Syrian Warfare: Return to Palmyra [DLC]

Welcome back, soldier. It’s time once again to defend the ancient city of Palmyra from the terrorist savages. It won’t be easy. Actually, I’m sure this campaign will be at least double as painful – so make sure the quick save button is ready to see some heavy action. Syrian Warfare: Return to Palmyra is an expansion with five more missions for you to battle out in the Middle East. While it’s still the same old war, you will control a different group of men this time around.

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Syrian Warfare – Terrorist Hunt

After playing Terminator: Dark Fate – Defiance, I wanted to try one of their previous games to see if it played any differently and to see if it was any fun. I’m very glad that I did, otherwise Syrian Warfare would have passed me by unnoticed which would have been a great shame. While my quick impressions of their new Terminator game weren’t all that positive (I blame it on mood at the time), Syrian Warfare is an excellent realistic RTS that everyone who likes the genre should play.

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Xenonauts 2 [Early Access] – Round Six (concerns)

This might come off as skitzo, considering I praised Xenonauts 2 in a recent update post about the game. After the patch fixed my issue (the wraith bug), I was allowed to continue playing the campaign. At first, everything was hunky-dory, but after a while, I started to notice some concerns. Xenonauts 2 seems way too easy now, specifically when you hit the next stage of weaponry, both for ground and air combat. I know I’m a bit of a veteran of the game by now, so that plays into it. However, the new weapon tiers, laser, and gauss trivialize the alien encounters. That alone wouldn’t be such a major problem if the aliens wear you down through attrition, yet, they don’t. The campaign has become way too passive, with very few UFOs and other missions between the research unlocking.

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Xenonauts 2 [Early Access] – Round Five

Yup, I’m back to it. You can say that I’m a tad Xenonauts 2 addicted. I dream of one day in the far-off future playing the full game before I wither away of old age and die (and probably be repurposed as food). To be fair, while the release takes its sweet time, we are closing in on that date with the latest release. Version 4.0.0 (prototype edition) was recently published in the experimental branch and I just had to give it a go. However, there is one problem. I didn’t get very far, because one bug kept popping up, annoying the hell out of me. Sometimes the wraiths bug out with a permanent t-pose. You can target and kill them by pressing down CTRL and using the free-fire mode. But any action they do beyond moving, and if they trigger any form of overwatch from you, the game/turn locks up, forcing a shutdown of the game. So, you can see why this is aggravating and is a snag on the general enjoyment.

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Star Trek: Away Team – Vulcan nerve pinch to Victory

When I was younger I loved Star Trek: Away Team, but with age, my taste in games has changed – well, at least certain time-consuming mechanics, like games resting on endless save & reloading. It’s still somewhat of a charming experience playing it now, however, being a Commandos clone there is A LOT of trial and error involved. That is not all, as this title also has a bit of a quirky and archaic control system. It undeniably adds up when half of your attempts fail due to control issues. Yet, as mentioned, it’s still appealing since it’s set in the Star Trek: The Next Generation timeline (best timeline), has nice looking retro graphics, excellent voice acting and presentation, and a pretty good story to boot.

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