Absolutely loved my time in Middle Earth. Monolith (RIP) has done a fantastic job of making every part of the gameplay here fun and satisfying. Graphics were beautiful, the soundtrack was absolutely epic, the characters were memorable, and the Nemesis system was unforgettable. Challenge level was just about right, although at higher levels your character does become nigh invincible. As you gain strength and abilities, there is an unmistakable sense these unfortunate Orcs are definitely trapped in Mordor with you, and not the reverse. Be advised the action is graphically violent, with copious amounts of orc heads separated from their bodies by your hand, leaving only spurting arteries depicted with explicit detail. Also, be aware the included lore provides some much needed depth and intrigue behind all the bloodletting, but it does stray a bit from Tolkien. Overall, this is a gem that probably couldn't be made in the current year. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
WARNING: This game is addictive! Design your starship, train your officers, and set out with your crew into the black! Explore distant systems, make contact with bizarre alien races, send an away team to investigate the planet surface, and forge alliances. You will need them, for your enemies could be waiting in ambush at your next jump. Controls for navigation, combat, exploration, diplomacy, and everything else is simplified and streamlined for quick & fun action. Combat can be handled with dual stick controls a la Smash TV or keyboard & mouse. Your ship's performance and handling is dependant on your design decisions. There's no penalty for tweaking your build as often as you please to try out different play styles. Follow the main storyline with its RPG-like quests, or blaze your own trail through the stars. There is depth to the narrative, and dialog with your crew and Starcom Command is well written. I very much enjoyed the scifi-flavored discussions of physics, engineering, linguistics, etc. Highly recommeded for fans of Star Control, FTL, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica and the like.
Statis: Bone Totem is an underwater sci-fi/horror point and click adventure. Every aspect of the game is top notch. Great storytelling, art direction, characters, audio, gameplay, and so on. The clever puzzles use context clues gathered throughout your adventure, but fear not; the game comes with a separate file containing solutions to every challenge should you need it. This removes the frustration factor altogether and keeps the focus on exploration, story and fun. Hope to see more titles using this interface and made with this level of extreme care and quality. Highly Recommended!
NWN is one of my favorite multiplayer PC RPGs of all time due to its versatility, SDK and multiplayer focus. I'm going to gush a little bit here, but the care and attention poured into this EE--even years after release--is impressive. I've now put in dozens of hours playing various modules in multiplayer and single player modes, and the experience has been smooth and stable. In particular, I've been impressed with: - a steady stream of patches and upgrades - many graphical enhancements to lighting, water effects, shadows, etc. (I had all the fancy DX9 effects enabled at launch, and it looks even better now) - native support for super ultrawide resolutions - I'm playing at 32:9 with no issues - stable netcode - vastly expanded SDK - a wealth of settings and options I was able to tweak to my exact liking (with my current settings, the game looks and plays fantastic and is free of stutters, hitches, and other annoyances) - mod compatibility seems to include all the greatest hits Not sure what work has been done with the audio, but the Jeremy Soule soundtrack sounds as great as ever, and there is an immersive stereo "3D" effect over speakers and headphones. The fact they are still releasing patches, bugfixes, enhancements and new features is noteworthy, and makes this edition feel like a true labor of love. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for all fans of the original release.
This game would have been an easy 5 stars were it not for persistent technical issues that occasionally detract from the fun. I'll begin with the positives: - Interesting turn-based combat system with a heavy emphasis on tactics and adaptation to terrain, climate, weather, enemy force composition and tactics - Extensive variety of fully customizable mechs - Hire, train, and develop a cadre of mechwarriors to excel in specific combat roles (or as generalists) - Setting rich with lore and a strong sense of history in a fully explorable fictional galaxy - Dramatic campaign and open world modes - Excellent mod support, including several outstanding total conversions - Multiplayer skirmish mode (for those who want it) And for the negatives: - Memory leak causes long load times in late game, no matter how powerful the system - Occasional crashes mar the experience Despite the technical issues, I was enthralled by the world, the lore, the battlemechs, and the combat. Highly recommended!
