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Sniper Elite: Resistance is very much worth your time if you have any interest in sniping, exploring maps in occupied France, or feeling like an action hero from WWII movies. The shooting mechanics, both at long-range and in close quarters, are fun and satisfying. There's nothing quite like using the sound of the thunderstorm to mask your sniper shots, or landing several silenced headshots from your pistol in a row. Gathering collectibles, unlocking attachments for your weapons, and finding new and interesting ways to tackle each objective gives Sniper Elite: Resistance a lot of replay value. Add in co-op mode, the Invasion mode, and all-out multiplayer, plus DLC and a season pass, and you'll be spending many hours behind enemy lines. If you're like me, it may just be the best time you've had in a stealth action game since Splinter Cell.
If there is a piece of good news here, I feel confident that Asobo will continue to resolve these issues and, given enough time, we'll end up with a Microsoft Flight Simulator that is as stable as 2020 and benefits from all the additional technical improvements. We're not there now though, and now is when folks have spent their money on this product. The '2024' title feels premature; this game needed another 6-12 months of development and testing. It's apparent that it's simply not ready and much more work is required before it is. Flight simmers now have to decide if they want to go back to 2020, like many have, or be the beta testers for 2024 and accept that it'll take time before things are better.
Star Trucker shows a lot of promise. Its ease of entry, limited learning curve, and beautiful environments promise many hours of enjoyment. However, this welcome simplicity is also one of its main drawbacks. There's so much more that could have been done to improve the user experience. The biggest problem, however, is the skewed economy. Resources essential for enjoying Star Trucker are too expensive and hard to come by, making it more of a power management simulator than a space truck simulator. Choosing an easier difficulty level may alleviate some of these issues, but it points to an overall imbalance in the game. Nevertheless, given its low price and easy approachability, Star Trucker can be a lot of fun for fans of space and truck simulations, but you may not want to visit this truck stop very often.
What stuck with me most about F1 Manager 2024 is how much I want to keep playing it. If Civilization is known for "just one more turn," then F1 Manager 2024 tempts me with "just one more practice session," "just one more set of laps to tweak the car setup," or "just one more race to see if we can score some points." It keeps me coming back for more, and I'm excited to see how my custom Shacknews Racing team will evolve over the seasons. If you've ever wanted to experience what it's like to manage a Formula 1 team, you'll find countless hours of enjoyment here.
However, while F1 24 marks significant progress, it's not without its shortcomings. Persistent issues such as the lack of finesse in AI behavior and complexities in currency management detract slightly from the overall enjoyment. Moreover, support for enthusiast hardware remains inconsistent, and certain features like the absence of custom team entry in co-op career mode may disappoint some players. Despite these drawbacks, F1 24 remains a compelling choice for fans of the franchise, offering a thrilling and immersive racing experience worthy of consideration. F1 24 proves to be a worthwhile addition to the series, albeit with room for further refinement in future iterations.
Expeditions: A MudRunner Game is an interesting iteration on Saber Interactive's earlier off-road simulation titles that brings some new features while keeping the core challenge familiar to fans of the series. There is a lot of content available, though much of it inevitably boils down the main concept of having to deal with hard environments. Most of this works reasonably well, but some of the new additions feel a bit light and not as fully fleshed out as I'd like them to be. Overall, it is an enjoyable experience, but only the hardcore fans of the series are likely to make it through the hundreds of hours spent climbing over rocks and sinking into pits of mud.
After six years of waiting for the next iteration of Forza Motorsport, Turn 10 Studios delivers a solid offering, packed with hundreds of cars, upgrades, and tuning options, all bundled in a gorgeous presentation package. Not outstanding, but good support for racing hardware means that the experience on track is exactly what Forza fans have been waiting for. There is no doubt that hundreds of hours of fun can be found here, especially if you enjoy diving deep into each vehicle's characteristics. Featured online events backed by AI regulations promise to provide the opportunity to show off all the skills and customizations to your friends. I'd say it's time to hit the track and get practicing!
Despite some of those shortcomings and the fact that F1 23 doesn't fix issues that have persisted in the series for years, there is value here. Those that enjoy the Braking Point cinematic storyline, or are itching to improve their license tiers in single and multiplayer events, will find a lot of traction. For co-op and career mode enthusiasts, F1 23 offers much of the previous year's game, but bundles in some solid improvements under the hood.
F1 22 is still worthy of picking up if you don't own a VR headset, if only to experience the new car designs, new circuits, updated team rosters, and re-mastered sounds. Outside these flashy new features, the core of the game is unchanged from previous versions, for better or worse. As with many other EA annual titles, I wish more time was spent improving the guts of the series, particularly the AI behavior, instead of adding social features such as F1 Live, but the new VR implementation gives me hope. One can dream, right? Now excuse me, I'm due for another front wing replacement. Elbows out in turn 1, drivers!
Farming Simulator 22 shines the most when it is enjoyed with friends and expanded via mods. Giants Software has made this process easy by implementing add-ons directly into the game, allowing everyone regardless of platform to extend and prolong their farming enjoyment. If you're able to find a way to make a profit, or at least enjoy the struggle to get there, then Farming Simulator 22 should easily find a spot at the top of your game library.