vangomaextreme

Absolutely superb little game. Not overly complicated but you can really ramp up the challenge once you get more experienced. Although the graphics are dated, the game is so well done you don't notice at all. Well worth the bargain basement price!!! Missions are that rare thing in a strategy game, long enough to make you think but short enough for those of us who don't have much time to get a quick half an hour escape. Perfect!!

This is a great little game. It is one of those games that finally allowed me an access point to all those RTS titles I have in my Steam library. At last a game that teaches you strategy while steadily amping up the difficulty level. The graphics are surprisingly detailed yet fun at the same time. There is a huge variety of missions especially if you get the complete pack. There is enough complexity to also keep more experienced wargamers interested. I was really surprised at how good this game is. My only negative would be the rather steep price especially for the complete game, given the fact that for all intents and purposes it is a souped up Ipad port. However it is done really well and if you are willing to shell out you won't be disappointed and are in for hours of replayable fun!

Quite simply put this is an amazing game and certainly more interesting than the first instalment of the series which in itself was pretty incredible. The world is literally HUGE and there is a bare minimum of 45-50 hours of gameplay. I have played it twice now and it works out slightly differently each time so there is definite replay value here. There is an enormous amount to do and if you do everything in each city you could probably push your experience out to 60 or 70 hours. What I really enjoyed in this game was the wealth of historical data you can access about Renaissance Italy - so you not only have a fantastic gaming experience but also learn a great deal about the environment in which you play. The only downside to this game is some of the controls especially when doing the puzzle/treasure hunts. Getting Ezio to jump the right way can sometimes be an exercise in frustration and as a result can cause you to take a hell of a long time to complete the mission - however once you do the sense of satisfaction is significant as you feel you have cracked a really difficult problem. Therefore as frustrating as they may be I would not take the easy route and skip them even though if you become desperate you can do so as they don't really affect the storyline. In short they really pulled out all the stops on this one and if it wasn't for some of the frustrating controls in the puzzle/treasure hunts I would give it a 10. Pick it up you won't be disappointed.

This is for all those poor souls like me who have a low end PC that supposedly doesn't quite meet minimum requirements (my case Nividia 630M and i7 2.3 Ghz) but who really enjoy the series and feel bummed that they can't play this game. If you optimize for the lowest settings it still looks pretty good and although the framerate can dip occasionally it is actually playable. So if you love the series and are willing to shell out it is a fun experience and you can get pretty much the same enjoyment that everyone else is getting just be prepared to make some sacrifices and have the occasional frustration. If you can handle that then you will get to see a fairly remarkable game and enjoy it till like me you can afford your next rig. Besides even people with super duper rigs seem to be having optimization problems so it could be it has just been poorly optimized in general. Bottom line on low end machines it is playable with some sacrifices!

I loved all the previous F1 titles, especially last year's F1 2012. However this is a huge letdown. Two months after the game's release many aspects are still broken and there have been no patches, unlike F1 2012 which was being improved right up until the launch of F1 2013. So in short this is just a cash grab by Codemasters who have no intention of supporting the product. They destroyed the DIRT series and now seem well on their way to doing the same with this series. Overpriced DLC driven scam. Save your money and enjoy the first three titles which were outstanding! Given the disaster that befell the DIRT series and this heap of garbage it is likely that this will be the last in the series as Codemasters could well be a defunct studio by 2014 as they don't really have anything left in their product lineup.

Fun for the first two hours and then just plain frustrating and repetitive especially if you are playing with a keyboard. Trying to find new missions and moving forward takes forever and involves a great deal of pointless driving around only to keep ending up in the same place. They keyboard controls for anything other than vehicles are just impossible. I guess if you have a controller then yes hours of fun but otherwise hours of frustration. Nice looking world though.

Huge surprise! I thought the premise of this game would be as much fun as watching paint dry. I picked it up on a whim in a Steam sale and have been so impressed (despite this not really being the kind of thing I am into) I would almost pay full price for it. What is the catch? Like a lot of people say there is something incredibly relaxing about it. As with many people I increasingly as a result of having a family have less and less time to do any gaming. This game allows you a ten minute or 10 hour fix whichever you want depending on what your day allows. Simply put you just pull up a chair listen to some funky euro Internet radio station and just go cruising. It scales well so you can drive from London to Warsaw in a realistic time frame, or just pull into a rest stop leave the game and pick up where you left off the next day. You get to build a fleet, go shopping for cool rigs and hire some drivers and watch your little empire grow. I can't put my finger on it but it is fun and relaxing at the same time. I am so surprised I like this game but I just do surprise yourself and huge value for money!

As long as you don't have high expectations, this game is ENORMOUSLY entertaining if you only have 15-30 minutes a day to get your gaming fix. Plus it covers an area WW1 that is seriously neglected by the gaming industry. For the price you can't beat it and like a lot of people will find it a great little diversion. A hidden little gem!

It's alright, but I must say I found the story rather tedious and not overly interesting, plus it all takes place in obscure parts of the US with the exception of the very beginning. It places more emphasis on a COD approach to taking down your enemies, which I didn't mind per se but it didn't really give me the feel of being an agent. Worth it if you want to spend a few hours taking out bad guys and it's on sale but overall a fairly enjoyable but ultimately forgettable experience.

I agree with Wes, this is a great game in a VERY neglected sector. Far more satisfying from a rally point of view than the pathetic dudefest iterations of the last two DIRT releases. The variety of stages on the 13 different rallies is EXCELLENT and infinitely superior to anything in the last two DIRTs. I find the handling surprisingly good and I am playing with a very low end controller. The graphics are perfectly acceptable and I would give them a 9 out of 10 only the spectators are not as crisp but are you here to look at pretty spectators or experience the thrill of rallying? Overall this is a fantastic game and for the scope and variety it has EXCELLENT value for its very reasonable price. There are a few minor issues with uploading your stats which I am sure they will fix and an easy fix for NVidia drivers if like me you have an Intel and Nvidia driver together. If you love rallying and feel you have been left in the wilderness by the DIRT series in the last few years snap this up you won't regret it

This is a great game which I really enjoyed. The attention to detail and historical accuracy is excellent and you really feel that you are wandering around in the cities the story takes place in. I particularly liked the parts of the story that take place in Acre. However I agree with a lot people that the missions do get slightly repetitive towards the end causing the game to drag a bit at times hence me only giving it a score of 8. However it is a good intro to a very well done and fascinating series and a good hack and slash romp through a fascinating part of the Middle Ages

Simply a blast and really looking forward to F1 2013. It does take a learning curve if you want to get really technical but you can go low brow technical and still have a great time. You do need to learn and understand the different tracks. There are still a few minor bugs which can occasionally cause you to throw a race (Abu Dhabi seems to be the standout for me) but otherwise pretty flawless. Avoiding penalties in the first lap can be hard and for the beginner intensely frustrating but with practise you can eventually avoid them. The only bugbear I have which stops me giving it a ten is the one aspect of the penalty system which penalises you if you have a collision but if some clown AI driver knocks you out they seem to get away scot free which hardly seems fair. The only way to avoid this is be really careful in the turns and stay as far away as you can from the other drivers. But apart from that it`s just a blast especially in career mode which really makes you feel a sense of achievement when you do well in a race or even better get offered a contract with a big team. Hours of fun and well worth the purchase price!

Adds more depth and content to what was already a stellar game. Simply brilliant and still one of my 'go to' games. Replayability is huge and the extra campaigns and factions round out a fascinating and absorbing look at this turbulent time in world history. You will not be disappointed especially if you loved the original game. Nothing really new here just lots of great additional content. Enjoy!

Getting slightly out of date now but still a fantastic game. The graphics for its time were groundbreaking and the scope of the game is huge but best of all manageable and keeps you involved. The real time battles are breathtaking and challenging but allow you to develop your skills as the campaigns unfold. Still one of my favourite Total War games and a great look at this fascinating period of history. A benchmark even today in the strategy game genre.

Slightly out of date now especially with its successors release this week. However a great introduction to the series and this edition contains a huge amount of gameplay. The graphics are quite dated given the standard of the rest of the series nowadays but still enjoyable. While they spend the next year working out all the bugs on Rome: Total War 2 I would strongly recommend getting a taste for the game through this edition by which time Rome Total War 2 will be patched enough that it will be a superlative game. In the meantime you will easily lose yourself in this game and develop a real taste for the series in general.

This is a great game. A fabulous blend of grand strategy relating to empire building and tactical strategy on active battlefields. I gather there were many bugs when it first came out but 95% of these have been fixed. A great one more turn game that also serves to illuminate a fascinating period of history. I know some people bash this game give me this any day over a Paradox title at least it engages you with the history and challenges you to change it and if you are clever enough gives you a fighting change without requiring you to have a Doctorate in tactics and strategy.

The usual mindnumbing yawnfest from Paradox complete with enough statistical and numerical micromanagement to be the stuff of wet dreams for accountants. Sure these games are clever and try to think of everything but that is the problem so that you get taken along as a flailing passenger. What these games seem to forget is that the leaders in history had a raft of advisors (some good some bad) who actually sat down with you and tried to make sense of all the numbers and help you make an informed decision on a course of action. Working in a vacuum with more numbers than an aircraft carrier full of accountants would know what to do with is not a game it is just an exercise in egotistical masochism!

About as exciting as watching paint dry and as time consuming as getting a degree in nuclear physics. The sheer randomness and volume of events makes any attempt at getting a handle on things almost pointless!

Another spectacular yawnfest from Paradox! These games are potentially fascinating, but for most of us with lives, jobs and families and maybe only an hour a day max for some gaming time, any Paradox game will thus take you 2 years to complete one game not really an option.

This is a really bad game and marks the death hopefully of COD as we know it dictating a total revamp of the series. I got halfway through the campaign and even though I usually finish most games couldn't drag myself to the end of this and uninstalled it. Skip all the annoying Strikeforce missions which just detract from a nonsensical and poorly written story in the campaign. The campaign is tedious and just over the top and missions consist of you running around in overblown Hollywood epic cutscenes and your interaction with the story/mission is minimal. The first Black Ops although not requiring any intelligence (but then you don't play these games to further your intellect) was at least an enjoyable romp through bits of history. The flashbacks to the 80s are the only mildly entertaining aspect of this game, the action set in 2025 is just boring and often confusing, it would be nice if you could skip it and just play the 80s missions. Pick it up for $5 in a sale but otherwise DO NOT pay $60 it is DEFINITELY not worth it

Great festering pile of frustrating rubbish!!! Appalling voice dialogue, dull, dark dungeon crawling with an annoying amount of spiders and towards the end of the game after all that frustration the game takes forever to load and sometimes doesn't load at all. Complete waste of time stay well away!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not a bad little game, just don't expect too much from it. Graphics are pretty bland and the story for the most part is fairly forgettable. I found the side quests slightly annoying and frustrating so didn't do many of them. However for a few hours cheap and fun entertainment it's worth it and let's face it this is a very under represented genre of the gaming industry. Go in with few expectations but worth a play if you can get it for $5 or less.

I am giving this a score of 2 as it does have technical merit. The designers put a HUGE amount of work into this game and as all the other reviews state this is a massive and very intricately designed world. However, with the risk of being controversial it is an outdated game and I found it overall a very bleak and depressing experience. The world feels soulless and like some fantasy world post nuclear apocalypse. There is so much reading to do that after a while you feel you should be curled up on the sofa with a Tolkien trilogy and a good glass of wine instead of trying to play a game. As a result tedium sets in very quickly and with the by today's standards rather ugly and disjointed graphics it just becomes too much of slog to get to the end. I think you either love or hate this game. The haters are obviously the minority but we do exist - sorry!

Really tedious game with very little strategy and ridiculously strong and unbalanced AI even on easy level. Pretty graphics is the only thing going for it. Exercise in frustration - stay away!