Steamroll

[h1]Basic Information[/h1] [b]Title:[/b] Steamroll [b]Status:[/b] Released [b]Developer:[/b] Anticto [b]Publisher:[/b] Anticto [b]Genre:[/b] Puzzle [b]Release Date:[/b] 19th of February, 2016 [b]Type:[/b] Singleplayer [h1]General Impression[/h1] ‘Tis here game. I like it. Steampunk subgenre on Steam is certainly not as visible as cyberpunk. Being a fan of both, I knew it was only a matter of time until a dev team shall show proper attention to detail and affection for faux Victorian Age machinery. And I was right. That time has come and Steamroll is unlike any puzzle game I played in recent memory. Anticto impressed me. This is their first Steam project. Unity Engine shows versatility once again, provided it reaches capable hands. Steamroll is hard to pin down to the puzzle genre alone since besides physics-based puzzles (minigolf-like, if you will) it strives to be a story-driven experience and for the majority of its gameplay it succeds this. A well written plot that’s sprinkled with comic relief and constant engineering jokes. Let no one claim ever again that engineers are humorless. You roleplay as a rookie operator of a SCARABEUS Mining Mod.18 which is to put it in simplified terms, a mechanical sphere used by miners to work in Steamroll’s hazardous environments. Dev team really made an extra effort in drawing up all those diagrams detailing the exact measurements, effects and mechanical aspects of your new job, as if you were handed over a user’s manual for your new Sphere. It wouldn’t be called “Steampunk” without proper use of steam power, right? The game’s User Interface is straightforward but nicely simulated with a pressure dial on the left side of the screen and another dial on the right, with a steamball selector for ammo or walls and ramps. What’s that all about? Well you didn’t thought you would mine by smashing your state-of-the-art metal scarab head-on into whatever’s standing between you and the end of each level, did you? Our trusty steampunk sphere has two operating modes. One involves rolling along while in transit and the other mode, is an anchored position from which you can shift into a steamball launcher. These balls serve as the main puzzle solver since you’ll have to make clever use of them, by bouncing walls and other structures, in order to hit a switch or remove debris. Varies by situation and you are fortunate enough that these steamballs are quite versatile. They can be equipped with anything from mobile walls and ramps and even good ol’ explosives. Because nothing spells “mining” more than blowing rocks up! And other things, including yourself if you’re not careful. Plenty of ways to fail a level since deathtraps are at every miscalculated turn. You see, the SCARABEUS being a steam-powered huge rolling sphere and all, you can’t really dash in a straight line by your heart’s desires. You will have to bounce off walls and ledges if you are to move from point A to B. Takes some time getting used to this, but I call it part of the experience. The game is never unforgivingly difficult and you always have a prediction line, clearly estimating the path of your launched steamballs. As with most video games, the key to success is a mix of patience and quick reflexes perhaps if you’re into speedruns. I like to take my sweet time and explore the surroundings, collecting screenshots and all that jazz. You know, the regular stuff. Steamroll isn’t overpriced at all, given the state in which it presents itself along with the inclusion of both Cards and “Cheevos”. In fact, it was bundled recently and it shall be found in such offers in the future as well. Quality titles such as Steamroll tend to appear every now and then in well-priced deals, just to draw attention to it while you neglect the run-of-the-mill titles bundled along. Surprisingly few cons to this title. I had to be nitpicky just to choose two weak points. Only 18 (relatively short, once you get the hang of it) levels so far. More would really be welcome, Anticto. Full Steam Ahead! [h1]Strong Points[/h1] + Beautiful visual style. + Interesting mix of steampunk elements and clever puzzles. + Steam Achievements & Trading Cards. [h1]Weak Points[/h1] - Lacks in the sound department. - Not a lot of replay value. [b]Rating 85/100 [/b] [quote]This review was submitted for [url=http://steamcommunity.com/groups/ImperialReviews]Imperial Reviews[/url], through the generous contribution of [url=http://steamcommunity.com/id/redhillcro]RedHill[/url].[/quote]

[h1]Introduction[/h1] Today is the day Steamroll officially rolls onto Steam via their Early Access program. With such a quirky name I just had to find out what it currently has to offer (the name should give you a good idea I think) and to see if it’s actually worth your hard earned digital cash (spoiler: yes, it is). [h1]Gameplay[/h1] If you ever played The Ball then you pretty much know what to expect from Steamroll. The setting is different, however, and there’s a bigger focus on puzzles and smaller areas in my opinion. If you have never played that game then I shall try to explain it shortly: you control a ball (which, in turn, is controlled/powered by steam technology) and your goal is to get the ball to the end of the level while solving puzzles. That’s actually a narrow and very shortsighted explanation of the game and saying this in general wouldn’t do the game justice so let me use the next few paragraphs to explain it all better and in a bit more detail. So generally you control the ball by generating steam, which in turn pushes you forward. There’s a meter on the left side of the screen that shows how much you can still generate and once it’s empty it’s game over. So you have to balance how and when you use it and cannot just keep the button pressed. You will have to move the ball across (homemade) platforms, while pressing buttons (usually in the form of a puzzle) and blowing things up (which also usually appears in the form of a puzzle). http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=527495816 About these last two points: on the right side of the screen you have your ‘controls’ UI (which could use some work, though). There are specific parts in the levels where you can install the ball and change into a shooting form. From that point of view you can then move the camera around for a better view and, more importantly, shoot balls with portable walls or bombs. It speaks for itself that the bombs blow up things like rocks (and yourself if you’re not careful enough!) and that the portable walls can be shot and installed so that you can ricochet either bombs or ‘regular’ balls off of them (usually for hitting switches). Alright, enough balls talk. Now for the puzzle part: the puzzles are nicely balanced, and while there are a few complex(er) puzzles most of them can be solved fairly quick. The levels generally only last between 5-30 minutes, by the way. And while you sometimes might get stuck on a puzzle they can most of the times be solved with some logical thinking. Thus far it always required a mix of setting up bombs and walls while hitting switches and physically moving around. The camera is a bit low during the static puzzle scenes and I sometimes couldn’t clearly see what I was doing. Some puzzles also depend on trial-and-error gameplay, but this is limited fortunately. So that was all good stuff. I’m afraid there were also one thing that influenced my experience negatively, with the first being performance issues. There was enormous slowdown in one section where I had to try a part again and again. The game would drop below <5fps and sometimes it would restore itself after a minute or so, but one time it didn’t fully respond anymore and the only option was to ‘hard’ quit the game and restart it. It doesn’t seem to be a memory leak, as far as I can judge, but it does seem to happen if you take a (very) long time somehow. Other things that caught my attention were the rather basic menus and the fact that when there’s a lot debris the ball doesn’t always roll the way it should (despite the ‘ball prediction’ working normally). Nothing too big - although the debris problem can cause gameplay problems - but as always it’s at least worth mentioning. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=527495790 [h1]Audio & Visuals[/h1] The music of the game is kind of peaceful, considering the setting. I expected something with a few more beats but I personally liked it. It also tries to keep your attention on the game itself: there are plenty of games out there with music so loud and in-your-face that I ultimately start to focus more on the music than on the game itself, which is never a good thing. So: ultimately it was a good choice here. Graphically the game can be considered simple. With simple I mean it’s not overly complex. You can clearly see the details in everything and all of it is nicely modeled, but the levels are very similar to each other and there’s nothing in it that will ‘wow’ you. I agree with you if you say that games are not only about graphics (it’s a cliché argument, though), but I do think it’s usually a combination of the two (with the second being the actual gameplay). So don’t expect any bells and whistles here, but there are plenty of options that can be turned on or up to make the game look even prettier. [h1]Length/Replay Value[/h1] First of all: don’t expect a really lengthy game here: the Early Access version currently includes 10 levels, and this is including two levels that act as a tutorial. The levels are rather short. A full playthrough should take you about 4-7 hours I think (max), and this includes puzzles where you might get stuck for a few or tens of minutes. Considering the price it is good value, but like many other puzzle games there isn’t much incentive to replay it again once you’re done. So I hope the developer will gradually release more content to keep players occupied and, of course, to test if everything works as it should. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=527495869 [h1]Conclusion[/h1] Steamroll is a good example of Early Access done right. It’s not the biggest or most spectacular game out there but it definitely has its heart in the right place. The setting is done very well, but despite that it certainly would’ve been nice to see a little more variety in its levels. The puzzles are balanced well and everyone should be able to play through it without getting (too) frustrated. It’s a little light on content right now, but I was told the game will offer at least twice as many levels in the full and final release of the game. With that and its current quality in mind I expect that it will be nothing less than a fun, solid game of at least equal quality during the beginning of 2016, when it will release in its final form. [h1]Too long, didn’t read[/h1] Pros: + Nice Steampunk vibe + ‘Simple’ but effective graphics + Tight, solid controls (with controller) + Puzzles are generally nicely balanced Mixed: +/- Sometimes it randomly drops to <5 frames +/- Menus are still a little basic +/- ‘Shooting form’ UI could use some work Cons: - Camera angle during static puzzles - Some trial and error puzzles [table] [tr] [th]Please note: a Steam key for this game was provided by the developer.[/th] [/tr] [/table] [h1][b]Rating: 7.6 (out of 10)[/b][/h1] [quote]If you enjoyed this review please consider following me: [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41144728-markdj/]curator page[/url] [/quote]

If you like puzzle games like Portal or The Talos Principle you will also like playing this one. It runs smoothly, has very nice graphics and pleasant background music. The sounds are well done, too. Gameplay is fun - playing against time or resources (or both). I like the leader board feature and I hope there will be some expansion levels in future (or even a map editor?).

[h1] Steamroll Summary [/h1] Play as an engineer that is excited that he finally gets his hands on his very own Gyroscoptic steam rolling machine. Steam blast your way through a collapsing mine and solve puzzels on your way. Discover new tools that may can use, to help guid you through block passages and get to hard to reach control panels to help you get deeper. [h1] First impression [/h1] Steamroll is a pretty small and basic game and it suprised me how great it looked visually. The graphics are great and the textures used were detailed. It gave you a feeling like you aer really down there in that mine trying to fix it from collapsing. The very first level was a tutorial and a very simple puzzel map the gave you just the right amount of help that i needed without being annoyed by hint boxes. [h1] My Thoughts [/h1] Steamroll is a great game and has a uniqueness to it and it hits my sweet spot I have for steampunk visuals. It is a puzzel game but it can be forgiving, so this isnt a rage inducing game. The controls are very easy to learn though adjusting the cannon when mounted to a base isnt as accurate as id like it to be. It only gives you set points, you cant smoothly fine tune your shots. The sounds fit perfectly with the eviroment and the physics feels great and make you feel the weight of the ball. [h1] My Rating [/h1] Considering the current price $12.99 this isnt a bad game to pick up to sit back and relax to. The graphics look good and theres a decent story line to follow as you blow your way through puzzels. I would rate this game a solid [b]5.5/10[/b] I only wish i could fine tune the angles i choose to shoot my cannon. [i] If you found this review helpful check out this awesome place [url=http://steamcommunity.com/groups/Original_Curators_Group] OCG [/url] [/i]

I like the concept, mechanics and mechanics of the game but it's too buggy and achievements doesn't work. If it gets fixed some day (doubt) than i would totally recommend it.

I don`t like to give a thumbs down for something that has obviously taken allot of care to produce but sadly I found this game quickly became boring. There are far too many controls for one thing, a bit of simplification of these would help quite a bit. My main complaint however is that the levels themselves quickly devolve into you doing a load of grunt work to set up all the pieces to a puzzle you spotted how to solve within seconds of entering the level, only to then move on to the next level and have to do a slight variation on the same thing. With better thought out controls it might be faster to get the pieces set up and get throught the levels, or better thought out levels might make it less of a grind. As it stands I cannot see me going back to this game.

Своеобразная смесь The Room, Portal и какой-то стимпанк игры (пусть это будет Bioshock 1 или Deus Ex HR). Играть интересно, а задачи не вызывают бешенства своей мозголомностью (вроде на 0,05мм промазал и уже все сначала). Однозначно рекомендовал бы к приобретению, если бы не баги в игре. P.S. Удалил на 6-м уровне ибо система чекпоинтов ужасна до безобразия. В конце 6-го уровня игра подвисла сама по себе (это у нее часто бывает) и пришлось начинать ВЕСЬ уровень сначала. 1,5 часа игры псу под хвост.

I had a lot of fun runnig through the first 10 levels on Steamroll, and it shows a great potential for what's to come. I specially liked all the elements introduced on the first levels, the available steamballs and the game mechanics available so far. As they said on their Greenlight and Kickstarter campaigns, a lot of attention has gone into creating a beautiful environment, both on graphics and music, which makes it really inmersive to play. Too bad to miss the opportunity for downloadable soundtrack and artbook from the kickstarter rewards. Some parts of the game are indeed still unpolished, like the menu system and maybe some of the transitions between levels, but that is very likely to get more love as the game progresses. Since some of the first levels are a tutorial, i ended up really looking forward for harder and harder levels. On one of the levels I got stuck and the mix of frustration and "Ohhhhh dammit" moment just left me waiting for the next challenge. Some of the levels get crazier and crazier, and feels like the developers are trying to tell us their plans for the future. There were also a lot of ideas on the Greenlight campaign like a co-op mode, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what this game might become. [table][tr][td][b]Disclaimer: A key for the game was provided by the developer, as I helped beta test for early access.[/b][/td][/tr][/table]

Offers some unique puzzle mechanics, namely a combination of pinball and pattern recognition. Levels are designed to be short and contained in small areas. Puzzles are mostly pretty easy to figure out and the game is very forgiving with mistakes. There is a moderate amount of trial and error necessary to solve some puzzles. I experienced no performance issues of any kind while playing this game.

Clumsy controls and constantly crashing on the 3rd level (Survival) means I can't progress any further. Which is too bad, cos it looks like it had potential, but after 2 1/2 years things should have been sorted out by now.