Hammer and Sickle/Silent Storm discussion and questions

I read that Hammer and Sickle was developed as a mod for Silent Storm with its editor, then made into a stand alone game.

I have been playing Hammer and Sickle and am very impressed at the level of interaction with the environment the engine allows.
It seems more interactive then tactics games like Commandos, yet it has the RPG stats, options, and dialogue nearly on par with games like Fallout.

I think many RPGs could have and even should use this engine, it is supreme in tactical ability and environment interaction even for adventure style gaming.

A few questions concerning the game:
Does anyone know how to remove companions, temporarily or not?
Also, how do you advance time, any way besides travelling to new locations?

The reviews for this game are horrid.

I guess this is for the pen & paper RPG development, it is of course a good idea to use an existing Engine... but I am not sure this is the smartest one to use... I am also not sure if they are licensing it to third parties....

AppleIntimidation said:

The reviews for this game are horrid.

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Not true. As per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammer_&_Sickle#Reviews

Reviews of the game have generally been average to poor… Strategy specialist reviewers have highly praised the non-linearity and difficulty of the game.

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There were loads of issues that I highlighted in my review (wow ... 7 years ago?)

"That's why Hammer & Sickle is a mixed bag. On one hand it's got a great combat system with significant intrinsic replayability. But on the other hand it is so full of problems and player-unfriendly choices ranging from annoying to infuriating that the game cannot be widely recommended. For fans of turn-based combat it's a satisfying experience and for role-playing fans looking for choices that matter, it offers some intriguing replayability options. For everyone else it's a frustrating experience that can easily be avoided. "

I also liked the Night Watch games in the same engine.

buckaroobonzai said:

I think many RPGs could have and even should use this engine, it is supreme in tactical ability and environment interaction even for adventure style gaming.

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There should be like a million games made this way. Even translated from russian and whatnot it's still pretty good.

AppleIntimidation said:

The reviews for this game are horrid.

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Reviews for any game that isn't by a big publisher are horrid as they don't force them to give 95+ to get a review copy.

There sere several reviews that had scores in the 8s and high 7s, but many have been taken down as they were made when the game was released in 05.

These couple are still online that are objective:

http://worthplaying.com/article/2005/12/26/reviews/29911/

http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/hammersickle/review.html

The main thing is, this game's mechanics engine is bar none the best, it is equivalent to Jagged Alliance, and on par or even better then The Temple of Elemental Evil (which does not have completely destructible terrain, crouching/crawling, stealth hiding mechanics, cover mechanics, multi level combat)

Add some branching quests, plot-lines, and dialogue reminiscent of Fallout 1 & 2 and the game with some time is well worth the satisfaction of its redeeming qualities.

Its like Jagged Alliance with cool story and great quests.

For anyone worried about the difficulty, the newest patch fixes most issues and there is a great walkthrough on Gamefaqs, which I should ad to as I have some additional tips to make playing the game more user friendly and smoother.

I would avoid the walk through, because I thought that the possibility of making a couple of crappy choices and totally failing within 30 minutes was part of the charm.

ManWhoJaped said:

Reviews for any game that isn't by a big publisher are horrid as they don't force them to give 95+ to get a review copy.

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Absurd !

These were great games, that weren't perfect. I had a lot of fun with silent storm, even if it bogged down when to much was happening. I liked it better then hammer and sickle. The night watch ones I tried to get into, but just couldn't even though I had seen the movies.

It's too bad we haven't seen a remake of them...