This is a transcript excerpt covering the score awarded to Discounty on the So Videogames Podcast, episode 453. For further coverage, please see episodes 452 and 451.

Brad: Okay, just wanted to, finally, for the final. Final time, circle back on Discounty. We’ve been talking about it off and on for at least a month or so. finally rolled credits last night, and I will say, I was kind of surprised that I rolled credits. this is the case where I really like the game left me wanting more. I would have gladly played another ten, 20 hours of this game, and I kind of wished that there was so a little bit of like, it sounds bad to say that I was disappointed it was over, but I was kind of disappointed it was over for those who might have missed it

Discounty is a game.. a 2D indie? kind of a top down. Well, I don’t know, 2D, just whatever. How do you call it? I always struggle, I’ve been in the video game arena for like 40 fucking years. What do you call a game that is 2Dut you’re not looking straight down. But the characters are like side view, but like also the map is 2D. What the fuck do you call that besides 2D? I don’t even know.

Carlos: We’ve said three quarters view.

B: But it’s not three quarters view, though. It isn’t isometric. It’s not… whatever. Fuck it. Whatever. It’s the same thing as Stardew Valley, you know?

C: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

B: Okay, I need, like, a really definitive… I can’t just say 2D because that’s too broad. But it’s not top down either, because you’re not looking at characters heads. What the fuck? 40 years and I still can’t describe it. Anybody listening? Help me out. What the fuck is a good title? Okay, it doesn’t matter anyway. Moving on…

So you move to town, you start a grocery store, and you stock the shelves and you rearrange the store, and you run the store every day, which is really well done. It’s very streamlined and fast and fun. But then you’re also dealing with side quests in the town where it seems like something spooky is going on or something weird is going on. And so you’ve got like these side quests which are not super long and involved, like they’re very light, they feel very appropriate for the game. So you’ve got like your side content, which keeps you busy during night time. You’ve got your store content which keeps you busy during the day. It’s just really, really well done. It’s really measured and polished and balanced. Graphics are great. I think the controls are nice.

I think the UI is great. Everything about it is really well considered. I think the scope is right on. I’ve had just like a blast playing it. It just feels like a very, very well put together game from somebody who really thought carefully about what they were doing and really made sure all the pieces fit together. It was great. I had a blast the entire time from start to finish. The only thing I think that I had an issue with, and this is kind of what I just mentioned a second ago, was like, it feels like it stops a little abruptly. I’m not going to spoil anything. I absolutely think it’s worth playing. I loved it, had a great time. Would recommend it. No problem. , it just feels like when you get to the next big thing, it kind of is like, and there’s the end and I’m like, oh it ended a little bit too abruptly for me. But again, I guess it’s better to leave me wanting more rather than going on for 20 hours too long. Yeah. Like, you know, oh, I’m so sick of this.

C: Which we’ve had.

B: We’ve definitely have had. That’s the norm. Honestly.

C: Two follow up questions. First, how long have you played… how long, how many hours then?

B: I mean, it’s hard to say because I was playing a little bit every night before bed. I want to say it’s like not longer than 20 hours. It might even be shorter than that.

C: Well, that’s not bad.

B: No, no, it’s very reasonable. It’s probably in fact, it’s probably shorter than that. It just seems longer because I was playing it in such small doses.

C: Second question, can you keep playing after credits or is it not that kind of game?

B: You can like you can keep playing if you want to just if you just really like super enjoy running the store, you can keep doing that infinitely. But there are no more like side quests. There’s nothing else really to like to do other than to run the store, which is fine.

C: Ok well all right, well, I still I’m still interested and I still might pick it up because.

B: It’s a good time. It’s a good time. I don’t want to end on a downer because I had a blast with Discounty and I would love DLC or a Discounty 2. I want the developers to expand what they built on. I think the mechanics are smart, the size is smart, the pace is smart — it’s it’s just really, really well done.

C: A good problem to have.

B: It’s like the best possible complaint.

C: Yes. I was just talking to my buddy Damien last night about short games. And again it came back with Silksong and he just played a couple and I feel bad. I can’t remember the names of them. I’ll I’ll find it. And you can put in the show notes. But he just played two and he beat both of them and I’m like, you know. Or he beat one and he’s about to beat the other. And I’m like, oh my goodness, that’s what I want right now in my life. Yeah, I want to beat these short experiences. And we go in cycles, you know, like sometimes I want Assassin’s Creed and just like to live in those worlds forever. Yeah. But just recently, like, Diablo is different because I can put that up and pick it up and put it down. You know.

B: It’s more of a lifestyle.

C: Yeah, yeah. But other games like hell, which we’ll talk about in the show, you know, they’re if they’re pretty huge in scope, I’m like, oh, I don’t know. You know, I just want to like beat something. So yeah.

B: Well, before we get off of this Discounty, I do want to give it an official score, since I talked about it so many times, and I’ve gone through the whole journey with the people here listening.

So I feel like it’s a great game. Like I said, at the end of the day, my only complaint about Discounty is that I wanted more of it, and that’s probably the best problem you could possibly have. It was great from start to finish and I wanted more, but it does what it does well — it gets in, it gets out, and it’s a great example of of how to deliver a measured experience. And I feel like a solid eight is a good place for that to live.

C: I totally I totally predicted that score from you.

B: Did you? Okay.

C: In my head I said it’s he’s gonna say eight.

B: There you go. Eight out of ten.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed by Crinkle Cut Games and published by PQube. It is currently available on PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Switch. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the Switch. Approximately 20 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E and contains Alcohol Reference. The official description reads: Discounty is rated E for Everyone by the ESRB with Alcohol Reference. This is a role-playing/simulation game in which players help a character salvage a grocery store in an old harbor town. Players organize and restock shelves, assist customers, and befriend local characters. A bar location is named the Drunken Tern, with billboards depicting a bird with bubbles over its head.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available in the options.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: All dialogue comes in the form of text which cannot be resized or altered. There are no audio cues needed for play. This game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable. There is no control diagram. The left stick moves the character, the face buttons handle interact/confirm/cancel. The plus button brings up a menu. The entire control scheme is fairly straightforward.

The post SVG REVIEW: Discounty appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH The visual style

LOW The crashes, bugs and glitches

WTF The infinitude of rare resources

The Settlers is a series at its best when the player is empowered to bring a miniature
civilization to fruition from beginnings of poverty and scarcity. However, The Settlers: New
Allies does the complete opposite by facilitating as many resources as possible, and the socio-cultural dynamics of civilization are cast aside for a focus on military-industrial production and warfare. Adding insult to injury, at the time of review it was buggy and prone to crashing.

New Allies, like its predecessors, is a real-time strategy city-builder with a top-down
view focusing on a combination of resource management, warfare and city planning. The
campaign mode has players controlling a refugee group fleeing civil war in their native
kingdom. With each new scenario, the people progress toward their objective of finding a
peaceful new home away from strife.

This basic premise is embellished with pretty visuals and a functioning resource
management system. Civilians (up to a maximum of 500 in every campaign scenario) either
function as soldiers, engineers, laborers (such as foresters, fishers, bakers and miners) or —
if no task is assigned — as carriers. Carriers bring resources (wood, wheat, stone etc.) to a
settlement’s most nearby warehouse. The limited amount of civilians available make
balancing their jobs a significant component of successful management.

This core gameplay loop is New Allies’ strength, as it was with its predecessors.
Unfortunately, this basic joy is soon tarnished.

First, being a Ubisoft game, New Allies requires an additional step to get launched via
Ubisoft’s own storefront, Ubisoft Connect, thus extending the procedure to boot the game.
Once launched, I frequently encountered crashes, failure to load maps, and bugs where the
UI wouldn’t load, forcing me to restart. These issues were as prevalent as they were severe,
and I had to restart the game at least 50% of the time I tried to play.

I also experienced various in-game glitches, including a particularly annoying bug involving a
malfunctioning autosave system, corrupting both the autosave and manual save. The result
was a forced restart without recently saved progress, making me replay large portions –
sometimes hours‘ worth. This technical inadequacy is simply unacceptable, especially from a
huge publisher like Ubisoft.

I’ve already mentioned that the basic elements are solidly crafted, and managing laborers,
engineers, soldiers and carriers in a balanced manner presents the player with a decent
challenge. Still, this is the only successful system in place, as all external challenges such as
resource scarcity and invaders are easily negotiated, and there’s little internal pressure to
keep the player on their toes.

Resources are plentiful — farms don’t require fertile soil, self-regrowing trees make lumber an
infinite resource, and mines (gold, gem, stone, iron or coal) also provide inexhaustible
supplies. If some resources cannot be claimed in a particular scenario, it’s easy as pie to set
up a harbor, sell whatever surplus exists and acquire material that cannot be harvested.

While stone and lumber are essential for residential and defensive buildings, all other mined
materials have a final purpose of army construction. This, then, is what nearly every scenario
steers the player toward. Despite their peaceful intentions, the settlers must inevitably claim
a structure, destroy a ‘barbarian’ outpost, or defeat an encampment. Bafflingly, New
Allies doesn’t offer any peaceful alternatives, nor any more creative solutions to conflict.

A potential saving grace lies in the story’s emphasis on making friends with several
indigenous groups throughout the campaign. However, these story elements are left under-
explored, with the people taking the shape of stereotypical tropes such as a Viking and
spiritual clan. The player’s people easily take center stage, thus colonizing both the lands
and the narrative. The ‘enemies’ of the campaign are referred to as ‘barbarians,’ a likewise
stereotypical name that is not given proper nuance, regardless of an awkward and forced
twist at the end.

The Settlers: New Allies is the latest entry in a beloved and longstanding franchise, and
carries an inherent advantage of starting with a greatly successful formula. However, there
simply aren’t any exciting updates or formula explorations here. The buggy quality of the
code at time of review and utterly flat narrative are salt in the wound, resulting in a game that
does not boast a single positive reason to warrant a purchase.

Rating: 1 out of 10.

Disclosures: This game is developed by Ubisoft Düsseldorf and published by Ubisoft. It is currently available on PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher. Approximately 34 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game’s campaign was completed. 0 hours of play were spent in multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB this game is rated E10+ and contains Fantasy Violence. The ESRB’s description states: “This is a real-time strategy game in which players help a group of refugees establish a new settlement. From a top-down perspective, players construct buildings, gather resources, engage in trade, and battle rivals and enemy raiders. Players can deploy military units (e.g., soldiers, mages) to protect their settlement, with combat depicted as large-scale skirmishes (e.g., sword battle, shooting arrows, spell casting). Battles are highlighted by sword slashing, bright visual effects, and cries of pain; defeated units collapse to the ground and disappear.”

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles can be altered and resized. Some in-game clues (such as “[army] recruitment complete”) are only available via audio, but the most essential information is covered by written dialogue and instruction.

Remappable Controls: Yes, this game offers fully remappable controls.

The post The Settlers: New Allies Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH The innovative non-racing simulation elements.

LOW The eternal DRS train in all races.

WTF Ferrari winning the 2022 World Championship.

In a year of real-life Formula 1’s actual reboot, which introduced a new F1 car prototype and regulations, my main interest was what this year’s F1 game would do with this opportunity to change things up. As we’ve already seen in my F1 2022 Review, this chance was left underexplored, as the game felt like the first stale reissue of the known formula. Most of my hopes therefore rested with F1 Manager 2022, a second official F1 franchise that would enter the game industry this year — could this game provide the novelty that F1 2022 lacked?

In F1 Manager 2022, there is no player-controlled driving. Instead, we’re only controlling options outside of racing, mostly browsing menus and manually selecting management options such as which staff to hire, which car parts to design, manufacture or maintain, and also how our choice of team’s headquarters may be refurbished or upgraded. Herein, we see the influence of developer Frontier Developments, known for the beloved Planet Coaster and Planet Zoo series, which featured similar managerial elements.

However, a clear distinction between Manager and Planet games is that this time around, the simulation of action is separated from the managerial elements. In those theme park tycoons, we would see the immediate impacts of placing new props, shops and hiring new staff as our park’s visitors would immediately be able to visit them. In Manager, we have to wait to see the results of our managing kick in when the official F1 race weekends arrive, and this is always something more unpredictable as we compete with opaque AI-controlled competitors.

Generally, the game features a dual dynamic of managing the team structure outside of race weekends, and trying to impact the performance of the team’s AI-controlled drivers during competition. Often, this means that we’re stuck with the established level of our team within the pack, which in F1 is very much known — a lower-ranked team in the actual F1 season simply cannot be guided to victory in the first season of managing.

Still, the player’s impact is easily felt, as I was able to complete my first season by bringing the 8^th-ranked team of AlphaTauri to 4^th byand making the race podium several times, and we even managed to pick up one victory. This felt quite unrealistic, and even though Manager encouraged me to delve into the managerial aspects to try to develop the most advanced car and help my drivers prepare for their races, these results came too easily and too quickly to consider my achievements genuine.

Why? The dynamics of racing simulation. As players, we can only control whether our drivers should push to the limit or reserve tires, fuel and battery life, and when they should come in for a pit stop. Yet while this limits player input on the race, the fact that every race somehow results in unbreakable DRS trains makes it all the more impactful (and the races less realistic). I merely had to situate my drivers in the correct DRS train and charge past at the end of the race to outperform targets.

To explain, DRS means drag reduction system and allows F1 cars to gain immense speed boosts on straight parts of the track (there are usually two or three per circuit). In races, DRS is disabled unless cars are within one second behind the car in front, i.e. an overtaking position. This can also lead to DRS trains, however, as slower cars may follow faster cars due to straight line speed difference. However, in actual Formula 1, simply following cars within one second is much more difficult. Therefore, DRS trains hardly dominate races.

Here, however, DRS trains do dominate. They form at the very start of races, and can be as long as eight cars (out of 20 in total) which allows worse cars to stay in touch with the frontrunners. The fact that the AI also makes some questionably inorganic strategic decisions helps the player to make that final push to end up much more achievable than a realistic simulation would be. In other words, while Manager’s managerial side is engaging and feels realistic, the racing simply does not do it justice.

Therefore, Manager suffers similar issues to F1 2022, as races fail to feel convincing, and any immersion in realistic simulations is canceled out. These issues are somewhat exacerbated by lackluster presentation — the ‘commentary’ variation ahead of races and in-between weekend sections is embarrassingly nonexistent, and the visuals are also a step down from F1 2022. Also, the intrigue of managerial simulation as the strongest feature could just as well have been added to the latter title, which already (underwhelmingly) experimented with manager modes.

F1 Manager 2022 is a refreshing new take on F1 games, underscoring the intense out-of-racing dimensions to the sport, and the managerial modes are expansive and engaging. Still, the premise feels undercut by an unimpressive racing simulation. Therefore, the title’s path up the grid requires improvements in its immersive qualities — as much as playing manager is about putting in work behind the scenes, nothing is more satisfying than witnessing the results of all that effort on the track. 

Disclosures: This game is developed by Frontier Developments and published by Frontier Developments. It is currently available on PC, PS4, PS5, and XBO/X/S. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PS4. Approximately 45 hours were devoted to the single-player mode, and over a career season of the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E, and contains Mild Language. The Rating Summary reads: “This is a racing simulation game in which players assume the role of a Team Principal for a real-world Formula 1 team. Players can manage the team’s facilities, set racing strategies, and race various cars on tracks. Some language in the game is partially censored by audible bleeps (e.g., “For [bleep] sake, man”; “Ah man, that was such [bleep]”; “I am a [bleep] idiot!”).”

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles cannot be altered and/or resized. This game is menu-driven, so the vital information is readable. No audio cues are of relevance to the gameplay. This game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable.

The post F1 Manager 2022 Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Improved game flow. Crazy-deep franchise mode.

LOW Blocking is still weird.

WTF why is my LB spasming like that after a hit?

I enjoyed Axis Football 2019 a great deal last year, even as I lamented its shortcomings.  For this year’s release, I was looking for an improved on-the-field experience coupled with refinements to the already impressive franchise mode.  I am pleased to report that, by and large, Axis Football 2020 improves on its predecessor with a number of welcome new additions. It’s s an impressive display of growth in a year, but there are still a number of rough patches that need to be addressed before the game can truly be considered great.

The most notable improvements on the field take the form of new animations and beefier AI that provides a greater challenge, even on the easier difficulty settings. 

Computer-controlled running backs make far greater use of jukes and dizzying spins to throw tacklers off and pound out just a few more yards per carry. 

Receivers have some pretty new catch animations which allow them to snag passes on the run while gobbling up real estate, especially when they’re able to shake loose from coverage.

Long bomb passes are a more viable strategy this year as players now run far more intelligent routes and offensive linemen struggle to maintain the pocket for as long as possible, giving the QB just enough time to check through his progressions or take off and run if the situation warrants. 

On defense, linemen are able to get more involved with plays by breaking loose from blockers and getting a hand on errant runners or receivers. 

I was also pleased to see multiple defensive backs working together to bring down ball carriers, and I was in awe at how quickly a determined linebacker could shred through an O-line to ruin a quarterback’s day with a truly devastating hit. 

Penalties happen at a much more believable and realistic rate in Axis 2020, and I actually need to apologize to the team for a comment I made last year about linemen constantly jumping offsides —  it turns out I had issues with my controller in both this year’s and last year’s version, and a swap to a new wireless Xbox One controller made all the difference!

Things are still far from perfect on the field, however. While line play is (generally) greatly improved, there are still too many times where the opposing teams seem to simply snap into contact like magnets, rather than engaging with their opposite numbers in a more organic fashion. 

Linebackers in coverage seem to forget there’s a play going on and simply run back and forth without realizing that a runner has passed the line of scrimmage and is heading up field unhindered. 

There are also still a number of laughable animation glitches, like players bouncing off of one another like pinballs after a monster hit or ragdolling into physically impossible forms.  There are new crowd animations that provide a better atmosphere, but stadiums still look sparse and referees and various sideline dwellers stand rock-still even as plays unfold around them. 

Other quality-of-life improvements need to be made with play-by-play and sideline reporting.  Too often entire conversations are repeated, especially during pre-game festivities.  Additionally, blatantly incorrect play-by-play calls are frequent, such as describing incomplete passes as out-of-bounds runs and the sideline reporter talking about how disappointed my coach is with my offense when I have a 21-point lead.

Off the field, Axis 2020 continues to shine.  It’s incredibly satisfying to take a third-tier team without prospects and turn them into a contender simply by scouting and drafting well. 

Scouts now have many more opportunities to evaluate players in 2020, and General Managers have the ability to scour free agent pools and make offers. 

Various position coaches provide boosts to their teams based on experience and ability, and purchasing facility improvements (like better workout centers and improved training equipment) can help players recover from (or prevent) injuries. 

Contract negotiations for returning players are quick and painless, and a handy “Resign All” feature allows players to efficiently shore up any roster holes if one doesn’t feel like haggling with individual team members.  Interestingly, it’s also possible to run a team at a loss for at least a season, although it severely limits any future moves.

The revamped year-end draft is fantastic.  It’s now presented more like an ESPN broadcast, although there’s a welcome ability to skip immediately to my own picks rather than waiting to see what everyone else does.  Information is also much easier to parse, and I was able to quickly determine my team’s remaining areas of need while snagging some of the talent I’d had my scouts keeping an eye on. 

Grading yearly releases is tricky.  Axis Footbal 2020 has made some great strides compared to last year’s title, and it’s much easier to recommend this year’s installment.  The franchise mode is just about perfect and should only require minor tinkering in order to keep fans happy, but the on-field play and presentation definitely need to be addressed if this series is going to ever be considered a contender to the Madden throne. 

Disclosures: This game is developed and published by Axis Games. It is currently available on PC and XBO. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PC. Approximately 13 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and several in-gameseasons were completed. I did not have the ability to test the local 2-player coach mode as my family members still aren’t football fans.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E.  This is a realistic football simulation, with all of the tackling and hitting that is a standard part of the game.  Injuries are described (not in any type of gory detail) and not shown.  Commentary does refer to the potential of drunken fans in attendance and the word Hell occurs in one opening menu song.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available in the options.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: The game is playable without sound, but audio cues including crowd noise and in game commentary have no subtitles, which severely impacts the feel of the title. Additionally, without being able to hear a snap count from the opposing quarterback, a human player on defense is at a slight disadvantage when attempting to get a jump on the offensive line. This game is NOT fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable.

The post Axis Football 2020 Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.