Recent reviews by StrikeR

Cities: Skylines is a city builder developed by Colossal Order, the guys who were responsible for making the Cities in Motion series, and published by Paradox Interactive, and I have to say this is hands down the best city builder we’ve ever had on Steam .

The size of the game is astonishing, by default the game features a 36km^2 map which is almost ten times the size of the map we’re given in SimCity 2013, and with the help of mods from the Steam Workshop, this can be expanded to a mind boggling 100km^2. Even though there are no interactions between cities that are on different maps, it is frankly not necessary, with the help of the powerful yet easy to use building tool, you can build multiple cities on a single map.

Despite its humongous size, the developers paid close attention to details, in fact, detail is the word I’ll use to describe this game. From the entire traffic network, down to individual citizens, every aspect in Cities: Skylines are properly simulated. You’ll find lorries, colour coded depending on what they are currently carrying, delivering their cargoes to their designated factories, citizen actually living in a permanent home, and ambulances rushing to accident scenes, then little paramedics will get out of their vehicle, and few seconds later return with a patient on a stretcher.

I also love how water works in this game as well as the fluid physics, it is completely unnecessary to have it in a city builder but in this case it has added so much more to the experience. Water has currents and flows, so you'll want to pump water on the upstream and set up sewage pipes on the opposite end, else you’ll start pumping polluted sewage water back into the system. You can even drain a lake dry completely, or accidentally flooding your city because you demolished a dam, playing with water has never been so fun.

This is a city builder perfected, and with the support of Steam Workshop, further enriched by the endless creativity of the community. Cities: Skylines is a must buy for anyone who has the slightest interest in city builders.

Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide is a co-operative first person action game developed and published by Fatshark studio. The game is best described as Left 4 Dead set in the Warhammer fantasy universe with a much heavier emphasis on melee combat, with a few extra bells whistles added to the mix.

The core mechanics are solid and robust, and the weapons feel enjoyable and satisfying. You can really feel the weight of the two handed hammer and the damage it causes when you pulverize a Stormvermin with a charged attack. Do not worry if you’re not a fan of bulky, blunt weapons however, as the game features five heroes on launch, each with unique playstyles and specialized equipment to aid them in combat. For example, the Waywatcher, Kerillian, uses her bow to pick off unaware targets from afar but can also get up close and overwhelm her enemies with her signature twin Elven daggers. On the other hand, Sienna Fuegonasus, the Bright Wizard, would rather use her staff to rain fiery death upon her foes, decimating the Skaven rank one fireball at a time, so no matter what your combat style is, there is a hero build for everyone.

The loot system for many players would be the primary motivation to keep on playing the game. Every time you emerge victories, you’re given a chance to roll for a new piece of equipment, completing side objectives such as securing tombs, the infamous grimoires as well as winning on higher difficulties will give you a better chance at securing a rarer loot. Rarer equipment comes with better stats as well as additional passive traits which in turn will give you the much needed edge on the blood soaked battlefield.

With a diverse hero selections also comes a good selection of enemy types, Stormvermins acts as the shock troops of the Skaven army, soaking up damage with their heavy armour and dishing out punishment with their long reaching halberds, while the Poison Wind Globadiers lobs poisonous globes to deny key chock-points and areas. At the while Gutter Runners and Packmasters tries to pick off vulnerable party members under the cover of Ratling Gunner’s unrelenting gunfire, and if all else fails, the Rat Ogre will be called upon the battlefield, a formidable enemy that can devastate all but the most organized teams. When it all comes together, the combat is hectic, bloody and extremely rewarding.

Having said that, Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide in and of itself is quite a repetitive game, you can finish all the thirteen missions that were offered on launch within eight hours or so, and thus relies on players to replay missions to acquire better loots in order to tackle the same missions on higher difficulties. Some would find this tedious and uninteresting, which is perfectly understandable, but for the others, this can be compelling and satisfying, you’ll have to ask yourself if you enjoy this type of gameplay.

To conclude, Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide is a mechanically sound game with excellent combat and challenging game-play, and best played with a group of friends as teamwork is the key to success. The random loot drop system will keep players entertained should they don’t mind replaying the same missions over and over again for progression. That, and the competitive launch price of $29.99 USD or your regional equivalent, makes this title worth checking out.

Wolfenstein: The New Order is the latest member of the Wolfenstein series, developed by Machine Games Studio, a relatively new developer founded by former Starbreeze Studio staff.

If you’re looking for a realistic shooter, you won’t find it here; you will, however, find duel wielding assault rifles, lasers death robots and plenty of Nazis for the killing. The gun-play is robust and has a lot of impact; each flavorful weapon comes with two firing modes which gives the player plenty of versatility in combat. There is a laser cannon of sorts in the game which also functions as a wire-cutter that allows you to cut through obstacles and creates new lines of sight and flanking opportunities while in a firefight, it's quite the thing.

The game features many old-school shooter mechanics but with a modern twist, per-se, you still have your overcharge health and pickups, but your health also partially regenerates, it’s a bizarre concept on paper, but works surprisingly well in action. There are also plenty of collectibles, secrets and news articles to collect around the level, encouraging exploration and provide plenty of replay values for the perfectionist. I personally have no problem with the game shipping without a multiplayer, as it can easily take you 15 hours to complete the two diverging campaigns, and to be frank, I’ll rather see a game that has a great single player experience, than trying to do both and turns out to be mediocre on both front, I personally think 15 hours of quality game-play is reasonable for a tripe A game, but you’ll have to decide that for yourself.

The stealth system is fairly basic but luckily completely optional, enemies generally have a fairly short detection range and most sections are pretty straight forward, but even if you fail you can always just go in guns blazing and clean house.

The AI is somewhat inconsistent, however, as enemies will sometimes completely ignore their dead comrades and pretend nothing happened during a stealth section, and constantly running out of cover and staring into the abyss in the middle of the hallway for no apparent reason while in combat.

Wolfenstein: The New Order is a solid first person shooter that tries incorporate both the mechanics of old and modern shooters, and succeeded in doing so. The result is a very satisfying arcade action shooter with lots of angry Nazis, explosions and crashes. If you can look pass its ridiculous, but yet somehow compelling story line and a few minor flaws, then Wolfenstein: The New Order is a whole lot of fun, and will most probably leave a smile on your face every time you turn a heavily armored Nazi trooper into a cloud of red mist with a rifle rocket.

“Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons” is an indie puzzle storytelling game done right. It showed us, that how immensely powerful a video game can be, when its game-play and story complements each other so perfectly.

The world is detailed, charming and vibrant, and despite its story being only 3-4 hours long, it takes you through a multitude of environments, every chapter feels fresh, compelling and interesting, and filled with mini side-quests that reward you with achievements and extra contents.

The controls for “Brothers” is pretty unique, you simultaneously control two individual characters to solve interesting, varied puzzles in order to progress through the level, on a quest to search for the water of life to save their father. The puzzles themselves are well thought out and doesn’t outstay its welcome, and despite having strange control scheme, I can safely say it works extremely well a Controller and I personally had no problems with it whatsoever.

The story is what makes Brothers so brilliant, it immerses you into the world almost immediately, during my short but wonderful play-though I've experienced happiness, fear, wanderlust, compassion and profound sadness. I really think that no other means of media can really replicate such a mesmerising experience, it successfully told me a coherent, fulfilling and mature story without the characters saying single word, but solely relies on pure interactive game-play.

“Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons” is incredible, and a game that you don’t want to miss, I had a truly unforgettable experience and I think you will too. Don’t watch a game-play video on the internet, but experience this little gem yourself, you will not regret it.

Farm Frenzy: Hurricane Season is a casual time management game developed by Alawar Stargaze, and the successor to Farm Frenzy 4.

The gameplay has always been the series’ greatest strength, and that is no different here, levels are well designed, fast paced and sometimes even frantic and chaotic. The core mechanics of the game remained mostly the same as previous Farm Frenzy games. Keep your animals well fed, process your products, and get paid, while trying to fend off intruders such as bears and ferrets.

Performing well in Farm Frenzy: Hurricane Season will reward you with extra cash as well as a token, which then can be used in the slot machine for a variety of different bonuses. This is a welcome addition to the series as it provides an actual incentive to going after the gold medals and an extra degree of replayability.

The game falls short at the audio department, unfortunately, since you’ll be listening to the same, short country music on a loop, the soundtrack itself isn’t bad, but it does get pretty repetitive after a while.

In conclusion, Farm Frenzy: Hurricane Season is a reasonably executed time management game and a worthy sequel to the series. It promises to keep the diehard fans happy with its timeless and cheerful art style and generous amount of content.

Finders is a casual resource management game where you and your team of workers set out for a journey to rescue the guardian of the world, Altair. It is a lot more casual compared to other titles in the genre, for better, or worse, personally I appreciate Alawar for trying to bring a different experience to the table.

Despite being a resource management game, the levels in Finders do not have a time constraint, or even a failure state, this can be a huge turn off for some people as the game in turn offers less of a challenge. However, the game does offers you a surprising amount of freedom when it comes to building and expanding the camp and allows you advance through the level at your own pace.

The core gameplay is solid to say the least, you are given the task to complete a variety of different objectives in the game in your own time, in order to progress through the level. At first it mainly consist of setting up your camp and satisfy the basic needs of your workers, but the game opens up considerably afterwards and introduces you to a plethora of new mechanics and features, including a well made match 3 mini game, completed with power ups and abilities.

In short, Finders is a great game if you’re looking for a stress free, casual experience that is chock full of quality contents that’ll keep you entertained for a fair amount of time.