Recent reviews by F'lar

Not a game to solo - coop only way to go

If you're into factory builders, Satisfactory is most certainly worth a try. Whether you create a spagetti mess like Let's Game it Out or fastidious, perfect layout with 'physics obeyed' buildings made with supports and grounded foundations, there's something here for all.

First let's get the obvious out of the way - if you like Factorio; good bet you'll like this.

For an EA game, I've found DSP to be very solid with no game-breaking bugs found so far. The pace of it is what you want it to be and there can be several solutions to a particular problem instead of a linear 'there's only one way to do this' approach. My current strategy of basing advancement on producing the next level of matrix cubes has been very enjoyable and has given me set goals to build towards instead of a willy-nilly approach.

One caveat this approach has pointed out to me - you tend to plateau after getting one system up and running and then are looking at a hill you need to climb to achieve the next. As an example, I now have all cubes thru green producing at a sedate rate of 2/s. White is next. Looking over what was needed for white I realized that I have more of a mountain in front of me instead of a hill. Let's see - the cubes need anti-matter which needs ray receivers which need a swarm/sphere which needs railguns/rockets...etc. Starting to feel like a civil engineer here! Minor quibble, though.

All in all, I've really enjoyed playing the game...as smooth as it plays, it's hard to believe it's EA.

This game is in a genre I don't normally play, however, I really enjoy My Time at Portia. I'm a fan of one of Pathea's previous titles, Planet Explorers. I liked that one enough to give this a try.

The game has a very relaxed feel. This was helped when the devs added a slider to slow the gameday down by 50%. The crafting is involved enough to be interesting and keeps you busy - you own a workshop, after all. Main storyline is interesting enough that it kept me pushing on to the next stage and there's plenty of side quests for flavor.

The one downside was that you could only save your game by sleeping into the next day, so II couldn't just sit down for :10 minutes and play a little - I needed to play an entire gameday through to save my progress.

All in all, a very enjoyable game.

I'm a big fan of the original movie TRON. This game allows me to enter the world of the computer, as Flynn did, and explore what it has to offer. Fight, sneak, puzzle solve or ride light cycles. I've had a lot of fun with this one.

Kerbal is one of those rare games, whether by accident or by design, gets things right. A game that allows you to build rockets/planes like a Lego set and then fire them off the pad to fly or crash is entertaining by itself. The crashes, while hilarious at times, slowly teach you about things like Center of Lift, Center of Mass and how to build a better rocket/plane.

As you progress, you learn some about apogees, perigees, delta-v, orbital mechanics, transfer orbits, etc. The first time you sucessfully achieve orbit, you sit back, smile and say, "I did it!" Now, if this was all Kerbal offered, it would have a limited life in playtime as some of the stuff you need to learn to progress can be some pretty dry stuff. This is where the Minions - I mean Kerbals - come in.

These green accidents waiting to happen add more than a touch of humor to your journey in Kerbal Space Program. This is the first game I've played where the characters have a stat for stupidity! One of your top kerbalnauts, Jebidiah, is as brave as Superman posing next to a waving American flag, but dumb as a box of rocks! He'll take on any flight you want him to no matter what the craft looks like.

So, if you have any interest in a game that allows you to learn a bit about space programs and rocket science interspersed with some hilarity with your minions, give KSP a go!

Btw, I'm still chasing a stranded Kerbal in orbit...2 game years and counting, but I'll catch the l'il bugger! :)

This was one of my favorite DnD games to play early in my PC gaming 'career'. I still have the disks, the manuals and playguides. What I was missing was a PC that had an OS old enough to play it anymore.

Seeing it brought forward to the modern OS's nearly made me 'Yelp!' in excitement. The game is pretty much what it was in yester-year with the addition of more 'party-able' NPCs and classes. I'm just far enough in to start fleshing out my party, but it's already bringing back memories of many hours playing the original.

"Go for the eyes, Boo!"

I'm coming up on 300 hours with Planet Explorers that goes back to mid-alpha. Most of my time has been spent in Adventure mode where I can roam the open world and do what I want, when I want. The open sandbox nature of the game melds well with my playstyle. As a voxel based game, using the Unity 5 engine, you can change the landscape around you. Dig down to mine for resources, tunnel out a mountain to lay a monorail or flatten the mountaintop. Map sizes range from an 8x8km map up to a 40x40km map - which seems huge. The land is populated by creatures that could be docile or hostile - up to you to find out which is which. There are also NPC factions that may be friendly - or not! :)

To me, the biggest strength of the game is the creation modes. There are two. First is the Build mode that allows you to create buildings and bases in the open world. Choice of blocks is a bit limited to square blocks or others based on a 45° angle. This means you can, for instance, build a symmetrical octagon but not an equal sided hex. Addition of 30/60° blocks would open up many more possibilities. Also, blocks are 'fixed' in orientation. One face of the block will always face north. Even with these limitations, people have created some incredible things.

The second mode is the Creation mode that allows you to build items from weapons and armor to vehicles that drive or fly. Orientation of the blocks is somewhat limited here too, but you have more freedom than in the Build mode. Using things like the mirror modes in the creator, you can build objects that are symmetrical and can then be painted and decaled to give your creation a finished look. Creation of items can often start with a question of, "I wonder if I can create...". Many hours can be spent finding the answer to that question. If you look in the Steam workshop, you can see some awesome things that people have created. For people who have spent some hours in the Creator, some of these objects can leave them shaking their heads wondering, "How in the world did they do that?"

In short, if you like games like Minecraft, but with a better resolution - of the blocks, at least, give this game a try. There is a demo, so you can try it out and see if you like it. I like it, obviously - with the hours I have put in it and will continue to do so.