My Honest Review of Orion: Dino Horde

[Nukoto]

All right lets be honest there is alot of stuff going on around this game. And although I have seen a few reviews that are truely honest. I thought I'd give my 2 cents about it since alot of people are still sitting on the fence about this one.

So what Orion Dino Horde essentially is, is a revamped version of the original game with a content update. Which is ok. Anyone who purchased the orignal Dino Beatdown get this 'content update' for free, which is absolutely what they should be doing. Spiral know that the original game was quite a letdown and I give them credit by trying to do right on the community's terms. But the question is does the new coat of paint make this game any better than it's orignal state and is it enough for new players to invest the newly priced $15 the devs are asking you to pay? Well lets see.

So the new Dino Horde can be broken down into two parts - Coop and Competetive.
The orignal survival mode returns with a few additions. Lets talk about significant gameplay additions. A revival system makes a grand appearance, its very borderland-ish as if you kill an enemy you get auto revived. Also all classes can now purchase a resupply gun or an engineer gun, which is alot of help if your playing by yourself. Another big thing to note is after the wave starts, the doors to the gun and ammo close. This makes it more important to conserve shots and keep your shield up, adding to the survival aspects.

So lets tak about the dinos. The orignal trio return, but a little different. The raptors have a new skin, and are harder to evade. Straffing wont work and within a few chomps you'll be down. The rhams got down-sized and now can longer pick you up. They are alot more ambitious and will try and attack you alot more than they previous would. The trex is still the same as always but he is now no longer the king. A few new dinos have been added. The mighty Spinosaurus, the toxic Dilophosaurus, the huge Pteranodons, the tiny compsagnathus, and the two anti-tank tanks, Triceratops and Stegosaurus. They are all welcome editions and break up the simple formula of the orignal game - Shoot all the raptors, hide inside from trex. You'll find yourself backing off when a Dilo spits its posionous saliva at you or, wasting your ammo trying to kill the tiny compies biting at your ankles. Overall props to Spiral for added dino diversity.

Next up the weapons. Most of the weapons return with a few newbies. Some of the most notable additions include the auto-shotty, the classic assault rifle, and the dual pistols. One notable mention is that ammo is no longer free, you'll have to purchase it at weapon stations same story with health aswell. Some of the orignal weapons players would reach for have now been put into a new 'adrenaline' section. These weapons are very pricey and replace a primary once purchased. Each class has 2 to choose from, that is unless you purchase the VIP perk unlocking all 6, but well talk about that later. The new weapons in this section include the laser rifle and minigun, both are welcome additions.


Next i'll make a quick note about vehicles. All the old ones return but two new ones make an appearance - the Penguin and the Cobra tank. The latter totaly kicks ♥♥♥ and is fun to use. The orignal method of purchasing vehicles is gone. Now players must navigate the maps to find outposts. Once these outposts are captured a variety of reinforcement vehicles spawn. This concept nurtures players to explore the map which is a good idea since they adverise 'massive' maps but as a wave mode players would be clinging to their base. Overall not much to talk about besides low spec players will get noticable framerate drops when using vehicles.

Next the Perk system. This has been completely overhauled. It's now sectioned into 4 areas. The first being perks only purchasable for specific classes. The other 3 being purchasable by all classes and ranging in price from tiers 1-3. A quick mentioning that you can purchase more than one perk for all areas except tier 3, this is the same as weapon upgrades aswell. Overall I like this system and think its a good idea. I find my self scrambling to get my augments in the final seconds before the wave starts.

A little note on the maps. There seems to be two dividing biomes in the maps - Dessert or forest. However I never find myself becoming borded with the map layout or the same style of scenary. But i'm welcome to new additions Spiral [HINT HINT!! A snow map would be awesome]. Although they advertise 8 (I think) maps only 5 are avalible for survival mode the rest are for competetive modes, which I will talk about now.

Overall the competetive modes aren't game changing. They're pratically just tutorials for the adrenaline weapons but they quite fun at the moment not sure how they last though.They are 3 that you've probably heard of. They have cute names like ninja nippers or dude huge. But their common names are Free for all, Domination and Elimination. My favourite of these is definitely Rocketeer (Free for All), the others aren't as appealing.

Spiral Store is Spirals ways of giving the game a TF2 style appeal. Hats and taunt packs can be purchased for 99 cents each along with cosmetic for your guns and class. I think the price is fine for the price of the game ($15) and since they aren't really needed for the game and all DLC is advertised as free. I can't really complain.

Its that time! Ok bugs. Bugs, Bugs, Bugs. So to be real not much to report, a few but not really game breaking. The sketchi-ness of the trex (and now spino) rock throw is still there but to be honest i'm alright with it for now. Some of the animations are a bit buggy, the cryo knife sometimes jerks around in your hand randomly as you walk and guns bounce around even after you've stopped running. Hopefully they will have patched it by the next patch.
3rd person is still as buggy as ever but I doubt many players will touch it. It's missing animations and the animations that are there are very sloppy. I know thats a bit harsh and It will possibly get this taken down by the devs. But if the devs ever read this, please listen - the 3rd person needs some work.

Well thats about it if I missed anything please comment it down. Or give your 2 cents I'd love to know. Well ok lets have a final summary.

Orion: Dino Horde is on the right track. It's survival mode has quite improved and it's still fun with friends, the arena modes are a bit of a meh, but still give them a try. For some people this game will be a one time thing, but for people who are really enjoying it, hopefully the devs listen to what the community has to say and makes their game more tailored to the community's desires, they are already starting strong with a summer of dlc planned, hopefully they can keep to schedule. But over all Dino Horde is pretty fun. Its little technical mehs and fairly blank arena modes can be hidden if you play only in 1st person, and only dip into arena mode ocassionally. Which may be, for some a big ask, But still, alot of fun with friends. So I recommend you have some friends when you go into this one. Because friends can help add fun to a game that isnt to you liking.

Overall Score: 7/10

UPDATE: I left out a major bit of the game. Playable Dinosaurs. So one of the other arena modes pitchs 3 humans againts one playbale dinosaur and bunch of your regular ai dinosaurs. The goal is for the humans to retrieve 3 dinosaur eggs and return them to a desired area (usually the human spawn). Each human player only has a certain number of lives and once they reach 0 the players are removed from the game, and put into spectator mode. So as of now there are 2 playable dinosaur classes a T-rex and a Spinosaurus. I was quite excited to they were adding the Spinosaurus but upon my first time playing as her, I was very dissapointed. It is identical to the rex in every single way!! Sure it would of been great to add a dino like the triceratops to this mode but cleary here Spiral have been a bit lazy and just decided to make the second class a trex with a diffrent skin. Surely they could have changed something but it seems to all to hard as we have the Spinosaurs as a launch class. The Spinosaur and Trex alike handle very poorly. I find my self getting them stuck on terrain or sometimes not moving at all. On many occasions playing this mode, the player using the dino class simply couldn't move at all. However when the dinosaur doesnt get stuck on terrain or can move. It's a very buggy experience. They can poke their head through buildings and still manage to chomp people. The rock throw aswell as in survival is very sketchy but atleast getting the rock to go approximantly where you want it to go is easy enough. Overall I'm very dissapointed with this mode. I would think one of their main selling points would be alot more polished and have more time devoted to it, but that is clearly not the case hear. This mode has been the biggest letdown of the expereince and has unfortunately forced me to drop my score to a 6.6/10. If you guys are looking for some playbale dinosaur action I highly recommend you got take a look at Primal Carnage its a rather good game and once you play it you can see the amount of work the developers have put into it. So yeah thats about it i'm afraid. If you are actualy enjoying the mode please let me know maybe there is something i'm not seeing in it. But yeah thats about it. Thanks for taking the time to read this!

So yeah I'm still enjoying the game. Survival mode is my biggest winner here. As I said before the other modes are still hit and miss but you should definetly try them at some point.
So even though I've taken off a bit of the score. I'd still say its an alright game.
I urge all Beatdown owners to take the time to download this and expereince it for yourself. You never know, you might enjoy yourself. And first time buyers. Yeah I'd give it a shot. But if your a being quite hesitant about it maybe wait till it's on sale. But if you like what you have seen and heard, go for it!

UPDATED SCORE: 6.6/10

[The One True Morty]

Maybe you shouldnt have come here for a review D Dark if you didnt intend to read it.

Thanks for the balanced review.

[ChubbiChibbai]

Ursprungligen skrivet av D Dark:

TL;DR

Well thats one way to show the world you are an idiot.

Good review. Well written. Thanks for this.
I was an owner of the original game and on reading this i have bothered to re-install the game and give it a shot with this new content.

[MrMango]

I've watched quit a lot of gameplay footage and other reviews, and sorry, but this is NOT a good game.
And it isnt a 7/10, It could be a 5/10 if you close your eyes, put your hands on your ears and start singing.

Overall, the animation quality is one of the worst I've seen in a long time, physics are non existent and you will not find a single design thats not straight copyed from another game thats way better then Orion.

The AI is also far from any good, I mean, what do you expect? They are Dinosaurs they do 1 thing, running straight at you and bite you...thats it.

And my only comment on PvP is, that People seem to be bullet sponges. I mean, 6 shots from a Shotgun at point blank to kill someone? Really?!
Even Halo MP is considered to be "Bullet spongy" but is still a lot of fun!

Also, how is it possible that random people can join your "Friends only" lobby?
Or another question, why would you buy a knife in the game if you have to switch to it because there is no hotkey for a "better knife" attack in the game, thats not difficult, thats actually something good to copy from other games!

Overall, the game is a little bit better then back in 2012 but still garbage.

Oh and did I mentioned a cash shop (Skins, Taunts, Colours, helmets...) while the game costs you 13,99?

[Sharkey]

Ursprungligen skrivet av TAW| MrMango:

I've watched quit a lot of gameplay footage and other reviews, and sorry, but this is NOT a good game.
And it isnt a 7/10, It could be a 5/10 if you close your eyes, put your hands on your ears and start singing.

Overall, the animation quality is one of the worst I've seen in a long time, physics are non existent and you will not find a single design thats not straight copyed from another game thats way better then Orion.

The AI is also far from any good, I mean, what do you expect? They are Dinosaurs they do 1 thing, running straight at you and bite you...thats it.

And my only comment on PvP is, that People seem to be bullet sponges. I mean, 6 shots from a Shotgun at point blank to kill someone? Really?!
Even Halo MP is considered to be "Bullet spongy" but is still a lot of fun!

Also, how is it possible that random people can join your "Friends only" lobby?
Or another question, why would you buy a knife in the game if you have to switch to it because there is no hotkey for a "better knife" attack in the game, thats not difficult, thats actually something good to copy from other games!

Overall, the game is a little bit better then back in 2012 but still garbage.

Oh and did I mentioned a cash shop (Skins, Taunts, Colours, helmets...) while the game costs you 13,99?

You are judging his review as wrong based on youtube videos not based on any experience you yourself have had

[💩 John Crichton 💩]

This thread made me lol

[Nukoto]

Ursprungligen skrivet av TAW| MrMango:

I've watched quit a lot of gameplay footage and other reviews, and sorry, but this is NOT a good game.
And it isnt a 7/10, It could be a 5/10 if you close your eyes, put your hands on your ears and start singing.

Overall, the animation quality is one of the worst I've seen in a long time, physics are non existent and you will not find a single design thats not straight copyed from another game thats way better then Orion.

The AI is also far from any good, I mean, what do you expect? They are Dinosaurs they do 1 thing, running straight at you and bite you...thats it.

And my only comment on PvP is, that People seem to be bullet sponges. I mean, 6 shots from a Shotgun at point blank to kill someone? Really?!
Even Halo MP is considered to be "Bullet spongy" but is still a lot of fun!

Also, how is it possible that random people can join your "Friends only" lobby?
Or another question, why would you buy a knife in the game if you have to switch to it because there is no hotkey for a "better knife" attack in the game, thats not difficult, thats actually something good to copy from other games!

Overall, the game is a little bit better then back in 2012 but still garbage.

Oh and did I mentioned a cash shop (Skins, Taunts, Colours, helmets...) while the game costs you 13,99?

I gave the game a 7 because in it's current state it was alot of fun playing with my friends.
And enjoying a game is the main reason we go out and buy games.

I appreciate your comment, but I think you should play the game before making some of the comments you did.

[76561198089116497]

Thanks for the review, very thorough

[Nukoto]

Updated my review, I missed out a bit! Sorry.
If you would like to read it, it's below everything I wrote.

[Brune]

Ursprungligen skrivet av Sharkey:

Ursprungligen skrivet av TAW| MrMango:

I've watched quit a lot of gameplay footage and other reviews, and sorry, but this is NOT a good game.
And it isnt a 7/10, It could be a 5/10 if you close your eyes, put your hands on your ears and start singing.

Overall, the animation quality is one of the worst I've seen in a long time, physics are non existent and you will not find a single design thats not straight copyed from another game thats way better then Orion.

The AI is also far from any good, I mean, what do you expect? They are Dinosaurs they do 1 thing, running straight at you and bite you...thats it.

And my only comment on PvP is, that People seem to be bullet sponges. I mean, 6 shots from a Shotgun at point blank to kill someone? Really?!
Even Halo MP is considered to be "Bullet spongy" but is still a lot of fun!

Also, how is it possible that random people can join your "Friends only" lobby?
Or another question, why would you buy a knife in the game if you have to switch to it because there is no hotkey for a "better knife" attack in the game, thats not difficult, thats actually something good to copy from other games!

Overall, the game is a little bit better then back in 2012 but still garbage.

Oh and did I mentioned a cash shop (Skins, Taunts, Colours, helmets...) while the game costs you 13,99?

You are judging his review as wrong based on youtube videos not based on any experience you yourself have had

Isn't that the point of a review? To inform you enough to make an opinion on whether the game is good or bad?

[andy888]

dis gaem fuggin sux lel :DDDDDDDDDDDDD

[PRAZ]

I realize this is slightly older and hope you revisit but this is my first time seeing it due to the "bump".

Awesome review! Thanks for taking the time to write all of this up as I am sure it will help a lot of people!

Don't forget about some of the other Dinosaurs - Spinosaurus and Deinosuchus!

Also not sure if this is based on a slightly older build of the game but I recommend re-checking out 3rd person as we have been giving it a lot of love in some recent patches.

You will also be very happy to know that "winter is coming" in December via the (free) ARCTIC UPPDATE (Playable Triceratops, Sentry guns, etc).

[Spectral_Light]

Great job with this game, dev. I enjoy playing this game despite any shortcomings, and that is what a game is all about - enjoyment. Did you slip in any hot fixes with the latest DLC? I don't remember the game running this well when I played it the last time. Thanks for everything and please keep updating this game :).

[IndigoRaptor]

Ursprungligen skrivet av Spectral_Light:

Great job with this game, dev. I enjoy playing this game despite any shortcomings, and that is what a game is all about - enjoyment. Did you slip in any hot fixes with the latest DLC? I don't remember the game running this well when I played it the last time. Thanks for everything and please keep updating this game :).

There... may have been a little bit of optimization and smoothing involved ;)

[Spectral_Light]

Awesome! Thanks!

[raupi]

Ursprungligen skrivet av Spiral Swayne:

There... may have been a little bit of optimization and smoothing involved ;)

On top of all the good smoothing, there may be some excessive smoothing around the weapons in third person view. Every move I make gets them super blurry ;)