Space Engineers Review

Developer: Keen Software House
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X (Steam)
Release date: October 23rd, 2013
Genre: Action, simulation, indie, strategy
Standard Price on Steam: 18,99€
Co-op and Single Player

This week we’re going to look at a game in early access (god knows there’s a ton of those). The game is Space Engineers, a game about floating around in space, gathering resources and constructing space ships and bases, with the optional meteorite shower that will ruin your day.

Right off the bat, the game is a lot of fun. It provides you with interesting challenges, and you feel like you have accomplished a lot when you get to ride your first space ship, or when you finally fixed the broken refinery station.

You may build/capture ships in any shape and size.

The game is very customizable. In the menu you get to choose whether you want a survival or creative world, whether or not you want it to be realistic, and you may add meteorites for an extra challenge. You also get to choose between a beginner world with extra resources, and a more challenging one with fewer resources. We will be looking at the survival one with meteorites, because a “creative game” with no challenge, is not a game, it’s a model builder.

Once we are in our survival world with some mineral rich asteroids, you bring out your drill and go crazy. Once you’ve drilled a fair amount of different kinds of stuff, iron and uranium most importantly for starters, you need to get to your refinery to process this into useable materials. Iron might become steel plating for a new base or ship, while uranium is necessary to produce energy. In order to make said steel plating, you need to take the processed iron, and put it in the assembler. Congratulations, you are now ready to lose your progress to the first meteorite shower.

Now that is probably my greatest issue with this game right now. If you get unlucky and a meteorite hits either the refinery or the assembler early, you have pretty much lost. Unless you have an extra of these machines somewhere, which you will not have early in the game, you lose the ability to process and produce things. You’re stuck, and there is no other way to get out of it, than either suicide (yes there is a button for this), or simply make a new world and restart.

My second problem would be exactly that though, the death and coming back to life. If you die and your spawn point, that being the Medic Station you last used (as far as I can tell, it’s not 100% for sure), is destroyed, you start in a small, new yellow ship with both refinery and assembler, not to mention a lot of other useful components. This new ship concept is easily be abused. Destroy your spawn, suicide, get another ship with lots of components, salvage parts to build what you actually want, repeat. I guess it’s their way to give you a new start so that you’re not completely screwed when the meteorite hits, but it becomes more of a; “Hey Neollok, could you kill yourself real quick so we can get another refinery and salvage another reactor? K thanks”.

Your helpful beginner ship.

Now when you create the world, you may also add randomly spawning ships that spawn in many variations. From private sails with solar panels, to resourceful mining carriages, to military escorts. It’s a fun way to get ships that you could use or salvage for parts, even though it’s kind of strange that the crew of all these ships seems to have turned to dust and vanished completely.

While there is many creative and fun things you can build in space, welding a piece of metal is only fun for so long. That is why updates with new pieces of metal will really save this game, and keep it interesting. The previous update added working turrets so you can actually defend against those evil, evil showers of hell, and some other cool stuff like wheels, oh and rockets for the rocket launcher. Yes, there was a rocket launcher without rockets for a while. It’s easy to see that the game is lacking content, though this is to be expected since it is in early access.

What about the actual engineering then? Does it work, even though there isn’t exactly a million things to build just yet? Oh yes, it works. I actually really like it. It is detailed, since you need a lot of components like steel tubes, computer chips, plating, displays and so on, and then you put all the needed components onto the thing you want to build. Then, slowly, you weld it together. I like this high detail when it comes to the construction, as well as the deconstruction.

How about the physics and destruction then? How does that work? The answer; very well. You can really see the catastrophe when a meteorite hits your platform. A big hole with ruined steel plating, which you have to replace and weld back together. Again, nice details that I really appreciate. The same goes for smashing two ships together (which will happen a lot on public servers). The damage is awesome to look at, and ships will tear apart, even torn in two.

The detail with construction and destruction is great.

Recap

Story: This game has no story as far as I know. You open a world, and you play around in it. Simple as that.

Gameplay: The gameplay feels very good. Once you get the hang on the controls and get a feel on how much thrust you need on the jetpack in order to move well through space, it’s a great feeling really. The construction, salvaging and destruction is highly detailed, very good. It’s challenging and unforgiving with meteorites if you want that, but it gives the option to give a more relaxed and creative experience.

Graphics: The game looks quite good. Nothing bad to say about it, really. The lighting is good, with sparks flying left and right as you weld together your machines. Yes, graphics are looking good.

Sound: This is a bit weird at some points. The music can decide to go for an intense setting, even if nothing is really happening. So the music does feel quite random. The sound effects does what they’re supposed to do, though they can be glitching out and not play correctly at some points, mostly when it comes to drilling. Then it sort of goes on and off when it wants to. Still, overall sound is ok.

The Score

Keep in mind that I am a simple gamer who has not done a ton of game reviews in his life, and so you cannot simply decide whether this is a good or bad game simply based on my opinion. That is exactly what this is, I will rate the game based on what I have said in this review, that being my personal opinion and experience playing the game. Now without further ado, the score I will be giving Space Engineers is:

Score: 4/7


- Neollok

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WildStar - Discover the legendary planet Nexus - Beta Review

This is The new MMORPG that wants to survive the massive challenge, trying to stay alive amongst the other games of the genre. I am of course talking about World of Warcraft, as well as the very recent The Elder Scrolls Online. So what does this game have the others do not? What is it that makes WildStar so different from the others that would give you a good reason to choose this one, instead of any other MMORPG?

Don't want to read the whole thing, where I talk about the game and my opinions? You may skip to the recap and final score at the end of this review.

Keep in mind that during this beta test I only got to play as human exile engineer, so there are still more to explore for me as well. I will get to the other stuff in the next beta test with a video review.

Introduction

There are two factions: The Dominion and The Exiles. They have just discovered the planet Nexus, and they cannot seem to really agree on which one of them should have this planet of legends, powerful technology and mystery. Thus, guns and blades become their solution. The Dominion is a powerful galactic empire, with a mix of assassin robots, bloodthirsty beats, tiny and crazy Chua thingies, and on the top, we have the Cassian, humans from planet Cassas described as wealthy, disciplined and superior. On the other side, we have gigantic golems, tree-hugging forest dwellers, space zombies, and the exile finest: The human rebels.

You can choose between six classes in the game, and they have been able to make all of them sound quite interesting. You have the warrior, described as the unstoppable juggernauts of brutality and combat. The Spellslinger, with lightning reflexes, quick draw skills and arcane sorcery. The Esper, masters of psionic illusion, using their minds to conjure deadly apparitions and extrasensory weaponry. The Engineer unleashes destructive long-ranged attacks while deploying powerful bots. The Stalker, silent and deadly assassins, using advanced stealth technology to stalk and painfully eviscerate their foes. The Medic specialized in battlefield support, using their arsenal of gadgets to heal their friends and liquidate their enemies.

Once finished with quite the detailed character creation process, you have the basic MMORPG beginning. “Oh who ever will help us with this problem? The horror! Oh, wait, what is this? A hero has arrived!” Not quite yet treated as a hero in this game, sure enough, you are the only one who can solve a specific problem, and so you have started your quest line. The beginning stage is quite OK, as you get to know the controls, the fighting, and item collection and so on. 

The unique thing

Before I get to my point, the game offers something else. Paths. You can choose from four Paths. The explorer, the soldier, the settler and the scientist. Each one giving the player a different view of the world. While the settler builds useful and decorative structures, that other players can actually use, the scientist gets to explore more of the world, study it and unlock its secrets.

Constructing barricades. Settlers make a huge difference in the world of Nexus.

Now this is where I believe WildStar is doing a very good job. Variation. Even early in the game, you get to play around with other stuff, like the Paths. This is optional though, so if you are not like me and want to stay on your main quest or quests in general, you can absolutely do that, but I can easily get tired of questing, so they have given me many options. I was running around collection recourses, and then using these to build NPC defense plots and healing boost stations. The cool thing is that other players can benefit from this. It is a lot of fun to see that things you do as a settler really does affect the world.

Defuseing landmines is one of the many interesting challenges.

Another thing they have done is adding challenges around on the map. This varies from climbing a mountain fast enough, killing a number of enemies in a certain time, or disarming bombs before they explode. These variations, the fact that you can easily go and do something else for a while, really helps the game a lot, and kept me playing. On top of this, there are mini-quests that pop up while you do other stuff, often something to do with the quest you are currently working on. A message could ask you to help a trapped miner, or freeing caged animals. This is yet again optional, but adds a lot to the game.

The gameplay

Now as far as the movement and fighting goes, it actually feels very good. The movement is slightly unusual at first, but you quickly get used to it. Especially in combat, fast movement is key. Now this is because the game runs a unique fighting system, as they use a wide range of different AOE (area of effect) attacks. Early in the game, these are quite slow and easy to dodge, but it gets more and more challenging, not to mention interesting.

Stuff everywhere! Still, the combat is very fun.

(The AOE combat explained: An area in front of, or around and enemy, will light up with transparent red. It will increase the intensity of the color, up to a solid red color. This indicates the time of when the AOE attack will occur. If you are still standing inside this area, you will take extra damage and negative effects. These attacks can be fire-breathing monsters in a cone in front of it, bomb planting pirate and thus a circle around him, or a warrior with a sword slashing away at you.

Now your skills are mostly AOE skills. Similarly, you will charge a light blue area in front/around you, which increases in strength until a solid blue and the skill activates. This requires the player to aim the skills in order to hit the enemies, as well as try to make it as effective as possible. There are also combos, since using skills in the right order will position you correctly, and deal extra damage. All of this while you try to avoid enemy AOE. Now, this could sound complicated and stressful, but all the action this gives is extremely enjoyable, and it really is not that complicated.)

Now before I finish of there are a couple smaller things. First of I like a lot how the game looks. The landscape when you look at it from a mountain is epic. The music is fine, though I did not pay much attention to it. Then there is the fact that it is still a beta, so I encountered some bugs here and there, but this was solved with a simple /stuck, and it will most likely be fixed before the release. 

My final thoughts

All right. Well I really, very much enjoyed the combat system. The action packed fights were fun, dodge some AOE, fire away, send my bots to attack for me (playing engineer). The movement is good. Some gravity jumps needed some getting used to, as well as the double jump, but then it works fine. I love the huge variation. There is simply a ton of options in this game. The races, the classes, the paths, and then the skill system is very nice. On top of this, there is the fact that you can build your own house, but this I did not really get into. Player vs Player is also something I did not get to this time, but this weekend there is another beta test, and I will be playing more of this.

As a person that easily gets tired of MMORPGs, I can still recommend this. I had a lot of fun, mostly because I got the option to leave the quest line and sort of do my own thing. I felt free to do what I wanted, and it felt great.

Epic landscape. Quite early in the starting area.

Recap

Story: Now as the exiles you don't exactly start of as the one and only hero, as in many other games. You are more like the only guy that's at the right place at the right time, and you'll have to do. Your respect as a great person has to be earned, which is quite refreshing as I feel that most games tells you that you are The One And Only from the beginning. As soon as you finish a few starting quests, you have the option to leave the main quest line, and do pretty much what you want to. I felt free to do what I wanted, and it felt great.

Gameplay: The combat and movement is very different from any other MMORPG. WildStar uses a wide variation of AOE (Area of Effect) attacks, that you often have to dodge. The players skills mostly consists of these attacks as well, so you really have to move to the correct position in order to deal the most damage. The movement helps this out a lot, as you can roll around and double jump in and out of battle with ease.

Graphics: The game looks amazing. It's colorful and nice to look at. When you get to the top of a mountain, not difficult with the jumping in the game, you get an epic view of the vast landscape. Awesome looking structures, floating mysterious gems, and a weather that really makes a nice finish to it. The game also looks very good when it turns to night. The cutscenes look very good, some of them has some cool action as well, like a ship getting shot down.

Sound: The sound of combat works very well. You can hear it as an enemy is charging up its special attack, and you'll know that you want to get out of there. The voice acting is good, not much to say about it. The music I didn't pay much attention to, as I was consumed by everything else. Will have to get back to that next beta.

The Score

Now I will not claim that I know 100% what I'm talking about, and you should not trust my final score for this game only. Yes, you might even have a different opinion, but I will still try my best to give this game what I believe would be a fair score. This score will not be any further explained, it is based on my experience playing the game, my opinion on the game, which is explained in the text above. Without further ado, the score I will be giving WildStar is:

Score: 6/7

Finally, I would recommend watching their trailers for the game, especially the Dominion and Exile introductions. Highly entertaining and well made.

- Neollok

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Monaco: What's yours is mine - First impression

Why yes, that is my steam name in the lower left corner. Why yes, I'd love it if you wanted to add me.

Alright! Monaco is a single player or co-op heist game. It's a top-down view, you're controlling a person with a class of your choice (locksmith, lookout, something and something) and you're trying to pull off a heist.

Steam: Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine is a single player or co-op heist game. Assemble a crack team of thieves, case the joint, and pull off the perfect heist.

Now, here's my very first impressions as I started the game and tried two rounds of the first ... heist thingy.

The music is awesome, I love thief-ish music! The menues and everything looks cool, I like the glow of the colors and such, yet I am a little confused too. I might be stupid, but I'm not sure what I'm doing. Somehow I've managed to find my way to the actual game, alright, alright OH IT'S ONLINE! Ok ... fine, fine. Running around like crazy with some guy, can't see shit because my screen brightness it too damn low. Collecting some yellow coin things, still can't see shit, this guy probably thinks I'm an idiot. Guard! Stressing, rushing through the whole thing like crazy, OH THERE'S A VAN! I think I might have left the other guy behind ... I escaped, did it all work out?

SO! That's my first round of the game. I did go back to redo that same heist again by myself, brightness turned up and stress level lowered a lot. I saw more.
The game is interessting. Obviously I haven't played much, but I will give it some more playtime before I do a review. I will have to say that there's a lot of colors and stuff happening at once though, like at that one point when we were outside and it was raining, there were lights and arrows everywhere, I just ... hrrrr. But all in all, it's an interessting little thing that I think can be A LOT of fun. I'd recoment trying it, at the very least.

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