Tales of Valor simply does not add enough to justify a full-price expansion. There is a serious lack of new units and no new factions. Given it's a standalone title, it's not bad per say but sorely lacking.
One of the best RTS of all time, still fun to play. The only downsides are lack of map and faction variety in the vanilla version. COH still holds up in 2013 and there hasn't been a game that's challenged its place at the top of the RTS world.
I'll give it a 1 for pretty graphics. This game features no local save mechanism, forced connectivity to unstable servers, lack of basic infrastructure options (no subways), no custom region generations, and finally embarrassingly small map sizes. EA has ruined yet another great franchise, and much like Command Conquer before it, Sim City has been dumbed down and had all the intriguing parts ripped out of it.
A solid WWE game that covers an interesting time period for the sport. A good roster and solid gameplay...well worth the price used today. SYM is leagues better than current gen WWE offerings.
The bugs hamper any enjoyable experience that can be had here. Online features are completely broken, bad character models are present and universe mode is lacking.
The game is a complete mess, missing many of the things that made HOI 2 fun. Far too many provinces to work with, way too much micromanagement. Nation specific tech teams and unit models are gone; you're stuck with generic research and technology. The game feels like a generic war simulator moreso than a WW2 grand strategy game. The game suffers from performance issues as well even on high end PC's.
The game is plays well enough, looks nice and has great peripheral qualities. However it ultimately feels like a step back from CIV 4. Many of the intriguing elements of the previous installment are missing here. There is less resources, less improvements, no religion and your limited to one unit per tile. The global happiness mechanic doesn't perform as intended. The civ-specific abilities are extremely unbalanced. City states are more a nuisance than anything else and are out of place in a 4X game.
The game provides exactly what fans of COD would come to expect. The maps are interesting enough and zombies mode is a blast. The SP campaign is ok, nothing revolutionary. The mix of modern and cold war era weapons is fun. The flaws here are server issues and the overpriced DLC.
Oblivion can be a frustrating experience, you are presented with an intriguing setting that doesn't live up to its potential. I found myself wanting more out of the various regions in Cyrodill. The leveling system leaves much to be desired, you can quickly find yourself out-matched if you aren't careful. Despite this glaring flaw, Oblivion stands as a monumental achievement in gaming.
The best PC game of all time (given you include the expansions), the only drawback here is the game will destroy your productivity. Civ 4 is still the gold standard in 4X strategy; holding up well 7 years after its release.
While Rebellion adds great new features to a solid game, you can't help but wonder why these features weren't included from vanilla release. The expansion is overpriced if you already own the original game, there is alot of missed potential here: where are the new factions? new planet types? only 3 new ships per faction? The game is an addictive, fun, and challenging RTS, it does however still suffer from balancing issues.
One of the best strategy games ever, period. The player can take the helm of any nation spanning the 15th through early 19th centuries. You are given the opportunity to reshape world history as you see fit. The only drawback is that the expansions are almost mandatory to experience the game at its fullest. This is easily Paradox's best release to date.
One of the best releases this year. A few minor complaints withstanding, the gameplay is addictive and fun. The missions do get a bit monotonous, they could have added some variety to the locations in game (every city looks the same). The permadeath mechanics add a great level of tension to each **** aliens are challenging, often to a frustrating degree, leading to suspense each time you send a prized squad member to scout the fog of war. Well worth the money
An excellent effort. Skyrim presents an interesting, beautiful world that's a joy to explore. This installment is a league above Oblivion, which I felt wasted its potential. The only drawback here, comes not from the game's design itself, but from the developer's need to placate console gamers which ultimately ultimately hinders any open world game. You have to wonder what an EDS game or Fallout game would look like if devs didn't have to cater to the aging technology found in consoles.
A great little game for it's price. Fun, challenging, and original. Luck plays too much of a role, and there's no real save system. Value wise, it's outstanding though.
A polished and challenging strategy game. The locations can get repetitive, every one looks the same despite being in different parts of the globe, and the weapons could've used a little more variety. While the missions become slightly repetitive they manage to be challenging. The game is highly addictive and has a great fun factor. Easily one of the best games this year.
An enjoyable wrestling game; but it unfortunately fails to live up to potential. The developers could have done alot more with this. There's some talented wrestlers that were left off the vanilla roster (Tyson Kidd) while we got 3 versions of HHH and 2 versions of Lita. They neglected to bring some of the better arenas over from WWE 12 (Nitro, Starrcade). Some of the superstar models are lackluster, Bret Hart, Vader and Booker T look like CAWS. The core gameplay is enjoyable though and it's leagues above WWE 12. They could've knocked one out of the part with this game though, and instead delivered an enjoyable but flawed game.
There is nothing revolutionary here, the multiplayer is enjoyable. The SP campaign is ok. The map variety (with the overly-priced DLC) is alright. MP games devolve into folks just hip-firing everywhere with SMGs and akimbo pistols; it gets old fast. Graphics and Sound are what they are; these games are being developed for rapidly aging consoles. If they included the DLC maps in the original game, it would approach the retail price, the vanilla game does not.
