Rattlefinger

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Let's clarify something right at the beginning. I have never played the board game, however I played that Space Hulk that was on Amiga (in fact, I still have it somewhere, I'd just need to fire up the emulator), and also played the Win95/98 version, which was called Space Hulk: Vengeance of the Blood Angels (or something like that). So, I am familiar with the franchise (both W40K, by the way, and Space Hulk). You know what, I dare to say, I love it (still applies to the universe and these games). Now, what I wanted to say with that is I may be a bit biased when I state: this is a good game, however I can understand those who got a bit frustrated. Here's why: First, although the graphics are not bad, but not spectacular either not even when you set it to "Fantastic". Yep, that's actually how they named the maximum setting. I am not quite sure if it is a compliment or a complaint, but the only real difference between "Fantastic" and "Fastest" is the frame rate. Oh, yeah, the fires are a bit more 'thick' on fastest, and there may be differences if you close the camera in enough, but guys, this is a tactical game, not the annual Space Marine Fashion Show. What? Spit it out already? Oh, yep, I suggest to set "Fastest", because in fact the fires look more real (to me) on that setting. Oh, almost forgot. I mentioned frame rate. Well... I don't know how the developers managed, but the engine is slow. Not tragically, and in fact I have an old Pentium D, but I get 25-30 fps in Skyrim on almost maximum settings, but this game 'treats' my eyes with 7-8 on "Fantastic" and 15-20 on "Fastest". Pure luck it's not an action game. The sounds are cool and unimpressive at the same time. The voiceover is cool. The rattling of storm bolters is also cool. All the other sounds are forgettable. Not bad, but hey, we kill uber-aliens with uber alien-killing tools, so there should be something remarkable about how the whole thing sounds. The music is... Umm, is music even there? Really, I think there is, but should a genestealer threaten to detach my limbs from my torso if I don't hum something from it, I'd be dead real quick. For comparison: I still have the music of the Amiga game on my MP3-player. But realy, who cares about the graphics and other externalities? Okay, that was not a real question. But traditionally, strategic/tactical games are not required to be eye candies. Personally I'm content with how this stuff looks. What really matter is how it plays, am I right, or am I right? It was said before, but for the records, here it is again: this is a board game on PC (and Mac I think). That means a lot of things. For example, don't expect X-Com style base and squad management. You fight with what you are given to. There is not even the slightest trace of RPG-style character development. There are no covers to use, and there are no hit points to lose. Your men get hit once, they die. It's an interesting question that in this case why did they bother to put on those massive armors, but since it's in the game, it's in the game. Oh, also even if they die that does not prevent any of them to show up and shuffle around in the next mission. That is one thing most of the negative reviewers complained about. Your Terminators move like snails. Okay, it's inside _my_ tolerance range, and I imagine these armors not to be designed for sprinting, but I admit, they should move (and turn) a bit faster. Other than this I think the pace of the game is okay, although sometimes it starts to think heavily _after_ it finished moving the genestealers around, which is interesting, but it does not happen too often. Finally let me tell you about the difficulty (I played on normal). Maybe it's just me, but the first mission was the most difficult for a long time. You have two terminators, but at least three corridors to cover, and one of them can be just too short. That's where you learn not to skulk around the corners, because you'll get chopped to pieces. That means, that basically the difficulty of a map in my opinion is based on how long the corridors go uninterrupted. Because if you stand two-three steps from an intersection from where an enemy comes, you are in the hands of your luck. Your men can miss (it's a board game, it depends entirely on dice rolls, and not even the slightest on range), their weapon can jam, and if there are not enough distance those pesky aliens have to cover before they reach you, you're dead meat. On the other hand, if there are at least 4-5 squares between you and the spot where your enemy enters your line of sight, and you reserved a few command points, _and_ you did not forget to set your men on Overwatch, you should be super-unlucky to not survive the attack of even a large horde. So, as a hint on the loading screens says: Overwatch! Overwatch! Overwatch! Final advice, study the weapons in the Librarium, because the game will explain some of them in the tutorial, but not all...

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

This review is based on experiences made at 14% main plot progression. As stated before by others, if you loved the original, you will enjoy this one too. In fact I think Deep Silver managed to mess (a bit) up more things than corrected, but it is still a good game. The graphics are basically the same; no wonder, we are still on a tropical island. I would say it is beautiful, although, for example, the waterfalls look like in ten year old games. I think the overall FPS dropped compared to the "vanilla" DI, but it still can produce 25-30 frames per sec on a 7 year old Pentium D with Radeon HD5770 on almost maximum settings (cheers for Deep Silver!). The gameplay is the same: you start with a basic weapon, you get quests, begin exploring, get rewards and loot. A big plus that you can import your DI characters and continue on the same level where you left them, although you will not get their equipment and known mods. I think the movement of the characters became more sluggish, but you will get used to it in no time. The voice actors for the main characters are the same as in DI, and the overall quality of acting is also the same: not bad, but no Oscar. The story so far contains absolutely no surprises, but I must tell, I don't care. I am on a zombie infested island, and I am not there for drama. I am there to kick ass. The game deliver this, so why complain?

First: I played JA2. Second: I loved it. Third: It was a cheating b***ard (don't tell me, that in the middle of the night someone shoots me in the head with a .38 repeatedly, from it's max effective distance, and it's not "cheating". Or when 2 consecutive bursts from an Uzi directed to an enemy 1 (one) step away miss completely....). Maybe JABiA cheats too, but not as hard, and frankly, it needs it. The AI is not too bright, however it could surprise you a few times. Anyway most of the enemies can be eliminated by lure tactics, but when the AI is on the defence, you can count on that it will not send all its men to the slaughter; you have to go in, to finish the job. -- I like this game, although it's far from perfect. Sometimes I experience unexplainable slowdowns, mostly occurring when the roof of a building is removed for a better view. You can't remove the roofs of "distant building" (more than a few feet away...) so it's quite possible, that you can't issue a fire order, even if the enemy is in your mercenary's line of sight. You have to get used to the camera; in my opinion it's movement is too restricted. There are clipping problems, which will not only look weird, but will hinder you: f.e. your mercenary lies behind a cover, but their weapon and hands clip through it, making them a shootable target. Of course you can pull them back a bit, but still, it's annoying. There are problems with issuing orders, especially when you want them to shoot on a moving enemy at close range. They will aim, then state they can't hit the target, turn to face it, aim again, state it's impossible to shoot at it, etc. Especially annoying when they can't finish a single axe-armed guy off, and thanks to it he kindly chops a few of your men to pieces. The militia, in its current form is quite unusable, or should I say, it's not worth investing money, or loot in it, but hey, you have mercs, to defend your territory. -- What I mean to say is that this game has it's own share of problems, _but_ it's still a good, enjoyable game. The graphics are outdated, but it's far from ugly; the sounds and music are good (in my opinion), and when those annoyances mentioned earlier don't make their appearances, the action is quite enjoyable; for me, it has that certain urban warfare feeling with the heavy need to use cover, popping out from behind it just for a few moments, to harass the enemy with a handful of bullets. JABiA is not a genre defining product, it was never meant to be that, but I enjoy playing it. I would give it an 8, were it not for the number of minor, more or less avoidable glitches.

Seen this game on a digital distribution site, and reading its description, I fell in love with it instantly. Zombie apocalypse. Action-RPG. Random missions in a randomly generated town. Forming squads of rescued survivors then equip them with weapons to help you while you search for other survivors, food, tools, base-building materials, weapons and ammo. Training survivors in combat, carpentry, medicine and other skills and keep them happy and well-fed, at least so that they wouldn't find the company of zombies more favorable than yours. Build and upgrade the defenses of your base (traps, barricades) from the materials you find in town. Yikes, if it's not the game of the millennium I don't know what could be! Well, sadly, it isn't. The most obvious issue is graphics. The game is ugly. And has about the same fps as Crysis.... Okay, I have a good old Pentium4 D (that means: single core with hyperthreading), but I bet games from P3 era are better looking than Fort Zombie. No kidding. Very low polycount, medium quality textures, almost no effects, and I still get fps lower than 10 most of the time. I won't write about sounds, because there are almost no sounds. Your ears will get the absolute minimum treatment. The controls are ... interesting. I wouldn't say it's crap, because if you give the game an hour you'll get used to it, but sometimes you'll question the human origins of the designers. The AI is quite simple, which could be satisfying taking into account that your enemies are mindless walking chewmachines, but unfortunately your supposedly more intelligent companions could do the same mistakes (not being able to avoid obstacles, for example), which could really hinder teamworking with them. All in all, Fort Zombie is not a shining diamond of the gaming world; if you take into consideration only how the game looks like, it should hardly get a score of 2. I admit, when I first played it, I quickly uninstalled and swore to never buy a low-budget game again. Next day I reinstalled it, played a bit, and then deleted it cursing myself for not being smart enough to learn from my first experience. So why have I given it a 5? Because it got installed the third time, and stayed on my HD for a few weeks. I played it everyday, and begun to enjoy it, however not so to play it to the end. The basic idea, and the atmosphere saved the game for me, even so that I think after I finish the review I'll install it again. Hypothetically you get 14 days to build up the defenses of your chosen base to endure the massive assault when those two weeks expire. If you survive that, you won. (Never got there; the saves are in plain text format, and I always rewrote the current time, so it was always Day 2 for me...) In the meantime you get 3-4 available missions everyday to gather food, supplies, weapons and survivors. You can't do every one of them, because you have only around (can't remember exactly) 16 hours per day to act, and you have to get to the scene, then do the chosen mission, then get back to base, and it all takes time. If you already rescued some survivors, you can assign them on various tasks: base-building, repairing broken equipment, healing the wounded, or you can take them with you on the missions for some extra firepower (not exactly advised, but with some micromanagement it can be done) or as packmules (which is a more sensible and time-saving decision). Once you get to the scene of your chosen mission, pause the game. Really. On many occasions there will be a few zombies who see you, and will attack after a few seconds. And it's time to mention a few things about them. First, they are _hard_ to kill. Headshots are very effective, but to achieve that you need a decent skill in your chosen weapon, and a good amount of luck because of the controls. Second, even those who don't see you still can _hear_ you. So even if you kill a single attacking zombie, the noise of the weapons can draw a much larger mob to you. Oh, and they are not only tough guys, they are also fast... So, basically, no matter how much ammo you have, your best option is always to run from cover to cover. When they don't see you, and are not too close, they will forget you. Running out of space, so a few tips. - When you're on a rescue mission, reach the survivor(s) as fast as you can, because the zombies target them as well if they see them. (A bug: sometimes the survivors spawn in the same room with some zombies. In that case, you can't be fast enough, but the game won't tell you....) - Avoid the military zombies if you can. They have firearms, and they are not afraid to use them, but on the plus side they are not exactly sharpshooters.... - If you absolutely must fight (which will happen, especially near your objectives), kill the medic zombies first if present, or else they will reanimate their fallen comrades. - A reminder: the saves are in plain text format... *wink-wink*