Recent reviews by Modigy

I'm running a custom arcade machine and due to the inability to custom map the keys I cannot recommend it. I mean, this would be one of the first things I'd do when building/porting an arcade game as there will be a lot of enthusiasts who want to run this on arcade systems/joysticks. You can customise other things like the skins/border art, but not the buttons!! WTF. I am now going to have to create a specific button mapping profile on my IPAC just to play this basic game which is a pain in the arse but I shouldn't have to really.

No longer works. My Xbox One controller and Logitech G920 wheel sometimes work on the main Steam Link menu, but once I connect to my PC the controllers both stop working. It used to work fine with the Xbox controller.

I really wanted to like this game. I enjoy the tabletop version and I believe the dev's are Australian (so am I) so I was sincerely hoping it would be as good if not better than the tabletop version. Sadly, it's far away from it's potential currently.

As a game, Underworlds is fantastic at both strategy in terms of warband selection, deck building, as well as tactically dealing with the varied events that occur and swings in power on the board. The warbands are growing and as a MVP the game is OK. However that's what it currently is, a MVP. It's easier for me to list the problems currently...

Players conceding matches: If you dominate an opponent they rage quit and you don't get any XP. It feels like you just wasted an hour of your time.

Bugs: There are a lot of bugs. I had a game frustratingly stall on the last turn of the last phase because of what seemed to be badly coded card. This kind of thing happens often. It's confusing because the rules of each card are quite specific and you'd think they'd lend themselves to a coded game well vs real world interpretation of the rules. Lots and lots of bugs in the game still.

Progression: Other than completing some games to get XP and unlock some cosmetic items the progression isn't really there. It is an area that would keep me coming back more but given a lot of games end up being conceded I basically play for hours without even getting any XP to even unlock the basic cosmetics. There aren't even Steam achievements and although not everyone needs them, I like achievements simply from the feeling of progression. It's pretty standard for almost all games to have them so it's unusual a game like this doesn't.

Ambience: The ambience is OK but they could have done a lot more to liven things up. It would be rather dreary watching a match on a stream as it just lacks excitement. They have the power of computers to make it more 'wow' and yet it is too much like a board game with very little in the way of sound effects and music.

Missing cards: I paid for Eyes of the Nine DLC, put together a deck offline using their standard cards but many of the cards I found were missing in-game. I don't know why they would release a warband without making all cards available for use. It feels like I didn't get what I paid for. It makes Eyes of the Nine, an under-powered warband, even harder to play.

Pricing model: Speaking of payment, and maybe not all people would agree with this, but personally I would have made the game free to play with one or two warbands included then allow people to buy their chosen warbands as DLC. It doesn't seem like they tested their pricing model as I'm surprised at this current approach.

User experience: Our (I play with a mate) biggest frustration seems to be around the sometimes unintentional moves that happen. And these can be game changing moments. Whether it's a character moving somewhere you didn't want them to (thus rendering them useless for the rest of the phase), or a situation where you are being asked to do a reaction but there is no info or direction on what it is you are supposed to do exactly, or information you are trying to find and you cannot easily find it. It feels like the UX person isn't a player of the game because they've not laid out the information and UI well enough. There aren't even labels/tooltips on some of the buttons. Also, sometimes you click on a card and, before putting it into play, the game treats it as your decision being made so you have to play it even though it technically hasn't been played. This is where we often get stuck, because you are just looking at the ploy card or whatever, but you are forced to play it when you change your mind and want to put it back in your deck to play something else.
Then there is the card mechanic - it's not smooth like other CCGs such as Hearthstone. You play a card, select a player for the card, then you have to play the card again! It's quite confusing what's going on when things like this happen and you are under time pressure. They even ask you to select the player when the card is only for one player (ie your only wizard). Things like this need to be streamlined so the game flows and errors are not made. 99% of the errors are actually our own doing, but they are made because of the poor UX. We are fairly regular tabletop players so this isn't new to us, yet the mistakes that happen are simply awful.

Graphics: I'm a bit disappointed in this aspect as well. I have everything on max/full settings and it looks low quality. The cards are unclear, nothing is sharp, and this is a game where miniatures in real life are painted in high detail. If they could turn up the graphics a few notches it would look fantastic but I don't even have the ability to go any higher. I'm guessing they've had optimisation issues as it does feel dated.

I think the game has huge potential though. They are sorting the bugs out, new warbands are coming as well as new card releases. However I fail to return to online play because the bugs are still affecting my progression and there is simply no feeling of achievement at the end of the game (especially when most games end in conceding). Maybe when the XP system works properly and they introduce a better rewards system, then spruce the graphics and sound up, I will edit my rating. I'm likely going to follow the dev's progress and hope that in a few months it really is worth returning to more often.

"Toybox Turbos has stopped working" - I have a high-end machine and the game simply won't even start. I would ask for a refund but for £2.99 it's already wasted enough of my time. Avoid. Lots of people complaining the game won't even start. Given the game was released a little over 3 years ago I would expect it to work by now. My rig:
Intel Core i7-7700K
EVGA GeForce GTX 970 Superclocked ACX 2.0 4GB
16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4-3200
Windows 10
Steam says I played 5 mins, but that's 5 mins of "Toybox Turbos has stopped working" just so I could write this review. Worst 3 quid I ever spent.

The game loads to the home screen and then I cannot do anything - no keyboard, mouse or gamepad seems to work. The application runs fine with music playing etc, I just can't do anything when I get to the menu and I am forced to Alt+F4. What a terrible development, which is a shame as I absolutely loved this game on the SNES back in the 90s.

Desciption: "Crisp, precise controls - do exactly what you want your character to!"

Reality: The controls are just ♥♥♥♥♥! Absolutely poor controls and the character never does anything I want it to do, even walking forward is difficult. I'm using an Xbox One controller via USB. It's so bad, don't waste your money until they fix it.

It's a shame as I really wanted to like this game but I just can't play it as it is.

Super Mario Smash Bros for PC - nuff said

Great game, I'm surprised it's taken so long for something like this to be released. If you like Football Manager style games and love F1 then you will certainly enjoy this. It is challenging but I have been playing as two teams sat at the bottom (I like the underdog journey) but I'm enjoying seeing my drivers, team and HQ develop.

You manage:
Drivers (scout, hire, fire, negotiate contracts)
Staff (race engineers and designers)
HQ (wind tunnels, factory etc)
Sponsorships
Car upgrades (performance and reliability are the main stats)

You start with Practice and fine tune the car setup based on feedback from the driver. Then you go into qualifying, again giving another opportunity to setup the car. Then it is race time where you manage the tyres (ultra softs right through to wet), engine modes, fuel consumption, pit stops, even overtaking to an extent. The race reminds me a little like the B-Spec races you get in Gran Turismo.

Cons:
- No official rights mean it has a Pro Evo feel to it rather than FIFA.
- There are some annoying little things they have missed like knowing who you are speaking to when negotiating a contract - there are no labels to say it is an Engineer or Designer or Driver you are talking to while in their screen (it's easy to lose track when you are scouting a lot). I've noticed other little annoyances like that throughout which I hope they solve.
- There is also little in the way of tutorial information about what to do. In the end of season/pre-season gap I frantically started spending a lot of money upgrading parts on my car only to find it was a waste of money. There was no warning or 'advisor' popping up to say "We don't need to updgrade our car until the season starts as there will be spec changes" or anything like that.
- The major issue is that there is a cloud sync problem - I sunk 20+ hours into the game while commuting with my MacBook Pro, then started another season on my gaming PC at home. The PC game (only 1 hour into it) must have synced in the cloud and overwrote my MacBook game meaning I lost 20+ hours and my first game is gone forever! My advice would be to run 1 save game at a time at least until they publicise they have fixed the problem.

10/10 would do that 20+ hours all over again.

It's a very good controller with a high quality build. The only problem is it is missing the right joystick which you desperately need for many games. I couldn't progress through South Park Stick of Truth without it and for many other games it is just too difficult/not feasible to use the trackpad. I use the controller only for games that don't need the right joystick. So I find myself using the controller to turn on my Steam Link and then use my Xbox 360 controller for gaming which makes my Steam Controller one expensive power button. Also by the time Valve adds tax and shipping you are looking at £50 not the £39 they advertise it as. For these reasons I sadly cannot recommend it. Buy an Xbox One controller instead