Recent reviews by Conan

This changing and bait and switch of games that you paid for should be against the law.

There has always been downgrading of games, for a variety of reasons, either to make it somewhat compatible with older generations of consoles, or examples where what was shown off at E3 was what they were aiming for, but they realized that the budget didn't allow for that level of ambition and so the final product that gets in your hands is not as good as what was shown off, (Watch Dogs being a famous example).

The difference? The changes were made before you bought the game.

This unique scenario that keeps happening to VR games specifically in the pursuit to be made quest compatible is unprecedented in gaming and because VR is niche, it's not coming to the attention of lawyers the way that EA Battlefront 2's gambling controversy made it's way into the public and legal eyes.

This is the equivalent of a scenario where you buy the PS3 version of Call of Duty: World at War, and you play it for years, and then, one day, the game gets changed to the PS2 version in every way, graphics, sound, etc so that there's crossplay between PS2 online and PS3 online.

That is not the game you paid for.

If it happened with something as big as Call of Duty, there would be lawsuits filed, you can be assured of that.

Yet it happens in PCVR games time and time again for the sake of the Quest.

Typically, if someone ports something to a weaker console, they leave the more powerful console version alone as it's own thing. If, in the year 2009, someone doesn't want to buy a PS3, and they want to stick to the PS2 version of World at War, then that's just fine, their game doesn't impact the PS3 owners and the PS3 owners don't impact the PS2 owners.

Here they're changing games that you paid money for, and it's happened to Zero Caliber, Pavlov (not graphically but in player count, modding, and other key ways that made that game great for a time) and many others.

Again, if it were done before money exchanged hands, or there were two seperate versions of games, there wouldn't be an issue.

This Quest-ification of PCVR games is unique to VR and is putting that philosophy experiment of "The Ship of Theseus" into practice and not offering refunds. When is Onward no longer Onward? The developers answer: Who cares, we got your money already, plus the Meta money as well.

Just so you know where I'm coming from, I hardly played the 1.7 and earlier versions of this game, though I owned it from pretty close to the beginning.

By the time I came to this game and played it on a fairly regular basis, it had been so long since I had booted the game up that I didn't notice the downgrades. I came to this game, though I had owned it forever, after Pavlov drove me away with everything they did to cater to PSVR crossplay abandoning the PCVR players.

With Onward, I really enjoyed it though I understand it was already a downgrade from 1.7.

But with 2.0, it's even more of a downgrade. Audio, visuals, everything and I'm making this review not just for this game in particular, but pointing out that doing this to games you pay for would not fly in any way if VR wasn't niche. They're abusing the fact that VR doesn't have the player base of something like Battlefront 2 (2018) that would attract the attention of lawyers, and I think that should change.

Now the counter-argument will be "the terms of service say anything can change and you agreed to it", to which I say, every game that has been hit with a successful lawsuit also had terms of services justifying itself. Terms of service aren't get out of jail free cards. If in courts, it can be proven that higher laws were violated such as false advertising or other laws that are there to protect paying customers, terms of service have a limit to their protective power.

Romans 1:18-32

In response to the latest update, but also in general.

My favorite course in a while. The Fox hunt was mercifully easier than usual (though there is a hard part where you have to collect 10 of something, but if you do that flying thing and fly underneath the map of that section, you can cheese that and see where they are easily).

Beautiful interesting visuals, good holes. Tad easy. Got three under par first time through, but I also got lucky with a few ones which helped me stay below par. Night course has an interesting unique gimmick.

My only disappointment is the 1959 movie had a section at the end of the movie, a location, that isn't here, but I don't know if that was even in the Jules Vern book because I haven't read it.

This one's good. I went in expeciting I wouldn't care for it from a visual perspective as ancient Egypt locations don't do it for me, but I think Mighty Coconut did a good job with it and I was pleasantly surprised. The music is a bit on the annoying side though even if it does fit the Egyptian motif.

The holes are all good. I don't think there's any that are bad or anything like that. There's no gimmicks in this course besides sand that slows the ball down, but that isn't really a gimmick. I'm not saying gimmicks are a bad thing by the way when used in moderation.

The scavenger hunt was way too cryptic at least on clue nine. I searched on clue nine for over an hour and despite never looking up a guide for other courses no matter how hard, this was the one that broke me. And the thing is, one of the things I was looking for, I was on the right track, I just didn't do it the right way if that makes sense. I don't like that I broke and for the first time resulted to a guide. Clues shouldn't be that difficult in my opinion. Now maybe clue 9 will be easy for you and maybe I'm just dumb, who knows, but I managed to do every other scavenger hunt without resorting to a guide, so take that for what you will.

I like the night-time visuals. I was expecting just a sand-stormy version based on the trailer, but it's a bit more than that.

Another big plus in this one is the hidden balls are hidden, but not ridiculously hard to find. These are just the right amount of hidden.

Finally the best quality of the course, the daytime version, is the difficulty is just right. Took me 3 full attempts and probably about 8 resets part of the way through until I got under par.

I shouldn't get under par first go around. I should be made to feel out the course and get it down a little better. The difficulty hit the right balance. Would definitely recommend.

In this review you're going to see me say a lot of negative things, however despite what it may sound like that's why I'm giving it a negative rating, but actually none of that is why the golf course is getting a negative review. I would still give the DLC a positive review for a reason I'll explain later. Why I'm giving this DLC a negative review will be at the end.

So there's only three real positives I can say about this DLC.

1. The scavenger hunt is not too difficult. I think there were only like 2 parts that were kind of cryptic. I hated in DLC's past when you'd be banging your head against the wall circling the map for hours and eventually stumbling upon the scavenger clue. Didn't happen here, or at least not for long stretches like some of the most cryptic scavenger hunts.

2. To those who have complained the normal variant of the golf courses have been too easy ever since the 20,000 leagues DLC, well you got your wish, but not in the way you were probably hoping

3. Clearly a lot of effort and design went into the level.


However here's what's negative.

There's not a gimmick in this level. The whole level is a gimmick and it hardly feels like miniature golf for the vast majority. And equally as bad as that is that the level, while clearly very detailed and a lot of effort put into it, is to date, the least relaxing course that has been put in. In all the other courses I could see myself finding a nice spot in the level that overlooks the course and putting on a podcast and relaxing for an hour. Here, I wouldn't want to spend five minutes in the environment. It's pure visual chaos. So it neither works mechanically due to the strange gimmicky game play, nor does it work aesthethically as an environment as a place I'd want to chill out in.

For an example of the perfect course that implements some gimmicks, look at Quixote Valley. Not only is it visually beautiful and a place I'd not only want to visit, but would want to live in if I could, it implements its gimmicks (using the wind and windmills) sparingly. No gimmick wears out it's welcome.

So, with all that said, why would I still give this course a positive review? Because it's a cheap price and it's only bad compared to mighty coconuts other efforts. In any other game, this would be the best course just down to the amount of detail and trippy visuals, but it's a credit to the company's quality that what I feel is now their worst course would still recieve a positive rating, though one with an asterisk next to it.


So why am I giving it a negative review? Because, like in so many other areas of life, some people who work at mighty coconut, feel the need to push the gay agenda, in a family friendly E rated game no less where you play putt putt.

I noticed the gay rainbow and "pretending to be the sex they're not" themed golf balls before, but I just rolled my eyes, thought to myself "typical", and ignored it.

However now, in the scavenger hunt, they have put clues where at least two contain references to homosexuality, one overt and one implied.

The scavenger hunt is framed as finding notes for lost love or attraction connections. Essentially the idea is "you were pretty lady by the vending machine" as an example.

One of the clues says "You were the goth girl, and I was the K-pop girl" ie; lesbian attraction

And the other, while not so overt, has one crane operator searching for the other crane operator. It doesn't specify the sex of the crane operators, but how many woman crane operators have you ever seen in your life? I think it's implying homosexual attraction.

Here's the point. While most of us keep quiet about this sort of stuff and overlook it. We're tired of it. We've been tired of it and have been for a long time now at this point. We just don't bring it up all the time because people who moderate the internet don't play fair. We're the silent majority, and we're silent for two reasons

1. We're more disciplined than the young brainwashed college student activist types who scream at every perceived slight

2. We get censored when we do voice our opinions 90% of the time so why bother. Maybe this review will get deleted for "not following vague ever-changing guidelines" and I'll have wasted ten minutes writing it, but the reality is the majority of people are not in favor of these agendas being pushed and for every one person who will tell you this, there's many more who will sit by and not say anything. And I don't blame them. When giving your opinion can get you fired, doxxed, etc, well let's just say you've accomplished what you wanted with the constant barrage of propaganda and mob morality.

Review split up into two; Daytime and Nighttime

Daytime Version: 6.5/10

Great looking course with tons of aquatic sea life swimming around you (some of which you can ride if you from giant view teleport to a swimming larger creature), though if I had a complaint about the aesthetics, it's that the city is a little too much broken down and swamped by the elements to the point that it doesn't so much feel like a city anymore. I had the same problem with Eldorado, though I feel this course is much better visually and more recognizable as a city than el-dorado was. But I liked the art direction of Gardens of Babylon, and Shangri-la when it comes to lost cities.....as in a fully realized civilization and not one totally dead. I know Atlantis is underwater, but it could have been like a recently sunked Atlantis where it doesn't just feel like ruins underwater.

Besides that visual nitpick, the reason I rate it a little lower is the course is just too easy. Easily got under par the first playthrough. I don't need or want a brutal challenge, but I think needing to take about 3 or so attempts on normal difficulty to get under par is the right balance. Also saw some reviews saying the hidden balls were too hard to find. I did not find that to be the case at all. Myst was hairpullingly difficult with the hidden balls. These took me about the average amount of time to find. There's a lot of nooks and crannies and the environment is packed so I could see why people would struggle, so maybe I just got lucky.

Night time/ Hard: 9.0/10

Maybe their most beautiful course. The way the plants glow like neon looks fantastic. The atmosphere is really nice. Like all the hard courses, it's hard, what else can I say. One thing I like is the putter treasure hunt is easier than average. I really don't enjoy when the clues are cryptic to the point that I'm zooming around just guessing blindly. In this case there was only one clue like that for me and I got lucky and found it eventually. But on that note, I thought the putter was a let down.

SMALL SPOILERS

I liked that it had a trident, which feels appropriate for Atlantis, but I don't like that the trident aspect is only visible after a putt for the time that the putter part becomes translucent, and the fact that the putter looks like salmon for like sushi or something. It just didn't scream "Atlantis" to me. Ironically I feel the 20,000 leagues putter fits the course more than the Atlantis one does.

It's a fun game, but the developers censored it. It was a short game already, the 18 hours I have includes several playthroughs and playing extra endless levels and whatnot. The actual campaign will take you like 2 hours the first time or maybe a little longer or shorter, it's hard to remember, but the point is, it was already a short campaign, and they just chose to make it even shorter. They took out scenes of "self harm" despite the fact that in a previous update you could already toggle the option to turn them off, and they were so mild anyways. I never thought anything of it, all I really remember about the game is the gameplay, and I've read many comments from people irritated by this update who either have been suicidal or have known suicidal people, and they were not bothered by it either.

I will not support this developer again unless they return to being pro consumer and restore the game I bought. I don't support PC culture or censorship.

Great game, makes you feel like you're in an honest to goodness arcade.

It can be a little time intensive to setup everything perfectly, but there are people out there who have done all the hard work for you and have packs you can download.

At the moment the only downside is that htc vive controllers do not play old school games well at all, but luckily there's regular controller support. When valve releases knuckles controllers with physical buttons and joysticks, this will be pretty much perfect.

This would have been a negative review IF not for the fact that I played the best two coasters last. The first one that I enjoyed was the new underwater one that he apparently recently released as an update. The water on the visor effects when you emerge from water are really cool. I also felt like it was a more exciting coaster than most in this collection. I also loved seeing the sea creatures as you pass by them on the coaster.

The second and probably my favorite coaster is the minature one where you travel through a house that's either really giant, or is normal sized and you're really tiny. The scale is amazing and is the most interesting in terms of theming, things to look, etc.

My suggestion to improve in the future is go back to the drawing board on the Theme park, Mountain and Mine tracks....It's better to have quality over quantity and if those three were up to the quality of the two I mentioned, that would be way better than adding a bunch of coasters that aren't up to snuff.

Conclusion 6/10

The two coasters I mentioned make me reasonably satisfied with the purchase, but it still needs time in the oven to wholeheartedly reccommended.

Possibly the best Sandbox game of it's generation.