Recent reviews by MASTASMASH

Planet Coaster 2: The Good, Bad, and Confusing

As a big fan of the original Planet Coaster (though I didn’t log thousands of hours like some fans), I enjoyed it as much as I once loved Sim Theme Park and Roller Coaster Tycoon. So, I was pretty excited when Frontier announced a sequel!

The Good
One of the best additions is the integration of water park elements. While not perfect, they’re an interesting addition to the series and are fairly well-executed. The graphics are decent, and the gameplay loop is similar to the original game, keeping the charm that fans love. Unfortunately, this is where the positives end for me.

The Bad
In an effort to add challenge, Frontier introduced a new power system. While it sounds cool in theory, it’s been a headache in practice. Power generators break down constantly, turning off rides even when they aren’t connected to the affected generator. It’s frustrating and disrupts the gameplay flow.

There’s also a new staff type: ride attendants. In Planet Coaster, they were NPCs in the background, but now they’re essential hires. However, they frequently unassign themselves randomly. I’ve had attendants leave just as guests are about to board rides, causing delays and staffing issues. Also, where are the security guards? They’re nowhere to be found, which makes the park feel less complete.

While some assets have been updated for the sequel, many beloved elements from the original are missing. For example, I purchased the deluxe edition for the classic rides pack, but iconic rides like the Venetian Carousel and Centrum didn’t make it. This feels like a letdown, especially in a game that should at least meet the original’s level of detail.

The Confusing
I’m puzzled by several changes. First, the workshop limit is incredibly restrictive (although it may be removed soon). The absence of a STEAM Workshop is also concerning, and the new user interface and pathing system are clunky and difficult to navigate. Additionally, they changed the research system, which I find makes the game less challenging and less rewarding.

Final Thoughts
Overall, Planet Coaster 2 has potential, but it needs a lot of polish before I can wholeheartedly recommend it.

Rating: 50/100 or 2.5 Stars

Every time a new FHM game is released I hope for one thing, the ability to play the game using my local team. What kills the game for me is that the team is in the database, just not set to be playable because they are a junior league team. I even hoped by the photos and what people were saying that the experience would be like OOTP, it's simply not.

I can no longer recommend this game to players who do not already own it before its acquisition by Take Two Interactive.

Although the ridiculously invasive EULA seems to have been changed in the newest versions due to community backlash (the "spyware" still remains in the legacy versions in official beta channels), the devs, under Take Two, continue to rip open source mods from the community into PAID expansions without citing or even acknowledging the original authors of the mods that made the game so much more than what it was. I am deeply saddened by the fact that the once wacky indie game by Squad that steered me into academia has resorted to plagiarism under the directions of Take Two Interactive.

I want to clarify that I think the game itself is amazing and I'm not discouraging people from playing it, just from paying Take Two. There are many other ways to obtain the game.

Out of the Park Baseball 19 - A First Impression Review

I cannot say enough how impressed I am with this series and it seems like it just keeps getting better. Last year I played OOTP for the first time with OOTP 18 and was blown away with how much creative control this game gives you. If there was ever a Football Manager for Baseball, this is it. I want to go on record and say that I was actually suprised with the addition of 3D player models in the 3D engine, and even though the animations are simple the game is brought to life more. I was also impressed by the game recognizing my custom jerseys I had created for the American Association teams and actually using them in the 3D Game engine.
This installment is far from perfect however, a few bugs plague the game and one I have noticed comes when you add custom 3D stadiums to your game. Hopefully this bug gets figured out and corrected because I was really digging the idea of trying to create my own stadiums models and use them.
If you are a baseball nut and want to play historical seasons, this game is a real treat as you can go back all the way to 1871 and play every season using real team lineups and rosters. The MLB also automatically changes things for you as you watch the action unfold. You can try to relive those moments or rewrite history in this mode. I personally have brought back the Federal League from the dead in the year 1940 and simulated it all the way to 2002 where it grew into an independent powerhouse of a league.

The Pros
+ Mod Support
+ Deep Gameplay
+ New 3D Players and Animations
+ Historical Simulation

The Cons
- Buggy, sometimes crashing

The Neutral (Things I won't knock it for)
= Lack of Owner Role
= Lack of US Independent League Licensing (Not a big deal with the mod support)
= Confusion of Menu Layout (It's easy to get lost at first)

Overall this game is an improvment over OOTP 18 and in my opinion a great deal of fun. If you like Baseball and love Football Manager then give OOTP a shot.

9/10

Things I would like to see improved upon for future releases.
Possibility to become an owner, I find the fact that you are making money to be useless unless you can use that money.
Always try to improve your 3D Game engine.
A more robust Promotion/Relegation system, maybe promotion/relegation playoffs added for increased drama. The ability to link more than 1 League to promote to another. Ex. CanAm League, Atlantic League, Frontier League all promote a team to the American Association, the AA then promotes to the Federal League. The lower leagues in this example would be regional leagues and the Association would be like the EFL Championship with the Federal League being like the EFL Premier League in English Football.

Like I said, 9/10 give this a shot.

Honestly the lack of any north american teams in by default or at all are upsetting. There isn't anthing here unless you know anything about european teams and follow them. And modding the game using option files is not a long term method around this issue, konami needs to stop snorting coke and start getting some liscenses for this game. Also the controls on PC are laughable, If I wanted to use an xbox controller I would have bought this for the Xbox.

OOTP Baseball 18 - A Game With Promise

First off I would like to commend Out Of The Park Developments on a great and addicting game, there are not many MLB Liscensed titles out there and the few that do exist today are either exclusive or don't live up to expectations, in my personal opinion.

The Bad:
There really isn't anything hugely bad about this game for me to critique, the game has it's obvious faults but those faults were not advertised in order to make a profit, the game is what it claims to be.

The Good:
Historical Simulation at it's finest, This game lets you go all the way back to the late 19th century and take over your favorite MLB Teams to rewrite history or to create your own teams and leagues.

Franchise Mode is honestly the best thing here, my personal favorite thing to do is create my towns team as a professional independent and create a dynasty, which is much more challenging than I make it out to be.

Game Balance is pretty good, nothing is too hard or too easy, the game has a ton of things to micromanage, however you can always diliberate that to your AI Manager to help you out. I reccomend taking the game slowly at first by using an MLB team to learn the basic principles of how the game works.

The Potential:
Currently this game has 3D stadiums for all the current MLB franchises, and the modding community here has some they have created too. The Dynamic Crowd is a great idea and I feel like if the developers took a little more time with the next game we could potentially move away from the low poly crowd and pawn characters in the actual games. The models and animations don't even need to be that good, I just think that if they existed the game would be that much better.

Final Score:
85/100

Give it a shot.

This game is promising and a great buy for baseball and managment simulation fans, curve your expectations, this isn't MLB The Show, this is something that has much more depth, strategy, and customization. So why an 85? Games are not perfect, and this one is no exception, there isn't much to complain about, just some missed opprotunities.

Upon spawning into Reign of Kings i was naked, i then was captured by a camp of midgets who set up shop on a new player spawn and they preoceeded to lock me in the stocks an pillory, whip me and call me a ♥♥♥♥♥♥.


-10/10 Riviting entertainment.

Mad Games Tycoon - The First Impressions Review

The Cons
- Currently there is no real way to gauge production, for example, your company just made a game called "Bob and the Destroyers" the game gets an average 75 to 80 rating. There is no system that lets you know how many copies you should produce. This leads to a guessing game on the overall rating, hype, and fanbase of your company to create an estimate. If Pre orders became a thing in game like maybe in 2007 or so then it would make being a publisher easier.

- Currently there is no real way to assign your subsidary to create a sequel to a game, I find that most of my game sequels are 4 - 5 years apart, however sometimes my dev studios are busy trying to make a new IP and I forget about a previous one that was fairly decent in success, this leads to a ten year gap sometimes between some games. If you could assign a subsidary to create a sequel, and control the engine used as well as the platforms, this would make it easier to keep your greatest of Sagas or trilogies going while being able to focus on new projects and games, of course the level of studio quality will influence the games overall rating, so chooing wisely would be in your best intrest.

Neutral
You cannot create subsidaries, conventions, or create handheld consoles.
Okay this is more of me nitpicking small details, but this is something that would really be cool or interesting to do.

Scenario: Your company is growing and you decide you want to make a subsidary becuase you plan to publish your own titles, creating a subsidary would be a big investment like buying them out is. You start out and have 5 options, for 3 million you can make a one star subsidary, 5m gets two star, 7m gets 3 star, 10m gets four star, and 15m will make a 5 star subsidary, the inital investment is steep, from here subsidaries could be given more directions, for example you could create a deadline for the AI controlled subsidary to come out with Two new games every year or so. This could affect not only the goodwill of the company (value) but also affect the rating of the games it creates.

On game conventions, making one called AGX (Arcade Gaming Expo) which is a play on the Penny Arcade Expo or PAX that is cheaper to participate in but also yeilds less attendance and hype would be great for smaller companies, or the ability to create your own and make proceeds from the companies who attend the event, of course this would also be another investment.

Right now we have the ability to create home consoles, but if this could be expanded to handheld that would be a cool feature alongside having both the Home and Mobile markets split into two seperate identies would mean your company could have their home console and mobile console on the market at one time.

Positive Influences
+ You can virtually create any kind of company you want to. If you wanted to you could creat a game development studio that is independent and has no set publisher and develop for PC only or you could create over time a game dev and publishing company that publishes and makes 100% of the profit, or you could go as far to challenging Katari or Mintendu by becoming a Hardware manufacturer owning subsidaries and publishing console exlusive titles making your market share rise. You could even only do contract work and make minimal money to operate but keep yourself small. The choice is yours.

+ The gameplay is addicting and challenging at higher difficulties, in essence you create your own problems and have to make the correct choices to manage your companies funds and gain foothold in the market.

Overall I give "Mad Games Tycoon" an 8/10 for my First Impressions Review. This title has a ton of potential to wipe the floor with other Game Dev Simulators, also I would rather state this game is more of a Game Industry Simulation.