Reviews by BalancedGaming

Hearts of Iron IV: Battle for the Bosporus
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Sometimes ahistorical and buggy

The Greek content is great, the Bulgarian content is good, and the Turkish content can be both buggy and ahistorical, even with historical settings on. It's not a bad DLC, but either don't buy or use mods if Turkey joining the Allies in 1943 will annoy you.

by BalancedGaming, United States - Nov 1st 2023

Hearts of Iron IV: By Blood Alone
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Good new mechanics

The gradual improvements to aircraft modules and the aircraft designer since the DLC's launch are paying off. Unit medals are a fun way to make your divisions feel more elite.

by BalancedGaming, United States - Nov 1st 2023

Hearts of Iron IV: Arms Against Tyranny
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Military industrial organizations are great

Military industrial organizations are very fun and add a lot of depth to the game even though most countries don't have unique organizations. Because the equipment customizations you can make with them depend on what you actually do with your industry and research slots, they still produce a lot of variety in equipment across nations.

by BalancedGaming, United States - Nov 1st 2023

Victoria 3 Grand Edition
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Extraordinarily deep

Victoria 3 is the hardest Paradox game I've ever played, but it's completely worth it if you enjoy economic mechanics in grand strategy games. The game gets better with every update and it's very rewarding to learn and master.

by BalancedGaming, United States - Nov 1st 2023

Hearts of Iron IV: La Résistance
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Good concept, implementation could be better

The espionage mechanics were well-conceived and mostly work. However, espionage is best used as a passive system. Actively utilizing operations is usually tedious and more costly than it's worth. Collaboration governments are overpowered and poorly integrated with existing puppet mechanics.

Scout planes are pretty fun, though.

by BalancedGaming, United States - May 6th 2022

Hearts of Iron IV: Man the Guns
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Good concept, mediocre balance, poor AI

The ship designer is very fun to use. The problems are that using it is suboptimal - it's most efficient to build almost exclusively empty destroyer hulls - and that the AI either can't or won't use the system, depending on how you frame the question.

Admiral traits only sort of work in that they're all but impossible to gain via experience. Closing off sea zones to shipping also prevents your fleets from entering, which is very frustrating in practice.

Governments in exile and the naval treaty mechanics are modest changes, but they're well-implemented and sometimes impactful.

by BalancedGaming, United States - May 6th 2022

Hearts of Iron IV: No Step Back
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Best HOI4 DLC in years

It's not perfect, but it does what it claims to pretty well, and the end result is a lot of fun. The officer corps and tank designer are some of the best updates the game has ever received, and both are being heavily utilized by some excellent overhaul mods.

by BalancedGaming, United States - May 6th 2022

Cities: Skylines - Content Creator Pack: Modern Japan
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Unique buildings, not a new district style

This pack only has unique buildings in it. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's more in line with earlier content creator packs than with the more recent ones, which add district styles. The skyscrapers are pretty cool, though.

Worth considering when it's on sale.

by BalancedGaming, United States - May 26th 2021

Cities: Skylines - Content Creator Pack: Modern City Center
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Good content pack

This is my favorite content creator pack. If you enjoy building large, dense, elaborate city centers, you'll probably enjoy this DLC.

by BalancedGaming, United States - May 26th 2021

Cities: Skylines - Content Creator Pack: University City
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Great assets, but no district style

This is a good content pack. I liked it even though I prefer building city centers to building suburbs. All the buildings have to be placed directly, though; the DLC doesn't add a new district style for college towns.

by BalancedGaming, United States - May 26th 2021

Cities: Skylines - Content Creator Pack: European Suburbia
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Great content pack

This DLC adds a new district style to the game, which is great for changing the look of your low density areas. Probably the most versatile content creator pack for the game.

by BalancedGaming, United States - May 26th 2021

Cities: Skylines - Content Creator Pack: Art Deco
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A little dated, but still good

The buildings this pack adds are of lower resolution than those from later content packs. Still, it's pretty nice, especially if you like art deco architecture and aren't just getting it to add variety to your city.

by BalancedGaming, United States - May 26th 2021

Cities: Skylines - Content Creator Pack: High-Tech Buildings
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A little dated, but still good

The buildings in this pack are of lower resolution than those of most other content packs. They're great for building some sort of research campus, though.

by BalancedGaming, United States - May 26th 2021

Cities: Skylines - Concerts
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A little expensive but entertaining

This DLC is a little overpriced, but it adds the fairly unique mechanic of seasonal events. It's not essential, but it definitely made my cities feel more alive and a little more chaotic (in a good way).

by BalancedGaming, United States - May 26th 2021

Cities: Skylines - Campus
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Not essential, but enjoyable

Campus and Parklife are both "gardening" DLCs: you build a special area in your city and spend lots of time sprucing it up and tinkering with it. If you want a slightly more involved Cities: Skylines game, or if that just sounds fun to you, you'll probably enjoy this.

by BalancedGaming, United States - May 26th 2021

Stellaris: Distant Stars Story Pack
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Good for experienced players

The mid- to late-game crisis this DLC adds will likely frustrate newer players. It's not terribly difficult to avoid or defeat if you know what you're doing and know to prepare for it, but for inexperienced players it will likely feel insurmountable.

Not a bad buy if you've gotten any Stellaris expansions you're interested in and are looking for a challenge. Sales are frequent, so wait for one.

by BalancedGaming, United States - May 21st 2021

Stellaris: Synthetic Dawn Story Pack
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Good even if you don't like playing as robots

There's a robot fallen empire that's much more engaging to interact with than the other fallen empires, and having the potential threat of a robot rebellion in the back of your mind makes decisions regarding robots more interesting.

This is worth buying on sale, after you've gotten any major Stellaris expansions you're interested in (also when they're on sale).

by BalancedGaming, United States - May 11th 2021

Stellaris: Ancient Relics Story Pack
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Excellent story events

This is one of the better DLCs for Stellaris. The excavation events are well written and breath some extra life into the early and mid-game. Exploration is more fun and consequential, and many of the outcomes of excavations are strategically meaningful well into the mid-game.

As always with Paradox DLC, wait for a sale, especially for something this old.

by BalancedGaming, United States - May 8th 2021

Stellaris: MegaCorp
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Mid-tier Stellaris DLC

MegaCorp is a better DLC now than when it was released thanks to some long overdue updates to Stellaris's economy. It provides more and better content than most flavor and species packs, but it and Apocalypse are the weakest major expansions for the game.

If you like Stellaris, especially if you want to play as a megacorporation, MegaCorp is worth buying on sale, after picking up Utopia, Federations, and probably Nemesis (in that order).

by BalancedGaming, United States - May 8th 2021

Stellaris: Plantoids Species Pack
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Good for a cosmetic pack, but entirely unnecessary

If you like Stellaris or just like your games to look very pretty, Plantoids provides some quality cosmetic content.

If you're interested, I'd consider buying it on sale after you've picked up any Stellaris DLC that adds mechanics you're interested in.

by BalancedGaming, United States - May 8th 2021

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