Recent reviews by Waxx

In short, a beautiful mess.

A lot of complaints seem to be about the campaign, I haven't played it. My issues are more fundamental to the game itself. I've never been a big Homeworld guy; I like the franchise but I'm not devoted to it so I'm not going to dislike a game simply because it is different from the last ones from TWENTY YEARS ago. That said, Homeworld 2 had some things going for it that this game has ignored to its great detriment.

Visually, it is a treat for the eyes. Truly a pleasure to watch ships float around and shoot things at other things. I like that.

This is where things get troublesome: I have no clue what the ♥♥♥♥ is happening. The game offers a "tactical view" by hitting space that zooms you out and tries to make everything easily color coded, but even this view is hampered by a giant blob of color sitting behind everything that somehow manages to muddy up even the viewing mode for dummies. I can't figure out how this got ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up so badly. It is so hard to read what the hell is happening that the game had to implement a slowdown mode which to me reads as "we couldn't figure out how to design the game in a way that was understandable, so here, just pause it."

To see the helpful bounding boxes around my own units, I have to be zoomed so far out that the fight is just a blob of color and effects and I can't tell a damn thing. Where I would normally view the fight to actually, you know, tell what the ♥♥♥♥ is going on, it turns the bounding boxes off to give a cinematic view of the game which is very beautiful but very problematic.

Homeworld 2 had a pretty clear visual style between the two fleets. One was long and one was wide and flat or some variation of that concept; so far I can't really say that I see the same here. All the ships look the same with the exception of Big Mothership and Big Carrier regardless of who they belong to, at least to me they do. Hell even my own damn ships all look the same, some are a bit bigger than others but in the swirling mass of a 3d furball how the hell am I supposed to know that?

That's the other problem. I never had much trouble issuing orders in 3d space in Homeworld 2 or at least I feel like it came pretty naturally to me. I don't know what it is about this game but ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, I cannot for the life of me wrap my head around how to read its verticality. If there isn't a broken ship hanging out there in space I pretty much can't get there because I will just send my units off to the far edge of the map thinking I'm telling them to just move up a few hundred meters. It's absolutely unreadable to me.

I want to like this game. I want to be able to understand it. Currently, it frustrates and confuses me. Not a good thing in an RTS.

It's good, honest kill. Kill you can feel good about. Only a fool says, "No bug/bot ever gave me no trouble." Flawed, dangerous and subversive. Put them on the front lines and see if they don't change their tune! Sad!

Me, I like to kill. I like to kill bugs, I like to kill bots.

It's the best feeling in the world, and I'm going to keep doing it. Again and again.

I've spent a lot more and got a lot less. Very cute and heartwarming game, especially if you like cats.

it's okay i guess

Stray is an uncomplicated game with easy gameplay and a lush, beautiful world to explore. It feels like being inside a mix of a Ghibli movie, Portal 2 and bits of Neon Genesis Evangelion at different times. The environment detail is the real star of this game and whoever handled the lighting design should be recognized for their work because it is just lovely. I do not often care to play games in a completionist manner but this is one where I will enjoy hunting down every little secret and cookie crumb. Simply a delightful game.

Shockingly fun for a free to play game.

Without doubt the best shipbuilding game available. If you like Space Engineers but wish there was something to actually do afterwards, this is the game for you.

This game is wonderfully relaxing. Very pleasant music, adorable graphics, and there is more strategy to it than you'd guess from first glance.

I have never been so disoriented in my life. Don't let anyone ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ you, the headbob settings don't change a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ thing.

I played through the story and didn't explore much, but even that was rewarding. The story is told in pictogram form, leaving you to decipher it however you want to. In all manners of speaking it's quite a beautiful game, and I look forward to going back and exploring the rest of the map at leisure.

A good, relaxing time.