03/12/14 initial release review. What this game needs: Massive Patching. What it needed: More testing. My rating: A 1 and a 5, but mostly a 1. Why: While I can save just fine, and flying around via grapple hook or ship is fun; everything else largely isn't. The difficulty curb doesn't really exist. You can die doing pretty much anything from walking to pausing to lightly bumping your ship into a wall which sends it careening three maps over into a cliff wherein it explodes in such a fashion that Michael Bay would be mildly disappointed... The NPC's are useless and barely interactive at best, the AI is retarded, the graphics are glitchy, there is little to no properly done compression making it a laggier experience than a full 3D game, mining for resources is a long and grueling process at points that will make the game feel tedious, building a ship takes forever and feels sloppy... It's a game with GREAT potential and poor execution. It's better described as a generic side scroller with some Worms 2, Terraria/Don't Starve/Minecraft, early Ultima, and so on... In otherwords, it's not Contra, it's an overly complicated mess that needed to be smoothed out and refined a lot more to properly mesh.
If you are into to an uphill battle for survival that only gets rougher as you go, this game might be for you. Take it slow, and get used to all the things that are trying to kill you (including yourself.). Then if it seems to be too easy, go through Maxwell's Teleportato to initiate your first "challenge" - be warned though... You may only survive a few seconds at first as you freeze to death or get stomped out by a three story tall deerclops that follows you throughout the land. It's a macabre story full of death, starvation, and insanity with you as the puppet. Or if that's all too much to read. Basically it's a 2.5D survival game vaguely comparable to Minecraft. The biggest differences are that it's less about the creativity and interactivity, and more about the strategy and survival.
First of all, for anyone who deems themselves to be a casual gamer, odds are this isn't for you. This is a Metroidvania that I personally feel takes many bad and good elements from bother Metroid, and Castlevania. Some of this was deliberate because the creators of the game felt most games weren't hard enough - so this game was literally built to kick you in the gnads whenever it was given the chance. If you don't mind a little pain, go on, enjoy... But if you get easily frustrated, don't even think about it. To put it simply, if you fall into the wrong pit, walk down the wrong path, or die; there is no checkpoint. Back to the title with you, if you didn't save it's a whole new save file! Some tips: F1 pauses and opens any map if you have the exe for it. Gold and weights can be collected, weights can be bought. Saving is done at certain ornate stones (one is located on the starting screen) by pressing the DOWN key. Buy the translation software and scanner right away, read stones by pressing V or any key assigned to "Use Item". Menu is utilized by pressing the ESC key, navigated with the arrow keys, CTRL key, and the TAB key. GOOD LUCK!
Personally, I could think of no bigger wish looking at this game than to see it remade, exactly as it is, in full 3D with all the content it was meant to have. I consider this to be one of the best games ever made, and Electronic Arts biggest mistake since they rushed it and mistreated the actual developers of the game. The amount of detail and thought that went into every map, the humor that listen to in the back of my head from time to time, and the replayability that exists in this unfinished series is simply astounding. I really do hope someday to see the sequel to the series done as it should be, and I find myself incapable of imagining that this game was rushed. It pains me a bit to wonder what this could have been with the appropriate time and care it should have had. Screw Master Chief and his fancy regenerating shield and battle armor, Tin Man was walking around in the comparative equivalent of a rubber tube for protection and fighting against far more tremendous odds before Bungee was even a thing. Thank you, Origin Systems. Thank you, Tony Zurovec.
