Recent reviews by 'Mouse' The Cat

Short Style Review

This is a hard but highly rewarding game that is just fantastic to play with friends. It offers a sense of chaos that has to be experienced first hand to be believed. All the weapons are good and feel punchy, the enemy variety is large and changes dependent on mission difficulty and the gameplay loop is satisfyingly challenging, if a little frustrating at times...but then this is Helldivers, so...it's hell. Yes, some micro-transactions exist but they are implemented excellently due to the fact that the currency is very easily obtainable for free simply by playing the game. The inter-connectivity with other players in the form of global missions, and the liberation statistic at the end of specific missions provide a meaningful feeling of being part of something greater; the mission to spread, under an iron fist, gloriously 'peaceful' Managed Democracy, with fellow Helldivers by your side!

Short Style Review

For the love of god...add more solo stuff.
PVE things to do for introvert solo players like me.
I love what I see, but it's the same loop all the time.
Please. Have a solo players update!

The main reason I am writing this review is to alert people to the fact that you CAN now hold notes, which is a massive improvment from the previously good software. This is probably the one thing people were desperate for and I am very excited to see what I can do with it.

1BITDRAGON is an extremely fun and easy to use DAW both for the casual music maker, beginners and, potentially, even immediates looking for something nice, compact, simple and altogether well formatted. In fact, it's compact and simple nature is what sets this apart, you can veritably pick up and play this at any point and have both a good and productive time without needing to spend 100 hours watching tutorials beforehand.

The instruments are all varied and serviceable for the type of music (simple game track music really) you will be making using the software and even if they don't sound the most fantastic in the world, they are still endearing, fun and creative especially when used in tandem with each other. I have been able to use them to make consistently unique songs which are always satisfying. I have made a range of tunes ranging from strange theme musics to straight up Drum and Bass. Given enough experimentation the platform provides you a wealth of, albeit somewhat limited by virtue of simplicity, expression. It's a trade off.

You can use this to make good sounding and engaging tunes, and it is a real DAW, it is merely a simple one. However, I would not recommend this for serious projects if you are able to use full scale DAW like Logic. Although, if you are anything like me and certainly cannot, in addition to a lack of patience to learn, then I would certainly recommend this. It's skill ceiling is vastly lower. I am actually using the software to make an album of my own, just for fun and because I've enjoyed myself so much.

Regarding the £24.99 ($30 I think) price tag I would make the argument it is okay value especially compared to the insanely inflated price of a full scale DAW. Certainly not a bargain, but reasonable priced all the same. If you wait for a sale and then buy, then your value will be exponentially increased, but that should go without saying.

To reiterate, you can now hold notes.

8.5/10

SHORT STYLE REVIEW
[Revisions]
Many of the issues myself and others have raised are being addressed and changes are being made to the game. <---This is not true. They are taking their sweet time and basic issues still exist. I will not bend over and accept such piss poor quality, How dare you take such a culturally important IP and ♥♥♥♥ it sideways with incompetency and laziness. This game is deserving of all the dislike it is currently getting.

I do think it is still worth a play <---I don't know, Fatshark? Is it? You clearly don't think so. I clearly don't think so, and my score is going down even further.

7/10 4.5/10

PREVIOUS REVIEW
I can't really ignore the glaring issues within the experience even despite how fun it is. I'll start by saying I don't want to have to leave a negative review on a game with so much potential and part of an IP that I love, but frankly Darktide is a very, very mixed bag leaning towards the low side of middle. My thumbs down is a reflection of the game in it's current state. The game will improve, and I can see it being very well received later down the line, but that is not an excuse for current mediocrity. I will improve my review if the game deserves it, but as of right now it simply does not. It's sad, this game deserves better,

The simple fact is that it has exceedingly entertaining gameplay marred by exceedingly poor quality and a ridiculous lack of basic content in the extremely empty hub. I've played since the Pre-Order beta, which wasn't technically early access by the way it was a legitimate beta test, and the improvements towards the game at launch from that point are minimal at best.

7/10

Do you enjoy horde shooters with consistently satisfying game mechanics, customisation and a dedicated development team that constantly provide high quality updates and a reasonable, yet not overwhelming pace? Yes? Good, then Deep Rock Galactic is the game for you! Make sure to get some friends for the full experience!

Through all the "ROCK AND STONE!" shouting, of which there is much, you'll be glad to know that the game itself holds its own and, arguably, exceeds even amongst such titles as Payday 2, Vermintide and Left For Dead. How does it manage this? Well I think the answer to that is the perfect balance between charm and gameplay. The hubworld, IE: The Hanger, helps provide a backdrop to really make each mission feel like another part of the job, you can get into a character and it feels meaningful. Your Dwarfs feel like your Dwarfs when you personalise them with the vast range of freely available cosmetics, and weapon overclocks allow, for example, the otherwise same old Minigun to feel like a completely different, fire spitting beast.

When you're planetside, each environment looks, feels and plays unique with their own hazards and rewards highlighted by possible extra additional alerts such as increased gold, XP or exploding, elite enemies. The actual mission types you can engage with are challenging but also entertaining and satisfying. The use of building mechanics as well as zone control is fun, mining is rewarding, and overall the missions never get too complex but also still remain engaging. Though some of the game modes have very tedious elements, such as being forced to play hide and seek with tiny little Mini Mules (you'll understand if you play the game) or acting as glorified babysitter for a giant drill, they are still interesting enough with the core "AHHH SHOOT IT!" horde game play loop, and in addition to the wide variety of enemies, that any tedium never really puts you off to any great degree; it's all part of the job.

In actuality, the way the 4 separate classes play together and require each other to function well or more efficiently is perhaps the biggest way this game keeps you wanting to play more. Scout and Engi pare well in the resource gathering and support role but can both hold their own in a fight, and Driller (which is also a support and resource gathering role) and Gunner provide a base for crowd control with their high damage and high DPS weapons. The moments of downtime are worth it, the voicelines and engagements that the characters have allow you to both understand the world in a more personal way, but also get a sense of the characters themselves. This, with your own customisation, has made the community fall in love with the 4 missfits.

9/10

SHORT STYLE REVIEW
Ukrainian sovereignty must be defended.
Putin can suck a fat one. Russia must withdraw.
Nothing more needs to be said.

"Putin – khuylo!" 10/10

SHORT STYLE REVIEW
♫♪♩♫♪Ooooooooooooo!♫♪♩♫♪
♫♪♩♫♪Oooo! Ooo! Ooo!♫♪♩♫♪

TL;DR You should get it for the sound track alone.

I've had a love for creative games like this since I was a child. I remember buying a CD-ROM version of Wildlife Park 2 when I was a kid and enjoying hours within the game. I can guarantee you that this is one of the best renditions of the genre to date. Honestly, it provides the user with more in depth mechanics, more intuitive building systems, superior AI and better graphics that help to provide a stable platform for creativity. The game is consistently satisfying and goals feel achievable, with animals responding in a reasonable and rational fashion to what you provide (so as to say, the animals don't tantrum at the smallest problem like they might in other similar games) which means that you can still balance profit and care with park aesthetics. It is super relaxing, with an underrated soundtrack, and just an overall great experience.

9/10

Is it worth your time? Yes. Is it better than 2042? No contest.

This is a fun Battlefieldesqe experience that fulfills its promise to deliver an alternative to said Battlefield games. It's got a similar style and flow of combat with similar squad mechanics that allow you to jump into action pretty quickly. It's not quite as over the top and expansive ans Battlefield but it provides a smaller scale skirmish that does itch the spot that 2042 has all but failed to. The maps are quite pretty and well detailed, they have allowed myself and my squad to engage in some pretty fearsome firefights. It's a very fun game with a lot of potential and worth picking up for a good time, especially considering (while in early access) the game is nice and cheap.

There are some issues with the game in its current state, some of them are subjective and some of them are more objectively bad. For example, in my opinion the time to kill is way too quick and feels very inconsistent. 90% of the time you feel helpless to respond to being shot at because you are dead before you can do anything. To compound this fact the game has got the same problem as Battlefield, where you are underpowered as a new player due to your limited loadouts, and this is made worse by way of a grind to unlock the attachments. I want more customisation, both cosmetically and functionally, to be available from the start.

The other issues I had were during my download. You cannot test this game because Steam only downloads the launcher, and that means that the total install counts towards your time played. You can kiss your refund goodbye if you don't enjoy the gameplay. Outside of that fact, even though the launcher worked, some of the files got blocked by my antivirus forcing me, not to just disable my antirvirus, but uninstall it entirely for it to finish the download, which was a bit odd.

Overall, if you can get past the installation and into the game I think you'll have fun with this title especially if you are into Battlefield, it will scratch the itch and you'll enjoy yourself.

7.5/10

This game is warfare at it's most extreme, a game in many respects similar to both Squad and Post Scriptum, but with a faster paced Band of Brothers or Saving Private Ryan feel. I highly recommend.

If you want to have a taste, a little smidgen of what it might have been like to command a squad during house to house fighting in Normandy, or rush an MG 42 position over the fields at Kursk or watch your best friend get blow to pieces after a bombing run wipes out your recon squad in the Hürtgen Forest then this is the game for you. It's a WW2 death simulator, and it's great when you can give as good as you get.

This is an honest, gritty, no holds barred, semi-realistic military simulator that consistently leads to deaths within 0.04 seconds of spawning because your friendly artillery didn't dial in correctly. You will die, and you will die and, when you start getting good at the game, you will die. You will learn quickly that this isn't the sort of game you can beast with pinpoint accuracy, or speed, this is a game of thought, and positioning, covering fire and team work where the first bulled is the one that counts the most.

If you have played games, as I have said, like Squad, Post Scriptum or Beyond The Wire then you will be very comfortable picking up this game. It's somewhat more frustrating in some respects, because the entire point of the game is to encourage constant fighting. If you love Squad but are sick of the waiting around, then this is the game you should pick up. The World War 2 setting makes for some brutal combat, bombs dropping, planes shooting overhead. You'll definitely ♥♥♥♥ yourself a good few times.

The game looks really quite good even on the lower settings, and compared to Post Scriptum, it's so much better optimized. The visuals give a really good sense of the dark, muddy battlefield, and pared with the amazingly detailed open world design, you'll find yourself lost in what ever role you take up. The soundtrack gets a little repetitive, theres only one song for each faction plus a main theme for the menu, but it's more than made up for with great sound design, thunderous booms, crackling cannons and guns that pack a punch.

I've been enjoying this game, it's on the same level in my books as Squad, but vastly more suited to pick-up and play styles where you want that tactical feel, but also want to shoot stuff without waiting around for too long.

9/10

SHORT STYLE REVIEW
An absolutely marvelous game marred by some of the worst optimisation I have ever experienced. The gameplay is methodical and the combat satifying if not brutal. It is a WW2 version of Squad, and is therefore one of the best combat experiences you can ever have in a video game, though it is currently so poorly optimised that it is essentially unplayable without an SSD. Neither the minimum nor the recommended system specifications are enough to run the game efficiently for most people and for this reason optimisation has to be a priority.

It is so much fun when it works, and has so much potential in its gameplay that I cannot in good conscious turn people away.

6.5/10