Recent reviews by Gem

Yes, I have hundreds of hours on this game. No, I'm not going to stop playing it after leaving this review. I'm simply so tired of seeing Gaijin make questionable move after questionable move. Games with modern vehicles are simply dominated by Russian premium and event vehicles. One such helicopter is quite literally untouchable by ground-based air defenses, as the helicopter outranges them. Then, to make it even more infuriating, Gaijin adds a Russian AA with even more impressive characteristics than pretty much any other country. If you don't die to a premium Russian tank, you're going to die to a premium Russian aircraft, and you can hardly retaliate. It just makes high-tier games so wearing to play.

Edit on May 20th, 2023:
So, they slightly adjusted the the Russian vehicles I mentioned so that they can only face higher tier vehicles. They're *less* of a problem, but still very much a problem. I might've considered changing this review, but now Gaijin is adding even more top-tier Russian aircraft.

Gaijin also made a post discussing possible upcoming economic changes to the game, and while they didn't say explicitly what they were going to do in terms of reducing or increasing the grind, they did ask players to stop "review bombing" the game, as it only hurts the overall game by discouraging new players from playing. To that I say: If we felt you were listening to our criticism, we wouldn't have to resort to review bombing. Instead, the grind has become worse and worse over the course of years, and, despite the complaints and criticism, it continues to become worse. It's hard to act in good faith towards you, Gaijin, when we feel ignored.

Something else I'd like to add: There was recently a sale for high-tier vehicles. I played a few battles around that tier, and several times the lobbies were filled with nothing but these premium vehicles, at least half of which were crewed by new players (noticeable by their drastically lower level). These games then become awful, as new players simply don't know how to play these vehicles effectively. It takes *hundreds* of ours to reach competency at these modern vehicles, and so enabling newer players to skip directly to these vehicles only causes us who have gone through the process of reaching them in the tech tree to suffer. When over half a team leaves after dying once, in modes that guarantee at least two respawns, it makes the matches significantly less fun and more frustrating.

Ultimate Admiral: Dreadnought is a game I've been waiting for since I played "Battleship Craft" on my iPad as a kid. It's been a good deal of fun, and while it definitely needs some balance work and tweaking (and the fleet AI is atrocious), it not only has its potential, but it's fun to play as is.

It isn't a secret that Fallout 4 has a few flaws. Okay, maybe a lot of flaws. However, Fallout 4 is still a great game, even if it "isn't the best Fallout game." The movement and gunplay of the game is significantly improved compared to Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas. Unfortunately, the quests in Fallout 4 are (on average) less engaging than in Fallout 3 and certainly when compared to Fallout: New Vegas, but there are still a few good quests. The main story is lackluster, but the ideas behind it, especially the idea of all factions being rather morally gray, are intriguing.

Moving to the sandbox elements, there are both good and bad. The settlement system, while not integrated in the best way, offers a lot of fun, especially if you enjoy building towns or creating small militias to take over the Commonwealth... However, the weapon sandbox is rather empty. Fallout: New Vegas has so many weapons and armor sets that are much more impressive than the selection in Fallout 4, even with the modification systems.

Next, I want to mention the graphics of the game. While Fallout 4 doesn't look poor, even in 2020, it is less than it could of and probably should have been. I understand the game was developed for years before its release, but some of the textures are just so lackluster, even with this forgiveness in mind. I should, however, mention that there is a high-resolution (free) texture pack available, but the file size seems rather bloated (55gb!) for what they are.

Finally, the modding scene in Fallout 4 is impressive. There are great mods out there that fix bugs, improve textures, change the weather systems, add new quests, armors, and weapons, and even some DLC-sized mods adding new lands. Most of these are found on Nexus Mods, but Bethesda's built-in modding platform is decent as well. The Creation Club, what some would call "paid mods," is also an option, but most of the content on there is passable at best with only a few worth investing in. Many have free alternatives on Nexus Mods.

I hope my summary of Fallout 4 can help you to make a more informed decision on whether to buy the game or not. I personally love the game, even if parts peeve me. Thanks for taking the time to read, and enjoy your day!

World of Warships is a mixed bag for me. It is the (in my opinion) best game you can get for commanding the amazing naval units of the early to mid 20th century. The gameplay *can* be fun, but it can also be quite frustrating, particularly when team play is at a minimum. However, the grind and matchmaking can be infuriating. Especially early on, it can feel as very little progress is being made towards advancing through the tech tree. Though this is largely because of a lack of skill at the early stages of the game, it is frustrating none the less. I would recommend playing the game, at least to try it, though you will have to decide for yourself if you enjoy the game.

Hearts of Iron IV is a wonderful game!

Pros:
Amazing feel of managing a WWII nation
Wide variety of strategies for world domination!
Often wild and unpredictable
Active developers with weekly developer diaries
Great D.L.C. (except Together for Victory, unfortunately)
Great modding community that adds hundreds of hours of replayability

Cons:
Late game is often laggy with unit spam
A.I. can often be irritating
D.L.C. and free updates are impressive, but far inbetween
Equipment shares the same abilities between nations (a con from my perspective)

Though Hearts of Iron IV has flaws, I still believe it to be a great game, and I look forward to the future of the game and franchise.

This game is a ton of fun!

It may be simple, but this is a kick-back and relax kinda game.

Definitely worth it.

This DLC, while... slightly lacking in the quest sense, is none the less a great DLC. The reveal at the end of the quest line is not very expected (at least for some), so the reveal is pretty interesting.

But what really shines about this DLC is the robot customization. You are able to build practically any of the main types of robots in the game (except eyebots!), and you can even customize what weapons they have, and you can even mix and match the parts from each robot. If you love the technology of the Fallout world, then you'll probably love this DLC.

8/10

Space Engineers has been a privilege to watch grow and flourish. To start off, I remember when this game was a small, 10km map where there were 4-16 asteroids, and it was a load of fun. Now, it's a nearly infinite world, with several planets and moons. This game has nearly limitless potential, limited only by how good your computer is (and that can be a serious issue).

In recent times they've both released the game and started releasing micro DLCs. I personally find it a good method to both continue making revenue needed for game development while also adding some cool, non-essential additions. They do release free updates alongside these DLCs, thankfully.

The game is totally worth the full price, but can sometimes be caught for cheaper.
9/10

This game is so much fun!

Pros:
Build massive villages!
Have massive amounts of people in your village!
Cheap to buy!
Steam Workshop support!
Quite a few more that I don't remember.

Cons:
Can become somewhat difficult once your first settlers start to die off.
Somewhat repetitive, but the Workshop can help with that.
No multiplayer, but I can't see how that would work well anyway.
Lack of updates, really hoping they haven't abondoned development.


Overall: 8/10 Definitely get this game!

Amazing! If you're a fan of the SW Universe then you should get this extremely quick! While the graphics are outdated and the official servers are down, this is fun solo or using certain programs that allow you to play with other players. And hey, it's not the graphics that matter (entirely), but the gameplay. 9/10