Block Arena (PC) Review

 

The gameplay idea of Block Arena reminded me very much of the minigame 'Hexagon' in Fall Guys. Players walk upon multiple levels of blocks and upon every contact the block below the player breaks. The goal is to be the player who survives the longest. In contrast to Fall Guys, Block Arena has Pixel graphics, which is not going to appeal to everybody (it for example doesn't appeal to me). Block Arena offers a couple of unique twists to the falling blocks formula. There are options for super jumps, which can allow you to jump back on a higher floor level, and there is also a short speed boost ability, which allows players to run quicker and potentially cut off other players (There is also a grappling hook ability, that only works in combination with the super jump). All abilities require stamina, which replenishes itself.

This game offers customizability for visuals and sound, but not controls. Controls are simple however and work decently well.

Block arena can only be played online and there are sadly only 3 maps in rotation. These 3 maps are not bad, but the game could really use some additional content. The lack of players is also definitely a problem. At least the game shows you in the main menu how many other people are online, so that you don't waste your time.

That you can barely play Block Arena is a shame, but the gameplay and idea is not bad and since it is a free game, it gets a recommendation from my side.

5.5/10

PixelForces.io (PC) Review:

 

PixelForces.io doesn't only have a weird title, but is also a weird game. The game was developed by the creators of Pixel Battle Royale and is honestly just a Rip-Off of this game. The graphics engine, character models, menus, sound effects etc. all identical to Pixel BR, because they are all just basic assets from the marketplace. The only two 'new' elements of PixelForces are the rocket launcher as a new weapon (which is OP) and trampolines as a way to reach different floor levels in the small maps of this game. 

There are 5 modes and 5 maps in total in Pixel Forces. Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Exploration and Battle Royale are identical to their counterparts from Pixel BR. The only new mode is called RPG and as far as I can tell, it is exactly the same as Deathmatch...

The 5 maps in PixelForces are pretty awful. Pixel Battle Royale may only have had one map, but at least it was halfway decent and larger, like a BR map should be. Maybe PixelForces was focusing more on the DM modes, but that doesn't make the new maps any better. Their designs are either simplistic or confused. The maps are also way too colourful and simply put really hideous. More doesn't always mean better and this is a good example for it. 1 or 2 well done maps would have been way better than 5 bad ones. If I had to choose one, that was slightly less awful than the others, it would be Voxis. That map had at least 3 different ground levels, with the bottom consisting of lava and the highest level being the tops of trees (at least the blocks are supposed to resemble this).

In Battle Royale these maps are actually even more problematic, since they don't really fit the mode. They are way too small and crowded for a BR match. The map size doesn't really fit more than 5-8 players and the map design simply doesn't work on BR. It just plays like a random chaotic free for all without respawns. PixelForces supports up to 20 players per match, but good luck finding any human players. There is pretty much nobody playing, even though the ingame server browser claims there would be people. If you join these servers with around 4 players for example, than they will simply disappear, and they also have names, which no human players would take. In my opinion, this is a clear case of the devs manipulating the game to show you higher player numbers than there are, which is deeply irritating and pathetic.

Same as Pixel BR you can also add up to 19 Bots per match (which makes sense, since PixelForces is mostly a copy paste). In BR however the Bots are cheating by already starting with weapons on them, while human players have to search the map for some of the few weapons. Human players however have way more health than Bots, so that matches are still way too easy. This balancing is just a mess.

Visuals, controls, sound, gunplay etc are practically identical to Pixel BR, so I recommend reading that review, if you want to know more (https://gamereviewnation.blogspot.com/2021/02/pixel-battle-royale-pc-review.html).

The biggest offense by PixelForces.io however is the status of the game. This game is not completely broken, but as close as you can possibly get to it. Starting a match is nearly impossible and will probably make most players quit before they enter their first lobby. I need to usually queue around 20 times before it works. You keep pressing the join Lobby or create Lobby buttons, but the game simply stops the loading again and again and again and again... This is completely unaccaptable and I don't understand how the devs can't fix this. Yes, you will eventually get into a match and the game will work fine (at least performance wise) during these matches, but it is so difficult and drawn-out to get there.

 

Pro:

-Gameplay at least fundamentally works

-Multiple game modes

-Full Bot support

 

Contra:

-Just a Pixel BR Rip-Off

-Matchmaking is practically broken

-Bad Visuals

-Horrible map designs (hideous and disoriented)

-Weapon feedback isn't great and selection is quite limited

-Low population (Game manipulating player numbers)

-Bots are cheating in BR and are still too weak

 

Result:

PixelForces.io is a broken and worse copy of Pixel Battle Royale. If you manage to somehow bypass the broken matchmaking, you might find some essentially working gameplay with a couple of different modes and Bot support. There is however no point in playing this. Pixel BR already had a couple of significant flaws and this game is simply noticeably worse. The maps aren't well done and there is practically no Balancing. I strongly recommend skipping this one.

2.5/10

Battle Royale 3D Warrior63 (PC) Review

 

In a previous article I called Battle Royale 3D Warrior63 the Windows 95 version of all BR games. Then why am I writing a review on it? On my (seemingly) endless odyssey to review the most important Battle Royale games (and a lot of the rest), I have also been quite critical on a couple of them (rightfully so) and I wanted to find out, if Element Battle Royale was truly the worst BR I have ever experienced. After playing Warrior 63 I can now conclude, that I have finally probably seen the worst there is.

The biggest offender is undeniably the visuals, which are so undiscussible hideous, that one might even call them painfully offensive. There is constant flickering in the background, the texture quality looks like it is from the last century (Most of my PS1 and N64 games look superior and I am not exaggerating...) and a lack of details everywhere. The environments and buildings are so dull and boring, you couldn't make them less interesting, if you tried to. The map of the game exists, but I couldn't name a single interesting thing on it. The map in Battle Royale Survival and Element BR were also way too empty and boring, but none of them gave me that feeling of uselessness and forgettableness like BR 3D Warrior63.

The weapon- and itempool is okay. There are Snipers, ARs, Pistols, Shotguns and Grenades, so nothing out of the ordinary and certainly not impressive or extensive either, but probably the best aspect of the game. There is a zoom-in function, it however looks pretty horrible. 

The controls are another really weak area. Movement and shooting feel very clunky and stiff. The game is not unplayable, but you can't call it enjoyable either. 

There are also a couple of vehicles in the game, like a gigantic (I am not exaggerating, it is bigger than a human) jetpack and a couple of different cars. I even saw a tank in one match. These are nice gimmicks, but they can't overshadow the fundamental flaws of this game and they also control quite clunky, like everything else.

Soundeffects function okay and are therefore another 'highlight' of the game.

The maximum amount of players in this game is 63, which seems completely random. Maybe it is the desperate attempt to create at least one unique aspect of this game. In my matches however lobbies were only half-full with 25-30 players (I am frankly surprised/shocked there are even that many people still playing this game). There is only a Solo mode and no option for Duos or Squads.

 

Result:

Only clinically insane people are going to download this game after seeing screenshots of it. All of those who do however, have to prepare for a ride through hell. I hope I am not too subjective here, but I had no fun whatsoever in this game. Even in the other deeply flawed BR games I found some positive aspects or some points, which interested me. Here are a generic weaponpool and okay sound effects already the best parts. Visuals and gameplay are so awful, that I would understand everybody, who would consider quitting video games in general to wipe out the bad taste of this game. I really dislike when people call games 'trash', because it nearly never is accurate. In this case, I would make an exception. This game is not going to satisfy anybody. PC and Console players will find it deeply offensive and even mobile gamers have far, far superior options to choose from. There is simply no reason for a game like Battle Royale 3D Warrior63 to exist.

1/10

Everything Explosive (PC) Review

 

Everything Explosive is another weird BR game. It has, as the title suggests, a heavy focus on all kinds of explosive weapons. This however also seems to be the biggest problem of the game. The gameplay in my opinion is just no fun. The explosive weapons are all to imprecise and movement doesn't feel satisfying at all. Instead, everything feels both floaty, when you jump and stiff if you don't. I liked neither gunplay nor movement and those are pretty much the most important gameplay aspects of a Battle Royale game.

The default weapons are grenades, which have a ridiculously short throwing distance. There are also some mines and all other weapons are some variations of different rocket launcher models. Furthermore cars are in the game as driveable vehicles. I haven't seen them myself, but Trailers suggest that there are even boats and helicopters in the game as well. Weapon and Vehicles can be upgraded via upgrade stations through shards, which can be collected from dead enemies (funny enough this reminds of the new upgrading system in Fortnite, which was introduced much later on).

The visuals are also rather hideous. Character models look like wooden figures and the graphics engine looks to cartoonish for my liking. This visual style was probably chosen on purpose, but I found it to be pretty off-putting.

Not everything however is bad at this game. The Battle Royale map is rather big for a smaller game and consists of multiple varied biomes and locations (there are for example desert, snow, lava and grassland parts). Something unique about Everything Explosive BR is also, that it has no shrinking map circle, but instead Death rings. Those are areas of the map, which will kill players upon entering them. They will periodicly start to spread and move to some other part of the map. This is in theory a refreshing iteration of the BR formula. In practise it also leads to frustratingly long searches for the last players in a match. Something I really disliked was the fact, that every couple of minutes there would be a gigantic ingame message being placed across the screen making it nearly impossible to see anything happening in the match.  

A strength of the game is its variety of different game modes. BR can be played in Solo, Duo or Squad matches. There is usually also a special BR mode in rotation (Currently it is 'Overpowered', which grants OP weapons). Aside from this there are modes like Boss Battle (as the name suggests a Boss Fight mode), Castle Defense (Defending a base), Bomb Blowup (Deathmatch inspired mode), Ducks (No longer in the game), Capture the Frag (like Capture the Flag) and Target Practise (1 vs 1 competition on shooting target disks). Apart from BR I could only get a match in Boss Battle going, since the other modes require real players and there aren't any of those in Everything Explosive.

The first few months after the initial release of the game in June 2020 Everything Explosive has received continuous updates to improve and extend the game (the last update however was in December 2020). The game was developed by a single person, who also implemented a pretty cool Live Event into the game in August 2020. The Live Event was heavily inspired by the 'End Event' and the 'Device Event' of Fortnite Battle Royale. Nonetheless the Everything Explosive event looked pretty cool and spectacular. I also don't know of any other smaller BR game that even attempted something like this. So I found this to be pretty impressive.

There is also an itemshop in the game. I have to say that I didn't really care about this in such a small game without any playerbase (all time peak seems to be 5 players and in the last months player numbers varied between 0 and 1). Players could theoretically purchase ingame currency and unlock skins and other cosmetic items. There are also weekly challenges for owners of the Gift Pack, which is something like the games Battle Pass. 

Settings in Everything Explosive have only a small level of customizability. Apart from gameplay and menu sound volume, only the general visual quality can be switched. Controls for example are not customizable at all. For a game, that offers that many game modes, itemshop elements etc. this is a bit disappointing.

 

Result:

As I have already mentioned, there is no playerbase left in this game. The chances of queuing up with a random player are close to none. Since I personally didn't enjoy this game very much I can understand that. You could obviously invite friends to play the game with you, but the gameplay is in my opinion too flawed to do so. It is still a shame, if you consider that the one person developer actually showed a lot of talent. The variety of different game modes aside from BR, the implementation of a Live Event or the Trailers show that he could probably do some pretty cool things on a different game or within a development team. Everything Explosive however suffers from a boring gameplay, that holds the game back immensely and ultimately made my playing experience rather unfun.

3.5/10

Long Live Santa (PC) Review

 

Long Live Santa is Christmas themed Meme Battle Royale game. This is not a large scale BR game for 100 players, but a smaller (20 players max) game on a tiny Christmas map and with very limited gameplay options. The fun of the game comes from the absurdity of different Santas beating the crap out of each other. Long Live Santa doesn't want to be taken seriously, but was instead something like a thank you gift by the developers of 'Clone Drone in the Danger Zone' to their community.

The most important weapons are Santa's fists, with which players can box each other into the Nirvana. I however have to say, that the fists are quite inaccurate and hit detection with them seems to be rather random. From my experience players are just spamming the attack button and jumping around each other, hoping for the best. Luckily there are two additional weapons in care-packages that drop from the sky. The sword, which has a longer attack range and is therefore slightly more accurate than the fists. Nonetheless, all melee attacks, including the sword, do not offer a great precision. The combat generally seems to be more about spamming the attack button and hoping for the best. The only really different weapon is the crossbow, which offers the best precision. I would generally say it is the best weapon. You just have to keep in mind, that other players can close the distance quickly through the jumppads.

Carepackages can also contain reindeers. Players can ride on them and let the reindeer attack the other players. It seems to me like the reindeer does more damage than the fists or the sword, but is also a bit more difficult to hit the opponents.

There is also a stamina system in the game, which contains both running as well as attacking (the regular run speed is really slow and makes you an easy target). I like that the stamina system brings a bit of diversity to the gameplay, but the combination of movement and combat definitely does feel clunky nonetheless. Attacking while running is nigh impossible (at least if you want to actually hit something) and combat without running seems, because of the lacking precision of nearly all weapons, still too luck based.  

Long Live Santa may not be a particularly well known game (I only stumbled on it per accident), but still regularly gathers one or two handful of players into a match (which is more than some famous BR games can say nowadays). Matches are usually very short and never took more than 5 minutes at the most (this obviously depends on how many people are playing). There is a lobby browser to find matches and after one match ended, the countdown for the next one will already begin. Long Live Santa is clearly aimed at playing multiple short BR matches in a row.

The game has very minimalistic visuals and uses Pixel graphics (similar to games like Pixel Strike 3D, Pixel Battle Royale etc). I am personally not the greatest fan of this visual style, but it annoyed me less because they captured the Christmas theme pretty well. The objects on the map are all well designed and fit in (gimmicks like clouds in the background sky for example are also made of pixel blocks, which at least fits into the mood of the map). The middle of the map has a small area, which looks like a boxing ring, where all players start. Then there is one corner with a couple of Christmas trees, one has some jumppads to traverse on the other side of the map and there is also a mountain, on which players can climb (dead and burning Santa and a reindeer carriage on top of the mountain). The mountain is unfortunately very glitchy and often players manage to hide inside the mountain, where they can't be attacked anymore. For a fun game the map is nonetheless not bad, but for a Battle Royale it would be way too small.

What I really liked was the sound (volume unfortunately not customizable). The ingame and menu music are remixed tracks of Jingle Bells and Merry Christmas, which is just awesome. Controls on the other hand are customizable and simple, same as the visual resolution.  

 

Result:

Long Live Santa is a really funny game, but not a great Battle Royale. The chaotic gameplay might still be some fun, but the lacking precision seriously holds it back. If you however can get involved with the Christmas theme and the absurdity of the scenario, than the game is great for a couple of shorts matches to goof around as Santas. You should just manage your expectations and not compare this to middle or large scale BR games.  

5/10