Recent reviews by max

Wish I could leave this positive review under better circumstances (as this is an awesome game), but unfortunately I'm giving this thumbs up out of spite to Microsoft/Bethesda for shutting down Tango Gameworks. What were y'all thinking?

Highlights:
- art style nailed the textured/cel-shaded combo reminiscent of Borderlands, Roboquest, etc.
- red shotgun firing animation is cool, reminds me of the Halo 4 forerunner weaponry
- I like the SYNC gameplay hook of possessing different robots. Each robot is a unique playstyle. Makes for a fun FPS. Don't think I've seen that used to this extent in a game before.
- electronic score (music) totally nails the theme you're going for.
- Solid FPS gameplay at its core. Some of the platforming segments highlight just how precise the movement is, which not all FPS games have.

Room for improvement:
- I didn't like that the game defaults to 1280x720 and low graphics. 1920x1080 and at least medium is standard.
- volume sliders are slow to drag left & right, they also don't apply instantly when you click APPLY (they apply in the next scene I think, which could mean an entire level later). I usually prefer when I click somewhere on a slider that the slider will jump right to where I clicked.
- The settings menu when pausing the game has no "return" [to pause menu] button, it only has a main menu button which made me afraid that I was going to back out to the main menu mid-mission when I wanted to resume the game.
- dialogue mix is all over the place. robot voice effects/filters are cool but the dialogue volume jumps between too quiet to hear and ridiculously loud/clipping/distorted.
- The red shotgun firing sound lacked kick/oomph to me and sounded more like a laser. I recommend trying to layer that sound with some real shotgun/explosion sounds, definitely something low-mid frequencies.
- permanent cracked-glass 2D texture on the screen when damaged was kind of annoying to me. Would prefer if that faded out after a while, even if my health was still low.
- No footstep sounds... I expect them to be there because there's jump/land sound effects. I also thought the "land" sound effect was very plain and soft. I expected to hear a heavy clunk as if a heavily armed soldier or robot hit the ground.
- A lot of enemy firing sounds were quiet or nonexistent.
- for the flying drone character, I would expect CTRL to be the default button for descend (as it's often used to represent crouch in games), not SHIFT.
- would've liked the ammo count to be permanently visible on the screen, not just when I fire.
- press F to break connection uses default unity font :/
- X feels like a weird default key for ultimate ability because it's hard to reach when my hand is in WASD position. F seems like a better default key for that.
- SYNC recharge needs a sound effect and seemed slow despite being the hook for the game...
- laser door opening/closing sound effect needed
- I think a lot of the sound effects would've benefited from reverb. Small, metallic, interior spaces like this have reverb.
- I wish that playing aggressively had a bigger impact on SYNC recharge. What if those ammo pickups also sped up the SYNC recharge?
- I wish running out of ammo wasn't such a common occurrence in this game. This wouldn't be as much of an issue if the ammo pickups didn't disappear and/or gravitated towards my character.
- desktop taskbar icon is the default Unreal Engine icon, should be a game logo.
- "DESYNCRONiZED" typo... not sure if it was intentional but regardless, I wish it said "DESYNCHRONIZED" instead.
- no checkpoints :(
- wall of text on loading screen - ain't nobody reading alla that (even if the writing is cool)

Don't let all of the critique fool you, I still had fun with this game and give it a big thumbs-up. Hope this helps!

A fun, lighthearted mashup of naval and outer-space combat.

Highlights:
- Gameplay is everything you'd expect from a sci-fi spaceship action game.
- Fun dialogue/cast of characters
- Game's art, audio is a delight and thematically consistent
- First capstone game I've seen with Steam achievements (even if you only get them upon closing the game), gj devs.

Room for improvement:
- Stray white pixels on outside of 2D character dialogue portraits are noticeable on dark UI panel background.
- Audio (both music and sound design) crackle/pop when they cut out. To fix this for music, try playing music on a singleton object that goes between scenes like a GameManager. To fix this for sound effects, try having them quickly fade out before deleting the GameObject or abruptly stopping the sound.
- Typo in "The Battle's Not Won" mission description, should say "asteroid" not "astroid"
- Scrolling text is sometimes wicked slow, which can deflate the excitement of characters' conversations and slow down cutscenes.
- No controller support which also means steam deck playthrough is not ideal :(
- Escape button pauses the game but doesn't unpause the game...?
- Unskippable cutscenes, no matter how short, are still no bueno imo
- An explosion sound effect that played when taking out the last spaceship in the first part of mission 1 was really loud, then the difficulty spiked dramatically right after.
- Some of the enemy ships seemed to have way better handling and speed, even when I had double thrusters equipped for faster turning. I get that you want the controls to be "boatlike" but I just wish that it was more of a level playing field.
- Those recommended specs seem insanely high. Either the recommended specs need to be more accurate or this game needs better optimization (probably the former because it ran fine on my modest rig).

Hope this helps! Great work, y'all.

Pretty fun poker-themed roguelike but aside from playing hands, it has little to do with poker.
Surprisingly no betting/gambling with the in-game money.
I also think this game would benefit from some long-term progression/upgrades because as it stands, a lot of runs are dependent on RNG... lots of failing without knowing what you could've done better. Still a fun game that gets a thumbs-up from me!

While it's not the same singular masterpiece as the original Final Fantasy VII, it carries the torch of going insanely hard and it's a very strong start to the new trilogy. Even before the fun INTERmission DLC, there's still unmistakably $70 worth of a great game here. There are some parts with awkward pacing and the PC port isn't perfect but it runs better than most AAA games on Steam Deck and it's impressive how the developers were able to master Unreal Engine to perfectly capture the look and feel of a modern FFVII. Big thumbs up. FFVII Rebirth on Steam when?!?!

One of the most heavy metal games in existence.

An amazing remake that preserves what was iconic about RE4 and modernizes the gameplay. Looks awesome, sounds awesome, and runs incredibly (even on Steam Deck with the proper settings). Would've been a lock for GOTY were it not for Baldur's Gate 3. Separate Ways DLC is a great addition to the game and recommended for anyone who enjoys the base game.

Don't let the hours fool you, I've played The Lost Legacy on PC and Uncharted 4 on PS4.
The production value is stunning, it has my favorite third-person shooter gameplay of any third person shooter ever, and the attention to detail is incredible. One of the few games with not just hollywood-level storytelling, but cinema-level storytelling. I have no notes. No room for improvement. It's one of my favorite games and now that it's on PC, I can play it with my favorite controller, the Xbox controller. Runs awesome on Steam Deck, especially at medium graphics.

They sell this for $10????

Capcom continues the W streak

Street Fighter is my favorite fighting game series and this is my favorite Street Fighter game so by that logic, this is my favorite fighting game of all time