This improves a great deal on the first game and should make most people looking for a "god sim" game happy - as soon as the devs fix the game-breaking bugs.
This game saddens me a bit, but it's not because of the game itself - rather what I assume is an inherent limitation of the principles behind it. You start with just an empty planet, you form it, you attract settlers, and you help those settlers achieving their goals. Everything is done with well thought through controls, nice animations, and lovable graphics. But it's similar every time you play it - which is the frustrating part, because it feels like it's not the game's fault. The developers did the almost best thing possible within the concept behind the game, but the concept just sounds better in theory than what it ends up providing in practice. Nonetheless, for the prices it sells these days, I can recommend it for people who like god games and don't care if it's a bit repetitive on replays.
I enjoyed most of the game greatly, but I hope whoever came up with that stupid mission 19 gets his socks wet in every puddle for the next 20 years.
This right here, this is my personal Game of The Year. The controls are on point, the soundtrack is amazing, the artwork pixel art in perfection, and the humour and story make it all alive. The difficulty curve is at that sweet spot of challenging-but-motivating, although I guess it might be a bit too easy in parts for these oldschool hardcore gamers who ate Battletoads for breakfast. I'm not through yet with the game, even though I already spent many hours on it. I'm usually not a fan of having to go collect certain token in the world, but this game does it in a way that is motivating, challenging and fits into the story. "The Messenger" is a Ninja Gaiden/Shinobi/Sidescroller fighter with a twist - and then some! It's one of those games I will fondly remember a decade from now.
It's basically a puzzler with RTS/Citybuilding elements. And an AI so incredibly stupid, you can place a quarry directly next to stone resources and the worker will fail to find it.
This version lacks the multiplayer. Don't buy.
There's always something. Like a constantly disappearing UI.
Another one of those games that have "Tim Schafer" written all over it! Unfortunately also on the negative side. Double Fine churns out awesome ideas in the dozen, but they always lack that bit of polish to turn them into really awesome games. In this case, that's noticeable by the game getting a bit repetitive towards the end, and when the last tower-defence-style battle is over, you'll likely let out a "finally!", because that element of the game feels a bit half-assed almost from the beginning. But, apart from that, I can only recommend it. Awesome setting, atmosphere and characters, a Tim Schafer story and fun gameplay.
