Secrets of the Lost Tomb (PC) Review

 

Secrets of the Lost Tomb is a weird game, that initially piqued my interest for its diversity of gameplay content. It is a free-to-play Action Adventure game, in which every level of its story campaign feels like a different videogame genre. The main goal of the campaign is to explore an ancient tomb and find a mysterious treasure to somehow end a futuristic war with it. The plot is as crazy as it sounds, but I enjoyed the absolutely terrible cutscenes of the game, because they were so awful, that they already got hilarious again.

The first level is an autorun instance, in which you have to dodge obstacles and pick up diamonds, because.... (I am sure there is good reason somewhere...). The second level is a terrible maze, which gets randomized every time. You have to run through the maze and fight mummies to reach a mystical waterfall. Sadly the combat is some of the worst I have ever experienced. Your character and the mummies are super slow and stiff. There is no fun to be had here. The problematic aspect of the level randomization is, that you will sometimes get a super easy maze, while other times it will be impossible to complete. Your attacks and dodges are way too slow, so you are completely depended on luck to complete this section. The third level is a riddle chamber, in which you have to solve puzzles to reach the treasure. This is by far the best part of the game, even though the bird puzzle is a bit weird to figure out. Unfortunately there are also a couple of platforming sections in this level, which I would normally like (because I am a big Platformer fan), but they are not well executed here. Movement and jumps are stiff and imprecise, which makes them unnecessarily frustrating. I also experienced some gamebreaking glitches, which could only be fixed by deleting the save file... The fourth level is a super short Platforming level (with an unstable performance) and the fifth level is by far the worst. The game now suddenly switches from third person to first person view and forces you to fight at least 10 waves of Zombies. This could have potentially been fun, unfortunately the execution is a disaster. The gunplay is again very imprecise and the performance is beyond good and evil. You can't even change the mouse sensitivity, because something like game settings simply don't exist in Secrets of the Lost Tomb. FPS vary between 10-20, but are usually closer to 10... The level is pure torture (I didn't even mention how you get high damage from small jumps, but zero damage from big distance jumps...), and I gave up after round 8, in which I ran out of ammo, which can't be collected or replaced...

The multiplayer is supposed to feature a Battle Royale (PVP) and a Coop (PVE) part. The Battle Royale however is currently (I highly doubt it ever gets released) not playable. So this only leaves Coop, which is at best average. The Gunplay is at least superior to the last level on the campaign (hard to be worse). Why didn't they use the same gameplay for the last level to at least get closer to mediocrity? You fight yourself through rooms of faceless mannequins and some pieces of artillery to get to the next room and do the same thing again and again. Coop is okay, but certainly not worth installing the game for.

Visuals are very simple and outdated, but I have also seen a lot worse in numerous F2P games I reviewed in the last years. The background sound effects at least give a nice ominous vibe, but gameplay sound effects are pretty bad and the soundtracks in the cutscenes are okay. Visuals and Sounds are not terrible, but by no means a strength of this game either.

 

Pro:

- Diversity of game genres

(- Story campaign and multiplayer coop)

- Hilariously awful cutscenes

 

Contra:

- Terrible gameplay in most levels

- Gamebreaking Glitches

- Awful performance in Level 4+5

- BR not playable; Coop average

- No game settings

 

Result:

The more I played Secrets of the Lost Tomb, the less I liked it. That is not a good sign. The weird mix of Videogame Genres may initially be intriguing, but the game collapses in execution due to its undeniable gameplay flaws, gamebreaking glitches and inexcusable performance.

 

3.5/10

Mega Zombie (PS4) Review

 

Mega Zombie is a Playstation 4 exclusive third person Zombie Shooter (I have absolutely no idea why it is an exclusive game, since Sony certainly doesn't pay theme a bonus for it).

The game released featuring two modes, a Team Deathmatch and a Battle Royale mode. The game recently also received a third and fourth mode via Updates (Search and Destroy and Team Survival). The main mode and point of attention is certainly the Team Deathmatch mode. It features 4 teams of 4 players battling each other, while they also defend themselves against hordes of Zombies. Killing other players rewards more points than killing Zombies and Boss Zombies (they reward even more), which begin to spawn towards the last minutes of the match. The team which scores the most points obviously wins. Team Deathmatch is in my opinion by far the best mode and I really like the concept of PVPVE, especially with four teams. It would be great so see this mode implemented by a bigger developer. The flaws of the TDM are mostly based on the gameplayside, but more to that later on.

The Battle Royale mode (Last Man Standing) is also fun, even though it is actually very similar to TDM, just without teams and respawns. The matches are being played on the same maps and Zombies and Bosses spawn alike (if the match goes long enough). It can't compete with most BR only games, but I have certainly seen worse.

Search and Destroy is a PVE mode, in which players have to kill waves of hundreds of Zombies. Lives are limited and the game doesn't scale according to the number of participating players. If you reach less than the optimal 8 players (which happens a lot), than it will become nearly impossible to successfully complete the match.

Team Survival on the other hand is a round based TDM without Respawns. Usually the team with more players wins. All the game modes outside of TDM struggle with filling their lobbies, which can create uneven matches.

The gunplay in Mega Zombie is a bit of a mixed bag. Sometimes your weapon will be surprisingly accurate on the greatest distances, on other occasions you will be missing shots on point-blank range. There is just a very loose and slightly janky feeling to it. Nonetheless, the gunplay can sometimes be quite enjoyable, you can just not take it too serious. As I will explain later on, trying to play Mega Zombie competitively will just leave you frustrated. Movement mostly feels fine, even though motion blur can become slightly annoying. Fall Damage is also really weird in this game. Falling from around 2-3 meters will give you zero damage, but a fall from 3 meter onwards will always automatically kill you. This is just too extreme and took me out a couple of times, where I didn't see it coming.

Since I have already been mentioning motion blur, lets talk about visuals and performance. The game uses block visuals, which honestly look very basic for a console game. If you told me this game would also run on PS3/Xbox 360, than I would certainly believe you. Acceptable is a verdict that might still fit, but it certainly isn't anything more than this. If a game has ugly visuals, than at least the performance should be good? Here we come to one of the two big downfalls of this game. The game lags a lot on my base PS4. Performance drops are far more frequent than moments with at least stable 30 FPS. For a game that looks the way Mega Zombie does, this is just unacceptable. Like a wise man probably once said: "Performance and Visuals, you can only screw up one or the other, not both". A friend of mine, who uses a PS4 Pro told me, that the performance on his system was better (like it should be), but even he experienced a couple of lags in every match. This is just annoying.

The one aspect I really like from Mega Zombie, besides the cool TDM concept, is the Map diversity. These developers did a surprisingly good job at designing all kinds of maps and give you different environments to fight in. There are winter maps, maps in the desert, a swamp, on an airport, in foggy cities (Silent Hill vibe), forest maps, nuclear plants, large ships and other city maps. All maps are big enough to feature the different teams and work very well for TDM.

Now we still need to talk about the game's biggest flaw, which sadly isn't the performance, but the disturbing Pay to Win aspects, which unfortunately are many. Skins in Mega Zombie do not only differ from a cosmetic point of view (like in other games), but some skins actually give stat advantages, which is really atrocious. Every player only gets one starting weapon and has to unlock everything else through massive grinds or cash. You can rent some weapons for a day (awful system) or purchase them forever, but the amount of ingame currency needed is way too high. Even unlocking a second weapon can take multiple dozen hours. Some of the best weapons however are locked behind a paywall, which can only be broken with real money. But this isn't all. You can also purchase bigger magazine sides, better ammunition, which does more damage, or additional grenade slots. Worst of all drones can be bought, that will scout other players for you or alternatively even shoot on other players for you. I hope I don't need to explain how this is beyond unacceptable. The P2W aspects in Mega Zombie are breathtaking in a negative sense. I nonetheless have to at least admit, that despite these issues, I never really got stomped by any paying players. You will generally be able to compete with these players, but it remains unfair nonetheless.

 

Pro:

- Team Deathmatch mode (4v4v4v4vZombies is great concept)

- Great map variety

- Gameplay can be fun

 

Contra:

- Annoying Performance issues (lags)

- Gunplay can sometimes feel a bit too random

- Lackluster Visuals

- Massive Pay to Win issues

 

Result:

Maybe I am giving Mega Zombie too much credit, but it seems to me like the text-book definition of a mixed bag. I like the TDM concept and the different maps a lot (the other modes are okay, but certainly don't stand out). Casually playing this game, especially with friends, can be a lot of fun. Trying to hunt the other players, while also surviving against the relentless Zombies can be a really good joy. You can just not take the game too serious. If you want to play a game competitively, than stay far away from Mega Zombie. The P2W aspects are beyond redemption and the performance is often a nearly equal disgrace. Gunplay is also way too loose for a serious game. Despite these massive issues, you can have a good time in Mega Zombie for a couple of hours. I would therefore generously give the game a 5. If you know what you are into, you can approach with caution. If any of the mentioned flaws however is a dealbreaker, than best avoid this game by any means necessary.

 

5/10

Robosquare (PC) Review

 

Robosquare is a competitive Racing Game with Robo-Cars, that features a couple of different gamemodes. The game released with the Sumo, Boss and Race modes and later added a Ghost Mode via content updates.

Sumo Mode is probably the main game mode and essentially a car based Battle Royale match. Players have to ram each other of a platform and some maps even feature multiple levels per match or a moving platform. Even though it sounds similar to Hexagon Knockout, I certainly enjoyed the Sumo Mode of Robosquare more. In the Races players have to navigate obstacle courses to reach the finish line as the first. The difficulty of controlling your car makes this mode interesting, but more to that later on. The Boss Mode lets all players fight against a large Boss Car. The players have to try to push the Boss out of the map within 3 minutes to win. I enjoyed this mode less than the other two, since every match pretty much plays the same and the human players have to do a really bad job to not win the match, since they can infinitely respawn here. Only the new Ghost Mode is even worse. In this mode the player has to survive for 3 minutes, while a dozen of Bot Ghost Cars try to crash him out of the contest. The best strategy here is to simply dodge all contact for 3 minutes, which becomes really dull and not much fun after all.

What makes Robosquare unique and enjoyable is the fact, that the cars spin out of control so quickly, that it becomes a real craft to control the vehicle. Even the slightest turns let the heck of the car break out of control and will make your car spin. This feels really horrible, but is a conscious decision by the Devs. Every wrong move can be your last and the conditions are equal for everybody. As a small compensation every car possesses a built-in crane, which allows the cars to pull back up, when they lie on their back after a crash. This mix of uncontrollable movement and jump/cranes leads to fun and chaotic matches with cars (at least in the first two modes).

Bots are being used to fill up lobbies, which is a good thing. It is just a bit unfortunate, that players can not choose, whether they want to wait for real players, or get into Lobbies with Bots. As soon as you queue, it only takes around 5 seconds to get into a match. This is a little bit too fast to find enough other players. The Bots at least do a pretty decent job.

Players can complete challenges to earn ingame currency, with which they can purchase cosmetics items for the car (comparable to Rocket League). They can buy duplicate items to combine them and create new colour styles. This is supposed to be a great incentive to keep playing and unlocking new stuff. There are also leaderboards in the most important categories and so on, to keep the most passionate players motivated.

Visuals are not terrible, but extremely simple. There are too many grey areas in this game and most maps look quite dull. Funnily enough the backgrounds of the levels are in fact way more detailed than the actual tracks. The Soundtrack in this game I actually liked much more than the Visuals. Soundeffects themselves are nothing worth writing home about, but they are rather subtle and less frequent than in other games anyway. Instead, Robosquare is having constant background music during gameplay and in the menus, which is actually pretty good.

 

Pro:

- The gameplay is enjoyable Chaos

- Sumo (BR) and Races are pretty fun

- Decent Bot Support

- Good Soundtrack

 

Contra:

- Movement can get frustrating

- Visuals are not impressive

- Boss and Ghost Levels are rather lame

 

Result:

Robosquare is a chaotic mess of crashing and spinning cars, and in its best moments quite enjoyable. The game however seems to lack substance. It is great to play for maybe an hour, but after that you have probably seen everything it has to offer and get slightly frustrated by the controls.  

 

5.5/10