Recent reviews by webmetalreese

I've been a Trekkie my whole life and for my life I've been searching for a great Star Trek game. I've tried them all over the course of the 30 or so years gaming has been a thing and I've yet to find a game that hasn't been shut down, abandoned, or outdated.

I will say first and foremost the campaign overall was enjoyable until you realize there are only 2 different mechanics involved in completing it and one is locked behind an eventual paywall.
But other 'modes' with this one are:

Ship Battles!
Lots of iconic ships are present in game, and each ship has certain skills and attacks, shields, phasers, etc. but getting the blueprints to build them become part of the endless grind. You would think this would be the best part of the game, but sadly out of all of the ships you could potentially use, only 3 are meta relevant, so the others are useless, as the battles themselves are nothing but 3 seconds of pew pew and either win or lose, onto the next one until you use all of your tokens for the day or whatever.

PVP!
SHOULD be fun, but all the opponents overpower you with their cards as their numbers that are bigger, so you continue to refresh the choices until you find some weak card only to find you refreshed so much that you ran out of merits to play.
The actual gameplay is like the old pokemon games where two pictures battle numbers.

Ship Journeys into Deep Space!
One would think that being how long term and deep as it may seem by choosing the perfect crew and ship to venture out into the unknown, it's probably the biggest let down as you pick your ship, pick your crew, click run and then wait a couple of hours because you can't do anything else because your best cards are locked on the mission, so you can either watch it happen in real time as the mission log updates with big nothing as you waste an hour or three hours doing nothing but watching the log and your little ship icon slowly tick across the screen, so you set a timer because your 'BIG CHOICES' occur every hour in where you need to click in order to continue. For the most part, I forget I sent them on the mission and then log back in to find my ship out of gas, so I then have to order it to return which takes ANOTHER three hours to finally get back and reward me with...nothing.

The EVENTS!
They run 3 or so of the same mechanics but try to hype with new cards, but due to your crew limit being so small you amass a huge amount of character cards until you run out of slots and either toss them out the airlock or P2W.

Faction MIssions!
Well, sending your shuttles out SHOULD be dangerous as you try to gain favor with the borg, or the Terrans, but no...you simply choose the crew that suits best for the thing, then click and wait and then rinse and repeat over and over but since you are only allowed a total of 3 shuttle slots, faction grinding is boring and not worth the rewards you can get from said factions.

You can join up with other players in an alliance - which allows you to join in on big boss battles that SHOULD be fun, but sadly they are all of the same big boss, with the same mechanic and builds in order to participate. The most fun of those battles is to figure out which crew will unlock "Combos' but the group I belonged to are all long time players who just grind it over and over for honor you can use to buy more of the things you need to keep clicking.

I will say, however the players I talked to in the bot modded chat are all very friendly and helpful. They helped me out alot to understand the 'game' in the long run.

Overall I put a solid 75 - 100 total hours having played both on Steam and on Mobile. I tried my best, but overall this is not an actual game at all, alot of it is locked behind paywalls for resource increases in order to fill up again and then be in the same cycle that landed you spending cash on nothing that serves as any value or actual 'FUN' game play.

It's not a negative for me, it is what it is. A click to pay to see pictures type of thing.

Out of all of the PAW PATROL games being thrown at our youngsters either through mobile, PADD, or PC - for some reason developers LUV churning out some real winners simply for the sake of that cold hard cash and gettin that license so they can put it to REEL YOOS by giving nothing more than repetitive levels, same dog..different colors, same EPIC music so you can start drilling it into your head by the end of level two which JUST puts you over that two hour refund window if you let your kids play.

BUT!

Out of all of the mess - this is by FAR the least wasted potential in the legacy of 'dem dogz. Open world kind of...mashing buttons and rotating sticks with MIGHTY POWA at certain intervals makes this kind of fun to CO-OP with your yunins.

Pup Pup Boogie mini game and collectibles.

If you are on the fence on which trash heap to get - this one is not that bad.

Edit: 11/29/24
This game released and still doing very well.

I have always felt that getting games when they are in Early Access as flipping a coin when they, if ever make it to an official launch. Most games these days it almost seems that development teams and studios exploit EA access or have lost the good intentions that Project Greenlight was actually started for.

Last Epoch for the most part have stayed true to their intentions of making a solid ARPG and in my opinion, did an excellent job of being in EA and being cautious and listening to feedback and trying to provide a new and unique take on the genre without letting go of what us top downers know and love.

The game itself is not what I would consider "The D4 Killer" or "The alternative to POE" but more of a "We sit in the middle" game with a lot of content that is easy to understand that isn't trying to be either of the titles it's been given.
While hype is hype, the game has come a long way from where it started and though you can't 'choose your race or gender' as that is somehow a negative to some for me it really reminds me of those old Dungeon Siege games with a bit more style and class.

While in EA there weren't too many broken things to worry about, the main story needed work and of course, we all want MOAR stuff to fall on the ground, but overall coming into their launch day - the game for me was truly solid enough.
But then....online services.

It truly is a very middle of the road top down ARPG.

RTS from the creators of the 8-Bit series who were once the creators of the Command & Conquer team that gave us NOD and Kain and all the goodness of that series, while not as finely produced to give us the likes of Mr. Ironside, instead have yet again produced a solid core RTS of the days long gone.

While this game just released in EA, the opposing faction has yet to come as well as they are currently taking feedback.
If you are a HC RTS'er - go ahead. If you are new the the genre, maybe try the 8-bit series first as they are finely tuned and very playable...and give 9Bit some time to cook.

EDIT: 2.7
After playing up to chapter three I've faced some challenges in regards to completing these boxes - Color.
I am red/green deficient and there are so many puzzles that revolve around matching colors that I've become frustrated and have to skip the entire thing.
This is one critical issue I find that in 2024 should have some options to enable assistance for the colorly challenged.


I have been following this title since the debut of the demo in (I think) Next Fest or another Indie type festival.

They did indeed put polish on the game itself, but the demo was very interesting as I haven't seen a game such as this ever.
Not to say that point and click until you win could solve most of the puzzles that you are presented with, the the presentation itself is well worth to play.
Puzzles that are simply turning a crank to open a door leads to a key that after inspecting, has a mechanism that unlocks when you match the jewels unlocking yet another layer of a simple key. Heading around to see where it fits you are presented with a portal that leads to a box with an undersea tone, I giggled as I eventually discovered a little model boat that (no spoliers) well, did a thing which led to a bigger thing.
The puzzles themselves have not been difficult and they offer a show hint if you get really stuck and an skip puzzle if you are frustrated or baffled.
Overall, it's not the unlocking of the boxes that makes this game such a gem, its the overall presentation and actions the boxes have when solving them.
OVerall I highly recommend this game at the launch price of ten bucks or whatever discount they are running.
Doors - another game from this team - is certainly fun but gets quite old after door after door and well BOXES is definitely an improvement on this type of game.
For real, its fun.

Milo and the little adventures that make up the main game only shine brighter with this little add-on that introduces a new friend into the family.

Lovely Christmas gift given to the players by a team that has shown nothing but passion and enjoyment with breathtaking music and artstyle that only small teams can produce these days.

Merry Christmas!

Edit: 12/27/23
It was announced last week that Dual Force will be shutting down the game in February.
Play it now or never play it - Doomsday has arrived. Sad to see it go, but I guess it was too much to handle.

The biggest issue that i see with DC is something that tjhat was for me an obvious whiff on their end regarding ranked matches. They really should of should of followed SNAP in methodology and starting out. First the tutorial is rather weak and fails to explain clearly what each cards actions do as well as explaining the factions and how they would work together so comiing into the game you really don't know synergies, possibilities, card actions like aura, speed, evade.

They could of easily explained the basics using the first 'comic' that you do as a tutorial, but they failed to estimate correctly just how much players are not aware of some of the cards.
So they really should improve the teaching process as once I finally figured them all out the game became much more fun to play.

AI matchmaking and creating the AI to run with players until they have certain leaders/more cards etc and that coudl of been more rewarding especially leader cards.

I also have been playing this since beta but have only been trying my own brews, facing the AI in one one and honestly playing comics. This month I figured I'd throw them a sub in order to play the other comics which bolsterd me into a ranked match as I felt "I was ready'
A streamer was my first opponent! If that would of been someone with the exactt same deck as me or at least the factions then I feel would of been much more frustrating as the streamer is in the top ten and I am rank whatever you start out at.(80) Of course he wrecked me by turn 3. I thought to myself "I simply do not have the cards like ventriloquist *(everytime you play a card bullets fly everywhere and just decimate any thing on board) and some other lucky draws from packs and.or comic plays. I tried to give it some more chances to give me an actual chance, but it never happened. I played 5 matches and I havent gone back.
I simply do the comics and small quests.

Overall, They missed the mark by not holding players hands and getting at least 4 leaders plust an extra leader for completing the first comic or something. Overall I feel that tthis leads to early frustration, but I also have to state the in its current form it most certainly is P2W when itt could of easily been a non issue had they had the foresight to not pit new players against veteran players in the top ten of their ranking season.

I'll keep playing the comics though! - they are seriously fun.

Would I recommend this card game for anyone? Absolutely. But strongly suggest you stay in comic/AI battle land and actually watch some streams and whatever content you can to first understand the mechanics of the game. Especially if you are coming from SNap or whatevet with much faster and streamlined play.

They are cheap, fun, can be reset, and are great with kids. Doesn't take long to find them - but the added bonus stuff is joy.

If you like 'Find The" type games - seriously can't go wrong with 'most' of the devs titles.

Actually, I never bothered to find out. game is stunning to look and game wise it's decent. Where it falls though is the game mechanics vs. the difficulty level. Loved the six hours I played but I never got really far into it. The boss fights are some truly break your keyboard type of battles.

Recommended only when it's rock bottom cheap.

EDIT: 11/26/24
Avoid this game at all costs if you are new to the game itself, the cards are literally impossible to get unless you are willing to shell out hundreds of dollars.


EDIT: 1/14/23
The ever increasing costs of their in game purchases and the fake FOMO and Hype they generate for upcoming cards leave players saving their resources for months in hopes to purchase these great upcoming cards and bundles only to discover that the cards are either trash and unplayable or so overpowered that if you don't have that card you lose games because of it.

The recent error on their 'web shop' allowed players to exploit currency due to a type listed on the NuVerse site. Upon discovering this, players who purchased the bundle on other platforms for the same price did not receive the extra currency, while the players who purchased it on their site did creating an unfair and unbalanced purchase as on their site they specifically state that regardless of in game or on the site - bundle are exactly the same price and contain the same materials and items. This to me is fraudulent and I contacted G.Play who immediately gave me a refund of the bundle which leads me to have a -9000 gold amount in game - I guess because I still retain the variants and boosters etc and they gave it a monetary value of 5000 gold.

To me, it's more about the principle rather the currency or variant art. If they state they are the same, then they simply could of stated the error and apologized to the players and regret not giving them the wrong amount OR they could of given all players who purchased it during the time when the error was active the extra resources and I would have no issue.
But they didn't. They gave a 75$ benefit to players who bought it on the site, while the rest of us did not.
For me if they were a 3rd party site or somethign Okay, but since NuVerse shop is directly linked to my in game shop and they claim they are no different, its fraud. As of this time, I no longer will be purchasing any bundles other than the season passes as they still retain a basic value of ten dollars. After having spent quite literaly over a thousand dollars over the course of the year, they will no longer be applying their FOMO and falsehoods to me.
I suggest if you are a fan of Snap, so am I but their monetization has gotten quite ridiculous as they recently received 100 million dollar investment into their Development Company Second Dinner. Mr. Brode seems to be taking his experience as a former Blizzard Employee and is now implementing tactics he learned while being employed there.

I have had this game on my phone now for a little bit and when I diiscovered they were in the process of a PC version, I figured 'Sure!"
Playing games on my phone I don't much care for, I would jump into a match while waiting or having a bit of time to muck about during my work breaks etc. Unfortunately my PC investment has become much more than that. As with all our lovely Komputers we have access to videos, discussions, walkthroughs - OH THE COMMUNITY!

Here is the gist of the game itself: It's a quick card battler that sits in the marvelverse. You jump into a match and try to use your cards to win at least 2/3 "Locations" after 6/7 turns. The locations will randomly generate some sort of effect on your cards, or your energy, or will simply take over your game and play for you.

So you build your deck and try and utilize the locations and also consider your opponent and what they are going to play. Each location can have up to 4 card placements, and with the literal massive amount of cards and effects, it can be quite exciting to discover and be a strategist during the - at most 5 minute games.

Most importantly is the snap feature which basically is a tessaract that is floating with a number - which you can SNAP at anytime you think you are going to win the match. When you 'SNAP' the cubes go from 1 - 2, if your opponent also SNAPS then it goes from 2 to 4 and finally being 8 on the final turn.

If you snap and win - AWESOME but if you lose - those cubes are then taken away from your rank. So let's say you are rank 49 with 2/10 cubes left to hit 50 and lose an 8 snap - now you are rank 48 at 6/10 and thus have to win those back in order to continue. You can also choose to retreat before the match ends and only take a small hit on cubes if you feel a loss coming. Because beleive me, losing four instead of eight is always better because for most matches either you or your opponent will only snap one time because with the way the game plays if both of you are sure of winning, that means either - you are going to lose big time or you yourself have the big drop card. Most players though realize if you snap later in the match they will just leave - giving you 2 or 4 cubes. In order to get eight, you have to snap VERY EARLY and HOPE you are right OR jebait them into thinking you are a bot or a noob.

While this isn't much of a concern at first - mainly due to the early rankings of balanced players with roughly the same decks or even bots that have no idea how to play - about rank 45 you start to encounter players who are sometimes 20 ranks higher than you are and have cards that you have no way to counter or beat.

This leads to many players becoming frustrated, angry, and upset simply because in order to obtain new cards you have to level Another Ranking System called 'Collection Level." In order to rise in your CL you have to upgrade your cards - which cost credits and boosters in order to do so.
Upgrading cards is nothing more than cosmetic and if you are playing with the card in your deck, you will eventually obtain boosters for it. In order to obtain credits though, you have daily missions, you can purchase the season pass for a fee, or simply use real currency to purchase 'GOLD" to then purchase "CREDITS" in order to upgrade your card to PROGRESS the Collection Level by either 1, 2, 4, or 6 levels.

This is where it starts to hurt as a lover of card games and enjoying the gameplay, the game is set up to reward you quite often up until Collection level 500. It's actually gushing cards, gold, credits, just showering you with love from HULK and IRON MAN and oh yes, ANT MAN. and you have fun for about 45 hours to hit that mark. The cards you collected along the way though - they are not 'totally random' but rather come from a 'pool' of cards. Currently there are 5 Pools with CL 460-something starting in pool three.

So in essence this means that by the time you achieve 500 you will have every card that they want you to have from both the starter pool and pool two. That's considered the 'basic deck.'

From 500 and beyond the rewards change. Now, istead of cards every 4 ticks, it becomes every 4th tick is - 50 credits, then another 4 ticks is 10 boosters, and then another 4 is a 'collectors cache' which has roughly 47% chance of getting a new card, but also smaller chances for 4-5 pool card. 2-350 credits, 150 gold , or YET ANOTHER currency called "COLLECTORS TOKENS which will award 100 tokens which are used in the token shop to straight up purchase a card that rotates every 8 hours. Pool three are 1000 tokens, Pool Four are 3000, and Pool Five are 6000 for a single card.

Now, I've given enough information I think for you to get the idea here. If you want to be a top player or have big D cards like Thanos or Destroyer, Galactus etc. you either play for free for a couple years and maybe get one or like me...sink your teeth into their shop and absurdly purchase gold for credits to see a shiny card and then get 50 credits as a reward for doing it.

I like this game, I put some money into it, but using HULK to fight THANOS is literally impossible - we all seen it in Infinity War. It's no different in SNAP.

Still though - it's quite fun to play!


Updated 11.26: The game has gotten quite expensive.