Recent reviews by Miaoven Winter

First played this at GDC 2019, knew that it had a lot of potential. Really glad these devs got this game made.

A more than solid entry in the Ace Combat franchise. We've been waiting for something like this for a long time. May not have the emotional/visual highs of past top tier AC titles, but it's great to have something to work with on current-gen.

Coming from years of MTG, this is a really nice breath of fresh air. It's cool to interact with vastly different mechanics despite the two games having many similarities. Also really appreciate the F2P system and PvE content.

I'd just like to provide some critical information and comparison about Music Racer for those unsure about what the game offers. I haven't spent a lot of time in Music Racer, but I've seen and played enough to know the underlying fundamentals, and suffice it to say, I quickly refunded the game. Disclosure: I will not discuss anything VR-related.

Like many of us, if you are here because you're looking for another procedurally-generated music/rhythm "racing" game, you're probably in one of two camps, mirroring the two best distinct titles on Steam for this subgenre: Audiosurf and Riff Racer. I'm gonna compare Music Racer to each, and try to explain why it pales in comparison to both.

Comparing Music Racer to Audiosurf: Make no mistake, this is an Audiosurf copycat, 100%. The primary mode of play is a laned rollercoaster where the goal is either to have fun experiencing the track or to rack up a high score by picking up score blocks while dodging obstacles; this is the Audiosurf formula. The issue is that nothing is seemingly improved upon in Music Racer. You are stuck with one-"color" point blocks and the most rudimentary of combo systems. Audiosurf has done well to diversify its game modes, allowing players to change up their experience. Music Racer has three modes: Standard (with both blocks and obstacles), Zen (which I believe simply removes obstacles), and Hard (which ups game speed and perhaps increases block/obstacle pattern difficulty). If you're interested in the challenge of completing tracks with a particular level of efficacy, I'm not sure Music Racer's core design offers anything compelling over Audiosurf or Audiosurf 2. I don't believe Music Racer even has a score leaderboard. For casual, laid-back play, there is of course the baseline difference between the games' procedural systems and visuals which can always provide variety, but as I'll cover in the next section, I'm not so sure that's Music Racer's positive selling point either.

Comparing Music Racer to Riff Racer: This is my camp. I appreciate Riff because of how closer it is to a traditional racing game; rollercoasters are really not my thing. Riff Racer is a great example of a rhythm game that can switch from casual listening to intense competition; with the ability to decide how to freely navigate around a track through grip and drift steering, boosts and jumps, you can decide how to build points and how to experience the song and track. Now in my opinion, Riff Racer's physics are very bad from a design perspective, but therein lies a challenge to overcome the crappiness of the physics to conquer tough tracks and leaderboards. By comparison, Music Racer has nonexistent physics. There is an ability in the options menu to switch to an "Advanced" driving mode, which removes the locked lanes and allows for manual steering, but driving in the mode is uninspired compared to Riff Racer. The cars don't have any sense of weight, they basically drive on rails; there is no nuance to the handling models of Music Racer. Pairing with this are rather vanilla, uncomplicated sweeping tracks where the only challenge comes in memorizing where the blocks and obstacles are. For those of us experienced racing game fans, whether we look to simulation-style (Gran Turismo, Forza) or arcade-style (Need For Speed, Burnout) racers, what we're often looking for in new titles are interesting, compelling nuances in the physics engines and driving characteristics of the cars and roads in these games. Riff Racer, in my opinion, accomplishes this to at least some degree; Music Racer does not. Moreover, the fundamentals of the game don't change with Advanced mode. The scoring blocks still appear in three lanes, but you lose the precision of rapidly changing lanes needed to pickup blocks optimally. In other words, if you want to play the game for score, you have to play it like Audiosurf, which invalidates one whole modality of gameplay. If you want to play the game casually, you end up with boring tracks and uninspiring driving.

In summation: Because of my partiality towards Riff Racer and its modality of play, Music Racer did not offer me anything substantive. However, if I was hypothetically in the market for an Audiosurf replacement, I again don't see why I'd bother picking this up. New glossy visuals would have to be the only upside, at the expense of every other design metric.

NOTE: This review was written during Closed Beta.

Really engaging twin-stick shooter with RNG rogue-lite elements for maps, weaponry, and equips. You don't get a top-down/isometric shooter with headshot mechanics very often, so the game facilitates a slow methodical gameplay style in addition to frantic run and gun. Limitations from the beta perspective: Unsure how deep a single run can go in terms of levels, so getting optimally geared through RNG for making deep runs could potentially be annoying. A lot of runs would get upwards of max items before the second boss in solo play, and the frequency adjustment system (really appreciate this feature) helped with getting more optimal weapons through purchases or drops.

A well executed meta-textual visual novel. It's really not more special than that. Dan Salvato had a clear goal in mind about what he wanted to accomplish, and he definitely pushes what Ren'Py can do farther than any other finished product I've seen, but it's not a unique masterpiece by any means. Felt amazing during the playthrough, but thinking on it after the fact, it covers a lot of already-covered ground content-wise, just in a different arrangement. That said, do play it if you love these sorts of stories; you probably won't regret it.

My nomination for a "Short End of The Stick" award for the 2016 Steam Awards. This game really did get the short end of the stick, in terms of release window, general interest, market expectations, etc.

Think Natural Selection 2 without the RTS elements. A fairly competent asymmetrical arena TPS, Nosgoth is the canonical continuation of the Legacy of Kain franchise. Without a planned story mode AFAIK, I don't think it'll accomplish this well, but the 4v4 PvP gameplay is honestly the draw here. The Human team's ranged weaponry is nicely varied inside and across classes; the shooting mechanics are solid. Vampires are melee-only, though the current usage of some ranged special abilities is worrisome. The major issue IMO is responsiveness. Abilities can't be buffered, and most animations can't be canceled in any meaningful way. This lends itself to a game with a fairly slow pace, which I'm sure is what the dev team was going for. New players with extensive experience in TPSs might find the lack of responsive and fluid commands frustrating, especially when facing against Vampires with their stagger and stun abilities.

So far, it's a fun game with a wonderfully dark atmosphere. With further development and the addition of new game modes, classes, and gear, I could see it going a long way. Currently, the microtransaction policy is pretty fair, and certainly not P2W. What will make or break the mid-to-long term viability of this game as we exit closed testing will be the activity level of the devs. Rapid deployment of hotfixes and reliable content update timetables are what keep a project alive in my eyes. We shall see.

Same as the first, it is hard to beat Payday 2 on price point. While the outside of the game looks the same, many of the mechanics and features have been rebuilt from the ground up, most notably the gunplay and skill trees. Like its predecessor, it is not without its faults, some more prevalent for certain hardcore groups, but Overkill has been working very hard to push fixes for bugs/glitches and create entirely new mechanics, something they weren't able to do for PTH. If you can get past its current shortcomings, you will be rewarded with a constantly evolving and improving co-op experience.

Edit on 10/16/2015: I can not, in good faith, recommend Payday 2, or any future title from Overkill Soft at the moment. The issues with the recent Crimefest event, including the introduction of gameplay-influencing cosmetics/paid Skinner boxes, are simply too egregious this time. This is not the first time Overkill has been caught with their hand in the proverbial cookie jar. Even if Overkill backpedals on these recent decisions and says their mea culpas, there will need to be a period of healing before any hardcore gamers trust Overkill with their money.

2nd Edit: So during 2016, it was all but revealed that 505 Games, as Overkill's publisher, induced the gameplay-influencing safe weapons released the previous year. Once Overkill/Starbreeze bought their IP back from 505, they immediately made the pay-exclusive traits for safe guns available in the base game for free. From that point on, OVK has still made questionable DLC decisions, but I now recommend the game again for its colorful history and wonderful gameplay.

Edit 11/2018: Still come back to this game after 5 years. Nuff said.

One of the two best games currently on the F2P circuit, both of which happen to be self-published. Digital Extremes is a group that cares deeply about its player base, involves and keeps them updated with all aspects of development, and responds promptly to critical emergencies. They're working very hard at making a PvE-exclusive TPS in the vast sea of PvP domination. No matter how you view the project at its various stages, you have to give them immense credit for going full throttle at this. Nothing but applause.

Edit: Should note that at the time of this OP, the game did not have the Clan Dojo Dueling Room or the Conclaves. Nevertheless, focus on PvP modes has remained a secondary priority for Digital Extremes, and they are still standing fast behind their commitment to PvE.