Good puzzles, I never really got stuck. A couple times I used the hints, but if I had just not been braindead in that moment then the solutions weren't preposterous. Also, I liked the art. It's a little gritty, and very different than its prequels, but the wonky angles and style on the scenes really reminds me of Day of the Tentacle. The characters not so much, but it I found all the scenes interesting. My favorite point and click of this style in years.
On the one hand, it's such a good game. It's got good story, okay voice acting, good combat, great level design, great worldbuilding. On the other hand, from a technical standpoint it's a terrible game. Running down a hallway? There's a good chance if you just entered a doorway you'll clip through the floor. Right in the middle of an intense battle? Probably gonna crash every other battle. Relying on auto save? WELL, crashing makes it so your save is going to inevitably be corrupt (hurray for copy and paste). Got your back to a wall in combat? Will you look at that, an enemy spawned right behind you and one shot you. Anyway, the bugs really destroyed the experience. It's like you were in the theater watching the first day release of LOTR, but the reel was cutting out and needed to be reset, or there were artifacts or every once in awhile during an important scene a fly landed on Gandalf's nose. LOTR is still a good story, but your experience would be ruined. Was worth it to play, but I hope the devs can do better for their next game.
I am immensely surprised by this game. Many of my friends hated it, but it's always interested me as a cult classic. At first, this game annoyed me to death. There are just so many seemingly clunky quirks. The menu was awful. The controls? After a few deaths and not figuring out how to attack, I had to look it up. Looting was a labor. However, then I decided to read the manual. I realized all this stuff was actually brilliant because it fits in its own system. It's designed to work together and while it might be different it just works. Once I got over the differences, and there is a learning curve, the game really opened up. I could explore and I started to choose my battles. I even started wasting some of the more difficult enemies before the game intended me too. The game worlds is immense, somewhat linear, and the graphics are meh. But the real beauty of the world is that it all fits. The graphics fit, the placement of characters and enemies. Exploration not only happened while walking through an area. Return trips always felt like I was discovering something new. A cleverly dead man in a corner? A hidden weapon stuck in a wall. Enemies too powerful (or those you couldn't figure out how to kill) reveal large new areas to explore. The voice acting is also great. I expected some half-done stuff, but I never found a time where I hated them. The story is simple but complex and I feel you get to understand some of the characters. Which is good for a game like this. I hate to compare this game to the Elder Scrolls, but... I never cared much for the stories and characters in those games. It's always just be super powerful and filch as much junk so you can sell it elsewhere. I think those games could learn a thing or two about making an open world game from Gothic. Anyway, read the manual. Don't give up. And for heavens sakes, sheathe your weapon before exploring so you don't think there is nothing to loot.
Just meh. HOI promised grand strategy and the "ability to change the outcome of war. However, the ability to change the outcome is extremely limited. You can pretty much pick any nation in the world, but you are completely limited by both luck and their starting strength. Obviously, nations such as the US and Russia will always play better. This really trivializes any most other nations in the world. There is nearly no point to even try playing in certain parts of the world, because you'll spend the entire timeline doing nada, zilch, and nothing. Surviving the onslaught of Japan, China, while playing a tiny power is fun... Once. This game was improved upon by its successors, but the series never overcame this serious gameplay defect. Simply put, you must try to play out the war as it was in reality (you are a mimic). HOI2 is better, so there is really no point to play this game. Unless you must have one of the series from GOG or for nostalgia, move along. Rated 2 stars because it was fun at first, but it is definitely not a good old game.
