Recent reviews by RAWKHAWK

TL;DR: The game is fun, when it works. DRM's kept me from playing more than a few hours of Squadrons.

I got Squadrons on sale for $5, so the price was right. It took a few tries to launch the game the first time, but once I got in I had a blast flying around with my joystick in VR.

That's all the good I have to say because, after that first play session, I haven't been able to consistently launch the game again. It'll start up, then the process will terminate itself before the game window can show up. I have ~3 hours in the game, but I've spent probably double (maybe triple) that trying to get the game to run. I've scoured the internet for solutions: I renamed the launcher, I ran the game as an admin, I changed compatibility settings, I messed with drivers, etc. You name it, I tried it. I was able to get the game started right after rebooting a few times, but even that stopped working after a while.

After a while, I started getting Denuvo errors. Something about licensing IIRC. This limited me to something like 5 game launch attempts per day before Denuvo would lock me out for 24 hours. At that point I decided it was time to uninstall the game.

Here's what I could gather from my attempts at getting the game to run:

• EAC isn't the problem, but the EAC launcher can lower your chances of getting the game to run (renaming "starwarssquadrons_launcher.exe" to "starwarssquadrons.exe" and vice-versa will bypass the EAC launcher)
  
• Denuvo seems to be what's causing problems (is anyone surprised by this conclusion?)
  
• There is (was?) a compatibility problem with Denuvo and 12th gen Intel CPUs. Intel supposedly fixed that problem in January 2022, so I can't say for sure if that's the problem I'm having (though I do have a 12th gen CPU)
  
• Some joysticks (or their drivers) might also lower your chances of getting the game running. I had marginally more success when I didn't have my VKB joystick plugged in. Not that I wanted to play the game without the joystick

The bottom line is that DRM breaks this game, at least on my PC.

My PC specs:

• CPU: Intel Core i7 12700K
  
• GPU: EVGA GTX 1070 SC GAMING
  
• RAM: 64GB
  
• Motherboard: MSI MAG Z690 TOMAHAWK WIFI DDR4

Good game, good story, great gameplay. You had better like it enough to play through a few times though. Or give yourself amnesia each time you finish the game so you forget the tedium.

The game crashed on me right after the last ending's credits, but Automata did that to me too so it's all good.

I dunno what I can say at this point that hasn't been said...

Beat Saber's a good game, and mods make it even better. The included songs are okay, but custom maps are better. The game's pretty easy to get into, but the skill ceiling is high.... very, very high....

Definitely check out Noodle Extension maps for a trip

Thx for coming to my TED talk. Don't break your arms

Rhythm Doctor is a super fun rhythm game made by people who understand the genre. The campaign so far is cute and funny, and the game does a great job of explaining and reinforcing new concepts as you go. Controls are responsive, and you get timing adjustment settings as you'd expect from a decent rhythm game. And, of course, the music is great too!

Maybe I'm going overboard but Rhythm Doctor isn't just a rhythm game, it's a platform in the same way the Beat Saber or Osu! are platforms. 7th Beat gives players the framework to customize our own levels how we want. I've seen custom levels that are at least as crazy as some Noodle Extension maps in Beat Saber, and I expect to see even more amazing levels now that the Workshop is opened up.

Good stuff, get the game

Yo Beat Arena is FUN!! It's not perfect, but it's a good time.

Character creation is just fine. Nothing groundbreaking, but your character will probably come out looking cool/cute unless you're really trying to go nuts.

The music selection is *okay*. If you haven't played BEMANI games before you might not recognize any of the music (and even if you have, you still probably won't recognize half the music). If you play the game for a while the music should grow on you. I knew like 4 of the songs when I started playing but now I'm jamming to just about all of them. IDK if Konami's gonna add more songs, but the game's website says it's planned.

The instruments are also *okay*:

-The drums are definitely the most fun to play IMO; you can play them kinda close to how you'd play real drums. The only thing is my hands tend to phase through some of the drums sometimes and it causes a double-hit on the way back up.

-Keyboard is my second favorite instrument in the game, pretty easy to get the hang of. Your hands also aren't glued to the instrument so you can have some extra fun with your hands when you have rest during a song.

-Bass is a close third. My problem is that the two string instruments' pluck zones move around kind of weirdly with your hands, and it's made weirder because I don't have a guitar-shaped thing in my hands. What's cool is, at least with the Knuckles controllers, you can use your index+middle fingers on the trigger and pluck like you would a real bass.

-Guitar is hard as heck, IMO. Maybe I just haven't spent enough time with it but the pluck zone thing combined with having to actually strum the guitar kills my enthusiasm. I've seen some people do well with it though, so maybe it just takes practice.

Definitely play the campaign to get a feel for all the instruments. It helps a lot!

At a certain point, though, the instruments start feeling more like a vehicle for interacting with your bandmates, which is where Beat Arena gets really fun: the replay performances! It's frickin' sick downloading replays and jamming with other people's recordings. Some people get really into it, others just goof around, but everyone's having a good time.

You also get special points for making eye contact with your bandmates when you're prompted. It seems kind of weird at first, but it definitely makes the performances more convincing. Less like 3 randos playing instruments on the same stage, more like an actual band vibing with each other. After a while you start noticing when people *don't* look at you and it's like, come on! Gimme some attention!

Be sure to check out the settings too! Some of the more annoying stuff can be disabled, like the "thumbs up/wave/nod to start the song". You can also change your guitar/bass mode from slide (air guitar style) to button (guitar hero-ish style), and have the game show you the pluck zone during songs.


TL;DR: Beat Arena's strength is in interacting with other players. Add people's replay performances to your band for maximum enjoyment! Most people will probably find the drums and keyboard the easiest to start out with. Music selection is decent, but you'll probably be unfamiliar with the songs.

If you get the game, make sure to add me to some of your performances! I like to try and make the performances as fun as I can :)

good