Metro 2033 Redux

Zach Goodier

Metro 2033 is an FPS set in a post-apocalyptic Moscow where the survivors of a nuclear war live their lives in the metro stations under the city. Between the radiation above, and the mutated beasts roaming both above ground and within the dark tunnels, there is no shortage of threats to those who persist. You play as Artyom, a young man who has spent most of his live living in a metro station with other survivors. However, one day a Spartan ranger comes to the station, and soon the station falls under attack by mutant creatures, and a mysterious race called “the Dark Ones.” Artyom must embark on a mission to save not only his station, but the entirety of the Metro from devastation at the hands of this new threat.

The Metro is dark, and while the threats hide in the dark, so can you.

The story is very well done, immersing you in a desperate and divided world where everyone is finding their own way, resulting in factions, like the Stalinist Red Line and the Fourth Reich, who have gone to war over the remains of civilization within the tunnels. The Rangers are a neutral party devoted to keeping what outside threats they can at bay, such as the mutated animals, and eventually the Dark Ones. You meet interesting characters along the way who help make the dark tunnels feel less lonely, and they come to help you out along the way in finding your path.

Both environments and weapons all look and feel like piles of junk.

The game-play is excellent, with many weapons looking and feeling like the homemade patchwork guns they often are. Lots of guns are left over from the old world, but many have been fashioned from scraps and shoot metal balls or fashioned arrows, and tools like the re-charger make you have to stop to charge up the batteries on things like your flashlight, which use up juice. The game gives off a solid survival/horror vibe, with bits of fallout worked in here and there, like the currency, which is in military-grade ammo, which can be used to buy things, or used to give your weapons a huge damage boost, something I never even wanted to try.

All sorts of unpleasant creatures add to the tension, along with raiders and the Nazi/Communist war.

You can run-and-gun, but you often find it better to play it at least semi-stealthy so you can scout out enemies before committing to an attack. Gunfights are always exciting, and the lack of health bar means you have to gauge how hurt you are by the screen and breathing, which becomes more desperate as your injuries add up. Depending on the difficulty you choose, ammo can be very hard to come by, which supports the themes of survival and makes you seriously consider your approach to every encounter, and save ammo whenever possible.

The Dark Ones are a new and mysterious presence that makes the Metro even more perilous than usual.

Overall, this is an excellent game. The only real faults are that the game is very linear, with the ability to explore detours to find extra ammo here and there, so if you want an open game, don’t look here. Also, the cinematic nature of the game, with the cut-scenes, can sometimes rob the player of control to force you into a situation, which can break the immersion, and remind you that you’re playing someone else’s story, and that, to a certain extent, you are along for the ride. This doesn’t ruin the game at all, but for an RPG fan, it can feel difficult to have little influence on Artyom’s choices throughout the game. There are decisions you can make along the way that can open up an extra ending, but it still feels somewhat constricting and does limit the replay value. Still, If you want a world you can get lost in for hours, and a compelling story of survival and mystery, then look no further, the Metro is calling.

Good:

-Immersive world.

-Awesome weapons, both military and survivor-made.

-Great story of survival and mystery.

Bad:

-Linear, which limits exploration.

-Can be too cinematic at times, taking away control from the player at key moments to have a cut-scene that makes your decisions for you, and reminding you what little influence you have on the story.

Scully Rating: 8.0 out of 10

Death Parade

By: Robert Murphy

There is a never ending amount of contradicting thoughts and ideas about what happens when we all reach the end of our lives and where exactly we end up. Do we end up in a cloudy city in front of a giant golden gate or are we plummeted to a dark unforgiving place full of torment? Well in Death Parade you end up in a bar which is definitely my kind of afterlife or at least it seems ideal at first glance. People arrive hear once they have passed on but have no memory of their individual deaths, they stand before Decim who at first glace would appear to be a regular bartender but has a far larger role to play for the people who come here. Decim is an arbiter that judges pairs of souls that are sent to his bar and sends them to Heaven or Hell based on how they perform in a random game that they compete in. Winning the game however isn't the important part, what comes from playing the game is. 

Now I said Heaven or Hell above when it came to determining which place that the human souls that Decim judges will go to because that is an easier way for humans to see it as but the show believes something inherently different. Decim and his fellow arbiters end up judging the pairs of souls that are sent to them and either send them to be reincarnated into another body or sent to the void where the soul experiences nothing but a black emptiness for eternity. How Decim decides this fate is even more interesting as he has to basically trick those who come to see him into playing one of his games that will trigger emotional responses they play. The games usually show some reflection upon the persons life or jar memories of events that happened leading up to their deaths. Decim also effects the game in various ways to make sure the players experience distress and unleash the true darkness of their souls. It is the belief of the arbiters that the truest self of a human is at their basic instinct of fear and despair and that is the point at which they should judge them. It's worked for the longest time and no one has questioned it until Decim meets with an event no arbiter has before. 

A woman in black hair (she remains nameless for a reason) appears at his bar but has perfect memory of what happened to her and that she is dead. Because of this she cannot be tricked into playing any of the games that Decim has and instead her entire memory is wiped and is left to be Decim's assistant until he can judge her. She follows along and helps Decim in one way or another with his judgments but ultimately she ends up changing the way Decim views the way things are done. The black haired woman doesn't like the way judgments are done because humans are more complex than just fearful and angry creatures, they should be judged on more than their worst moments. Decim throughout the series sees what she means as well and often questions his decisions because of her way of thinking, she understands humans because she is one and Decim and his kind could not possibly understand everything about humans because they aren't human. We later find out that Decim is a unique member of his kind though as he is able to feel human emotions and that is why the black haired woman is able to effect him in such a way.

It becomes clear as you watch Death Parade that the black haired woman is not the only one who feels the way arbiters judge is not correct all the time. Their is a hierarchy of managers and upper level arbiters which watch over the other arbiters under their command. The one that watches over Decim, Nona, is often quoted in saying that she enjoys different ways of judging people and that her arbiters should draw upon their own experience to place the souls they are judging in the correct place. Her solution to this problem is Decim who has been given human emotions and would hopefully be able to judge the souls he encounters with a clearer insight into the human nature than the rest of the arbiters would. Whether or not he succeeds in this remains to be seen but his character is definitely a unique one that I enjoyed especially as his relationship with the black haired woman develops throughout the story.

The one aspect to the story that I didn't understand was the addition of another arbiter by the name of Ginti. He is the polar opposite of Decim and does not understand his obsession with humans, he views them are idiotic species and the fact that he must pass judgement on them bares no meaning to him. Ginti doesn't understand why Decim cannot judge the black haired woman and it causes him untold anger towards him. This is until he ends up in a similar situation as Decim as he is shackled with a teenage girl he did not judge but no matter what he cannot see what it is about them that Decim does. It is a nice correlation for the story but one that I feel doesn't work out because it isn't properly expressed as to what Ginti is doing with the girl and why she is around still, whether it is to try and understand Decim or just that he cannot judge her remains unknown. It becomes exceedingly anticlimactic when his judgement for the girl does arrive as well. 

Overall, Death Parade takes an interesting look into human nature and death. As you watch the show you begin to question who is really "right" in the situation and whether or not arbiters are truly judging human souls properly. The overarching storyline created with the addition of the black haired woman also makes your decisions even harder to determine things for yourself just as it does for Decim. The wonderfully unique world of Quindecim bar (Decim's domain) is beautifully designed along with the rest of the world and the philosophical issues made the show a great watch all the way through. 

Good:

- The in depth look into human nature 

- Decim and the black haired woman's relationship all the way through

- Beautifully designed worlds

Bad:

- The Ginti storyline gave an interesting comparison to Decim but doesn't follow through with his own judgement issues

Scully Rating: 8.8 out of 10

Banished

Sean Dibble

So in my last post "Gamers on a Budget" I mentioned this game and there is a reason why...IT IS AMAZING. It is one of those games that is easy to learn and hard to master. I have found myself logging endless hours into this game and have yet to have a successful city.

The basis of the game is you control the fate of roughly five to six families as they were banished from their home land and sent to an area to set up a new city and build a new community. Depending on what difficulty level you start out on determines what you start with.

·         Easy- You will start with a storage barn, stock pile, 5 homes, a type of animal (chickens, cows or sheep), some type of seeds for crop fields and orchards.

·         Moderate- You will start with a barn, stock pile, and one set of seeds for orchards and crop fields

·         Hard- Yeah you start with people....thats it.

Ok so let us dive into game play. Usually the first thing I do in game is quick build a Fishing dock or Hunting Cabin and five or six homes. Reason being YOU NEED FOOD AND SHELTER....DUH. Next you should look into a woodcutter and maybe a crop farm up to you at this point. Though out the game you will need to manage how many logs you cut down (or build a forester who will replant trees and cut them down) and manage your iron and stone, for these are important to survival. Also you need to manage your population, build to many homes to quick your population will boom and you will have a mass death on your hands because food will run out. Take too long and people won't have children and you will lose your entire population to old age. This micro managing system that the game has is amazing and just makes you keep playing.

Graphically the game is top notch better than its counterpart SimCity the game is beautiful from spring to winter. You will see trees grow leaves and see the leaves fall off, you can watch people as they work with their pickaxes and so much more. The change between spring to winter simply gorgeous to watch. Since I became a PC gamer I tended to lean towards indie games....even though graphically they sometimes don't add up to high end big name games, but this one broke that trend no wait DESTROYED that trend.

With all that being said I love the game its cheap, hard, and fun to play and with games lately not knocking it out of the park lately for me anyway this game will keep me busy and entertained for a long time to come. I have logged over 30 hours into the game and hope to log in 100 more. Banished is a game that any serious city builder or strategy gamer should have in their steam library. But why are you sitting here reading this go out banish some people and build the city of dreams.

Good:

-Graphics simply amazing

-Easy to learn hard to master

-Simplicity is key

Bad:

-Some may say too hard to complete, or at least too hard to seem worthwhile.

Rating 9.7 out of 10 

Game Dev Tycoon

Sean Dibble

Greenheart Games has hit the mark with this indie title. Game Dev Tycoon puts you in the chair of game developer and lets you see what these people go into when choosing what goes into development. Now, of course, it is a dumbed down and extremely simplified from what development would be but still fun to play. Throughout game play you will go from choosing a title, genre, and what system to make your game for. After that development phases start and from there you move sliders, and add features or take away features. Like I said in my games to buy on a budget this game is cheap and oddly addictive and worth a look.

Design your game and run the studio 

Game play- the very first thing you will do is name your new game company and start in the early 80's with the Commodore 64 (G64 in game) and PC and limited graphic and sound potential. You will also start with 4 topics to choose from and be careful how you pair them with the game genres it will help your score if for example you put Zombies with Action instead of Vocabulary with RPG. Be smart and take your time and think about how much you want to put into your sliders. At the end of the three development cycles you will then get ratings from four gaming magazines. These determine how well your game will sell. Lastly during the development phases you will gain research points which can be used to get new topics, train new staff (come after you move out of the garage and you hire them) or get new things for a new game engine.

Work on developing your staff and designs to help form your final game.

Graphics- Graphics are not that great they are very basic 2d, but they are not meant to blow your mind. The game doesn't focus on graphics because it doesn't need to instead of wowing you with how your guy looks they want you to actually work on building a great game.

There are many areas that a game can be made or broken in, and your team is always learning and improving.

Little Additions- A nice little addition to the game that they added was being forced to deal with things game development companies actually deal with. Piracy, stealing of engines, sabotage, and transferring of ideas all come into play and how you handle each one will determine how the public sees and likes you. Another thing is G3 (games version of E3) and setting up your own conventions and marketing campaigns these will help sell games that you recently made. Lastly the game engines don't forget to research new things and create new engines or else well you will fall behind and never make a good game no one wants an old engine I mean those graphics were SO LAST YEAR.

Your games will be reviewed by some fake review companies.

Few things- Just a few things bug me about the game the long game play is 42 years, and yes, you can continue even after you play that long; but really, it doesn't help your final score to do so. The game can be beaten within maybe 4 hours of straight gaming. And after you beat it once it's hard to say "let's go back and make a brand new company." Minor things and maybe they will fix this in future updates but it is worth noting.

Good:

-Addicting game play

-Cheap

-Nice little additions to see what actual gaming companies go through

Bad:

-Graphics are not mind blowing

-Seems short

-really no replay value after you beat it once

Scully Rating: 7 out of 10

Games to look into on Steam

Sean Dibble

Are you a PC gamer on a budget? Well Steam is great for you then, they constantly have sales on almost everything they have. Since last year I have moved from console gaming to virtually only being a PC gamer and I have a list of games in my steam library. Here are a few games that I have played, enjoyed and saved a few dollars on due to sales.

Game Dev Tycoon- This is a indie game where you create a company and simply develop games by mixing ratios like game play and sound or graphics and dialog among others. You start out in your garage and work your way by making hit games to move into new offices until you get a office with both a research lab and hardware development. Now the key to the game is to stay on trends and keep making hit games or else you will go bankrupt and you only have 35 years to become the top tier of gaming. This game is amazing and simple, better yet only 10 dollars on steam

Orcs Must Die 2- Personally one of my favorite co-op games I have ever played, the creator of the site Scully and I have logged 17 hours into the co-op and I continue to play the single player its fun and simple. Game play is easy to comprehend kill Orcs earn some cash in game buy traps place them and kill more orcs can it get any better. The bread and butter of the game is Endless mode where every level you complete gets harder and harder Scully and I have only made it to level 30. If killing orcs is something you want to look into it is 15 dollars

Kerbal Space Station- You can see the trend here is indie games and this one is great. Basis of the game build a rocket get to space do some research and build more and more rockets with funny looking green men from Kerban. Simple fun and did I mention you get to build rockets YOU ARE NASA well technically you would be KSA (Kerbal Space Administration) but you get my point. You can pick up this simple little game for 27 dollars

Banished- So you love SimCity but don't want to pay 60 bucks and play on the origin servers? Banished is the game for you it is pretty much SimCity but BETTER. How could this be you ask? Better Graphics, Harder, and Very resource dependant, that's how. The game is hard but fun you will find yourself saying just one more year 4 hours later your on year 20 and wondering why are all my people dying what did I do wrong? Head over to steam for this game will only eat 20 of your hard earned cash

PS: If you are hesitant on getting any of these games hold off and wait for our reviews of each they will be coming very soon!

Fallen Enchantress

Zach Goodier

Fallen Enchantress is a PC strategy empire builder RPG that puts the play in control of a faction.  You must then settle your initial city, building outposts and trying to control resources on the map in order to secure yourself while conducting research, training troops, and sending your heroes on quests to acquire items and gain experience to level up.  These heroes can also be used to lead your armies or form adventure parties to clear the map of hostile creatures or rival empires. 

I do love the pride in building a successful civilization.

Gameplay is turn-based, with a map view that contains all of your empire/unit management interfaces.  There are local maps that appear when armies engage in combat, with initiative determining what units move in what turn.  This further adds some RPG elements to the game, and heroes can become very dangerous when they level up.  While playing, I enjoyed taking on larger armies, and still winning just because I had a hero or two mixed in, which really made a difference in combat that the calculator won’t give you in the estimates or auto-resolve, so fighting your own battles can be very rewarding if done right.

Customizing your heroes with looted gear has a very strong, yet traditional RPG feel to it.

The story is fairly flimsy, with each leader (which you can make on your own, if the presets don’t appeal to you) taking command of a race, and then seeking to become dominant in whatever area you wish, whether you research, trade, or conquer (I prefer the last one).  You can set up the win conditions as you see fit when you start a game, if you only want to play one type of campaign.  Maps include presets or randomly-generated maps, each with different regions with various characteristics and native monsters, whether they include bears, giant spiders, or various, much more lethal foes.  You can even take control of certain beasts if you are lucky/resourceful enough, which adds a new element of strategy when approaching enemies, and can really tip the scales if done right.  This game is about the struggle to dominate, and you are more or less free to choose the means.

Battles will start out small, but grow into big encounters as the stakes are raised.

While the foundation of this game feels solid, neither the graphics nor the gameplay feels all as polished as it could have been.  Character customization is nice when making a leader, but it lacks the depth and variation that the option implies.  You have some variety, but not much.  You can select gear and such for training units to truly make the armies feel your own, but they also lack the variety and depth beyond simple upgrades.  It would have been neat to see more options geared towards unit specialization and the like.  You can find and recruit randomly spawning heroes, and they do add some neat mechanics towards army management and questing, but they never feel like more than just a different type of unit, aside from the ability to gain traits as they level. 

Maps aren't really all that huge for a game of this genre, but random generation keeps the replay value somewhat high if you enjoy the game.

Overall, this is a game that entertains, but doesn’t really impress.  I found myself coming back, but not because the game itself was that impressive, just because I didn’t have anything else I felt like doing at the time.  So in that sense, it does a decent job of helping keep you entertained, but it certainly lacks the depth and polish that you find in other strategy games, and it doesn’t delve as deep into role-playing as other RPG games.  It ends up feeling like an interesting attempt to meld the two, which might have been more successful with more time and polish, as well as some variety and originality in how both the strategy and RPG elements were implemented in this game.  Fallen Enchantress is an interesting game at first glance, but starts to lose its sense of intrigue and wonder as you delve further into its world.

Good:

-Nice combination of Strategy and RPG elements, melding empire management and strategy with questing.

-Randomly-generated maps make replay value relatively high.

Bad:

-Attempts at variety are shallow in both character and unit customization.

-Doesn’t really do much with the strategy/RPG combo to really make it feel at home in this game.

Scully Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Topics: Good Reasons NOT to Buy Next Gen...Yet

Sean Dibble

So you're a gamer and well that LAST gen system is SO last year, what to do? Obviously the answer is to go out and buy the newest and best the two powerhouses have to offer (sorry Nintendo but you are no longer a powerhouse for most gamers.) If that is your logic as a gamer, I feel bad for you son, I have 99 problems but the next gen ain't one. So, me personally, I think that you should hold off, and I will even be so nice as to tell you why. So without further ado, here is my list.

1.        The Price- Yes all consoles are expensive, especially when they first come out but $500 for the Xbox One and $400 for the PS4 and neither of them come with a game for that price? Really? And yes, I can hear my ears ringing as I am typing this all of you are saying "It is worth the price" or "Its new of course it will be that expensive." But why gamers why does it need to be so expensive when they first come out and for that price I want a game I can play with them, but no because we spend the money the companies know they don't need to include games because they know we just end up saying "what is another $60 bucks....and don't forget you need another controller so there is another $50. So just starting out with Xbox One and 2 controllers and a game you are looking at close to $610 and for the same package for the PS4 $510

2.        Launch Games- Games at launch, well, THEY SUCK. They are usually ports from the previous generation or they are brand new games that have a lot of issues. They may look beautiful, but well, let's be honest, Ryse and Knack are not games you will be playing a year from now. Yes, Ryse for the Xbox and Killzone: Shadowfall are graphically stunning and visually will blow your mind. Ryse is just a quick time game that will get old quick and Killzone, sad to say from a killzone fan, but the story falls short. Also launch games are limited you buy the console and get what 4 or 5 games to choose from and two of them happen to be games from EA...I really suggest wait at least a few months

3.        Pay to play-Ok ok, so really you are not paying to play the game after you buy it....but well are you not? Let me explain myself here. You already pay the internet company right what 40 to 100+ to use the internet pending on what type you have and where you live. Now you go out and buy that brand new console and have to pay  5 bucks a month to play multiplayer......wait, what? So I already pay for the internet why do I need to pay to play games online?

4.        Backwards Compatibility- OH WAIT....They are not, so that library of games you have spent money on over the years can't be played on that new system of yours. So what do you do buy them again when it comes out digitally for the new system (if you have gotten rid of that pesky old gen system) or do you keep your old system and PRAY it doesn't break? And most of you are like me have to trade things in to help lower the price, but if you're like me you hold on to a few games (Mass Effect Trilogy, Fallout and Skyrim) so now you can't play those games but well they just look so darn pretty on your bookshelf collecting dust.

Now, I'm not saying that if you buy a new system you are a idiot, it's just smarter to wait a few months let the price drop, new and better games for the improved software and for your old games that you love to come on them and be cheap (eventually they will developers love your money.) Now there is nothing you can do about the monthly membership fee but granted it is not that much I just like to bitch. But now you're asking yourself well he makes a good point (somewhat) but what are some of my options? Well I have a few for you.

1.        Keep the old system. believe me they will make games for the 360/PS3 for a few more years. They are not going to abandon their old systems just like that. They need to phase them out so they can get people like me who are holdouts to slowly find games they want to play on them and buy into the new systems.

2.        Get a gaming PC. yes it can be an expensive step but I promise you most of the games that go to consoles go to PCs as well. Want to know something else...it is a secret so keep it between me and you ITS BACKWARD COMPATIBLE....I'm playing games from the '90s and enjoying it. Also you can keep upgrading your gaming rig so in the long run its better than a console (my opinion not the sites opinion) 

Dead Space 3

Zach Goodier

Isaac Clarke is back, and there’s more necromorphs to be dismembered.  This time around, you’re heading to the Marker homeworld, in a quest to finish off the menace once and for all.  However, the Unitologists are hot on your heels, and they want to make sure that “convergence” takes place, which means killing you and allowing the Markers to spread their signal throughout the universe.  However, Isaac in not alone, he has help from the last battalion of EarthGov at his back, but the odds are still stacked against him.  Can you end the menace once and for all? Or is the universe doomed to suffer the extinction of all life?

You've seen monsters like this before, but when they've had 200 years to make themselves at home, it somehow feels even scarier than ever, since you truly feel like you're on their turf this time around.

Story:

For starters, you begin the game 200 years before the current point in the story, playing as a soldier on Tau Volantis serving with a Sovereign Colonies unit exploring the icy world.  They are already in the midst of a Necromorph infestation when you start, and your job is to recover a “codex” needed to somehow end the Necromorph infestation on the colony.  Without getting into spoilers too much, that story serves as a prologue, which then leads into Isaac, who is struggling with living his life after surviving 2 encounters with Necromorphs and all of the marker knowledge swimming in his head. You’ll start out on New Horizons colony, where you quickly have to run off to Tau Volantis on the, being pursued by Unitologist terrorists who have overthrown EarthGov and taken control of the markers, and have begun using them to spread Necromorphs throughout the settled worlds of humanity. 

Danik is a guy I had mixed feelings towards. On one hand, I understood that since humanity has eaten and built its way into the corner Al Gore has been warning us about, he is trying to find a solution.  On the other hand.... HE KEEPS TRYING TO KILL ISAAC... Not cool, bro.

Gameplay:

You really have already played this game, just like in 2, but that’s not a bad thing.  One of the differences, however, is that you now have to fight against humans, as well as Necros.  Unitologist militants provide an interesting element to combat, and they definitely add a new challenge to an already challenging scenario. 

You'll spend a good chunk of the early game navigating a derelict fleet, before heading down to the planet... None of the locals are friendly, though.

Another big change is the ability to build custom weapons and modifications to create a potentially massive arsenal, although the ability to only carry 2 at a time is a little bit of a disappointment.  Ammo is now generalized, with one type going to every weapon.  This means you no longer have to juggle 4 types of ammunition trying to keep yourself stocked for whatever lies behind the next blood-covered door. 

Do you have a moment to talk about our lord and savior, Lord Cthulhu?

The scares are more of the same, but once again, that’s not a bad thing.  There are new Necros, and some of the classics return.  The scenery changes frequently, as your arrival on Tau Volantis starts with a struggle to find a new ship among the remnants of the Sovereign Colonies fleet, which has been derelict for the past 200 years.  Scary right from the start, right? I mean, of course they must be empty, right? 

While I wasn't able to delve into co-op very much, it does provide a thrilling way to game with your friends, and makes the darkness feel a little less perilous when you have backup.

There is one major element of the Dead Space series that has turned me off a bit, and this game only accentuated it even more for me.  For example, at one point in the game, you have to find a shuttle in order to get down to the planet.  Now, after heading across the ship to find the shuttle in the rear hangar, you find the shuttle, only to find that it needs parts before it can be ready to launch.  So, you fight around the hangar, fighting Necros and gathering the parts before you can assemble what you need.  You do that, then you find out the shuttle is out of fuel, so then you have to go to the rear section and go through the refueling process.  THEN, after that, you find out the hangar door is jammed and you have to head to the upper section above the hangar and un-jam the gears before you can finally get out, and mind you this is all after traversing across the entire ship to get there.  There are a few sections like this in the game, and it can really mess with the momentum of the story, and really make it feel like sometimes the developers just wanted to drag this game out as long as possible with as little effort as possible.

Weapon crafting allows you to combo things like shotguns with a ripper attachment, or however you wanna set it up.  By the end of the game, Necros didn't even scare me anymore because I was a tearing through them so fast I honestly think they were more scared of me.

Characters:

This is mostly a big weak point for the game, since you don’t spend a great deal of time interacting on any serious level with other characters.  There are a few moments, and there are a few twists along the way, but for the most part it’s like a horror movie in terms of supporting characters.  Isaac is still just… there, killing monsters and fighting Unitologists.  It really doesn’t change much from there.  But to be fair, the stupidity of the characters at some key moments does irritate me.  Without spoiling it, the only reason there was a last level was because of some random inability of Isaac and his buddy Carver could have easily put down the Unitologist leader, Danik, before he did something that really put the screws to Isaac, Carver, and Ellie.  All of this was clearly to set up for a massive boss fight, but it just felt so forced it kind of ruined the entire final act of the story for me.

HEY!!! Stay out of that cookie jar.

Overall:

This game is good, but not quite up to great for me.  The only reason is that a lot of the story elements, as well as the mission layout, just felt like they were trying to make less seem like more.  However, the gameplay is very good, with the ability to build weapons and a streamlined ammo system to save on some inventory space, it’s all very functional and fun, but there are a lot of times where you need to stop and think about what you’re doing, and why.  That’s what really held this game back.  And I really wasn’t at all surprised by any of the twists, because it was all so obvious I face-palmed when Isaac was surprised.  This game is worth playing, just not worth getting invested in the story for. 

Like any horror flick, you know that half of these people are disposable right from the get-go.

So much of this world could have been compelling, but I feel like the Dead Space universe just isn’t utilized as much as it could be for story, character, and lore.  The lore that exists is good, but I felt like a few interesting concepts like the depletion of resources, and the loss of necessary materials for mankind, weren’t explored as much as they could have been, especially since they fuel the Unitologist cause.  It all just feels like a wasted opportunity for the story and universe, but that doesn’t mean this game has nothing to offer.  The action, thrills, and scares are all as good as the franchise gets, I just sometimes found myself frustrated with the objectives, story, and irritating characters that let things go to hell, just so you can fight the big boss at the end.

Good:

-Awesome action and scares

-Monster design is awesome

-Weapon creation/upgrades make the arsenal fully customizable

-CO-OP!!!

Bad:

-Objectives, particularly sub-objectives, can feel like a real pain, and an attempt by the studio to make one or two areas take up over a half hour of your time running silly fetch quests while necros come after you.

-Characters  allow some very preventable events to occur, leading the obligatory boss battle that just left me shaking my head.

Scully Rating: 8 out of 10

Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion

Zach Goodier

While I have played the original Sins, I basically refer to this as the true game.  This game is about galactic domination, and lets  you manage an empire in real time as you expand, explore, and conduct diplomacy, and eventually go to war in order to achieve victory.  You can choose between 3 races, and those 3 races each have 2 factions: loyalist and rebels.  While there is a back-story to these races and factions, you can ignore it, since you can assign teams to any faction.

Establish an empire that would make the Empire from Star Wars look like an Amish enclave.

You start out with one planet, then proceed to move out and explore, as you research military and civil technology to improve your empire.  These can range from improving weapon damage or armor for you ships, to improving tax income on your planets.  These can all help in various ways, but each faction is unique; some are more commerce oriented, while others focus mostly on combat, but all are able to branch out in some way so they don’t feel limited. 

The galaxy can be a beautiful, but dangerous place.

You can select pre-made maps, or do random maps of various sizes.  As you explore these maps, you’ll find various planets, like volcanic, frozen, desert, and terran.  There are also dwarf planets and asteroids.  There are also wormholes, pirates, and other wonders mixed in. Each one is different, with planets being able to accommodate a higher population in general, but different types are ideal for different developments, whether they focus on cultural or industrial output.  Each has its own value, with culture helping to convert planets, and industry helping to improve your military and commercial fleets.  However, overspecializing in one area leaves you vulnerable in the other, so balance is always key in developing a good strategy. 

Here's an overview of this map, but you can SEAMLESSLY scroll in on any system to see what's there, as long as you have some way of monitoring it, that is.

Capital ships are harder to build, and their numbers or severely limited, but they offer unique abilities as they level up from experience that make them indispensible in your armada.  You’ll want to protect them, because if you lose them, that means having to rebuild the ship and starting over from scratch, so it’s a good idea to keep an eye on your fleets when they’re engaged to withdraw any capital ships that might be at risk.  However, they aren’t fragile by any means, but if your enemy is well-equipped, then it can give you cause for concern.

The reason this is the version to play is that it comes with the star bases and the rebel factions, which the main game doesn’t have.  Star bases allow for you to establish an orbital platform that you can customize with various improvements ranging from establishing a proxy government to maintain control of a planet even if the enemy takes the ground, to construction bays for ships and trade ships. 

The ultimate ships that each faction controls are the Titans, and they require an enormous amount of resources and time to construct.  While this seems daunting, the rewards are as big as the ship itself.   Each faction has a unique titan, which generally specializes in offense or defense.  Simply put, each ship is a flying super fortress, capable of packing an entire fleet’s worth of firepower and armor into a single ship.  That being said, you’ll want to defend your titan, and sending it out alone is never a great idea, since you’ll want support ships to keep it from being the sole target of your enemies, because it’s not invincible.

This titan is literally a giant gun with smaller guns and missile batteries built around it... and an engine to make it move.

The graphics are amazing, you can seamlessly zoom in and out of the action to quickly transition from one system to another.   This game has an impressive sense of scale, and it can seem overwhelming at first to manage an empire in real time when you truly feel that you have to eventually run half a solar system down to the mining and trade.  While a lot of it is automated, it can seem a little daunting to have to manage it all when the situation changes, and something almost always slips through the cracks.

Titans are tough, but situations like this are bad.  Every ship is firing at the titan, and while it can take a beating, a combined assault like this will wear it down.

The problems with this game are few, but significant.  Diplomacy is cool, but unless you’re actually on the same team, you HAVE to fight eventually, so if you’re hoping for a Civilization-style diplomacy victory, guess again.  Plus the way you earn favor with each group is generally to perform some silly mission they give, whether you have to attack someone or just give them things.  While this alone isn’t a bad thing, when it requires attacking an ally, or someone that is one the other side of the galaxy, well out of reach, then it really becomes a hassle.  And the worst part is, if you don’t finish the mission, the provider becomes dissatisfied with you, making diplomacy a real pain at times, and it can seem rather simplistic and one-sided. 

Go forth, and do great things, my friends.

Overall, this is a fun game, while it isn’t without fault, and the play times can drag on for ages (so be prepared), it is still a fun game.  Diplomacy feels weak, but as a military space RTS, this is probably as good as it gets.  Empire building is always fun for me, but without the ability to see more diverse AI in the single-player, and the difficulty of forming alliances, and knowing they will only be temporary, leaves the diplomacy in general as feeling like more of an afterthought than a significant component of the game itself.  While it helps keep monkeys off your back, it doesn’t add a whole lot to the game as a whole.  That being said, I never cared much for diplomacy when I have a massive space armada under my command, anyways.

Good:

-Excellent Empire building, space RTS

-Sense of scale is impressive throughout, with varied planet types and new horizons to explore (until you find everything, that is).

-Sophisticated research trees and diversity between races and factions

-TITANS!!! They make the bad ships go away in style.

Bad:

-Diplomacy is a weak, which hurts the overall feel more than it should.

-Enemy AI isn’t poor, it does feel a little straightforward though.

Scully Rating: 9 out of 10