Where WE review our games

SimonL said:

Nice, does it develop (in a useful way) the storyline with Desmond and all that. Or is it just sidetracking and useless stuff waiting for AC3? In other words, if one were to skip the game and only play AC3 as the next game, would they be like "omg why is this character gone?" or similar questions.

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For the most part, it's not a HUGE advancement of the storyline... but it ends with a cliffhanger moment that will (presumably) affect the course of events in the present-day situation with Desmond & Co. The thing is, there's some ambivalence to that moment, so you're kind of left wondering "did that really just happen??"

I'm assuming they'll recap that moment at the start of AC3, given that it's a pretty huge development, so you could probably skip over AC:B without being completely lost, but it's hard to say. However, it's not a thing you the player have any choice about or any involvement in through the game - it's just part of the final cinematic. You could just watch that cinematic on YouTube and you'd be up to speed. (But if you're thinking of playing the game, don't spoil that moment - it's about the only thing that makes the ending at all climactic.)

SuperJay said:

I'm assuming they'll recap that moment at the start of AC3, given that it's a pretty huge development, so you could probably skip over AC:B without being completely lost, but it's hard to say. However, it's not a thing you the player have any choice about or any involvement in through the game - it's just part of the final cinematic. You could just watch that cinematic on YouTube and you'd be up to speed. (But if you're thinking of playing the game, don't spoil that moment - it's about the only thing that makes the ending at all climactic.)

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Sadly, I once saw a thread on a forum that consisted of a picture of the box for the game with the words in giant letters XYZ KILLS ABC, à la Snape/Dumbledore spoiling technique. Dang. Oh well. There is still some mystery in how the heck it can reach that point. Plus you seem to hint that it's a bit ambiguous.

SimonL said:

Sadly, I once saw a thread on a forum that consisted of a picture of the box for the game with the words in giant letters XYZ KILLS ABC, à la Snape/Dumbledore spoiling technique. Dang. Oh well. There is still some mystery in how the heck it can reach that point. Plus you seem to hint that it's a bit ambiguous.

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Oh, wow. That sucks. Yeah... then you know the big "WTF" moment at the end.

I'll spoilerize the rest, to give a sense for how it's handled without revealing too much more:

Jos Ballenbak said:

Spoiler :

But isn't it true that she says she needs a human sacrifice? That was the whole point of argument wasn't it?

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Hmm, that IS true. Good point, I'd forgotten that little detail in the midst of my boredom-plus-incredulity that was prevalent at that moment.

Earth Defense Forces 2017

Let me start off by saying this, I have logged more time in this game than any other console game I own. 55 hours at last check. It's the only game that I've played a lot after finishing it.

The game is campy. You're Storm 1. At the beginning of the game, you think that Storm 1 is the squad of "elite" soldiers around you. Let me start by saying yes, it is....at first. But then it just gets weird.

In the Beginning....

The game takes pride is playing like a B-movie. There are aliens called "Ravagers" that deploy giant black ants in major cities across the world, causing destruction and killing civilians. They want nothing more than to kill you, your family (which you may or may not even have), and your entire way of life. The game starts off with the Protagonist and the rest of Storm 1 investigating and handling a mass of black ants in the city. The first mission is pretty easy on difficulties below Hard (Normal and Easy) and are quite doable on Hard. On Insane is insane.

The Black Ants, below hard, don't have their range attack on the first mission. Their main attack is going up to you and knocking you down. Not painful but very annoying. On Hard? Well, you' get why you become the sole member of Storm 1 after a while. The Black Ants are second only to the Walker Arms (robots with two weapon arms) in the amount of dakka they lay out. They fire acidic orange spray which, as the difficulty increases, just turns into more spray.

The end of the first mission is the indication of what is to come. The radar is literally clogged with the amount of black ants that spawn and prepare to march on you and the survivors.

And so on...

The thing about it is that the guy you control doesn't talk yet becomes greatly feared by Ravagers as the game goes on. Mid-way through the game, you (called Storm 1 at this point) are put into battles to back up squads and later, entire battle groups. NPC troops die in droves though but it isn't that the AI is incredibly stupid (it is though) but because the enemies are fearsome.

One-on-one, you can take out any normal enemy 1 on 1. Or even 1 on 10. But the world doesn't work like that. As the game goes on, you'll get better weapons ranging from reliable automatic rifles, to missile launchers, to friggin' weapons of mass destruction. You need them because of just how many bugs/robots you will kill before the war is over.

The second weakest enemy are spiders. These giant monstrosities love attack en masse, jumping around, and using their range attack. Their range attack is one of the worst ones in the game to be hit by because it hurts (I believe) and slows you down, putting you in a world of hurt.

Next up are the Red Ants. Red Ants are basically Black Ants that are far more powerful with more HP and no range attack. Finally, there're Walker Arms. These guys are giant robots that arms are usually tricked out weapons. The first type of weapon is the dreaded "plasma machine gun". At close range, these things can tear you apart even once you get a high amount of armor. At long range, it's very trivial but nothing to mess around with. The other arm weapon type is the plasma cannon, which is the most annoying weapon because it fires at a semi-automatic pace and if you're hit, you go flying and take a while to get up. Then there's artillery, which allows robots armed with these to fire from across the map almost. And there are also two sizes of Walker Arms.

Finally, there are the flying robots which are...very fun to take down. Very weak? Yes. Fun? Yes.

Closing...

There's a lot to say about this game. There are a 150 weapons ranging from standard automatic rifles to the Genocide Gun to the FORK missile system to simple rocket launchers. The boss battles are a blast and even if it isn't on par with even the average "modern serious" FPS (or even the ones released around the same time as the game), there's still a lot of fun to extract from this game. Some weapons are very situational though. For instance, the Governor shotgun with bouncing bullets (or any of the guns with bouncing bullets) are really only meant for the dreaded underground missions. There's a grenade that does 2500 damage (pretty much insta-kill) but is very heavy to throw. What difficulty you play on (and mission) also affects what kind of weapons drop.

If you're into super serious games, you won't like EDF2017. However, if you can find it, you'll probably can buy it for cheap and I think players will have something that gives that "One more unlock" feeling with the game.

85/100.

Sonereal said:

The game takes pride is playing like a B-movie.

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Good because most games ARE at a B-Movie level of writing

PrinceScamp said:

Good because most games ARE at a B-Movie level of writing

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Yes but when someone says "B-Movie", I think everything that was in EDF. Giant bugs. Giant UFOs. Giant robots. Death rays. Etc. It's the narration that really drove it home though.

Well yeah most games have better effects than B movies, but the acting and writing often isn't.

Which isn't always a bad thing, b-movies can be pretty funny.

I just finished Metro 2033 on PC.


EEeeeh. It's all about the atmosphere, because otherwise I didn't have that much fun with it. But truly, the smoky abandoned post-apocalyptic Moscow subway system is pretty well imagined. I also quite liked the effects with the gasmask you sometimes have to use, it's quite claustrophobic and well done.

It's a little repetitive in nature and some areas were annoying. I expected more contact with the "supernatural" part of the game but it's limited to a few visions and the very end-game. I will not want to replay this game. Mostly because the gameplay was quite stiff. The character is slow and unresponsive, the iron sight seems stiff to use, I don't know, I always felt "stuck", moving around was annoying. After playing the good old game "Blood", where you zoom freely like a bird across the environment and jump and gun super easily, Metro 2033 made me feel like an elephant in a Japanese car. The shooting was underwhelming too. Oh yeah and stealth is the good old "I walked on broken glass and every enemy knows exactly where I am from now on in this dark tunnel" type of stealth.

So yes, Metro 2033; 65%, props for the interesting environment, but it didn't save the stiff feeling of the game, the extreme linearity and annoying sequences.

They don't always know exactly where you are, they just rush in your direction and if you find a place to hide they usual don't notice you. Though yeah its not perfect, but still better than most games which don't even have a stealth option.

As for movement, I don't know how it was stiff and unresponsive, if anything it seemed somewhat more real than flying around a map like there is no friction. Ever tried bunny hopping in real life? It doesn't work very well. Not to mention Blood is 14 years old.

As I said on the Steam chat, Blood is the game I was playing just before I played Metro so the contrast was quite evident. I wouldn't want to go back to Blood in terms of crazy movement, but I don't know why it should get any stickier than in Battlefield Bad Company 2 or Call of Duty.

I don't recall it being problematic or "sticky" in any way.

If it's ok I'm gonna do a Patrician IV review.

Patrician IV is a game set in the time of the Hanseatic League and you are this trader. Make money and make sure your fleet's safe. Deal.

Doesn't mean it's that easy though. The ranking system seems to play havoc and the ranking-up requirements take quite long if you don't supply everything you need as well. The pirates somehow dissapear after they appear (as in "Pirate A has appeared near City X" and the pirate isn't there or "City Y has sent a pirate convoy" and it never appears). Priveleges are hard to gain as your popularity in cities drops.

The rest is fairly good. The graphics look fairly good (especially the City Screens) and the events are also quite good. It gives the world a more dynamic feel. Ubisoft seems to understand a balance between historical inaccuracy and accuracy - you can actually choose what each city produces (historical or random). Markets are subject to supply and demand - if there's a lot of wood you aren't going to get a good price for your wood. You can produce your own goods as well one you have the privelege - saving cash. The campaign is one single game (so no endless menu clicking) with a small tutorial, including video tutorials and tips. The amount of ports can be amazing, in the beginning reaching from (with max cities available) Novgorod to London, Bergen to Cologne, and eventually including a few mediterranean ports as well.

Overall, I'd give Patrician IV a 80%. The game is good, like all games it has flaws, but the things that work make up for that. Shame about the pirates though; it's not a economic simulation without the greedy ship-attacking people.

(it's available on Steam by the way. Good if you have an unused steam account because of CiV)

Heh, unused Steam account, heh heh *looks at giant list of games*

I have Patrician II on CD right next to me actually, fun game which I think I mostly understood in middle school. Relied almost entirely on fur and iron with other goods as supplemental income (and beef). I also have Patrician III from Good Old Games, not a big difference between the two afaik.

Just felt like typing up an AOEIII Complete Collection (I'll go through each part separately).

Age of Empires III Base Game:

Age of Empires III is basically a game of build colony - train soldiers - beat the crap out of your enemy with your teammates. An RTS. Simple as that. The game itself, no cheats, is fairly slow and on the easier levels uneventful. Luckily Microsoft employed the "speed always wins" cheat. Amazing. Without cheats the game is, as quickly mentioned before, doable, but slow, uneventful, and stuck with the whining of Napoleon (seriously...).

The campaign, however, is a very good thing. The mere cultures Ottomans and Russians are in this because of the campaign (hey, Malta looks fairly European to me and Russians play an important part in Chapter II) which centers on family, archenemy is some crazed organisation which wants to take over the world, etc etc. good, but so absolutley used-to that it's a good thing there are like, 3 time periods over which the campaign is spread.

Each culture has more unique units than his AoE II counterpart - Turks only had Jannisaries in that game. They have galleasses and so on here. The cultures have unique abilities too - although the Turks, who are always made into a flawed Civ, have the most utterly annoying ones.

The home city is cool though, just like the Natives and Trade Posts. Bonuses galore!

It's a good game, but could do with improvements: 75%.

War Chiefs Expansion:

Are you serious?! This is what makes the game an awesomesauce item. The Aztecs, Iroquois and Sioux Natives are now cultures, with other Natives taking their place. Aztec possibilities are so good you wouldn't notice they have absolutely no cavalry. Europeans have the most awesome thing ever added: Revolution, changing your original culture to a revolutionary state where nothing is built but hey - you get the ironclads and gattling guns! the new campaign centers on the American Revolution and the Sioux battles with America, all with the same family as before. No problem with that.
The Iroquois are my serious problem. The siege units could be better (Whee, a cannon slower than what the hell and a bunch of shields which are more like paper cards in face of European Artillery and is that a battering ram I spot IN FREAKING 1775!!!!?). And no Melee units?! Archer? Deal. Tomahawk Thrower? Deal. Guy with a gun? Deal. Where's the melee?

I really can't find anything bad about it. 95% because of no production after revolutions and crap Iroquois.

Asian Dynasties Expansion Pack:

*sigh*. It's OK. I really like the Asian maps and the Japanese and Indians. Especially the Mahouts, Howdahs and Camel Gunners or matrix-fighting-style Samurai. The campaign is either Tokugawa's rise, the 1421 theory (China sails around the world!) or the Sepoy Rebellion. Which is a good choice. I mean, how cool is it to change sides halfway through a campaign (as in: Sepoy Rebellion)?

And that's where my goodness ends. The new Mercenaries are bad. the new Natives are bad. China is my major problem. The AI Kangxi is filled with pacifist stuff while importing TONS OF COSSACKS TO SLAY YOU, you can't train Individual units (which is a problem for the Russians as well, though not at a large scale) and guess what? The Wonders, Asian ways to advance, are all "train military unit this. Train army that. blablabla" for China. Chinas campaign is ridiculous and there is no proof. I have two good things for Kangxi's Chinese: a) the awesome mass ballista they call "fliegende Krähe" in German (I have the game in German) and his ability to mass train armies. The new Export system is rubbish! You can't get serious resource with that! Although I must say, Akbar uses a lot of British Artillery and Redcoat and Toku uses his isolation to the max.

This one's getting a solid 50%. Microsoft and Big Huge Games probably rushed China out like a bad Civ game and that's just sad. I would have awaited more from these companies.

I'll do two mini-reviews in one post.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
A fun game if you like the Star Wars universe and want to cut loose with some cool Force powers. The story is predictable and the characters aren't exactly deep and multi-faceted, but if you're here to blow things apart with your mind, or throw lightning bolts from your fingertips, you'll feel right at home. Be warned, the campaign is short (and you repeat the same three planets twice), so this is worth a rental, but not a purchase. Even at $30, you're unlikely to find it worth owning long-term, given that it's single-player only.

The Force Unleashed II: Now With More Unleashing
Follows the same formula as the first, but is even shorter. Do not buy this for $60 or even $40 or even $20. Rent it. It will take you maybe 6 hours to beat. Unless you really enjoy the padding - er, "Challenges" game mode - you'll finish this game in two nights and wish you had your money back.

PrinceScamp said:

Heh, unused Steam account, heh heh *looks at giant list of games*

I have Patrician II on CD right next to me actually, fun game which I think I mostly understood in middle school. Relied almost entirely on fur and iron with other goods as supplemental income (and beef). I also have Patrician III from Good Old Games, not a big difference between the two afaik.

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Patrician III is Patrician II+Expansion. It was released as Patrician III outside of Germany to rake in some cash by selling it as a brand new game.

Say_my_name said:

Patrician III is Patrician II+Expansion. It was released as Patrician III outside of Germany to rake in some cash by selling it as a brand new game.

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Then I would have reviewed Patrician III.
I'm sure the German world calls it Patrician III too.

Can't believe it! I'm typing ANOTHER review!

ANNO 1404

ANNO 1404 is the newest installment in Ubisoft's ANNO series. 1404 is a predecessor to the older games of 1503, 1602 and 1701. It's a game in which you build a settlement,trade and colonize the Orient (a change from the New World). This is very refreshing seeing as there are 2 1/2 paths to max civilized population: Occident (you Europeans), Orient (Turks, Arabs, you know the stuff) and Beggars, who upgrade into the Occident tree. Very nice. Graphics make it feel like reality, and the change that is major is that there are 2 - 3 trading partners - Orient, Occident, Corsars (Pirates, yeah I know). The AI concentrates on specialization. A merchant AI won't blast the crap out of you. He'll outbuy you. Good campaign with intriguing backstory as well!

Bad stuff... MAINTENANCE. At Citizen level your people will want spices and you need an oriental settlement. YOU WILL NEED:
a few Norias - maintenance 45 coins
a few date plantations - maintenance 20 coins
a few houses - sure taxes, woohoo
a bazaar - around 30 coins maintenance
spice farms - AAAAAAAAAARGH! around 30 maintenance as well
Firemen - 20 maintenance
Warehouses + Starting maritime warehouse - 15 maintenance
ships - 30 maintenance
and you also need to buy the privelege to build all this crap - around 1200 coins.
Oh and don't forget the noria refill! - X coins, X depending on amount of water available.

Your economy? Ruined. Your people are happy but...
Further the game is good.

I'm giving it, in my love for Anno games, a solid 80%. Gold makes up so much of the game that maintenance is definetly worth those -20%.