Recent reviews by S. Naomi Scott

So, in 1938 Allan Quatermain's great grandson teams up with a snooty English archeologist who wishes she was Lara Croft and together they bumble around in some old ruins fighting nazis, communist Russians, Arab mercenaries and a whole bunch of zombie-mummy-type things.

If I'm being entirely honest then I'd have to admit that I did enjoy this game to some degree - after all, I did effectively finish it in two sittings and a little over twelve hours. The story is fairly typical Quatermain stuff, and makes for some simple escapist nonsense, but unfortunately the game itself is let down a little by repetitive combat sequences and overly simplistic puzzles (though in a couple of cases I found the clues that are given in Allan's legendary notebook to be more than a little obtuse).

All in all I'd have to give this game a 6 out of 10 - it's good fun the first time through but I don't see it having all that much replayability, even with the multiplayer options. Buy it if it's on sale at a really good price (60% off or better) or if you're really desperate for a game that mixes Quatermain with Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider, but otherwise leave it alone.

(I've selected 'recommended', though to be fair that is a 'mostly recommended')

tl;dr - If you played and enjoyed the original Elite, Elite: Frontiers, or Frontiers: First Encounters then you won't be disappointed by this one. Buy it. Play it. Become an addict.

+++
Let me start by saying that this isn't a game that leads you by the hand from one scripted encounter to the next. There isn't any over-arching storyline that you have to get involved in. You're not the saviour of the universe and almost certainly never will be. In short, you're just one of the many people who inhabit this massive (400 billion star systems) galaxy trying to make a living doing whatever it is that you do best, whether that be trading, exploring, bounty hunting, piracy, and so on. There are no goals, other than those you set for yourself.

Now, I've seen a fair few reviews that point to this lack of internal structure/guidance as evidence that E:D isn't worth the effort, that it's a boring game not worth the how ever many dollars, euros or pounds that you're expected to pay for it. To those reviewers I suggest that maybe this 'game' simply isn't for them. As I said, this is a game where you make your own goals, set your own path through life and, as the tagline says, 'blaze your own trail'. If you're looking for a game that lays it all out for you and bounces you constantly from one exciting combat encounter to the next then this isn't the game for you.

What this game does have, however, is depth. There are literally billions of star systems to explore, and sure, many of those star systems will look the same (or at least similar) to all the others, but there's always going to be something new out there to discover, and every new discovery is worth something to someone. There are also thousands of in-game factions for you to interact with, for good or bad. There are small, one-shot missions to undertake for profit and reputation, ranging from simple courier work to out-and-out assassinations. And then there's the bounty-hunting and piracy angle, which is often the quickest way to make a bit of cash and raise your rep, but is also often the quickets way to get your ship blown out from under you. Whichever path you choose, you're the one in control, you're the one deciding which way to go next, and no scripted NPC is going to dictate what you do with your time.

All of this is wrapped up in a control system that's not so much a learning curve as a learning cliff. If you're new to Elite then the tutorials are most definitely worth the time, though not everyone will need all of them. Even if you're a veteran of the old Elite games I'd still recommend giving ther basic flight and combat tutorials a shot, just to get a feel for the differences between old and new. Once you've got the hang of flying and fighting, the next step is to jump into the cockpit of your starting ship and head out into the black to try and make some money. Just be aware that making that money is going to take time, and you're going to need a whole lot of cash in order to upgrade to one of the better ships on offer. There are no quick fixes, there are no short, simple routes to wealth and fame, and making a name for yourself in E:D is going to take a lot of effort, a lot of patience and a lot of time.

In short, this is not a game; this is a way of life. I bought this last Saturday (11 July, 2015), and so far I've managed to rack up 56 hours in-game. Not bad for someone who normally averages ten or less hours a week of game time. o.O

The Good:
I've been playing the Total War series since the original Shogun came out fifteen years ago, I've played every incarnation except Attila, and I have to say the series just keeps getting better and better. Rome II definitely has the feel of a massive campaign, with massive armies and massive empires battling against each other. I've only racked up 20 hours as of writing this review but I can see that this is one that's going to eat into a lot of my time.

Graphically, it's a very beautiful game. Unfortunately my system won't run it on anything approaching ultra settings, though even on a mix of High and Very High it still looks heaps better than (for example) Medieval 2 on its highest settings. I know I'm going to need a system upgrade at some point in the not too distant future, but for now it looks like CA have done a decent job of optimising this game for lower-end systems. (For those who need to know, I tried running the benchmark on Ultra settings across the board and got <5 fps. o.O)

Having said all that, as with most games, there are bad points to this one as well as good.

The Bad:
As a few other reviewers have said, this is one of those situations where you buy the base game, and can have a lot of fun with it, but to really get the most out of it you have to then buy a literal metiric f**k-ton of DLCs. The core game is thirty quid, and then all of the DLC is another sixty quid on top of that, and this is a good year or so after the game was released. Now, I appreciate that game developers have to make their money, and I don't have anything against DLC in particular, but I think three new campaigns (at a tenner each), four new culture packs (at six quid each), two new unit packs (at two quid each) and the blood and gore add-on (also two quid) is maybe going at bit far?

And The Rest:
I love this series, and despite my whining over the cost of all the DLC I will probably end up buying it all at some point. I'll also end up getting Attila (plus all the DLC), as well as Warhammer (plus DLC) when that comes out. I'd like to hope that somewhere along the way CA and their publishers make a few changes to their business model as far as DLC is concerned, but I'm not going to hold my breath. I also hope that the series continues to push the envelope on what can be achieved graphically and technically with the games. As long as they keep doing that, I'll keep playing 'em.

Following on from Crysis and Crysis Warhead, Crysis 2 is, in my opinion, even prettier than the first round of games, with the CryEngine really kicking out some glorious eye-candy. Even on my not-quite-up-to-spec desktop machine it played smoothly at a decent resolution with most of the graphics options turned up high. But what about the gameplay?

Well, compared to the previous entires in the series the gameplay is, if anything, a little better. The suit controls are more intuitive, and the storyline keeps the action rolling nicely, with some interesting QuickTime Events thrown in during what would ordinarily be simple cutscenes. Personally I found almost every aspect of this game an improvement over the earlier chapters. And at a little over 23 hours to completion I'd say I definitely got more bang for my buck with this game.

The expansion pack to the original Crysis takes the player across to the other side of the island and gives you control of a different member of the team from the original game.

Graphically and game play wise it's very much more of the same when compared to Crysis, which is a good thing. Story wise, however, the action all takes place in between the mid point of the first game through to just before the final chapter of the first game. As a result it's possible to finish this in half the time it would take to complete Crysis.

If you've got Crysis already and want more then I'd say get this if it's on special offer, but wouldn't recommend paying full price for it.

For it's age Crysis is a very pretty game. Of course, the fact that it runs on the Crytek engine may have something to do with that, but even on lower spec machines it should still provide you with some nice eye candy. The game play is also quite good, with a variety of vehicles and weapons to choose from throughout the game.

Unfortunately, the prettiness and good game play doesn't make up for the somewhat short storyline in the single player game, easily completable in sixteen hours. That said, the storyline is engaging, if a little cliched in places.

On balance, this is a good game and definitely worth a look if it's on sale.

It's been a long time since I found a new game that made me want to play it through to the end without getting either a) bored or b) distracted by something else, but this one managed it without even trying. The game play is well-balanced, and graphically it's very pretty.

If you like turn-based strategy then I would certainly recommend giving this one a spin.