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A short 20 minute flash game that manages to touch on some interesting concepts even though it doesn't have enough substance to completely back them up. The highlight is definitely the game design, with the space you have to explore being perfectly sized for the literal ticking one-minute clock you have to explore the space. The setting is very interesting and the three puzzles present in the game are very clever. The graphics and aesthetics of the game are nothing special but that's to be expected given the medium and price.
The only thing I was a little disappointed in is that the ending doesn't give you much more information than one of the twist plot points that you saw 15 minutes earlier, and it would have been interesting to either allow multiple endings or wrap up the story with a few additional surprises. Overall, I'd still recommend this game if you need a short timewaster with some trippy puzzles and plot twists.
The only thing I was a little disappointed in is that the ending doesn't give you much more information than one of the twist plot points that you saw 15 minutes earlier, and it would have been interesting to either allow multiple endings or wrap up the story with a few additional surprises. Overall, I'd still recommend this game if you need a short timewaster with some trippy puzzles and plot twists.
«Blew my mind»
«Sit back and relax»
Even though this sequel didn't stand a chance against its originator, I still fell in love with it. I liked the idea introduction of new characters as well as their stories. My issue is I feel like some things are out of order, whether that be just my taste or how I am used to traditional storytelling. Though without spoiling, there is a reason why the story is written this order.
Even if you're skeptical, I would recommend trying the game for yourself. There's still a lot of chatter from both extreme sides (this is either the holy grail of gaming or bugsnax will take GOTY over it). I went in thinking it was going to be disappointing due to critics, but loved it. Even if you end up hating it at least you used your own thoughts to come to that.
Even if you're skeptical, I would recommend trying the game for yourself. There's still a lot of chatter from both extreme sides (this is either the holy grail of gaming or bugsnax will take GOTY over it). I went in thinking it was going to be disappointing due to critics, but loved it. Even if you end up hating it at least you used your own thoughts to come to that.
«OST on repeat»
When I hear the term "cash grab" referring to a franchise, game, or movie I often discard it, I think that more often than not is an idea that is easy to misuse and even if a product is made to just making money I don't have a problem with it if that said product is at least competent or even good, so, the deeper I was dwelling within The After Years, the more I heard a voice whispering in my brain; "cash grab" it repeated.
The After Years is a direct sequel to the iconic 4th iteration of the Final Fantasy series, as its title suggests it is set several years after the events of the original, so you can see how our beloved or hated characters grow up and even meet some of their children. In theory and depending on how you see sequels, this could be a great experience but in practice, it is far from the mark.
The game is presented in episodes, each episode stars one specific character that you follow mainly for that said episode, this decision might feel odd but narratively speaking it makes sense more or less, a lot of the stories are happening almost at the same time so you can see characters from other stories intertwine briefly and unfold the plot little by little, again, in theory this sound like it could be an interesting choice but in reality it felt quite tiresome to start a chapter with a new set of characters and to increase their levels again and again not to mention that every episode revolves around the same mistery, the problem is that if you play (by any chance) the WiiWare version (which is the one I played) the first episode consist in two parts: Ceodore and Kain respectively, Ceodore episode serves as an introduction to the state of the world while Kain's unveils the "first" mistery of the game which is unfortunetly since in the rest of the episodes revolve around the other characters getting to know this mistery and it would be better if you're in a similar state of knowledge like them, so if you're going to make it through the ordeal of beating this game make sure that when you get to the Kain part of the game (this only applies to the WiiWare version since the newer ones separated it from Ceodore's) hold it and start the other episodes and get back to Kain before the last episode, trust me is the better experience.
Let's talk about the gameplay, it uses the ATB system so you know more or less the drift, depending on the speed you choose the battles can be passive or more active, the interesting new feature tho is a new command called 'Band' this band thing consists in combining two commands of two to five characters to make a more powerful defensive or offensive skill, is interesting since you have to do trial and error to find what combinations can be made, it uses MP to prevent extended usage of them or to exploit them which is OK, regrettably I didn't use them that much, maybe it was my playstyle but definitely is one of the few positives. Another new feature is that now the potency of your attacks, magic, throws, and summons depends on the phases of the moon, this not only affects you but also the enemies so depending on the jobs of your party you need to choose wisely on which moon you're going to venture a dungeon, depending on your decision you might have a harder or slower time, although you can change the phase by resting in inns or tents.
Now, taking aside the new features that can feel sometimes superficial, the gameplay remains the same as the original or at least the newer editions of the original, what it truly makes me reconsider quitting this game on more instances that I want to recall was first and foremost the grinding, to put you in perspective the original game took me 31 hours to beat, this one took me 44 hours, in the original, I did some sidequests while in TAY I didn't, why I comparing their length you say? I'm glad you ask, The After Years consists not only on similar almost identical events of the original with other characters but it also features every boss of it, dungeon and locations rearranged in different order so in a lot of ways is like playing the original but with less charm and soul, combine this with over-grinding and you'll get a tiresome and unbearable experience, it doesn't help that you have to repeat and backtrack some dungeons in different events, even "new" locations are based on exact recreations of another dungeon, the greater offender might be the last dungeon, it is in fact a copy of the last dungeon complete with reused boss fights, but when you think that your'e nearly done (giving the architecture of the original dungeon) you'll find that you need to clear another 30 floors, these floors consist mainly in not so straight forward corridors, pretty common random encounters and 1 to 4 boss fights per floor, a few are optional but the majority are not, what is frustrating is that these fights are from bosses of other 2d FF games so is basically an arena, but it feels and is so cheap to use assets of other games to extend the lenght of the game, not to mention that if you're like me and haven't cleared all the 2D games yet you'll find mid-spoilery battles but without the charm and punch of the game they belong to, so if you plan to complete all the canon games I'd say you put this game at the end of your list after beating the 6th.
Being an episodic game I imagine that it would be complex to a game like this be explorative on its design so I'm not blaming that much that they made it this linear, but keep in mind that you're guided literally to where to go next every time that you advance of the story, at least till the last episode where you'll be tasked to repeat a few dungeons again. Speaking of chapters, I didn't prefer how some episodes were easy or balanced where others were frustrating and unbalanced and it is not like the difficulty progress with the order of the chapters they provide, the difficulty spikes are over the place, sometimes you'll one-hit enemies and the other they will one-hit you.
Not everything is negative, however it is hard to take the positive from this game, the music is still great mainly because they're arranged versions of the original game with a few new tunes that sound like they belong to this game. I happen to really like the last boss fight better than the one from the original, at least narratively speaking, also it is nice to see how the characters grew their personalities and for the most part I like how they ended, I can even say that I appreaciate some characters more after playing with them again, although the new characters are fine I think they're overshadow by the older ones, I would preferred that the story focused more on them and give the veteran cast a more supporting role, however it's nice that by the end of the game you get a huge pool of characters to choose from, so I guess is not that bad in that regard, also at different points of your adventure you'll find several instances where some characters can get permadeath, at least to me it affected my gameplay and narrative so it seems that several story branches exist so you can replay the game to see them all, it is indeed a nice touch for the hardcore players but in my case I wouldn't mind keeping this game in an obscure place for a long time.
As an RPG is at its best OK but for the most part it's generic and repetitive, however, being the sequel to one of the best FF entries and to completely recreate events, boss fights and almost everything from that game makes this experience cheap and tiresome, it is truly a big missed opportunity. I wouldn't recommend it to play it that much unless you're itchy to know what happens next to our heroes, in that regard it has some kind of payoff and maybe it even gives you the illusion that it was worth it but it is a 70% bitter 30% sweet experience, so if you're going for it just be prepared for an excessive, grindy and unbalanced game.
-------SPOILER COMMENTARY (or some unstructured thoughts)--------
Although briefly, I found really strong moments within the game story:
In Kain's episode I loved how they did all the 2nd personality thing where he had his inner selves talking in that Cecil's father chamber, more precisely when you see that room for the 2nd time and the mirror is destroyed I found that piece exquisite, it subverts expectations and also speaks volumes of Kain's inner self.
Palom and Porom were likable and charm in the original game and I liked how they sacrifice themselves there even when the game unceremoniously rescued them, however, given the time we spend with them I didn't care for them that much, and for that reason I wasn't that interested in playing their chapters, but after half an hour within Palom's chapter I was really hooked, I'm not fond of jerky-brilliant characters but there was something in Palom that ringed to me quite a lot, his dynamic with Leonora is great and you see how they grew together in their story, after that I was eager to play Porom's episode but the truth was that it was more about Palom than her, I get that one of her fears is to be outclassed by Polom but her story was poorly done, it even feels like a recap of previous chapters so it was a big let down to me.
I think Edge must be my least favorite character for the original game, I don't hate him but he as a character seems just serviceable and for that reason, I wasn't that thrilled to play his chapter, surprisingly in the first half of his episode you play as his 4 ninjas everyone with their sub-episode, so this chapter was a little more tiresome to start than the rest, their stories were Ok but grindy and repetitive, the twist is that if you die with one of them they're forever gone. Although when you finally play with Edge at some point they reunite with him one by one and it was pretty great, so it was a rare instance were the plain story took a turning point for the better both narratively and mechanically.
Edward's chapter is a mixed bag for me, it was a beautiful romance saga but it was stained by tiresome backtracking and story repetition, I loved his relationship with the newcomer Harley and I liked her a lot, she's maybe my favorite new character even when you get to know so little about her, the fact that she is this serious and at times cold but vulnerable character added a lot of depth to her, if only it was managed better.
In The Crystals episode where you use characters from different episodes, they manage to get an exhilarating rhythm when they show cutscenes of what's going on in Baron castle in-between your adventure before you arrive at there, you feel the rush and for moments like this it makes sense to have chapters instead of merged experience, but the charm disappears briefly so that's that.
Although my favorite thing of TAY would be its expanded lore, which is brief but the last boss reveal was a big yes for me, it felt in line with the FF IV universe and at least to me it was more dramatic and interesting than Zeromus reveal in the original, it takes the sci-fi element of the game and it also turns it into something at times horrifying, the battle is not that hard but it's also not given to you, I also liked his design, it felt out of that world but within that universe in that sense, if only the game was more focused in bringing moments like this and tell a new story than recycling the older one, maybe this would be a sequel to remember.
The After Years is a direct sequel to the iconic 4th iteration of the Final Fantasy series, as its title suggests it is set several years after the events of the original, so you can see how our beloved or hated characters grow up and even meet some of their children. In theory and depending on how you see sequels, this could be a great experience but in practice, it is far from the mark.
The game is presented in episodes, each episode stars one specific character that you follow mainly for that said episode, this decision might feel odd but narratively speaking it makes sense more or less, a lot of the stories are happening almost at the same time so you can see characters from other stories intertwine briefly and unfold the plot little by little, again, in theory this sound like it could be an interesting choice but in reality it felt quite tiresome to start a chapter with a new set of characters and to increase their levels again and again not to mention that every episode revolves around the same mistery, the problem is that if you play (by any chance) the WiiWare version (which is the one I played) the first episode consist in two parts: Ceodore and Kain respectively, Ceodore episode serves as an introduction to the state of the world while Kain's unveils the "first" mistery of the game which is unfortunetly since in the rest of the episodes revolve around the other characters getting to know this mistery and it would be better if you're in a similar state of knowledge like them, so if you're going to make it through the ordeal of beating this game make sure that when you get to the Kain part of the game (this only applies to the WiiWare version since the newer ones separated it from Ceodore's) hold it and start the other episodes and get back to Kain before the last episode, trust me is the better experience.
Let's talk about the gameplay, it uses the ATB system so you know more or less the drift, depending on the speed you choose the battles can be passive or more active, the interesting new feature tho is a new command called 'Band' this band thing consists in combining two commands of two to five characters to make a more powerful defensive or offensive skill, is interesting since you have to do trial and error to find what combinations can be made, it uses MP to prevent extended usage of them or to exploit them which is OK, regrettably I didn't use them that much, maybe it was my playstyle but definitely is one of the few positives. Another new feature is that now the potency of your attacks, magic, throws, and summons depends on the phases of the moon, this not only affects you but also the enemies so depending on the jobs of your party you need to choose wisely on which moon you're going to venture a dungeon, depending on your decision you might have a harder or slower time, although you can change the phase by resting in inns or tents.
Now, taking aside the new features that can feel sometimes superficial, the gameplay remains the same as the original or at least the newer editions of the original, what it truly makes me reconsider quitting this game on more instances that I want to recall was first and foremost the grinding, to put you in perspective the original game took me 31 hours to beat, this one took me 44 hours, in the original, I did some sidequests while in TAY I didn't, why I comparing their length you say? I'm glad you ask, The After Years consists not only on similar almost identical events of the original with other characters but it also features every boss of it, dungeon and locations rearranged in different order so in a lot of ways is like playing the original but with less charm and soul, combine this with over-grinding and you'll get a tiresome and unbearable experience, it doesn't help that you have to repeat and backtrack some dungeons in different events, even "new" locations are based on exact recreations of another dungeon, the greater offender might be the last dungeon, it is in fact a copy of the last dungeon complete with reused boss fights, but when you think that your'e nearly done (giving the architecture of the original dungeon) you'll find that you need to clear another 30 floors, these floors consist mainly in not so straight forward corridors, pretty common random encounters and 1 to 4 boss fights per floor, a few are optional but the majority are not, what is frustrating is that these fights are from bosses of other 2d FF games so is basically an arena, but it feels and is so cheap to use assets of other games to extend the lenght of the game, not to mention that if you're like me and haven't cleared all the 2D games yet you'll find mid-spoilery battles but without the charm and punch of the game they belong to, so if you plan to complete all the canon games I'd say you put this game at the end of your list after beating the 6th.
Being an episodic game I imagine that it would be complex to a game like this be explorative on its design so I'm not blaming that much that they made it this linear, but keep in mind that you're guided literally to where to go next every time that you advance of the story, at least till the last episode where you'll be tasked to repeat a few dungeons again. Speaking of chapters, I didn't prefer how some episodes were easy or balanced where others were frustrating and unbalanced and it is not like the difficulty progress with the order of the chapters they provide, the difficulty spikes are over the place, sometimes you'll one-hit enemies and the other they will one-hit you.
Not everything is negative, however it is hard to take the positive from this game, the music is still great mainly because they're arranged versions of the original game with a few new tunes that sound like they belong to this game. I happen to really like the last boss fight better than the one from the original, at least narratively speaking, also it is nice to see how the characters grew their personalities and for the most part I like how they ended, I can even say that I appreaciate some characters more after playing with them again, although the new characters are fine I think they're overshadow by the older ones, I would preferred that the story focused more on them and give the veteran cast a more supporting role, however it's nice that by the end of the game you get a huge pool of characters to choose from, so I guess is not that bad in that regard, also at different points of your adventure you'll find several instances where some characters can get permadeath, at least to me it affected my gameplay and narrative so it seems that several story branches exist so you can replay the game to see them all, it is indeed a nice touch for the hardcore players but in my case I wouldn't mind keeping this game in an obscure place for a long time.
As an RPG is at its best OK but for the most part it's generic and repetitive, however, being the sequel to one of the best FF entries and to completely recreate events, boss fights and almost everything from that game makes this experience cheap and tiresome, it is truly a big missed opportunity. I wouldn't recommend it to play it that much unless you're itchy to know what happens next to our heroes, in that regard it has some kind of payoff and maybe it even gives you the illusion that it was worth it but it is a 70% bitter 30% sweet experience, so if you're going for it just be prepared for an excessive, grindy and unbalanced game.
-------SPOILER COMMENTARY (or some unstructured thoughts)--------
Although briefly, I found really strong moments within the game story:
In Kain's episode I loved how they did all the 2nd personality thing where he had his inner selves talking in that Cecil's father chamber, more precisely when you see that room for the 2nd time and the mirror is destroyed I found that piece exquisite, it subverts expectations and also speaks volumes of Kain's inner self.
Palom and Porom were likable and charm in the original game and I liked how they sacrifice themselves there even when the game unceremoniously rescued them, however, given the time we spend with them I didn't care for them that much, and for that reason I wasn't that interested in playing their chapters, but after half an hour within Palom's chapter I was really hooked, I'm not fond of jerky-brilliant characters but there was something in Palom that ringed to me quite a lot, his dynamic with Leonora is great and you see how they grew together in their story, after that I was eager to play Porom's episode but the truth was that it was more about Palom than her, I get that one of her fears is to be outclassed by Polom but her story was poorly done, it even feels like a recap of previous chapters so it was a big let down to me.
I think Edge must be my least favorite character for the original game, I don't hate him but he as a character seems just serviceable and for that reason, I wasn't that thrilled to play his chapter, surprisingly in the first half of his episode you play as his 4 ninjas everyone with their sub-episode, so this chapter was a little more tiresome to start than the rest, their stories were Ok but grindy and repetitive, the twist is that if you die with one of them they're forever gone. Although when you finally play with Edge at some point they reunite with him one by one and it was pretty great, so it was a rare instance were the plain story took a turning point for the better both narratively and mechanically.
Edward's chapter is a mixed bag for me, it was a beautiful romance saga but it was stained by tiresome backtracking and story repetition, I loved his relationship with the newcomer Harley and I liked her a lot, she's maybe my favorite new character even when you get to know so little about her, the fact that she is this serious and at times cold but vulnerable character added a lot of depth to her, if only it was managed better.
In The Crystals episode where you use characters from different episodes, they manage to get an exhilarating rhythm when they show cutscenes of what's going on in Baron castle in-between your adventure before you arrive at there, you feel the rush and for moments like this it makes sense to have chapters instead of merged experience, but the charm disappears briefly so that's that.
Although my favorite thing of TAY would be its expanded lore, which is brief but the last boss reveal was a big yes for me, it felt in line with the FF IV universe and at least to me it was more dramatic and interesting than Zeromus reveal in the original, it takes the sci-fi element of the game and it also turns it into something at times horrifying, the battle is not that hard but it's also not given to you, I also liked his design, it felt out of that world but within that universe in that sense, if only the game was more focused in bringing moments like this and tell a new story than recycling the older one, maybe this would be a sequel to remember.
«Waste of time»
«Boooring»
Simple (and not very good) XCOM clone
+ Lovely art and sound.
+ Nice shooting and upgrade system.
+ Very fun cute-looking crops.
- Only 8 weapons, which are pretty unbalanced. Parsniper Rifle, Flying Squirrel, Rusty SMG, Butcher's Knife are a joke in the late game when you need to unload lots of AOE damage. That is my main gripe.
- Only 5 bosses that are always the same, appearing in the exact same order.
- No secrets whatsoever. At least I haven't stumbled any throughout hours of gameplay.
+ Nice shooting and upgrade system.
+ Very fun cute-looking crops.
- Only 8 weapons, which are pretty unbalanced. Parsniper Rifle, Flying Squirrel, Rusty SMG, Butcher's Knife are a joke in the late game when you need to unload lots of AOE damage. That is my main gripe.
- Only 5 bosses that are always the same, appearing in the exact same order.
- No secrets whatsoever. At least I haven't stumbled any throughout hours of gameplay.
The absolute best game for someone that doesn't play many first-person shooters. The combat is wonderful for all skill levels and playstyles. A campy story that fits the world very well, and truly unique weapon and enemy variety. A true treat for any player, highly accessible for beginners. Do yourself a favor and up the difficulty halfway through the game if you started in the easiest difficulty, it makes you feel as if you as a player are progressing with the game and with your ever increasing arsenal. Play with a controller for a solid, punchy arcade-style feeling, play mouse and keyboard if you're in higher difficulty and the precision requires it. Only two downsides for this game: backtracking through some levels can hinder the experience and bog down the gameplay; early maps do a subpar job of differentiating their color schemes and layouts, leading the player to get lost at the beginning stages. Overall, a solid 4/5 I plan to come back and master further.
The best executed elements of this game have to do with the ambience and storyline, which manages to hit on both nostalgia for the relevant periods and the profound feelings of regret and loss that we all have about the friendships and crushes that slowly faded into nothing. The big narrative twist at the end of the game moved me in a way that few games can, and the dialogue between the main characters was very well-written and believable. There's also a fair amount of extra dialogue to explore given the number of options that you can hit.
Why, given this fulsome praise, does it get a "Recommended" rating? It's not very much of a game in that almost every option shunts you off to the main ending, so your choices don't end up mattering for most of the game. Now, I get the message that the creator was trying to send with this choice and I don't oppose having the game have a single ending, but there's no other game play other than dialogue choices and you aren't really rewarded for choosing different paths beyond some extra flair in the ending messages. (There are two additional endings but they are pretty predictable and not as well written as the main one).
The easter egg screen-names that you can unlock are very fun, and the creator of the game gets bonus points for making them hard to guess but still intuitive and writing a bunch of extra dialogue for each one. Overall, it's recommended as an artistic experience even though there isn't much of a "game" here.
Why, given this fulsome praise, does it get a "Recommended" rating? It's not very much of a game in that almost every option shunts you off to the main ending, so your choices don't end up mattering for most of the game. Now, I get the message that the creator was trying to send with this choice and I don't oppose having the game have a single ending, but there's no other game play other than dialogue choices and you aren't really rewarded for choosing different paths beyond some extra flair in the ending messages. (There are two additional endings but they are pretty predictable and not as well written as the main one).
The easter egg screen-names that you can unlock are very fun, and the creator of the game gets bonus points for making them hard to guess but still intuitive and writing a bunch of extra dialogue for each one. Overall, it's recommended as an artistic experience even though there isn't much of a "game" here.
«That ending!»
«Beaten more than once»
9/10
The game is done very well, in the best traditions from software the world of the game is seamless, you can always find a place to see the places that you have already been or will visit, this is very cool. The game has good combat mechanics, and finally a full-fledged storyline and overall the product is extremely good, but would not deserve an Exceptional rating if not for its hardcore nature. The game makes you suffer and learn from mistakes, which is sometimes lacking in modern games.
The game is done very well, in the best traditions from software the world of the game is seamless, you can always find a place to see the places that you have already been or will visit, this is very cool. The game has good combat mechanics, and finally a full-fledged storyline and overall the product is extremely good, but would not deserve an Exceptional rating if not for its hardcore nature. The game makes you suffer and learn from mistakes, which is sometimes lacking in modern games.
Replaying the game again, which is not the remastered "classic" edition. It still got the charms that amazed me the first time I've played the game. It still feels best in the series to me.
Incredible game, one of the best combat systems of any JRPG, amazing OST and the characters are so full of life you don't want to stop playing.
It's fine for what it is, but there's nothing in this game that's worth going out of your way to play. The aesthetics and the reminder of late 1990s/early 2000s Internet culture were fun, and the idea of juggling different apps that help you play the game with different costs was clever, but ultimately it's hard to make gameplay that enjoyable when it reduces to clicking on a specific part of the screen at different intervals. There's no way to reset before losing (the shutdown mechanic doesn't work -- maybe that's a bug on my end?) and there aren't many different pop-ups or effects present in the game so even a 8 minute playthrough gets kind of dull by the end.
Again, the references to popup culture were worth a smile and there's probably a game in trying to use different tools to avoid having to manually maneuver around the screen (I enjoyed xBill, which is centered around the same gameplay idea), but there's not enough substance here to even make a brief playthrough that worthwhile. Feel free to skip, although there's not much harm in a quick 5-10 minute playthrough.
Again, the references to popup culture were worth a smile and there's probably a game in trying to use different tools to avoid having to manually maneuver around the screen (I enjoyed xBill, which is centered around the same gameplay idea), but there's not enough substance here to even make a brief playthrough that worthwhile. Feel free to skip, although there's not much harm in a quick 5-10 minute playthrough.
«Waste of time»
«Boooring»
Concise Review:
A magic based BR that takes it pretty safe. It’s competent, feels well balanced, and has an interesting art style, but besides replacing guns with spells there isn’t really anything this BR does that’s new, or anything that it does exceptionally well. Fun for a little while but it lacks the depth or excitement to keep you playing long term.
Amazing: Nada
Great: Zilch
Good: Art Style. Spell combat is creative and more precise than I originally gave credit.
Fine: loot and gear mechanics. Spell variety is almost even bad, I’m only keeping it at fine because the spells interact with each other in unique ways, there should be at least 8 gauntlets, 10 would be great.
Bad: map design is rather dull
Awful: nothing is awful
Journal Style Review:
I like the visual style right off the bat. It has a nice cartoon vibe to it. It’s working for me.
Uhhh so I won my first game ever playing it. 4 kills 2 assists. I’m the BR king.
Uhhhh so I won my third game as well. 7 kills 2 assists this time. The final fight was me against a full squad of three and I killed all three of them. I’m fucking unreal.
I think this game would be better with the typical 100 players instead of the 50 player count. I also wish that it wasn’t just squads right now. I’m not getting a lot of communication from my teammates.
The spells are different enough that I’m not sure which ones I think are best for certain situations. That’s a good thing. The loot system is reasonable. Plenty of reason to explore and find better gear. It’s pretty difficult to win a fight if you are severely under leveled with gear.
I keep getting Ws and that is fun. Rock power is my fave currently. I like how you can combine spells to make fire tornados etc. This BR is pretty fun. I’m enjoying the subtle rpg elements where you unlock new perk upgrades from playing more.
Solos are a thing now which is much appreciated. I like squads for a lot of BRs but this one is better playing solo. I’m playing pretty poorly though recently. I need to be more aggressive and actually hit my shots.
Im focusing a bit more now and realizing that if you really focus and learn to lead shots you can hit people from pretty far away. I’m getting more kills again, I haven't had a solo win yet though. Finished second today. I haven't played a ton of solo games yet though. Also putting a bit more care into using the secondary attacks effectively is useful. The fire gauntlet is growing on me. The fireballs are good in close to medium range and the firewall is a good way to escape or corner an enemy. I think lighting is my favourite secondary. You can always hit flying people at medium to long distance and the lighting storm is a good all around secondary I feel.
I feel like this game should be better than hyperscape. It feels like it’s better made. I like the appearance more. But for whatever reason I haven’t hit the same level of excitement with this one yet. Even though I have had a couple epic wins early on, they didn’t feel as epic as they should have. I’m enjoying this game but it’s a lower middle B+ currently. There’s room for growth though if I start getting into solos and I can start to rack up some kills and Ws.
Got a solo win the next day. Pretty good but I don’t think this BR has a long lifespan for me. I probably play it another week or so. Even with my first solo victory i don’t get the same excitement and joy that I usually get from a BR game.
Got a second solo later in the day. Fire main electric secondary with Wolf ability is my favourite late game combo. The fully upgraded fireball is great for area damage and the lighting hits the guys in the air. Both the fire and lightning alt spells are solid aoe moves that claim space. The wolf is great for finding enemies and for running away so they never get a shot. I enjoyed discovering the damage this setup can do and I actually had 6 kills with 3 coming out of the last 5 enemies so I cleaned up at the end and barely won. Escaped death by a thread. It was better than the last win.
I’ve had a couple laggy games. This game isn’t good enough to fight through the lag. If its glitchy and the connection is poor I really don’t think I’ll keep playing. Restarting my internet to see if it’s me or the game. Better be me for the game’s sake... I think it was.
I had a pretty good game with the ice now guy. If you have great aim you can get some snipes. You just need a close range secondary like rock.
Ive played a good number of other fun games with ice. Probably my favourite to play as because you can actually snipe guys from a far off you aim and lead right. I was getting much more 4-6 kill games and some of the kills were pretty good shots. The wolf is still my favourite as well. I had a second, two thirds, and like a fourth and a 7th in a row. All getting between 2 kills and 6 kills. Pretty fun stretch of games.
I’m doubling down on the ice guy is the most fun. But I’m also doubling down on this BR game is aggressively average. Back to back second place games where I blew it in the end but still had great games and yet the excitement was just alright. I’m nearing the end for this BR. It’s on its last days. It had some moments but overall it’s fine with moments of good.
I just got back to back Ws with the fire guy. Pretty deadly. Back to back Ws are hard to get in any BR game. Also this game is better stoned for sure.
Another fire win next day. Ice guy is my fave for the middle of the game and for getting sweet kills but the fire guy is the best late game.
This game keeps making me want to play a few more rounds. Partly because nothing else is currently jumping out at me, but partly because I’m playing a lot better. 4 or 5 kill games with top five finishes is becoming pretty standard. The combat is just creative and precise enough to keep me wanting to play. It looks simple, it can be rather simple if you don’t think about it, but if you really lead your shots and aim where they are going to be, not where they are, you can win firefights even when outnumber or with less health. If you combine the alternate spells you could do some devastation. I don’t know how much longer I will play, maybe a day, maybe a week, for sure less than a month. This game is going to sit at a middle/low tier B+. It’s very close to hyperscape for me but honestly not quite as good. Which is surprising because after my first few games I thought for sure it would be higher on my list.
I just got a 10 kill game where I won. I took out 1/5 people playing the game. Part of me thinks some of them were bots or just really shitty people. I think this is a good place to call it. This game has had its run.
Final Score: B+
A magic based BR that takes it pretty safe. It’s competent, feels well balanced, and has an interesting art style, but besides replacing guns with spells there isn’t really anything this BR does that’s new, or anything that it does exceptionally well. Fun for a little while but it lacks the depth or excitement to keep you playing long term.
Amazing: Nada
Great: Zilch
Good: Art Style. Spell combat is creative and more precise than I originally gave credit.
Fine: loot and gear mechanics. Spell variety is almost even bad, I’m only keeping it at fine because the spells interact with each other in unique ways, there should be at least 8 gauntlets, 10 would be great.
Bad: map design is rather dull
Awful: nothing is awful
Journal Style Review:
I like the visual style right off the bat. It has a nice cartoon vibe to it. It’s working for me.
Uhhh so I won my first game ever playing it. 4 kills 2 assists. I’m the BR king.
Uhhhh so I won my third game as well. 7 kills 2 assists this time. The final fight was me against a full squad of three and I killed all three of them. I’m fucking unreal.
I think this game would be better with the typical 100 players instead of the 50 player count. I also wish that it wasn’t just squads right now. I’m not getting a lot of communication from my teammates.
The spells are different enough that I’m not sure which ones I think are best for certain situations. That’s a good thing. The loot system is reasonable. Plenty of reason to explore and find better gear. It’s pretty difficult to win a fight if you are severely under leveled with gear.
I keep getting Ws and that is fun. Rock power is my fave currently. I like how you can combine spells to make fire tornados etc. This BR is pretty fun. I’m enjoying the subtle rpg elements where you unlock new perk upgrades from playing more.
Solos are a thing now which is much appreciated. I like squads for a lot of BRs but this one is better playing solo. I’m playing pretty poorly though recently. I need to be more aggressive and actually hit my shots.
Im focusing a bit more now and realizing that if you really focus and learn to lead shots you can hit people from pretty far away. I’m getting more kills again, I haven't had a solo win yet though. Finished second today. I haven't played a ton of solo games yet though. Also putting a bit more care into using the secondary attacks effectively is useful. The fire gauntlet is growing on me. The fireballs are good in close to medium range and the firewall is a good way to escape or corner an enemy. I think lighting is my favourite secondary. You can always hit flying people at medium to long distance and the lighting storm is a good all around secondary I feel.
I feel like this game should be better than hyperscape. It feels like it’s better made. I like the appearance more. But for whatever reason I haven’t hit the same level of excitement with this one yet. Even though I have had a couple epic wins early on, they didn’t feel as epic as they should have. I’m enjoying this game but it’s a lower middle B+ currently. There’s room for growth though if I start getting into solos and I can start to rack up some kills and Ws.
Got a solo win the next day. Pretty good but I don’t think this BR has a long lifespan for me. I probably play it another week or so. Even with my first solo victory i don’t get the same excitement and joy that I usually get from a BR game.
Got a second solo later in the day. Fire main electric secondary with Wolf ability is my favourite late game combo. The fully upgraded fireball is great for area damage and the lighting hits the guys in the air. Both the fire and lightning alt spells are solid aoe moves that claim space. The wolf is great for finding enemies and for running away so they never get a shot. I enjoyed discovering the damage this setup can do and I actually had 6 kills with 3 coming out of the last 5 enemies so I cleaned up at the end and barely won. Escaped death by a thread. It was better than the last win.
I’ve had a couple laggy games. This game isn’t good enough to fight through the lag. If its glitchy and the connection is poor I really don’t think I’ll keep playing. Restarting my internet to see if it’s me or the game. Better be me for the game’s sake... I think it was.
I had a pretty good game with the ice now guy. If you have great aim you can get some snipes. You just need a close range secondary like rock.
Ive played a good number of other fun games with ice. Probably my favourite to play as because you can actually snipe guys from a far off you aim and lead right. I was getting much more 4-6 kill games and some of the kills were pretty good shots. The wolf is still my favourite as well. I had a second, two thirds, and like a fourth and a 7th in a row. All getting between 2 kills and 6 kills. Pretty fun stretch of games.
I’m doubling down on the ice guy is the most fun. But I’m also doubling down on this BR game is aggressively average. Back to back second place games where I blew it in the end but still had great games and yet the excitement was just alright. I’m nearing the end for this BR. It’s on its last days. It had some moments but overall it’s fine with moments of good.
I just got back to back Ws with the fire guy. Pretty deadly. Back to back Ws are hard to get in any BR game. Also this game is better stoned for sure.
Another fire win next day. Ice guy is my fave for the middle of the game and for getting sweet kills but the fire guy is the best late game.
This game keeps making me want to play a few more rounds. Partly because nothing else is currently jumping out at me, but partly because I’m playing a lot better. 4 or 5 kill games with top five finishes is becoming pretty standard. The combat is just creative and precise enough to keep me wanting to play. It looks simple, it can be rather simple if you don’t think about it, but if you really lead your shots and aim where they are going to be, not where they are, you can win firefights even when outnumber or with less health. If you combine the alternate spells you could do some devastation. I don’t know how much longer I will play, maybe a day, maybe a week, for sure less than a month. This game is going to sit at a middle/low tier B+. It’s very close to hyperscape for me but honestly not quite as good. Which is surprising because after my first few games I thought for sure it would be higher on my list.
I just got a 10 kill game where I won. I took out 1/5 people playing the game. Part of me thinks some of them were bots or just really shitty people. I think this is a good place to call it. This game has had its run.
Final Score: B+
Really fun retro themed speed racing game.