Recent reviews by Pulos

The game is buggy still and occasionally crashes. The map editor crashes on loading up about half the time. Still no sign of the expansions. I went ahead and bought the HOMM3 complete edition from Gog. This seems to be developing into a recurring problem with Steam, games that don't meet reasonable expectations of stability.

I tried hard to keep a positive attitude. The PC version has far less bugs than the console versions... or at least it did, until the last update. Now I can't open doors, jump, or equip a weapon. Game is completely unplayable, but I've invested 11 hours, which is outside steam's reimbursement policy.

I will remember this when considering future video game purchases.

The game has a very baldur's gate feel to it, so on that it succeeds. The problem I feel is game balance. If you don't pick up all the companions right away, every encounter is a start over waiting to happen. If you do pick them all up, then every encounter is either too easy or most likely a total party wipe. There's no even fights.

At one point I made a perception check and found a spike trap. Hovering over it, I got an activity icon. I figured I'd disable the trap and move on, nope, walked right over it even though I could see it. Set it off, killed my entire party. They could see the trap, why would they walk over it, if they KNOW it's there?!

As someone new to Star Trek Online but a Star Trek fan, I was excited to try this game. These are my impressions in my short play time.

The screen is so cluttered with buttons and options, most of which aren't readable, and several aren't explained in the tutorial. So you have to either memorize what they do, or mouse over them every time, trying to find the one you need.

Personal combat is awkward; 1) you have to left click on a target, then right click to fire. If you hold your finger on the button for even just a moment it'll drag the cursor and have you facing somewhere else, usually up in my case. So the enemy is returning fire while I'm staring at the ceiling. 2) The action buttons aren't explained before the first fight. So you're stumbling around just hoping to click on the right target. moving to dodge the counter attack is very awkward. It's more like a turn based strategy movement system, but without the turn based and from an over the shoulder point of view.

Space combat; Is much better, though more explanation and target practice would be advised. Shield facings for instance are described during a storyline combat.

Just my feelings on the matter, others may have really enjoyed or really hated the game, I am kind of in the middle about it.

I've played the HOMM series since the second one, and to date 3 is still the best. HOMM 7 is fun, the graphics are a perfect balance between 3D quality and the game is still playable (HOMM 5 was unplayable for this very reason) The game mechanics are more well balanced than previous versions. The skill wheel is a natural advancement over previous versions.

The downsides. The pedia doesn't include any real game mechanics information about the troops or heroes. Instead it includeds flavor text, which is a nice addition, but doesn't work as a replacement.

The map editor. Where to begin? It's awful, and likely the reason there are only a dozen maps in the workshop for a game that's been out two years. It's massive and clunky and requires a level of technical knowledge that implies they're intentionally trying to keep people from using it. Why is it that with each iteration of the game, the map editor gets worse? Then there's the "cooked map" feature which keeps you from editing any published map. Not just maps that came with the game, but any map created by anyone else, even if you downloaded it and it has a simple error you want to correct, you can't.

There's a reoccuring theme here, I find myself constantly being unable to recommend games made by Ubi. They have great game ideas that have some awesome features, but have a few glaring flaws that ruin the entire experience.

I wish I didn't spend money on this game. I can't get through the training mission, I can't see the targets. They blend into the background so well I can't see them. I'm sure that's a problem with my eyes and not the game, since so many say how great the game is. But I'll never know.

The graphics are beautiful. The revamped diplomacy system is better than most turn-based strategy games out there. The concept of districts was difficult at first to get used to, but it's grown on me. The new civics system is great, and the bonuses for completing other tasks is an awesome addition. Overall I'd say it's a great game, with hundreds of hours of play potential.

The downside: AI still isn't quite where it needs to be. Better yes, but still not there. But that is nothing compared to the game's biggest flaw. It's a TBS with no true map creation! You have to modify game files to turn it on, then again if you want to actually be able to USE the maps you make! If you go through the steps to be able to make maps, the map creation tool is so clunky it's almost worthless! For this type of game, it's like only giving the players half of the product! Finding maps online is damn near impossible, because no one wants to go to the trouble to make them.

The game was released Oct 2016, they've had years to fix the big issue, with no indication that they even plan to! For that reason alone, I can't recommend this game!

Update: They've developed some nice options for picking the type of map you want to play, which opponents, things like that. But still no truly effective map generation.

I don't play these kinds of games normally, but I love DC and have played the android app version and enjoy it. So I bought the game and installed and the first time playing it, I can't even get through the tutorial. The game is clearly designed for players that are experienced at fighting games, I am not. What a waste of $20.