Recent reviews by Moggz

My original negative review is below. Tbh, it still stands, but now I know that the game itself is actually a lot of fun, and there are a lot of skill trees to follow and crafting to learn. The base building is cool, the combat is a little janky but still fun, the environment is really nice.

Basically, I was renting two Valheim servers, so I cancelled one of those and got a Conan server in it's place. So really, I'd still suggest that you need a rented server for good a co-op experience with friends. There are loads of official servers, but I have no idea what they're like.

*=== Original review ===*

The game, is probably very good. However, I have not played it much as I bought it for co-op. Do not buy for co-op, it very rarely works. Apparently you can play multiplayer if you pay for a dedicated server. Otherwise, not worth it.

Devs seem to be very aware of this issue for many years but is still a problem. There suggestions for fixes are not reasonable, so that's that.

I gave the ox a handful of month old grain. He spat it in my face and tried to carve me a new nipple.

While on the face of it this seems like 'just another open-world zombie survival game', there's actually quite a lot going on with this one.

When playing on a private server with friends, this can feel more like a camping holiday simulator, and the graphics are spectacular. Going hunting and fishing, cooking bbq skewers around the campfire on clear starry nights and jamming on musical instruments are all elements of this game.

While the level of detail and realism in certain actions can seem somewhat complex at first, a little perseverance learning the game-mechanics leads to a rewarding sense of actually "doing things" rather than just waiting for endless timers. Similarly while the metabolism system is complex, only the basics need to be understood to survive, but gaining a deeper understanding of how they work through playing the game is satisfying.

Although in early access the game is in constant development with regular updates and exciting sneak peaks at future features and content. There are bugs, and more-so after major updates, but it's also clear that there are devs working to fix any major issues. If you're a player who gets really mad if an item of gear glitches out and disappears or becomes unrecoverable, then you may want to wait for full release. While stuff like that has happened to me, it's very rare and often partly my own fault.

I think there are a lot of ways that this game can be played, and more will emerge as more features are added. Play on PVE or PVP servers; form squads and loot for the best gear or raid bases, be a hermit-nomad living off the land, a Mad Max biker praying on the unwary, an ace-pilot, hotshot sniper, guerrilla fighter, trader, engineer, medic, chef, ferryman, thief, lunatic. Do whatever you like really.

Definitely a game that's better with friends, although there are also some friendly and well moderated server communities to be found with a bit of hunting.

Sansar is great if you're looking for some good music, creative and social events where you can hang out with a diverse crowd of friendly people. There's a lot of cool community created worlds and content to explore. If you're into building games or games design/world-building, then you'll probably also enjoy building worlds to host events, quests or just to socialise in.

If you'd usually be going out to music events or nightclubs but 2020 hasn't been the year for it, then Sansar can provide something that's surprisingly close to the real experience, with some additional tricks that can only work is a virtual world. The venues, music, lighting and VFX are all really well done at a number of regular events.

This a great game. Basically you play as a monster-hunting warrior who's addicted to a card game called Gwent. However, his efforts to relax playing Gwent at local taverns and markets, are persistently interrupted by his sorceress girlfriends who keep nagging him about his adopted daughter running amok.

Rather than break his addiction to Gwent, these interruptions just make him angrier, and he hacks and slashes his way through foes and monsters in a desperate hope that at the end of it all, everyone will just leave him alone to play cards in peace.

10/10

I recommend this game only on the condition that you really like the Mad Max franchise, and you'd happily play a Mad Max themed game even if it's not a particularly inventive game. I'd recommend getting it when it's on sale, as it's a fun game for the most part.

I'm surprised it has so many glowing reviews though, because...

Overall though, it's a mediocre game imo, and frustrating because it could have been so much more. It feels like little imagination has been put into making it feel like a unique game or a living world. It's just 'Fury Road' aesthetic and design meets generic open-world game. It's not bad, it's just... really average. A little more work at original gameplay ideas and believable AI and this game could've been really good.

The pros:
- Nice environment and settings
- Good ground and vehicle combat
- Attacking convoys can be challenging and a lot of fun
- Did I mention that vehicle combat is a lot of fun?
- Car customisation is cool
- Decent playing time
- Authentic Mad Max/Fury Road feel to enemies, camps, vehicles etc.

The cons:
- The world has so much stuff in it that you never feel a sense of isolation
- Not very immersive. The world does not seem 'alive' but rather 'setup for you to discover'. What the game tells you about the world you're in is very different to the world you witness. e.g. Convoys do not make supply runs between enemy camps and Gastown, they just drive around never-ending loops waiting for you to attack them. In most regions of the map, Stank Gum's crew do not terrorize other wastelanders, they stay in their camps waiting for you to attack them. Besides, the other wastelanders and 'allies' don't really seem to exist in the world anyway
- No settlements other than enemy camps/bases and a handful of allied strongholds. No 'neutral' survivor settlements or camps.
- Repetitive quests and gameplay
- All the 'Top Dog' bosses look and behave the same
- Cars can't roll over
- No soft body physics (although the crashes and damage aren't bad)
- No semis/articulated-vehicles/lorries/bikes
- No pole-cats or ploughboys
- Mediocre story that's fairly short, most playing time is in side-missions which are repetitive
- Poor story ending that's out-of-character for Max. Also, the ending results in a different world to the one you're actually left in after the ending. I know that sounds like nonsense, well, it feels like nonsense in the game too.
- Only the Magnum Opus is customisable
- Predictable and repetitive AI and in-world experiences

I'd love to see a Mad Max themed game built more in the style of The Forest. Now there's an immersive and creepy game with fantastic and hard to predict AI.

I have lot's of hours on the original Spintires and play single-player with mouse and keyboard. I knew what I was buying was just a slightly updated version of the original game, but I want to support the game under it's new publisher because I don't think there are any other games of this type. I haven't noted any bugs and this version seems to run well.

For new players, if you like off-roading and want a sedate, challenging, varied and often quite tense off-road driving experience, I highly reccomend this game. There really is nothing else like it that i know of. Completeing some of the maps can be as much a puzzle as it is a drive, and the physics, deforming terrain and water are all very well done. Once completed the game in vanilla, I would recommend checking out the vehicle mods in the workshop and the huge number of mod-maps available online. Presuming it still works with this version, there's a program to help swap maps in and out of the game, and a way of changing any map to be the 'proving ground' map, so that you have the dev-menu to spawn/delete trucks, etc.

For owners of the original Spintires, this is basically an update of the same game, and one that will hopefully continue to be updated. The trucks have been updated and there's a few extras and some extra variations but nothing mega. The maps have a more natural feel and a better look to them, and I think there have also been some modifications to them (I've found that they seem less repetitive). The challenges are a really good addition and there are other tweaks like subtle rainbow oil-slick effects on deep water that trucks have been through, improved UI, different trailers/attachments (some of which you will may have seen before if you had mods), some new foliage and sucklike.

It is however, essentially, the same game updated. Having played loads of hous of the original, I've played 10 of this update and feel I'm done for now. It's a game I'll always come back to, so I bought it because I want the game to keep going because it is so unique and a favourite of mine. With the 50% off I think it's well worth it.

I still have many of the same minor gripes that I had with the original and if updates don't resolve them I will probably end up getting a few mods for this version too. These gripes include...

- I actually like the camera, I just really want it to zoom out further so you can see your whole rig at once.
- Maps should be in Steam workshop, but spintires.nl is the site for them and it's great, so go there.
- No new maps, just updates of the original 6 (excluding challenge maps).
- Any vanilla or mod map should be selectable as the proving-ground/sandbox map

My most picky gripe is that the driver model is holding the steering wheel with his thumbs on the inside of the wheel. that's a great way for him to break his thumbs on the spokes of the wheel. It really nags at me, lol.

Functioning wing-mirrors would be nice. Still, a great game. In a field (or bog) of it's own.

In it's current state I'd give this a 6/10, pushing 7. I'd like to hope with future development it'll be finished and I'd rate it at least an 8/10.

I enjoyed playing this, particular the ship creation aspect which seems to be the bulk of the game at this point. When I first started building I thought the selection of available blocks to build with seemed a bit limited, but actually I think the limited scope at this point helps encourage creativity somewhat. Some more weapons would be nice though. Also there's a concave style curved block, but after building a couple of ships I found I also wanted a convex curved block.

At this stage in development, the funds for ship building are unlimited even in crusade mode. So with no idea what types of enemies I was going to face, I quickly ended up with a ship that was ridiculously overpowered and made the crusade mode very easy.

I haven't worked out how to make torpedoes yet, and only just started playing about with ballast blocks (for submarines) and turning motor blocks, so there's still a bit for me to experiment with (I don't actually have 31hrs playing time, it was left on overnight by mistake).

The sandbox mode is okay, but unfortunately you can only spawns random enemy ships of a specified class. I'd prefer to be able to spawn any ship I choose in this mode, including my own ships or workshop ships.

The 'Versus' mode is good for one-on-one battles against an AI ship and can include workshop ships. However, in this mode you can only have one enemy. It would be nice to have multiple ships on each side of the combat.

Finally, while it may sound odd, I'm not actually bothered about sailing and fighting with the ships. I'd actually prefer to build ships then pit them against each other with AI vs. AI so I can see how my ships compare, but currently this is not an option. The block-style destruction is satisfying.

So, the game is building and destroying, both of which it is good at. I like the building, but I often miss the best bits of the destruction and there are no replays. I miss the best bits because in the heat of battle you're in first-person view. So I'm disappointed that I miss a lot of the destruction and can't watch it back either. Without a replay or AI-vs-AI feature with decent adjustable camera, I simply can't fully appreciate the fights themselves.

It's easy to upload ships to the workshop and it's fun having a go with other users creations and seeing if you can defeat them with your own ships.

So weirdly, I'd rate this game better if there was an option for less user input and more AI. I just want to build ships then watch them mutilate each other. The AI would need to improve a bit for this to work well too.

Really interesting game tackling an unusual subject for a comupter game. Very well executed concept and interesting story with good moral dilemas thrown in.

It saves every day so it's easy to skip back a day and re-run to unlock different endings without having to do a full playthrough again.

Great game for a one man effort, really shows that the devloper has experience of the subject matter. Border security seems quite topical at the moment too, I would highly recoommend it as an insight into the corruption, moral and administrational challenges of border security.

Essentially this is a data cross-referencing game... weirdly it's quite gripping and thought provoking!

Edit: While my original review (below) summed up my initial thoughts for a game that I could tell I would love even at that point, but in a humourous way, I thought I should now add that this is one of the games I would rate the most out of anything. It's gorgeous, immersive, addictive, and can tell many unique stories even in sandbox mode. I thought I ought to update the review, just to highlight how much I rate this game and it's ongoing development.

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So, I've only got about 5hrs playing time so far, but it's obvious this game is a bit of a gem. Beleivable and beautiful styleisation and setting and fun to play. So far I've died of hypothermia alone in the cold about 3 or 4 times.

This is by far the best dying of hypothermia alone in the cold simulator that I have ever played. The game starts you at a different place on the map each time you play, and each game can be quite unique. It's fun finding out where you'll be and what you'll be doing next time you die of hypothermia alone in the cold.

Currently, I've died of hypothermia alone in the cold while trying to start a fire, and I've died of hypothermia alone in the cold while scavenging from a deer carcas. I once got attacked by a wolf, recovered, then died of hypothermia alone in the cold.

In my latest game I've managed to make a fishing line which I plan to take on a trip where I will die of hypothermia alone in the cold.

There's an achievement for surviving for 50 days, but currently I'm not sure if that's a joke or not.