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Time will tell how this game develops but I truly hope that they continue the support and add more content and features to Pure Farming 2018, hopefully, to make it the fantastic game it so nearly is. It's already got much more crop diversity then Farming Sim 17, and the potential to better it is there for all to see.
Overall, TT Isle of Man is merely good, rather than great; the complexity of the handling and the accuracy of the track are very well realised. The hope is that it can scoop up a cult following and we can have some multiplayer fun, otherwise, the replayability just isn't there. Great job by Kylotonn and Bigben Interactive for putting it together.
The core of the game is sound, it just needs to be more upfront with the player about what it's doing. It's really frustrating for me because I keep booting it up and I keep playing it, but eventually tangled web of systems gets the better of me and I've got to close it in a rage.
All in all, it's a nice but really, really short adventure, an increasingly common occurance for Telltale Games.
I found Nantucket to be high on style but thin on substance, but its modest price point saves it from my more barbed harpoons. It has some pleasantly nostalgic reminiscences of Sid Meier's Pirates and a management system that borrows some of the more surface-level mechanics of Paradox games - both of which are good things. Plus, it really is the only thing that does exactly what it does. The originality of the concept is worth something even when it's not necessarily backed up with mechanical innovation.
For all the fervent hatred of Konami that forms the current gaming-hate-bandwagon of choice, based on its own merits, Metal Gear Survive isn't a terrible game. It's not a great one for sure, and certainly not near the pedigree we expect from a Metal Gear product, but it's a serviceable enough survival game that benefits greatly from layering in a few of The Phantom Pain's systems. It won't scratch that same itch of sneaky badassery that has made Snake a household name, and it's almost certainly not worth the full $40 / £35 asking price, but there's definitely fun to be had here even if it doesn't come close to troubling the series' heights.
In the short term, if you're willing to think of the prefab fantasy setting as comfortingly familiar, Spellforce 3 is a pretty fun. The voice acting is terrific, and the plot easy to understand without requiring weeks of learning why THESE giant wolves are different to other games' giant wolves. Whether this familiarity is a brave counterpoint to the endless setting creep of gaming is really a matter of personal taste. And if you're looking for a fantasy RPG/RTS hybrid, this is a promising contender. However, by trying to do two things at once, it fails to be really remarkable at either.
Which leaves me in a bit of a conundrum, and Sundered with a name that couldn't be apter. The core of Sundered is fundamentally flawed from the outset, and randomly generated levels are often a bugbear of mine. But layered on top of this is a fantastic, gorgeous action game with heaps to do. All told you're looking at a good 15-hour run through, and those whose thirst is still not quenched as the credits will no doubt be pleased that each playthrough is different. If the thought of eating a beautiful crunchy red apple appeals to you, and you don't mind the worms wriggling inside, Sundered might be worth a shot.
If all of this added bullying isn't to your taste, you can just get the new districts and the new character, for instance, so it's not an 'all-or-nothing' affair, and it's this level of customisation that I feel saves Crimson Court from being perhaps just one vampiric bite too far.
Wrapping up, Under Pressure continues the Guardians' adventure quite nicely. It lacks a little of the thrilling action that peppered the first episode but compensates with a tighter storyline and good narrative. In short, this episode fulfils all the check marks of Telltale and is a fairly good time for Marvel fans.
Ultimately, this is the thing - Sanctus Reach is a cool and fun turn-based 3D wargame that fans of Warhammer 40K will no doubt lap up. I had a lot of fun with it and I'm certainly going to be stepping back into our dark human future for more.
I will get DLC as it piques my interest and the price is right for me. And that is why those tempting people at Games Workshop are the masters at this. There will always be something a Total War Warhammer player will want, it's only a matter of time.
As for whether this Telltale game in particular is worth your time; considering the glut of Telltale games now, it’s really only worthwhile playing the ones based on IPs you’re most fond of. If you’re a fan of a the Caped Crusader then step right up. If you're not, there's not much here to raise Batman above some of Telltale's other, stronger, efforts.
All in all The Technomancer is a fun little adventure which will definitely grow on you. It’s from the school of RPGs which are engrossing despite their laundry list of flaws. There’s much to be said for a small team like Spiders chipping away at a hideously involving and expensive genre, and for that they should be congratulated. It doesn’t have the polish of a Mass Effect 3 or Deus Ex: Human Revolution, but The Technomancer sure has a lot of heart.
Ultimately, Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak is a bit like a trip to the beach. Sure, the sun's beaming and you'll have a great day's fun, but you still can't escape that feeling you've got sand up your Kharak.
[F]or all its various faults, Life is Feudal is a game that can be thoroughly enjoyed with a large group of friends and hours of spare time. The developers are still working on it, trying to smooth things out and catch all the bugs. So maybe in time, Life is Feudal can become something great, a monument to humanity's ability to cooperate. But until then, it makes for an interesting and realistic take on your average block builder.
Then, once I realized that I'd been a numskull, I installed the DLC and tried again, playing with the new tourism and leisure districts, and building taxi ranks and bus lanes, and… well, once again I had a great time and felt that the DLC was a little light on content.
Lastly, a quick not about performance. I ran Stairs on a GTX 980 with an FX-8350 and 8GB memory and it seemed to blitz it. RAM usage was quite heavy but in terms of GPU and CPU, it ran fantastically without any drops. Those with high-end monitors might be disappointed to know Stairs is capped at 60fps even with Vsycn disabled, but it's not the sort of game to capitalise on blistering performance.
The Serpent's Curse will no doubt provide a great nostalgia trip for those who grew up on Nico and George's adventures, and it's a well executed and entertaining enough 9 or 10 hours with all the over-the-top, Indiana Jones-esque exploits we've come to expect from the franchise.
At the end of the day, this reminded me a great deal of Telltale's Tales of Monkey Island series of recent years. It's a modern take on a classic genre, heavily capitalising on a famous name and rich in character and humour, but ultimately built on a straightforward foundation short on real innovation or beauty. Still, it's been a while since we've seen a lot of these adventures, and this is the first chapter of five. The main characters are endearing enough that after a couple of chapters they might be able to carry the games more or less on their own merits, but less in the way of un-skippable animations (some of which you'll need to sit through a lot) and mid-game ambling would go a long way toward warming me up when the subsequent chapters arrive.