This is one of the best games I have ever played, bar none. I've never played such a thought-provoking game before that made me feel such a wide range of emotions and become so connected with the characters. The basic premise is that you play as a small group of regular people trying to survive during a civil war loosely based on the Bosnian Civil War in the 1990's. The mechanics of the game are relatively basic: during the day you upgrade and build your base in an abandoned house or apartment building, and at night one of your survivors scavenges for food, supplies, and whatever else you can find in the ruins of the city. There's a level of repetition here, but it never feels repetitive. Often finding the materials to build something (like a garden, or water catcher) can take several in-game days and you become invested in the projects of your survivors. The game is intensely realistic. Combat is almost always a no-win situation, cold temperatures can kill you, and bartering is possible but only when you have something someone else wants. You are often presented with difficult choices, like whether to steal supplies from elderly neighbors, trade valuable items for heating fuel, or scavenge for food in places where your survivors could get shot at or killed. There's glimmers of hope too though. Sometimes you have the opportunity to help vulnerable people or give to neighbors in need. All of these things affect your survivors' morale and in turn their actions. The aesthetic and graphics are great and I love the almost chalk-like look to some of the illustrations. Each survivor has their own story, and you learn more about them as the scenario goes on: what happened to them, what their lives were like before the war, etc. Overall the game does a fantastic job of showcasing the grim nature of surviving conflict, but also the humanity of people in difficult situations, and the result is an intense and thought-provoking game about the horrors of war.
Overall this is one of my favourite naval strategy games I've tried so far. If you're into military history you'll love it. The way the physics modelling and the way ships list and slow when flooding gives the game an element of realism. There's a lot of strategic choices you can make (stuff like you took out the spots on the enemy BB and she couldn't hit you on the last two salvos, do you try to take out the main guns or do you shift your fire to the CL closing on your DD?) and the AI is pretty good so in most cases they'll react in a realistic way. You can use historical tactics with good results which makes it incredibly satisfying if you have some WWII history knowledge. The user interface is good at breaking down the complexities of managing a ship/fleet into something that's easy to navigate without feeling like it's doing everything for you. The game has a few weird quirks though. At first the turn-based approach feels a little weird, especially when dealing with aircraft. Land-based airstrikes arrive instantaneously while torpedoes can take 3-4 turns to cover the distance to the target. You get used to it though. I also wish there was a way to disable the 3rd person world view in the options (leaving only plotting map and periscope/spot view) for more of that sub-sim feel. Some people don't like that you can't save during a battle but it's never bothered me. In my experience this isn't the kind of lighthearted game you play for 20 minutes after work anyway. It something you sit down with for an hour or two and get really into. Overall I'd give it a 4.5 if I could give half stars. You notice the quirks when you first play, but they don't define the game.
I had this as a teenager on Xbox and loved it, forgot about it, and then found it on GOG as an adult and the game still holds up. I always thought this was a hidden gem in the Star Wars universe and never understood why it didn't get more love. To me, the tactical element is what makes the game. You execute maneuvers like door breaches, take control of turrets, and assign tasks to your squad mates by clicking on icons above objects in the landscape you can interact with. It's super intuitive and keeps the game fast-paced while still giving it another layer of depth. There's a bit of a team management side to it because you have to make decisions on the fly about what the squad will do, cover squad mates in vulnerable positions, and keep an eye on their health. While you can do individual tasks yourself, you need your squad mates to survive and progress. All the other stuff is good, the graphics hold up surprisingly well (granted I'm playing on pretty old hardware) and the heads up display feels really engaging. The dialog is a little canned and I kind of like it. You really feel like you're in the shoes of an elite clone trooper and there's a sense of urgency to clear out one objective and move on to the next. My only complain is that it's shorter than I'd like (I beat it in about a week's worth of playing every night) but the story is great and it achieves exactly what it sets out to do: bring an engaging, tactical perspective to the Star Wars universe.
I played this as a kid before I fully understood the game and decided to buy it a couple months ago to re-live some nostalgia. Playing it as an adult, the learning curve is easy to pick up after using the tutorial mode. A quick google search will reveal that there's two patches required to for it to work on a modern OS (config file fix and blurry texture fix) and GOG has applied both for you, meaning it runs perfectly out of the box on my Windows 7 laptop without any troubleshooting. For its time, the the graphics are good and the maps, music, and aesthetics really work together to create a nice atmosphere while not getting in the way of gameplay. The economic simulation is detailed with a fully hashed out supply chain that can change as the game progresses, a stock market that you can apply basic real-world trading principles to, and a thorough ledger for managing your rail empire. Setting up trains and buying industries is easy and the game gives you the option to micromanage cargos if you want without forcing you into it. I think this was one of the best Tycoon series games ever made, and if you played it as a kid you'll love it just as much (maybe even more!) now.
