Recent reviews by Smoogi Vampi

I first managed to play this game waaaay before it came out on Steam. My friends and I were thrilled to find a MonHun-like game that looked and felt distinct enough while costing literally NOTHING to get on. At that point in time, I got busy with college and had to stop playing, but I had fond memories. I recently saw that it was on here and decided to try it out.

I have no idea what the hell this is supposed to be.

This game is well and truly dead.

Don't let the sputtering embers of what could pass for "fun" fool you. After reading up on Phoenix Labs, I can fully say that the predatory bs could make a Deviljho pause (before it ravages this game down to the marrow as it would).

I wish I could take back my 7.5 hours.

I remember playing this on mobile, back when it was "early access". My phone wasn't all that good but it performed decently enough. The jetpack intrigued me, but I wasn't very good at it then. Getting to stare at Maggie's back while I played was worth it though.

Flash forward to a few years later and I see it release on Steam. I play for a while and have my fun every few days or so. Progression wasn't ironed out yet but mobility is pretty good and the content seems to be coming along nicely, though slowly. I get bored after a bit and stop for a while. Maggie's back is still great though.

Then I decide to come back last year. Seems like the game is going great still. It still has that great mobility, shooting feels pretty nice and matches are fast. I learn to jetpack effectively. Character skills take some getting used to but it's a work in progress. The passives added a nice touch. Decide to spend a bit of money for the battlepass and make sure I get Cypher's skin. She has a nice back too.

...And then here we are. Here we are...

Whoever thought it was a good idea to remove the elements that separated this from a lot of the other Battle Royale games available, I hope you're happy. The quality drop seems to match the player drop. You might still be able to reverse this, but somehow, I doubt it. I'll come back in case you do since I do give second chances to game devs who learn from their mistakes...

Not even Maggie's back is enough to keep me around.

Just in case y'all are wondering about the short play time, I got this game in a Fanatical bundle and only played with a friend for a while in the early days of 2nd Encore. I fished a copy up a long time ago, well before it had "2nd Encore" tacked on to it. Finished a few character stories before I uninstalled and eventually got the chance to get it on Steam in a bundle.

As a fighting game, it's fine. Character designs are fairly unique and their movesets and animations convey their uniqueness well enough. The classic movie aesthetic was novel at the time of release and I think it along with the music stand out to this day.

Before 2nd Encore (and early 2E): 9/10, it was almost perfect for me then. While I couldn't play multiplayer then, I had fun. When I eventually did get to play multiplayer, the lack of servers where I'm at made sure I was playing with colossal input lag...EVEN WHEN MY OPPONENT LIVED IN THE SAME COUNTRY. Still a bit salty about that...but they were good memories.

2nd Encore: 5/10, -3 points for the changes I know of, -1 point for shady behavior.

I would have recommended the game before, when Alex Ahad was still main creative director. Now? After learning what Lab Zero did to him? After learning that they'd been trying to do this since the beginning? After they committed what amounts to theft with the digital artbook changes?

No.

Now, on to the crux of the matter.

I abhor censorship on principle. I believe that so long as media was not created at the cost of harming another person, it should be allowed to exist. People are free to find certain things disturbing. What is not fine is retroactively changing a product because you do not align with the original creator's tastes or vision.

You didn't just censor panties, you removed story and faction elements that had become important parts of the characters and the world they inhabit.

Nobody is looking at the Black Egrets, seeing the Nazi aesthetic , looking at the actual Nazis of WW2 and thinking "oh, videogame faction looks the same but they're not bad, so the real Nazis are also not bad!". You are either a child or mentally unwell to think so.

For the former, you really need to get your internet cut off until you're older. The fact anyone can, at any time of day, encounter a minor on the internet is a human rights violation.

For the latter, stop it. Get help.

Changing Big Band's story to omit him being beat by police is just strange. Bad things happen to good people. Police brutality is real. Did you really think removing that would magically make you virtuous? Art imitates life and vice versa.

All in all, the game itself is fine. If I'd been ignorant of the shady corporate politics and censorship behind it, I would've been content with playing it like a clueless media-consuming tool. Now I'm just disappointed.

None of this was made by Lab Zero, and after all is said and done, LZ's only legacy consist of discarding the passionate fanbase Alex and the original team fostered for prudish, mentally ill fools who can't distinguish between fiction and reality.

Apologies to anyone who took the time to read this. I know it looks messy but I'm still practicing my writing and this is one of a very tiny number of reviews I've posted. Have a good day and do stay hydrated.

Except you, Atrox. Dirty sock.

Edit: Changed to positive as it seems negative reviews being hidden is a thing. Congratulations LZ. I dislike you even more now.

I regret the fact that I spent more than 2 hours on this game and can't get a refund anymore. I stopped playing for a long time and I come back to some real stupid crap. Glad I didn't invest even more time and money into it. Even bought it on Android, something else I feel remorseful over now.

Hopefully you'll remove all Hololive content from your game given your clear stance in the matter.We know who you really are now, and even if you try to make peace with them, you cannot be trusted to keep certain people from ruining you.

"a" supremacy, Taiwan #1