For those who can see past graphics, Avernum provides a great experience. The remakes of Avernum1 and 2 are a significant improvement on the original versions in both graphics, gameplay, quests, interaction, map and level design. My review will be in brief, without major or minor spoilers. Magic system - fun with roughly three spells from each type of magical damage. Combat system - interesting with few useless abilities, but mostly well done. Quests - some lame collect X# of ____. Some lame bring ___ to ___. Aside of the typical filler quests, there are many quests that have important story information that you must keep track of! The journal and notes do not do much for you! Do it yourself or you will get lost quickly. Economy - money matters so save, save, save! If you want to buy skills and spells, every penny counts. Gameplay - you can break quests if you kill people! This is a real RPG and it can be unforgiving. Everything is achievable on the hardest difficulty, but you have to plan and have a strategy. Classes - theres a variety of classes, but I found that the standard wizard and warrior trope classes are the best. The rogue variant has not show itself to be very useful overall - I found it better to have a tank plus three casters, rarely using a cleric. Rogues can do great damage, but I found the amount of micromanagement needed to capitalize on this is rarely valuable. Graphics - not great. Thats it! The time and care is spent on the game, the gameplay, bug hunting, and smart mechanics. There is always a trade-off and for a great game; graphics are sacrificed. Overall, the game is pretty fun. Check out #1 Avernum: Escape from the Pit. Consider the fact that Avernum: Crystal Skulls significantly improved over the first re-release. The gameplay mechanics are smoother and the story is just as good. If you like old style RPGs, this is a must play!
TL;DR: Smugglers V is essentially a cross between a 2D freelancer trading game, simple turn based combat, and thin, but well written story events. This game is fun for a play-through and a half, but it gets old fast due to shallow mechanics and weak gameplay. SUMMARY: Smugglers V is equivalent to a 2D version of freelancer. The game is set in space where different factions fight for control of the galaxy. Smugglers V has four factions and a few different classes, of which, three are truly distinguishable. You can serve the military, you can trade or smuggle, or you can become a pirate king. The game is formulaic and can be beaten easily in one go. The game has some interesting writing when visiting planets. Smugglers V is fun for approximately ONE play-through. The good: There are strong story elements on the planets you visit - if you take the time to explore the game you may enjoy this aspect greatly. I have never been one but to skim the usually thin story foisted upon gamers in genres such as this, but I actively chose to read everything in this game. I'm glad I did, the events and the story you find on each base adds a new aspect to the game. There are different tactics you can employ based upon class and skills, and ship and ship upgrades. This makes combat fun - how often do you have a fighter destroying a cruiser or battleship? If you play your cards right, you can do this fifteen minutes into the game. The bad: This game becomes extremely repetitive after one play-through and game play and mechanics, overall, are incredibly shallow. You will struggle to stay focused on your second run with this old dog. Even when this game was released there were better and older games you could find, like Freelancer, which is superior in every way.
