Recent reviews by Morse

What will you get if you try to develop a 3D-game with no 3D-artists?

The third dimension doesn't really add much. It's slightly easier to predict how high a wall you really need, and in some instances makes the tactical assessments easier, but on the other hand it clutters the view and makes it harder to select and control units.

It's still the same 2D game mechanic inside, the 3D-view is just visual candy. It's still good, although I do not like all the gameplay changes since the last version. I liked the research system from the third game better, and I do not like the new mining system: there are three mineable resources now, that are arbitrary needed for various buildings, which limits your base-building options.

They delete every mention of helldivers in their discussion pages, like it'll make the competitors disappear. Sorry, it won't, and helldivers is superior in every way.

And now they want to cash in Casper Van Dien. Fun fact: there is a video on youtube where Casper is shown helldivers gameplay, and he LOVES it. This game? Well, he knows it exists at least.

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That's one more victory for the right side of history!

Very cheaply made, and the main idea is bonkers from the scientific point of view.

But I'm a sucker for survival sandboxes with an end goal, with bonus points for the ability to change the environment around you, and this is exactly that.

Of all the games that throw some kindergarten-level philosophy at you and pretend to being "deep", this one actually backs up its claim. Not only the philosophical themes here are legit, but you can actually explore them through the game. It's not the usual "characters pretend to being smart by having a pseudo-philosophical debate", no, you, a player, is actually a part of this debate. Better come prepared to not be outmatched by your collocutors.

Oh, and there is a gameplay as well. Luckily, the devs now allow you to switch it off in the menu.

Is this what afterlife looks like? I want to un-born...

I'm addicted to P5 cast, so I couldn't help it.

The game itself is meh. The story didn't work for me: computers are magic, I get it, but this is just ridiculous. It's like "weird science", only it takes itself seriously. Combat is just bad. It's fast and cluttered, visual effects cover the screen, you don't see what you're doing most of the time, so just mash the buttons in pattern of your favorite combo and hope that you're doing something useful.

The one redeeming factor are the social interactions within the group. P5R already fixed that to some degree by adding some group events, so our cast looks more like a real group of friends. But without social links and helping other people solve their problem, I would still call this a failure. Oh yeah, the anime-mandatory scene "boys accidentally perv on girls in the bathroom" is there. Apparently, this is what the P5R game was missing. You can decide for yourself whether it's worth 60$ for you.

Full of bugs.

Yep, instant like. It may be easier than other zachtronics games, in that it allows you to easily solve all the puzzles in horribly inefficient ways. But horrible inefficient programming is what I do in my office. Here, I can finally indulge my OCD by optimizing every small detail for hours. The art is gorgeous, and watching all the gizmos work in parallel is satisfying (which is why you should always optimize for speed, these solutions are often most beautiful).

While the Jungian psychology is all crap here (and it is outdated anyways), the game provides some interesting insights both in the human psyche and, especially, into japanese culture. Knowing some specific concepts, like hikikomori, yankee and mukoyoshi helps fully understand the cultural context, but even without it, the plot is engaging, and the journey of the protagonist is interesting to follow. No wonder this game has so many spin-offs.

Oh, yes, the gameplay. It's fine. Usual JRPG crap.