Mini Reviews

Mr. Johnson · Post by **Mr. Johnson** » March 5th, 2009, 15:56

What Deej and Berk said, I never had any problems with it.

Baliame · Post by **Baliame** » March 5th, 2009, 16:00

Well I'm definitely not the only one who had them. For example http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/s ... ad+problem

Post by **deject** » March 5th, 2009, 16:01

Not saying you haven't, just that you must not have the magic fairy dust that makes it work or something.

Baliame · Post by **Baliame** » March 5th, 2009, 16:03

Steam's always been a cupcake to me. :C

mrbobbins · Post by **mrbobbins** » March 5th, 2009, 16:17

Baliame wrote:Steam's always been a cupcake to me. :C

I'm a cupcake to all the Hungarians I deal with at work, not on purpose mind, you lot just seem to bring it out of me

Mr. Johnson · Post by **Mr. Johnson** » March 5th, 2009, 16:18

Bobbins works for valve!

Also;

http://www.valvesoftware.com/job-steamr ... ineer.html

Baliame · Post by **Baliame** » March 5th, 2009, 16:35

Oh yes.

Job Page wrote:The successful candidate will have a thorough understanding of steam valve rotation/release concepts and practices, excellent technical knowledge and exceptional steam valve handling skills.

Post by **FatherJack** » May 9th, 2009, 1:03

FatherJack wrote:King's Bounty: The Legend

Kinda Diablo/Sacred-ish walking around click-to-move overhead view until the actual combat where it switches to turn-based strategy on a hex grid.

I love turn-based fantasy games in the Final Fantasy mould, but for some reason* hex grids freak me out and square ones don't. As such, Wild Arms 4 upset me beyond what is reasonable, as did this game. Actually it's annoyingly fiddly selecting what you want to do in combat, with the slightest click-inacurracy causing you to trot right around the enemy instead of attacking then standing in the next sq..er..hexagon.

*Hex grids? Where you got evaporated by a vortex you could not see for taking a wrong step? On TV at kids-time when you were in primary school?

FatherJack wrote:1701 A.D.

Liking it so far. Every time I've thought stuff like "bah, manually transporting this stuff is a bit of a shag" up pops the option to establish an automatic trade route. This looks to be the game Grand Ages Rome should have been, the one I've been looking for as a decent city-building successor to Pharaoh/Caesar IV. Good tutorial and fun scenarios have kept me plenty entertained so far without yet trying the real meat of the campaign mode.

buzzmong · Post by **buzzmong** » May 9th, 2009, 2:05

FatherJack wrote:*Hex grids? Where you got evaporated by a vortex you could not see for taking a wrong step? On TV at kids-time when you were in primary school?

Yes, slightly before my time growing up in the 90's, but I know the program, had a space type feel about it, was very 80's. Name escapes me.

Post by **FatherJack** » May 9th, 2009, 2:34

buzzmong wrote:Yes, slightly before my time growing up in the 90's, but I know the program, had a space type feel about it, was very 80's. Name escapes me.

The Adventure Game, very early 80s

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » May 9th, 2009, 15:33

FatherJack wrote:The Adventure Game, very early 80s

I wish I could get my hands on some more episodes of it, I have around 6-8 I think. It's quite hard to find and also quite hard to search for, given the name.

Post by **FatherJack** » May 14th, 2009, 20:59

Well, Plants vs Zombies whet my appetite for a little more up-to-date tower defense and Defense Grid: The Awakening has been an excellent purchase.

It's more like the traditional tower defense popularised by Warcraft III, but you get an isometric 3D view of the route.

You start with almost nothing each round and build/upgrade towers on pre-set hardpoints with varying abilities/ranges to stop the nasties nicking your energy cores, getting more money to buy stuff with each kill. Usually they have to traverse the set path twice, but later there are one-way routes and the option to direct their route using the towers themselves.

Each level doesn't take that long and you get a completely new map to play on each time you progress, instead of an infinitely-increasing number of enemies on the same one.

Nothing that hasn't been done before, but it's done pretty nicely - the interface is very slick and while not quite GLaDOS your computer companion voice-over is midly amusing, if a little repetitive. Not bad for £14, a bargain at half that, but an absolute steal for £3.50 in the Steam sale.

Post by **deject** » May 14th, 2009, 22:00

The hardest part about Defense Grid is predicting how the creep will path around your towers. If you're setting up a path and some little thing you do causes the creep to bypass your towers and you lose. Still, it's pretty good, easily worth the $5 I paid.

Post by **FatherJack** » May 15th, 2009, 0:07

1701 A.D.

Still enjoying the scenarios, not been forced into combat yet (although it's been an option) but the latest one has had someone declare war on me.

I think I can still get around it with spying, but might have to rethink as I haven't built at all in my game, thinking it was a Fedex mission.

friznit · Post by **friznit** » May 23rd, 2009, 18:40

Farcry 2 (Again)...What Berk Originally Said

Not really a mini review since it's coming up for a year old already, but i just picked it up cos I fancied a fairly mindless but 'open' shooty game. Very pretty, nice enough story, reasonably openish...although it's more of a pretence at being open with some cleverly designed channeling by the terrain. Missions so far are fairly varied, though respawns after clearing guard posts are too fast. I can see how it'd become empty very quickly if they didn't, but it does feel as if your latest killing spree went completely unnoticed.

Fire is awesome, but I do get a bit fed up of the console/arcade insistance on having exploding barrels fucking everywhere. Who in their right minds goes to all the trouble to set up a defensive strongpoint then surrounds themselves with exploding barrels and gas canisters?

I'm quite enjoying it, but so far I feel that STALKER still beats it for 'openish' shooter type game. Now if they put FC2 together with all the toys from Flashpoint, I'd probably wet my pants.

Post by **FatherJack** » May 27th, 2009, 21:09

Restaurant Empire 2

Exactly the same game, right down to the cutscenes as the first game, but with slightly better graphics (still no widescreen) another school of food (German!), more themes for decor and an additional scenario where you run a caek shop instead of a restaurant.

I really enjoyed the first one, but this is a bit disappointing as a new release after so long, it's really just an expansion in terms of the new content.

It's quirky and fiddly at times and you have to really have a genuine interest in what you're trying to achieve to get into it. Still, I put a lot of hours into it.

At £17 it's not massively expensive, but you really might as well grab the original at £2.75 to see if you like it.

Post by **HereComesPete** » May 27th, 2009, 23:17

£17 for a re-release with a few add ons? That's a bit cheeky!

I bought mount and blade and kotor for 2 for £15 on game!

Oh yeah, mount and blade really is rather good for riding around on horsies and smashing massive axes into peoples faces until your dude is covered in red. It could truly be epic with a level of involvement that just hasn't arrived yet. It has loads of mission types, like fighting a lord for a lady's honour, assassinating dissenting rebel types, besieging castles, fighting in jousting tournaments, pillaging villages, collecting cattle, upgrading the towns you're lord of etc. And they keep adding more stuff to it.

You all know kotor, I just couldn't find my old copy and figured for £7.50 it was worth buying again. It's still great. I've got a few extra planets and costumes and such to tart it up a bit. Excellent story still.

friznit · Post by **friznit** » May 28th, 2009, 0:59

Pete, be sure to check out some of the mods for M&B (I think I posted a link in the full review thread). In particular the Native Expansion mod is excellent and doesn't veer too far off the original gameplay.

Post by **FatherJack** » May 28th, 2009, 10:05

Is there a mod which fixes my inability to hit anything while mounted? I wasn't able to even complete the tutorial.

friznit · Post by **friznit** » May 28th, 2009, 10:50

FatherJack wrote:Is there a mod which fixes my inability to hit anything while mounted? I wasn't able to even complete the tutorial.

No

Try getting a longer weapon (twss), look down at the guy who's face you're smashing in and let go the swing just a fraction early. I find it helps to deliberately look to the right before starting the swing because of the way the swing direction thing works, then click and hold until in range.

Failing that, get a Knight's Lance (or jousting lance until you can find one) and a heavy charger. Do NOT swing with a lance, just gallop at full speed towards them and you'll automagically couch the lance. Lance and horsey in faice will on shot anything, and is especially effective at riding down a line of enemy archers.