Πρόσφατες κριτικές από τον Slo Mo

Ah, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning...the game that should have had a sequel.

What do you get when you get R.A. Salvatore writing your story, Todd McFarlene (from the Spawn comics, I believe) making your character design, over a great musical score by Grant Kirkhope?

You get a great game that should have had at least 1 to 2 sequels...which, not ironically, is this game.

This game has so much re-(re-)play value, it's nuts.

Age of Empires II, or more aptly, the LAN party go-to game.

I remember loving the single-player part of this game for the history lessons, but if you had an issue with someone (or multiple people), challenge them to this game and see who will win; no matter who does, you Will have fun playing against - or with - your friends

Hearts of Iron III, or the what-if game of World War 2 what-if games...

That's basically my tag-line.
When you think of what-if's for the World War 2 era, think Hearts of Iron.

el fin.

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel, and Ice & Blood expansion all in one?
Where were you when this game had DRM? oh yeah....not in America :P

I spent many an hour in the base game of this entry and it was wonderous; Diablo III took some of the facets of runes and put them into a moddable thing, but Sacred 2 will always have a good place in my Sacred Gold and Sacred 2 fan-heart

It was a great graphical improvement over its ancestor, Sacred Gold; it really is a pity that they did not continue with these games as ARPG's

It was also fun seeing an actual band make an appearance in the game. That was cute

Personally, if you get this game, I would highly recommend Ragnarok expansion.

I played this off and on when it was in Gold Edition form, but never truly got into it until recently.

It's a solid entry for ARPG's, it has a solid story, and the dual class system is the shining jewel (even without Ragnarok) of this game in my opinion.

But, as with most older ARPG's, it has its share of engine drawbacks, but those were (game) engine based and not a fault of the developers; though I will admit, if you get your Strength up high enough and go back to a lower level area, seeing enemies flying as rag-dolls is pretty enjoyable.

All in all, give this a spin if you like more lighter fare in your ARPG's and don't like it's darker cousins

I would recommend this game if you like sitting through 4x games for the long haul, if you like determining "what-if"'s in history, or just toying with the idea of a Iroquoian Europe or a Chinese South America in the time of discovery

though I don't have many hours (111 at the time of this writing) of it, this is the pen-ultimate sandbox grand strategy game to me.

It doesn't rush you as other similar games do; it doesn't JUST focus on expanding as fast as possible or you lose anyway; it doesn't just force you to play a race you may not want to see develop among the stars.

However, it does allow great customization, even without mods; It allows you to meet pre-space faring and pre-sentient species and decide their fate (if that's how you roll); it does allow almost real life ethics questions and whether to go to war and if you win, whether to obliterate the race or vassalize them or just do a white peace (where nothing happens).

There is so much to do in this game that you could literally spend hours (as I have) choosing a race to create, watching it thrive and throwing shade or hope to all who oppose or help you.

It really is a Paradox love child between their other Grand Strategy titles and space :)

Grim Dawn

Those two words mean epic-ness when it comes to ARPG's.
They took the diablo torch and ran headlong into the unknown with it, to great effect.

Not only does it streamline the combat system by what I call the click and drag method of fighting (click one enemy and drag it to the next when dead...no re-clicking needed), but it's atmosphere is black and void-inducing like any good Diablo-type game.

I'm not that far into the expansion, but I have logged many hours into the ultimate difficulty and have tested myself in the Crucible dlc and nothing falters. The dual-class system has great synergy (and sometimes where you'd least expect it with class combinations) and the environments are either foreboding or desoloate (as they should be for an end of the world game).

Definitely recommended, and especially if you don't like MMO-ARPG's or MMO's in general - this can definitely be played in both multiplayer or single player, though

This game is more than pretty decent....
The cash shop is not focused on pay to win mechanics, unless you count getting more and more storage space a pay to win mechanic or having your character's cosmetic look kill with a look :P

The skill gem system is and has been pretty creative - you don't "learn" spells. the skill gems are the spells, which you can either buy in-game or are dropped from monsters/mobs...it is also worth noting that these spells level up and can be "reset" with a 20% "quality" increase which increases a certain mod of the skill...usually worth it if that skill gem is your bread and butter

The end-game is massive, the "new" 10-act system also has the diablo II'esque random map generation for each area so no two areas are different....unless you go left usually ;) (left as in the direction from entrance to exit for some maps/areas)

There is a great passive tree which is used to help you plan your character and a sub-class system for when you clear certain labyrinths to further advance your butt-kicking ability

All in all, Path of Exile has been a great game from inception to now (and hopefully further) and I would recommend it for the Action Role-Playing Game lover in your life, if that's not you....

Hey,

I know you have probably read a lot of "negative" reviews stating how dated, or how "incompatible" this game is with Win7+.

Well, that's been fixed and it was really kind of a small issue.

I've had this game since it first came out....well, not Exactly then, but I remember playing it when it was still getting some Major bugs worked out, so a "flashy" display or whatnot is minor :).

Anywho, this is a review, and this is why you should give a hoot about this wonderfully deep 4x game:

Research: yes. you need research to run an empire. If you've ever played another 4x or deep/grand strategy game, this aspect should be as fluid as it is useful. It is. Not only do you have the option(s) - in game setup, with racial points - to try out different "cultural" technology trees. For example, if you like your planets being "deeply religious" and having structures that either boost population growth, "psychic-ally" increase your ship's (and fleet's) experience gain, or having oozing organic structures that have weird weapons (like manta-ray and globule's for space projectiles), then you've chosen the right game and path ;).

Customization: being that this game has run its paces and has seen the "best and worst" of times in its long history, there is a HUGE fan-base with modifications, ship designs, and ship "auto-namer" files...yes. I'm sure when you first load up the game, you might balk at the auto-naming of some of the ships? "My Dreadnought is a beetle? what in the world?". Take heart ! there are many auto-text files floating out there :), and though you may think going through each and every step of creating your anarchistic commonwealth of zombie fauna, who call themselves the "Trumpy's" is trivial, it just might add to the flavor of your game: "My lord, the zombie commonwealth of Ataxia is running rampant in our sector." "It's a contagion - invasion - with no vaccination" ;) Though the last phrase may not pop up in your game, the former/one before it will be fun to read when other (sometimes Hooman?) players get there daily log read :D.

Diplomacy: yes. it may need work in the current version - 1.79 at the time of this writing - it was really fun to mess with the different options....see customization...

Military: Ah, the bread and butter of any 4x game (to some). There are many paths you can take in this part of the game: will you be a drone-infested carrier? Will you have security stations for defense, or go the route of boarding parties to try and take over the other ship(s)? Will you place mines on the warp points of your systems, for anyone clumsy enough to wander in "Unannounced" ;), or will you place military satellites to vaporize and/or neutralize the fighters and smaller ships before they get to your actual planets? How will you defend your planets? will you have starbases, or rely mainly on ground troops and weapon platforms?

Domestic "issues": as stated before, there is much customization in this game. Deciding what you want your planet's focus to be is a personal preference, but can also be strategically important. Should you put your mining and storage colonies in your border systems or should you have a military base-planet there...should you use the sometimes rare "Huge" planets as intelligence centers or should you go the route of using the smaller planets as the system-wide "buffer" planets - as in, using the smaller planets to build the structures that will increase your system-wide production, research, or supply abilities? Although there are "default" planet-style types, not everyone will have a strictly military installation planet...maybe there will be some monolith facilities on there b/c of the incredible resources available there? The choice is yours again :D.

Replay value: depending on your mood, as this game for me is mood dependent: should I spend hours tailoring a civilization around a specific goal or should I just mess with the AI and just build like crazy? Of note, the cheat codes, which can be found in the manual...yes. I said the manual :).... do Not break the game. Instead, some of them, such as "OMNI" which makes your presence "god-like" in all systems, makes the game that much harder to stay out of universal quarrels between (neutral) empires you may not even be Remotely close to :P. Also, some of the cheat codes, such as "NOMAINT" are handy for beginners just getting used to the game, as not having to pay Any maintenance costs on your ships, means you can field a massive fleet or have a massive/expansive empire at half to no cost to you :)...

Replay value (continued) : for those that love the 4x genre, multiplayer will be fulfilling, but the real beef is getting there and outwitting your opponent, which, naturally, might increase Your own replay value - this is totally a "should I buy it" or "should I spend it on food?" kinda situation ;)....

For the price of a meal combination at your favorite local fast food chain, you can have 4x (see what I did there ;) ?) the fun and replay value of that processed hamburger you just ate, minus the trips back and forth from your computer :D...

Summary: I Highly recommend this game to anyone of a strategy-centric mindset :D.....as long as you don't mind a turn-based atmosphere ^_^ /

Cheers and peace....until those pesky other aliens decide to poison and bombard your home planet, then "it's on" ;),
Bob