Recent reviews by Valok

It is fun with friends, but the game at the moment is flat out incomplete and with some very questionable balance decisions. Wait for some updates and perhaps a sale.
I will most likely change this at a later date, once most of the glaring issues have been fixed.

A mile wide, an inch deep.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjOsK8gZ1vc

The game icon looks like two bears having sex.


You are welcome.

THE STEERING WHEELS ARE ON THE WRONG SIDE!!1

*Ahem*

Hello and welcome to my personal little, straight to the point review. I already played the game for a good while albeit I still have not
finished the main questline. Without further ado then here we go:

This is of course extremely subjective but overall I have enjoyed so far. Although the story and the dialog is not Oscar-worth by any stretch of the imagination, this post apocalyptic mad world is presented in a very direct and simple manner.

While some could argue however that this is not a positive aspect to it (which wouldn't exactly be wrong since again, this is very subjective), I do find it a little problematic when story writers try to make some that is, or at least should be, simple into something complex in a attempt do add, or make it look like, it has "depth" to it. Most often than not to me such action ends up just making the narrative confusing and in some cases, nonsensical.

Yet, despite its simple presentation there is some good and funny creativity here (most noticiably on how this world works and how people make by and live on it). Your faithful ally Chumbucket and his crazy religious beliefs and lines is an (funny) example of it.

The things only start to frail a little when we enter the voice acting department, some are good and others.. eh. While I certainly don't expect every single line on every single occasion to be delivered as if Laurence Olivier was behind it, there were some moments (and not exactly few) that were bellow the average of what you would expect from it. Most noticeably it happens when you talk to random NPC's around the map that give you intel/scrap/whatever.

Not much to say really - it is a very good one on almost all aspects. For more detailed info; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79EL0QDoJrs&ab_channel=TotalBiscuit,TheCynicalBrit.

However I did noticed a very small/rare problem. Despite the game running at 60 FPS pretty much always there are times every hour or so where the game freezes for a second and then goes back to 60. The pattern looks to be completely random and I've seen it happen on some people videos/streams a few times and there were others talking about it. If I were to take a very wild guess here, the blame lies on the (already cracked) Denuvo DRM (for more info on why it would be the DRM, google on how this thing works).

I guess they will never learn.

This will be a tricky part. But if you want my personal opinion, there is a not so small problem(s) with it.

And the problem is that if we remove travel times and focus solely on the action parts THAT ACTUALLY MATTER, be it on a minor or major way inside the game (i.e outpost capture, random quests, main quest, etc), we have 60% on foot combat and 40% car combat. Now, when you also consider that the melee combat is 100% based on the already overused Batman-like system of 2 button presses with the occasional 3rd one.. Well, I guess your experience will depend on how you personally view said combat system.

The thing is, when we compare to other games that use the very same style like say for example, Shadow of Mordor, we can still conclude that what we have here is a fairly inferior one. While playing SoM there was at least some sort of "variety" to it, be it on the superior character skill customization and combat combos, more weapons with each allowing for different approaches during gameplay, much better weapon customization (runes) where you can build your arsenal in such way that it complements/enhances the way you have built/play with your main character skills, and lets not forget of course all the effin amazing fatality animations we do during combat (If by the way you have a personal problem with Orcs, that game will be your perfect stress reliever).

Also as a final note here.. Sometimes you will have to face mini-bosses, the so called "Top Dogs". And the interesting thing here is that they all LOOK THE SAME AND FIGHT THE SAME WAY - that is just lazy.

As for the car part of the game.. There is definitely a certain charm in building the Magnum Opus to your liking, seeing it evolve from the pile of junk you start with it and later on becoming your Symphony No. 9.

I won't say that there's little variety in this department but when you really get down to it, there's also not that much. You get a set amount of parts where some are straight upgrades from the others so you won't find much reason to go back and grab a "lower" one - if we were then to forget the body of the car (which there is a selection for you to choose from) and focus on a max performance-only build, most player cars will pretty much use the very same parts all around and end-up being the "same".

If you ask me, we definitely need more customization options here, both when it comes to looks and when it comes to performance/gadgets. Also as a side note, you can collect cars on the wasteland and use them, although I never ever felt the desire to do so.

But what about the big booms? The dirty in-your-face car combat? When you get to the thick of the action it is fun. You have a selection of weapons you can use and most of the time you can target specific parts of your enemies. The explosions and the sound are well made and the debris fly around almost in a poetic manner. There is also a variety of enemies here with each having their own strategies to try to take you down (not that many though mind you, this also should really be expanded).

I feel however that the game really drops the ball in the convoy system and that a great opportunity was lost here, both on the action department and in the metagame aspect.

What should be (to me) an intense RACE against the clock to try to stop a cargo from reaching its destination, ends up becoming a very simple hit-n-run-wait-for-repair-and-repeat mission. Convoys drive in circle, on the very same route, 24/7 non-stop despite being under attack or not. What do you do then? Start your run, kill 2-3 cars, fallback (if you leave the leader alone, they wont chase you), repair and catch up or just stand still and wait for them to come back in the very same route.

This is a Fail on several levels. Convoys should carry a very important cargo (what they carry barely matters), they should go from point A to B as fast as possible (adding to the tension, action and making SKILL play a bigger role) and it would be on your best interest to stop them not only for the loot but because if they do end up completing their run point B would become stronger making then your life on the world more difficult (this is what we call metagame). I really, REALLY wish they upgrade this system down the line.

- Sound parts sometimes cuts or becomes almost muted (mostly the car engine).
- Sometimes you can hear the sound of other cars that are far away as if they were right by your side.
- Don't ask me how I did this but once while trying to take off a can of gas guzz from the back of the car I ended up getting stuck on a loop in the animation.
- On a few occasions ramming that should've cause damage did nothing whatsoever.
- I heard of a save breaking bug that happens if you do something on a specific mission. Yes I am aware this doesnt help much but you might wanna search the forums for more detail info about it (I did not have problems).

No TL:DR, these things take time to write so go back and read it :D
though I am having fun with it and I will keep playing, if it is worth picking now or waiting for a sale it is up to you and your income. Thank you for taking the time to read.