Recent reviews by cody

EDIT 9/18/24: Thankfully, this review is starting to age poorly. Not 100% there yet, but hopefully it will as time goes on. Still leaving this as is since I'm still a bit cautious about these changes and how it'll drive the future of the game. I don't disagree with them, they're REALLY GOOD changes, but I am worried they'll 180 and start crushing "popular" stratagems or weapons again. However, I understand that Arrowhead is doing their best with what they've got, and I'm all for it. Looking forward to the future with cautious optimism, but optimism nonetheless.

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(This review was initially written during the release of the Polar Patriots warbond.)

Okay look. I know this is a good game. I like it. My friends like it. Everyone on the Internet won't stop talking about it. It's good.

But my God some of the people on the dev team are really showing their stripes lately. Some of them are jerks and then they try to justify a lot of their content and game changes. And a lot of that is just... bad?
-Content from premium warbonds is hit or miss. Armor is generic, boosters are.. fine?, but guns are either lackluster or straight up missing any level of QA (Abjudicator, Blitzer, Tenderizer, etc.)
-Balance changes constantly ruining the new/fun weapons for being "too strong" (Eruptor, Crossbow, Railgun, Quasar, etc.)
-Enemies get more effective against nerfed guns regardless. Scout Striders, Bile Spewers, etc. are more armored and now harder to fight because we lost the tools to fight them to begin with
-And yet we're still pushing new, PAID, warbonds once a month with poorly thought out gear. New warbond would have been pushed back a bit but everyone on Twitter wanted otherwise and well, here we are.

There's other things but I can't remember right now.

The CEO (Pilestedt) is cool at least and he clearly wants the game to improve but I'm starting to get worried about the future of this game, especially if nothing changes.

I'm leaving this negative as a testament to what could come and I hope that this review ages like milk because this game does not deserve this kind of treatment, from Sony or otherwise.

I got this game almost immediately when I saw it available on Steam. It's been in my wishlist for a few months now, and I can't blame my past self for being so energetic to play it. Cute penguins, intentionally crappy models, Unity(?) physics abuse, and a lot of oddball heists me and/or my friends could get together and do. Penguin Payday, I called it. Did I mention cute penguins?

For Early Access, this game packs more than I had anticipated. It didn't seem like a lot at first, but between varying difficulties, equipment, customization, and even multiplayer (I have yet to try it though) it offers you a lot for a game at its current state of development and a large base for the game to build upon, especially now it's more openly available to the public eye. It's also, again, very cute. Baby penguins waddling around and crawling on their bellies, that's just begging people to go "D'aww! How cute!" I'm looking forward to see how the game improves in the future.

Sadly, and probably obviously, this game is nowhere near perfect, and there are my complaints and criticisms. The game itself is very bare bones on a surface level, even with all the underlying content. A lot of the menus and UI are notably lacking; I couldn't change any display options and the Controls menu in Options just never even appeared. Controlling your own penguin is clunky and confusing, more so when you try to fight the other penguins and picking up objects, and the instructions regarding HOW to control your penguin is not often explained to you properly either. I also experienced a lot of lag and the game seemed to be poorly optimized, although that could just be me. The developers certainly weren't joking when they stated it was Early Access.

But overall, I think it's really cute and charming, and I absolutely want to see this game grow and flourish. I appreciate the additional content that's more than just one level and a few cosmetic items for your penguin. Personally, I think it may help if there was some improvement to the "wobbliness" of your penguin's movement, and a tutorial level could help players better understand the game's controls and mechanics significantly (I'm sure others have suggested these before, but I just want to give my two cents as well). Even with all of its discrepancies and mishaps though I'm willing to put those aside because it's Early Access, but I hope that doesn't become an excuse for it to remain in its current state.

Still, this is a great— and for the millionth time already, cute, start for an Early Access game. I'm excited to see what's next.

bungus

i miss this game a lot

I find this game relatable to that of a mobile word puzzle game. Even for someone older than the target demographic I still find this a great game that challenges the mind.

This isn't a game that lets you run wild, or has any loopholes around the levels. It's not even a game. Kingdom Rush tests your tower-defense skills and stares you down with virtually indestructible enemies. All you have is a small force of 4 simple towers, and a single powerhouse unit to support your other units.

And for those of you who just seem to hate magic and medieval-like settings, don't worry. There's snipers with the almighty "one shot, one kill" rule, and dwarves with godlike explosives and great sense of ka-boom and mutha-♥♥♥♥'s destruction.