Atratzu
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Hey, I'm Atratzu
I started writing steam reviews in 2015 because I thought "Hey, I go to all this work playing these video games, then after I beat them and get all the achievements I want... I just unceremoniously uninstall them... I'll write a steam review about what I thought about my experience! It'll be good practice to keep my writing skills active, and it'll feed into my achievement-oriented-brain!"

In 2016 I decided to try my hand at making YouTube videos. I poured tons of effort into making reviews (which of course have this quirky awkwardness I hate going back to watch) , but after a while people seemed to take an interest there too.

And the years have just gone by... Now I write reviews off and on, make Youtube videos off and on, there seems to be a lot of people who have found it useful, and so I'm glad that all this effort actually lead to something constructive.

For anyone who is adding me on steam, I really just keep to myself these days and normally set my steam to offline mode and disabled notification noises and popups (you never know when I might be recording something) If you want to add me, feel free... please comment though, or else I'll just assume you're a bot trying to get me to go to sketchy-website-dot-com.

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Atratzu Reviews - Steam Group
Review Showcase
-Quick Review-
Lets kick this review off with getting my quick opinions and biases out of the way: I've been a star wars fan since I was a kid, a fan long before Disney acquired the intellectual property, I'm not very fond of EA games as a publisher, and I love flight simulators - that counts double for Space Flight Simulators, specifically: X Wing Alliance and TIE Fighter.

I have a lot to say about this game, simply speaking "I like it", but make sure you pick it up on sale just in case you can't get the game to ACTUALLY load for you... I added it to my library when it was 90% off over the Steam Christmas Sale so that was worth the risk, but it does go on sale often other times. Be warned there's lots of people who have had problems getting it to run.

Star Wars Squadrons is a Space Flight simulator which can be played with an Xbox controller, flight stick, steamdeck, and can be played in VR. Squadrons was published by MOTIVE and released in 2020. Squadrons is broken up into two areas: The Single Player Story and the Multiplayer Experience.

Review Video:
If you don't like reading, or are curious about watching gameplay check out my video here:
https://youtu.be/dVD-4JccysU

-Detailed breakdown review-
Story: Welcome pilot. As far as the story is concerned you're already experienced and have recently been transferred to the New Republic's Vanguard Squadron or The Galactic Empire's Titan Squadron.

The story for Squadrons is told from the perspective of both Vanguard and Titan. You will switch between both factions as you play, at the start of the game you'll actually customize and name both pilots for the New Republic and Empire. There are 14 Missions and 2 Prologues in Squadrons the story will take roughly between 9 to 11 hours to complete. There are four difficulty modes, Pilot felt about right for me, Story Mode should make the game playable for nearly everyone regardless of flight simulator experience.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3136215191

You'll get a chance to know each member of your squadron a little before each mission. I would encourage getting every extra bit out of this game. I found the diversity of characters with the New Republic refreshing and much easier to identify, and laughed over how the Imperials were much less memorable because they were all humans with greasy slicked back hair.

As you fly through the 14 missions in Squadrons you'll learn of a secret weapon the New Republic is building called "Project Starhawk", but there's a level of intrigue due to the fact the man leading the project is imperial traitor "Lindon Javes", who Commodore Sloane tasks Terisa Kerrill with tracking down her former commander and ending project Starhawk.


https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3136282357

Gameplay: Let's start with the basics. You boot up the game, you click Story, or training (please don't click Quick Match yet)... Now what happens?

The WAY you fly will depend on your controller, but basically you'll point your ship in a direction and throttle up to speed up, or throttle down to stop. (Note the detail on how the cockpit shows where your throttle is as, and notice where the line is for where to cut your throttle to turn faster)
There are other indicators in your cockpit, three or two colored lines. Blue is your engine power, Red is your laser power, and green is your shield power (if you have shields).

There are also indicators for your left, and right auxiliary equipment, and countermeasures. These systems along with your Hull, Shields and Engine, can be customized to your liking for perks and drawbacks.
On the left of your dashboard there's a radar-map-type-thing which I mostly ignored but that's because I don't play games optimally.
On the right you have your shields and hull percentage. After shields go boom, your hull go down, hull go down to zero, you explode. Lastly there is also a Targeting screen in the bottom middle of your dashboard, it's the biggest screen there with a picture of the thing you're targeting.

Multiplayer: First things first, make sure you check your settings and turn off voice chat, or switch to push to talk mode before you play multiplayer, because it's left on by default.

So there are really only two game modes in Multiplayer: Dog Fight and Fleet Battles. Dog Fight is where you pit a squad of 5 players against 5 other players. I can't seem to ever get into them because no one is playing when I do... but I've been told by my brother he got into them over Christmas. Fleet Battles are where a squad of 5 players go up against a human or AI squad of 5 "players", and try to destroy the enemy capital ship the fastest.

As was discussed earlier about customizing ship loadouts... In Multiplayer you can go even farther by being able to customize your starship's paint job, add decals, add holograms, dashboard hanging flair and decorations! But woah hold on there cowboy, before you go spending any of your currency you should know there are two currencies in this game... One for ship upgrades, and another for cosmetics.

You can get these by leveling up or participating in daily challenges... but sadly I can't do any daily challenges because I can't seem to que for anything multiplayer. As it is right now. The only way I've unlocked anything is because I can play Fleet Battles vs AI on my own and get experience to level up my pilot.

VR: Normally I can't comment on VR because I don't have a VR headset (yet), however one of my brothers has a headset and streamed the gameplay to me. If you can get this game working in VR mode, you might never need to go to a theme park again! It looked good from my *over the shoulder screen shared perspective.*
It made me very jealous to hear him exclaiming "WOAHHH!" "This is so fun!" "Weeeee" "AHHHH! *Crash*"

I see some people are saying "Don't buy this game for VR because VR controllers don't work" or other reasons... That might be fair, I can't entirely speak for it because I don't have a VR headset... but it LOOKED fun to look around the cockpit. (Unless it's a TIE, there's nothing to see in there) But typically the problem people seem to have in VR is not being able to see as much as conventional gameplay from a monitor.

The detail that this game was made for VR also explains some design choices which I didn't really care for... You have some "viewing angles" for your starships when you're in the hanger, or in the briefing room. You don't move around 3d space, which I really REALLY wanted to be able to do. But since movement in VR tends to make people sick, it makes sense why it wasn't allowed.

Conclusion: In conclusion we swing back to the start of this review: I like Star Wars Squadrons. Perfect game? Nope. Can I play online? Not really... Will it work for you if you buy it? It very well might not! That's why I suggest picking it up on sale.

There's also a chance this game isn't really something you'd be interested in playing. That's fair too. I hope that my review either pushed you in one way or another and was reasonable. (If not maybe a little long winded) Thanks for reading!
Review Showcase
250 Hours played
-Quick Review-
Monster Hunter Rise is a hunting game where you learn an incredible amount of small details which eventually adds up to you having an arsenal of tools, weapons, and gear to take down Godzilla.
In this edition of Monster Hunter, you have the addition of "Palamutes" (Ride-able Dog helpers), in additional to your "Palicoes" (Cat Helpers with opposable thumbs).
Slap into the mix Wirebugs which let you play like Spider-Man and you've got yourself a recipe for a good time.

Review Video:
If you don't like reading, or are curious about watching gameplay check out my video here:
https://youtu.be/zkATKfdxiK4

-Detailed breakdown review-
Story: I'm going to put the story in my own words, after you've created your beautiful or ugly wholly unique character, and your pet cat and dog you'll be hanging out in your bedroom in the village when two clones walk in on you and say some suggestive stuff then tell you the village elder-leader-chief-guy wants to talk to you because you're officially a Monster Hunter now! Yay!
But now you have responsibility, and that means you're going to go do some chores and help slay monsters of varying difficulty. Eventually working your way up to fighting against something called a "Rampage" which the elder tells you took place 50 years ago.
You see, a bunch of monsters got together and decided to have a dance party right on top of your village. But you can't have that, because you live there! After you fend off the rampage and send those tap-dancing-communist-monsters home, you'll encounter "The box art Monster" who's apparently the mastermind behind all this! So naturally you're tasked with kicking Magna-marshmellow's butt and the village elder does some weird laughing and gives you a sword. The end.

But wait there's more! ... There's always more. That's been how Monster Hunter tells its stories at least since World.
The line "There's always a bigger fish" comes to mind. Eventually you figure out what's behind the disturbance to the ecosystem... but only if you keep playing and keep monster hunting. Welcome to the franchise ladies and gentlemen.

Gameplay: This is the reason I've put off writing a review for Monster Hunter Rise for years... How do I compress all that I've learned from playing and explain at the same time that I only have truly experienced playing this game with one weapon: the Insect Glaive?
There's so much to say about gameplay that I don't really know how to begin and how to organize it... For the sake of simplicity, let's just go over the sequence of events leading up to a hunt. Gameplay really is broken down into "Pre Hunt'', and "The Hunt".

Pre Hunt
Monster Hunter Rise has a lot of different weapons and gear... Here is the list of the 14 Weapon categories for your viewing pleasure:
Great Sword, Sword & Shield, Dual Blades, Long Sword, Hammer, Hunting Horn, Lance, Gunlance, Switch Axe, Charge Blade, Insect Glaive, Bow, Light Bowgun, and Heavy Bowgun.

One of the things I had to struggle to accept in Monster Hunter Games is: EAT BEFORE YOU HUNT. I don't think it would have saved me from how many times I died in Monster Hunter World... but in Rise it clicked for me, you eat so you start the fight with increased Health and Stamina. I thought I was saving myself a few Points or Zenny by skipping food, but I also happen to be a complete and total idiot, why are you even listening to me?

After you gear up, eat food, then you go to Twin number 1 for solo Quests in the middle of town called the "Steelworks". And you go to Twin number 2 for group quests at the Gather Hub. Progress for both sets of quests are tracked separately. I also forget there are "Arena Quests" too which are different then all other quests because they give you specific gear and weapons to accomplish the quest in a certain amount of time to get a letter grade... And again to reiterate: you can't use your higher level gear for the Arena Quest... so there's no way to make it easier. I don't get good grades... I don't do Arena Quests.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3168000226

Hunt
Before you go run over and punch that monster you're hunting in the face... you need to "bird up". The less catchy name they use in Monster Hunter Rise is “Permabuffers”, which are little Spiribirds which boost your stats when you collect them.
Typically before I hunt I make a loop to grab some of the birds... how much of a boost you'll get will depend on an equipped piece of gear called a "Petalace".

So now you've birded up and gathered whatever you want from around the map... now what? Now we dance the dance of death. Pummel your monster with whatever you can, be it toads, spiders, blades, hammers, ammo, or even other monsters.
People familiar with Monster Hunter games will know and expect the hunt will last for some time, you'll need to stop to sharpen your weapon, sometimes need to retreat to eat food to bring back your stamina bar, or drink potions to replenish your health.
Speaking of Health there are no health bars for the monsters here, you don't know how much damage you need to do until you see a blue icon appear on the boss and it starts to limp away.
At this point you need to make a decision: Kill or capture. The answer depends on the materials you want, be sure to check your Hunter Notes on Large Monsters to see what you should do.
For simplicity let's say you want to capture it. You need to have a Net and Tranquilizers with you. Requirements to capture a Monster: It needs to be capture-able (not all are), it needs to be in low enough health (blue icon, limping), you need to catch it in a trap, and lastly you need to Traqu it a couple times. (typically I catch it in a trap, and toss down tranq bombs until caught)
Oh and don't forget if you kill it instead of capture; Carve it for parts!

What hooked me about MHR over MHW?
I'm not a dark souls type player, normally a long arduous battle against one creature doesn't really appeal to me, but if I can quickly navigate the world that helps keep me invested in the game. One of the biggest changes for me was feeling like I could move around the world more naturally and quickly.

Which leads to probably the biggest change from World to Rise: Wirebugs. Wirebugs allow everyone to feel like Spider-Man, you can use them offensively and defensively.

The weapon that appealed to me the most in Monster Hunter World was the Insect Glaive because it would let me pogostick jump into the air and flap around my enemies. With Wirebugs that meant I could actually get into trying out other weapons because now EVERY weapon can have an "Ahhhh! Get me out of here" button.

If Wirebugs weren't enough of a mobility upgrade to Monster Hunter, the addition of Palamutes was another! A companion you can whistle for and ride as needed? Who doesn't want that?

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2830677231

Conclusion: Monster Hunter Rise has been my favorite game in the series so far, and was actually successful in hooking me in.
Originally on World it was like "okay, lets drag Atratzu through Monster Hunter World, one monster at a time...", and I'd be over here counting the hours until I could play something else... Not so for Monster Hunter Rise, for Rise so many things clicked for me and I really love it.
If you're still on the fence about getting Monster Hunter Rise, might I suggest the Free Demo? Not only will that let you make your own opinion, it will also let you know if your device can run it. Demo's are good. Oh and buy stuff on sale.

Hopefully this Review has been helpful and thanks for reading! I do suggest watching the video for this review because I covered nearly double what the steam review has.
Screenshot Showcase
Fully fuctional bathroom! I have a theme going here :P
6 4

Recent Activity

10.9 hrs on record
last played on Mar 17
34 hrs on record
last played on Mar 17
48 hrs on record
last played on Mar 17
baily Jan 1 @ 8:59pm 
Happy New Year!!!
SpicyNachoz Jun 25, 2023 @ 3:28pm 
Solid reviews that are not garbage. I hope your reviews become more popular
TheCaller May 26, 2023 @ 6:14pm 
+1 cool dude
Majordomo Jan 31, 2023 @ 11:11am 
Greetings, I added you because I like your reviews ;)
Ewgene Jan 6, 2022 @ 7:29am 
whew, actual reviews. a breath of fresh air around here
baily Jan 2, 2022 @ 12:57pm 
Happy New Year