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This user has reviewed 11 games. Awesome! You can edit your reviews directly on game pages.
Mafia Classic

Nostalgia stands corrected

Mafia sure had its problems back in the day, but by now gamers got used to higher standards. A few random crashes, shadows glitching - I'm prepared to overlook it. It's just... Back then GTA had founded a new genre and it made sense to transfer it into the early days of cars. Mere years (in the story) make a real difference, so You'll experience the first ones slowly crawling up a bridge and how progress develops towards actually fast cars - it still keeps its charm there! That said it's not a polished genre yet. It's a genre-mix: driving, shooting, storytelling and at times a sort of puzzle-solving. Might sound good on the surface, but it's real annoying if the game doesn't communicate properly what You are supposed to do and which rules apply. Shooting can lead to mission failure after You already did the driving part for a good few minutes - gotta replay that bit then. Thanks a lot. Then there's some puzzle piece and You might wonder: didn't I already shoot all the opponents? What's left to do? Let's walk around on an empty map some more, because we all love doing that... The race is often criticized for being overly harsh. Actually I doubt that's really the problem (in this version You can even choose to render it easier). The problem is the genre-mix in itself. It's not a racing game and its players might not want to play a racing game either, but the race has a difficulty as if it was. Then again the shooting isn't any better: lots of weird bugs, like standing too close, reaching through opponents with Your arm and emptying a magazine "into" an opponent w/o any effect. There's quite a few real-time timers, so if You retry and play it quick You end up simply waiting until events move on. There's lots of walking around to "scout" a level, because the objectives are unclear and You have to "figure it out" - not with wits, but by walking, clicking, trial-and-error. Overall I really missed modern standards and find it hard to forgive its many small flaws.

3 gamers found this review helpful
Mainframe Defenders

An inspiring little gem!

Mainframe Defenders manages to be challenging and casual at the same time - by the virtue of simplicity. You've got four bots You can choose, those can be upgraded and equipped. You choose missions based on the reward, the mission type and relative difficulty. There's no epic story, no eye candy, no base building, no events between missions: just well balanced turn based tactics. It is a Roguelite. Maps are randomly generated and also differ based on mission type, but the style remains consistent in its simplicity. Destroyed bots can be repaired at a cost IF You finish the mission, else it is Game Over. Afterwards You can still unlock more of the ~190 items and 12x2 bots - which can indeed help beat the game. 5/5 "Very Hard" difficulty (with Upgradable Enemies) is not to be trifled with ;)

5 gamers found this review helpful
UnderRail

A veteran player's impression

First off: Underrail made it to my list of goof games, whatever else I've got to say for or against it. Three stars is a bit of a "cautious" rating - I'm still about to give it another shot with the Expedition expansion. That's after a long pause however, so despite some commitment for my first run it kinda ran dry and had me quit. That's with just the base game - w/o the expansion. The character system is rich and deep and rewards truly getting familiar with it. It pays if You are one of the guys that sit over their character sheet for an hour, checking out possible feats You might be able to take eight levels later. For me that's a plus, but it might not be everybody's cup of tea. In my own experience, throwing myself into dominating difficulty from the start against better advice on the forums, the extreme levels of difficulty are too heavily pointing towards reloading. Time and time again. A trap doesn't "cause an uncomfortable amount of damage and costs a consumable", no: It simply kills You. That's no longer any "gameplay" to speak of. I can deal with it alright - I'll learn where the trap is and stay clear. That's not too difficult. Only that's not a trap really, more of an annoying invisible wall I have to learn by heart - and by reloading. Save scumming is too close at hand. It kills any and all pacing, all drama, all soul. This is not a worst case, but it definitely isn't an ideal TYPE of difficulty. Add loads of text and You have a sluggish game with a lot of great atmosphere and lore that is being sucked dry by tedious gameplay. Perhaps I am being unfair mind: The simple solution would be to do Yourself the favor to NOT play dominating on Your 1st playthrough (although I did get the impression that it is possibly with greater tenacity). I for one will go and give it another shot with "Expedition" installed and perhaps then give it a 4th star, since that's never been far away to begin with. The fifth star is probably out of reach though.

11 gamers found this review helpful
A Legionary's Life

Simple and entertaining text RPG

You start as a random dude with lots of attributes to check and some standard gear. Initially and between campaigns You can train, buy stuff or improve Your standing with troops or command. The campaigns themselves are nice descriptions of roman warfare, with a few decisions to take and skill checks to pass. Ultimately You'll end up in combat, which isn't half bad a way to implement roman tactics into a game: You fight the guy You face for a while, then You rotate back to the rear regardless of how You did. Here, too there's decisions to take: Try and seek glory in aggressive combat or do Your best to stay safe for the time being? Your health only regenerates between campaigns, so You best plan ahead. The training gives room for lots of improvements, but generally the mechanics remain simple. You've got a Javelin and a short sword, helm and armor - no magic rings here, upgrading is limited. For me the simplicity of the game is an outstanding quality: It allows meaningful decisions as well as tactics, but I don't need months to learn the game nor do I need to brood over level ups. Since it is turn based I can play at my own speed and take as many breaks as I like... Although it is the kind of game that has me wanting few breaks... A nice little gem and definitely worth recommending! As far as the RNG is concerned: It's a normal RNG and it's involved in everything. I believe it essential in telling this game's story: A legionary has a risky life and things can go south quickly. You've got some information what You are getting Yourself into, but there's always uncertainty. That's what it is supposed to tell us as I understand it. It's neither fair nor broken, it's not "skill" in itself nor does it lead to mindless gameplay. Just Your standard RNG. Some people will always hate it and swear that it is biased against them and so forth, I trust You'll know what to make of such "impressions": Love it or hate it - it works as intended as far as I can tell.

9 gamers found this review helpful
Runestone Keeper

Neat little game

"A state doesn't go down because it isn't big: It goes down because it neither understands how to be big, nor how to be small." Sunzi's 'The Art of War', from memory If You are looking for an ingenious game to pour Your heart into this is not it. If however You are looking for a game that doesn't ask for much and can be played "on the side" this one might just be what You are looking for. I for one did look for the latter, playing half attentive while waiting for some lengthy vid conversion to finish. At times I gave it some serious thought, then I just merrily clicked along mindlessly. It's played with just the mouse (aside from a few optional shortcuts) and You'll die anyway - no big deal. Perfect! There are combos and clever moves, various characters to unlock, items and spells to find, diverse opponents with powerful special abilities to mind. It makes a difference what You do in which order, so You can actually think a lot about a single click if You so wish. But then the game requires You to unlock a lot of stuff, so You are not expected to just play through from the getgo - it's okay to die and take one's time to learn about all the intricacies of play. Then again the whole 'playing to unlock' dynamic is a bit weird, because many of the mechanics are "on hold" for a start: Better don't buy a nice item, but rather save the gold to unlock stuff that outlasts the single session... That part isn't really elegant, but I for one don't mind too much. There's three difficulties and "runewords" which add more specific challenges to a session later down the road; also it's really a lot to unlock, so I guess it lasts quite a while before You've done it all. That said I merely played a couple of hours, so I'm not sure whether even the hardest setups remain challenging enough to hold half my attention once everything's unlocked. You clearly ramp up in terms of power. Anyway: Runestone Keeper fulfilled my expectations easily and makes for a nice little game. Cheers!

5 gamers found this review helpful
Dragon Age™: Origins - Ultimate Edition

An utter failure

Now 2/5 is harsh, seen how this game basically "works" and has many positive aspects, engaging side quests and so on. That said it is a AAA game. The basic ideas are flawed, crucial elements bugged, the execution half-hearted. It is an outright terrible game design that's just been "saved" by throwing 100x more money into it than it deserves. The Origins A good game always has a good start. This game settled for a number of mediocre beginnings... Now that's daring and tries for innovation, but it does not work. Some of the origin stories are plain bad, others hint at a great epic, only to be lost in transition towards a unified main plot. Since I started with the best origin (imo) I've been all the more disappointed it's basically just dropped. It doesn't exactly create an open mind for an altogether different epic if the epic that already began is abandoned but an hour later. Moreover the various origins suffer from some horrible tutorial elements, text-block-style forcing you to "do that". Well - let's try and give that main epic a shot, shall we? What do we have here: An epic cutscene! Oops... Graphics mess up, the whole epic scene is ridiculed by a flaw no AAA game should ever have. The german translation is totally butchered btw, so stick to english at all costs (AAA?). And so on... Game mechanics To cut the chase: Most classes offer little choices, the official add-ons throw balance to the winds, levels are horribly designed in terms of tactical layouts, the "increased party control" (that's the actually intriguing idea to allow "programming" your party's combat behaviour) doesn't even allow them to hold positions ("Dear skeleton - PLEASE move into melee with my mage!")... Etc etc... Playing very hard (solo) needs one to know the mechanics and level design intimately and I tell you: The game can consider itself lucky I'm out of space here. Overall mediocre at best (3/5) - horrible for a AAA title (-1). Possibly still enjoyable, but far from a good game.

7 gamers found this review helpful
Deep Sky Derelicts

A poor early game is inexcusable

Now I've only played for an hour or two, but it's really boring. Basically the abilities (that's the cards granted by char & gear) offer simple, generic stuff as in any other RPG: buffs, debuffs, damage, AoE, healing. Only that's all you do... There's no running into cover, no sneaking around, no sweet-talking your way out of it, no terrain advantage: Just the simplified shootout. Pretty basic really. There's great card games out there and that's basically what this is, but with all the cards being limited to the most generic RPG effects ever it is blunt and pale. With that alone it'll be hard to design a meaningful challenge. Thus the "options" seem arbitrary, my choices meaningless; there's no challenges, nor fun. Started "Hardcore" and didn't find it intuitive at all. Understanding little, fumbling my way about like a fool, I still failed to find difficulties. The tactical dimension of (early) combat is virtually non-existent. I've yet to encounter a game that starts poorly but ends up ingenious... Perhaps there's a need for tactics later down the road. Perhaps the class perks eventually make teamwork and a thought through team composition an essential part of the game - I may never know, because for a start nothing matters and I'd have to play through this utter boredom to find out. Both visuals as well as dialogues are great really. It does not seem to condense into a major story so far, but that may even add to the anarchic undertone that carries the atmosphere here. As mentioned I didn't get far before quitting.

9 gamers found this review helpful