Reseñas recientes de Zhabi <3

My first strategy! It rekindled, ignited and scarred my love of RTS and, in the process, also classical music, metal and rock. I had previously had the pleasure of playing ‘SC’ and ‘AoE’, but once that was cursory and two that I didn't have my discs. Instead, I got ‘Red Alert 2’, from whose box a one-eyed Soviet soldier was looking down on me. I was stoked right from the installation process. The heavy, disturbing music. The voiceover summarising the events of the previous game! The pictures! The pop-up diagrams! I felt completely like a little commander of mighty armies at a briefing.

Of course, my inner le petit caporal used to get a severe beating, but I treated every little progress as a great success. Victory was something rare, and extremely satisfying. I remember talking about the game non-stop, annoying everyone around me with my love of virtual warfare. Nevertheless, being a teenager, I somehow managed to complete this title, which I think I can be proud of (today it took me about 30h to complete the whole game with the add-on). Now, however, I notice my bad RTS habit, which I picked up through ‘RA2’. Digging in like a boar in cones and building huge armies. I only managed to uproot this in 2013, with the release of ‘SC2:Hots’.

Some say that building a base and an army doesn't need, unbeknownst to you, a storyline. I for one believe that the story in an RTS game is always one of its strongest points. The employment of actors (Udo Kier as Yuri and Ray Wise as the US president ❤) and cinematic interludes add gravity and realism like nothing else, although there are some jokes. This is one of the reasons why I don't have as much sympathy for ‘RA3’, which openly pisses with ( . Y . ) and ( ! ).

The RA2 story is one of two offshoots of the C&C universe. An alternative World War II ended with an Allied victory and the establishment of a new order. In 1952, Stalin dies under the ruins of Moscow and Alexander Romanov (Nicholas Worth), a descendant of a famous family and a staunch communist, is installed in his place. The new leader, however, proved to be no better than his predecessor. With the help of Romanian advisor Yuri (Udo Kier), he rebuilds the Soviet war machine. The year is 1972 and, under the guise of quelling a civil war in Mexico, the USSR prepares an army to invade the USA. World War III breaks out and our careers as commanders begin.

There are two campaigns to choose from: the Allies and the USSR. Both camps have their member countries with special buildings or units. It's more of an added flavour to add a bit of variety to the gameplay, especially the skirmishes. There are 12 missions to complete for each side of the conflict. As is usual in RTSs, the campaign slowly introduces us to new units, building a sense of development. What deserves praise is the multitude of tanks and soldiers we will have to use. The Americans, thanks to Albert Einstein, have laser tanks or the camouflage-capable ‘Mirage’ type. Chronospheric technology allows units to teleport, while a weather control device sends storms to enemy bases. More classically, the Russians use the brute force of their ‘Apocalypse’ type vehicles, use Tesla's electrifying solutions, drop nuclear warheads and make their vehicles indestructible with the Iron Curtain. It still impresses me to this day because the design is simply gorgeous.

Graphically, despite its charm, the game has aged.... very much. It's not at the ‘unplayable’ level, but I'm waiting longingly, if only for the remaster we got of the predecessor. I still like the way the buildings and units are made. To the untrained eye, the game may seem a bit chaotic, but after a few games it becomes quite clear. On the technical side, there is a distinct lack of some of the facilities that are standard in RTSs today. And then there's the command style! WITH THE LEFT BUTTON! Scandal!

The sound design is pure genius, as I already mentioned when writing about the first part. Frank Klepacki opted for hard rock, synth, futurism. The game welcomes us with the masterful tracks ‘Grinder’ and ‘Hell March’. It's not for me to judge which one is better. I love both of them, although the entire OST is simply superb.

To this day, a whole host of mods are being created for the game that not only extend the gameplay, but each can give the title another life. It really is amazing how the community cares about the development of a beloved production, after all, considered by many to be an RTS peak. Although I consider Red Alert 2 to be one of the most important representatives of the genre, I can see its minor flaws, which do not allow me to give it a straight 10, although I do give it inside my heart.

Graphics: 7/10
Music: 10/10
Story: 10/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Overall rating: 9/10

It's the year 2072, and in the game we take on the role of a hacker (or hacker, w/e) who is captured by the sad masters and brought to the corporation's headquarters in the Citadel - a giant space station suspended somewhere off Saturn. There, he gets an ‘unflappable’ proposition from the station's vice-president, and TriOptimum corporate board member, Edward Diego. The peasant apparently got bored with his current position, messed something up, and, not reading the AI manual, gives our hacker the simple job of removing the ethical restrictions on it. After successfully hacking SHODAN, as this programmer is called, the protagonist is to be released into the wild, and even rewarded with a special implant. The operation is successful and the character is put into a coma for about six months. After this time, we wake up in the Citadel's medical sector, with not a living soul around. There are mutants, robots, androids, drones walking everywhere. And they have no positive intentions towards us. We quickly learn that SHODAN has gone completely mad, because not only has she deified herself, but she also intends to assimilate all of humanity in the manner of the ‘Star Trek’ Borg. So it's time to grab the pipe and drink the beer that has been brewed.

Let's start by saying that this game is not for dummies. Mainly because of the fact that it requires attention, focus, thinking and a drip of deduction. The plot is discovered through journal entries and voice recordings of former Citadel crew members. Any door codes or the final key required to complete the game are hidden in messages, or in plain sight. It's also not a Level 1 clear, then Level 2 and Level 3 naaah! You'll run through the mazes of the damn station until you remember it! And try to avoid something! Something that's three levels down and each lift has its own separate shaft. Sound like a lot of boring walking? Relaxee! SHODAN has a great way of keeping you entertained, sending you down waves and waves of enemies until you fall for lack of ammo or first aid kits. Well, unless you learn not to fly on the stick, and believe me... you will. Veterans, on the other hand, will be able to dust off the legendary notebooks where they jotted down all the notes they needed to get through the games. Yes! ‘System Shock is difficult. Although it doesn't have to be. I have encountered opinions that the game is too hard. There's a lack of ammunition and first aid kits, and it's hard to find your way through the clutter of corridors. I think this is a sign of the times and all I can say is: ‘Heh, noobs’. It's just not a title that will forgive you for mistakes or cackling. Want to shoot? Watch out for the head sticking out! In the end, once I embraced the need to play more carefully, I managed to accumulate a supply of 20 patches, 6 first aid kits and 500 standard cartridges. It is possible!

At the start, we can also adjust the difficulty level for ourselves, which is a very interesting solution that you can hardly find today. You want action but don't want to exert yourself mentally? You can set the puzzles on the easiest level and leave the shooting on the hardest. Want to chill? Simple as that. It's brilliant in its simplicity and is a breath of nostalgic freshness from the usual modes of adventure, easy, normal, difficult, we'll all gonna be d3ad and my favourite difficulty level: Souls-like. ‘System Shock’ can therefore be VERY (!) challenging, as on the hardest mode you get a measly 10h to complete the title. Believe me, without knowing the game don't even sit down to it! Like a naive sucker I tried this approach at the start. I let up on the medical deck, especially as the game is full of finds and bonuses to unlock. You also have to manage your equipment wisely, as backpack space is limited and weapons and ammunition take their toll. So you can't keep hawking everything to the ‘scrap yard’, but rather recycle junk on site. They give half as many credits but take up sometimes four times as much space, so the calculus is simple. The thing that was annoying, on the other hand, and was brazenly added at the very end of the remake, were the ‘hacking’ stages. I like mini-games, but this crap got tiresome after a while, too repetitive. If the ship was still somehow upgradable, it wasn't. Phew-phew into flying blocks and that's it. The notation doesn't apply, so if you fall, agonise all over again.

A big plus for the audio-visual setting, although I didn't particularly like any of the tracks, the voice-overs create an unearthly atmosphere. There's a lot of classic synthwave here, which, combined with the brilliant, retro-futuristic locations, creates a brilliant atmosphere. Unfortunately, there is not enough of a piece to make it stand out and to get into your head. The graphics are much better. Beautiful pixels, colourful wires, lights, diodes and shiny corridors give an amazing vibe. On top of that, all the floors are very well designed, and they vary a lot. The reactor is full of tubes and dark corridors, the levels for the elite are drowning in glamour, and the SHODAN bridge is reminiscent of a computer-worm evil mastermind. Marvellous!

‘System Shock is a title that surprised me in truth. After all, it's actually 30 years old now, and all it took was a little sanding here and there to have a really good game, unmatched by today's productions. For me, it is further proof that a kind of gaming peak was reached in the 1990s, and that today's developers are duplicating and sometimes just trying to improve the mechanics. Welp. I would like to see more remakes like this one here!

Graphics: 8/10
Music: 7/10
Story: 10/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Overall rating: 8/10

You have probably watched a film or read a book more than once and found that it could make a good game. We all know the quality of such products. Better that it wasn't, than that it should spoil the mood. Fortunately, there are creators who quietly do their own thing by modelling themselves on other works.

The title discussed today reminded me most of the 2016 film "Aniara", but some "Battlestar Galactica" also echoes in the background, so if you're a fan of the above, you'll definitely enjoy "Colony Ship". The men from the magnificent ‘The Age of Decadence’ discarded ancient atmospheres to tackle the emptiness of space in a claustrophobic way. Instead, the whole thing was mainly inspired by Robert A. Heinlein's 1941 novel "Orphans of the Sky".

The plot may seem a bit clichéd to genre fans, yet the themes seem too philosophical to me to be popular. A colonisation ship leaves a ruined Earth to find a new home many years later. The journey is expected to take hundreds of years, a fact of which the humans are well aware. Assigned to lead the mission, however, they are met with increasing discontent. A rebellion breaks out and a civil war encompasses the entire ship. The community splits into three factions trying to maintain the fragile peace. The Protectors remain loyal to the mission and will do anything, including murdering anyone who disagrees with them, just to fulfil the objective. The Brotherhood of Freedom demands more freedom, although it realises that to create a healthy community, freedom must be curtailed in favour of security. A third faction finds its way in faith. The Church of the Elect claims that the divine hand will guide them in its own time to salvation, whatever that may be. Each of the above has been preparing for war for decades, and this is the best time for the player to step in. Beyond that, there are the android and mutant factions.

The team at Iron Tower Studio knows how to create stories. To tell stories of tragedy, hope, decline, war or destruction. The events that took place on the ship were sometimes gruesome, driving people to total animalisation. If I had to describe the game in one sentence, I would say that it is a kind of cyberpunk ‘Fallout’ in space. The final plot twist was not only interesting, but downright grotesque. I think it is one of the better representatives of the genre. Lots of dialogue, many coolly written characters, and a multitude of solutions to all conflicts. Pure honey.

Unfortunately, games like ‘Colony Ship’ are nowadays niches. Isometric CRPGs are probably created for such ‘hardcore’ dinosaurs, who sometimes, instead of taking out a gun, prefer to chat an opponent up with a good byte. With the right selection of skills, this title can be played without any major clashes. I'm not sure if it's possible to limit them completely, as I really enjoyed the ‘XCOM’-style turn-based combat, so I wasn't going to check out the full pacing option. The downside is the stealth system is a bit kicked. Not having a thief on the team may block two or three side quests, but they don't offer anything that can be gained otherwise. Nevertheless, this is an overly annoying mechanic. Poor skill distribution can also block some options, so players who love sticking their heads in every door or poking their noses into other people's pockets may want to prepare themselves, a little. Once you've made up your mind, you're in for around 35 hours of really fun, if at times grim, adventure.

Musically it's great. A bit of country, a bit of acoustic guitar, a bit of synthwave. Ryan Eston Paul did a great job capturing the spirit of space voyages. It felt like ‘Stellaris’ meets ‘StarCraft’ and ‘Diablo’. Simply a brilliant background.

Graphically, only one thing hurts. The portraits of the characters have been taken a little for granted, as they seem to be very repetitive. However, this is a minor flaw. The locations are really atmospheric, especially the initial few, like Hydroponics and the Pit. The Habitat seemed a bit dull, although this is understandable. The rest of the locations are over-the-top, and exploring the entire map gives a cool sense of progression. The ability to travel quickly to any major point is also a big plus.

9/10

This is some kind of joke.
Bugs, crashes and low FPS.

Chcemy dalszych losów Marvina. Zwłaszcza po G1.

Gothiiiiiic <3

i guess... its fine... but im still noob :<

NOW WE ARE READY TO SAIL FOR THE HORN!

Still a little bit bugged, but great story, gameplay and all!