Reviews written by Rift_FasterThanLight

feeling dull? bored?

pop open this game. And prepare to be delighted...and frustrated. Yes. Very, very frustrated.

i mean that in the pleasurable way, of cousre, considering the rating i give it.=]

It's free. You get 25 (i think) levels of pure puzzling. You must think your way through roaches, trap doors, hitting the right knobs, tar (which can only be cut with specific rules), supersmart goblins, little wraithwings (they look like bats), blue spiders which literally camouflage into the floor, hidden walls which can be broken with your sword, and a whole level (yes, LEVEL) that is one. giant. maze. oh yeah.

If you like trigger-happy action, this game is NOT for you. you will be insanely frustrated. If you like thinking, pondering, trying to figure out what to do to solve the damn puzzle (and yes, there's almost always more than one way), then prepare...


prepare to have a braingasm. I know i did. =]

10 out of 10.

while it lacks the complexity i enjoy in many other strategy games, Second Conflict is a great simple game to play with your friends.

Combat is simple, although control over it is very limited. There are warships, stealth ships, troop ships, missiles, troops, defenses, and a great deal of customizing available for each game you play. Random events spice things up, and the graphics are excellent for such a simple game.

If you enjoy quick strategy romps, you'll love this game. However, if you scoff at simplicity, you should best skip it over.

Pardon the pun. i had to.

Descent II is what all FPS should be like. ALL. Never mind the jump button in Halo, or Counterstrike, or whatever. There IS no jump button in Descent II. Fighting in Zero-G, sliding and strafing to the left and the right as well as up and down in fully 3-D environments is what TRUE FPS is.

The levels are scary. not as scary as, say, System Shock 2, but scary in its own right. Robots pop from hidden compartments, drain your energy, blind you, and to top it all off, ambushes in FULL 3-D.

A huge variety of secrets can be explored, by smashing panels and opening doors in creative ways, and a plethora of weapons await your disposal.

If you're willing to brace yourself for the 3-D (emphasis again) environment, be prepared for the thrill of your life. Once in a while, even after you've accustomed yourself to descent flight, you'll still find yourself peering at weird angles at your monitor, trying to see what's behind that corner.

Thought the DOS version was cool, but the graphics were...DOSsy? Descent II has been revived by the omnipotent internet. All you have to do is have the original files for this game, and you can play a variety of "updated" versions, from D2X-XL to d2 rebirth, all of which focus on different aspects of modernizing this never-to-be-imitated classic.

And yes, you can play coop missions. with friends. in Zero-G. How cool is that?

The best way to play this game is with another human or humans over LAN. While the AI is challenging for a while, as soon as you research past a certain level, or get hulls any bigger than destroyer, the game becomes stupidly easy.

the AI will NEVER. EVER build anything higher than destroyer. its strongest fleet is a group of 21 destroyers (max fleet amount able to engage in a battle), which a single battleship mid-to late game will easily crush.

The espionage is ridiculously useless.

The upside: customization. Although some races come "stocked", it is a feature to allow race customization, from temperature to certain traits such as "psychic", which allows you to see all sectors. While some traits, such as espionage, are completely useless, and the value of some traits (research...) is overpowered, the customization of races is still great fun.

Ships!

Ahh, ships. pax imperia has perhaps the greatest design ever for ship customization. Each hull is decked with a certain number of points. Each component costs a certain number of points. As your research level increases, not only do you uncover new technologies, but the space (point cost) needed for old components become gradually more reduced. Even after researching the tech tree (which is not too easy to do), the research points can either be channeled into maintenance, production, or simply to reduced further the sizes of your components.

Other games should take a look at pax imperia's model of ship customization, though they would be wise to leave everything else out.

Definitely THE most epic of all TurnBasedStrategy games ever created (albeit the graphics are...lacking, almost literally). The gameplay is openended, extremely complex, and the AI is quite potent. The details of gameplay has already been described.

If you want to start playing this game, be sure to read the manual first! This is ONE game you won't be able to just learn on the fly.

The author George has repacked this for Windows as well, adding cute little planet and stargate graphics, as well as lifting the "9999" limit which plagued the DOS version. This (and the old one as well) can be found at www.neurohack.com. However, it IS missing the terraforming technology, as well as several little bonus additions, so if you want to be old school, the DOS version is the way to go.