Loadout

Loadout is a new free-to-play, over-the-top, third-person action shooter. In addition to being a magnet for compound adjectives, Loadout is being touted on the virtues of its in-game customizablity. The game's developers, a company called Edge of Reality, have been in the game industry for over a decade, but this game isn't like most of the work they have done in the past.

Gameplay: Loadout doesn't innovate. You've played it's gametypes, you've fired it's weapons, and you've traversed it's maps. If I was going to forgive that, I'd say so about now, but I'm not. The biggest problem with Loadout is that it fails to stand out and try new ideas. When I think about the gameplay I'm reminded of another F2P game from last year called Renaissance Heroes that closed down last December. The games had a lot in common in terms of how they feel to play, and that was enough to keep me entertained for at least a few weeks. What sank Renaissance Heroes, in my opinion, was the exorbitant costs of the "micro" transactions. Loadout shouldn't have this same problem, but the fact remains that the gameplay has been tried and has failed.

If the customization options were truly deep, or if there was really much of an option at all, there would be more to say for this game. While the options are there for higher level or premium players, for most the game doesn't live up to its promise. Between a tech tree for new weapon options and experience points to spend upgrading and customizing your loadouts, the game has a capacity for depth that isn't realized until days and hours have already been sunk into playing it. The customization options should bemore readily accessible to new players if that's what this game is going to seel itself on. Without something special, without something to tell your friends about, Loadout doesn't stand a chance against the superior gameplay of its competitors. 7/10

Graphics: The graphical style of the game (reminiscent of Borderlands' "concept art style") is supposed contribute to that "over-the-top" sensation. Effectively, I've seen few players with the premium items and so much of the game looks repetitive. The maps are nice, but nothing special, and, while the projectiles are okay, the explosions don't make much of a visual impact. The animations are good and the way that damage shows on your character is downright admirable--easily one of the best parts of the game. 7/10

Sound: Loadout doesn't fail to utilize sound, but it does fall short of gaining anything form it. The clips of music and the beeping response you hear when you get a hit are effective at giving feedback, but they fail to add much to the experience. Sound hasn't been ignored in this game, but it has again failed to innovate in any way. 7/10

Value: As a free-to-play game, value is usually an easy win. Something for nothing is always worth it, and in Loadout you won't be overwhelmed by pay-to-win players (there just aren't very many of them). The premium currency reasonably priced, unlike it was in Renaissance Heroes, the F2P game I mentioned above, where a new weapon cost around $20. Moreover, daily rewards offer a chance at unlocking some of those premium items for free which is great. 8/10

Playing Time: Daily rewards area  great way to get players into a game day after day, but once you've gotten it there is little reason to stick around. For me, Loadout is a game I'll play for two or three matches (fifteen or twenty minutes) before I move on to something I enjoy more. I play a couple of matches, spend my experience, and move on. This is a game I'll play for a few weeks, and when I find something else I'll move on. While a game like SolForge has kept me playing with it's dailies, Loadout doesn't lend itself to quick sessions quite as well. All in all, I'll be done with this game before I really get a chance to enjoy it's customization options. 5/10

Overall: I'm not impressed with Loadout. The game is fun, but lacks anything to keep me hooked or to tell my friends about. There are no cool gimmicks or refined systems. It is too easily put down and too easily forgotten. I'm disappointed that I didn't have more customization options available to me at the start, and I feel that to be the first and foremost failure of the game. 68/100 F

Papers, Please!

I first heard about Papers, Please! over the holidays. It's a puzzle game developed by Lucas Pope wherein the player is an immigration officer for the fictional country of Arstotzka. Since it went on sale, I decided to pick up a copy and try it out. I was expecting something a little prettier, but I'm not dissatisfied with what I got.

Gameplay: As an immigration officer for the nation of Arstotzka, the player's task is to check that the documents provided by NPC's are correct and match one another. Rules change day-to-day based on various conditions relating to the game's story, like whether certain documents are required for certain reasons and how problems should be processed. Overall, this makes the gameplay feel much like working. What alleviates this to some degree is the story. Throughout the course of a day, certain NPC's may offer you choices or there may be a terrorist attack of some kind. These tend to have repercussions on the coming days but also on how well you are able to feed and care for your four family members. 8/10

Graphics: Papers, Please looks like a game from the 80's. That said, if this game had been made in the 80's we would still be talking about it today, though not because of the graphics. Playing the game reminded me of playing Oregon Trail in grade school as much because of the graphical style as for the game's layout. Much of the action happens in the top-left part of the screen, with the rest being reserved for the player to manage their decisions and review documents. Moreover, the graphical style being reminiscent of the 1980's, as well as the fact that Arstotzka is a communist state,  introduces it as a sort of discourse on Cold War politics. 7/10

Sound: Sound is an area where Papers, Please really succeeds. From the menu screen through to every click you make in-game, Papers, Please responds with sound effects that are more than auditory cues. Sure, they get repetitive, but repetition is a part of the nature of the gameplay and so it deepens the aesthetic feel of the game.The words are unintelligible, but the false language of them lends the game a sense of exoticism important to the overall aesthetic. 8/10

Playing Time: The amount of time you will spend playing this game is less than you would hope. Because of the tendency of the gameplay itself to feel like work, it's very easy to quit after fifteen minutes or twenty minutes. When this is the case, a game ought to be easy to come back to and Papers, Please does succeed in this. Your progress it autosaved at the beginning of each day, so you are free to quit out whenever you please or when your day is not going so well. This is not a marathon game, but it is a game to keep around to play little by little. 5/10

Value: Papers, Please is one of those games where the aesthetics employed make it a work of art as much as a computer game. There are a number of paths  might choose to follow in the game, helping a resistance movement, helping immigrants in need, or just helping oneself to make ends meet. In every case, there are moral issues to wrestle with and subtle discrepancies to inspect that engage the player in his role. For it's regular price, $9.99, one should already have an interest in Cold War politics in order to find that value, but on sale for half that price the game is entertaining enough for anyone. 6/10

Overall: I like this game, and would recommend it if you can get it for five dollars or less. There's no hurry to play it, but the next time Steam puts it up on sale it will be worth picking up. It is interesting conceptually, but the gameplay itself lacks entertainment value. Grade: 74 D 

Robocraft

A friend of mine recently suggested I try Robocraft. It is a free-to-play game that's been in development for about a year by FreeJam, a small developer from the UK. Robocraft's tagline, "Build. Drive. Fight.", encapsulates the basics of a game which appeals to both our creative and destructive appetites.

Gameplay: Robocraft is somewhere between Minecraft, Kerbal Space Program, and World of Tanks. More than this, however, playing the game is reminiscent of playing with Legos--except I get to blow up the other kids with lasers. While blocks are the primary building tool, like in Minecraft, the game has more in common with Kerbal Space Program. You build, you test, experiment, test some more, and eventually you find that an hour has past. The game is weakest when you are actually joining matches and fighting, though even that is not unpleasant. Steering is frustrating at times, but the fighting is good fun. It requires a bit of technique to line up shots and to keep your cannons on your target. In short, Robocraft is good fun whether building or fighting, while driving still needs some work.

Graphics: Robocraft isn't going to wow you with it's textures. The crafts are made from square or angular bricks that don't allow for smooth, rounded creations. The environment doesn't sport an amazing pixel count either, but manages an enjoyable, retro feel nonetheless. Laser beams and explosions are no better or worse than you'd expect given the quality of everything else--satisfying but not impressive.

Sound: In spite of the many ways that Robocraft succeeds, the sound design leaves something to be desired. The background music adds little and the sound effects fall short of satisfying. In a game which features both lasers and explosions, sounds are an area which deserve to see some improvement. Too often, sound gets ignored when it ha the potential to make up half of the experience  and that is the case in Robocraft so far. There is nothing to inspire feeling from the game's sound effects beyond simple confirmation of a kill. I would rather be hearing too many ratchets and gears than not enough.

Playing Time: Downloading Robocraft was pleasantly fast. It was less than 10 minutes between visiting the game's website and creating an account (which was also very easy to do through the game's launcher). My time in game has been split between crafting ships and taking them into matches. I've spent more time fiddling with my crafts than fighting with them, but that's been a lot of the fun. Games tend to go by quickly as you are returned to the "garage" as soon as your craft is defeated. Presently, there is no party mechanic or friends list available which is a limitation to the time I spend playing the game both in a given session and overall. So far I've enjoyed the game for a few days, but without friends list support I expect it will be uninstalled after another week or two.

Value: The game is free to play right now and is in an early alpha stage of development. Given that, the value I see in this game at present is tremendous. It's satisfying on a juvenile, intellectual, and competitive level all at the same time between it's gameplay, physics, and nostalgic feeling. Furthermore, the in-game currency available for purchase isn't expensive. I've played many games where eight or more dollars gets you one, maybe two, upgrades of one kind or another but the currency here is more reasonable. Not so reasonable that I've bought any, but cheap enough that I've considered it. In any beta (much less an alpha) that's impressive and a good sign that the developers have got their heads on straight.

Overall: As this game is still only in an alpha stage of development, I will refrain from assigning an overall verdict. I am hopeful that this promising game will continue to grow and improve itself. Without a doubt it's worth a quick download and a bit of your time.