Recent reviews by Fallen King

*DISCLAIMER: First of all, I don't think it's a fair comparisson put "Ace Attorney" and "You are the Judge" side by side. Since Ace Attorney doesn't take itself that seriously, having a focus on comedy elements in the narrative/mechanics, meanwhile this one here tries to grasp a more serious and simulator like approach. So that's why I'm going to list bellow, some elements thats breaks immersion as something negative.

♙ Its a game with a great idea/concept, but the execution doesn't seems to be the best one.
As someone who have gone through Law School and works in the area, I'm also quite disappointed with a lot of the game aspects:

♘ No District Attorney (come on, it's a essential role in any legal system).

♖ Going to the crime scene breaks realism and immersion, the resources invested there, could have been directed to making extra evidence to be interacted with, like reports, photos, documents, blood spatter analysis, etc.

♔ How much Judges are held accountable by errors out there? in any country? Thats no rule at all, but a rare exception of even happening. About judicial revision, it takes way long for that happen as well, its not a matter of days, weeks or months, but years.
For example a regional branch that its above the local branch, have tons of other cases to worry about, even more the Supreme Court, they can't and wouldn't be able to make a revision over every single case a local judge pass their judgment. Even more a country like the fictional one in the game, where the Supreme Court got to be worried about the military attempting a coup against the government again.
The sheer volume of cases any judicial system out there in the world have to deal with it's astronomically huge, they aren't capable to check what each judge does in their daily work, mistakes can be made very often and not always due the judge fault, it can takes decades for something be undone or even checked.
Also the mechanic of punishing you with a fine due taking the "wrong" veridict, also defeats the whole purpose of making choices that affects other people lives. That wouldn't happen ever, if a innocent it's sent to jail, 99% of the time they are going to spend decades of their life there, suffering and paying for something they didn't do. At the end its the state money that its fined with reparations costs given as a compensation for that, the judge isn't hit by that at all in terms of $, maybe their rep/public image could be tarnished, but thats rare too, like how many times you see that happening out there? it's a whole class made of very powerful people, they don't sh!t at each other very often, it's most kept behind the scenes, so a precedent of them losing their power isn't established, thats how a class of powerful people keeps their power, and most of the time any government in the world goes allong with that, since they want the branchs of government to remain balanced.
Would be more realistic, if at the epilogue/end of the game, it's discovered some evidence thats proves some of the judgement passed on in the cases was wrong, with the family of these people sending you a letter or something, with the player getting to see the outcome of their action. Some of the mechanics in the game, like that error fine makes me remember of Papers Please, but a border agent isn't the same type of character as a judge.

♕ The family mechanic needs more depth, and I don't think it's the best design decision make it a mandatory thing, like the choices at the prologue adds a feeling of choice, but its doesn't hold at all, when you realize that isn't a actual choice, it kinda adds frustation to the player, since situations where you have three options to pick, but just one outcome for it... makes you get the same feeling you get when you fall into a con in real life. I understand that these choices at the prologue are what define your initial status with different factions (government, family, public, etc.) , but should be other ways to set these stats up, without giving that illusion of choice with flavor text to the player.
Would also be more interesting, if the judge was single and could pursue another line of relationship with characters they interact with allong the story. Since the starting wife, it's a character with little development and hard to connect with, since the player doesn't get to spend time with her and know more of her, to hold a image of their character as a person that they should care about.
What I mean is, building a relationship with some character through the game it's a lot more interesting, due our sucessive interaction with them, than having a pre made relationship that we know little about and it's very shallow, not rich regarding details, and details makes all the diference when the matter is giving life to a character.
Let me make a comparisson, take as example Monica Rayne from Suzerain (a President simulator), there the wife and first lady, have more depth, detail, interaction, makes her more alive as character. It's something hard to balance, without taking away the focus of the government job mechanics, but it can be done, Suzerain its a example of a good execution regarding family mechanics in a game.

♗ Now about technical aspects, I think the game needs more optimization as well, it lags/crashes/freezes at some of the loading screens present between scenarios (Court room, judge office, etc.). And that makes me think, on a game that focus more on aspects of Law(text) and analyzing cases(facts), stories(narratives), I think they should have kept some elements like the environments minimal when possible, relying more on text and images, instead of getting built whole environments that are barely interacted with in some of the situations, I mean that adds unnecessary weight to the engine/machine, that needs to deal with it using these multiple loading screens, needed for the change between scenarios. I mean, a game where you don't walk around in the room, theres really the necessity to built a whole scenario for that? Wouldn't be more practical, since the focus its the narrative and choices, have a more simple background? Let's illustrate what I'm saying by taking Suzerain and We The Refuges as examples, in these games, you can feel immersion of being a ruler, without having every room the President walks in, built in the game engine, or have a entire refugee camp built so you can witness the struggle of a refugee crisis, sometimes its best when things are kept to the necessary and minimal.

♙ In that current state, I can't recommend this game.
So while I'm able to request a refund, I'm going for it.
But theres room for improvement here, if they work more into revamping the content. Since this is the first game of the developer, I wish them luck and a good work, I'm sure they can improve their craft and learn a lot with this title.

I enjoyed a lot the characters, and how variables of events happening impacted on other events and in their fates at the epilogues as well
As a Ghost our actions can carry consequences leading to different outcomes, and I love when interactive fiction lets us choose and explore that, building them with our interactions allong the way
The protagonist being able to manipulate and shape other characters RO's, burdens, the way they feel about us, are all interesting twists, that together bake different results, be a happy ending or a distressed sad one by some very different reasons.
The only thing that I felt a bit like: "I wish I could do more of that" , is using the Ghost powers to act in a hostile/violent manner in more occasions haha, like we can do with the exorcist, and I wasn't able to unleash much of my wrath on the main culprit too (Violet), but don't get me wrong, the author did a good job on me hating that b!tch and feeling heartbroken for the protagonist loved one, so ngl I was craving for more hostile interaction towards the antagonist, we do help Lily take her down... but I was hoping to stomp more on her lol But still a great boss fight put together there, you get the feeling of it being like a true life death situation for the characters, things felt like they are at stake and I was tense/immersed while reading it.

🚪🪓 Veredict: A great premisse with a nice execution, good character development, plenty of choices and paths with different endings. So the experience of playing this game was great and fun, it felt like...

You will discover how Ghosts are capable both of empathy and wrath...

A good game, but with some flaws.

The art and music are great, the historic background involved and the storytelling are also mixed on a entertaining way.
Like it's really fun at some levels, like trying to better position yourself in the field, running and attacking, then blocking with your shield. It's like fighting zombies, you can't get cornered or flanked, if you do... you're proabably in trouble.

The controls aren't easy, a bit like Kingdom Come Deliverance combat, errors may cost you and frustate a lot, but it's rewarding the sensation to slay a mob of enemies. Like in one of the levels I cleared the castle of enemies, avenging the garrison and a fallen brother deaths.

The game it's difficult, but you can overcame such challenges and get a felling of satisfaction. So be warned that this isn't a easy one, combat will be difficult most of the time. But you can do multiple saves to avoid headches.
Puzzles aren't out of this world either, but sometimes you have to pay attention to what you are supposed to do or where you need to go.
Like finding a item in the scenario, and using it. Examples: you need rope? But where is rope? Maybe either at the stables or at a merchant stall depending of the level; on the way to a chamber, while being pursued by enemies, you need to pick a broom and block the hall door after entering it, not something you probably will do on the first try. But it's nothing of a game breaking deal i think.

For a indie dev who did most of the work (credits shows this), thats a amazing game, I didn't find any bugs while playing, and even with it being a bit like Dark Souls at some points, the truth it's that I got tons of fun playing it.
Wait for a sale if you are on the fence about it, but I can assure the fun it's here and a game that doesn't take us by the hand 100% of the time, thats no sin or flaw.

Another of the pros, it's how the dev participates and interacts with the community, he is around the forum and answers a lot of questions, listening complaints/constructive criticism as well.

The game have everything to be a great and fun game. It remembers me of Into the Breach and Front Mission. But the first thing that dissapoints its the lack of detail to the story and its events.
Like Into the Breach, we have to replay the game to get new stuff unlocked, try new combinations to get a more diversified party with more powerful mechs.

But where Into the Breach cativates you to fight for a time line of civilians, with every new run being a different universe at the stake of the interdimensional kaiju threat called Vek, in this one we don't feel motivated enough to fight aganist the rogue AI bots that somehow got hacked by a evil corporation, we are just throw there with no details.
So everything begins to fell just the same very quickly, in other words, you get bored of playing the game pretty fast.
The same scenarios, the same enemies, the same events, You can't fight against other mechs at all either or against monsters.

In Into the Breach, we got oportunities to fight both type of enemies, we have more depth into the story as well.
So unfortunatelly we get a copy of Into the Breach mixed with Crying Suns star map, where you get plenty of destinations filled with similar missions.
Like: "defend/destroy the generators", "reach the evac point", "kill all enemies", etc. but without being told in a briefing, why you need to do such tasks or how they contribute to the war effort against your enemy.

Thats means the game makes you feel like a soldier when given strict orders without much explanation? Maybe someone could say that... but lack of detail sometime shows, Into the Breach its more fun than Ignited Stell most because of this, they balanced this quite right, the mech operative gets debriefed about what he needs to know, but we also get to know further details of what its happening around.

But it's makes we feel a bit like Mass Effect 3 players felt when they got a very quickly, not much elaborated ending with the fates of the protagonist, characters, world, impacted by their choices... and at worst theres no choices here at all, and no ending epilogue either.

Could have been a easy refund, If I didn't got past the 14 days time limit for one.

☢ NOT GREAT

https://youtu.be/5x72gvKlAC8

☢ NOT TERRIBLE

Bought to support a indie production and also enjoy the setting vibes, the puzzles, the flash game nostalgia, the classic movie references...
Got blocked by bugs...
Made a post on a forum dev thread... no answer...
Sent a friend request to the dev, not acepted.
I got ignored by the devs and got their silence without any aparent reason...
Okay.
But why? Whats the reason for such behaviour? Well, who knows?
What else i could do? Than ask for refund while I'm still eligible for it, right?
Refunded it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Just leaving that message here for them as a reminder, of how thats their first game and i believe they can learn a lot as professionals with it.

PS: blocking a lot of threads on the forums without need doesn't seems a good PR stunt to pull off... if anyone is wondering what they are about, well, go check them there and see for yourselves.

Maybe its whorty giving a try WHEN and IF they get it polished/iron out of any BUGS, but don't expect a friendly response at all from the staff.

Whatever, thats it.

EDIT:
Well, everyone can see the dev answer to the review, while he didn't insult me in any way, he kinda addressed what i have written in a rude way, not friendly at all... And what blame i have for stating how had been my experience with their game? Bugs, yes. No answers? Well, they kinda did that back in that time, and well, he knows its possible to add, chat about the issue and unfriend me, right? And how much devs locks threads when they solve/adress the subject? He is isn't wrong about it being reasonable, but its kinda uncommon... and that kinda makes a mess of any forum, with people having to create new threads about similar subjects... and also don't send a good impression at all, thats why i think most devs let that lock thread feature as a last resort for situations like trolls, insults, toxic speech, etc.

Well, what i can do if the dev doesn't take well when someone does a bit of polite criticism of his work? Its kinda unreasonable him behave like that with a costumer and expect him to share a "positive" experience : /
Just saying, doing things like that isn't a good way of building good PR and image.
But i don't hold any grudge or petty feelings over that situation, they are a staff of two people i think, with some interesting ideas, too bad they didn't see my review for what is, a opportunity for improvement. Hard to support people when they at first aren't willing to listen and then try to make the enemy out of you (I did point out how the game is INTERESTING and would be whorty of checking again if the bugs get patched, at least for me i don't see any lie or ill in that when i stated it).

IMPORTANT! A performance uptade was released by the dev, so I think its fair to give it another try and for now the review itts REDACTED lmao, since I'm a fan of that franchise, so take what I said bellow with a grain of salt, since this review was written at the game release ; )

Quickly note: I appreciate a lot when a team of devs fix and address any flaws in their product, and yeah, bugs have been a big part on this case here.

I did manifest a concern for Alawar (Publisher) hire Paintbucket Games to develop a new game for this franchise, that have a big objective of restarting the engine of their franchise that have a very sucessful first title and a sequel that its average, since its not bad, but not great either.
And what had been delivered? A release full of bugs (both game breaking and minor ones) and a lack of polish, since the game demands a lot of your computer, mine fill all the requirements, isn't a top tier PC, but it have what it needs for the minimum configuration.
Another flaw its how basic the graphics menu is at the settings section, so its not easy to adjust how much it will require of your machine.

But the great problem for me and some other players (reported at the forum) its a bug consistent of the game getting locked with black screen + background music after the prologue cutscene, it stays frozen for 5 minutes or more, before of a loading screen showing up filled with 100%, that its also stays frozen, without being possible to quit from the game, so you also get the awful task of forcing a restart in your PC (not good for any PC health), just to quit the broken bug game.

Its important to also observe that i write a post in a uptade/bugfix thread, with a description of the problem, and how its frustating to face such experience when you bought a game at release, with the intention to support a dev team work.
Guess what? No dev addressed it with a answer...
But i had been willing to wait, being patient to see if the game would be fixed soon.
But the thing is, its already two weeks since release and the problem its still here.
How i can admire this type of work?
I'm very sorry for such a great franchise like this one end up like this, it deserved far better, but i'm not giving up on my right to a refund, even more when the situation its a negative and unpleasant one like that.

A piece of advice to the publisher, try to hire next time a dev team that isn't green fresh in the games industry like this one, Paintbucket games lacks the experience for a project/franchise of this scope, their curriculum its made ot just one single and mobile game, far less complex and demanding than this one here.
And also you should know your audience better Alawar...
You make indie games, not AAA ones, so your games need to be the less demanding possible, its cartoon graphics, not a The Last of Us 2...
So what its better for a indie company making indie titles? And for her audience?
I shouldn't be here teaching the basics of your own field of work to any of you...
For that being necessary, it shows the trail of bad decisions the game project lead/producer have taken on this one : /

That game had a lot of potential, since:
♙ The setting is based from the Tom Clancy's Universe.
♙ It's from Ubisoft, a AAA studio.
♙ The ideas presented for game mechanics are innovative for the RTS genre.
♙ It's very close from the same age when World in Conflict had been published by Ubisoft as well, so the WW3 Modern Warfare premise had been very popular, (everyone wanted and still wants a game to continue playing from where World in Conflict ends) so the market had been very receptive for such project.

But we have two major problems, that made the game sell very bad and be forgotten quite fast:
♟︎ The controls is a key piece for a game be a success or a fail, and EndWar™ lacks quality on that, for example the camera movement/angles are a nightmare, the controls are also too much complicated and the UI isn't intuitive at all, that makes the gameplay annoying/boring instead of being fun and fluid.
♟︎ The detail and work done on the overall game features doesn't show depth, it's very simple, with a bit more work and effort they could had improved the whole experience a lot, like for example the maps/scenarios, most of it isn't destructible or can't be interacted with. The cutscenes aren't a labor of love either, they are very simple and short, for example, all the endings of the game are a copy paste of few images that looks like power point slides.
In comparison with World in Conflict, where we could destroy the environment around us, and also the destroyed units remained at the battlefield, that did suffer a transformation as explosions and combat intensified during a playthrough, that is what we wanted to experience again from Ubisoft, even more from a title with a WW3 setting set on the Tom Clancy's universe.

I did give it a chance, but now i see it's not worthy, maybe even during a sale, asking a refund of it, since i'm still eligible to get one, and there's no point in having a title that i didn't enjoyed on my library to get dust haha

The game probably doesn't work on modern systems like Windows 10, so be aware of it, if you want to give it a try.

♘ Btw, the marketing staff did a good job with the trailer, it's amazing:
https://youtu.be/CyYNBYedzqw
A shame that the studio couldn't deliver the same quality to core gameplay mechanics. ♖

https://youtu.be/pl_FzIhDg0o

https://youtu.be/BwSts2s4ba4

https://youtu.be/pl_FzIhDg0o

https://youtu.be/BwSts2s4ba4