Menom

Assets Great combat system and excellent concept for a PVP game Good party creation tool and good cross-server party creation for dungeons Nice tutorial Some good story and animated segments with acceptable voice-acting Deficits Grind based MMORPG Extremely linear PVE that is redundant and mundane Most dungeons are poorly done and boring Very poor PVP matchmaking Terrible gold spamming and no effort to filter or fix Cross-server party creation is sometimes not available in dungeons or situations where it is badly needed Dead and limited clan system Weak, unambitious crafting system Small world where feel like you're traveling through a tunnel most of the time Given the lack of effort to fix the PVE game, they should have eliminated it altogether and made this purely a PVP fighting game with a deeper matchmaking system. Although this game is not without merit, you might be happier playing a good fighter game. Sadly I don't feel a sense of enthusiasm to improve this game. Most effort seems to be going into expanding micro-transactions.

World of Tanks is a free-to-play, online PC arcade tank game featuring tanks and fabricated tanks from World War II. It has a good array of tanks to play. The game offers good customer service and average graphics. Poor match-making is a major weakness. There is high emphasis on rankings/stats. The community seems largely unhappy and unfriendly. The game has perhaps the most dyfunctional, impolite and angry game community I've ever encountered. Perhaps it is because of the excessive emphasis on PVP competition and the aforementioned match-making issues or the rankings/stats emphasis. Suspicious win or loss streaks may appear to be a manipulation of match outcomes. This too may be a cause of the unhappiness of many players. To the game's credit there is good avoidance of "pay-to-win" aspects but at the same time the game includes big grinds that promote the "need" to pay. While it is not a simulator immersion is hurt by some strange game system mechanics that make identifying "cause and effect" difficult. But then, as stated, it is arcade. Presently World of Tanks is the only modern PC WWII tank game available which accounts for some of its appeal. However, it is not a good gaming experience overall.

As a general rule, Slitherine & Matrix Games publish some of the finest (usually historically based) strategy games available. Pandora is reminiscent of Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (AC) a turn-based strategy game I enjoyed many years ago. I was hopeful that Pandora would be a strong competitor to AC, particularly given that AC was released quite a long time back and the creators of Pandora had a solid concept to build from. While Pandora does look much better than AC, much is missing in game depth, documentation is weak and there are issues with game balance. While I see a foundation **** here, a lot of work will be needed to make Pandora a solid, enjoyable strategy game, much less bring it anywhere close to AC. There is a continuing effort to patch and update Pandora (which I greatly respect), and I hope in time it will be a worthy successor to AC.

Like many consumers I was hopeful that EA would turn it around this year, and produce an NCAA Football that corrected many of the errors of the past few years. Sadly this game is weak in many areas and bears what I would term, "a frustrating resemblance to college football". The most notable weaknesses of this year's game are as follows: 1. Heavy scripting of game outcomes While this is a perrenial complaint about this game, in my opinion it is worse than ever this year. Catch-up behaviors by the AI play heavily into the game and seriously hurt the game's immersion factor. 2. Strange AI behaviors on defense Generally weak defense (lots of points, even in abbreviated games), strange behaviors by players and odd routes taken by defensive players. I'd love to see a real football game like this. I have a good sense of humor and it would be the funniest game I ever saw, as long as it wasn't my favorite team. 3. The AI players are notably faster than the human controlled players. 4. Bugs. No game killers, but definitely a few bugs that can affect the outcome **** if you hit them at the wrong time. 5. There was a lot of talk about "physics" being introduced into this game. I really don't see it. There are some nice animations for the running backs, but animations are not physics. Human controlled runners don't seem to have any weight. My running backs seem light as a feather and rarely push forward after contact. They usually look like a volleyball that just got spiked. I love college football and I'd love to recommend this game but I can't without reservation. If you're craving a college football game, go ahead and buy it, since it's the only game in town, but be aware of the weaknesses I have mentioned. I've invested my money so I'll wait and hope that some of the more glaring problems are patched soon.

This is not just the worst game I've seen in the series in many years, it is the absolute worst sports game I have ever owned. Constant interruptions kill the flow of the game (Rece Davis, unnecessary replays, etc.). The announcers are dry and lack any color whatsoever. Game-play issues abound. Also, the game periodically switches to scripted outcomes. Boring. During these games you might as well Supersim, your presence is not really necessary. I'm sure someone thought this was a great idea ("I smell another EA classic!"). I am deeply disappointed by this game. I know EA can create a vastly superior product to this. The question is, will they ever try?