Ultimate Epic Battle Simulator Review (CrucibleAF)
UEBS is a great idea for a game, but I dont think it was executed as well as it could have been.
(quick final verdict at bottom for those that dont want to read all of this)
Full Review:
PROS
-crazy battles. here are some examples: Zombies vs. Dwarves, WW2 soldiers and Spartans fighting tables aided by an army of santas, etc.
-customization. although very minor at this point, you can customize stats like health, attack, speed, and projectile. This would allow you to have super speedy zombies that run like mad fighting very powerfull roman soldiers.
- Theres some minor details here and there that make the fun, but I honestly only mention it because I cant think of any other major pro
CONS
-lack of workshop/modding. I know that its being worked on at the moment, but it should have been released ALOT earlier in development, or at least before this game went into version 1.0 and left early access. The whole point of this game is to have big crazy battles, but at the moment the variety is very low. Workshop support could also add things to the game that couldnt be officially added for legal reasons ( Star Wars units, DOOM units, XCOM, Minecraft, etc.) which would of really kicked this game off.
-Simple AI. The Ai in the game only has two real modes: stand still and go towards enemy. You also only have any control over this if you go into leadership mode, but the design of it is still not the greatest. I think a system like how the Total War games work (where you macromanage your military coulumns) would of added more to the gameplay. The AI in its current state is too simple and will not strategize in any way.
-lack of complexity. You can only have a certain number of "groups". You can change what unit,team, size, and layout it is (one big line or compact), but because of the group limit you cant create big complex battles with many different units and multiple fronts everywhere. You can still attempt it, but it will not be too complex.
-limited unit types: there are long range(arrow and gunfire), melee,catapult (units that can attack long range over walls or the enviorment), and heroes. It may seem complex but melee all do the same thing, longe range just has a projectile change, catapult is, well, a catapult, and heroe units are just unique looking melle/long range units with alot more health (the customization kinda ruins them, since you could just give a regular unit a ton of health too).
-FPS: some people have huge fps drops, and I too have exsperienced this. Its kinda exspected since you could have literally thousands of units on screen, but seeing as that is the point, there should be optimization to fix this. I do understand the devs position though on this subject, since FPS stablization is difficult to maintain with all the different computers and such running the game. Computers are complex machines unless its what youve studied for four years plus. Even the big guys in the tech industry have trouble keeping up with it all.( now getting back on track..)
-released too early. I followed the game way back before it was on steam. I watched the videos on youtube while it was being developed , and ended up buying within its first few weeks of release. I really wish the developer wouldve spent more time to finalize his idea. Once games are realeased, they are open for the very opinionated gaming public to judge, and people natuarlly dont like paying full prices for incomplete games. I took the risk and bought it to support the game, and myself aswell as many others understood that the game was still early access and get better, so we held back our opinion. but know the game is out of early access and by all definitions can now be judged as a full game.
Final verdict:
UEBS is, at the moment, what I call "youtuber shovelware". basicallywhat I mean by this is its a game thats fun for 3-5 hours but gets boring fast, and could just be watched by some youtuber for free without actually missing anything. The game left early acces way too early, and it might of also needed more development time before it was released on steam
SCORE: 4/10. Wait until Workshop support kicks off and more updates roll in to buy this game
Its a fantatic game idea that was not executed as well as it could have, and at the moment just feels like some copy of TABS. I also want to quickly note that i am not hating on this game. I have followed it for awhile now and I do hope that it gets better. I am just trying to inform the public as to whether they should buy the game now or wait till some more updates and workshop support rolls out. If I was ahting on this game I would not spent as much time as I have writing this review. Constructive critiscism is never adequately given, and I do hope UBES has a better future.