Recent reviews by SmoothShake

L.A. Noire has the pleasure of being a game I both love and hate.
I love the story, the visuals, the idea.... near enough everything about this game is top quality.
I hate the port. I really wish I had bought this for console. Frame rate issues occur often and without warning and the frame rate limitor is even more annoying.
Buy this game, but buy it for console if you can. If you can't still buy it. You will spend hours studying the minute details of suspects' faces and not regret it at all. It's basically a period GTA where you're a cop and not a crook.

Total war is a great series. Shogun 2 is the crowning glory. It brings all the aspects that have made the series so popular together beautifully.
What makes it so good is probably due to its lack of flaws. Empire was buggy; Napoleon was too short a time frame; and Rome 2, well let us forget Rome 2.
It harks back to Medieval 2 and the original Rome where perfection came from simplicity and a sharp sight of what the game was trying to achieve. This combined with great visual fidelity and neat controls create a great game that I would suggest anybody interested in the series picks up first. It truly is the pinacle (so far) of the Creative Assembly's roster of games.

If you're looking for grand real time pausable stratagy game then look no further. In fact if you're looking for a stratagy game then look no futher. In fact if you're looking to waste large quantities of your life then look no further.
By far the most immersive and enjoyable of Paradox's games. The mixture of role playing with empire forging is a winning combination. The intrigue is fascinating; in no other game do you murder your heir to make way for your other son just for him to be assasinated by his wife a week later. This added to Paradox's expertise in creating games based around conquering and war has created a unique game which just has to be picked up by anyone with a passing interest in the stratagy genre.

Great game; definately a time soak. The reward of this game is definately in completeing challenges you set yourself. Whether it be getting into orbit or landing on Eeloo, each progressive step brings with it a sense of accomplishment which is rivalled by very few other games out there.
From a physics point of view its fairly solid. Mods can improve some of its weak points (drag being the main one).