Shatterline

14 of 15 markets; the rest we haven't asked for this title, not markets where it is unavailable.

14 on sale1 answered “not sold”0 we did not ask

The 1 “not sold” market is read from the Steam price pass of Aug 31: that day the store answered for this game elsewhere and gave no price there. The 14 priced markets are the same rows as the table above — each the latest price we hold, dated here when it is older than that pass. The 0 marked “not asked” were not put to this store at all — either it has no storefront there or we do not collect it yet, and neither is a statement about the game. A refusal is a refusal on one day; a store can list a title again tomorrow.

Matched by title — a reused name can pair the wrong games. * is a critic aggregate. Prices and positions are each store's United States storefront; Epic charts worldwide. Audience and Score too, except Steam's, which is worldwide.

Hours played at review time, across 826 reviews with recorded playtime.

positive critical· bar length = how often the theme comes up

The Beginning: After the rough transition to a single player campaign and other highly questionable direction decisions, the game reveals a multitude of issues that result in a disjointed and lackluster experience. The Bad: There is no sense of progression in character skills, weapon choices, or attachments, as all options are instantly available from the beginning. Level locations are repeatedly re-used throughout the campaign, with minimal narrative or mechanical justification. Enemy type variety and behavior is minimal. Character art is inconsistent between loading screen art, cutscene illustrations, icons, and player models. Fragments of the multiplayer experience emerge in strange places, such as dialogue referring to multiple players, a killstreak message in the form of a killfeed that lacks the player's name, and weapon attachments with benefits for Co-op gameplay. Gunfire audio and character speech continues while the game is paused, and certain sounds like the minigun and boss fights exhibit distortion and poorly mixed effects. Various mesh stretching, flickering lights and materials, and other visual issues crop up constantly. The narrative lacks charm, and story's pacing, progression, and conclusion are unfulfilling. The Mixed: The actual gunplay and abilities retain a decent amount of polish, though there is little versatility in their use. The environment was well detailed and stylized, especially some of the urban locations. The voice acting performances were surprisingly decently acted, though the writing suffered. The levels and achievements are not too difficult, with most being accomplished with straightforward story progression. There were a few silly hidden beaver statures scattered about, though no tracking or reward system for them seemed to exist. The arcade combat lends itself to some simple fun moments, especially in the later levels where the numbers of enemies started to ramp up. The End: All in all, this was entertaining to a small degree for good, bad, and bewildering reasons. More content is promised for the story, along with a new gameplay mode. I appreciate playing this for free, though the quality of the end product cannot be vouched for.