A love letter to early Splinter Cells (up to the venerable Chaos Theory). Has all those too convenient vents and hiding spots, the opaque-transparent e-glass from Displace's office, liberty to go guns blazing (LOTS of guns and lots of customization). Some RPG elements to keep your sense of character development going on. There are some minor bugs but the dev is very active and is going to weed them out soon.
I did not play the original series. Bought this game as I like the genre (and long lost any hope of MechCommander 3). Short range weapons are king in this game, with melee closely following. Long range are situational and are only good for ganging up on someone. Skills are OP, but it is unclear when they are earned. In general, there is a lot of WHYs in the game: why is it not possible to see which legs are hover (you have to decide based on appearance), if you buy weapons not through shop setup, you will not even see which are ranged or melee, game never explains rules of movement through trees or hard terrain. Other reviewers complained there is lack of $$$, but my experience is opposite: by the midgame, once you get your first OP pilot like Meihua, you can spam arena for significant cash influx all while gaining her skills. I had 300k extra credits (which is enough to completely upgrade your entire roster 4 times). Overall this is a good game, but it must have been better in the 90s. Let's cross fingers and wait for better contenders.
I like this game a lot, but I am going to be honest in my review. It occasionally feels like Diablo or Skyrim in space (which is not bad), but there are minor pestering points here and there. It feels light-hearted and easygoing overall. Plot is diverse enough and uncontrived. What I liked: - gameplay is solid and captivating - fights are well-balanced on normal - GEAR AND LOOT galore - voice acting is amazing and so are the characters (especially HIVE) - gorgeous graphics - great variety of ships (and they change the way you fight) What I liked less: - music gets annoying quickly - space economy is very simplistic (Space Rangers 2: A War Apart is much better) so it gets boring - puzzles quality also vary: from well-executed pieces to downright annoying
I am not saying this lightly. The plot, atmosphere, characters and the music will all impress you. I cried many times over the course of the game. Do not buy it for: - combat or action - cinematography Do buy it for: - story - lots of quality dialogue and descriptions to read - character development (and the best sidekick games have to offer) - fitting visuals Get it and see what the hype was all about!
I am not opposed to walking sims. I am not opposed even to walking sims which fall flat at some point (looking at you Firewatch). But Gone Home never even builds up, the plot line is boring and evident some 20min into the game. I suppose it only caters to some people, who can identify themselves with the characters. If you like the genre, get "Home" ("a unique horror story") for a vastly better plot or Firewatch for better plot (at least for the first half of the game, then it is so so) and superb visuals and atmosphere.
This is a great little game which offers a good stealth-action vibe which fills the void Splinter Cell left. Despite the author self-describing the game as a love letter to the first three SCs, I find the balance closer to Blacklist (which is not bad at all). Pros: + gameplay + level design + wide variety of weapons + unique (though they are not that much different) + music works well Cons: - story is just a glue to piece gameplay together (like the dev admits himself) I will watch out for future games from the dev. HF
This game is just 3 missions (and a couple more mini-missions), which all take place in the middle of original game story-wise, one of which is largely recycled from the previous game. I *loved* Shadow Tactics and definitely enjoyed this addon and gulped it in one evening. Fantastic voice acting, just like the original game (aaah Takuma-san), and a couple more tunes, which again, are just as good as the original. Level design is satisfyingly complex, although I felt comfortable playing on Hardcore for my first walk-through. Truth be told, this just feels like cut content from the original game (but then it might have been just a touch longer than it had to); and it's a bit of a steep price for a mission pack. But I won't complain since I adore the setting, the execution, and wholeheartedly wait for Shadow Tactics 2.
...and that's not a bad thing! Mimimi shuffled and adjusted the skills so that the game would not be boring to someone who repeatedly beat Shadow Tactics. You will have to come up with new combo ideas. The game also likes to introduce the challenge by taking away some skills in certain levels (in a proper convincing way). The game was easy for me though so I ended up completing it on Desperados difficulty for the first time (which is slightly harder than Hard in Shadow Tactics). The levels are well-designed and diverse enough, night and day, not only canyons, but also towns and casas. It seemed to me that somehow Shadow Tactics had a notch more appealing graphics, but I liked the levels in Desperados better. The last level and the final puzzle are excellent. Guns (except Doc's sniper rifle) are rather gimmicky in the game, they are loud and this is a stealth game. I hardly used them. Soundtrack is very good, your typical Sergio Leone vibe. Well done, Mimimi, but I still wait for Shadow Tactics 2 ;)
I started playing the series ever since they were released back in 2002 and was immediately attracted by the quality, universality und uniqueness (TBS + RTS (optional) + Arcade (optional) + Roguelike (optional), is there another game like that?) and replayability of the game. The pros: + Decent graphics for the game of this age + Amazing replayability (galaxy, equipment is randomly generated). I play the game yearly since 2002 (when the first game was out) and still not bored with it. + Unique gameplay merging several genres into one The cons: - I have only played the Russian version of the game (since it is originally in Russian) and always had concerns the lighthearted and good-natured humour will be lost in translation since it had so many gags referring to the lifestyle and habits of the 90s Russia. This game will forever stay in my favourite game shelf. By the way, the original series' developers also released another great tactical TBS, King's Bounty, which gladly took banner from the faltering Heroes of Might and Magic's saga.
