Recent reviews by Commander Llama

Do you like the Batman Arkham games? It uses a fork of the engine.

Do you like Assassin's Creed games? It has some of that feel without the stupid sci-fi memory crap.

If your answers are yes, you'll like Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. Stealthing, parkouring, slashy-stabby Orc goodness. Enjoy it as far as your budget allows (buy now/sale later/etc).

All signs point to competent with this game, but now that I've reached 100% completion the nit-picky problems are obvious:

- Aside from the very hard working artists that slaved creating the proverbial bucket of Lord of the Rings paint to pour all over this Batman Arkham Mordor clone, what has been innovated?

- The story is one part meandering, one part clipped, and one part rushed, with a result that feels wholly incomplete, and I highly suspect it is (buy the Season Pass for more! -Publisher)

- The story missions are decent but they still seem to be in tutorial mode almost to the end. You only get Brand and Dominate at Missions 16 and 17 out of 20! These are essential tools for "tinkering" with the greatly-advertised Nemesis system, and yet they are doled out in the very late game.

-The Outcast side missions are fun as far as you find the gameplay itself is fun, but carry little substance of their own. Find Outcast intel, go to Outcast mission, do what it takes to cut Outcasts off their wooden posts. Rinse, repeat.

- The Weapon Legend missions are more entertaining and much better side missions because they dictate some restrictions to the usual affair in how you complete your mission. Enjoyable! I just wish achieving those 5th and 10th Legend missions actually *meant* something besides shiny weapon texture changes. More rune slots? Special bonuses beyond rune slots? Something?

- Some of the answers to my concerns regarding innovation will be the Nemesis system. It is certainly the game feature that stands apart from the game's (Arkham) origins. Having played 25 hours and reached 100% completion, do I feel like the Nemesis system stands on its own? Is it innovative enough that I want to play some more Shadow of Mordor purely for the joy of playing Puppetmaster with the Orc Meritocracy?

The honest answer is no. While the Nemesis system is neat, it is a clumsy first try. The orcs are semi-randomly generated and move through the ranks predictably and with only a few repeatable Power Struggle missions. There aren't many reasons to become emotionally attached and there isn't much of an end goal to the process that you won't already witness playing the short campaign. Hell, I went to the Sea of Nurnen and came back 3 hours later and Ratbag had simply disappeared! I was hoping to foster that little guy.

The developers innovate as if the very whips of their masters were behind them!

I'm cautiously optimistic about potential sequels, but be wary of the Dark Publisher's wiles. He is the Master of Lies! A sequel set in Rohan would be gold, and the base engine they now have already supports it.

It's a pretty good, quick little indie roguelike, though it errs on the side of TOO random and I wish the encounters had a wider variety of options. Sandbox mode would be cool too. All in all five bucks, worth my time.

I bought this game because I support the idea. Long time sci-fi fan, I'd love to build my own Babylon 5 or Deep Space 9.

Much like the premise of this game being in the FAR future, I think the game will reach a playable state in the FAR future as well.

Spacebase DF-9, right now, is a buggy mess of a prototype. It's what I expect a team of developers might show their boss or a publisher and be like "See, with a year or two and a truck full of money, we can turn this into something amazing!"

On the other hand, the bugs can be hilarious, and I'm trying to make the best of it.

If you want an actual GAME to PLAY - do not buy.

Poor technical detail. Laggy, low quality visuals, messy interface. Poor immersion. Boring quests, minimal cutscenes, cheap animation.

A low-grade free-to-play World of Warcraft knockoff, and yet another. It's almost 2014.

A slightly more active combat system provides minor engagement, but envelope pushing MMOs like Planetside 2 already do that way better.

Sadly I do not recommend.

Not a bad game, but a bit of a time waster. It looks like many of the components for an enjoyable Cooking Mama style experience are here, but there is a grind present. I found I could make $300-400 income per day of play (+250 for perfect days), but foods started costing $1000+ quickly. It seems like more and more my income came from...gambling? Some kind of in-email betting game.

Food "rots" after being on your menu for 2 days, but, really? In this game you can't become "known" for a particular dish I suppose. All in all, the gameplay mechanics are a little confused.

I've played for about 4 hours now and I am stuck here waiting for my play time to reach 20 in-game days to move on, I'm a little bored.

This is not a true restaurant sim either, from glazing the achievements I can see there's much more to unlock, I just don't want to wait around to get there. From the get-go, the game is lacking depth. I didn't feel like I owned a restaurant or anything.

Pro: Some lady with the same sprite showed up almost every day and ordered a beer at 9AM. Dedication.

It's been out for a while and now everybody has probably owned it and played it after multiple sales and Humble Bundle, but just to set the record straight, this is probably one of the best action games I've ever played.

Christopher Nolan wishes he could make a movie as good as this thing is a game.

As for cons, the autosave system is a little archaic.
Also the game is rather sexist. Like weirdly so. It's weird.

Best game in a year or two.
Worst PC port in a year or five.

Needs mods, horrible online play, but otherwise spectacular.

Dear Lord this game is awesome.