Review Reprise: Hidden & Dangerous

I’ve written hundreds of reviews, previews, and retrospectives during my twenty-odd years as a games inspector. As many of these appeared in the British version of PC Gamer magazine and nowhere else, now and again something from my archive may appear as one of THC’s daily posts. Below the jump you’ll find a love letter to Hidden & Dangerous, a SASsy 1999 tactical shooter that’s £1 on Steam at present.

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Competition for Cleared Hot

One of the obvious risks of announcing a game years before it’s ready for release, is your screenshots and vids could end up inspiring rival projects. Although Cleared Hot’s relatively high profile and lengthy gestation may not be the sole reason the Desert Strike-alike sector is now buzzing like the airspace over a freshly deposited summer cowpat, it’s difficult to believe it’s a complete coincidence.

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Chastened Charioteers

The following two sentences appear connected but aren’t. I’m rather impressed by Tryphon 104, a new, twenty-turn recreation of the Second Servile War for Wars Across The World. I spent a portion of yesterday evening overseeing charioteers.

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GHPC was leopardised last week

Gunner, HEAT, PC’s latest hot-under-the-collar Haus, the early* Leopard 1, hits hard, goes like stink, and cuts quite a dash in its scalloped skirt. However, because it does its rangefinding with two lenses rather than a laser beam, using it effectively in long-range engagements can be tricky.

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Bigger, better, browner: Door Kickers 2 is almost the perfect sequel

I don’t reach for the ‘m’ word – masterpiece – very often, but describing this top-down turnless tactics game without recourse to it would be perverse. Those fifty-one months of Early Access tinkering have paid off big time. If it wasn’t for the potentially divisive theme, the lack of saving, and some minor realism failings, I’d say KillHouse had produced that rare thing, a critic-proof game.

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Review Reprise: European Truck Simulator 2

I’ve written hundreds of reviews, previews, and retrospectives during my twenty-odd years as a games inspector. As many of these appeared in the British version of PC Gamer magazine and nowhere else, now and again something from my archive may appear as one of THC’s daily posts. Read on to discover why PCG awarded an obscure £15 truck sim 85% back in 2012.

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