Recent reviews by Liberteer

I've waited for 65 GB to download, only to discover that you can't log in with your Wargaming account. I don't want to start again after having a Wargaming account since 2011.

This should be clearly stated on the store page. Until it is, this negative review will remain.

This has been my impulsive Black Friday purchase, because I haven't played anything in a while, and I kinda felt an urge to play an action game. Being priced at 9.99, I've felt this game was the one I've needed because I've always loved WWII games, although I haven't played too many of those (first Medal of Honor on PSX will forever be my favorite).

Unfortunately, after two and half hours (three solo missions and sometime in multiplayer), I'm not feeling any love toward World at War. There are several reasons why. Solo campaign missions are nothing more then linear spot fest that doesn't allow you to take action on your own - you enter one area of the map, you clear out the enemies and then you're gone. Game feels like a big budget movie, but mechanics are thin and not interesting at all. It's shoot, reload, shoot again. I know it's not a tactical shooter, but I've expected just a little bit more freedom, at moments it feels like a rail shooter.

I could probably go for these problems if it wasn't for THE WORST hit registration I have ever witnessed in a game, as far as I can remember. This was an AAA title at some point and having seven headshots fired without any of them registering just to get stabbed by a bayonet or killed by a grenade that you couldn't throw back by pressing middle mouse because game didn't register your frantic button mashing, it seems absurd and quite frankly - frustrating.

I had some more time in multiplayer on few servers, but bear in mind most players now are game vets and you're gonna score pretty low if you're newbie like me. Although game offers many different multiplayer modes, unfortunately these days only deathmatch (F4A) and team deathmatch are being played.

I will probably keep on pushing the campaign until it's very end because I've paid for it and I'm already over two hours (if I wasn't, I would try to refund it), but no love from me. Or maybe I'm just tired of killing. We'll never know.

Just prior to closing my Steam review group, I've received a curator's code for Where They Cremate The Roadkill. The game has been on stand-by for some time, but I've managed to get an hour out of it before succumbing back to my usual daily routine. Mind I will play it again, but I am writing this review because it's long overdue.

Stylistically, this is one of the most unique interactive experiments (see how I refuse to call it a game?) I've encountered. Part Dadaism, part LSD induced vaporwave nightmare, Where They Cremate The Roadkill will not stop surprising you with each next step.

Accompanying the visuals are strange, vibrating sounds and omnious music that fits the idea perfectly. Storywise, it's a game that doesn't lend you a hand and continues earlier formed pattern of experiment. The narrative seems incoherent, but if you move back from the tree, you've might catch the glimpse of the forest...

if you don't give up after suffering some of the worst gaming mechanics I've witnessed.

WTCTR is intended to be an action RPG, yet it doesn't work. Controls are clumsy, menus are strange and impossible to understand unless you Google 'em. This part of the experiment should be more clear because at certain points, I was paying more attention to how to do something than to what is going on around.

It's an experimental game, and just like that, it's designated to be played, consumed, experienced by niche audience, not by your typical gamer. I can understand that - just like everyone doesn't dig freestyle jazznoise, not everyone is destined to see the beautiful strangeness of Where They Cremate The Roadkill.

Color-by-numbers pages back in early nineties were the first podium for me to expose myself as young anarchist - no, I would never color how you tell me to! This is my coloring page!

Now, quarter a century later, I'm still into punk rock and ideas of anarchy, but I do color by numbers. Simply, it's fun.

Coloring Pixels is completely free-to-play game that allows players to do what they did in children magazines with crayons - you color by numbers. In case you don't have the slightest idea what I'm talking about (come on!), you get black and white wireframe photo, this time chopped into small squares (hence those Pixels in titles) and there's a number in each of squares.

1 is for red, 2 is for yellow, 3 is for... you get it.

I could imagine a bunch of ways this idea could go wrong (just check out mobile versions of the same idea with ludicrous in-app purchases and what not), but ToastieLabs did a fine job. First of all, game is responsive, buttery smooth, even running on potato (look at me, doing a slang thing!). Controls are fine, zooming in and moving around the map is easy enough to do, although it can be pain in the ass to scroll the color dock when you have 30+ colors.

There are three albums available with different images, ranging both in size, difficulty, and I'm afraid to say, quality. Some of these pose a real challenge, while other look like fillers next to killers. Album 1 is basically where you want your kids to start their adventure (a lot of great pictures), while album 2 will occupy your attention with complex pixel art, ranging even up to 400x400 pixels.

Word of warning, especially to those parents who will allow their kids to play this game: after a certain amount of time, game does cause an eye strain. Make your kids pause their coloring and move away from any type of screens. I would say half an hour sessions are more than enough. (I am really turning old and wise)

What really seems to be missing is replay option - once you're done coloring, you can't recolor your pages (if this has changed in one of the updates, ignore it). Also, a Workshop implementation would prove to be a fantastic feature because we all know what community created content can do to life span of a game.

However, Coloring Pixels is a solid fun, and a way to soothe the wildling, be it an adult after hard workday or kid doing a temper tantrum dance.

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This review is part of Got Some Spare Change? series of review hosted by Libereviews ( https://steamcommunity.com/groups/libereviews ). The idea is to present cheap, yet great gaming titles. All games presented in GSSC series were bought on Steam for 1.99 $/€ or less (discounted games included).

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Game: Swarmlake
Paid: Full price (0.99 €)

Maybe it's time to find yourself a dealer or overdose on coffeine, 'cause it's rush time! Swarmlake is pure adrenaline, set against the drum'n'bass music (unfortunately, only one track for now). You're armed with your fully automatic, never-stops-firing-gun and you need to survive the geometrical shapes onslaught for as long as possible, while collecting green shards to increase your high score and enter the leaderboards.

Now, you've may read that this game is similar to Devil Daggers, and you've might look upon it that way, but don't. Let me stop you right there. I own Devil Daggers. I LOVE DEVIL DAGGERS. It's a great little game, and so is Swarmlake. But they are different, no matter what your guts or screenshots may be telling you.

First of all, Swarmlake is frenetic. It's chaotic, brainless fun, where you end up surrounded by literally thousands of enemies and you manage to fight your way out. It's basically a complete, lobby-scene-in-the-first-Matrix insanity. Your gun won't stop shooting, and they won't stop coming. The arena is endless, but you have nowhere to hide, since the very beginning, the enemies are attacking from each and every direction.

And Devil Daggers may appear to be nonsensical shoot'n'run, but it actually relies on a lot of strategy when compared to Swarmlake. There's no time to think in Swarmlake because enemies are actually a huge SWARM that... swarms the arena. But the thing is, it's not about staying alive for as long as possible, it's about collecting the green stuff and green stuff will actually make you enter the eye of the hurricane, the very middle and try to survive being surrounded if you want to reach the leaderboards heights. Great thing is that, beside being truly fluid when it comes to movement, Swarmlake allows players to rocketjump and keep on jumping on top of the swarm while shooting down, presenting players with numerous dodging possibilities that will make you really boost those scores. Achievements are also available, and they're alphabet letters for every score milestone for up to 10000.

CONCLUSION: Fantastic first entry in GSSC series. Games like these are reason why I like writing about games and presenting them to people. It's kid friendly, more extreme version of Devil Daggers that will make you come back for more.

Despite knowing about original Geometry Wars for quite a few years now, I've never played it. However, an itch to get a scorechaser finally made me reach for 1.99 € on Steam Summer Sale and get myself a ticket to Geometry hell.

Basically, it's an old school shooter, dipped in electrifying neon colors. It uses twin stick mechanics for shooting and moving, which means you're as good as dead without controller. I'm having some trouble getting used to shooting and moving, it is fluid, but not fluid in the way I'd like it to be. Basically, you just can't shoot in every direction, no matter how desperately you need to at certain point, so it causes a lot of frustration. All the new-age git-gud stories cannot be applied here, I simply don't like the mechanics of shooting.

The rules are simple - you try to stay alive for as long as possible, destroying geometric shapes that come for your ass, while multiplaying scores. Esentially, it's a coin muncher game on Steam and that's the main problem.

Now, this game hasn't aged well. Not in the terms of gameplay nor graphics, I can work with both of these. Unfortunately, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved is too simple and not engaging enough to keep me hanging around.

I love chasing scores, but it's not fun at all when you're the only person around chasing them, right? Unfortunately, game lacks proper leaderboards, providing players with only the local ones, which means no real competition nor sense of achievement can be derived from this game (unless you play locally with someone else - I don't). There are no other Steam implementation options such as achievements. The music is repetative, the effects strain eyes and there's no option to tone it down, there are no unlockables, no multiplayer, no nothing.

I know this is old school. I know the point is in simplicity. I'm just saying it didn't age well, plus, as far as I can tell, the whole game is included in Geometry Wars 3, which defies any reason to get this one. I did because it was cheap and can't afford third one right now. Playing Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved may be one of your favorite past time activities, but there are other, indie, simple, yet more interesting games out there, even belonging to the same genre. I firmly do believe Geometry Wars 3 is more fulfilling - who knows, I've might check it some day.

Going to Refund Office.

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You have reached the end of a review. However, there's more, plus giveaways, plus cool community of great gamers right at http://steamcommunity.com/groups/libereviews Follow the curator's page here: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/10953338/

This review is sponsored by...

Actually, it's not sponsored by anyone, but you'll recognize the reference if you've played Runner2 or maybe even dabbled with Runner3 already. Runner3, according to its name, is a Runner2's sequel and third game in BIT.TRIP Runner series. Just as Runner2, it's not imprisoned behind the bars of 8bit graphics, so Gaij... sorry, Choice Provisions went wild and created one of the most stunning, beautiful platformers worlds of the last few years.

For you who didn't play Runner games before, they're tough-as-nails platformers, an endless runners (until the end of the level) where you control jumping, sliding, crouching and other sorts of movement, trying to evade objects and enemies because once you hit the wrong button and you crash, you fly back to the beginning of the stage or, at least, to mid-stage checkpoint which was introduced in Runner2. The series relied heavily on music and rhythm, with musical backgrounds developing as you've collected bars and upgrade + signs (now boomboxes).

Runner3 pretends to be the biggest and greatest game in the series and foolishly, you may believe that if you're not a fan like me. First of all, the number of core levels is 27. Beside so-called impossible levels and retro levels, the number is depressingly low. Devs tried to balance that by making levels longer, with branching gold bars (classic difficulty) and gems (higher difficulty) paths. However, having a longer levels in tough platformer easily leads to frustration.

Beside longer levels, Runner3 is being throttled by two other major and disfunctional game design decisions. One is a changing camera. There's no more simple side scrolling, camera in Runner3 is acting like it took a hit of acid. It changes perspectives, zooms in and zooms out. Pair it with new additions such as vehicles and occasional artificial speed-ups and you're bound to find yourself replaying levels more often than needed, either because of failing or missing golden bars and gems because you can't see 'em. Visual elements also make gameplay harder than it should be, by obscuring parts of the path.

Third and the biggest sin of Runner3 is that rhythmic part of the game is almost completely gone. Soundtrack is not as good as in the first two games and usually background music doesn't serve you as a cue when to perform an action. First Runner game was a frustration dipped in rhythmic ecstasy, second one followed on that path, Runner3 unfortunately makes music no longer act as a tool, but as a simple background element.

In all fairness, if you haven't played Runner's games before, you will find most of my remarks invalid since the colorful platformer still offers as a loads of fun, new hero quests (reasons to replay even more), unlockable characters, cutscenes, shop cosmetics, bonus retro platformer (basically a game inside of a game) and, of course, Charles Martinet. But I am still grading it as Runner's game and it fails to deliver what Runner3 should, thus making my enjoyment lesser.

If you can skip it, skip it - if you can't, get it while on discount.

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You have reached the end of a review. However, there's more, plus giveaways, plus cool community of great gamers right at http://steamcommunity.com/groups/libereviews Follow the curator's page here: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/10953338/

Pajitnov's Tetris, Pope's Papers, Please, Barone's Stardew Valley, Sexton's Unturned - game design history has seen numerous good titles developed entirely by a single person. There's something magical in the fact one human being can create a great game that captures our attention and doesn't let go. I have a soft spot for one man studios whose games are, logically, almost always an indie experiments solely depending on fans support, word-of-mouth marketing and in the last few years - crowdfunding.

Bacioiu Ciprian's Ebony Spire: Heresy is one of those indie games that you desperately want to love, because you can see it wants to press all the right buttons in your brain's enjoyment department and yet it doesn't. It's like a tease that feels awkward, like a chase without any catch at all, when even the chase proves to be pointless.

This is a dungeon crawler similar to games such as Dungeon Hack and Eye of The Beholder. Yes, these are older games and Ebony Spire tries to mimic those. Essentially, you're moving in first person view through designed (Classic mode) or procedurally generated (Infinite mode) levels trying to find an exit. On your way, you collect items and meet enemies you either attack or evade, that move on.

Most interesting and positive aspect of Ebony Spire is its pixel art. You'll meet interesting enemies in not that interesting surroundings that get pretty dull as time goes by.

And for the negative aspects, oh boy, here we go...

There are three classes available to players in the beginning of the game. There's a horrific imbalance between these classes, making Berserker (blunt force trauma guy) the best one to use.

Although the game's concept is nothing new, a complete lack of tutorial will make you die so many times without knowing what actually killed you (reading your stats will get you nowhere). Game kinda just drops you in there without any warnings. If it was an arcade score chaser, I would say - fine. But it's not. And it's pretty dull when you die for 10th time, only realizing then you need to equip your weapon before trying to kill someone.

Aaaand then we come to controls - nonrebindable, completely confusing, WORST CONTROL SYSTEM EVER. Good luck to lefties. You use WASD to change options in the menu, but you need to use both WASD and arrow keys in combination if you want to strafe (A + D) or turn left and right (left arrow + right arrow). How about finding what your other buttons are? Game doesn't give you any clues, but you'll learn via Google you'll press O for opening doors, P for picking up stuff, I for inventory and > (in my case :) to climb to next level. Controls are unintuitive and displeasing.

There is an option to make the game run full screen (by default it runs windows), but to do that, you will need to either Google it or ask the developer, so as far as I'm concerned, there's no viable way to run a game in full screen.
And last, but not the least - you will see everything there's to see in less than two hours. No matter it's 100+ items and procedurally generated dungeons, Ebony Spire: Heresy doesn't excite me nor provides me with enough ideas to make me want to come again. It lacks a LOT of basic features, so you end up feeling like you've bought an Early Access title without EA tag displayed on its front page.

As far as I can see, the last dev's comment on the discussion forums was in February and there hasn't been any update in five months. Judging by the fact this game got some heat generated by the fact Gamasutra published an article about Ciprian gambling with this one, pouring his time, money and strength into it and then not getting enough out of it, one can only assume (and hopefully I assume wrong) that development of this game, an essential development that will bring more features and fix bugs, is unfortunately dead.

The source's code is freely available to all customers, so maybe, just maybe, we will get a modded version once, making Ebony Spire: Heresy, all it wanted, and needed, to be.

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You have reached the end of a review. However, there's more, plus giveaways, plus cool community of great gamers right at http://steamcommunity.com/groups/libereviews Follow the curator's page here: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/10953338/

Unfortunately, sometimes you don't need more play hours to see everything a certain game has to offer.

A few years ago, I've stumbled upon an original Offensive Combat title. What really got me interested in the game is the technology behind it - it actually ran as a free 3D FPS inside your browser. You've connected to the game via Facebook account and it was an nifty little shooter, a perfect workplace time killer in case you can't install other games. Something to keep you twitching.

Offensive Combat went offline at certain point and returned as Offensive Combat: Redux! As the name implies, it's a sequel (or a remake, I'd rather say) of free-to-play title, now priced at 9.99 € or 14.99 dollars, with regular intervals of free keys being dispatched via competitions and different websites.

Now why would a company dispatch so many free keys every now and then? Well, Redux version is fighting a horrendous lack of players - according to steamcharts.com, Offensive Combat Redux! had an average playerbase of 9.9 players when it was released (back in August 2017) with an all-time high of 28.9 players in March 2018, dropping to haunting number of 5.7 players in the last 30 days. There's something that needs to be done, and keeping price tag of 9.99 surely won't help Offensive Combat: Redux!

Now there's a theory I could accept and that states that writing negative review for a good game based around low playerbase will effectively kill the game. Somehow, I do agree with that theory, but thumbs down are not caused by low playerbase, but by the fact Offensive Combat: Redux! simply isn't good and fun FPS shooter and it doesn't justify its price tag, especially not in the world where awesome games such as Reflex Arena (9.99 €) and Toxikk (free/14.99 € for full version) are grasping for fresh blood.

Single player offers deathmatch and wave based survival modes. These modes don't work on every available map, and even if they did, you'd be bored to death because of the worst bot AI I have witnessed in my life. These bots are pure horror, no matter if we're talking about shooting or pathfinding. Bots get stuck in the walls, don't shoot at each other, don't shoot at you and when they do, they aim terribly. It makes single player experience an awful one.

Game's cartoonish visual presentation and audio are somewhat interesting, but the aiming and getting stuck in the walls surely isn't. One of the main features of game is being able to PWN your enemies - when you kill someone, you'll get a chance to taunt players with short or longer animations which, if you don't get killed in the process of trying to teabag your opponent, will grant you coins or, in rarer cases, parts of costumes for your player (players can make new costumes by combining head, torso, legs, arms and hands parts, ultimately creating freakish dressing combos).

The gameplay itself is pretty rudimentary and losing its appeal pretty fast. I can always go for classic multiplayer modes which OCR offers such as deathmatch, team deathmatch and CTF, but beside not being able to play these matches in multiplayer because of low playerbase, movement and gun wielding is pretty primitive and basic. And not in Quake/Reflex Arena/UT way, it simply looks and feels crude.

Offensive Combat: Redux! also forces players to choose different loadouts and upgrade their weapons. Most people won't have problems with loadouts, but I do, when they're enforced in game like this. It simply does not fit.

Unfortunately, change of developer/publisher caused Offensive Combat: Redux! to be much worse than its predecessor. While I could accept the problems in the original game since it was always choke full of players and free-to-play, I find current problems in Redux! to be untolerable and somehow I don't believe these things will change.

A crying shame.

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I was eyeing Spelunky for a long time and when it appeared to be a secret gift in another game distribution's mystery sale, I've managed to trade some other games for it. At first, strange roguelike platformer didn't appeal to me and I really didn't enjoy exploring the world... until I've found out I've been playing it wrong the whole time.

You've probably heard about Spelunky so far and nothing I write will make this review any more informative than the others in this section, but let me try. Spelunky is Mossmouth's tough-as-nails roguelike platformer that make curious quasi (In)Diana Jones go down the rabbit hole and explore new and strange underground areas. These fully destructible and randomly generated areas (mold them with your bombs) are brim filled with different traps and monsters which will make your life miserable, but luckily you will be able to learn about different attacks and trap mechanisms as you travel through the land of the unknown, therefore making each new experience a more succesful one, at least statistically you'll have more chance of surviving by knowing what you're encountering.

I was always a hard on when it comes to platformers and controlling your characters, however, there's (almost) nothing you can complain about when it comes to Spelunky. The game controls feel fluid and natural with both controller and keyboard, although I would like to see more elegant solution to ledge grabbing mechanic - it isn't bad, it simply takes some more time to get used to it.

Now, to rewind to the beginning and explain this stuff about 'playing the game wrong'. At first I've played the game trying to speed down through the levels. That kind of attitude will get you murdered most of the times, especially in new, undiscovered areas. However, you can't keep on creeping and moving slowly since once the invisible timer's up, the unbeatable ghost will start hunting you down - if you don't escape it through the escape exit, you're doomed. This ghost is what actually keeps you on the edge of your seat - your perception will change, your ideas about risk and time will develop as the game progresses and soon you will discover Spelunky is all about The Middle Way - being balanced between caution and rushing through the level.

Beside main adventure mode and daily challenges, Spelunky offers deathmatch mode for up to 4 players that resembles Duck Game - players need to finish off other players using an array of weaponry. It's a fun mode for peeps who're hanging around the peeps who like Spelunky, although it would tremendously profit from having online multiplayer enabled, which it doesn't.

One more thing that Spelunky doesn't have is Steam Cloud... and that's how you discover how you got spoiled by commodities of today's gaming. When I've started playing on my second computer, I was dissapointed when I've realized all of my unlocked characters, journal entries and statistics are gone - they're stored locally. It's not a dealbreaker, however, it's worth mentioning if you're playing on multiple computers or in the process of formatting your PC.

Spelunky is difficult yet fair and entertaining game. Even getting it at full price is totally reasonable, but you should probably wait for a sale if you're not eager to play it at this very moment since the price drops heavily during those happy times.

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