Recent reviews by ZT

TL;DR If the game is <$15 buy it IF and ONLY IF you like Arkham-style gameplay and don't care about Lord of the Rings Lore being trampled and also don't care about Denuvo (buy on GOG for Denuvo-free).

Would never have bought this at launch: it had horrific microtransactions, lootboxes, and progress toward getting the ending was locked behind rare drops that could also conveniently be purchased through the lootboxes. All of this was removed a couple years after release, and I played this after I got it through the Humble Bundle. I'll review it at it's current state, in case all of that didn't turn you off.

Big CON: still has Denuvo DRM.
Cons:
1) Endgame is a tiny bit grindy and relatively light on story. It feels more like NG+ than an actual ending arc, but it doesn't leave any loose ends, really. You may therefore either view the ending as relatively satisfying or relatively hollow. It depends on how much you connected with the main character(s).
2) Story is completely Non-Canon. If you were looking for a story that fits neatly into Tolkien's established lore, look elsewhere. The story is complete fanfiction, but it isn't absolutely atrocious, so it's decent fanfiction. It does take massive liberties with the lore (especially regarding Sauron, Shelob, and Celebrimbor), but if you're willing to view the story as an alternate universe, then it isn't that bad.
3) Online play, while it can at times be fun and interesting, is overall pretty gimicky, consists of almost exactly the same gameplay mechanics as offline play, and you basically need to have completed the single-player game first to be able to effectively complete online assaults. By that time, especially with the somewhat-grindy endgame that you've gone through, you will likely have had enough of the gameplay that this game has to offer.

PROS:
1) Fun Arkham-style gameplay. This is why you would play this game. The movement and combat system are smooth, polished, and enjoyable. Mistakes are punished appropriately. Gimmicks keep you on your toes and provide variety and sometimes necessitate a change of tactics.
2) Army building/Collection. Unlocked after early-game, this mechanic scratches the universal itch all human beings have to collect resources. Maybe this is why HR departments become power-tripping tyrants...
3) Good visuals, good voice acting, decent music, orcs have amusing voicelines and captains can have interesting personalities that encourage you to add your own interpretation to them.
4) Doesn't outstay it's welcome. Although the endgame gets a bit grindy, I found it to be just about right for the amount of time I would want to play this game. Beat it once on Hard (or easier diff if you're a casual, no shame), try some online assaults if you aren't burned out, then stop playing and be satisfied with your experience (as long as you didn't spend too much to buy the game, like the $50 price tag).

Pure wasted potential squandered upon the altars of greed and arrogance.

Quit shoving your disgusting ideology in my face.

TL;DR: Repetitive, dumbed-down instant-action 2-team Mechbattle fake-MMO that REALLY wants your real money to get more Mechs so you can grind to customize them.

This game could have been so much more. It's a total disappointment.
What this game is:
PvP arena battles over and over, almost no variety.
"Progression" is playing PvP arena battles over and over to buy new mechs and equipment for them and also a very basic per-mech XP system. This constitutes the entirety of the "MMO" aspect of this game; otherwise it's just a basic online battle arena format that could be at home on Mechwarrior 3.
The above "Progression" system is also HEAVILY monetized; this is how the game makes its money. You can buy all mechs in the game with real cash AND some are exclusively bought with premium currency (there are some periodic events that give you premium currency for grinding out ingame stat objectives, like getting kills, but they are few and far between). Also, if you want to buy multiple mechs to park in your mechbays to customize, you have to buy mechbays with premium currency.

There are few to no RPG elements, no story beyond the premise (not a huge deal, but you can't even craft your own story since you make few to no choices as a nebulous "mercenary"), no vehicles or combined arms, no non-pvp elements, and the game is dominated by ever-changing meta builds, encouraging cheese and discouraging the only form of progression (getting a variety of mechs and builds) (this is doubly punished by heavy monetization).

Imagine an actual MMORPG set in the Battletech universe where every player is a mercenary commander and you can upgrade your mechs, dropship, vehicles, aerospace fighters, etc and have real combined-arms battles, all kinds of PvP and PvE fights and scenarios (imagine re-enacting big battles from the lore) with real progression for your character and NPC pilots you can employ in your company. You could have all the instant-action accessibility for casual players that the current game has, but also so much more. Obviously, all of this is FAR outside the capability of the current rights-holders.

What a waste.

Interesting little game. It's not exactly a tower defense game: your tower sits in the middle of a map and enemies follow lanes to the center to attack it. There is surprising amounts of depth in customizing the tower's stats/powers, unlocked as you progress (it takes a while).
Expect to let the game idle for long periods of time. If that's not a turnoff for you, give it a try: it's free.

Banned from community page for jokes.

Gameplay: Boring
Story: Unengaging and preachy
Engagement: Manufactured and synthetic

Unfortunate. The visuals are pretty interesting. I wish they were in a better game.

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Imagine ActRaiser's town-building, but actually good. Made by an indie dev with a heart of gold and no hint of the usual narcissistic hubris (ironic, considering the genre of the game).

First, some disclosure: I haven't even ATTEMPTED to play on any official servers yet.

I was gifted this game from one of my friends to play on their private server, which was set to 5x taming speed, XP gain, and resource gathering, with around 4 other friends. From this perspective, the game is GREAT!

However, I had to be cajoled into even trying the game due to all the negative Steam reviews. After a short bit of analysis and after consulting with my friends who have played the game for close to a year, I can say the following:

ONLY GET THIS GAME IF YOU PLAN TO PLAY ON A PRIVATE SERVER WITH FRIENDS!

Progression on official servers is horrifically slow, and the community is often compared to DotA 2's in terms of hostility and toxicity (sorry, I know that latter term is overused by oversensitive crybabies, but it definitely applies here). Only play on official servers if you know someone on a large, established tribe or if you masochistically like losing your progress over and over and over (and with it taking anywhere from 2-20 HOURS to tame ONE dinosaur, we're talking A LOT of progress lost).

That said, I'm still having lots of fun on a private server with few bugs (I have ragequit a few times since several creatures are annoying to encounter, to say the least), so I will recommend this game overall.

I'll update this review if/when I try to play on official servers myself, which will probably be contingent on some kind of massive overhaul of game mechanics when it comes to community interaction and progression. I'll also update this review when (if?) this game leaves Early Access (lol).