Reviews by Clarborne

Europa Universalis IV: Cradle of Civilization
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Nice, but quite expensive for what you get

As somebody who has >300 hours on EU4, I just about got my money's worth out of this. For me, the army professionalism and military drill features are very good and give the game more depth when playing any country in the world. (rather than only the countries on continent X or countries with religion Y ect...) I find the enhancements to the Muslim world nice but are only secondary compared to the drill and army professionalism features.

However, the drawback of this DLC is that it costs almost as much as a regular game in and of itself. If I only liked this game as much as I do on Civilization (

by Clarborne, New Zealand - Jan 16th 2018

Company of Heroes 2 - The Western Front Armies
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Game is OK, but port is bad

The game is OK, but there is no cross-platform multiplayer, which means that there is no-one online to play with. Worse still, the performance of the port is quite poor (linux) which forces me to turn down my graphic settings in order to get a playable framerate. The game is OK, but these issues suck much of the fun out of it.

by Clarborne, United Kingdom - Feb 28th 2017

Tropico 5
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OK

Ok game, but it can get a little dull if your not a fan of the city building genre. If you are thinking of buying this because of the politics aspect or the military aspect but aren't interested in the city building aspect, then I would not recommend this game. The main aspect of this game is the city building aspect and this is what everything else revolves around.

by Clarborne, United Kingdom - Jun 17th 2016

Stellaris
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Fun and entertaining, but needs more meat

The gameplay is very good, but there isn't as much depth to the game as other paradox releases. For example, diplomacy, pop-management (i.e. uprisings) and ground invasions are all very barebones and need alot of work. The UI is also quite underdeveloped and there is a lot of clocking required in order to management a planet (e.g. no 'upgrade all buildings' or 'dismantle all science labs' ect...

Despite all of these flaws, Stellaris is a very fun game to play. If you are unsure about it I would recommend waiting a few months (for polishing) and look at the state of the game then.

by Clarborne, United Kingdom - Jun 12th 2016

Crusader Kings II: Way of Life
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Adds flavour to the game

The new storylines (event chains) that come with this DLC are fun and entertaining. The biggest gripe I have with these is that there aren't many different "stories" for each focus. For example, I find my character hunting the great white stag every time I choose hunting, and it soon becomes predictable and not as good.

by Clarborne, United Kingdom - May 11th 2016

Europa Universalis IV: El Dorado
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Good and immersive

The american religions part of this works very well in part with the other DLCs. Playing as a native in central america is very difficult but challenging. The gameplay is that you have to vassalise the other realms in the region order to enact reforms. When you enact one, the vassals break free and this keeps happening until you modernize your religion. The doom mechanic prevents you from simply conquering all the other nations because if you do so then your nation will implode.

The nation designer seems ok but isn't really my thing. The treasure fleets make colonial nations more profitable by sending you goodies (gold) every once in a while.

by Clarborne, United Kingdom - May 10th 2016

Rising World
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Mixed

This has the potential to be a great game, but so far only the foundations for one are in place. The game is very barebones at the moment and if you don't like to build, there isn't really a whole lot to do in the game. Many features have yet to be added to the game and when things like water and ruins are added to it the exploration side will become more interesting.

by Clarborne, United Kingdom - May 10th 2016

Europa Universalis IV: The Cossacks
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Good addon, but not worth £10

The features of the addon are fun and well thought out. The horde mechanics add flavor to the nomad nations and the estates mechanism adds some depth (and a nice minigame) to internal management. However, I have a couple of gripes with this:

- There aren't many types interactions you can do with your estates. There's only about 5-6, for each estate, which may sound like a fair amount, until you realize that you can only use each one every ten years, and most of them are locked out unless the faction has enough influence (power) in your country.
- The only two ways of gaining loyalty (aside from events, but the player can't control these) with the estates. The first is to use an interaction to pay some money/prestige (that can only be used every 10 years) and the next is to give them some land. This feels a bit limiting.

This expansion is definitely fun and a worthwhile addition to the game, but I don't think it's worth the pricetag that paradox is giving. At 50% off i'd say it's worth it, and at 75% it's a steal. But $15-$20 dollars is just too high.

by Clarborne, United Kingdom - Apr 16th 2016

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