User Reviews (1 - 11 of 14)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

Not my favorite

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 20
Date: February 04, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Silent Storm is a fairly good game but as others have said there's quite a few bugs. I put up with the bugs in Sacred because I loved the game but this Encore game is not my favorite.

dont buy this game

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 32
Date: March 11, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I tossed this game in the trash can...very boring...silly may be a better word.

Best strategy game since Jagged Alliance 2 , hands down...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 8
Date: January 29, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This is without a doubt the best tactical strategy/RPG game Ive played since Jagged Alliance 2. You simply owe it to yourself to buy this game, it brings hours of amazing joy...

this game has the works

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 8
Date: July 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

i thought silant storm was a great game, not only were the graphics amazing but the way it is played is great as well.
You can destroy anything i mean anything if a doors locked shoot it if somethings in you'r way shoot it.

you can also make you'r own characters... their faces,voice,body all and all i gave this game a five out of five for great everything.

Awesome! But some flaws...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: February 25, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I saw this game at a local store for $20 and after looking at the box I had to buy this game.

When I installed this game I was blown away. The graphics are still beautiful despite the age of the game, it is fully 3d, there are destructible environments, tons of weapons, and an rpg element (your characters gain levels and you can choose some skills).

This is a turn based strategy game with some real time parts (when no enemies see you or are near you can walk around freely so that the things move along quickly).

There are a lot of missions which, sadly can be incredibly frustrating at times. There are even random encounters, which are pretty exciting at first. Unfortunately the main missions and the random encounters lose their appeal after a short while.

There is hardly any replay value for this game--even playing as the axis instead of the allies gets boring quickly as some of the levels turn out to be the same--except you are attacking a base instead of defending.

Combat can be pretty fun, although most of the times it seems a little lame (after the initial fun wears off). Why? Usually combat means standing as far away as possible and firing my rifles at enemies who are firing their rifles at me. (I give each of my characters a rifle and a machine gun and grenades of course, which essentially makes them ready for every situation).

I'll admit that being able to destroy everything in this game is fun, but at times it just gets annoying. In some levels there are explosive barrels lying around everywhere and if you hit them or if your character throws a grenade in the wrong place it can seriously screw you over. I'm not talking about dying but finding out after 20+ minutes of playing that the area you need to go to is now inaccessible because of the explosive barrels or grenade blew up the path. This has happened frequently. In one case I had to pick up some scienties lying around somewhere but the grenades had blown up so much of the building I couldn't even reach him. This was after 30 minutes of fighting and sweating. Obviously it isn't fun to restart.

Looting is probably one of the most exciting parts of the game. Picking up new useful weapons from your foes is just as fun as playing an rpg and digging through treasure chests.

One problem involving the loot though, is that when you kill someone and the items fall, it can sometimes take minutes for the items to fall on the ground properly. What I mean is that the item has to travel from the character to the ground. Sometimes this doesn't happen properly. I've seen rifles spinning around on the ground for several minutes (and you have to wait while this happens). I've also seen items fall through the ground and disappear. Strange.

If this game were multiplayer it would probably be the most played game in the world. Sadly it doesn't look like there will ever be a multiplayer version of this game. I would love to play against people online.

One last note: if you are expecting only to use authentic weapons, then you will be disappointed. There are some "experimental" weapons included in this game, such as lazers and battle armor. I think they are intereting weapons and they are fun to use, but wish they hadn't been included.

Overall, this is a great game and you should try it out.

The turn-based squad tactics game we've all been waiting for

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: December 27, 2003
Author: Amazon User

A wonderful gem, particularly for fans of classics like the X-COM and Jagged Alliance games. Turn-based gaming in a 3D environment that is fully destructible. Add to that a broad range of interesting weapons and equipment and customizable characters. Load on top of that a really impressive physics engine for the environment, objects and character ragdolling. Heap on that full moddability and several total conversions already in the works, not to mention an official expansion pack already underway.

I understand the complaints about balance later in the game, I can only say that I expect someone out there to do something about it in a mod. The game plays great, even with the imbalance, but I'm sure someone will want to play a game without any Panzerkleins or maybe the reverse, with all PKs. Either way, it's great fun and I don't expect it to lose steam any time soon.

Best new turn-based tactical game out there

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: December 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Silent Storm is not an innovative game. It borrows all its elements from its predecessors - X-Com, Fall-Out BOS and the late UFO. What makes S2 such a great game is its level of execution. Putting it simply - it's very well done. It is very easy to learn but still has nice depth of play. The AI is nice if not very creative. The verity of environments and equipment is good. But most important, the graphics and sound are superb. This game offers loads of fun to all you frustrated turn-based fans (I know you're out there) and gives new hope to this flickering genre.
You can choose to play either the allies campaign or the axis campaign. The story line is okay but doesn't really matter. This game is about squad based tactics. So if you loved BOS, this game is definitely for you. You manage a squad of up to 6 soldiers with some level of specialization. The game starts real-time and moves to turn based once combat is initiated. Except for your hero, the rest of the squad is replaceable, although this is somewhat problematic as the pool of recruits does not grow (or improve) as you gain experience.
The environment is beautifully detailed and completely destructible (yeah baby!). This feature alone opens a whole new set of possible tactical solutions to some otherwise tight spots. The excellent sound also helps understand what's going on and anticipate enemy activity. These add up to an extremely immersive gaming experience.
The two elements missing from this game are the economic factor (you get all your equipment for free on top of being able to loot the levels) and base building (notice I'm actually wishing for a WWII style x-com...). Nevertheless, this is still a great game and I can't wait for the release of the sequel - Silent Storm Sentinels (S3)

Flawed gem.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 13
Date: December 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Ever played any of the Jagged Alliance games? This is quite similar, but set in WWII.

You can play as either Axis or Allies. You're a leader of special operations unit; you can customize the details of your own PC (attributes, face, clothes, etc.), and can pick five other team-members from 25 available - each with their own personality.
The main storyline remains same, but otherwise the campaigns are largely random. You start with only one available mission, but there's usually more than one 'clue' (documents, enemies that can be interrogated, etc.) in most missions, leading to other missions. Go to northern England to investigate a lead about a possible spy, or inventigate an abandoned German outpost, or perhaps commit an assault into a German weapons testing site? Your choice. (The clues vary in each new campaign, so no two campaigns are the same.)

The game is real-timed outside of combat, but in combat it switches to turn-based. You take turns with the enemy, trying to kill them before they kill you; with enough force, anything can be destroyed. I was inside a house, shot a full clip of ammo (71) into a soldier with a machine gun, and it not only killed him, but also blew a huge hole in wall and threw the soldier's body through that hole. Ouch. Full ragdoll physics - objects behave just like you'd expect them to. Bodies topple over railings or down slopes when shot. Grenades bounce off walls, etc.

This game is almost perfect in all aspects (assuming that you like this genre), but there's one major (at least to me) flaw:
At roughly halfway thru the campaigns you encounter Panzerkleins. They're sort of single-person 'battle suits' - slow, and invulnerable to normal weapons. You also get plasma guns and that sort of equipment at that point. The game, which has felt like an authentic WWII simulation until then, suddenly becomes science fiction. Silent Storm would've already been good enough without addition of such cheap gimmicks. ...and once you get Panzerkleins for your own team, all enemies that don't have them become pushovers. Machine guns, grenades, missiles - everything bounces right off from the armor. In short, poorly balanced. I wish that there were an option to turn them off - but they're an internal part of the campaigns.

Excellent gaming

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: June 24, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Remember the days when Turn-Based gaming dominated the scene? Civilization, X-COM, etc. Such great games. Soon, though, Warcraft 2 and Command & Conquer came, displacing turn-based strategy and ushering an era of twitch strategy, gaming that rewarded high-paced multitasking instead of deep thought.

Silent Storm is a throwback to the Turn-Based days, and a very welcome one. Many developers came close to returning, but bowed to the market and instead released unsatisfying games that had "real time with pausing." That's no way to release a squad tactics game.

The first thing you notice about S2 is the engine. It's a beautiful engine, though it requires a bit of horsepower. Rag-doll physics are in full effect, and highlighted as the fatal shots are often zoomed in upon.

The gameplay itself is perfect until the balance is ruined near the end, but you'll have had so much fun getting there that it won't bother you too much. There's also a great deal of time to invest in this game, and a great deal of personality to shine within it.

Not that it's all perfect aside from the ending. The 3D camera can be a problem at times as manipulating it becomes a task. Also, the ground is no longer tile based as the case in Jagged Alliance 2 and X-COM, so taking baby steps can sometimes be a hassle. You'll see perfect cover a short ways away but be unable to position yourself behind it.

If you want a chess-like duel of squads, though, this is the only satisfying fix still on the market, and it's highly recommended. This game will use your brain and your cunning, which is an excellent compliment.

Purchase this game.

I wanted to like this game, but...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: July 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I didn't as much as I wanted.

Let me start out by saying that I loved XCOM I and III and Jagged Alliance I and II. Initial impressions of Silent Storm were very similar and there were so many things to like. It ran smoothly, the commands were intuitive, the graphics were great, the game engine was great, each squad member had a personality.

I won't repeat all the good things about the game, because you can read those in the other reviews. However I started to notice AI behavior for certain (not all) enemy troops. They would find a hiding place and wait. You could sit for hours and they would not move.

If you knew where they were, you could toss in a grenade, but often they were on the map and you didn't know where. I would send my best scout crawling through the underbrush ahead of my units. The problem was that they were so well hidden, that he could not see them. He only be a few yards away when they spotted him and opened up - instant dead scout.

It is very much the same as those ships in XCom II where the aliens would wait around a corner and you knew that first man to step around it would die. As near as I can tell - there is nothing you can do about it. I don't mind losing men to bad luck or mistakes, but I hate where a game design "forces" you to lose a man to proceed.

Still a good game - just not "great."

Review Page: 1 2 Next 

Actions