Recent reviews by hanomag [bob]

the simplified and slightly watered down little brother of Codename Panzers amped up on copious amounts of weird miscellaneous drugs he found on the side of the road under a garbage can.

if you like the gameplay or general feel of Codename Panzers Phase 1 & 2, you'd probably like this. Though, as said, this game doesn't really try to take itself as seriously as the former, especially in Rush for the Bomb where just about all (little) semblance of historical accuracy this game tried to have originally is thrown into hurricane force winds.

you know that feeling of almost depressive drain you get after finishing a really good game?

yeah this one hits like the falling cargo in chapter 1.

this whole game is a beautiful showcase in how valuable small time developers are to the game industry. the fact that this game was made and written by a SINGLE MAN is one of the most awesome feats i've ever seen in an indie game before.

the only problem i had with it was of my own creation: assuming/failing to notice details that i thought were non-existent or bullsh*t, and coming back to find out they were there all along.

the best part about the game to me is that Lucas went above and beyond to make EVERY SINGLE MAN among the crew have a personality and a backstory that would be really awesome to see beyond the Obra Dinn. you feel for those who tried to save the ship, and hate those stupid bastards who put the destruction of the ship into motion in the first place (NICHOLS YOU F*CKING AS*HOLE).

the simple two-tone graphics are charming and oddly fitting for this tragic tale of nautical catastrophe, and you can make out a surprising amount of detail that i would have thought was impossible given its simplicity.

music is another strong-point. the blend of "nautical adventure", "tragedy", and "HOLY SH*T THE WHAT THE F*CK IS THAT" suits the events of the story to a tee, and is something i will continue to listen too on my own time.

the environment of this ship is very noteworthy - you feel like your living amongst a crew of hardy men on a vessel of war in the hayday of sail, with the careful attention to detail with certain aspects of the environments and characters you wouldn't see out of anyone who wasn't deeply interested in nautical history (ex. the french guy wearing an actual french navy shirt, commands by the officers being true of the time period, the correct use of nautical ranks and what they'd logically do on the vessel, and the grouping of various cliques of people among what they do and what nationality they are).

this is one of the only games i will ever probably consider truly perfect in about every facet i could possibly think of.

why i took 5 years to buy this game is honestly beyond me and something i'm actually a bit ashamed of.

giving one hint of advice to any person who is going to experience this game, it would be never overlook small details.

NOTHING is out of the question. tattoos, rings, and even f*cking sock colors are the key to solving some of those really hard guys at the end of your run (the chinese topmen quartet is an especially hard one).

in the end however,

favorite death?

Winston giving that crab demon son-of-a-b*tch what for with the spectacular concussive blast of a hand-mortar in his last dying breaths. god bless you american friend.

most horrific death?

Christian and George desperately trying to save each other then being subsequently blown to pieces and thrown out a gun port by a cannon blast. this was one of the only scenes that made me knee-jerkingly say "oh my god" in genuine shock when i first witnessed it.

i don't think the word "ouch" cut it there.

despite only being 10 hours in so far, this game has far exceeded my expectations from what I originally thought about it (that being only knowing it was ♥♥♥♥ at one point).

while it may still have its moments and bugs you'd think would be fixed at this point (along with wondering why they decided to release a half-assed product in the first place), it proves to be the most fun i've ever had blitzing around space and doing crap with friends.

if this game were to have the building of Space Engineers, I'd have to imagine this would probably be one of the best games on the market for sci-fi lovers.

if only Keen would get their heads out of their asses and actually focus on developing a decent game that isin't a unoptimized mess instead of remodeling their companies garden with the customers money.[blog.marekrosa.org]

at any rate, and as many others would say regarding No Mans Sky - a shabby start, but a fantastic game in the end.

in my books, this single game stands with giants such as Rome: Total War, and more recently, Red Dead Redemption 2, solely due to it being the game that truly introduced me to the Star Wars universe.

obviously i had watched the movies beforehand, but something felt much more different and fascinating being able to command the fleets and armies i had seen in the movies to determine the fate of this far away galaxy forever.

i admit that I do pick these words straight out of the games own narration, but there really is no better way to describe it than that.

the fact that this game is still supported and cherished by modders to this day also states the effect that this game has had on many a person like myself, old and young alike.

as a full grown adult in the current year - i salute this game for letting 5-6 year old me discover probably the greatest franchise ever devised.

(sidenote - if steam could track hours of a game played on physical media, i would likely have more than 500 hours stuck into this game by now)

to quote NerdCubed:

"A game for people who are bored of Minecraft."

instead of mining some ore with that pick-axe, why not use a drill? then have that shuffled into a furnace to make some metal plates, then combine that with other crap to make bits, then use those bits to make more cool bits, then even more cool bits!

next thing you know you're picking out a place to put your ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ rocket silo to conquer the moon and wondering why your not dead from asphyxiation with the amount of pollutants you've sent around the planet.

satisfaction is an understatement.

oh yeah the music is really good too - perfect blend of keeping you thinking and on the move, while not exactly skimming on the horrible things you are doing to this planet.

god this mod was the ♥♥♥♥ a couple years ago.

what seems to pretty much be an unfortunately empty husk now was once a battleground of insanity and explosions as far as the eye can see.

had some wonderful memories of playing on the NerdCubed community server with this mod. notable ones being those massive brawls and frequent plane collisions that happened at the main airport, deathmatches with duel-wielded machine guns at the mile-high club, and those stupid map-spanning roadtrips with all the weird and interesting vehicles in the game.

if you can find any servers that still run on this thing, definitely give it a try. nothing beats the thrill and excitement of playing Just Cause 2 with other people.

this is one of the only games with a story i actually felt some emotions to and didn't see it as a big stupid sandbox ♥♥♥♥-a-bout competition (going to the extent of trying to do things arthur would do instead of making up my own spiel).

online feels utterly dead (people literally do not appear sometimes for whatever reason) and has no real replay value unless you play with some friends and make up your own crap. honestly feels more grindy than GTA V. community is unfortunately not much better, and people will either completely ignore you, or shoot you on sight.

highlight of the game (story spoiler ahead)

started crying a little when my horse got downed at the end of the game. also was genuinely gutted when hamish got killed. r.i.p hamish & buell

also holy ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥ the epilogue is amazing

although the game very much has a notoriously slow-paced development cycle, this is genuinely without a doubt one of the best historical games I've ever played.

the feeling of attempting to brunt an enemy bayonet charge as the last few seconds of the match are in the balance, or seeing your battle buddies get turned into red mist as cannon balls fly past your head are some of the most exhilarating experiences in a multiplayer game I have ever seen.

the attention to detail in practically everything is stunning, and the graphics definitely help keep that feeling supported. the dedication of the community to keeping this game alive is also very nice to see. these guys sometimes genuinely make you feel like you're in an actual war zone as they shout orders, blurt out bugle commands, and (sometimes) play period appropriate music over the microphone. one of my favorite details is the smoke that kicks up after long periods of skirmishing, sometimes getting so thick that you can be literally blinded and disoriented as to what is going on.

the seriousness of the game can range from laughing your head off at incest jokes and marching into battle doing the hokey-pokey, to digital re-enacting events. in general though from my experience, it's usually a nice mix between the two.

don't be afraid of not having a mic. unless you want to be an officer, keep watch on your regiments flanks, or just talk with your fellow men, then there's no real need for one.

most of the negative reviews of this game stem from the lack of developer communication with the community, and although this is somewhat of a problem, i feel it's not the biggest deal, as the game seems to still be chugging along at a steady, but very slow pace (something i'm personally used to when it comes to indie games. ever seen Project Zomboid?).

price is honestly a bit of an issue when it comes to the game. I wouldn't exactly consider this game to be worth $30 in its current state, as features like cavalry, actual musicians now in the game!, gameplay polish (on occasion), and a true wide-scale battle gamemode are yet to be implemented, and from the aforementioned lack of developer insight, it's unknown as to when some of these features will be implemented.

in the end though, i feel the gameplay experiences that come out of this game by-far trumps the negatives of the current version, and makes this a absolute must-have for history lovers like myself. very much excited as to what will come in the future!

ahhh, my childhood companion is finally back with so much beautiful spit-shine it'd flood rome itself.

graphics are absolutely beautiful and are a fitting tribute to the original game. units feel very true to the original and not so outlandishly different that it'd make you have a double take. the blocky townhouses down city streets now look stunningly beautiful with the new textures and clutter props. lets not even get into how nice the new lighting engine is.

gameplay is practically the same as i remember from the original game, albeit with some differing qualities for better or worse.

pathing AI for friendly units seems to be the issue right now, as, from my experience, some units fail to line up correctly in city streets or sometimes fail to respond to commands in a timely fashion and thus get their asses handed to them. though still not sure if this is just me noticing stuff from the original game i failed to really notice before, but i somewhat doubt it.

diplomacy has had a major overhaul and it actually feels like your dealing with competent humans. the bots now don't run around sending crazy offers/demands like the infamous "accept or we will attack, please do not attack" (although i admittedly somewhat miss this, but can be remedied in the game modifiers).

a big thing that i appreciate was the addition of the aforementioned game modifiers. it's nice to be able to say "screw all the new garbage, i just want original rome but with pretty things" for those who like to do that. pretty much everything except the new UI and obviously graphics are toggle-able in some shape or form in the game.

UI is meh, but it's not the worst thing in the world. takes up more real-estate than the original but it can be somewhat fiddled with in the options. some menus are a little harder to navigate than others (ex. the followers menu, good lord does my brain melt when looking at it), but its generally not too bad. honestly will probably just take some getting used to before getting confident with it. pretty much everything is still there but just either smaller, bigger, or hidden behind something in some way.

fortunately haven't had any major slip ups some have been reporting in regards to the game running like garbage or the graphics looking crappy, though it obviously depends from person to person. really feel bad for the people who can't run this on windows 7 (considering how it still trumps 10 in useability/ease imo), but unfortunately that's the risk you take when using an outdated OS.

steam workshop support is great, not worth going into as it's benefits are obvious.

overall very happy with my experiences so far. definitely recommended for those who want to relive a true childhood masterpiece in current year graphics and bug fixes.

p.s: sad they removed the original red/black silhouette art style, but that's probably just me. though this is thankfully remedied by the workshop i'd imagine.

p.s 2: the price seems a little wacky considering this is a 17 year old game, but heres to hoping it'll eventually go down in due time (unless CA pulls an Activision or something). in the meantime though, i think i'll get my money's worth.

changing this to a negative review because, with the more time i think about how the fundamental gameplay loop of this game drives the utter worst out of people, sometimes in more ways than the obvious, the more trouble i have personally justifying giving this game a good recommendation.

this game, while honestly having a really cool premise and interesting background lore (apocalyptic cavemen with guns is a setting i feel needs to be explored more), is utterly plagued by some of the most vile, nasty, uncaring, and unwavering keyboard-eating bastards in the entire gaming community.

the fact you are practically forced to play this game as a near literal job if you wish to actually progress both astounds and saddens me. i understand developers getting players to keep up with their stuff and stay on the ball in terms of progression so their stuff doesn't become a liability to the servers resources, but forcing yourself to play the unending rat-races that are derived from the minute a new wipe begins is honestly horrible and makes people play far too seriously for what its worth.

i won't put it past me to just not really fundamentally enjoy the pvp-cutthroat-survival experiences that so many fps game now are, so feel free take everything i say with a grain of salt/"get good ♥♥♥" attitude, but its personally really sad to see this ♥♥♥♥ at its worst.

who cares about finding and making interesting player-on-player experiences and interactions when you can just sit in your 8 story maze fortress with your 15+ other buddies and KOS the brainless newbies who even dare stumble upon you on your travels or within 300 square meters of your house, then revive them and proceed call them every single racial slur in the english lexicon before executing them for daring to even attempt to interact with you.

i understand that this type of stuff is bound to happen in any other game of this similar style, but rust really has a nasty addiction to forcing players to be as cruel and efficient as possible while somewhat throwing out all the things that make these type of games interesting for casuals who don't have all the time in the world to spare.

i feel these videos help explain my feelings much better than i ever could in this review box.

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijhOT_G9a5Y
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIJa4fkA8cs

i will keep the original review i had before this addition since i still feel it demonstrates the point of how unfun and stress-inducing the core gameplay loop is.

i stress again that much of this sentiment is probably from me having some type of failure in regards to dealing with progress loss (though i kinda question this as i love dearly other hardcore survival games such as Project Zomboid), or just having too much naivety about humanity and not understanding what mental intuition someone needs to be such a blithering ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥ to other people who just want to play something to chill out and not constantly have sweaty palms as to when the next base raid or wipe is going to come.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

this is one of those games you need to have a horrifying amount of resolve and patience for.

from a naked idiot with a rock, to a gun wielding psychopath, everyone and everything will want you dead from the moment you spawn on a beach, perhaps even before you wake up.

if you play this game slowly, you will die.
if you play this game fast, you will die.
if you build a big base, you will be raided and butchered.
if you build a little base, you will be raided and butchered.
if you trust everyone, you will be instantly executed and left to die.
if you fear everyone, you will never be able to progress and die.

this is less of a survival game and more of a "how horrible and scummy can humans be to other humans when they have bigger and better (boom) sticks than you do" simulator.

you will need to play this game with friends, otherwise you'll never progress anywhere up the tech tree and practically be left in the dust for the scavengers to feed on you (something i've found out the hard way a disappointing amount of times).

unless you a masochist, sadistic murderer, or louis from left 4 dead, you will need to take breaks otherwise risk losing your sanity, but don't take too long of a break because you'll probably die.

oh yeah did i mention you'll die.