Recent reviews by Selective Oblivion

Entry made only for The Steam Awards "hoop jumping" idiocy review manipulation badgeing process 2023.

* May actually leave a real review someday, after I put some real hours into Starfield. smh

Ignore this or award it heavily.

Thank you, either way.

Fun and a great way to demo the Steam Deck.

Very enjoyable and funny game, though short.

Not much replayability.

Works well on PC, but is optimized for Steam Deck.

I only played it on PC using Steam Link to cast to my TV.

The only Issue I had was do to Steam Link bugging out when accessing the keyboard overlay.

The game was provided for free and activation indicated a (beta) in the title.
The game appears from my 1 hour play session to not be a beta and a finished product.

First Impression and Conclusion: RECOMMENDED.
This is a solid Indie Match-3 that any Match-3 fan would likely enjoy.


Why? Well... I burned the rice. Yep, that is correct, because I burned my rice.
My dog, was very pleased I burned the rice, so my dog recommends this game too!



Dress-Up Pup is another story themed Match-3 game about a Fashion Agency for dogs at the request of their range of odd ball human owners & guardians. The game mixed a few gaming elements appropriate for a Match 3 game, such as simple putting puzzle pieces together to complete a picture between levels or chapters and of course the story theme of the game. This all provides a nice transition between chapters and didn't take away from the "fun" of Match-3.

- The writing style is simplistic and conveys the stories well. Those players who are wired to notice and follow English grammar rules may get the impression that English is not the 1st language of the developers due to the flow of story dialog. This is not a criticism or a derogatory statement. There are no glaring spelling or grammar mistakes that take away from the game.

- The artwork is nice and shows a variety of healthy happy dogs in and out of costume.

- Video Options: Very simple and technically enough. I do wish there were more video and/graphics options.
They are limited to Fullscreen, Windowed and a "wide-screen" toggle that didn't activate when in windowed mode.
The options ARE NOT duel monitor friendly and the first launch of the game automatically went full screen and messed up my 2nd monitor display. *HOWEVER*, after switching to windowed mode, my 2nd monitor correctly switched back to my default settings and I did not have to readjust anything for my displays to appear correctly again.

- Audio options have 2 sliders for music and sound effects. The music and sound effects seemed appropriate and pleasant. I did not have an impulse to turn them off.

- Match-3 game: Nothing wowed me in my limited play, but it all worked, was responsive and easy to see all the tiles. No big blinding flashes. Though I didn't get deep into the game and I was playing in casual mode, I was not challenged. Which is good as I was in casual mode and only progressed into the 2nd chapter of the story. The devs effectively introduced more powerup, tools and matching rules as the game progressed. The challenge of the levels increased as the story progressed and new tools and powers are introduced.

So.. the rice... why did I mention the rice, let alone use it as reason to recommend this game?
I lost time. I simply got engrossed in the game and forgot I had left the stove burner on after fluffing the finished rice.

Goal Achieved, Devs. You got my attention and kept it. Kudos!
Bonus: My home didn't burn down and my pup got some extra healthy treats in her bowl for a couple days. There is always a silver lining... ;)

Game was gifted, so refund is not an option.

No controller support.
Never made it into the 2nd vent into the tutorial.
Tried to cludge my way through with a Steam Controller.
Uninstalled. Perhaps The Escapist 2 will have controller support.

KB&M gameplay is physically painful, so controller support and keybindings for controllers is a must.

I enjoyed this game and recommend it.

I have purchased 2 other copies as gifts too.
Worth the asking price as there is plenty of content for the $.
A steal at $3 or less in a bundle.
An overlooked gem.

A simple but not too simple colorful rogue-lite that kept my interest for a couple casual play throughs.

If it had come out for Android, I'd have purchased a copy for mobile.

I'll keep this short. Refund requested for the $1 I spent.
Avoid if you find futzing with game settings and Windows settings frustrating.

If you are a fan of Sonic games and are willing to deal with Havok engine messing up your system settings, go for it.

The game is pretty, plays smoothly and appears to provide the Sonic experience.

The above are Pros:

Cons:
- No controller rebinding button layout configuration.
- Configuration tool failed on first attempt and game refused to launch until the 'configuration tool' was setup and saved. No instructions on how to find the "configuration tool" so some computer savvyness required... like knowing how to look in your Steam Install directory for any given game.
- Unacceptable settings and configuration settings for a modern game.
- Had to reboot my machine 2 times per play session to get my Windows 10 settings back to normal and to get the Steam client to even function again.

Playtime: 5625 Hours

I only upvote with a precautionary.

Like all the other DLC and microtransactions for this game, you're only buying a little time.
I also feel the pricing is too high for what your getting.

With that said, the taskmasters can provide some convenience in the form of 1 extra utility auto clicker. There are free scripts such as NIAutoclicker that do much the same thing.
The extra consumables are not worth paying for since you get them frequently in-game.
You can get 2 of 3 in-game taskmasters fairly easily by saving Rubies in the game and just playing over time.

The taskmasters will mostly appeal to idle players.
Aqua The Dragon is currently priced at $10 and for "Limited Time" until November 21st, the net proceeds to go to the Extra Life charity drive to support Children's Miracle Network Hospitals.


If your goal is to:
- Support the Devs and the CMNH charity, then I vote YES.
- If your goal is to get Phat Loot or make significant progress, then I vote NO.

Play Time: 5625 hours.

I only upvote with a precautionary.

Like all the other DLC and microtransactions for this game, you're only buying a little time.
I also feel the pricing is too high for what you're getting.

With that said, the taskmasters can provide some convenience in the form of 1 extra utility auto clicker. There are free scripts such as NIAutoclicker that do much the same thing.
The extra consumables are not worth paying for since you get them frequently in game, imoho.
2 of 3 Taskmasters can be acquired in-game easy enough. They are purchased with in-game rubies which you gain over time by completing missions and campaigns.

The Taskmasters will mostly appeal to idle players who like to keep the game running.
Otto Von Click is currently priced at $5.
Most of the other DLC priced at $10.


If your goal is to:
- Support the Devs, then I vote YES.
- If your goal is to get Phat Loot or make significant progress, then I vote NO.

Key was provided as a 1st day promotional release from Devs.
I want a refund for my time.

If you have an appreciation for SIMPLE boring games and you can find it for 10 cents, then go for it.

It works and didn't crash. That is about the most positive thing I can say.

This is the kind of game/product that should not be on Steam.

This is another low effort trash $ grab game.

The previous title On Board was a bad game and basically this "4 PC" version is 99% the same game. Devs didn't update/upgrade that game, but released this version instead.
Dev was also accused of posting fake reviews on previous On Board release.
Dev is known for giving keys and asking for positive reviews.


Uninstalled

PROS:
- Didn't crash for the 15min I played
- Visuals are not offensive.
- Only 3 Powerups. Listed in Tutorial Screen Still
- Cheap 40% off (59cents) on release day
- "Might" appeal to the youngest of children, might.. if they have been bad... and need to be punished.
- Tutorial Screen Shot.
- Trailer shows you what you get, but in sped up.

CONS:
- No Achievements or Cards
- No settings. None.
- "Touch to Start" (Mobile port? A bad but functional game by mobile standards)
- Music simple and repetitive.
- Simplistic
- Video on Store pages plays 10x faster than levels 1-4. This game plays very slow at first.
- Boring
- Only arrow keys for movement.
- Shooting is just a temp powerup.
- "About This Game" is very misleading. There is little content here. Watch the Trailer.
There is nothing more to the game than what you see in the video.

Despite the negative review, I do thank the Dev for the mass key drop gifting the product.

Edit: 4/5/2018 After a week, my review lock being lifted and learning a bit more about Andrew the Dev, my review stands. Stay Clear of anything this Dev ever produces. Unethical & Manipulative. There is a history of repeat behavior if you ever care to do the research.
DON'T BELIEVE THE SPIN REPLY.


UNETHICAL DEV. MANIPULATIVE SHADY DEV. UNETHICAL DEV

Love this utility, very useful for some of the games that don't work easily in a windowed full-screen mode.

However, the Developer Andrew is unethical and manipulative.
Simply put, don't reward such people with your $.
"Vote with your Wallet" in this case.


DO NOT BUY. DO NOT PAY $ to support or reward this DEV.


ADWARE ADWARE ADWARE ADWARE ADWARE ADWARE
(Technically removed on March 31st update, but the dev has repeat shady behavior)

In March 2018 the dev injected adware into the paid version (notice all the recent negative reviews).
This developer (Andrew) pulled the same unethical behavior about 9 months earlier according to Reddit reports.

He knows exactly what he is doing and doing it again...

He is also reporting Steam Users and getting them banned (abusing the system).
He is also deleting posts and calling it thread consolidation in an effort to bury the complaints.
Official "reply" is deliberate manipulative spin. Dev never apologized and attacks anyone who complains or criticises.

** I do not have any problems or complaints about developers promoting other products in unobtrusive and non-invasive manners. Changes were made, but the storm of complaints could have been easily avoided and from previous lessons "not learned" by the Developer.

**Suggestion: Public apology (eat the crow) and CHANGE the "Check Out Rainway" menu option to an "Other Products" or unobtrusive label in a Help or More menu area. The rollback and current menu advertisement is not acceptable either. Dev keeps pushing and breaking that line of unacceptable behavior.

***Obnoxious "Check Out" menu still exists in the BG application one week later and no apologies were ever given. The same "official" reply given by the Dev/Andrew to this review is all that has been stated. Spin. The additional Menu was the "roll back" solution.