Cygnus Racing League (PC) Review

 

Cygnus Racing League is another attempt at a vehicle based Battle Royale Game. The best one was probably 'Not my Car Battle Royale', even though the less traditional 'Eliminator Mode' from the Forza Horizon games could be mentioned as well. The only thing safe to say is, that Cygnus Racing League doesn't live up to them. In comparison to most other vehicle based BRs, you control a futuristic spaceship, instead of a car or a boat, in Cygnus. You can also aim and shoot freely during the races. This is in fact the very point of the races. Players will not only have to be the fastest, they also have to take out as many opponents as possible.

Here however lies my fundamental problem with Cygnus Racing League. The gameplay is just not very good. I am not immune to the charm of the game. Cygnus Racing League looks like a teenager's vision of a cool racing game with lasers. The problem however is, that creating a good racing game with a decent combat system is a very difficult task. There is a reason why practically nobody has managed to create such a thing so far. There are racing games with combat elements, but these are often less direct or at least involve some kind of aim assist system.

In Cygnus Racing League however I already have enough problems with just staying on track. The tracks are short, curves and corners are frequent, and the acceleration of the vehicles is really fast. The vehicles are generally very sensitive, reacting very strongly to any movement input. Therefore I had a difficult time in trying to not run out of the track, while all the Bots seemed to drive perfect laps without any struggles. Just racing would consequently already be difficult, but trying to use the free aim system, while keeping your vehicle on track, managed to be an absolute hassle. Even when driving rather slowly (for this fast paced game) I would have a difficult time in hitting enemies. Aiming, while driving quickly, on the other hand was completely impossible, unless you only wanted to shoot right in front of you, but even than you would have to fight the movement controls.

There are 10 different tracks, which look quite different. That being said the visuals are also rather bare-bones in this game. In the late 90s this would have been an under average looking game. In 2022, it is obviously completely outdated. I understand that Cygnus began it is life as a mobile game, but even on mobile devices it should be among the ugliest games. The track design also leaves much to be desired. The circuits are just way too small for such a fast paced game. A race lap usually doesn't take more than 20 seconds. Bigger and better circuits could have helped in hiding the game's flaws in the gameplay department.

There is at least a decent variety of vehicle models (6) and tracks to play on for a smaller game. You can play with 64 different players or Bots (much more likely). It is however quite questionable whether Cygnus actually qualifies to be a Battle Royale game. The devs classify it that way, but I don't really see the required elements. At the end only 1 driver wins, but all drivers can respawn after being taken out, while only receiving point penalties. Ultimately the win isn't determined by survival, but by the point score, which consists of completed laps and destroyed opponents. Therefore I would call this game more of a race combat game, than a vehicle based BR.

 

Pro:

- Cool concept (Futuristic racer with combat elements)

- Halfway decent variety of tracks and vehicles (for a small game)

 

Contra:

- Oversensitive movement

- Awful aiming system

- Neither real Racing nor Battle Royale

- Tracks design is subpar (tracks are too short)

- Severely outdated visuals

 

Result:

Cygnus Racing League has a very cool concept of racing in spaceships and battling each other in a big Battle Royale Race. In reality however Cygnus fails in execution. Movement and aiming feel awful and the game looks pretty hideous. Not every cool concept turns into a cool game. When looking at videos, I thought the gameplay might be fun, but in reality it was not.

 

2.5/10

Scuffy Game (PC) Review

 

Scuffy Game is a more scuffed version of Crab Game (Yes, that is possible). The game is therefore a Battle Royale inspired minigame collection/ competitive Platformer. Players originally competed in 5 different minigames against each other, but since the new content updates, the amount of different gamerounds has multiplied to 25 (some of them are just alternated versions and some are also unfinished).

In some of the games all players can advance to the next round and in some only 1 player can win. This was one of the biggest downsides of the original version. There was no indication of any player actually winning, which took a lot of motivation and purpose of the game. Now you at least get to see your player perform some kind of victory dance, if you won a final stage.

The classic minigame of Scuffy is the 'Platformer Map', which resembles the famous glass platforms from Squid Game. You have two rows of platforms and one platform breaks per jump. There is a shorter and a longer variant and the content updates also brought two additional glass ones. This is obviously a very iconic game, but the fun factor largely depends on the amount of players participating. If you play with 2 or 3 people and 8 rows of platforms, than it will be nearly impossible for anybody to complete the map. Most of the fun comes from the pressure of the time limit to complete the stage in conflict with the benefits of being a freerider and letting the other players volunteer. 

Then there is the 'Race Map', in which you have to swim through water, pass some platforms and spinning obstacles, to finally outrun a Tsunami and jump on a tiny platform. The updates brought a new variant in the 'Lava Race', which replaces the Tsunami with a rising wave of Lava. The updates also decreased the speed of the spinning obstacles, which is appreciated. The original speed was a bit too fast and required more luck than actual skill to pass. There are also two other Race Maps called 'Race Map Scuffed' (original maps). On these maps you have to jump on floating chairs, couches and small obstacles to reach a finishing point. Race Map Scuffed requires more jumping skills than actual speed. Two new obstacles maps are 'Wipeout' and 'Wipeout Lava', which are both obstacles courses and race maps. Players have to pass floating balls and jump on some of them, to reach the end of the level as the first participant. There is only one winner on these maps. The same balls are also featured in the original 'Ball Game', which is a minigame about dexterity. Players have to stay on top of balls, which are moving all over the place (similar to a bull riding game). The last of the classic rounds is 'Skybox', where you have to survive an armada of cubes falling from the sky.

The content updates also brought the 'Jump Club Maps', which are just rip-off versions of Fall Guys Jump Club map, with the difference that you will have to jump on the rotating beam in order to have any chance of survival. 'Scufed Scufed Scufed' is the perverted version of Jump Club, where the beam is so fast, that it is physically impossible to survive. 'Subways' is a rather lame minigame, in which you have to survive on top of a subway station, while a magical wall pushes you towards the rails. It is however way to easy to climb back on the subway platform, which eliminates all kind of challenge. In the 'The Floor is Lava' Map it is, as the name suggests, the goal to survive a rising amount of lava. This can be done by climbing on top of pyramids, which also sounds more exciting than it actually is. 'Moon' on the other hand is a pretty cool addition to the game. It is race map in space, which uses a low gravity effect for jumps. I did like this one. 'Wall Run Strats' feels like a longer version of Race map scuffed. Players have to jump from obstacle to obstacle to make it to the finish line. I don't know if it was just me, but this was the only map I wasn't able to complete. One of the jumps in the middle of the level just seems impossible, regardless of position, speed and aim of the jump.

Two maps, which aren't completed yet, are 'Kraken' and 'Soccer'. Kraken is supposed to be a bossfight against a Kraken Monster, but just ends as soon as the map starts. Soccer is supposed to a football match, but there are no real goals, scores or anything else. It's inclusion seems a bit pointless. The 'Mom's Basement' maps were alright. In these maps a female character (which looks strikingly similar to Luxe from Fortnite) will hunt players and if she catches you, than you are gone. You have to escape the basement, which plays fine. Unfortunately these maps consists of extreme earrapes, as soon as you spot the Mom character, which is really disturbing. I had to unplug my headset, in order to not get bleeding ears. I understand what the dev was going for, but the sound difference is just way too big. 'Mom's house' is the last map and in this one you have to escape a house instead of a basement and the Mom character is even faster than in the basement levels.

Overall the quality of the minigames certainly improved with the updates (added sound effects, visual elements, presentation aspects). There are still a couple rather boring (Floor is Lava, Ball Game, Subways) and some broken ones (Kraken, Soccer), but most other are definitely fun to play. The Platformer and various Race maps were certainly the best. The player count however has a huge impact on the fun factor.

Visuals and presentation of Scuffy game are really minimalistic. I understand that the game is going for a 'scuffed' look, but the presentation is minimal and the visuals have to be described as really hideous. Effects like the Tsunami wave also just look horrible.

One of the biggest flaws of the game is the fact, that you can't do anything after you died. You can neither switch the camera position to see what is going on with the surviving players, nor can players for example vote to skip the map, if all of them have died. Instead, they will have to wait till the timer drops to Zero, even if nothing is going on meanwhile. Matches should definitely end early, if all players have died. Another technical problem is, that the game settings will be deleted, once you close the game. This means you will have to reset them every time you want to play...

I also really dislike that there are issues with jumping and sprinting. You have to press the sprint button at the exact right moment or the input will not be registered. If you pressed sprint for example too early before the round started or after you started walking, than you will not sprint until you stop using the buttons. This often screwed up jumps of mine. Jumping also generally feels a bit too floaty. You can mostly get used to it, but once you press the jump button, you have zero control of where you will hit the ground. These movement issues should definitely be improved. I also experienced some Glitches and Server Disconnects, but those seem to be nothing out of the ordinary, from what you could expect from a smaller game.

The updates also added a solo mode for offline-players. The game loses a lot of its appeal by playing solo, but its inclusion is still useful to learn the maps. Alternatively you can also create your own online server and play alone there (which will allow you to earn achievements). The small playerbase is unfortunately another issue of the game. With many other players and especially with friends, there is some fun to be had, but you will nowadays (1,5 months after launch) rarely find other players, which is a shame.

 

Pro:

- Most maps are fun

- Content updates enhance map variety

- More fun with friends

- Scuffed charm of the game (Meme Game)

 

Contra:

- Movement issues (Jumping is way too floaty; Sprint button often doesn't work, if you press too early)

- Match doesn't automatically end when everybody is dead (no skip vote option either)

- Sound changes don't save (earrape in Mum's basement levels)

- Hideous Visuals

- Very small playerbase

 

Result:

Judging a game like Scuffy Game isn't that easy. The game is obviously trying to be a Meme game, but the attempt can't excuse all flaws. The game is too scuffed for its own good, but there are also a couple of bright spots. Most maps are fun, especially with friends, and the game has noticeably improved through the updates. Nonetheless, there would still need a lot of work to be done, in order to be a truly good game. Right now Scuffy Game is nevertheless worth a look for all players interested in a Meme Battle Royale inspired Game, or fans of Fall Guys and Crab Game.

 

5.5/10

Super Bernie World (PC) Review

 

Super Bernie World is a Rip-Off version of Super Mario Bros 1. "Rip-Off" is a term, that gets used way too often, but here it really fits. Gameplay and levels are nearly identical to the source of inspiration, which makes it quite difficult to accurately rate Super Bernie World as its own game.

I am a very big Fan of Super Mario Bros 1 and therefore also like the gameplay of Super Bernie World a lot. The game is a classic Platformer with the base elements of such a game, which are the ability to run and to jump. All levels can be completed by the usage of these two elements. There a couple of different enemies placed in the levels (all of them, once again, functioning identical to their counterparts in Super Mario Bros 1) and every third level in a world is a dungeon level with a Boss encounter at the end. There are 4 worlds in total, in Super Bernie World, which is only half the content from the Mario game and (as far as I can tell) there are no secrets levels or shortcuts in Super Bernie World. The levels are all named after different states in the US, but don't visually resemble any of them.

I am not really sure why they shortened the game so much, when they already copied most elements for this entry. The two first worlds are really easy and even closer to the original than the other two, which at least place their obstacles a bit differently, but still remain very faithful to the Super Mario Bros 1 level design. Water and underground levels got completely removed for Super Bernie World. Therefore the game really feels like a watered down version of Super Mario Bros 1.

The Koopa Troopas now have a Mitch McConnell skin, which is quite funny, but other enemy models have no political context, which feels like wasted potential. The Piranha-Flower for example got replaced by a large trashman and the Hammer-Brother by a Tiki Torcher. I don't really see the connection here.

Before every world, there is a short dialogue between Bernie Sanders and a republican politician, which is going to be the boss for that world. In World 1 it is Ted Cruz, in World 2 it is Jim Jordan, for world 3 Mitch McConnell and President Trump in World 4. I like that, but I don't understand why they used the same character model (Trump) for all 4 Bosses. You can understand why Mario back in the day on the NES did it, but for Super Bernie World it just seems lazy.

I generally think that the game wasted the potential of the scenario a bit. They could have definitely changed up the gameplay a bit, to give Super Bernie World its own twist. Right now you will just see it as a Mario Rip-Off without own elements.

The political context is of the game is just supposed to be funny and shouldn't be taken seriously by anybody, regardless of political beliefs. I didn't really see anything offensive in the game, since it is always clear that this game is just supposed to be a joke. On a personal level I didn't like that the game previously (before a patch) asked players to donate for Bernie Sanders, since that seems to cross a line between a videogame as an artform and political advertising. Sanders-Fans however might view this point differently.

The controls with Mouse and Keyboard were pretty awful in my opinion and I was incapable of playing the game that way (Seriously, you use j and l buttons to walk, y/z to sprint and you jump with x. That is covoluted and idiotic). With a gamepad however, the game controlled pretty much identical to Super Mario Bros 1 (once more underlining how similar they are). I also want to once more point out, that the platforming gameplay of Super Mario Bros 1 is amazing (once you got used to the slightly floaty jump controls) and therefore the same can be said about Super Bernie World.  

The visuals of Super Bernie World are very nice 8 Bit graphics, because they are obviously also very similar to Mario's game (I know I am repeating myself, but it really is true). They just replaced some background details with more human looking buildings and instead of a small Mario you play with a small Bernie. Even the UI of the game got practically unchanged to Mario's.

The regular soundeffects are identical to Super Mario Bros 1, but the background music got replaced with original songs, which are surprisingly good. There are only two (one for the dungeon levels and one for the regular ones), but they fit the game really well.

 

Pro:

- Great Mario Gameplay

- Strong soundtrack

- Good humour

- 8 Bit visuals hold up

 

Contra:

- Just a watered down Mario Rip-Off

- Much shorter than the original

- Disappointing character reskins outside of Bernie, Trump, McConnell

 

Result:

Some people may compare Super Bernie World to the international version of Super Mario Bros 2, which blatantly ripped of Dooki Dooki Panic. I would however deem this comparison invalid, since Super Bernie World is a watered down version of its source instead of a full reskin model. Super Bernie World doesn't live up to Mario, but since the foundation of the source material is so great, Super Bernie World remains a rather enjoyable, yet also disappointing experience.  

 

6.5/10

Dungeon Royale (PC) Review

 

Dungeon Royale is an interesting mix of a classic Dungeoncrawler and a Battle Royale Game. The gameplay perspective and Dungeon design immediately reminded me of the classic Legend of Zelda games.

Players have to travel through various room, defeat all enemies and collect as much loot as possible. So far so good, but the twist is that the Dungeon Crawler experience is placed within a Battle Royale match. Other players spawn in the same Dungeon complex and can fight against each other, if they happen to walk to into each other in one of the many rooms of the Dungeons. The match will end when there is only one player left, and he activates a portal in a special room to enter a final Boss Fight. If he slays that Boss too, he will be crowned the winner of the match. Equivalent to the Zones of other Battle Royale games, the playable area of the dungeons shrinks over time and players in rooms outside of the safe area will receive damage till they cease to exist. Not all rooms have exits to all sides, so you can certainly get lost outside of the zone while trying to find your way into it. As far as I can tell the Dungeons and the room placement get randomized each match.

One of the twists of Dungeon Royale is, that defeated players are not gone for good, like in all other BR games. Instead they will respawn as enemies in the rooms of living players. New players will just spawn as weak slime enemies, which can barely move around and won't do much damage. The more players level their account (through playing the game) the more powerful enemy models they will unlock, who attack and move faster (different enemy models are not only cosmetic changes, but alter the gameplay). The second to last player will also incorporate the Boss enemy in the ultimate combat with the final living player. The Boss can also win the match in his own way, if he manages to slay the last player. This idea of playing as one of the enemies after your demise is pretty cool, but I dislike, that the starting enemy models feel so much weaker in comparison to those on higher levels. This is, in my opinion, showing a clear lack of balancing and a big advantage for the most experienced players.

Killing mobs (or other defeated players who take their place) generates Gold coins, which can be used to purchase stat increases (more life or stronger attacks), different weapons or some items, which grant you a bonus effect or an active ability (temporary invisibility or a fire attack for example). There are also some Minibosses in the game, which can't be incorporated by real players, and they have different attack schemes than the Bosses and regular foes.

My biggest problem with Dungeon Royale, aside from balancing, is the controls/movement. Regardless of input method, moving your character around and attacking always feels clunky. It takes around a second after pressing the attack button for the first stroke till it is performed (subsequent attacks perform noticeably faster till the chain breaks). At first I thought it might have been an issue with the server region, but I experienced the attack delay in both EU and NA. Attacking just feels too delayed to be very enjoyable. Movement is also not a strong suit of the game. While your movement is actually pretty quick in this game, I got stuck on objects all the time or slightly missed doors and objects. I never had such issues for example while playing the original Legend of Zelda on NES, which uses a rather similar gameplay style. Playing with a gamepad definitely felt more accurate than with Mouse and Keyboard, but the control issues still remained, just slightly toned down.

The pixel visual style fits the game well and reminds me of some older 8-Bit games. It definitely fits the game and I like it. The soundtrack was also pretty decent, even though it definitely lacks some variety. 

The small and unsteady playerbase can be another hassle. The game requires at least 3 players to start a match, which can be an issue depending on the time of day. There are usually between 0-10 players online, but those get divided into two different server regions (EU+NA), which makes it more difficult to start matches. At the moment you can still get into matches well during prime times, but that may change in the future. It is an issue already nonetheless.

 

Pro:

- Dungeoncrawler meets Battle Royale

- Defeated players can respawn as enemies

- Variety of objects and weapons

- Nice Pixel Visuals

 

Contra:

- Attacks feel delayed

- Movement is clunky (Controller and M/K)

- Severe Disadvantages for new players (Lack of Balance)

- Small playerbase and server region divide

 

Result:

The idea of Dungeon Royale is great, but the execution is sadly only of mixed quality. Combining Dungeoncrawling and Battle Royale into a sort of competitive Dungeoncrawler works well and giving defeated players the chance to get revenge on the other players is very engaging. The Pixel Visuals fit the game well and the different findable/purchasable objects and weapons give a nice incentive to grind Mobs, but the most important part probably remains the gameplay and that is quite flawed in Dungeon Royale. Stiff, delayed attacks and imprecise movement take a lot from the otherwise enjoyable formula of the game. The lack of playerbase and Balancing issues might be the factors, which will ultimately lead to the games demise. Till then however, I do recommend at least checking the game out, if you are interested in competitive Dungeoncrawlers or a different sort of BR experience.

 

5.5/10