Recent reviews by Luitenant Gruber

Great game with full freedom and creativity.

I loved Mount & Blade. It is a RPG game in which you are in full control of the direction you want to go in. Create a character, drop somewhere on the map, and start your journey.

There is no story or plot in Mount & Blade. It is completely up to you what you want to do next. Recruit men for your army, visit castles and cities to receive quests, gain favor for one of the five factions on the map, join their ranks, become your own lord with land and tax income, the possibilities are endless.

The mechanics in Mount & Blade are very simple and easy to learn. On the world map, you can travel in any direction and you encounter various activities, caravans, bandits and Lords from different factions. You can enter cities to join tournaments, buy stuff, sell stuff and gather some gossip about ongoing wars and events around the world map. Although the game has no official ending or goal, the way to play is to gather as much renown as possible by killing bandits, winning glorious battles against other factions and do good to the people and peasants. This way, other factions notice you and grant you land, titles and positions.

Each faction has its own units and “theme”. The Kingdom of Nords and Vaegirs are both north themed and consists of stereotypical Viking and north men units.

The Khergit Khanate are nomads and horse people from the Steppes and present a variation on the ancient Mongol empire. Then you got the Rhodoks, which can be traced back in name and units to the Rohan empire from Lord of The Rings.
The units and their appearance does remind heavily of this comparison. Lastly, you got the kingdom of Swadia, which (in my opinion) is just a stereotypical, standard medieval nation, that resembles ancient England, because of their superior crossbowman and cavalry.

The most fun with this game is just exploring, helping people, earn gold, expand your army and get renown throughout the map. You are constantly managing your supplies, keeping your soldiers happy and overall, just be a Lord, mercenary or free roaming scoundrel that is control of their own destiny. I can play the first Mount & Blade for hours, without it ever boring me.

The graphics in Mount & Blade are crude and a little ugly. However, this is one of those games in which I don’t care one bit. The framerate and animations are smooth, and that is what counts for me.

The music is a little generic on the world map and in cities, but the battle tracks are great. When you hear those trumpets at the start of a huge battle, you know it is going to be epic.

There are some small issues with the game. For starters, a specific quest is broken beyond your wildest dreams. This is a quest in which you need to chase/guide livestock around. This can be livestock from farmers that you can return, or cattle for the army you are serving. Controlling these cattle, is almost impossible. Make one wrong move, and they are gone forever. And even then, you never know where they will walk off too.

Lastly, the combat is a little vague. I learned that the only reliable way of hitting an enemy, is by swinging your sword from the right. All other directions feel inaccurate and stiff.

But overall, Mount & Blade is a great game. Simple, easy to learn and hours of fun.

Fun little zombie game with a lot of challenge.

Nation Red is a very simple, but fun game. In the core, it is a wave shooter in which you hold out against waves and waves of zombies, increasing in difficulty each round. You got your simple standard zombies and big and fat ones that are though to kill. The variation is simple and blend, but it works.

There are several modes you can play. Survival, Endless and Barricade. All of the modes play almost the same, with some minor differences.

The graphics are nothing special. The framerate and animations however, run very smooth, making the game look fine enough.

The sound is a little generic, but for this type of game, that’s all right.

The controls are fluent and is the games strongest point. Movement and combat is spot on and you are in full control. No cheap deaths by unresponsive controls, just you, who makes the mistake and pay for it.

There is a perk system in which you can improve your stats and skills, giving you a better chance of surviving in the rounds that follow.

You find weapons and powerups throughout the maps and try to stay alive as long as possible. Choose one of the several maps the game offers, and rinse and repeat.

The game is repetitive and it is most of the same, but the many challenges and maps keep it interesting enough.

Normally, I would get a little bored after the tenth time I started a new wave, but the best thing Nation Red offers, is the amount of challenges and achievements you can unlock, keeping the game interesting. For me, this is a great way to keep me playing, and reflect on your hard work and skill.

Other than this, there is not that much to say about Nation Red actually.
So in the end, I would surely recommend this game.

Fun game with some serious flaws in terms of co-op play.

I liked Orcs Must Die 2. It is just as silly, fast paced and chaotic as the first game, but has some improvements and new features.

In the two campaign acts, you fight as the sarcastic War Mage from the previous game, now arch mage because of the passing of his master. The orcs are invading once again, and it is your job to stop them. This time however, you are joined by a random chick that also happens to be an elite wizard. You can play each map as the guy or the girl, each with different special abilities and loadouts.

The mechanics of Orcs Must Die 2 are the same as the first game. You start a level, prepare for the waves of orcs that come and finish them all off, before they reach the end portal that you are supposed to defend.

Many orc models and traps have been transferred from the first game, with some new ones here and there. Other new features are new weapons, like a freaking mage bazooka thingy, far more spells and damage types, and improved melee.

The graphics in Orcs Must Die 2 are slightly upgraded from the first game, and are still in the cartoony style like the first game. The animations and framerate are butter smooth.

In terms of sound and soundtracks, the game is just as good as its predecessor. All the tracks from the first game are present, along with some new ones. Sound design has not changed much from the previous game.

The combat is just as fluent as the first game, so no complaints there.

The difficulty of the game is just as hard as the first game, if not harder. The first levels and waves are a walk in the park, but soon, it becomes impossible sometimes. With some strategy and clever thinking, it is possible, but many maps are designed to be played with two players.

That brings me to the co-op. Clearly, this game was meant and designed for co-op play, which is totally fine. The only problem is, that the connection to the Robot Entertainment servers (which you cannot host from your own pc) are one of the worst I have ever experienced. Me and my wife played this game back then, and the connection would be abrupted at least four times each setting. We are playing on ethernet connected pc’s, with 1 GBps ISP lines, so there is no excuse here. The worst part, is that your level, wave progress and action will be terminated instantly, and when connection is restored, you must do the whole level over again. This was sadly the boner killer that made me and my wife stop playing together, and I just finished the remaining levels on my own.

It is a shame, but because Co-op is almost impossible with the janky servers, the fun of playing the game again after finishing all levels, is kind of gone. For this reason, I would not recommend this game.

My favorite entry in The Jackbox series.

I really like the Jackbox series. Just as Knowledge is Power, it is a party game with lots of fun, silly animations and a high replay value.

Unlike Knowledge is Power however, Jackbox is a little bit more versatile. Instead of being bound to your PlayStation and your smartphone, you can now use your phone or your pc/laptop to connect to jackbox.tv, and play. The connection and overall stability of the game is also a lot better.

There are many Party Packs for the Jackbox games. Each pack offers a set of minigames that you can complete with your company of friends or family. Most of them revolve around choosing the funniest answer, predict who might have answered a certain question in a certain way, or, in general, just who made the most ridiculous drawing. Throughout the mini games, players score points, the player with the most points wins. Easy and simple.

Of all the Jackbox Party Packs, the fourth one is my favorite.
In this Pack, you got Fibbage, in which you guess weird facts about your friends. Then you got Monster Seeking Monster, a dating service for monsters in which you need to come up with your best pickup line. You also play Civic Doodle, where you create unique art to brighten up the city. One can only imagen the amounts of d!cks on the wall.

In Bracketeering, You create random words for based on earlier questions. These are put in brackets, and players vote and bet on the best one in a match of two answers. Those then advance to the next round, rinse and repeat.

Lastly, my personal favorite, Survive the Internet. Here, you respond to headlines you read on the internet, after which another players comments and uses that response on their own vile creations. This results in ridiculous articles and frontpages with non sensical nonsense. Players then vote for the most fun answers, and that player wins.

The animations and art style of The Jackbox Party Pack 4 is colorful, jolly and silly. My biggest compliment here, is that all animations and slides within the games, are really fast, keeping the pace of the game at a very healthy levels.

The silly sounds, the jolly music in the background, enhances the experience and lets you have a good time with the game.

With the right company, I can get aches in my stomach from laughing and I think that The Jackbox Party Packs are the best party games out there by far. Especially this one.

In the end, I can only praise The Jackbox Party Pack 4 and recommend it to everyone.

For me personally, the weakest installment in the series.

I really like the Jackbox series. Just as Knowledge is Power, it is a party game with lots of fun, silly animations and a high replay value.

Unlike Knowledge is Power however, Jackbox is a little bit more versatile. Instead of being bound to your PlayStation and your smartphone, you can now use your phone or your pc/laptop to connect to jackbox.tv, and play. The connection and overall stability of the game is also a lot better.

There are many Party Packs for the Jackbox games. Each pack offers a set of minigames that you can complete with your company of friends or family. Most of them revolve around choosing the funniest answer, predict who might have answered a certain question in a certain way, or, in general, just who made the most ridiculous drawing. Throughout the mini games, players score points, the player with the most points wins. Easy and simple.

Of all the Jackbox Party Packs, I thought this one was a little disappointing.
In this Pack, you can play The Joke Boat, in which you complete lame one liners with your own response. The problem with this game is that the responses never match or resemble any kind of fun. Maybe it is intentional, but when playing with a group, we always skip this one.

Then you have Trivia Murder Party 2, in which you need to complete a series of very hard mini games, and try to stay alive and be the first to escape the mansion. This one is my personal favorite of this Party Pack and we almost only play this game when launching The Jackbox Party Pack 6.

Another lame game, in my opinion, is The Dictionarium, in which you must come up with funny definitions of a certain word. For me/us, this just did not work out and the lolz were nowhere to be found.

Another fun game was Push the Button, a Among Us style mini game, in which you need to complete various mini games and uncover the hidden alien on board. Along with Trivia Murder Party 2, this one was my favorite and we switched back and forth between them.

Lastly, you got Role Models, some kind of personally test in which you create some kind of formula about yourself. This one was the most disappointing and did not offer any fun.

The animations and art style of The Jackbox Party Pack 6 is colorful, jolly and silly. My biggest compliment here, is that all animations and slides within the games, are really fast, keeping the pace of the game at a very healthy levels.

The silly sounds, the jolly music in the background, enhances the experience and lets you have a good time with the game. In the sixth installment in the series, the music and sound in the Trivia Murder Party 2 game, is especially good.

With the right company, I can get aches in my stomach from laughing and I think that The Jackbox Party Packs are the best party games out there by far.

The Jackbox Party Pack 6 was all right, but only two games were fun out of five. Still recommend it though, Trivia Murder Party 2 and Push the Button alone, are worth it.

Hilarious installment that is worth it for just one game alone.

I really like the Jackbox series. Just as Knowledge is Power, it is a party game with lots of fun, silly animations and a high replay value.

Unlike Knowledge is Power however, Jackbox is a little bit more versatile. Instead of being bound to your PlayStation and your smartphone, you can now use your phone or your pc/laptop to connect to jackbox.tv, and play. The connection and overall stability of the game is also a lot better.

There are many Party Packs for the Jackbox games. Each pack offers a set of minigames that you can complete with your company of friends or family. Most of them revolve around choosing the funniest answer, predict who might have answered a certain question in a certain way, or, in general, just who made the most ridiculous drawing. Throughout the mini games, players score points, the player with the most points wins. Easy and simple.

Of all the Jackbox Party Packs, the seventh installment came as a very pleasant surprise. However, this is only because of one masterpiece of a minigame.

To start off, you got Quiplash, a game in which you describe a word or situation with three words. These are then displayed beneath each other and two players fight for the most lolz and get the points.

After this, you got Blather ‘Round, a pop culture guessing game. You just guess answers and try to guess which player might be right. Simple, a little boring but fun enough.

Another very disappoint game is Talking Points. You get a series of pictures and need to comment on it. A little lazy in my opinion.

Then you got The Devils and the Details, a game in which you need to do chores as fast as possible to earn points. Personally, I thought this one was a little chaotic, too complicated and overall, not that much fun.

When reading this, one could question why I would even play or recommend this game, but then came Champ’d Up, the best game in this whole pack. In this game, you draw your own unique hero, name it, and let it battle against another player. You win the fight by receives the most upvotes from other players. This process repeats until a winner remains.

The animations and art style of The Jackbox Party Pack 7 is colorful, jolly and silly. My biggest compliment here, is that all animations and slides within the games, are really fast, keeping the pace of the game at a very healthy levels.

The silly sounds, the jolly music in the background, enhances the experience and lets you have a good time with the game.

With the right company, I can get aches in my stomach from laughing and I think that The Jackbox Party Packs are the best party games out there by far.

The Jackbox Party Pack 7 was great, but only because of one game. Champ’d Up was hilarious and I would startup this Pack any time to play it again.

Definitely recommend this one.

Excellent expansion for the main game.

I loved Heroes of Might and Magic V. I tried the earlier installments before, but never understood the game and its mechanics. For some reason, HOMM V was a lot more accessible and easier to understand.

The mechanics in HOMM V are relatively simple. You explore a map, with various resources, towns, small buildings and upgrades, to increase your strength, stats and army. On the map, different units are stationed, some friendly and ready to join you, but most of them are hostile. You fight them to earn XP, level up and unlock more skills. The goal of each map varies from scenario to scenario but mostly includes the conquering of a town or gate to win. Some scenarios are timed, adding to the challenge.

After the somewhat average expansion Hammers of Fate, I played the second and last expansion Heroes of Might and Magic V: Tribes of the East. Immediately I was in love with the new campaign, new playable race and the third (optional) evolution of every race in the game.

In Tribes of the East, you can now play as the Orcs. In true Orc fashion, they are savage, brutal and strong, and their new bloodlust mechanics in Heroes V is an important asset in their fighting strategy. I also really liked the small references crosswise between the Orc units and their appearances in Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, in which you fight Orcs, Goblins and even a Paokai. The new campaign was a lot of fun and I enjoyed the story far better than Hammers of Fate.

In addition, all units, from every race, now have a third upgrade available. The balance in these upgrades is really well done. Instead of “just making them stronger”, each unit now has a “new better feature”, but also a “slightly worse” stat or skill. You really need to look per unit what works best for your playstyle and upgrade them accordingly.

The graphics are great for the time and the animations of the units en environmental buildings are nicely done. The color pattern is warm and soft and enhances the experience. All the new unit variations are a little mixed. Some are straight reskins with a different color, but others have completely different looks.

The best upgrades for the units in my opinion are the Dungeon creatures (different clothing, new weapons, more armor pieces). The worst are the Inferno creatures (make everything grey and replace fire with smoke).

By far the best aspect of Heroes of Might and Magic V, is the sound. The (combat) music is absolutely great and the sound effects are spot on. I loved the satisfying sound effect of the scythe of the Wraith units and the four-sword attack of the Rakhasa rani. It is sound design at its best. The only personal complaint I have, is that all the sound effects of the third upgrade units are completely ruined in my opinion. They all sound terrible in comparison to the solid, brutal effects from the second upgrade units. This is a matter of my own experience I think.

The mechanics, controls and interfaces are easy to understand and can be mastered fairly quickly.

I think Heroes of Might and Magic V: Tribes of the East is the best expansion for the main game and when playing HOMM again, Tribes of the East is the way to go.

Definitely recommend this game.

Great game from my youth with a lot of happy memories.

I loved Heroes of Might and Magic V. I tried the earlier installments before, but never understood the game and its mechanics. For some reason, HOMM V was a lot more accessible and easier to understand.

In Heroes of Might and Magic V, you follow a classic story about saving the kingdom, repel invading factions like demons, undead and creatures of the deep, and become the hero that saves the day. You can play the good and bad campaign, each consisting of many different missions, or scenarios. The story is fair and has a good pacing. Because the game thrives on this story, I will not spoil it further.

The mechanics in HOMM V are relatively simple. You explore a map, with various resources, towns, small buildings and upgrades, to increase your strength, stats and army. On the map, different units are stationed, some friendly and ready to join you, but most of them are hostile. You fight them to earn XP, level up and unlock more skills. The goal of each map varies from scenario to scenario but mostly includes the conquering of a town or gate to win. Some scenario’s are timed, adding to the challenge.

This game is really hard. The first scenario is some sort of tutorial, and can be completed easily, but after that, the game turns 180 degrees and throws everything it got at you. In the later scenarios, the enemy AI can be unforgiving.

I really like all the units, their backstories and their overall design. They just look badass, have awesome attacks, sound effects, animations and skills. In terms of creativity and design, I think the creatures in this game are better than the ones from King’s Bounty.

The graphics are great for the time and the animations of the units en environmental buildings are nicely done. The color pattern is warm and soft and enhances the experience.

By far the best aspect of Heroes of Might and Magic V, is the sound. The (combat) music is absolutely great and the sound effects are spot on. I loved the satisfying sound effect of the scythe of the Wraith units and the four-sword attack of the Rakhasa rani. It is sound design at its best.

The mechanics, controls and interfaces are easy to understand and can be mastered fairly quickly. The only small issue I experienced are the timed missions. In your quest log, you see that you need to capture a city in a certain amount of days, but on screen, no timer, reminder or warning is shown, making you instantly lose the scenario when not paying attention.

Another small problem is the “stalemate situation”. In the later missions, you and an enemy AI hero can both control heroes and cities and try to take over the enemy city. Because all units get replenished every start of the week, both heroes can get exactly the same power level when buying new units every week. This way, there is no real advantage over the enemy and it is just “luck and prayer” if you hit hard enough.

Looking back at the game in comparison with King’s Bounty, I think I prefer the latter in terms of graphics, mechanics, story and overall atmosphere. Nevertheless, Heroes of Might and Magic V will always remain a classic and a piece of nostalgia from my youth.

Definitely recommend this game.

Boring, empty and slow MMO game in my opinion.

I played Guns of Icarus Online a while with some friends, but I did not like it. Not specifically because of its difficulty or because I was not good at it or something, no, this time it was the overall atmosphere and setting of the game.

In Guns of Icarus Online, you play in teams of four, friends or random people and control one of the many available airships. Each ship has its strengths and weaknesses, like slower speed, more armor, better turnability etc. Each player can take a role at the start of the match, like the gunner, captain or mechanic. The goal is simple. Shoot down other players airships while keeping yours in the air. The mechanic can fix damage to your own ship, the captain steers the ship in the right direction and the gunner defends the ship and shoots down others.

Graphicly, this game looks fine enough. There is enough detail in the ships and the parts that can fall off or can be damaged. But aside from the ships, the environment is just so empty. The fact that you are in the air, and air is a whole lot of nothingness, does not help, but still I would have appreciated some more stuff to look at. Big birds that harass you, floating debris, that kind of stuff.

Sound wise, this game is nothing special. You got some ambient music, the sound of your ship and the pea shooter sound of your mounted gun.

The gameplay is simple and repetitive, and that is normally not a bad thing. Games like Counter Strike are also very repetitive. Just shoot people and respawn. However, what killed the fun for me with Guns of Icarus Online, was the empty map in a match with sometimes nothing to do or see. The perfect comparison is Atlas. In this game, you waste away on the endless ocean, seeing water and nothingness for hours while traveling to something of interest. In Guns of Icarus, it is exactly the same, although this time, it is ten miles into the air.

I surely had some fun while playing with friends. The tension in some matches could be high and sometimes, me as a mechanic, saved all our asses with little than a second to spare when fixing a crucially damaged part of the ship. Also, it feels very satisfying to see your enemy go down and make them crash into the ground. But when playing with random people, or after playing ten or more matches, you basically seen it all and it does not offer anything more.

Most of this review is from personal taste and experience however so online experience may vary from person to person, but for me, I just got bored and did not want to play the game any longer.

In conclusion, Guns of Icarus Online is not a bad game, it just lacks some content and replay value. I would personally not recommend it, but this is, again, from personal taste.

Best game in the series in my opinion.

I loved Grand Theft Auto IV. I never fully finished any other games in the series, but in terms of story and gameplay, I finished this one with great joy and satisfaction. It got a great story, good mechanics and a ton of stuff to do.

The story revolves around Niko, a immigrant from Serbia who came to the States for the American Dream. This dream however turns into a nightmare and the reason why is not worth to spoil and is something that one needs to experience for themselves.

Like all GTA games, you can free roam a huge city with stores, places of interest, food chains and a whole lot more. You can go wherever you want, whenever you want. The map is filled with hidden easter eggs and time specific events, and the map and its content alone, can keep you occupied for hours.

You progress through the story, keep in contact with a lot of different main and optional characters, each providing you with missions and challenges. You try to keep your relationship with them on a healthy level by meeting with them, play some darts, drink a beer, taking your girlfriend out for diner and it almost feels like a real life simulator sometimes. Relationships can go bad and sometimes, people do not want to talk to you anymore, so keeping an eye on their happiness is surely recommended.You earn cash, spend it on new fancy cars, clothing and weaponry and overall, become a feared mobster that takes care of business.

Grand Theft Auto IV looks amazing. Even today, the “outdated” graphics were no problem to look at and the framerate is still smooth as ever. The cars, character models and environments look still fine and I think GTA IV really aged well.

Grand Theft Auto IV allows you, just like Vice City and San Andreas, to import your own music tracks in the game. You get in your car, put on the radio and your own music is blasting through the game. It enhances your experience sooo much by just being able to do this.

Controlling Niko, cars and aiming your weapons all feel responsive and accurate, with the exception of the helicopters and some of the mini games like bowling and playing pool.

This is a game that can suck you in, letting you play for hours. You explore, roam, complete stuff, unlock stuff, buy stuff, and overall, just always keep you busy. If you want to play darts for three hours, go ahead. If you just want to become a millionaire, complete as many side missions first, it is your call.

The achievements in this game keep it even more interesting and gives you even more purpose to play. Going to the airport, get the cops on your tail and try to spin your car 180 degrees in a ramp was just so much fun.

The only problem I had with Grand Theft Auto IV are the horrendous helicopter controls. I am not sure it is on purpose, but flying a helicopter in this game is just as hard as doing it in real life. Especially in the end of the game, where you need to act fast and fly a Black Hawk helicopter after a terrible chase scene, it was pure torture.

I liked The Lost and the Damned DLC for the main game. It had a good story, atmosphere and improved driving mechanics.

The expansion revolves around a classic rival biker gang revenge story with lots of fighting, betrayal and gang violence. The game also has improved driving mechanics for motorcycles, something that very welcome for a game in which you mostly drive Harleys. There are many new vehicles as well.
I really liked the biker setting of the game and it reminded me of series like Sons of Anarchy. The story was almost just as good as the main game, and although classic and a little cliché, it was well written and played out.

You can now blow up enemy Harleys with pipe bombs in true biker style. You can complete several gang related missions, raids, races and mini games to gain control of the streets. The amount of different bikes throughout the DLC is amazing, and every one is responsive and looks badass.

The biggest irony, in my opinion, is that this cute little DLC from GTA IV, made a far more supreme biker gang game with the appropriate aesthetics and atmosphere, than games like Ride to Hell: Retribution.

The Lost and the Damned is an excellent piece of DLC and maybe one of the better ones I played in a long time. This is the kind of expansion in which I hope they make a full GTA release from it. This DLC is another reason that I still think Grand Theft Auto IV is the best in the series.

But nevertheless, I loved every second of this game, its story and its content. It will keep you occupied for hours, and I would surely recommend it to everyone.