I was hoping this game would be a little more exciting than what it was, Basically you`re in a `starTrek` type space station having to interact and socialise with others (sound good at first). You pick your face and looks etc. It`s loke facebook in space. Now I will admit I don`t do facebook, won`t even touch it and perhaps that`s why I found this game so boring? All you do is send `facebook` messages and try to make friends and a romance 99% of the time. There was one point where things got interesting when I was ordered on an away mission briefly. Someone died on a static screen- Then it was back to base and facebooking again- forever. You work during the week as well. Maybe it`s just me but there was way too much `sad` trying to make `friends` and not enough adventure, even in story mode. The screens got boring, the faces got boring and I got bored. I managed a couple of hours and stopped after my first romantic lady quit and turned into a lesbian. Startrek, Deep Space 9 (which this game is pretending to be) is very much a soap opera in space, but it makes sure it includes a lot more action in even the most boring episodes. Bug: I noticed every morning the game called me a loyal employee [insert name] instead of putting in my actual character name.
I loved this game. There were many great reasons too: 1. The open endedness of it. You could ignore the missions and just wander about killing rebels and finding gems. Approcah fights how you wanted. 2. the Engine. The dunia engine is amazing as it just keeps rolling forest after forest and desert at you with nary a pause. It's really immersive. Most of you are used to it by now in Farcry3, but it stood above all others in its own time. 3. The companions. Companions would give you missions and most of all (if you choose one) would help you out in a fight, dragging your sorry ass out and giving you a spare weapon. 4. You can choose your look. I get annoyed with the `white man` saves or ruins Johnny foreigner in his own tribal land and teaches him a lesson routine (sadly farcry 3 and 4 are going that way). It's great playing a Black guy actually trying to bring some kind of justice in AFRICA for a change! 5. A great variety of well-realised weapons with specialists ones to be found. Bad points: 1. I agree that rebel posts re-spawn way too fast. After a while I would circumnavaigate them to avoid another fight (go cross country). The rest of the random battles were not a problem for me. 2.Enemies (especially on higher levels) did soak up too many bullets unless you shot them in the head. I played the game to the end and loved it. I got really immersed into the plight of MY fellow Africans and trying to bring some kind of justice to the land. Perhaps being black and able to play a black guy in Africa is what made the difference? Far Cry 3 fixes the issues of instant-spawning rebel posts and too strong enemies, but they took all the other great stuff out! That's why Farcry 2 remains a favourite even today! Excellent game.
This is a great racing game of muscling your way past equally motivated car racers to win the race. The various race courses are well done with most of them wide and easy to navigate. the most noticable part of this game is the physics engine and car damage modelling which is excellent. Cars lose parts after smashing into roadside obstacles or other cars and in some scenes the entire road can be filled with shrapnel flying all over the place. I've even gasped at some stunning dynamic crashes where a car infront will go into a catastrophic cartwheel at high speed crossing over my path as I speed under it! Sometimes you even hear the driver screaming as well! You as the driver can also find yourself flying through the windscreen (or rather the model representing you as I always drive 1st person), which for some reason always makes me laugh, despite the fact that I've probably lost the race. It's funny, yet with a serious message,-don't do this for real, folks - or keep your seatbelt on! One or the other! The Ai does an excellent job of getting through the chaos, I must say, even taking several alternative routes, yet can easily make mistakes like you. On a critical point, there does seem to be some kind of catch-up on since I tend to get back into the race very easily when it feels like I should be well behind- Graphics and sound are VERY respectable for such and old game. While the physics follow reality sometimes, the cars don't and manage to carry on far longer than they should. But I found it immersive enough to actually wince when I or someone else smashes into a brick wall! Only real criticism is the typical American rock music which does very little for me and the strange fact that you cannot personify your vehicle aesthetically. It would've been nice to choose colours and car graphic designs. There`s a 2 player hotseat mode but no split screen from what I can see. I've been playing almost every quiet moment I can get. I would recommend this racer.
This is pretty much up to the job. I was a little afraid it would be a finger-twitch RTs job, but the game allows you to plan as much (or as little) as you like. I like planning and this serves. In fact you pre-mission and actual task planning can take quite a while. first you dress up your men in the kit suitable for the job - Unfortunately you need to `unlock` some items before you can use them...sigh. Anyway, then it's using realistic tactics to get your men into the House and taking out the terrorists before they take you out- or the hostage! You have hostage missions, disable bomb missions and even getting the drugs before the bad guys can destroy it! For me the missions got really interesting when Hostages were involved. The sound effects and speech hit the spot, and put you in the mood. the music is also very good. For me, the real genius of this game is its ease of playability and replayability and it's Replay mode. After a long tense mission you can actually rewatch the whole thing in real-time to see how it would've gone down - perfect for people who pause a lot during the mission, but want to see the full run later! I have wished this for so many great pause games and THIS is the first one I've seen that allows it. The random generator and the mission maker is pretty hot too and will keep a guy going for ages. A surprisingly good game. i still prefer Swat4 for my in your face `as it happens first-person` takedowns, but this is great for that `Head of Swat command` feel. Things I don't like: The bodies vanishing to be replaced by an outline. please allow a `bodies stay` option. Suggestions: More sounds and effects, please. More people types such as women civvies and even women terrorists. Even have children as possible hostages to up the ante. Also improve the animations and make them more varied. the slowdown at the last terrorist killed end needs to be smoother. Where are the Mods? SAS Mods could easily be made from this. I hope they are not all on Steam, because I won't touch Steam with a barge pole. Sorry. Recommended.
I nearly ignored this game when I first saw it as just IL2 Sturmovik (?), but when I bought it curiously and watched the intro I was hooked. German stukas dived with realistic screaming sirens, Russian aircraft wheels rolled on take off. It doesn't sound like much, but this was a huge sign of a game of depth to me - And I was right. I have played this game longer (online and off) than the actual duration of WW2! Each plane acts a different way like reality: Spitfires are turners, 109s are high divers and zoomers. My favourite part of the sim is how each aircraft falls apart EXACTLY to where it's hit. Shoot the wing and the wing falls off, shoot a bomber in its engines and the engine smokes and catches fire or even explodes- Or go for a hit on the pilot and watch the plane dive to the ground! Your plane suffers the same way, but you'll breathe a sigh of relief if you manage to crashland your damaged plane in friendly terrtory. The AI is the best AI of any Sim I've flown. There are a large variety of missions depending on fighter/bomber chosen. There is so much love and detail in this: A decent dynamic-ish campaign of the US, Brit and Japan air war (there are better Mod campaigns available). Even Finnish and a few other other nationalities. To be honest there's more than can be possibly explained here, but like one Reviewer said, once you learn how to take off successfully in your fave plane you'll never look back!
Pretty much like everyone else here, I played this game what? 20 years ago? It never looked as nice a it does now, but it plays just as well. It was one of my first introductions into Flight `sim` games. I say `sim` casually, because it is not a sim. You don't do anything considered `boring` like take off or land- just hit the air and shoot down the Hun and do various other missions in a very simplistic arcade fashion. However, it oodles love and charm and brings you into the war world of WW1. It also pays some respect for the people who lost their lives in all wars (EVERYwar game should do this). I play games like IL2 now which is far more complex and realistic, but for old times sake I had to buy this when I saw it. It doesn't really deserve a full 5 stars, because it can be a bit simple and repetitive, but in this one case, it gets 5 just for existing when I was teenager a long time ago! Recommended especially to you kids of today!
Well you are given a ship and 3 crew. You are running away from the `rebels` who are swarming the Galaxy to deliver an important secret something to the `Federation`. You come across enemy ships to fight and parley with and a few rpg-ish situations to deal with while traversing the Galaxy on your way to the Federation. The meat of the game is in battles and if you are familiar with StarTrek or most futuristic media of the kind you`ll get a good idea how this goes... You are attacked by a pirate ship. You raise shields, power your weapons and race your people to the correct departments to speed up efficency while the enemy does the same. You penetrate his shields with your phasers, then disable his guns, then finally targeting his engines and blowing him up. You`ll come across better equipped ships. For example a ship comes along and teleports attackers on to my ship. They can be a pain, wrecking your systems and destroying you until I quickly learned to immediately isolate the room the attackers teleported into, then opening the ship doors and watching them suffocate space! You can upgrade a lot, improving all systems, weapons, shields etc and pay for or find new members. Excellent simple yet complex `one more go game`.
I don`t know how I missed this game when it first came out as I was quite a games fan for years, but just a few days ago someone mentioned this game and it sounded interesting. It was only for mobile(cell phone) and not on Android. Just as I was about to forget it as a loss cause I remember someone saying it was originally PC. So off I went to check GOG to see if the PC version was resurrected- and it was! Gog have done a great job of transferring the graphics and artwork to Win7. Everything is clear and easy to read. I couldn`t be bothered to read the manual as I wasn`t sure if it was worth it, but the interface made it really easy to jump into the Tutorial. I was immediately impressed, so quit and started a NEW game. This is one of those gems that does what I love, plays easy, has loads of strategy and tactics, but you never know what it`s going to throw at you each session. it`s also different every time you play. Ok you are the ruler of a Viking-type Medieval-fantasy settlement newly arrived. You choose your history, beliefs and a name for your Clan. The season begins, your first choice is your Clan Ring which is a small group of advisers that tell you what they think you should do in just about everything. It`s actually all quite diplomatic. You set up your farmers, your warriors and almost immediately something will happen. it could be a dispute between friends, rival feuds, strange magical or ghostly happenings or even just a flood- all of which needs a decision of several from you. Almost everything has a consequence, good or bad. If you don`t like games where you might have to make tough decisions with later consequences and there`s nothing to tell you if you`re right or wrong until it`s happened, then this is not for you. But I love it. What seems at first a very simple, even quiet game soon becomes more and more involved, with more and more events. New things keep happening all the time and you wonder just how much is there in this game? You may have to fight rival Clans, or Ally them (which is good). You can send men out on long quests to find fantastic objects that can help (or hinder or both) in battle. The game is very realistic in certain ways as you sometimes actually have to do stuff that today would be considered unsavoury... for example, a new born calf appeared white. this is a great sign of good luck. `great!` I thought, `We`ll keep it and look after it.` `Actually, it would be better to sacrifice such a wonderful find to our god!` my advisers tell me. I thought about it and did. The people were happy because the gods were happy. what a waste, but not in those days. the manual even says you should not think like a 21st century person, but like an 11th century person. Advisers also are more than they seem. they have personality and even get involved in all kinds of stuff that may involve you changing the Ring. Everyone is vulnerable to something going wrong- or right. The artwork is simple but well done, expressing what`s going on very straight forwardly andwith character. Colours are luminous too! I would prefer them a little less rosy, but that`s just me. The music is perfect, simple to reflect the times but with the right mood for each situation. I actually found myself humming it at work! It does get harder eventually and right now I`ve lost all my Warriors because they basically went on strike! I`m doing all kinds of things to appease them to protect our city again! Criticisms? My only real criticism is the screen where you see your whole settlement. I would`ve like it clearer and better looking, even rotatable 3D, but we are talking about a game made in 2000! Some people won`t appreciate it due to impatience and the flashy game of today (like my daughter :P), but many of you looking for a real immersive experience of settlement management, governing and expansion in medieval-fantasy world will! A great game that is easy to play and hard to master!
This game is one of those quiet surprises you try on the off chance and end up wondering how it was never advertised better to be more popular. Nearly everything about the game is well put togther, programmed and executed. Like most reviewers have said here, this game`s engine would be prefect for a remake of Xcom and I wonder why it never was used for that. The game sets you in WW2, around 1943. You lead a group of 5 agents attempting to find out what the enemy are up and to stop them. You have access to basic WW2 equipment and can collect more. The weapons list is very big, though some of the names given them are strange ( a mod easily changes it to real world names). You start off first in Britain or Germany, yep, you can play german agents too, then work around to europe on your Campaigns. Missions are both story-driven and random adding longevity and life to the quests. You get to completely create your character from his uniform right to his facial detail which pretty impressive. A mod adds even more uniforms. It`s interesting that you can be whomever you want to be from female to actually black or white even if you decide to play the German side! it`s quite interesting being a black guy working for WW2 Germany! As you may have guessed, the more grim aspects of WW2 Germany are not here. Think of it as an alternative WW2 where fascism never actually happened. The real meat of this game is in the tactical battles. You use your different skilled people to the best of their abilities; Grenadiers, Snipers, scouts, soldiers, engineers. I tend to take one of each, but a sniper is essential as well as some good soldiers,which I often dress my character as. Also your character is real important cos if he dies it`s like you dying- game over. Everyone else can be rescued unless you leave them behind. You`ll find yourself taking on enemy soldiers or agents in countryside or houses or military establishments and even on civilian streets with people hiding from the violence. Use cover, back eachother up, creat kill zones to achieve your objectives. Weapons are quite realistic with bullet trajectories that ricochet and pentrate walls. Get heavier ordnance like grenades and rocket launchers and watch the fun as walls are blown apart and houses collapse. You don`t want to risk your men in checking out that last house in which you KNOW a German is hiding? Hit it with several bazookas or detonate dynamite on it and watch the entire building collapse. Even the AI will use this tactic as he can hear and try to predict your position and will shoot through walls to hopefully hit you. Talking of AI it is very good and better than many more modern games. It will shoot at you then duck behind walls to reload, gang up, investigate noises. they also work better if Officers are with them. Officers are also very accurate shooters. I had a view of an enemy soldier in a house who had not seen us, I shot at him from a window and missed then ducked down behind the window. I observed the AI looking around then moving towards the window and even going prone when he got close. Unfortunately for him I had my scout watching from another window whom blew him away. The AI will also change weapons if better is lying around. The graphics even today are clear, crisp and wholesome, with only a little bit of jaggy. Animations are really good. The crawling, creeping, climbing and sniper positioning all look really good and you feel for your delicate sniper woman as she crawls to a good hiding position in the undergrowth, ready to cover the men. AI characters all have a background and simple personality and you have a choice of about 20-30 people to pick. Only fall donw with the game is when it went Scifi with Panzerkleins. I think the Devs failed to understand that the game was so good just with the shooty and bang real-world stuff that it didn`t need goofy mechs in it. However, Mods are still available that remove this and add soldiers with powerful weapons instead. Sounds are pretty good, although speech is a bit tongue in cheek with dying people saying some pretty dumb stuff which I guess is meant to be funny...`Argh` would`ve been enough. Music is actually very immersive and it`s great that you get the soundtrack with GOG. Thankyou, Gog. By the way, on performance, when I first played this game it was a stutter fest when anything got blown up of fell apart because of all the real world physics, well now with our multi-coe PCs there`s none of that. things fall apart and explode in real time no stutter and it`s a dream to finally play the game as intended, even if its near 10 years later! This game is heavily unappreciated for its quality and what it does. It gives modern games a run for their money and there`s not even a horrible DRM like Steam to hold you back. What more could one want? Still a brilliant game today- get it!
I bought this game more or less when it first cae out. I loved this game because it`s basically unique today. You play the part of a B17 crew captain flying in missions over Nazi Europe and bombing stuff. What I really love about this game is the staff management. All`s fine at first as you fly into France, but then jerry attacks. Your gunners start shooting, you start getting flak. Your pilots are flying fine (you don`t even really need to fly they do it). But then one of your gunners is hit, you assign him away and take over yourself. Oh no, a pilot is badly wounded, you assign someone else there. ENGINE`S on fire, you take over and enter a steep dive until the flames go- hopefully. Then on to bombing the target if you haven`t been shot down. Then you have to head back through German and flak again! It`s this stuff which makes the game as you gel with the ship and the crew. Also, the B17 is a pretty complex beats in itself and you could just fly it like a real pilot! Graphics are obviously not up to today`s standards, but still good and gameplay is well above today`s. Recommended.
