Apparently, not everyone is willing to abide by GOG's review standards and NOT downvote the game based on its price or the fact they don't like a company. So, let's discuss the game itself, as GOG wishes the reviewers to do. Most of what can be said regarding Neverwinter Nights: Diamond Edition applies to the EE. It's a one of a kind package, allowing players to play through hundreds of adventures, singleplayer and multiplayer alike - and create their own. The greatest possible treat for any Dungeons & Dragons enthusiasts. The first improvement is compatibility with newers machines and systems. I no longer experience launch crashes or ALT-TAB related problems. The EE also brings back the previously non-functional master server, to make searching for multiplayer games easier. If you ever had troubles connecting via IP to a friend, this is taken care of as well, with NAT punching implemented to enable multiplayer even behind routers. Another perk I find very nice is UI scaling. Only after I've played with interface double the original size for a while and reverted back for a moment, did I realize how small it is in 1080p and tiring for my eyes. Small graphical features in the form of extra filters are welcome, but not that important. Many bugfixes have also been made and although the EE introduces some new bugs, most of the larger ones are gone already and the remainder is being worked on. The biggest changes, however, are mostly noticable to module builders (like me) and server owners. The worth of changes in these categories are undeniable. From area instancing, to the option to hide cloaks and helmets (which players can only now do as well with a simple mod they can download), to hak preloading (which prevents characters created on servers from being illegal), to normal mapping... and much more. Think what you want of Beamdog or the price, but feature-wise, NWN:EE is a clear improvement over the DE.
Games with fully DRM-free multiplayer component are exceedingly rare. Most of the time you either have to rely on the developers' servers for matchmaking or, even if there is a DRM-free option, you're limited to LAN only. Direct connect by IP? You can forget about it in most modern games, even on GOG. Before I take any interest in a game, I make sure it's DRM-free. And WFTO is fully DRM-free, with LAN, direct connect AND Galaxy-powered server based multiplayer all available! As for the game itself, it's done very well. Its graphics are really great, soundtrack is fitting, the narrator is beyond awesome and the content is there, too. While some may look with disdain at the number of DLCs this game has, the developers used that money to enhance the game - even for those who own the base only. And so, the base game after the final update (2.0) offers a full-fledged campaign, a skirmish mode (single or multiplayer) with three game modes, a free DLC with a survival mode called the Crucible and two first maps of the purchasable My Pet Dungeon DLC. If your appetite for dungeon management is not sated by these, then you can expand your game with the aforementioned My Pet Dungeon, the Heart of Gold expansion and the recently released The Under Games expansion, each of them introducing new campaigns and dungeon themes and worker skins to be unlocked (all of them visible to everyone in multiplayer, whether they have the addons themselves or not). Oh, have I mentioned a map editor and a campaign editor to top that off? The developers' love for what they're doing is also obvious - they're active in the community and are willing to answer any questions people post, either here or on their Discord channel. War for the Overworld is definitely worth the money!
SWAT4 emphasizes careful planning and not just precise shooting (even though it's important). There are lots of weapons and other equipment at your disposal, which you'll need to make the best use of. In general, SWAT4 is intense. It's difficult, it makes your adrenaline go high and punishes mistakes severely. It forces you to follow procedures such as reporting kills and trying not to kill anyone at all. AI has very diverse behavior. Suspects ordered to drop may surrender, run away, shoot at you, aim at hostages, or even pretend to surrender just to open fire. They may also wander around the map, making it important to check your back every so often. A huge plus is that hostage and suspect locations are random, even if you play the same mission. Maps are diverse and interesting. There are 13 of them in the original game and 7 more in the expansion pack, accounting to a total of 20. But even then, the campaigns are not the only thing the game offers! For singleplayer gamers, there is a quick mission maker, which allows you to create your own mission with custom parameters on any of the 20 aforementioned maps. Want to do a mission solo? Go ahead! Perhaps you'd like to have a time limit? Sure thing. The mission maker is not very complex, but it adds to gameplay value - I've also based on it my mod for SWAT 4 which allows you to generate random missions of various difficulty (I've created a forum thread, look for the Random Misisons Mod there). Then there is multiplayer. It mostly focuses on co-op gameplay, which is very similar to singleplayer missions, but with your officers replaced by other players. There are also several other multiplayer modes, like VIP escort and team PVP, but I haven't played them. Which says a lot, given that I already have over 40 hours spent on this gem. There is a stickied post on the forum which tells you how to restore the multiplayer game browser in SWAT4. Once I've done that, there are quite some players around for such an old title.
I can somewhat understand some of the negative reviews for this game. This might not be what people expect when they buy it, since it's rarely advertised as an MMORPG, but this in essence is exactly that. What makes it stand out among other MMORPGs is its small-scale (about 30-40 players are maximally online on the official server) and, what's unusual, an offline mode. In fact, your characters are not stored on any server, the game has a drop-in/drop-out system that allows you to play offline with the same character you play online - for example when your Internet connection is down. Typical MMORPG gameplay elements include instances, which can be played solo or in a group (although some types of instances, like heroics or raids, should be played in a group) and a cool world PVP system in which your ship, belonging to one of 6 factions, battles for dominance of the map with other factions. This is done by sinking enemy ships, conquering towns and strategically placing guard towers. When not in war, you can develop your faction's towns by doing randomly generated quests and engaging in trade. The game is highly loot-driven, as MMOs tend to be. You have a typical equipment, with slots such as captain, crew, hull, sails, etc. These items boost skills, among which are diplomacy, speed, mobility, range and more. You can also buy new ships (after acquring their blueprints) and customize them with hull and cloth paints you find, as well as symbols displayed on your sails. Levelling up gains you skill points which unlock new abilities or improve your overall performance passively. At later levels you can start investing these in skill points specific to one of three categories: defense, offence or support. Only one of these categories can be active at any time, though you can switch between them in towns. All in all, this is an original and, suprisingly, quite complex game. I recommend it to everyone looking for a bit more casual MMORPG experience.
There are many reviews about Worms Armageddon and its features, so I'll focus on the difference between this game and Worms World Party, in case you can't decide. Truth is, they're extremely similar, to the point that they're almost indistinguishable. It's the details that make the difference. Worms World Party has WormPot - it's a feature that allows you to customize every match with various special rules: and there is a lot of them! From the fort mode, to David and Goliath mode, to specialist worm mode. What's more, you can actually use three such modes at once, which really adds to the variety. Worms Armageddon doesn't have this feature. What does it have, then? -Multiplayer that's still alive (it would be a wonder if you found a multiplayer game in WWP) -Various little features (like being able to turn your worm around without moving) -Recording replays All in all, to me the biggest selling point of Worms Armageddon is its multiplayer. So, ultimately, should you buy this or WWP? It depends. If you like online multiplayer, go with Worms Armageddon and you will have a blast. If you don't care about it that much and want to simply have fun alone or when a friend comes over, go with WWP.
This game is what a 3D space shooter should be and more. Gameplay is very fluent and it's suprisingly complex, yet easy to get into. Combat is very fast, often quite difficult, but that's how roguelikes tend to be. You have classical primary fire and secondary fire, though you can have multiple weapons of each type installed (depends on how you upgraded your ship). Some weapons require ammo, others deplete your ship's energy which regenerates gradually. This is NOT just a shooter, though - it contains roguelike and RPG elements. Your adventure is built around traversing space sectors - if you played FTL, it's very much alike in this regard. Each sector consists of several jump points and a jumpgate allowing you travel to the next sector can be found at the end of your current one. You never know what awaits you at a given jump point (but you can get scanners that might give you an idea) - there might be a trader, a mining facility or an outlaw outpost. Sometimes you can leave the beacon right away, at other times there is some communication array blocking your further travel that you need to hack first. You can find a lot of different resources (used for trading, crafting and repairs) and equippable items. Death means you need to start all over from sector 1, but not all is lost - all credits acquired can be spent before starting a new run on persistent perks that you don't lose on death - such as new weapon slots, increased speed and the like - there's quite a lot of them. The game's graphics are very nice, but you can probably tell it by looking at the screenshots. It might be in development, but that's actually the best part to me - this could easily be a complete game at the moment, but it's not - much is to be added (two more ships for example), fixed and rebalanced. That said, I haven't experienced any significant bugs yet. All in all, this game is definitely worth its price!
