Category: Video Game Reviews

Outer Wilds Review

What happens when you create a game that has a beautiful, open-ended solar system with no hand holding and nothing to push you along other than your own burning curiosity? You get the exploration adventure masterpiece that is Outer Wilds.

Note: this is a spoiler-free review.

You awaken, gasping and opening your four eyes to the sight of a large green planet in orbit high above you. Something explodes near the giant planet. You’re then tasked with making your way to the observatory high above the small town and stopping by a few places on the way.

Normally it wouldn’t garner much attention but the “tutorial area” of Outer Wilds is a brilliantly-designed area, containing every little nugget of knowledge that a player will need to take with them for solving puzzles, navigating around the star system and learning what to do with certain things. Between the tutorial to learn how to fly the model space ship, to navigating in zero-g, to the fascinating museum beneath the observatory, you’ll learn everything you need to know – there’s no unlocking more gadgets that will later allow you to get to new places, or a better space ship to travel to a different place. Alongside learning all these important gameplay elements the player will no doubt be enraptured in some of the more interesting displays in the museum. Why is there a scary fish that apparently came from a different planet? What is this creepy, moving shard-rock? With it, the first seeds for the story are planted, helping the player to form, in their mind, the first “quests.”

I say that in quotes because there is really no official quests or missions or anything of the sort, at least in the traditional sense. The normal “hand-holding” of walking a player through a very rigid questline is not present in Outer Wilds. Something I’ve touched upon in my Morrowind Review with how very boring and linear quests have gotten in more modern RPG games, this game presents you with clues, threads of a story, and it is left to you on which thread you follow.

At the start you’re presented with a few different threads to follow but you’re not even forced to follow any one. Right before you’re cleared to launch to effectively leave the tutorial area for the first time, Hornfels, the head astronomer asks you what you’d want to do first, giving you a few options like “Start with something small” or “meet up with other travelers (astronauts)” which helps point you to things you could do. But never does it do anything more than give you a thread of where to start.

After this its up to you! Each thread will take you in a different direction, but you don’t even have to be following a thread. You could just go fly to which ever planet looks coolest, or something odd caught your eye and wanted to check that out. You might discover something critical to the story, which will add another thread to follow, it might not.

These metaphorical threads are all kept track of in a web of clues that the player references and adds to within their ship’s computer. Right away the player is presented with a slew of questions that any curious space explorer would want to answer- what was that we saw blow up above us at the start? Why are those two planets orbiting so close? What’s with this white star over here? What are these ruins and who made them? Where did these people go? Following these threads allows the player to weave together the web of the story, while unraveling the mysteries of what’s going on and why there are some odd things happening within the Heathian’s star system.


Gameplay – 20/20
Outer Wilds features no combat and no fancy progression system, no shiny cosmetics or upgradable tools, nothing like that. Instead, it relies heavily on interesting mechanics and features of the planets and things a player might come across.

The core gameplay mechanic is centered on the game’s 22-minute cycle – where the sun explodes, going supernova and destroying everything before resetting back to the start, with you at the launch tower ready to explore. Note: I briefly considered not including this little nugget of info in the review… It’s a fun aspect to learn on your first time but it is integral to the game and the review of it. Not to mention I think the game itself explains it on Steam.

The gameplay loop involves using the time as wisely as possible before being reset, whether that means getting as fast as you can to a hard-to-reach location and unlock the next series of clues before the sun explodes, or utilizing time in just the correct way to unlock a puzzle.

Of course I don’t want to ruin any of the amazing puzzles, or the incredible story, but the elements within the tutorial area, especially the museum aid the player in how to unlock some of the challenges he or she may face.

So how can a game with no quests or obviously apparently storyline really work? I’ll be the first to admit it won’t cater to every gamer- the player must naturally be curious and adventurous and ask the questions that will lead to unlocking the mysteries. In many aspects it reminds me of Myst – a nonlinear adventure where you learn backstories and unravel the truth of what’s going on while solving puzzles.

Coupled with so many interesting locations and tasks, the player is eager to go to a number of locations. When I played there was always a laundry list of things I wanted to do and with each cycle I could only pick one or two. Think about it- it is incredible how, despite the game having absolutely no task list or quest system, I have a huge pile of things to do. I’m reminded of Factorio in its very ironic “always something to do” way (review coming soon!) – whose open-endedness is similar in that regard.

Graphics & Sound – 19/20
I’ll start first with the sound- first and foremost the soundtrack. What an epic and incredibly memorable soundtrack it is. Most of the tracks are linked to a location or doing something (like flying through space) but there are several great tracks, especially the menu and main themes that will leave you whistling it for hours after playing.

Along with music itself, the ambience is perfect, setting the tone for each of the mysterious locations. I found the hair raising on my neck in some cases, linked with unlocking more clues to the story. All really well done to keep you focused in on the beautiful world of Outer Wilds.

And beautiful it is – some of the scenes that you encounter across your travels are nothing short of breathtaking thanks in part to the odd scale of the solar system within the game. Planets are much smaller and distances are shorter making for many interesting panoramas and vistas. In a behind the scenes I recall that the game designers had a tough task of making important points on these planets visually interesting to convey that it is an important place to visit, as opposed to just “empty space” and this is done very well. While traveling around in your ship, there are many places you fly near and you can spot landmarks that you will no doubt wish to go check out.

Visual cues and scale are an important theme that help guide the player along. The sun, planets, areas and more all help to peel away the hidden layers of the story.

In the end, despite what is usually a vast emptiness of space, its so rare that the player would ever feel that way and instead is always greeted with a gorgeous view of a sunrise or sunset on a planet or an eclipse. So many things that really add to the incredible views.

Controls & UI – 14/15
Flying the ship came pretty natural to me, where I’ve played several games with zero-g / newtonian physics. It certainly was not easy to come to grips with the size of everything (the ship itself included) and landing is not the easiest. The controls beyond that are very basic, which is a good thing in keeping it simple and uncomplicated. Also worth mentioning is the helpful visual cues the player has while flying, especially when it comes to thruster direction and strength.

The UI is great and really shines when it comes to how the story (and your found clues) are presented. You can view this by planet / moon (where a given clue was found) or by a vast, interconnected web of clues that slowly stitch together the entire backstory of what’s going on. Each thread that I originally mentioned gets its own node in the web to start from, with an icon reminding you that there’s something to explore or learn. If it interests you, you can investigate it and after, you learn of other connected nodes leading you possibly in separate directions for more clues. Slowly more of the web will be revealed as the player works through the game.

Replayability – 10/15

As one would expect from a very story-driven and puzzle-driven game, the replayability is pretty low. After the mysteries of the game are solved, there really isn’t anything to do. There is definitely value in revisiting this game again down the line, but aside from that there’s not much replayability. Keeping in mind that that is the nature of the beast, I don’t hit the score too hard there.


Immersion – 8/10

Given how the story is told, the rich history of the world and the creatures within (you are a Hearthian, a four-eyed alien that doesn’t have a sex) there’s a lot to love. The places and scenes really do a great job keeping you in the game, alongside how the story is told.

I docked points for what I believe is probably the largest letdown in the game: NPC interaction. It’s not terrible, and certainly not a major focus point of the game, but more could be done in terms of reactionary dialog to keep it interesting, or giving you more reasons to talk to NPCs more often. At least a couple NPCs, after you talk to them, there’s zero reason to talk to them again. To contrast, one NPC in particular has interesting dialog choices based on the state of the sun (how close it is to exploding) and engages in some interesting discourse. I’d like to have seen a bit more of that to make the NPCs seem a little less static and robotic.


Challenge Level – 9/10

The game has some incredible puzzles that force you to really put on the thinking cap. Some just don’t seem solvable and so you leave and learn some more things about the universe and come back to it later and realize there was something you didn’t know you could do before unlocking the puzzle.

Sometimes it felt downright frustrating to want to unlock something and you just couldn’t figure out why. Persistent gamers will be rewarded so long as their patience does not run out. Otherwise it’s always a great idea to move on and return another time later, as there’s plenty more to explore and learn.

Overall the game felt very challenging and because of that, felt extremely rewarding to finally solve certain puzzles as the pieces clicked into place, on why I couldn’t open a door or get through to a certain area. And by the end of the game, you felt great on having solved the mysteries and learning what happened.


Mods & Modability – 5/10

A big ding here, but not unexpected. It is slightly unfair to rate this game based on its modability but I can’t bring myself to omit it from the score as it is, as I’ve established, an integral part of any great game. It breathes life into older games and keeps people playing the same game long beyond what might be expected. As I said though, it’s a bit unfair so I’m only deducting 5 points, despite the availability of mods being almost nonexistent.

OVERALL SCORE – 85

Outer Wilds is a masterpiece I didn’t see coming – I did not expect this game to be as good as it was. I had seen a little gameplay and a glowing review, but I had no idea this would fast become one of my top 10 games of all time.

The game is just so unique, while not completely new in most aspects, it is an amazing diamond in the rough at very little cost. The story is enthralling and even more importantly keeps you engaged with it, rather than mindlessly checking off boxes in a quest log.

I couldn’t recommend it more- don’t watch gameplay, don’t spoil it, just dive into the game and get lost. Enjoy the ride.

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Battlefleet Gothic Review

In a previous review I went into depth about how war never changes. Well this isn’t far off the mark because in the grim dark future of the 41st millenium, there is only war. This is the early review of the upcoming Warhammer 40,000 game that focuses on the epic space battles from Games Workshop. This year is shaping up to be a 40k fan’s dream with many 40k video games being released. But will this one be the best or forgotten?

Battlefleet Gothic Armada takes place in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Some are familiar with Games Workshop’s fantasy adaption into an apocalyptic far-future of the 41st millennium, but if you’re not just know it is a future filled with endless warring and strife. There’s plenty of places to get more background into 40k, so that’s as far as I will touch upon the universe itself. The lore, even though it may be a bit spotty at times, is fantastic. The universe really sucks you in and has great customization too it if you want.

ImperiumStart

Battlefleet Gothic centers around the spaceship combat of the universe, which features massive ships, several kilometers long brandishing huge broadsides, fighter craft and torpedoes in an effort to control the Gothic sector. The game stems from the original tabletop game called Battlefleet Gothic (the expansion of which is where the game itself takes it’s name) which I dabbled in a bit years ago. The game, just like tabletop, removed the 3D aspect of space in combat because it provided no added depth or gameplay. BFG tabletop was fun and a lot cheaper than tabletop 40k, not to mention it was, to me, more strategically interesting. You could give ships special orders, you’d fire off volleys of broadsides and pummel the opponent’s ships to floating wreckage, or sometimes almost nothing at all. So as a tabletop player I know how the game is supposed to play, and having read a good portion of the 40k books, especially involving the naval ones, I have a lot of background knowledge of the lore.

The ships, as I said and want to reiterate, are huge in 40k which is why I love them. Crewed by tens of thousands of men, these ships slowly draw their way through the void to decimate their enemies. They draw heavily upon the age of sail in the way they fight and feel, with slower maneuverability, large broadsides and large crews, not to mention boarding. Granted each race has their own unique style and advantages.

As you can imagine, I was real excited to take on this beta; I had followed it for quite some time before springing onto it. The final release is due in a few weeks and hopefully this will give you an idea of how it will play and if it will shape up to be a great game. I had seen a few youtube videos of previews and such, so was really looking forward to the visuals and really feeling like I was controlling a fleet of unfathomably large ships. The beta access features most of the multiplayer aspects, a skirmish mode which is simple PvE engagements where you build up a fleet using renown, and two campaign missions (only for the Imperium) so there’s plenty to test.

Now before I go any further I will say that I’m not a big fan of multiplayer games, nor especially games that are focused on short multiplayer kill and be done matches so this is out of my comfort zone.

Gameplay – 13/25

As a newly-made admiral it’s your job to create a fleet, gain renown and upgrade and expand your fleet. You do this by unlocking more ship slots so you can field more ships, unlocking bigger ships and upgrading your existing ones in a multitude of ways. As your ships (and their captains) gain experience in battle, you unlock upgrades, favors, crew improvements, and skills, all which will improve the ship’s capabilities and usually allow you to specialize a vessel and increase its effectiveness.

ImperiumShipUpgrades

The upgrades range from very useful, to rarely used which is a bit unfortunate. I’d like to see all the upgrades be viable in certain situations, rather than, for example, certain offensive upgrades like the plasma bomb be a sort of default choice for most ship’s first skill when you’re using the Imperial Navy. There’s a good range of them though and I’d like to see even more added as the game progresses. The more choices the better the diversity and the more fun upgrading ships will be (and caring for them!)

Your fleet has a set number of capital ship slots based on your renown level. Capital ships are the big ships (the other being small escorts) that make up the core of your fleet. Capitals come in many different flavors and sizes depending on the race as well. The Imperium and Chaos forces features only the smallest light cruisers but eventually you’ll unlock 1 and then 2 cruiser slots, then battlecruisers and battleships. It is free to actually acquire the ship once you have a slot, which I found a bit odd. Each class generally has at least a few, and sometimes as many as 6 or 7 variants, each with different weaponry, armor, shields, sensors, etc.

You start a game (be it a singleplayer skirmish campaign, the main campaign, or multiplayer) by being shown the mission (simple kill mission, data retrieval, convoy duty, etc) your role (attacker / defender) and the points for the battle. Each ship is assigned a points value based on what it is its upgrades. So a 300 point convoy protection mission means you can take 300 points of ships from your fleet to participate. If your ship was destroyed in a previous match, you won’t be able to use it for the following 1-2 matches at least, but more on that later. So after ship selection, at which point you’ll know your enemy’s race, you are brought in-game to deploy. You are given an area to deploy and after deployment, the game begins.

The game is surprisingly fast-paced and faster than I expected. I’m a bit of a noob at these types of games so my click count is probably incredibly low, but even so I’d probably prefer the gameplay to be a bit slower. Not a dealbreaker though, as you don’t want to be bogged down with one game for half an hour or so. On average my matches have lastest around 5-10 minutes max. So they’re not long drawn-out affairs.

Overall I was pretty disappointed that this game, that is supposed to entail ships that are kilometers long; slow lumbering behemoths is so fast-paced. They feel nothing like the ships of the 41st millennium, that are crewed by thousands of souls and have served the Imperium for centuries. They feel like easy to replace pawns that shoot quickly and nothing more.

Balance is key in a game like this and while most appear to be close and every race has their own distinct advantages, style and feel, it’s not perfect (nor do I expect it to be just yet in beta). It will require you to think about strategy from the very beginning when you’re selecting your fleet based on the mission, to the final moments of the battle. Each of the current 3 races has different ships which require different strategies and playstyle. A fourth race, the Eldar, is to be added next week at the time of writing. The Imperium (humans) feature slow, tanky ships with many torpedoes and the unqiue nova cannon. Chaos hit hard with lance turrets and are accurate at longer ranges and are slightly faster. Ork ships feature immense customization and love ramming with their crudely-built ships and the Eldar are advanced and sneaky, using very fast, maneuverable ships that make use of stealth and other tricky tactics.

Torpedo Spread of Imperial Ship

There is a lot of micromanaging that better players will clearly excel at. Ships can all have special orders that have a long cooldown time, like bracing for impact which reduces incoming damage taken, to Lock on which increases critical damage chance. They all have a maneuver meter that you can use to go all ahead full, increasing speed, or burn thrusters to narrowly dodge an incoming salvo. In addition to these features that every ship has, some ships have the ability to board enemy ships with boarding tubes or lightning (teleportation) strikes and inflict damage, launch fighters, bombers and other craft, launch torpedo salvos, fire bombs and other special weaponry, the list goes on.

And with all that going on, it can become very difficult to manage ships. You can assign priority to enemy ships as well as what ship system you want them to fire upon. You can tell your ship to prioritize firing broadsides, or head on, depending on the ship’s weaponry, the preferred range, and more. If that isn’t enough, then there’s the controversial Tactical Cogitator function. At any point during a game, a player can hit space bar to activate the Tactical Cogitator which slows the game down significantly. It’s basically a slowmo so you can get your clicks in, to make sure you can activate an ability in time, maneuver a ship before it gets hit, or ensure your salvo is aimed perfectly. In multiplayer matches, each player has a bar which drains when the cogitatoris activated. Once out, you can no longer use it. But obviously the game slows down for both players when one activates it. Some hate it, some think it’s very helpful, myself included.

Chaos Light cruiser

Last, on the current game modes, campaign seems to have everything there and ready to go for launch even though you can only play 2 battles into it. It reminds me of the dawn of war campaign, where you’d have many different locations (systems in this case) to defend and gives you the sense of an entire campaign in the Gothic Sector. The systems give differing fleet bonuses and such. For now, the campaign appears to be only from the Imperial perspective so I’m really hoping you’ll be able to play the same campaign from a different viewpoint. AKA instead of defending the territory of the Imperium, you’re waging a “waagh” for the Orks and decimating the territory and gaining ground. Not sure if that will be in at the time of release. Multiplayer is just that. There is currently no matchmaking yet, but I’m expecting there to be during release, which will also signify a server reset. So multiplayer matches can be pretty brutal at the moment. It does feature 2v2 matches as well. Skirmish is a pretty cool game mode that is pretty much a single player version of multiplayer. You can build your fleet and bash your opponents. You also have the opportunity to play private PvP games against your friends.

Graphics & Sound – 15/20

Graphically the game is great. I was blown away by the visuals from pre-alpha footage and while it isn’t exactly as good, it still is pretty great. Playing the settings on “epic” maxed out yields beautiful ships that for most part, feel as massive as they should be, all on a breathtaking starscape background. The effects, especially warping to escape, is pure awesome and exactly the sort of the a 40k fan would love, not to mention the firing effects, engines and more.

Chaos shooting

I do have a bone to pick about the maps / backgrounds. To create something more visually stimulating than just a star backdrop, the devs appear to add strange structures, asteroids, planets and suns that provide a sort of foreground to the background. They have no bearing to the game but actually confuse me, especially when at certain camera angles it looks like the background asteroids are asteroids your ships are about to run into. Some of the structures don’t even make sense in 40k lore, as far as I know, and other celestial objects just appear odd. Most of these “foreground backgrounds” I’ll call them should just be removed. A just starry background is not a bad thing.

Also on the bone to pick category, I do experience some odd screen tearing during the short intro sequences for each battle (which I am not allowed to skip for whatever reason). It occurs only for a few moments when the screen is panning with the ships, but it is very bad and very obvious. That’s the only graphical glitch I seem to have encountered. The camera pan and zoom works smoothly but feels a bit limited- I want to be able to zoom out more than I am currently able to.

Just as with visuals, creating sound for the 40k universe is extremely difficult. It is near-impossible to capture the true apocalyptic dark gothic atmosphere of the far future. That said, for the most part the sounds are good and on par with DOW, from vocals to ship weapon and engine sounds (there ARE sounds in space!) So this is where I expect it to be at.

Imperialsmash

Controls & UI – 11/15

The controls are what you’d expect from a top-down type real time strategy. Intuitive to start and the UI is laid out in a relatively clean manner. There’s a lot to it, though and I’m not sure I’d be the one to have to tackle the task of making the UI. There are a lot of orders buttons, maneuver buttons and more that almost clutter the UI and make for a tall learning curve. Veterans will learn the keyboard shortcuts and thus drastically speed up play time for them, as a huge advantage.

I could think of maybe one or two improvements I’d personally make to the UI, one of them being possibly a radial wheel menu for orders when you hold-click a ship. It might really help bridge the gap between newer players who have trouble learning keyboard shortcuts and learning the UI to getting better.

At this time, some of the tool tips and some rare text runs off in places where you can’t read it, and some tool tips just don’t explain enough or sometimes too much.

Replayability – 13/15

I think there’s a lot of room for replayability here in multiplayer. A lot of this score will depend on the campaign, as there’s really nothing to go on that just yet, but for now based on multiplayer there seems to be plenty to replay. Will also depend on how matchmaking works so we’ll see. I think the progression through earning renown and building your fleet is a bit too fast but I’ll touch upon that in challenge level.

Immersion – 8/10

I’ll just stay they stuck to the lore and tabletop game as much as they could and did a great job of it. As I said before it’s not something simple to do, and even in a balanced tabletop game, it doesn’t make for a simple conversion into a video game. A year or two ago, a company attempted to make a conversion of the tabletop Battletech game called Mechwarrior Tactics. The game was never finished (currently “on hold”) and even though the rules and balance were there to begin with, it still required tweaking instead of being a simple turn-based conversion.

Challenge Level – 8/10

The difficulty of the game is pretty spot on and I’m very impressed that this is the case at this stage of the development. AI is pretty good and when you get past normal and hard difficulties it feels like it should. Multiplayer is a great challenge and the different mission types present different strategies and require different fleet compositions. I’d like to see even more variety but currently it’s a great start, with simple kill missions, to convoy protection and destruction, breakthrough missions and more. These are well done and force you as the admiral to make tactical decisions from the getgo. A slow hard-hitting long range ship might not be the best choice for a flagship for data recovery missions, where you need fast ships to catch and then board the enemy flagship.

I think the game modes and their randomness really add a lot more than one might expect to the game, and I can only hope they’ll add even more, like troop insertion missions, space hulk missions and more.

Penalties for ship losses are good but could be better. I’d like to see a bit more than just not being able to use the ship for more than 1-2 battles. Degraded rank (and therefor loss of some bonuses, skills, etc) and complete destruction should be something that could happen should you not choose to withdraw your wounded ships from battle. I like that it already incorporates that sort of retreat gameplay and feels like a drawn-out campaign so it would be even better to make the consequences more realistic. The “Retreat” function, warping out when the battle goes south, is great incentive.

However there is an issue that when some or most of your fleet is unavailable, or hindered / damaged for the next match, and then when you ready up and hope it’s a small quick match but it’s not, you don’t really get the time to recover that you need. I love that it incentivizes warping out and fleet preservation but there also needs to be a match queue for small matches so you don’t have to commit your injured fleet for the next match if you don’t want to.

I also mentioned before there’s still not matchmaking yet so getting your ass handed to you will happen often enough. Hopefully this will be addressed.

orks shooting

Mods & Modability – 1/5

I changed the weight of this category a bit because, like most 40k video games, licensed by Games Workshop, they are usually inherently not meant to be modded easily and usually don’t receive a lot of attention in the modding community. DOW was an exception, but think Space Marine, Space Hulk, Fire Warrior, etc. There’s always a relationship between game popularity / ease of modding and how many mods a game will have. Here there’s some potential I suppose but not a lot, and I don’t expect much, if any at all, aside from different balance mods and such.

OVERALL SCORE – 69

To conclude this preview, there’s a lot to like about this game. It offers fast-paced gameplay complimented with a lot of tactical options if you’re into that. I’d say leveling is a bit too fast, it’s too easy, even after a string of losses, to earn renown but that might be because it’s Beta. I’d hope there’s a bit more there and matchmaking is properly implemented. The campaign looks fantastic and I can’t wait to sink my teeth into it. As a huge 40k and BFG fan, I was incredibly happy to finally see a BFG combat game rise from the tabletop game that I remember playing. To see it flourish as it has is fantastic and I look forward to the upcoming free DLCs that I receive for preordering (Space marine fleet and an unannounced fleet).

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Fallout 4 Review

War never changes. With all the hype that Bethesda piled on (with no small amount of help thanks to the media as well), expectations were sky high for this returning smash hit series. Set in a retro-futuristic apocolyptia that takes place in an alternate timeline branched off from WW II, Fallout 4 continues the series this time in the ruins of Boston. Does it live up to the hype?

This is another game that I got ahold of after the series’ third iteration. (See Morrowind review) The past two were a classic isometric RPG from Black Isle Studios, gaining a true cult following with its rich, unique game world. FO3, and later New Vegas (Obsidian Entertainment, not Bethesda) were a vast departure, taking the game into a beautiful 3D action RPG with a large open world. As I write this review, I will try to keep the spoilers to the minimum. That said, most of what I say can be gathered within the first few hours of gameplay and anything that I mention that happens later, I talk about extremely vaguely, so it should be spoiler safe.

Fallout 4 seeks to stick to the incredibly deep and interesting backstory; one I find absolutely awesome. The alternate timeline in which Fallout takes place involves the U.S. and China in a Cold War after World War II, where the development of technology is different. Instead of the miniaturization of electronics and the microchip transistor, their world developed nuclear technology much further and faster, eventually harnessing fusion power. However, the neverending Cold War culminates in a nuclear holocaust as the world is consumed in fire. This destroyed retro 50’s style futuristic world is the world you emerge to, when you step from your Vault, which kept you safe underground.

A true signature of the series, and one of my favorite features is the true open-endedness that the game takes on. Different factions to side with create different quests that ultimately lead you to a unique ending. You really end up feeling like you shaped the world, rather than played out a predetermined story. Both FO3 and FO New Vegas had many cool endings culminating with distinct videos that go with what you’ve accomplished and how you chose to make your mark on the wasteland. Some clips would show how you saved someone, referencing a quest you might’ve accomplished, others maybe not.


Gameplay – 12/20
There’s several huge steps forward here for the Fallout Series but also quite a few steps back for RPG games in general. Most obvious is the vast improvements to the FPS elements. It feels a lot more like a shooter, which was missing in 3 and NV. Better weapon feel, aiming and gun mechanics all contribute to this. Customization is no small thing either, with weapon customization offering loads of options, provided you spend your perks properly. I’d probably have liked to see really rare loot also contribute to this as well. For example, some extremely rare loot (only maybe 3 available in the wasteland) is needed to craft specialized parts for higher damage or better ROF instead of skills.

On the customization subject, the settlements feature is really cool but I almost consider it a bit basic and look forward to it’s growth in mods soon. Despite this, it offers great options and some fun things to do when not roaming the wasteland. The management though is a bit weary and gets downright annoying as you have to almost babysit settlements endlessly for the Minutemen.

A major downside to this game was the omitting of proper RPG-like factions and how the player is within them. Almost ALL (if not all) Bethesda RPGs, past Fallout games were no exception, allowed you to join factions at your own will, where you’d obviously start at the bottom of the totem pole, and do quests to rank up, usually until you got to the top as a guild master (or what have you). This game is a vast departure from this tried and true aspect, sadly. Not only are faction standings basically non-existent, but the player starts out as the general of the minutemen, you already have power armor, and with the completion of a quest early on, you can easily become a knight in the brotherhood, which is no minor rank. Not to mention there are many less factions
than compared to previous Fallout games. I’d have loved to see other factions joinable, especially to see your standings plummet with others. Being able to join the Gunners and take assassination quests, or perhaps take the FEV and join the various warbands of super mutants.

fallout-4-new-screenshots-weather-dynamics-power-armor-700x389

I’ll also mention that there is no real Karma type-system either. Behind the scenes there’s something going on that will determine how much your companions like or dislike you and your actions but it did not seem to affect my gameplay in the slightest. I liked in Fallout 3 that NPCs viewed me and talked to me based on my standing.

The dialog can go either way, some aren’t a fan of the simplified responses and would rather see the entire response. It doesn’t bother me too much, but I will say that it was nice to see charisma get more use, as it was a very minor, specialized skill in previous games. Though I miss having the specialized dialog options, for example, if my Intelligence was extremely high, I might have an option to fix something I otherwise couldn’t have. This is still present in FO4 but it is very minor now. The simplification of skills and specializations is ever-present here, sadly.

One great thing they did right is how the Power Armor functions. Some might complain about it no longer functioning just like armor, but in the lore, it was always seen as a replacement for tanks, and it does not disappoint. It should feel like something you need to use only in the most extreme cases, never something you wander around with throughout the entirety of the game.

The overall storyline is good, so that’s all I’ll say about that. Nothing to complain about, but nothing extremely great, either.

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Graphics & Sound – 17/20
A great deal of noise was made about the quality of the graphics and Fallout’s unremarkable engine. I’ve always been along the school of thought that without great gameplay, shiny graphics and effects are worthless. Still it isn’t anything that pushes the boundaries here, and sometimes it is disappointing. Overall though I was happy with the visual experience, it was engaging and fun, a lot more colorful and a lot less dreary than Fallout 3’s famous atmosphere. Take that for what you will.

On the audio side, the soundtrack is great in typical Fallout fashion. I detract a bit because there’s a fair amount shared between FO4 and FO3, but there are new classics that go with FO4 that set the atmosphere perfectly. Would like to see even more, as the radio gets pretty trite, and it could be me but seems a lot more repetitive than Galaxy News Radio from FO3. You just gotta miss Three Dog but there’s FO4 smartly created it’s own personal touch.

Ambient noise leaves something to be desired. Despite the gameworld now featuring birds and other “friendlier” animals, there’s almost no living feeling. Settlement ambient noise is sadly lost almost entirely, especially in what are supposed to be larger hubs like Diamond City. It just doesn’t sound and feel like the biggest colony in the Commonwealth.

Controls & UI – 15/15
No complaints at all here. There is a bit of awkward feeling with some of the FPS-type elements, for example, grenade throwing is primitive and a bit sloppy, but the control scheme is flawless, works very well and the UI is marvelous. I’m a stickler for UI’s and the layout, design and overlook is not just useful but extremely iconic and great looking. I even have my phone looking like a pip-boy.

Replayability – 11/15

Unfortunately this score takes a bit of a hit, which is a departure from previous Fallout games. I mentioned why a bit earlier, especially pertaining to the videos and differing endings. This severely affects it, but still it will leave you wanting to go through at least one or two more times to see how things play out. Could use plenty of improvement here, though.


Immersion – 10/10

Can’t stress how incredibly rich the world is, from the opening credits onward. The Fallout Series in general lends itself to a great backstory full of interesting tidbits and awesome lore. It’s not absolutely ridiculous to think that this alternate history was very possible. Despite being an apocalyptic mess of a world, it is one that is extremely appealing to live in (as appealing as it can be) with it’s 50’s retro future style and mentality. The sort of innocent curiosity that inhabited the US when the dangers of nuclear fallout was unknown and disregarded. The story to Vault-Tec is a bit less believable but still incredibly intriguing and gets you thinking.


Challenge Level – 5/10

Huge letdown here but I can’t say I didn’t expect it. Somewhat. Sure there’s a difficulty slider, with a few different settings to choose from to suit your fancy. That’s about it. I didn’t find the game challenging, and despite bumping the difficulty up two to three times during my first playthrough, I still didn’t feel like I was under duress very much. To reference my Morrowind post again, I attribute this low score to the dumbing down of modern RPGs and games in general. Every positive point in my Morrowind review applies here inversely. The major issue here is enemy and item leveling. I also absolutely hate the built-in mechanic where somehow the further you travel south from Vault 111, the more difficult and dangerous it is.

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There’s also New Vegas’ cool hardcore mode that was implemented thanks to a highly successful FO3 mod. The mode featured stimpaks and radaways that heal over time, and introduced basic needs, the need to drink, eat and sleep. I can’t say I’m not sad something of the sort didn’t make it into FO4, though some things like hunger and such would be difficult to reproduce in this newest iteration of the series, as it introduced many new things like growable food and such.

I love the balance of the perk system, it works pretty well, with a few holes. Again I also enjoyed the interesting balance power armor has brought. Also love that the level cap was removed, allowing you to play to your heart’s content and be rewarded for it. Because isn’t that what every player wants? Character building is great, as always, albeit a bit over-simplified.


Mods & Modability – 9/10

This section is a bit premature but there’s still a fair amount of mods to judge this on already. Without the GECK kit (Bethesda’s modding software) there’s still a lot to be hopeful for. The GECK is slated to release early 2016 and many modders are waiting, drooling for a chance to play with it, but many more have just went ahead and created plenty of good content already. Some of it limited in scope but I have no doubt when the GECK hits, we’ll see some great overhauls, graphics enhancements and more. I honestly can’t wait.

OVERALL SCORE – 79

I’ve looked forward to this game for years; after I finished Fallout 3 and especially when rumors began to spread about Bethesda poking around locations in Boston, possibly making the setting for Fallout 4. It’s hard not to expect the best game of the year, especially with the hype that Bethesda built up at E3 2015 and the months that followed, leading up to the release. But it’s hard not to see the shortcomings either. This is a game that I do not regret buying; it’s great and I really recommend it. Despite my complaints about this and that there’s no doubt that I’ll pick it up and play it again in the coming months as well. My score of 79 suits the game real well great but not an all time-great and personally I’m holding out for mods to really address some of the misses.

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TES: Morrowind Review

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is a game I see as the true launch of the Elder Scrolls Franchise. For me, it’s where it really began and without a such a huge success, we would never have had Oblivion or Skyrim, much less other great releases from Bethesda like the Fallout Series. This far-reaching open world RPG set the tone for all future RPGs, it is believed to have influenced soon-to-be MMOs with it’s broad scope, and I believe we’ll never see it’s like again.

Now to back up for a minute, this game is old. It released in 2002… I played it with one of those old, massive original Xbox controllers! But I’m going through a number of reviews so I thought it would be fun to go back to a classic, something I revere as possibly the greatest video game of all time, and see how it stacks up against my current reviews. I played this a lot, and replayed it a lot when I found out there was still a mod called Morrowind Rebirth keeping this alive and (somewhat) updated as far as graphics and gameplay is concerned.

I mentioned that Morrowind is partially credited with the shift to MMORPGs and their popularity, because the scope of the game was so vast that normal RPGs just could not compare. An open world game the like of Morrowind was a first, with its deep world with many quests and hidden locations. This made exploration a true, challenging yet fun task that you spent hours and hours on. The plethora of weapons and armor, to say nothing of the artifacts that you could earn and find kept you engaged and always on the look out for more. The game world was incredibly profound and complex, with a record breaking amount of text in game (whether through dialog or books you could pick up and read) that kept you engaged for days.

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The game takes place on the island of Vvardenfell, which with its centrally located volcano, isn’t the most scenic province of Tamriel. With a setting that is a vast departure from the previous (and future) Elder Scrolls games, not to mention most fantasy games, it marks itself as a unique anomaly. The Dunmer (dark elf) province has it’s own legacy, it’s own styling and breadth of life that makes it fresh and special, in the series and as a whole. A nearly uncountable variety of diverse plant and animal life (whether friend or foe) along with it’s own signature architecture and styling help shape it’s one-of-a-kind world.

As a prisonor arrived from somewhere in Tamriel via a ship, the player starts of in the quaint town of Seyda Neen, establishing their character in what was an incredibly unique, highly praised way. The level of cusomization open to the new player was astounding, and finally, after beaurcratically being released as a free person to the Dark Elves’ land, you begin your journey into the world. A world where blight storms plague the lands, warring houses and factions fracture the island and the deity Dagoth Ur seeks to become immortal and all powerful and destroy everything. You learn that you may be the prophetic incarnation of Nerevar, and as The Nerevarine, you learn you must unite the island and their quarrelling houses and save the world.

Gameplay – 20/20
While the action RPG wasn’t exactly a new concept, Bethesda nailed it here. The great depth of skills really meant you could take any path you wanted, be it a hard-hitting Redguard with a massive hammer or claymore, a sneaky thief of a Wood Elf, a skilled High Elf Mage, or any combination in between. The combination of the different races, classes and skills meant a million different possibilities. There always were bonuses and drawbacks; perhaps not being able to repairs arms and armor, or the inability to cast decent spells. Unlike in future TES games, magicka doesn’t regen as quickly so it required careful thought as to how you’d deal with foes.

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First, the incredible amount of weapons, armor and spells does nothing but amaze. Especially as you look forward in the series, you see everything get simpler and simpler. You don’t see claymores or other specialized weapons as much if at all, the armor gets extremely simplified and lots of interesting spells dissapear entirely. In Morrowind, you need to armor your character with a cuirass, helm, left and right pauldrons, left and right gauntlets / bracers, greaves and boots (as well as shields). In Oblivion, pauldrons are eliminated and gauntlets are simplified (into a set of two, rather than indiviually). In Skyrim, armor is further dumbed-down to elimnate greaves so you’re left with “armor”, helmet, shields, gauntlets and boots. Then to speak of all the spells (custom or otherwise) that never saw the light of day in future games like levitate.

As I said the sheer amount of possibilities is staggering. But all of it wouldn’t be possible with a rich gameworld with plenty to do. With all the quests (which I’ll go into detail about later) and factions ensure there’s always something to do and somewhere to go. Ranking up and being promoted through each faction is an Elder Scrolls staple, and Morrowind is certainly no exception.

I will say that combat is a bit one-dimensional, a bit more of a hack-and-slash style than future games but for it’s time it was great so it’s hard to detract from this. I say the same thing about the lockpicking, as a tumbler-system introduced in Oblivion was not yet heard of.

With novels and novels worth of text to read through, you do spend a lot of time reading. The dialog isn’t voiced so be prepared for that. Nonetheless it doesn’t leave you wanting. Between dialog options, books and your own journal you have many options to go through.

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The huge game world is probably one of the biggest contributors to it’s high score, and it doesn’t feel tightly packed like newer games where you can easily walk from one marker to the next nearby within a minute. There are tons of interesting things to see and visit and plenty of secrets to uncover. Morrowind’s fast travel system, which does not feature direct fast travel but rather a few systems that allow you to travel between cities or other established points of interest (for example, via boat between coastal cities, or teleportation pads, between mage guilds). In my opinion this is absoltely perfect and something we’ll never see again in RPG games of this era. I’ll touch more on this and a few other similar things below in Challenge Level.

Last I’ll touch on a few things that really (unfortunetly) dropped off in later TES games. The repair system of maintaining arms and armor was never to be seen again,

Graphics & Sound – 18/20
The graphics were, for the time, one of the best. Although there were stunning visuals, one of the distingishing features is the draw distance. Being atop a mountain or a large building and being able to make out vast stretches of land really made you feel even more on a huge island.

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I touched a bit on the art style and how it’s big change contributed to the nostalgia I feel today when I play. Too many fantasy games to count, including just about every other TES game have that familiar European-style to it. This exception cements the gameworld with unforgettable and unmistakable character. This applies from the architecture of the large manors and floating cantons of Vivec trickling all the way down to the beastly-looking armor and weapons.

I took some points off here mainly due to the sound. The music is as unforgettable as the aforementioned graphical styling, however the ambient sounds, especially spells and miscellanious combat sounds don’t do the game justice and are a bit flat.

Controls & UI – 13/15
This also gets a bit off the score because the controls aren’t anything groundbreaking. Hack and slash style, with only a few ways to strike an opponent, and a block, don’t really do the game justice. The UI is good but hard to manage on a console. For it’s time the UI is great, as you’ll see games of it’s time period with much bigger, clunkier UIs. That being said, inventory management can be a pain and downright awful when it comes to potions.

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Replayability – 13/15
I’m a testament to the game’s replayability but I’m probably not the norm, as I love the game so much. The game has very memorable quests. Unfortunetly it came before the concept of dynamic, different endings that were featured in games like Fallout: New Vegas as I would die to be able to see differing endings and being able to side with different factions. The fact that you’ll get bad standing with some factions ensures it will require you to think carefully about whose side you choose.

Immersion – 10/10
Probably one of the best sense of immersion I’ve ever felt in a game. The game world feels extremely complete and fleshed out. So many places to explore, so much to do, so many things to collect. It’s very rare I feel like I’m tediously playing a video game, aside from managing inventory and loading screens.

I spoke to the sheer amount of plant, animal life. The game world is full of it. So many things you can make from it, as it all has a use. The larger cities feel like they’re larger cities, something that is hard to really hit home, and really missed the mark in Oblivion and sometimes Skyrim. A major or somewhat major city might only actually feature 3-4 buildings.

Challenge Level – 10/10
This is where Morrowind shines. I love the open world and everything in it, but it would be nothing without the challenge that Morrowind presents you with. I’ll give you the reasons what puts this game over the top and they are what you’ll likely never see in video games again.

–No Hold-your-hand Quest System – The biggest factor for in me in my opinion. There’s no quest marker on your map telling you where to go. There’s no simplified walkthrough of quests. In order to finish them, you need to work through them and use your *gasp* brain. You take notes in your journal to relevant quests. And when you have the classic “go find this in this cave” quest, guess what, you have to walk there and actually LOOK. In new RPGs, despite being told to FIND an item, all you have to do is travel to the cave then the quest marker will take you RIGHT to it. You don’t even really need to look, you just follow the compass. This easy-mode, dumbing down of video games is an extreme shame and something I’ve harped on for years. You just don’t see it anymore. Morrowind quests are challenging and offer a true test to you as a character.
–Lack of Modern-type Fast Travel – Touched on this just above. This system is perfect and allows you to get to the major points of interest fast. There’s also a set and recall type option (a spell) that allows you to cast a set spell and then you can use recall to fast travel back to that spot. That’s it; that’s the only methods of fast travel. Otherwise you have to hoof it. And why would you want to fast travel and miss the wonderful game world?
–Secrets of the world – There are a lot of worldly secrets that are very tough to find. I distictly recall a shrine that lays pretty far off the coast that is completely submerged, not a few feet deep but at least thirty foot deep. It was far from easy to get to, let alone how you found it…
–Map – This goes somewhat alongside the previous point. But the overworld map in Skyrim, I’m sure you all recall, is extremely detailed. It’s hard to get lost. You could almost see NPCs from your god-like view. With Morrowind though you had a very vague map… extremely vague. The only real help came from a poster that shipped with the game, which was a true work of art.
–Enemy Scaling – This (and the following point) are big things that you probably won’t see again either. There was NO ememy scaling in Morrowind. If you happened to stumble upon someone (or something) you could not beat, tough luck for you. In Skyrim (and even worse in Oblivion) enemies scaled with you, so you’d never see difficult enemies at the beginning, nor easy ones near the end of your leveling.
–Item Scaling – Related to the above, except with items and loot. In Morrowind, if you knew where certain items were, you could go get them straight away. Random loot did level, which I think works well.
–Crime & Bounty – The whole system is a lot more realistic than future itereations of TES. Stolen items are not marked as such so it’s up to you to remember which you’ve swiped. When you commit an act, you aren’t informed of such. In Skyrim, you can look in an NPC’s inventory (pickpocket them, but not take anything) without committing a crime!
Mods & Modability – 9/10
Morrowind has some great mods and the one that stands out the most is the one that is still being worked on. Morrowind Rebirth has added loads to the game. Cities have been expanded and are larger with more shops, npcs and more. There’s new weapons and armor. Graphics has been given a boost. It’s a great all-in-one mod that helps keep Morrowind somewhat up to date.

There’s more than a fair share of other graphics and sounds overhaul mods, not to mention complete game overhauls, balance fixes and more. Even one that allows you to grow your own Telvanni Towers.
OVERALL SCORE – 93
You can tell this game holds a special place in my heart. I mark it as one of the last in an era where games have been simplified and less challenging before, making overall sacrifices for the sake of a broader-reaching fanbase. I hate to admit it, because I love Bethesda, but their latest games, Skyrim and Fallout 4, are obviously examples of this.

From lore to the spanning game world that is unforgettable, Morrowind is a classic game that will stand the test of time, especially as it is continually updated with fresh mods. Unforunetly it has been pushed aside and almost forgotten by most, and newcomers to TEs might disregard it as antiquited, but what a mistake it would be.

Has anyone had a great experience playing this game? Remember it well? Was there another game that you feel like is something you won’t see another game like it again?

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Fez Review

Just another take on the classic 2D side-scroller… or is it? Gomez is a little white fez-wearing character that finds a 3rd dimension to add to his flat 2D existence. With this he embarks on a puzzle-filled adventure which requires you to think in a multitude of ways to advance through the game and save the universe. With unparalleled art that has you mesmerized with each new scene, you’ll get lost fast in a world that leaves you wanting more and more.

What happens when you add depth to a side-scoller? Fez is what happens. Using an ever-changing perspective of Fez’s world, you are tasked with finding clues and solving countless puzzles in this beautifully crafted game. If you liked the challenge of Portal, then you’d love Fez. There are many similarities: the lack of a true epic storyline, as well as no direct enemies or combat of any sort. Just fun, brain-wracking puzzles.

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Gameplay – 16/20
The entire premise of the game is built around being able to solve the various tasks and riddles by using a different prespective. Two controls rotate your view left or right ninety degrees, thereby allowing you to reach rocks that you couldn’t climb on before, see tunnels you couldn’t see before, and jump to new platforms you couldn’t reach before. Some puzzles need to be arranged carefully and won’t look right unless arranged perfectly from certain, or all, viewpoints. There is a lot of open-ended exploration involved, as collecting cubes (made of a number of mini-cubes) will unlock new worlds, with more and progressively harder enigmas.

Graphics & Sound – 19/20
I can’t say enough good things about the art in this game. It is truly beautiful and unique and each new world brings interesting surprises. The art itself is fantastic, nothing short of a masterpiece in each section of each world; whether it be a floating magical windmill or a lighthouse island or a hovering hill with it’s own waterfall, it doesn’t case to amaze. The screenshots speak for themselves.

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As for the auditory side, the soundtrack it is unique and suits the game extremely well. Ambient noisesmake for great creepy or dark scenes. The sounds are muted and subdued and reflect Fez’s soft character. I’d have liked to see a bit more in the sound department but nothing that really hurts the score here, as the graphics certainly bridge the gap.

Controls & UI – 12/15
There are few controls and they’re pretty straightfoward. There is very little tutorial though your guide through the game can be a bit annoying sometimes. I prefer to use a gamepad (Xbox Controller) which works well; the triggers rotate the view left and right, and the buttons function as jump and action keys.

The UI is pretty good. It is minimal; as the player requires very little information while playing. My biggest gripe here is the oddly laid out map-type system, which does it’s best to convey each area with respect to connecting areas in a graphical way. It’s simple to understand and I grant it is cool to look at, but as far as actual navigation is concerned it is more complicated than it ought to be.

Replayability – 8/15
Obviously a puzzle game isn’t the best in terms of offering endless replay options, so its score suffers here. I don’t detract too much from the score though because at it’s core it’s not meant to be, nor are puzzle games that way, in any case.

Immersion – 8/10
The world is rich, there is no doubt, though I’m left wanting more depth. It leaves you wanting more, more of a back story to the world, to Fez, to everything around you, but it does suck you in regardless.

Challenge Level – 6/10
As I mentioned before, the challenging puzzles get more complicated the further you progress in game, as you would expect. I docked quite a few points here though because I could easily see different difficulty levels added, as well as light / humourous enemies or other dangerous obstacles. Not to mention a sort of hardcore mode that requires very careful ledgework owing to a very finite number of deaths.

Mods & Modability – 3/10
Again, the puzzle-game genre hurts Fez more, as this isn’t a category that is open to modding. Aside from minor modifications, the only other thing mods can add is more puzzles, which isn’t really an easy feat. There are some mods out there, but nothing worth mentioning.


OVERALL SCORE – 72
Fez is a great game and well worth the money. My own score doesn’t do it justice, and anyone a fan of a good puzzle game and indie games in general will truly enjoy the time they spend playing Fez. Do yourself a favor and get lost in Fez’s gorgeous world.

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FTL Review

FTL is the new standard for space strategy games with it’s iconic pseudo 8-bit graphics and unforgettable soundtrack. For those who have wanted to command the bridge of a starship, FTL brings style and fun together in sweet perfection that will have you spending countless hours contemplating tactics and trying out different play styles. Captain your ship, command your crew, prepare your weapons, upgrade your systems and navigate to the Federation homeworlds as you are chased by the rebel fleet tasked with your utter annihilation.

This review is going to be a little bit different, as it isn’t a new game by any means. FTL is a game that I played to death a while ago, almost two years ago, and then kind of forgot about. I was bored this weekend though and decided to pick it up for cheap on Steam ($3.99!!) which included the Advanced Edition which I hadn’t yet played.

Back when I was playing it, I knew I had something special. In fact, I played it so much that I also devoted a bit of time to modding it. Unfortunetly, it isn’t the most mod-able game though. Despite that, if there’s a will, there’s a way.

Anyway, I’ve found myself playing this again. It’s a lot different from other strategy-type games and has inspired a lot of knock-offs in the recent years. At it’s core, FTL is a top-down spaceship combat game that challenges you to manage your ship’s crew, weapons, and systems in your effort to defeat the rebel (scum). You navigate systems, picking up upgrades to your ship and different crew members along the way, battling pirates, rebels and anyone else you think you can take on. Manage power to shields, send a boarding party to attack the other ship’s interior, fire missiles and lasers and more as your ship flies to the Federation homeworlds. There are many, many text-based encounters that force you to make choices that will affect your ship, for better or for worse.

The game forgoes any sort of movement / navigation during a battle for a simpler battle sequence that actually works real well. There are many skills your crew can pick up, not to mention upgrades to the ship, that can help improve your evade to keep you alive. Use the many weapons to target enemy ship sections to disable shielding or knock out critical weapons that threaten your ship. I go into detail with the weaponry below.

As a free upgrade to all steam (and iPad) owners, FTL also has a newer Advanced Edition that adds many new events, ships, weapons, augmentations and more on top of the base content, not to mention a new race.

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I’ll go into the story/lore below as I rate out each of the game’s important categories.

Gameplay – 18/20
FTL scores very high in gameplay. There’s very few games that do spaceship combat like FTL and FTL does it well. It’s a very fun approach to being a captain of a ship, for anyone who wanted to be on the bridge of the Enterprise, delegating power to subsystems and weaponry alike. There are many different ships and weapons to choose from to suit a myriad of playstyles, with dozens of ships to earn in a number of ways, through in-game quests and achievements. I like to use shield-piercing missiles to strike at critical ship components then use lasers to finish the ship off.

One of the biggest upsides that contributes to the score is the wealth of weaponry that FTL has, which contributes to a multitude of playstyles. Missiles require ammunition so require constant attention of their use, but can penetrate shielding. Bombs are the same way, teleporting directly into a ships hull and wreaking havoc on systems and crew. Lasers require energy but are a good standard weapon not requiring ammunition and beam lasers fire a long arc that can take out multiple rooms at once, provided the enemy’s shields are down. There’s also drones, boarding parties, hacking and mind control, specialized artillery, ion weaponry and more. It is extremely well balanced in that you’ll always have something to improve on and will always be looking out for that enemy that specializes in your weakness. I find myself always dreading a boarding party, as I favor a smaller, weaker crew that isn’t always prepared to deal it.

Graphics & Sound – 19/20
I can’t stress enough how perfect the soundtrack is, not to mention the near-perfect graphics. A timeless work of art, the ships and people of FTL deserve to be put up there with the rest as far as visual styling goes. The brilliant psuedo-8-bit graphics go hand in hand with FTL’s gameplay.

Controls & UI – 14/15
Great and simple UI. Pretty straightforward, with nothing spectactular here. Very easy to use and extremely easy to understand and pick up, which is important when getting to know your ship or trying to read the different power read outs and weaponry at a glance. Some of the minor components and such could use better iconography but nothing to really detract from.

Replayability – 12/15
Despite FTL not having a built-in endless mode (which I’ll go into detail about in a moment), the replayability is very high. The 10 base ships with 3 variants each present different starting scenarios, challenges and high scores each time. One ship might start with a few better weapons but 1 less crew member, or another ship might have extra shields but one one measley laser, or another might sport attack drones or a cloak. Each presents a new, exciting challenge that will make you push yourself to achieve higher scores and unlock new variants, ships and crew.

Immersion – 6/10
Quite a few might disagree with me and I won’t be angry, but this is where the game upsets me a bit. I’m not a big fan of the lore of FTL. Not really the lore as a whole, just how it relates to the game and how it influences gameplay. The premise of the game is that you’re a Federation captain who has discovered the rebellion and you must race to the Federation homeworlds to warn them before the Rebels manage to overtake you or destroy you along the way. You must trudge through many sectors of space (which can be friendlier or much more hostile), upgrading your ship and crew along the way, to finally warn the Federation and then destroy the Rebel Flagship, a series of major boss fights.

As I said, I’m not a fan of this for a few reasons. I’m not a big fan of boss fights in general in games, and this one creates a very set timeline from start to finish. You cannot endlessly roam the galaxy, taking loot as you will. If you dally in sectors, the pursuing rebel fleet will catch you and will make short work of you. I would have loved to see an open-ended game-style (in addition to the high-score oriented current version) that challenged you to survive as long as you can earning money by trading, looting and more. There’s a lot (and I mean a lot) of space trader-type games that are successful and fun to play and I’d like to see a few elements incorporated into it. Vanilla FTL doesn’t really have any sort of trading feature built into it (I say vanilla for a reason, and will point out mods later) which really kills the trader or smuggler style gameplay completely.

Challenge Level – 9/10
FTL has one of my favorite gameplay features in games that you just don’t see anymore: permadeath. Did your ship blow up? Then game over. You can’t reload, or start from a previous system. So every action you take must be carefully considered because it will affect you for the remainder of the game. If you happened to lose two crew members to giant spiders, or lack of oxygen, then you better figure out a way to get new ones.

There’s also varying levels of difficulty, with an easier mode giving you more scrap and loot.

Mods & Modability – 7/10
This scored lower merely because of the game’s modability, or lack thereof. Usually space games like FTL are quite moddable to appease many who like to take it upon themselves to turn it into a Star Wars, Star Trek, Warhammer, Stargate, etc universe. This usually consists of skinning ships to look like their favorite iconic star destroyer and such. More ambitious projects overhaul gameplay, or balance it in more realistic or better ways. FTL has quite a few, certainly, but I can say with 100% certainty that the number of mods the game would have would be tripled at least if the game was easier to mod.

Again, despite the difficulty, there is a fair share of great mods, from graphical to special ship mods, to gameplay/ overhaul mods. My favorite would be Captain’s Edition, which not only features a limitless mode, but adds many new weapons, ships, systems, stations and a crude trading system. In addition, it also adds many more random encounters, civilians (and the ability to be a rogue pirate) and more.

OVERALL SCORE – 85
FTL is a great game, plain and simple and for anything short of $20, it’s a steal. $3.99 is robbery! It’s a lot of fun and just want to share this great game. It transcends a few genres, overall making for a great strategy game. I highly recommend it!

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