Recent reviews by Ausilio

Ups and downs, but CA always pulls through. Worth installing. Not a single DLC I dont own.

Little dated nowadays, brings back memories. You can't beat Galactic Conquest.

Total War: Warhammer 2 brings a ton of new quailty of life features into the Total War: Warhammer series.

Easy to build building slots, 'monster unit' sync-combat animations and automated agent abilities on the campaign map are all welcomed additions.

The Mortal Empires patch / Free LC is one of the major selling points, but requires Warhammer 1. If you don't already own the first, picking up the second is a must. Wait for the first to go on sale!

The DLC added since the game's release has been amazing. I can't wait until Warhammmer III is released, as the combined map of W1 + W2 + W3 will be one of the biggest TW has ever seen!

Edit: Still amazing!

Total War: Warhammer is a freshly welcomed addition to the Total War lineup. Being the first 64bit game in the series, performance never fails to disappoint.

The current lineup of DLC has been great and well worth getting at full price.

After some troublesome past Total War releases have suffered from, Warhammer is exactly what the fans needed. The quailty of the game is amazing. I have full faith in CA to continue to deliver additional DLC and FreeLC to this high standard and can't wait for the next 2 Warhammer total war titles, which will expand the game to new areas, similar to Shogun 2 and Fall of the Samurai standalone expantion.

I've reached just over 1000 hours, I think it's time I do a well thought through review... wow, 1000. Probably stanard for an MMO title.

Anyways, I will divide this review into 4 different sections: do not expect this to be a short read.

1) Summery
2) Gameplay, the good and the bad.
3) Social - MMO aspects, the good and the bad.
4) Summery of review.

Summery of the game:

Star Trek Online is a F2P (Free to Play) MMO which uses the Star Trek I.P. to it's full advanage.

Over the years special guests have reprised their roles through voice-acting, these include, the most recent apperences:

1) Tim Russ - Tuvok (ST: Voyager).
2) Michael Dorn - Wolf (ST: The Next Generation).
3) Denise Crosby - Tasha Yar, Commander Sela (ST: The Next Generation).

The first FULL expansion was "Lecgacy of Romulus" (free download). This indroduced a new UI, the famous Trek L.C.A.R.S, not only that, but it's been designed specifically to match the current 3 faction's style; Federation, Klingon, Romulan.

The latest Season, Season 8/8.5 has introduced quick-equip and starship swaping. These are one of the great features the game offers for convenience. Also, a new enemy; Voyager's - The Voth.

Things to expect for the future of STO after this review:

1) More voice-acting.
2) Another expansion.
3) New content.
4) Re-vamped missions.
5) More special events.

Gameplay:

The Good:

1) Space combat is probably the most enjoyable asspect of combat.
2) Different styles of gameplay: Tactical, Eng, and Science. Each with "different roles".
3) Long line up of solo or teamed "story-arc" missions.

The Bad:

1) Ground combat can be a bit repetitive sometimes.
2) Some dilithium currency requirements for speical projects can be tedious with a standard refine rate of 8000 per day, if you hit that amount of course anyways.

However. Once you gain enough dilithium e.g. over 30k unrefined dilithium, refining 8000 per day doesn't become so bad of a task to complete.

3) Zen. Technically everything is "free" however, if you wish to have more space in your storage then you'll need some Zen points. These cost real money however, Zen can be exchanged for in-game dilithium.

Tip: Once reached level 50, buy a 1 month gold subcribition; you'll unlock all possible extra spaces for bank, inventory and get 500 free Zen, an extra character slot, plus an account bank of 20 slots to trade certain items and "Enery Credits" between your characters. You can also save Zen and buy extra slots for your bank or incenrory on top of that too.

4) PVP (player versus player), PVP needs to be revamped. At the time of this review I've heard that a PVP revamp is in the works, but currently most of your main gameplay will be PVE (player versus enemy/A.I.). Meanwhile, dedicated chat channels and the odd chance of a PVP match are available.

Social - MMO aspects:

The Good:

1) If you want to be social, you can be social. If you'd prefer not to, then you don't have to.

2) At least 95% of the playerbase are more than welcome to new players. Kind and helpful. You might get the odd one out but they are usually "butt-hurt" about a certain thing.

3) You can join a Fleet (MMO - Guild) to contribute to joint player projects of that fleet to gain access to higher-leveled gear and ships.

4) Social Zones can be a great way to talk to other players about recent news, in either a dedicated chat channel or zone-wide.

Many iconic social zones are from Star Trek lore; these include:

1) Vulcan.
2) Earth Space Dock.
3) Deep Space Nine.
4) Qo'noS.
5) Bajor.
6) Deep Space Station K-7.

5) "Adventure Zones" such as New Romulus, Nukara Prime, Deferi, The Dyson Sphere, are zones with repeatable joint-player missions where you'll help out other players, as well as yourself achieve objectives to gain rewards. These can be a great way to team up with friends and play together.

6) Role-play. Well yeah, you can do that. It's completely up to you who you wish to be or become. There can be some breaking immersion moments but other than that, it's pretty good.

The Bad:

1) Some iconic social zones, especially the now dated ones, can become very empty. This is due to new content "pushing" players to move forward into new areas and zones. From my knowing at the time of this review, a re-vamp of Earth Space Dock (which isn't very empty at all) is on the drawing board, one can assume other zones are too.

Summery of review;

Star Trek Online continues the story from Romulus destruction. This is the "prime" universe Trek. The game rewards you for your time, but if you wish to get the goodies quick and fast then be prepeared to pay a little bit of cash. I would recomend a one month gold account and then cancel after it's finished. The special guest appearences are very cool and are very welcomed which everytime makes the game feel even more and more like a trek universe.

Shame currently there's no William Shatner, Patrick Stewart, Kate Mulgrew or Scott Bakula voice-overs. Thankfully though, there's the legendary Leonard Nimoy!

Zen is probably the most hardest 'grind' to gain if you're completely F2P, like myself, I've occasionally paid a small amount to obtain extra bank slots etc and have became very helpful. I do this as thanks after a new season or piece of new content I've enjoyed.

I hope this review has been helpful. If I sound slightly biased towards the game, then that is due to the enjoyment it has brought and the entertainment it brings. If I could give it a rating, I'd say:

8.5/10.

It's a game you'll fall romantically in love with.

Thomas will never be alone no more :3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc0C8H1YgUM

Samurai swords and Tom Cruise, what more could you ask for? ;)