Recent reviews by saugus49

IL-2 Sturmovik is a drop-dead gorgeous, hard-core, World War II flight-simulator that is not for the faint of heart. While not quite at the same level of intimidation as DCS World, IL-2 does require that the player be strongly motivated by an interest in the subject matter. There are various adjustable options to control the aircrafts' flight model and help ease the learning curve to a degree but, like any serious sim, it will still require a significant investment in time and practice to learn to effectively fly these warbirds. Additionally, like for any PC flight sim (as opposed to an arcade game) an actual joystick controller (at a minimum) should be considered as required equipment; while KB/Mouse control is included, it remains far too awkward to be satisfactory. For most players, I would recommend waiting for at least a 75%-off sale on the base game, it's expansions, and any additional aircrafts. It should be noted that if the base game is purchased on Steam, the player is not locked into purchasing all additional content from Steam; one can mix & match all content purchased from either Steam or the IL-2 Website[il2sturmovik.com] once the two accounts are linked there. Indeed, there are some premium, bundled expansion/plane editions as well as a few campaigns available there that are not listed on Steam. Additionally, there are expansions available for World War I aerial combat and World War II tank and ground vehicle combat.

This game and its add-on content is are SIMs. Thus, the extensive research, programming, modeling, etc., necessary to bring these warbirds to life within a realistic game world is neither an easy nor inexpensive undertaking. Unlike many of today's more casual games, one should not consider this game as "incomplete" if all DLC is not purchased. Start simple with Battle of Stalingrad; then, over time, add only the content that interests you at the price you wish to pay. There's plenty of depth here to keep you busy in the meantime.

While certainly not for everyone, if one is sufficiently motivated by the subject matter of this sim and willing to invest the time and practice to become proficient, there is a lot to like here.

Outstanding grand strategy game. Rather steep learning curve but worth the effort. Almost unlimited replay value since any play-through can be customized in a myriad of ways. Kind of hard to believe that new content is still being released for EUIV! Time tested and polished.

Steep learning curve but extremely rewarding.

The XBox has the Red Dead Redemption series games but for PC the closest thing we have is the Call of Juarez series (not including the embarrassing Call of Juarez: The Cartel which is not a true "Western" game). For lovers of the wild west lore from the post-U.S. Civil War era, the three Call of Juarez games available on Steam are must-haves: Call of Juarez, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, and Call of Juarez Gunslinger. While arguments can be made for which of the three is the best CoJ game, the consensus of opinions favors Gunslinger.

Call of Juarez Gunslinger takes the player through recollections of bounty hunter Silas Greaves of his encounters with legendary outlaws and gunfighters of the American wild west. The game blends "nuggets" of real historical information, as well as a bit of RPG character development and weapon upgrades, into its essentially FPS gameplay. The whole package is great fun, although the "story" such as it is, is disappointing consisting entirely of a series of disjointed vignettes. Each of the protagonist's encounters culminates in a personal showdown between the subject outlaw and Greaves.

The game's quality is quite good for its time. Its graphics lean a bit toward the high-contrast while the sounds seem directional and high-quality. The game runs smoothly on my intel-based PC with NVIDIA graphics and not the most up-to-date hardware running Windows 10 64-bit. I never encountered any glitches, bugs, or crashes that I found bothersome.

Wild west lovers will find a lot to like in Call of Juarez Gunslinger and I highly recommend it along with Call of Juarez and Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, both of which have stronger storylines than Gunslinger but somewhat cruder controls.

Saints Row: The Third marks a departure for the series from semi-serious to absurd, particularly with The Full Package edition. Don't go into it expecting the grittiness of the Grand Theft Auto franchise; just sit back, suspend your disbelief and enjoy the ride. There are a myriad of missions, collectables, achievements, upgrades, buffs, and customizations galore. This is not a game for the squeamish, prudish, or easily offended; in fact, it goes out of its way, at times to offend! It is not for the kiddies.

The game begins with what is likely the most complete, versatile, and involved character avatar generation system of any game I had come across before. (Download and run the free Saints Row: The Third Initiation Station demo to see what I mean.) It then plunks you down into the game as the ostensible new leader of the "Third Street Saints" street gang, which had enjoyed success, celebrity and pop culture commercialization, but has been targeted and taken down some notches not only by the criminal "Syndicate" but also by rival gangs, the police, the military, aliens, and... zombies. The plot is to take back control of the city of Steelport from the various gang factions by doing missions and fulfilling contracts, or just robbing, to get the money to buy up businesses that grant you control, area by area. Gameplay involves a wild mix of outlandish activities that are accomplished on foot, in cars, trucks, streetsweepers, motorcycles, boats, jetskis, airplanes, helicopters, etc., with a goodly mix of upgradeable weapons ranging from clubs to guns to rocket launchers to tanks. There's also a built-in system to pimp your rides! As you progress, a variety of abilities and buffs become available to advance your player-character.

The game is a blast to play, its sandbox missions, contracts, and activities are varied and will keep one entertained for a long time -- as long as you can accept the absurdities of the game world and not be too offended. You can even play it, co-op, with a friend in multiplayer mode.

SR3 is not without its faults and bugs. While the game is pretty gorgeous (in Dx10 mode), its graphics are pretty demanding and there are many graphical glitches and problems. These are more numerous and serious with AMD or Intel graphics. All Saints Row games are console ports after all. I never experienced any game-breaking bugs, but then I'm still running Win 7 (64-bit) with an Nvidia card, and have no experience with the game on Win 10. Overall, I would rate the game at 8.5 out of 10. It remains one of my top ten favorite games.

UPDATE

The Volition "My Steelport" server has been shut down. The result is that any Player Character created and uploaded to the server is now lost and cannot be recalled for use in a new game. Additionally, all statistics for a user are likewise lost. One must now go through the process to generate a new Player Character for any new game or save newly generated Characters locally using the "My Steelport emulator" mod available for download at https://www.saintsrowmods.com/forum/threads/my-steelport-emulator.17361/ . Most of the foregoing also applies to Saints Row IV.