Post by splitterwind on May 9, 2014 15:45:23 GMT
Is a collection of professional reviews ok in this subforum?
I added quotes to each review that reflect the general opinion of the reviewer (a TL;DR)
Can Godus be fixed?
Peter Molyneux's Godus problem
Godus Beta 2.0 Review: A New Coat Of Paint Can't Hide Same Boring Clickfest
Sadly, several hours with Godus Beta v2.0 didn't reveal a wholly revamped gameplay experience. Just the same boring clickfest, albeit with a few rearranged HUD elements, and a lightened 9000 click-per-hour (cph) demand that technically beats out the previous need for 10,000+ clicks
[...]
When described, Voyages of Discovery certainly sounds like it could at least be a mildly-entertaining alternative to Godus' stripped-out story mode, but the reality of the situation is quite different. Rather than offering a series of less-than-challenging ways for players to earn extra resource cards, Voyages of Discovery currently serves as little more than the most obvious example of the truly abysmal pathing routines that guide your followers' steps.
Worse, it doesn't take long to realize that these terraforming "puzzles" are neither difficult nor entertaining,
[...]
It's nice to see 22cans taking significant steps to try and appease the Godus' community's requests, especially with some of the changes essentially requiring a complete 180 degree turn on certain design decisions, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't starting to have serious doubts about the game's future. Even with various changes implemented in the Beta 2.0 Update, Godus still feels far more like the PC port of an unfinished mobile game than a reinvention of the god game genre.
[...]
Unfortunately, given the fact that more than half a year's worth of development hasn't yielded a version of Godus that feels any more entertaining than it was last September, I can no longer stand by that recommendation.
Godus Early Access review (updated March 13th)
Godus, in its early access state, is alarmingly slim. That’s par for the course with early access games on Steam. The problem is, the ambition for Godus simply cannot match the reality of what’s delivered right now. It’s a fascinating game but I have serious questions about the viability of the mechanics going forward, and whether the promises that the developers have made for Godus going forward can ever be made real.
[...]
Godus doesn’t feel like a god game. I think that’s the core problem.
[...]
After a long period in incubation, 22Cans have released an update to Godus that they claim will radically improve the game.
It doesn’t.
[...]
Godus is still a game you should avoid.
The Abysmal Godus Is No Longer Abysmal, APPARENTLY
Godus doesn’t deserve a second chance as far as I’m concerned. I shall await positive or negative buzz before I even consider returning to it.
Impressions: Godus
Where, then, is the struggle and the strategy?
[...]
From what I have seen so far, From Dust was a better tribe-inspirer, with far more interesting terraforming, and the clumsiness of the “online” aspects of Godus have put me off ever wanting to look at them again. Far from the richness of Godly action and indirect strategy I’d expect from a god game (let alone the “Regenesis” of the genre), I’ve yet to detect much of anything other than very slow, unimpeded expansion, and a gradual unlocking of a tech tree which makes only the most marginal of changes to what I see happening on the field of play. If I am god, then I am god of a very quiet little world.
[...]
Anyway. This bit is important, because it is the conclusion: we can make no firm judgement on Godus as yet. There is the largest part of the game still to come, including (presumably) the “real” online battles, the sense of challenge in the world, and doubtless a slicker and more satisfying opening section of the game.
In Which Godus Utterly Fails at Almost Everything
Godus is a game where 99% of your time will be spent doing one of two things- terraforming the land so your followers can build on it, or clicking on their houses to collect the pink spheres of Belief that appear over them.
[...]
It is still early, though, and even the loading screen makes it clear that Godus is only 40% complete. There’s a long way to go before a real review can be made. The problem is that the things causing Godus to suck are in the core gameplay.
I Don’t Know If I Believe In Godus
The problem with Godus is that it feels like it’s a Free-To-Play without any of its benefits. It costs money for a start, not that it’s a barrier to continuing to charge players these days, but – more importantly – everything takes forever. To expand your area of influence you have to capture Expansion Shrines, which take progressively longer to capture each time. The most recent one I came across had a five-day timer on it – that’s five actual days, not in-game time that may only be a few minutes
[...]
The good news is that they’re claiming the game is only about fifty-percent complete and so far they’ve done a good job of reacting to player feedback, but as long as they’re missing a core goal and sense of achievement, I don’t think any number of changes or feedback will be able to turn Godus into something that I would recommend people spend money on. Being Early Access doesn’t excuse this, as no matter how early it is in its development, you should really have a solid idea of what your title is about. It’s a shame, because it’s an enjoyable proof of concept and the interaction mechanics are pretty sound – it could be a really good game, but I’m just not sure how they’re going to get it there.
Godus Early Access Review
Then again, Godus isn't finished yet, and clearly has a long road ahead of it. Developer 22Cans says on the game's splash screen that it's currently at 49 percent completion, and that feels about right. There are plenty of bugs that, while by no means game-breaking, forced me to close and reopen the game about a dozen times. Despite the discomforts, Godus is still enjoyable. Gathering belief and gently guiding villagers to build and grow is rewarding in a strangely ephemeral way. When you're not on a voyage of discovery, play feels therapeutic if not meditative, though the relaxation is far too often cut short by a lack of belief or an insufficient number of stickers to activate cards. Nevertheless, there's a pleasurable ebb and flow to collecting belief from your followers and then using that to sculpt the land beneath you.
I added quotes to each review that reflect the general opinion of the reviewer (a TL;DR)
Eurogamer
Can Godus be fixed?
Fewer clicks don't mean more fun in the 2.0 version of Molyneux's god game.
[...]
This early incarnation of Godus was a god game that didn't make you feel like a god, a strategy game that rejected all but a single strategy.
[...]
but after 70 hours of Godus, it actually sounds like blind, panicked, directionless design that chews up eager, talented developers and bores and confuses and angers the players. So far, it's produced a freemium distraction that can't yet admit that's what it truly is, an iPad game that seems to only have landed on PC to soak up some extra funding, and a god game that, when I play it, makes me feel like I'm even less significant than I already am in the real world.
[...]
This early incarnation of Godus was a god game that didn't make you feel like a god, a strategy game that rejected all but a single strategy.
[...]
but after 70 hours of Godus, it actually sounds like blind, panicked, directionless design that chews up eager, talented developers and bores and confuses and angers the players. So far, it's produced a freemium distraction that can't yet admit that's what it truly is, an iPad game that seems to only have landed on PC to soak up some extra funding, and a god game that, when I play it, makes me feel like I'm even less significant than I already am in the real world.
Peter Molyneux's Godus problem
"You're going to go away and say that f***ing ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, he's promising stuff all over again."
[...]
I think a lot of people's issues with Godus weren't about it being buggy though, but about it being fundamentally boring.
[...]
Does that not become a problem - as soon as the business model becomes the design, that's a problem?
[...]
I think a lot of people's issues with Godus weren't about it being buggy though, but about it being fundamentally boring.
[...]
Does that not become a problem - as soon as the business model becomes the design, that's a problem?
International Digital Times
Godus Beta 2.0 Review: A New Coat Of Paint Can't Hide Same Boring Clickfest
Sadly, several hours with Godus Beta v2.0 didn't reveal a wholly revamped gameplay experience. Just the same boring clickfest, albeit with a few rearranged HUD elements, and a lightened 9000 click-per-hour (cph) demand that technically beats out the previous need for 10,000+ clicks
[...]
When described, Voyages of Discovery certainly sounds like it could at least be a mildly-entertaining alternative to Godus' stripped-out story mode, but the reality of the situation is quite different. Rather than offering a series of less-than-challenging ways for players to earn extra resource cards, Voyages of Discovery currently serves as little more than the most obvious example of the truly abysmal pathing routines that guide your followers' steps.
Worse, it doesn't take long to realize that these terraforming "puzzles" are neither difficult nor entertaining,
[...]
It's nice to see 22cans taking significant steps to try and appease the Godus' community's requests, especially with some of the changes essentially requiring a complete 180 degree turn on certain design decisions, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't starting to have serious doubts about the game's future. Even with various changes implemented in the Beta 2.0 Update, Godus still feels far more like the PC port of an unfinished mobile game than a reinvention of the god game genre.
[...]
Unfortunately, given the fact that more than half a year's worth of development hasn't yielded a version of Godus that feels any more entertaining than it was last September, I can no longer stand by that recommendation.
PCgamesN
Godus Early Access review (updated March 13th)
Godus, in its early access state, is alarmingly slim. That’s par for the course with early access games on Steam. The problem is, the ambition for Godus simply cannot match the reality of what’s delivered right now. It’s a fascinating game but I have serious questions about the viability of the mechanics going forward, and whether the promises that the developers have made for Godus going forward can ever be made real.
[...]
Godus doesn’t feel like a god game. I think that’s the core problem.
[...]
After a long period in incubation, 22Cans have released an update to Godus that they claim will radically improve the game.
It doesn’t.
[...]
Godus is still a game you should avoid.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun
The Abysmal Godus Is No Longer Abysmal, APPARENTLY
Godus doesn’t deserve a second chance as far as I’m concerned. I shall await positive or negative buzz before I even consider returning to it.
Impressions: Godus
Where, then, is the struggle and the strategy?
[...]
From what I have seen so far, From Dust was a better tribe-inspirer, with far more interesting terraforming, and the clumsiness of the “online” aspects of Godus have put me off ever wanting to look at them again. Far from the richness of Godly action and indirect strategy I’d expect from a god game (let alone the “Regenesis” of the genre), I’ve yet to detect much of anything other than very slow, unimpeded expansion, and a gradual unlocking of a tech tree which makes only the most marginal of changes to what I see happening on the field of play. If I am god, then I am god of a very quiet little world.
[...]
Anyway. This bit is important, because it is the conclusion: we can make no firm judgement on Godus as yet. There is the largest part of the game still to come, including (presumably) the “real” online battles, the sense of challenge in the world, and doubtless a slicker and more satisfying opening section of the game.
HardcoreGamer
In Which Godus Utterly Fails at Almost Everything
Godus is a game where 99% of your time will be spent doing one of two things- terraforming the land so your followers can build on it, or clicking on their houses to collect the pink spheres of Belief that appear over them.
[...]
It is still early, though, and even the loading screen makes it clear that Godus is only 40% complete. There’s a long way to go before a real review can be made. The problem is that the things causing Godus to suck are in the core gameplay.
gamingLives
I Don’t Know If I Believe In Godus
The problem with Godus is that it feels like it’s a Free-To-Play without any of its benefits. It costs money for a start, not that it’s a barrier to continuing to charge players these days, but – more importantly – everything takes forever. To expand your area of influence you have to capture Expansion Shrines, which take progressively longer to capture each time. The most recent one I came across had a five-day timer on it – that’s five actual days, not in-game time that may only be a few minutes
[...]
The good news is that they’re claiming the game is only about fifty-percent complete and so far they’ve done a good job of reacting to player feedback, but as long as they’re missing a core goal and sense of achievement, I don’t think any number of changes or feedback will be able to turn Godus into something that I would recommend people spend money on. Being Early Access doesn’t excuse this, as no matter how early it is in its development, you should really have a solid idea of what your title is about. It’s a shame, because it’s an enjoyable proof of concept and the interaction mechanics are pretty sound – it could be a really good game, but I’m just not sure how they’re going to get it there.
GameSpot
Godus Early Access Review
Then again, Godus isn't finished yet, and clearly has a long road ahead of it. Developer 22Cans says on the game's splash screen that it's currently at 49 percent completion, and that feels about right. There are plenty of bugs that, while by no means game-breaking, forced me to close and reopen the game about a dozen times. Despite the discomforts, Godus is still enjoyable. Gathering belief and gently guiding villagers to build and grow is rewarding in a strangely ephemeral way. When you're not on a voyage of discovery, play feels therapeutic if not meditative, though the relaxation is far too often cut short by a lack of belief or an insufficient number of stickers to activate cards. Nevertheless, there's a pleasurable ebb and flow to collecting belief from your followers and then using that to sculpt the land beneath you.
