Recent reviews by Flash

I've pretty much played every single airport sim that existed in the world. This is my Roman Empire.

Sadly this genre is a big victim of abandoned attempts or quick cash grabs and there are very few airport sims that I would consider a proper game, let alone a good one.

Out of them all, Airport CEO is easily the one I've gotten the most time out of. The fact that there's plenty of Steam Workshop stuff to tailor the game to your tastes is even better.

It's not perfect, but I'd say it's the best one out there by far.

tl;dr - It's worth playing through until you get bored or hit the pay/guildwall. It's free, and you'll get some good hours from it without needing to pay anything. Don't expect to enjoy the endgame (or a lot of features in general) unless you're in a big guild.

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I'll preface this bit with "I'm still only halfway-ish through the story".

PROS:
- Beautiful game. Environment is incredible. It sounds weird, but its one of the few games that got rain to feel right.
- It's got all your favourite Korean MMO features.
- If you played Lineage II, this feels like a spiritual sequel.
- The 'class' weapon system is a neat take and I enjoy it.
- Combat is simple, if you like that.
- It has a very Guild Wars-y list of things to do when you enter a new area. Finishing these lists is very pleasing to my monkey brain.

CONS:
- The voice acting is dreadful in places.
- The setting is not very well established and you're thrust into the story without much explanation. You can come to terms with it later on, but for me this was something I disliked.
- Not incredibly optimised, but easily rectified by lowering settings.
- It's got all your hated Korean MMO features.
- Movement is clunky, but that's related to the above point. The addition of "Action Mode" somewhat helps.
- The game expects you to be in a big Guild. It's designed around that. It's less accomodating to a small group of friends who just want to play together.
- The servers don't handle you getting stuck in scenery very well, leading to lag.
- You will have to pay for anything "nice". This includes glamour (transmog), removing limits on things etc. You got this game for free though, so what did you expect...

Yes.

I've really enjoyed playing it so far. Normally I get bored of these games quickly.

It's a mix of Pulsar/Artemis with Deep Rock Galactic. Essentially crewed starship gameplay structured in a similar way to DRG.

There's a lot of desync currently, but something I like is that the devs are open with the issues causing this, explaining them in ways that non-programmers like me can understand.

So yeah, definitely one to keep an eye on.

EA did something I didn't think they were capable of - taking player feedback and improving on it for the sequel.

Where Fallen Order was a 'good-enough' story and gameplay, I was happy to have a new Jedi game. And, let's face it, whilst it remained solely within the star wars comfort zone, it was still fun to play.

MECHANICS
Jedi Survivor takes the mechanics and improves on them. I was particularly worried they'd find some excuse as part of the story to 'reset' the abilities you'd gained in Fallen Order. Whilst, understandably, the force and weapon trees do reset, things like the double jump, wall running and zipline remain. Instead, we unlock new abilities that I think actually make it more interesting.

On top of that, the new stances are great - giving you a lot more flexibility to fight in a way that you enjoy. I was particularly sad that dual-wielding wasn't a real thing in Fallen Order - but that's fixed here.

STORY
To be frank, the story of Jedi Survivor could be made into a movie and it would do very well. It has everything you want from a Star Wars story, whilst still managing to throw in some surprises. Coupled with some excellent action sequences that take me back to Tomb Raider, the main story was honestly something I thoroughly enjoyed.

That being said, don't expect something revolutionary as this is still Star Wars.

TECHNICAL ISSUES
Most of the negative reviews are due to technical issues. I can only speak for my own setup, so that's what I'll do.

CPU: i7-10700k; RAM: 48gb; GPU: RTX 2080ti

I have played this game from Day 1 and haven't changed settings from high/medium on 1440p (no raytracing). On these settings I average 60fps with drops depending on lighting (based on where it happens, which is in places where it is dark with lots of different light sources). Coruscant, for example, was more around 40fps average (but that planet is a very minor part of the game, luckily).

For those upset by the lack of optimisation, I don't know what they expected. Every AAA game in the past X years has been horribly optimised on release. That doesn't excuse it, but it's a simple truth that we should have all been prepared for.

Additionally, from what I can tell a lot of people struggling to run it are suffering from a CPU bottleneck because they dropped all their money on an RTX 40XX whilst neglecting the rest of their setup. Don't be that gamer!

SUMMARY
Here's your bulletpoint summary.

- Mechanics overall improvement from Fallen Order. Fun and interesting, particularly stances.
- Customisation great. Much better than first game's basic system.
- Story is the epitome of Star Wars and very enjoyable. Great action sequences.
- Technically you'll need to do some fine-tuning. There's some good guides online.
- Your GPU won't carry you, so if your CPU struggles then it'll be a slideshow for you.

I highly recommend the game to everyone who enjoys Star Wars and particularly to those that played Fallen Order and wanted more. However, if you're unsure whether your system can run it I'd caution you to read around and try to figure it out before buying. That being said, if you're the same or better than my specs then you'll be fine!

I'd seen Control recommended a few times and it eventually went onto my wishlist because I was unsure whether the game would actually be that good. Boy was I wrong.

If enjoyed any of the following, then I recommend you buy this game and play it ASAP:
- SCP Foundation (website, not the games particularly)
- Warehouse 13 (TV)
- Fringe (TV)
- Force powers from any Star Wars game (read more below).

If you're still on the fence, I'll continue.

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Control is an extremely hard game to explain without spoilers. I've seen the trailer and I don't think it does justice to what the game really is. I'll try to give you the best parts without any major plot spoilers - but it'll probably contain stuff from the first hour of gameplay.

Control is a perfect blend of investigation and action. I like both, and they never detracted from each other. You can be bad at either and still enjoy the game.

Thematically, it is a ******* masterpiece. Everything about the visuals, sounds and overall design of the game is wonderful and just pulls you into the game. You'll find yourself immersed and completely on edge during your exploration and you won't realise it until you take a break.

Telekinesis in Control is probably my absolute favourite part about it. Very early on you gain the 'Launch' ability, which lets you pick up debris (and later on corpses) and launch them at enemies. The way they handle this ability, and the sheer number of objects available to use with it, are what force move-based powers should have been in Star Wars games. I felt like EA/Disney definitely overlooked that fun area in Fallen Order and I unexpectedly found what I was looking for in this game. Believe me when I say nothing is more satisfying than using Multi-Launch (end-tier upgrade to pick up 3 objects at once) to rip debris from the walls and end a fight in a couple of seconds.

I suppose I should touch on the actual story, because like everything else I've discussed - it's excellent. I was compelled throughout and am desperately hoping that either more DLC or a sequel are already in the works. I'm not going to discuss it further than this because it's impossible to explain without spoilers - that's how many twists, turns and mysteries there are.

So, should you buy Control? Absolutely. I received it as a Christmas gift from a friend who saw it on my wishlist, but having played it I will absolutely be buying Control 2 (or whatever is next) at full price because gosh darn this was a diamond in the rough.

I've played almost every MMORPG out there, from Lineage II and World of Warcraft to Lord of the Rings and Star Wars The Old Republic. I can hands down say that FFXIV is the best one I've ever played, and that's proven by the sheer amount of time I've stuck with it.

If you're a fan of singleplayer Final Fantasy, this game captures the same storytelling with it's twists and turns and masterfully adapts it to a MMORPG format. Even if you're not a Final Fantasy fan, it's easily a perfect entry point, especially if you're a MMORPG fan. It's take on the class system is excellent, with your character able to swap between classes at a push of a button (although you must level each one up individually) - meaning that you can swap your role and playstyle depending on how you feel or what your friends are playing.

The cherry on the top and (in my opinion) what makes this a brilliant game, is that they genuinely care about their players. Unlike most MMORPGs that generally require you to buy the next expansion pack to get any new and/or updated content, Square Enix actually update their old content to keep it relevant and enjoyable for new players. This is evident in their recent update of the Realm Reborn (Pre-Lvl50) content where they took feedback from new players and actually streamlined their new player experience to make it enjoyable for them and the friends they may have who already play.

In short, I HIGHLY recommend this game to anyone who's got that MMO itch but isn't sure if this is just some other generic fantasy rpg. Even moreso if you have friends who can play with you!

- Excellent Story
- No grinding unless you want endgame gear
- Beautiful Game (especially with Stormshade - a FFXIV specific reshade)
- Interesting variety of classes (that you can switch between as you wish)
- Memorable characters who aren't just generic NPCs but actually mean something
- Better looking gear (although not BDO level of graphics)
- Variety of things to do in the game, not just grind/craft.
- Consistently good updates and crossovers with other franchises (such as Nier: Automata)

I like.

I've bought the game twice now - once when it was first put on Steam and once recently after the Brits were released. Both times I have refunded it due to reasons I'll state below.

I was a massive fan of Project Reality - in fact it was one of the first games I got into. I spent quite a few years in a big realism unit for the game and we had a lot of fun. At the time, it was the closest game we had to realism.

To me, SQUAD seems like it wants to cling to the Project Reality golden days. One of the biggest constraints (in my opinion) to Project Reality was the Battlefield 2 style of movement, control etc. and unfortunately it's still present in this game. I feel like it plays like Battlefield or Call of Duty whilst expecting to be like ARMA (which you could pick up for a lower price).

Finally, it all depends what mindset you go into the game with. The servers that I have been on have unfortunately been less than welcoming to solo players. This is a game you need to play as either part of a clan or a large group of friends.

Based on the graphical quality and generally the overall feeling of the game, I would say that it is definitely not worth the £30 price tag. If the price was maybe half of that then I would consider recommending it to others. I know this game is in 'Early Access', but it's been in it for almost 3 years which, to me, is not really an excuse. I am reminded of ARK: Survival Evolved and their insistence that any problem was because it was early access, despite them charging an inordinate amount of money and releasing DLCs.

This review may change once the game is 'released', but for now - this is how it is.

I've been looking for something replace OpenTTD for a long time and this is it. It's essentially the same thing with updated graphics (even things like placing stations and tracks have the same interface).


For those of you wanting a bit more expalantion, here are some things I have noticed that may help your decision:

• There are two campaigns. These are surprisingly enjoyable and I have racked up 40 hours already, only halfway through the second campaign. They give you some interesting challenges and spice up the game quite a lot.
  
  
• There is no multiplayer. It would have been even better if you could have joint servers like you could in OpenTTD but unfortunately this isn't possible. It's sad but doesn't detract from the game.
  
  
• A lot of the interfaces are identical (or slightly altered) versions of the ones in OpenTTD. This made playing the game relatively easy for me.
  
  
• The graphics aren't bad. They're not the best I've seen, but they're good enough that you don't notice it.
  
  
• I still hate train signals.

I hope this has helped anyone who, like me, has spent a while checking the steam store for a worthy OpenTTD successor.