Reigns is funny and charming at best, unfair and repetitive at worst. I like the idea a lot and there are some cool surprises here and there, but the fact that there are a bit too much trial and error needing sections can be annoying a lot. Sure, guessing is part of the "fun", but not as much as the developers probably intended so. Still, I think it can worth your pennies and time, as soon as you start to feel how to keep your stats balanced, Reigns can give you a good time.
I didn't play the game back in 2005, so this is going to be a review coming from a completely fresh and honest experience: Star Wars Republic Commando is fine - sometimes a good fun, but if you're not a blinded Clone Wars fanboy, it's often an average, but overall absolutely servicable game. Need to mention though, the voice acting (and also the sound design) is phenomenal, the personality of your team mates give a good amount of charm to the game. Anything besides that... well. First of all I couldn't make the game run in widescreen, no matter which instructions I tried to follow. Also, I'm sure this looked really great back in 2005, but I rather find most of it a bit bland today. And the fact that maps have a lot of copy-pasted elements didn't help at all - not to mention levels are almost completely linear. Combat is also a bit of hit and miss (sometimes), some enemies are irritatingly bullet sponges, and also your team mates can be quite dumb sometimes. Still, I think the overall squad leader experience was implemented pretty well - just don't forcelf yourself to play the game on Hard mode, no matter what. Remember, the game is supposed to be fun, and difficulty was designed here in a lazy way sadly. By the way, Republic Commando likes to overwhelm you with hordes of enemies - which I gotta admit though, at least feel pretty authentic. Last thoughts: if you like Star Wars at least a bit and/or arcade first person shooters with squads, get the game whenever it's on sale. For a few bucks, the game can give you some good fun - even with its obvious shortcomings. Don't believe the fanboy reviews, it's far from that good, but still, it's a decent game.
Need to mention I haven't played the game previously, so it's definitely not the nostalgia. Played only the original version so far (by the way, the soundtrack can be easily restored with QuakeSpasm), but I had a great time with it. My only issue was with a strange bug(?) that removes your runes if you die and instead of loading a save state, you let the game restart the level for you. Highly recommended if you're looking for an FPS actually focusing on pure first person shooting relying on your skills.
I get what people love about this game. I haven't played it in my childhood though, and the camera handling on PC is horrible. I love the colorful graphics and the world we get here, but this port is just too flawed, every one of my successfull attempts at enjoying it was hammered by some annoying flaw. And I haven't mentioned the horrible and never ending stealth sections, oh lord. Perhaps give it a chance when it's discounted, abd you'll have a better time with it than I had. Sadly, I couldn't force myself to finish the story.
New Vegas is a well written game with lots of interesting sidequests, factions, groups, twists, etc - but most importantly it has plenty of room for fascinating and meaningful roleplaying. On one hand it suffers from technical issues (the bugs and crashes everyone talks about), but my personal problem is the boring, sometimes even horrible level design I've seen in other Obsidian games too (especially in KOTOR2). Don't get me wrong, the different locations they came up with are awesome, but the actual layout of the maps are sometimes insultingly nonsensical and occasionally even weirdly empty. Pointless rooms after pointless rooms combined with unreasonably huge spaces. But I get if this sounds nitpicky for some players, and understand this should in theory add to the apocalyptic scenery. For me it often doesn't. Other than that, I'd say NV is an intriguing gem, you should check out if you have a soft spot for RPGs with well written stories.
The game is pretty hardcore, if you go full rambo, you and your team mates get easily killed. Because of that patience is highly rewarded - but! Sometimes certain mechanics can switch into clunky mode (especially the AI) and you may end up dead in a kinda unfair way. Missions are usually short though, so - on paper - replaying one till you can master it for a satisfying completion shouldn't be too much of a trouble. By the way, I've heard the point system is not exactly reasonable, but trust me, in normal mode that doesn't give any trouble at all. Definitely check it out if you're interested in tactical shooters, there are lots of fun mechanics you can experiment with, and the random enemy/civilian placements can keep challenging you even if you already know the map like the palm of your hand.
While the combat and the hacking become very repetitive after a while, the writing and the well designed world make Dex a great experience. Thanks to the interesting sidequests and the many secrets, I'd say the game is even worth to re-visit after one playthrough.
If you want to have a good time while driving a low poly motorcycle, look no further. Like... seriously. I discovered this game only recently, but absolutely dig its beautiful retro vibes. Does it have aspects that obviously aged? Sure - but who cares? Colorful and vibrant levels, fun motor cycle races, perfect music. And GOG gives it away for buttons when it's discounted.
Technically the sequel is better, but the races are extremely boring. There are maybe 4-5 types of levels, and... that's it. If you played at least one, you basically played all of their variations. And the more you play the game, the more it starts to look and feel the same. Open the map editor and it becomes obvious what's going on. Maps are procedurally generated here, you can create new ones under a minute without any meaningful effort - while the first game had handcrafted and unique ones. That might not sound a hugh difference, but trust me it is. If you just want to press some keyboard keys and see a 3D motorcycle doing stuff, Moto Racer 2 is completely fine though.
