Planetoid Pioneers Online

Hey, remember Cortex Command? That 2d side-scroller/RTS hybrid with a very unique physics engine allowing for the destruction of almost every single pixel on screen? It was pretty neat. A shame Datarealms effectively abandoned it, releasing sporadic updates that sometimes broke the small amount of content the game had and leaving it to the community to fix it. Don't worry though, CC is open-source now, so the community can finish the game as well. (Doesn't stop DR from claiming it has 'oodles of official content', though) Hey, remember Planetoid Pioneers? That 2d side-scroller with a very unique physics engine allowing for the detailed destruction of almost every object on screen, save for the terrain? It was pretty neat. A shame it came with very little content, effectively serving as a paid tech demo with a level editor. Don't worry, though, PP just got an update to add some official content and even online multiplayer, sick! Too bad that update is actually a separate game, with a price-tag. Owners of the original PP only get it for free if they backed the game, not if they bought it after release. There's 12 gamemodes to play, and all of them are short round-based affairs without any kind of long-term progression or goals. Just wave defense, rover racing, a Nidhogg-esqe room rush mode, etcetera. Cool ideas, but not enough. The server browser is absolutely terrible, in that there is no server browser. Instead you wait until "join game" pops up under one of the gamemodes. Once in-game, you'll also notice there's no in-game text chat. Instead you can only communicate with emojis. Yes, really. The gameplay itself is fun and dynamic, centering around the physics the game is built on, but there isn't much depth from what I've tried. Please just spend your money elsewhere. Datarealms may be an independant studio, but their business practices remind me of the depravity within the 'Triple A' market. Edit: April 4th, 2020 I forgot about PP, and this review, until someone commented on it today and reminded me that both still exist. Checking the "recent news" section, the game hasn't been updated in four months and is still in early access. Classic Datarealms.

They still have no idea how to make menus. Pressing ESC lets you exit the game, (it atleast warns you in this one) there's no pause, help, options, spot to check or change keybinds.... The main screen is terrible, anytime a lobby appears or disappears, it moves all the other menu items around. You cant start offline and have people join in, so you're stuck waiting if you launch in online mode. There's also no way to communicate other than emojis... The game is a lot like cortex command (same devs) but with much better graphics and physics, It might be fun with friends, but it kind of sucks with laggy randoms all just trying to climb somewhere or sniping from across the screen. My biggest peeve is how you cant hold 2 items, and use the scanner / digger. Its such an important item... Alot of the environments are built to need a grappling hook or jetpack to get around, and a weapon to defend yourself. You need to throw away one anytime you want to build.

Runs terribly and plays like a tech demo, its like cortex command development cycle all over again... When will these devs learn. I know its just be released as EA here, but this game has actually been out a few years in a a similar state.

It's a fun little game with physics, but it needs some polish when it comes to the movement and menus.

I got this game thinking that it had single player and they were just marketing some kind of new online modes they added to the game. It took me 2 AND A HALF hours to realize that this was just some kind of crappy online tech demo and the game I was actually looking for (planetoid pioneers) is a different game because...money. - Nobody plays...as in no one. All modes are empty always so getting this for the multiplayer, which is the point of this version I guess, is utterly pointless. -Can't save your progress at all so unlocks don't matter since as soon as you leave that "lobby" you lose everything you found/earned/made. -Most of this game is just a bunch of different gamemodes built around pvp so unless you have friends that get this to play with you most of the game is unplayable since it lacks any playerbase. TLDR: If you see the videos and think this looks like a fun game then you may want to grab "planetoid pioneers" NOT "planetoid pioneers online". there is no playerbase whatsoever and it makes most of the game unplayable.

I love the individual mechanics a lot, but this is not a game. Just like Cortex command, you have to really really role play, but it really breaks you out of it. For example, you start `survival mode`, an enemy spawns, and you would be lucky if it did not get stuck behind some place you can't get to without enormous effort. So you move around trying to get the AI unstuck, repeat until you fall off something and die. Every game mode is just you getting dropped in a broken sandbox with wonderful mechanics being horribly placed. And not only that, they are horrible to access also. If you grab the mechanics you have now, and actually focus on making a game out of it, you will probably have one of the best physics games out there, but for now, its the most horrible experience you don't want to start up..

Planetoid Pioneers ONLINE doesn't seem to have functional ONLINE capabilities. Buy the non-online version or cortex command and remote-play with your friends. Don't expect to find a game in this, and don't expect your friends to be able to join either. Cortex command is honestly a deeper and more fun game anyways.

coop didnt even work

Both games are poorly optimized, the online version is standalone and searching for games took ages. You can buy better games with less money. Cortex is better than this.

I really enjoy Planetoid Pioneers Online, but it's not quite what I had imagined. With the original game, you were exploring planets and solving puzzles to move on to the next planet. I had imagined the same thing with this game, but I find this a whole lot better (mostly including the fact that the original was broken in a variety of ways, and crashed very often)! The whole scope of this game is pretty great, and though the variety of game modes was a little small, it's still awesome to play! I mostly enjoy playing the bridge/tower building modes! They provide a unique challenge for your brain! Either way, if you want this game, I think you should get it. If you're not sure, get it anyway!