[quote][b][url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset_flip]Warning: Asset Flip![/url][/b]
The Slopes is a Digital Homicide style asset flip, or what Valve calls a "Fake Game". The "developer" paid for/pirated a few Unity asset store 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 really poor quality stock assets and dropped them onto a VR endless runner template of some kind. Par for the course for My Way Games, who've had many games banned already for the unethical nature of this asset flipper and scammer. It has no value or merit as a real game.
Connor Laux/My Way Games/Peter Labick 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/645360]CubeXL[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/packs/switch-the-gravity-63196]Switch The Gravity[/url] developed by App Advisory
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1058980]Dinosaur Bone Digging[/url]" = [url=https://www.sellanycode.com/item/515/dinosaur-bone-digging-games]Dinosaur Bone Digging Games[/url] developed by Ardian Kaltara
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1034160]Extreme Racing On Highway[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/packs/highway-racer-50866]Highway Racer[/url] developed by BoneCracker Games
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/628580]Miniballist[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/packs/endless-turns-63501]Endless Turns[/url] developed by SGLib Games
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/864010]Space Force[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/x-racer-35344]X-Racer[/url] developed by Deer Cat
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1050810]The Hunt in the Forest[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/systems/advanced-sniper-starter-kit-7593]Advanced Sniper Starter Kit[/url] developed by Hardworker Studio
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1058930]Top Burger[/url]" = [url=https://unityfreaks.com/asset/4815]Top Burger Chef[/url] developed by KetchAp
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/628570]Trivia Night[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/systems/trivia-quiz-game-template-45521]Trivia Quiz Game Template[/url] developed by Puppeteer
[/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.
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.
This seems to have been made a VR exclusive to prevent any comparison with non-VR 3D games, a comparison that this game would fail very badly at. Developers must learn that while VR is great, if the only thing that makes the game great is the VR, then the game isn't great at all.
These technical defects push this game below acceptable standards for any modern PC game.
Reviewing SteamDB to check how popular this game was with players reveals a surprise... there's a very healthy spike in player counts for the game. But this only happened once, around the same time that trading cards were applied to the game... so this is just card idlers getting their cards and moving on. A closer look at the numbers shows the game just has a couple of players every week running up the game and idling it for cards, then deleting it. We must ask how it benefits gamers for there to be so many games like this, with no merit as a serious game, that only generate sales from people idling and selling the trading cards.
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.
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?
The Slopes has the laughable price of $10 USD, for which you could easily get any number of older AAA games. 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.
For comparison, the $10 asking price for this game could get you games like "Subnautica", "Cities: Skylines" or "Alien: Isolation". Quality, professionally made games like those are frequently on sale cheaper than this.
[b]Note:[/b] Due to the very poor quality of the game, all the comedians came out of the woodwork. The vast majority of the reviews for this game are joke reviews (the ones that aren't paid reviews from the Russian review farm), such as "this game cured my cancer, saved my marriage, changed my life" etc. Because most of the reviews are as insincere/mocking the game, and if you removed the fake/joke reviews the game would have a markedly different review score, the positive review score for this game should be disregarded. That does put me in a quandry because this asset flip has both joke reviews and fake/paid reviews. I guess I will include both warnings. Also worth noting the reason the game attracted these reviews is because people were farming it for cards. Nobody seriously played this and kept playing it because they thought it was a good game.
[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 (even without the joke reviews). This is done to deceive and scam gamers into paying for a bad product.[/quote]
