I got the game when it was brand new for PC back then. I played it to completion 5 times in a week. I liked it that much. The game is a third person action adventure, think of James Bond combined with Tomb Raider, with action and stealth combined to the levels you want to. You can be as gang ho or as stealth as you want as you can play the missions in multiple ways. You can upgrade your character the same way as you can in RPGs and focus on lethal ways or non lethal, to how to handle situations. The dialogue and story is also branching and can have quite different playthroughs depending on your choices and dialogues. The one thing that many misunderstood when the game was new, was the way combat was done. Due to the way the game looked, people thought it was in terms of how weapon and combat handles, a very poor third person shooter. But the thing they missed or chose to ignore was that the game combat mechanics are based on RPG elements, not that dissimilar to say Morrowind or other RPGs The aiming, weapon handling, accuracy etc, are all as in RPGs, not as in pure action games. Once you know this or understand this, you can have the time of your life in this awesome awesome game. I don't have the GOG version as I simply can't afford it nowdays, so I can't comment on any additions or extras this specific version has. The game was AWESOME when it was released and I couldn't recommend it enough. As long as you realize it is an RPG in third person shooter clothing. Be the best or worst agent you can be. :) 6 out of 5 stars.
In more ways than one. In the first game you have access only to the Apache (A) I believe, where in 2000 you have several options depending on your rank. I haven't bought this bundle yet, so what I am writing here is about my experience with the games on the Atari ST, Amiga 1200 and PC when I used to have them. If you want to play only one, then obviously go for 2000 which is the superior game in all technical terms. Better in every aspect, flight model, graphics, missions, everything. As usual with flight simulators you have a variety of missions and campaigns to play. From training to more difficult campaigns. Very similar to the F-19/F-117A games and F-15 Strike Eagle series (which I hope one day to see here). Variety of missions, enemies, maps, it has it all. You can choose weapon loadout, targets to hit, how to proceed to your objectives, any targets of opportunity, etc etc. Both games are very similar in this and this is why as I said if you are going to play only one, you will be better off with Gunship 2000. BUT, and this is why I mentioned Silent Service in the title, for me the most enjoyable title is the first, Gunship. As with Silent Service, the more simple graphics, the slightly less complex mechanics (though you can change options in each game), and even nostalgia as I played the first game...first, make the first Gunship game my favorite to play from the two. As with other simulators from this era and mostly from Microprose, you get the perfect balance (for me) of simulation and simplicity. Something which unfortunately from the early 2000s just disappeared and now the rare time we have new flight sim game it is either too serious and detailed, or completely arcade. Meh. Get these games instead, use a joystick if you can, and read the manuals so that you can quickly go out and win the conflict. Great games both.
The game is a turn based strategy game which can be played in two main ways. 1. As scenarios with their own storyline. 2. As a classic 4X game with some differences from the norm. You are in control of spaceships and/or land units. You can also build buildings on your planets which help with the economy, research and manufacturing. Also you can build orbital stations. You can build a variety of atmospheric units, various types of soldiers, tanks, artillery, planes, etc. These units can be used to defend a planet from an invasion, or loaded on specialized spaceships to invade an enemy or neutral planet. There are no seafaring vessels. Each "race", each "side" in this game has their own unique looking units, both space and "land". The spaceships you can build are similar to classic "navy" ships on Earth. You have the battleships, the submarines, the gunboats, etc inspired spaceships. Also you have support ships like the Tenders and others. When you have the option, you can build any type of unit where applicable, and pick the research level of the unit you build. As long as you can do that. You can always build lower tech units which are not as good, for financial reasons etc. The space movement/war takes place every turn. If there is a war going on on a planet, then you get to play several turns of that planet war, before you play on the space theatre. So each space turn has several planet turns if there is a fight. When those turns finish, you are back in space, play, end turn and next space turn you have another turn on the planet battle(s). I hope I made sense. The game mechanics are obviously heavily influenced by the Star Series (or General games for everyone who is not SSI) and they work great. I always prefer to play the "4X" type of game as I like the open ended and size of them over the scenarios. There is limited diplomacy based on bribing. Still better than MOO where the AI can capture a planet without war. VG game.
When Fantasy General was brand new, the 5 Star Series (aka General series) was already my favorite. Yet because of coincidence/life I didn't get to play it more than a battle or something. I didn't even buy it to be exact and only tried the demo. I was in love with previous and following games of the series and still am. I think they are great games. Now, in 2023 I decided to finally give this game a proper go. In particular for my Twitch stream (same name as here). It was all fun for the first several battles, though I did notice something which I didn't want to believe. I could see spawning of units out of thin air and also units which just happen to be the perfect units to counter mine, no matter what I did. The last two stream sessions as I was advancing more in the game, it became clearer that there was something wrong. The AI cheats. Big time. Tonight was my last stream and my last attempt of this game. The AI cheating can be accepted depending on the game as long as it is well hidden and not broken. Broken it is. Just spawning units out of thin air, having whole armies appear without cost consideration and just the perfect composition. I play strategy games since the mid 1980s and this is one of the worst cases of cheating I have ever experienced. The General series is not perfect, but this is ridiculous. I would have no problem giving the rest of the games anything from 4 to 5 stars, but this I can't go over 2. The two are for the art, graphics drawings, music and for the game mechanics which are definitely very "general". But the actual cheating is not acceptable. Bad game. At least single player campaign.
I won't spoil anything about the story. Graphics are really good even when I first played it a year ago. At times are approaching almost photorealistic levels. The sound is really good too, it doesn't get in the way and it supplements the gameplay as it should. Gameplay is mostly a first person adventure game, free moving like a FPS, without the shooting part. You can take your time and explore all the areas that are available to you in a semi open world, at least the area you are in. Some parts might not be accessible for story reasons, but it still doesn't feel confined. There is some inventory, but mostly a matter of finding things which progress the story, not inventory puzzles. There is some very limited first person shooting taking place, but it's only a tiny part of the game. There are times you need to play stealthy and not be detected. That's when timing is obviously important. There are also times when there is the "hunted/survival-horror" element, but nothing that takes too much over the pure adventuring. There is a level up scheme, where you can develop your character as he is acquiring experience. It's not as detailed as a good RPG, but it is there and it does affect gameplay and how you notice things and how you react to things, including dialogue choices. The game has multiple endings too, though they are not so much affected by much other than your last few choices in the ending part of the game. What the various choices and leveling up trees allow you is how you are going to play most of the game, the "trip", and not the destination. I streamed it a year ago and I enjoyed it a lot. There are a couple of parts that frustrated me, but that's because I am terrible at both adventure games and the (few) horror survival parts. If you are interested in ADVENTURE games, this is a must. I am uploading my old vods on my secondary YT channel. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6-jDyxfn0ArKRXWu1bjlmmZ0N0VLs05P
OK while technically the first time I played it was when Diablo was brand new, I only played it for like an hour so it doesn't count. A couple of weeks ago I decided to play the game and complete it for the first time. For my twitch stream ( www.twitch.tv/trusteft/) and I completed the main game in 4 sessions of total of about 16 hours. Normal difficulty, playing as a warrior. Gameplay wise it is not very complex. You use the mouse to move around and to pick targets, and also to interact with with the GUI (menus, dialogues etc). Left click attack, right click use the chosen spell/scroll/etc. Like any other RPG, after a while you have enough experience points to level up and spread the 5 extra points on your skills, strength, magic etc. Battles take place in a variety size of rooms, all of them underground aka dungeons. You can use potions to recover health, or magic and you need to use potions to recover mana (which is used for spells). If you need to recover health you can do it either by clicking on the "belt" which has room for 8 items and is always shown while you play. Or hit one of the 8 keys (1 to 8 numbers). If you have time or you have nothing left in the belt, you need to go to the inventory and right click on the potion Each belt/shortcut has room for only 1 item so you can't just use say number 1 for all your health potions. They don't stack up. Not the best way of handling things, but you get used to it. In fights you usually have to do tactical retreats when you are overrun by enemies etc. Use your brain. Still, nothing too complex. You can find various types of loot, potions, books (learn spells), scrolls, armor, weapons and rings/amulets. What you wear can be either vanilla, or enhanced. Enhanced for better or worse. They can also require you to identify them (with scrolls or someone do it for you) to "see" what the enhancement is. Portals (spell/scroll) are used to travel to market and back. 5 stars for its time, 4 now.
I played the game from start to finish (good karma), it was the first time I played this game. I finished it just a couple of hours ago for my Twitch channel. I played it at 1080p windowed mode on a Windows 10 desktop PC. The specs of the PC are i7-5960X (8C 16T), GTX 1660 Super, 64GB RAM, PCIE SSD). Native desktop resolution of 2560x1440. I experienced zero crashes and zero noticeable faults other than an occasional lower than average framerate in some occasions which while there did not affect the game at all as they never happened during action. It took me 10 sessions of an average of about 4 hours each. Normal difficulty, though I admit I don't remember if I picked one at all. The game is an action rpg, with open world mechanics though not to the extend of say the Fallout games. Most of the game takes place in "closed worlds", for example a large city, or smaller other places. The travel between those places is done with a fast travel mechanic vaguely similar to the wagon in Skyrim. When you are inside one of those maps (like a city), depending on the size of it, there can be multiple levels within in it which are treated as different maps. You can travel between them with riding elevators or doorways. Within each map you can travel on foot. A lot. I am guessing about 25% of the game was me walking from place to place within a map. The fights are fun, with variety in options (3 different stances with weapons and skills to go you can pick on the fly) and one which is always available together with your chosen one. Good variety of weapons and armor to find, purchase and upgrade. Still, this is not Skyrim. Good story, a ton of missions (main and side), optional missions, decisions affecting the story, etc. Good music, good acting, good graphics. Good story. Good game. The main 2 negatives, tons of walking and rotating mini maps which makes it impossible to not also use the main map. No compass hurts too. Worth playing.
I see people in the reviews complaining about huge icons which from the screenshots at least are not there. I see people in the reviews complaining that the original rollercoaster tycoon was removed to push this, when it is not true as the original can still be bought here. WTF is going on?
I want to make it clear before I continue this review, that I haven't properly played the game in the last 30 years. It was one of few Atari ST games I could find boxed and bought in the 80s. I liked it and it is a fun game. I am sure the PC version is identical other than changes in graphics and sound. Now, gameplay. You get to play missions where you as a lone solider/ranger have to complete them. You usually have a couple of targets/goals. You are dropped with some freedom on the large map and proceed to fight or stealth your way through the mission/map. Think of Fortnite only not for 12yos. Or perhaps for 12yos of the 80s lol. While the game is not a simulation, it was at the time probably the most "simulation" like infantry game till the release of the (what is now known as) Arma series. AKA Operation Flashpoint. You are not going to just go all RAMBO style and win a mission. You have to take it slow, you have to hide, you have to penetrate the enemy defenses and complete your mission. There are terrain obstacles you can use and a variety of equipment. You also get to pick up to 3 IIRC bags which are also dropped from a a plane on different parts of the map to replenish your ammo/equipment or get new types of weapons you might use near that location. Yes you need to plan ahead your mission. The game is very cool and obviously it was unheard of this detail back then for an infantry rambo/commando look alike game. Mostly because it wasn't, this is not just a shoot'em up, this is not Commando. If you can get passed the old for now graphics, this is totally worth it. I don't know if the game contains a manual (this GOG release), but you would be smart to acquire one if there isn't one in the installation files. It's not just a pick up and play type of game. This is not Galaga. Enjoy.
Operational theatre as you can see by the pics. I used to play this a lot back in the day and I even made a short stream on it (the Atari ST version, but they are basically the same) I will link to in the end of this review. The game has you playing one of several scenarios, from either side of NATO or Warsaw Pact, during the 1980s. Basically WW3 in Europe. There is so much variety here for multiple playthroughs that it is a great value for money. It was great value for money even when it was a new game at full price. You are in charge of the side of choice and you give orders to each "unit"/"army" under your command. Each of them is made up of supplies, infantry, armor and close air support, from zero to 9. You have limited number of support points for each, for each turn. The number of support points, but also of starting armies and locations, depends on the scenario and on the situation in the war. You can check, among other information, the number of supplies you get each turn or are about to take, from one of the monitors on the bottom of the screen. Monitors which have other info and decision making, like use of special forces, use of the airforce, chemical and biological weapons and short, medium and long range nuclear weapons, both strategic and battlefield variety. You give orders to your armies where to move and where to attack. If close by and if in supply, you can order more than one army to attack an enemy. This way you can effectively flank, surround and cut off enemy forces, or not. It's up to you. The game has great atmosphere with a capital A. Especially of course if you were alive at the time. One of the best strategy games of its time and I 100% recommend it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w7GAUtgPX4
