Recent reviews by The Specialist

So. I initially bought this because hey, I'm a sucker for massive battles between units. Despite having only played two hours, I can say that I intend to play many more in the future due to this title's unique presentation of its conflict: mostly AI-driven battle simulations that YOU create. Yeah, you could probably go and do similar things on Arma 2 &3, but jumping straight into the action of your own battle simulations is more rewarding than having to download Arma, reinstall the WWII mod and a bunch of other configs to get roughly the same experience that this offers in a complete, one-click package. The devs are receptive, responsible, ambitious (and rightfully so!), and committed to delivering on this product- something almost of a rarity seen in EA launch titles.

Yet another appreciation I have for this game is the attention to detail. Bullet drop, artillery, and dynamically scarring landscape! Also did I mention over 200 units for almost every side? That's like... 200 methods to royally screw up someone else's prime real-estate.

The only other nitpicks I have is the spawn timer on factories. While I certainly love massive scale battles (with actually really competent AI units), the sheer rate at which they spawn in the current state of the game seems to contribute to crashes. Furthermore, the pathfinding can be a tad unusual, with multiple groups of units bottlenecking a bridge and either dying en masse or getting stuck on other obstacles, such as trees, rocks, each other, etc.

Despite optimization and a battlefield cleanup system (I've already CTD'd twice with the massive amount of wreckage on the battlefield) needs to be improved, I can only see great things coming forward for this platform. Just think when (or if) mod support releases for this? It'll be the next big thing since Ravenfield (A game which I also truly appreciate). Halo, Star-Wars, other factions and universes can be brought to life in this game. The best part? It's only $20. Grab it on sale, grab it off sale; just buy this. You won't regret it.

Alright. So, I'm a sucker for Artificial Intelligence in SP games. I'm a sucker for Battlefield-scale maps and modes. Section Eight with Halo? R-Type style spaceship models and SWBFII (the classic one folks) Station boarding and module destruction? The abiliy to crew FREAKING CORVETTES?!

When you get this game, get it expecting all of the things I just mentioned. Get it, in spite of it being in Early Access, with ALL its flaws, that it is being done and delivered exactly as it is surmised in the Store Page. Get it and play the everloving hell out of it until you are left wanting more. The flaws that are indeed present in this game along with the occasional glitch and CTD pale in comparason to the amount of fun I've had on it.Do yourself and these amazing developers a favor and PICK IT UP!

Here's WHY I love this game so much.


Okay, so I get into this map. (No idea what the map name is called.) and we're about X tickets away form losing. My SL, Grenadier and I are at spawn, playing as Militia. We're looking to try and find a technical to fit into for all three of us. So we unlock one and hop in.

Turns out that the squad across form me was the previous squad I was in from the last match. They ended up having the same idea, but settled on 'hitching a ride'. Next thing I know, about 6-7 people are on the top of the vehicle, one is laying down in front of my windshield arse first, and they're all giggling and telling me to drive. So being the cautious person I am, I inch forward ever so slowly.. Only to get told to 'gun it' by the members of the other squad.

As soon as I do, physics kicks in. You may have known that instead of dying form vehicle damage, players either ragdoll or freeze in place and fall over from colliding with a vehicle. In this case, the entire technical acted like a mobile ****ing slingshot on wheels. People were getting LAUNCHED off the vehicle in all directions if they didn't fall off first. Essentially, the guy on the windshield shot so far out that he had actually made it very close to the objective down the road.

Another experience is that while we're setting up for an ambush on a town being overlooked by a forest, local and radio chatter begin to pick up about 'tricep curls'. This game is the epicenter of entertainment; you'll never know what you're going to hear from your own teammates or even the nearby squad. This game is money well spent, and I HIGHLY advise you to pick it up regardless whether it is on sale or not. You won't be dissapointed.

I couldn't even get outside, and I'll explain why.

My journey began with wonder what in the absoutle 5th dimension of Hell this game was about, and even more so where a sutable tutorial was. Finding none, I controlled my generic protagionist to walk around and explore the base. Contacting the village, I could barely hear anything as I was in a Skype call with several other people. Frustrated, I equipped my tough guy mask and proceeded to open the door, only to be stared at what looked like a huge flying shadow baby, waaaaaaaaaay off in the distance directly in front of me.

"Oh, look! A huge flying shadow baby!" *backs up, proceeds to close door* "I'm not letting that mutherfu-" In that instant, I screamed out the rest of the profanity when that.. thing did something or other and just jumped. It went FLYING toward the gate right as the door proceeded to close. It wasn't until I realized that a Silent One was responsible for the assault. Several things in that instance happened at once:

-I screeched and my voice cracked and went up several ocataves.
-My friends wondered wtf happened to Specialist.
-I peed a little.
-My monitor almost died because I was about to put my fist through the screen, in hopes that the physical contact would kill it since I couldn't bring myself to aim the damned gun I had in my hands and fire it.

In short, I am in the process of trying this again. I will update this review as time goes on, but can I reccomend this game? Absoutley. Buy it.

*EDIT*

It's cold. It's dark, I'm alone, with only non-sentient Robots to guide me through my quest to escape. Walking to the large settlement of buildings, I fire my gun to defend myself agaisnt two Silent Ones, and quickly find myeslf an assault rifle, some health and a very plentiful amount of ammo. I begin to head back to base, scanning over my vitals when I realize that my sustenance is running dangerously low. I began to be swarmed by SO's when my vision becomes blurry, and in my frantic struggle of moving, I fail to notice Shadow-Baby flying overhead, attracted by the gunshots. What feels like an eternity, I eventually find my way back to base with 5.00 sustenance left, but low on health from the encounter with the Silent Ones. Replinishing my vision, I sigh in relief, planning my next moves when all of the sudden, I hear..

"Whoooaaaaaa...."

"That's a new sound," I wonder aloud. I turn around, and nearly jump out of my chair when I see the head of the disembodied voice screaming toward me, killing me the instant it makes contact. I am dead.

10/10. Seriously. I love this game!!