[quote][b][url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset_flip]Warning: Asset Flip![/url][/b]
Rolling Toolman 2 Deathly Traps is a Digital Homicide style asset flip, or what Valve calls a "Fake Game". The "developer" paid for/pirated a few Unreal Marketplace packs, dumped them all in a blender, and submitted it to Valve as if they're real game developers.[/quote]
Two notable criteria for what makes an asset flip instead of legitimate use of stock assets are whether those assets comprise the majority of the game, and whether the "developer" properly credited the people who created most of the assets in the game. This game fails both of those tests. The "developers" here didn't credit any of the artists and real, actual game developers who created the assets here, so this is plagiarism, as well as cash grab shovelware.
In this case, the asset flipper took a bunch of lazy low poly placeholder assets (they really do look like trash) and dumped them on a basic rolling ball physics puzzle Unreal blueprint. One of the laziest asset flips from Tero, and that's saying something. It has no value or merit as a real game.
Tero Lunkka/Valkeala Software have shown a repeat pattern of unethically dumping other people's work onto Steam as a cheap, nasty cash grab, through this account or through closely linked/alt accounts. Here's some examples so you can see for yourself:
[list]
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/989340]Aliens Dont Exist[/url]" = [url=https://craftpix.net/freebies/2d-game-alien-character-free-sprite/]Alien Character - Free Sprite[/url] developed by Craftpix
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/723830]Cyborg Invasion Shooter[/url]" = [url=https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/third-person-shooter-kit]Third Person Shooter Kit[/url] developed by Epic Games
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1643280]Fancy the Frog[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/2d/characters/pixel-adventure-1-155360]Pixel Adventure 1[/url] developed by Pixel Frog
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1776540]Lawnmower Game: Pinball[/url]" = [url=https://github.com/freezy/pinball-construction-kit]Pinball Construction Kit[/url] developed by Epic Games
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/581200]Nash Racing[/url]" = [url=https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/advanced-tuning-cars]Advanced Tuning Cars[/url] developed by James Novih
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/713580]Nash Racing 2[/url]" = [url=https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/advanced-tuning-cars]Advanced Tuning Cars[/url] developed by James Novih
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1639090]Survival Isolation[/url]" = [url=https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/easy-survival-rpg]Easy Survival RPG v3[/url] developed by Easy Systems
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/768060]The Warrior Of Treasures[/url]" = [url=https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/dynamic-combat-system]Dynamic Combat System[/url] developed by Grzegorz Szewczyk
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/777270]Thirsty Bubble[/url]" = [url=]Low Poly Scenario Pack+POLYGON Knights Pack+Simple Dungeons[/url] developed by
[/list]
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 game features lazy low-polygon "retro" assets, making this look like a barely functional 3D game from the 1990s. It's unclear why the developers weren't able to arrange high quality, high polygon count contemporary assets for the game, and also irrelevant... what matters is that this looks bad as a result of their decisions, a compromise PC gamers shouldn't have to put up with.
The controls can't be customised, which will be an annoyance for many, but it can also render the game unplayable for differently-abled gamers, left handed gamers or gamers using AZERTY or other international keyboard layouts.
These technical defects push this game below acceptable standards for any modern PC game.
The poor quality of this game is 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 3 players, and the worst part is these weren't genuine players, these were the Russian fake review accounts that the developer paid to make the fake reviews. Since the fake reviews are all done, 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 game 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. Whether these connections are the same developer using multiple accounts, or just working closely with other unethical developers, gamers should be warned about the harm to gamers by this developer and their associates. Buying games from unethical developers puts your money at risk.
[quote][b][url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2017/01/18/steam-takes-down-art-of-stealth-after-developer-posts-fake-reviews/?sh=750e13e12354]Warning: Review Manipulation![/url][/b]
This game features a small number of fake positive reviews from accounts known to be in the business of review manipulation/paid reviews. They're all written in either Russian or broken English, appear at almost exactly the same time, very shortly after the game launched on Steam, all have a direct Steam purchase of the game, and the accounts are used consistently to write fake reviews for asset flips and other cash grabs/scams. The "Positive" review score on this game should be disregarded due to this blatant, unethical review manipulation. This is done to deceive and scam gamers into paying for a bad product.[/quote]
This kind of asset flipping isn't harmless. It makes it harder for gamers to find genuinely made games from ethical developers. It makes it harder for genuine indie developers, who put hard work into trying to make real games, to find an audience for their products. It gives indie developers a bad name.
So, should you buy this game? Is this one of the best of the 100,000+ games on Steam?
Rolling Toolman 2 Deathly Traps is relatively cheap at $3 USD, but it's not worth it. Given the defects and quality issues with the game, coupled with the unrealistic price, and the questionable ethical nature of the developer and/or their associates (as outlined above), this is impossible to recommend. Remember that if you buy a game from an unethical developer, you're putting your money at risk.
[quote][b][url=https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/marketing/profile]Profile Features Limited![/url][/b]
Valve have marked this game as "Profile Features Limited" at the time of this review. This is usually caused by poor sales figures and low community acceptance for the game (to date). Until this status changes, this game 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 game.[/quote]
