Molecular Warfare is yet another construction kit template copy+paste from serial shovelware pushers, Gamesforgames. These guys do nothing but copy premade game templates and game tutorials, fill out a few things/stamp out basic levels using the construction kit templates, slap on an asset flipped set of sprites/assets, and dump them on Steam and into cheap nasty shovelware game bundles as cash grabs. Trying to get paid for someone else's game templates, assets... at best, this is shovelware, at worst, it's a scam/cash grab.
This really seems to be the Monty Hall of "do everything wrong possibly to scam gamers". Let's keep wading into the problems with this Russian garbage.
But first, what is it? Molecular Warfare is yet another of literally hundreds of lazy amateur 2D retro top-down shooter/brawlers infesting Steam and lowering the average quality of all video games everywhere. It's very bad, to put it mildly, but then it's an incomplete product. Here's where we run into the first of so many problems from the highly unethical developer. As you can see from screenshots, it's a military "tacticool" 2D top down action shooter, or it was intended to be.
See, it's incomplete. Gamesforgames conveniently don't mention that, but when you buy then launch the game, that's where you get the little note at the bottom that says this is an incomplete product and development have stopped. They don't advertise this fact... basically they hope to scam gamers into buying this, misleading them by hiding the fact it's abandoned. Is that ethical? Of course not.
Even worse, they published this for free on the mobile app stores, but they're trying to scam PC gamers into paying them for it... I mean, it's a valueless product as it is, but giving it away free on app stores but charging money on Steam? There's a special place in hell for these guys.
Gamesforgames have a known history of trying to scam people into paying them money for someone else's work, through this account or through closely linked/alt accounts. An example of Gamesforgames doing this is [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1284510]In a search of a new home[/url], which is really "[url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/2d/characters/pixel-adventure-1-155360]Pixel Adventure 1[/url]", written by the actual developers, Pixel Frog. Also, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2474180]Save The Settlers[/url], which is really "[url=https://1up-indie2.itch.io/free-tower-defence-project-gamemaker]Free Tower Defence Project[/url]", developed by 1UP Indie2.
So you can see that scamming gamers is nothing new for Gamesforgames, and this most certainly is another one of their scam games. Let's talk about the myriad of defects that should deter anyone from taking this seriously.
Despite not being in Steam Early Access (where this arguably belongs), the mobile app is missing features and is apparently incomplete. Due to the lack of meaningful progress from the developer, it's unlikely the mobile app will be completed at all, yet the developers reprehensively have their hand out for money for an incomplete mobile app. This is a good reason for gamers to avoid this.
Taking this shovelware seriously as if it was a genuine attempt to make a game, it doesn't meet basic minimum requirements that most PC gamers expect as standard.
There's no option to change the resolution and no useful graphics tweaks. There's no way to ensure this is running at the native resolution of your display. There's no guarantee this game will look right on any PC as a result of this hamfisted design decision.
The mobile app 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.
The implementation here is of such poor quality, the developer couldn't work out how to make the mobile app display in fullscreen, it only runs in a window.
The controls can't be customised, which will be an annoyance for many, but it can also render the mobile app unplayable for differently-abled gamers, left handed gamers or gamers using AZERTY or other international keyboard layouts.
Because this is a mobile app, it carries a number of deliberate design deficiencies. Compromises were made to cater to the iPhones that the mobile app was designed for. These are unfortunate handicaps and limitations that PC gamers shouldn't be forced to accept, but it's evident that PC was an afterthought for the iPhone developers who are to blame for this. The mobile app is deficient as a result of these choices, and would have been so much better without the handicaps that designing games for mobile phones forces upon a game. Once more, mobile devs have made gaming worse for everyone. I didn't spend thousands on building a gaming rig just so I could pretend it's an iPhone.
These technical defects push this mobile app below acceptable standards for any modern PC game.
Molecular Warfare didn't appeal much to the people who own a copy of the mobile app, either. It has achievements, and they show us a very clear picture that the mobile app didn't really capture any interest from gamers. The most commonly and easily attained achievement is for starting the game, trivial to get, but less than 11 percent of players bothered to get that far before uninstalling the mobile app. Hardly a success story, gamers just weren't all that interested in the mobile app.
The poor quality of this mobile app is also 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 4 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 mobile app is to be expected.
It's also important to note the "developer" here has connections to a number of shady Russian asset flippers and review manipulators who show an organised pattern to scam and defraud gamers with fake reviews and asset flipping the work of others for profit. While reviews are about the games, gamers should be informed when developers act unethically.
So, should you buy this free mobile app? Is this one of the best of the 100,000+ games on Steam?
Once more we see greedy mobile devs trying to scam PC gamers. On Steam, this is $10 USD, on app stores, it's free. Mobile devs must learn PC gamers are not here to be gouged, and can't be expected to pay a premium for a free mobile app just because it's been lazily dumped on Steam. This is unacceptable disrespect for PC gamers. Because this can be played free elsewhere, and because of the other defects, it's impossible to recommend.
Just who do they think we are?
[quote][b][url=https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/marketing/profile]Profile Features Limited![/url][/b]
Valve have marked this mobile app as "Profile Features Limited" at the time of this review. This is usually caused by poor sales figures and low community acceptance for the mobile app (to date). Until this status changes, this mobile app will not give you +1 to your Game Collector badge count, appear in profile achievements or any other Steam meta-accomplishments, nor can it be displayed in some profile showcases. If these factors are important to you, it may be worth holding off before buying this free mobile app.[/quote]
