Yes, the comparison to XCOM is unavoidable, but this doesn't detract in any way. I've just finished playing this through in the standard campaign mode (ie, not the extended campaign) and it was a mostly positive experience all the way through. That said, there was still _something_ missing for this be a game I could rave about, but I just can't put my finger on it. I had avoided this game for a while because of some negative review I had read making me - incorrectly - believe that it was not quite a full game. On the contrary, the balance between story and side missions keeps the game going for a long time. You CAN control how long it lasts - either rush through the story missions and face a steep increase in difficultt or take your time with side-missions and build up your squad and experience a mostly flat difficulty curve. For better or worse: - There are a number of different mission types/modes, but they do get repetitive - almost a chore - after a while - It took quite a long time before I started recognizing maps, and even so I still had new maps thrown at me all the way to the end. - Depending on mission type, most maps were still new experiences when I encountered them again - There seemed to be no end to the base upgrades, although it seemed limited at first. I still kept unlocking valuable buffs and upgrades all the way to the end, and there was still more to be had if I had held off on doing the final mission. - The investigation boards and especially clicking on keywords in the same few redacted documents that are recycled and recycled gets old quickly. So to the point that I just wished that all pieces of evidence would just come with the keywords ready and done. - The in-mission action UI felt a bit unwieldy at first, but after a few missions it starts to feel natural. - The base facility UIs and selecting and assigning agents took a lot longer to befriend. All in all a solid piece and entertaining experience.
I've really enjoyed playing this game, and I have lots of praise for it. But then, there are some game mechanics that put me off. And so much so that they kill the entertainment. Let's have a look at "The Londoners". The way to handle it is to make sure that the Hope metric is increased again. I had trouble dealing with raising and keeping hope, so I googled it to get some hints. Turns out that the only really successful tactic that people seem to favor is... brace yourselves... to KNOW that this element is coming into play and purposefully _not_ fulfill hope-raising tasks/quests that the game asks you to do until after the event is triggered. The measures I could employ at that point in my game were nowhere near enough. I had an almost full Hope-meter before, but it dropped to almost 0 when this happens. There are almost no means to build it back up again, but I managed to slow down their recruitment. And then... it gets colder. Which makes my promise to keep tents heated broken, because the heat went below acceptable parameters for __a few seconds __ before I cranked up the generator. And what's the result of this? The hope-meter dives to almost zero again. And this basically means that I'm screwed, as there doesn't seem to be much I can do to recover at this point. Where's the realism in this? "OH NO, THEY RESPONDED TO THE DROPPING TEMPERATURE BY INCREASING THE GENERATOR OUTPUT A FEW SECONDS TOO LATE! WE ARE ALL DOOOOMED!!! AND ALSO I WAS AT WORK, SO I DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE. BUT WE'RE STILL DOOOMED! ABANDON ALL HOPE!". It's just ridiculous. By all means, bring the challenge - but make it fair. If you're supposed to deal with seemingly random problems by having plowed hours into the game and failed before only to have to do it all over again... probably only to fall victim to another seemingly random and unrecoverable (yet by the game pre-determined) event like this... well, then the game is broken by design.
The Monkey Island series died with the cartoon style of the third game. So what in the world would possess anyone to remake a good game with cartoon graphics and a clunky interface - in other words take a game and worsen every aspect of it? So many questions. All of them "Why!?!".
I've given this a number of chances by now, and my conclusion is that this number is more than it deserves. It's punishing in that a lot of the time there's no chance of employing any real strategy, as things seem to be random without any reason. A lot of the game consists of "pick one of three options". There's no telling which option will be successful. Just random. The so called turn-based strategy modes are really just the exact same thing over and over with different skins. There's no rewarding suspense, as you're basically just hoping for random success. All the time. Whoever thought this game was a good idea should probably just leave the business and take up knitting.
First off, the good parts: - It's a joy to see games like this pop up to scratch that XCOM itch. - The lovecraftian horror theme is a welcome change. - It's quite the challenge and very unforgiving. Then, the less good parts: - The graphics. There's just no atmosphere with this comics visual style. It doesn't match the theme and it just doesn't work for me. - It graphics feel large and clunky. It's possible to zoom out to a comfortable level, but then the pixel hunting gets worse. - I spent a lot of time dying because of moving the wrong character around. It just isn't highlighted well enough. - Squad size limit of three feels a bit low. - Sometimes trying to target enemies ends up being an exercise in pixel hunting when squad members are standing in front of them. - Unlike XCOM, there seems to be no cover system - and with that less options for strategy. - Bugs and locks. So far the game hasn't crashed on me, but I have had to force quit a couple of times because the UI is unresponsive. Particularly after death, where neither the "Load last save" nor "exit" buttons are clickable. - It's quite the challenge and very unforgiving (reprise from "the good parts" - this is a double-edged sword. A lot of the time, the tiniest mistake will end up costing you a squad member. In combination with the frequent moves made by mistake this becomes incredibly frustrating. - Given the difficulty level it would have made sense to have an option to replay the last mission upon failure, but of course the only option is to restart at the last auto-save, which several times has turned out to have occurred while I'm in a state where the mission is already unwinnable. - Rookie members are rather useless. There's no revive option(that I've unlocked so far) and when the HP bar reaches zero, they're gone. All in all - shows real promise, but ultimately the graphics, some design decisions and general execution turn me away.
I admit it's a bit early to leave a final verdict on this game, but after a few hours this is my impression: - Not really an RPG. More like a first person shooter with simplified RPG elements - No real depth. Nothing has occurred in the game so far that really makes me want to keep playing. - The story so far has just been shallow excuses to point me to the next checkpoint. - FPS combat is really detrimental to a game like this. Seems to be no tactic to it. Just trade bullets/blows. I usually don't go for first person perspective RPGS and the likes, as I much prefer tactical turn-based RPGs with focus on story. That's not what the game aims to be, so it wouldn't be fair to criticize for that. But being what it is, it doesn't seem to bring anything new to the table.
Yes, there's a lot to love about this game, but in the end it falls flat on its nose due to being incredibly linear and the gameplay repetitive and unbalanced. The characters are great, the constant bickering and bantering between Bormin and Dux is entertaining, the environments are awesome(Being a Swede, It's really great to see all the remnants of actual Swedish places and puns on Swedish companies and logos). Where it fails is that gameplay-wise it doesn't seem to know what it wants to be. Is it a turn-based strategy game? If so, it falls short because there is really one viable strategy to use. Stealth. All the time. Pick off loner enemies silently without being detected, and then move in to finish the rest. On every single map. Supplies and upgrades are scarce, which would be fine if not for the fact that if you spend those resources in the wrong way - you're screwed as the mobs quickly grow stronger and you can no longer pick them off one by one, either due to too weak silent weapons or not enough special skills/mutations in your squad. Granted, the following is obviously an exaggeration - but the game made me remember old Amiga games like Dragon's Lair and Space Ace, which were gorgeous for their time but consisted only of pressing the right key at the right moment, or BAM - you're dead. Is it an RPG? If so, it falls short because there isn't enough RPG elements or variety. There isn't much in the way of choice on how to play or upgrade your characters. Do it "right", or you're screwed as per above. The skill trees contain very few unique skills/mutations. Both Strategy and RPG games should offer at least some choice in how to play the game, even if some strategies are doomed to fail. Mutant Year Zero: Road To Eden doesn't provide any. Some aspects of the game deserve a much, much higher rating than what I'm giving it, but ultimately it stops being fun after a few hours, no matter how gorgeous it is. And games should be fun.
I was looking for more fun along the lines of Fallout 1&2 or Wasteland 2&3 and a quick look at it showed promise, but sadly I was pretty much instantly disappointed. I will admit that I didn't play very long before giving up on it, but what put me off was really poor writing from the very first moment and the plastic and unatmospheric graphics/look and feel. I really like the idea of indie games like this, but unfortunately this one doesn't make the cut. I'm sure a lot of hard work went into this, so it's kind of sad that it falls so short and flat on the actual game content.
