Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Solid"

This series has continued to challenge me on the difference between a good and a great game. The purposefulness of the developers in this series is well noted though after four games one finds a bit of impatience for things to genuinely move forward rather than simple baby steps. By the end of Revelations you do find some satisfactory closure for this episode in the series but as a game you do find yourself wishing for a bit more.

The game continues in its ability to create intentional and vibrant communities set within beautifully created environments. There is a lot that has remained the same in this series and, unfortunately, by this fourth game you don't find much additional improvements to really make this one stand out. Things like bomb making and tower defense additions might seem like worthy inclusions but, in the end, they simply were not needed or even minorly useful or fun as one plays. You simply don't need the bombs and the tower defense sections are nothing special. In some ways, one might say that the game makers really wanted to get to the end of the story more than anything else. Yet, that too, takes a lot of time to progress.

It is certainly nice to have a new setting with a new regime in power. However, the overall pace and flow of the narrative simply is unchanged from previous iterations. You do the same things the same ways all in wait for the big finale which only comes after you get through the spurious family/regime conflicts they've done in every other game. This in mind, I was particularly disappointed that even from the very first moments of the game they revealed exactly what you needed to do from start to finish in this one. No mystery or intrigue at all. It's like they gave away the whole thing right from the beginning which simply put in your mind that you were going to have to play through this somewhat long-winded tale just to get to the big payoff at the end. Go get some keys. Go get some more keys. Oh, there's a regime change that has caused some problems. Fix those things while you're getting keys. Ok, now you're done getting keys so we can actually tell you the story you've been waiting for.

So, is this game good or great? Well, I think it teeters on the edge between the two. There is nothing particularly special about this game other than the last 10-15 minutes where you actually get some meaty tidbits on what in the world is going on in this series. Other than that, it's pretty much the same as the rest.

I've chosen to give the developers the benefit of the doubt and say this one is great. However, personally, I don't really find it such. So, this grade is entirely based on the series as a whole. Let's hope the next game actually does something new or I fear that this IP will be in jeopardy.