Recent reviews by Aronymo

Not a fan of games that feel like they are built around selling dlc.
I played this during a free trial. It's kid of fun, but it felt a bit light on gameplay and content within the base game alone.
Don't get me wrong, it has a good bit of content, but I remember not being satisfied by certain categories of items.
I didn't feel like I had much choice in the style of park I created.

The game has a decent visual presentation, and a fair bit of effort was put into giving the users unique and interesting camera filters, allowing users to sit back and watch the genuinely beautiful and impressive spectactle of whatever park attractions they have set up. There are a number of lighting items that can add to this, especially during the night.

I found the system in which you specify how the lights should work to be a little clunky. It's been some time since I played the trial, but I think I recall that I could get the lights to flicker in the way I wanted to.

My main gripe with this game, is similar to that with the Two Point franchise, and the Sims franchise, in that the base games never feel quite satisfying, and leaves me feeling like I am never fully experiencing the game unless I have all of it's content.
I used to love getting dlc back on my console days with the older Call of Duty games, where each dlc felt like a new addition to an already great game, but Planet Coater 2 feels like it has that formula backwards. I got about 4 "alright" hours out of a free trial period, and to make matters worse, that base game price would have been 37,99euro as of the time of this review.

I don't feel like I am being provided entertainment in games with these payment models. I feel like i've got the developer waiting for more from me while I play.

Well look, it's a free game.

It brings me right back to the sort of gaming experience I had back in Jack X on the PS2. In a vague sense.
I suppose given that I have Jack X to compare it to, I can see it's shortcomings. But in that same vein, I can also so how much potential this game could have if they properly expand on what they have going for them.

The visuals and thematic style is incredible in my opinion.
The almost gothic chunky tanks of the Warhammer universe, cruising the desert alongside the goliath of a bomb target, of which I forget it's actual name.

So it's got that attack/defend bomb mode, and also this "deff rally" (death rally) mode, which consists of "racing" from capture point to capture point and holding in in a king of the hill style, before eventually "racing" to the finish line.

I put "racing" in inverted commas, because I actually find the brief racing points incredibly fun, and they never fully satisfy.

Anyhow, there are only those 2 game modes, and I would love to see a proper racing mode (with proper race tracks, rather than re-purposed maps) along with some other types of modes, though I cannot think of anything more than a generic straight up arena mode.

The mechanics of the game are really well done in my opinion, but it feels like there is a lack of variety in the content.

They have a roadmap set out to add more, so this could become more promising as time goes by.

Given it's free, it's certainly a good one to check out.

I must say, I always find myself wanting more and more depth from the video-game creation side of these games, but from the games of this Game-dev genre, this one seems to have the most features and depth.

It also greatly helps that the dev continues to update the game, leaving it's competitors further and further behind in terms of features.

The game runs smooth as butter.
Relatively focused visual style.
It's not the sort of game I have ever played non-stop, but nevertheless, I will re-iterate, it's the strongest of the genre that I've come across so far.

(Hours played should be around 5.5. Seems to have glitched when I played it offline.)

I found the game to feel shallow. The focus on politics probably gives the narrative a sort of tunnel vision to me. As I played through it a little more, it seemed possible that the writing may have been a bit more nuanced as it opened up, but it didn't justify further play given my distaste for what I've played so far.

I found the game pretty cringey. I've played many narrative, optional dialogue based games, and this one has had the least captivating world.
The song "The Road" played too many times, and it made me cringe.
Some game elements are set up to give the illusion that there is a time-sensitive aspect to gameplay. One such example is when you find yourself in a fast food place that's getting robbed. The robbers give you three minutes to collect money for them. I wanted to try purposefully not collecting money for them and face the consequences of disobedience, but once the gratingly long 3 minutes is up, the robber just gave me another 3, (and yes, I did wait another 3, only to be given 3 more minutes, so I can assume it's indefinite.)

Another such situation is during a taxi ride in which the environment hints that the driver may not want you to talk to them. ("don't speak to driver" sign, glass partition, etc.) Therefore I decided not to try to speak to the driver, ignoring the "hello.." prompt, given that previous dialogues were ignore-able without halting progression. I hoped that the ride would play out without interaction but the game just waited for me to try to interact.

Maybe I am spoiled by the sort of time-simulating that can be seen in the Life is Strange 2 demo "Captain Spirit" and maybe the "anything is possible" aspect to games like Baldur's Gate 3, which obviously isn't the same type of game as this, aside from choice based dialogue.

Maybe, another gripe I have with the game is that it feels quite derivative of a Life is Strange game. It has the blueprints of a Life is Strange game to me, with the same cringey teen dialogue, aesthetic visuals infused with a soundtrack, hell, it even has a little spin of the supernatural in a particular portion I played, none of which land for me.
The characters feel shallow and stereotypical, not helped by the fact that the focus on politics made it seem like none of the characters had anything to talk about besides it (not all, but many). Many of the aesthetic focuses are obnoxiously exagerated representations of what it's like to be a vagabond (sleeping on a hapharzardly constructed wooden platform that hangs in mid-air over a death-drop, because the player character is "aesthetic" B] ) and, i'll say it again, that "The Road" song that they decided should be their main theme song is so cringey.

Before I leave it at that, I want to praise some things. I like what they tried to do. The game concept is great. Some of the music is actually pleasant to listen to, and I kind of liked that "Honey-bear" guy, whatever his name was. I like how some of the game's secrets are actually hidden with nuance. The aesthetic of the user interface is good. The actual layout of how the content is presented is GREAT, with the news segments reporting on the progressing narrative at the beginning of each newly played life.
It's a shame that the content itself didn't do it for me.

I would say that this game is probably intended for a younger audience, however, i'd be reluctant to actually recommend this to a teen, as the politically heavy narrative seems designed to inspire a sort of manufactured brand of rebelliousness in a more impressionable teen.

It felt repetitive.

I played it a while ago, so from what little I remembered, the game felt shallow.

I saw this advertised years and years ago in some gaming magazine. I knew from what I read it was an incredible idea, but it took me all these years to give it a go myself.

I suppose in all this time, after hearing about it when it first came out, I'd already digested what the game was about.
Not to mention the fact I'd already played Sky: Children of Light on my mobile, which I knew was developed by the same team while playing.

So, in a sense, I had truly experienced the kind of gameplay that had to offer.

Anyhow, I saw it on a sale. I knew it would be good. And I was right.

I was pleased to find the experience fresh and original, despite having played Sky:COL.

If you're reading this, and somehow lucky enough not to have read much else regarding the game, then great, because I will tell you nothing about it for your own good, except that it is worth a play.

Aside from the contents of the game, what I will say is that it is short.
I recommend picking it up in a sale for that reason, though there is a chance that this game will blow you away if you're not jaded by these kind of games.

Another thing I didn't expect is that it highly recommends the player use a controller right at the beginning. Luckily I had one.

10/10

I've clocked up only around 8 hours.

My first impressions are great.

I never thought I would actually like the AI squad-mates thing but I love it. In fact, it makes the game for me.
Thanks to the AI squad guys, the combat is much more comfortable. It's not going to feel like every time you peak or open fire, you only have a split second to hit or even find a target before getting shot.
No. The AI is pretty goofy, and you'll get lots of kills, and I love it. And i'm not ashamed.

I haven't got to fly yet, but there are planes and tanks here too.
I was pleasantly surprised by the easy learning curve of the ground vehicles. The damage window which shows where your bullets penetrated the enemy vehicle is great.

The maps are great. I got right in to a D-Day map on my first play which was a 10/10 starting experience. It's got that sector-by-sector game mode that sees you pushing from point to point, progressing your way through the map incrementally, which I love.
It seems like that mode plays quite often, but I also played a Conquest mode. (3 flags across the map to be captured to score more points than the enemy).

I mostly played the "Squads mode" in which the two previously stated modes come under. however there is a custom mode which has loads of well populated hosted servers with custom (requiring downloads) game modes. One of the game modes available here (which does not require a download by the way) does allow players to play as individual soldiers without AI squads following in 20 v 20 games on the usual game modes. This particular game mode made me realize I love the AI, as I felt naked without my men.

I love the different squad types that can be unlocked started with Infantry, Sniper, Tank crew, and then moving on to unlocking (through gameplay) medics, AT infantry, Radio Operators, Engineers and a few more I haven't looked into yet.
I do like the experience of progressing and upgrading all kind of aspects about the soldiers, their gear and so on. One thing I will say is that there are constantly new perk points to put into the new soldiers I enlist, and it gets tedious. Sometimes I will just start a match instead of fully perking out all my units, because it's repetitive.

Anyway, those are more peripheral details to me atm, as the gameplay is still fun.
One particular clever aspect I noted, is that, given that maps have that attack/defend mode, you could say they have unique play-ability twice over, given that, for example, defending D-Day as the Germans in the pillboxes (so fun) is a much different experience to assaulting them. But today I noticed it's actually four times over, as the D-Day invasion mode (just remember the name there) loaded me in as the Americans defending this time, and started us on defence at the final attack point that would have played out if we were on attack. So the devs have really maximized the functionality of their maps in my opinion. I've yet to see all of the maps, and I haven't even got to play as the Japanese yet, but it is clear to me that this game has offered me a lot of enjoyable content at no cost, with more still to experience.

I would be content to pay for something in this game if I keep playing, as I feel that the effort put into this experience renders it a deserved return for them.

I got properly addicted to this on mobile a year or so ago.

It's very more-ish.

PROS-
*Very visually clean to look at.
*Really good array of "pets" each with unique abilities.
*The extra layers of mechanics such as the shops, the level up system and so on solidify the enjoyment of the gameplay experience.

I have no cons for this game.
I haven't played it in a while, because even good games take their toll, but I couldn't expect any more from the game, as it nails exactly what it sets out to do.

The expansions, bringing new pets into the game, are a fun and fair way to monetize an already great free game.

I loved this game in the Beta, and still do.
This isn't a critical review, as I don't care for the meta of games like this.

Pros-
* I love the Battalion mode. I like the player count being 5v5. I haven't played absolutely every one of these type of games, but from what I remember, I think 4v4 was the highest I'd gotten to play in a multiplayer game like this.
I like 5v5 because I get to play around with different roles for fun without taking as much of a hit to the team, like focusing on engineering and building cool bases at key points while the other guys (*cough* do the hard stuff) play their roles.
* The game continues a great trend of having curious vehicles involved in games. In one Battalion PvP match I found a "Field Kitchen" witch appeared to be a cooking pot on wheels. I manned the cooking pot with 4 soldiers (under fire) and wheeled it a few inches slowly. The cooking pot had an AoE zone, of which effect I do not know, because I dismounted quickly to avoid getting killed.
Another time, in one of the singleplayer Conquest game modes, I was attacking some town that had a railroad running along it's flank. I decided to use the railroad as the direction to flank from, because it had cover, and realised the train station had a crane car on the tracks. I cleared out some enemies, (who had RC cars or something and blew up my tanks :s ) and send a dude into the train car crane. I thought I could drive it along the tracks, but I could only swing it around. I asked myself, "What is this even for?" and then scanned the map to find a driveable train carrriage way at the back of the tracks with a load of heavy vehicles in the carriages. I thought that was bloody cool. So I drove the train car up to the station to unload the vehicles but it somehow crashed and they got stuck. lol.
But anyway, I love that that was possible.

I've been enjoying playing the training mode sessions, and after each lesson, say it was "recon" for example, then focusing on providing recon in the next multiplayer match after that.

Some of the maps are more interesting than others.

I haven't touched the main singleplayer campaign so I can't speak for that, but I've tried a bit of the Historical battles and the Conquest and I am happy that I've seen some friendly AI involved in the Historical battles.

I think that's what I like in these games, is the taking part in battles where I'm not under stress to be carrying the progress.

Cons-
* Occasional glitches like a unit getting stuck.
* The american unit emotes is a bit cringe and repetitive, but it's cool, I just turn the volume for them off.
* As with many multiplayer games, some obnoxious people in multiplayer chat. Maybe a little concerned that I haven't found a way to mute people in the controls menu or checking for a moment in the tab player list.

I've seen complaints about other things, but I don't care about much else myself.

As I've said before, I don't care about the meta of these games, neither do I care about winning every time if the battle was fun, I just love the gameplay, and I can assure you there will be cooking pots coming to assist my allies in a future match.

It's not fun for very long, but it is a good demonstration of their art style and atmosphere.