Recent reviews by Crazed Java

I've realized I just don't like card battlers. Too many limitations, too many artificial barriers pretending to be "challenge". This is one of the few that gets it right and I love it.
While the randomness can kill a run for the most part once you get the mechanics you can do well with the randomness varying your challenge and maybe your approach.
What I love more than anything is the flow of combat once you explore a map and start to accumulate cards and advantages. Unlike most card battlers I feel like if I manage my cards well outside of combat and make smart choices in combat I do well and defeat is usually my fault more often than not. I like that so much better than games that limit you to 3 action points and throw 6 enemies at you. It never feels stupid challenging unless you make poor choices or take on reckless risks.

A game I've probably started 5 times but is so dense it was hard to stick with. I finally decided to do a full playthrough but even after learning the game mechanics it's just too much of a slog.
For a game called "Star Traders" you can't make money without tanking your reputation and the reputation system is so punishing. Even if you attack no one you can make enemies with almost everyone by doing harmless actions but anything seen good by one faction is seen as bad by one or more. In the end you have so many sectors and planets that are no go zones because you helped one side a little too much.
I love the idea of managing a crew that is fully fleshed out. Never found a game that did that. However, you can't sneeze in this game without upsetting a faction. You're constantly searching for missions since you can't trade but missions have a similar problem.
If you love court intrigues, diplomacy, and drama this is your game but if you want to do trading among the stars this isn't it.

I've tried multiple times to get into it. Seems like such a great concept, very charming graphics. Love the presentation and in theory an awesome idea.
The controls are just your biggest enemy. Constantly zooming in and out, having to tag every little thing and tagging map markers, enemies, etc. is a huge pain because if you zoom out enough to have a decent field of vision you can't see anything but if you zoom in it becomes a pinpoint exercise.
Wouldn't be so bad if your crew wasn't completely brain dead without your constant guidance. That's what I hate about real-time interfaces is the enemy is fine and you are in control of a lobotomized army of zombies. Just little things like they might actually engage untagged fighters since I can't see them and if I am searching for untagged enemies that's not addressing ammo shortages, repairs, etc.
So instead of feeling like I'm playing a game it's more like trying to guide a group of toddlers, except their flying a plane! While under fire!
I'm glad others have stuck with it but it's way too frustrating and wouldn't be so bad if they literally weren't so dumb that you have to tell them to lower the landing gear, open the bomb doors, etc. If the crew had some agency it would work so much better.

I want to like this. There is the bones of a good game here but leans heavily on JRPG tropes that waste time. Autosave is terrible which means you can't pick up and play but have to dedicate some time to. That wouldn't be so bad but in early game nothing is clear. No fast travel, lots of wandering around, not always clear what you are supposed to do next. Wander around long enough and you'll find your next objective but that leads to lots and lots of empty playtime where your walking around the same maps, maybe get a random encounter to spice things up, but generally almost feels like a "cozy" game.
I really like the fights, tactics, and ability to auto-battle away the nuisance stuff.
I generally like the character design. Story is fairly typical, nothing special.
Glad I got this on a deep discount. For $50 it's more like they're charging you for a bunch of characters you'll never get to.

It's a wonderful gameplay loop that doesn't get repetitive until the store gets larger. Overall it's been a blast. There is just enough going on that you can immerse yourself in the store, have fun opening packs, or engage in slot car races with skill cards to vary up the races so it's not just "fastest car wins", though that will sometimes be the case regardless.
On the downside, as you get around Level 20 or so and if you've kept up the store the micromanagement necessary gets a bit overwhelming. They really need to implement the store employee concept and also fix the daily price fluctuations.
Still, a solid thumbs up. I'm not a big fan of these kinds of games and yet I lost almost an entire Sunday when I first got this game. If you like toy cars, shop simulators, or gacha mechanics this scratches all 3 itches.

I love mecha but I'm more of a "real robot" fan, not a big fan of the super robot genre so even though this game had a lot of elements that appealed to me I passed on it for a long time. That was a mistake.
When I finally checked it out I found a game where the robot controls were great and it felt like a super duper cartoon logic robot following the same mission structure of beating a horde of mooks until you face the big nasty at the end of the episode. It's a formula that works.
My two big complaints are there are too many game mechanics that seem trivial and needlessly obtuse, like developing chips. Also, the story gets in the way. It's a good story but tends to be drawn out and skipping it can lead to confusion as it can be beneficial to understand what is going on in a mission and what you need to do. They need a tighter script, faster pace, and focus more on the robot combat. Time wise you spend more time trying to click through the story instead of fighting and that's a big problem.

Even though I'm giving it a thumbs down I'd love to see a sequel. I got pulled in by some recent hype and I love me some giant robots. This is the third mecha game I've bought this month and without naming the others I feel like Gearbits has done a better job of being a mecha simulator with its control scheme making it feel like you're doing the actual piloting but not making it as clunky as a certain game with warriors piloting mechs that feel more like walking tanks than fighting robots. I love the control scheme so much and the concept is great.

The missions though, are terrible. I wanted to love this so much but I was sold on a horde shooter that has you doing silly things. Along with the realistic controls you're not an instant ace pilot and yet you go up against other bots early and the gearbits themselves are fragile. Then in another early mission your pitted against multiple bots and their reinforcements with your worthless squadmates. That doesn't even get into silly fetch and retrieve, missions where you have to tag bugs and not shoot them, etc.

So I have a horde or bugs that I rarely fight. Also, on one of the few missions you do fight them it is the dreaded escort mission. Escort missions have ALWAYS sucked and even more when the trucks your defending are apparently made out of cardboard.

So if the developer wants to do a follow-up where we get a story where we get to actually progress missions fighting the bugs promised I'll be there. There is a simple horde mode that is separate from the story but it not enough by itself.

As so many have said, Steam really needs a neutral option. I can't quite give this a thumbs down but it barely gets a thumbs up.

I love the concept and the artwork is fantastic. The depiction of the world is great and we need more card battlers that aren't your typical fantasy elves/orc setting so it fills a very big gap making it unique.

However, I found the mechanics annoying. So many card battler rougelites follow the same irritating tropes and you put up with it knowing what your getting into but there are extra mechanics on top with energy management and different systems that are reflected in the cards that just causes more frustration. Honestly, the micro-managing of these aspects took a lot out of the fights, which are the core of the game. Instead of a thrilling space battle I found myself just wanting the fights to be over, win or lose, because it felt like I was having to make silly choices that drew out the fights instead of them getting resolved a lot quicker. Worse, it doesn't make the game feel any more difficult it's just one more silly thing to manage.

I put up with things like energy/fuel gauges because it's an easy game trick to create tension and stakes, the slow whittling away of your health, and so on. But a quick tight battle, win or lose, is not a bad thing and then let's get onto the next node to see how I'm going to get screw instead of "OMG it's going to take 4 more turns to wear this stupid ship down"

Again, there is so much here that I can't bring myself to give it a thumbs down but I have put it down because I just found it boring and irritating instead of tense and interesting.

Steam still needs a neutral rating. I'm barely going to give it a thumbs up just because I think there is objectively more good then bad.
Bad:
- The game system is explained very poorly so if you don't already know the WH40K Rogue Trader rules a lot of it feels like your guessing at character builds.
- Combat is trying a little to hard to ape X-Com and has the same problem as so many WH40K games I've played. You're "65%" misses way more often then it should while your opponents all seem to have laser like accuracy across the map. This is on "Normal" difficulty. Would be less of an issue except the game quickly has you outnumbered 3 to 1 by early mid-game and if your don't have good character builds....
- Loot also leaves a lot to be desired. Maybe if the trade option was available sooner and explained better. You end up storing a lot of stuff and there is a lot of junk in your inventory you can't remove. You can filter your inventory, which helps, but it gets to be a cluttered mess quickly
- Again, rules being poorly explained its hard to get excited about drops when so much crap is left behind. If you could trade said crap for something useful that would be one thing but instead it buys "influence" more than better gear.
- Map navigation is terrible. Just adding something as simple as a compass would be a major QoL improvement.
- Your Sister of Battle is a joke and your best combat unit is your Navigator but why would you have someone that valuable in the field?

Good:
- Look, I've played a ton of WH40K games and from a lore perspective this is as good as it gets. Are you a die-hard 40K grimdark fanboi? They did you good. Sometimes just putting in the effort on the setting is major points for me.
- Weapons and armor look like they should. If you're going to make your CRPG this is a crucial detail and really adds to the immersion. Weapons sound and behave like you expect though they can feel a little underpowered at times. A bolter doesn't seem much more powerful than a lasgun.
- I've read a ton of Black Library books and the story is really well done. Not "well done" for a CRPG way but in a way that I'm invested and go out of my way to read entries and learn more. I get so bored with how most games do this but the writers brought their A game.
- Kind of feeds the first point but the weird logic of the different factions is on full display and in keeping with what you expect. It can make navigating conversations weird but that is how I envision trying to survive in this setting.
- You really can play it the way you want with choices having an impact throughout the game, not just in the ending.

Enjoying it so far. Gives you what you expect from an Idle game and love the superhero setting.