[quote]Follow my Curator page, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41363546-Fruit-N-Doggie-Reviews/]Fruit N Doggie Reviews,[/url] so you can be updated whenever I post a new review.[/quote]
[h1]Overall Rating - Painfully Bad ★☆☆☆☆[/h1]
[h1]First Impressions[/h1]
Honestly, I've looked in my library multiple times, seeing CPU Invaders (CI) more than once, and been certain that it's overall review is in the Mixed region. A game that ugly looking surely couldn't do much better than that, yet it's defied me each time I've looked at the store page. Is there a hidden gem buried beneath the surface layer, or is my knee-jerk reaction closer to the mark?
[h1]Gameplay[/h1]
Although this makes me think of a twin-stick shooter, especially since enemies can spawn from the bottom of the screen, the control scheme doesn't allow you to play with a controller. Either way, there's a total of 10 levels, but you don't have to survive through them in a sequence in order to reach the end. If you beat a level once, you can freely load the next one and try it whenever you want. In every level, a new enemy will be introduced, with a target amount of enemies you need to kill. Enemies that appear to summon more are taken into account, so they have a limit on how many they can bring as back-up. With no timer in place, stages are finished once you've killed the last foe, without losing all three of your hit points.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3607622725
[h1]Controls[/h1]
There's no ability to play this title with a controller, even though it looks and plays like it should be a twin-stick shooter. Instead, with no ability to remap the inputs, you use the WASD keys to move your character, and fire with the mouse. Something many others have pointed out is that the left and right mouse keys shoot different projectiles. The trailer does imply there's another projectile besides the primary one, but without any mention of the controls or inputs in the game, I'm glad I saw those comments.
[h1]Story[/h1]
One might assume there's a plot about these viruses or annoying forces invading your computer, but there's no story presented through the game itself, whether through a text intro or cutscenes. It wouldn't have elevated the game that significantly, but seeing a little more presentation and effort also couldn't hurt anything.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3607604768
[h1]Visuals[/h1]
I'm not that fond of games which play over your own monitor, as whatever background I have isn't meant to be the placeholder for a video game. It could easily clash or distract me from the action taking place. Plus, ignoring all the other reasons I can be a touch paranoid, it feels more like the developer is monitoring my activity than it would otherwise. Putting all of these complaints to the side, the enemies are simply very ugly in this game, from the design of their faces, to the colors used in their composition. You might argue it makes me all the more eager to destroy them, but as a gamer, the objective on its own is sufficient.
[h1]Sound Design[/h1]
Despite introducing new enemies each round, the same music plays during the entire game. For the first several seconds, it just repeats the same few notes in an endless, fast loop, which gets irritating quickly. Over time, it actually begins to develop into what I might consider more of a song, as it breaks out of that endless loop. With how quickly you either beat or die to a level though, this winds up being entirely pointless, as you'll never hear it get that far. Some of the sound effects are also annoying, such as when you shoot projectiles, or trigger celebrations from killing enough enemies at a time.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3607620874
[h1]Pros[/h1]
🌟 There's a novelty factor from having your background involved in the game.
🌟 If it were improved in key areas, it'd make for a decent little time killer.
[h1]Cons[/h1]
❌ According to comments and reviews, the developers engaged in price manipulation in order to entice some people to buy it. No one should pay the full price of $30.
❌ It's ugly, with bad music and annoying sound effects.
[h1]Tips[/h1]
🔍 I was surprised by how effective the second projectile was at fending off enemies, as I'd expect such a wide spread to do measly damage. It was instrumental for dealing with waves eight and nine.
🔍 It can be deceiving where the edges of the screen actually are. I'm used to my bottom bar being inaccessible by my programs, but you can go all the way to the very bottom of the screen.
[h1]Final Thoughts[/h1]
Even if the developers didn't have a bad reputation for their business practices, I wouldn't have recommended CI. This would also account for the game having a more reasonable price than $30. It'd be hard to go that wrong for only $1, but despite earning all the achievements, I can't say my time was well spent here. Handling the game with their control scheme was functional, but wouldn't have been my first choice. Plus, once you understand the right approach for dealing with enemies, it only took a couple of attempts to clear any given wave. Due to not knowing the right way to handle the enemies from wave eight, that probably took me around a dozen attempts, compared to the last boss, which I beat in only three or four tries. The most interesting thing about the game would be the monitor background and any given controversy from the developers, so it's not an experience I would recommend.
[table]
[tr]
[th]PC Specs[/th]
[th]Performance[/th]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Ryzen 2700
RTX 2070
16GB RAM
ADATA SSD
1920x1080
[/td]
[td]The game ran without incident on default settings.
💖 - CI is healthy
[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
