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I would love to like this game. Perhaps I will, after they've actually playtested it and you don't run into game-breaking bugs every 5 minutes. Bush league.

Beautiful game,and a true labor of love from its dev team. Not perfect, it still has a bit of that old jank we've come to expect, but not much, and the charm and immersion of the world makes up for it. Ignore all the political BS that people are slinging around, it's totally irrelevant regarding the quality of this game.

Anyone buying this game should know about the original game called "Startopia", which was made 20 years ago, but is still available on steam. That game, at 20 years ago, had better graphics than this modern release. Yeah, the modern release has higher resolution textures and poly counts. But what good is that when they're all generic, uninspired, and use a palate that can only be described as "Rainbow diarrhea". Gone was the clever wit, gone is the quality voice acting (as well as the quality writing), gone is the charm. Gone are the engaging mechanics. What is left is something that...well, Even for a Kalypso Remake, is more of an insult to the name it is trying to cash in on. Worst of all, they have the chutzpah to charge $50 USD, and that just for the "Standard Edition". I'm looking forward to the future DLCs that cost $20 and consist entirely of a 3 reskins and a new song. Don't buy this. If were hoping for something that was worthy of the original, you won't find it here. If you came across this, and thought the concept sounded interesting, STILL Don't buy this. Go and buy "Startopia" instead., It's still available; you can get it on GoG or steam for a tenth of the price, and it is in every meaningful way a much better game.

Did you enjoy harvest moon, but wish there was a game that fleshes everything in it out a bit more? Here it is. Don't let the retro graphics fool you, and don't be deterred by the fact that it's an "Indy title". This is a huge game with hundreds of hours of gameplay to offer, at least.

Pretentious, hipster nonsense. Presents itself as "art" but really feels more like a proof-of-concept for the real game they intend to build, but never did nor will ever actually create. Again: Pretentious, hipster nonsense.

This addon finally and fully realized the latent potential of The Guild, smoothing out a lot of the bumps that marred an otherwise-great game. The Whole bundle can be got on steam now for a really reasonable price: Well worth it.

This is a great game, overall. It is also a highly ambitious title that is and was, sadly, plagued by large amounts of bugs right from the get-go. The bugs really really held the game back. But at the same time, there's a game there that wants to be loved. In its present state, as can be purchased on Steam, the game is well worth grabbing a copy of!

The game is as alpha as it gets; so I'm giving it some credit for the massive potential its concept has. But the execution so far has been **** the "community". The people who play this game? Foul, antisocial adolescents. Not a game for grown-ups, atm. Or people who prefer not wasting their time with absolutely no defense against griefers.

I /want/ to give this title a better score, but I just can't. While it has better graphics and the combat dynamics are improved over the original Deus Ex, It still is missing a lot in the area of...depth and choice. the choices presented in this game are generally false and ring hollow in the long term. They don't matter much. Play styles don't matter much either; every (tiny!) level is more or less the same formula, kill the bad guys and get the Macguffin. Did I mention the levels are tiny? Overall it was a big disappointment compared to the masterpiece of Deus Ex. Also, this game does NOT run well at all on modern PCs; the way the engine works is **** there is a constant switching of open windows for every area transition that is undergone in this game; of which there are very many, because as I said the levels are TINY. If you are a fan of the series, or want to see where things have gone after the events of DE1, then this game is worth checking out. But on it's own merits, there are really better choices out there.

What can be said that hasn't already been said about this game? It's...really, it's one of those very rare games that just nails it. It's really basically perfect. Ultimate fun, ultimate immersion, and an ultimate experience. This is one of the first RPGs I ever played where you have a choice, where the way you play actually affects the outcome of the game. In some ways I think a lot of games after this have tried to emulate that format, because it was so amazing in this game. If you haven't tried it yet, go for it. Really, get it.

Gothic 2 takes a lot of the areas where Gothic 1 was a bit weak and improves them. Graphics, variety of enemies, choices for equipment, affiliation, and gameplay styles all are increased in G2. The sound, the size of the world, and the graphics quality are also all much improved; overall it's a technical improvement on its predecessor by a wide margin; even the UI feels much more modern. that said, the quest and plot are a bit more lacking for me with this game; it feels like a lot of quests have you only doing a lot of running around from place to place rather than doing interesting things like...killing stuff, I guess. This can get old and wear down gameplay after awhile. On the other hand. there is something real amazingly cool about the second major act of the plot, where you revisit familiar ground. Things suddenly get WAY more challenging at this point, and all of the basically over-length introduction starts to pay off then. I knocked off one point for the intro, otherwise this game is REALLY solid, and is just as enjoyable as the first Gothic with many hours ore enjoyment added on.

This game is...legendary. That's really the only word I can use to describe it. This game is legendary.; You are chucked into a detailed, fully-realized world that really and truly feels alive. For its time, it was groundbreaking in how it put in living world elements. Every character has a life, a schedule that they follow. You can find them at home when they're not doing whatever they do, and at work otherwise. when you hunt, you clean game, and you can go and fry up your own dinner at a frying pan. you can fight with a weapon you crafted. Gaining access to the secrets of the magi is one of the most challenging and rewarding play styles of the game, and really leaves you feeling like you accomplished something. The plot, while I don't want to leave spoilers, is quite interesting and exciting; as is the overall premise, where you are a prisoner trapped in an autonomous prison. (think, a fantasy version of "Escape from New York"). Combat is challenging and fun; also fairly unforgiving. You probably will only find out if you can beat certain enemies by having to reload. The biggest downside to this game is the UI; it is really really difficult to get used to it, and there is not much room for the use of a mouse in it at all. It is really awkward to use in this sense, and that' is the reason why I'm giving it a 9 and not a 10; because for all other categories this game really ticks every box for me.

One must remember that this game is 10 years old; at the time it was incredibly pretty. Nowadays it still is pretty, but people spoiled by today's poly counts might find the simpler 3d models a bit dated. This game is, simply, brilliant. It's really a simulation in the truest sense. As an administrator there are certain things you can do, but for the most part people do what they will do with or without your intervention. Build a city, or don't; they'll get along without you either way. But of course, the fun is in the design and administration of your Nile kingdom. COTN requires you to learn; you can't just jump into this game and start plopping buildings without knowing just what they do, and what happens when you place the order. You have to understand who might want a temple or shrine to a certain god, and so where that temple would be best located. There is no money in this game. All trade is done via barter; usually food is exchanged for goods; and this is where the economic simulation really, REALLY shines...every individual manages their own wealth in going about their lives. Nobles own a farming 'estate', which means they have control over a certain number of farmers, who work the floodplain fields during the growing season. The farmers keep a (small) portion, the nobles keep a large portion, and you as Pharaoh get a sizable portion as a tax; it is through these taxes that you fund your government. Workers are paid in food. Shopkeepers get their food through bartering. They make goods to sell, and then people actually go to the shops, and barter for the goods that they have made (out of raw materials that the shopkeepers have gathered, or obtained from a government-run exchange). This makes for a rich and complex economic simulation, where each person is autonomously and goes about their lives. One of the strengths of this game is voyeurism. Basically, every day the people of your nome (egyptian word for an administrative territory) will go about their lives- working, shopping, or just chit-chatting with the neighbors. you can follow them around, watch them work, and this helps you see how your kingdom functions. if you wonder why your potters never have enough pottery made, you could watch them go dig clay, and realize they have to cross the whole map in order to reach the nearest clay deposit. Entire family histories are kept, too. You can learn who is descended from who, and family trees start to form. You may come to keep pet dynasties, especially the nobles, tracking their whereabouts and seeing how they're doing from time to time over the generations. The only game that simulates individuals in more detail that I know of is Dwarf Fortress. The aspect of monument building can be fun, if you know how to optimize it, or it can be an excruciatingly slow exercise in waiting if you planned things poorly. The only negative of this game is that the aesthetics: roads, plazas, and most of non-monumental decorations are not only free, but they have no real gameplay effect whatsoever. They are entirely an aesthetic choice for the player. This isn't too bad, but you sort of wish your citizens cared a little bit about the effort you went to give them such a pretty city to live in. This is a very minor complaint, naturally. It still runs fine on most modern systems; though it may take a little fiddling or compatibility settings to get just right. Even with modern CPUs, however, the complexity of this simulation makes it a bit of a processor hog. Large cities can tax even current PCs if they have a lot going on. This is the only real solid negative for the game, and is almost certainly workable. Even the events on the world map are very interesting, opening up lots of options and opportunities to add a bit of interest and variety to gameplay (like trade caravans that bring in exotic building materials and luxuries to sell to your noblewomen). Beyond that, this game is endless fun, endless discovery, and really brings ancient Egypt to life like no game ever has before or since. If you are fascinated with ancient Egypt, or if you are a city building sim fan, this game really is a gem and I heartily endorse it.

This game still holds the crown of all city builders, it is the yet-to-be-surpassed pinnacle of the modern city simulation. In terms of detail, fun, replayability, and strategy it has it all. I first bought this game 10 years ago when it was new, and I still play it from time to time even after all those years. This is one of those games that is like that.

People were expecting a lot form this title; and it didn't quite match up with that Will Wright demo from 2005, no... but It's a damn fine game nonetheless, with hours of highly-replayable entertainment that is really good for lots of different ages, tastes, and play styles. This would be a great game for younger children, but adults will enjoy it just as much.

No amount of paid for, EA-sponsored reviews can make up for the ill-conceived fraud that this game is. Sim City has the following restrictions (features) that have all been stated by Maxis employees: You must be connected to the internet 100% of the time you are playing. ...... You must connect to Origin to load or save your city (see next item). ...... Games are saved to the cloud (EA Servers). ...... If you're net connection goes down for more than a couple of minutes then all gameplay since last save is lost. ...... The installed game is only half the software, the rest is on EA's Serves so requires a fast, reliable internet connection to transfer data. ...... Other players Cities will influence yours even in 'single player' mode. ...... Saved games once loaded must be saved so you can't change your mind and go back and reload the city. ...... If the game flops and servers are switched off (EA averages 2 years or so) it will become unplayable. No god mode terraforming. (This includes how much resources are available and where they are). No modding allowed at launch (if at all due to online requirements/cloud computing). No building density zoning. Buildings may spam along a single road. Dumbed down micro-management. Limited population (Max 100,000 Sims per city) The city tile size is only equivalent to a medium city in SC4, and that is the only size available. You only get European building sets if you buy the game as a digital download direct from origin. I don't care how fun a game is; Any amount of money you pay for this software should basically just be considered rent, because EA will inevitably shut down the servers that you NEED to run this game within the next six months to 2.5 years; after which you'll never be able to play it again.