Recent reviews by JonathanStrange

So having last played 0.16.51, to full release... lots of big updates to cracktorio, and the game I most wish I had far more time to play.

A great game made all the better with the graphics (and to be fair, I used tile sets with the Classic version), and a revamped UI. More on the review later.

A very good adaptation of one of my personally favorite board games out there. Stonemaier constantly produces some of the best board games, and their video game adaptions seem to be faithful every time.

This is a highly underplayed game. It is great fun. It is fun even with PUGs, which are generally helpful even to Greenbeards. With friends, online or otherwise, even more fun. It can be enjoyable even solo with more recent changes to the bot that helps you. Well worth picking up.

I'm not super far into this, but it takes all I imagined the tabletop experience would be like (I didn't have friends that played the tabletop game... didn't really have friends at all, but that's another story) and translates it well into a computer game that doesn't go far off the rails and just be a game based on the universe as most mech games are. Not that those are bad games themselves, this just remains truer to what I pictured the tabletop game being like, especially if played as a campaign. I enjoy the resource management and decision making that goes into the game. It's making for a fun experience so far for me... now if Mechwarrior 5 was out, then I'd probably say it is a tad overpriced, and that may still be the case even with that game not out yet (I'd personally say around $20-30 for the single player campaign). Still, it is providing the experience I expected and wanted from it. It probably would be even more worth it if I was good at it and would do the skirmish mode against other players, which I'd guess is where the true value of this game is.

Changed from not recommend to recommend based on the change to the product description which clears up it is a rouge like (and to be clear, this is light on the rouge like, in that you die, you have to restart all over from the beginning, and instead of going down a dungeon you are going up levels in the sky). And it is an interesting take on the rouge like genre, adding a twin stick shooter with an interesting crafting system. Its art style, crafting and combining rouge like and twin stick shooter does make it a very interesting game, and if you do like rouge likes and twin stocks, you'd be hard pressed to pass up, especially if it goes on a sale for $10-12 range... even if you casually like rouge likes. I'm not a huge fan or rouge likes and that may have colored my review, it's not that I hate them, just not a fan, more of a super casual.

My Twitch Highligh of my intial impression is here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/290729811

I'll copy paste from there my impression/review so you don't have to waste your view if you don't want:

"In the interest of full disclosure I got a copy of Airheart from one of the PR agencies I work with.

Airheart is a dieselpunk, twin stick shooter, rouge like game. Notice that last part, if you die, and you probably will a few times as you learn the game, you have to start all over from the start. Nothing on the store page prepares you for it being a rouge like, though the reviews do note it. Being a rouge like isn't a bad thing, just a word of warning would have been appreciated as I'm sure that will turn people off who aren't expecting that harsh of a punishment. An advanced word of warning then, I'm not a huge rouge like fan so this may color my review.

You will certainly want, nearly need, a controller for this. I tried with a keyboard/mouse, and it is a bit wonky, though being a twin stick shooter this would be nearly expected. Once I used the controller, it worked as well as expected for a twin stick. It wasn't as precise as I'd like at times, but that is due to the starting weapon, once you upgrade weapons, wings and the like, it starts to feel better. I only played for an hour here, and there were a few deaths which reset me, so I didn't make to to high tier components and weapons.

There is a cool crafting system which you have to experiment with recopies, though I'm sure there are guides out there for them.

The art style is top notch.

There is a shop, don't worry, this isn't for real world money, this is using money earned by fishing. This is how you will upgrade your plane, though there's nothing here or in your hanger that really allows you to compare it against what you have equipped. Once in your hanger, you just memorize what its stats are, then slide to the other part, see how it compares. It is functional, but this is an area that could be improved upon with a simple comparison mode.

There are pirates and they'll shoot you, be careful though, shoot them too much and the cops will target you as well. I'm not sure if I'm missing a gauge to tell you how rouge you are.

When you return safely to your pad (and there is a bit of skill involved in returning as you'll have a timer to return then fly down and have to avoid objects... here I'd like the platform to glow or something so you can see where to aim if coming from higher up) you'll collect your fishing rewards. It isn't super clear which fish are which, but some are worth more than others. Again, I'd guess there are guides out there, though in this case, I'd prefer if the screen was more clear on which fish was which, and what level they came from.

However, all isn't super in the land of Granaria, as the game has a few issues that may or may not be addressed, and some, if not most of these could be user error as well, and fans of rouge likes probably get these right away.

It isn't clear if fish eventually respawn, allowing you to farm an area over and over. Because you won't get enough money to upgrade without plenty of fish, and the difficulty spikes fairly quick. I did eventually clear the fish on one level, then the jellyfish (some which slow you down, not clear what the other did), but I died soon after and never saw if they respawn on their own.

I'm a bit confused as to when you go to a level, it'll give the fish population, then a star rating next to it that doesn't seem to be the difficulty, as it is is x/y, and I don't get what the x or y is. This star thing doesn't show up when you bring up the menu though the population does.

Also, once you find where the next updraft station is, it isn't permanently on your radar as expected, you'll need to memorize, on this map it is far left, middle, this map far bottom right corner, then next top left corner and so on. It will show up on the radar once you are in the general area. As this doesn't seem random, I'd like this to be more or less on the radar once discovered if I want to speed my way to it.

There are health boxes, but some damage you and I haven't figured out yet how to avoid taking damage from them. I'd guess I need to shoot them, open their shield or something, then take the health... these ones do look slightly different than the regular health boxes so some experimenting is in order.

Overall, it is a decent and interesting take on the rouge like, but it is a rouge like and you have to be ready for a rouge like when taking it on, not just a twin stick shooter where you'll lose your advanced weapons and parts when you fail (perhaps future versions can have a difficulty slider, where if you die, you reset at the start or just lose any advanced parts you had on at the time...). That said, I'm not sure I'd say jump on it at $15 or even the sale price of $13.49, and wait for a Steam Sale for a bit of a bigger discount, unless of course you really like rouge likes, because the addition of the twin stick shooter and the art style does make it interesting enough to pick up if you are a fan of rouge likes. At around $10 though, if you even casually like rouge like or twin stick shooter, then it becomes more of a value IMHO. Now of course if you love rouge likes and twin sticks, this is a must get, because the art style is slick."

I'm allowing comments on this review mostly as if there are answers to some of the qestions I alude to there, please feel free to answer.

A fun enough adventure game. I'm about half way through it based on How Long to Beat. The puzzles are easy enough and it is fun realxing game. $15 may be a bit steep, but so long as aren't expecting something overly deep, it is fun enough. If it hits $10 I'd find it hard not to recomend if you want a decent enough adventure game that can be a realxing journey, even when there is fire or parts break. Replayability is mild, and needed if you want to get a few of the achivements.
My intial impressions Twitch highlight is here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/290647283

The fact this is a free to play and not a AAA game that costs $60 is shocking enough. Then you’d expect the DLC to cost money, say $20 (some of the story expansions) - $60 (the open world expansion, the upcoming Fortuna expansion and the beyond amazing Railjack expansion) but that those are free is beyond amazing. Even with the store elements that are in the game now, it would have been worth buying. This is what AAA games should be doing. This is amazing and incredibly fun game. There is no real pay to win, there’s pay to skip the grind and wait. This is free to play done right. This is gaming done right period. EA, Activision and the others should be paying attention. It’s fine if you charge $60-80 for your game, but kill the overly expensive DLC and asinine paid loot boxes, and do fans right and have a store that rewards players properly, treat fans like fans, not just brain dead customers. If you have a fun game, like we have here, then the fans will reward you with the money… you could make more than your current models do…

It is a looter shooter, so there is a lot of grinding, perhaps more so than most looter shooters, and some of the missions may be tedious and difficult, especially if you are solo, but the community is generally fairly helpful. One can’t say that about many games, but this is one of those games that can rightfully be proud about how kind and helpful the community overall is (yes there are some bad eggs).

One can’t overlook the fact they are updating the UI and other elements that have sort been outdated for some time. They are getting around to updating things to make it easier for new players to get into the game… They are listening to the community and trying to fix that which they can, and that’s a nice change from most developers… or at least most publishers, I’d guess the developers themselves would love to treat their game the way this team does, but their publishers hold them to a different mode.

I often times think, I should play Warframe far more than I do… don’t let the few hours compared to the more serious players fool you. This is a great game that should be played much more than it already is.

Not only one of the best ARPGs, but one of the best F2P games ever (along with Warframe). As a big fan of ARPGs, this is the one I have to return to when I get tired of trying the new hot ARPG and want to play a really good, solid game. It truly has stood the test of time, and the developers continue to pump new content into it. Also, as noted, it has one of the best free to play models in use by any game, with Warframe coming in just a bit behind it. There is no pay to win, even the "pay for convenience" is minimal, there is plenty of cosmetic items, tab customizations and the like, but you can play the game forever and never lay out a dime, until you think "the developers deserve some cash for such a great game".

So years later, I still stand by this review. They continue to pump new leagues, with new mechanics about every 3 months. The game’s depth may put new players off initially, but stick with it, and one will find a highly rewarding game that truly deserves the Labor of Love award.

The only real downside, that the foreground doesn’t fade like most ARPGs, but that is a fairly minor quip.