Recent reviews by Imperialist

I do wish the review system would allow us to submit more than a "Yay or Nay", but in lieu of that flexibility or scoring system...i will say that i CAN recommend this game, assuming your expectations are in check. As follows:
1.) Are you a fan of Games Workshop's rich and diverse Warhammer 40000 setting?
2.) Do you like dungeon crawlers (or as they call them these days, ARPGs)?
3.) Do you like grinding for levels, loot, skillpoints, and other perks?

Basically if no to any of these things, Martyr might not be for you.
The storyline and general setting of the game will hinge purely on that first point. There isnt much here for a 40k novice to get you into the setting. (If you are looking for some great Black Library quality fiction, you probably wont find it here, but the storyline is serviceable assuming you have some basic 40k knowledge). Were i mind-wiped and played from start to finish, i might not have any real idea about any of the things im fighting (and fighting for).

Now, if you dont like Dungeon Crawlers, then...theres no helping you here. No amount of praise can make you like a game that is at its core, part of a game style you wont like. Its very much a click n stab (or shoot) game, where you run around killing absolute tons of enemies single handedly, while looking for loot, and fighting the occasional boss. So, yeah.

And finally...if you dont like grind, and cant stand to see a single repetitive model or map...please, this isnt for you either. You know in Diablo 3, those Rifts? Aka the same recycled tilesets and enemies, with scaling difficulties and other stuff, that you grind to get LOOT? Half this game is basically that. You have story missions that you can rip through, but the rest of the game is random missions, investigations (mission CHAINS) Warzones (Slightly different mission chains) and Void Crusades (Woah, a branching CHAIN of missions!). If you are content slugging it out for 100+ hours on a bunch of similar maps, then maybe you might like it.

Other than those things, what positive boxes does it check? Pretty much all the ones youd expect from a dungeon crawler.
1.) 3 wildly different classes, with their own armor, weapons, powers and playstyles that can be fairly extensively tweaked via skill allocations.
2.) Oh the setting. Everything looks appropriately 40k, and sounds just like it too. We finally have a bolter that SOUNDS like it is firing the .75 calibre mass-reactive rounds, and enemies pulp all over the screen as they should. The visuals are decent, and as of 2.0 the combat is finally fairly smooth.
3.) Essentially the capability for ENDLESS missions. Sure, the content itself (enemies, tilesets/maps, mission scenarios) has limitations...but you have a level cap of 100 and you can basically play it forever (until you get bored). But there is always relevent content for you to do at any given level. You can start Void Crusades at 50, bolstering your capacity for getting good gear.
4.) The combat is quite fun. You have two weapon slots, with 4 abilities each, an armor specific ability, and a trinket (grenade, void field, etc). Some combat elements are half baked (weapon emplacements, cover, suppression) but for the most part, it works enjoyably well. You swing your thunder hammer, enemies cronch before your feet or outright explode. its what youd expect, and it does it well. There is also a good degree of challenge in combat. Assuming you are not playing in Story Mode (the easy mode, for story missions only) then you may find the difficulty akin to Diablo's Hard difficulty (D3's "normal" difficulty is painfully and boringly easy, to the point you can finish the entire game without a risk of dying). Difficulty can be scaled dramatically using the Uther's Tarot system, as well as simply increasing the mission's level threshold to yield better loot and XP.
5.) Techpriest dialogue. Its great.

So do i recommend it? At sale price, absolutely. At full price, yes, assuming you enjoy the genre and are looking for something slightly different.

Holdfast: Nations at War is an excellent early access title, and the spiritual successor to the Napoleonic Wars multiplayer DLC for Mount and Blade: Warband. For a small development team, they have crafted a fairly solid game that only seems to be getting better with each new update. The community is vibrant and fairly cooperative.

I joined my first game as a mere lineman. I tentatively crept forward, following some fellow soldiers in loose formation towards a bridge. I crouched, took shots at the dastardly French from behind cover, as an officer directed our fire. Musket balls whirred and shattered the masonry around me. It was exciting.

Then something wonderful occured. A lone flag bearer came forward, the open mic icon gloriously hovering above his head like a halo, the proud red of his uniform bright in the sun, like the fire in his soul. He left forward onto the bridge, blaring the Russian National Anthem. I heard my teammates yell "charge" and as the music swelled, i felt a primordial NEED for glorious sacrifice. Fixing bayonets, me and my battle brothers lept over the low walls and into a hail of fire. I heard another man cry out, as his friend of 2 minutes, was mercilessly cut down by a well aimed shot. I pressed on. The flag bearer waved his flag in a show of defiance. We crashed into the French like a tidal wave, roaring our fury from musket and blade. Then...the unthinkable happened. Our flag bearer was shot at point blank range. The music abruptly died. The primordial fire in my heart flickered and went out. The charge faltered, and we were massacred to a man, as French taunts filled the air.

I respawned, to begin the fight anew.

10/10, would die on the bridge with my brothers again.

Is DOW3 a bad game? Is it good? Is it a good representation of the 40k Universe?

In meeting any of these criteria, i guess you have to look back to the previous two games.

If you liked DOW1:
You got your base building back. The unit capacity is larger. Theres larger units than a dreadnought.
If you liked DOW2:
They took away your cover mechanic, unit experience, hero upgrades, vehicle damage models. But the core gameplay is essentially the same.
If you read the Black Library 40k novels, play Tabletop, or were a fan of the narratives in the previous 2 games:
A pretty basic representation of 40k. Has the right atmosphere, despite weirdly edgy music and the trippy, horribly representative opening cutscene/announcement trailer. Power cores appear to be xenos tech, yet Space Marines are guarding them, not wrecking them. Gabe's terminator armor is nearly apocryphal and ridiculous looking. Still...its got the art for the units correct.

So is it good or bad? Im not sure. It purely depends on what you like about the DOW series, and whether or not it fits well enough together. It assembles various features from both predecessors and comes out...a little less than either of them as a whole, yet still competant enough i cannot give it a thumbs down.

It is a little light on:
Maps: theres only a handful of maps, and all have specific player number limits.
Game modes: There is only one. People claim its a MOBA style game mode (power core), yet its really just annihilation with a building. Idk what "lanes" people are talking about, unless you are referring to the fact that there are pathways in maps...youll see those in DOW1 maps too. Theres no minions, and the turrets are to prevent stupid early game rushing.
Races: Theres only the 3 core factions. Yeah, yeah, no 40k game is complete as long as theres 1 Tyrannid player complaining that his race isnt represented, or some closet Necron lover pining away for the Dark Crusade days. Or even those dirty Tau fans. The only thing that bugs me about this is that in 2v2 or 3v3 maps, i cant justify playing SM next to an Ork person. Doesnt feel right, or at all lore appropriate. And playing next to Eldar is downright disgusting.

So, my ultimate verdict? Only played a few hours of release, and a handful of hours in beta. So i wont give it yet. But what i have currently, i shall score 7 burnt and blasted Xenos bodies out of 10.

This is probably the best DLC pack for Attila currently available, for multiple reasons.
Heres a list of Pros and Cons.

Pro:
-Decent variety of new factions with just enough new units to stand alone from the base game.

-Faction rosters are much more diverse than their Grand Campaign counterparts.

-The new campaign map is very nice. In fact, id say its larger in all the right ways: Places like Britannia are much larger in scale than the grand campaign...rather than only a handful of regions to capture, it is more like the Britain we saw in Medieval 2: Kingdoms.

-Despite only 8 playable factions, most of the Dark Ages kingdoms are present in some form.

-Story driven campaigns...

But the best thing in my opinion is a kinda sorta return to the sandbox gameplay from earlier games.
- Victory Conditions: They have been stripped down to "Short, Long and Domination" victory requirements. Which is great because the things ive really disliked post Medieval 2 is the forced direction of your campaigns. it was always "Capture these regions, because history. Also capture 110 regions, because padding." Now you are simply told to increase your Imperium. I like that alot. It means i can pillage my way, any which direction i want. Also the return of the Short Campaign is something i seriously missed since Rome 1.

Cons:

-Still base game problems (performance sometimes is problematic for no reason, the graphics can sometimes be pretty horrible in certain lighting conditions.)

-War Fatigue: I do like this, but i also hate this. Personal preference i guess.

-Levy units all look the same, except their colors. They are also pretty simplistic in design...but this is an issue that Total War has had forever.
Makes sense, sort of. But if you are desperate enough to field them (or are early in the game) battles dont exactly look glamorous.

Worth more than all the other DLC packs combined. 9/10.