Análises recentes de =CrimsoN=

Gameplay: 8/10
Story: 9/10
Graphics: 8/10 (for the time)
Performance: 9/10 (again, for the time)

Overall: 9/10

Star Wars Tie Fighter deserves to be in the top 10 list of greatest Star Wars video games of all time, and for very good reason. Building off the success of Star Wars X-Wing, with many well received new features (such as a much better-balanced difficulty), Tie Fighter’s greatest strength is easily its campaign. Star Wars Tie Fighter set out to do something that many later Star Wars games still haven’t achieved well. A campaign where you fight for the Galactic Empire in a way that makes you feel more like you’re bringing order to a lawless galaxy than getting engaged with Force related shenanigans. In Tie Fighter, you play as an Imperial Pilot in the Empire’s vast galactic navy. The most interesting part about this, is that the game has a sense of progression where you start off with simple rookie missions such as scanning transports for illegal cargo or rebels and progress to more important assignments as the campaign continues, such as taking down large capital class ships with a bomber squadron or ending a civil war. This is in stark contrast to Star Wars X-Wing where you are treated like an elite pilot right off the bat and given assignments that make you question the mental reliability of Rebel command. Another interesting point in Tie Fighter are the Imperial tactics. Just like in the Star Wars movies, the Galactic Empire typically prefers swarm tactics with dozens of cheap and expendable pilots. This is just as true as in Tie Fighter where the traditional TIE-series craft (Tie Fighter, Bomber and Interceptor) don’t feature any shields and possess a weak hull. But in exchange, most missions featuring these craft will feature many wingmen as you literally swarm your targets. Not to mention additional support craft such as Star Destroyers that are practically flying fortresses in space. It takes some getting used to but ends up surprisingly balanced. Star Wars Tie Fighter is also the first Star Wars game to introduce the notorious Tie Defender. Long before Disney introduced the craft in Star Wars Rebels, and yes, it is just as overpowered in Tie Fighter as it is in the Rebels TV show. In addition to the Tie Defender, Star Wars Tie Fighter also introduces the Tie Avenger (a better version of Darth Vader’s Tie Advanced from A New Hope), the Assault Gunboat and the Missile Boat. All of which include shields. Using these craft also tends to mark a change of direction in the campaign where the player is no longer treated as an expendable pilot, but as an elite ace and thus given more advanced starfighters and more challenging missions.

As for gameplay, Star Wars Tie Fighter doesn’t differ too much from its predecessor. Such as the wonky lack of roll and countermeasures. But instead, Tie Fighter perfects the imperfections of X-Wing. For example, starfighters feel less rigid in their flight even without the ability to roll. Controls are slightly more streamlined by changing the way power is directed between the weapons, shields and engine. In X-wing you’ll find yourself juggling between all three, which makes for a mess in the heat of dogfighting, but in Tie Fighter, you only have to worry about weapons and shields energy. Any leftover energy is automatically diverted to the engines. Also, as mentioned previously, game difficulty has been completed altered as one of the criticisms of Star Wars X-Wing was its nonsensical difficulty of certain missions. Not only are Star Wars Tie Fighter missions much more balanced, but difficulty settings are also included which change the layout of certain missions. Such as featuring less targets on easy difficulty, while harder difficulty adds additional targets and objectives. I played on normal difficulty for most of the campaign, but there were a few tough missions that required me putting the difficulty on easy just to complete them. You aren’t really penalized for playing on an easier difficulty either, which is a plus. Another unique part of the gameplay in Star Wars Tie Fighter is the introduction of bonus objectives to be completed for prestige in the Secret Order of the Emperor. Yes, I know. I said that Tie Fighter doesn’t feature any Force related crap, and that’s still true. These bonus objectives mostly involve personal objectives that are given by the Emperor and completing them award the player with a higher rank in the Secret Order and additional cutscenes. It’s miniscule, but still very interesting. Many of these bonus objectives are often relatively simple as well, such as scanning Rebel shuttles or even scanning Imperial forces. Basically, the Secret Order are like conventional secret police. Definitely not a huge aspect of the game, but it is cool to be able to become an Emperor’s Hand by simply being awesome with a Tie Fighter!

In summary, Star Wars Tie Fighter IS the game that veteran space flight enthusiast are referring towards when they talk up Star Wars space flight games. Featuring many improvements over its predecessor and a significantly better campaign as well. It’s easy to see why Star Wars Tie Fighter belongs in the top 10 greatest Star Wars games of all time. My only recommendation is that while the original Star Wars Tie Fighter is an excellent game and should be tried at least once. I highly recommend trying out the Star Wars X-Wing Alliance mod that ports over the Tie Fighter campaign into the X-Wing Alliance engine. Along with the updated graphics, the additional gameplay enhancements make for a much more enjoyable experience. But Star Wars Tie Fighter still deserves it’s spot as the number one Star Wars space flight sim.

Gameplay: 7/10
Story: 8/10
Graphics: 8/10 (for the time)
Performance: 9/10 (again, for the time)

Overall: 8/10

This is one of those moments where I wish I could make two reviews. One review where I rate Star Wars X-Wing Special Edition with nostalgia blinders, and another where I judge the game by today's standards of a space sim. For its time, there was nothing really like Star Wars X-Wing, except maybe Wing Commander. But it's very difficult to recommend Star Wars X-Wing with today's competition, and I'm not even referring to things like Elite Dangerous or Star Citizen, but stuff like FreeSpace 2 and Wing Commander 4. For example, things like range indicators, countermeasures and even the simple ability to roll are things we take for granted in more modern space sims. Even Star Wars Tie Fighter is much more memorable than Star Wars X-Wing. So much so that many recommend starting with Tie Fighter and playing X-Wing afterward due to the fact that Tie Fighter is a seemingly easier game to be introduced to. Therefore, I’d say that X-Wing is definitely worth a shot if you enjoyed Tie Fighter. I also think that X-Wing is a great game to play if you haven’t already been spoiled by other space sims.

Let me just reiterate that this review is conducted with a dose of nostalgia, and your experience may vary for the reasons already mentioned above. With that being said, right off the bat, Star Wars X-Wing has been praised for two notable things. That being graphics and performance. For its time, X-wing had state of the art graphics and one of the first games to integrate 3d polygon models. Performance was also heavily praised and even on today’s hardware, it’s not difficult to get Star Wars X-wing running and running well. I highly recommend following a guide to enable 3d acceleration and ddraw fixes to enable fullscreen.

The story of Star Wars X-Wing also deserves some mention and praise as even with Disney’s Order 66 axing of the original Expanded Universe, the story of X-Wing stands the test of time. The early campaign occurs before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope and detail some of the Rebellion’s earlier battles, when they were nothing more than a handful of ships and on constant run from the Galactic Empire. Although, that never really seems to change much for the Rebellion. Expansion packs for the game take place between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. In all campaigns, you play as a no-name pilot of the Rebel Alliance and the difficulty of missions vary, which is a point I will later return to. Also, of interesting note, Star Wars X-Wing heavily follows many of the points established in the original Expanded Universe, such as the Nebulon B-Frigate (the ship that Luke Skywalker was on at the end of Empire Strikes Back) and Corellian Corvettes (Princess Leia’s ship in the intro of a New Hope) being of Galactic Empire origin and thus, part of the main Imperial fleet before Star Destroyers became the main class of heavy cruiser. The Rebel Alliance just steals them. So, if you’re unfamiliar with that fact, then you may find yourself surprised to see these ships immediately open fire on you in the early missions. As there is little in the way of target recognition to make you aware of this fact (like I said, the game’s old and later space sims learned their lessons from this).

Lastly, regarding gameplay. As I already stated, Star Wars X-Wing is very much dated. So many basic features of space sims that we simply take for granted were not present when X-Wing was released. Little is changed in this regard between the classic version and special edition which are both bundled with the version available on Steam. One important point that I stated I’d return to is in regard to the mission difficulty. This is probably the worst aspect of Star Wars X-Wing and definitely something that was criticized when it was released and still is. This being the strict requirements for mission success and the vague explanation for mission objectives. For example, you may be given the task of escorting a small Rebel fleet of hospital ships. A few shuttles and a larger cruiser. If you lose even one shuttle, then congratulations. You just lost the mission. Even if you save the larger cruiser, and the mission objectives specifically tell you to prioritize the larger cruiser. You’ll still fail the mission when a single shuttle is lost. Missions like this are very common and it’s “you either 100% a mission or fail” difficulty is something that was later removed from the sequels, like Star Wars Tie Fighter.

Overall, I’d say that Star Wars X-Wing is great if you played it when it was released and want to re-live some of the nostalgia. Otherwise, it’s difficult to recommend when so many other space sims were released a short period after X-Wing and are significantly better in the gameplay that they provide. As stated before, there is a reason that Star Wars Tie Fighter is the first game people recall when discussing the classic Star Wars flight games. But Star Wars X-Wing does have its own place as being the first Star Wars game to try the space sim formula and its success spawned the better games in the series.

Gameplay: 7/10
Story: 6/10
Graphics: 8/10
Performance: 8/10

Overall: 7/10

It's difficult to recommend Starpoint Gemini 3 (SPG3), but ultimately, I would still recommend it, but not at full price. It's a decent introduction to the series if it's your first time playing a Starpoint Gemini game. But if you have played the others, then you will be disappointed with this entry, which seems to have backtracked on a lot of features from previous games. This is where a majority of the criticism for the game comes from. For one, previous titles had you being able to captain a wide variety of larger starships from the smallest gunships to capital-class carriers, battleships, and dreadnoughts. You could also have wingman and in SPG Warlords you could control an entire faction in a sort of arcade version of the X series. In SPG3 you pilot a single fighter. No wingmen (unless the mission requires it). This single fighter can be pieced together with different parts, but it will never change its class and will always be a fighter. The developers did add capital-class ships to be captained by the player, but they aren't available until the very end of the game and the grind getting to them doesn't really make it worth it since once you get to that point, your fighter is already more than capable of handling most threats. Also, since the game was never really designed for captaining capital class ships, the ships that were added feel "awkward" to use. In other words, it feels more like a gimmick that was added to appease fans. Rather than a feature that planned from the beginning.

Another element that was changed significantly were the factions. Whereas previous games in the SPG series had a TON of factions. Ranging from various corporations, mining guilds, mercenaries the totally not “Galactic Empire”, the Baeldor Republic (a unique space constitutional monarchy). Then there were also a ton of outlaw groups ranging from your standard space pirates to organized criminals and even a group of green anarchists. Granted, none of the factions were really that different, but they all used specific kinds of ships and had unique territories along with associated side quests. Not to mention roleplaying opportunities. But with SPG3 a lot of these factions have suddenly disappeared without reference to them. The only factions that remain are Nexus (a group of secretive researchers) and MultiOps (which is basically space Amazon). A few new factions have appeared including alien races and the mysterious Templars who wish to restore the “totally not Galactic Empire”. The various outlaw factions have also been removed and just collectively referred to as “Outlaws”. Not really differentiating between the various groups. Overall, it makes the SPG3 universe feel smaller, even if it’s toted as being the largest universe in created in SPG thus far.

SPG3 isn’t all bad though. For one, the graphics are decent and much improved from the previous titles. The scale is a lot better too. While previous games let you captain larger starships, they always felt very tiny to me, compared to how much larger they should feel. Everything in SPG3 feels larger. Capital ships feel larger. Space stations feel larger. Planets feel larger. This might have more to do with the fact that you are forced to pilot a fighter though. Sound design feels decent too. Weapons have that “ooph!” sound I’m always looking to hear. Performance is a noteworthy improvement over previous titles as well, with very few bugs that I’ve noted.

Overall, I’d recommend SPG3 if it’s your first dive into the series, but if you’ve already played the previous games, I’m going to have a hard time recommending this one when the previous games have so many more features including trading, dynamic events and scale of SPG2 and the 4x lite mechanics of Warlords.

Gameplay: 5/10
Story: 3/10
Graphics: 7/10
Performance: 6/10

Overall: 5/10

It’s a real bummer that I can’t recommend Precursors, since the idea is something that could seemingly appeal to everyone. An FPS/RPG/Space Sim. It’s basically Star Citizen before Star Citizen was even a thing. So, what’s not to love? It’s a clunky mess. Plain and simple, and before anyone even tries to state it. Yes, I played with the mandatory unofficial fan-made patch. If you do decide to take the plunge and play the game despite this review, you can find the unofficial patch here:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/the-precursors-unofficial-patch/downloads/the-precursors-unofficial-patch-20

Even with the unofficial patch, the game still feels clunky. Best way I can describe the movement is “floaty”. Turning the camera on foot feels unnatural as the slightest movement can have your character thrown into a 90-degree angle upward or downward. I cannot say anything about the driving or space flight because I never made it to that point. In addition to these issues, there are numerous spelling errors and oddities that not even the unofficial patch could address. Now granted, the game is Russian developed, and I may have been able to enjoy the game more in its natural language, but I cannot omit the sloppy English translation. In addition, there are several other Russian games that I have played that are also clunky but still very much playable and without as bad of an English translation (Parkan 2 comes to mind). So, I do not think it is fair to not mention the bad English translation when similar titles have been able to be translated without issue.

This leads me to the next point. Because of the poor English translation, the storyline is incomprehensible. I am sitting here writing this review and trying to recall what happened in the first hour of playing, and I am finding it difficult because of how seemingly nonsensical it is. Let me think. So you’re character crash lands on an alien planet that looks like Felucia out of Star Wars. You have some soldiers with you, but it is difficult to determine if they are on your side or if you are a prisoner. You are given a gun and told to follow them, but also are being ordered around at the same time. The soldiers quickly die to killer plants, and you are left to fend for yourself with only the “ship commander” telling you what to do. Who is the “ship commander”? I have no idea. That is literally who the person is referred to as. Eventually you reach another crashed starship and right before that you end up fighting “Empire soldiers”. Who is the Empire? Again, I have no idea. After you defeat them and a giant robot mech (I must admit, that was pretty cool), you enter a cave and are “stunned” by some weird aliens. As if that should be surprising on a planet teaming with alien life… then you are greeted with a cutscene that even with the English translation through the unofficial patch, makes zero sense. After the cutscene, the real game seems to begin where you are thrown on a totally not Tatooine looking planet in a totally not Mos Eisley looking city and you are basically just told to do whatever. There is a main plot line where you must meet with a “commander” (is that the ship commander?) who also tells you that your father was killed when he walked under a frozen mammoth…I am not actually joking. That is literally the dialogue. I am not sure if the guy was joking or not. But again, because of the lack of English translation, sarcastic humor is a lot more difficult to detect. I am not sure if the guy is being literal or not.

Like I said, it is a shame that I cannot recommend Precursors, because I think the idea is perfect, but the execution is not. I was starting to get into the game after the horrible introduction, but because of the clunky UI and poor English translation, it is just unplayable for me. If you are willing to bear through these issues, then the game looks solid. Graphics are not that bad for an Indie title. Sound design is “meh”. Not the worst I have heard. There are a lot of neat ideas in this game! Crafting, faction relationships, space-sim flight, trading, side-quests, 6 different huge planets to explore apparently, ground vehicles, a few survival aspects like wounds and medicine addiction. If this game received a lot more polish and some tweaks to the storyline to make it more understandable, then it would be a solid game. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend it within its current state.

Gameplay: 8/10
Story: 8/10
Graphics: 8/10
Performance: 9/10

Overall: 8/10

Homeworld Remastered is often considered one of the greatest and most unique space based real-time strategy games, and its very easy to see why that is the case. As a remake of the original Homeworld (and including both the first game and second game bundled) the remaster contains a fantastic visual update and various changes to the original game to bring the series up to modern standards. The most unique aspect of the series is that the game takes place in an entirely 3D space with the ability to take advantage of that environment by allowing your spacecraft units to move in a fully 3D environment. The game further compliments this by introducing tactical advantages to positioning, formations and stances. All of this is featured with a fully fleshed out and designed campaign mode with persistent units that carry over from one mission to another and skirmish/multiplayer.

In terms of graphics, Homeworld Remastered looks absolutely stunning. The classic game was already considered a graphical gem back in 1999, but the remaster has gone further in increasing graphical fidelity without effecting performance. Part of what makes Homeworld appealing is its unique art-style that embraces a functional design towards starships. Everything, from the tinniest fighter and corvette, to massive capital ships, have been filled with detail. Sound design is also a plus, although this is an area that could use improvement in the “oof” factor. Regardless, it’s incredibly immersive that every unit has a voice line in correlation with what they are being directed to do. Whether it’s changing formation, attacking, blocked, etc

Although I didn’t finish Homeworld since I couldn’t master the user interface, which could use some improvement, I would still recommend the game for anyone who is a fan of RTS games. Particularly games like Star Wars Empire at War or Nexus: Jupiter Incident, as these games are likely inspired by the gameplay of Homeworld, whose gameplay has yet to be featured in full form in any other game. Even so, it’s easy to see why something like Homeworld hasn’t been attempted again, as while the game is solid, it is definitely a niche title with a cult-like status. Many features aren’t explained thoroughly enough and you’ll find yourself in several frustrating campaign missions early on. Also, while the persistent campaign is an amazing feature in the classic game, the remaster apparently ruined it by having difficulty scale based off how many units you saved from the previous mission. Meaning that sometimes you’re better off not saving as many units from previous missions if you’re faced with too much difficulty in the subsequent mission.

Even with its cons, I’d still recommend Homeworld if you’re looking for “something different” in the space strategy genre. Homeworld is not the type of traditional RTS series where you can spam several units and just mass them against the enemy. Strategy and unit type are extremely important, especially within the campaign mode. If something like this appeals to you, then I highly recommend Homeworld.

Gameplay: 5/10
Story: 6/10
Graphics: 8/10
Performance: 7/10

Overall: 6/10

End Space is a tiny arcade combat space sim that was at one point exclusively a VR title. I must highlight the emphasis on "combat space sim", as the game is mission based. No exploration, no trading and you are limited to a single starfighter that can be upgraded with credits earned from missions. On top of that, the game is relatively simplistic and features a total of only 12 missions. Most missions amount to varying degrees of "destroy all enemies" or "protect this target" and lack any alternative objectives or parameters. If you fail to protect the target or kill all the enemies then it's mission failed. Because of the linear nature of the game, I can't see myself ever going through multiple playthroughs. As you can imagine, being limited to only 12 missions, the game's story is relatively dull and ends just when it's getting interesting.

In terms of graphics, End Space looks decent, and I imagine it would look amazing under a VR headset. I neglected to use my own headset, but the game does have some stunning visuals at some points. Sound design is "meh" though. The game features a very generic futuristic soundtrack and the starship propulsion and weapon's systems could use a bit more "oof", if you catch my drift.

Performance was also very good, but this shouldn't come as a surprise for a title that was originally slated exclusively for VR. Many people have had issues with connecting their HOTAs, but I didn't experience any such problems. I was able to connect my Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 and my Thrustmaster TWCS throttle without issue. Although, it did take a bit of finagling to figure out. Also, I encountered several bugs in the game in relation to the physics engine. For example, one of the enemy capital ships was literally pelted through space a good distance away after I had destroyed the twin capital ship accompanying her. I assume that this happened because the ship I destroyed "pushed" the other one, but because of the wonky physics engine, capital ships have about the same mass as a regular fighter. It was funny the first time it happened, but not so funny having to chase it down after being slingshot.

Overall, the game is okay. But the price point is just too much. I completed the game in 4 hours time. With only 12 missions, it's just not worth the asking price of $19.99 USD. You could get Elite Dangerous or No Man's Sky for $10 more and play those games for days with the amount of depth they possess. I'm not saying that End Space is a bad game, but that it's not worth it at the full price. I only recommend buying it on sale and even then, End Space is probably only worth it if you have a VR headset. Even though the game can be played without a headset, there are much better titles available.

Gameplay: 6/10
Story: 6/10
Graphics: 7/10
Performance: 8/10

Overall: 7/10

SpaceBourne is an excellent case of "almost perfect", and for a one-person project, that achievement carries great weight. From the moment I started up the game in the tutorial mode and was greeted with a very nice cutscene and crisp visuals, I knew that I was in for a treat. At its core, SpaceBourne is an arcade space combat trading sim, very similar to FreeLancer, Starpoint Gemini, Rebel Galaxy, etc. I must highlight the "arcade" portion though. Do not expect Elite Dangerous, Star Citizen or even FreeSpace level of simulation. As of this review, the game only supports keyboard/mouse and controllers. SpaceBourne does NOT support HOTAS, but this may change in the future as the developer is still very much involved in updating their game.

As stated previously, SpaceBourne is an arcade space combat and trading sim. You can expect your typical activities ranging from freelancing, bounty hunting, piracy, mining, and trading. SpaceBourne includes a campaign and free mode. So far, I have only played the campaign mode and while the story and voice acting are not stellar, they are enough to immerse you. Everything tends to work as it should, although the biggest issue I have found with the game involves trading. This aspect is likely the least worked on and my biggest complaint regarding gameplay. Trading is incredibly tedious and while it is based on a sophisticated supply and demand model, you are extremely limited in the amount of trade goods per transaction. Most stations in the game will only ever take 20-30 of a single trade good. This becomes a problem when you are hauling, say 2,000 units of medicine (one of the trade goods), and each station you visit will only take 20-30 units of said medicine at various prices. Each sale results in only a handful of credits. This is made even worse when weapon drops, and salvage are often more valuable than the goods you are intent on trading, and they take up significantly less space. Trading is often my favorite money-generating activity among space games, so it is disappointing that the trading system in SpaceBourne is as screwed up as it is. I am really hoping that the developers will improve on this aspect in the future, as it is very immersion breaking. I used to be a truck driver and the average truck could carry 26 pallets (80,000 lbs.) worth of cargo to a single warehouse that contained hundreds of pallets, but you're telling me that an entire space station will only take 20-30 units of cargo from my starship? So, the average warehouse on Earth has more space than an entire space station? Something is not right here.

As for the graphics, SpaceBourne has some extremely nice visuals for an indie game. Everything feels very crisp and while some portions feel like the developer got a little carried away with the lens flare, it all comes together nicely. Cockpits feel snug and comfy, and I can fully immerse myself even without HOTAS support. Even better, SpaceBourne is very well optimized and I did not take any notable performance hits. Starships also have that sense of scale that I am always looking to see. Capital ships look and feel like capital ships. Freighters have lower maneuverability and fighter craft are as nimble as to be expected.

Overall, SpaceBourne is a solid entry to the space combat and trading genre. There are still several bugs that while not game-breaking are noticeable, and trading needs a serious overhaul before I'll get back into the pilot's seat, but I really like what the developer is going for and I'll definitely continue to monitor progress in the future. For now, SpaceBourne is an excellent dogfighting FreeLancer-esque game.

Edit: As of September 25th, trading in Spacebourne has been revamped! Very much looking forward to trying this out again.

Gameplay: 6/10
Story: 7/10
Graphics: 8/10
Performance: 6/10

Overall: 7/10

Starpoint Gemini Warlords (SPGW), like it's predecessor, Starpoint Gemini 2 (SPG2) is an arcade space combat and trading sim where you command large capital ships as opposed to smaller fighter craft. But unlike SPG2, SPGW has a 4x-lite twist where you conquer territories across the map, build fleets, manage resources and engage in diplomacy with the other factions. Sounds like an awesome idea, right? And you'd be correct. It's a great idea! But I think a disclaimer needs to be mentioned before proceeding with purchasing this game. I really need to highlight the "4x-LITE" bit. I've observed that a lot of people have purchased this game going into the same expectation as X3's own strategy mechanics, which are very deep and evolving. Some people have even bought SPGW thinking that it's something like single-player EVE.

The 4x strategy in SPGW is extremely lite. You have 3 basic resources consisting of ore, gas and materials. Ore can be mined from asteroids, gas can be mined from gas pockets and materials can be scavenged from derelicts. You can either collect these resources manually or send out "civilian fleets" to collect it for you. Civilian fleets are invisible and you can't actually see them, nor can you see other faction's fleets and success is chance based depending on how many defenses you have in an area. In addition to that, you can use civilian fleets to trade resources with other factions depending on what you have a surplus in once you unlock the necessary component to do so. Allied factions will also gift you resources occasionally. In addition to those resources, you also have credits which can be gained through radiant missions, trading or capturing and selling starships. Lastly, you have a fleet cap number and cap on larger capital ships. All of this is dependent on the amount of territory and planets you possess. As far as mechanics go, it's very basic. The AI doesn't seem to be under the same rules as the player as far as I've noticed. For example, there is no way for the player to cut the AI off from resources or hinder their resource production in anyway except by claiming territory and while the AI can attack the player, they rarely seem to do so. At least as far as I've determined in the campaign mode. This doesn't make it a bad game though! But don't buy it and go into playing it thinking that it's a very deep level of strategy and space combat, otherwise you will be very disappointed.

Compared to the previous SPG2, SPGW has also streamlined many of the space combat and trading mechanics. For example, trading is now static and prices on goods never change. The economy is no longer dynamic and it is very easy to become extremely wealthy long before the end-game. Smuggling also seems to be broken as illegal goods do exist in the game, but I've yet to have factions scan my cargo and do anything about my "illegal goods", even when I'm traveling around in a massive battleship that is impossible to not see on the sensors. But the biggest issue is that credits aren't important as they were in the previous title, being limited to only helping the player and procuring trade deals with various factions. It would be nice if credits could be used to complement a player's fleet, using credits to purchase the services of mercenaries like the previous game. Aside from this, combat is still much the same, although equipment is a lot easier to come by.

As far as graphics are concerned, I would definitely rate them significantly better than SPG2. Starships do have a sense of scale now and you can seriously tell the difference between a small little gunship and a massive carrier. Planets and space stations now have actual 3D visuals and you are greeted to a nice little cutscene when landing on them, which is much better than the 2D artwork rendering (which while nice, felt hastily put together). The story is also a lot better compared to the previous game where I felt lost half way through the story. The game includes an encyclopedia if you wish to immerse yourself in the lore.

Overall, I would definitely say that I enjoyed SPGW, but I'd say that I enjoyed SPG2 more. The previous title had a good balance between complexity and arcade features. The dynamic economy, smuggling, the fact that each ship held a role from the smallest corvettes that could out maneuver capital ships to cruisers with cloaking devices and carriers that sacrificed firepower for fighter/bomber wings. SPGW stream-lined A LOT and the lite-4x mechanics don't really make up for everything that was lost from the previous game. Does that make SPGW a bad game? Absolutely not. I still recommend it, but I do wish that SPGW was more of an extension of SPG2, rather than a new stream-lined game to the SPG series.

Gameplay: 8/10
Story: 7/10
Graphics: 9/10 (for the time)
Performance: 6/10

Overall: 8/10

"Budget Oblivion" and "Poor man's Skyrim" are some of the terms used to describe Dark Messiah of Might & Magic. An action-adventure RPG spin-off of the Might and Magic universe, Dark Messiah of Might & Magic is far from anything like Oblivion and Skyrim. For one, Dark Messiah of Might & Magic is a linear game and while certain levels can be traversed back and forth, you are given little reason to do so and will more often than not, move from level to level in a linear fashion. But Dark Messiah of Might & Magic proves that just because a game is linear, doesn't mean it can't be fun. This short little game, which can be completed in around 9-12 hours, excels in areas of combat that seamlessly combines melee, ranged, magic and stealth playstyles and to this day has yet to be emulated. Dark Messiah of Might & Magic was ahead of it's time.

As mentioned previously, Dark Messiah of Might & Magic allows the player skills from 4 respective playstyles that amounts to a melee, ranged, magic and stealth based characters and can be combined to create hybrid characters. Each level in the game incorporates these playstyles as well. For example, with the exception of the few boss levels that exist in the game, most levels can be completed by simply avoiding enemy NPCs and reaching the end of the level. Stealth is entirely viable and skill points are only awarded for killing certain boss characters and completing levels. Meaning a stealth character won't be punished with diminished skill points simply because they refused to kill any enemies.

Dark Messiah of Might & Magic's visuals while dated by today's standards still hold up relatively well. The game was developed on the Source engine (the same engine for games such as Half-Life 2 and Left 4 Dead), so expect similar graphical fidelity to those games. Dated, but still holds up. The biggest advantage is that nearly any computer can run Dark Messiah of Might & Magic. In addition, the game does have a few beautiful vistas dotted around, and every time I play, I find myself stopping from my tomb raiding rampages to admire the aesthetic. Sound design is also a plus, and the ambiance would make for very good ASMR.

As I stated above, Dark Messiah of Might & Magic is a very easy game to run on most computers of today. You can easily max out the settings. The biggest issue and why I give this game a 6 in terms of performance is the lack of it being large address aware by default and as such tends to be very crash happy on computers with more than 2 RAM (aka most computers today). Using any 4gb patch on the Dark Messiah of Might & Magic executable will fix this issue and crashing will become rare if not nonexistent.

Overall, Dark Messiah of Might & Magic is a short, sweet fantasy adventure game that will leave you wanting more of it's combat in other fantasy games. Something that has yet to be emulated and built upon. While replayability is lacking (I would have loved New Game+), you can always try different playstyles each time you play. For the price, I'd definitely say you'll get your money's worth with Dark Messiah of Might & Magic.

Gameplay: 9/10
Story: 10/10
Graphics: 8/10 (for the time)
Performance: 9/10

Overall: 9/10

When Star Wars fans talk about the Expanded Universe, this should be the first video game that comes to mind (this and the Jedi Knight series). Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (nicknamed KOTOR) is an RPG that uses the d20 system and takes place approximately 4,000 years before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope while also predating the prequel movies. You won't encounter characters like Yoda, Obi-Wan, Luke Skywalker or Han Solo. Those characters weren't even born at this point. Instead, an entirely new cast of characters are presented to you, with their own personalities and backstories. In addition to a captivating story that parallels aspects of the movies, complete with a stunning twist.

Most Star Wars fans have played KOTOR at some point. Its hard to call someone a Star Wars fan, if they have never played or even heard of KOTOR. While a dated game by today's standards, KOTOR's story will have you fully immersed in the galaxy far, far away. You will encounter several recognizable locales, names and references from the Star Wars movies, but as explained previously, events will occur long before the movies. But the purpose of the Star Wars Expanded Universe has always been expanding on already established movies and allowing you to fully immerse yourself in the Star Wars universe.

KOTOR's visuals are dated, but for the time it was released, they were considered state of the art. I highly recommend viewing various guides that exist that will allow higher resolutions, in addition to various graphical mods that can update the archaic visuals. But even so, I'm personally fond of the dated look as the game was intended.

Performance for KOTOR is good for the most part. You may or may not experience issues depending on your hardware, but KOTOR is not a difficult game to run, and many guides exist that may help you to get the game running properly. Sound design is also well done. The soundtrack was composed by the well acclaimed Jeremy Soule (composer of Skyrim, Oblivion and Neverwinter Nights soundtracks as well).

Overall, not much to say about this game and I don't wish to spoil it. If you are a die hard Star Wars fan and haven't played KOTOR, then something is seriously wrong with you. Stop being a nerf herder and play this amazing game!