HIGH Mechanically satisfying. Surprisingly evocative art and character design.
LOW The premise is thin. The quality of unlockable cards per character is uneven.
WTF Who do we need to bribe to get a daily challenge mode?
HIGH A richly detailed operational WW2 strategy that plays smoothly for wargame vets.
LOW The lack of handholding can be overwhelming for newcomers.
WTF Why are the aerial operations so fussy if the AI automation is turned off?
When it comes to sci-fi settings that stretch beyond the stars, it feels like the stories too often land on a spectrum between Star Trek’s pristine bureaucracy of benevolent space colonialism and the mythopoetic swashbuckling of benevolent space colonialism in Star Wars. Star Dynasties, the latest grand strategy from Iceberg Interactive and Pawley Games, tries to have it both ways by using a galaxy-shaping disaster as the excuse to dive headfirst into the administrivia of intergalactic feudalism, texturing its space colonialism with a tangled web of shadows and political intrigue.
HIGH Flashes of brilliant design. Solid arcade-style training modes.
LOW Weapons are frustratingly underpowered. Progression is too grindy.
WTF Why can’t I preview the items I’m buying for my ship?
One of the most difficult challenges as a game critic is finding the right set of words when something finds its voice through a collection of tiny revisions to existing genre conventions. Steady and competent genre work doesn’t leap off the page and excite a writer’s fingertips with the same intensity as Something New.
HIGH A refreshingly tactile presentation of action at the pool table.
LOW Sparse tutorialization, thin sound design, uninteresting career modes.
WTF Why aren’t players allowed to lag for the right to break first?
HIGH Brilliant illustrations, solid writing, great music.
LOW Poor AI/pathfinding, uneven balance, large armies are awkward to control.
WTF It’s 2020 – why are we still putting stealth missions into RTS games?
HIGH Excellent emulation quality. Some great console rarities included.
LOW No supplemental material, no sound test mode.
WTF A Darius collection without Zuntata’s music front and center?!?
HIGH Fantastic turn-based action, surprising punches of solid writing.
LOW Simplistic strategic layer, cautious tactical AI, strategic UI is rough.
WTF The emperor of the Holy Gustava Empire is named…Tim Gustav?
To convey a sense of Warhammer 40K‘s enormous impact on videogames, all I have to do is say the words “space marine”.
Recent Comments