I loved the art style - the combination of classic art with ridiculous animation and some funny dialogue was just great. Similarly, the soundtrack consisting of short classical pieces (with funny musicians "playing" them on each screen) was a nice touch. I'd only wish the game was longer and there was more interaction. There's only few items you get throughout the game and most people/things you encounter serve no other purpose than your protagonist saying a thing or two about them, making the whole feel a bit like running between dead ends, looking for something that can actually be used in order to progress. Also, while there is a subtle cursor change (along with text line) to indicate interactive objects, the backgrounds (based on classical paintings) are so rich with detail that I still got tired to hunt for the last few towards the end and I used a walkthrough in a few spots. That being said, most of the puzzles were logical and quite easy to figure out. As a whole, this was a whimsical ride through a beautifully quirky (if rather small) world (very Monty Python-esque indeed!) that I'll be definitely happy to replay sooner or later :)
This is a pretty good addition to the basic game! Switching stances takes some getting used to but the new cards are fun and they create quite a different experience. The only downside is that the new Gunslinger deck is actually kinda overpowered since being able to keep your distance while still dealing (with some cards, a lot of) damage is a little too convenient. Using it in the vanilla campaign definitely takes away some of the challenge (which actually may be a plus for you if you found it too hard). In the DLC campaign (same as the basic game but with more enemy types and a new boss stage) it's a little more balanced due to the new enemies being stronger too but it still feels easier than the vanilla game (up until the boss mission, which is arguably way harder than vanilla). Either way, if you like FiTS this is definitely worth getting, though probably not at €10 - I'd say €5 is a more adequate price.
I love the original UFO: Enemy Unknown and have finished it multiple times. I've also really enjoyed the 2012 Firaxis reboot (it's actually one of my favourite strategy games ever). The Bureau is quite different from the two because it's not a turn-based strategy and it tells a bit different story. Does it mean it's a bad game though? Hell no! If you don't judge it by your expectations of "what an XCOM game should be", you get a really well made tactical shooter put in a semi-canon XCOM universe. PROS - pretty good combat system (once you get used to it if you've never played a game with similar mechanics) - challenging, well designed enemies - surprisingly immersive story with interesting characters and environments CONS - the checkpoint save system is seriously annoying - some of the fights can be pretty chaotic, leading to "unfair" deaths - using grenades and some combat abilities is quite clunky - occasional bugs (sometimes the subtitles don't match the audio or you can't use a certain object - nothing game-breaking and only happened few times during my playthrough but it is a minor flaw) - there's no way to display weapon stats so understanding which ones are the strongest is a bit of a guessing game I've finished the main game (on Veteran) in about 18 hours (completionst style) and I really enjoyed most of that time :)
When I first played this as a teenager it had an obvious aura of "forbidden fruit". This was back in the days when you'd have to go to a VHS store/rental to get your hands on some actually dirty stuff (and obviously, I wouldn't be allowed to these places as I wasn't 18 yet). So even animated boobs felt like "something" :D Fast forward to present, with unlimited supply of ehm, much more exciting content just few clicks away and the "Sexy Empire" has completely lost its charm. I mean the art style is still decent but there's too many glaring flaws for this to be enjoyable for actual gameplay. In part 1, there's very few actions you can do so it quickly gets boring and repetitive. At least you get to part 2 rather quickly. This is probably the "best" part of the game but it has some serious issues on its own. Mainly, the resource management in this game is TERRIBLE. It's easy to go bankrupt at the very beginning when you don't know how to finish (and sale) a movie ASAP - but once you start selling anything, the ammount of cash flowing your way basically takes away any challange - the game actually becomes laughably easy clicking simulator (with really clunky UI at times - especially buying sex toys was a chore indeed). The game also does really bad job reflecting (or explaining) the impacts of micromanagement - e.g. every staff member has a "rating" (usually reflected by their wage) - but I didn't notice ANY impact of hiring more qualified staff for the same position - they don't do their jobs faster and there's basically no other metric that would tell you why they're "better" (really, it felt like I should have just hired the cheapest person for each job and stick with that). I ASSUME that the rating of your adult stars is tied to incomes from your movies but since you really start making insane ammount of money really fast it didn't really matter either. Similarly, buying any but the cheapest equipment felt useless... I got to part 3 and gave up. It's just not fun.
So I finally got to finish this beast of a game and what a ride it was! A little clunky to set-up on modern hardware (ignore the "official" Revision and just go with GMDX which offers much better experience - Direct 3D 11 renderer recommended) but I loved the freedom, the atmosphere (largely due to great soundtrack) and the story. Took me over 48 hrs (completionist run with replaying the final segment to get all three possible endings) and it was a time well-spent :)
I like the minimalism and the soundtrack. The game itself is brutally hard but quite fun once you overcome the feeling that you can't go for more than a few seconds. Still, I only finished the "easiest" stage and gave up, feeling unmotivated to continue. Personally, I think it could have been so much better with 3 simple improvements: 1) Better announcer voice - the default is so cold and emotionless it quickly becomes annoying (at least the sounds can be found in the game folder so I actually replaced it with UT99 announcer - instead of "Line, Triangle, Square, Pentagon and Hexagon" i had "Killing spree, Rampage, Dominating, Unstoppable and Godlike" - doesn't get any better than this! :D ) 2) Since the game is is unforgivingly hard, "easy mode" option (say, reducing speed to 70 % of the original) would really open this game to WAY more players (myself included) who could play through all the levels without the insane grind needed at its current state. 3) Option to disable the bright colour themes! Really, the frenetic pace of the game along with the constant pulsing and flashing is seizure-inducing enough (one fo the reasons I actually stopped playing it was that I didn't feel well when playing it for more than about an hour - it made me feel really twitchy with my heart-rate going way up). The levels featuring white background were just completely unplayable for me... Still an interesting concept but very few people are going to fully enjoy it.
At first I was really happy to see a "remastered Incredible Machine". However, I can't get over the poor character design - especially the dog, cat, mouse and the guy look (and move) so ridiculous and out of place (they have this exaggarated cartoon style while most of other objects are semi-realistic) it's ruining the game's charm for me. Otherwise, this would be the best way to play both classic Incredible Machine levels and LOTS of new ones. I'll pass though...
PROS: - lot of cards/enemies - simplistic but stylish visuals (with dark mode option) - it's hard - but that's what makes it so rewarding once you get the hang of it! - great replayability (I've already beaten the story mode and I still only have 149/208 cards unlocked) - the over-the-top blood effects can be turned off - fitting soundtrack - endless mode CONS: - can be quite unforgiving for beginners (took me a while to realize you NEED to lose your first couple of runs to level up and get better cards/decks) - some decks work great throughout the game only to brick you in the final mission (probably not a best idea to build your deck around PUSH cards ;) ) - some mechanics are not clearly explained so it takes trial and error to fully understand them (e.g. the way grappling works - some grappling cards "feel" like they are effectively pushes but they work on enemies immune to push - similarly, enemies with dodge won't dodge grapple cards despite them being attack cards) - you are going to learn some of this the hard way (losing endgame runs to something not working as you expected), especially if you play on harder difficulties with no rollbacks - at first glance this game looks like it's just something you can play in short bursts when you don't have much time - while this is "technically" true it can actually be a real time sink - with instant loading times and every fight being more exciting than the previous one thanks to both you and your enemies becoming stronger, you can easily find yourself just clicking on "next" for hours until you reach the final boss (or die trying) - BE WARNED :)
PROS: - Best way to play "Rollcage" on modern systems - Good music (with option to turn off tracks you don't like) - Nice visuals - Wild speed and frantic action - Lot of interesting vehicles to choose from - Satisfying when everything works out CONS: - Some tracks are an excercise in frustration (mostly the city themed ones) - You WILL lose races due to bugs (sometimes when you reset in a bad spot it will repeatedly respawn you out of track - also, there are few spots on some of the tracks when the "out of bounds" detection is messed up leading to forced reset when you only get to the edge of the track) - Uninspired campaign (I beat it but haven't felt much of an achievement - your opponents, including the final boss, lack personality - no taunts, no cutscenes... you can "call out rivals" and there are duels at the end of each tier but it never really feels personal at all) - The deathmatch mode is laughably easy against AI, even on "lethal" difficulty, which is really a shame - absolutely no challenge = no fun :( - Handling is quite tricky and it gets time getting used to (it's pretty hard even with a controller - can't imagine playing this on keyboard) - The Steam version supposedly allows you to add your own music but the GOG version seems to lack the feature Overall: GRIP does scratch that Rollcage itch and can be a lot of fun. Sadly, it can also be quite frustrating and some features (single player deatchmatch being a huge one) just don't work. Get it on sale if you can - or get Redout instead if you care more about racing at insane speeds than the combat. As a futuristic racer alone, Redout is much better game...
