Starship Troopers: Terran Command [DLC] Raising Hell – The Gehenna Rumble

The bugs are back with a vengeance and this time they are harassing humanity on the volcanic planet of Gehenna. Raising Hell is more of the same, however with the killing now taking place in an extremely hostile environment – for both man and bug. There is more than just the mobile infantry fighting the crawly critters this time around, as private money-seeking mercenaries join in on the fun. With money being their primary concern, these units come with a different flavor. They are as good at destroying bugs as their brothers in the Marines, making the case that the promise of coin can be a potent motivator indeed.

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Xenonauts 2 [Early Access] – Round Three

We are back at it boys! It’s time for round three of the Xenonauts 2 Early Access Beta. The game is now feature complete according to the developers. We have also entered milestone 2, which has extended Xenonauts 2 in several ways. I’m a bit unsure about the 180-day limit since I haven’t reached that far yet in my current playthrough. Hopefully, that block is now also gone.

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Star Trek: Infinite – Resistance Is Futile

In preparation for Star Trek: Infinite I played a couple of different civilizations in Stellaris with all the minor and major DLCs. While I think it’s a pretty good game, especially now that it has been expanded through countless patches and expansions, I always seem to run into the same issue: total statement and lack of a real purpose. After a while, the galaxy just seems to stop, and kinda “settles in” with nothing major going on, and with that stopping your own civilization’s purpose (this is with roleplaying in mind). The sandbox nature of the game can only take me so far, and I can’t say the silly randomly generated civilizations you meet help much with this. This is where Star Trek: Infinite comes in.

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Xenonauts 2 [Early Access] – Round Two

I just finished the Early Access 180-day romp of Xenonauts 2 once again, and I got to say, I’m much more favorable to it this time. All in all, I just had a really swell time battling the aliens. The story is shaping up to be something more interesting beyond “the aliens are coming”. The battles are fun, and so are all the research and upgrades you can get for your men and vehicles (air fleet included).

Just going by that, I highly recommend the game, it is an improvement over Xenonauts, and you can’t be too picky when you are a lover of the X-com-like genre in the first place. However, Xenonauts 2 suffers currently from one major issue, and I’m afraid if this is not remedied it will make the whole alien-blasting adventure feel utterly lackluster.

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Jagged Alliance 3 – Mercenaries Unite

One of the most abused, but beloved turn-based tactical PC franchises is back with another game. Earlier attempts go from abysmal to somewhat playable but often lacking soul. Through some fantastic luck (and skill?) this time it actually captures the classic feeling and is fun to boot. Jagged Alliance 3 has the essence of what once was, which is a rare instance of something old being updated to modern times and still manages to retain an old-school gaming feeling. It’s not without faults though. For example, the laptop shenanigans from Jagged Alliance 2 have been transferred over, but it has not been fully explored, which makes it feel like a cheap copy of the original. The basics are there, yet, all the fun flair, or at least most of it, is gone. The A.I.M mercenary recruitment page no longer comes off as a normal website either. Luckily other parts have much more effort put into it – like the combat, and story, which in turn makes this a worthwhile sequel to a fabled game.

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