Recent reviews by Praetor Noobanus Wiggles

Turn 5 of the Left hook and the retreat has been halted, the Blues and Royals, the ghurka's and their attendant choppers are backed by the Belgians and are holding off what feels like the entire soviet army. In the center my daring scramble has paid off, I lost 2 squads to AA fire as the Lynx's deposited their cargo but the town now belonged to the Ghurkas. My Challengers were racing to relieve them whilst the Belgian infantry on the right used the terrain to hold off the vastly superior Soviet forces. Their pressure began to tell when the migs entered the battlefield, it felt like my blowpipes and mistrals were massively outclassed. I had no air cover due to them being committed to other battles. The center however was being carried by the bravery of the ghurkas and the critical mass of my Challengers. Smashing the Soviet forces we swung right to relieve the slowly crumbling Belgians. My massive reinforcements caught the gigantic soviet forces between the anvil of the newly reinforced Belgians and the hammer of the Brits. It was enough to break their morale and we won the battle. Sure the Belgians were mauled and the Blues and Royals were essentially combat ineffective, but the 2 mainline divsions, 1 scout and 1 arty the soviets had brought were completely smashed. At least 1 was totally destroyed.

The game can be like that, honestly the moments where it's amazing are incredible. Desperate defences, last stands and lucky probing attacks. The nature of the overmap in Army General makes every loss hurt and every victory feel amazing. The AI is definitely imperfect and can have moments of violent game losing indecision (ooh I'll send my T-80's over here, actually no I'll walk them over here... aw the ATGM's got them... best try again!). But as a modern RTS with an interesting and well made single player it can't be beat! Highly recommend, my only request is true modding support though!

All season long my racing team had been struggling. There'd been flashes of success, Sullivan sneaking into a p 12 at the sprint in China but generally we were P18-19. However it was Silverstone and our first major upgrade was ready. Bearman and Sullivan spent the Practice sessions getting balance right and then it was time. Q1 - watching the timing screens my heart sunk as their first efforts had them 16 and 19. Second run and I blinked, P 4 and p 9! There wasn't time for another run and I watched with climbing tension as other drivers posted their final times. When all the other cars had shaken out we were P12 and 14! We were through to Q2! We ended up making it P 12 and 14 but that was our best Quali. In the race I gambled, Bearman and Sullivan were on variations of long hard run and a final soft short sprint. As we tumbled down the order I kept muttering "don't panic, don't panic", my cat somewhat alarmed by me now talking to myself sat on my keyboard but I ignored her. The entire field had switched to hards and then it happened, Ricciardo lost the back end taking out Hamilton. Safety car! I almost yelped with excitement and pulled the trigger, Medium, medium BOX BOX. My cat began looking how to have me sectioned but she didn't understand, she wasn't into F1. When the safety car ended I looked at the lap counter, 21. The two Green white and red cars on their fresh mediums were unleashed. We shot up the order, past a falter Russell and Tsunoda, past the alpines and into the points! We help P9 and 10! As the laps tumbled down Russell and Tsunoda were charging up behind us, "come on" I kept muttering. My cat had decided to start watching, clearly anything that could drive her owner mad was worth her time? As we cam round the final corner Sullivan was caught but Bearman? No Bearman did it! P9! I leapt to my feet and spilled my coke, the cat bolted to safety and I danced a moronic little dance of triumph. I was so happy.

This game is fabulous, it's not perfect by any means. There are weird lag spikes and I could probably cook an egg on my computer at times it runs so hot. But no other game captures the tension and drama of managing an F1 team. It's full of the pitfalls, the management and the tension of raceday. I can only recommend the game. I can't wait till tomorrow, I have VCARB in my sights and I have a few cunning ideas how to catch them!

When I initially played this game I couldn't keep my f2 car straight. I thought oh no this is 22 all over again. Even F1 when I moved up to Kick Sauber (is that an upgrade?) I was struggling. Then something changed, Australia..

I was p11 barely holding on and I pulled in for mediums. And as I turned the final corner at the halfway point and suddenly everything made sense. The car and I were a team. Sure it's still a Kick Sauber but I'm having fun. The handling is different in the best way, I'm not saying it's ready to adapt to but once you do it makes sense.

It's still a codies game so expect some weirdness. You can't seem to use any wets or inters in practice which is ridiculous. Every now and again ancient bugs crop up. Have you experienced a bug in any game from 2020 onwards? It probably still exists now. The f2 cars are apparently on roller skates

But the new single player driver career is a blast, the driving is amazing too once it clicks. Is it the greatest game ever? No, is it one of the best F1 games recently (in Codie's stable)? Yes!

I'm really really disappointed to have to say I cannot recommend this game. I love Stellaris and I love Star Trek so clearly this would be an amazing mix no? Err sadly no... So first up from Stellaris the amount of data feedback is incredibly limited. Something about the monochrome update bubbles means that more often than not I miss when something critical has happened. Explorer hybrid ships can't see anomalies or projects without the map being locked onto that mode which is super annoying but not fatal I guess but the enterprise needing to research anomalies it can't see without the map mode is silly. But the basic underpinning details of Stellaris are all there and that all mostly works so let's focus on the Star Trekky bits.

For this next paragraph I need to put my Spock helmet on, the rotating light will warn others I'm at work here also I'll look cool... in unrelated news I have no idea what's cool. So the game alleges it follows the storylineish of TNG and DS9 with some mildly curate missions including recruiting Enterprise (the cool TNG one) and getting Data and Crusher etcetc. This all fine if a little shallow, it forces you to use the flagship in thematic ways which is on the one hand fun. However small details ruin immersion pretty darn hard. At the tender age of 89 Data died... Data the immortal android died. Mid TNG era. I mean c'mon, what is the darned point? The whole thing feels incredibly shallow as a result, like someone who decided to make a star trek game, put some themed missions in and re-skinned it and then... just left it. I HATE to criticise this, it just feels mean, but this game is not it right now. I'm going to uninstall it and return to the game in 6 months when hopefully it will be fixed to the game we all deserve. But right now this game is too unfocused, too shallow and just not Star Trekky enough.

I have never been one for hitting BGS story modes particularly hard and this game was no exception. Instead I've run as a ranger stopping homesteader kidnappings, spent hours surveying planets for settlers and occasionally even recruiting them, I've spent hours building up my ship from a saloon to a destroyer. I've danced with my parents in Neon city and I've taken a moment to appreciate the glory of creation. Honestly loved basically every minute. THAT BEING SAID, this is a game with bugs and issues. The inventory blows, can't put it any other way, the selling is a confusing and un-intuitive and the bugs have ranged from amusing to session crashing. They have been few however, certainly compared to say Skyrim day 1. The game also takes a while to cook about 7 hours before it really starts to get going, but when it does... oh boy it's worth it. Highly, highly recommended

The game has so much potential, unfortunately they have repeatedly taken it further and further into strange territories. The game obviously needs an economic model but why is it that it's essentially impossible to make SL with even premium vehicles and accounts at high BR? There are so many issues it is nigh on impossible to list them all but suffice to say a formerly brilliant game is sadly withering on the vine :(

Sneaking through the tight streets of Potenza my Ghurkas run into an enemy squad. Both sets of men hurriedly dash to cover whilst their allies push up to support them. Swiftly a Stuart joins the fray and 2 enemy armoured cars swiftly match them. Men start dropping and the Ghurkas make a break for base to resupply. Hammering tactical pause I consider my situation. I'm pretty handily outnumbered and despite the Stuart the sheer weight of fire coming from the 2 armoured cars and the 4 squads of infantry will dislodge me before long. However just coming into range now is my force multiplier, 2 mortars! Setting them up I begin firing, slowly the high explosive shells push back the Germans and they begin withdrawing. Whilst they've been engaged however the freshly reinforced Ghurkas and an infantry section with a Boys anti tank rifle have set up behind them. As they pull back they walk right into the teeth of my fire and are obliterated. I can't help it I'm grinning from ear to ear.

This game is full of these moments, little vignettes of brilliance where the cautious positioning of your forces profits you mightily and generates a small war stories. Whether its' the engineers who with their flame thrower has cleared building after building only to be crushed in a counter attack by superior German armour. Or a sweeping attack where your tanks punch a hole in the enemy line and your infantry fan out to smash the now disorganised enemy. This is all tied together in an over-world map that links you games together thanks to upgradeable companies. The game is truly compelling

Is it perfect? No of course it isn't. They have tried something new and they have missed a few tricks, these are however easily resolvable. It is perhaps a bit too easy on standard and even on the tougher setting the AI is a little easy to cheese. I have been attacked outside of scripted encounters on the over-world maybe twice in my own territory. This obviously needs some work but that's definitely doable. The sound is a bit tinny, it's like the mix is off, you hear the report of a big gun and pan over expecting to hear an explosive boom as it fires only to be met with pfft instead which is a bit pants. The UI is a bit dull and the main menu is boring, which seems a bit weird as complaints go but tis a bit flat. Oh and the pop cap is far too low for really epic scraps. It wants to be at least 150 for bigger games.

All that being said, the game is fabulous. It's a new direction and whilst it's fallen a little short it has done some things that can be really well built upon. Is it worth buying? Yes. Will it be improved upon? Undoubtedly. Is it a fun if slightly flawed bold new step? Yes, yes it is. I really really cannot recommend it enough. If you enjoy COH you'll love it

My T-34 sneaks forward slowly, behind it a squad of rifleman move in it's cover. Ahead of them the howling snowstorm blocks vision, suddenly a hail of MG42 fire spanks of the tank glacis. A moment later the ground explodes sending two men spinning away. I jump into the tank and gun the engine, I reason my only chance is to find the enemy gun. As I sprint forwards the turret gunner opens up mowing down enemies, another bit of ground erupts in fire smashing the tack off the tank grinding us a to a halt. I take a pot shot and am rewarded by the death of some enemies. Another round however knocks the crew out for a moment and I jump out of direct control. I know what's killing me now, a Stug... I have an answer though and spawn in my next forces with this in mind. 2 T-34-76's and mortars, they race to the stricken tank. I lay a barrage of fire down and pop some smokes, we catch the Stug out and both T34 shots slam home.

What a great game this is! I love the campaign it really draws you in as you build your army and manage the back and forth of the battles. A defeat isn't the end, a victory is a temporary moment! Is it flawless? God no, mods really help but it's a special. special game

"BURSTER!" bellows the preacher and seamlessly the two veteran snipers snap around to target the new threat, we're holding a control room desperately trying to repulse a growing horde as the data interrogator the tech priest gave us does... something. Suddenly a message flashes, whatever it was doing, it's now doing less of by a significant margin. One of the snipers breaks off from the fight and dashes over to try and get things moving, almost wordlessly the team moves to cover him, and after a few false starts it gets going. Our move from defending the entrances has allowed the enemy to gain all 4 bridges and as a result the flamer sneaks up on us. Being forced back by the flames the preacher triggers their special attack and clears a path, the tech priest announces we're done and we begin beating a hasty retreat as ragers and gunners begin taking a toll. The slow retreat towards the evac descends into leapfrog actions, first the preacher needs rescue and then one of the veterans. Finally I'm stood on the pad pouring fire into the horde as the team evacs, honestly a brilliant moment.

Now the bad, the game crashes, it's badly optimised, unbalanced and currently there are only 4 maps. Part of this is due massively to being a beta, does this mean the launch will be seamless? Heck no, is your enjoyment at least a little dependent on the team you get but the potential for massive fun is there. Deffo reccomend