Recent reviews by Comanche6

10/10 would slaughter heretics again.

10/10 would mine again.

Completed our latest major order over the weekend, against the interdimensional SOYN faction. Great IRL meta, would play again.
10/10

Found this game by accident looking for another game. Destructoid.com said it "...conjures up memories of Wizardry". Was not disappointed.

I knew I loved this game when it told me I was Too High To Land. I sure was.

An OSR D&D West Marches-style sandbox campaign come true. Been waiting for something like this for a long time!

Ghost Recon Online or GR:O, Ubisoft's first free 2 play shooter/MMO offering, has a steep learning curve, but if you can climb that curve, you'll be hooked like a junky. Billed as a "shooter", this is actually a 3rd-person, cover-based, tactical game which takes teamwork, communication, patience and skill to master (imagine that!). You will start the game in a newbie garden in which you can level, unmolested by veterans, until level 5. Then, you will be unceremoniously and rather hashly dropped into the "real thing", and be matched against new players and veterans alike, some of whom have been playing the closed and open betas for over a year and then you will have your ass handed to you. Matchmaking is currently a hit-and-miss thing due to low volumes of beta testers and early access players, but as the number of players increases, the quality of matchmaking will as well.

Each match features a differing team objective, such as Conquest or Holdout. And this really is a team objective, you won't be able to take or hold points on the map without teamwork and communication so plug in that headset mic. You will also discover that the highest ranked players in every match will typically also do the most work to take and hold objectives: much of the scoring is based is based on captures, assists and attacks or defenses, which are all related to map objectives. You can top the scoreboards in a match without scoring the most kills.

There are 3 classes: Assault, Recon and Specialist and you can level each independently. Assaults have the best armour, carry assault rifles and shotguns and can make use of a riot shield device called Blitz and an area suppression device called Heat. Assault players are typically aggressive and are on the point or beyond it, trying to take the next one. Recon players have relatively poor armour but can carry sniper rifles or submachineguns and have a Predator-style cloak called Cloak (appropriately) or a radar-type device called Oracle. Recon players are typically sneaky and are sniping to kill/pin down the enemy or sneaking around behind enemy lines and being a nuisance. In both cases, good Recon players continually highlight where the enemy is and what they are doing. The Specialist class features middle of the road armour with light machineguns or shotguns. Their devices are the Aegis, an electromagnetic shield which deflects bullets, or Blackout, an electromagnetic pulse which stuns the enemy and disables all enemy devices. The "anchor" class, you will find these guys holding lanes, flanking or providing flank protection and generally putting bullet holes into everything.

Each match will earn you Requisition Points or RP. You can also earn Ghost Coins or GC for monthly events or you can buy them for "real" currency. Either RP or GC can be used to buy guns and gear, which works on a tiered system, similar to World of Tanks: you have to purchase and level the Tier 1 item to get a Tier 2 item. However, Limited Edition (LE) gear of any Tier can be purchased for RP or GC, even though you don't have the previous Tier(s). Despite common misconception, the difference between equipment of differing Tiers is slight. For instance, a Tier 7 assault rifle will kill another player in fractions of a second faster than a Tier 5 rifle, which makes flanking and getting the drop on your opponents all the more important than standing face-to-face and blazing away. These also require skill and timing to use. Sniping is hard. Automatic weapons have recoil and aiming characteristics which means that Call of Duty run and gun, spray and pray tactics will get you killed more often than not. You will find players grabbing cover and holding a point, much to the chagrin of COD veterans, who will most likely accuse them of camping: but in this game, it's not.

The Steam version is an early access beta client delivered by Steam for Canadian users only (don't know why, cause we're nicer?) and is fully interoperable with the non-Steam open beta client, available from their website for your territory. The full Steam release is set for summer. If you're buying GC, the non-Steam client uses a differing payment processor than the Steam version, that's the only difference for now: you're still playing with the full community.

So if you're looking for the finest in tactical online gameplay, this is your choice. In the words of a Red Orchestra designer: "Call of Duty has almost ruined a generation of shooter players". Don't be one of them.

Your chance to shape history. See the world through a dictator's eyes or form a democratic coalition and bring your brand of tyrrany to the world. This is an engrossing wargame with many play options.