Recent reviews by Ben Bober

I am purely recommending this game cause I can see the devs care. The game has a lot going for it, but there's just one thing I dislike. The way you gotta somehow convince the entire world that your cause is the best. And get rid of the others. This has mainly to do with micromanaging your agents and micromanaging your countries from being taken from you. Maybe it's just me not understanding how to play, but it's a real drag. It's not fun constantly telling your agents what to do. Especially considering it's turn based. You tell them what to do, you wait. You tell them what to do, you wait. With a whole lot of "failed mission" screens.

It's my only gripe with this game. Sadly it's a huge part of the game. Safe to say, I never managed to take the fight to the aliens so I'm not giving this a negative review. Maybe the best part of the game is when you get there.

I really hope the devs will rework the taking of countries and how to keep them.

For a TL;DR of the issues I've encountered, scroll down to the bottom of the review.

While I enjoy the game "enough" to not give it a dislike, I cannot ignore that there's some very serious issues with the game right now. There's a bunch of bugs and visual glitches, but what bothered me the most was definitely the performance.

I got a 12 core ryzen cpu, 4070 super and enough ram. However the performance in some parts or looking certain ways was suboptimal. I was basically forced to play with DLSS and 1080p (mind that I have a 1440p screen) if I wanted above 50 fps on high/epic settings.

So far I "only" have slightly over 3 hours of gameplay but this has proven enough to notice the most notable flaws.

Starting off with the most notable issue: Performance. For context, without anything going on, my average fps lies around 80 to 100. Anyway I've noticed a clear issue with performance. Some anomaly sites had a very notable impact on fps. We're talking 20-30 fps when looking in its direction. Other times some storms tanked my fps to the low 30s. Other times my fps dropped to 50-60 from the usual 80 just because I looked another direction. While 50-60 is playable enough, when you're in a gunfight, it can really take you off guard and make aiming harder than it has to be. And with a game like this where ammo is scarce and every shot missed could end up with your death, this was not great.

Now moving away from performance, some other more annoying than game breaking issues were to do with lighting. I get what they were trying to achieve, but it didn't work in their favor. So right now there is a system that tries to make the lighting more realistic when you look at bright and dark spots in the world. Lets say you exit a dark building (which there's many of) your character's eyes have to adjust to the bright lights from outside and vice versa. While it is realistic, I think the current system won't really work in the player's favor. If anything it hinders the player from stuff like fighting enemies inside of a building while you're outside trying to shoot in. It's just too dark. Not to mention, I ended up walking around with my flashlight on 24/7 cause it would somewhat offset the annoying darkness/eyes adjusting issues.

Another gripe I've been having is the immense difficulty with the types of enemies you encounter early on. This might just be a skill issue on my (and a bunch of other people's) side but having a bloodsucker ♥♥♥♥ up my day during the first 5 minutes of playing in a tutorial mission, is not my type of "difficult". It's almost bullying. I had to retry at least 5 times and needed all my ammo to kill it. It's not just the tutorial, I encountered 2 more bloodsuckers in separate parts of the "lesser zone" area that's supposed to be more hospitable while you build up your gear and funds to tackle harder parts of the zone. Anyway again, that's probably just my skill issue.

There's a bunch of other issues like graphical glitches things popping into screen at the border of my view distance etc, but those are not really that big of a deal. Sure it takes away the immersion a bit but it doesn't really bother me enough to care.

TL:DR: (and a quick small summary for the devs if they see this)
- Performance is a big issue. Which could be the end of you during gunfights.
- Lighting practically makes you blind in some cases. Entering homes or looking into homes from a bright outside means the house is completely dark like the light from outside doesn't get into the building.
- End game enemies are in the starting area. Enemies don't seem to be sectioned off to certain parts of the map where they would make more sense. One of the first enemies you have to fight is a bloodsucker. While I feel like this isn't right, I could be wrong.
- There's a bunch of other smaller issues right now, which could more easily be fixed with patches than the previous 3 mentioned issues. Issues like graphical glitches, distant objects and foliage popping in from out of nowhere etc. These however aren't game breaking bugs to me. They're just slightly annoying.

I do realize what the devs have had to work through during the development of the game. First Covid. Then the invasion of Ukraine. So I won't be too harsh on them. However I do hope this will be fixed. I chose to not refund the game cause I got faith in the devs.

As comrade Dyatlov once said: Not great, not terrible.

This is not it chief. I'm refunding the game and I'll be back in like a few months time until they've fixed the game, hopefully. This game is dreadful for what an AAA studio should be able to and just SHOULD release.

This is just a "♥♥♥♥ you" towards the fans, both old and new, to be releasing a game like this. It's simple as that. This game wasn't meant to be fun, this game was meant to earn them money and nothing more.

I'd go as far as say this is a scam, but that's gonna be of no use. Triple A studios releasing games in this state is too common nowadays anyway.

If anyone wants to still play something like this, search for the game World War 3. Right now, that game looks about a hundred times better than this piece of garbage and might actually (and hopefully) take all the player base off EA's hands. That's the least EA deserves right now.

So once again, I urge all of you to refund this game. Make EA hurt for once. Not just negative reviews but actually making sure they're not earning a single dime with this scam.

I honestly don't have to say more than: Best vr game I've ever played. Simple idea, executed perfectly.

Alright. Since I've got nothing better to do at the moment, let's see where this game is now, after 4 years of development.

Yeah... Hmmm... Alright. Still in alpha. But what does this mean really? Some games function poorly and some perfectly in their alpha state. For some games, alpha means they've just don't added all the items in yet. For others it means their game still needs it's fair share of optimisation. Now let's see what it means for DayZ.

Dayz standalone has been in development for several years now. But compared to other games, is this long?
Alright, yes. I know what you're thinking. What is this guy talking about? How can he think 4 years isn't that long? Well. It is. It is long. But there have been more games that outdid dayz's 4 years of development by far. Half Life 2 for example. They began production in 1999 and released near the end of 2004. That's almost 6 years. Luckily, the game made up for it. One thing they did different from dayz is not releasing into early access or anything similar. That's why it didn't get all the hate dayz is having now. No one really knew about half life 2 being in development until it's last year or so. Next to that, no one got to play the buggy alpha state of half life 2. That's a whole different story with dayz standalone.

Releasing dayz into early access might've been their downfall. But at the same time their saving. Why you might ask? Well let me explain.

If they didn't release into early access, they would never have known about all the problems the game was having and what people didn't like about the game, since test plays by the devs themselves don't say much. You tend to like something you created. You need influence from the outside for an accurate opinion. If they never released into early access, they might've already released the game into full release with countless bugs and without basebuilding and without pve element. Just in the current state. And do we really want THIS as their end product?

What else might've gone different? They would be developing under the radar. No one or not a lot of people knowing about the game. No bad reviews. No hate. Development for them, would probably be way easier without all these people downright insulting them. How would you feel if a game you're working on would be so incredibly hated by your own community? I would probably give up, really. Or atleast work way less hard. Why would I do my best to give everyone a good game if people only acknowledge the bad and not the good?

I've only heard of the bad things. How this game is in development for 4 years and still in alpha. How this game is riddled with bugs. How it's missing stuff.

But how about this:
- The game runs incredibly smooth now. I've got a steady 60 fps wherever I go. On highest settings.
- Most of the bugs have been dealt with. Sure, not everything is gone. But atleast zombies run straight after you instead of zig-zagging. And they can't walk through walls anymore.
- And a lot more I can't be arsed to talk about.

This game hasn't been abandoned. It's still in development. Yes. Really slowly. But what do you expect when your main man. "Cough"i'mtalkingaboutyouDeanHall"Cough" leaves to start on another project. That doesn't really boost morale... Most developers would've given up by now or shut the project down because it isn't profitable anymore. The Dayz devs didn't. They're still working on the game. They've been in this 4 years development-hell by now and still working to get out of it. You've got to give them some slack for that. That's also one of my main reasons why I haven't given up on them yet.

Right now, I feel like people think it's "cool" to hate dayz for it's long development. But this development cycle isn't really that long compared to some other games. It feels long because people are able to play it and it didn't get out of alpha yet. But luckily there's some good news on the horizon. Dayz is supposed to leave alpha somewhere in the first quarter of this year. So let's hope it will and let's hope we will see some new pve events and basebuilding. The two things that made arma 2 dayz so great.

Dayz Standalone isn't really a bad game. Most people playing this game expect the same stuff you could do in the mods. But the game isn't that far yet. It's still in development. Right now the game appeals to nomadic players. Players who like to wander about, loot and kill some wildlife and zombies and/or other players.

Let's stop hating dayz and start looking at the good things. The only thing as bad as a 4 year development cycle are the 4 years of hating. And not willing to give it a second chance.

Mark my words. Once basebuilding is added, people will start pouring back into the servers to try it out. And most of those hating hypocrites will stay and play for hundred of hours. I can tell you that much.

The first part of the review isn't about the gameplay. It's about the playability with an Oculus Rift and/or small rooms. Before I bought the game, I searched throught the discussions, if this game is playable with an oculus rift. The devs weren't sure about this but it should be possible due to them using SteamVR. Also, If I'm correct, oculus rift support should come in the near future. Somewhere in october, possibly.

Oculus Rift
As of now, Oculus Rift does work with this game but controls might feel a little unnatural.
For instance, the "Trigger finger" is used for grabbing stuff. And lifting your thumb is done by pressing your thumb button instead of actually lifting your thumb from the controller like most oculus rift compatible games. But this is due to SteamVR not having a correct setup for Oculus Rift.

Small rooms
Next to having an oculus, another problem I have, with most vr games, is having a small room. Especially with this game, you tend to bump into things and having things out of reach. Which can break the immersion quite a lot. To fix this, I recommend either a teleport/moving function or a way to point at things and grab them with the grab trigger from a distance. But that's not their fault. They warned about this on their store page and I ignored it, like all other games to just test it out. You never know. But if you want to attract more people to a game like this, I suggest some kind of movement function to be added.

2 Sensor setup
A thing that can really spoil the gameplay for you is oculus not able to track you. This can be a problem if you use 2 sensors. I use 2 sensors myself. But problems are minimal. This isn't game related but rather sensor related. If you use 2 sensors, it can always see you if you're facing them. But if you turn around, the sensors might lose track of the controllers. Due to the nature of this game's 360 degrees gameplay, this might be a problem. Luckily, you can place your furniture around and in range of your sensors.

Meanwhile, I'll keep the game in my library and try out the game from time to time and update this review accordingly (Feel free to message me or comment to let me know the game got updated, in case I forget to update this review).

TLDR: Does mostly work with Oculus Rift, for now. Full support coming in the future. Can be hard to play in a small room.

Gameplay:
I've played the game for some time and apart from the flaws this game has, which is totally fine for an early access game, it is still quite enjoyable. I especially love the fact that money is a physical thing in the game world. Instead of just showing it in some menu, you have to store it and hide it.

Now for a wishlist of things I'd like to see:
- A teleport function for people with smaller rooms
- More items to craft and things to buy
- Other activities next to sitting in your cell all day. I have some great ideas in mind, but I have no idea how far this is possible.
- A way to grab things that are out of reach for the player due to real life obstacles, but shouldn't be for the character in the game.

Overal a very enjoyable game. Works better than expected on my Oculus Rift. And I'd gladly recommend it to you. If you're still not sure whether you want to buy the game or not, I'd say, buy the game. Try it out. Don't like it? Refund. Easy as that.

The development team behind this gem, deserve more recognition. They have been pumping out updates at a constant rate for a long time now. They even added stuff that they thought was impossible. They tried and succeeded. Other development teams could learn from them and they should.

Sorry for the amateuristic review. I just honestly feel like it doesn't need a professional one. This game is good. Just buy it if you're thinking about it. Trust me.

This game has been released some time ago. And it's still receiving updates.
It's already got:
-Giant planets
-AAA models
-Multiplayer (Which they have worked from the ground up, again, to fix the hundreds of issues it was having before.)
-Campaign, or so I've heard.
-Destructible planets, asteroids, spacestations, bases and other player build creations.
-Extensive survival mode
-Creative mode
-Steam Workshop
-A lot of other great stuff.

This game is close to a 10/10. Also, it just went into it's beta stage. Which means it's much more stable now and there will be a lot more updates to come.

I can't recommend this game enough. Buy it already. If you don't like it, refund. Easy as that.

I really don't have to tell you much about this game. It's perfect in almost every way.

Just make sure you know what you're getting yourself into. This game has a steep learning curve. Even when you know how everything works, it will still be a challenge, building a vehicle that actually works like you want it to.

Just buy the damn game. If you don't like it, you can always refund it.

Update: After a long break, I finally came back and bought the spooky DLC. A very generous price for the amount of items they add. And not to speak about the free stuff they've added.

After the RCTW incident, I honestly was afraid for this game to be released in the same state. I'm glad that didn't happen. Instead, we get a working game, which is 100x advanced and yet more easy to control than rctw. I might have thrown my money away on that game but this game made up for it.

This game is just good. Almost everything about it. Don't believe me? Let me compare this game to rctw.

Graphics
The graphics in Rollercoaster tycoon world seem lifeless. Planet coaster knew what they did and did it right. Wacky but nice looking characters. I especially love the groups they did. You rarely see anyone walking on his own. It's usually a family or a group of friends that walks by.

Sounds
Both rollercoaster tycoon aswell as planet coaster have a lot of sounds. Planet coaster just has about 10x more and more options for it. e.g. ambience boxes you can place around the park. Or triggers that trigger the sounds to be played. Either I missed that or rctw didn't have them. But the sounds sound good. If you use them right, you can really get the feeling you're actually in a themepark.

Controls
In Planet Coaster, it feels like i've played the game for hundreds of hours already. I know exactly what every control does because they're logical. In rctw it didn't feel this way. It felt like a chore, finding and remembering the controls.

Overall gameplay
When I started rctw, the first thing I noticed was the incredible amounts of lag I had to go through before I could load a park. In the park it only became worse. Planet Coaster has smooth loading. Smooth building. I rarely get lagspikes. Controls feel good. Sound sounds good. The amount of items is just right but can still be expanded without it feeling too overwhelming. This game is just perfect.


The best themepark game that has been released till this day in my opinion.
If you want a themepark game. Buy this one. If you want to waste your money, buy rctw.

EDIT: Got the game to work. Finally.
Another edit: Lagspikes when picking something to place. Really? Lagspikes everywhere...

"Please describe what you liked or disliked about this game and whether you recommend it to others.
Please remember to be polite and follow the Rules and Guidelines."
This is what steam is telling me to do if I'll write a review. Well, ok then. I was about to curse the crap out of this title. But I'll keep it polite, for steams sake.

Oh and don't think I'll be adding any fancy headers to this review. The devs didn't put effort into their game so I won't put effort into my review.

Where to begin. Ah yes. I'll start with the early access period. Since that's when I bought this game.
I've got something important to tell you about this period: The game actually started and I could build a park!!! Yea, I know right?! It worked somehow! That is, until the game couldn't keep up with all the things I placed and the park actually getting busy. At this moment. The framerate dropped, and at that point I usually just quit the game. But hey, no hard feelings. This was Early Access after all. It's still under development and I knew this.

Fast forwarding to the present...

Full release is finally here. The game is complete and playable. Or is it?
Well. For me it's not. The only working thing seems to be the play button in the steam client. After that, I get a black screen with nothing on it except for a working "alt+tab" steam overlay. I thought I might've been the problem. So I went to the discussions board and guess what. I wasn't the only one with this "black screen of death". The devs even put up a sticky, explaining what to do to fix the issue. And guess what again?! The fixes didn't work! So now I'm stuck with a game I paid €31,99 for and I can't even play! I trusted these devs. I believed in them. Even when things, close to release, were still buggy or not even working. And they didn't fix ♥♥♥♥.

So. This game doesn't work for way too many people. This isn't some rare bug that's happening. This is just another "broken on launch" game like so many others nowadays. This shouldn't be a problem. But it is.

If anyone is reading this, I recommend you to wait till tomorrow and buy planet coaster. It looks like they do have a working themepark game that happens to be 10x more advanced than this excuse of a game. Hell, the game was more advanced in their alpha while this was in the beta.

Remember. Today is the day Rollercoaster Tycoon died.

Yours sincerely,
An angry customer.