Geneforge 5 - Review @ GameTunnel

Yet another Geneforge 5 review where the author has limited exposure to genuine cRPGs, which is a shame given that GameTunnel is a dedicated indie site. The recommendation is "try" and here's a snip:

Geneforge is a point-and-click RPG, so many of its aspects are similar to games like Diablo. Travel and interactions are all done with the mouse (and a healthy assortment of hotkeys). The combat is where Geneforge shines, and is fairly unique in my opinion. The battles were turn-based, and involved all the characters in the field. There was no separate battle screen, no chaotic "real-time" fighting, or other perversions of turn-based battles (WoW... cough, cough).

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Geneforge 5 is a game made for crpg veterans. It is a "try" for newbies.
I would start with Geneforge 1.
I can recommend the series for every gamer who has some patience to play challenging old school crpg games with many choices and consequences.
Geneforge is very good in the categories character building and item crafting.
Play on the "Normal" difficulty setting, higher difficulty levels are for Avernum/Geneforge experienced gamers only.

I have to say I liked the review actually. It seems like exactly the type of game I would like and I believe his recommendations are fair for people who did not play this kind of game before: Try before buy.

Well, I disagree. It's an honest review from his personal perspective but it means a dedicated indie site is really experienced with AAA games (Diablo and WoW are referenced) or shmups and Bejeweled clones. Does a dedicated indie site really need to address their reviews to players of WoW?

Otherwise, it tells me nothing about the gameplay (other than wailing about walls of text). I find out nothing out the factions or depths of choices - only that it's Diablo-ish because it uses a mouse. Bleh.

I agree - they might well have said "it is an old-school indie RPG of a type that isn't appealing to me but apparently some folks love, but there is a huge demo that is a quick download so give it a try!"

Heck, I like that sentence better than the review!

The impression I got was:

- Diablo point and click,
- Lots of text,
- Lots of complexity.

The review is too shallow to be very useful.