Recent reviews by Chez

Offers 100% more chances to die per round than rival tactical shooters.

I feel somewhat mean-spirited for giving this the thumbs down, but as Steam dictates it’s cake or death, I’m afraid I’m all out of cake for this one. The game has nice aesthetics, presumably inspired by The Witness, though on a simpler scale and without the wonderment of Blow’s vision. Similarly the basic puzzle mechanic is fine, and not too tricky for the most part, adding additional elements and rules as the game progresses. But there are some irksome parts of the game which sadly soured the experience. A few later puzzles felt more like glitches than solutions – maybe indeed they were glitches and I’d solved them ‘wrong’ – while others required a bit of timing, which in and of itself isn’t bad, but becomes quite galling when you have to repeat your actions despite having figured it out. Likewise the level design could’ve done with some more playtesting by lesser mortals such as myself – more than once I ended up taking the wrong path, and getting stuck back at the beginning of a puzzle section I’d already completed with no way to backtrack. A few more lifts/stairs/checkpoints/teleporters wouldn’t have gone amiss!

Overall a decent enough puzzle game, but one with too many rough edges to recommend above the competition.

Cute little puzzle game that isn’t too thinky yet doesn’t treat you like a thicky. Nice variations on the basic theme warrant the game’s length, with only a handful requiring much in the way of dexterity or timing. Plus the beautiful voiceover by Anna Acton punctuates the puzzles nicely. My only criticism would be that if you’re hunting the final achievements, you’re forced to retread some of the levels, which is honestly annoying at the best of times, but the way they were designed leaves you running along long, empty corridors in silence, as the dulcet voiceovers don’t trigger the second time through.

Bought this because it supports Welsh. Apparently I don't speak it.

This game’s like a walking sim for two halves of your brain. While gameplay is straightforward enough, it’s not the puzzles but the glorious aesthetic, backdrops and music, which see you through to the end. Alongside the tight storyline that doesn’t overstay its welcome, here’s a great way to spend a few hours.

Well there's a hour of my life I'll never get back.

Yes or No? I wish there were a way to give a gave a 'maybe'. The shooting mechanics in this game are solid enough, but the movement drives me mad. People leap around corners, lying down in mid-air, spraying bullets in your face all the while. Snipers amble around with their backs half-snapped, some worming around like breakdancers on ecstasy. I'd hoped for a successor to DoD but got some kind of CS/Soldier of Fortune mongrel.

If golf is a good walk spoiled, this is the opposite.

Whether or not you can really consider this a 'game', it's a great way to spend a couple of hours with someone, debating the case, watching the videos.

Actually a review of Ardennes Assault which can't be posted there because of Steam's dumb limitations.

Having completed the campaign, I thought I'd weigh in with a few thoughts on this. Firstly, I genuinely enjoyed the way the campaign mode worked. Aside from a short introduction and the finale, the campaign map allows you to play the missions in the order that you choose. Given that you have three fairly distinct companies at your command, each with their own abilities, perks and selections of units, there is a fair amount of variety in the way the games pan out. Most take around 30 minutes, a few might take longer, and assuming you only play through the campaign once, it feels about the right length, neither being over too quickly nor overstaying its welcome.

However, I can certainly see how the design would not suit all players. The fact that you can't save means that experimenting to find a strategy that works in a mission can have severe repercussions for the overall campaign. Particularly on hard mode, not knowing what a mission is going to demand places the player on the back foot and might cost them the mission outright. Points earned from victory can be used to upgrade general abilities, whilst the experience a company gains allows them to bring seasoned troops onto the battlefield from the start. However, these same points must also be used to replenish company strength, which becomes essential if a player loses too many troops or battles. Eventually you can find yourself unable to call any more reinforcements to the field, or losing the company altogether. Plan your field campaign badly, and the enemy even receives extra bonuses as retreating troops bolster other positions. As a result, I imagine the campaign's design can force an ultimately doomed attempt to needlessly drag on for hours before the player finally loses and has to start all over again.

The campaign then might not be to everyone's tastes, but if you enjoy the single-player CoH experience and relish a challenge, there is enough here to warrant the purchase. However, as another reviewer pointed out, even then this expansion leaves a distinctively cheap impression. If you paid full price, there's nothing more galling than to be taunted virtually on the first screen with extra DLC for your DLC. Pick three of these three generals – or pay more money for a fourth. I didn't initially notice that the fourth one said 'Purchase' rather than 'Select', so spent a good couple of minutes looking over the various abilities before realising it was a wind-up! But there are many other places the developers cut corners (or content). Although the entire campaign revolves around the US forces, their army is not even included for multiplayer, so you'll have to purchase that separately as well. There's no coop mode, which feels like a real oversight given the way the different companies play and complement one another. Some of the maps will be familiar to players as recycled from multiplayer. And for those who enjoy 'em, there aren't even any Steam achievements.

• Campaign mode is genuinely good fun, though potentially frustrating.
  
• Different companies feel interesting to use and can be tweaked with ability upgrades as campaign progresses.
  
• Missions are fairly varied and can play out quite differently with the different companies.

• Shameless DLC marketing.
  
• US army isn't even included for multiplayer.
  
• No coop mode, despite the fact that the interplay between the companies would've made this interesting.
  
• Inability to save/retry means a few defeats can easily snowball.

Ultimately, this is only a half-hearted recommendation. There's a few hours' decent entertainment here, and at a discount price it's worth the investment. But at full price this expansion is lacking in too many areas, and feels like it had the potential to have been so much more.