Spuds Unearthed

Spuds:Unearthed is so frustrating because I want to love this game so badly. It's like someone made my favorite VR game ever, then scrambled it up, hid some of it, and took away all the directions and clarity. This game is horribly broken in a very unique way. Most games are broken because of a technical flaw or poor performance (especially with VR games). Spuds:Unearthed actually runs reasonably well. I get GPU frame drops on a 2080ti in the planet system view, and its crashed mid-battle a couple of times, but both these issues are relatively minor. The art is cute and original. The mechanics are polished and fun (other than a couple useless and frustrating firing mechanisms for the turrets). The heroes are varied, and the turret types would be great if I knew what the differences between them are. But I just have no idea what the hell is going on in the game as a whole, what the purpose is, what different statuses and victories mean, and so forth. There are some other flaws, but really it all comes down to a wretched game design. I'm not a game designer, but even as a casual player, I can see that all the great potential of Spuds:Unearthed is robbed by not merely by bad design, but by the complete and total lack of it. I posted these questions in the Discussion, and I think they illustrate the problems best. If the devs answer all my questions, I will change my review to positive. I really hope they do. I also hope they fire their game designer while they're at it (or, more likely, hire on one for the first time). Here they are: - How does controlling planets work? - Can I defend my planets? Are they shown to other players as just another planet no different from the Zombuds, or are they different somehow? - What's the point of controlling planets? The currency of the game is spuds, and when they're liberated that's it. - Why is there this multiplayer aspect in this game? It doesn't look like I gain anything from keeping planets after they're liberated. - The only way other players impact me it seems is when they've already collected a token from a planet. Do they have any other actual, meaningful impact on me? If not, why on Earth is this game multiplayer? - WTF is playdust? I saw it mentioned in the pinned tutorial, which is laughably short and pretty much useless beyond telling you how to move your hands and such. If it's a currency it needs a counter. And I have no idea what it could be used for. - What determines when a hero upgrade token is given? It doesn't seem to be tied to the level system (which also appears utterly meaningless). - What determines when we can travel to a new system? - Is the new system basically the same as the old but with different planets? - Are new systems more difficult, do they give me a higher number of Medium and Hard planets? - Will I ever reach anything if I travel to more systems? - I've seen suns with player names attached to them. Are these those players home planets? Do they get the sun/star system by liberating some, most, or all of the orbiting planets? - How am I supposed to choose a planet? They're all moving, which is cool, but there's no way to tell which planets I've already looked at and which I've already beaten which is super freaking frustrating. I've probably looked at the same planets over and over again between matches in the same system. - What's the point of expendable turrets? I have around 140 supds liberated and my heroes upgraded, and most matches I just toss them out, wind up my automated turret, and sit back and wait around two minutes until I win. Do they play any role in defending the planets I own, if there is some sort of defense mechanic? - Why are there so few Hard planets? Do I see more as I progress? With 140 spuds the overwhelming majority of planets I'm seeing are easy. Very rarely do I find a hard planet. - What are the planets with the glowing cube enemies in the battle? I love those because they're slightly more challenging (seriously Easy and Medium are both very, very, very easy. Hard is just easy, or occasionally easy/medium. But I've seen so few hard planets I can't be sure if there's more I'm missing. - As you say in your tutorial, different turrets are for different situations. That's great because it incentivizes me to not stick with the same two turrets. But how in the hell am I supposed to know what type of enemy I'm facing before the battle actually begins? Since you don't make it clear what kinds of enemies I'm facing, I only ever use the same two turrets. - What's the point of collecting spuds other than hoping they have an upgrade token? Do they impact the number of little dudes going out in battle (whatever those cubes are)? - What's the point of leveling up? Getting to go to a new system, and getting hero upgrades both seem independent of my reaching a new level since I've gotten both after battles where I'm still far from hitting a new target. - What is my level? I know how many spuds I have, but there's no way to know what level I'm actually at. Does my level matter in any way, other than to compare to level-locked (or level recommended?) planets? - Some planets have a level number in their description. Why are these planets different? Are they locked based on my level? Is that the level of someone else who already beat it? If so, is its difficulty based on the level of the other player who beat it? How does this play into the easy/medium/hard leveling? - What determines the kinds of enemies I fight? I've seen some that spam tanks, others that put out five airplanes and nothing else. Is this based on a previous player? - How do I know how many planets I control? Does it even matter? - Since the fire rate for each turret is different, I assume their damages are different. Are the ones I unlock later/farther to the right better (in terms of DPS)? How on earth am I supposed to choose a turret when I don't know anything about them other than a tiny icon and their shape? - Do the turret firing mechanisms impact the damage or fire rate of the turrets at all, or should the user just pick the one they find the least frustrating? - Does the game (battles, systems, etc) change in any way as I level up (other than getting to change my turrets and upgrade heroes)? - If the gameplay of player-controlled planets is different than zombie ones, what if there aren't enough player-controlled planets to provide the intended variation to each player? Are there AI players too to make sure the balance is right (if there is any intended balance at all)? - Does it negatively impact other players to liberate their planets? - Will I see more battle locations later in the game? So far there are way too few for a post-early access game. I'm already pretty tired of the maps that I've encountered over and over. - What's the goal of this game? I've played it for awhile and I still have no idea. Liberating spuds seems important, but I don't know why other than that occasionally one gives me a token. Controlling planets maybe? But I have zero idea how many planets I control, what their bases look like, or if they provide any benefit to me whatsoever. - Do you have a game designer on your staff?

A fun action RTS VR game or if in Ireland an adult VR sex experience that was much better than I expected. Watch video for full review and some sexy scenes for spud lovers. https://youtu.be/UP-62ZoXj2s

Cant play with valve index. hands are just looking the other way.

[b]VR cihazıyla oynayabileceğiniz bu oyunda; çeşitli silahlarla rakiplerinize karşılık verip, birçok araç ve robotlarla etkileşim kurarak, bir kargaşa ortamı oluşturabilirsiniz. Sonrasında bu durumu kendiniz için bir avantaj haline getirmeye çalışabilirsiniz. Bütün bu olayların canlı grafiklerin ve efektlerin eşliğinde yaşanması, oyundan alınan oynanış keyfini olumlu yönden etkileyebiliyor.

HTC Vive was headset used with this title also have a video review here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnFLP3vQueA Positives about this game * Beautiful colorful levels * A nice mix of action and a little bit of RTS * Runs smoothly on system Negatives that I ran into * No real Tutorial I was lost with what I had to do as far as upgrades to both my turrets and spuds or even how I attain more. * Needs more levels even though they are eye catching they lack variety to them. * Enemy types so far have been the same couple on each planet and I am a few hours in only type of change that occurs is when you face a planet owned by a player. Final Thoughts This title can be fun but at the moment there is no drive for me to come back for more unless I want to just collect spuds I wish there was something in place besides that to make progression feel real. This title can change with updates and if some of my concerns are addressed then it will be a buy for me. The game does have enough in my opinion to satisfy someone who likes short play sessions and I do believe it offers enough to satisfy so I will give a yes.

᲼

Does not support Index controllers. Hands get reversed which makes gameplay tedious at best.

[h1]Experienced on the Oculus Rift with Touch Controllers[/h1] [i]Please note: I received a free Steam key through the Steam Curator Connect program[/i] You can view my gameplay plus review here: https://youtu.be/Usjo8uwHTt8 This would be a much better game if it didn't feel like you were constantly grinding. There is no campaign. You seem to be doing random stuff that tends to be a bit on the repetitive side. You'll select a hard planet to conquer. Then you'll be forced to battle against several easy ones to unlock being able to travel to a new planetary system. Then you'll repeat this process until you get a new spud or a new weapon upgrade. Although the store page says "cross-platform multiplayer," that's a bit misleading as there is no real-time online multiplayer. It's more like you can go against the ghosts of other player's defenses (with computer AI). The tutorial is also too basic and doesn't explain much that you'll need to know. I had to figure out the upgrade system on my own. Even after unlocking new spuds & new weapons, you aren't told what they do. You just have to experiment and figure out what does what to which enemy. You're not even sure what enemies do until they start wrecking your world. The good news is that the core gameplay is fun. Using new weapons and experimenting is generally fun although I couldn't figure out why sometimes they stopped working (bug or feature?). Luckily, I was able to find a combo of weapons that generally worked well together and didn't need to continue experimenting. Once you upgrade your Spuds a bit, they do quite a bit of damage on their own. As long as you survive the starting harrowing moments of defending your base, you'll more than likely be okay as long as you don't fall asleep at the turrets. The gameplay can be get quite intense, especially when the enemy has slightly stronger units than yours that will keep you on your toes. Unfortunately, it soon goes back to grinding again. The only motivation keeping you moving forward is the idea of new weapons or spuds to unlock or maybe new enemies somewhere along the way. The visuals & animations are nice overall, but the environments that you'll battle in are bland and there's only a few of them. The game ran smoothly but I did experience one issue where there's a fishbowl effect in the planetary system menu that is uncomfortable on the eyes. You can play standing or seated without any issues. While there is a bit of content here, it's because a lot is repeated. I would say this game is good value overall, but Final Assault VR is a much better version of this game. [b]Rate 6.5/10. It is fun at times in some battles, but it should be more fun than it actually is. Several matches are just boring. However, this game may be ideal for kids learning their first RTS type game or even for an adult who has never played an RTS game before.[/b]

No index support

What the Frank? I don't think this game should be released yet, I know it's early access. I was super excited to play this but it's buggy as hell. Dev notes: Lost my hands, I can manipulate some things ok but I can't see them. I can't lift the panel to scan my hand. I was not able to play a level except the demo battle that the game started in. I'm either way too high or way too low, I have to reseat myself multiple times and put my headset at my knees for it to work. Please finish this!