Recent reviews by Edon

So, what I have to say about the game is both good, and bad. Upfront I will say that I'm a fan of the survival sandbox style game, I prefer the PVE and building aspects but also enjoy PVP. I have a ton of time invested into ARK and am about 40 hours into Atlas. I will try to keep my review of the game as unbiased as possible though because as much as I do like this game, it does have its glaring issues.

So, lets start with the most important questions. Is this game just ARK with a pirate skin?

No. It does reuse assets, and the game engine, and the gamplay style. But we are talking about a studio that pretty much exclusively makes this style of game, Its a Survival/Sandbox/MMO in its early access stage.. There is a big enough difference between the games to call it its own game, or even ARK II, in much the same way Final Fantasy reuses a lot from its own franchise.

Is it Playable?

Yes... with an asterisk. The game is laggy, buggy, there are a lot of issues. But the same issues you saw last week aren't present today. While they may rear their heads again the thing I can honestly say about the developer is that they work to fix issues. If your looking for a smooth, uninterrupted gameplay experience this game isn't for you, at least not yet. A lot of reviews I have seen online from launch week are already dated, but nobody is going to tell you that.

Is it worth buying?

That's hard to say. I judge most entertainment purchases by the price of going to the movies. If I go to a movie alone, get a drink and some popcorn and have a night out alone, I'm going to spend about $20 to be mildly entertained for 2 hours. Atlas costed me $30 and I have been moderately entertained for about 40 hours, and growing. I am going to recommend this game, but you have to be the kind of person that likes this kind of game. You have to understand that this is an early access title, and while I know that the "early access" tag carries a little bit of a stigma, I trust the developer based on past work (Also I understand that this is grapeshot and not wildcard, but lets be real, its wildcard). If you want to play a well balanced PVP game, then look elsewhere though. Go to battlefield, CoD, Fortnite or whatever else because your not going to get that experience here. Here your going to get wiped off the face of the planet a couple dozen times, your going to get your base meshed through, your going to get taken down by server issues. This kind of game has so many moving parts that having a 100% flawless system is impossible.

So lets get to the review portion of this review.

Graphics: 8/10 - The graphics are good but could use some work, In time I believe this score will go up as the game is better optimized.

Music: 7/10 - Good scores but there needs to be more of it in some places, and less in others. Though most people play this game with their music turned all the way down which I think is a shame.

Content: 5/10 - Currently there isn't much going on being the first month of early access and all. This is another score I see going up with time.

Controls: 7/10 - The game itself controls fine (with mouse and keyboard) but the interface needs a lot of work, if they fix the interface this score could go up.

Gameplay: 6/10 - The game is what its supposed to be but lag and stuttering really take away from the experience. If the game is optimize better and begins to run smoother this score will go up.

Final Judgement:

If you like survival games, you will like this game. Don't get into it if you want a polished product, I suggest waiting for a full release and maybe coming back and checking out my review then.

Alice: Madness Returns is a good game for a single play through.

As you can see I have very little time played when compared to other titles, it is a very short game. The story and visual style are great but the combat and puzzles get repetative.

If its on sale for less than $20 I would say its worth the money, otherwise you could find something better for sure.