I bought this game as part of a bundle with Sir, you are being hunted! the first version of the game I downloaded barely worked at all. However the latest patch solved the issue and I was able to play through the entire game without issue. Let's start with the good: the voice acting is fantastic, the soundtrack is top notch, and the dialogue is at least thorough, and there is a lot of it. Most of the game is spent talking, and your choices in dialogue do actually have a very large impact on the game, giving it a lot of replay value. As for the story, it's hard to tell because the game ends before it even really gets going. It starts with a murder on a futuristic skyship, a bunch of unexplained anomalies on the ship that leave the crew in peril, and ends shortly after with a mission assigned to you that begins in the sequel. it ends on a cliffhangar. There is also a lack of background information to the world in which the game takes place, it is explained near the end of the game that you have to had played an ARG to get that....thanks? I was never fully immersed in the game-world. STALKER might also have been vague in some regards but it had an atmosphere that was convincing and logically consistent, making it one of my favorite games. This game is not consistent in it's atmosphere, the visuals are cartoonish, the story is serious but the characters are over-emotional and get really easily offended, and there is a tie in to current events near that is so cheesy that it made me question the ability of the writers and weather I should even bother with the sequel. The reason I a giving this game two stars is that there are some people who this game will appeal to: if you watch TV series and played mass effect for the relationship aspects instead of the lore and back-story, this game is for you, and for that audience it does pretty well what it aims to achieve, but it's not my bag.
With plenty of side missions, vehicles and enemies to fight I've yet to grow bored of Far Cry 2. The thing it nails so well is the atmosphere. Unlike most open world games and certainly most Far Cry games, FC2's war torn Central African plains carry a cynical, cold indifference, devoid of traditional "good vs. evil" and deistic heroes. I think it is this quality that draws me back into the game time and time again. I feel as if the game world doesn't give a hoot about me, and I am just another pawn in a whirlpool of violence and confusion. Both the main missions and the side missions have you attacking convoys, clearing out enemy bases and sometimes protecting VIP characters (these are the worst missions) and afterward you are paid in blood diamonds to spend on new guns and upgrades. Much of the game is spent driving and walking on or off the beaten path through dense brush and muddy swamps. Unlike the other FC games you can choose your own character. Some (myself included) might find the ability to play a black character is a refreshing alternative to the 1000s of "white savior" games out there (I'm looking at you Far Cry 3), others won't even notice the feature. Either way the voiceless nature of your choice only serves the cold indifference of the world. I like it. You never feel like a god in this game, your guns will rust and jam, your cars will break down, and you'll be stricken with malaria time and time again, some find this really annoying. The biggest problems in the game, mainly the quickly respawing enemies, are easily fixed by heading over to Mod-Db and downloading "Dylands Mod, which makes the game more stealth friendly. I love driving across the desert, listening to BBC's "Africa Today" podcast on iTunes and pondering the best route to attack a weapons convoy, sometimes just driving over a sand dune for the hell of it. Does this sound appealing to you? if so then this is the game for you.
The Sequel to Panzer General attempted to bring it's quest to bring wargaming to the masses to a much greater level, with multiple campaigns, tons of scenarios and an extremely powerful scenario editor. For this reason it's kind of hard to argue against dropping 10 bucks on this game today. When modern war-games can cost a pretty penny, PG2 is an amazing deal with almost endless content. When I played this game back in the day I gave up out of the frustration of not even being able to defeat Poland in the first few scenarios, and figured that wargaming was just not for me. Now that I come back to this game with much more experience in War Games. I can see that my frustration was partially because of it's legitimately challenging nature but partially because of design flaws. The biggest flaw in this game is that in it's attempt to make something that looks prettier and easier to digest than a traditional hex and counter game, it fails to give the player the right information for success. The battle map features picture of each unit and a little strength number (which I assume is a "health bar" but I don't know because the manual doesn't actually tell you how combat is calculated) surrounded by either a gray box for axis and a beige box for allies (that's right gray and beige, prepare to mistake enemy units for friendlies a lot), Neither supply lines, attack and defense values, or the basic front are shown. If you want to view a units combat values you press "V", if you want a basic idea of the whole battle map you hit the "strategic map" which just shows flags for the units. This means you are flipping between 3 screens to get an idea of where you are in the battle. If you are new to War Gaming, Unity of Command is a much better option. It is prettier, easier to understand and gives a more savvy player the information they need to calculate their moves correctly. While I admire Panzer Generals aim, I think the game comes up short of it's goals.
This game is by far the best iteration of Commando's style games in 3D. This was done by the same guys who did Men of War (another great game, but not as good imo) 3 years before Men of War. Whereas men of war focuses more on large scale battles, this game focuses more on stealthy 3 man operations in which you are outnumbered and outgunned and must rely on your wits and stealthy solutions to survive. sound familiar? If you enjoyed Commandos 2, buy this game. This game holds up extremely well 8 years after it came out. The interface while it takes a bit to get used to is a breeze to work with. No more switching between equally mystifying (but admittedly beautiful) isometric views in hopes of peering around corners. This game comes with a fully swivvleable camera with panning and zoom. Allowing you to fully assess each situation before you act. One great feature first introduced to this game is the ability to take direct control of your men and play through certain sticky situations like an action game, using the keyboard to move your character and the mouse to aim. Don't rely on this too much though, one slipup and you will alert entire squads of possibly armor supported Germans, more or less dooming your squad. One thing that amazes me is how well the graphics and sound hold up today. Whoever did the textures on this game did a damn good job. While it certainly looks dated, it never looks ugly, it's aged quite well, even if its not as pretty as Commandos 2. Still not convinced. The game has a ton of content. 3 full campaigns and a mission editor. Do not miss out on this game. It's essential for all Real Time Tactics fans.
I usually am not a fan of post infinity engine bioware games, i felt that mass effect was somewhat mediocre, could never get into KOTOR or Dragon Age either. When i first picked up this game, it felt like more of the same to me, cliche storyline featuring overenthusiastic characters stressing "WE MUST SAVE THE WORLD...ehh...YOU MUST SAVE THE WORLD" and of course the age old Dungeons and Dragons environment (not that thats a bad thing). The combat system at first seems very arbitrary, just clicking on the enemy and watching your character plow through them. Unlike Baldurs gate which is brutally punishing at the beginning, this game starts off pretty easy, your character will plow through tons of low level thieves and thugs like they were ants. However the combat system improves as you fight tougher enemies and have to rely on special attacks and potions. The best part of the game is the character development system, character creation is more robust than ever as is leveling up. I like the fact that you can attack anyone in the game as well, it makes playing an evil character much more fun and diverse, while Bioware RPGs have since removed that probably to stop people from reenacting Grand Theft Auto. The ability to decapitate a bar patron who insults your honor really does add the chaotic factor to chaotic evil. Also it alleviates the possibility of having to deal with characters that you are "Supposed to like" that you actually hate (im looking at you miranda) The shining element of this game isnt the single player, its the custom content and the multiplayer. There are thousands of user created modules for NWN, playing multiplayer gives the game endless replay value, some servers rely on role play, others on dungeon crawling action, others can seem like playing an old school MMORPG, you wont run out of things to do. It is worth noting that you will have to send GOG.com a message requesting a CD key to play Multiplayer, but they responded to mine a day later and i was able to play. So dont worry about that. Overall Neverwinter Nights is like a canvas. Its a great toolset with a mediocre campaign added on to it. Overall its a great value and anyone who wants to join in on some good online roleplaying should not miss it.
I hate strategy games, Yet i love this game with all of my heart. Basically you control up to 5 commandos who you lead in harrowing attempts to bring down the third reich. Missions usually include sneaking into a heavily guarded area, sabotaging something, then leaving with as little scuffle as possible. This is easier said than done as you will have to study enemy movement patterns meticulously and save crawl down to the very second. However one thing the game doesn't do is bog you down with macromanagement challenges like most strategy games, so you are able to focus all your attention usually on one or two commandos, trust me, you will need it. Despite the high difficulty this game is extremely fun, so if you are up to the challenge, i could not recommend this game enough.
