Odintheprole
2019
Don't get me wrong Tropico 6 is a good title for people who are new to the series and standalone it is a decent Tycoon game. Nothing to really write home about but still good.
However, coming from a huge fan of the series Tropico 6 just does not capture the same aesthetic, game-play loop, and overall goofy factor that Tropico 3 & 4 offer. If you are coming from Tropico 4 I recommend holding off on your purchase and waiting for a prospective Tropico 7.
To give a quick rundown of things I dislike
- Very few ways to have a successful Island. You are almost always forced down 2-3 paths of economy and it really encourages you to min max your economy to be successful.
- The new politics system is garbage imo. The faction demands feel like they were pulled out of a 3rd graders understanding of Latin American politics and some of the factions make very little sense for the era the game is set in. I mean really? You guys are putting liberal vs conservative dynamics in a game about the caribbean? Where half the elections are between socialists, liberals, US backed fascists, and very very very few neocons? It is nonsensical.
- The era system is too large in scope. I would prefer a game that focused on cold war and then into the modern era in order to keep things focused and keep the aesthetics in line across the entire game.
- The aesthetic is all over the place between eras and it really ruins the whole caribbean vibe. The series has always focused on a faux central America vibe in the 1950s onward. You go immediatly from colonizers in the 1700s to 1917 then jump again to WW2 then jump again to the Cold war.
- Some of the systems in the game are OP. Raids are far too easy to min/max.
Finally, the only thing I really enjoy in this title over 4 is the ability to sign trade deals that affect relations between superpowers and can also give you bonus money for exporting goods. This system is better than Tropico 4's notifications system where you would just get 5k for promising to complete a trade deal.
However, coming from a huge fan of the series Tropico 6 just does not capture the same aesthetic, game-play loop, and overall goofy factor that Tropico 3 & 4 offer. If you are coming from Tropico 4 I recommend holding off on your purchase and waiting for a prospective Tropico 7.
To give a quick rundown of things I dislike
- Very few ways to have a successful Island. You are almost always forced down 2-3 paths of economy and it really encourages you to min max your economy to be successful.
- The new politics system is garbage imo. The faction demands feel like they were pulled out of a 3rd graders understanding of Latin American politics and some of the factions make very little sense for the era the game is set in. I mean really? You guys are putting liberal vs conservative dynamics in a game about the caribbean? Where half the elections are between socialists, liberals, US backed fascists, and very very very few neocons? It is nonsensical.
- The era system is too large in scope. I would prefer a game that focused on cold war and then into the modern era in order to keep things focused and keep the aesthetics in line across the entire game.
- The aesthetic is all over the place between eras and it really ruins the whole caribbean vibe. The series has always focused on a faux central America vibe in the 1950s onward. You go immediatly from colonizers in the 1700s to 1917 then jump again to WW2 then jump again to the Cold war.
- Some of the systems in the game are OP. Raids are far too easy to min/max.
Finally, the only thing I really enjoy in this title over 4 is the ability to sign trade deals that affect relations between superpowers and can also give you bonus money for exporting goods. This system is better than Tropico 4's notifications system where you would just get 5k for promising to complete a trade deal.
An absolute banger of an action adventure game. It took what Fallen Order succeeded with and built on it with smashing success.
2 nitpicks
The Fall damage/height system is frustrating as hell. Idk who designed some of the dungeons in this game to have areas where you have to fall but are right on the verge of instant killing you if you fall in slightly the wrong spot on a sloping decline.
Some of the enemy types were just annoying to fight. Especially when you are just rushing for a collectible or two.
2 nitpicks
The Fall damage/height system is frustrating as hell. Idk who designed some of the dungeons in this game to have areas where you have to fall but are right on the verge of instant killing you if you fall in slightly the wrong spot on a sloping decline.
Some of the enemy types were just annoying to fight. Especially when you are just rushing for a collectible or two.
Just as good as arkham city. I would consider it to be a pinnacly of the series if it wasn't for the batmobile. They literally could have left it in as a car that you could drive but they just HAD to make it more engaging than that. Destroying waves of enemies as batman has never been more boring.
2020
This is by far one of the most bland RPGs I have played. There are nearly no new concepts to add to the genre and combine that with the overall SEVERE lack of polish and promised features I cannot recommend the game. Entire mechanics that were discussed during development have been cut from the game without any mention of it.
If I had to describe the positives of this game I would have to say just buy something like the outer worlds or fallout 4. You will get essentially the same experience but in a game that is actually finished and doesn't have blaring flaws that ruin the experience. Don't buy at full price and definetly don't buy at anything less than a 50% discount.
If you don't have hardware better than the recommended requirements I have to DOUBLE down on not recommending that you buy the game.
RECOMMENDED:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 10
Processor: Intel Core i7-4790 or AMD Ryzen 3 3200G
Memory: 12 GB RAM
Graphics: GTX 1060 6GB / GTX 1660 Super or Radeon RX 590
DirectX: Version 12
Storage: 70 GB available space
Additional Notes: SSD recommended
Honestly the devs deserve credit for creating a moderately fun title despite what their managers forced them to release. The game doesn't even feel half finished and the only polish you will find is in the main story quests.
If I had to describe the positives of this game I would have to say just buy something like the outer worlds or fallout 4. You will get essentially the same experience but in a game that is actually finished and doesn't have blaring flaws that ruin the experience. Don't buy at full price and definetly don't buy at anything less than a 50% discount.
If you don't have hardware better than the recommended requirements I have to DOUBLE down on not recommending that you buy the game.
RECOMMENDED:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 10
Processor: Intel Core i7-4790 or AMD Ryzen 3 3200G
Memory: 12 GB RAM
Graphics: GTX 1060 6GB / GTX 1660 Super or Radeon RX 590
DirectX: Version 12
Storage: 70 GB available space
Additional Notes: SSD recommended
Honestly the devs deserve credit for creating a moderately fun title despite what their managers forced them to release. The game doesn't even feel half finished and the only polish you will find is in the main story quests.
2008
This game was my first 3d Fallout. When I was younger I used to truly love it because I was obsessed with post apocalyptic fiction (still am). The older I get the more I sober up to how poorly this game is actually designed from an RPG standpoint. If you are just wanting a brainless action shooter with a poor excuse for the "leveling" system then this game should fit your needs. However, I think that it is a very poor excuse for an RPG.
It feels as if the world was designed entirely differently from the quest system. There is no "flow" to the game as the devs basically just plop you into the open world and tell you to go explore to find the fun. This might be cool on a first playthrough or if you have never really explored "open world" games as was the position I was in when I first played this game. I have come to the conclusion however that this style of world design is fundamentally a poor design choice for RPG's. Hence why I have fallen out of love entirely with Bethesda's RPG's as I age. Paired with this poor design choice is how the main story doesn't take you anywhere fun. The main story directs you to only a few extra side quest locations and the rest of the side quests are completely out of the way from the main story. I garauntee you 95% of Fallout 3 players have missed a non-insignificant number of side quests purely because they never found them.
This game offers no real challenge as every single encounter you have will be scaled to your level. Unlike in Fallout 1, 2 and New Vegas where Death Claws and Super Mutants are actually scary and give you pause before you engage them this game takes these enemies and artificially kneecaps them to ensure the player never gets frustrated and can always win their fights.
I would have more to say but I don't really care to talk much more about this game. The main story is uninspired and thoughtless and feels more like a B-movie script than a script written for a choice based player driven RPG. The entire main story feels like it happens completely independant of the player. I never felt like I had the opportunity to meaningfully change the ending. If you "side" with the baddies you still have to do all the normal good guy quests and at the end of the game you just put a bad guy serum into the water. If you side with the good guys Sarah Lyons is the real player character. She does literally all of the things for you. Before then, its your dad who gets to do all the main character actions, and then it becomes Dr. Li briefly. It's completely nonsensical how shallow the main story is.
It feels as if the world was designed entirely differently from the quest system. There is no "flow" to the game as the devs basically just plop you into the open world and tell you to go explore to find the fun. This might be cool on a first playthrough or if you have never really explored "open world" games as was the position I was in when I first played this game. I have come to the conclusion however that this style of world design is fundamentally a poor design choice for RPG's. Hence why I have fallen out of love entirely with Bethesda's RPG's as I age. Paired with this poor design choice is how the main story doesn't take you anywhere fun. The main story directs you to only a few extra side quest locations and the rest of the side quests are completely out of the way from the main story. I garauntee you 95% of Fallout 3 players have missed a non-insignificant number of side quests purely because they never found them.
This game offers no real challenge as every single encounter you have will be scaled to your level. Unlike in Fallout 1, 2 and New Vegas where Death Claws and Super Mutants are actually scary and give you pause before you engage them this game takes these enemies and artificially kneecaps them to ensure the player never gets frustrated and can always win their fights.
I would have more to say but I don't really care to talk much more about this game. The main story is uninspired and thoughtless and feels more like a B-movie script than a script written for a choice based player driven RPG. The entire main story feels like it happens completely independant of the player. I never felt like I had the opportunity to meaningfully change the ending. If you "side" with the baddies you still have to do all the normal good guy quests and at the end of the game you just put a bad guy serum into the water. If you side with the good guys Sarah Lyons is the real player character. She does literally all of the things for you. Before then, its your dad who gets to do all the main character actions, and then it becomes Dr. Li briefly. It's completely nonsensical how shallow the main story is.
This DLC lacks a compelling story, a compelling questline, and compelling combat but it also manages to have an amazing worldspace and one of the best characters FNV has to offer. Joshua Graham is a treasure and this DLC is carried by his dialogue.
No other DLC has had wine moms mis-attributing quotes as wholesome when they are actually incredibly messed up. Just google "The fire inside me burned hotter than the fire around me" decor on google lol.
Buy this DLC and relish in the new guns, armors, and survival recipes while enjoying a unique world in Zion and an amazingly detailed character. It is also worth noting that this DLC has the best non-dialogue based storyline in the game in the form of terminal entries from a guy who survived the nukes and died of old age in zion.
No other DLC has had wine moms mis-attributing quotes as wholesome when they are actually incredibly messed up. Just google "The fire inside me burned hotter than the fire around me" decor on google lol.
Buy this DLC and relish in the new guns, armors, and survival recipes while enjoying a unique world in Zion and an amazingly detailed character. It is also worth noting that this DLC has the best non-dialogue based storyline in the game in the form of terminal entries from a guy who survived the nukes and died of old age in zion.
This game is a decent RTS. For sure worth the money on sale but sadly it still falls short in key areas. Most large scale RTS's like this have issues with scale where there is not a ton of consistency as to what a "good" scale is. It seems like the ideal map size is 2 planets with 1 moon or large asteroid. But most of the time factions end up killing eachother before anything really cool happens.
The pro to this is that the game has really good combat and base building with charming graphics. The con is that a lot of the selling points are rare if not nearly impossible to see without manufacturing a scenario for them. The AI is competent and fun to play against but with the pace of the combat I have not personally seen "planet killers" being used without doing it myself or ignoring the AI completely.
The pro to this is that the game has really good combat and base building with charming graphics. The con is that a lot of the selling points are rare if not nearly impossible to see without manufacturing a scenario for them. The AI is competent and fun to play against but with the pace of the combat I have not personally seen "planet killers" being used without doing it myself or ignoring the AI completely.
2019
In my opinion this is the current pinnacle of the social deception genre. Getting a group of friends together to play this is so much fun and leads to so many moments of frustration and glee. This game is like if you were to add actual gameplay mechanics to among us.
2022
It causes me great pain to not give this game 5 stars. Ralph and his team clearly have a lot of heart and a lot of talent but unfortunately they missed the mark with this game.
The pros?
This game has all the hallmarks of an immersive sim. As an example, One of the main story missions sends you to a mansion where a local "entrepreneur" is meeting with a local rancher and buying his ranch. You need information from him really badly but he is a stubborn old bastard and asks you to go steal the deed from a nearby ranch because they won't sell their ranch to him. I ofc said fuck that I am not doing that quest and meticulously K.O'd every single gaurd at his compound before finally K.Oing him in order to get his safe key and get the information myself. Took me like 40 minutes longer than it would have to steal the deed but it was incredibly satisfying when I finally got the telegram.
Unfortunately the game relies purely on these elements to be "good." The story sucks, the combat is simplistic and unsatisfying, and being forced to play through 4 different stories left me feeling unattached and uninterested in the main protagonists. It really does make me sad because I think that this team has a lot of heart. It just so happens that this game failed to properly capture that heart.
I just don't understand why Ralph decided to try to make a game as big as this. IMO it would have been better to make a 8-15 hour first person Immersive sim to prove that his team can do great work. I mean Gloomwood just came out and it is 3 hours long but 1000x more enjoyable than this AND Gloomwood has all the hallmarks of the genre.
The pros?
This game has all the hallmarks of an immersive sim. As an example, One of the main story missions sends you to a mansion where a local "entrepreneur" is meeting with a local rancher and buying his ranch. You need information from him really badly but he is a stubborn old bastard and asks you to go steal the deed from a nearby ranch because they won't sell their ranch to him. I ofc said fuck that I am not doing that quest and meticulously K.O'd every single gaurd at his compound before finally K.Oing him in order to get his safe key and get the information myself. Took me like 40 minutes longer than it would have to steal the deed but it was incredibly satisfying when I finally got the telegram.
Unfortunately the game relies purely on these elements to be "good." The story sucks, the combat is simplistic and unsatisfying, and being forced to play through 4 different stories left me feeling unattached and uninterested in the main protagonists. It really does make me sad because I think that this team has a lot of heart. It just so happens that this game failed to properly capture that heart.
I just don't understand why Ralph decided to try to make a game as big as this. IMO it would have been better to make a 8-15 hour first person Immersive sim to prove that his team can do great work. I mean Gloomwood just came out and it is 3 hours long but 1000x more enjoyable than this AND Gloomwood has all the hallmarks of the genre.
2007
Halo 2 had the best story but Halo 3 probably has the best gameplay of the entire trilogy.
2019
This game has so much potential and it amazes me that the devs have seemingly dropped the project entirely. This game did so much right and with proper tuning and some more content it really could have reached an A tier title.
Still sad we will never get co-op.
Still sad we will never get co-op.
This DLC is essentially the "end cap" of the Courier's story before they do the final battle at hoover dam. It is intended that the courier be level 30 or higher and have a lot of equipment before venturing into the divide. I would echo a lot of the concerns other people have said and I don't really have any passionate fervor for this dlc. The only thing I will say is that from a gameplay perspective this DLC slaps. Lots of high level enemies, new guns, new armors, new worldspaces to explore, and a decent final boss battle that feels unfitting to the FNV world. (you can also fire nukes at the Legion and the NCR which is IMO the best part of the DLC lol)
2017
An amazing immersive simulation game that stands head and shoulders above similar titles in the series. It is unfortunate that the final act of the game drags on so long as it seems most people who played it failed to actually complete it. My biggest critique of the game is how boring the enemies are to fight. I like how they branched out the enemies but I struggled to enjoy fighting them. I ended up building my character entirely around using the game world to kill them for me and just kept the shotgun and laser rifle to deal with anything my turrets couldn't kill.
2002
THE CONCEPT OF LOVE
REAL LOVE
FEEL REAL LOVE
THE CONCEPT THE CONCEPT THE CONCEPT THE CONCEPT OF LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
REAL LOVE
FEEL REAL LOVE
THE CONCEPT THE CONCEPT THE CONCEPT THE CONCEPT OF LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
A good combat-focused RPG that has the WORST leveling system of any game I have ever played. Painfully conveluted and forces players to min-max in order to actually build characters that aren't artificially hindered by levelling points.