Nylige anmeldelser av Ground Man

If Valve can't wrangle the botting problems in Team Fortress 2 or Counter-Strike 2, why would I ever, in a million years, bother playing Deadlock, knowing this is just going to happen again once Valve's interest wanes?

This was the best game to come out of 2002.
This is the best game to come out of 2018.

HERE COMES HALFLING DEATH

Dungeon Siege is a great game, but the Steam release is ludicrously hobbled. As a matter of fact, there is no way to bu the expansion pack for this game on Steam... or to really get the game to work correctly at all, as it turns out. I have about 45 minutes logged with this Steam reease and I'm honestly wondering how, because I sure as hell can't get it to work.

Even if you have an older rig that can run this game, you're better off looking for a boxed copy. Retail price is $6, and I can't recommend it, even for 75% off. Avoid.

Don't know if you'll like it? Play the demo. Play the demo twice. If you liked the demo, buy the game.

And buy the soundtrack, too. It'll fill you with determination.

DI:E is DEA:D

Trove, despite appearances, shares more with action RPGs like Diablo than voxel-driven Minecraft-em-ups. You go forth, fight monsters, plunder dungeons, fight bosses, and level up your various characters. All this gains you not only character experience, but Mastery Points, which serve as experience for your whole account. The higher your Mastery Level, the more bonuses you get, and the more content you'll be able to take on.

The game is a collector's greatest playground (or worst nightmare), with the goal being to grab every possible armor, weapon, mount, and pet apparearance possible. If working to grab the biggest trophy collection isn't your idea of a good time, your enjoyment of Trove may be short-lived.

The cash shop offering are fair, with no broad spectrum of option being completely locked-off for non-paying users. All mounts sport the same stats, whether crafted or bought with one of the two major currencies (standard 'cubits' and premium 'credits').

Unfortunately, Trove has been plagued since its Steam release (and as of 7/22/2015) by unreasonably long queue times and several bouts of extremely long serven maintenece. This has made repeat plays impossible, even during periods of low activity. Here's hoping that TrionWorlds can fix these issues soon. FOr now, however, if you can manage to log in, Trove is definitely worth a look. Recommended.

Chroma Squad is a tactical RPG where you control suit actors for an indie tokusatsu (Japanese for "special effects") studio, directing them both in shooting episodes and budgeting behind-the-scenes. Your goal is to make the ultimate indie 'sentai' (Japanese for "squadron"; think Power Rangers) show by balancing fan acquisition and retention, and leveraging those fans for an extended budget.

Brief plot synopsis: a group of stunt actors, tired of being pushed around by their short-sighted and creatively-deficient director, break off to form their own indie production team. They find a prop called Cerebro in a warehouse belong to one of the members' uncle, and make Cerebro the 'hook' for their new show. Unfortunately, they wind up garnering attention from more than just a growing fanbase...

Your team is comprised of five members; you choose their suit actors (who each possess various stat bonuses and penalties), their roles (which determine what weapons they can use and what skills they unlock), and their colors (Ever wanted to have a ranger team without a red? Or maybe everyone is pink? Here's your chance!)

The meat of the game is the tactical combat - each episode plays out as a series of turn-based encounters. There is no 'initiative' stat, so you can move your characters in any order. Your get two actions, which you can spend moving and attacking (though attacking uses up all remaining moves, so move first), or you can use up the rest of your turn to use "Teamwork". The "Teamwork" move allows other characters to pool damage for a devastating attack, or to use the teamwork-using party member as a trampoline, bounding across the map in one move action. Each action builds up "audience", which acts as power meter and influences mission profit. Once you get enough audience, the "Chromatize" action unlocks, allowing your group to form up and transform into their super-powered alter-egos. Once in their hero suits, members unlock their special class abilities and weapons. Once you deal enough damage to a boss, a star and the words "FINISH IT!" will appear over their head. This is your cue to use a five-man teammate offensive and unleash one of your two finishing attacks (a standard melee finisher and a "Form the Giant Five-Part Howitzer!" weapon finisher that can be done at each weapons' respective ranges). Special "Director's Instructions" ask you to perform special tasks within an episode (like "rescure the hostage in three turns" or "don't let any team member fall below 50% health") for an extra Audience boost.

The first 'season' of play will end with you unlocking your giant mecha, which you'll use at the end a majority of the missions thereafter. Mecha combat hinges around stringing together punch combos - the higher your combo, the more damage you deal with your next punch, but the lower your chance of landing said punch. You can order the mecha to defend to end its turn (giving it a bonus to defense against the monsters' counterattack that scales with its current combo bonus) have the mecha perform a finishing move for massive damage (Giant bazooka arm? Energy saber? Chest-mounted laser? Take your pick, or take them all!), or use a defensive technique.

After every mission, you're brought back to your studio, where you spend your hard-earned profit on new props and upgrades for your studio. The shop will allow you to buy a few choice weapons and suit parts, but nothing fancy; you'll have to craft the exotic items yourself. During each mission, you collect random materials which can be used to craft props for your heroes or parts for the giant mecha. You can put your fanbase to good use in the Marketing section, where you can hire different firms to grant an array of toggleable bonuses (Need a better drop rate? Go with The Green Team - alternatively, consider an Indie Marketing Gig if you want to improve your Audience-to-Fans turnover ratio). Go to the Studio to buy upgrades to your set (maybe consider some health care?) or mess around with your studio options ("Lights, Camera, Chromatize!" not cutting it for a transformation call? Why not try "Powers Unite!"?). The Mecha section allows you to outfit and upgrade your giant mecha for the kaiju-sized brawls. Finally, the Actors section allows you to review your suit actors' stats, change their special abilities, and mess with their equipment (You can't wear buckets on your heads forever, guys). During the course of the campaign, you'll make decisions through the in-game e-mail system, some of which affect which bosses you fight. While the plot stays relatively the same regardless of what you do (up until the halfway point, anyway!), there are multiple endings depending on the choices you make, and multiple playthroughs are necessary to see everything.

I would recommend Chroma Squad to anyone who enjoys tactical RPGs, regardless if they're a diehard tokusatsu fan (but being a diehard tokusatsu fan won't hurt). Chroma Squad retails for $15, and I would wholeheartedly recommend it at that price.

Strife by S2Games (not to be confused with the similarly-titled 1996 release by Rogue Entertainment, now on Steam under "The Original Strife") is touted as the "Second Generation MOBA", the next step up from Dota 1 and 2, League of Legends, and S2's very own Heroes of Newerth. I can't really agree with that sentiment, but that's not to say that what Strife offers isn't good in its own right.

The typical Dota-clone formula applies: ten players on two teams (5 vs. 5) each control a single hero unit. The goal is to destroy a large building in the heart of the enemy's base (here called the 'crux'), while simultaneously protecting a similar building within your team's base. Allied creatures (here called "brawlers") spawn down three lanes conecting the bases, and charge towards the enemy base. Towers line the lanes, acting as roadblocks; destroy all of them and a medium-sized building near the base (here called an "observatory"), and you get a line of attack on the enemy's crux. The complexity of the game comes from getting from point A to point B - you'll need to gather up money and experience by landing the killing blow ("last hit") on enemy brawlers, as well as by defeating enemy players. Neutral monsters can be killed in the space between lanes (the "jungle") for extra gold and experience. Two extremely difficult monsters, Baldir and Cindara, provide massive bonuses for your entire team, but require a concerted effort by multiple team members to beat. (Sorry, Dota 2 players, no soloing Roshan with Ursa at level 1 here!)

The differences lie in the subtle mechanics; Dota's couriers return, but now each player has their own courier to ferry items back from base. Each player also gets a 'pet'; a combination of a League of Legends summoner spell and a couple extra passives to allow for specialized playstyles. Healthand mana regeneration has been tweaked as well; after a certain amout of time spent out of combat (not doing damage, not taking damage, not casting any spells), your hero's health and mana will regenerate at a fair clip - even more if you're hugging a tower. The heaviest change comes in the last hit dynamic; Other Dota-clones hew to the idea that those near a last hit minion only get a fraction of the gold, if any at all; in Strife, any hero near a last hit enemy gets 100% of the gold from that enemy. If you still don't quite understand, it's fine: Strife has a solid tutorial and resources available in-cient to help get you up to speed.

The biggest change, unlocked at account level four (about three or four matches in) is Strife's crafting system. This is the first time I've seen a MOBA allow such command to how to customize the items you buy during matches. Using a special currency earned by playing matches, you can fundamentally change an item's build path, and imbue it with additional unique effects... at the cost of paying more gold for the item within the match. Do you want your Seer's Eye to build out of an HP item instead of mana regen and power items? Go for it! With a little work, you can build the ultimate all-seeing tank you always wanted. Or maybe you want Archmage's Ring to both build out of a giant mana crystal -and- bestow extra max mana when completed? Let the mana pool overflow!

Strife's character selection takes a page from Dota 2's book, allowing players to play as any character right away - the game instead encourages you to unlock pets through the free-play currency (seals) or the paid currency (gems). A third currency (elixer) is used in the crafting system. Completing a round of Strife will net you account experience, elixer, seals, and exactly one gem. Cosmetic items (such as character skinds and palette swaps, can be bought outright, or rented for one game. Renting comes with a twist - half of the rental cost goes towards a running discount on the item itself; rent enough times, and you can acquire the item outright (though you will have spent twice as much as you would have if you had just bought it; remember, though, that you can get a gem gratis just for playing matches).

The main bugbear Strife suffers from is extremely long queue times, though nowhere -near- as egregious as they were the first few hours of launch on Steam; regardless, you may be waiting upwards of seven minutes for a match at the provisional ranking, and upwards of half an hour in higher leagues.

In conclusion, I would call Strife an excellent 'starter' MOBA to those new to the genre, with enough depth lurking so that veterans will have an enjoyable experience. Just be prepared to wait a bit for a match. Recommended.

EDIT: my original review was a complete wash borne of frustration (especially a comment about co-op vs AI matches taking fifteen minutes to queue for, an utter exaggeration). Queue times are much, much better now that the game has had a day or so to get players in rotation.

An idle game in the vein of Cookie Clicker. Buy businesses with the money you gain from ten areas of industry. Hire managers and purchase upgrades to get richer quicker. Close out of the game and get dosh while you aren't playing. A perfect game for running in the background while you play Dota or something.

Be warned, existing players: you currently can't import game data from external sites (Kongregate) into the Steam version. If you don't want to start over, stick with the web-based version.

Whiskey Passing Simulator 2014