Recent reviews by TheJustlyParanoid

The old bot issues got a decent resolution, more new maps have dropped, and the game feels like it's in a much better place now. Shame about no news on a *major* update or anything, but you have to take what you can get I suppose.

The Saboteur is an older game, and with that comes an expected amount of old-game jank. The climbing can sometimes be a bit uncooperative and the cars don't handle high-speed turns all that well. The game still manages to show you a good time, however, with decent gunplay and a variety of options for how to approach various objectives.

The freeplay targets also have the benefit of being more than *just* busywork. Less sniper towers and armored cars all over the place generally means an easier time escaping from pursuers or just a little less enemy firepower that can be turned on you in a given area. Sadly, restoring the "will to fight" in various portions of the map can only be accomplished via missions. Then again, that may or may not be a plus if you enjoy the noir-esque monochrome color scheme.

One last point of relative novelty that comes to mind is that after completing a few main story missions, you gain the ability to actually stand and hold your ground as your alarm/wanted level increases. Quite frankly, it's a darn shame that to my knowledge no sandboxes of this nature have replicated the common sense scenario of the enemy retreating and leaving you be after being on the receiving end of a massive killing spree.

Well, I'll be honest. This is probably the first (and hopefully the last) game I've bought on steam that I felt the need to refund shortly after trying it out. Now, I'm not a complete stranger to the Total War franchise. I've got a relatively old disc-copy of Medieval 2 with the Kingdoms expansion, and recently took advantage of Shogun 2 being given away for free (while also buying a bit of DLC to complete the experience).

Maybe I was a bit biased after experiencing the two aforementioned games, but my first hour of Empire was... bizarre. The UI makes a rather sharp divergence in terms of infantry control--which, by the way, seemed to not want to cooperate with my attempts to form firing lines that AREN'T at weird angles--and the introductory campaign... well... Look, I understand that it's meant to ease you into things, but each battle ended up turning into an overly-long wait time for the troops to line up and fire. They don't even fire in ranks, either--no, apparently you don't get that yet. Thus my foray into having to micro-manage a bunch of different groups of soldiers with (seemingly) wonky control systems across the battlefield began.

I suppose what bugged me the most was how... boring everything felt. Maybe it's the comparative lack of melee units smashing into each-other. Maybe I just had the wrong set of expectations because of previous experiences. Take it with a grain of salt if you will, but I just can't recommend the game after such a lousy first impression.

Hell, if you want some good and fun line-battle action, go get Fall of the Samurai. How an expansion set in a just-then-industrializing country managed to make the gunpowder units more fun than a game about globe-spanning empires is beyond me.

This is a rather old game, but it's definitely aged well. While the AI isn't exactly perfect, it still manages to both support and challenge the player. The more you play, the more advantages you receive in future matches as well; these can range from minor buffs to superior versions of the standard weapons each class has.

The campaign is also quite a nice touch, which not only makes extensive and creative use of the various multiplayer maps, but has a story that fits in with the standard film canon quite nicely. Good writing too, as opposed to some games that just throw together a bare-minimum plotline.

You can also go on a galaxy-wide conuest--admittedly a bit less grand than it sounds, but still another fun way to pass the time.

If you don't mind slightly clunkier than average controls and have a fondness for both FPS games and the Star Wars universe, this is a game you'll enjoy quite a bit. I certainly did.

Alright, so... to put things simply:

Is this DLC mildly entertaining?: Yes.
Can you have fun mucking about in the desert with a few interesting characters?: Also yes.
Do you get a nice new region to conquer in the main game as well?: Indeed.

Now... do you lose practically all material progress upon death, no matter the reason, even if it's in a mission that you could (and maybe even should) otherwise be able to retry like every other mission in the main game that doesn't act as if you'd actually died and pass the time?:

Simply put: YES.

The dlc is nice, and the one-life challenge aspect of it might even be appealing. Personally, I just find it to be beyond aggravating due to how much time you have to waste re-gaining skills, mercenaries, outposts, and even whatever equipment enhancements (more of the weapon effects/stats sort, not the Torvin upgrades which THANKFULLY stick around) you had before. Maybe it's challenging, but it's also a rather big waste of time.

I wouldn't reccommend buying this DLC on it's own--if you can nab everything in the definitive edition or season pass while a good sale's on, go for it. I'd be lying if I were to tell you that it's worth twenty bucks on its own, though.

Europa Universalis IV is a relatively entertaining grand-stratgegy game. It's not particularly buggy, or badly optimized, nor does it have much of an issue with overall gameplay design (save for a few contested bits of game-balance-design, but that's also somewhat subjective).

The real problem is the DLC policy. It just keeps adding up more and more, to the point where even if you got it on sale you'd be paying ludicrous amounts of money just to get the full package. What's worse is that certain ingame mechanics tend to rely on features only available via purchasing the relevant DLCs... and some of the DLCs build on other DLCs... get the picture? It's especially frustrating as some of the earliet DLCs still haven't recieved a price drop.

To a new player, I'd have to say no: don't buy this game unless you've got a buddy who already owns all the DLC, in which case you can play the full game without having to shell out a rediculous amount of money... Don't expect your single-player experiences to reflect that, though.

TL;DR: Decent enough game, but horrible DLC policy that will keep leeching from your wallet just so that you can keep up and properly handle whatever new features have been introduced that rely on DLC additions to function properly.

While not exactly the most complex or "deep" game around, Kingdom: Classic is still a relatively fun, short-n'-sweet game with a bit of extra replay value due to each new game using a randomly generated "map" as it were.

Said game's basic, pixellated artstyle also makes for a rather nice-looking game that you can get working decently with even the most low-grade systems available.