Everspace Review

EVERSPACE REVIEW

By Matthew Wilt

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Genre: Action & adventure
Published by: ROCKFISH Games
Release date: Thursday, May 25, 2017
Price: $29.99USD (As of June 12, 2017)
(Information gathered from Microsoft Store)

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Everspace is a great game. It is a roguelike set in…well, space. The basic premise is that you upgrade your ship over time, until eventually you are good enough to make it to the next warp. The music is nice, the story is solid, and the controls are palatable. Eventually you'll discover the answers to some dark secrets, but you'll actually have to live long enough to do so.

Everspace is a surprisingly in-depth story. The main story line is delivered in three main ways: Boss Battles, Your ship AI, and flashbacks between zones. I said main story line, because there is also a bunch of lore included in the game in a generic compendium. It has information about the different races, factions, ships, weapons, systems, etc. For people that like to dive into the 'Why' of the game, this section is for you.

What can I say about these graphics? I say they are stunning. Seriously. Phenomenal. I’ve always been a sucker for some good space vistas, and this takes the cake. Even the tutorial area looks beautiful. One of the more impressive views is stumbling upon a giant field of wreckage around a mine field, with a giant storm brewing in the center. Most locations seem completely unique and almost painted into the game.

These views are only accentuated by the music. There are a few times where the music’s escalation helps feed the thrill of the hectic combat. The are other times where the music helps give you that sense of awe when entering a visually impressive zone. There was never a time where I thought the music distracted from gameplay.

Even the cinematics only added to the game. They seemed to be rock solid. They are stylized and provide good contrast to the game. The length of them provide enough insight to the struggle of the main character’s never-ending plight while not become tedious to sit through. The cinematics only appear when you enter the primary warp at the end of every section, so you also do not get inundated with them.

The only thing I thought might have detracted from the game were the default controls. However, I do not attribute that to the creators. You have free reign of the 3D space. That’s a difficult task to manage while also managing to control acceleration in the forward/backward directions. Combine that with the limited number of inputs on a controller, and there is only so many things you can do. However, even saying that, they still did a solid job.

Combat

Difficulty Settings, Expanded

Difficulty Settings

Ship Customization

Ship Upgrades

Even with my not-really-gripes about the controls, the gameplay is still top notch. If you have played FTL, you will find it familiar. Basically, there are three distinct sections: The death screen, the map, and the node. The game starts by dropping you into a tutorial node where you learn the controls and basic combat. It is like most aerial combat games, where you fly around locking on to enemy ships and blowing them to pieces with your guns. However, since you are in space, you get a few differences. Sometimes enemies drop upgrades or materials where they will float in space until you pick them up. You also get the opportunity to turn on a dime, so you’ll need to take that into consideration as you are dogfighting and avoid drone combat. Assuming you die, and you will (a lot), then you’ll drop into a between-lives screen. It is here you can upgrade your ship, customize your appearance, or swap ships altogether to help fit your playstyle. Once you drop back in, you see the last section: The map. You see each upcoming node. Once you get enough upgrades for your ship, you can even get more in-depth information about each node like the danger or elemental hazards present.

Basically, I really enjoy this game. However, there is one complaint for the Xbox. The loading times. You will spend a fair amount of time sitting in loading screens, and some of them are just blank screens.  I recommend having a book nearby or keeping your phone charged. You will need it.

Even with the long load times, this is still an amazing game. So, should you buy this game or give it a bye? Definitely buy. The game also is on the PC and seems to have VR (according to their site), so there is no excuse. This game has gotten great reviews, so it will be a game to get and talk about, or scooping it up on sale several months from now.

DISCLAIMERS:

This game is reviewed on an Xbox One console, using a 1080p Vizio TV.
This is an Impression, meaning the game is not finished. That means I cannot give insight into the ending of the story or endgame balance or difficulty. That said, I have put in at least 10 hours of time, and have gotten a reasonable grasp of the game.
I would also like to thank ROCKFISH GAMES for the code in order to do the review.

• PRO:
  • Beautiful
  • Actual feel of progression
  • Interesting upgrades
  • SPACE
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• CON:
  • Takes a bit to adjust to the controls
  • Load screens are long and often don't provide visual feedback

The Inner World Review

About 3 weeks ago, I received a copy of The Inner World. Unfortunately, I was busy when I first got it and put off reviewing it until last week. What a mistake that was! This game is delightfully charming and was a pleasure to play. It made me think in ways I don’t normally, and when I couldn’t find the answer, had a well-planned hint system that gives you only what you need to find your spark. The controls were simple, but I had one major gripe. I also had one bug I saw that wasn't really a big deal. Basically, save your self some time and get the time.

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You can see the trinket around the Wind Monk's neck.

The story starts off with you, Robert, an Asposian with a deformity, chasing after a pigeon that stole a trinket from your bitter guardian. This is the first chance Robert had to get away from the monastery where he was raised, so he quickly leaps into action.  Along the way, he meets a lot of interesting characters, like Laura. In Robert’s efforts to procure the trinket, he becomes infatuated with her, and she quickly becomes integral in solving the mystery that begins to unfold. Robert quickly uncovers his true origins, and why his deformity is actually very important.

Overall, I would say the story is pretty transparent. It quickly becomes apparent that the main character has a case of “The Chosen One”. They pretty well lampshade this in the opening scenes of the game. The story is also pretty short. HOWEVER, the characters are all so darn lovable and unique that they more than counteract the short-lived story. I actually found myself pursuing more dialog just to see how they interact with each other. Seriously. The swamp was probably the best part of the game. You’ll know what I mean when you get there.

This game has surprisingly pretty graphics. I thought the game was going to be another game that just has an odd style for the sake of it, but the crisp outlines and sharp colors really add to the atmosphere and help drive home the idea of this alien environment. I also found the more limited color palette to lend to that as well. It almost gives it a… Adventure Time meets Tim Burton feel.

The music is also delightfully simple. It is slightly above elevator music, but since most of the time you will be racking your mind trying to piece together the riddles, it will help soothe you. It sure helped me.

The cinematics were sparse but purposeful. Early in the game, the usage seems to lean more towards helping draw attention to specific parts of the environment. This helps to deliver hints about with which objects you would need interact. As you get used to the game, this is incredibly useful. However, I felt there is a definite shift towards then end of the game. As the story becomes delivered less in sporadic dialogs and more in the cinematics, the quality really increases.

However, the controls were the first complaint I had with the game. It was often hard to navigate the areas, and then the objects you can actually interact with only have their icon if you are close to them, which is hard to do because the areas are hard to navigate. See the cycle? That often leads to an issue where you don’t see a vital clue even if you turn on the object interaction mode. Having said that, the controls are pretty simple and easy to learn. On the XBox One, one have one control stick to move around the environment. As you move around, you can press a button to let you interact with objects, then select one. This brings up a contextual menu where you can combine it with other items, use it, or just inspect it. That is pretty much it. The game is really simple to control, which works out in its favor.

Other than that, this game is solid. The puzzles can be a bit contrived, but often each thing is done for a reason. If they bother to add something into the game, you can be almost certain you will need it to solve a riddle. The biggest example I can think of is this group of moths that molt and change color based on what is behind them. If you aren’t paying super close attention, you will miss it. Not only that, but you will also fail to realize it is key to a later riddle, and that kind of thing drives me mad. It is fair game in puzzlers like this. But man, it is hard for me to pick up on that.

The only real bug I had in this was that the background music would sometime turnoff. But that is sometimes refreshing. The silence clears your mind and enables you to focus on piecing all the small parts together.

Overall, if you like puzzle games, this is a buy when it comes to the Xbox One. It is a solid game with a unique art style. Plus, there is a sequel coming out soon that if you snag this in time, you shouldn’t have to wait too long to pick up. 

Final Score 4 out of 5

I played this game on the Xbox One, but the game is also available for PC and Mac per the website. If you want to know the exact specs, you can check the Steam page before purchasing. It doesn’t take much to run this game, so you’ll probably be safe even on a laptop. I also wanted to take the time to thank the developers, Studio Fizbin, for providing us this copy.

Trulon: The Shadow Engine Review

Trulon: The Shadow Engine

An okay experience suffering from "Poor Port to Console"-itis

The game has pretty beautiful visuals.... assuming you don't get a glitch you spoil things a little

When I first read the description of Trulon: The Shadow Engine, I was intrigued. I’ve tried a card game RPG before and it was a fun, but not riveting, experience. I was worried I wouldn't have fun. As I started playing on my Xbox One, I was starting to get into the flow and enjoy myself. I started to learn the character types, and was really starting to bring out their potential in the various card types. Unfortunately, I started finding more and more bugs until, finally, I hit a bug so game breaking that I simply couldn’t continue. This was at the 8 hour mark, which should be close to the end of the game (but isn’t).

The game drops you into the boots of a monster hunter named Gladia. She starts out as a jack of all trades character, and you quickly start dispatching enemies. You soon discover that the monsters and disease in the area are related, and pick up your first additional party member: a caster named Ferra. S/he (honestly, I can’t tell. I probably missed a pronoun somewhere) becomes an asset to the team, while you discover the source comes from a neighboring kingdom. There is more story, but honestly, it is such a short and transparent story, I’ve already covered around a quarter of it. There aren’t really any surprises, as even the big twist is spoiled by the character design from when you first meet them. The game telegraphs who your future partners will be, so there isn’t any wow factor their either. Each person you pick up fills a typical RPG roll (tank/crowd control, DPS, Buff/Healing, and Debuff).

Lots of health and aggro managing cards? I think he is a healer.

There might be another character, but I don’t know. Why? Because when I was close to finishing, I hit a bug that prevented me from fighting a boss that blocks the path. I’ve tried restarting my console and I’ve tried restarting the game. I would reinstall, but on the chance that this would delete my game and set me back 8 hours, I decided to give up. However, I feel confident that this will probably happen to most players until they patch it. The sad thing is, I ignored the warning signs until that point. I had frequent lighting issues, rubber-banding, sound issues, issues with title cards, and many more. Why did I keep playing? Well, I wanted to be able to thoroughly review the game. BUT ASIDE FROM THAT, it was genuinely fun when it worked. Figuring out how to overcome each battle was fun, but sometimes suffered from a case of “you just have bad luck”. You also struggle a lot until you get into your groove with your decks. Once I got good cards to pull off combos and proper control, the game got a lot easier (but still presented its challenges). This is one of the standard RPG progressions. You are weak until you start to master your skills and more powerful abilities. Then, you start to become a threat. Then, the game starts to get easy because you outclass everything and you keep getting rewarded with even more strength.

What does this mean for you? Well, if you like RPGs that last under 10 hours, with an okay story and mildly bland characters, this might be worth a pickup if you find it on sale. But, for everyone else, I would sadly say to avoid this port until you can confirm the bugs are worked out. I give this game a 3/5. What does that mean? Take it or leave it. You'll likely have some fun, but won't regret passing it up.

Thank you Kyy games for the review code!

ObliteRacers Review

Close your eyes and imagine the racing games of yesteryear. Most people probably think of Mario Kart 64, Crash Team Racing, or some other third thing. If you loved those games and wished you had a new game that played like those classics, this might be a decent fit. I’m not going to say it is exactly the same, but it is definitely something that popped into my mind when I entered the first race. It gives a fresh spin to the game, however, and I would say it adds to the experience. However, there are a couple issues that prevent this game from being a “must own”.

As I said, this game evokes some parallels with some classics like Mario Kart and Crash Team Racing. I say that, because I feel that if you compare it to modern racing games it would be woefully outclassed. Also, the art style really feels like a remastered game, which I feel is a good thing. Too many games fall into the trap of trying to look old and falling short, which makes the game look gangly. I don’t know if this vibe was intentional, but it definitely pays off. The music is unobtrusive, but if you don’t like it or the other sound effects, the game comes with some pretty solid controls for different volumes. That is an oddity in console games (from my experience), so hopefully it catches on.

This game has some fairly standard deviations from the standard racing formulas. The game doesn’t count laps, but instead count the number of fatalities or survivals. I would say a decent combination would be Crash Team Racing, Twisted Metal, and Speed Runner. The goal is to stay alive while eliminating the other racers. There is a plethora of weapons, but in my opinion the best ones are a static discharge orb that turns your car into a battering-ram, and a seeking missile that almost always finds its target.

However, this is where the game comes up short. The vehicles handle like race tires on ice. Every turn is a fight to stay on the track, and the camera tends to not help you on that front. Get too far in the lead, and the camera is a hindrance. It gets worse. There is an admittedly useful weapon that drops an oil slick on the road, that coats the vehicle’s tracks/tires/whatever and makes it neigh impossible to steer. That makes sense, but since the steering is already pretty loose, it only serves to further aggravate. Add in 15 more racers, and the game can become a bumbling mess of discovering which character you are, only to careen off the edge due to the slick controls.

Overall, a solid 4/5 game, but could use some high level polish. Maybe a future patch will tweak the handling so the cars feel more in control, but it isn’t strictly necessary. The game gives a good throw-back to the classics as-is, and is worth it if you want a Mario-Kart-ish experience on your XBox One Console.

Full Mojo Rampage Review

Full Mojo Rampage

I was fortunate enough to snag a copy of this fun little game. It is a top down arcade style game, where you run around and destroy various nasty beings using your magic powered by your Loa, or Voodoo deity. The music and art style are fun, and the randomly generated levels mean you have to focus on skill rather than map memorization. You also get some fun items to use and equip, and wacky wands to use.

My experience with FMR was on the shorter side, but enough to where I knew the game was rock solid. The developers clearly knew what they were doing. When I first started the game, I was expected to be spammed either with a long chain of logos, or to be dropped into a bland menu. Neither happened. Instead, a witty little cinematic comes on that accomplishes two things. First, it sets the tone of the game. The art style and tone is clear. The music is fun, yet creepy. Second, the cinematic serves as a sort of tutorial. Where it never explicitly tells you how to play the game in the intro, it shows you what to expect. You see big and small enemies in a hoard chasing you. You run around, find and use an item by destroying a mausoleum, and then turn the tables from the power-up. From that, you see you can destroy some environment pieces, what to expect from enemies (weak and strong types, and mobs), and that there will be some items to give interesting perks. Getting into the game, I played several rounds, and then died. I was expecting to return to the mission select screen, but found myself on the main menu. When I tried to reenter, I found a new game with new levels, but my same character progression. I don't know if that was something they meant to do or if I botched/missed something, but still a great touch. Don't die, or you die-die.

Overall, great game. Go out, pick it up, and play it. It is a fun game you can spend a fair amount of time playing.

Score a  4 out of 5

Full Mojo Rampage is is available  now on Xbox One and Steam. thanks to the publisher from supplying a code for review.

Things to Watch Over in Overwatch

Heroes Lineup for Overwatch, as of June 2016

Overwatch has been out for several weeks now, and is a huge success. The roll out was smooth, it quashed the competition released around the same time, and has been pretty stable so far. As such, I’m not going to go into a review for the game. However, I’m going to discuss what I think might happen to the future of the game.

I think, for a while at least, Blizzard will work on game balance in preparation for their competitive mode. This will be a huge boon for them in the eSports world, since their flagship World of Warcraft has waned in recent years. Hearthstone has helped, but it isn’t really a venue packing event like Magic the Gathering is. Anyways, this should only tide them over for a month or two until they really get balanced hammered out (speaking of Hammers…. McCree is supposedly getting rebalanced, see source). A good question here is if they will take some of the proceeds from their Loot Box sales and put it into jackpots for tournaments. This is what Halo 5 did with their Requisition Pack sales, and it really helped boost initial interest in competitive play. If Blizzard does this well, they should see years of solid following from streamers and eSports scenes alike, just like frequently-compared Team Fortress 2.

Speaking of Team Fortress 2, I think Blizzard needs to avoid falling into the same pitfalls. When TF2 first came out, it was a more simplistic game. The variations in play came from the characters themselves, and it encouraged diversification of characters. As the years ran on, and the money flow decreased, they started increasing ways to attract more players. First, it was free map updates and game fixes, which was amazing. It showed the developers were in for the long haul. But eventually they introduced the Hat-conomy, which some (like myself) would argue ruined the core game experience. While it introduced a higher diversity, it also created an environment where you were encouraged to pay-to-win. A lot of guns were difficult to get, and it sometimes made the game unfair because of inventory and not skill.

What does that have to do with Overwatch? First, they need to make sure to not change inventories. Having a given character do a given thing makes it so players can better prepare for each other, and not have to wonder which of the 20 guns a single character could have. Second, they need to not sell items that change gameplay. Emotes? Sell them by the dozen. Sprays? Charge people to import their own. Characters? Everyone needs access to all of them. This keeps gameplay itself fair, which is important to long term game health. Third, characters need to be recognizable. If you have 15 glowing orbs, a hat, flowing robes, and a bird head (which is admittedly hilarious), it makes it hard to process what you are fighting. Again, balance, game health, blah blah blah.

I wouldn’t be surprised if, in order in increase loot box sales, Blizzard implemented player-created sprays and skins. They can’t really make emotes and voice lines available to be made, because it is hard to imitate voice actors. Regardless, you get a free loot box for every level, but players are impatient. Double that impatience when there is a seemingly endless amount of things to unlock. This would be an area where it would be arguably okay to exploit the Cash Whale phenomenon. It would give them a long term revenue stream so they can continue developing assets without segmenting the player base.

I keep mentioning the player base. Realistically, this game isn’t going to be super popular. While it is definitely top-notch and well done, the fact is this game is in a crowded genre of First Person Shooters, and will only get more crowded. Destiny has a major expansion coming out. Titanfall 2 is currently being teased. Call of Duty will inevitably get its yearly release. This means players will have grown tired and move on to the next big thing. Plenty of players will remain, but I don’t see the sub-20 second queues lasting forever. Even now I’m starting to see more and more 1min+ queues. With the quick nature of matches, it will become more important to stay in matches once your game completes, instead of instance hopping like so many of us do after a sour match.

To reiterate, Overwatch is a solid game you should buy. Unless Blizzard really messes up, which they aren’t known to do, it should have a decent player base so long as you are patient and they probably won’t introduce anything game breaking that would ruin the core experience. If you are worried about the longevity, don’t be. While the average skill level will continue to increase, I don’t see the game becoming dull or unapproachable for a long, long time.

Party Hard Review

Score: 4 out of 5

Party Hard is a pretty great game. It has tight controls, an interesting style, and a story line that will amuse (if you have the same sense of humor as myself). The whole premise is that the player is insane, and wants to “party hard” by killing everyone at parties without getting caught. This is communicated through cut scenes you unlock by completing the levels. Overall, I would give this game 4 out of 5. Good job Pinokl Games.

As I said, the game has tight controls. You can move, interact with traps and shortcuts, and stab people. Some people even have special moves you can get. You move at a decent speed, but if you need a quick boost you can sprint. This means you have to plan your moves out, because the enemies can often move faster than you. You can also interact with certain elements in the environment to produce lethal effects, like rigging a gas oven to explode. There are also trap downs to travel through to evade police (that get boarded up if they see you using it) and windows to hop through to give you exits. All of this lends to level designs that are fun to explore and varied enough to keep you engaged through the different stages.

Like the level designs, the art style itself is also pretty good. It is pixelated, so it gives you enough colors to clearly see what everything is, but not enough detail to make you think it is one of those games that didn’t hire an artist and only went with the default Unity assets. The music makes the game feel like a classic arcade game, and so does the stage select screen… and the fact it has stages. In between those stages are cut-scenes that deliver the story.

I was confused about the story delivery. It is right on that line where I couldn’t tell if it is serious or parody. Going with the tone and the rest of the game, however, I’m airing on the side of parody. It is the story of a cop that really wants to catch the bad guy, and has a bad case of “I’m a loose cannon. Fear me”! This adds to the campiness of the game, which makes it even better.

If you like a simple game you can pick up for 20 minutes or for hours that has an arcade feel to it that you can also compete against your friends (pass the controller, fastest time!), then get this game. If you want to play the original demo, you can go to their website and try it (http://tinybuild.com/partyhard, bottom of the page). The full game is more polished, but it will get you an idea. The game is available on PC, Xbox One (where I played it), and on the PS4.