★★★★☆ Coop Story Mode, Tower Defense, 3rd Person Shooter, vs Orcs.
+ Coop + Costumes + Lots of levels + Playstyle choices + Story & Voice Acting + Graphics & Performance + Difficulty and mode options + Many traps, weapons, and trinkets + Unique function upgrades, instead of stat based
+- Mod support. Though most of the mods are more like cheats, and there aren't any custom maps.
★☆☆☆☆ Unplayable due to crashes. A cover based shooter, often set on rails. With an implied, but mostly meaningless squad system. Expect poor performance, when it manages to launch past the title screen.
+- While dashing between cover works well, getting into cover to begin with is clunky +- Some interesting gadgets, but most of them are required, instead of dynamic options
- Weak Graphics - No graphic presets - No foriegn subtitles - No windowed modes - uPlay instead of Steam - Poor graphic performance - No public co-op, by invite only - Squad NPCs are generally worthless - Can only access options from the main menu - An extra button press is required after aiming to actually ADS - Frequent crashes. Half the time doesn't even make it to the title screen.
★☆☆☆☆ Official Servers ★★★☆☆ Privately owned, heavily modded If this Jurassic Park Simulator ever escapes from Early Access; is made functional, polished, and balanced; then it may be worth a buy. As it stands now, its a frustrating, tedious, stressful, unbalanced, unfinished, broken mess, which, at best, serves as a poorly paced timesink.
+ Build Bases + Pet Dinosaurs + Pretty Graphics + Rename Chests + Lots of items/upgrades
+- Double Weekends. Not only are these rates still too slow (most private servers do x10, at all times), but it makes everything you do during the week feel like a waste of time/mats, especially taming. +- Hunger and Thirst. While these are only drained by player actions, instead of a permenant poison type effect, they're still only an annoyance, instead of a contributive or integrated part of gameplay.
- Early Access - Early Access pay2win DLC - Toxic Community, even on PvE - Tamed Dino HP was nerfed, by a lot - No holiday events on the center map - Airdrops should fall in random locations - Dino AI is worse than the average zombie - System Resource Destroyer (memory leaks?) - The worst graphic and network performance, of all time - Character customization can break the preview window - If not installed on an SSD it will take 10+ minutes to load - Friendly fire, no matter server type, or settings, or alliances - Dinos and items can glitch through ceilings, floors, and walls - Building mechanics bug-out if there are multiple snap points nearby - Server setbacks can cost you hours of work and/or steal rare items - Demolish only gives half the resources back, should give you the item back - Inventory weight limits, expiration timers, and durability (especially on armor) - So many bugs, flaws, inconsistencies, missing features, clunkiness, and worse - Game being developed for 3+ modes at once, meaning none of them work correctly - Youtubers, who make this game look interesting, play on privately owned, boosted servers - Demolishing things can destroy huge chains of other things, without giving any resources - Every bug, exploit, and issue that I quit playing this game for, over a year ago, is still in the game today. There are even some ridiculously basic bugs that the devs are too incompetent to fix, like your HP bar always showing as empty, or it saying you gained the wrong level when you levelup, which would literally take 2 letters added in the code to fix, but they don't do it. - PvP is broken, and equates to PvE raiding of offline bases and/or cheaters who import items - PvE isn't much better, as you get repeatedly spawn killed before you can even get started, and is still full of griefers, exploiters, cheaters, thieves, and worse. And to top it all off, PvE still has offline "raiding". - Whistles are poorly implemented. While a good idea, having them on random buttons is horrible. They should simply bind the whistle wheel to something more accessible than ', like Q - Whistle "Mount" is needed. Primarily for birds, who like to hover 20 feet above your head, out of reach, and/or spaz around in circles. The nearest dino would swoop in and you would auto-ride when within range. -The radial menu changes based on distance, dis-mounting, and/or inventory context, among other things. It can even change once you've already opened it, causing you to pick the wrong thing, making it one of the worst interaction systems ever developed. - Taming times are insultingly long, uninformative, and not balanced properly to be interactive/fun or AFKable. The addition of kibble further broke the already poorly designed taming system. Now instead of gathering mats, and trying to tame a dino on some sort of timer that should have been balanced, you instead wait around for weeks, to slowly collect kibble-able eggs, and even with kibble, the timers are still ridiculously long. - Doors are incredibly annoying, even if they worked right, which half the time they don't due to bugs and lag. They need a way to auto-open/close doors and/or a high level barrier you can simply walk through. - The devs regularly push back updates, and fail to deliver on promises, but apparently have no problem putting out a paid DLC, when the base game isn't even finished yet - Because of nerfs to dinos, and the addition of new tools and features, dinos have gone from being fully integrated and necessary companions, to nearly useless vanity pets. You no longer need one to farm berries, because gardens can grow more than you'll ever need. The same goes for fiber, as a tool was added to easily harvest that. Aside from a Quetz, none of them are good for transport anymore, because you basically need a boat with a taming base built on it now. You no longer need a shark or dolphin, because with scuba gear you can easily make underwater trips, plus there are alternate land-based methods to acquire pearls and oil now. Chitin, which used to require dedicated and dangerous cave adventures on a sabertooth, are now practically passively acquired for all but the largest projects. Dinos no longer serve as tanks, combat allies, or even as general travel companions, because their HP was nerfed so hard that any random wild dino can easily kill them. Pet Dinos were one of, if not the best system that this game had to offer, and now they're irrelevant. Now they've announced the Tek Tier, which is going to take dinos out of the game even more, as everyone flys around in ironman suits.
★★☆☆☆ A functional, but uninspired blend of Assassin's Creed and Arkham City, with a weak LotR theme, limited mostly to name dropping, and even weaker graphics. Expect to die, a lot, until endgame, when you can take on every orc in the world at once.
+ Combat mounts + I got the Season Pass somehow? + Hunting & Gatherting mini quests
+- Fast travel, rather spread out +- Arkham Combat, but Arkham City did it better +- Assassins Creed free running, but ACB did it better +- Weapon runes add minor stat customization, can buy more OP ones in DLC +- Varying performance on a 970, sometimes 90+ FPS, other times sub30. This seems to be due to ultra Shadows. +- Branding. Mind control enemies. The best feature in SoM, but they save unlocking it until halfway through the story. On top of that, its not unlocked for any meaningful reason, just "OK, lets brand now!" +- Sauron's Army. Enemy rival system, over hyped. Hardly has an effect, especially later in the game, when you're unlikely to die and/or brand them all. The way it only updates when you die isn't enjoyable either. Its also required for story progress, which makes it feel even less like a natural and dynamic part of the world. The way orcs visually upgrade, and remember you if you and/or they die (but somehow survive) is interesting, and it gives you the option to take out captains before going for the warchief to make things easier. Could be a much better system if integrated better, instead of as a punishment for death.
- No multiplayer/coop - Can't replay missions - Clunky camera angles - Insta-fail stealth missions - Seperate zones to load between - Jump dodge rarely works, if ever - Weak graphics, even with the HD pack - Progression has no impact on the world - Some interactions only work in ghost mode - The only character customization is pay2dlc skins - Poorly written story, with practically no relation to LotR - Combat lacks the quickfire gadget variety of Arkham City - Mid-combat healing is handled very oddly, picking flowers - Attacks in combat don't knock down enemies in a single hit - Flurry finisher animation has no iframes until you upgrade it - Never visit any memorable, recognizable, or interesting locations - Expect to die, a lot, as an integrated part of the game and progression - Being low on health has an annoying mute + heartbeat effect on sound - Open world is mostly empty nature space, with non-stop enemies to kill - Upgrades are locked behind multiple gates and split between multiple currencies - You play as not-Aragorn. This replacement is unlikeable, selfish, and poorly written - Inaccurate sloppy combat. Counter inputs can fail, finisher inputs can fail, finishers can hit the wrong target, fury strikes can hit the wrong target, target friendlies, timing on the combo system doesn't feel right, etc
★★☆☆☆ The original stronghold has aged well enough. The biggest problem is clunky/lacking controls, expect to play entirely with the mouse. Build and manage an actual castle town, instead of just facerolling lumps of troops into other lumps of troops, in the masked rock/paper/scissors that most RTS games provide.
+ Music and voices + Economy and army management + Build walls, gatehouses, and towers + Pre-rendered graphics held up well enough + Grid based building, with an option to flatten visuals
+- Can zoom out, but not in +- Most of the maps are so small that they barely fill the screen. Maybe this is because of larger modern resolutions?
- Steam doesn't work ingame - Can't build on uneven terrain - Without attack-move, combat is clunky - Can't change controls, no WASD to scroll the map. Very few options in general.
★☆☆☆☆ Game is unfinished. Not only is there a lack in modes, but it also lacks simple & standard features that you would expect from any RTS. You can get a nearly identical, if not better experience in Stronghold Legends, and that game is 5 years older, and cheaper, and better looking.
+ Well presented production/happiness information
+- The population system isn't a "currency" anymore, instead, a flat value effected by current events.
- Bad graphics - Doodle cutscenes - Manually repair walls - Can't change game speed - Minimap doesn't show viewport - Overlapping UI. Selecting a unit hides the build tools - Walls are no longer dynamic pillars, but preset lines that snap together - Overlapping Controls. Rotating buildings shares mouse-wheel with zooming - Random events, like weather, fires, or bear attacks can make your population hate you.
★★★★☆ Majesty 2 is an interesting take on RTS. You don't have direct control of your troops. Instead, its more like an MMO simulator. You build guilds for warriors, rangers, and rogues. Then they wander around on their own, killing monsters, collecting gold, spending it on potions and equipment in your markets. You can try to direct them, by setting quest objectives - gold for attacking targets or exploring areas.
+ Intuitive UI + Good Music + Good tutorial + Fantasy setting + Sean Connery: Royal Advisor + Group units into MMO style parties + Carryover heroes between missions + Visual upgrades for buildings and units + Randomize mode adds extra replay value + Units levelup, learn abilities, and collect gold + Peasents build buildings, tax collectors gather gold + Each building of the same type costs more than the last. An interesting way to encourage build variety and unit limits, without putting simple hardcaps on them.
+- Decent graphics, considering its age and genre +- You can't build walls, though you can build guard towers
- Gold gathering is far too slow, usually idle waiting for it to collect - Game gets crazy hard on some Expert campaign missions. I'm not sure its even possible to beat them, unless theres some mechanic I'm missing - Being able to freely place buildings is a bit clunky, hard to tell where they'll fit in, would be nice if they could snap to a grid, at least optionally.
* There is multiplayer, but I've never tried it. It's run by GameSpy, which I'm not sure even exists anymore. Maybe LAN mode still works, if you have friends.
★★★★★ 10/10 Torbjorn is actually good in this one.
★☆☆☆☆ But seriously... Overwatch is a 0/10 cancer simulator to begin with, this game is an even worse knockoff of it, though it does offer minor class customization, which Overwatch is lacking.
* As of Nov 30 2016 (2 months after release), some of the below issues have been fixed, but the game is still not worth recommending, and seems even less balanced.
+ Nobody chats + TF2 engi ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ even + Character cards add minor playstyle variety + Can customize your head, body, and weapon skin seperately
- free2play, pay2fun, bordering on pay2win - Early Access, the term used to sell people a scamtastically low quality product, that will never be finished, without taking any responsibility, and still getting good reviews, 10/10 IGN - Characters are derivative ripoffs - Characters are on weekly lockouts - Characters can't be changed mid-match - Characters are insanely unbalanced, there are maybe 4 viable ones, most of which are tanks, one of which is purple girl who can 1shot the entire enemy team. On top of very few of them being viable, even the viable ones aren't fun to play. - Characters can only be chosen by a single player. Welcome back to the "mid or feed" insta-lock mentality of LoL, this game will become toxic if it ever gets established. If they're going to leave this idiotic lockout mechanic, that LoL has spent the last 3 seasons trying to fix, then they should let you pick your champion before you even Q-up. - Chat is poorly delivered, if at all - Can't chat before or after a match - Ults can be wasted if you pop them and then die - In match skill info isn't in the same order as the hotkeys - The requirement for ranked is idiotic. 12 champions at level 4? If you're playing 12 champions in ranked, you're doing it wrong. Not to mention thats like 10 matches each, which is a malicious time sink, as is most of this game. - Character selection screen tells you nothing about the characters - Only a single mode, which is a combo of KotH and then Cart Pushing. This abomination of a mode doesn't work at all. Wins never feel earned, losses never feel deserved. - Less maps and modes than Overwatch? That game is already stale from its lack - 5v5 instead of 6v6, and games should be 32x32 minimum standard - Worse game name - No "Play of the Game" - Scoreboard is worthless - Can't un-buy items - No estimated wait time when in queue - Can't preview skins in character select - Death recaps are even more wrong than LoL's - Clunky account naming system with useless feedback - Worse UI than Overwatch - No option to rate matches - Chests only unlock cards, at random, 99% of which you don't want, and should just give you gold, if this game wasn't designed to be such a grindy waste of free2play time - Worse graphics than Overwatch - Ults aren't strong or often enough to be relevant - Buggy, glitchy, and generally unpolished - Worse performing graphics than Overwatch - Game has an FPS cap, even with vsync off - Unanimated, uninformative loading screen - For a company called HiRez, this game has low rez textures - Assists and kills aren't treated the same - Killcams don't properly cover respawn times - Matches are won by RNG leading to staggered respawn timers - Nearly every match ends in overtime, changing it from this rare epic turnaround moment, to a common annoyance that rewards the enemy team - Idiotic scoring system. One point for capturing, then another if you win the push, but the enemy gets a point if you fail the push. Get 4 points to win, and you can't win on a defense point. This may be the worst scoring system ever made. - 90% of the time, whoever captures the first point, wins the game, the entire rest of the match (which is 90% of it) is an utter waste of time after that point. - The only unique feature in this entire game is mounts (which are unique to Overwatch, but obviously based on HotS), and they're clunky as hell, with a long delay after you dismount before you can attack, and they can't be summoned at will, only when you spawn. - Free2play ruins the in-game economy. Things are massively overpriced when it comes to in-game gold, expecting you to pay real money to unlock things. - All of the menus are uninformative. Upgrade a card? No way to tell how much of a bonus that gives. Abilities? Nah, you don't need to know what those do, go back to the main menu if you want to check. - Install failed so hard, that it nearly crashed my entire computer. Never had that happen with a Steam game before, apparently you have to copy a file over from Smite to get it to work.
+ Story + Setting + Slowmo + Scoreboards + Vehicle hopping + Clothing options + Cover based shooting + Collectibles and progression + Varied city with memorable set pieces + Parkour-ish. Its more like movie scene jumps + Arkam style combat, but with combo inputs instead of gadgets
★★☆☆☆ Unique car combat in an open desert. Poor attempt at Arkham City combat.
+ Flashlight + That crazy hunchback + Great graphic performance + Vehicle upgrades/customization + Change equipment and hairstyles on the fly + Interesting vehicle combat with harpoons and dashes + Informative looting, lets you know when you found everything + Lots of vehicle, character, and equipment upgrades. Most of which also appear visually
+- Slidey vehicles +- Health recovery via canteen +- Hair/beard styles, though tied together +- Large open world, though mosty empty space, for vehicles +- Weak lore, maybe presented better in and/or leaning on the movies (haven't seen them) +- Arkham City combat, but not as good. Enemies often attack from offscreen. Counters often fail even if you hit the button. You can be hit while countering, when you have no control. The only input variety is strong vs weak attacks, and a couple limited contextual weapons.
- Fall Damage - Finding loot is tedious - Weird controls on a controller - Worst jumping in a video game, ever - Deaths/checkpoints are not handled well - Story progression often requires map grinding - Cooldowns and/or limited ammo on nearly everything - The max graphic preset, doesn't set the graphics to max - Explosions show a red ring, then damage you outside the ring - Can't easily tell which things are killable by which vehicle weapons