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Some decent mechanics crippled by a dead community; Not Recommended

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1248222963
Fallout Tactics released smack dab in the middle of 2001 and was criminally under-looked by both fans of Fallout and of RTS games in general. It had an incredibly special character design system and fully utilized its isometric camera angle to create a genuinely tactical experience that forced you to either play carefully or be torn to pieces. Personally I remember it for the hours of fun I had with friends playing multiplayer with each other, but it also had a halfway decent single-player aspect on top of that. Right about now though you're probably wondering, "didn't I click on a review for Dustwind? What's with all this talk about Fallout: Tactics?". I'm on this rant because Dustwind absolutely oozes Fallout: Tactics, from its similar camera perspective, right down to just the way it looks and the setting in which it takes place. After making my way through its tutorial, I was fully ready for Dustwind to scratch the itch left years ago from Fallout: Tactics, but quickly found myself disappointed. The game runs smoothly and with no problems whatsoever, so already it has a significant leg up on Fallout: Tactics, but it has a severe lack of content and, more importantly, players. Dustwind also commits what I personally believe is one of the greatest sins there is in gaming nowadays: it's a multiplayer only title. Multiplayer only games are extremely unpredictable, because if your playerbase starts to dwindle, your game is essentially put on an irreversible downward spiral. Some players leave, then the player count lowers and discourages future purchases, without future purchases, your game has no player income and is left to simply off and die. Not only is Dustwind constricting itself solely to multiplayer, it's also an early access game, where you have to rely on shaky promises for your game to actually be completed.


If you somehow manage to find an open match, which I honestly doubt you will considering that there's only three players online at the time of writing, then you'll be greeted with what's actually a pretty solid tactical experience. At least that's what I thought going into my first match, but pretty soon I was reeling from just how weird and out of place the gameplay was. In a game that is claimed to be about "making quick tactical decisions", I didn't realize that actually meant running around a generic post-apocalyptic map for ten minutes with no strategy whatsoever. Most of the mechanics are pretty much useless, since you'd be better off opting to just run around with the minigun and let it do the work for you. I also have a problem with their decision to make it a real time strategy instead of turn-based, a style of gameplay that would suit what they were trying to make much better than this. When you mix RTS with some fairly small maps, you end up with no time to actually make tactical decisions, and instead have to just run around and prey that you get the first shot off. Had they gone down the route of a more turn-based experience, that would actually have given the player time to enjoy Dustwind as a challenging strategic game, as opposed to the odd almost arcade-y one that it is currently. The maps that I mentioned before are extremely similar in most cases, and there simply isn't enough of them, only about a dozen stretched across every game mode. That's pretty much what Dustwind comes down to in a lot of cases, there simply isn't enough: not enough maps, not enough to play, and definitely not enough players to play with.


Don't misunderstand me though, there's quite a few flaws and problems that I've found with Dustwind, but I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a single thing that I liked about it. The character design system is something that stood out right from the get go, allowing you to make your own characters, designing everything from their appearance to their skills. You can then use those players in multiplayer matches, adding a satisfying almost Frankenstein-esque satisfaction as you watch your little monstrosity tear through opponents. I also seriously appreciate how they included a map editor, allowing players to make and share their own creations, which also aids the issue of having too few maps to begin with. The art direction is fantastic, really capturing that classic Fallout-style post-apocalyptic world and setting a nice backdrop for your multiplayer engagements. Honestly when I played Dustwind I just felt sad, there was so much potential here, so much they could have done to draw in the playerbase that loves games like classic Fallout and Wasteland, but they seem to have fell short. Considering that yes, this is an early access game, and yes, that means there's still hope that it can garner more players and content, I hope to see Dustwind prospering in the future. As it stands now though, I can't bring myself to see that as a reasonable possibility.

Dustwind gives a solid effort to try and bring Fallout Tactics into the modern day, but lacks any real playerbase and, like most early access games, enough content to justify the price tag.

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The single greatest narrative experience ever made; Absolute Classic

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1241247199
Walking simulator. In gaming as we know it today that term has a rather negative connotation stuck to it, normally associating the game with three things: that it’s going to be short, extremely linear, and almost entirely narratively reliant. The genre used to deserve this connotation, with the majority of its games containing extremely poor stories and relying wholly on their perception as “art”. As it stands though, I fully believe that the title of walking simulator is now as valid a genre as any other, and that it’s finally outgrown the previous negativity surrounding it. Now, in stark contrast to previous associations, recent walking simulators have more positive implications: that they’re going to have exemplary stories, gorgeous worlds, and some of the greatest characters and dialogue possible. Firewatch perfectly compounds all of that, and really is symbolic of these new walking simulators that focus on actually trying to create an unforgettable experience instead of seemingly playing the “games as art” card to excuse their mistakes. Firewatch wastes no time creating said experience and right from the get go you start forming attractions to the two, arguably three, main characters. First off is Henry, a gruff boyfriend-turned-husband with an extraordinary personality who you’re going to be playing as all throughout your journey. Second comes Julia, not a main character but included anyways since she plays an important part in the story as Henry’s wife. Sadly, before the game begins you find Julia is beginning to show symptoms of early-onset dementia, slowly killing her and stressing Henry out to the point he takes on a job as a Forest Fire Lookout in the Shoshone to get a break. Lastly comes my favorite character Delilah, your supervisory lookout who you never actually see, but can visualize better than any other. Again, there’s really only two main characters, as Julia is more of an idea used to push the game forward than an actual character, which might seem a problem but instead is a unique way to focus attention on character development. When you only have two real characters, it’s a lot easier to flesh out their dialogue and make every conversation have value. I appreciate that they didn’t become too ambitious and try to have a full cast, because there’s something indescribably serene about interacting exclusively with Delilah for something of four hours. It’s intimate. It’s personal. It’s Firewatch.

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1241224067
I'd argue that Firewatch’s two strongest features are the exceptional artwork and the absolutely unparalleled character development/dialogue, though not the only two strong features, these two were just the ones that stood out from my first playthrough. Artwork is one of the most critical aspects to a game’s success, though plenty of people would love to claim otherwise, and is intertwined with many other gameplay elements. For example, environment design and immersion are both nigh impossible with poor graphics, and if there’s no immersion or decent environment design then gameplay suffers, causing a catastrophic chain reaction. While there may be other games that have to worry about sub-par artwork, Firewatch is absolutely not one of them, having the most unique and attractive aesthetic I’ve ever seen. Artwork is an important part of building atmosphere and can heavily influence how you feel about the game, and I think Firewatch’s serene and peaceful air is built heavily on the fact that its art is so calming and beautiful. While this may have just been me, I found the game about an hour longer than expected, and I feel that can be attributed to me taking my time and genuinely wanting to just enjoy the scenery. I’ve never experienced anything like that before, Firewatch wholly immersed me in Henry’s character, as if I’m actually living in the Shoshone, with my only link to civilization being a small orange walkie-talkie. Looking back at my experience with Firewatch feels more like reminiscing on the past than it does playing a game, and I think that's caused by the various gameplay mechanics that pile even more immersion on top of what’s already there. My favorite one is the disposable camera you find about halfway through the game, allowing you to take pictures of the various parts of the environment. While that would be pretty neat on its own, the ability to upload your pictures online and to purchase high quality prints of them on the Firewatch website takes the feature from being neat to being unforgettable. What’s more, this literally gives you a physical way to remember and reminisce on your playthrough, an innovative idea that works well with how walking simulators tend to feel closer to experiences than games. I appreciate that, the small things put into the game to add detail and make this feel like a genuine world, I really do.

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1241250035
Now story quality is irrelevant if you can’t experience it due to horrible gameplay decisions obstructing the narrative with pointless or poorly designed mechanics. Firewatch has none of this and maintains a simple method of interaction with your environment, really only requiring you to press a button to interact with whatever you’re looking at. I enjoy this simplicity because more often than not complex game design, especially in walking simulators, tends to focus attention on the mechanic instead of the atmosphere, shattering your immersion with mechanics that seem out of place. Firewatch however has an extremely minimalistic UI that borders on pretty much none, only really showing up when you interact with the world or talk to Delilah on the radio. The gameplay is simple enough to where it’s not like you’d really need any UI at all, it isn’t particularly hard to just go around pressing E on different things you find in the environment after all. I am however glad that they didn’t make this entirely devoid of gameplay because it gives you something to do, even if that something is just pressing E on a door or radio, it still makes you feel involved without breaking immersion. Gameplay isn’t really what you’re playing Firewatch for though and ,while it’s extremely well implemented, it isn’t the game’s main focus, that would be the story. Firewatch has a story unlike most others that I’ve seen, because it tries to avoid telling a story of aliens, heroes, or what else could have been, and instead focuses on being real. Firewatch has a story that, to me, feels like a retelling of a friends vacation, all believable and real, but with a few minor details embellished or twisted to sound better and build suspense. Many people have a problem with the game's ending and honestly I’m torn: on one hand, they really built the ending up in a direction it clearly never had any intention of going, but on the other it’s a story of Henry and Delilah’s real suspense, and real mystery. It’s not the satisfying conclusion that I was hoping for, but it’s symbolic of the whole journey, it may not be the greatest ending in the world, but I think that it still has significant merit to it and ties in well with the themes all throughout Firewatch.

Firewatch has the most intimately personal dialogue of any game I’ve ever played, with characters to match, and provided a beautiful, if short, experience I’ll never forget.

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The most fun I've ever had playing with rocks; Necessary Purchase

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1229100948
I’ve never done drugs in my life, but if I had to guess as to what it would feel like, I imagine it would be something similar to one of ACE Team’s games. Never one to aim low, ACE Team has been the mastermind behind the two weirdest game series I’ve ever played: Zeno Clash and Rock of Ages. I may have a pension for hyperbole and tend to exaggerate often, but I’ll assure you that both these games are so absurd I’d seem either insane or high as a kite if I tried to describe them. Rock of Ages is the less crazy of the two series which sees you fighting historical figures in 1 on 1 boulder combat, trying to race the other boulder to see who’s castle gate falls first. Rock of Ages was a hilarious game in itself, but with Rock of Ages 2 it somehow manages to become even more so, and had me laughing for almost the entirety of the time I wasn’t in-mission. They also incorporate lots of historical references, making the game doubly amusing for those with a keen interest in the happenings of the past. Oddly, one of my favorite moments was the tutorial, where your character teaches a class of legendary generals on how to conduct war and finds Napoleon is asleep in class. Offended, you wake him up by questioning how he would conduct battle in a war against the british. Considering that this is Napoleon, he fully explains his battle plan in great detail, only for you to shout him down and essentially tell him that if you aren’t waging war with a giant boulder, you’re doing it wrong. Don’t worry much about the historical aspect though, if you aren’t particularly versed in any history you’ll still be laughing at the unique graphical style and silly character performances. I always appreciate a game that can make me laugh, and I think because of that I’m more willing to forgive the game’s more minor flaws, especially because there’s so few of them and this game is such an obvious labor of love. That being said, there’s definitely flaws with Rock of Ages 2, the camera needs a good fine-tuning and has some real issues with what seems to be mouse acceleration, there’s also really no reason to use most of the boulders at all. In the grand scheme of things though, a significant amount of the problems Rock of Ages 2 has seem to be minor things and, while not ignorable, they definitely aren’t enough to ruin such an oddly special experience.

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1229102226
My main problem with Rock of Ages 2 is that it’s significantly on the shorter side, only having roughly two dozen missions and coming in at just under four or five hours. Given, this is one of the better problems for a game to have since it means I love it so much that I have to have more, but still be aware that there isn’t as much here as you may have thought. The missions that are here are some of the most inventive and uniquely designed that I’ve ever played, which seems to be just about par for the course when it comes to ACE Team. Stages are perfectly designed from not only a mechanical standpoint, but from a visual one too, as often times the design of the level itself plays a key role in each mission. Due to the unique style of graphics, environments are uniquely beautiful to look at, and they’re also lots of fun to play, with cleverly placed jumps and turns that’ll give even the rockiest boulder a roll for its money. Rock of Ages isn’t just the premiere boulder-racing simulator on the market, it also contains a mixed bag of tower defense and strategy mechanics. When you’re not smashing an absurdly-sized rock into a wall repeatedly, you’re building static defenses to prevent your foe from rolling right through your gate. That’s every mission's objective, destroy the enemy's gate and squish whatever figure hides within, but that’s a task often more easily said than done. While you’re to the enemy gate, they’re going to be doing that exact same thing, which sometimes results in hilarious boulder pass-bys where you end up flying right past the other rock. Really though, the only practical method of boulder repellent that you have are the various defenses I mentioned previously. Ranging from cows used for slowing boulders to enormous cannon used to blast them into the next dimension, there’s dozens of different defensive constructs, each somehow sillier than the last. I love the variety these defenses have and since you unlock a new one after just about every mission, it gives a sweet incentive to do as many missions as possible instead of just railroading the main ones. You don’t just unlock new defensive items though, you also unlock new usable boulders, but sadly you never really have any reason to equip any boulder other than one or two, which sucks because the boulders are actually pretty neat. One has a halo that allows double jumping, one of them’s actually not a boulder at all, instead an angry cube that unpredictably jumps all over the place. When you aren’t in boulder mode and you’re planning your defense the game becomes extremely stressful since the opponent is headed right for your castle while you’re trying to set up. Often I felt like some grand strategist, planning what defenses I’d use and where they’d be placed, which made me want to play more and more. While I may have been feeling like a strategic mastermind though, it was crystal clear that the AI opponent was anything but. They put up a valiant attempt, but even still the AI often just gets steamrolled by an actual player, putting up a negligible defense at best.

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1229101930
As if Rock of Ages 2 couldn’t possibly get any weirder, with its mix of tower defense and racing gameplay, on top of all of that there’s also three separate boss battles throughout the game. By some miracle of game design ACE Team managed to pull all three off flawlessly, though making them far too easy, yet still both visually and mechanically enjoyable. Bosses are an absolute treat, with themed environments that fit with the mechanics and make for an interesting time. As I mentioned though, they’re absurdly easy, with every one of the boss objectives being to perform some mindlessly simple task and then obliterate the bosses weak spot anytime it’s available. This isn’t much of a problem, but it's something that’s prevalent throughout all of Rock of Ages 2: don’t expect a challenge, most of the levels can be beaten easily on even the hardest difficulty and boss battles somehow manage to be easier than that. Rock of Ages 2 is just such a simultaneously complex yet simple game that merges multiple genres that seem incompatible with each other into one cohesive experience. It’s incredibly silly in a way that comes off as clever yet not pretentious, and incorporates history seamlessly in a way that’s funny to just about anyone. It’s clearly well-made and has immense detail put into just about every aspect, which is admirable, if to be expected from these devs. though the game absolutely could have been longer and contained more missions. So while yes, it's absolutely a short game, and yes, there are problems with the camera and difficulty, none of those flaws are large enough to obscure the fact that yet again ACE Team has hit a home run.

I can't honestly say I've ever had this much fun smashing rocks together before; an absurdly fun experience.

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Absolutely Flawless; My Pick for Game of the Year 2017

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1220822383
Few experiences in gaming have ever left me absent of words, uncovering my identity in Knights of the Old Republic was one, trekking through the vastness of the Shoshone Forest in Firewatch, Delilah at my side, was another. With confidence I can now add another experience to this ever-growing list, exploring Ruiner’s downtrodden hub city, Heaven, half-functioning neon lights bathing the streets in an artificial violet glow. Devolver Digital is a studio which we’ve become rather familiar with as of late, through their publishing of the critically acclaimed Hotline Miami, as well The Talos Principle and both Shadow Warrior games. There’s a theme present in all three of the aforementioned games: each is a contender for game of the year in their respective time. That’s a running theme with games published by Devolver: they only publish the best of the best, and just the fact that a game has been published by them is akin to a seal of quality. Ruiner is a truly singular experience, with a heap of positive facets, and hardly a negative to be found. It clearly takes inspiration in its core gameplay concepts from Hotline Miami, with a heavy focus being on vicious melee fighting, where death comes almost instantly for both you and your foe. There’s a diverse armament to choose from, found all throughout the different levels, and while there may a handful of boring weapons, for every normal SMG you have weapons like the Xaar, firing a gargantuan beam which obliterates anything it comes into contact with. These weapons serve as potent, yet temporary upgrades, as their ammunition count rarely manages to last through even the shortest of fights, requiring you to often switch to melee combat. Creating such an ammo scarcity while providing no way to acquire more forces the player to switch weapons constantly, meaning that you’re going to end up using just about every weapon in the game at one point or another. This is an innovative way to ensure players experience your weaponry to its fullest extent, and that each implement of destruction amasses its time in the spotlight. Because of this the acquisition of new weapons flows naturally and you genuinely look forward to picking up some new hardware, as opposed to you feeling as if you’re being forced to.

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1228193494
Innovation saturates Ruiner, present in many of significant gameplay aspects, and especially so in one in particular: the skill system. As in most games, XP is required to level up, however XP in Ruiner isn’t strictly called XP, that would be boring and normal, two things Ruiner absolutely isn’t, instead going by the name Karma. Karma is mainly acquired by taking out your enemies in the cleanest way possible and with the fewest mistakes, however it also litters the various levels in the form of destroyable, karma-filled crates. So not only does this encourage exploration, it also encourages you to make as few mistakes as possible as the better you do, the more karma you get at the end of the mission. Now that you know how to go about acquiring karma, you probably should know what you’re going to spend it on: skill points. Twelve skills are present for you to unlock, though most aren’t even available until certain points in the game, each one giving you something new to look forward to. Ruiner’s skills contain an extremely minimal amount of waste, with each upgrade having solid justification for being present, and none of them feeling out of place. The innovation I mentioned beforehand is that in Ruiner rebinding your skills is an integral part of gameplay, rather than just being a failsafe in case you accidentally screw up your build. To elaborate on that, many times throughout the game you’ll face what seems an insurmountable challenge, only to find out you can tear that challenge in half by simply switching your skills around and trying again. This may seem like the game forcing you to repeatedly smash your head into a wall until finally finding out what works, but I found instead I was actually enjoying the experimentation and all that I could create, not dreading it. My only gripe, really more of a nitpick, is that some bosses force the use of certain skills upon you, which kinda hampers the whole “build your character how you want” vibe that I was getting from the rest of the game. However, more than likely you’ll neither notice nor care about this because the bosses are going to give you a run for your money and then some. Bosses aren’t focused so much on being visually distinct, but more so on being distinct in their gameplay, each with significant differences in behaviors that need to be observed and countered. My favorite of the fights was M.O.T.H.E.R., an enormous automaton with a somehow even larger laser, which you have to either block with your shield or absorb with your skull, one of which more effective than the other. The fights entirety was pulse-pounding, which is no different from the rest of the game, every second was a race to see if I could deal enough damage to the bot to stop it from powering up its scarlet spear and ramming it straight through my torso. Thankfully, these boss encounters are not only extremely enjoyable but also extremely frequent, with at least one per level, often two or three, just going to show that Ruiner certainly doesn’t lack for content.

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1228193309
This is a game that stands out in so many ways I’ve been finding it hard to pick which one is most prominent, but I believe that would be the difficulty. Many games present the player with a challenge, but few are remembered specifically FOR that challenge, and because of that are forever immortalized as the best of the best. In my eyes Ruiner has more than earned its place among these legends, with a difficulty so arduous, so unforgiving, that you’ll push for victory out of sheer spite for the game. Arenas in which you fight quickly turn into shrapnel-filled charnel houses, with enemies dashing across the screen, with a burning desire to kill you akin to your burning desire to kill them. When you load up and select hard in the difficulty menu, expect a hard difficulty, unlike many other games where hard may as well be renamed “for people who’ve played a game before”, Ruiner’s hard mode is absolutely not for the faint of heart. Battles are fierce and the levels turn you paranoid, fearing death is awaiting you around each and every corner, which it almost always is. Often times when I complete a game nowadays I feel like I just finished a job, yet when I finished Ruiner I felt a sense of accomplishment, like I had truly done something that was worthy of note. I think that’s emblematic of Ruiner as a whole, where other games make playing feel like a job, in Ruiner it’s a thrill, and it’s one that you won’t soon forget. Its beauty comes not in the form of absurdly photorealistic visuals that blur the line between virtual space and real life, but in the form of a more artistic approach to graphics. What surprises me the most is that Ruiner somehow managed to make a parking garage into a zone in which I wanted to explore every nook and cranny, just to make sure I grabbed everything I could find.

Every element of game design synergizes together to create an immaculate game worthy of only the highest praise. Well done Devolver, Ruiner is my 2017 Game of the Year.

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Just not quite enough; grab it on a sale


8-Bit Invaders: a game that I so desperately wanted to like, yet can’t find myself playing for anything longer than a few hours. Understand that if I had the option to go for a mixed rating then I would, but as it stands I do believe it’s worth a purchase. Invaders is the third, and last, game in the 8-Bit series, precursed by 8-Bit Hordes and 8-Bit Armies, and keeps the formula almost exactly the same from both previous games. This means there’s no story whatsoever, besides a brief paragraph on the campaign screen giving some context to your mission, which is an extremely bold move for any game to make. I’m not entirely sure a decent story could even have been made here, and am even less sure as to whether or not it’s better without one, but it does kinda feel lazy that they didn’t even try and just went with a campaign of skirmish matches. The problem with having no story and focusing exclusively on gameplay is that you have to make sure that your gameplay is top-notch to make up for the complete lack of narrative. This is something 8-Bit Invaders tries to do, but ultimately I’d say that it fails because of just how average everything is. That’s not saying anything negative necessarily, it’s a solid RTS and clearly quite well made, but it’s still the exact same game as the rest of the 8-Bit series. As I mentioned before I can’t really keep myself playing this game for more than a few missions, and I think the reason for that is just how much of a slog it is, doing the same things repeatedly each mission only to finally win and have to do it all again in the next one. I have no problem with a game that takes something already done before and solidifies it with extremely well-crafted gameplay, look at Company of Heroes and you’ll see a perfect example of that. I do however have a problem when a game simply copies its previous iterations and pastes them back into the Steam store, each as a full priced release instead of the DLC they should have been. That’s really what this comes down to: 8-Bit Invaders would have been a nice expansion to 8-Bit Armies, but I’m extremely conflicted as to whether or not it has enough to stand on its own as a $15 release.


Now for some more detail. 8-Bit Invaders is an RTS, so that means you’re going to be commanding a host of units in your attempt to bring the opposing faction ruin and annihilation. It’s important in an RTS game that every unit has both a viable role and a certain uniqueness, and this is where Invaders falls off. I can’t overstate how much I love the unit design visually, with appealing pixely robotic war machines and aliens, but I also can’t overstate how boring most of the unit roster is. Generally, the units are enjoyable to look at, but significantly less enjoyable to actually use. There’s a handful of exceptions to this rule, but since most of them are heavy end-game units you aren’t even going to be able to deploy them most of the time. This is a huge bummer since a lot of these endgame units are actually fascinating, like giant slug robots or huge UFO motherships. I think that how cool the units are is somewhat irrelevant when you consider that you more than likely are never going to be able to use them, since there’s no reason to. That’s what hits me the hardest when it comes to 8-Bit Invaders: a lot of the stuff in this game looks so extraordinarily fun to use and just beautifully designed, but is completely useless because instead of producing super-units you’d be better off just building a massive ball of expendable ones. While these units are definitely unique, they aren’t unique enough for me to want to handicap myself by trying to build them and they certainly aren’t unique enough to make up for the lack of general strategy and tactics. While I enjoy 8-Bit Invaders, I feel that if there is enough content here to warrant a purchase, it’s just barely; most of the missions are the exact same and the uniquely 8-Bit aesthetic wears off pretty quick after you realize that, even for 15 bucks, there really isn’t much here.

8-Bit Invaders has me asking the question “Are well-crafted graphics enough to make up for laughably monotonous gameplay?” to which I find myself just about always answering no.

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Cannibalizing your foes has never been more fun; Recommended purchase

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1224548034
Tooth and Tail isn’t your typical RTS, instead of a rare breed: those who attempt to take the RTS format and adapt it for controllers. Surprising to absolutely nobody, this never works out as well as you’d think and you end up having to cut features and simplify your gaming experience so that it’s accessible for the controller. If you try and keep all your features intact with little to no simplification then you end up with something a little like halo wars, which was an extraordinary RTS but I feel would have been inarguably better had it stuck to a normal control scheme. I feel similarly with Tooth and Tail, though I will admit that the way they adapted it works really well with the game’s theme, as well as with the changes they made to RTS gameplay. That’s what kinda bums me out, there’s endless potential with Tooth and Tail and I feel that while the developers realized a majority of said potential, they hamstrung themselves by trying to build the game for controllers. A perfect example of this is how indescribably frustrating the attack controls are. Since they built the game for controllers they had to absolutely eviscerate the controls, now only giving you two real controls for your soldiers: left click for giving orders to one unit type, and right click for ordering all units. This seems great, as if they found a way to successfully simplify RTS controls, except since you can’t use the mouse they had to find another way to allow you to perform actions like attacking. Now it gets rough, because you can only order your units to attack highlighted targets, and the targets that are highlighted are selected based on distance from you. So if you want to attack a turret, you have to stand close enough for it to be selected and then hit right click, which means that it’s impossible to attack one specific unit in a crowd of enemies because the highlight is too unpredictable. This isn’t the only problem that Tooth and Tail has, there’s also the issue of how the campaign levels are generated. Every mission in the campaign has the same objectives, but each time you play it generates a new map seed, meaning you’ll never get the same map layout twice. This is a unique idea that I haven’t ever seen done in an RTS before, and now I know why: it creates a chasm of unpredictably fluid difficulty. I’ve had missions that were extraordinarily easy, then gone back and replayed those missions only to get curb-stomped because the enemy AI got a better spawn this time. I’m kinda mixed about this because while it creates problems with difficulty, it also means every level is a new experience and adds just about endless replayability. Having this unpredictability also means that if you’re having trouble with a mission, you can just keep trying and eventually get a map that may allow you to finally beat it, which takes the pressure off on some of the tougher missions.

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1224548000
Understand that I love Tooth and Tail, I just feel like the RTS genre is absolutely not for controllers, and trying to force that in only weakens what otherwise is an absolute gem of a game. Now that I’ve finished with all the negatives, the eviscerated control scheme, the poor system for giving orders and all that, I’d like to get into the treasure trove of fantastic features this game has. The one you’re going to notice right off the bat is gonna be the artwork, good god the artwork is so incredible. It’s definitely not easy to manage an appealing pixelated look, but I can tell you for a 100% certainty that they flawlessly pulled it off, every battleground is a work of art, every unit a masterpiece. Every RTS has its share of unique units that manage to leave a lasting impression on you: the Thor and Ultralisk from Starcraft II, the Avatar of Khaine from Dawn of War, the priest from Age of Empires II, all of them memorable. Tooth and Tail is no different, except in the fact that every single unit is memorable, not just a few of them. Having animal units opens up so many fun options to make unique and memorable units, like grenade-firing gas masked skunks, or trench-club wielding chameleons, even ferrets hefting massive artillery cannons on their backs. That may be my favorite part of Tooth and Tail, the animal warfare theme makes for an unforgettable RTS experience that provides a fresh take on strategy games. Not only is the art direction absolutely flawless, the music is extraordinary too. I was surprised to be hearing a AAA quality soundtrack in this small indie game, one that perfectly fits every scenario, from resource building to the down and dirty battles. On top of the solid art direction, the gameplay, while suffering from the aforementioned control simplification, is action-packed and extraordinarily enjoyable. I haven’t really delved too deep into the multiplayer, so I can’t speak as to its quality, but I can tell you that there seems to be a significant community around this game that’s keeping the game living and matches easy to find. The campaign is quite a bit of fun, Tooth and Tail is not only unique in its controls, but also in its approach to game length, with most games lasting 10-12 minutes at the absolute most. This means that each game is significantly more action-packed and has less down time, something that I think works well with all the other changes introduced. Overall, while I do have a massive problem with how they handled the controls, every other aspect of the game is beautiful and the campaign, while short, is an exceptionally enjoyable RTS experience.

Even with the controls having been gutted, Tooth and Tail is a refreshing take on RTS games with some of the best unit and general art design that the genre has to offer.

Let me know what you thought of this review in the comments below!


Psychotic? Yes. Absolutely Worth the Purchase? Also Yes.

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1220651187
There’s extremely little that I’m actually able to say about Hatred that won't make me sound like a psychopath, you spend most of your time gunning down civilians and what little you have left is spent gunning down the law enforcement trying to stop you. Back in 2015 when this little gem of a game snuck its way into Steam Greenlight, it ended up getting removed due to the nature of its content. This caused a massive controversy and raised an important question that needed to be answered: does the ultra-violent nature of the game warrant it being removed and essentially censored off of Steam? That’s a complicated question and there’s many answers, but what’s important to remember is that Hatred is a video game, nothing here is real, and as such keep that in mind when I talk about how satisfying the guns are or how impressive the destruction is. Now, the character you play as in Hatred is a bit difficult for me to refer to, considering in the first five minutes of the game he informs you that his name is “not important”, so for the sake of both this review and my sanity I’m going to refer to him as Trenchcoat Tom. Trenchcoat Tom is quite possibly the single most hilarious yet boring and poorly made character I have ever seen in a game before. Obviously if you’re playing Hatred you aren’t exactly here for the story or narrative, considering there practically is none, but even still Trenchcoat Tom’s dialogue is absolutely horrendous, yet simultaneously hilarious. With such one liners as “I’m a man of hate and disgust” and “I never thought it would be so easy to slaughter my whole neighborhood”, you’ll be laughing every time he opens his mouth. On one hand, his cringy dialogue is a refreshing little bit of comedy every now and again, but on the other hand this literally makes the main character a walking joke and I’m still not sure whether his lines are meant to be that edgy or not. Trenchcoat Tom is the only character that you interact with throughout the entire game, unless you count the civilians screaming and begging for mercy, which I don’t. I don’t feel the need to beat around the bush here: Hatred’s character design is just downright horrible. No background, no emotion, no halfway decent dialogue, none of that, just an edgy guy with the vague objective of “If it moves, it dies”.

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1218164232
So, the story’s horrible and the main character may as well be a walking talking edgy ken doll for all the story that he has, but that really isn’t what you’re here for is it? Narrative is absolutely not what Hatred is about, and that’s incredibly refreshing in today’s day and age where developers of games like Battlefront 2 feel the need to include half-baked “stories” in their games just to say they have one. The main premise of each of Hatred’s missions is, with only two real exceptions, kill X amount of civilians and then escape. At the risk of sounding like a soon-to-be terrorist, I actually think that this is an extremely enjoyable objective, and it’s nice to finally be shooting at something that isn’t shooting me back for once. However, that never lasts for long since, as is common in most civilized countries, after you start piling up bodies, the law gets involved. Initially, you only have to take out normal police officers and state troopers, local law enforcement and the like, but after a while you’ll have to deal with SWAT teams and, eventually, the United States National Guard. These are increasingly challenging, which is a good thing, Hatred would be no fun at all if you were just firing on civilians the whole time, and the law enforcement is always there to keeps things interesting. Sometimes you’ll fight a humvee with a mounted machine gun, but I can count how many times I did that on one hand and still have enough fingers left to finish writing this review. One thing in particular that I like about Hatred is the how enjoyable the weapons are to use, every single one has an indescribably satisfying feel to it. There really aren’t too many weapons to choose from, only five or six tops, which is a bit of a bummer but the one’s that are there work so well that I suppose it works. What surprised me the most about Hatred is that every level was extremely fun and furthermore, memorable, definitely not what you’d expect from a twin-stick shooter. I can still vividly remember each level, from the initial neighborhood to the docks, all the way to the military base in the second to last level of the game. Hatred may lack significantly in the departments of narrative and general character development, but it certainly lacks for nothing when it comes to its levels.

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1220651360
Continuing on about the levels, each one is surprisingly large and provides ample opportunity for exploration, as well as many useful rewards for doing so. The main reward that you’re going to be interested in acquiring though is respawn tokens, pretty self-explanatory items. These are acquired only through completing side objectives, with each level usually containing two or three and some containing none at all. These side objectives are critical, as not only are they needed to make sure this doesn’t become absurdly challenging, forcing you to one life per level, but they give each mission some life as well. The side objectives make this world feel more alive because while you’re on your murder spree in the middle of the neighborhood, some guy across town is hosting a party and there’s a politician speaking in the square. Disrupting these events is quite enjoyable and makes the side objectives more than just more people you have to kill, because clearly there’s enough of that here already. On a separate note, controlling Trenchcoat Tom is extraordinarily fluid and generally just easy, which I didn’t expect from a twin-stick, thinking that it would just about force me to use a controller instead of providing proper mouse and keyboard controls. So you’ve heard about the gameplay, graphics, and just about everything else that I can talk about, but yet there’s one glaring feature that you’ll see I still need to touch on: the graphics. The only color that you’re ever going to see in Hatred is red, everything else is going to be various shades of grey. Now, I imagine you could make some theory on how this is representative of life, and that there is no evil, only various shades of grey, but in response to that I would say “Please stop talking” I’m trying to write here. The graphics are unique and I love that they chose something so defining for their game, it really makes Hatred stand out and I love that. What I don’t love however, is not being able to see someone because they look just as grey as the building behind them, or missing an obstructive wall because it looked like the same grey shade that covers the ground. I don’t know if there was a better way to do this, but it has me mixed: it’s extremely unique and sets Hatred apart from other twin-sticks, but it also means there’s going to be some times where you get killed because of it and end up feeling cheated.

Cringey? Yes. Way too edgy? Yes. One of the most enjoyable twin-stick experiences I’ve ever had? Absolutely.

Let me know what you thought of this review in the comments below!


Sneak it into your library; recommended purchase

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1221847885
Ten. Sweat trickles down Key’s brow as he twists and turns the lockpick in his hands, gently coercing the shimmering gold chest to reveal the loot inside, knowing the little time he has left is being bought with blood on the streets down below. Nine. On the streets of the Skardway four silhouettes dance, clangs screaming as steel meets steel, Candle doing her best to buy time for Key up above, knowing that the success of their mission rests solely on him opening that chest. Eight. More guards pour in from all sides, Candle’s flank just barely being guarded by Tough, wood cracking, shields splintering from the sheer force of his strikes. Seven. Candle opens the first guard’s throat, calling to Key to hurry up, as reinforcements from the guard post nearby are on their way. Six. Key hears a sharp clack, relief washing over him as he hefts the chest open, revealing their objective inside. Five. As Key frantically grabs all that he can, he reminisces on their objective: steal everything in an attempt to coerce a stubborn shop owner to hand over his boat. Four. Key hoists the loot over his shoulder and dashes down the staircase, a mad rush to get to the door down below. Three. Candle and Tough pile corpses upon corpses but the reinforcements are cresting the horizon, Key finally appearing at the door, out of breath just as they were out of time. Two. They group and shatter through the guards’ lines, leaving blood and confusion in their wake, determined in their sprint to the ladder leading them to safety. One. They slide down the ladder and into the safeways below. Welcome to Killers and Thieves, a fantastic experience of trickery and deceit, of blood and steel.

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1221843252
You’ll be operating in the streets of Greypool, a decrepit excuse for a city ruled by ruthless merchant lords who are as cruel as they are rich. Killers and Thieves is a stealth game, yes, but primarily a game of management. Managing your thieves and their skills, what loot you’re going to sell and where, and most importantly, managing your gold and making sure it trickles its way into all the right pockets. Now I said that Killers and Thieves is a stealth game, but I found myself having much more fun by ignoring the stealth entirely as opposed to trying to use it effectively. The controls are almost an exact parallel to This War of Mine, which works really well in a pseudo-survival kinda game like TWOW that moves at a much slower pace, but works extremely poorly in a stealth game where you need to be constantly microing your team. K&T may seem like a stealth game but I can honestly say that’s its weakest mechanic, which isn’t exactly saying much as even the weakest part is still solid, but still it’s a problem that needs to be addressed. Early on I tried to be the perfect thief and sneak through the levels, but I found that going the aggressive route was both more successful and enjoyable. The problem with stealth in K&T is that when a thief’s stealth runs out and you get detected, that’s it, that thief can no longer stealth anymore and if you try they’ll be detected and immediately arrested. Even if you kill all witnesses, apparently the guards are all one collective hivemind and can immediately know who’s been detected and where they are. Something else to mention, K&T has some glaring problems when it comes to its level design. Often times we say that levels feel the same when they’re actually not, just similar enough to fool us, but in K&T every level is literally the exact same as the last one, only with occasional and minute differences in room layouts, forcing you to sneak through the same grey houses on every single mission. On top of that, the stealth options are just extremely limited, being able to hide and really that’s about it, not really any other stealth abilities besides one or two that can be acquired through leveling up. This system may be barebones and not even remotely up to par, but I think the rest of the game is so well-crafted that it makes up for it entirely.

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1221843326
Now it may sound like I’ve been just absolutely tearing into this game, and that this was planned as a scaldingly negative review, but the truth is that I’m just disappointed in the potential that was squandered by the poor stealth mechanics. The game itself is actually phenomenal once I managed to get past the hurdle that is the stealth mechanic and just go for straight up combat instead. I think that’s to the game’s credit in a big way, being able to build your characters in different ways so that they complement each other, and being able to somewhat choose how you want to play is extremely important in a management game like this. That’s where I can honestly say that K&T shines: the management aspect. The developers clearly put a lot of work and dedication into making sure that it was as detailed as possible, while also being simple and easy to learn. You manage not only your thieves, but also things like the safe houses in each district and even the shops in which you fence your ill begotten goods. The story and the world are pretty detailed as well, though I think there’s a better way of delivering the story than how they do it, through occasional cutscenes and notes before and after missions. I particularly enjoyed just how immersed I was, putting hours into K&T without even noticing; the flawless art and world design, coupled with the elegantly simple gameplay keeping me constantly engaged. I think that’s what K&T boils down to: while yes, it has a flawed stealth system and that frustrates me to no end, don’t mistake this for a mixed or even slightly negative review. I believe that this is quite possibly one of the best management games I’ve ever played and absolutely a worthy game from Stoic, but it does have flaws. Regardless, these flaws still can’t overshadow how much I enjoyed Killers and Thieves, through its exemplary world-building, tense combat, and top-tier management mechanics.

Even though it has a stealth system that can’t quite sneak by, Killers and Thieves gives This War of Mine a run for the best management game that I’ve ever played.

Let me know what you thought of this review in the comments below!

Classic RTS, Definite Purchase

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1206926598&fileuploadsuccess=1
The towering pillboxes on the beach open up, MG42’s barking vivid and horrifying, lurking above the sands like demons in the dark, friends you’ve known and fought with for years being butchered in scores while you throw yourself onto the shingles with the false hope of safety: this is war. This is what you face right off the bat coming into the first level of Company of Heroes, the critically acclaimed game which modernized WWII in the RTS genre, I’m here to tell you just why it has those accolades, and why it deserves them. Company of Heroes may quite possibly be one of the best RTS games that exists right now, not only due to it’s strategic gameplay but also due to the magnitude of content that comes with the purchase of the base game. In an age of DLC being piled on at every possible chance, it’s refreshing to get a full campaigns worth of content here in CoH just by making one purchase. Not only does it contain a magnitude of content, but that content manages to be engaging and varied, always keeping the gameplay from getting stale. The formulaic nature of RTS games means that you aren’t going to often see much variation in basic gameplay features, such as creating stationary buildings and using them to produce units, and CoH is no different. To its credit, even basic things, like creating buildings, are given a really special WWII feel instead of just being the same old same old. Instead of just having engineers construct a vehicle bay, for the Americans you call in a truck that can deploy and spawn vehicles from there. I believe it’s different for other factions, but I’m still giddy that a company cares enough about making their game fit with their chosen theme that they’d add such a minor detail. You’re going to notice this is a common theme throughout Company of Heroes: there’s definitely a clear, incredibly authentic WWII feel to the game and clear passion from the developers present in every aspect.

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1206925252&fileuploadsuccess=1
Company of Heroes is a perfect example that you don’t have to make some massive innovation in your game, simply doing something that’s already been done, and doing it well, makes you a cut above the rest. CoH is not the first RTS to have squad-based abilities, Starcraft had that, it’s not the first RTS to have a WWII setting, Blitzkrieg did that, and it certainly isn’t the first RTS to feature game-changing abilities, as Dawn of War had that on lockdown. This isn’t to paint Company of Heroes in a negative light, quite the opposite, it’s to show that even though it holds no major innovations in its design, it still manages to be a classic. Not to say that it has no unique aspects, being able to pick which command tree you want to go down, changing the abilities you can use, is nice but it’s certainly no nemesis system in terms of innovation. That’s entirely okay, as long as you can make up for it in other ways, which Company of Heroes does constantly all throughout the game. There’s a story in each campaign, which not only ties the campaigns together, but adds more motivation to see each campaign through. Given, don’t come into Company of Heroes expecting to find a story on par with Mass Effect, that’s not what this is at all. It’s a simple story, like a string holding Company of Heroes together: not particularly strong, but necessary all the same to keep it all from falling apart. When you come into CoH, you shouldn’t be expecting a narrative experience, but instead one of strategic gameplay.

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1206926030&fileuploadsuccess=1
Company of Heroes strikes an impressive balance between having gameplay focused on strategically using squads to their fullest potential, like Dawn of War II, and also being focused on building the right units to counter your enemy, more in the vein of Age of Empires II. So you definitely need to focus on how you use your squads, but you can’t lose sight of the bigger picture of the battle either. This synergizes perfectly with the various abilities that you can call into play, such as gliders filled with troops or a sector-wide artillery barrage. The units are fun to use and there’s lots of variation between them, different models of tanks for different purposes and different upgrades for infantry squads to fit the current situation. Along with the varied units comes a significant variation in map design and missions, both of which are noticeably different and important to how each level plays. However, a minute portion of the missions reach far beyond the point of reasonable difficulty and into the realm of the infuriating, with objectives that seem to give you far more than you can handle. The biggest offender when it comes to this that I can think of would be the Mortain counterattack mission, which forces you to capture 3 points across the map while simultaneously being assaulted at your main base. There’s a few other missions similar to this, though they all have the same problems: you cannot be expected to fight at three points on the map while simultaneously managing the full defense of your base. This actually would be a fantastic mission if the German forces also had to spread their forces thin across these four points of battle, but they don’t have to. Company of Heroes has the same problem that every single other RTS game has and will have until we develop significant improvements in AI: Artificial Intelligence as it currently is can never match the strategic mind of a human. So if the AI can’t match a player in strategy, they have to make up for that in other ways, mainly by giving boosts to resources and units in this case. Normally the AI having these massive buffs seems to somewhat equal out the difficulty, but in the few missions like Mortain it just causes the AI to essentially field three separate armies while you’re stuck with one. Maybe I’m simply a poor CoH player, but it’s hard for me to believe that’s the cause when I’m fighting against an AI fielding double my amount of units with no signs of stopping.

Company of Heroes shows that innovation isn’t always necessary in a game, doing more of the same, and doing it phenomenally, works just fine.

Let me know what you thought of this review in the comments below!

Classic RTS, Definite Purchase

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1206926598&fileuploadsuccess=1
The towering pillboxes on the beach open up, MG42’s barking vivid and horrifying, lurking above the sands like demons in the dark, friends you’ve known and fought with for years being butchered in scores while you throw yourself onto the shingles with the false hope of safety: this is war. This is what you face right off the bat coming into the first level of Company of Heroes, the critically acclaimed game which modernized WWII in the RTS genre, I’m here to tell you just why it has those accolades, and why it deserves them. Company of Heroes may quite possibly be one of the best RTS games that exists right now, not only due to it’s strategic gameplay but also due to the magnitude of content that comes with the purchase of the base game. In an age of DLC being piled on at every possible chance, it’s refreshing to get a full campaigns worth of content here in CoH just by making one purchase. Not only does it contain a magnitude of content, but that content manages to be engaging and varied, always keeping the gameplay from getting stale. The formulaic nature of RTS games means that you aren’t going to often see much variation in basic gameplay features, such as creating stationary buildings and using them to produce units, and CoH is no different. To its credit, even basic things, like creating buildings, are given a really special WWII feel instead of just being the same old same old. Instead of just having engineers construct a vehicle bay, for the Americans you call in a truck that can deploy and spawn vehicles from there. I believe it’s different for other factions, but I’m still giddy that a company cares enough about making their game fit with their chosen theme that they’d add such a minor detail. You’re going to notice this is a common theme throughout Company of Heroes: there’s definitely a clear, incredibly authentic WWII feel to the game and clear passion from the developers present in every aspect.

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1206925252&fileuploadsuccess=1
Company of Heroes is a perfect example that you don’t have to make some massive innovation in your game, simply doing something that’s already been done, and doing it well, makes you a cut above the rest. CoH is not the first RTS to have squad-based abilities, Starcraft had that, it’s not the first RTS to have a WWII setting, Blitzkrieg did that, and it certainly isn’t the first RTS to feature game-changing abilities, as Dawn of War had that on lockdown. This isn’t to paint Company of Heroes in a negative light, quite the opposite, it’s to show that even though it holds no major innovations in its design, it still manages to be a classic. Not to say that it has no unique aspects, being able to pick which command tree you want to go down, changing the abilities you can use, is nice but it’s certainly no nemesis system in terms of innovation. That’s entirely okay, as long as you can make up for it in other ways, which Company of Heroes does constantly all throughout the game. There’s a story in each campaign, which not only ties the campaigns together, but adds more motivation to see each campaign through. Given, don’t come into Company of Heroes expecting to find a story on par with Mass Effect, that’s not what this is at all. It’s a simple story, like a string holding Company of Heroes together: not particularly strong, but necessary all the same to keep it all from falling apart. When you come into CoH, you shouldn’t be expecting a narrative experience, but instead one of strategic gameplay.

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1206926030&fileuploadsuccess=1
Company of Heroes strikes an impressive balance between having gameplay focused on strategically using squads to their fullest potential, like Dawn of War II, and also being focused on building the right units to counter your enemy, more in the vein of Age of Empires II. So you definitely need to focus on how you use your squads, but you can’t lose sight of the bigger picture of the battle either. This synergizes perfectly with the various abilities that you can call into play, such as gliders filled with troops or a sector-wide artillery barrage. The units are fun to use and there’s lots of variation between them, different models of tanks for different purposes and different upgrades for infantry squads to fit the current situation. Along with the varied units comes a significant variation in map design and missions, both of which are noticeably different and important to how each level plays. However, a minute portion of the missions reach far beyond the point of reasonable difficulty and into the realm of the infuriating, with objectives that seem to give you far more than you can handle. The biggest offender when it comes to this that I can think of would be the Mortain counterattack mission, which forces you to capture 3 points across the map while simultaneously being assaulted at your main base. There’s a few other missions similar to this, though they all have the same problems: you cannot be expected to fight at three points on the map while simultaneously managing the full defense of your base. This actually would be a fantastic mission if the German forces also had to spread their forces thin across these four points of battle, but they don’t have to. Company of Heroes has the same problem that every single other RTS game has and will have until we develop significant improvements in AI: Artificial Intelligence as it currently is can never match the strategic mind of a human. So if the AI can’t match a player in strategy, they have to make up for that in other ways, mainly by giving boosts to resources and units in this case. Normally the AI having these massive buffs seems to somewhat equal out the difficulty, but in the few missions like Mortain it just causes the AI to essentially field three separate armies while you’re stuck with one. Maybe I’m simply a poor CoH player, but it’s hard for me to believe that’s the cause when I’m fighting against an AI fielding double my amount of units with no signs of stopping.

Company of Heroes shows that innovation isn’t always necessary in a game, doing more of the same, and doing it phenomenally, works just fine.