Hobojobes

A massive let down for me as a fan of Pillars of Eternity with Avowed being little more than a dumbed down "arcadey" take on the IP. The dialogue is most often brief and uninspired, quests are little more than fetch quests and strangely almost every NPC guard/soldier/adventurer is a female "girl boss" type (14 hours in and I've yet to speak to a male one). The area design is beautiful but exploring it is pretty pointless when the usual reward is a crafting material. The only positive is that I've enjoyed playing as a mage, with combat being quite fun if basic.

Major grips: 1) Space Exploration boils down to > Enter Map > Select Planet > Hold down X > LOADING SCREEN > Arrive at planet > Hold down X > LOADING SCREEN > Arrive on planet > Hold down Y > LOADING SCREEN > 2) Dialogue in true Bethesda fashion is nothing but yes, yes, yes, no (but actually yes). You are completely railroaded into doing every quest in the exact way Bethesda intends, there's very little opportunity for actual roleplaying or creativity. 3) Quests are again railroaded, often dull, uninspired fetch quests across huge, empty maps. For example a diplomat can't enter the colony due to him lacking a visa, he requests you speak to the "nearby" embassy, que a 2 minute walk to a tram > LOADING SCREEN > 2 minute walk to the embassy > 2 sentence "conversation" > 20 XP. Utterly boring, huge time sink. In a moment of meta irony I even had a companion point out how sad the plight of the miners was when there was a huge galaxy to explore, amusing given I was on a quest to mine 10 chunks of iron that was dotted about an empty, lifeless rock field. 4) The maps are empty and lifeless, inhabited planets just feature huge expanses of nothing with the odd interactable NPC dotted here and there. Want to shop? Enjoy 2 minutes of holding down w or the controller stick Uninhabited planets are even worse. Overall it feels more like a tech demo than anything else. The fact that critics are giving this game 80+ shows that they are all compromised by the "access for good reviews" model.

No idea why people are giving this a 10, it's pretty basic, most of the combat animations are on repeat, the map is large but devoid of anything interesting (much of it seemingly randomly generated), random quests lack imagination (burn this down, collect X number of Y or answer a riddle), the map is locked down via power bloat rather than increasing challenge in the enemies move sets (Random footman in X territory does 100 damage while his clone elsewhere does 1000). Effectively everything is given just enough polish to make it seem passable at first glance, however once you play it for more than a few hours you'll note how little respect the game has for your time.

Another classic Paradox release, a reasonable base game that lacks character. If you are willing to invest in DLC for the next year I am sure Imperator will turn into a brilliant game, but right now it feels shallow. All my challenge as Epirus was in the first hour or two, beyond that I steamrolled the map. The AI is seemingly unable to launch naval invasions. Internal strife seems to have little to no effect, the one civil war I "suffered" was ended with zero losses to me barring attrition. Characters exist but feel pretty bland, feels like CK2 lite with the few events that are included recycling over and over.

I didn't think it possible for Bethesda to dumb down this franchise any further. They have proven me wrong. This game will appeal to the Bethesda fanboy and no one else. The game spits on previously established lore, further removes RPG elements and is a lazy bug ridden cash grab. The fact that Todd Howard isn't bedridden with utmost shame for this travesty shows just how much of a turd he is. Bethesdas only hope from here is to remove Todd from the lead and hire people actually capable of writing a decent plot (Goodbye Emil also.)

As usual the gaming media, seem to be incredibly generous in scoring these AAA games. BioShock Infinite looks beautiful, stunning even on many an occasion (at least on the outdoor levels) and the voice acting is decently done. However, for an FPS its rather lacking. The enemy AI comes across as limited, with enemies rarely using cover, charging right into your sights on most occasions, vigour's/plasmids seem to lack oomph and are rather unbalanced, you'll soon find that only 1 or 2 are really worth using. The same can be said for the weapons. As with all the previous BioShocks, death is a momentary setback, before you respawn next to the half dead creatures you were previously fighting, which cheapens the whole affair. Overall, a solid game that's been overhyped to godly proportions. Do yourself a favour and grab a copy when the price drops.

For the price its not a bad game. Combat is harsh and unforgiving but not without its charm, character interaction is amusing and often your choices in such have an obvious effect in game. The ingame crafting allows you to alter the effects and appearance of the armour and weapons your character uses. The graphics given the games pricing can be forgiven. The voice acting is laughable at times, but the games indie background seems to have allowed the developers to go for a more adult tone in language and events which makes a change to most RPGs on the **** only major fault is the often, tedious nature of some the quests you receive, go here, double back, route through numerous piles of garbage hidden about the level.

Alpha Protocol at its core is a brilliant and daringly original attempt at bringing something new to the RPG/Action genre. Certainly, the game has some major flaws, low quality graphics, occasional glitches and poor balancing when it comes to weapons and combat ****! If you can see passed this you will find a gem ****. The conversation systems is unparralled in my books, offering branching directions in story, peoples reactions and more, all depending on the approach you take. You genuinely feel that your every decision and action has an effect. Its a real shame SEGA are unlikely to get a second shot at realising a more polished sequel. A great shame, that originality is rebuked while rehashing the same old FPS and game model is rewarded.