Recent reviews by Pragmatic Tornado

Potential is pretty massive, but this is way, way undercooked as it stands.

Pros:
+ There's actually waves this time around, unlike in their previous game (North Atlantic, their first game Bering Sea had a decent wave system)
+ Visuals are great, and it still runs far better than their previous game with all settings maxed
+ No longer constrained to just fishing; there are now other ways to make money like delivering cargo boxes and more

Cons:
- The save system does not save mission nor cargo progress on your boat. Couple this with the complete lack of a fast travel system, and you can find yourself on a 2 hour long mission where it crashes at any point in between, erasing all mission progress. My very first mission resulted in a crash after 30 mins - you start where you last saved but with everything cargo related and all missions gone / failed. Why this hasn't been a top priority fix, I do not understand. It makes the game unplayable for anything other than free roaming unless you really love restarting super long missions.
- No fast travel means the game is basically a background game most of the time, at least for delivering cargo. I don't really mind this, but not everyone will feel that way
- The map is far smaller than in their previous game (island chain makes it more interesting to navigate though)
- Way too many basic features missing and too unstable to recommend as of now

Not sure how they did it, but they accidentally wrote a good story for BL3, and this is it. Probably the last one ever from Gearbox.

Played two of these games back in the NES days. They're still as fun, and as punishing. But there's also optional save states, cheats, even full playthroughs to watch, along with full artwork from all games including the covers, manuals and more.

I can't think of another retro collection that is as complete and polished as this one. Highly recommended.

It's not the worst game in the world, by any stretch. But.

- It runs at 30 fps and that fps is tied to the animations etc, so it's stuck there permanently
- The keybinds are horrid, and though it may be possible to edit them via an xml file, it's not populated by default so you'd need to know the correct parameters. In-game keybind config simply does not work.
- There is no options menu. No way to turn down the music (just off), no way to change resolution, screen mode, graphics, nothing. For a game 20 years in development, yeah I expected more here.
- This shouldn't be a negative, but it feels like the game Tyrian except you can go in all directions. Enemy space stations are easily dispatched with your starter ship, and enemy ships are mostly just cannon fodder and die in one or two hits. I guess the game was originally intended as a roguelike - it shows.
- As far as I've seen, there's only one active weapon slot pr ship, no matter how big it is. Boring.
- The whole fuel system is terrible. Fuel seems to get spent even if you are docked - that's just bad design. It gets better later on with fuel efficiency and larger reactors, but with apparently no way of fuel scooping (there was one, but the dev removed it), it will always be an annoyance.

At 50% off, it's good enough for killing a few hours, and the visuals aren't terrible (apart from the atrocious 30 fps cap). Music is decent too, but far too loud and with no way of turning it down.

May be best to download this one for free (full game, minus expansions). I did, played it for a bit and thought it was good enough for a 50% purchase, but eh, not really.

It's a game that does two things well; its unique art style and a great soundtrack. That's about it. But it's just enough to push it over the top. It reminds me too much of SPAZ, which is one of the all time greats.

The map is too small, and there's very little, if any, hostility unless you get lucky or venture to a few specific points on the map. I went all the way from a shuttle to a battleship without fighting any pirates.

Balance is completely off whack, where the only thing really worth doing to get money is to hack chests. Mining is nice to get upgrade mats, but those can also be bought with cash gotten from selling chest contents. The trading is horrid, with seemingly static inventories on every single npc. And once you drain the very small coffers of a particular store, or fill up their inventory, that's it. Time to find a new one. Not to mention there is no way to keep track of good items unless you write them down yourself (in-game option for that at least).

Trying to mine in a capital ship is almost impossible, as even the best mining lasers barely outrange your own ship, making it necessary to ram the asteroids instead. Which would be ok if the game was in alpha, but according to Steam and the devs it is not. Another thing that feels very early access, is the AI. Watching it fumble through an asteroid field, often blowing themselves up in the process, was amusing the first few times, but that kind of thing shouldn't happen in a released game.

Also, how about making the player ship brake to a complete halt when dialogue is initiated? I lose all control, but my ship keeps flying, making me have to rush through the dialogue. Worst case, my ship rams a friendly target too many times and they turn hostile. Just happened in the final dialogue, making me have to read the text, then reload and rush through it.

The story feels very disjointed and weird, almost as if it's not even finished (it's not). I still enjoy the game, mostly because of the excellent art style and the soundtrack. There are some pretty cool ships and weapons too.

Most rage inducing 2D space game ever conceived, but well worth the asking price of 0 [insert currency]. Still being updated with content. Lots of decent mods too.

There's a butt load of text in this game, and very little in the way of visuals apart from the flying around (which is also very dated), but the writing is better than most AAA games, lots of twists and unexpected turns, and just when you think it's over, it's not. You actually just started the game. You may think you have a badass ship after 15-20 hours, but you really don't. In this game, there really is always a bigger fish.

Bought this for the new sandbox ships, and to support the devs of my favourite space game franchise. But this is clearly not the right direction to take the game in.

It's not all bad; some of the missions are decent enough. Lots of fan service for those who actually know the lore behind the series. But many, many missions are pure slogs to get through, and would be better served as free tutorials. I grinded my way through the necessary ones to get the epilogue unlocked, and don't see myself playing them again except a select few of them.

New sandbox ships are mostly garbage too (except maybe two, or three with a buff), but they at least look good if nothing else. New sectors are hit and miss.

Can safely skip this one unless you must have everything in X4 or just want to support the devs.

After 800 hours, I feel like I'm in a position where I can declare if the game is good, or not.

Apart from the latest DLC, which is really not my cup of tea (though I may still get it at some point for the new sandbox ships), Egosoft has been quietly putting out quality stuff for decades now. Personally started with X3: Reunion way back, maybe 2006, but it didn't take. X3: Terran Conflict in 2008 however, did in a big way.

X4 has a truly dynamic universe where every playthrough is different, even with the exact same settings. The main enemy faction hates everyone else, and will happily push out of their initial sectors and take over new ones. Sometimes the other AI factions can keep them somewhat contained, other times you as the player have to actively help out (as in, with entire battlegroups of ships, or by constructing defense stations at strategic locations), lest they overrun the entire universe.

It can take many days of actual gametime before this starts to happen though - X4 is a very slow burn (it's like a single player MMO, really). Everything takes time, especially in the beginning. But it all depends on what playstyle you favour. You can just fly around and kill ♥♥♥♥ if you want in a single ship, but earning money will be slower than going the intergalactic tycoon route. If you go that way, you can take over the entire universe if you choose. My longest game sits at about 30 days, and I have between maybe 6-8 sectors, out of 100+.

It's a great background game too, once you start having some traders, miners, and stations earning money for you. Some people even leave the game on overnight, to make in-game money. Or you can play it 100% actively and focus on boarding enemy ships to make money, which is what I am doing this newest playthrough.

It has some jank still, with the AI particularly, but with the 7 major updates since launch, some of which overhauled the entire game engine, it's gotten to the point where it's actually starting to become newbie friendly. And that's a first for the X series.

Enjoyed this game for 25 years. First time modding it this time around, and it's pretty much what I wish the "remake" would be. Much improved visuals and sound - same stellar gameplay and story.

Mods are free and this game is cheap. The Remake is 1/3 of the original (and the worst part of it to boot) and costs a small fortune.

This game ain't perfect, and it never was; but it's still my favourite FF game, all these years later.

Been a fan of the actual FF7 for almost 25 years.

Graphics are decent - with texture packs, voice acting is decent to good, depending on the character. That's about all the positive I can say about it. Oh yeah, and they got some of the music right.

Boss fights take so long that I genuinely grow bored long before it's over (I just let myself die right before this review because I just couldn't take it anymore).
Combat system is overly flashy; it grew on me but it's far from perfect.
The side quests suck ass, along with all the other filler and padding they added to extend the Midgar portion of the original - which amounts to at least 90% of the game.
The price is an absolute joke (at 50% off it was somewhat easier to swallow).

It feels like a chore to go through this game, and I wish I never bought it. Not sure I'll ever be able to finish it. It has earned the new spot in my eyes as the worst modern FF, replacing FFXIII and its spinoffs / sequels. At least I was able to finish that one without gouging my eyes out.

Edit: finally finished it; only took 8 months. Some of the end bosses were cool, music was hit and miss even with the genius Uematsu composing - still vastly prefer the original soundtrack. I'd also rather replay FFXIII than this one.