Recent reviews by TattleTale

Even after 14 years, DDO just keeps getting better. They just released new content: class, items, new dungeons & updates to old dungeons --the devs really care about this game. The positional combat and unit collision, combined with class mechanics and environmental line of sight, make this one of the best team fighting systems ever made. No other game captures the experience of tumbling away from a charging minotaur as your teammate rips a lightning bolt over your shoulder, like DDO. There are more than 500 dungeons to explore with themes and stories connecting the journey. If you listen to the DM and let go of your ‘grinding instincts’, the game becomes an adventure at ALL levels, it is not a race to end-game.

While the graphics are dated the ‘artwork’ and detail more than compensate. The newer content has updated graphics and if you run your settings on ultra (which newer computers can), the visuals are quite immersive. The sheer complexity and use of vertical space makes moving though these environments unlike any other MMO and shames these new cash-grab pretenders.

The free play is ok to get your feet wet, but to really play it takes a subscription. I pay 9.99/month and I can’t think of any better per/hour entertainment. I have played most of the MMO’s since the late 90’s and DDO stands out as one of the best --and is the only MMO that has evolved with the changing player base to be more fun to play today than when it launched.

Dragon’s Dogma is a brilliant game rendered unplayable by a terrible user interface. For every one hour of play you will waste a second hour fumbling with the inventory, training screens, map, quests text… all of the joy is sucked out of this wonderful game by endless, unnecessary menus. You WILL quit this game, it is only a matter of time. Better yet, don’t buy it.

This game is very easy to dismiss. The interface is web-base and a chore to use. The visual feedback is virtually nonexistent. In short, if you aren’t reading the quest text and the combat log, you’ll have no idea what is happening. But if you do read, and you invest a bit of imagination into Conclave, the game can really draw you in; and honestly, that’s what D&D has always been -- your imagination. I have played thousands of hours of tableside RPGs and the experience has always been as good as the group playing. If you have a good group of roleplayers or the kind of imagination that lets you play for hours by yourself, Conclave can be a lot of fun.

The game plays best if you set your Windows Resolution to 1280 x 800.

OK! I've had more time to play Conclave, and I must say: Reading the story really makes this game. Believe me, I am the first person to whine about having to read too much text in a video game. But this is well written and it provides the much needed context to the combat...

I am being chased by slavers after freeing a group of their captives. I took my party off the trail (due to my stealth ability). As night falls, we're hungry and cold, but we found a cave! -- only to be attacked by a bear. This is good fun.

This is a canvas for your imagination. Everything I have set out to do in this 3D environment, I have found a way to make happen. Years and distance had put an end to my tableside gaming... but we are back. If you have the slightest inkling of creativity, get this game. With lua scripting and an endless supply of resources on the web, there really is no limit to what you can build.

I bought TRANSISTOR at $13.39 and I got about 20 hours of high-quality playtime out of the purchase. I consider that a great buy.

So many elements of this game standout:

- The combat mechanics are fully customizable, strategic, and introduced in layers - as you play, not thrown at you all at once. There are so many creative ways to build that the heroine truly becomes your own.

- The mixture of real-time/turn-based combat is seamless, and cleverly left in your control. I wish I could find more games with this system!

- The story is compelling and told beautifully in sound and color (although much of it is open to your own interpretation). The voice-acting and artwork are first-rate.

The downside is, the game will leave you wanting more - but in my experience, that is how all good books and films end. We wish there were another chapter.

As much as I wanted this game to work, it simply does not. The idea is solid, but the controls just don't respond in real-time combat. The monsters defend against your tactics quickly, but your ability to react is lost in a highly-limited, unresponsive combat UI. The game looks like it would be so fun, if only you could hit back; just getting your character to face the right direction is a chore. You can execute combos all day in the training dojo (against a motionless combat dummy), but none of those moves will work once the UI tries to interact with the AI.