MuseSwipr

"MuseSwipr" is a very poorly made rhtyhm/QTE game that seems to have been designed for mobile phones and was published on Steam instead, because some developers think mobile gamers prefer to use Steam to try find mobile games or something. Who knows. What do you do in the game? Here's what you do... take Guitar Hero, remove all the good music and replace it with crap. Then remove the controllers, the graphics (all of them) and the garage band trying to hit the big time and get famous theme, and this is what's left... a shallow ripoff of better games. There is an iPhone related gimmick where you swipe between different panels... yeah, this is not what Guitar Hero needed. While the game is still getting updates, the developer made a solid commitment to finish and properly publish the game, and that deadline passed a couple of years ago! It's deep in development hell and there's every likelihood this will never be completed. This unfinished game is just polluting Steam and making it harder for gamers to find genuinely, completely made games. While I couldn't find this on the mobile app stores, everything about it looks and feels like it's a mobile app designed for mobile phones... for PC gaming enthusiasts, it's not going to give you a cutting edge PC gaming experience. That alone is enough to disqualify this from any recommendation. We don't spend thousands building gaming rigs so that we can pretend they're iPhones and play iPhone games and mobile apps. This game features very lacklustre minimalist "art" for graphics instead of anything remotely contemporary. I'm sure the "developer" thought this would come across as "artistic", but it doesn't, it comes across as "really lazy". Yes, contemporary 3D graphics take a lot of time and effort to create. That doesn't mean it's okay not to bother! Developers must try to understand that gaming is a visual medium, and gamers spend a lot of money on high end gaming rigs for a reason. And that reason is not so they can look at lazy, phoned-in half efforts like this. Now on to pricing and value for gamers. Most "free" games on Steam aren't really free. There's usually some kind of monetisation, from nasty mobile app cash shops, or content locked behind DLC, or donations being requested, to any other number of shady pricing schemes that could mislead gamers, but in this case I'm glad to say this really does appear to be a fully free game. Nothing demonstrates a developers belief in themselves and their work than giving it away without any remuneration. This is a service to themselves, and the gaming industry, and should be applauded. Of course, just because something is free, doesn't necessarily mean it's valuable, or something you might want to spend your time on. Despite being a "free" game, this couldn't break triple figures, according to the player counts we can see on SteamDB, it's just in the double digits, and now it's not even getting those kinds of numbers. There's over 130 million gamers on Steam... this failed to appeal to almost all of them, most likely because of some or all of the reasons I supply in this review. Since free games don't contribute to your game collector badge and other profile stuff, is this a worthwhile addition to your Steam library? Pass on this one. There's no immediate financial commitment, but there are thousands of more compelling games on the platform that will give you a lot more enjoyment for your time.