WorthPlaying recently had the pleasure of reviewing Hammer & Sickle, and they seem quite pleased. The game was released in the US in December, while the Europeans has to stay patient until quarter one 2006. You can find more information at the official site, and the WorthPlaying review here.

"WorthPlaying recently had the pleasure of reviewing Hammer & Sickle, and they seem quite pleased.(...)"

On the other hand, at GameSpy they have had the displeasure of reviewing H & S, and they seemed quite displeased...

::

Reviewers; go figure.

Indeed . Both has been posted here, and if people wants to read more reviews they can check out GameRankings.com

"(...) and if people wants to read more reviews they can check out GameRankings.com"

I guess that with a 61% average we'd have to agree it fell a bit below expectations, Olav.

::

Still, not too shabby, considering it is mostly a souped-up mod, and the wide spectrum of opinions voiced...

True enough. Then again, after reading the Aftershock reviews, I've pretty much lost faith in reviewers

Hi Slaughter,

PCGamer just came out with reviews of both H&S and UFO-AS. They gave H&S a 61/100, noting that the gameplay was "unforgivably unforgiving", and that its "a masochists-only affair." Unfortunately, based on my experience, I have to agree. For UFO-AS, they gave it a 51/100, noting that it had a terrible enemy AI, and that gameplay was boring and repetitive. Sadly, once again my own experience mirrors that of PCGamer.

I have to agree with FGbrooks' comments.

I don't understand how a beautifull game engine (SS) cannot be properly exploited to greate a vastly superior tactical game.

I can only hope that they will eventually publish a game based on the above engine that will be of grander scale and be more open ended ALA JA.

Well, I'm not saying that their rating of H&S is wrong. I haven't played the game yet, so I really wouldn't know. I'm just saying that I haven't been too impressed with the reviews I've seen of Aftershock so far. And giving Aftershock 51 out of 100 is ridicules in my book. I would love to see what scores they have given similar games. Then again, I heard they gave Aftermath 61 out of 100? That's enough for me.

The content of the review is the most important part, but quite a few people would skip reading the Aftershock review strictly based on the score. I don't think Aftershock is perfect, but it's a pretty good game, and surely the best we've had in this genre in a LONG time. Opinions are subjective of course, but if you compare it to the other reviews they've written of similar games, I'm sure it will look unfair.

I picked the game up, and so far I like it even better than S2.

This game is pretty hard, but the storyline moves in a very interesting fashion. I think I'm doing quite a few things wrong. I have one soldier who can sneak around an entire map knifing any troublesome troops, but I don't think that's the moral high ground.

I just finished a pretty gory mission. Someone spotted my sneaky gal. She got a couple kills, but when she turned to run, she took a burst in the back and went unconscious. Fidel was nearby with his light machine gun. I thought he'd be toast, as there were quite a few people in between him and my downed soldier, but he managed to burst his way forward and pick her up. Just then, re-inforcements popped in. I had my other two guys in good position, and they took out most of a squad with grenades. They were hiding in a two story building, and quite a few enemy soldiers took position below them, but I trapped the doors and they weren't coming up. Fidel ran up and threw some dynamite in the window. This took out half the squad, but it also opened up the flooring and allowed my two guys above to rain fire down.

Only problem is I got ambushed on the next screen...we'll see if I can survive that.

Sounds like you got some heavy action! Looking forwards to giving the game a spin when it comes to Europe.

Just started playing and I can see why they think it's so hard. On the first level if you get spotted your 100% dead according to my findings. But I LOVE the silent storm engine. Man it puts the ufo aftershock engine to shame! And plus it's been out for how many years now? 1 or 2 at least i think.

Silent Storm was released October 2003 in Europe. It was released even earlier in Russia, so it's at least 2.5 years old. Pretty impressive!

Well it's certainly cheap enough at present. Pre-order at Amazon is £16.99.

The game sounds promising from what everyone is saying but my main concern is time. How the heck am I going to fit it in amongst all the other recent purchases?

I have read some post where gamers are dissapointed to that the game is too short. I think RPG-games should be short. That's just good thing for replaying those. I hope that I have time to play at least once this spectacle.

Games like first Deux Ex and Morrow Winds are marvelous but who have time/interest to start from begin after many-many hours of playing... just to select other main character and to see what happen if you do different choices?

That's all... (still waiting an European release)