

"I don't mind the inclusion of cannibals, on principal, but Wasteland 3 doesn't really do anything interesting with the trope," said GamesRadar's Andrew King, in an article that still found the game worthy of four stars out of five. Many critics describe Wasteland 3's comforting, almost nostalgic familiarity others wish for a little more daring and sophistication from the third game in InXile's series. The same is true of the game's setting, and the tropes and writing that underpin it. The majority of reviews find Wasteland 3's combat at least satisfactory, even if few single it out for a large measure of praise. But for every fight that offers a solid playground of cover and alternative tactics, there are ten uninteresting gun battles that feel like 'cover, shoot, first aid' on a loop." And many of the battlefields - dentist offices, hotels, car parks, ruins - feel unimaginative in their layout, with cover that feels like it was placed willy-nilly."Ĭaldwell added: "There are exceptions. Most fights boil down to 'shoot the bads before the bads shoot you' territory. ".It feels messy and, beyond that, a little boring. "I rarely saw the effects of my choices quickly, and usually not until I was well past whatever pivotal save file I'd made for backtracking" You'll be unable to throw grenades for unspoken reasons. "You will get 'target blocked' messages and be unable to see where your characters' line of sight is blocked. "The gunfights of Wasteland 3 feel fidgety and imprecise," he continued. For devotees of those games, Caldwell said, the combat here will be "fairly dull."

For Rock Paper Shotgun's Brendan Caldwell, Wasteland 3 makes the error of attempting turn-based combat in a world where "sublime" examples of the form - XCOM, Into The Breach, Invisible Inc - exist in abundance. While so many positive reviews ultimately prove that Wasteland 3 is a quality product, there are a handful of dissenting voices - and the game's combat is one of the principle stumbling blocks. "If you do find yourself in a fight, the turn-based combat starts off a little easy at the start of the game, and becomes a logistical fever dream of ensuring your squad is up to taking on each fight."Ĭombat is not one of Wasteland 3's strongest points, but only a few critics took serious issue with that side of the experience Encounters can't always be avoided, though, as dialogue and progressing the game can be locked behind having enough of a certain attribute or skill to meet a criteria. "Combat will fleece you of supplies and, although, yeah, it's fun to fight, sometimes it's fun to live as well.

"Resources are precious and costly, and although there are tons of various side missions to gain money and rewards, it can sometimes cost you more in resources than it's worth. "You can't pick every fight in Wasteland 3, and you shouldn't," said PCGamesN's Gina Lees in her 9 out of 10 review.
#Games like wasteland 3 series
At the time of writing, Wasteland 3 had a Metacritic average of 86, making it one of the 40 best reviewed games of 2020 - a reflection of InXile's efforts to make the game more approachable than its predecessor, without sacrificing the high stakes and sense of peril that made the series popular in the first place. The fact that it's also a critically acclaimed RPG will only sweeten the deal in the eyes of the Game Pass audience. "You can't pick every fight in Wasteland 3, and you shouldn't" The fact that it is part of Xbox, however, makes this a very interesting week for Game Pass subscribers, who will receive a brand new RPG to make them feel better about that monthly payment - a feeling that Microsoft will be keen to recapture as frequently as possible from now on. InXile Entertainment's new RPG would be a notable release even if the studio weren't owned by Microsoft. Indeed, with the launch of games like Wasteland 3, we are only now starting to feel the impact of that memorable run of deals. That excitement was somewhat qualified, however while those studios were all fine additions to its capacity to create new products, such investments take time to bear fruit - roughly equivalent to the time it takes to develop a video game.

In the space of two E3 press conferences, the company added Compulsion Games, Ninja Theory, Playground Games, Obsidian Entertainment, Double Fine Productions, Undead Labs and inXile Entertainment to its stable of developers.Īfter years of apparent decline as a creator of games, Xbox was at last attempting to close the gap on PlayStation Worldwide Studios. Microsoft's 12-month run of studio acquisitions created excitement across the industry.
