Recent reviews by Whiteswart

A nice freeware puzzle game about cats, jokes, matches and your memory and well-being.
Worthy pick for some casual lazy afterwork time. Mark 10/10.

Sniper Ghost Warrior is a really long-going staircase of sniper-themed games, and, finally, that last title is something I can fairly recommend to play. Yeah, the storyline still ain't any better than before, it's a cliché parade about 'good guys' killing the 'bad guys' in the name of 'status quo'. It's really dreary nowadays, but we can't avoid the prop issue, we can only learn to ignore it.

The gameplay itself, though, is honed better than ever. Previous Ghost Warrior titles, SGW 3 and the first part of SGW Contracts, were cursed with the very strange, awkward, unnatural ballistics, with the maximum effective ranges for all rifles somewhere about 500 - 600 yards/meters best. Now, SGW Contracts 2 have fixed that issue, and finally we have a broad variety of sniper tools, from integrally suppressed marksman rifles to the mile-nailers for .50 BMG and .338 LM cartridges. And, the best part, the missions with such different ranges, and a broad variety of terrains, goals to achieve, and shadows to play the hide-and-seek...

As much as I was disappointed by the previous titles, I can fairly give my 8.5/10 mark to this game for everything except the storyline. For the current price, it's a worthy choice, if you're up for some shooting, sneaking and bullet-time 18+ splatter effects.

Far more than 100 hours in, and I'm still feeling I'm only learning the ropes here... For a fast-paced cooperative shooter, it seems kinda awkward, ain't it? Well, despite the fact that Caliber is much less realistic-based game, than it claimed to be initially, it's still having depths of tactics and despair to learn. There is a much bigger emphasis on the cooperative part, than in the dozens of other shooters on the market, thus, if you've started with the good team, which is knowing their roles and strong points, you're doing quite good. While the stupid play, even from one of the four teammates, can totally ruin it all for everybody.

That said, it's good that Caliber became much more arcade and fast-paced, than I thought it would be, judging by the early builds. There are certainly not that many players in this game than in the AAA online shooters you've all heard about, and yet, there is always a full lobby of players, ready to rumble. Seriously, the game picking rarely takes more than 1 minute, any time of any day. And, yeah, yeah, again, on the dark side, it means that you're bound to play some matches with total noobs, booze heads or other kinds of petards, at least one time per day.

The same pattern of compromise on every step, facing the both sides of every coin toss, adds to the setups for your fights, and for the whole game progress, starting from the tutorials, and going all the way to the upper level challenges. There is a plethora of different operatives to pick, and it's certainly not clear for the beginners, what's the point of getting them all, and why the loadouts can't be changed between different operatives at your disposal, etc... Well, the basic thing in Caliber, again, is that every person, every operative, matters. Each fighter available have different sharable perk, so, this game is also a bit about collecting them all, to get the access to all the best builds. Also, there are some operatives that are usually better in the broader amount of situations, so yeah, there are metas in Caliber, and, to some point, even pay-to-win thing. By that, I mean, your progress will be much, much easier with buying the one-time profile enhancement called Caliber+ in the DLC list. You Can play without it, sure, but, if you're already past 40–50 hours in the game, and still have the steam to go on, look for the sales, and get that enhancement, to have much easier character development throughout the whole game.

All in all, I'd say, for a cooperative shooter game, which is certainly alive, has many different game modes, and not all too grindy, or greedy (except that Caliber+ one time purchase), the game is fun enough, like maybe 7.8/10 on my scales. But, it's certainly not for everyone's tastes, the most third-view shooters now are much more about random run'n'gun, rather than the teamwork, so, if you're looking for the 'pure fun' game, that's not the droid you were looking for, sorry.

Peace, people, to all of you! Let the violence belong to the virtual worlds only. War is a disgusting curse, when it knocks in.

For a clicker game... This one is probably the best in overall vibe terms, compared to dozens of others that I've tried. And... It's not even a single game! To be precise, it's a bundle of 3 main games with different topics and different sets of development rules, plus a revolver drum of several more games, again, all slightly dissimilar, to provide a multifarious gameplay. And yeah, we're still talking about a clicker game, where, in theory, all you need to do is to tap or click the screen faster, and faster again.

So, what's about vibe, again? Well, all those sub-games, settled under the roof of that title, Cell to Singularity, are based around the world around us. We are not 'fighting' something in that game, we are learning, we're gathering the bits of scientifical info by those clicks. Thus, this game is an educational one - with the only condition for a player, to read its short debriefs, and have a little curiosity, to turn the pages.

Going more into the details, the three main games are about: general line of history of our world, and the complexity of the life forms on it, then, a dive into the dinosaurs' era, and finally, the most well-developed and interesting so far, a cosmic game that brings together human knowledge about all this boundless space beyond our planet. Surely, the most bunch of the notes, provided by this game, any child can get from the school books - and much faster, than it is prescribed by the monotonous clicker game process. But hey, how many kids today have access to the proper schools, where they actually learn? Games like this, at least, are a working palliative on the matter.

Speaking of the learning curve, though, I can't evade the fact that something in the game course ain't going the proper way. The first, the main, the biggest game of all in that concourse, may be accurate in all the basic facts it is providing, but it certainly losing it in the order of representation, so, without a clear mind, and other sources of information, someone can easily get confused and not understand why, if the description says that radial symmetry is more complex than bilateral, then the order of their study is not reversed. Or how we come to explore the world of ideas, and enter the Stone Age, before the discovery of HomoSapiens. Although the conflict here is partly imaginary, because we are simply following the path of traditional evolution.

At the same time, it is completely unclear why, for example, molluscs and squids are discovered along the tree of research much later than younger and more advanced life forms, why the neocortex can be discovered later than dolphins and other highly organized creatures... Those are slight issues, but they are still itching, since we're presumably in the educational game...

Anyway, by the overall complexity, where all different parts compliment and strengthen each other, providing a long line of development, in game terms, and enough hierarchically structured facts to fill a solid social and natural studies book... All covered in decent visualization, and a broad variety of different languages... Can't mark it less than 9/10, in my experience. Which is way more than any other clicker game, even if it promises to get you rich in real life, huh.

Not the worst DLC for HOI 4, and yeah, finally it is about that forgotten continent, South America. Certainly not that much content, as the previous DLC, there are no for new mechanics, just some new minor focus trees, events and characters to hire.

Anyway, don't rush to buy it, it's severely undercooked, and Paradox needs at least a couple of months to solve the issues with the new paths for countries, randomness of events and the chances for them to occur.

Regardless, knowing how Paradox 'solving' their issues, maybe it's finally a right moment to let it all go.

The game was severely broken years ago, we all know it.

It's not only about broken diplomacy. The fracturing issue became the main thing, every state/nation now moves to disintegration with the speed of light, making the game stale on 1–10 FPS rather quickly. I have 8-cores CPU with 5100MHz per core, which sounds cool, in theory. For the main Paradox' engine, it's matters not that much, though...

Some fun facts for you. There are 83 countries at the start of the base game in 1936. Then, there are 233 states, some of which will appear during the every game session, in that scripted all too wrong disassociation process (formable larger states are not included in that number). That's already too much for the game's engine, but there's more! There are 934 states total[hoi4.paradoxwikis.com] (maybe that's not a final list), and 13,205 total provinces. And the way the game goes, it seems, it tends to make every state a Luxembourg. Which is not achievable, of course, because the game can't stand even 120–150 states on the map without issues... But yeah, it tries hard to push that madness further.

Minor fix to that matter, would be in creating more strings, more game modes, instead of just binary "historic/non-historic". Other moves require a new engine, and, a new game, which will include the gathered experience, and make it pretty.

However, looking at Victoria 3 at the moment, I have serious doubts that Paradox actually puts our money in the good use...

Robocop game, performed by Teyon, is a solid shooter on its own, and also a proper tribute both to the original Robocop movies AND arcade video games made by Data East.

The story is decent. A bit harsh on the entry points, where we are simultaneously taking credits like we're past the second original film events, and with that, some cleats and patterns from the very start of the Robo career, about 45 minutes of the first film events. That's a slight issue, though, for I doubt that many people, even those who remember the original storyline well enough, would be dazzled even a bit by the slight canon facts refurbish. And, except that entry, that only nerds like me would notice, the whole game story body is nice and firm.

I've enjoyed the exploration part, with the side quests made in a Deus Ex way, even with the relative variability of the ways to solve the cases, which is cumulatively affects the ending, and the overall line of the story consequences. Can't say it affects the gameplay, though, the course of the game events is quite beelined.

The things that I've enjoyed less, or not at all, were about speed of movement and the total absence of jumping mechanic. Those restrictions are intentionally introduced as the elements of the gameplay, supposedly making you feel a more robot-like, and that could work, if only I wouldn't remember the original movies and the first video games about Robo, where the main character could move just as fast, if not faster, than any other human being on the screen, with the only limitations concerning the ability to twist and turn, which were performed fast, but different from how a normal human would do it.
Now, I don't say that that game should be another Max Payne dodgeroll-fest, but, the relatively slow pace of overall movement, outside the combat, makes the game more prolonged and a bit more boring in the hub exploration part.

Aside from that, though, I had a very good time, and wholeheartedly recommend it to all players above early teens age, who can enjoy a shooter game. My mark is 8.5/10.

And, of course, I thank for your cooperation and patience, in reading this!

Generation Zero is the basic example of how to make a big open world game, invest so much time and effort in it, and yet, end up with the very boring and uninspiring gameplay, which stays about the same from the very beginning till the very end.

On the bright side, there are several notable things: it's an open world looter shooter with plethora of enemies to kill and guns to get and enhance, in a rare setting of Swedish countryside. The gunplay is quite decent, the map is big and filled with Not copypasted layouts, making it a decent challenge as a walking and exploring simulation.

The visual palette feels a bit off at start, but then you realize, it's Sweden, not Brazil jungle, so it's quite ok. Authentic stuff. Audio component is another thing well done, it also adds atmosphere, puts you in the proper mood for the game.

I've a weak spot for such relaxed gameplay, where you just travel, clear the map, killing the monsters and looting the valuables. Thus, I've made it through all the regions, all the main and secondary quests available without DLCs... However, judging the whole time I've spent there, I can easily agree it was not worth it. It's too grindy, repeatable and insipid, bland, stale... Pick your own best word for the zero-worth experience.

It's quite close to a MMO game without other players. Sure, there are still Some players, theoretically, but not that you can find any, anytime, anywhere. And... It's a server-based game, in terms that it creates a server on your machine, and you play this obviously single-player-based game as a multiplayer one. You can't pause it, no matter what, except that old Alt+F4 ragequit method. So, it's a game for the players with the huge sacks of time which they're sitting on. Also, this is a game that enjoys respawning enemies anywhere and anytime, so, imagine a fight where you've just made it through a big swarm of enemies, including 2–3 tanks or those flying 'Firebird' things, that can eat several dozens of direct RPG hits before going to rest... And find yourself in the very middle of some big respawning point, where all that you've just 'cleared', simple pop out anew, of the clear air. Sure, the gunplay itself is nice... But only on the first, basic difficulty level, in the first region. After it, it's getting more and more tedious, without a proper reward for your effort, except yet another wave of the brainless robots, coming for your blood.

Exploring part, well... Yeah, I've said that it's one of the enjoyable parts, with the map filled with many dozens, even hundreds of the rural farms, military bases and other locations, sprawling across square kilometres of the woody Swedish terrain, which was so rarely pictured in any public culture products, which you're probably never heard of... Except maybe "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", which gained at least some interest some time ago. But! The exploring part on its own is very, very basic, and gets annoyingly unchallenging after the first hour or two. Remember looting in another loot-searching shooter, STALKER? Well, if you're up to the challenging explores, where you actually need to work out your way to get the loot... I am wholeheartedly recommending to search for modern mods for the Stalker games, instead of trying to get something out of the Generation Zero. Which, other than filling the endless lines of iron-made bullet sponges with your lead, provides only the most basic walking and hidden-(yet highlighted)-objects-searching gameplay...

In short, it's like I said from the start, a very boring open world shooter, which gets dull and rusty before you even open the box with it.

Oh, and the story of Sweden, so freaking scared of the Soviets, that it chose to dive into the war paranoia, and created the machines that killed everybody, instead of fighting the Soviets, scattered across hundreds of notes and dozens of optional and essentially identical quests according to the scheme “go find places, read/listen to something, and pick up another useless pistol”... It's bad, by definition of the proper stories, but also, freakingly scaring in the current political situation, where many small countries are sooo afraid of Russia, that they prefer stupid death to... they don't really know what, because they are afraid to think rationally about it from the start.

My mark is 5.8/10.
5 years after the release, the game is still full of many disadvantages, and will be full of them even worse, judging by that line that the developers are adding changes to. Thus, if you haven't tried Generation Zero already, you can certainly bet you live better without it, so don't even bother.

Quite a good puzzle game, me and my kids enjoyed it through. Especially those matreshka boxes, hidden one beneath the previous ones... The story, though, the conception of revealing Astaroth through solving riddles feels troubling...
Still, a fair 9/10 mark from me!

As much as I love World of Guns: Gun Disassembly, I can easily say this simulator has its own benefits, other than explode some firearms up to every single screw, reassemble it, and then shoot it in the range. There, you can even run some simple comparative tests of functional modifications and design features for the different weaponry.
Naturally, that demo part shows us probably the best part of the full Gunsmith Simulator game, and there are: mods and fittings arrangement and field-testing. I can also see promising setups for metalworks, woodwork and painting, but that needs to be tested better in the full game.
The thing I can foresee as a 'not enough', is that that simulator is not as detailed as PC Building Simulator (especially volume 2), about different gun mods and possible variations, to be able to check them in the shooting range, as well as some noticeable simplifications in installing and calibrating some mods. Surely it would make it much more difficult to play casually, but, also, would add a whole new dimension of serious gun enthusiasts of all ages.
All in all, this demo looks very promising, for gun (and all simulators in general) enthusiasts, so yeah, I would really love to play the full game now, and welcome everyone to try that demo part as well, to see if that tread suits you.

Freeware walking simulator, based on Unreal engine and Google maps (or similar) meshes.
Actually... It's not all bad. IF you have a vivid imagination, and able to get the proper pictures of the area AND also want to play a walking simulator with zero points of activity. The city, pictured in the game, is actually quite nice, I'd really like to walk there, for real.
Satellite and then 10 times more distorted visuals, however, are not really providing a seamless and easy virtual walking experience. Also, any game based on the modern Unreal engines, tends to drive GPU and CPU to maximum power limits, even in cases like this, when the visual part looks very simple, compared to many other games that are much more beautiful and rich in details, and at the same time significantly less demanding on power consumption.
Thus, to actually enjoy District XiLin - 西林区, you need some really rare confluence of reasons, starting from 26 Gb of free space on your harddrive (and moderate-to-mighty PC in general), and good imagination, and also lack of freedom to go outside and actually walk around, like during the pandemia quarantine, and lack of any other, more demanding issues to attend to.

Nice effort, freeware, but... Yeah, you don't need it.