Recent reviews by Lulu

Based schizo

It's easy to take "sides" with the recent announcement, so I'll try and keep it unbiased and objective.

Game was very good when I bought it 10 years ago.

Unfortunately, a few years ago, it all started when the character who would teach you in the tutorial was replaced by a *real* person / personality from the fighting game community. To save you the details and bias, they were very controversial in the FGC scene, and you either liked him or hated him.

But that was just one character on one level, so it wasn't a huge deal. However, people *did* say it was a sign of what's to come.

"What's to come" came in the last 48 hours, as announced by the developers in a recent post. The original developers that MADE the game, with all it's charm and story, are now gone, either by being fired or by leaving. The new staff are ACTIVELY working to CHANGE THE GAME I PURCHASED 10 YEARS AGO.

Before I continue, let me remind you. This game is PEGI 12, for the following reasons:
- HORROR
- MODERATE VIOLENCE
- SEXUAL INNUENDO

When the game was first getting popular 10 years ago, the single most popular piece of media which promoted the game was a fan "game" someone else made. It was VERY NSFW, but it drummed up hype, and the developers knew this, rode the wave of popularity and used this to secure purchases and crowdfunding for the game. This *definitely* happened, as the team then added a colour palette to a fighter which mirrored the colour palette of the NSFW artist's online persona.

It's fine to change target audiences and appeal to new ones, but this is REMOVING the game that the original audience paid for. THEY are the reason your game is funded and still here today.

Let's talk changes.

If you PAID for the art book, they are now REMOVING the content you've paid for to combat what they call "oversexualization of females" and "references / allusions to hate groups". It does NOT matter what side of that discussion you are on, they are REMOVING content from something I PAID MONEY FOR 10 YEARS AGO.

But it's not JUST about characters showing skin. KEY Character stories are being edited and retconned for what the developers NOW feel is subjectively "sensitive topics". I implore you to search online for the full list of changes, as it's too much to note here. To summarise, here's what they're listing:
- ALLUSIONS TO REAL-WORLD HATE GROUPS
- CHARACTER SEXUALIZATION & AGENCY
- RACIAL SENSITIVITY

Again, look it up yourself, formulate your own opinion, as I have done mine.

If you wanna make a game where you DO NOT want sensitive themes or sexualization of character, you're all more than welcome to do that. HOWEVER, do it for your day 1 release and stick to it; not after you've secured your funding and appealed to ANOTHER audience. Steam's "Early Access" programme WARNS customers that the content in the game is subject to change at ANY time whether you like it or not. If this was in early access, sure, people would be angry, but there WAS a warning.

There was NO such warning on this game when this change was / is being made. It's a full release, and people DEFINITELY don't expect stylistic and story changes 10 YEARS after they've paid for the game. What did you *honestly* think would happen?

Whatever "side" you're on in the whole discussion about this kind of thing happening in games these last few years, I hope we can ALL AGREE on ONE thing:

If you buy a game on a DIGITAL storefront that allows updates, you are buying into a LIVE SERVICE. Every game you have ever paid for COULD be taken away or be drastically changed at any moment. It sounds crazy, something like that would never happen! Until it does. Unfortunately, people who actually paid for a LEGAL, LEGIT copy of the game are the ones who are PUNISHED, once again.

There MUST come a point where games and digital medium MUST be protected from the IP Holders, ESPECIALLY when those holders / developers are not the original creators. Changing target audiences, removing content and making key stylistic and story changes 10 YEARS LATER should NOT be allowed, and refunds should be offered if such changes are made.

Again, this is NOT about politics / showing skin in video games. This is about preservation of media.

A strong contender for my personal Game Of The Year.

We'll never know why or how this game lost to God Of War for Soundtrack of the Year.

Still getting 2,200CP as of 12th Jan 2023

Here's a review copy-pasted from my friend in 2018:

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"40 minute long loading screens and a massive lack of servers

''server overload'' at 6k players???" - NOT recommended.

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The year is now 2022, it's been 4 years.
According to SteamCharts, there are 6,674 players playing, as of 5 minutes ago.

I launch the game, which enters me into a ~2600 people queue. I get past this queue in about 7 minutes.
The game launches, only "53%" of the UI successfully loads, making me tap to retry.
I do this 4 times, then the game says that my authentication token has expired, and I must close the game.

The game closes.
The launcher closes.
I launch the game, which enters me into a ~2600 people queue.
Rinse and repeat. It has been 2 hours. I still cannot access the game.

4 years back in the oven did NOTHING for this game. The servers are crippled with the EXACT SAME amount of players that were playing 4 YEARS AGO in 2018.

However, it should be noted that in an Early Access game: as Steam says
"This Early Access game is not complete and may or may not change further."

It still isn't complete. It hasn't changed further. You can't play it. It's simply "free". Not free to play.

A year-long tale of broken promises, lies from the CEO of the development company, the cutting of long-promised content and infinite (hehe) delays and moving of goal posts.

Many developers want all of the "gradual" development and recurring revenue of a live service; an infinite (hehe) revenue stream. However, NOBODY wants, or seems to know the HERCULEAN effort required to actively develop and maintain a live service.

Everyone jokes about Fortnite, as they have for ~6 years by now. Whether you like it or not, you cannot deny that they set the bar HIGH for what's required in a live service.

I got the campaign on Xbox Game Pass. However, my save was corrupted in the final mission because I changed the batteries in my Xbox controller. I'm not bull'ing you, see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_HuUThNaJ0

This game plays like an early access title in the last 4 years; great gameplay foundation, riddled with game-breaking bugs, unoptimisation, a total drought of content and the developers regularly begging for more time. I should feel bad for this small indie developer, if it weren't for the fact this is SUPPOSED to be Microsofts A-Team.

It's not ALL 343's fault though. Microsoft's greed reigns DEEP within 343, with a HUGE internal employee turnover due to their rules on contracting. You can see more on that here: https://www.tweaktown.com/news/83247/halo-infinites-issues-due-to-mismanagement-microsoft-policies/index.html

To conclude, this will be something both developers and consumers look back on in 5 years, as a textbook example of how NOT to make a game.

Can't join any server.

YOU'LL NEVER KNOW WHO'S RIGGED TO EXPLODE

Cannot proceed past the final mission due to crashes and no checkpoints / saves.

This issue has literally outlived Volition as a company.

Damn I spent time AND money on this