Choo-Choo Charles Review (Speirs101st)
I've been looking forward to Choo-Choo Charles since I saw some screen shots for it a year or so ago. I didn't have high expectations knowing full well this was pretty much a one person project. However, I have seen some wonderful horror games that have also be done with small teams that have easily surpassed all my expectations. I want to start off by saying I have a lot of respect for the creator of CCC and I hope to see them do more projects as well as to continue to improve this game. Now let's get into the pros and cons!
Pros:
* Completely unique concept, a demented train that attacks you and terrorizes the island and your own mode of transportation is a train
* The environment looks pretty good, constant rain and thunderstorms, makes you feel uneasy. Always worried when will Charles attack?!
* I can tell a lot thought and time went into this game
* Big map can be explored on foot or with the train
* Pickles
Cons:
* It's a short game. I took my time because I'm a slow player when it comes to these types of games, I love to explore.
* Classified as horror but it's too hokey. I'm not talking about Charles he actually looks freaky, however nothing about this game has made me think "yep, that scared my socks off"
* I hate to say it, but it's boring. The overall story is boring, the game play is boring it's not keeping me very interested or invested
* All the missions might as well be the same thing, and are SUPER quick and simple. Collect item for NPC, NPC rewards you with scrap, the only truly unique mission is the ghost mission
* 95% of the map is empty and not worth exploring, when the only thing to collect is a few paint cans and scrap (which will become worthless) it's really not worth looking around
* I can only collect so much scrap before I'm ready to go play another game, sorry but there isn't much to do after you've upgraded your train
* I RARELY saw Charles and that is a huge turn off for me. He's the golden goose in this game and he's rarely in it until the end, and the end for me was such a pain in the ass compared to rest of the game that it was actually frustrating
* Some guns need a cross-hair
* You need to be able to mark on the map places you've been so you can look at what places you've thoroughly searched for scrap or paint cans, really not interested in trying to remember what places had lock boxes. I don't see myself playing until I've found all the paint cans
* Other than Charles, you and a few NPCs the world is pretty lifeless
* The Charles cultists or whatever they are, are another wasted opportunity, you can't do anything to them unless you have them follow you back to your train so you can gun them down. This to me, is utterly annoying, because the sneak mechanic is uninteresting and worthless. It's just easier to run from them and ignore them.
* Charles is glitchy, especially when you are on foot. He'll get stuck on things, he'll get stuck inside buildings and he is so damn glitchy for the final fight that you'll probably have to do it multiple times because he'll get stuck on something and then suddenly appear practically inside your train hitting you
* ZERO replay-ability, massive let down for such a short game
I don't like giving a thumbs down when I want to see the game sell well and do well, but in good conscious I can't give the game a thumbs up because I want those things. I have to be honest or my reviews are worth nothing. As it sits, this game has TONS of potential and I think the creator has TONS of potential, but it's just not a good game YET. I'm hoping more things will be added, multiplayer would be great but I doubt that happens. Bug fixes, more content in general would really add to CCC. I will happily change my opinion if I continue to see improvement. But for now, there are better games in the horror genre for $20 USD. I think for as short as this game is it might be a little too much money for a 2-3 hour game, but I'll leave that up to you to decide.
P.S. I want to say something, I'm seeing a lot of positive reviews that tell you to ignore the negative reviews and just people blatantly ignoring what this game is offering BECAUSE this was created by one person. I don't care if 1 million people or 1 person made a game, if the game costs money and isn't free there SHOULD be criticism. So keep that in mind if you are going to only look at the positive reviews.