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[Insanegame27]

I'll start:

Interstellar Marines, while solid in mechanics and graphics, is debatable whether paying for it is worth it. I got it for free in a giveaway and bloody love it, however the creators are not showing a lot of love, nor are they listening to the community. The community is constantly asking for singleplayer and co-op improvements and updates, however the devs are focusing on PvP aspects and the online community is suffering for it and gradually bleeding away.


It only had 3 guns last I played, and while they felt balanced-ish and fun, all three were the same weapon (a taser) just with different attachments. One had a scope and one had a red dot/holographic sight. Suppressors and lasers could be added and removed as wanted, which was something I enjoy about it along with the ability to take your mask off your face. The weapons, while balanced did seem a bit clunky. I mean, you're facing the robot apocalypse and the best weapon you have as an Interstellar Marine (Spess Mahreen) is a goddamn taser? A two-handed taser looking more like a Vector SMG with a red dot sight? A twohanded taser looking like a Vector with a solid stock and (nonfunctional) grenade launcher with an ACOG sight?


Dynamic effects such as drops of water on your mask in a humid/rainy region were a nice touch as well as giving you the opportunity to go HUDblind by removing your mask. 


As of last time I played there is only the one PvE enemy type: robots. The storyline is a bit meh, but fast paced tactical action makes up for it. And I don't mean rooty tooty point-and-shooty calladooty tactical action, I mean really if you aren't up to par with tactics you will die. The whole game concept was built around tactical co-op PvE, which confuses me as to why the devs are focusing on PvP.


Again, I last played it a few months ago, school has been taking up my time, but from the Steam page it's still not getting the love it deserves.


TL;DR: If you have money aplenty I recommend getting it (the normal version, not spearhead edition). It's only $10 and I would love to play with someone for a change.


I rate it 4/5 for gameplay. It is solid and has a lot of tactical features Call of Duty/Medal of Honor/Rainbow6Siege has (wall leaning as one example) it has a lot of unique features (such as changing attachments on all guns as needed and light/water disrupting the HUD and being able to take the mask off). I would hate to see this game keel over and die, but I'm afraid that's where it's going.
I rate the devs 2.5/5 for their effort. While yes, they have gotten the game far, it is THREE YEARS IN and still an early-access. If by chance any of the devs end up reading this, please, PLEASE give this game the love it needs. More weapons would do wonders, a dedicated sniper rifle (ACOG Vector kinda works here) and some more player-getters such as customisable characters.

Spoiler: Reviewed games (click to show/hide)

Interstellar Marines
Undertale
XCOM 2

Spoiler: Requests (Requstee) (click to show/hide)

XCOM 2 (Nenjin) Completed
Down Fall Redux (Cango)

[Trapezohedron]

Suggest copying your OP to another post, and linking every single review post back to the OP so people can quickly drop into another review post at will without having to flip through a half-dozen pages.

Either the world's greatest game of 2015, of all time, or an overhyped piece of shit. Whatever it is, what we can possibly agree on is that it's a rather unique take on stereotypical RPG tropes, with sincere storytelling. I'll try to keep the review as spoiler-free as possible.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Gameplay:

Mixing bullet hell with RPG gameplay elements, the game features a strong gimmick where dodging attacks is literally done by dodging bullets. For better or for worse, the game is made unique in the way it presents its combat, particularly in the boss fights, where no single (main) boss operates on the same logic as another, excluding one particular exception whose attacks are massively harder compared to its inspiration. The game capitalizes on its 'choice' mechanic of killcounts, where kills may or may not determine the course of your fate later on in the game.

Outside of combat, you simply roam around the map in a linear fashion. I might even dare say the linearity of the actual map paths rivals FFXIII, prior to (finally!) reaching Gran Pulse in that game.

While the 'choice' mechanic of the game is not as wide-spanning as the three-game courser Mass Effect series, what it does with its unique flair of decision-making, it uses it to great effect.

Despite the first paragraph, the game isn't as fun as people may lead you to believe in its combat, as its either too simplistic or too difficult for non bullet-hell grazers. If you're not going to be invested in the characters, the choice mechanic and the story, you won't have fun with this game at all.

Rating: ***--

Audio:

What we can all agree on is that on its own, Undertale features some freakin' rad tracks. Partially inspired by 8-bit music, partially by Earthbound, and partially by Toby's own signature musical flair, these tracks are likely to stick in your memory, replaying for weeks to come.

In spite of that, however, it does have its shortcomings.

1. The OST is budgetary. Understandable, considering the game was made by one person... and a bunch of outsourced artists as needed, but various portions of the game is simply the same track being played at 20% to 200% to 666% faster speeds than its source material. And there are some tracks guilty of cheese, by which an entire track on the OST was simply reversed from its source track.

I, in fact, spent some time altering the OST to make them sound like their game versions, as approximately a fifth of the OST does not sound the same as they do in the game.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCivf6D2rZ9CbRs5u-astJKA

2. The OST is schizophrenic. The game is very obviously a homage to the old games of yore. Barring two or three tracks because they absolutely fit with the theme in which they occur in, the tracks do not feature a strong sense of consistence throughout. The intro and main menu music start out being 8-bit. The first world map is SNES-sounding, with a hyper-realistic piano soundfont. In the midgame, the 8-bit theme is eschewed, excluding a few battle themes here and there.

Compare it with Axiom Verge, in which the theme of oppressive otherworldly xenos drones and alien discoveries is maintained throughout the soundtrack.

It should be noted that I am not saying that Undertale's soundtrack is forgettable - it is in fact one of the most memorable soundtracks in 2015. What I'm saying is that, the game's soundtrack lacks thematic consistency.

3. Actual sound effects leave a lot to be desired. One of the more memorable sound effects involve the save point effects, almost all of the combat effects, the heart-shatter effect... and that's it.

A lot of stock sound effects are used for various comedic scenes, including a particular kettle whoop. Still leaves a lot to be desired.

Rating: ****-

Story:

This is where the game wins. There's a reason why there's a lot more story fanfics of Undertale than fangame derivatives (but there are also a lot, too), or a lot of quotes rehashed wherever like a mo'frakking dave_ebubbles account.

The characters are made to be non-one dimensional, and Toby does not capitalize too much on one particular quirk compared to most people who design characters to be absolutely, resolutely based on that one particular quirk (ahem, Tsundere, ahem). The monsters are not monsters who you want to kill - and Toby exploits that to great effect.

Your pacifism - or a lack of it, determines which events will follow next. Killing everyone will lead everyone to hate you; killing some will leave some to dislike you but allow them to rationalize that you do not want to be there, and so on and so forth.

Finally, it delivers its message of friendship very effectively, as these monsters do not want to hate you. There is also a message of letting things go, and not merely repeating it again, and again, and again and again.

Whether or not you like the story, we can all agree on that if you dislike all of the characters in earnest, you won't have much fun with this game.

Rating: *****

Verdict:
If you like the story: ****-
If you dislike the characters: **---

[Insanegame27]

Lists added to OP

[nenjin]

Someone give me their condensed XCOM2 review. It's not that I doubt my ability to enjoy it, I'd just like to know what things take getting used to, what stupid gamey bits there are, where the game is after a few patches, etc...XCOM2 thread is a little much to go through by now.

[Trapezohedron]

Here's another review nobody requested, since I can't for the life of me review XCOM2 due to not having adequate specs.

Yes. We're reviewing a PSVITA adaptation of a not-quite-popular arcade rhythm game (hooray Pump it Up! and DDR!).


Let me get this straight out of the way. I really want to like this game, as I'm a fan of both the DJMax series and rhythm games in general. But this may not be your cup of tea, even if the VITA is a dying console with no first party support and you're running out of choices.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Gameplay:

Well, to summarize things, it's a rhythm game. You mash buttons to the tune of the music and earn points. You try to beat high scores you set. In DJMax Technica Tune (hereafter shortened to DJMax:TT), they wanted to stay true to the source material (AUDIO WARNING) by having you tap the screen's various note buttons, which includes slide buttons, simple tap butons, hold buttons, and mash buttons, in order to earn points and avoid failing the current song.

They also tried to innovate due to the missing button lanes on DJMax:TT because of screen real estate. The innovation thus is to use the rear touch panel as a sort-of shoulder button in order to play a particular note that is similar to the mash button note, but exclusive only to the rear.

It can get confusing fast, but that's not really the problem. The problem is that the VITA is a quite-heavy console to hold with one hand, and you'd ideally want two thumbs available on the screen. And you can't put the console on a table if you want to play the rear tapnotes as well, leading to very awkward positions such as leaning the VITA on your thigh as you play the game. It's a wasted innovation.

Another thing is that, if you have big thumbs, you might obscure parts of the screen making it highly likely to miss note presses.

Rating: *----

Audio:

Excelling in great audio is what DJMax usually does, and with inclusions of new exclusive songs just prior to the parent company having an issue with its crew and everyone disbanding as a result, it's quite a new experience for most DJMax players. Problem is that, similar to DJMax Portable 3, the music selection leans more on pop, techno and electronic music, missing out a lot on a variety of genres that could have been covered.

There were DLCs planned for the game, but the company caved in and as a result, you can consider the game to be abandoned.

Rating: ***--

Graphics:

The game has a very clean theme all around it, and roaming around menus is quite easy. Gameplay visuals are animated with mostly 2D Flash or Live2D or an equivalent, and can be quite pleasant, if not distracting. There is no option to turn visuals off.

Rating: ***--

Verdict:
*---- if you dislike breaking your hands.
***-- for it's nice song choices otherwise.

Shame it's plagued with a bunch of badly-executed decisions in making gameplay functional.

[cango]

Can I request Down Fall Redux?

[Insanegame27]

Can I request Down Fall Redux?

Added to request list.

[itisnotlogical]

What about Resident Evil: Revelations 2? Nobody talks about it much, so it can't have been as terribad as RE5... right?

Being the last standing relic of pre-reboot Star Trek, I'm biased to view this game in a positive light. But, moving swiftly on:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Gameplay

Being a free-to-play MMO, I'm sure that most people decide that this game is garbage without even trying it.

The paid elements of this game are actually very discreet. It's mostly cosmetics, like extra bits for your uniforms or having actual show characters as bridge officers. Some people will still take issue with even that, I know, but I think it's a fair exchange. You get a decent amount of the premium currency for your buck, and it can even be exchanged between other games under the same company (I believe Neverwinter is one).

I really, really like the space combat. I primarily played as a Science captain (the support class), and it takes some pretty serious maneuvering to make it through mid-game missions, and careful management of your abilities; when your tachyon beam takes a full minute to recharge, you REALLY want to make it count!

The ground combat is mediocre though. Get it done as soon as possible. At least there's a "shooter mode" so you can pretend you're playing a more exciting game.

You have between five and seven NPC bridge officers (or "boffs"), who are the supporting characters in many of the quests. These are how you manage your abilities; each of them have their own levels, stats and equipment, and you'll occasionally have to visit Earth Spacedock in order to train them in more advanced versions of basic abilities. These guys are fun. You're given some default ones, but you'll eventually be able to swap them out, or you can just totally remake them in the character creator for free.

Later on there's also the Duty Roster, which simulates the minor members of your crew completing missions as you're logged off. A mission will require some supplies and crew members that fit certain requirements, so it's a good idea to keep tabs on those if you want crafting materials.

Another fun thing is the "Foundry Missions", which can be picked out at any time for something fun to do. These are missions created by players, for players; some are better written than others, but they're always really fun. They're also rather difficult compared to official missions. Keep in mind however that you'll have to pay for the privilege of creating your own missions.

On top of these are all the typical MMO mechanics, such as questing, factions, PvP and PvE instances. It mostly tends to be solo-focused, with a heavy emphasis on story-driven single-player missions; while PvP zones exist and massive cooperative space battles can be queued for, the online aspect is merely a backdrop for your own space adventures. That is fine by me.

I only reached the midgame, so I didn't get the full experience, but I had a blast. Eventually there's just a ton of stuff to do, like the aforementioned Duty Roster, which is either awesome or burdensome depending on what you're looking for.

Graphics

This game is beautiful. It's just a tiny bit cartoony, but for the most part it stays true to the look and feel of Star Trek. There's dozens of customization options, and you can customize your entire crew. I spent my first hour of gameplay just designing my captain and picking out my uniform. Almost every humanoid Star Trek race is available, as well as some races new to the game which can be selected for premium currency. If you don't like any of those you can even create your own using a more extensive set of options and tools, which has led to an overpopulation of fursonas and "original species do not steal" in the Foundry missions. You have a ton of options, even before looking at the paid bits. The paid items mostly consist of faithful recreations of classic Trek attire, including Original Series miniskirts and lore items like Seven of Nine's catsuit.

One drawback, however, is that the Federation has the most options, many times over. Romulan faction players have a moderate selection of clothes, and Klingon players get hardly anything at all. That's kinda bullshit, but the Federation is also the most popular faction by far so it's understandable.

Space is lovingly rendered with particles and flares galore. It generally runs at 60fps no problem, but things can get crazy. One mission in particular involves dozens of ships versus a Doomsday Machine (yes, the one from TOS) and that chugged a bit.

Interior locations look pretty good as well. There's the vacation planet of Risa, which hosts the game's summer seasonal events, Seedy Desert Planets Which Are Most Definitely Not Tatooine^tm, space stations, Starfleet Academy, snow worlds, jungle worlds, military installations and minor colonies. It's all pretty good-looking and provides a nice, varied backdrop for events.

Sound

If you've even heard Star Trek in passing, then you know what this game sounds like. Occasionally there's voices by actors from the shows and films, reprising their roles. Occasionally there's voice acting for the original characters, and not a single soul cared. It's alright.

Other Comments

I really like the overall tone of this game. You get crafting materials by scanning anomalies and collecting clouds of particles. You locate quest objectives by scanning with your tricorder. Quests will almost always involve a puzzle or two; some quests are almost entirely puzzles, with very little combat. These are usually the better-written ones. This game feels like you're a captain in the Star Trek universe, which I like a lot. It's not perfect, but it's probably the best since Bridge Commander nearly two decades ago. I heartily recommend it to any Trekkie.

The writing, although miles ahead of any other MMO, still falls prey to MMO writing syndrome: the quality, tone, and even overall direction of the story varies depending on what stage of the game you're at. As you'd expect, the more interesting missions come once you get out of the beginner stages. Of course, one of this game's major strengths is the Foundry Missions, which allow you to choose your own adventure at any time.

For every thing that it gets right, however, there's a few minor gripes. Quests occasionally bug out, and you'll have to reload a checkpoint to fix them. The tutorial drags on way too long, making it hard to get a friend into the game. Some animations are a bit awkward and unnatural. As mentioned, the excellent space combat is marred by the dull, unsatisfying ground combat. However, these aren't huge problems; this game is a diamond in the rough, and can still be easily appreciated by any Star Trek or MMO lover. Good thing I'm both!

Overall rating: 8/10

EDIT: Does anybody know if STO has a role-playing scene? It has to with all the possibilities for player-created content.

[Mephansteras]

Someone give me their condensed XCOM2 review. It's not that I doubt my ability to enjoy it, I'd just like to know what things take getting used to, what stupid gamey bits there are, where the game is after a few patches, etc...XCOM2 thread is a little much to go through by now.

I can do a quick condensed review. This assumes you've played Enemy Unknown. If you haven't...go read a more in-depth review.

Basics: Sequel to XCOM: Enemy Unknown (Not really much from Enemy Within in here, at least not yet). Earth has been conquered by the aliens for 20 years and you are fighting a guerilla war to kick them off the planet. Still not trying to be like the original XCOM, so people looking for that should look elsewhere.

Overall, it's XCOM and if you liked the first you'll like this one. Combat is more of the same but with some new aspects like stealth and emergency evac capabilities in most missions.

Pros:
Greater variety in mission types
modular/procedural maps, even for story missions (so far as I know, Haven't tried the last few missions more than the first time yet)
Greatly expanded character customization
Major modding support
Geoscape mode is much more interactive and interesting. More decisions to make and the 'arbitrary game restrictions' feel more realistic and less gamey.

Cons:
Too many mission have timers, often ones that make no sense
Grenade placement still oddly fiddly and annoying
Base decisions feel less impactful. Still has certain 'This is the best order to do stuff in' issues and few meaningful decisions about where stuff goes.
Lots of small changes in how stuff works from the first game without enough to tell you about how they work now. I made a ton of mistakes my first run-through just because I didn't know how stuff actually worked. Once you learn, it's all fine.

Honestly...that's about it. It's fun! It's XCOM! It's running around blowing up aliens! And most importantly it is moddable as all hell, so half the cons have already been fixed with mods.

[Parsely]

PTW

[cango]

I have requested Downfall Redux and then played it myself with a friend and now I want to deliver my own request for the review.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Psychological horror mixed in with a slashers thrill revolving in a philosophical background that promises a bright exit from the dark puzzles laid into your mind. What can be a better game? This is what we craved in the Downfall original and was delivered in Cat Lady. And a step forward from this is what we naturally expect from the next game which is Downfall Redux.

Downfall original was a hand drawn game with a good sense of art and metaphors. You started the game in a realistic plot, making a stop in a hotel with your wife who doesn't feel very good. Then strange things would start to happen and everything would start going down the hill while you were trying to grab your sense of reality and logic to the story which kept fleeting. And then everything would turn so hardcore it made speed/death metal masters jealous.

Cat Lady took the flag further by implementing a more integrated story into the game. You start in a metaphor which becomes a reality afterwards. The plot is hard to believe but everything is so natural, so smooth and even cute, it's impossible to set the story apart from a real one, maybe a collection of real stories. And the artists sense of art hasn't degraded one bit, it went multiple steps ahead. The music was amazing as well, played by the rock band Warmer. This made Cat Lady a legend and produced a very solid fan base.

So naturally when I see a game being made called Downfall Redux, with Cat Lady's graphics and we sporting a much more clear-cut Joe Davis I naturally got excited. I didn't expect it to be Cat Lady 2 or Downfall 2 or another sequel game. I expected it to be a lazy ass remaking of Downfall, maybe voiced or with additional content etc. This isn't the case. It's like a whole different game with a different feeling. Plot is the same but the story goes on in a different way. Places are different, events unfold in a different way, you have the options that you didn't have before etc. This all sounds good and nice at first, like the game delivered much more than what you would expect but that creates another problem.

If it's a different game then I expect a sequel. I mean if you were going to spend so much energy and time into a whole different thing then why did you just remake the old game? Why not a new one altogether? It's not the old one either. It's something in-between, like a demo but one that you would play afterwards, not before. Too short for a game and too long to be a demo. It's like a playable trailer (or a summary) of the original Downfall.

The problem is that someone who is just new to the whole thing will have no idea what's going on. The maker totally deconstructed the advancement of the plot (there wasn't one but at least it progressed somehow in a balanced way) and hurled everything onto us from the start. People who didn't play the first game won't recognise the scenes that are remade. They won't understand what the characters are talking about or where they are even. And the old players will just keep questioning the reason behind remaking the whole game without actually improving the old one. They will get bored with the same characters being repeated and iconized (again Suzan, again Mitzi, again the old lady...) rather than having unique characters subtly implemented into the plot like in the previous games.

The game is in Cat Lady style but it doesn't have what made Cat Lady special and it also misses out many things that made Downfall special. For example at one point in Downfall you get chased down by the killer and it does really feel very scary and gives a sense of urgency. The same killer when appears in the Redux you simply can't run away, no choices at all. He just slashes you down and the plot continues on (oh btw I haven't managed to actually "die" in this game and be sent back to the reload screen).

The plot doesn't advance or suddenly become hardcore either. You feel like you are in a dream from the beginning and it only gets more chaotic. You don't lose your sense of reality in an artistical way, you lose your confidence in the game mechanics or to how much the developer has taken this seriously. One scene comes after the other so rapidly you give up in trying to figure out what is going on anymore. Like, if a plot is like a traveling route that one drives on the roads and stops in villages, towns and cities, with several hours of travel time in between every settlement, the developer in Redux simply removed these roads and put one town after the other.

I like how the plot is different and won't bore the old players who are full of spoilers (I tried to ruin my friends experience by giving her a spoiler from the original game which didn't really happen and something totally different occurred) and how the graphics and the music and everything is totally revamped without holding any effort back. But these simply don't deliver what they promise. I feel like it's energy gone to waste since the developer could have easily made a new and better with this effort. Or could at least deliver me the original game's grind in full detail.

I like surrealism but I think a game should have at least some sort of handle to grip. It's like the arcade rule. Otherwise we can just switch on paint and keep painting random colors onto the screen in a black background and this would serve a much deeper surrealist experience. Why play a game then? It should try to balance between reality and metaphors.

Other than that I'm glad that the developer is not sitting in his corner rusting away his abilities and didn't give up on his dedication and experimental creativity. It's still a good game. Or rather a very pretty girl with an amazing personality who is asexual.   

[Caz]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

(I tried to ruin my friends experience by giving her a spoiler from the original game which didn't really happen and something totally different occurred) 

Gotta try harder than that, friendo. Though there was an option to do that, I was just trying the 'nice' serial-killer-lunatic route. Will try for the other endings once the game creeps me out less. Probably never.

It definitely lost a lot of the atmosphere from the original in being Cat Lady-ized. Filled with fan service so if you didn't play the previous game you'll probably be scratching your head. The original Downfall graphics were kinda crappy, but the ones in Redux are too 'smooth' imo. The ones in Cat Lady still managed to have the 'not quite right' uncanny valley effect of all the characters looking like mannequins that were cut out of photographs. Sadly lost.