Recent reviews by Penguin

Quick-quick, squirt musk of possession! Yes-yes!

Got this game through the Humble Bundle, and at first was quite excited to give it a try. From reviews, I was expecting it to be quite a difficult game with a deep story, be it one that was a bit buggy in places. But after about 45 minutes with this game, I already gave up. This isn't a case of it being a difficult game, it's just a game with incredibly clunky controls. Input control is slow and clunky, the sort of control you usually get in games when your character has had too much to drink. If you can put up with that, more power to you. But for me that's a hard pass.

In its current state, Godus is a chore more than a game. You click, click, click until your hand gets numb, with little to reward you other than more things to click on. Everything feels like it is designed not to entertain you, but to keep you busy. There is progression, but only in a sense that things start off tedious, and then you are given tools to make your gameplay slightly less tedious.

You start off having to click on each individual house to gather belief, with which you can sculpt land. If there was some moderation to this it would be alright, but it literally takes hours to get anywhere and your wrist will start hurting from the hundreds of times per minute you have to click to get a decent patch of land for your villagers to settle on. Then you are given some new tools through which you can do more while clicking less, which does make the game less tedious, but with a focus on the word less - and there still isn't anything that actually entertains. It would help if your villagers seemed to have lives of their own, but even on that front not much seems to happen. They just stay in their houses until you decide they are allowed to come out - then, when there is no place for them to settle, they just die.

I would advice people who are on the fence about this game to first watch some movie reviews before purchasing this game, as there are quite a number of decent reviews out there that pinpoint exactly where this train went off the rails.

At long last, a worthy successor to the old Battle Isle games from the '90's. This is a hexagon strategy game that doesn't pull punches. While there is a tutorial, this game doesn't hold your hand in the single player scenario. Because of the difficulty curve there is the option to call for reinforcements - at the cost of a lowered score on the map. You may have to try a map several times if you do not wish to use the reinforcements. That means you have to sink in a lot of time to get that map right, but it is worth the satisfaction you get from finally getting it right in the end.

Shogun II, I think, is the best of the Total War series so far. The new Total War: Rome II is at the moment a buggy mess, but I believe even when that is fixed it will not be able to compete with Shogun II. I've always like the Total War games, but they're often set in such broad periods, with countries to conquer all over the map. That can be great, and many people like it about Total War games. But it can really bog down a play session, and sometimes it can get really silly. The more factions there are, the longer turns take, until you might as well go do something else with your time after you've hit end turn. And the broad timeframe can mean that you find yourself fighting dark age vikings with your army consisting of pike and shot.

Shogun II manages to avoid these pitfalls by being very narrow. The map consists of Japan, and nothing but Japan, and although there are several expansions set in different time frames, each of the campaigns stays within a reasonable narrow scope. This means the unit roster will not change much, and some may find fault with that. I like it, because it means you can really get a feel for your troops, and they never become useless. There are no large empires to carve out, and this may hold back those who are bent on world domination. But it does make for a much smoother experience gameplay wise, and it is also easier to keep track of things.

The AI usually is the main flaw in Total War games, and Shogun II is not a complete exception. I do feel though that the AI of Shogun II is the best we've seen yet, and all in all Shogun II provides a good challenge even to the veteran Total War player, especially if you choose some of the really difficult factions such as the Tokugawa. That old Togugawa Ieyasu certainly did not get things handed to him on a silver plate!

If there is one thing I would change about this game it is the sudden and anti-climactic Realm Divide. Suddenly age old alliances start to deteriorate, and everyone declares war on you. It feels really metagamey, and makes you wait for ages after you've hit the treshhold, and you know you can't conquer any more provinces or else you have to deal with that annoying Realm Divide. I find that the solution offered in Fall of the Samurai did it much better, as there you are divided between your collective enemies and your allies and friends.

But all in all I can definitely recommend Total War: Shogun II. If you would have to pick up just one Total War game, this would be it.

I can't believe how much fun this game is. Probably one of the best, if not the best, tower defense game I've ever played. It's not easy, and you will find yourself coming back time after time to complete that one level you just haven't managed to complete perfectly yet.

This game really surprised me - it's not just a good, original tower defense game, it's also hilarious. Best value for money I have had in a long time.