Seneste anmeldelser af ShelLuser

However, it's not without flaws, and that doesn't help if you keep in mind that there's a learning curve to be overcome here. Because with all due respect: the in-game 'tutorial' is pretty rubbish. While the tutorial can be enjoyable (I think so anyway) there's a problem unfolding: see, if you follow its tips and suggestions you're probably soon emerged in seeing science ships surveying star systems (which IMO looks pretty cool), then you set up your construction ships to fortify these areas by building space ports and not much later you'll even be introduced to space colonisation!

... just too bad that the tutorial never bothers to even address "small" issues such as research progression, resource management, government stances and so on. And if you don't pay attention to those then your fun will soon fade a bit because you'll be losing your edge on things as time goes by; while AI empires progress and gain better abilities you're still stuck in the 'dark' ages.

So what's Stellaris all about?

Stellaris is somewhat comparable to Sid Meier's Civilisation: your Empire finally managed to reach out into space and now it's time to establish yourself. You do this by exploring ("surveying") nearby star systems and optionally claim them by building an outpost there. Once claimed you can now also build expansions such as mining and research stations.

But of course this is only part of the game... now you need to maintain your slowly expanding Empire by making sure you have (and gain) enough resources, keep your population happy, maybe reach out by colonizing other worlds and by doing so also creating new options for resource gathering. As this goes on you also have an Empire to run: check up on new researches that may gain you interesting advantages, and then use those to your advantage (some pun intended ;)).

As you expand you'll also come across other Empires and now it's going to become interesting to see what'll happen next. I mean, despite being advanced enough to explore space most "beings" will still fall back to their primitive habits of "me being better than you!", not all of 'm though and that's the trick in diplomacy, which can become a big part of this game.

Though like I said... it's not perfect and in some cases plain out bizarre....

At first glimpse it looks awesome: you get contacted by others, try to build up a better relation and even "frenemy" relations can develop, which can be fun. But as you dig deeper into the game you'll soon notice that the AI isn't all that great at times, often it's just.. bizarre..

For example... my Empire was considered a 'rival' by another faction and they even tried to claim one of my systems as theirs. I shut that down by moving one of my military fleets there and closed my borders to them thus fueling the tension between us. Cool. What's even cooler is that this apparently got noticed by a group of aliens within the boundaries of this hostile faction and they wanted to join me. Ok, let's do that. So now I owned a small cluster within "hostile space"; three or four star systems some of which even had useful resources.

But because of its location I figured I'd try something a little devious: I suggested a trade with the hostile faction. Those 4 star systems in return for one star system of theirs, it didn't even have much resources but its location was interesting to me. But then you'll soon learn how dumb the AI actually is because no matter what you'll do or say: they'll always reject this, and it doesn't make any sense what so ever because they'd benefit from it.

Oh, it gets worse.... eventually this hostile faction waged war on me and started invading my Empire from 2 locations. Unfortunately for them I had 2 main fleets (well upgraded) and also kept some support here and there. So it didn't take too long before I was invading them, and from 2 sides at once slowly but steadily gaining control over a huge chunk of their area. I even got multiple messages where they tried to downtalk on all this: "Why can't we all just be friends?", but obviously I wasn't having any of that nonsense.

Now, sure, I was (still am) a bit of a newbie on war efforts, but even so.... just as I was 2 systems away to take over their home system all of a sudden I get a new message: "We have no choice but to end the war and settle for a status quo" and the next moment I no longer had access to their area, my 2 military fleets were suddenly "missing in action" (WTF!????) and that was the end of that. I wasn't allowed to declare war on them for several years (tha heck?!) and according to Stellaris this settled it.

Needless to say that I think this is seriously bad gameplay. Just saying that you need to end a war you actually started should be enough for all hostilities to magically end? I don't think so.

While I do think this is a bad part of the game I also think it's mostly annoying than anything else. Because there's a lot happening before you get here and as with most strategy games: the focus is also a bit on makebelief and roleplay, without those you may not be having as much of a good time as I was. I mean... remember me mentioning those tensions rising between our my and the hostile faction? What actually happened was that they send some civilian ships to the system they laid a claim on, but they didn't do anything illegal. I simply sent my military fleet after which they left after a while.

Ergo: nothing "really" happened but for me this was proof enough that tensions were rising (also because I checked the stats, but that's beyond the scope of this review).

Which brings us to....

The atmosphere, which I think is very important with games like these, is truly stunishing. Or so I think ;) As said before: while the focus is a bit on stats and makebelief Stellaris does a really good job to make this more appealing. When your science ships go out to survey ("explore") a star system... try opening or "zoom in" on that system shortly after they jumped to hyperspace, then see what happens when they arrive. Sure, this will become repetitive over time, but you cannot deny the fact that it looks pretty cool!

DLC

There's a lot of DLC for this game, most of which is pretty good I think. However... keep in mind that you don't necessarily need any of this in order to enjoy the full game: most DLC's only enhance on what's already present in the base game; in the end it's still a sales model, and an obvious one.

When I just started a new game I noticed mention of "Recommended DLC" and for a moment I thought that this was an honest recommendation. Yah, no ;) First they recommended something outside the Starter pack bundle which I thought was odd. So after I allowed myself to get persuaded into grabbing said Starter pack bundle (which I can honestly recommend, it's good stuff) yet then I soon noticed the obvious: now this "recommendation" mentioned other DLC, conveniently DLC which I didn't have. Even disabling the previously recommended DLC didn't change this, so ... this isn't a recommendation; it's an advertisement made to look like one which I think is a bit shady.

But other than that... I think this is an awesome game, and I'm having a great time playing it!

This game is marked as "adult only", thus restricted, yet the adult parts are in my opinion plain out crinch. Basically there's hardly anything in here except for some sparse "quick intercourse moments" which are basically used to enable "power ups". My problem though is that it's hardly erotic but rather... mediocre. Funny in some way, sure, but that's not why I'm buying an adult game.

The second issue then is that this game is basically a platform game, which is a game type that's not for everyone. And I think it doesn't do very well here either; it's more annoying than fun. You can easily come across overpowered enemies which turns the game into a bit of a slasher / button masher... you can overcome them, but it's not exactly my definition of fun, mostly frustrating.

Especially if you keep in mind that they're making up for this a bit by allowing you to "respawn" if you die, but all that does is reset everything you have (all your weapons and spells and such) yet when you get back in the dungeon... you still risk coming across those overpowered hostiles again. Which are now even more annoying to kill.

The game features a "Gallery" so I was hoping that maybe you unlock some kind of artwork which could make some of the gameplay somewhat rewarding but nah... all you get are pixelated images from hostiles? No naughty pictures in there at all?

Which made me conclude that I don't want to bother anymore. I'm requesting a refund.

In conclusion

This isn't necessarily a bad game, but IMO the developers should never have tried to turn this into something it's not: this isn't a fun adult game, simply because the adult parts are lacking. Which in itself wouldn't be a bad thing, were it not for the fact that the platforming part easily become tedious, repetive thus annoying and in the end plain out frustrating.

Instead of presenting this as an adult game I think the developers should have made this a casual platformer, maybe with a few mild erotic elements but not this mess. Shame really because as I said: it's not necessarily a bad game, just a bad combination.

Context / back story

So, I live in the Netherlands (Europe?) where soccer is basically the national sports; (NFL) football is non-existant. Me being a bit of a geek and all I never really cared about sports, until Steam pointed me at "Madden '22". Still remembering my football curiosity courtesy of Al "4 touchdowns in a single game" Bundy from the Married with Children sitcom I decided to grab '22.

That changed everything for me. Not only did I really enjoy playing the game of Madden '22 itself, I also developed a serious appreciation / love for the sports of NFL football itself. An NFL gamepass subscription soon followed (renewed this season!) and I can honestly say that Superbowl LVII was a major highlight for both my girlfriend and myself (I managed to drag her into this big time!).

Why all the backstory you ask? Because I care about honest reviews, and I want to make sure that you (yes, you random reader!) know where my review is coming from: driven by a passion for NFL football.

An improved Madden!

Some people will tell you that if you buy a new Madden game you're basically buying into a roster update. And honestly? They're not completely wrong perse but.. I also wonder if those critics realize the impact such a roster update has on the game? In Madden '23 my favorite team of the Panthers were ranked at 81. Now we're down to 80.

So here's a thing that stood out for me: while the Panthers are off to a bad start so far (= time of writing) their defense is close to unstoppable. Within context... and somehow that seriously manifests itself within this version of Madden as well. Look... if I (as a rookie) can stop the 49'ers offense even though I actually dislike playing defense? On exhibition with a simulation game style?

There's much more involved with "a mere roster update" than just a bunch of new names you know...


How do you "step up" from a game like Madden '23 I wondered... a game that paid homage to one of the greatest names within the sports: John Madden himsef? Well, IMO EA managed to do just that: the game opens with a famous quote from Mr. Madden and then we're down to business! The first thing that stood out for me was the new red/purple colour scheme (not bad IMO) but also... the longer loading times. Ugh! Fortunately it seems that 'caching' is a thing and after having played more games those loading times did get somewhat better for me. Still.. what's up with all that?

When you get in the main menu you'll see many familiar names from the past... franchise, ultimate team, quick play and then we have training camp? Yah, this isn't just the help section anymore: while you can (and should!) play through the "skill drills" (as I like to call it) there's more than just learning how to play the game.. As before "team practice" allows you to try out every possible situation within a game to see how you can get the best results. If you know how to play Madden but want to get better? You need to spend some time here...

But second.. "Mini games"! Yah, it looks silly at first glimpse and no: you don't earn any useful rewards like with the practices (these can get you rewards which you can use in UT?). ...or do you? Seriously: try looking at the bigger picture here, this isn't just about running around and earning medals: if you pay attention to what you're doing you're bound to use these experiences to get better in your regular games also! IMO these mini games are a great way to practice very specific skills in very specific situations.

New passing mechanic!

I love this one! EA has been touting their "field sense" ever since '23 and what did us PC players get? ZIP! Not anymore: there's a new passing mechanic and it is good! Takes getting used to, can be tricky to master (I play with my trusty Steam controller btw) but DARN is this good => They added a skill based 'mini game' (don't worry: player stats are still held into account as well), and this basically means that you get better and more direct control over the way you pass a ball to another player.

There are 3 options:

• Placement & accuracy => Not only do you need to control the strength and way of passing: you also get control over where around the receiver you want to pass the ball. If he's covered and you think he may break out on his left... why not pass the ball just over him around his left side? Very hard to master, but very rewarding too.
  
• Placement + power => This doesn't give you any contol over where you want to try and make the ball land, but you do get to control the type of passing, and the power you put behind it. This is what I like to play with and it can still make a difference: a high lob on full power is still way different than a soft straight ball....
  
• Classic mode => Don't like all this fancy pancy stuff? No worries: this keeps things the way they were back in '23.

I know not everyone appreciates this part as much as I do but darn are they good! For me this is yet another reason why you may enjoy a "current" Madden game to back the current NFL season... it's but a detail for sure but I love how much factual knowledge these guys have and throw at us during a game. Take for example my favorite team of the Panthers? These guys know all too well about our new coach and rookie quarterback, and they're not only eager to share... I think some of their comments make darn good sense from a realistic perspective as well! Picture me surprised to hear they mentioning how our (= Panthers) defense is sometimes better than the offense?!

Sometimes I just let the computer play itself while I sit back and enjoy the match and the commentating.

However, that also brings us to...


Readers beware... there are issues. I already mentioned the loading times, another issue being that this game is obviously in more demand of resources that its predecessor. Now, there is a good explanation for that I think... you no longer see half your team making the exact same gesture in perfect choreography which is a good thing but still. It seems a bit odd if you check the basics stats on the store page (or so I think).

Another immediately noticeable issue: the NFL agenda. At the time of writing Madden '24 is already one week behind the official season which I think is plain out sloppy, especially if you consider that this is an "officially supported' game.

In addition I am also aware that many players suffer from rather extreme issues such as a full stall of the game, and even full crashes! While I do not experience these myself I really understand how frustrating this must be. See; "another" game I recently bought (unrelated to football) manages to stall and crash the very moment I press F12 to make a screenshot!

Still....

In conclusion....

Maybe bias is in effect here, who knows, but I can honestly say that I'm having a great time with the new Madden '24. However, do keep in mind that I'm a very casual player first and foremost. I mostly play single player, I enjoy the atmosphere and general vibe and love to check stats and make screenshots.

As always in this series... If you're new to the Madden franchise then I think you should ignore all reviews, even mine, and just give it a try for yourselves. While I don't recommend using Steam's refund policy to demo games I also don't think that any bad can come from it assuming you don't refund games all that often. In full honesty: 90 minutes should be more than enough to give you a good impression of what this game is all about... way within the safety margin of the 120 deadline.

But it still gets a 2 thumbs up from me!

Thanks for reading!

Seriously you guys.. I honestly believe that FC6 could easily be considered one of the best in the series so far. It's if they took a good close look at all the immersion breaking stuff happening in FC5 (a game which I couldn't recommend) and after that they ... actually turned things around!

At the time of writing I'm still on the starter island of "Isla Santuario" and... I'm just chilling and having an amazing time taking in the scenery, the atmosphere and of course also testing myself to become a better guerillia. None of the annoyances I experienced in FC5 are a thing here though let me stop you right there: this game is far from perfect. For example... whenever I try to make a screenshot using Steam the game just stalls and eventually crashes! That can't be good!

The republic of Yara

You are Dani Rojas, either a male or female resident of Yara. Yara is an island in the Caribbean and run by "El Presidente" Anton Castillo, who is basically nothing more but a tyrant and dictator. Castillo rules with an iron first and as a result freedom fighter Clara Garcia has taken up arms and started rallying troups in order to incite a civil war against Castillo. And she's not alone...

What I love about the whole setup is that there's a sense of realism here. It's somewhat believable... Garcia has set up camp way up in the hills and she and her troops have been busy setting up "guerilla trails". In other words: small pathways leading through the area which are very difficult to spot from the main roads. As a result the resistance can move around while generally staying out of sights from Castillo's soldiers.


What stood out for me right away was the officially supported ability to holster your weapon. You're not just putting them away and thus out of your sight (as was the case in FC3 - 5). No, if you have your weapon concealed then soldiers will not automatically consider you hostile which allows you to walk around public areas without immediately drawing attention to yourself. This can be an amazing feat if you want to scope out an area before deciding what to do next.

Another thing which I really appreciated is all the extra information which you can get when you scope out areas while 'tagging' targets, hostiles and possible places of interest. See, while you're checking out a target you're also given extra information about its weaknesses which can help make things easier on you when taking them down.

This also ties into a new feature: having the ability to upgrade and customize your weapons. For example... what about devising armor-piercing bullets, or bullets that can more easily rip flesh apart?

This open world truly invites you to explore!

I still remember like yesterday: in FC5 I saw an 'enemy' structure which I should try to damage and take over but ... no matter what I did I couldn't do anything because I didn't hire any mercenaries just yet. To add insult to injury said mercenaries actually had to be freed and instead of thanking me for saving their lives they give me a bill?

FC6 does this way differently. You can easily come across possible objectives long before they officially become a thing within your storyline and better yet: nothing is stopping you from trying to take 'm on right away. ...well, maybe the sometimes overpowered enemies could become an issue. But if you find yourself in such a situation it's only because you decided to take that particular route.

But like I said... this is a true open world in every sense of the way. The world really feels alive....

So... I just passed a group of horses and suddenly I'm met with 2 hostiles further up the small mountain trail I'm on. There's no way for me to go around them so I decide to attack; a good offense can also serve as a defense, right? Yah, the only problem: after I killed the first enemy the noise startled a group of hostiles who had come up behind me. They also open fire but instead of hitting me they startled the horses.

... and you guessed it: those horses now get into a stampe and trample me; I actually had to make a hasty escape because of it.

Even many civilians despise "El Presidente"

While you travel across the land you'll eventually find roads where cars and other vehicles drive around. Sometimes driven by enemy soldiers but more than often you'll come across civilians who are merely finding their way around.. Of course you can't "just" consider the roads safe: the army has set up many checkpoints in order to keep the population in check.

Yah... imagine my surprise while I'm in a firefight with 2 soldiers who are occupying such a roadblock. During this combat one of them crosses the road after which a car who came up from behind me actually speeds up and rams the soldier out of the way, completely running him over!.

No, they weren't dead yet but... omg, imagine my shock and surprise?!


The voice acting is IMO really well done, it's all English with very heavy Spanish accents and... I just can't get enough from this, it sounds and feels so genuine. Yah, imagine people speaking Spanish on a Caribbean island? But everything around it is also.. just so good.

The amazing Amigo's

During your travels you can come across an "Amigo": a support animal which can help you get things done. On the starter island you'll soon come across 'Guapo': an crocodille with a jacket. And seriously... even though I had already seen some cutscenes on YouTube I still ended up laughing when Dani met Guapo for the first time, it was just... both menacing (I honestly thought the alligator would go after her for a second) and then suddenly so... silly and kinda hilarious! I plain out laughed!

And once again you can notice that there's attention to detail in this game. I mean... when you get into the water you'll notice that 'Guapo' suddenly becomes a lot faster than you. Seems obvious to me, but... it's but a detail which is easily overlooked.

Even the workbenches don't seem out of place to me... Workbenches are tools which you can use to customize and/or upgrade your weapons. Thing is: I usually ignore all of this stuff during my games because I often can't be bothered. But here? They kept it simple enough not to overwhelm yet made your choices powerful enough so that you can really make a difference when... "Using the right tool for the job...".

Small spoiler... SO I need to invade a stronghold, and it's rough. Getting a bit bored / overwhelmed I now decide to scope out the rest of the island first during which I find... a sniper rifle, and gunpowder! All of a sudden I now have a sniper rifle with poisonous bullets and lo and behold: this gives me a major advantage..


In my opinion FC6 is very close to becoming one of the best titles in the series. The atmosphere is amazing, the world looks awesome, the fighting really matches up, the freedom in the world but also in how you're going to do things... and things make sense I think. Having to pay people after you just saved their lives (happens in FC5) is IMO utterly ridiculous. But being tasked to prove yourself before an established group of freedom fighters are willing to help you out? That's a whole different story in my book!

Two thumbs up from me, this game is awesome!

To truly grasp what this game is all about I'd like to take you back to the days of WWII: when computers weren't as advanced as they are now and satellites non-existent. When there was a huge warfare operation going on most generals ("commanders") would use a "tactical room" in which a huge table was placed with a very detailed map of the area where the hostilities would take place. While the main group of commanders continously kept taps on the current situation and discussed strategies there were dozens of staff present who did nothing more but to listen to the radio.

No, not listening to music, silly! They kept taps on updates from the field and in specific listened in on field commanders who would call in to relay position updates. When such an update came in this staff member would walk up to the table with the map on it, and then very carefully change the position of whatever object was used to represent the unit they just had been in contact with. Of course this also applied when (confirmed) updates came in about enemy movements.

So while the commander was looking at a small object on a huge map to try and keep an overview on how the battle was going the reality of the matter was of course different. However, this was more than sufficient because all the commander(s) did was set out strategies which the units in the field had to carry out.

Back to our modern days

As we all know things changed a lot since then. Our communications are much better, we have satellite networks in orbit which can also help to keep track of the position of anyting you want and then we also have computers. It's probably needless to say that huge tables with a large map on them are no longer part of any commanding operation. Instead, we now rely on computers which can give us real-time updates about anything related to a certain conflict.

And you may have guessed it by now: this is also what Command: Modern Operations ("C:MO") is all about. In this game you're not playing with real looking units while enjoying "real" sceneries of combat. Instead you're given a map of the whole world which can be zoomed in on and in which icons are placed to represent real units. Now it'll be up to you to command these units and tell them how to proceed in order to complete the mission(s) at hand.


Who would have known... if you have an airfield which has several planes stored in a few hangars then it will actually take them some time to get those ready for takeoff. First the pilots need to get ready and make their way to the plane(s), the maintenance crew needs to perform several checks, the plane itself probably also needs to be loaded with the right type of weapons and ammunition, and so on.

So don't be surprised if you give the order for several fighterjets to take off, after which you'll be met with a 1.5 - 2 hour countdown.

Vehicles use fuel too?!

Once a plane is in the air you'll be met with your next challenge... they only have a limited range because of fuel consumption and you'd better make damn sure that a pilot can make it back; otherwise you're going to need to provide them with some means to refuel somewhere.

And this is happening all over the place. While I'm focussing on planes right now you need to keep in mind that 'C:MO' covers pretty much the full extend of (modern) warfare. It's not just planes, you're also dealing with structures (like an airfield, or military base or even civilian buildings), ground forces (from infantery to tanks and mobile rocket launchers), airforce (as mentioned above) and there are even naval forces present. Both above and below the waters surface.

Simply put: you can play out any kind of battle you'd like!


As I mentioned before this game basically presents you with a map of the entire world for you to play with. It gets better: the game makes full use of all the modern features we know today (Google/Bing maps anyone?) so chances are high that you can easily go to your home town, zoom in (you probably need to manually disable the satellite view & enable the topology layer), then lo and behold: now you have a full map of your home town (or city!).

Why is this such a big deal you now ask? Because this game contains thousands of different types of units and structures which you can place on the map "just like that", after which you can simply play out your "home made" scenario anyway you deem fit. And you can make this as realistic or as funny / enjoyable as you want.

For example.... I decided to "recreate" my apartment building in my home town, but little did everyone know that I had also secretly build an underground bunker in a grassfield nearby. So when hostile forces crossed the border between Germany and my home country of the Netherlands "some civilian" ran out, entered an underground structure, only to eventually emerge again while driving an armored and weaponized vehicle, though not very accurately ;)

Steep learning curve, but also a very satisfying experience!

If you're new to this game then be warned: it can be tricky to get started, also because there's a lot of details which you'll need to learn to get the most out of all this. Which is why it's important that you don't try to become the best right away: take it slow, one step at a time, and then try to have fun as you slowly, but steadily, get better at this game.

Like I mentioned above: it took me an hour or so to set up the previously scenario and trust me: it was far from perfect. But who cares as long as I had a ton of fun? Though it was a bit of a bummer when I drove up to the border to "show them who's boss" and yet before I could even get close I suddenly see something going towards me and a few moments later I've been blown up!


As much as I love this game, it's also not perfect; some things plain out annoyed me, even though I got used to them. Just keep these points in mind? Also: these apply at the time of writing, ok?

• Campaigns aren't filtered => If you're in the start menu ("splash screen") you may be tempted to play a new campaign. You click "Campaigns" and whoa... "Chains of war" looks promising! Yah, you click it and are only met with an error message: you don't have a license. Jeez, when WTH does this even show up?!
  
• Some tutorials are outdated => It's highly recommended to play some tutorials. Unfortunately some of them have become a bit outdated. Take the Flight tutorial part 2 ("unattended flight"): when talking about missions it doesn't mention that some options are on a dedicated tab instead of crammed onto the main screen. It's not a huge issue, but can become very confusing if you're still new.
  
• 3D view can give you an error => Once again the game lists certain options even though they may not be there. How easy can it be to just filter these based on what we have available? Each to their own but this feels sloppy to me.

Like I said, it's not a big deal and IMO definitely nothing game breaking or such. But if you're new... it can be annoying. Why are they "advertising" stuff that isn't there even though they're touting this game to be professional?


TacView (advanced) is a 'toolbox' which can provide you with a 3D representation of your C:MO units and structures. Don't expect realistic models, but trust me when I say that it can definitely add something extra to your missions.

And there you have it.

Sorry for a long read, but ... I can highly recommend this game!

I cannot believe how well this game has aged.. even today, time of writing (May 2023), this game can be a blast to play with on Windows 10 and all I had to do was install and play... Even my "potato laptop" which somewhat struggles when playing Minecraft (Java edition) has little issues here.

Empire at War is an RTS based strategy game where your goal is to take control of either the Empire or the Rebel alliance in order to try and either dominate or free the universe. You can gain control over planets by placing your fleet in their orbit, followed by landing your troops in order to take full control.

If a planet is occupied or already under the control of your enemies then a battle will start: either in space or on the ground.

It's RTS, but not as we know it ;)
When people mention RTS they often refer to base building games that usually also involve resource gathering. Although 'Empire' also uses those game mechanics they don't apply during a fight: instead of relying on troop generation you instead rely on reinforcements which you need to hold back at first in space because you can only have a certain amount of active units on the planet. If you can manage to occupy more so called reinforcement points then this unit cap will increase which will allow you to bring more forces into the fight.

However, if you're on defense then the structures on the planet, like the barracks, will sporadically provide you with new units to command.

In other words: there is a bit of base building involved, but that only happens outside of battles, then you'll need to decide what structures and troops to build.

As one could expect from an RTS-type game your troops will say specific lines when you select them and/or give them orders. And to me it never gets old when I ask Darth Vader to use the force to destroy an incoming enemy ground vehicle and he tells me "All too easy...".

But what I appreciate the most is that it gives you a much better impression of the real strength of both the Imperial and Alliance fleets alike. In the movies we get the impression that the Imperial fleet is Star Destroyers only and well.. they don't seem that tough, do they? So when you start playing as the Empire you may be a bit disappointed that: no star destroyers yet, but other ships which are also deadly themselves.

And then it happens: you unlock a higher tech tree and can now get a Star Destroyer and omg... you'll realize soon enough where it got that name from ;) But at that same time you will probably also quickly learn to appreciate all the great achievements the Alliance manages to achieve with the little resources that they have available.

Then there's the story line.. here you follow the path of either the Empire or Alliance as it's plaid out between the original movies. And I really enjoyed to experience the obvious tension that's building between Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin as the story goes on.. Tarkin almost mocking Vader for his pursue of some space pirates who "obviously pose no threat to the Empire" ;)

Of course.. you don't have to play things that way. You can also go for a total free for all where your only goal is to conquer or free the entire galaxy.

All in all I can highly recommend this title, even all the way in 2023. This is a classic.

This game provides a rather simple puzzle game where you need to move an Anime avatar over all fields in one straight go. If you complete the field it will unlock a rather simple and often completely uninteresting anime-ish picture. Something there's nothing there to see but boring scenery!

That's because you need to apply a patch which will "uncensor" the game. I'm not a fan of that because if you apply the patch and then share screenshots you could be in trouble for posting NSFW stuff on a non-NSFW gaming platform. That's lazy on the part of the devs. My other problem: without the patch this game is plain out boring.

And as for the lewd content itself.. that's also very casual. The characters move in a very unnatural way, there's some moaning sounds and that's basically it. Most of the images aren't all that well drawn even, just very casual and sometimes kinda crude.

Not something I can recommend, this seems like a very lazy effort on the part of the developer.

Shame, because 'Seek Girl' started pretty promising (but they even changed that one too :()

This game doesn't seem finished. You're supposed to be playing as a tentacle monster who's going after girls (the classic trope) but unfortunately this game doesn't work properly, not on my laptop at least. The game begins, the monster appears and from there on I can't do anything.

Pressing 'x' makes the monster fade out (temporary), pressing a function key pops up some kind of debug screen but that's all I can do.

Save your money....

... and in the most ridiculous and absurd ways too, definitely not worthy of an alleged triple-a game.

So, you are a rookie deputy tasked to help a team of three (!) other people to take down a crazed self proclaimed messiah and his entire private army. What could possibly go wrong? Yah, it becomes quickly clear that you shouldn't play this game in hopes for a compelling storyline because.. you won't find that here. In fact, it also becomes apparent that the replay value decreases too considering that you can't skip any of the cutscenes. And the whole intro lasts for nearly 30+ minutes. sjeesj!

Eventually you're cut free and then the madness begins. You're in an area under the control of Joseph Seed and his family and it's up to you to raise a resistance and free the lands. Starting with the island of the person who just saved you. I look around and find two shrines, but when I try to destroy them using either dynamite or a molotov nothing happens. That's odd.

Eventually I'm directed to a potential "gun for hire" who is being held hostage. I free him and then... he thanks me and tells me I can hire him? Tha heck?!! I'm not going to hire an ungrateful brat who's life I just saved and then refuses to help me to return the favor. So I shot him. He doesn't die of course. In fact, when I go out to explore the rest of the island and come back to this place the whole situation has reset: now I have to save him again.

So much for an open world and free choices! Now, before you say that this is merely happening because I'm in the tutorial... bzzzzt. In fact, things only get worse from here on but now I'm getting ahead of myself.

Leaving me with no choice I decide to hire the guy and lo and behold: now I can suddenly destroy the shrines on the island. Talk about restrictive and frustrating game mechanics! So now I have to take over a building and this new hire follows me whether I want it or not. Worse yet: while I work my stealth approach he starts blasting people but of course in true NPC helper fashion doesn't manage to kill even one single enemy despite having a much better weapon than I do. I got frustrated and shot the guy. Screw THAT mess.

Unfortunately I'm now getting swarmed and this takes up quite a bit of ammo, of which I don't have many. No matter: I can always loot the bod... what the F: "great..." now I "liberated the island" which is shown through a cutscene after which all the lootable bodies "obviously" disappear. At this point I'm getting really fed up and frustrated with this mess.

Don't worry, it gets even worse!

I cross the water onto another island and find a new "gun for hire". At first I kill the hostiles and leave the hire be, I couldn't care less. After some exploration I come back here and now I see the hire together with a hostage (and new hostiles). I kill the hostiles, free the hostage, who seems grateful and then kill the gun for hire. Getting reminded about the crappy game mechanics I then revive (and thus free) the hire who immediately draws his weapon and is now in a permanent combat state while following the civilian NPC I freed earlier. He doesn't shoot or anything, but can't be talked to because he remains in a permanent combat state.

Figuring this requires a solution in true GTA style fashion I hop into a car, try to run the hire over who quickly jumps onto a roof (which I admit was pretty darn awesome!) and I slam into a wall. Well deserved, only now I come to realize that... wait a second... I can't even put this car into reverse?! (I play with a (Steam) controller). There is a reverse option shown when I enter, sure, but it's unbound and if I go into the options... nope: no reverse car control.

What an amazing failure of a game this turns out to be! Also considering that most boats are on land and require you to reverse in order to head back into the water. Oh, and the game has bullet sponges also... "Cultist specialists". Who cares that he's only wearing a pair of jeans and no armor: this dude can take several headshots like a PRO because "reasons".

I'm getting SO frustrated and fed up with this game :(


What do Assasins Creed, Watch Dogs and Far Cry 3+ have in common? Simple: they share the same game mechanics. The main difference being the time in which things take place (past, "present" and future) but it's all about taking over key buildings, expanding control and taking out pockets of bad guys. In each and every one of those games. Once you realize as much you'll notice that it actually doesn't really matter what game you play.

Sure, the controls and scenery are different, but in the end it's all the same kind of game leading up to the same kind of outcome: expand your influence, defeat smaller bad guys all leading up to the eventual final showdown.


Sure, the game looks amazing. No arguments there. And the atmosphere when you're strawling through the woods is also definitely enjoyable. But as soon as you dive a bit deeper into the game things become frustrating and fall apart, at least for me. Why can I only carry a pistol, melee weapon and then either a machine gun OR a bow? Why can't I have the bow over my shoulder, the pistol in my pocket and then the machinegun in my hands? Or at least swap my pistol for the bow? You know, like you could in Far Cry 3?

Why don't my actions have any meaning when it doesn't fit the games shallow narritive? Gun for hire? You HAVE to hire him. Sure, try to shoot him and he'll just eventually reset with his environment during the next time you visit. Because if you don't hire him you won't be able to destroy the bad guys. Because "reasons".

And they call this a free for all open world game... what a joke.

So, a brief backstory: one of my favorite Animes of all time is "Ghost in the Shell" (the original material, not the (IMO) lame reboots by Spielberg). The story revolves around a cyborg master hacker called Motoko Kusanagi who is the leader of "Section 9"; a special police unit operating directly from within the government. Kusanagi uses her skills to help unravel the cases she and her team need to solve.

For example... when investigating a hotel to see if a certain person is there Kusanagi easily accessed the hotels network, takes over a security camera to watch a certain floor and when she sees a robot maid who is going to serve drinks she immediately takes over the android.

Why I'm telling you all this you wonder? Simple: because these are some of the things you can literally do within Cyberpunk 2077! Taking control over a network and checking to see who (or what) is "connected", or taking over cameras and then not only using those to get a good overview of your surroundings but also to gain further access. Like overriding a security android and shortcircuiting them...

Surfing the darker side of the Net...

You are "V", a cyborg lowlife who has returned to "Night City" in hopes of making some solid credits ("eddies") here. During a heist things go dramatically wrong and you barely escape with your life. Only to end up backstabbed and left for dead. Fortunately you survive and now it's time to get to the bottom of the things that happened to you.

Awesome atmosphere!

Given my story above it shouldn't come as a surprise that I'm using a female character. And from the moment I fired up the game for the very first time I was mesmerized by the overal atmosphere and options of this game. Because the amount of freedom you have in the way things play out is just awesome! I've actually replayed one level just to see for myself what would have happened if I had done things "differently" and lo and behold: it was very different.

But there's something special about sneaking around an adult club while being armed with only a katana and a pistol and in the beginning making sure not to kill or harm people (I did knock someone unconcious to steal an access pass). Unfortunately I got stuck, I got impatient, I got frustrated and before I knew I sliced up most of the guards and some guests alike because... ♥♥♥♥ happens ;)

This game does so many things right!

For example... even though you can tinker in games like Fallout 3 and Watchdogs I never really bothered with that because it bored me and it also never fully made sense to me. So here I am in a nightclub where my weapons got confiscated yet they allowed me to keep my backpack and the tech stuff in there. It didn't take long before I had a knife on me ;)

But also the feel of actually being a human with cybernetic implants... I need to enter a building and there are people in front. So... I make sure to check them out with my scanner and "tag" them, which allows my cyber systems to keep track of them, which can then help me to either avoid 'm, distract them or take them down.

It's not perfect though...

However, it's also hardly as bad as you may think it could be if you only read the stories about release issues. Trust me: they've turned things 180 degrees around in the mean time, this game is awesome! But also not perfect. For example the main story is somewhat lineair in the beginning and it doesn't allow you to do much apart from the main quest unless you specifically select those activities yourself (you can only have 1 active activity). So even though this game is an open world it may not seem like that when you just get started.

It provides tutorials which can really help you get started with all the basic mechanics, but... I still had to discover myself that you can equip multiple weapons and switch between them. So... small things.

And yes, I once saw someone walk through a table. Easily ignored.


This is an awesome - no nonsense - game. I was actually somewhat surprised to discover that it doesn't bother with censorship; at some point I found myself nekkid back in my apartment. And then it also showcases the awesome freedom: either you go with your real clothes, or you use real armor to protect yourself and then use an "overlay" to make it appear as if your're wearing casual clothing.

But everything makes sense... the tinkering, the cyber upgrades, the way in which you can use your computer / cyber impants to help engage enemies.. Heck, this game is what Watch Dogs should have been in my opinion. Nothing negative about that game from me, it was pretty solid IMO, but I also expected much more.

So yah... an intruiging story, real hacking, an amazing atmosphere... all in all... a really awesome game!

Two thumbs up from me!