Starting with a short verdict that I think describes Render Cube's debut title on Steam.

Monster League is without doubt a good introduction of Render Cube; it is fun, it has potential, the dedication and work shows well in a positive light. Though it has its own issues, which I'll describe later.

Monster League is a racing game with a gothic halloween theme, except there are no disguses or candy, think of it as "Hotel Translyvania but it got its own racing game." The analogue probably isn't a bullseye one, but there is a point in it. At the time of this review it was in its earliest stage of Alpha. There are five unique characters, each their own characteristics that define their own playstyles in racing and perhaps in other gamemodes.

There 6 gamemodes, each up to maximum 8 players:

• Lap Race, individual players race around a track of turns, hills, jumps, and dangers to score the fastest track time total from maximum 5 laps, canisters of boosters can be picked up to gain yourself extra speed
  
• Soccer, 2 teams of 4 use their karts to push a large ball around the court, the goal is to push the ball into the opposite team's cage, the team who scores the most goals wins. If you are familiar with Rocket League, then you'll definitely feel yourself a bit home here.
  
• Hockey, same as Soccer, except you push around a large puck on an icy court (not slippery)
  
• Battleground, individual players race around an arena to call dibs on pick-ups, necessary to gain weapons to score hits on the other players, the player with the most hits scored wins
  
• Golden Egg, similar to Battleground, but the goal is to capture and hold a Ballisk who will lay golden(!) eggs over time, the more you hold it, the more score you total. The player who manages to hold the Ballisk the longest wins.
  
• Capture the Frog, I wager this is a familiarity to your eyes, eh? That's right, this is Capture the Flag, except the flag is a frog. The arena is very large and has lot of obstacles, you've to bring the frog back to your base while your comrades protect you from the other team trying to stopping you.

When I first opened the game, I was confused by that the mouse had no use so the controls was limited to the keyboard, I picked up my Xbox 360 gamepad instead and found myself familiar with the controls. I begun my first impressions by exploring the menu then started my very first game of one lap racing...

I found myself struggling with the control to drift, which is Jump + Steer at once, but the problem was that I always jumped first when I tried to steer into a drift, to my own chargain. To boost, one has to hold down both reverse and acceleration, coming from my favourite game of all time; Jak X, I fumbled at this at start, but got a hang of it. Except I kept thinking "perhaps I could had changed the controls just to feel more comfortable with it."

Of course, as a newcomer, I lagged behind and got in 4th place out of 8. Super Mario Kart was familiar to me, but the physics was different and I loved me a thrill of ruse, so I exhausted my booster too soon and found myself overtaken by the bots who knew about every quirk and nook of the track - it was in their nature. So I was wrestling against the last three bots tossing skulls, snowballs, and dynamite-bats at each other. I never managed to get in the first place at end of racing; I sure do have got some way to go.

Giving up on lap racing to explore the other gamemodes. I enjoyed both Hockey and Battlegrounds throughly.
Managed to score our teams goals in both Soccer and Hockey, but some minutes were tug-o-war that dragged on as every player rammed into the ball and into each other. Oh they scored a self-goal, whoops!

I carried on to Battlegrounds, found myself comfortable and familiar with the gamemode and I quickly mastered it, enjoying it. Golden Egg felt familiar, but both new and challenging, not quite the same when you are 7 and chase the same guy, then the next guy who caught the reward, and ultimately yourself hunted and pursuited by a hail of weaponry in a bid to stop you - just like it when I was holding the first place and had competetors on my tail.

Capture the Frog was familiar, but also odd in one way; the space you had to your own bid was quite large, once the game started, you'd barely get to see your teammates again as they desire into the depths of the arena. One minute in, with two minutes remaining on the match timer; no one still had taken the Frog, as if they were too busy sparring with each other. So I took the frog - I found myself unhindered all the way to the base. Felt like that Capture the Frog had potential and had a grain of fun in it, but it didn't work well with the bots in their current state, and the maps you could pick felt like desolate deserts.

In the end, I bit my lip and reflected over my experience. Was it fun? - Yes.
Was it thrilling? - Not much.
Are there room for improvements? - Certainly.
Would I play it again? - Yes. More so when Render Cube gets further with the development.
Does it have potental? - Yes. I hope more are on its way.

That's where we get to pin down some issues I hope we could take a look into.

This section is mostly aimed for developers to read, but I leave it in my review for clarity's sake and bring some attention to some issues I've had with the game that impacted the review, in my opinion.

The two colours used for the buttons in the menu and the interface feel a bit difficult to identify. Specially when there are only two buttons, which is when it is no longer obvious. I became concerned for the colour-blind, I think it would be super if indictators were added; such as small arrows inside the box or corners on the box.

Currently, the only way for you to tell where on the lap of a racing track is a straight bar at top of the screen, when players reach end of the lap, their indictators loop back to the start of the bar. I had also a bit trouble telling where I was due to the colours and they would often overlap each other. Once again, it would be helpful if the indictator was unique to the player so they can tell where they are and distinguish from others competeting the same position. ,It would be great if there was a minimap of the track instead. How about that?

Thirdly, I would like to be able to change the controls by myself, making my own presets. Since I've found some of the binds a bit uncomfortable, the current presets work, but I've got my own wishes for them.

Fourth. I don't feel the racing to be quite thrilling and I feel it is a bit difficult to catch and push down leading players or bots, specially when they got the upper hand and already is more than ten seconds ahead. If we had something similar to a nuke, a blue shell, or an energy ball (Jak X's own equivalent of blue shell), then it would perhaps be easier to win back the lost time.

Fifth, without the drifting, it feels like it doesn't have the thrill. Maybe give each racer little more speed, and consider adding "speed lines" effect to give us a sense that we are actually racing for the best track time, in high speed. The dirft as-is, both mechanic-wise and from my point of view on the controls, is difficult to accomplish and control. Perhaps it could be blamed on my own lack of familarity with the mechanic.

The game has its own issues and thorns that might prick some. But that's expected from a debut game early in the development. This has potential and provides a great opportunity for the developers to learn and shape Monster League to a racing game with a snuggly Hotel Translyvania-like theme in their own style. I can't say if I would recommend it for everyone, but I would say it is worth a try!

Someday in the future as the game develops and reaches a new stage, I may go back to renew the review. I am looking forward to it.

Starting with a short verdict that I think describes Render Cube's debut title on Steam. Monster League is without doubt a good introduction of Render Cube; it is fun, it has potential, the dedication and work shows well in a positive light. Though it has its own issues, which I'll describe later. [h1]Overview[/h1] Monster League is a racing game with a gothic halloween theme, except there are no disguses or candy, think of it as "[i]Hotel Translyvania[/i] but it got its own racing game." The analogue probably isn't a bullseye one, but there is a point in it. At the time of this review it was in its earliest stage of Alpha. There are five unique characters, each their own characteristics that define their own playstyles in racing and perhaps in other gamemodes. There 6 gamemodes, each up to maximum 8 players: [list] [*][b]Lap Race[/b], individual players race around a track of turns, hills, jumps, and dangers to score the fastest track time total from maximum 5 laps, canisters of boosters can be picked up to gain yourself extra speed [*][b]Soccer[/b], 2 teams of 4 use their karts to push a large ball around the court, the goal is to push the ball into the opposite team's cage, the team who scores the most goals wins. If you are familiar with [i]Rocket League[/i], then you'll definitely feel yourself a bit home here. [*][b]Hockey[/b], same as Soccer, except you push around a large puck on an icy court (not slippery) [*][b]Battleground[/b], individual players race around an arena to call dibs on pick-ups, necessary to gain weapons to score hits on the other players, the player with the most hits scored wins [*][b]Golden Egg[/b], similar to Battleground, but the goal is to capture and hold a Ballisk who will lay golden(!) eggs over time, the more you hold it, the more score you total. The player who manages to hold the Ballisk the longest wins. [*][b]Capture the Frog[/b], I wager this is a familiarity to your eyes, eh? That's right, this is Capture the Flag, except the flag is a frog. The arena is very large and has lot of obstacles, you've to bring the frog back to your base while your comrades protect you from the other team trying to stopping you. [/list] [h1]My reflection[/h1] When I first opened the game, I was confused by that the mouse had no use so the controls was limited to the keyboard, I picked up my Xbox 360 gamepad instead and found myself familiar with the controls. I begun my first impressions by exploring the menu then started my very first game of one lap racing... I found myself struggling with the control to drift, which is Jump + Steer at once, but the problem was that I always jumped first when I tried to steer into a drift, to my own chargain. To boost, one has to hold down both reverse and acceleration, coming from my favourite game of all time; Jak X, I fumbled at this at start, but got a hang of it. Except I kept thinking "perhaps I could had changed the controls just to feel more comfortable with it." Of course, as a newcomer, I lagged behind and got in 4th place out of 8. Super Mario Kart was familiar to me, but the physics was different and I loved me a thrill of ruse, so I exhausted my booster too soon and found myself overtaken by the bots who knew about every quirk and nook of the track - it was in their nature. So I was wrestling against the last three bots tossing skulls, snowballs, and dynamite-bats at each other. I never managed to get in the first place at end of racing; I sure do have got some way to go. Giving up on lap racing to explore the other gamemodes. I enjoyed both Hockey and Battlegrounds throughly. Managed to score our teams goals in both Soccer and Hockey, but some minutes were tug-o-war that dragged on as every player rammed into the ball and into each other. Oh they scored a self-goal, whoops! I carried on to Battlegrounds, found myself comfortable and familiar with the gamemode and I quickly mastered it, enjoying it. Golden Egg felt familiar, but both new and challenging, not quite the same when you are 7 and chase the same guy, then the next guy who caught the reward, and ultimately yourself hunted and pursuited by a hail of weaponry in a bid to stop you - just like it when I was holding the first place and had competetors on my tail. Capture the Frog was familiar, but also odd in one way; the space you had to your own bid was quite large, once the game started, you'd barely get to see your teammates again as they desire into the depths of the arena. One minute in, with two minutes remaining on the match timer; no one still had taken the Frog, as if they were too busy sparring with each other. So I took the frog - I found myself unhindered all the way to the base. Felt like that Capture the Frog had potential and had a grain of fun in it, but it didn't work well with the bots in their current state, and the maps you could pick felt like desolate deserts. In the end, I bit my lip and reflected over my experience. Was it fun? - Yes. Was it thrilling? - Not much. Are there room for improvements? - Certainly. Would I play it again? - Yes. More so when Render Cube gets further with the development. Does it have potental? - Yes. I hope more are on its way. That's where we get to pin down some issues I hope we could take a look into. [h1]Issues[/h1] This section is mostly aimed for developers to read, but I leave it in my review for clarity's sake and bring some attention to some issues I've had with the game that impacted the review, in my opinion. The two colours used for the buttons in the menu and the interface feel a bit difficult to identify. Specially when there are only two buttons, which is when it is no longer obvious. I became concerned for the colour-blind, I think it would be super if indictators were added; such as small arrows inside the box or corners on the box. Currently, the only way for you to tell where on the lap of a racing track is a straight bar at top of the screen, when players reach end of the lap, their indictators loop back to the start of the bar. I had also a bit trouble telling where I was due to the colours and they would often overlap each other. Once again, it would be helpful if the indictator was unique to the player so they can tell where they are and distinguish from others competeting the same position. ,It would be great if there was a minimap of the track instead. How about that? Thirdly, I would like to be able to change the controls by myself, making my own presets. Since I've found some of the binds a bit uncomfortable, the current presets work, but I've got my own wishes for them. Fourth. I don't feel the racing to be quite thrilling and I feel it is a bit difficult to catch and push down leading players or bots, specially when they got the upper hand and already is more than ten seconds ahead. If we had something similar to a nuke, a blue shell, or an energy ball (Jak X's own equivalent of blue shell), then it would perhaps be easier to win back the lost time. Fifth, without the drifting, it feels like it doesn't have the thrill. Maybe give each racer little more speed, and consider adding "speed lines" effect to give us a sense that we are actually racing for the best track time, in high speed. The dirft as-is, both mechanic-wise and from my point of view on the controls, is difficult to accomplish and control. Perhaps it could be blamed on my own lack of familarity with the mechanic. [h1]Conclusion[/h1] The game has its own issues and thorns that might prick some. But that's expected from a debut game early in the development. This has potential and provides a great opportunity for the developers to learn and shape Monster League to a racing game with a snuggly [i]Hotel Translyvania[/i]-like theme in their own style. I can't say if I would recommend it for everyone, but I would say it is worth a try! Someday in the future as the game develops and reaches a new stage, I may go back to renew the review. I am looking forward to it.