Recent reviews by John Glace

Game's good, casual fun. It's nothing terrible.

It's free and it has nothing stupidly invasive. It's Fall Guys inspired while somehow remaining to be more fun to mess around with. It's not too hard to get into the gameplay loop and to enjoy it.

Playing with friends is also extremely fun. Whether it'd be you join public lobbies or doing 4-man challenges.

Simplistic and fun. Good 6.5/10 rating (or in game reviewer scoring, 9/10).

At the moment only put in a little bit of time for the game. At the moment I'll give the pros and cons to the game and what's fun about alongside what can detract from it. I'd rate this early access overall so far a 6.8/10 if you guys want the rating just straight up.

Pros & What Makes the Game Fun:
- Good creature collector. Fun variety and designs.
- Pleasing environments. Crazy world and pleasing to look at locales.
- Good base building for an Early Access.

The game overall from what I have been able to play is just.. fun. There's not much else to really to describe it. I'm able to feel a sense of joy just working together with the different creatures and starting small work on building a humble base. It is taking time to do this, but I'm fine as it allows me to take the game at a much slower and welcoming pace.

For those who have trouble in base building & survival type games, I'd recommend doing this. Spend time learning about how the world looks and how everything functions so you don't rapid fire everything. If you want, play in Casual Mode as you won't lose anything upon death.

Even with the cons coming up, I'd highly recommend giving this game a shot. It's not just some simple Pokemon clone and reading how passionate the developers are despite what people may think.. it's really heartwarming. I'm glad it has gotten a good amount of sales as we need a creature collector that can do well asides from Pokemon.

Cons & What Does Hurt the game a bit:

- Lot of "inspired" designs. Despite the fact the models are confirmed to be made from scratch, it's clear there's 2 different designers at minimum that are clashing and mixing with each other. Some designs look great and are original for what you can get, others are.. clearly pseudo copying (or stuff that appears copied, even when made from scratch).
- Needs some QoL features. Creature guiding for items in base is something I can note off the bat. I haven't gotten too far, but it's clear the Pals need guidance on different storage spaces and where things go.
- Slow Early Game. This is a con rather than a Pro as people tend not to like games taking too long to get started. They'll easily leave after some time. I *personally* like this slow start, but it's not going to be majority's cup of tea.

I think some things that hold this game back from being great is a good amount of QoL features that can simply be made, slow progression, and design philosophy.

Let's get the biggest one out of the way first. There's a lot of meshing when it comes to the designs. A lot of tend to be *very* akin to what you could see in Pokemon or some media franchises if you really want to stretch a bit. While these may seem like they're inspired, they're at best carbon copies. Now yes, there's only so much you can do with certain designs. People who compare Jolthog to Shaymin need to learn their animals and how designing works. But others such as Cremis to Gigantamax Eevee or Depresso to Espurr.. yeah you can tell how they're a bit *too* similar.

This is my advice to the team, but before you continue in making more Pals I'd recommend looking and comparing your Pals to Pokemon and seeing what changes can be done. As much as I'd like to see more I want to see a better evolution of these creatures while also avoiding any potential trouble from the likes of Nintendo. I want this game to do great and see the developers succeed.

As for QoL features, there's mainly simple things like Pal guiding at the base or being able to change Pals from a work position to a relax position or wander position. I don't know if this is something available later in the game, but haven't been able to give some Pals the ability to simply just relax and wander about the place. Let them be chill and keep their sanity safe. I also see some problems with certain building models not connecting to the ground properly, but I'm sure that's something that can be fixed easily and in the fullness of time. There's a good amount of polish and a good amount of work that I can see that this is a minor gripe at best.

As for the slow progression, this is really just something as an optional thing. I'd try to make it a *bit* more obvious that people can customize their difficulty and have hover down options to better describe certain actions in the customization. If the casual difficulty gets double output from everything while Normal gets the baseline output, that's great! It makes a good comparison while also not seeming to make things too tough on players.


Overall, I'd recommend this game and watch its growing pains as it gets better. There's a lot of things that needs to improve over time, but a lot of the core aspects of the game outweight any potential problems and for right now, it's a fun time. If you have friends you can also get through the game faster so a recommendation for playing with friends.

This small little DLC is loveable and energetic. I *loved* playing through this and getting to relive these small little moments. It also helps that this small thing got me through a terrible time. The whole DLC itself is a 9/10 for recreation and getting through to everything, but I want to share a small story.

The past 2 - 3 weeks I've been dealing with a cough. It started out fine, but like a demon within the last few days it has been nothing but terrible, putting me down terribly and making me feel like I wasn't good enough. Luckily I was able to get into urgent care earlier today and not only were the doctors quick and nice, but they gave me a good rundown of what happened and of what was going on.

I was stunned! I didn't think they'd be so efficient, but they were. Going to WalMart, was able to talk to my mom as she is the one who drives me (going for permit next week hopefully - am 23 as of writing this) and we just had a good time. Walked together around WalMart as we waited for prescriptions, made silly jokes, made some laughs, got ourselves a quick and easy lunch. It was just an overall good time. I come back, lay down for a few hours in my camper and feel so refreshed.

Talked to some buddies and learned this DLC came out! Immediately downloaded it, got to sit down and play through it for the 5 hours of my time. And just seeing the charm, seeing the struggle that Goku went through to beat Piccolo, it just reminded me of my struggle of getting through to this. So take this DLC as a lesson - never give up and persevere no matter how dire the situation is. Your life matters and you deserve to have that positive influence in your life.

I'd recommend this game on a sale if you can get it. Took me roughly 8.4 hours to complete the main game and I do plan on going back to 100%ing it, however.. I know it's not going to be that good going back to 100%.

Overall, Spongebob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake is a 6.6 / 10. It's not a fantastic game, but it's not like it's a bad game either. It's a serviceable game that does its job of being a fun platformer with some challenges. Some of the pros of this game in terms of gameplay is pretty much the combat & fluidity of moves into each other. I think the combat can be a *little* stiff at times, but it's not terribly stiff and all the moves can flow well into each other. Landing combos from Karate Kick to Ground Pound followed by a dodge to bubble blow are very satisfying and I love the amount of variety to them. The story itself is also fine, leans more to classic Spongebob naivety mixed with his own emotions of discomfort and disdain at times. It's clear the writing is moreso modern Spognebob, but I do commend the team for working with the newer stuff. The worlds are also pretty cool and varied around with the amount of costumes that Spongebob can dawn on be plentiful. It's also cool to see citizens and other characters being portrayed in their said worlds differently too, just wish the enemies were like that akin to how you had the possessed Bikini Bottomites in Spongebob Squarepants The Movie: The Game.

Now onto what makes the game very.. lackluster. The game tends to get pretty repetitive pretty quickly and while most Spongebob games tend to do this, I just wish there was some variety within the worlds. It's also clear that some things for doubloons or side objectives get little treatment since you're repeating the same abilities over and over again, which is a shame as I liked the areas where I had to chain together different techniques to get to different platforms. Like in the medieval world I remember having to chain together a Bubble Blow to open up a platform, use the Pizza Glide to get to said platform, and then jump towards and do a Lasso Swing. That was fun, that was cool. I wish this was in a good amount of the platforming. Also movement can be pretty stiff, but it's not terribly stiff. Going forward or backward wasn't terribly bad, felt a bit weird at times, but comparing it to Rehydrated Spongebob's turning was just god awful to perform and he seems to slow down when doing so? It's not a major turn off, but it definitely needed more tweaking and refinement. Also the final boss against Jelly Squidward and Cassandra was a major letdown. Not only was it piss poor easy, but it also felt pretty... laxed. It had a repeat from Pom Pom's patterns except now the only way of attacking is through the Reef Blower. It's not even as long as BfBB & Rehydrated's Robo-Spongebob or The Movie: The Game's majority set of bosses. I feel like a lot of the bosses are pretty underwhelming, just not majorly underwhelming like the final one. I wish the bosses felt more like a step-up from what we got in The Movie: The Game where we had to utilize our newest abilities in the best ways possible, seeing something we couldn't do before and allowing better options for getting through a level faster. Ah well.

Overall just underwhelming fights & movement with some actual decent writing and great combat makes The Cosmic Shake get the grade of 6.6 / 10. For me personally, it means it's worth player so long as you're willing to get through some parts of slog.

Edit: 12:43 EST @ 2/3/2023 - Just completed the 100%. No guides whatsoever, meaning if you want to go and find everything in the worlds, it's pretty simple to do so. There's a couple extra side things that go off, but that's about it. I'd say the hardest of the Achievements / Awards to get is the "No Get Hit" during the Royal Ballroom Boss. It's just making sure you don't bombrush each cake. Won't say much else.

I would rate the game a 5/10 personally.
I like how fluid everything was alongside being able to be constantly on the go. The weapons were pretty useful, although you can easily stall Charles once you get the Flamethrower and he becomes no issue after you get the Flamethrower and Rocket Launcher. Can easily swap between the weapons without much repercussion, also negates the overheating mechanic.

Charles himself is actually pretty dangerous when you're not around your Train though. If you end up being away thanks to a mission, your best bet is to try and find tight spaces for him to not be able to crawl around in. Basically canyons or sheds. There's also a wooden bridge he ends up not going near which you can use to your advantage later in the game. Not a fan of not having a weapon on person though, especially since you can essentially find weapons essentially everywhere in the homes or mines whether it be stuff like pickaxes or actual muskets. Was ammo crates everywhere too.

Upgrades are pretty easy to get especially with how much scrap you can find and get. Before I even got the 2nd egg already had everything upgraded to max. I probably would've had the upgrades cost more personally. Keeps things in flow, but yeah. Game needs hella lot of polish from the general movements of the guns being very stiff on the train, having characters move their mouths, and some textures needing better flow from paint not having that feeling of paint (felt more like glue) or blood being a bit too light in color.

Main game is pretty short, even when you include the amount of lore. Did a full 100% within 4 hours and that was without using any sort of guide to help me out. Am an explorer so hey what do you really expect? Lore was pretty interesting though, also had some fun time listening to the dialogue of the characters speak. Think the developer and workers involved would need more encouragement for the next games and would recommend buying if you're down for a quick, unpolished game.

Definitely don't recommend getting into the game at this point.

Somehow it's already filled with people who either are on a constant tryhard streak even in the lower ranks or are filled with hackers who just want the game to suffer more than it already has.

It's a fun and unique game I'm not gonna deny that, but the multiplayer issues right now and the fact you never drop MMR even if you're in a 5th or 6th position just feels stupid.

It's a nice addition to the RE line-up, even if it's a mostly short game.
Compared to RE7, which honestly felt weird as a mainline series, it does better to keep in ties with the rest of the Resident Evil games as a full on continuation rather than coming out as a completely different experimentation for the series. Also loved the fact it added in the RE4 & 5 elements into it making it feel like a naturally progressing game. You didn't need to rely on certain weapons for too long while also being able to alternate between the best of both worlds.

In terms of story, I'll keep it brief in spoilers.
Ethan going out of his way to save Rosemary and successfully doing so, only to end himself to save his family is heartbreaking. However, it also makes sure there's a nice conclusion to Ethan's story as a whole while continuing forward with the next generation. The ending of the game is the first time I've seen Resident Evil push itself to not leaving a semi-hopeful ending, meaning there's more coming than we realize. I can't wait for the next installment and curious to see if Chris is even working in the field anymore.

The game overall is more of a 7.4/10 game however. I would say 7 exactly, but all the little extra content makes it up for replay value. Having Mercenaries return is also a great mode to see feature back. There's not much incentive to replay through the game again other than achievement hunting or beating the game through a higher difficulty, which is a bit of a shame because most Resident Evils are like that.

I'm hoping in the future they add some extra return content to the stories as the whole replay for the sake of a better time or getting more of a challenge is becoming stale. Imagine being able to find some extra little notes or finding another ending because of some context you could've only found after beating the main story (that online sources wouldn't fully be able to help, only hint at) that allow you to return to the main game and find, signifying a greater significance to the plot and providing more details for what exactly happened. I can dream, but more than likely won't happen.

Honestly? Changed is a pretty simplistic looking game that has some challenging puzzles if you're not that much into the puzzle genre. Most of the, well, "bosses" in the game seem to have some level of challenged that involve mechanics used in the area you were just in and require you to learn various patterns and techniques. If you're not used to them, you will fail a lot, but it's never too unrewarding as long as you know how to save.

Aside from that, the whole post-apocolyptic setting told throughout the game alongside some of the scenary you do end up viewing makes the situation much more bleak on whether or not you should really venture back out into the unknown of the world. It makes you think on why you should progress and leave the area when it's probably much worse than the situation in the building you're in.

Game overall is a nice 6.5/10. It's nothing ground-breaking and there's not really much to hold it back in enjoyment, but the game is very niche for players and can definitely cause problems for those who are disgusted by things like latex, transformation, and even furries. I still recommend giving it a go despite all this and enjoying the game out for yourself if you can.

Fun to play with friends and can often find good lobbies.

When playing with friends, it allows for a group of people to try and communicate, but in a way where you know the limits of needing to stop from ghosting or shiz like that. It's better to play with survivor-to-survivor friend groups though unless you're playing a custom game.

With there being a report system it allows you to try and get rid of survivors who are purposely trying to stall (no helping of the team, just trying to keep to themselves) or killers who sweat too much and like doing things such as tunneling or camping. Most lobbies I've found can have this problem, but you'll often run into lobbies where the killer-to-survivor aspect can be balanced and fun.

Will admit I did be a bit toxic to someone at one point, but I got some toxicity back so it was a bit deserved.

Game from what I've experienced is a nice 7/10. There's still some killers that need a bit more balancing for survivors to really enjoy their time playing through the game, but it's not terribly unenjoyable.

This game is an absolute joy to play. The story isn't exactly that existent, but it's basic enough to the point to want to inspire your journey and the amount of extras that are around are already a ton with challenging stages to go through.

Movement was amazing, felt fast, fluid, and well crafted. The animations are also some of the best from what I've seen so far.

MY ISSUE with the game is that it's *really* short. And I mean, less than 3 hours short if you're just breezing through the game normally. It feels like there needs to be more and I know the developer, Brad Borne, said he plans on adding more but that was back near the end of January of this year. I wish he could come with a follow up on that comment or at least something.

This is a masterpiece in the making and it definitely needs more attention alongside more people to play around with it.