Another of those uncut gems most likely never receiving any polishment.
Nice ideas, almost everything "borrowed" from other games, and released when it is exactly 85% complete.
But wait a minute, "dis is not a russian invention" as Pavel Checkov would state.
Gamespot lists a swedish, a german and a US based company responsible for this conspiracy against our wishes as gamers to have fun.
You realize what this means? It's spreading westward my friends, and soon all of Europe will be crushed by the forces of evil, bringing you unfinished games appealing only to those who have learned the fine arts of masochism.
And then the USA will fall to the hordes of sh***y games unless some hero can save the world, say... Duke Nukem? Oh.
OK, you're doomed too, let's get on with the review:
Storm is easily described as Hearts-Of-Iron-Light, being a turn based strategy game without the need to research 17 levels of wrenches just to find the one you need to fix your tank.
Everything is streamlined and fast, but fortunately not to the point when the gameplay would feel shallow. A simple research interface seems enough since all those gizmos cost quite some money, leading you to questions about quality or quantity. Fair enough so far.
But the speed has a price tag. Just like in Civilization 4, when you hit "End Turn", everything is executed at once, making you feel you'd need 8 computer monitors and a digitized mind to grab it all.
And when this madness is over and you try to get in touch with your troops you'd better be ready for the next shock assault:
There is no way to at least cycle through your troops, there is no map, and the game has a nasty tendency to mix up "skip turn" and "fortify" orders, so there is a good chance it "forgets" about some of your units.
Allright, time to end this rant. What are the good sides?
The water is drawn nicely and would not make any Silent Hunter reincarnation feel too wrong, and it really takes some time before you realize that you're watching the wrong movie...
Oh, and just between the two of us: Isn't it russian at all? With all the stuttering after a while (not from memory leaks but from infinite loops)?
How about the combat log ever persistent but never usefull?
Really not russian?
Dang, my gaming world just shattered.
How about going back to Pong?
Yes i know, but at least it worked.