Recent reviews by Paul

I've played this game when it was called "SZone", before it was on Steam AND before at one point the game split into two basically.

I'll put it like this -- if you don't put down the necessary amount of time and dedication into this game, you'll be having a hard time. And if you're a person who speaks english -- well you're ♥♥♥♥ out of luck, the playerbase is primarily russian, but you can always encounter another english-speaking player occasionally; the main issue with this is that just like every MMO - knowledge is key. When you can't find any english speaking people to communicate and exchange information with, you'll have a hard time trying to get a grip of the game. The game is NOT for casual players, you need a very specific competitive mindset to approach this game and the environment it offers and to as well be able to fully enjoy it. The game gives you the choice between PvE and PvP. If you are not the incarnation of residentsleeper, then play PvP.

Lets pretend you have some sort of minimal knowledge -- what (and where) gets you money, experience, good quests, paths with the lowest traffic of players, etc.
Then -- you have what looks like a very well thought out S.T.A.L.K.E.R. themed MMO shooter. But I must bring up a previously mentioned issue -- time and dedication. If you don't have either of the two, you'll have a hard time enjoying this. When it comes to farming money or experience, depending on your level and what you're capable of, you'll be limited to what you know and what you are able to do. Basically -- the more you know, the more money/experience you'll get, the more better equipment you have -- the faster and safer you'll be able to.
Here's where I must say one thing though -- the game is pay-2-progress. And it doesn't require that much money really. There's a feature where you can exchange normal currency to premium currency, which makes the more special items more accessible to everyone, including XP boosters.
The skill system requires you to put in a lot of time so that you can develop your character in a way that you'd like, which means: spending points for both your characters stats AND for the weapon category you'll be planning to primarily use. Personally as a level 10 character, you'll have the necessary skill points for getting any of the first expensive weapon-using skills i.e. Assault Rifle Handling/Accuracy.
The quests serve their purpose -- they are a good source of experience. There are as well "quest trees", at the end of which you are rewarded with good items that come in the form of either weapons or equipables.

I pointed out earlier that you need to play on the PvP server. Well I'll explain what it means. Firstly, the PvP server is what exactly the original concept of the multiplayer was -- clans waging wars between each others, players killing each other, etc. The game, yes, does give you the option to kill other people, but an option is not a privilege. Of course, no one can stop you from killing players, except other clans and organized groups of players. The way the game works makes killing others a very unnecessary thing in my opinion, you can prosper without killing others, allowing you to atleast keep the atmosphere of the online environment atleast somewhat clean. Only high level players can get away with playerkilling, even more so if they are from a bandit clan, but those are relatively low number.

I must warn however, for some reason the netcode is not the best, so even if you're in Europe, you will have an upwards of 150 m/s of latency. It's not bad, in fact it won't affect your gameplay that badly, but just keep it in mind.

As for everything else, the graphics are simple and serviceable. I personally don't have high standards, but the game for me is good in this regard, it provides you with what you need.
Controls can be janky, they require some getting used to, but like I said -- serviceable.

The game can definitely be enjoyable, but it isn't for everyone. If you do indeed decide to try it out, then I wish you good luck and I hope you'll enjoy it. Many many years ago, I managed to get into the game thanks to the help and information I got from fellow english players. There aren't that many left of them, but hopefully we can have the english community organize itself better so that it can be more accessible for people trying to get into the game.

Homeworld is typically known as the very first 3D RTS -- despite this distinguishing trait, it's not very popular. It's rather obscure, which I find odd for a game that was made with so much love and detail. The story of the two Homeworld campaigns is very nice, the aesthetic of the game is excellent in my opinion, but when it comes to the multiplayer, in vanilla 2.1 Homeworld, the current version, you will face severe balancing issues between the races.
Fortunately, the community has come up with a solution, one that took a lot of time and effort to be. Thanks to them, the multiplayer is now playable with the patch that they made -- the 2.3 players patch. It's still being updated and is worked on by people who understand the overall concept of the game and the genre it belongs to.
It's available to everyone in the workshop and is in my opinion (and a lot of others's) the best way to experience both multiplayer and the game itself.

This game as an MMORPG is not at all bad,but the main problem would be is how newbies don't get much support. Usually we would have clans recruiting newbies to help them progress better in the game,by giving them advice,giving them free items and money,when there was absolutely no English Translation,and I'm talking about the non-steam versions of this,where all of it was just Russian. The gameplay demands tolerance and patience,as there are bugs,occasinal lag but not that much,but then there's the worse part,bandits. Guys who camp and kill others on sight,although in the game,it's very punishable. Normally it's uncommon for such things to happen,but then if you're in a clan,it could get worse. Some clans play for the PvP usually,and there are plenty of them,unfortunately. I'm not that type of person,there are also other clans who are neutral or are trying to fight against the KoS'ing regularly. Here,pro's usually are the ones who know how this game works,people like me that played this game when it was in Russian. The bugs and lag were very problematic before,but I asure you,this new version will have it sorted,if only people would put up a bit more patience with this game like I did,then they might discover how fun it actually is. I put up with this game for quite alot,alot more than "26.5" hours :P . Probably more than 500+ in the non-steam version. That's all.

DayZ has come a long way. From an unplayable alpha to a stable state now that drew people back to play it, it's gone through quite a lot of changes -- from an unstable game that had gunplay similar to ArmA 2, then to ArmA 3 and now to something very unique in itself.

The game's optimization is decent, you'd still require a good rig to play it, but if you can get yourself atleast 3 GHz, 12 GB's of RAM and atleast, say a GTX GeForce 770, you'll be in good hands.

The game offers a good simulation of a zombie apocalypse, allowing you to explore the legendary Chernarus map with added content. The game requires some studying of its mechanics, as well as the environment you're put in. New players will certainly have a difficult time getting used to it, but if you dedicate enough of your time and energy, you'll be able to enjoy it. It just requires patience.