Recent reviews by Rusty

I got Forza Horizon 5 and World Racing 2 to try out as racing games on Steamdeck. I ended up refunding FH5 and prefer playing WR2.

- The game runs perfectly smooth
- graphics are ok for an old game
- I like the selection of cars, even if they lack branding
- Handling feels good and gameplay is fun with some open-world elements.
- Reasonable price for an old game

One thing to keep in mind is that when you first play the game, you need to change the default controls from Keyboard to controller (if you plan on playing with a controller).

TLDR: Refunded - disappointing gameplay and performance on Steamdeck.

In my search for finding the best racing game for Steamdeck, I was baited by the nice graphics to try FH5, but you won't really get that, instead you get to enjoy all these issues:
- frequent drops in framerate, even on lowest settings
- noticable input latency
- long loading screens
- the game crashed within the first hour of play, during an annoying cutscene which I then had to rewatch
- bad navigation and mission system
- cars have poor handling
- cringe story, unskippable cutscenes and characters who will not shut up and let you drive in peace

There are lots of "diversity" options in the character creation settings, but you are forced to play a character with an arrogant sounding British accent... in a game that's taking place in Mexico. Why is everyone so talkative? I couldn't care less what they are saying.

During my 90 minutes of playtime, it felt like the game was deliberately wasting my time, overexplaining the relatively simple game mechanics (maybe to try and bridge the time possible to refund?). At least during my playtime, I couldn't fast travel to missions, always needed to drive around the map.
The clunky handling of cars reminded me of Excite Truck on the Wii, but less fun.
Race courses are mostly straight lines with few turns. But when a rare turn shows up that requires braking, it's surprisingly difficult to tell, where the track is and react in time, without playing with "race lines" turned on or staring at the minimap the whole time.

Here's a list of better racing games that I'd rather play on Steamdeck:
- Wreckfest
- Dirt Rally 1 + 2
- Trackmania
- World Racing 2
- Road Redemption
- Sonic All-Stars Racing
- F-Zero GX (on Dolphin Emulator)
- NFS Most wanted or Carbon (original PC version)
- Burnout
- Racing in JC3, GTA IV/V, Sleeping Dogs

On windows:
- Assetto Corsa
- Rfactor
- iRacing

Console:
- Forza 3 on Xbox 360
- Gran Tourismo on PS
- Mario Kart 8 on Switch

The few good things:
Maybe if you care mostly about nice graphics and have a top-tier gpu, this game is worth it, but otherwise it's not.
The multiplayer features might be able to redeem FH5, it seems fun to drive around the map with other players, but I couldn't fully explore the multiplayer features without running out of time to refund the game.
One feature that is certainly impressive is the wide selection of new cars.

Fun, modernized Asteroids-style arcade game. Perfect on Steamdeck.

I had the regular Bitblaster version in my games library and "Super Bitblaster XL" got added as a free update which improves the controls and adds extra content, including new enemies. Very cool of the developer to do this! Big thumbs up for a fun, little game. Just buy it and play, especially if it's on sale.

Giving this a thumbsdown because the controls are pretty bad, play the updated "Super Bitblaster XL" instead which has better controls and some extra content.

Apart from that Bitblaster is a fun, modernized Asteroids-style arcade game that I would recommend!

If you like any of the retro games Asteroids, Space Invaders, Centipede, Defender, Gradius, Galaga, then get Satryn. It's a simple, fast-paced twin-stick shooter with the the look and feel of a classic Arcade game. Awesome new retro game to scratch that arcade itch.

Works perfectly so far on Steamdeck.

It's mediocre. I like to try new games that are like Outrun, to see if any of them are Outrun, but better. Sadly Palm ride doesn't do enough to be better. You have some pickups, like ammo which let's you clear some cars ahead, extra lives and another that lets you fly for a bit. But these don't really make the game better than outrun. I unlocked all courses within an hour and got 2nd on the leaderboard, but don't see any reason to play again, I'm already bored. The pixel graphics look kind of muddy which is caused the cars having almost the same color as the road. Rather than enhancing the pixel graphics, the crt effect is not a good one and makes things look worse, it also ruins the text. There is no drifting. When you drive over a hill, you can't see cars ahead and will often bump into them this way. Barely any variety of cars on the road. The neon aesthetic just doesn't do enough to make up for pixel graphics that are worse than most NES games.

I would suggest MAME version of Outrun on Retroarch with the LottesCRT shader over this.

I'd only recommend Palm Ride if you don't feel like messing with Retroarch to get classic Outrun working. One other benefit is that it does work on steamdeck. But don't expect to play for long, since there is no goal to reach or objective other than driving as far as you can, until you get bored.

Another better runner type game I'd like to recommend over this is 'Race the Sun'. It has more fun courses, powerups and the objective is to outrace the setting sun.

As a new player to Konami's eFootball / PES I wanted to write this review for others who are interested in a comparison to EA FC / FIFA.

First of all, I think that eFootball doesn't really deserve the high amount of negativity that surrounds it. As the only viable FIFA competitor it deserves some more appreciation. Most reviews of this game read like something written by a long-time FIFA players who just installed the game for free, got rekt in a PvP game, review bombed the game, then leaves. Give eFootball a chance, take some time to learn it and see what it has to offer. It takes some time to get used to, so please take a week or two, before making up your mind. After all it costs you nothing, but some free time that you were probably going to waste playing other video games anyway.

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+Good+
- Runs well, looks ok
- Works on Steam Deck (~50 fps on 1080p low settings)
- Has local multiplayer, I think for up to 8 players
- Decent gameplay, when team ratings and skill are balanced in pvp it can be good fun
- The game physics are a bit slower than FIFA, arguably more realistic, but wonky stuff still happens sometimes. Player animations are good too.
- The ball is a bit less bouncy when defending, compared to FIFA, there's less chaotic fumbling
- "Dream Team" is eFootball's equivalent of FIFA Ultimate Team and the main feature of the game.
- You can get a reasonable amount of premium in-game currency by playing events.
"Tour Events" where you can have chill games against AI, where you set the difficulty (higher difficulty = more points for rewards, but it only reduces the grind a little)
"Challenge Events" vs. players, I explain this in more detail below
- An offline mode (which is admittedly kind of boring, but at least it's there)
- You can ragequit the game any time and I think there is no real penalty besides losing (although I might be wrong here, not sure if this affects your "Curtesy Rating" or what that even does)

I want to explain a little more about the "Challenge Event" game mode vs. players, since I almost missed it in the beginning and best PvP mode to start with as a new player. Each event has a theme, for example "Italian League" where you play only with/against Italian clubs, or "National Teams" where you only play national teams. The good thing here is you get a semi-decent team of "Loan Players" for the event and don't need to grind at all for this, you just join the event. Now other players might have a slightly better team for the event, but it won't be nearly as unbalanced for a new player, as going up against someome's main team in the regular league mode. If you win one game against another player, you get 50 coins of the permium in-game currency. For 100 coins you can get a "Player of the Week" which is a guaranteed 90+ rating.

This makes the grind to get a team full of 90+ rating players is ok if you consistently get all the event rewards and spend your coins wisely. It took me less than 2 weeks of playing every day for 1-2 hours (maybe some luck because I happened to join, while there were some good in-game events). With a full 90+ team, you have a chance to win against most players, even if they have a slightly higher rated team.

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| Neutral |
- I think the biggest gameplay difference to FIFA is actually defending. Tackles don't work so well and the ref will call fouls more often. The main skill a FIFA player needs to learn in eFootball is defending effectively without fouling. It's not that hard, but you need to get a feel for it and learn the difference here, or it will be easy to lose the ball and hard to get it back. This was my biggest issue, when I started playing eFootball.
- Make sure you understand the UI, menus, game modes, team plan, in-game currencies, etc. so you can maximize your rewards and team effectiveness.

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--Bad--
- Max framerate is locked to 60fps, I have found no way to improve this
- It is p2w, just like FIFA, but acceptably so. You don't actually get that much by paying, it's just a slight edge and a good player who built a decent team can make up for it and beat a bad player who paid money. However, a good player who paid money will probably win against a skilled freeloader.
- You have almost no chance against a team with a significantly higher rating. It starts to feel unbalanced to me if the difference is around 300+ total team rating. At least you get to see this before a game starts, so you can expect what will happen.
- In the main league, a new player can be matched against a top division player with a much better team and skill (as described before, the workaround here is to stick to the events, when you are new and build up your team first which is actually kind of fun)
- Mediocre graphics, FIFA has better graphics
- Doesn't have all teams or leagues, the Bundesliga and Premier League are missing, but it's nice to see some big teams: Barca, PSG, Inter + AC Milan, Bayern Munich
- The menu UI looks like a cheap phone app, instead of a PC game
- Minor nitpick: the crowd looks boring and copy-pasted, but they could be muppets for all I care, it doesn't matter to the game

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Conclusion for normal people:

Would I recommend playing this game? Not really and I wouldn't recommend FIFA either. Both games are pay-to-win, involve frustrating RNG and cheesy tactics that have little to do with real football. In these aspects, the two games are similarly bad. Other competitive games are better. If you like football, your time is much better spent outside playing the real sport, supporting your local clubs, meeting new people.

If you are new to this type of sports game, you should know that sometimes it will drive you insane. There will be times where a player inexplicably fumbles a ball or where a players stats are so high that gravity does not matter to him. I'm talking about games where you take 10+ good shots on goal and your opponent scores in the last minute with one crappy little chance and rubs it in your face with some obnoxious celebration. But sometimes you also get to be that bastard. Are you here for the classic FIFA-rage™?

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Conclusion for former FIFA players:

Would I recommend eFootball over FIFA to scratch that sado-masochistic football video game itch? Yes, of course. While it's not really better or worse, at least it's F2P and doesn't force you to pay for the same online game every year to stay up-to-date.

My justified hatred for EA FC / FIFA:
70€ for the latest FIFA is simply asking too much for what it is. FIFA is a 70€ full-price game that double-dips and also has a pay-to-win online mode that doesn't even let you keep your Ultimate Team in the next version of the game. It's the biggest scam that any game company can consistently pull off and it's only made possible by milking the football fan audience's near limitless passion for the sport. EA is disgusting. Konami is the lesser evil here.

TLDR:
It's like FIFA, but free-to-play, so better than spending 70€ on a pay-to-win game. Gameplay is about equal to FIFA, only big downside is missing licensed content. But most importantly eFootball has the better business model.

Update: My initial review was unfairly written right after rage quitting a game in the pvp league. This is a more cool-headed one after playing for 2 weeks.

Reminds me of the good Battlefield games (2, 2142, BC2, 3, 4) and classic Star Wars Battlefront I+II. I was massively disappointed when BF2042 came out, but then I remembered this game exists, decided to give it a try and it's exactly what I want it to be. Massive battles, strategic gameplay, vehicles, classes, etc. The only major downside: it's "pay to grind less" and the grind is definitely there. Unlocking various good weapons, gear and vehicle upgrades you will want, takes a couple hours per unlock on an unpaid account (divide by half on a paid account). Just ignore the base construction stuff which seems like it will take forever to unlock, just consider it optional end-game content, I'm sure most players don't even use it anyway.

That said, on a decent PC with decent FPS game skill, I don't feel like there's much of a disadvantage in infantry fights, and infantry packs a punch against vehicles, so you don't need to grind to simply have fun in the game. The starting guns and classes are ok, once you upgrade the main abilities (like medic heal and engi repair) which can be done in 2-3 hours of play. With vehicles on the otherhand, they are still useful, but definitely weaker without the upgrades, while the upgrades are also more expensive. I still don't really get how the armory/war asset stuff works (orbital strikes, steel rain, fleet carrier), something like a reward for map control and an ability that a squad/outfit leader can use but it's not that frequent anyway. I can see why people would get mad about this, but I don't mind having squad leader / commander abilities in the game. It gives an incentive to organize, communicate and get better at the game. Imagine calling in your first orbital strike, sweet jesus...

On my first day of playing, I was messing around and teabagging a guy with fancy skins standing by a vehicle terminal at a warpgate who happened to be leader of an outfit (the PS2 equivalent of a guild/clan). He invited me to be his gunner and we proceeded to blow up multiple enemy tanks and trucks. When I started asking some questions, he explained a lot about how the game works. So, if you're new, I'd recommend trying to talk to more experienced players, asking them questions etc. definitely more fun and quicker than reading a wiki or watching youtube videos to get started. There's always plenty of other people looking for an extra gunner, so most likely they will more often be friendly than not.

The game still being "Early Access" kept me from trying it so far, since other early access games are mostly unpolished turds, but this game is well developed, no idea why they still have it set like that...

I played quite a bit of Quake Live, Unreal Tournament and some other arena shooters, so although I'm not a super pro, I think I'm quite decent at these kinds of games. I always like to try a new arena shooter every now and then and this is definitely a good one (maybe the best?). Everything good so far:
- You've got all the classic weapons and they feel right.
- It looks nice and runs well around 144 fps on Ultra settings on my newer PC, but I probably wouldn't want to play it on weak/old hardware. The game has all options you would expect.
- It's cool to see the Doomslayer as a playable champion and the music also reminds me of doom.
- There are a couple different game modes, but why would you ever want to play anything other than Capture the Flag?
- I guess there's different skins/characters with a single different unique ability that mostly deal high damage, this being one of the main differences to original Quake, as far as I can tell. I guess purists might complain about this, but I don't mind it. I haven't played enough to really say anything about balance yet (at least it does not seem pay-to-win at all).

No complaints yet. I can only recommend trying it, if you are in the mood for some shiny new arena shooter action. It's free, so why not?

I see complaints in the other reviews about the handling and it is kinda goofy compared to Stadium, but the way I see it: different game, different cars different handling. It's definitely good fun, just don't take it as serious as stadium. I turned controller stick sensitivity all the way down from 1.0 to 0.1 and it's still twitchy, but you get used to it after a couple rounds.

The reason I recommend this is because I have a soft spot for good tropical islands, beaches and jungle environments in games. Fun racetracks in a beatiful beach and jungle environment, what could be better? This has those 𝓐𝓮𝓼𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓽𝓲𝓬 outrun vibes. Protip once you get tired of the game music: put on some of your own lofi / synthwave / liquid dnb / tropical music of choice. Makes the game feel like a vacation. If you don't care about that, I really don't know what else to say... play stadium with the tryhards, I guess.

There are few players online, but I had a good 1v1 duel for an hour with another player on an otherwise empty server at 3 a.m. good times.