Recent reviews by Boats

Shadow of War has some interesting stories to tell, though the main plot has some serious pacing issues throughout. Really, what this game (and its predecessor) thrive on is the same kind of storytelling that is usually reserved for games such as XCOM; emergent storytelling. That is, stories that are told through a combination of game mechanics and player choice as opposed to more traditional means. I feel that Shadow of War would have been a better game if they had leaned more heavily on that concept, as a lot of the other content feels kinda shallow in comparison. Though it did receive some nice upgrades compared to Shadow of Mordor, such as Orcs referencing their injuries when they cheat death, or even changing their identity based on what happened to them. There's also enough variety in the Orcs' personalities and voice actors that they don't get too repetitive.

The core gameplay loop is satisfying enough, and it is good to play a game that isn't overly afraid to kill you if you make mistakes, especially when those deaths feed into the emergent storytelling. I had a couple of issues with the controls; mostly moves targetting the wrong enemy. Most frustrating is the lack of a difference between the inputs for a directional dodge and for vaulting over enemies. Especially evident when you're simply trying to dodge spears and arrows, while surrounded by Olog-Hai or captains that can block your vaulting. Having the vault be a double-tap would have resolved this issue. I also found the infinite spears and rapid fire-rate of Hunter captains a little ridiculous, especially when they only visibly carry four.

The siege mechanics are fairly interesting, and being able to design, to an extent, your assault force and defenses is neat. Without providing too many spoilers, its a feature underutilized in the early game, and FAR too prevalent in the final third. It's novel, but wears out its welcome quite quickly when is becomes a chore, especially since it's quite easy to make defenses that some configurations of enemies just can't break through. It would have been much better suited to a series of sidequests that could be tackled more organically, but a lot of the final third of the game just feels like work, and strays very far from the game's true strengths.

I'm ambivalent towards the presence of lootboxes, and I rarely used them, and would never even entertain the prospect of buying them with real money. The main draw for me in this game is the emergent storytelling; I want to hunt down and dominate a captain, not find one in a box.

Overall, it's an interesting game with a lot of potential, and is at its best when paired with an active imagination. Its greatest failing is in pacing, being far too slow to give you the most fun tools and spending too much time tutorializing early, then grinding to a shuddering halt in the late game. Easy recommend for fans of the first game, or for games such as the Arkham series.

SImply put, if you want to play Civilization V or Alpha Centauri, go play Civilization V or Alpha Centauri. It clearly takes a lot from each game (Civ V for the engine, AC for the general idea), but is, at the end of the day, its own game. ANd, in my humble opinion, it is a fine addition to Sid Meier's legacy.

There are a few minor issues, mainly with the UI. Lack of information, or even a simple inclusion of the current date were somewhat disappointing, but the UI was never clunky or difficult to use. It simply would benefit from a few additions, such as demographics. In my experience thus far, the AI could benefit from being a little more aggressive on higher difficulties as well.

Overall, Beyond Earth can be summarized as having options. The tech web is interesting and well-implemented, and it truly feels as though you are exploring possible avenues of human advancement, instead of following the rigid path laid out for us in prior Civs (albeit by necessity). The virtues system offers more real choice than policies, as there are clear benefits for going deep on one category, or broad across several. Effectively, to have a focused but specialized civilization, or a more versatile one.

The amount of choices does mean that each individual aspect lacks the same level of personality and emotive connection when compared to prior Civs, but not only is this an acceptable tradeoff, it is better for the affective feel of the game. The future, and the world, is meant to feel cold and alien, not warm and familiar.

It is a fine game, for fans of the turn based genre. However, don't view it as a sequel to Civ V, but, rather, a new (but similar) game. There is also likely to be more content coming by way of expansions in the future; it pays to remember that Civ V itself was quite low on content prior to the release of G&K and BNW.