There's a skill that lets you kick people in the groin. I don't know why, but that somehow summarizes the game for me. Scarlett is sassy and fun to roleplay. Contrary to most fantasy, where you venture off into the wilds, here you explore a giant, corrupted city. The dialogue is funny, sometimes intentionally, sometimes because they recorded the wrong voice line. Closest comparison I can think of is the first Witcher, though this has more satisfying combat. The game is very restrictive at first, because you start in a small area, on a very linear quest chain, and things open up as you unlock more areas. I didn't click with the game until unlocking the second or third area of Venice, but now I really like it. There are some graphical issues, and one major crash bug. There are a lot of interesting skills, but not enough chances to use them, and some are poorly implemented (being able to raise the dead to fight for you sounds cool until you realize they get stuck on the level geometry constantly). But really, most of the games shortcomings just made me want more of the game. More dialogue, more quests, larger and more varied combat encounters, etc. By the end of the game, I was hunting for things to do. The setting tickles my imagination, and the characters are fun, even if I had to fill in a lot of the blanks myself. I don't know how to express the game's charm, other than to say that it feels like a classic action RPG, with emphasis on the roleplaying, and unsullied by modern design sensibilities. That is a sorely under-represented genre.
If hauling freight in your clunky spaceship sounds fun, you might enjoy it as much as I do. It's relaxing for the most part, but very tense at times. Gave me some new job anxiety the first time a siren went off or a red light started flashing on my console, and I had no idea why. This is about the machinery of space travel, which is something few games tackle in detail. The various displays and systems are suitably arcane until you learn them, and become easier to use with experience. I think they did a great job with the onboarding process. There's a fairly comprehensive encyclopedia in-game, but individual concepts are doled out organically over time, as well. The soundscape is one of my favorite parts. The various ship systems are borderline ASMR, to the point where I could easily fall asleep listening to the machinery on my bridge. At least until the next time a sensor ghost turns out to be a pirate, and alarms start going off. There's a surprising amount of writing for a sandbox game, through dialogue, emails, and news reports. Most of it feels grounded and well-written, though there are some articles that look like they needed more editing. At first, I was a bit disappointed to realize that you don't really navigate the ships and stations in 3D. Instead, it's a series of loosely related, fixed scenes, a la Wing Commander. But every station seems to have a unique look, and there are a lot of them. I thought it might ruin the physicality of the space, but now that I'm used to it, it doesn't bother me at all. I think the only thing I would've changed in the game is the system for repairing ship modules. You get to look at the actual circuit board, but only through a monitor. I wish they had given the circuits their own screens, so it felt more like I was repairing the thing myself.
Any space 4X game I've ever played, I've had to compare with Master of Orion 2. So far, nothing has measured up. In some areas, it's probably simplistic, but everything just hangs together well, and the focus of play is always where I want it to be. Stomping your enemies in the turn-based battles is a nice payoff to managing your empire and designing your fleet well. So grab a death ray and some assault shuttles, and go subjugate an alien race. Or just cut their planets apart while building new ones of your own.
I have played this for countless hours, and will continue to do so now that I own it again. Bit of advice: Try playing team deathmatch on Liandri Core with the instagib and low gravity mutators (and volatile weapon, if you're feeling crazy).
I enjoyed this game enough to want to play the other ones in the series. Pirate's Curse has quickly become one of my favorite platformers ever. I prefer it over Half-Genie Hero for about a hundred different reasons that aren't worth listing here. I will mention that this game sacrifices the open level design of the previous two for something much more linear. The controls also don't feel quite as good, but I'm not sure why. In Pirate's Curse, I can breeze through levels that I once thought were impossible, but I consistently feel a bit clumsy in Half-Genie Hero even after several playthroughs. They've added a bunch of free DLC costumes (as separate modes) that change the gameplay drastically. They're all pretty fun, but they do mean playing through the same levels as the main game again, so that can get old after a while. Really, I would recommend the entire series [never played the first one]. Each one brings something different to the table. Risky's Revenge has some of the most innovative mechanics and level design; Pirate's Curse has the tightest gameplay, my favorite character art, and some of the best writing; and HGH takes us into high-def land, with 3D environments and super smooth animations. The writing is consistently funny throughout all three games. So pick your poison, I guess. But Pirate's Curse is the best....
Really enjoying what I've played so far. It's an old game, obviously, but the environments still look nice. As long as you like levels made of skyscrapers and neon signs. Mechanically, there's nothing very unique going on, but the controls all feel solid and enjoyable. You'll be stomping on cars and tanks, shooting down jets and choppers by the score, blowing up buildings, and blasting apart enemy mechs. That's pretty much it. I paid $1.50 for it on sale. Definitely worth it, if it's what you're in the mood for. To my knowledge, there are shockingly few contemporary action titles about giant mechs shooting stuff, so this one scratches an itch.
"The basic human need to be watched was once satisfied by God. Now, the same functionality can be replicated with data-mining algorithms.... You will soon have your God, and you will make it with your own hands." Play as a pacifist, murder everything you see, build ladders out of grenades, turn invisible and skip entire sections of the game, discuss social philosophy with AI constructs, build fortifications out of furniture, be a jerk, don't be a jerk, drop crates of dynamite on your enemies, and play basketball. This is still one of the best games ever made.
Feels like it came from an alternate timeline where ARPGs decided to actually be RPGs. As others have said, the first part of the game is a long and somewhat boring dungeon crawl. But then you get to leave the starting town and enter a huge, continuous world. It also seems like there are three uninteresting classes to choose from, but this actually only affects your starting build. After that, you can pick whatever abilities and stats you want. The only thing you can't change is your class's special move, so look those up in the manual first. I picked the wizard, and his special move is nearly useless compared to the other two classes. The Ultima influence is clear. The game lets you move things around, has a similar inventory system, and pretty much allows you to mess with everything. It's all in real time, but you can always pause and flip through your inventory or select abilities. Things will initially feel like a dull Diablo clone, but as you find more items and gain new abilities, the game opens up in directions that a Blizzard title never would. There is no clear town vs. dungeon distinction for most of the game. Things are much muddier. You will run into orcs marauding through an otherwise calm village. You can lead enemies in to massacre the local garrison. You can steal, lie, break into houses, commit murder, and turn into a frog for some reason. I knew the game wasn't messing around when a villain showed up and hypnotized an entire town into attacking me. I can't go back there anymore. On the negative side, there are some summoning spells, but your summons don't follow you. Which means I often either waste mana creating more, or waste time leading enemies back to my clueless skeletons. Also, the voice acting is pretty bad, in my opinion. Easy enough to just turn it off, though. Soundtrack is really good, and the writing is decent. The writers at Larian weren't afraid to have a sense of humor. I'm less than halfway through, so it remains to be seen if the actual plot is any good. Overall, though, one of my favorite RPGs in a while.
