members, weapons and health boosts (armour doesn`t exist in this game). You can get new vehicles which all handle very well. In fact, I set everything to mouse keyboard control which works well even with choppers, but you can use a joypad (though you can`t configure it). The main missions are very fun to downright silly and ludicrous, especially later in the game. trust me, they`re stupid. The game acknowledges this at one point saying, "Don`t ask logical questions!" When about to go on another crazy mission. Once you have opened up most rewards you can pretty much do anything. Take on the army, the police the gangs and cause constant destruction and when tired just walk into one of your dens and everyone forgets you existed. Don`t treat this game realistically, drop your brain out for a while and it will be fun. Graphics are very good, better than I expected and all the DLCs togther makes this a bargain right now if bought at a discount. Not normally my kind of game, but well worth a play, I say.
Breach and Clear is a tactical game where you play a special forces team clearing out the bad guys from various places. Think Xcom, but with more realistic (and better) graphics. I love the real intro that shows real-world Special forces at work. You get to choose your team names and starting abilities. Every team has the same overall abilities with a few differences. Strangely, Spetnatz have the lowest overall team rating of 67, I think it is, while everyone else has 75. Why? Western bias? Spetnatz are no push overs. Options are nice giving you the chance to play Iron man mode, which I chose, although when I blew my very first mission, it gave me one chance to have those men back, which was nice. There is a simple tutorial that gets you started, but does not explain everything. One of my biggest problems was figuring out how to cancel a Flashbang once selected. In the end I had to simply give my man the `Hold` which cancels it. The game uses a pretty intuitive `pause then go` routine, you place men by the doors select where you want them to go and which way to look. Put them by cover such as tables and corners and they will automatically use them. then `Breach!` The battle will play out for about 4 seconds, then stop so you can do more orders. Ai`s pretty slow on the 1st levels, some just not really responding, but on later levels they start reacting faster and better and you must watch EVERY door and cover every man incase a terror pops up. The AI will try to avoid grenades and use cover, some can be difficult to remove if they get a little entrenched in a corner. Not seen any use grenades yet. It`s a pretty absorbing game and you find yourself just doing that `one last level.` Animations are very good with the enemy falling down in varying ways and sounds do the job. I prefer no music in this kind of game and it was ok without. The game uses an unlock and levelling system and you can buy more equipment, quite a lot more including uniforms and colur of weapons, which is nice. How ever this kind of thing bothers me. Gaining experience is fine, but finding out that I now have unlocked a Perk that enables my flashbang to be more effective takes away from the `realism`. What, so my flashbang was only 75% effective? What Spec Ops guy would accept that? Being restricted from certain weapons and armour kit until i have more money or they `unlock` (aghh!) is annoying too. Special Forces normally have their pick of weapons, they don`t have to buy them, I mean they work for the government and the people pay for everything, because Special forces are public servants. Yes they are! I know it`s done to stop the game being a walk over early on, but I`m sure there are smarter ways to do it, especially for a game that is real world. Also, this game is crying out for a dynamic levels system like in Xcom where you are tasked to different areas with dynamic terrorists to fight. All you get here is one static level after another with a basic briefing. The only option once you`ve done them is to play them again on hard which I doubt I`ll do. This is why games like Xcom (even the modern version) do well because you have a whole campaign where every game is different. However, it is an entertaining game and will keep you interested for a while and I do like the attempts at realism where it is. It could add a LOT more to make the game a true keeper like a dynamic campaign- that would get 5 stars from me.
Preamble mention: I bought this game when it first came out, but couldn`t get the DLCs, so bought it again off GOG, especially with such a great deal right now! Now review: Tropico 4 bases you on a series of Tropical islands as a dictater, nice or not so nice. If you`ve played Tropico 3 you know the drill. It`s still the same gameplay, you place farms, construction buildings , increase the population, etc, etc to increase cash for your people and yourself while dealing with anything that threatens your rule. And there are many things that threaten your rule: Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Oil slicks, rebels, volcanoes, superpowers, the VOTE, etc. Interestingly you also now have to deal with China, the Middle east and Europe, all asking favour or doing you `favours` that may or may not help. Depending on your political stance some Superpowers can get pretty leary. For example, the US President has already several times threatened to either invade or launch missiles accidentally on purpose on my island. They haven`t done so yet, but if Tropico 3`s anything to go by, I suspect a US warship will appear off my coast soon... maybe I should make an alliance with the commies until I can build a nuclear capability? All this you can do. There`s a lot of tongue in cheek too and I notice that the avatars of people that pop up actually represent their real life versions... there`s your President Nixon, Mrs. Thatcher, Yasser Arafat and that Chinese guy and others drawn in a caricature way, all wanting something. Everyone seems as crooked as you, except they`re democratic as opposed to being a straight forward dictator, like me! The real changes are in the extra little things you can do like appoint Ministers (who can also cause embarrasment) or selecting export and import prices. There`s a little more radio braodcast chatter about what you (there should be more) get to do and you still do great election speeches with polite applause, Stalin-style. It`s actually very hard to fail in this game. As soon as things get difficult with the elections, just start several edits that will turn the people around, free food, a benefits system, lower taxes, etc, etc, before you know it your 30% vote turns into 90%. You can still blow it though as I did when I decided I didn`t like my Economics minsiter because she was going to vote against me. So I had her assasinated (yes you can do that). I watched her sitting on a park bench while my assassin walked up to her and shot her! Unfortunately, I must have done something wrong (like forgotten to have a covert force) because my election votes dropped dramatically, everyone seemed to know, and it was too late to turn it around- Fail. Also you get rebellions... er, Gadaffi style and you must deal with them with your troops. Sometimes you can grant amnesty, but most of the time you have to kill them. Also I think certain superpowers aid towards revolt or is that my growing paranoia? Oh and you get attempted assasinations of your good self, although you don`t see anything dramatic- A graphic gunshot hole effect on screen or gunshot sound would`ve added to immersion and warned you of personal danger. In a creepy way there are many nods to reality in this game, even present day ones. You can set up all kinds of draconian policies to cement your rule, but be aware of the consequences as you can really upset certain parts of your society from the Right wingers to the Left wingers. I like hovering between being really nice if they obey to slapping them in jail if they don`t- or worse, but keeping central in policy with compromise seems the best bet. You can choose your character traits and look just like in Tropico3, but I was very disappointed to see there weren`t more custom options to how you look. How about even more hats, jackets, uniforms? How about the ability to custom colour your clothes? Hey, i`m El Presidente, I wanna look how I wanna look! UNIQUE! For a number 4 they could`ve added more stuff. A lot more. However, now your traits have levels they can go up by. So hopefully, I`ll be an educated, communist womaniser of level 5 soon! Hey, Tropico makers, how about letting our avatar get married to whatever woman (or man if you`re a woman player) he feels like and have affairs too? Obviously with possible consequences. The little priveleges that dictaters can choose? There`s a sandbox mode which I was expecting to play first, but I got quite into the mission Campaign modes. However, I know sandbox will be my favourite mode as I like the realistic freedom of it and setting the options. Ok, Sounds. Sounds are very good as usual- You hear everything if you zoom close enough. The Music is excellent, with some new tracks, and really helps keep you jolly even in the depressing moments. Graphics are improved and animations appear better. Everything looks very good in a sunny sort of way- maybe a tad too colourful? I really like how you can zoom right down to street level and literally see things from a person`s view. You watch people and cars doing all their stuff and there`s an amazing amount of variety which increase with each new building. It`s actually quite impressive once the city gets really populated. However, I think there should be a dedicated 1st person view where you can just walk about (WASD keys or custom) and look around as the graphics are easily good enough for it. Perhaps in an add-on, guys? The graphics of Disasters are nicely done, but a little underwhelming for me. Sure tornadoes do mess things up a bit, with people and cars flying into the air, but I expected more from the volcanoe as it just spews hot molten lava rocks on your city... Ok that`s pretty cool, but i was expecting laval flows... I guess that might`ve ruined everything though, as you can`t build on lava. Earthquakes aren`t dramatic enough either. Clean up effects of fires and oil slicks are nice with helos flying around spraying water and stuff. The game will keep you involved and the extra stuff does add extra life to the game, however, it`s not quite the major step up you`d expect from a whole new version 4- I hoped for quite a lot more really with more immersion for your Avatar. Update: I haven`t played the DLCs, but look forward to it! 4 Stars for not being quite as great or improved as I`d hoped, but still a very entertaining game!
I`ve always been a fan of old school games, being an old school gamer once myself. i`ve played Baldurs gate 1 & 2 several times. planescape torment and most all the others too many to name. I never really bothered with guns and the end of civilisation games for some reason. Perhaps that`s why this feels a lot harder? But then again i`m a big fan of the old xcoms, which this is a little like. I do like the raft of customisation options for making your Character skills (though I wish there were more clothing and face options) and I kind of liked making the 3 other people in my team (though I`m used to meeting ready made characters that join you ingame). We set off into the world of American desert and radiation, etc... My difficulty settings confidently set on Ranger. It wasn`t long before I set them down to seasoned. Right from the off, the game hits you pretty mercilessly, and sometimes it feels unfairly. Even though I specialised each team member to a sniper, medic general shooter and mechanic shooter, we still got pounded into the dust very easily. It`s hard to keep every one alive. For example ranges are very short, it`s pretty much impossible to keep my sniper at any distance before he`s engaged in the same turn. enemies seem to have lots of run AP, so good luck getting more than one shot off. Also, sniper ammo is like gold dust, but you really need him, so by your second or third fight he`s useless because you just can`t afford more ammo. My medicsurgeon is really good, but again it`s not long before all medical supplies are gone. Also, tough luck if your medic goes down and no one else knows any medic skills, he`s dead. All you can do is watch him bleed out. Creatures like giant insects, and giant rabbits (in one scenario) are hugely frustrating to fight. they reach you in the same turn, kick your men to 50% his health then he loses 20% to hit because he`s been `interfered` with. If you manage to get one person shooting, he will likely miss the giant rabbit at pointblank and hit the guy behind it. I made so many facepalms and I have been forced to reload so many times in just this one rabbit battle it`s not funny. Sure, you`re expected to save often in these kinds of games, bit it seems unbalanced. Maybe it`s just me... There`s a good game in here somewhere, trying to get out. Kinda glad I bought this on sale or I`d be really annoyed. 3 Stars for now. Maybe it`ll get better.
I remeber when this game was being lauded by the Devs as some kind of incredible step forward in immersion and gaming. I looked really forward to getting it, but due to work, etc, never did. Then I got off GOG about a year ago. Now I know this game has been superseded by many others, but it still isn`t very good by itself. The opening scene is graphically nice and you plod along waiting for the good stuff, but then (it seems always at night) the game turns into a boring shooter these wierdos that have been possessed and flashing them with a torch, while wondering around trying to see where next to go. You realise soon that it`s really a very linear shooter with a mystery horror story tagged on. There really isn`t much interaction with anything and soon you even notice that the graphics aren`t as good as at the start. I didn`t even see any horror really. I got bored, then got annoyed when the game just decided to throw weird possessed enemies constantly until my character died. Again and again. I quit and haven`t returned. I`ve seen other games do a far better job of putting a story and game together. I suppose for a couple of quid it`s acceptable, but that`s all it`s worth. Not what it was cracked up to be at all.
I remeber trying the Demo of this game years ago, and liked what I saw, but I refused to buy it due to over-the-top DRMs that threat the buyer like a criminal. Anyway, `patience is indeed a virtue` as one of my Clone buddies would say as now I can play it chain free off GOG. Wonderful. And it was well worth the wait. You play an elite squad Commander of a you and 3 others, all born and raised together- A literal Band of Brothers. then are tasked to deal with tough separatist problem everywhere, The game plays in a suprisingly realistic way. It reminds me a lot of Swat (and I believe the Devs actually took real world military advice for the game). Your men all have specialists skills and know how to kill the enemy. They will use cover, heal themselves and even advise on best tactics. Of course you are in control and can designate them to key locations for best fire power; tell them to go forward, stay back, hold position, regroup, use covers, use weapons, hack computers, set traps, heal. If you get shot down, someone will come and heal you if he can unless it`s too hectic, but you can force him to heal you, sometimes it`s best to let them finish the battle. There`s also some character to each of the `brothers`. One is a surly sniper killer who has a slight unhealthy love of killing, another likes blowing things and another likes fireworks! You`ll understand when you play, he`s quite funny. Battles are frenetic and engaging with one or two slower `stealth` levels, but nothing that holds up the action for long. The sounds are all authentic Star wars, including the music- Very immersive. Graphics are not top notch now, but still very respectable and should run on most reasonable pcs no problem. I enjoyed the Campaign and the story, but was very disappointed with the end. It never really came to a satisfying conclusion. It just ended. That`s the reason why i dock one star. It really let a great game down. However, I still recommend the game to Starwars and even non Starwars fps shooter fans.
Her mother was really angry and upset with me when I returned and she discovered that her daughter was dead. "It wasn't my fault! ******** Looters shot her twice with a gun before we could do anything to stop it! I barely escaped alive!" I protested. "I don't care!" she cried running off. I did not sleep well that night... You find yourself as a survivor helping a very small band of people survive a zombie nightmare that`s taken place while you were unconscous after a plane crash. Everyone`s nervy, depressed, not sure what`s going on and are obviously at shatter point. While it`s not expressedly said, you find yourself almost reluctantly having to take the lead in organising a safe home (the school) by setting off out to nearby towns and scavenging for protection and food, etc. Very 'The Walking dead' stuff. Choose who to take with you on your sojourns with real consequences. I took a Police Officer and a young animal Vet (now human medic) with me, taking whatever fighting items we could. It wasn`t until we approached the first town that it dawned on me to see if the cop had a gun- He does! However, as you may have guessed, it`s often better NOT to use loud shouty weapons cos that attracts the zombies and bullets are scarce. So most of the time we had knifes, spanners, hammers as our weapons, saving any guns for emergency use. I found going wide around corners, rather than passing right by was a good plan as any zombies you'll see with plenty of time to act. You can turn the corner into a gang of zombies if you're not careful. I tended to go round the back to buildings rather than front which works well. However, one door was locked and I tried breaking in. This attracted 3 zombie cops, which we despatched, but not without some pain. The fighting is turn based once combat starts and uses Action points for what you can do. Personally I love this system as it allows clear tactical planning. The zombies are relatively short-sighted and can be quite easily taken out. It`s the Looters that spoil my day. They don't seem to care about making noise, and if they have a pistol they'll use it. I lost one man because I did not expect this (as guns hurt- alot) and then my medic was killed too. It takes AP to switch from knives to guns... Back at the school base, the medic`s mother was really upset and moral plummetted with everyone for losing 2 people. There`s a lot of base management and allocating who does what in repairs and improvements and there are many more places to explore. I have only just begun. If you make a custom character it seems important to have a good repair skill since I couldn't fix the fence even with all the collected items (or maybe I was missing something). Graphics are good and functional. A little more standing and fighting animation would be nice. What I would like to see improved: Sounds are too few. You don`t hear any speech except for the odd groan. For instance, zombies don't make much noise at all- come on let's hear a zombie GROAN! I can understand speech is a lot of work, but more incidental sounds and noises need to be added for a scarier atmosphere especially when scavenging. Music is almost nonexistent, but I guess I can put on my own. If there were more atmospheric sounds it wouldn't matter so much. AI needs a little extra work. When a Looter (not zombie) had shot one of my companions and he lay 'KO' ed, the Looter insisted on killing off the unconscous guy even though there were two of us still battering him over the head! Like all that mattered was killing the guy because he had the lowest health! That's illogical. He should have ignored the 'KO'ed guy to concentrate on the other threats still standing and fighting. Only after every one's down would you continue to attack them on the floor. Path finding can get a little screwy with your followers walking in circles and thru eachother sometimes. Hopefully will be fixed. A little dissappointed that initial people you meet don't change with a new game. They're always the same; looks like it should, would add freshness to each new start. However, things seem slightly more randomised when exploring- Needs more. Anyway, i played this game for about 4 hours before coming here and enjoyed it a lot. Good game. 4 stars- I can only see it getting better! Now to my new start.
...because of the DRM. Being a fan of something doesn`t mean I`ll suffer harsh DRMs for it. So I forgot about it. I wonder if these punlishers ever realise how much money they lost because of people who refuse to buy? I suppose they convince themselves they save more with the DRM that pirates get round any way and only punishes paying customers? I bought this as soon as I saw it on GOG. Been wanting to play this a long time being a big fan of Riddick in the movies. The actor himself speaks and narrates this which makes it `Riddick`. It`s a mixture of stealth, shooting, actual quest fetching in a small part and it all works quite well. Some sections are hard, but then turn out ridiculously easy when you realise what the solution is- like this robot that seemed impossible to kill with my pistol until I figured to attack it in the back! There`s some repetition and once a guy has said his bit he`ll just repeat himself forever, but it`s still a good, solid game. I haven`t completed it yet, but I will. Funny thing about Riddick, is no matter how bad the situation, he never seems that bothered, as if he knows it will all end with him on top. The voice actor kind of adds to that- He`s too cool to ever sound worried- about anything! The best things DO come to he who waits.
