Recent reviews by IceMan

Water womb world.

T̶h̶e̶ d̶e̶v̶e̶l̶o̶p̶e̶r̶s̶ h̶a̶v̶e̶ a̶n̶n̶o̶u̶n̶c̶e̶d̶ t̶h̶a̶t̶ t̶h̶e̶y̶ w̶i̶l̶l̶ r̶e̶s̶t̶r̶i̶c̶t̶ m̶y̶ a̶c̶c̶e̶s̶s̶ t̶o̶ t̶h̶e̶ g̶a̶m̶e̶ u̶n̶l̶e̶s̶s̶ I̶ s̶i̶g̶n̶ u̶p̶ f̶o̶r̶ a̶n̶d̶ u̶s̶e̶ a̶ t̶h̶i̶r̶d̶-̶p̶a̶r̶t̶y̶ s̶e̶r̶v̶i̶c̶e̶ (̶P̶S̶N̶)̶ a̶n̶d̶ a̶c̶c̶o̶u̶n̶t̶. W̶h̶e̶n̶ I̶ p̶u̶r̶c̶h̶a̶s̶e̶d̶ t̶h̶i̶s̶ g̶a̶m̶e̶, t̶h̶i̶s̶ w̶a̶s̶ n̶o̶t̶ a̶ r̶e̶q̶u̶i̶r̶e̶m̶e̶n̶t̶. T̶h̶i̶s̶ w̶a̶s̶ o̶b̶f̶u̶s̶c̶a̶t̶e̶d̶ a̶t̶ r̶e̶l̶e̶a̶s̶e̶ a̶n̶d̶ w̶a̶i̶v̶e̶d̶ f̶o̶r̶ t̶h̶r̶e̶e̶ m̶o̶n̶t̶h̶s̶, b̶e̶f̶o̶r̶e̶ i̶t̶ w̶a̶s̶ a̶n̶n̶o̶u̶n̶c̶e̶d̶ a̶s̶ a̶ r̶e̶q̶u̶i̶r̶e̶m̶e̶n̶t̶ t̶o̶ c̶o̶n̶t̶i̶n̶u̶e̶ t̶o̶ p̶l̶a̶y̶ t̶h̶e̶ g̶a̶m̶e̶ a̶t̶ a̶l̶l̶. P̶S̶N̶ i̶s̶ a̶ b̶a̶d̶ s̶e̶r̶v̶i̶c̶e̶ w̶i̶t̶h̶ a̶ s̶p̶o̶t̶t̶y̶ t̶r̶a̶c̶k̶ r̶e̶c̶o̶r̶d̶ o̶f̶ k̶e̶e̶p̶i̶n̶g̶ u̶s̶e̶r̶s̶' d̶a̶t̶a̶ s̶a̶f̶e̶, a̶n̶d̶ I̶ c̶a̶t̶e̶g̶o̶r̶i̶c̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ r̶e̶f̶u̶s̶e̶ t̶o̶ u̶s̶e̶ i̶t̶. F̶u̶r̶t̶h̶e̶r̶m̶o̶r̶e̶, t̶h̶e̶ d̶e̶v̶e̶l̶o̶p̶e̶r̶'s̶ r̶e̶s̶p̶o̶n̶s̶e̶ t̶o̶ t̶h̶i̶s̶ h̶a̶s̶ n̶o̶t̶ b̶e̶e̶n̶ t̶o̶ r̶e̶s̶p̶o̶n̶d̶ c̶o̶n̶s̶t̶r̶u̶c̶t̶i̶v̶e̶l̶y̶ t̶o̶ p̶l̶a̶y̶e̶r̶s̶' c̶o̶n̶c̶e̶r̶n̶s̶ b̶u̶t̶ t̶o̶ d̶o̶u̶b̶l̶e̶ d̶o̶w̶n̶ a̶n̶d̶ i̶n̶s̶i̶s̶t̶ t̶h̶a̶t̶ w̶e̶ u̶s̶e̶ a̶ t̶h̶i̶r̶d̶-̶p̶a̶r̶t̶y̶ s̶e̶r̶v̶i̶c̶e̶. U̶n̶l̶e̶s̶s̶ t̶h̶i̶s̶ d̶e̶c̶i̶s̶i̶o̶n̶ i̶s̶ r̶e̶v̶e̶r̶s̶e̶d̶, I̶ c̶a̶n̶n̶o̶t̶ r̶e̶c̶o̶m̶m̶e̶n̶d̶ t̶h̶i̶s̶ g̶a̶m̶e̶.

The developers announced at 2100 PST on 5/5/2024 that the account linking requirement will not be implemented.

This is the most unforgiving, cruel, and heartless game I have ever played. I went in to it thinking, oh, this will be a simple game about trains. By God, I was wrong. Each of career missions is an exercise in psychomasochism. If you go over the speed limit by so much as 1 MPH, you will be docked points. If you're not on time by a few minutes (probably because you were going slow so as not to go over the speed limit), you will be docked points. Even the shortest, easiest mission, has you driving a train that will automatically put on the emergency break (which, by the way docks you points if its used at all) if you go over not the speed limit listed on your HUD, but on the dashboard of the actual train. But, here's the kicker, the mission doesn't tell you that's how the train works. You're just supposed to somehow know. Either I'm just terrible at this game (more than likely), or this game is, as I said, unforgiving, cruel, and heartless.

At least the non-career quick drive mode is kind of fun. It's at least less stressful. Watching the poorly-rendered scenery run by while you try to keep your train from derailing is kind of nice. And you can build all sorts of consists and lengths with different locomotives. Which would be nice if most of the trains and routes weren't locked behind $20 paywalls.

Do yourself a favor and buy this game when its on sale if you want it that badly. Don't buy this game if you don't like trains or have no patience. Otherwise, I give this game a 10/10, harder than Dark Souls.

This is a great game. Lots of great combined arms tactical nonsense, great gameplay, deep mechanics, lots of units, great graphics. Be warned: this game has a steep learning curve, and it's much more based in real world tactics than your standard RTS. The addition of naval units is pretty fun, as now everything from river gunboats to destroyers is added to the fray, along with your standard assortment of tanks, trucks, planes, helicopters, and infantry. The number of units is pretty astounding, though I'd say about 40-50% of them are just recolors with new camo and maybe a different gun on top. This is especially bad on the Communist/REDFOR side, though the USSR did basically just export its designs to all of its vassal states, so this can be somewhat forgiven for the sake of historical accuracy. It's too bad that the multiplayer community is extremely small and the people in it are awful. Wanna play a game online? Be prepared to have half your team quit as soon as you start losing. There's really no penalty for it; hell, once enough people leave even I'll surrender. It's really not fun, unless you get to steamroll the other team, I guess. The multiplayer problems with this game could probably be fixed through just more exposure, or at least a fix to the matchmaking system so that you can join games in progress if someone quits out or something. Solo skirmishes are okay, and the AI is challenging enough even on medium difficulty (or maybe I'm just bad), though I've also heard it cheats, which isn't very helpful if you're just trying out a new set up for your army. If you want a highly-realistic RTS or are just tired of the standard RTS formula of games like Starcraft and Command and Conquer, or if you're a fan of modern military equipment, I'd recommend this, though I would wait for it to go on sale just in case you end up not liking it.