[quote][b]Warning: Broken Game![/b]
This game has design/implementation defects that will render this unplayable for many gamers. The developer couldn't work out how to make his Java game work properly with Java, so it crashes to desktop immediately upon launching and cannot be played. The developer knows the game is broken, yet despite refusing to fix it persists in trying to scam people into buying it.[/quote]
"Band of Drones" is a broken Java game that doesn't work. What it was supposed to be was a somewhat dumbed down X-Com ripoff with drones and considerably worse graphics.
It's unclear whether the developer knew that X-Com was already on Steam, and launching a game that's inferior in all respects on the same platform isn't the brightest decision of all, but then again the developer genuinely thought it would be okay to make a game using Java. Not only that, but they thought it would be okay to sell a Java game on Steam. Not only that, but they can't even get the game to run properly. Not only that, but they're still trying to sell it even if it's broken. I know I've already said that but it's a really, really important point.
I can't comment much on the gameplay because it doesn't work. Some of the other defects are evident, however, even if the game itself doesn't work.
The game features somewhat lazy, simplistic "retro" looking 2D graphics, of the type you normally expect to see in low effort Flash/browser games and mobile apps. Considering this is being evaluated as a PC game, having the graphics phoned in like this isn't going to result in a high quality, visually impressive game that PC gamers are used to seeing.
Comically, the game was written in Java (I'm not making this up). Talk about not using the right tools for the job. Might as well try to bake a cake with a screwdriver. The extremely poor choice of game engine here is a major contributing factor to the defects with the game. I've mentioned that before a few times in this review, but for the purpose of informing buying decisions, the fact the game is made with Java alone, disregarding all the other defects, is enough to warn gamers not to buy this.
These technical defects push this game below acceptable standards for any modern PC game.
The poor quality of this game is reflected by how many people spent time with it. At the time of this review, SteamDB shows the all-time peak player number was only 2 players. This is a remarkably low number, and now, the only player activity occurs once or twice a month, presumably someone loading it up to see what it is then quickly uninstalling it. Considering there's over 120 million gamers on Steam and well over 100,000 games for gamers to choose from, the overwhelming lack of interest in this low quality game is to be expected.
Unethically, the developers have left this on the Steam store in an unplayable and broken state. It's the responsibility of the developer to maintain their product, ensure it runs on all modern PCs, or if they determine there's defects and the game doesn't work, they should remove it from sale instead of misleadingly trying to scam gamers into buying knowingly defective products.
This is harmful to Steam and to gamers, not just because it's a direct and intentional attempt to scam people, but because it takes a share of the marketing space and visibility away from other games. It's polluting Steam and making it harder for gamers to find genuine games and for genuine indie developers who put months or years into making proper games find an audience.
So, should you buy this broken, dead Java game? Is this one of the best of the 100,000+ games on Steam?
You can get X-Com 2 for cheaper than this!!! The developer is deliberately and unethically trying to scam gamers into paying them the far too high price of $8 USD for a game they know is broken. Don't give it to them.
