Recent reviews by Manual_Control

I don't leave reviews often, Especially not for Mods, but this one was actually pretty good. Good Voicework, Good (and wacky) premise, nice cutscenes, and decently long to boot.

Only think I wasn't a fan of were the "COD Zombies"-esqe power-ups you could find. Felt kinda... Off. First time I saw one I had to do a double-take since I just wasn't expecting something like that just out in the open. Maybe for a secret or an Easter egg, but just having them there kinda broke the "Immersion". Granted, I'm a 1920s Detective fighting the Combine while Time-traveling, So the immersion wasn't that concrete to begin with, but it was still getting there...

NEW REVIEW: With the defeat of Sony by all the passionate helldivers in this community, the linking of a PSN account now seems to no longer be a requirement, and I hope that all the people who bought the game in non-PSN countries will now be able to Helldive again in peace.

However, I urge everyone to not relax just yet. Sony will very likely try this again in the coming months.

Be ready, Be vigilent.

I will leave the old review below for posterity's sake, and so that if they try it again I can just revert it back.

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ORIGINAL REVIEW: I don't review things often. I most certainly don't leave negative reviews on games I love playing and have had an absolute blast with.

But Arrowhead and Sony making PSN Account Linking mandatory after 2 months is scum, there is no two ways about it.

In the Account Linking FAQ on their Discord, they state this for the thousands of players who cannot make a PSN account in their home region:

"3. I am currently in a country or territory that is not PSN-enabled. Can I still sign in and link an account?

PSN requires users to register in their country or territory of residence. Individuals who are traveling, working, or studying abroad may create an account in a country or territory different from the one in which they are currently located. "

Not only does this tell people who's country doesn't have access to PSN to either move countries or break Sony TOS to link a PSN account, but doing so will just lead them to being banned anyway. If that's the case, These regions should not have been able to even buy the game in the first place.

Arrowhead and Sony screwed the pooch, and I can no longer give the game a good review like I was planning to last week.

30 Hours is enough time to spend on a game to justify a review, Yes?

So... For a Free to Play card game, this game is actually fairly enjoyable to play casually with friends. The game will more or less shower you in the F2P currency in the beginning. In fact, by the time the shower stops, you should be able to get enough of the card packs to make at least 3 solid decks that you enjoy using.

Speaking of Card Packs.

In terms of predatory Gacha Game Marketing tactics, Master Duel has been one of the tamest I have seen in a while, Not constantly pushing you to make a purchase with real money, Everything can be gained with Gems that (again) the game showers you with, And even if one does use real money, They will never have an inherent advantage over someone who is purely free to play.

So playing with friends is pretty good, When you step into Ranked however, You'll likely be bombarded with sweatlords who only follow "THE META", people who have crafted a deck specifically to win in one turn, or players who are only there to waste your time by negating everything you do.

As always, I will not factor Ranked play into my recommendations, especially in card games, because people will always find ways to make it as unfun to play as possible against them.

It's a fun, easy, free introductory Battle Royale game for people. Really, That's all that needs to be said.

Alright look. I'm not gonna tell you that the gameplay is horrible, or that the game looks like garbage. I have too little hours in the game to do that. I will at least tell you what I know from the time I spent playing it.

The gameplay itself is... Decent. Not horrible, not the greatest. There are points where the game feels like a lot of filler, but also parts where it does feel like your tackling a hostile environment that you shouldn't be a match for.

The graphics are actually pretty good in my eyes. You can tell a lot of work went into making the planet look like a frozen hellscape and the equipment seem industrial and semi-feasible.

No, the real reason I am giving this a negative review is very simple.

This is a decent game. But it's not a Lost Planet game.

I suspect the real reason this game is as panned as it has been (wouldn't know for sure) is because most of this game absolutely feels like it was a completely different franchise getting "Lost Planet" slapped onto it.

Look, I'm going to be real with you. If you want to be Mr. Lonewolf bang-bang-shoot-man who effortlessly takes out enemies and win a war with barely any tactics, Then I don't know how you got here but this game is NOT for you.

This is a game for those that like Logistics and Strategy, The people who relish the ideas of supply chains and "Big Picture" strategy.

It's a game for people who appreciate teamwork with other people on a large scale, As there are full units dedicated to playing the game with each other in PvP or PvE operations.

It is a game for people who enjoy being a "Game Master" for others, Creating and running missions for Units.

If you like any of that, You can find your place in this game easily.

I honestly love the game to death and haven't stopped playing since I got it.

The campaign is just great in my opinion. It's missions feel like you're really working to complete them, that these are actual combat zones where you can die just as easily as the enemy. But when that "Mission Accomplished" pops up in blue, You need to just sit back and take a breath. Well, As long as you're not playing on "Easy".

The music is simply wonderful during missions. Whether it's the epic solos and symphonies or the powerful vocals (especially during Daredevil), I just can't get enough of it. It's as if they reach right into you to and grab hold of your heart so that you get the full brunt of the beats in time to the tempo of battle.

But if there is one thing I'll have to knock it for, It's most likely the multiplayer. :T

Not because it's bad or some such. But because there are so few players online usually, and those that are online usually trounce any new players (like myself) until it just becomes unfun to play. It's just simply not enjoyable to keep spawning and respawning every ten seconds because everyone else in the lobby outclasses you in every way. But hey, If you want to feel like the poor SOBs you shoot down in the Campaign, I guess you can go there to experience it.

But again, This is likely only due to the lack of players online, as the ones that stay are most likely the ones who have invested the most time into the game. And that, Sadly, makes the Multiplayer very hostile to people getting into Ace Combat 7 (or Ace Combat at all) for the first time.

I will still recommend the game for the single player alone though, because of how much I love it.