Recent reviews by Wamfler

Mechanics feel great, but the game is not truly open-world. Watching the trailer makes you believe you can just go across the map, but nah, you pick an area to camp from an "overworld" map (which admittedly is cooler for fast travel, but other open-world RPGs already do a similar thing AND have free-roaming), it loads, and some elements on it change. I wish I could just hop on my donkey and ride straight for the steps, but no, you have to open a menu, loading screen, click on the map, wait, click camp, loading screen, and then you're given a decent-sized chunk to explore. This loading in the middle is entirely immersion breaking for me and why I cannot recommend it if you just want a Skyrim-style power fantasy. You can get powerful from what I can see, and it's a shame about this worse-than-Morrowind loading, because the combat is genuinely fun. I love the throwing hatchet. I also like the movement, climbing and wall running is a huge plus. I just wish I could go from one side of the map to the other without a single loading screen.

Husband

I've been playing the Zombieville series since the first game on my iPod touch. This third installment has all the satisfying cartoony-gory-splatty joy of its predecessors... but now in 3D, with even more weapons. I've had this wishlisted for some time now, and would regularly come back to check if its for sale yet. I'm so glad it's finally released. The basic combat loop is satisfying, the soundtrack is good, the graphics stay true to the originals' styles despite making a dimensional leap, even right down to the bouncy animations. It feels better than ever to splat zombie skulls into a spread. This game is perfect as a "in short bursts"/"quick fun" sort of title... but I feel it could be so much more.

Endlessly slaying with no other objective unfortunately does get old after a couple of hours. It would be cool to have missions, classics such as "defend the point" or "fetch me 5 gas canisters" which would reward you with money or- better yet- a different currency specifically used for perks to incentivize doing missions. Maybe some sort of meta-game in the hub, though I don't know what that would look like. Also, I miss vehicular manslaughter. All these vehicles on the map... I just wanna hop in one and cause red puddles to adorn the asphalt while I screech around chunkily for a few seconds, like Zombieville 2.

Another issue I have is the melee is definitely unbalanced. With the right build, there's no need for guns... ever. Zombieville 2 was sort of like this too, but with the way this game scales, and how intense things get, I should not be able to still be using a starter wooden bat far into a run. Not only that, I only knew they were so unbalanced because of the melee money bonus perk (just like 2, I bought that which boosts money first), which, in conjunction with the fact that these weapons are free to have/use, puts it over the edge as a clear defined meta for me. I haven't even bought any damage boosting perks yet, but I am making it to level 8 infection with a big wad of cash in my pocket, only firing a gun when there's over 20 zeds on-screen. Even then, I wouldn't have needed to. I don't wish to complain about a game being easier, as I prefer my games casual, but it's a bit too imbalanced in my opinion. The stamina bar is underutilized right now (though I appreciate its existence; sprinting got me excited, plus sprinting helps melee more lol) so maybe a swing could cost a little stamina? Or, better yet, two different types of melee attack depending on trigger pull, one with more windup, but more knockback and higher stamina cost. That could make the combat even more engaging. Speaking of stamina, how about a dodge roll? Okay okay, I'm asking a lot now, I know. I'm done. For all I know, all this could be in the works right now, and I'm just being a hater for nothing.

Zombieville USA 3D is well worth its price. It runs really smoothly on my PC, the Deck, and the ROG Ally, the latter two with a setting change or so. I love the sound design and the visuals. I enjoy the combat for far more than I thought. The new hub is a great addition, and I can't wait to see what Mika will do with it in the future. As of right now, my only regret with my purchase is I didn't get it the day it launched so I could have been playing sooner!

This game is exactly what I needed during this rough time in my life.

I didn't buy "Wild Indigo Ranch." I bought "Don't Die in the West."

I THOUGHT THIS WAS A GREAT FAMILY FRIENDLY BY-HIS-WILL TETANUS EXPERIENCE UNTIL THAT GOLDARN AREA 2 STAGE "RITUAL PASSION". WHEN THAT FIERY INFERNO POPPED UP ON MY 75INCH 4K 120HZ QLED TV IN FRONT OF ME UNCLE FERNKIS MAMA JEAN AND GOD, WHY WE JUST ABOUT HAD A HEART ATTACK! !!11!!!!!1! THROAT SINGING AND PROSTATION TO A FIERY PAGAN FALSE GOD IN THIS HOUSE!!!? NUH UH NO SIREE IN MY CHRISTIAN TETRIS EXPERIENCE GOBBLESS. NOT ONLY THAT, SUDDENLY JUMPING TO SPEED 9 LIKE A TEXAN OVER THE BORDER TO MEXICO WITHOUT MY ASKING MADE ME LOSE IT IN THE SAME SORTA WAY MY DADDY WOULD LOSE IT ON ME WHEN I WAS YOUNG. PUSHED MY THUMBS TO THEIR LIMITS ON MY STEAM CONTROLLER SO MUCH I TORE MY ACL AND STILL ONLY GOT D-RANK!1!? HOW DARE THIS GAME HUMBLE ME, THE WISCONSIN BAR LEAGUE CORNHOLE CHAMPION OF '74, IN FRONT OF MY SISTER AND MY WIFE, CHARLOTTE!!!! I DEMAND RESTITUTIONS. THANKYE JEEESUS,

Wamfbob

This game is most certainly one of the games of all time.

In short, Palworld feels VERY early access and, in my opinion, is not worth the asking price. To explain why I feel this way, I will try to list my main nitpicks as briefly as possible.

Firstly, the building is incredibly limited. There are no half or quarter pieces like in other survival crafting games. Every piece is the same size, leading to builds looking samey with little room for creativity. Yes, you can unlock furniture sets, but these are more of a headache than a help. The lack of a snapping option when placing furniture items is frustrating whether on controller or MKB. I spent nearly a minute straight trying to line up my counter perfectly to the wall, only to find that once I thought I had done it, it was out of line when viewing with a different angle. Would a grid system be too much to ask? The clipping/collision rules change with each different object you build. Foundations can clip through a rock face and be built just fine, but a wall can't be built on that same foundation if it's touching so much as a pixel of that rock. Crafting benches can be built halfway into the environment as well, but beds can't.

Second, the inventory management is abysmal. When using a mouse, it's a bit more bearable because you can take the 4 actions required to eat a lot quicker than with a controller. That still doesn't change the fact that, for example, in order to eat, or use a healing item, you have to first locate the food in your jumbled mess of an inventory screen that looks like Ark and BotW had an inbred baby, move your cursor to it, press the "use" button on it, then click on your character's name in your party list (as if you were a Pokém- er, "Pal," as well) multiple times to feed yourself. This has to be one of the most unnecessarily complicated methods to consume food in a SURVIVAL game that has a HUNGER bar (which feels forced anyways, literally has no bearing on gameplay other than making your stomach growl when you're hungry) that I have ever seen. This could be remedied by adding a simple hotbar to the already cluttered GUI, instead of having you cycle through your tools with Y until you get to the right one like this is Fortnite. Fortnite has far less tools and is a more fast-paced game, so there, it works, but why have that tool selection system here? Just have a hotbar you can freely swap through using the scroll wheel or controller bumpers. Pressing Y four times to get to my axe is beyond annoying.

Third, optimization/graphics. The world goes for a more realism-esque art style, ancient ruins and cobble littered everywhere, which I must admit, I like... once I got the game to run on my 3060 Ti. I guess my 2060 Ti wasn't good enough for this game which looks like a higher-end mobile game. The living things throughout the world, both humans and Pals, are somewhat cartoon-y, which is in contrast with the realism, but I don't mind. Gives off that modern Pokémon/Zelda game vibe, which is what they were going for, I assume. If you don't like that art style, which I know many do not, than this also won't be for you. Even if you do, if you have anything less than a 30-series equivalent graphics card, be prepared to crank your settings down to potato, or cap your FPS to 30. Gone are the days of optimization.

Fourth, customization. More of a minor nitpick, but still... certain games are getting far better with character customization, while Palworld still seems stuck in the Poké-past. You can pick your hair, skin tone, slide a bar to choose a varying degree of buff, whether your poison is skinny buff, fat buff, or regular buff, that's up to you, but your character WILL have a 12-pack no matter what, even if he's slamming roasted chicken and berries like there's a famine upon the land. I HATE when games let you pick your hair, but not your FACIAL hair. I have a goatee; I want to always make my RPG characters always look like me on my first playthrough, but the only face with a goatee has these protruding duck lips and yassified eyes like I'm using the mog filter on Snapchat. I hate, hate hate hate, face preset "customization." Why don't RPGs launch with good customization as standard? Skyrim has it, Saints Row has it, even WWE has it for Pete's sake. Now my character and any other male with shaggy hair and a goatee is gonna look the same.

Fifth, another nitpick, but I just feel bad. I know it's a game, and these little guys are fictional, but have you ever looked at a Wooloo- sorry, "Lamball," and said "Darn, I just wanna beat that thing's face in with a wooden club while it squeaks out in agony." If you have, you need psychiatric help. If not, then congrats, you have a soul. I'm no activist, definitely do not side with PETA, I eat steak and love me some glazed porkchops, but I feel like a monster when I punch these cute creatures in their face while they cry out and squint, reacting like an abused puppy. These are supposed to be my pals... and yet I'm hurting them, forcing them to work for me. Funny sweatshop memes aside, I do not like this mechanic. I hate having to hurt creatures directly just so I can progress. For some people, this may be all the fun in the game, they can get all their sadistic fantasies out here. That's fine, they have the right to that. Better than irl, I suppose. But it just isn't for me to do.

Sixth, grinding. This is a very minor point, as I like a good grind. I am also certain that, if I played with friends, the grind would be much shorter. I know, you can automate. I got to that point. But to get to that point, I had to grind a LOT, hauling wood back to my base for hours. This is a boring grind. Going out for one material, only getting a small amount before you're weighed down, then hauling it back, just for one single lumber yard. If I was playing with friends, this would be done almost instantly, though, so I can't knock it too hard for this. Still, if you don't like grinding, and plan to play solo, you would find this very tedious. Just a fair warning.

Wrapping up, the positives? I personally like the art style, and the Pals are cute, even if they're just slightly changed 'mons. The Palsphere is fun to use. I like its animations, even if I don't like what has to occur before it (refer to point 5.) Overall, though, this game tries to imitate too much, be a jack of all trades, but it masters none. The mechanics feign complexity in all the wrong areas, making the quality of life disappear. It needs far more optimizing, better building options, and a massive inventory system overhaul.

5/10. Why people were crapping their pants over this game a few months back is beyond me.

Seems like an incredibly fun game, usually something right up my alley, wish I could play it smoothly, but it can barely crank a consistent 60fps on mid-to-low settings, performance DLSS, on a 3060ti. This game is cel-shaded. Optimize, please.

Edit 3/20/24: Been waiting nearly a month for any word about a performance patch, but nothing. Finally see an update for this game and... it's just everyone creaming themselves over a damn garage door button. Pathetic.

Edit 4/26/24: Two months... two... months... and we get... two skins..... I- I'm losing my mind.

I am not normally an RTS guy. Never has been my genre, really. But Halo Wars has most definitely become an exception for me.

I've always liked the FPS games, and from what I know, Halo was originally meant to be an RTS. Shame this game didn't do as well as the FPS games do, because this is great. It's not overly complex, there's not twenty different resources to keep track of all at once, instead, it keeps the gameplay pace up by encouraging multitasking with simple upgrades, responsive unit controls (which it surprised me how good this game feels on controller, I didn't think RTS could feel so intuitive using a gamepad), and special abilities/heroes. You are encouraged to build up your base while also producing units to defend it, eventually going in for the satisfying kill. It's the perfect pace, balance, and complexity, especially for someone like me who isn't gung-ho for a deep mind-melting RTS experience.

The cutscenes are decent, and the story is very... Halo. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. As they say, if it ain't broke. Forge is a really cool character. Anders kinda annoys me, but meh, not game ruining in my opinion.

My only real complaint is how short it is. Even an RTS noob can beat the whole thing in 8 hours on normal. I am assuming that going for all the skulls, and higher difficulties, would extend play time, however. It also seems the skirmish mode can allow for endless battling fun, against friends or AI.

The co-op works very well. I was able to play the entire campaign with my brother, no issues. Had a load of fun doing it, too.

Overall, I'd say the price was well worth it. I'd even pay full price for a title like this. It's a lot better than most of the games coming out recently anyways. I got it on sale for $5, which in my opinion, is an insanely good deal.

Overall, 9/10, do recommend.

I would love a game like this, if it would work. I keep encountering bugs and performance issues. On the Steam Deck, it worked, but wouldn't let me change resolution settings. But at least there, I could get past the tutorial, even if cutscenes would dip me down to 30 FPS for no discernible reason. The game kept fluctuating and stuttering, something that drives me crazy. I would understand if it was graphically advanced, but this is a fog-surrounded small-field-of-view large-voxeled fishing simulator without much on screen at any given moment. I do enjoy the art style, though. It just makes no sense that this wouldn't run perfectly on the Deck. I installed it on my much more powerful gaming PC, and it ran a consistent 60 FPS, but it wouldn't let me get past the tutorial. I could hit RT to hook the fish, but then it just kept not reeling in, and the fish would swim away. I restarted, verified game files, uninstall/reinstalled, nothing worked. I can't play this game on my laptop or desktop, and the optimization is very poor for Deck. Really hope this gets fixed, I love fishing games, and I was really excited to play this.

Edit 7/11/24: I purchased an ROG Ally and it runs pretty flawlessly, save for some cutscene angles, in which it drops to a disgusting 30. It's still ridiculous that it's not optimized hardly at all, but at least now I can play the game on the go.