Recent reviews by Kelvas

Make sure you update your review! Wouldn't be fair to review bomb them into changing a policy and then just leaving your reviews negative when we got what we wanted...

I wish I could recommend this game. I bought it back in early development, before we had half of the maps in a playable state. It was janky, but it was a lot of fun. The game still delivers an experience I haven't felt since SWAT 4. Unfortunately, the game feels like it's taken a step back from early access after the rushed 1.0 release. It seems like they rushed pretty hard and cut corners to get this out in time for the holidays, and that leaves a very bad taste in my mouth.

One of the worst examples of this is the loss of mission selection on the maps. For those that don't know, you used to be able to choose the specific type of mission that you would do on a map. Active shooter, barricaded suspects, hostages, bomb defusal, etc. Now each map is locked to a type of mission. That's a HUGE step back, in my opinion, and one of the reasons I cannot recommend this game.

The next unforgivable sin is that the game still doesn't have a server browser. It seems like such a basic necessity for a multiplayer game. What if I don't have people to play with? I should be able to hop onto a server browser, see other games that are open, what map they're playing, how many people are playing, and what the ping is. I should be able to choose what server I'm joining, and if that server/host/team doesn't work for me I should be able to find another. Seems standard, right?

Nope. If you don't have a dedicated group of people to play with, you're at the wim of matchmaking. A terribly simple process where the game just throws you into any publicly hosted server, probably prioritizing ping over all else. In practice, this means that if you end up with an awful host/team and you want to leave, you'll probably just get put back into that match because it has the lowest ping and open slots. If I don't have people to play with, and the first open server with a low ping isn't my cup of tea, then I might as well play single player. I didn't get this game to play single player, so I'm basically being told not to play. This is, in my opinion, one of the biggest contributing factors to a lack of player retention. If there are 100 public servers open, but the one with the lowest ping and open slots is the worst fit for you, tough luck. There is no way to get to those other 99 servers. You're stuck with the ♥♥♥♥♥♥ one until it's full or another server opens up with a better ping.

It's not like we haven't been begging for this feature. It's been hammered on for years now. In fact, it was one of the most popular third party mods for the game. Just a server browser. If that doesn't tell a developer what their players want, I don't know what does. Until there is a server browser added to this game by the developers, I can't recommend this game.

Another reason that I'm disappointed is that the AI is still beaming me in the head through geometry that I cannot see through. This wasn't always an issue, but I feel like the issue has gotten worse and worse as time has gone on, reaching a crescendo with the "full release." Even when my friends are on to play with, we get endlessly frustrated by getting shot in the eyes by NPCs that do not have a plausible line of sight on us. Without getting too far into it, AI needs substantial improvements to get a recommendation from me.

So, if you like being unable to choose who you play with, being unable to choose what missions you do on what maps, and getting beamed in the head through walls by enemies that can't see you, this is the game for you. Unfortunately, it is no longer the game for me, and I cannot recommend it for that reason.

If the issues I outlined above are fixed, I would be happy to give this game my recommendation.

My first Battlefield game was 1942. Wake Island was my playground. Then I played Battlefield 2, and it was the most competent modern, squad-based shooter of its time. You could find me in the Gulf of Oman any day after school, flying a fighter jet in that game was an absolute blast. Not too long after that came Bad Company and Bad Company 2, and I would blast Megadeth and snipe people...

I feel like Battlefield games peaked around then. The amount and breadth of weapons, vehicles, gadgets, and possible loadouts was almost unmatched. I tried to get into other titles, but they just didn't hit the same. I gave up on Battlefield largely, until BF1 came out. I enjoyed that a little bit, but it still just didn't scratch that itch. Remember back when games came out with more than 10 maps, lots of classes, guns, vehicles, etc... What happened?

Day one of BattleBit had me feeling like a kid playing Bad Company 2 all over again. The unique gadgets, destructible maps, incredible gunplay, and fast-paced action are all there. Hell, there's more gun customization in this than a lot of the Battlefield games I've played. Truly an incredible experience, and crazy that it's a 3 person team, only $15, and comes with a 2 gigabyte footprint...

Cons (as of now):
-Team markers show through the map at all distances, sometimes making it hard to tell who is an enemy. (Fix: Add a slider that allows you to change the distance at which you see teammate markers.)
-Squads and squad leaders are randomized, meaning some people who have no interest in it (or awareness of it) end up being squad leader. (Fix: Have squad leadership be opt-in, promotion based, or handle squads like they do in Squad or HLL.)
-Only one loadout per class/gun is saved at a time. (Fix: Have a dropdown at the top with your saved loadouts for each class.)
-Various issues with the playerbase, since it's mostly blowing up because it's super hyped and popular at the moment. (Fix: Wait for those people to get bored and move on to the next thing.)
-No shotguns. (Fix: Add shotguns, lol)

I can't recommend it enough. There are still some features to be added, but based on their 20 year track record of delivering on their promises, I have no problem giving them my money. Take what I have to say with a grain of salt, because for me, this money is partially paying for the 15 years of fun that I've already gotten out of Dwarf Fortress. I feel like Tarn and Zach deserve every dollar that they've made on this game, and I wish them nothing but success.

Strike the earth!

I continue to be in awe of this game, and this studio. Thank you Tynan.

I purchased the Biotech DLC as soon as it became available, like the DLC packs preceding it. Ludeon studios has continued to exceed my expectations for a games studio, and I have had so much fun with their game, Rimworld, that I had to continue to show my support. When I heard that they were adding Vampires, children, and player controlled mechanoids, I knew I had to have it...

Something that sets Ludeon apart? After they released the Biotech DLC, people were frustrated that the other DLC that they had purchased, Ideology and Royalty, didn't have any interplay. For example, you could have a religion through Ideology, and Vampires through Biotech, but you couldn't have a religion about vampires because that would require players to have both DLC's.

Ludeon didn't want their players to feel like they were being forced into purchasing multiple DLC's in order to have access to some niche content. Turns out, the player base was more interested in that interconnected content than they had previously anticipated, so they set out to immediately make that content available and released the 1.4 patch accordingly, just weeks after releasing the Biotech DLC!

That tells me that Ludeon is a company that cares about its customers. They put out an amazing product, listen to the feedback, and continue to make it better for the end user. That's a LOT more than I can say about a lot of other companies.

If you somehow start to get bored of the base content, there's always a near infinite amount of content to explore through the workshop.

I can't recommend this game enough, and this DLC is the best so far.

I have so many fond memories of playing this game in its prime. Logging on and seeing multiple 64 player servers full, competitive scene developing, clans coming up with new strategies and metas for victory, hailmary plays of trying to ninja the enemy commander as the tickets were dwindling, this game had it all.

Even as a shadow of its former self, the only thing this game is missing is the playerbase. I logged on just today (a Saturday afternoon) and had such a nostalgic experience. We played a couple of rounds and then when the European people went to bed suddenly everyone left and the game was a ghost town again.

I think this game could easily be a hit with a re-release, but give it a shot in its current state! You might find that those deserted servers hold more life than you thought.