Recent reviews by Araripe

WoT but it's all floating

its ok i guess

As some people pointed out before, this game isn't really trying to put you to reach the end, the Mud and Blood franchise has been running for 12 years and it has always been about overcoming the worst odds and situations in whatever way possible

This being, I'd like to give the most possible detailed analysis as I've been a fan of this since MnB2 first launched on Kongregate, and it deserves the most attention for all the dedication put in by the sole dev and the community that supports it.

The original game as far is known was originally a WW1-RTS game using the same squad-basic ideas, it was only released to very limited audiences and up to this day the community awaits for it just to see how it looked like.
Mud and Blood Vietnam was the successor, already showing the signs of RNG-based troop skills and weapons, the objetive was very simply and only one map was available. You enter the battlefield tasked with retaking a firebase from VC forces, only guaranteed thing to you was a single Radioman with no replacement which could call a plethora of support from Air Cav to ammo drops. The gameplay was simple and the HUD almost inexistant, but the core concepts were present and soon they would keep on being developed.

Mud and Blood 2 is probably the most well-known title, being online for more than a decade at this point in various flash-games sites (RIP) such as Kongregate and armor games. It has millions and millions of access up to this date and if you go into the community forums or discord you'll see that people still play it either to pass some time or straight-out challenges. Mud and Blood 2 featured tons of different troops axis and allies alike, building options, possible enemy or friendly support, pretty much endless combination of possible forces with no defined META on what would be best, everything has it's own advantages and disadvantages and that's what makes it so fun, any option given to you is totally viable and that's why people keep replaying it. The scenario in MnB2 is that of a defensive game, you can push a few tiles at the start but you'll only get some extra tactical points, the final idea is digging in and holding off for as long as possible against totally unknown odds, from the weak volksturm that run off after 10 seconds to invisible infiltrators such as the Branderburgers, or maybe getting a totally random and unfair event such as a V1 or 88 battery dropping on top of you. Blitzes were also possible after a certain point, entires attacks of either panzer forces, volksturm charges, fallschimjaeger assaults or straight out the MOST memerish possible panzer assault you could imagine. The possibility of totally unfair and random events has always seen as one of the things that made the game stand-out so so much from everything else, it can always turn different to worse or best, and even if it turns to worse trying to last a little longer or fixing the gap altogether is what keeps it fresh up to this day.

The next follow-up was MnB: Recon, which totally gave new breath to the franchise thru smaller squad settings (only 4 LRRP men), with missions focused on stealth infiltrations and covert operations. Skills specialization went from having a good shoot, to medics, spotters, engineers, radio operators and even the possibility of getting your men study in Vietnamese customs and language as to interact with locals. Probably the one which tests the patience of most people up to this day, wheter they wanna pull perfect infiltrations or just go Apocalypse Now with 4 men versus a whole company. Even so your actions would always affect the whole campaing, blowing up ammo depots will reduce the likeness of enemies bringing out special units and weapons, destroying their food supply reduces their overall number, but constant combat and noise will make the VC slowly-fortify itself waiting for you, waiting for you behing cover or until your helicopter lands to drop an ambush, or setting up more camps so it can field extra LRRP-hunting soldiers after your ass. Out of all the MnB games this is IMO the hardest as it never gives much room to breath, staying too long in will stress out your soldiers, not watching your step will blow them up and trying to go full-rambo will only earn 4 flags being sent to their families.

Mud and Blood 3 is the spiritual successor to MnB2 (duh), instead of the classic defense scenario you'll get the same 6 starting soldier which you must use to push from Omaha all the way up to Germany, the natural testbed of what would be put in to MnB:SE tho a bit less polished. It brought up the A.I change ideas which we now see and overall made for good combat-and-progression system, you knew at times that losses would be inevitable but it still allowed you to commit mistakes at times.

And so we reach MnB: Steam Edition, after 12 years of development of various game this is the newborn child of much work and love, if you were ever into the community like me for the last decade (and I was far from being active) you'd notice how feedback was always taken in quickly for fixes, even today after the official release right as people were playing bugs and glitches were being sent over on the discord chat and in a few minutes the first small patches came along. The A.I, gameplay systems and most of the designs were all delivered by the same guy, voice liners you hear are many from old community members that did their part into the project, if you wanna see how long this wholeness of people has been dedicating itself to helping the project just take a look into the old MnB wikis, the same names that contributed there can still be found along the forum and discord-lines.
First gameplay change is the now horizontal battlefield, which helps render it all much easier and nicer, giving more depth to the different ranges of the combat. While soldier portraits and sprites are the same classic ones from MnB2 they're not getting fresh out animations for all their actions, cocking the bolt of the gun, fixing a jam, close combat, being pinned down, throwing a grenade etc. New mentioned voicelines are good as well, you'll get from a native german cursing something up to a straight out REEEE, or your men asking you who planned this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of an operation. Audio also plays an important role on finding hidden enemis or incoming threat (legacy from the MnB: Recon mechanics), while your men might just hint when they feel something weird closing it, the calm before the storm or straight out shouting during panic-moments that unless you take action an counter-attack is imminent.
Germans have some differences between them, SS, Fallschimjaegers and regulars (last ones having the possibility of ''Eastern Front Vets'' making them more vicious. Some vehicles are also available.
While Urb puts it as a hobby that takes too much time for him, it also turned into a hobby for many other people. Just like some Wargaming staff put it as why people still play World of Tanks after 10 years of existance: Because it went past from this a long time ago, the community has its own language, memes, a common knowledge shared amongst them which is singular just like any other great title such as Wot, WoW or Starcraft. These things took years to develop but they seem firm now as ever with the launching of this new title and the dreams of MnB: Recondo also coming by in the near future.
This is not just a work of love and dedication from a single developer, but also the dedication, enjoyment and love of the whole community which has members that still come back to it once in a while to have refreshing memories from the past. In my personnal case I still remember checking everyday after school for new updates on MnB2, then more than half-a-decade later being locked on into some army station and replaying the games altogether, now understanding what the game meant by ''Sarge comes in to babysit the boots''. We grew with this and we hope to see it going on long

My history with F1 ('n racing in general) is simple: My family had a hardcore fanbase for A. Senna (we miss you) and later on for Ferrari , so basically I was always a huge fan of it as well watching races together, listening about the old legendary racers yada yada; but after my family ripped itself apart for money moved away from each other (and later on F. Massa crashed in 2009, for a very young me it was like seeing the almost death of one of my heroes) I basically lost all interest in it. So during early 2000s I was fully into F1 racing championship ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9b9DF1Zxrc ) which at the time felt amazing, nice graphics, dumb AI (but to me didn't matter as I spent the whole game doing donuts) and the overall complexity of how much you could adjust your car and how the whole UI was made to seem like how the race info is shown on TV, simply amazing and immersive. Also back then mom got that super nice and costly wheel so we could fully enjoy the experience together. Recently I started getting along once again with my old passion and here I am!


Thinking about getting this and well, you aren't as lucky as me in the early 2000s? (Yep that luck went to #### as of now).
DON'T WORRY MY OVERSEAS COMRADE! (not that overseas if you're in the Americas)
Well, this is quite accessible if you don't have a wheel for example, keyboard does actually work really fine once you get the linearity/saturation values right plus the keybindings according to your preference, you can create multiple control profiles and make copies quick 'n easy while you're testing them around with names n everything for each! (As for mouse control I didn't even try, saw people commenting you can do some tweaky stuff to use it, but either way keyboard can be sufficiently competitive once you get along with it).
In my case, I got a Multilaser JS049 wheel, which is a REALLY cheap one with huge downsides. First it's meant to be an PS2/3 wheel, so it has a huge ''mechanical'' deadzone which I can't change, no forcefeedback (only an elastic that pulls it back into place), low sensitivity/accuracy and (the worst) part, the pedals work as buttons, so in order for me to keep throttle during turns without over/understeering I gotta ''stab'' it repeteadly and quickly (just like Senna!) ........Eeeeeeven so it actually works fine (enough) for this game.

PS:. Of course with the proper combination of assists to make it enjoyable

So if you wanna hop in with keyboard.. Go ahead, it's actually playable! (Can't talk for mouse as I haven't tried it, nor know if it's viable, please look it up for people who tested it!) If you got a cheap wheel like me.. You're kneedeep in #### already, why not have the fun of ramming Hammilton offtrack during it at least? Got one of those juicy G9-something? Or you're a richboi with the SF1000 wheel? WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR??

!!!! Also my rig is a Lenovo 330 notebook , running it all on super-duper low (reason why I won't talk about graphics, please take a look around YT videos of people testing it around).. I'd recommend you have something above the specs of it so you don't experience some FPS drops like I do at times. (4gb RAM, i5 8th gen and some compact video card that does the job, sorry I'm really not an IT guy) !!!!


I got 2 remarkable memories from F1 Racing Championship: First the amazing opening for a 2000s game with music and everything, and how the game actually felt like you were inside or watching a race! From the configuration all the way to the display during the run. F1 2020 accomplishes those two and MUCH, MUCH more. First the gameplay options: Timeshift, quick race, challenges, and the most important: The MyTeam mode. It's truly amazing, you'll go all the way from picking or making custom drivers, picking sponsors, creating a livery, interviews with reporters, picking rivals! They hit really hard on the part of not just making you feel like you're inside the circuit, but inside the uniform of a racer, of a manager and mechanic! You'll manage the team, the engineering, development, propaganda, the driving.. 10/10 to codemasters, if you're an avid fan of everything F1-related I can guarantee that you'll feel this whole experience deep into your heart. Besides the MyTeam mode you can also get yourself on the modes I mentioned before, running the 2020 F1 series, 2020 F2, 2019 F2 and my personal favorite.. Classics! MP4/4 on Monaco? Yeah I wasted 80 laps in a row on that already thanks, love it Codemaster xoxo
As for multiplayer.. It's really fun since you'll get that feeling of human error and constant struggle to survive (Spa-Fran 98 simulator) , tho be aware that if you're getting back in after.. Well a decade away from driving sim just like me, haha yeah your old rivals have been racing during all that time good luck practice a lot!

Besides the main experience they also got some liveries DLC for Schumacher and 70 years of F1 (which I do not care that much, tho Schumacher skins look cool).. BUT, there's also the Keep Fighting DLC which all $$ goes over to the non-profit Keep Fighting Foundation which does charity n stuff, really cool skin and you'll be supporting good work under the name of a hero such as M. Schumacher

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9eXehULs-k


So yeah, game's been on sale for a while now, and even tho F1 2021 is coming out soon I'm quite sure this will be populated still since the new game will make you choose between your kidney or your firstborn son will have that fresh-software price! Enjoy the experience of setting up your team, reviving the old McLarens 'n Williams, or driving that Alien-2004 Ferrari.

EDIT: I'm getting off another month of premium to see if something has changed, this game was part of my childhood and I really want to see it shine, but if things are still the same or even worse well, I'll simply redo this review better and keep hammering it.

Played this 8 years ago, recently got back on it and got a month of premium on discount to finally see how it is. Original review was turning into an essay and then I discovered there's a max size of 8000 characters for the review. Oh RIP.
Basically, you got a good amount of units, tho (mostly during early campaign) it's deeply unbalanced in favor or Allies, Chars and Matildas if well-played can easily harass and dominate alone whole army bases, if not towns, with enough infantry support. That plus the fact that Axis is usually badly-commanded (too many contrary orders, or ones which are given up once everyone has setup the attack and spawn points) and seriously outnumbered 90% of the time, means that nowadays, the campaigns that lasted months, with coordinated strategic bombings, interceptor squadrons, destroyer flotillas, and huge batallion-sized attacks, are just a steamroll which decides the campaign in weeks. The Axis chat feels like a huge chat from Der Untergang, the playerbase just panics around trying to get help to defend the last bits of the town's ruins while High Command moves around imaginary armies to attack objectives in points where the supply level is usually low, or at moments when everyone else is engaged in defending that one last factory in an industrial city. Allies can even use the lowest-level tech if they want to, I recall a match before my premium ran out, basically 11 enemy tanks (Somuas, Chars and a few Renaults) were driven into the town, plus waves and waves of foot soldiers supporting. On the other side we had a few F2P people firing from windows and throwing grenades to scare off a bit the tank formations and forcing them to stop and engage us just so we could buy time.. And that's basically what Axis does in the game right now. The faction-balance system isn't enough to keep the game equal in any way.
The cost of most bundles isn't cheap (nor are they worth it IMO, such as ammo bearer or light tank ones), nor is the cost of premium, if you consider that you gotta pay it every single month, rarely getting it at discount. There's a good variety of vehicles and whattanot but well, AA guns (even 40mm Bofors) feel deeply underpowered, early-campaign German tanks only got the advantage of carrying HEAT (which is not that reliable, both accuracy and damage wise) and well, the StuG 3 which is basically the shining-star at the campaign start due to HEAT and 50mm sloped armor combo. Besides that, until Pz 4 Gs and late-war StuGs arrive, Axis are quite likely to be severely underpowered during encounters against things such as Matildas and Char B1s. In real historical conditions other factors made it easier for Germans to overcome those, in the game tho those don't apply as much.
Back to the cost aspect, being a F2Player years ago was doable and could be fun ( I had potato PC and no friends, anything was fun), tho nowadays, with the bigger diversity in the game market, you can simply move on to much more polished yet similar games which involve combined arms, and which you'll only have to pay a single time to play it forever. The subscription system for sure is what keeps many from putting their money in, prices are quite high and well, if you pay it monthly you're likely to feel forced to play to make your money worth it, not a nice feeling IMO.
Well, after 20 years the old graphics feel like the smallest of the problems of the game, sadly some of these issues are old and weren't given much if any attention at all.

TDLR; Good vehicle variety, old graphics which don't bother me but that's my opinion, map has some nice locations but 90% feels ctrl c+v, damage system is kinda confuse and sometimes feels broken, even after 20 years of the game around it's hard to find decent guides on vehicle's weakspots or gun's penetration values, the community which 8 years ago could set up HUGE field battles nowadays feels long gone to some extent, and the campaigns are always Allies-sided due to population balance issues. Some people complain about the developers in forums etc tho I never cared much about this aspect.

*Starts the game* Oh look, so many campai~*Notices the Argentina X Brazil campaign*..... PELÉ>MARADONA HEUHEUEHUEHUEHEUHEUHEUEHUEHUEHEUHEU *spams soccer balls into the battlefields*