So this game, like many others, is a mixed bag. While many of its parts, individually, may seem rough and at times frustrating, when you combine them all the end result is a truly magnificent game. Larian outdid themselves with this piece. The writing is brilliantly English, bearing many references to pop culture that make you giggle but manage to stay somewhat believable in the context of the environment. The result is a very tongue-in-cheek, yet serious mood. The graphics are pretty. Some people raise complaints about them, and I don't see why. They look very nice, even compared to modern games. The facial animations are a bit rubbery, but you can't win in every department. Speaking of faces, you hardly see your own character's- there are only a few cutscenes where it's seen. You unfortunately can't toggle your helmet on and off so that you can see it more often. Combat is fun, and though I've only played through once as a mage, you often need to close in for melee combat until you get your skills up. You intersparse your attacks with combat rolls, jumps and so on. Early on in the game your jump height doubles, allowing you to leap over enemies' heads, giving great combat mobility. The plot has nice twists, and absolute heaps of side content. You're given a large, if somewhat restricted world to play in. Once you get your dragon form, it becomes a true game of exploration as you scour every nook and cranny for secrets- of which this game has many. Easter eggs, hidden treasure and so on await the intrepid explorer. The Flames of Vengeance episode takes place entirely in Aleroth, but the city is very large and you don't get tired of it (too much. Lucky teleport shrines make city travel fast) because of the dozens of side quests and puzzles for you to do. You don't get to be a dragon until the end which is slightly annoying, but the game still makes up for it. I honestly can't write down everything that I like about the game- you really need to play it and experience everything for yourself.
This game is the epitome of the phrase "Where did it all go wrong?" It's as if the game designers completely abandoned MOO 1+2 and decided to make a game in about three weeks. That's what the overall quality feels like. It's pointless, frustrating and completely disappointing.
I've had this game since I was a child, and I have always turned to it when I needed a good Turn-Based-Strategy Game fix. To start with, every faction is wildly different in their strategy and approach. One focuses on making a large amount of money, another is purely combat and warfare and yet another is a tree-hugger with the ability to psychically control aliens. The ability to research individual pieces of equipment and then build a unit from scratch with those materials is an innovation that I would like to see more of in recent titles. This allows you to field armies custom-suited to the situation. You could make a platoon of infantry that have amphibious abilities to strike enemies from the sea, or you could make them able to airdrop on your enemies' heads. Combined with a long, detailed and fully voiced research tree, you'll find yourself completely immersed in this game's world. Every now and then the game switches to a screen with text and a voice-over that updates the game's story. This all adds together to form an unparalleled extraterrestrial strategy game. I only wish the expansion was included.
One of the GOG gems. While it takes a while to get accustomed to the game's style, its combat is never dull, its replay value never exhausted.
Fallout 2 is much like it's predecessor, Fallout. Using an unmodified engine from Fallout 1, there are no new shiny features. But that doesn't mean the game hasn't improved at all. This is the only game that I have stayed up all night playing, and for good reason. The total amount of control you have over your character, and the ways to develop him/her are astoundingly numerous. The Karma system serves it's purpose well, affecting how people interact with you, and allowing you to further pursue the path of good or evil. There are a multitude of towns, all with their own characters, issues, and storylines. It would take dozens of hours to complete all of the side-quests in each town. Which vary greatly, from defending crops from mutant rodents, all the way to eliminating a rival religious sect. Combat is challenging and fun, although you will many times find it repetitive, because the VATS system allows you to aim for the eyes, which has an extra high % to critical hit. This makes combat somewhat monotonous, but when you're toasting aliens with flamethrowers and headshotting Enclave soldiers with sniper rifles, you'll find it hard to complain. The storyline is rather unique, and has an interesting twist at the end, although the boss battle leaves something to be desired. I've yet to play Fallout 3, so I'm unsure whether the ending comes into play at all in the third game, but all I am sure of is that the ending was satisfying. As in the first game, all of your achievements are listed in the end movie. If you kill the head Slaver, it gets a mention. If you clear a town storyline, it's mentioned. If you eradicate a certain species, it gets mentioned. All of this leads to the feeling that your achievements have been noticed, and rewarded. At the end, you enter a sandbox mode, and can hunt for humorous encounters, like attacking or defending a spammer from malicious forum-goers. All of this adds to the humorous side of the apocalypse, and adds further to what is definitely a classic RPG.
There is a community of dedicated fans at Hard Light Productions that have created a wonderful thing called Freespace Open, which improves gameplay, graphics, and brings a whole range of new campaigns to the field. You need a full version of Freespace 2 installed. GoG's version works perfectly. It also gives you "Freespace Port" which allows you to play Freesapce 1's missions, with full voice acting and music. With the bonus graphics! The community has also re-made Silent Threat, cleverly named Silent Threat: Reborn. All worthy of the highest praise. www.hard-light.net
