Recent reviews by Mr. Mangix

SOVL is a very nice and simple take on tabletop wargaming, and seems like a nice homage to Warhammer Fantasy Battles. The gameplay is easily pick-up-and-play and there's enough unit variety to make the single-player campaign varied and challenging as well as multiplayer games never a repeat fight.

That said, there is some things that could be improved, hopefully seeing these in future updates. The UI is very bare-bones, without tooltips or clear values(a simple hover to showcase charge range for units in the movement phase would be a massive improvement). Adding rules and measurements as an outright tooltip would be very appreciated.

All said, this game is a very nice break from the hustle of actual TTWG, and if you're interesting in getting into those type of games, give it a try and keep a eye for further updates.

It is games like this that truly make me wish there was a "Maybe" option when selecting a recommendation for games. Sadly, I will simply have to list this as a "No".

This game is, basically, Battlefield:Bad Company 2 in voxel-based form. It borrows some ideas and mechanics from other big team shooters, like Red Orchestra and Insurgency, but largely remains a Battlefield spiritual successor. Large team battles feel extremely fun and grand-scale, and the pace of movement as well as the great wall of guns you have access to make it a shooter that's very easy to sink time into. Unfortunately, there are some problems that seem to nag.
The blending of mechanics from other big team shooters really interrupts the high-speed of the game, such as the bleed mechanic, detracting from the speed and fun of gunfights.
The gun's values seem to skewer favorably towards guns with high fire-rate and high control, making SMGs and PDWs the de facto best guns for short to medium engagements.
The EXP/Level system is very grind heavy, and without any experience bonuses for finishing/winning/losing a match, creates zero incentive to play the objectives and instead just run around picking up kills.
The smaller size game modes, such as the 32v32, feel very lopsided at times and have rather unforgiving spawns.
and finally, the lack of a proper customization option outside of in-game, along with the lack of interface for playing with friends and making large in-house games, really makes the game feel rough around the edges and makes me long to play more Insurgency or Rising Storm instead.
The game is Early Access, and as such is subject to changes that may fix or soften up these rough edges and turn this game into a wonderful replacement for the now (un)dead Battlefield series, which at such a point i'll gladly give this game a "Yes". Until then, I'd hold off and wait for further development unless you're a big Battlefield fan, looking to fill the void left by 2042.

Project Wingman is, without a doubt, an extremely apt love-letter to the Ace Combat series and Arcade flight games in general. The game handles and feels like the PS2-era gems of its genre and even offers better visuals and style than those gems. However, along with that comes the same jitters and problems that plagued those games as well. Combat becomes somewhat tedious and monotone as you progress into harder missions, rather than difficult. Combined with a story that starts off strongly reminiscent of ACZ and ACX but seems to curtail itself as you delve deeper into the campaign makes the finish line feel somewhat unfulfilling and dampening on the success of completion.

All and all, I like Project Wingman for being as close to Ace Combat as you can be, but find myself disappointed with the end result. If you're a combat flight or Ace Combat fan and have the funds to, and I stress, spare then i'd give it a try. Otherwise, I cannot recommend the game fully due to the sour taste finishing it has given me.

However, I'll always give a positive review for having Prez riding shotgun, best WSO I ever had,

Preface: I purchased Cube World back in July 2013, when the Alpha was a much different game.

Cube World is the game you want to love, as it promises all the fun of RPG and exploration with the same vastness and endless content that you could experience in Minecraft. However, the game fails to deliver on these aspects with some very point design flaws.

The game revolves around starting from nothing but the clothes on your back and working your way up the food chain by completing quests and fighting monsters of varying difficulty while exploring the region and finding "tools" that allow you to access or complete certain aspects of the region. Monsters and quests will reward you with gear to continue your climb, while exploring will open up more locations to acquire said gear or build your "lore" thus leading you to the finale of the region: the dungeon. The dungeon serves as the final piece of the region being laden with monsters and small puzzles requiring the tools you've found in your travels to complete in its entirety and earn you an Artifact, which boosts your exploration skills. After this, you move to a new region, which doesn't carry over any of your "tools" or most of your gear, to start anew.

The concept is very much like a Zelda game, albeit if when you completed the final boss, you were teleported back to the start of the game instead of given the end credits. The lack of true progression and the lackluster amount of world depth in this game gives some credit to the phrase "Wide as a ocean, shallow as a pond". This game is good if you like the concept of repeating the same concepts over and seeing how far up the ladder you can get, but for the majority of players this will not be that enticing and very jarring to many's commonplace concept of RPGs and Adventure games.

While I can see some potential changes for this game being truly defining, I unfortunately must label this a hard "No" for anyone looking for a true open-world RPG. Keep a eye out for if any of us manage to get a working API and put out some serious mod work.

I mean, it does what it says on the tin.

S'cuse me while I go back to making wargaming maps that no one will play.

FighterZ is a strange one.

While it would be easy to compare it to other anime-fighters or 3v3 tag fighters, it finds a comfortable ground somewhere outside of these stereotypes. It is easily said a game that's "easy enough to play, but hard to master". The amount of universal moves and the childhood-tickling range of cast members gives you a lot of versatility and variety in both playstyle and options in a match. No fight feels lost till you hit that post-game screen.

My only 2 serious problems with this game:
1.) Netcoding is a bit rough, but they have improved it vastly compared to a few weeks prior.
2.) They named the rank system "Battle Points" instead of Power Level.

But, as Vegeta would say, "Power Levels are bull$#@!"
9/10

Once again, I found myself getting a Early Access title on the recommendation of a friend. And, once again, I find myself surprised by how nice of a game it turned out to be.

Subnautica is, by and by, a exploration game with survival and building elements. No, this isn't "Rust in the Ocean" or "Minecraft in the Sea". Subnautica's strengths and uniqueness comes from the massively exploitative underwater world around you. Visual-wise, it is some of the most striking landscapes i've ever seen. Every zone and chasm invokes a feeling of discovery and wonder that makes you want to just keep going, to keep finding all these beautiful and somewhat terrifying things that await you under the ocean. Combined with this is the stunning audio that adds wonderful accent to the world around you, plus making fauna extremely terrifying. The crafting and building system do serve their purpose, and give you a concrete reward to searching and exploring.

Story-wise, the game is mysterious, due mainly to it still being in development and key aspects of the story having not been implemented yet. However, I am pleased to say that the development team by this is very active and provides constant updates on the game and their progress toward the next build. As a Early access game, its always a safe bet to wait for its finished build. Yet, if you enjoy games designed to explore, and wish to see this game in its final build, I implore you to buy this game.

The short: A wonderful and somewhat scary underwater exploration game, with beautiful graphics and stunning audio.

If there is one game in my library I can always find myself coming back to, its Kerbal Space Program.

When I first heard of KSP, it was still in very early alpha, as a free download that was just the bare bones of what it is now. While the bump up in price was unexpected, I find it well worth it for what this game delivers. The game as it is now, offers a wide array of ways to play it. Sandbox to Career, you'll find yourself learning the laws of gravity and rocket engineer dynamics. The amount of depth, from physics to aerodynamics and all the way over to astrometry, requries it in order to advance further in the game. However, the reward is a accomplished feeling of performing the very same missions you'd expect out of the world's space programs, albeit with a little less complication.

The depth of physic-based features in the game is very heavy, forcing critical thinking and in-depth designing of rockets and spaceplanes to achieve your goals. Beyond that, the study of orbital position of planets and their gravitational fields come into play. All this, combined with costs of construction and real finite rescourses require you to work both mentally and physically in achieving the goals you set for yourself.

All and all, this game is a excellent learning tool and rewarding "choose your own path" game, even being used by some school systems in the US and UK as a way of teaching astronomy and physics in school due to its excellent depth in such fields. And for those of us who want a little more, more in-depth aerodynamics, planet diversity, or even a expansive construction system, there is a dedicated modding community adding more and impressive things to the roster of things for your Space Program to do.

In the words of Eugene "Gene" Kranz, "Our place was to raise our aspriations to those things that are possible, if we commit...We have to continue forward; to stop in space, is to surrender."

The short: A fun, cute, and refreshing civilization builder in the essence of its age-old predecessor: Dwarf Fortress.

The long: As a avid fan of civilization sims and a old school fan of Dwarf Fortress 2, I bought Stonehearth on a hunch that it might be a aptly port to the 3D plane. In return, I was award with a different experience all together. Normally, I am a hard skeptic when it comes to Early Access titles and new wave Indie games. I am proud to say that this is a, currently, diamond in the rough.

One of the first things I found with this game is the adorable graphics and artwork, which really appeal to its style. Everything looks nice and has a charming nature, even in the enemy designs. Gameplay-wise, Stonehearth serves really well as a civilization sim. Everything seems to mesh well together and controls are extremely easy to use. While earlier I ran into problems with the building controls, the recent alpha stage has fixed most of these problems and makes building and designing an awesome experience. Progression is very straightforward and aptly spaced parallel to your own speed. Combat, while simplistic, is easy to follow and pushes you to focus your troops into more diverse roles as your settlement grows. All in all, a very entertaining experience that makes me hopeful for a quality game the more it develops.

While the current stage has not as much content as some would hope for, the team working on this has been effective at maintaining an open discussion with its playerbase. They have also been very well timed in releasing updates on development as well as new alpha builds, which is something I hope to see with any Early Access game. As with games of this nature, the time old expression of "What do I do?" comes to mind for those who aren't well versed with games such as Dwarf Fortress or Gnomoria. However, the game is very easy to follow and figuring out your way is not as hard as such games mentioned.

Basically, if you enjoy games in the nature of Dwarf Fortress, but aren't ready for the complexity of such a title, Stonehearth is the game to play. Adorable, addictive, and a fresh take on civilization sim.

Divinity: Dragon Commander is, in the only possible way to say it, a satirical real-time strategy game with smaller role-playing elements. The game starts strong with teaching you the very basics of the game in a controlled, easy enviroment, before tossing you over the rails into a sea of the craziest happenings. The major aspect of the game is played in a style akin to Risk, with large pools of troops being moved around a world map to capture zones and ultimately the goal of taking control over the whole globe. When two armies clash in a single zone, that's when you get to actually play the RTS aspect. Warning though, the type of RTS that comes with D:DC is displaced by the fact you control yourself as a DRAGON. Yep, you heard me.

While the above goes on, you get to deal with a council of representives of the multiple races in the Divinity world. You'll get polled for all sorts of controversial topics, with its open arguments from the liberal and conservative side of your table. Throw in a political marrige with a wife having her own problems, a wizard who's screwing around inside a demon's mind, and a rather cheery goblin who loves to create weapons of mass distruction for you leaves this game as one that doesn't take itself to seriously. And if doesn't take itself too seriously, why should you? Just keep back, play the game, and enjoy the laughs.