Recent reviews by BKnotFrayed

I expected a spiritual successor to 'theme hospital and that's what i got. Controls are modernized, and more intuitive. Editing rooms is much easier. There appear to be some minor conflicts in behavior for the toons as ques/lines form, and when interacting with each other, but this plays out more as a noticeable quirk rather than distracting.

Buy this game on sale only.

If 'Freedom Fighter' became a first-person shooter and sacrificed comfiness and charm for high-tempo, this would be that game. If you enjoyed the movie 'Red Dawn' this game might be for you. Some stories just arn't complicated, and this game kept the plot pretty simple. I thought i was sitting in a mission brief more than participating in a developing scenario, but maybe thats what they were aiming for. The campaign was short (4 hours) which kind of makes it less like a game, and more like an extended movie that you participate in. personally, by the time i get to the end of an extended movie, im just waiting for it to be over. I found the characters, although understandably one-dimensional for the short time frame, obnoxious, unlikeable and nagging.

Level design is small arena-like and connected by corridors, a couple avenues are given for manuevering around the enemy, but not many. It was pretty obvious the level designers wanted you to flank the enemy in a certain way. The enemy AI wasn't horrid, but it wasn't stellar either. They moved up through cover and shot at you from cover. They don't manuever on the player in any significant way.

I'd say the greatest amount of difficulty was generated by the friendly NPCs: they walked in front of your fire in the middle of a fire-fight, player-blocked in the worst ways (downed NPCs' cannot be jumped over, if they are down'd in an aisle you have to move through, you have to wait for them to get back up.) push you out of cover if you sprinted ahead and you are in their "spot." Also; ironically, i would die more if i listened to the NPC that drops hints about completeing the objective. i'd rate this experience more 'mildly irritating' than actually frusterating.

+ for semi-accurate military radio chatter. someone did homework at least.
+ for enviroment. Felt like i was really crawling through ruined suburbia.
~ for not so subtle in-game advertising.

This game can be described in one word: "clunky"

Other words that come to mind are "Unrefined" and "Counter-Intuitive"

The Menu:
Slow and difficult to navagate. Descriptions provide some insight, but has no clear indicators for items or upgrades limited to class.

In Game:
Once i got a good feel for the flow of battle, i quit the game to remap the keyboard for a more universal layout that syncs well with my experience with other games.

Movement and aiming is clunky, and appears intentionally so. (played as space marine/chaos) Vision is limited due to the third person view, which sacrifices the ability to see to the left, for the ability to look at how cool your avatar looks --getting blown up by enemy to your left. It almost seems as if they were going for a Gears of War look and cover system but ditched the idea half-way through. I can press my avatar up against the wall. but. why? Using a short wall as cover and shooting over IS useful, albiet only because its combined with my opponets using the aforementioned clunky aiming system.

The vehicles are boring and unsatisfying, almost chore-like. driving one is awful. The cooling mechanics on both turrets and vehicles would be better balanced if replaced by long reload times.

The mini-map which usually serves to help me reorient myself in other games, does nothing for me here save telling me what direction north is.

The game enviroment doesn't feel fully fleshed out. There is something bland and too clean about most of the enviroment. Even the dirt. The actual structure and design is decent. choke points, strong points and flanking avenues are all present which can make for some pretty dramatic battles.

Despite my criticisms, fun still persists. I would recommend this game if i thought the developers were going somewhere with it, but the game has been out for awhile now, and still has some glaring issues. i feel like it would serve the developers well if they took some time studying planetside 2.

Casual real-time management sim based on the fallout universe. perfect for running in the background while catching up on homework

visually beautiful game. story telling is decent. controls are clunky, and cannot be remapped. efforts to port the game to pc were poor.

there are traps in the game that are only discovered after dying to them, i consider this a game design sin.

get used to hearing "The safe point is no more than a trap used to hunt the survivors."

the atmosphere is immersive, but your immersion will be broken by your frustration.

5/10

i loved this game. but it has been abandoned.

A light, fun village builder to pass the time. took an hour or so to get the hang of it and figure out the mechanics, but it was time well spent.