just play gothic and morrowind
i hate to be this mean to an indie game, especially one with a huge update coming soon that could change my perspective, but without good access to the multiplayer component, there's basically no reason to buy the game here. the portion of the game most users will have access to is, at this point in time, not worth the asking price. excessively railroaded design that feels more like a particularly rushed episodic game than the games it takes inspiration from (well, the GOOD games it takes inspiration of, but let's not go there), obnoxious boss fights where you fight a single enemy monster who's challenge steams from tanking damage and outlevelling anyone playing the game normally, and no post game to speak of (not even an endless battle mode, like was common in the inspiration since the early 2000s). even if those later issues were fixed, i'd need to see some way of playing against others without the galaxy client before i could recommend this version.
i get that this was an xbox game first and got ported to windows after the fact, but consider the ps2 got a port of deus ex that's... mostly in-tact, i have a hard time believing the most powerful system of that generation could've have produced a better game. stats aren't missing because of the xbox, they're missing because ion storm had no faith in console players the levels aren't small just because of the xbox, they're small because ion storm couldn't fathom a game that didn't have the best graphics the system could put out, even if the game had to suffer. the plot isn't incoherent because of the xbox, the plot of incoherent because ion storm refused to tell fanboys to shut up and play the game for what it is. just as a game, it's mediocre, which is far from the worst thing a game can be, but i have absolutely no respect for it. it's a curiosity. nothing more.
most of the game is excellent roleplaying. your stats affect your abilities in big ways, augmentations open more options but are suitably rare, the choices you make in both dialogue and simply in navigating levels are usually accounted for. first issue, three of the skills in your skill tree are barely useful. never put ranks in swimming or environmental resistence, maybe put a single rank and no more in medical if you're really struggling. second, about 40% of this game could be cut without losing all that much. after a while, the game becomes bland shooter levels and only really recovers at the tail end of the game. for seven usd, probably lower because the game goes on sale quite often, i'd say it's worth it.
you're in for six levels (technically seven, but one of those is just a boss fight the previous level didn't have, so really six) of atmospheric, visually stunning arcade shooting, followed by several months to a year of complete radio silence until you get bored and decide to pick it up again. do not buy at full price. free tip: the shoot ratio refers to how many enemies you shot down, the game does not care how accurate you are.
The included games are the NES versions, with minor alterations to remove references to Nintendo. The image is closer to what you'd get with basic emulator settings (so, a lot brighter and somewhat squished) than what you'd get if you played legit carts on a TV of the time. The ROMs can be removed to play in a different emulator, but that requires use of a hex editor, which is easier than you'd expect but still a step beyond what I think a general audience would be comfortable with. Still giving 4 stars because the game's just fine if you don't care about any of this ridiculous nerd nonsense and just want to play Castlevania and/or Contra.
If it's not DRM-free, it doesn't belong on the site priding itself on being DRM-free. This has been happening for a while now. It started with the Galaxy client (especially the older one, which literally did not work offline at all, but 2.0 isn't free from sin) locking achievements and multiplayer to GOG (shut up, DUSK and Quake 3 both don't require GOG Galaxy for offline multiplayer, there are no excuses), and now games are literally launching with just straight-up DRM that not even the most diehard "x doesn't count as DRM" GOG stan could possibly justify. There is no excuse for this.
Yes, I KNOW it's an old game, but some old games age well. This one didn't. No height variation, no automap, little as far as stage variation. Yes, you shoot Nazis, which is an objective moral good, but there are much better games you can do that in.
I can't believe it's almost 2020 and we still need to have this conversation, but yes, homophobia is bad. Also, this is just as "irrelevant" (it's literally about who your money is going to if you buy this game, but sure, let's pretend that has nothing to do with purchasing the game) as all the post sucking 3D Realms member for not removing the homophobic content from Ion Fury. Why is irrelevancy okay when it's a positive review, but it's "review bombing" when it's negative?
