Icemelt

They should have just called it "Age of Settlers," because that's all it is. Redesigned from the ground up, huh? More like, copied the most basic RTS design and used the Settlers brand to sell it. I have a feeling this game will be record-breaking. That is, record-breaking number of REFUNDS because of the false advertising. What a joke! It also makes me really wonder about so called "professional" reviews. Are these people being PAID to rate games well, or are they just oblivious to the franchise in general? It makes me wonder if they're even gamers at all. It makes me wonder if they even PLAYED THE GAME!? One point for graphics. That's it.

There needs to be a way to purge the bottom ratings from this game. Anyone that gives Skyrim less than a 5 should have their computer use and gaming privileges removed forever. This is by far one of the best RPGs ever made. It has absolutely set the bar so high that current games half a decade later still fail to life up to it. Newsflash! RPG games ALWAYS have an exploitive easy-mode way of playing the game. For Oblivion it was probably battle-mage. For Skyrim, it's probably stealth archer. The ability to mod and keep the game alive well after it's introduction is amazing. The Skyrim modding community is one of the biggest modding communities on the net next to Minecraft. This game is awesome! If you've waited this long to play, you've waited too long, but start now!

Simply put, this game isn't as good as it's predecessor. Here is my list of what Maxis fixed until it was broken: The UI is too minimal. The Sims aren't as smart on their own. You can't use custom color on... ANYTHING! Not characters, not objects. No more "open-world". Everything is instanced to individual buildings. No more walking next door. Personality and Aspirations got a huge cut/minimization in character creation. Graphics on objects and structures got a HUGE cut. Grass and textures look BAD! Cut polygon count HARD! Everything has BLOOM! Graphics in general have taken a dive. Everything is instanced and computers are faster, but it took a dive. This ENTIRE game is based around character animation. It is the SINGLE and ONLY improvement over TheSims3. EVERYTHING else and I do mean EVERY SINGLE THING other than that has gotten a "cut" or "downgrade". It's obvious they're going to add TONS of DLC and micro-purchases. The question is, then, how much will one have to pay in total to get a game that is good as the vanilla TS3. What you purchase for this game will not make it "better", it will only bring it a small step closer to what you were playing BEFORE you spent AAA title money on THIS title. Just like everything else Maxis has come out with in the last decade, it's a huge disappointment. I don't know what happened to my favorite childhood computer game brand, but it's not the Maxis I once knew. Not even close.

I believe this game title will further prove the review industry to be biased. If only there were a review site that purchased their own games 100% of the time and weren't afraid to be truthful. Let's be honest, this game is yet another wash by the publisher "Deep Silver", a house that does little more than invest in failing game titles breathing lackluster life into them and pumping them full of hype long enough to gather the attention of the masses for some quick cash. The company purchase of this title is the single and only reason it's a "full priced game" and not an expansion to the 'recently' released previous installment. That all said, the game isn't "bad", it's just not good enough for a full priced game. If you're a professional reviewer with a free copy, a higher rating might be appropriate. If you're paying for the game yourself, you will want to deeply consider waiting until customer reviews result the the more than obvious future for this game in the bargain bin. Especially if you already own Prototype 2 which this game mechanically ripps off on almost every level. Ultimately, the score is cut in half due to the fact that it's a "full priced release" rather than a "DLC". Then using a scale of 1-5 the game itself would rest at a mediocre copy of other titles, combine into one immature blast'em game with zero skill or challenge required. a score of 2 for an "alright" waste of time. Horrible story. Lackluster "new design" that copies almost everything from the previous title and/or other games you probably already own. Should have been DLC of SRthe3rd.