Recent reviews by kaiserjosh

Fantastic Remake based on first impressions. Nothing will ever replace the original for me, but this is a good way to play the game on PC or current gen consoles. Some of the poor reviews this game received from "professional" critics including Gamespot and IGN are a further stain on the industry. I highly recommend picking this up if you're a fan of the original, the Spongebob franchise, or 3D platformers in general.

TL;DR: Buy it if you enjoy Harvest Moon.

Gameplay: If you are familiar with Harvest Moon, you will feel right at home with the gameplay in Stardew Valley. Stardew Valley allows you to perform a number of activities in a small farming community surrounded by the supernatural. Farming, mining, fishing, ranching, and building relationships with nearby residents are among the game’s most expansive features. The farming simulation portions of the game integrate the best elements of Harvest Moon games, allowing the player even more choice in the placement of buildings and cultivated land on the farm. Mining is a decent addition to the formula, but at times feels a bit out of place. It is coupled with a fairly shallow combat system that requires you to dispatch a number of monsters in the mine. While Stardew Valley’s Minecraft/Terraria-style crafting system works for the most part, I found the combat to be extraneous. Fishing was actually one of the best new gameplay mechanics. Reeling in the fish now offers a challenge beyond waiting for a rare fish via RNG. Building relationships is primarily done through gift-giving, leading to various cut scenes with individual characters. The gift-giving mechanic is nothing new for this type of game, but it would have been nice if the developer had expanded the quest system to play a larger role.

Visuals: The game is pixelated and looks similar to Gameboy Advance Harvest Moon games. This is preferable to poorly rendered 3D models, but does leave one longing for an updated version of the visuals from Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life. To be fair, the game looks quite good.

Story: The story of Stardew Valley is a bit flimsy. I would not expect a game like this to have an incredibly expansive story; however, character arcs could have been far more fleshed out. The most glaring example of incomplete arcs is the marriage feature. While the mechanic for wooing your significant other needs improvement, once married, the game ceases to allow a dynamic relationship between you and your spouse at all. The inclusion of post-marriage quests and cutscenes would have vastly improved this game. Furthermore, the marriage options for both genders are incredibly weak. It truly appears as if consideration for making your relationship options “realistic” was taken into account during development. Personally, I feel this makes no sense whatsoever. Stardew Valley is game about idyllic rural living. An attempt to create flawed marriage options to create a realistic experience based on the limited dating options in low-population areas seems completely out of place here.

Sound: Stardew Valley leaves very little to comment about in the way of sound. The game features written dialogue with no voice acting. This was probably a good decision, as bad voice acting could have entirely ruined the game.

Music: Harvest Moon has always featured great soundtracks, and Stardew Valley continues in this tradition. There are different tracks for each season and each one fits wonderfully.

Overall Assessment: The most certain way to tell if you will like Stardew Valley is whether or not you enjoyed the Harvest Moon games. If this review seemed a bit critical, it is because Stardew Valley does so many things right that when it stumbles or fails to correct problems with other games in its genre, it leaves the player believing that the game should have known better. If you are hoping for a game that solves Harvest Moon’s relationship mechanic issues, or avoids clichés originating from games like Minecraft and Terraria, you will be disappointed. But if you are looking for a game on the PC that plays like a solid Harvest Moon title, you have found your game.

TL;DR: This game is great! Definitely pick it up if it's on sale.

Gameplay: Empire: Total War alternates between grand strategy and RTS style gameplay, and while it certainly isn't the greatest game in either of these categories, the combination makes for a very immersive experience. The game has several difficulty settings, allowing for new players to settle in to the game, while still providing a decent challenge to experienced players, at least for the RTS portions. Navel combat was a first for the Total War franchise and it works decently. The grand strategy elements are toned down somewhat from what you might expect from a Paradox game, though this shouldn’t be a surprise.

Visuals: For a game of its age, Empire Total War looks fantastic. On release, this was actually seen as a negative, as there were concerns that the minimum requirements for the game would make it inaccessible to many fans of the series. However, in 2015, the excellent quality of the visuals makes this game timeless.

Story: The setting of Empire Total war is what makes this game my favorite Total War title. It’s set between the 100 year period from 1700 through 1799. The story mode itself isn’t anything special, but rarely do you play a grand strategy game for a linear storyline. In most of the campaign modes, the outcome of the game is mostly up to you. Do you want to become a great trading nation, or is world domination more your style?

Sound: For the most part, the battles sound great. The overworld also features decent sound, but overall there’s nothing here to write home about.

Music: The music in the overworld doesn’t change much, but doesn’t usually get annoying. If it does, the plus is that you can mute it and very little is lost. The music during battle sequences is fitting, but nothing I would add to a playlist.

Overall Assessment: Empire: Total War may lack the depth of a Paradox title, and may not be the greatest and most innovative RTS in existence, but what it sets out to do, it does well. The game is generally priced higher for an older title, but if you see this one on sale, it’s definitely worth your time.