Recent reviews by Phantasm

Saw this and thought it would be a great aim trainer. . it is .

Hate to say it but I was pretty choked when I loaded it up and couldn't remap my keys. The developer patched the game SAME-DAY... Two years old game, dev saves weekend for salty noob. I couldn't be more impressed. Outstanding developer.

Game itself is a constant fast paced minimalist Arena Shooter/Aim Trainer. Play this for a couple hours a day and you'll see results.

This is a great game! Not sure why it never showed up for me on the popular new releases list?

This game has been compared to 'Nexus: The Jupiter Incident' a few times.. Indeed, may of the same mechanics are present. The combat feels a lot like Homeworld.. Similar UI in places. For me, it feels a little bit like the early days of Eve online mixed with world of warships.

Matches are played with set point limits that players use to build their own custom fleets to command. A few larger ships, or more smaller ships, its up to you. You also can configure your weapon and module loadouts for each of your ships.

Being able to come up with your own strategies to win in conjuction with the nice electronic warfare mechanics makes this game feel intense in a cat vs mouse kindof way.

Game is only a handful of days old so I noticed some polish issues... The HUD can get cluttered if there are many small ships present - would be nice to be able to filter that or change the font size or use Icons to designate different target types instead of writing out the whole ship name a dozen times on the screen..

A matchmaking system would also be a godsend

Great fun, this one!

MicroProse!

Now thats a name I havent seen in a long while. For the uninitiated, MicroProse has been associated with high quality titles that tend to be innovative and sometimes unique. They have some really big games under their belt:
The early Xcom games
Mechwarrior 3
Railroad Tycoon
Transport Tycoon
Rollercoaster Tycoon
Pirates!
Master Of Orion 1&2
Master of Magic
Elite
Civ & Civ 2

They were a publisher and a developer so they didnt develop all of the above games but they sure could pick a winning horse.

But alas, all good things... as they say

I believe, reputation like that, cant live in a vacuum though and so, I'm sure it was for that reason that the brand was purchased and revived. I thought it would have been some big company but it appears to have been just one guy... When I learned this, I thought - Okay well he believes in MicroProse, hopefully he'll back some awesome work, in kind.

So I bought this game.

I came from Mechwarrior5.... And this is EASILY a dozen times more immersive. The art style is unique and highly polished. The audio FX are rich and plenty. The music is excellently composed.

The game's main interface actually feels quite a bit like Barotrauma minus the crew management.

This game is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ excellent! I had this realization when the game played its 'combat' card actually and the first thing I did was close the game to write this review.

So I was going to write that I'll have to shelve my optimism until I've seen more from this publisher but while I was looking up some of the above, I realized that

BILL STEALEY - FOUNDER OF MICROPROSE JOINED THE TEAM

and I completely lost my mind

I bought the game for my wife.. I even bought it for my cat - and I dont have a cat.

The games dev industry sausage is made real weird these days. I believe in this publisher. I believe they believe in quality games. They delivered here. I really think you should try this game if it looks cool to you

As a sub sim enthusiast since 688 attack sub (1989) I can tell you that Wolfpack is the next sub sim you're going to want to play and will probably continue to play for years to come. This game is truly a profound experience!

To those with some familiarity with this genre you can expect this title to fall on the opposite end of the spectrum that the recent release UBOAT is on. Uboat is a crew management simulation. For perspective, Silent Hunter III would fall somewhere in the middle, as there is time compression and crew management but the player orders their crew to perform the individual functions on the boat.

Wolfpack is even more realistic as there is no time compression and each player must man individual stations in question so as to operate the sub as desired. The upshot is the game feels more immersive than any of its predecessors.

Wolfpack is said to be developed by Silent Hunter III players for SHIII Players so, if you like that game, you should really enjoy wolfpack. There are some key differences though and speaking as a longtime player of SHIII, I'd like to set your expectation with some information...

The target detection system in SHIII is very delicate but you should expect that this is different in wolfpack. In SHIII it almost feels like you need to do everything in your power to avoid being spotted while trying to solve torpedo solutions. Much of your setting up of shots in SHIII is done at periscope depth or awash getting as close as possible to get even marginally workable figures for your solutions. In Wolfpack, this is not the case, you can take your time and comfortably jog along side a convoy at range but still be able to get good numbers for the torpedo solutions, all the while being fully surfaced! It is true that low profile vessels can be fully hidden below the horizon while sighting the top half of a distant, taller ship but the loose detection rules apply while at closer range than this.

At first this was a troubling feature that I considered complaining about but that takes me to the next difference. I mentioned that there's no time compression... While this also adds to the realism, this also makes the task of traveling large distances in real time, require real-time to be invested. I realized that this would not be desirable for a game with a drop-in style lobby system with a gameplay style designed to play out a single session in a hand-full of hours. (For the moment apparently) that takes searching for convoys off the table. The game spawns you with a convoy somewhere randomly in the immediate area. So you can think of it like, the game simulates the events that take place once a Wolfpack discovers the convoy, I suppose.

So that explains why traveling awash instead of full surface while hunting a convoy isn't done... Currently in the game, traveling awash absolutely reduces your chances of being detected but the associated speed reduction is a really big issue because it amplifies the time it takes to setup a shot significantly. This makes games end up taking quite a lot longer than necessary. To compensate for this, the game is easier on you than it should be while the convoy is not spooked (so you can get into position faster). I feel like this is a tough trade-off that's being balanced because right now, it feels overly easy to sneak up on a convoy making running decks awash functionally useful but not necessary.

Similarly there are some differences with the way the hydrophones work which allied shipping has. In SHIII warships using hydrophones can easily detect you unless you are traveling at the slowest of speeds. Again there appears to be some compromise because you can travel faster while submerged before being heard. Obviously this game is still in the early days of
development though and as additional mechanics and elements are added there may be more use for the already-existing 'reduce engine speed by 10' setting which works but doesn't seem to be necessary to escape from searching warships. In fact, the development road map lists an AI enhancement and playable corvettes for vs mode. This turns everything I just said on its head because when its up to your friends to spot you on the horizon and detect you on their hydrophone, all bets are off!

There are some other minor differences such as C02 level not being simulated. Presumably this is because it would take a real-time day to require surfacing and no game is intended to be played that long. Similarly, fuel consumption isnt modeled as this too is not relevant.

Presently several of the u-boat compartments are missing and while they are not necessary for core gameplay at the moment, it has been announced that they will be added soon. Right now, you have what you need - the radio room, the control room, the conning tower, the bridge and the decks with engines being controlled via the telegraph.

There's some other differences and quality of life enhancements but they're really minor such as obs scope going fully up and fully down and having independent control over the 2 individual screws your sub has. Or there being no neutral/friendly shipping.

On the whole here, I'm being pretty critical of Wolfpack but you should understand that this is because SHIII is firmly ranked as one of my top 3 favorite games and any contender is going to be judged harshly. This game definitively takes the title and it isnt even complete yet!

To those general gamers stumbling upon this title, I'd like to speak a little bit to you folks as well because I absolutely understand the concern people have about manually piloting a 769 tonne weapon of war using analogue technology and trigonometry! Yes, you need to do some math to fully operate a u-boat effectively in this game but you really should look at that this way:

The community in this game at its core are a very unique group of people - wargamers, servicemen and enthusiasts. They actually have a FREE naval academy you can join to be fully trained to operate all systems on board a Type VII C U-boat. How cool is that?? Learn to operate a type VII C Today! ... Or don't! Because you can just limit yourself to operating the more intuitive roles such as helm or even dive stations which are pretty straight forward - honestly everything is pretty easy except solutions and navigating which are arcane but manageable once you know how. So here's what I have to say to those of you intimidated by the hardcore-sim nature of this game - just avoid the nav or captain roles and you good! When you feel up to the not-so crazy task of tackling those more intimidating roles, the tutorial does a great job by letting the player mess around with torpedo solutions while showing you the results of your calculations on-the-fly.

To the developers: Thank you. it took a while for this wish to manifest but here it is. Please ensure you find ways to keep the content train chugging. The more this game is fleshed out, the better and more firmly it will be entrenched in the top slot for this genre. Carpe Diem!

Also, granular realism settings please!(such as blow ballast makes noise, or more challenging detection rules visual/hydophone) and RTX support in wolfpack would be mind blowing!

At first I was really confused by the offering in consideration for its version being 2.20

And then it hit me, this game is X4 and I had completely forgotten to factor that into the version number
So 2.20/4 = 0.55
And then it made complete sense

I hate to say it this way after being loyal to egosoft since x3 reunion (which, by the way I believe was their high water mark for this series, even in consideration for the polish and additional features X3:AP offers. I just felt the later versions of the game played its hand out too quickly for the player. x3 reunion forced you to look over the horizon for ages and that trick gave me the time to really get the most out of the depth of the game.)

Apparently egosoft thinks they can succeed by tagging along with the major studios out there who are straight faced boasting about their buggy, incomplete, feature-absent, half-baked 'AAA' titles. I guess the worlds economy is about to implode before these games would have normally been released? Flippin better otherwise wow the industry has gone straight soulless.

Anyway, TLDR: This game is half baked and should be considered early access until reviews show otherwise.

There's an achievement for loading the game. I gotta say, I feel like I earned it...

So, the 'invert mouse' option is for hardcore players only. I assume the developers thought players who like a challenge will opt to invert the mouse in both the Y _AND_ X axis

Switching to 3rd person mode works.. Just when you think it wont. So uh... theres that

Did someone leave a poke ball here? Oh, thats just a reminder to right click on a hole I dug before... _Every_single_hole_ ... Just a reminder...

Trees grow really fast in eastern europe... only on the horizon though... I did not know this...

You will prod holes with a limp hand until coins come out... which... probably arent actually coins...

I will say that if you enjoy metal detecting, this game is an adequate simulation to scratch that itch. So for that reason I can say its worth the price.

Did you particularly enjoy that part in 'the legend of zelda' where they give you a shovel and you get to dig things up? Okay then, what are you waiting for?

Ugh, wow okay so when I read that this game was "designed music first, with the gameplay and aesthetic derived from the creative flow of the music production process" I thought HEY here's a game that will play like I'm watching the soundscape of some good music unfold in front of me comprised of loosly related video clips and mini-games that somehow associate with the energy of the music COOL!

Well, ya, you know, in theory that would be cool. This game absolutely did not feel like that for me. Maybe I didnt play it long enough but after the opening sequence really felt like it was testing my resilience against having an epileptic seisure, then subsequent mini-games which make no sense, the music feeling like it was not the star of the show, and literally feeling like I WAS going to have a seisure, I had to turn this game off...

I'm not really sure what they were going for here but honestly I have to say that what this game does best is cause confusion and induce seisures. I mean, literally... before you can play the game it makes you accept that it might kill you before proceeding. COOL

Anyway look, it just wasnt a pleasant experience. You could make an argument that the art and video clips in this game are supposed to get at some deeper meaning about the state of society and moral blah blah but that aspect of this game really was not executed well. If you want to play a game which lambasts the shotcomings of modern society try this lesser known dystopian gem: "Beyond good and evil" There are others but I really need to go lay down after playing this game... My head feels fuzzy : \

Update: 30 minutes later - legit still feeling like I put my brain in a blender

In my humble opinion, this is one of the best games ever made in this genra and one of my all time favorite games.

I urge all of you who enjoy games of this style to look beyond the modest graphics and give this game a good look. One of the first things you'll notice about Dominions and one of the things that really makes it shine is how rich the game world is. It really gives you the feeling that a prehistoric world filled with magic, beasts and warriors has its future decided on the battlefield by the individual warring nations (60 of them!) each with their own very vibrant back-story that gives them a very unique feel.

Each race is decidedly entirely different - A nation of frost giants, empowered by the coldest environments, a nation of demons who rise from the dead after being slain in combat etc etc.. Choose one and expand your armies AND ALSO your influence (dominion) across the land to bend the lands and their people in it to your nation's style.

Played this game quite a bit many years ago... This is a turn-based strategy game

What sets it apart from other similar games is the unique way in which you build your base. You sortof, launch the new stucture by timing the force required to achieve the desired distance while taking into account wind deviation in order to get your buildings to the desired location and it remains connected to your hub by a tether. So there's some skill involved in launching things safely on target. Just knowing what each unit is used for is really only half of the equation. Getting them properly deployed is where this game will offer you a fresh experience.

If you and your friends play RTS/TBS games... challenge them to a game of moonbase commander for some laughs fumbling over just getting your units deployed

Recommended for unique gameplay mechanics and a fresh take on the genre, even for an old title