MetalCanyon's Reviews

[Mutate the Labrat 2]

Lots of fun, but lots of space for improvement.

First of all - I love these kind of games. Number crunching, crafting, juggling tasks, I've always liked it. So this game hit the nail for me. However, there are a few points that I'd like to point out in hopes that you will read them and perhaps correct/better them in the next version.

- Perhaps I've missed it, but I've seen no relation between a "monster class" and the "monster level" except that a higher class means a higher level monster. Now when you go and 'hunt', you basically have to learn approximately what level of a monster you should be expecting. I think it would be easier to say that you can expect monsters levels 40-60 (for example), instead of a class.
- Crafting, as others have pointed out, is quite hardcore. While very interesting that you have added so many blueprints and components (again, I love that), the fact that some of the higher level things have some 10 per-cent chance of success is a bit ridiculous. Which brings me to my next, very important point - experience for your agents. I was truly expecting them to gain experience (and thus stats and consequently chance of success) after every successful craft/fusion/etc.
- The fact that agents die in mines is quite annoying and a nuisance. I'm not sure it's really necessary as replacing them simply means buying more and assigning them to the mines. The problem is you never get told that they have died. And, honestly, the low amount of agents you can have is quite enough of a handicap.
- How many times have I pulled my hair out when an enemy monster had gotten 3 or even four hits off before my monster would get its turn. What the hell happened? Did the enemy monster have so much more agility that it was so much faster? Did my monster fall asleep? Did I pump it too full of radiation it stood there with its brain dead? What I'm trying to say is - give us some information about what is happening on every combat turn.
- Inventory - it's nicely done and the graphics are very likeable. But... PLEASE, make it a little more user-friendly. Buying stacks of 15 is fine, since you simply hold control. But buying only, for example, 10 is complete madness. You have to click, hold, drag, release RIGHT on another icon (otherwise it doesn't seem to work) to buy the item and then repeat it nine more times. NOT fun. Please include some kind of a double-system. Click and drag means buy one. Click on the item only means a window should pop-up asking how many you want to buy/move.
- While I'm on this inventory note, let me go back to crafting a little bit. When I want to craft 20 mutapellets, I buy the ingredients (or get them from the mines) and then what? I have to click craft, then wait for the window to come down, click okay, then repeat the process 19 times. If there was no window, fine. I could click 20 times in quick succession. Ultimately, the craft button should pop-up a window asking you how many you want to make.
- Last, but not least, fusion of two monsters. It's all fine and good, but when you fail to fuse them, your monster loses a TON of levels. Seriously, that's a bit too hardcore, even for me. It needs to be really toned down or have the agents gain experience and be better at their work (see above).

I *think* that's about all of the complaints I have. Having more monster variety would be nice, but it's not that necessary, really. What I did miss the most, perhaps, was that my monster never really visually mutated. Implants, fine. But the actual process of mutation did nothing.

So, that's it. Great concept, very well executed, but the game needs a lot of polish. Don't give up on it, I'd love to play a more polished version!

[CellCraft]

Intriguing and fun!

I was very pleasantly surprised with this game. A huge amount of effort was clearly put into it being biologically accurate, yet not flood those of us that are not biologists by profession with excess scientific information. I was always fascinted by how our bodies and, indeed cells, work on a microscopic level, so this was a great educational platform you've chosen to create the game on.

I haven't encountered any bugs within the game and have to admit, it got pretty challenging with the larger virus waves. It was great to see just how many different viruses there are and how (our) cells have to fight them off with different, ingenious, fantastic means.

I usually dislike educational games, since they prefer to overcomplicate things and not put in much effort in the 'game' department. However, in this game, I feel the balance is just perfect.

Great job! There should be more games around like this to educate children and adults alike through fun means. I can certainly say I've learned quite a bit about cells within the hour of playing this.

Keep it up!

[Class 3 Outbreak]

Great potential but lacking in variety.

I gave this game a 4/5 and 7/10. This does not mean I think it's bad, far from it. At first glance, it must have taken a great deal of effort to painfully create all the obstacles for the zombies and civilians, the bushes that obscured the view and so on. Great kudos on that, I'm not sure I'd have the patience for something like that.

The concept, while very cliche and old, is interesting because you've used google maps for this. I wasn't sure how you'd pull it off, but it actually works surprisingly well and adds a nice feeling of realism because of how the city looks like. I also really like the little details you've put in like srpay paints on rooftops, cars blocking roads and so on, although I have to admit, it's sometimes difficult to know what will block the police's view and what won't, making point to point movements a matter of not knowing where your units will walk through to get to. But fortunately, the pathfinding never failed, so kudos on that as well.

Perhaps my biggest two problems were that you couldn't select units with the buttons 1, 2 and 3, which might seem like a minor thing, but it would also feel far more natural and easy. Also, clicking on a unit badge should select the squad. I found myself clicking on a badge and issuing orders, forgetting that I should've selected them first.

As for the other major complaint, there isn't enough variety in the game. I liked the rescue mission when it popped up, but the time limit on the second one was too short and it felt like you've cut the game short, whereas it had much more potential.

What I'd really like to see is the game playing out much more slowly. I don't mean having the units move more slowly, but the outbreak not being something trivial at one moment and suddenly having the whole map full of red dots, just to artificially move the difficulty up.

Also - it'd be great to have upgrades avaliable for your units. I agree that getting new weapons and buying upgrades might seem foolish and stupid in a time of crisis like this, but perhaps you could merge it into finding (illegal) weapons in homes and the like. Perhaps have some cars driving about or having drivable cars. But I'm going off on a tangent here, now.

Otherwise, the game was technically excellent. I really hope you'll build on this!

BinarySpace responds:

Thanks MetalCanyon for your thoughtful review and suggestions. We really appreciate your time and will be working to improve and build on the game in the future. Thanks for the high scores everyone.
Regards,
Jay

[-Ricochet Love-]

Awesome track!

I love this track! It's got some great melody in it and I love the little details, like the low-bit voices and such. All in all, great. I've downloaded it, so I can listen to it more often. :) Keep up the good work!