Nox is a game I actually had on disk ages ago, and one that I occasionally lamented the fact that I no longer had the disks, as it was a game I wasted many hours of my 'youth' on. I was never sure though if it was really that good of a game, or if I just had fond memories of it. Turns out, it really was a good game. While not without it's failings, Nox is a very solid game that has aged extremely well. It's a bit more 'hack and slash' than a traditional RPG (like Baldur's gate or the like), and it's a little more story driven than a traditional ARPG (like Diablo or the like). so some people will just dislike it as in their eyes it has the downfalls of both. To me though? I think it has some of the strengths of both, while bringing to the table something of it's own. An RPG that is much more focused on the skill of the player than how many levels their character has.
Arcanum is actually the game that got me hooked on Steampunk. I didn't buy it 'new', I think I got it in .. '02 or '03 in a double pack with another long since forgotten Sierra title. As other have said, like all Troika games, Arcanum was buggy. But it was an incredibly awesome game, that drops you in to this world and gives you a quest to do.. or completely ignore and go meandering off and killing things and helping, or screwing over, the townsfolk. Pretty much everyone in the game is mortal. Even plot important NPCs. You could find 'the boy' and put a bullet in his head if you felt like it. Every action though had consequences.. and of course your alignment played a major role in the game. One of the things though that I have longed for another game to do well was the magic/tech axis. It wasn't just a stat that determined what equipment you could use.. it was a multi-faceted stat that effected how effective you were with an item, how likely you were to critical fumble with it, how good of bonuses it provided.. and even how magic or tech would effect you. (Granted, it wasn't the most balanced system.) The gameplay was something like Fallout, only with the option of real-time combat. Though there was a certain amount of disparity in the balance of power between those two options, depending on what 'class' you're playing. To me, Arcanum's biggest fault was the leveling speed was .... off kilter in some cases. It's easily possible to hit the games cap halfway through the plot, and while there is a level cap remover.. if you thought it was maybe a little too easy before, post 50 it just gets too easy. R.I.P. Troika.
Simply put, Bauldurs Gate numbers in the worst RPGs I've ever played. If you played it when it was new, you probably loved it, because for it's ERA it was a great RPG. But it is one that does not withstand the test of time, so when you play it after playing many of it's predecessors.. it's not really that good. I could list all of my problems with it, but.. I'll save you from that... The major thing that BG has as a weakpoint compared to modern RPGs is: A linear story that starts out in a cliche and boring manner that instantly made me go "I'm not interested." and was never able to get my interest back. As well: Being a 2E based game it was stacked against the player form the word 'go'. I cannot count how many times I had a character die before the game really even started. And of course being a classic RPG, better hope you saved. (I will, however, admit that modern RPGs have started to reach a point of being TOO forgiving. Respawning is only good in action RPGs.) Simply put, Bauldur's Gate, while a ground-breaker and genre-defining game, was based on mechanics that are not video game friendly, with very little modification, and lacked any of the strengths of that system. If you were a fan of it back in the day, you're probably about ready to flame me, but don't. Buy your game and play it for nostalgia's sake. If you've never played BG before, go ahead and buy it. It'll be educational, and you might even enjoy it, if you're a masochist. Now, when Ice Wind Dale comes to GOG.. That's an example of a D&D based game that shows the strength of the system.
What? You want a real review? .. Well, I suppose I can do that, but I assure you that you will have a lot more fun dropping bowling balls on cats than you will reading this review. A long time ago, I remember wasting many hours playing The Incredible Machine solving puzzles well in to the hundreds. Then, I got a legit version of The (Even More) Incredible Machine.. Not only did I have hundreds of new puzzles, and dozens of new items.. but I also had the editor! I would build complex machines to do things like drop bowling balls on cats, in space. The physics of the game are, of course a bit dated due to, well.. it's a bloody old game, which means of course that they are predictable. Things always work a certain way, and you have to figure out how to use the known mechanics paired with a small selection of items to form a complex Rube-Goldberg esque contraption to do something remarkably simple, like drop a bowling ball on a cat, in space, without breaking a fish bowl. The later games in the series aren't AS good, but they're still fun silly games to play. They try to explain why you're making wacky machines to do strange things like dropping a bowling ball on a cat, in space to knock it in to a teeter-totter, while not breaking a fishbowl. If you like silly puzzle games, or just like the idea of dropping bowling balls on to cats, it's well worth the $10 just to get the original TIM, everything else is just a bonus!
OK, I'm not going to go in to HEAVY detail on the game here, because honestly Blackdrazon covers more, better than I could have. There is something he doesn't go in to: Controls. First, the controls of the game are not the most intuitive. This is forgivable, just annoying to get used to though. The real problem is the tactical control, or.. lack there of. Unless you tag them, enemy agents can walk right in to your base, without alarms raised, minions freaking, etc. (Well, you'll get an alert that your security door was bypassed), they won't even do anything when the agents start shooting your equipment. There is also no way to automatically set enemy agents to hostile. Also, I don't know about you, but if I were an evil genius and had a base like that, I would have a very detailed defensive plan, that when the alarm sounded, everyone knew where they belonged and what they needed to be doing. Instead, if you put it on high alert, sometimes your minions will run out of your base after foes.. one at a time, and get picked off. There are several other significant flaws, but many of them are fixed in various patches, or by simple mods. Over all, it's well worth playing. Just don't expect epic win.
I honestly haven't played this one much. I'm an RTS addict, but this one doesn't do much for me. The campaign opens up very slowly with dull missions, and the technology restrictions are horrible. (I'm not a fan of tech. restrictions in RTS campaigns anyways, but this seems worse than most) So I left the campaign in favor of a skirmish. On to the skirmish: First of all, I LOVE the research system. The capability to manipulate your units and tweak them with various customizations. I like the fact that you only have to worry about 1 resource (al-la Command and Conquer). And the ability to have no unit cap. The limited number of buildings you need to worry about assembling is also nice. As is the capability to manipulate the terrain of the battle field. And the advanced AI options for your units is nice, too. Other than a platoon AI of "all focus on one" would be nice.. though it might be there and I'm just not aware of it. ... Now for the faults: First off, it's a semi-modern RTS, that does not use the standardized RTS controls. That doesn't sound that bad, until you actually try to play it (presuming you've been actively playing RTSs for the last 10 years). When you're not pressed, it's not an issue. But in the middle of heated combat, it's reflive to right-click to attack. Even the skirmish was so insanely slow! Starting off with 200,000 credits, and it still started low. And dear god don't get me started on the duration of research. Ye gods, even the most basic ones take no less than 2 minutes, and the advanced one take 4+ minutes. Not bad until you consider the massive amount of research there is to do. I tend to like RTSs where I can sit back and build a massive army and an indestructible base. But this one, fails to offer enough management on the build up of the base: Queue up all the research you want to do, set up multiple gatherers, set up multiple weapons factories auto producing good units. Beyond that you can explore the map, or send small assaults in to your foe every now and then. Or walk away for an hour, come back and queue up more research. Also the game wouldn't let me minimize it. I like to chat while I game. That pissed me off royally, but my rating isn't taking that in to account. Over all, this game has the feel of a Command and Conquer clone. Sure it has some unique elements, but unfortunately the main unique thing about the game seems to hurt it as much as it helps (the research. Awesome idea, poor implementation.) There are many better RTSs out there. But there are also a lot worse out there. It is one I intend to play more, some time in the future. When I have much free time, and no other game I feel more like playing. I would say for the $6, this one is worth a shot, as long as you're not looking for a Starcraft clone. (if you're looking for a faster paced RTS, go get Warlords Battlecry III, it's $10 here on GOG and worth every penny.)
On the surface, Perimeter looks a lot like it's just another Star Craft clone. But it's a hell of a lot more than that. They use the Star Craft campaign model, which actually annoys me a tad (I prefer the Command and Conquer, or Dark Crusade campaign systems), and playing at least the Exodus feels a lot like playing the Protoss. However, the game has a lot of unique and non-traditional RTS elements. Like Terraforming, the capability to adjust the game world to fit your needs. It allows you to do things that most games don't, and allows for interesting gameplay tactics. I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the unit system though, and my guess is most RTS fans will. First, there's a solid 250 unit cap, and in this game that feels tiny. Second there's your 'squad' limit. You can only have up to 5 squads. Then there's the unit production system. You select the squad you want the unit(s) to go in to, and produce the unit(s), they automatically become part of that squad. Which isn't too bad. (I still dislike how few squads you can have though) You produce one of 3 basic units, which then you can use combinations of those three basic units to make advanced units. This system is awesome, but horribly flawed: The units you wish to combine must all be part of the same squad. So lets say you want to make the basic air-combat unit, it requires 5 Soldiers, and 4 Officers. you have a squad containing 60 Soldiers, and 48 Officers, so you combine it in to 12 of the air units. Great! Now these units can't attack buildings, so you want to switch to something that can once you take care of most of the enemy units. You can! this is also great, in theory. The rocket infantry requires 3 Soldiers. So you can convert those 12 air units in to 20 rocket infantry. This is where it's flawed, those 48 Officers, are wasted. You can't convert the squad in to 20 rocket, and 16 snipers (req. 3 officers). This wouldn't be too bad, except the officers still count towards your unit cap. So you just lost 20% of your unit cap. The games namesake, your Perimeter Shield is a cool idea, and once you get to know it, has an incredible amount of tactical options. Early on though, it's a little irritating to work with, especially if you use the 'full shield' activation, instead of just select power cores. As the more power cores you have, the faster your shield drains energy. (I think it 'should' drain energy based off the surface area it covers, not the number of cores generating it.) It's also a rather tough game. It's one of the few RTS I've ever seen that I can't just drop in to a skirmish against an 'easy' AI in order to pick up how the game works. So you might want to actually do something silly like read the manual and/or play the tutorial. It's well worth buying though if you're a fan of how RTSs used to be. If you have a short attention span and prefer quick skirmishes though, go buy Warlords Battlecry III.
