About the Game
The post Away Game Review appeared first on Spy Game Reviews.
]]>September 28, 2021
Breaking Walls
US$ 29.99
(MAY VARY PER LOCATION)
AWAY: The Survival Series is a 3rd-person adventure game that takes you on a sugar glider’s journey to save its family. Step into your own personal nature documentary as you sneak past predators, hunt down your prey, and glide among the trees, all while a narrator describes your every move. Every step of your story will take you deeper into the wild, where you will face new environments, new enemies, and new challenges. But beware of the dangers that lie ahead…
Read below the game basic characteristics. If it is something you see yourself playing, move on to Step 2: Graphics & Sound.
You are a 6 months old sugar glider living an adventure in a post-apocalyptic world. Run, climb, hide, fight, glide… You will have to do everything to survive being mid of the food chain. AWAY has 2 game modes: STORY and EXPLORATION. While on Story mode there is a chain of quests to complete, on Exploration mode, you fly around possessing different creatures and exploring the map.
There is a clear effort to make players feel they are in a National Geographic nature documentary. The music, narrator, and written script resemble something you would watch on the TV. But, the CONSTANT BUGS, glitches, and performances issues won’t let you “transcend” from the state of “this is just a game”.
Watch 5 to 10 minutes of any video below. If you like what you see and hear, move on to Step 3: Game Evaluation.
Build your expectations about the game by learning what it offers and how was The Partisan Spy’s experience.
The UI can be seen by some players as limited and aesthetically disconnected from all the rest. The game menu doesn’t offer much, from a simple feature as keybindings configuration to graphics settings narrowed down to the basics. Graphics being such a crucial element to a game like AWAY MORE SHOULD BE EXPECTED.
On a similar approach, the HUD and in-game menu are generic and don’t help build players’ imagination to a nature documentary.
Regardless of the Exploration mode, the story is the CENTERPIECE of the game. The entire game is narrated by a voice, and collectibles scattered around the map reveal more details about this post-apocalyptic world.
Besides the main questline, there are some side quests to be done, but as the collectibles, MOST OF THEM ARE BUGGED. It appears to have different bugs, but the most common is that it doesn’t register that something was collected or that a side quest was completed.
PVE games usually don’t get the same attention from the gaming community as PVP games.
Content generation is LIMITED to the completion of the game, which results in a short awareness life span. Beyond that fact, AWAY has gameplay issues that can raise negative reviews and push new players away.
A couple of years ago, it was a public plan of the developers to release new episodes with different animals, which leaves an “open door” to sequels and to build a community in long term.
Bugs, glitches, and graphic performance issues dictated the mood tracker and affected negatively the gameplay experience. In the 7 hours of gameplay, my mood varied from HOPEFUL to EAGER ending in an average of NORMAL. If not for the constant “hiccups”, AWAY had full potential to keep my mood at high levels for the entire gameplay.
AWAY IS TOO SHORT to feel any kind of grind feeling, useless if played dozen hours on Exploration mode.
The story has a quick and linear narrative that can be complete in approx. 5 hours. The side quests bring a bit of variation to the gameplay and collectibles have audio cues making them easy to find.
The narrator and music soundtracks are the game highlights.
From all bugs, the fast travel system and gameplay reset bugs were the most annoying ones. On some occasions, the sugar glider respawned in the water, dying over and over again.
Any gamer that reads or understands a bit about the industry, knows that gaming discovery and innovation most of the time come from bold indie developers. Today’s popular genres would never exist if not for them. MOBA, Battle Royale, Auto Battler…
2 years ago, AWAY WAS 100% FUNDED IN ONE DAY on a Kickstarter campaign and ended with more than double of the pledged amount. Every year the support to indie developers seems to grow stronger and because of that some of them don’t have to take the entire risks alone anymore.
It is a tough job to review indie games because I want all of them to succeed. It’s not just a game you’re playing, it’s the life dream of a small group of people or sometimes of one solo developer.
AWAY IS FULL OF GOOD INTENTIONS and it is clear where they wanted to reach, but it falls short for many reasons to be listed.
AWAY is not ready.
AWAY is not worth US$ 29.99.
AWAY is not being released as an early access game.
AWAY is not asking for community cooperation to polish the game.
AWAY IS NOT A GAME I CAN ADVISE YOU TO BUY, but I hope you do.
I also hope developers keep committed to the game.
And in some years from now, a new chapter of The Survival Series is released, but this time, perfectly done.
IF YOU DON’T WANT TO PLAY A GAME FULL OF BUGS.
IF YOU BELIEVE THE GAME WILL BE POLISHED AND READY TO PLAY IN THE NEXT MONTHS.
IF YOU WANT TO SUPPORT THE GAME DEVELOPERS, BREAKING WALLS.
THE GAME CAN BE FULLY COMPLETED IN 5 TO 8 HOURS.
There are 4 easy ways to show support to this content. Thanks for doing that and for reading my review.
The post Away Game Review appeared first on Spy Game Reviews.
]]> https://www.spygamereviews.com/away-game-review/feed/ 2 6092The post Waking Game Review appeared first on Spy Game Reviews.
]]>
June 18, 2020
Jason Oda
US$ 19.99
(MAY VARY PER LOCATION)
Locked in the darkness of a coma, you dream. In the recesses of your mind, voices call you home, beckoning you towards the light and the void beyond. But it is not your time. Not yet.
Waking is a uniquely personal journey of self reflection and remembrance combining third person exploration and real-world meditation. Traverse the twisted pathways of your mind in a quest to wake, and make choices that…. (continues…)
Read below the game basic characteristics. If it is something you see yourself playing, move on to Step 2: Graphics & Sound.
Waking is a gamified SELF-REFLECTION EXERCISE, that has 2 big parts: gameplay and meditation. Being the main character of the story, you will fight your way out of a coma by killing mobs and rebuilding memories. You will run, pick-up objects, aim, shoot, and continuously select different spells to fight.
As objectives are completed, a voice asks you to CLOSE YOUR EYES and invites you to travel deeply into YOUR PERSONAL MEMORIES. Waking is not a traditional action-adventure gaming experience. To experience the game as it is meant to be you need to be opened to a self-reflection experience.
Watch 5 to 10 minutes of any video below. If you like what you see and hear, move on to Step 3: Game Evaluation.
Build your expectations about the game by learning what it offers and how was The Partisan Spy’s experience.
The game interface feels OUTDATED and impacts the pace of the gameplay. From the game menus to the HUD numerous things BREAK THE FLOW of the game combat.
For example, to use abilities you need to browse and select from a list. As the game progress, new abilities are added to a point of having more than 20 options. So, the further you go, the more menu scrolling has to be done.
The story is the HEART of Waking and your personal memories fill in its gaps. Names of spells, companions, relics, and memories are all given by you. As mentioned before, part of the story is told as your eyes are closed and you are REVISITING YOUR OWN MEMORIES.
The other part is told by cutscenes and a voice-over that speaks an unknown language, so some reading is necessary.
As a PVE game and not seen by the community as a big title, Waking shows NO POTENTIAL to create and sustain a player base. The roguelike elements of the game and the non-linear level progression makes a bit hard to create and share walkthrough content. Beyond that, the game is based on exploring your deepest thoughts and not everyone is willing to share or talk about these kinds of experiences.
Waking is a great example of how the gameplay experience influences players’ involvement in a game story. In the first hours, when gameplay was being learned and everything was new my connection to the game was huge. But AS GAMEPLAY BECAME REPETITIVE it slowly pushed me away from the self-reflection experience. The opposite probably wouldn’t happen as the gameplay can sustain average storytelling.
The grind feeling starts being present after you figure out the game and all its variations. It becomes REPETITIVE FROM MID-GAME TO THE END as it lacks novelty in most of its elements. Enemies are the same from start to end, abilities and stages environment have a really small variation or none variation. The roguelike element of the game counts towards the feeling as death means restarting the stage.
The beginning of the game was really intense, it took me to special memories.
Having to scroll up and down in search of abilities and items over and over again. Item wheels could make the game much more dynamic.
When thinking of buying a game, the first question asked will possibly be: “IS IT FUN?“. Fun is the core attribute for any game, regardless of its genre.
Not for Waking.
Even before the first minutes of gameplay, FUN IS A BIG QUESTION MARK.
Waking is about SELF-REFLECTION and that’s the first thing to consider about this game. Self-reflection is not a common habit and CAN BE A PAINFUL PROCESS. There is merit for gamifying this experience as not everyone is open to search for help.
Waking feels more like a THERAPY EXPERIENCE than a gaming experience. Knowing this, making a choice is really simple.
Ask yourself what are you searching for: a therapy gaming experience or a fun gaming experience. There is no right or wrong answer, this choice is just about you.
IF YOU ARE SEARCHING FOR AN TRADITIONAL ACTION-ADVENTURE GAME EXPERIENCE AND IS NOT OPEN TO MEDITATION.
IF YOU WANT TO TRY A GAMIFIED SELF-REFLECTION EXPERIENCE. PROBABLY, THIS IS A GAME THAT WILL SOON BE IN A SALE.
IF YOU FELL IN NEED OF SELF-REFLECTION EXPERIENCE AND SEE GAMING AS AN ALTERNATIVE.
GAME CAN BE COMPLETED IN 25 TO 35 HOURS.
There are 4 easy ways to show support to this content. Thanks for doing that and for reading my review.
The post Waking Game Review appeared first on Spy Game Reviews.
]]> https://www.spygamereviews.com/waking-game-review/feed/ 0 2551The post Zombieland: Double Tap – RT Game Review appeared first on Spy Game Reviews.
]]>
October 15, 2019
High Voltage Software
US$ 39.99
(MAY VARY PER LOCATION)
With it’s own unique story, set between the events of the first movie, Zombieland: Double Tap- Road Trip is a ridiculously fun top-down twin-stick shooter featuring local co-op multiplayer for up to four players. Play as your favorite… (continues…)
Read below the game basic characteristics. If it is something you see yourself playing, move on to Step 2: Graphics & Sound.
Zombieland: Double Tap – Road Trip (ZD) is BASIC. The character carries one gun and one throwable item, which can be swapped by other weapons found along the way. The entire gameplay is AIM and SHOOT at zombies, there is no change to that.
The storyline has 10 missions and one boss in the middle of the trip. Added to that, there are 5 side missions and 3 Horde waves scenarios. As story missions are completed, the game gives the option to repeat it in higher difficulty. The entire game can be completed in 8 to 15 hours, including all achievements.
Watch 5 to 10 minutes of any video below. If you like what you see and hear, move on to Step 3: Game Evaluation.
Build your expectations about the game by learning what it offers and how was The Partisan Spy’s experience.
The UI is the reflection of how basic ZD is. It attends to its necessities and doesn’t offer many options to customize the gameplay (graphics, key bindings, language, etc…).
The in-game overlay is very simple and at the first mission, there is a mini-tutorial that explains how to play the game.
The story is told by dialogues between the real actors of the movie. In every new mission, there is a reason why characters should kill the zombies and by completing secondary objectives the mission advances. Missions take approx. 10-20 minutes and death means restarting from the beginning (solo play).
The movie naturally brings attention to the title, without that, it would be just another zombie killing game. The COOP mode can only be played locally and there is a Horde leaderboard that seems to be global. Even so, its CPOT is LOW as gameplay is so basic that limits its potential of content generation and players interaction.
The first hours of gameplay the novelty kept my mood between NORMAL and ENTERTAINED. The last mission had a bug that dropped my mood to HOPEFUL.
After the story missions, the game becomes a bit “empty” and as repetition is more present my mood drops till it gets to ANXIOUS.
The first grind feeling happened at last mission as a bug forced a 3-time mission replay to find out how to “unbug” it. At the Horde mode and achievements stages, the feeling grew while clearing zombie waves one after the other. The game suggests replayability by the increase of difficulty, so the more you play higher can be the grind feeling.
To hear the actor’s voices while playing the story mode.
The potential this game wasted of creating an immersive gameplay experience based on the movie makes us feel.
Straight to the point, Zombieland: Double Tap – Road Trip is a CASH GRAB game.
A US$39.99 game can’t stop at the BASIC. ZD is closer to be compared to a free mobile game than to represent its movie franchise. In fact, this game has the potential to damage the brand built around its own movie.
While part of developers work hard to undo the gaming community perception that “promotional games” are an opportunity that companies take just to make some extra cash, ZD RELEASE REASSURES THAT THIS PRACTICE STILL IS REAL.
CASH GRAB GAME. PRICE TAG DOESN’T REFLECT WHAT THE GAME OFFERS.
IF YOU ARE A SUPER FAN AND WANT TO HAVE EVERYTHING RELATED TO THE MOVIE.
THERE IS NO REASON TO BUY THIS GAME NOW.
GAME CAN BE 100% COMPLETED IN 8-15 HOURS.
There are 4 easy ways to show support to this content. Thanks for doing that and for reading my review.
The post Zombieland: Double Tap – RT Game Review appeared first on Spy Game Reviews.
]]> https://www.spygamereviews.com/zombieland-double-tap-rt-game-review/feed/ 0 2852The post Wolfenstein: Youngblood Game Review appeared first on Spy Game Reviews.
]]>
July 26, 2019
MachineGames
US$ 29.99
(MAY VARY PER LOCATION)
Wolfenstein: Youngblood is the first modern co-op Wolfenstein adventure.
Nineteen years after the events of Wolfenstein II, BJ Blazkowicz has disappeared after a mission into Nazi-occupied Paris. Now, after years of training from their battle-hardened father, BJ’s twin daughters, Jess and Soph Blazkowicz, are forced into action.
Team up with a friend or play alone. Level up, explore, and complete missions to unlock new abilities… (continues…)
Read below the game basic characteristics. If it is something you see yourself playing, move on to Step 2: Graphics & Sound.
A COMMON FPS game with impressive graphics, that’s Wolfenstein: Youngblood (W:Y). It brings nothing new to the game genre, something expected from the franchise that carries the title “grandfather of 3D shooters”. The game is not an open world, neither a mission-based. It’s an “OPEN MISSION WORLD“. You can travel around the city blocks as you wish but there is no reason to explore as you will only find the same dynamics, Nazi soldiers to kill.
PC players: before buying the game make sure you have a top tier PC or patience to custom the graphics settings (this link may help).
Watch 5 to 10 minutes of any video below. If you like what you see and hear, move on to Step 3: Game Evaluation.
Build your expectations about the game by learning what it offers and how was The Partisan Spy’s experience.
Traditional UI with the in-game menu divided by TABS and usual FPS overlays. The game doesn’t provide a “world map” with your location, the map is LIMITED to the traditional circle overlay at the top of the screen.
But, as an “open mission world” some players may feel the need for this feature, even more, when searching for the collectibles.
To have fun playing W:Y, set expectations to a really SHORT story and having to grind side missions to complete main story missions. Missions are LINKED to the plot of the story and some collectibles offer more content to those who see the pleasure in details. Storyline missions start and end with cutscenes to help players understand and get involved with the story.
For the gaming community, the Wolfenstein franchise is LEGENDARY. Every new game that carries that name will get its portion of attention. On the other hand, as most PVE games, W:Y has a short life span attention, which is limited to its release date and walk-through content generation. As gamers complete the game and jump to the next title, so does their interest.
Best moments of the game were while playing the main missions as there was a sense of achievement and progression.
Besides that, my mood was at NORMAL levels during the entire game. It didn’t feel bad playing the game as it didn’t feel good, and for those reasons, my mood didn’t oscillate.
Side missions seem optional but they are not. Playing main missions without grinding levels, abilities, and weapons upgrades mean death at missions bosses and spamming back to the start of it. The grind feeling GROWS after the storyline ends as the new side missions happen at the same places and with the same soldiers.
In-game arcade with the game Wolfenstein 3D (1992).
Long time spent setting up graphics to game run smoothly.
Along-side with the “perks” of carrying a known game title, also comes the “obligations”. Wolfenstein: Youngblood benefits from brand awareness but fails to deliver what this franchise represents to the gaming community. The sensation it leaves is that every effort was invested in how good the game should look, while every other element was put aside.
There should be no limit on a Wolfenstein game, the brand is strong enough to carry any price tag. If every game element was as perfect as its graphics, this would have been a cheap game to buy. Sadly, ends to be an expensive game, as perfect graphics alone will never be fun.
YOU CAN FIND SAME OR BETTER FPS GAMING EXPERIENCE IN CHEAPER GAMES.
IF YOU ARE A FAN OF THE FRANCHISE AND CAN’T MISS ANY OF THE GAMES.
THERE IS NO REASON TO BUY THIS GAME AT THE MOMENT.
GAME CAN BE 100% COMPLETED IN 20-30 HOURS.
There are 4 easy ways to show support to this content. Thanks for doing that and for reading my review.
The post Wolfenstein: Youngblood Game Review appeared first on Spy Game Reviews.
]]> https://www.spygamereviews.com/wolfenstein-youngblood-game-review/feed/ 0 2954The post World War Z Game Review appeared first on Spy Game Reviews.
]]>
April 16, 2019
Saber Interactive
US$ 34.99
(MAY VARY PER LOCATION)
Outlive the dead.
WWZ is a heart-pounding four-player cooperative third-person shooter featuring massive swarms of zombies that recklessly rush their living prey.
Focused on fast-paced gameplay — and inspired by the incredibly popular Paramount Pictures property of the same name — WWZ explores new storylines and characters from around the world in tense, overwhelming, gruesomely exciting missions crafted specifically for modern PCs.
Read below the game basic characteristics. If it is something you see yourself playing, move on to Step 2: Graphics & Sound.
You need to love shooting, shooting, and shooting. That’s the game.
The only “new” thing it brings to the TPS scene is the ZOMBIE SWARM. Every other element of the game can be found in previous shooting games.
There are classes and weapons customization which gives an RPG flavor to the game but when compared to other RPG shooting games it’s very shallow.
Watch 5 to 10 minutes of any video below. If you like what you see and hear, move on to Step 3: Game Evaluation.
Build your expectations about the game by learning what it offers and how was The Partisan Spy’s experience.
Follows the guidelines of shooting games. There are small details that could be REWORKED to make the experience better and game mechanics more transparent. For example, heavy weapon charge meter at PVP matches.
You play at different cities, characters and classes, but in the end, it’s always about killing zombies swarms. The storyline plays a MINOR ROLE on the game and each character has an unlockable video with life before WWZ.
Every TPS game has a huge appeal on the gaming community. WWZ game was announced as a high potential because of the movie’s success. The lack of novelty to the TPS game scene drags it’s CTOP potential down to AVERAGE.
+60% of the 25 hours of gameplay my mood is between HOPEFUL and ENTERTAINED. Mood spikes happened with first zombie swarms, accomplishing goals, and switching from COOP to PVP. To change the game mode felt refreshing as playing COOP for +2 hours can be tiring.
Grind feeling appears in COOP mode. There are 4 cities, 11 missions in 6 difficulty levels. Repeating missions in different difficulties brings up the grind feeling. The change of classes helps but the more you play, stronger will be the feeling. Regardless of the class, it’s always about shooting zekes.
Zombies swarm makes an impression at first hours of gameplay but you get used to it.
Price is not compatible with what the game offers. It’s a common TPS game + zombie swarm.
The benefit to associate a game to a blockbuster movie also comes with a huge obligation: the gameplay experience should make players live the feelings they had while watching the movie. This expectation is “non-negotiable” as it carries the brand: WORLD WAR Z.
Besides being far behind from fulfilling this initial expectation, the price tag is not equivalent to the game that was delivered. Recurrent server connection problems and basic UI elements were left behind, for example, a button to leave the PVP match queue. From the “series of movie games,” this is another one that doesn’t meet the standards set by its movie.
IF YOU ARE HAPPY WITH THE SHOOTING GAMES YOU HAVE.
IF YOU ARE REALLY CURIOUS ABOUT THE ZOMBIE SWARM.
(It will give you 5-10 hours of gameplay.)
IF YOU DON’T HAVE A SHOOTING GAME AND MAINSTREAM GAMES ARE NOT AN OPTION FOR YOU.
IT CAN GIVE +500 HOURS OF GAMEPLAY, DEPENDS ON HOW MUCH YOU WANT TO REPEAT MISSIONS OR PLAY PVP.
There are 4 easy ways to show support to this content. Thanks for doing that and for reading my review.
The post World War Z Game Review appeared first on Spy Game Reviews.
]]> https://www.spygamereviews.com/world-war-z-game-review/feed/ 0 3057