Crashlands 2 Review (Fig)
NEW DESIGN!
OKAY IM EXTREMELY EXCITED AND HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS GAME FOR AGES. Im a couple hours in now and here are my thoughts. Firstly the graphical jump from the first game to this one is amazing, the creatures are AWESOME, and the new plant life is really well done.
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PETS!
THE BAD - and as much as i would like to give this game nothing but praise there is a few things im a little frustrated with. I understand that they wanted to move the pets to being story oriented so that they have more meaning HOWEVER I feel like this actually took away from it. Pets being story progress based means that players wont get to have a good laugh about the grinding they had to go through to get it which ultimately takes away from the re-playablitity.
THE GOOD - im absolutley love that the pets have needs that need to be met now and that they need to be tought things. The cool downs were a good idea, in the first game i felt invincible due to just how overpowered the pets were this is a good rebalance.
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ARMOR AND COMBAT!
THE BAD - Again there is a few things im upset with, I MISS THE GRIND. I am EXTREMELY upset that weapon and armor rarities have been removed. This alone is going to hurt the replayability ALOT, the armor feels lifeless there is no reason to fight monsters of the type you need now cause you will always get it right the first time.
THE GOOD - THE WEAPONS ARE GREAT! I love the changes done to the combat the overlay that shows the weapon reach is really great they all feel so unique. I like that the armor and weapons tie together now through benefits when wearing the full set + weapon + trinkets
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BUILDING!
THE BAD - NOTHING :D
THE GOOD - EVERYTHING IS PERFECT THE NEW BUILDING SYSTEM IS EVERYTHING I EVER COULD HAVE ASKED FOR I HAVE ZERO COMPLAINTS ALL THE NEW BUILD MECHANICS ARE AWESOME!
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THE NPCS & STORY
THE BAD - NOTHING AGAIN :D
THE GOOD - The new npc mechanics are so cute omg, I really like that we get side quests through forming visible bonds with these characters which then reward us with faster research for crafting recipes through those characters. The npcs are extremely well done and i have zero complaints! Im not very far into the story just yet but im loving how this feels like a legit sequel and not just calling itself one the story board writers did a great job :D
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OVERALL
THE GOOD - This game got an INCREDIBLE overhaul on the visual design, the pets look great, the npcs are awesome, the new plants look good, the story is really good (so far), the new combat is really fun!
THE BAD - This game suffers alot unfortunately from the devs ultimately killing ANY kind of grinding you remember from the first game. Which in turn killed off any kind of reason to hunt strong enemies and use the new and really well designed combat :( The armor is this game feels completely lifeless, other than the benefits that come with wearing a full set. Once again getting rid of the rarity system is the worst thing this game has done. The land progression feels bland? Like the plants, animals, and giant name card let you know when you enter a new area but the ground feels the same. there isnt any kind of variety when it comes to ground formation but this is also something that the first game suffered from too.
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FINAL THOUGHTS
I still love this game despite the issues i listed and my number 1 thought is that this game is for casual players. The new combat makes this game very playable on all platforms, there is zero grinding (which i dislike but sure others will be happy about). All of my complaints had nothing to due with the game having problems really, and all just came down to preference. I miss fighting hordes of enemies the get materials to try and get the perfect set of armor/weapons and the over all goal of trying to get an egg :( But this is a really great game that i would recommend to just about anyone :D
8/10 Great game that suffers from a lack of replayability