Recent reviews by Andesfort

Over 150 hours in now, and I need to say, this is now my favourite 4x game, despite it's buggy nature. For measure, I have 900+ hours in Stellaris.
Throughout that time I didn't experience nearly as many or critical problems as the others who reviewed this game, I'm not sure exactly why. Maybe I'm just really lucky.
The only bugs I've came across were instances where the UI scaling gets messed up upon reloading a save, some flavour text errors, and crashes upon ending a turn. With every one it was just a case of reloading the game from desktop, which takes under a minute.

I genuinely don't understand this theme of the game being 'generic' and 'uninspired' that I see floating about. I completely disagree. It's breath of fresh air that Gal Civ 4 keeps to established hard-ish sci-fi tropes and doesn't go crazy with space magic, alternative dimensions and space deities ripped from the WH40K universe.

The GPT stuff is a little gimmicky, but for making quick civs from the top of your head, it's a godsend. It isn't fully AI though, it takes from a pool of established images and fits it the closest to your prompt, but from the looks of it the text and picking of attributes are automated. It's really cool actually.

Ever since the Warlord expansion, ships, combat and conflicts were finally given much needed depth. Compared to other 4x games, the combat is the closest to Endless Space, but much more granular and customisable now. That was my biggest negative before this update, as it was just a case of the bigger number wins. I'm happy that isn't the case anymore.
Also hefty diplomatic consequences for starting wars, and there being multiple types of conflicts, are a great addition too.

Biggest positives in my opinion are:

-Replaybility: due to the AI civs and sheer amount of scenarios that could happen. No joke, playthroughs won't be the same. At least my weren't, and still aren't. There's tonnes of civics and play-styles you can undertake. And when you're done playing a civ, the attributes (not only civics) they have been given by the GPT, or you've chosen yourself, will actually determine how they will behave when you see them in a game as an AI player.

-Pace and management: it's on the slower side and doesn't force you to babysit everything. This is good if you don't like to be a sweat and if you hate micro-managing your empire. It's enjoyable, especially with a podcast on the side. If you're stuck spamming next turn, you're just simply playing the game wrong.
Also, just like Civ5, this game has a serious 'just one more turn' effect to it. It's dangerously addictive, which is a positive in itself.

-Sector system: it's a really cool idea that provides interesting choke points and interactions with the culture creep system, as well as diplomacy and border friction. As much as it's on the "galaxy scale", the game is meant to be played from a local sector perspective. This plays into the lack of micro mentioned above.
It's a neat way to go about things, that I haven't experienced before. I honestly prefer it. It feels more comprehensible and personal almost. Like, 'This is my comfy sector of space, begone!' vibes.

Overall, in my opinion, brilliant, deep yet chill game, that for someone who fanboys for the Expanse series like myself, is a no-brainer.
I haven't played previous Gal Civs, but from what I'm seeing, people are being too tough on this game, honestly.

Genuinely a brilliant game. I'm having a blast and I'm not even a quarter through it with over 10 hours in.
It's beautiful and runs without a hitch on Ultra with 3080ti, i9-12900H, 32GB 3000mhz in 1440p.
Still have to witness the game crash on me.

It's set in a huge world with a variety of stuff to do with actual replay value due to inclusion of New Game+.
The overheating suppressor mechanic, as unrealistic it is, fixes the exploit of using suppressed LMGs to fly through the whole game. This instantly makes FC6 tenfold better than FC5 in my opinion.
Guerilla difficulty is lovely as well, keeping things a little more realistic with a max of 3 AR magazines at any time.

Story is a little cheesy and I do like how grey it is in regards to morals-- still holding the Far Cry style of the bad guys having a point in what they're doing. Also, as a migrant myself I do find the writing relatable regarding never truly being allowed to assimilate-- double points from me for this alone.
Some characters are beyond annoying though.

Highly recommend-- amazing gun-nut insurgency game perfect for drunk weekends after difficult work weeks.

From Giger-esc beaut of Savanthun's throne world to a half naked dude with auto-tune and wish.com mark zuckerberg metaverse.
C'mon, seriously bungie?

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria, 1 December 1949 – 2 December 1993, was a Colombian drug lord and narcoterrorist who was the founder and sole leader of the Medellín Cartel. Dubbed "the king of cocaine", Escobar was the wealthiest criminal in history, having amassed an estimated net worth of US$30 billion by the time of his death—equivalent to $70 billion as of 2022—while his drug cartel monopolized the cocaine trade into the United States in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Exaggeration aside, this is most likely the most tragically overlooked gem of a game I ever had the pleasure of playing on Steam in a decade.

Star Traders is genuinely fantastic-- a true space sandbox with metric tonnes of content and replay value-- that would make games like X4: Foundations blush from embarrassment.
Nothing locks you from anything apart from simulated politics and diplomacy. The game has multiple strategy layers such as during travel, ship combat and troop combat. Heaps of nations that will turn on you if you're working for another, forcing you into a bureaucratic mess of war, bribes and balancing actions between each.
Upon each save you can generate an entirely unique interlocked playfield of sectors brimming with missions, randomly generated events, planets, space stations and economic scenarios.

Only negatives:
-I wish I could customise my ship's visuals.
-Handgun tiers should have different sprites.
-There should be a comparison screen when buying a new ship.
-If somehow possible, add to the exploration job by including sectors that aren't yet colonised and have crazy star systems, (exotic Sci-Fi planets, neutron starts, quasars, odd anomalies, etc).
-The starscape when travelling should be more varied and high-res.
-Background graphics of planet surfaces, space stations and outposts should be much more diverse.

The best £13 I have spent to date.
Seeing the sheer mountain of updates that came out in the past half-year alone, I couldn't help myself but give this one the 'Labour of Love' award.
Truly an outstanding space sim.

I don't know if the racing demographic will get this, but GRID Legends is the Ace Combat of racing games, It's cheesy, over the top and with a cast crew-- but I'll be damned if it doesn't make for a wonderful experience.
After years of searching-- NFS, Frz Horizon, Frz Motosport-- I finally found the racing game for me.

That said, again back to the Ace Combat analogy, don't expect this game to be a simulator of any sort. It's a more of a fun-over-realism racer than anything else. And in a racing game world now dominated by hardcore sims, I'm so glad this got created.

Soundtrack, again like Ace Combat, is bloody great. As I write this, it's already in my 'Favourite OSTs' playlist on YouTube.

In my honest opinion, the AI is leagues and bounds better than what Forza cooked up in any of its recent releases. It's been a long while since I genuinely fought for the lead place, quite literally on the edge of my seat. A massive plus in that department.

I play on a 6 year old rig now-- GTX980ti, i7-5930K, 32GB 2666MHz RAM.
The game runs top-notch on medium shadows, high textures, particles medium, volumetric lights off-- so when it comes to optimisation I wouldn't sweat it if you have anything close to me. Straight up 60 with no problems apart from one area where it dips (more on it below).

One glaring negative-- the bugs.
Upon the new update that released recently, like most people, I get annoying stutters when completing laps. Menus can be odd as well. Since these are true, then I imagine the other bugs are also prevalent. In all honesty, I think ironing them out should be a priority.

Seeing what the >100hr reviews said about content outside of the main storyline, the Career mode to be precise, I fully anticipate myself spending many hours after work playing this one.

EA-- the release schedule and overall handling of recent GRID games has been odd. If you kill this franchise like with everything else you touch, I will outright boycott all of your games until I drop dead.
Not like you actually check the reviews of the games you publish anyway.

And yes, I'm only 1 hour in, but I wrote my piece anyway to counterweight the negative reviews.
10 pounds/euro on a sale? Absolutely mad. I would happily buy this for its full price.

Gun skins are pretty sick IMO, but it's a shame they're so pristine. Would rather get more worn out ones due to the past and ongoing conflict. Also, the duct tape on the Klaucke is by far my favourite.
I don't get the hate as in their 2022 Q4 roadmap, Systemic clearly stated 'Paid DLC: Camo Weapon Skins' in big, bold letters.
People are now acting like this came out the blue-- like bruh.

Worth 4 quid/euro?
I'd say only if you want to support the progress of Gen Zero or are longing for some customisation.
Otherwise, this is purely cosmetic and has absolutely no impact on the gameplay whatsoever.
And unlike what people who can't read big, bold letters state-- changing a texture, not even touching the UVs, takes minutes to accomplish. No doubt they use Substance Painter or some equivalent, further cutting down on labour required. And on top of that-- it definitely doesn't alter how the weapons handle.
This DLC quite literally had no real effect on 'what the developers show focus on'.

my dad owns lockheed martin (mr. martin) and this game is not realistic please fix thank u

After half a decade of waiting, this game is perfect.
Scorn is the most atmospheric and, in my opinion, beautiful game I've ever played. Also the most depressing and disturbing. Last time a game made me feel something was TLOU back in 2014.
In short, exactly what they promised throughout all those years.
It isn't long but so worth the wait and money in my opinion.
There simply isn't anything else on the market like it in terms of visual direction and pure sense of hopelessness this masterpiece delivers.
Just be warned-- this game is not going to explain anything. Not going to show pieces in order for anything to make sense. It won't hold your hand.
It's what you make it to be, and what you think happened, is going on and what will occur in the future.
I have my own theories, but all I'm going to say-- hedonism is a b****.

Well done Ebb, Giger would be proud.

As someone with a deep passion for antiquity, this game is very close to perfect to me.
In essence, imagine CIV (without era progression) but with a much more in-depth diplomacy system and a lineage system on top.
The game itself is more so about managing your nation's needs and resources while balancing individuals in your family and court, rather than purely focusing on a single aspect.
It truly makes up for a wonderful experience with lots of replay value.
And once again, as someone who utterly loves the time period and sees how under-represented it is in gaming, it makes me ecstatic.

There are issues, and they come in two forms.
First off is bugs. The game has a tendency to lock up on clicking 'End Turn'. It's nothing what CIV6 does, where it outright crashes onto the desktop, but it's annoying. Requiring you to press ESC, do a quick save and a quick load. That would need to be ironed out.
Second issue is unit variety-- I believe apart from the two unique units each nation holds, different units for different empires should be incorporated to give each their own "flavour". I believe things as simple as different models and names would go a big way.

Overall, a full-hearted recommendation for any history enthusiasts out there.
Hats off to you Mohawk Games-- truly a wonderful game.
Also, I love how Phillip Glass (my all-time favourite composer) is in the game's soundtrack.