Recent reviews by Rapid Rider (SHPUK)

Simple game play that is easy to pick up.
Good resource management and tactics will be required to progress.

At the beginning you start with just two basic ant types. Working your way through different Formicarium and challenges unlocks extra ant types that you can use in your own hybrid ant colonies.

Cranking up the difficulty offers some seriously demanding confrontations.

You are getting a lot of game for your money here.

If you liked Fallout 4 or Skyrim, it is a must buy. Like these games there is already a growing mod community so if there is something you do not like about the vanilla experience there is likely already a mod out, or one coming soon.

I am running vanilla now, no mods, and I am loving it. I am also finding it difficult to take time out for breaks to eat and sleep.

It is not perfect. What game is? Everyone has opinions on what is wrong, missing, or great about Starfield. I also have some minor criticisms but nothing that is going to stop me playing and enjoying it for what it is. Plus. with the already huge player base I can only see wonderful things in my crystal ball for the future of Starfield and I am really looking forward to seeing what extra content and mods get released down the line. Meanwhile I have more than enough content to keep me busy and sleep deprived.

Despite its steep learning curve, this game excels in delivering an amazing role-playing experience. Baldur’s Gate 3 is a beast of a game full of player choices. It’s a top-down RPG with turn-based combat. This game captures the freedom and diversity found in the traditional pen and paper format of Dungeons & Dragons. Anyone unfamiliar may find some of the mechanics complex or even overwhelming at the start. It is a classic high fantasy experience with a tremendously impressive level of freedom for problem-solving.

There are six different origin characters to choose from, each offering a different perspective on the game’s events. However, I would recommend creating a custom character for your first play through. I have only played 44 hours at the time of writing this and have not even completed ACT 1. So far I have not experienced a single crash or bug.

It does feature cooperative multi-play but it’s largely a single-player experience.

The cherry on top, Baldur’s Gate 3 features NO extra monetization!. There isn’t a monthly battle pass or a slew of cosmetic items you can buy with real money. Players get what they pay for and then some.

I played 45 hours on the demo version (No cash shop). I could see the games potential, really enjoyed what I had played and was looking forward to the full release.

Now it has arrived I am sorely disappointed. The cash shop monetisation has ruined Undecember. Cut throat pricing, gone too far down the typical mobile game system, where the goal is to milk as much money out of players as possible.

All the good stuff is locked behind a steep paywall of Diamonds, that can only be obtained by paying real money in the cash shop. (2,120 Diamonds for £39.99)

The basic storage tabs set – 4,000 Diamonds

Extra 50 General storage slots – 500 Diamonds (can be purchased more than once)

Extra carry slots (30 slots) - 100 Diamonds (can be purchased more than once)

Pet (auto loot) – (400 pcm) 4,800 Diamonds per year

Name Change – 1,000 Diamonds

Guild Name – 2,000 Diamonds

Unlock Extended Alchemy Lab – 2,000 Diamonds

This is just the basics and the tip of the iceberg. Every in-game crafting material and in game currency can be purchased for real money.

Looks like I am going back to Path of Exile


After playing well over 100 hours I can give better feedback.

I was able to play well into the campaign without having to spend any money. Right up to about chapter 7 of 10. Until this point you need to be careful with inventory management, but you can still have many hours of fun without paying, until this point. Enough play time to know if you like the game. You can have two additional characters that you can use to hold spare loot. Character switching is quick, so it is not too painful.

After chapter 7, I purchased £80 of Diamonds and unlocked the custom stash tabs, and an extra alchemy bench slot. I have completed the main campaign and have started end game content and these upgrades are essential due to the large variety of loot types.

The biggest problem I have is loot collection. I refuse to pay the ongoing cost of a pet to auto-loot. While it is possible to buy a 7-day Pet activation with rubies, getting hold of said rubies (without buying them in the cash shop) is hard. You need to sell items on the auction house. Auction house is restricted to 3 items at a time and a waiting period of 24 hours to get your rubies after a successful sale. The store takes a percentage of each sale so you will not get the full amount. The store is flooded with many cheap items so it comes down to luck if you can sell anything.

There are many other pay-to-win and convenience items available that I have not touched on here and I do not care about the cosmetics. I just ignore these extras and pretend they do not exist as I will never buy them.

CONCLUSION

All this said, I really like the game. There is a lot to learn, and it can keep you busy for a long time. For the number of hours play and enjoyment I have had so far, the £80 I have spent is not too bad. If it were not for the Pet situation and the ability for “Whales” to just buy everything with real money, this would be an easy recommendation.

If you have a more casual approach to the game and are careful how you spend your money you can still have lots of fun for a sensible outlay. It’s free to play so maybe try it and see how you feel about the cash shop yourself.

The simple game play belies a tricksy but addictive game play loop that keeps you doing just one more run. A polished, solid little game that just might cause you to miss several hours of sleep...

I love this game

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is a great action game, offering a satisfying mix of stealth and melee combat that feels much like the Assassin's Creed games with hints of the Batman: Arkham series added to the combat style. This mix makes the basis of a great game with an easy but very enjoyable combat experience.

The simple experience tree and weapon rune systems are fairly well balanced early on and are the sort of thing that Assassins Creed could have benefited from. The Nemesis system makes enemies grow and evolve along with the player and is truly unique. When you die, it feels personal. You can exploit the strengths and weaknesses of your targets by learning them ahead of time by interrogating some hapless minions or rescuing some eavesdropping slaves.

As with most open-world games, the backstory and extra challenges are totally optional but an enjoyable diversion from your vendetta. Pretty much right from the start you have the freedom to explore the picturesque hillsides, desolate quarries, and lush forests of Mordor's two regions. The additional ability to mount and ride some creatures are a great touch, especially as they can quickly climb difficult terrain.

All these elements amounts to a good game which I thoroughly enjoyed, but it is by no means the great game that some people would have you believe it is. I know this flies in the face of all the top reviews out there and I do not deny it is good, but it could have been better .

Compared to, say Assasin Creed IV Black Flag or the best of the series, Assassins Creed II, Shadow of Mordor lacks both Storyline and mission content. The main plot has no real depth and is over far too quickly and the side quests are minimal and repetitive. The maps are actually not as big as they first appear and you soon find yourself wishing there was just MORE to this game. Once you realise that revenge kills cause enemies to drop better runes you always lose the first battle to them on purpose thus quickly losing the gratifying feeling of getting revenge from genuine defeats. However, once you have your skill tree sorted and some good runes fitted the combat system becomes far too simple. Even fighting the toughest bosses with a full cohort of max level body guards becomes too easy making the traits system virtually a waste of time in later stages of the game.

I am, however, hoping for a great sequel. Assassin’s Creed II improved on virtually every element of the original with three huge, distinct Renaissance Italy cities, making exploration a joy instead of a chore. Plus the much-improved storyline kept you intrigued and invested in Ezio’s struggles. Hidden tombs and a new money system gave AC II plenty of extra content without feeling bogged down.

Having said all that, don't be put off buying it, it is still great fun, just don't expect to be still playing this release a month down the line.

Not quite there, bring on: Shadow of Mordor 2

The game is all about sneaking around, scrounging for resources while combating and avoiding both man and monster in a post-apocalyptic, moody and tension-filled setting. The game provides players with a strong atmosphere, reminiscent of Metro and STALKER.

The setting may be fantastic, but the gameplay is far from perfect. While gunplay is acceptable, melee combat can only be described as wonky. There’s a fairly well done stealth system, but this does not help you level in any way.

While Nether’s creeping around, looting and shooting down monsters in a post-apocalyptic world sounds good it does not hold up well in practice.

On a technical level, there are a lot of issues both in terms of performance and bugs. Frame rates regularly drop too low to be acceptable, even on a high end rig.

However the biggest problem is the multiply player, no holds-barred, survival experience. Nether was hyped as a co-op experience, but unfortunately that is rarely the case. More often than not you will die at the hands of another player. Sometimes a random player you don't see coming, but also from players you thought were joining in the co-op spirit and who you thought had teamed up with you. They have a habit of backstabbing you and robbing you when you don't expect it. You may say, "all's fair in love and gaming" but consider this: when you die you re-spawn at a random location with only a knife and have to restart your skill tree from scratch. Yes, every time you die. While I'm sure some people will love this it gets old very quickly.

To make this even worse, just getting out of the spawn area can be a nightmare with other players camping about picking you off when all you have is a knife. Worse is the fact that there seems to be absolutely no control over cheaters. Lots of people using aim-bots and hacks spoil an already marred experience.

The real shame of it is, I think that there is the basis of a really great PVE co-op game here.

Where is the co-op game I was hoping for?
Why are there no PVE only servers?
Why can't they stop the hackers?