MOLOCH (Zero)

No ending, not scary, just a quick simulation about little simulated guys running across a screen and some make it, and some drop dead. Not sure what the dev was aiming for, but it misses the mark by a mile. Rating: 2/10

Moloch (zero) is not really a game, it's a preachy 2D retro pixel "art-not-game" that's been slapped together with the godawful GameMaker Studio video game construction kit from Yoyogames. The developers follow the same course they took with EnviroGolf to shove a sanctimonious message down gamers throats, entirely ineffectively. This time, the message is about the evils of mindless corporations. Just like EnviroGolf, they fail spectacularly at this mission and do so in a way that's completely harmful to their cause. As EnviroGolf is proven to be an environmentally harmful game, so to does Moloch (zero) act in ways that support massive, faceless corporations. Built using the video game construction kit GameMaker Studio from YoyoGames, the game only runs on x86 PCs produced by Intel and AMD, on PC hardware mass produced by corporations that resemble Moloch in many ways, and of course it's designed for Microsoft Windows. So in order to tell us all about the evils of corporations, these guys are lining the pockets of dozens of them. You can't make this stuff up. It's like those selfies of teenagers putting their finger up to capitalist pigs... selfies taken on their iPhones. Epic failure in the actual intent and delivery of their message aside, let's look at the flaws of this "art-not-game", and look at why, even if this was a game, it's not worth wasting your time on. They chose to use obsolete retro pixel "art" as a substitute for contemporary PC graphics. It's unclear if this is due to lack of budget or talent, regardless, the overall visual quality of the game is extremely low as a result. Resolution is locked, but at least you can customise the controls. The visual flaws and locked resolution push this game far below minimum acceptable standards for PC. GameMaker Studio is a very poor quality game construction kit, and unsurprisingly results in products that have little to no value as games, especially when compared to the work of professional developers who create genuine products for gamers. Using a video game construction kit requires little to no talent or skill as a game developer. Very often, GameMaker Studio is used to make shovelware and lazy cash grabs, although in this case the game is free. Despite being free, there's little to enjoy as a game from this sanctimonious retro pixel headache, I can't recommend gamers bother downloading it.