[h1] [b] This game was reviewed using a code sent by the developer/publisher but this did not affect my opinion on the game. [/b] [/h1]
Soviet Monsters: Ekranoplans is a simulation and strategy game developed by Santa's & Co. and published by Merge Games and IV Productions. It was released in July 2016. You, the player, own a historical Russian ekranoplan and you use it to complete missions. The simulation tag is through you controlling your ekranoplan to complete missions whereas the strategy aspect is through hiring crew members, purchasing equipment, and regularly monitoring both.
The idea for the game of owning an ekranoplan, controlling it, and then playing it was a very neat idea on paper, but fails in execution. Its lack of polish and abundance of issues screams unfinished development. For instance, there is no in-game options menu, instead the options menu is displayed prior to launching the game. Furthermore, the max resolution is 1680x1050, which is a big issue because the text within the game goes off the screen. That affects mission briefings because each mission has requirements, for instance, you need five soldiers, two pilots, and so forth, so with the unclear text, you cannot see the full requirements to launch a mission.
My main issue lies in the lack of explanation of informing the player what you need to do, what is the objective, and how do you play the game. For instance, it is unclear on how to operate the ekranoplan, specifically, explanation on buttons such as the one that lifts your ekranoplan. In saying that, the game does feature a tutorial, but it is very basic and mostly unhelpful. To showcase its unfinished state, the game has no save game feature which is a nuisance because missions are lengthy and you cannot leaving unless you want to restart. Furthermore, Soviet Monsters has placeholder filler text such as 'dddd' instead of the names of cargo.
The gameplay within this is not much better at all. The controls are very buggy and unresponsive. Driving the ekranoplan is mostly difficult because the controls have a delayed response, which means it's quite difficult to turn. Not all of the models are difficult, but the majority are. You can enable your ekranoplan to rapidly increase its speed and fly, but it is embarrassing because you are not going far up into the air, you are barely off the water. Finally, with no save games creates a very frustrating experience because if you turn off your ekranoplan prematurely for any reason, it glitches by massively swaying, or alternatively, goes into a rampage which means you cannot control it and essentially you have to restart the mission.
Soviet Monsters has subpar performance. On my PC, the game on average uses 20% of your CPU and 2,000mb of memory, making my PC run loud. This may be an early-release thing, but it's not the worst thing to happen to this game. Loading times for missions are quite lengthy at about thirty seconds, which if you have to frequently restart due to the issues causes frustration. But hey, this game uses unity and the Internet states the engine sucks. In saying all this, I can sustain a solid FPS over 50 for the most part. Overall, the performance in its current state is not that good but it’s a fresh breathe of air considering the issues that plague the game.
The game is not terrible as it seems as it does have some positives. Notably, the game features very nicely designed ekranoplans. It also features a fine looking environment that has quality water and random weather effects. So, each level could either be sunny, snowing, night time, and so forth. These weather effects really do complement the landscape when you complete a mission, however, these weather effects significantly hit FPS by making the game regularly stutter. If a mission is sunny, you can look at the scenery and design of the ekranoplan through various solid camera angles. If a mission is at night time, you cannot see the long distance but you can get some slick graphics that showcase the night environment. There are various ekranoplans and all have different abilities such as accelerating faster, carrying more cargo, higher top speed, and so forth. It's nothing big but it adds some variety to the game. In saying that, it is odd the player has access to the very best ekranoplans instead of an unlocking system that would have been preferred in this type of game.
[h1] [b] Conclusion [/b] [/h1]
Soviet Monsters: Ekranoplans is a very poor game in an unfinished state. It features a profound amount of issues, particularly in the UI and gameplay components. It has a lack of features to help explain and progress in the game such as a very basic tutorial and no save game features. The performance is mediocre as I can manage to have a stable 50FPS, but weather affects dramatically reduce FPS and loading times are long. Soviet Monsters' primary feature is the variety of ekranoplans that are strongly designed and very detailed. I believe early access would have ensured a much more stable release because I was disappointed in my play through of it. At USD$12.74, I cannot recommend this in its current state.
Rating: 3/10
[h1] [b] Pros [/b] [/h1]
- Very detailed ekranoplans.
- A solid landscape and impressive weather effects.
[h1] [b] Cons [/b] [/h1]
- A very buggy and unpolished game.
- Lack of features, such as no save game.
- Somewhat un-optimised performance.
- Long loading times.
- Very basic tutorial.
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