Minty13

Can't believe the "expert " reviews are low so far. It's much more fun than civilisation. Something is happening every turn whether it's fighting, preparing for war, deciding which spell to cast etc. In civ you often just clicking end turn over and over while waiting for the next lot of research. War is also way better. Every unit is useful for quite a while as you can't afford a big army of the latest units most of the time- their upkeep and cost is going to be way to high. You can also actually work with an ally to defeat an opponent. In civ you hardly ever see 2 vs 1 ganging up on the same screen. More likely your ally is not going to send out any units and will just declare peace on your mutual enemy making your whole plan a waste of time. There are some issues. On normal enemies seem to target neutrals and others rather than you most of the time. They also don't optimise cites well rather making them jack of all trade places which disadvantages them. They also don't expand as much as they can (maybe they stop after a certain number of cities or are too afraid of highish level monsters). The lack of any negative side effect of having many cities may mean that when multiplayer comes- whoever has the most cities early on will almost always win- time will tell. If you like turn based strategy this is a must buy, especially at the price. Latest patch has made the enemy more aggressive.

Pretty good game. The number of factions all wanting to kill you keeps you on your toes. The gold and food system keeps you from just being able to build loads of huge armies to take everyone out so you need to think pretty carefully which enemy to focus on. Main down side is the awful diplomacy and that it gets a bit repetitive (313 cities is a lot to handle). Definitely good value for money though and a promising start to a franchise. Looking forward to the next one focussing on Rome.

Post patch the pathfinding isn't as big of a problem- you can hit enemies from over your own teammates shoulders. Also the targetting issues don't matter so much seen as you can pause the action. Still, considering the bad reviews you would expect a price reduction soon so even if you like tactical rpg combat- and this is probably the best you'll find in that department- I'd wait for that, or maybe a "gold" edition with campaigns for the other factions. The game is also a lot easier now. Enemies seem to do less damage and hit less often but I suppose you can play on hard mode if you want the challenge it was previously on normal.

Got this game as part of the 1c box (41 items for $100). Enjoy the lack of base building and ease with which you can move around the battlefield and go from focusing on one unit to many. Look forward to playing the rest of the series. Something overlooked by those who claim the game is very realistic is how a unit can go from 10% health to full health with the use of a bandage but anyway.

Been playing My player at the moment. Way too scripted which takes away from realism. You having crap attributes yet you first round pick? Next you start as 7th choice in terms of playing time. After a few games you up to 6th. After 19 games where i've done little (averaging 4points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists) I'm the starting SF for the knicks ahead of Carmelo Anthony. Gimme a break! The post match interviews also make little sense when you a bit part player. your responses imply that you are key. Would prefer to have a more than 1 question but only every few games interview. Having crap guards also makes the game frustrating. Every other pg seems to be able to run rings around lin and score 30 or so points a game whereas he charges into traffic and takes bad shots (if you look at his tendencies will see why) I like the presentation re. the half time breaks where they show what is happening in other matches and the news you can get about other teams and your own in between games but this shouldn't be the main focus of the developers. Started playing on a harder level and the game gets even worse. On the easiest level your teammates are about right but opponents useless. If you change to hall of fame your teammates are useless and opponents about right. Lost 5 in a row with lakers against crap teams like suns and raptors. Blake shot 0/11 one game as starting pg. Next game Gasol decided to keep shooting 3s and hit none of them and 3/12 fgs overall. Next game opponents got 60% 3pts against and outrebounded 3 to 1 despite lakers having way better rebounders. My Player mode is basicly unplayable unless you just choose a scoring guard and do everything yourself.

Don't if anhone is looking at this seen as it's now cheap on steam but I think it's a real bargain. Just finished season 4 of My player mode and enjoy that you move up from AA to AAA to the majors but can also be demoted for doing badly. People have complained about it being too difficult batting but if you stick with it it gets easier. I started with 2 hits in first 40 at bats but ended seson over .250 and changed to all star level in season 2. Finding it tough to hit home runs and it **** when your opponents get hits and sac flies to bring home runners in scoring position anytime they have them there with 0 or 1 outs whereas you left stranded by useless teammates. It's also stupid that if you want to be traded you just get teleported to that team no mention of if anyone is interested or a player going the other way. Despite these issues i find the game fun and it's nice that you can get through a game in 5-10 minutes. Agree that playing on keyboard must be a nightmare but if you don't have a usb controller and like playing pc sports games you're an idiot.