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| ==Lost Contact - Part 2== | | __TOC__ |
| | ==Ancestral Spirit - Prologue== |
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| type: Story (I would have marked it attack) | | type: Story |
| creator: TheBuzzard
| | author: Damnagoras |
| captain: Wrothkar | | captain: Ape Rahim |
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| summary: | | summary: |
| A quick adventure suitable for captains equipped to fight. Can jump in without having played the previous parts in the series.
| | The adventure title says prologue and that’s mostly all this is. It seems to be focused on giving you some background before you get into what is probably meant to be an adventure series. |
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| story: | | story: |
| Good, simple description hooks interest. It ended abruptly though and didn’t feel resolved. It’s part 2 of a series but didn’t rely on having played part 1 to know what was going on. Simple and short.
| | It’s very Grox-focused and not very detailed or original. It could have benefit from some more inspect text in the city to explain what the statues are, etc. Talk-to objective text was split in the middle of a sentence with ... a couple times — I prefer to re-work the sentences so that doesn’t need to happen. |
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| spelling/grammar: | | spelling/grammar: |
| Not enough errors to significantly get in the way of enjoying the adventure. I noticed a [i]they’re[/i] that should have been [i]their[/i] and [i],ission[/i] instead of [i]mission[/i].
| | Just a couple errors: [i]wich[/i], and [i]erease[/i]. |
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| creations: | | creations: |
| Buildings looked good. Creatures mostly looked good but some were strange and could have been better outfitted.
| | The Mysterious Kernavoris’ robes looked a little odd. I liked the Dera Guards’ outfits. The buildings in the city looked great! The vehicles I didn’t see very closely but they looked good from a distance at least. |
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| environment: | | environment: |
| The camera started on the wrong side of the wall — should have started the captain a little further away from it so there was room for the camera. Falling down the elevator shaft was a bit disorienting (took a bit to figure out which way was out), but that seems reasonable. Convincing ship interior. | | The city environment was well designed — I liked the statues on pedestals and the way the lamps lined the roadway. The war scenes didn’t seem to have much action — just some vehicles wandering around slowly while troops stood around. The destroyed city had normal-looking roads except with some cracks, and no buildings. I would have thought the roads would have been more damaged since the buildings were completely decimated. |
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| captain competence: | | captain competence: |
| A number of creatures with 50 health had to be defeated, and some had missile launchers. I had to be careful even though my captain had all warrior weapons. There were a couple health and energy powerups but they didn’t seem to respawn and taking hits from 3 missile attacks at once would take out most of my captains. There were grenades that took 1500 off buildings, but they could have been set to regenerate for captains without weapons. I wouldn’t recommend this for a captain without ranged warrior weapons.
| | Any captain can complete this adventure. |
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| puzzles: | | puzzles: |
| Some objectives hidden, and you might sometimes miss inspecting something and then get stuck. Other than that, what you need to do is obvious even if it is a hidden objective. Nothing you need to figure out, and you probably don’t even need to read anything to complete the mission.
| | Most acts have you walk through a nearby portal and then talk to a character, so you should always know what to do. |
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| overall: average | | overall: average |
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| | ==Occupation== |
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| | | type: Story |
| ==Lost Contact - Part 3==
| | author: Harlequin2 |
| | | captain: Automatt |
| type: story
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| creator: TheBuzzard
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| captain: Wrothkar
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| summary:
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| a quick adventure suited to any captain. can jump in without having played the previous parts in the series.
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| story:
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| ended abruptly. part 3 but didn’t require knowledge of the first 2 parts. the original mission wasn’t accomplished due to getting sidetracked by what was found, but that part was actually interesting. i didn’t appreciate ending with my captain in danger though.
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| spelling/grammar:
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| i noticed enough problems to take away from my enjoyment of this adventure: its instead of it’s, accessable instead of accessible, projecter instead of projector, suddnely instead of suddenly, and here instead of hear.
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| creations:
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| buildings and creatures both looked good. nothing impressive but nothing awful either.
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| environment:
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| camera started on the wrong side of the wall, so move the captain further away from the wall so there’s room for the camera. the carrier ship interior seemed more like a cargo bay than a ship. props used in objectives were named the default “space silo” and “colony bio protector.” similary, a disguised teleporter is named “teleporter” even though the story called it a cctv console. the cctv effect was pretty cool, but telling me not to worry that i can’t move when it’s already been explained that we’re watching the video from the camera reminded me that i was playing a game.
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| captain competence:
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| plenty of allies during combat, so you have the option to sit back and watch. should be completable by any captain.
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| puzzles:
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| some objectives hidden, but what you need to do is always obvious.
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| overall: average
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| ==Lost Contact - Part 4==
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| type: story (i would have marked it attack) | |
| creator: TheBuzzard
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| captain: Wrothkar | |
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| summary: | | summary: |
| a quick escape combat mission with lighter combat probably doable without captain weapons. watch out for a hidden objective you may not notice (look around if you get stuck). stands on its own pretty well even though it’s part 4 of a series. | | A quick adventure suitable for a captain with some combat abilities. |
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| story: | | story: |
| part 4, but makes enough sense without knowing parts 1-3. ending feels like a reasonable place to end, unlike some series adventures which just end abruptly. not much to the story; more of a combat mission where you’re fighting your way out.
| | A political struggle where you’re brought in to take down an official of the occupying force. It feels like there’s more to the story but the good stuff is still in the author’s head, maybe to be revealed in later sequel adventures. Lots of inspect text on characters, signs, etc. I was surprised that the statue in the town square didn’t have any inspect text though. Most of it gives you an idea of what people think of the occupation. I like to read everything so I spent some more time looking around once I had reached the next objective. |
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| spelling/grammar: | | spelling/grammar: |
| didn’t notice any mistakes — hooray!
| | I only noticed one spelling error: [i]alligence[/i]. |
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| creations: | | creations: |
| the hives could have looked better. everything else was good. | | Some of the outfitting was interesting, but I wasn’t that into the creatures themselves. I liked the pictures on the wall inside the building. The buildings could have benefit from more details and the paint didn’t always make the most sense. Vehicles were pretty good. |
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| environment:
| | environments: |
| convincing spaceship interior. i had some trouble with grenades exploding me as soon as i threw them, but that could be due to my captain having long arms with hands down near his feet. the light effect near the end was a bit blinding making it hard to see the rest of the room.
| | I liked the starting area, town square, checkpoints, and the tower building interior. Coming out onto the roof and seeing the town square down below made for a nice view! The buildings of the city felt more like walls than buildings though. |
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| captain competence: | | captain competence: |
| combat-heavy mission, but enemies have reasonable amount of health and don’t pack too much punch. you’ll want a captain with warrior parts but i don’t think you would need them.
| | You’ll need either sneak or some basic fighting skills to get past the checkpoints, then you’ll definitely need some fighting skills for later objectives that require you to take out some guards. There are powerups around but no grenades and you’re up against three enemies at once. |
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| puzzles: | | puzzles: |
| some hidden objectives, including talking to a creature who is hiding and difficult to notice. other than the hiding creature it’s obvious what to do next. some of the text even gives unneccessary hints.
| | There’s one hidden objective where you have to find something, but the area to search isn’t that large and I pretty much went straight to it. |
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| overall: average | | overall: average |
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| | ==Moneygrubber(TM)== |
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| | | type: Collect |
| ==Blowing up the warehouse==
| | author: Xenopologist |
| | | captain: Automatt |
| type: none
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| creator: Damnagoras
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| captain: Andarius
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| summary:
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| a quick mission where you blow up a building. that’s really all there is to it.
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| story:
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| a guy in an alley wants you to blow up the warehouse, so you do. that is all.
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| spelling/grammar:
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| didn’t notice any errors — hooray!
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| creations:
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| city buildings were a little cartoony and the one creature could have looked better.
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| environment:
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| buildings should have been sunken into the ground a bit so they don’t look to be floating. believable city environment.
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| captain competence:
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| any captain should be able to complete this mission without issue.
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| puzzles:
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| simple, unhidden objectives only.
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| overall: below average.
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| ==Cyclops needs help==
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| type: none (combat)
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| creator: Himmelslaub
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| captain: Mantesch IV
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| summary:
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| a simple uninteresting combat adventure that feels unfinished.
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| story:
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| i don’t think there actually is a story. there’s no description. start message doesn’t make any sense. no victory message.
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| spelling/grammar:
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| “Puppetiers,” and a creature is named Cylops but the name of the adventure says Cyclops. i expect there would have been more but there was very little text whatsoever.
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| creations:
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| Everything’s very colorful. Nothing really stands out as good or bad here.
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| environment:
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| screenshot is taken from the editor with a creature higlighted, and there’s only one screenshot. there isn’t much of an environment, it’s an island with some crystals and buildings scattered about.
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| captain competence:
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| you need to kill 15 creatures who have over 100 health each so it would be helpful to have some strong attacks. if you don’t you may need health regeneration or some zealot armor since there aren’t any powerups either.
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| puzzles:
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| it’s a little difficult to track down the last few creatures you need to kill. they tend to trap the creatures you need to protect in the water against one of the crystals.
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| overall: below average
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| ==Hardware Failure v2-Hotfix==
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| type: puzzle | |
| creator: Ryuujin
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| captain: Mantesch IV | |
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| summary: | | summary: |
| a stealth mission that uses advanced behavior and goals to actually force you to stay away from the guards, followed by a puzzle to disable a large machine.
| | A minigame that just wasn’t fun or interesting to me, maybe because I was bad at it. |
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| story: | | story: |
| pretty similar to the scientist mission from maxis — you need to sneak into the enemy base and disable the mech they’ve been working on. the specifics are plenty original though! the story isn’t especially strong but is certainly adequate.
| | It’s a minigame, so the story is that you’re going to play the game. |
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| spelling/grammar: | | spelling/grammar: |
| “rendevous” was the only spelling error i noticed.
| | No errors! |
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| creations: | | creations: |
| i especially like the squidlike enemies and the motorcycles, but really everything looks great!
| | There’s a round-walled building you start in but the rest is built-in props. The one creation isn’t all that interesting but does its job just fine. |
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| environment: | | environment: |
| feels like a mostly wild planet which happens to house a military base. it does a good job of starting you out in the wild while making it clear that there's something nearby. the stationary vehicles are a nice touch, and good use of effects to look like a fuel spill and to have craters appear.
| | The planet appears to be completely flat. There’s a starting area and then the pile of coins, both of which were very simple. |
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| captain competence: | | captain competence: |
| any captain should be able to do this, though you probably want a 4 or 5 speed rating. it feels like having sneak might help -- i used it but i'm not sure if i needed to. it kept the wild animals from attacking at least.
| | There’s a pile of coins on top of some mines and you need to collect them, so a skinnier captain will probably have an easier time moving around the mines. |
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| puzzles: | | puzzles: |
| it's unclear which way you need to go through the ravines, and since there are sentries running around who might spot you, it would be nice to have some sort of hint whether that way where the guy always catches you is even the right way. i believe when i first played it i got frustrated enough with possibly going the wrong way that i looked around in the editor and figured out a path that way -- turned out i WAS going the wrong way! for the first puzzle not counting finding your way in, you pretty much have to stumble upon while being chased by an invincible enemy. some sort of hint here would be nice -- i first tried to use what you actually end up using to attack the enemy in the following act, since i knew that was there.
| | There’s a time limit, so you’ll need a strategy for getting close but not too close to those mines so you can grab all the coins. Maybe there’s a trick to it I didn’t get, but I didn’t stand much of a chance! |
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| overall: amazing!
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| ==Prison Planet==
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| type: quest (collect)
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| author: Parkaboy
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| captain: Mantesch IV
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| summary:
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| another one of those missions where you go do what the guy asked, then go back to see what else he wants you to do. at the end it turns into a combat mission, which could be frustrating if you're not equipped for it. its saving grace is the great-looking creatures Parkaboy is known for.
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| story:
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| many of the acts had a description but no title. i enjoyed the jokes about which professions are useless. would have been nice to add one more act to chat with the fluff leader and close out the story more smoothly. the first 2 acts could probably be combined to support this. it's also a little odd that the text once you beam down asks if it's a good idea to answer the distress signal.
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| spelling/grammar:
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| nead/need, a herb, wothout. SOS is used to mean distress signal, but since it means "save our ship" that doesn't fit as well as it should.
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| creations:
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| creatures look great and very parkaboy-esque. buildings are pretty simple but that fits the story. the leader's belt isn't all that easy to notice so it sometimes take a while to figure out which fluff to talk to.
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| environment:
| | overall: bad |
| it's fun to see the fluffs build their encampment as you deliver the goods they ask for. the planet appears lush and full of life, but the fluff seem to think it doesn't support life (they probably just mean it's not safe for them, but it's still a little strange). on the 6th act the disappearing held object quirk could have been avoided by having a tree at the top of the hill you give the item to, which could even show the object in the tree for the next act.
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| captain competence:
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| the first few acts have some angry animals who might cause you some trouble -- i used sneak and they left me alone. you could probably run away from them otherwise. in the last act, the enemy ranor beat me to a pulp in a very short time the first time playing, and my captain is protected by all 4 zealot parts and has the first 2 shaman attacks! while there are health powerups (nicely disguised as plants), they don't appear to respawn and the enemies have 250 health each so you'll enjoy this part much more if you can decimate them with some more powerful warrior attacks.
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| puzzles:
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| everything is straightforward, though you may need some strategy to help you defeat the enemies in the last act.
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| overall: average
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| ==Bubbles==
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| type: none
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| author: Creepers79
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| captain: Mantesch IV
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| summary:
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| this adventure appears to be more about the way the planet looks than the actual adventure, but for some reason it has objectives anyway. you can get all the enjoyment there is to be had by simply looking at the png for this one.
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| story:
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| there is no story. no opening text and no winning text either. i didn't lose, but i suspect there's no losing text.
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| spelling/grammar:
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| there's no text so this category doesn't even apply.
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| creations:
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| only two screenshots, and both are the planet (i think). the planet looks very unique and the one creature in it looks decent.
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| environment:
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| doesn't work at all as a playable adventure. it's very blue, and there's an overuse of visual effects near the objectives such that my high end machine stopped displaying a lot of them.
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| captain competence:
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| since there's a battle with an epic at the end for some reason, you probably want some powerful attacks so it doesn't take too long. there are health and energy powerups that look like they respawn quick enough, but the creature has over 3000 health so it's going to take some time.
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| puzzles:
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| it's maybe sort of a puzzle how to get to the first objective, but since there's an undisguised teleporter it's pretty easy to figure out.
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| overall: below average
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| ==The Fog==
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| type: Defend (explore / combat)
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| author: Luminar
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| captain: Mantesch IV
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| summary:
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| If there was a horror category for adventures this one would surely qualify! You get drawn into a struggle with an unseen evil force. The style smoothly alternates between exploration and combat a couple times. It has a big feel even though it takes place in a small area.
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| story:
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| You can click on the buildings to investigate them, which really adds a lot to the story. The writing style is very descriptive and goes a long way to set a dire mood. I like the way it starts you off on your own but as the situation gets worse more friends show up.
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| spelling/grammar:
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| There are missing apostrophes in the journal when its writer starts rambling, but you can’t really expect mad ravings to have perfect grammar. There were a couple minor things like inconsistent capitalization and punctuation order, but they easily get lost amongst all the well-written text.
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| creations:
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| The adventure screenshots probably could have showcased this one a little better. The creatures look excellent — I especially like the mayor. The buildings are pretty good as well though didn’t stand out to me as much.
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| environment:
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| The abundance of trees, the rain effect everywhere, and then the fog at the “ends” of the river gave this adventure a very ominous feel right from the start. The only sound at the beginning is the rain and the rolling thunder, which adds to the mood. The trees are sometimes troublesome though as they tend to get in the way of clicking on things, so you might need to move the camera more than usual to get around that.
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| captain competence:
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| You will probably enjoy this more if you have some decent attack skills, though should be able to get by without. Though it’s marked a defend mission, the character you need to defend seems to do a fine job of defending himself.
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| puzzles:
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| The first acts are hidden objectives, so you have to look around a while and figure out what happened. Both have an effect that should easily draw your attention though, and the area to explore is reasonably limited in size. Later on you need to figure out how to summon the evil creature which takes a bit more thought.
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| overall: amazing!
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| ==The Eye of Ragnoroth==
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| type: Quest (puzzle)
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| author: jschwegman
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| captain: Mantesch IV
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| summary:
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| This dark adventure mixes exploration with sabotage, a rich story, and intelligent puzzles. Its major flaw is that placement of objects for the 7th act changed with a patch and they are now inaccessible leaving you trapped the first time since you didn’t know to plan ahead for it.
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| story:
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| The name Ragnoroth in the title makes me think of Ragnarök from Norse Mythology. The two stories aren’t that far off. The introductory text straight-up tells you what to expect from the adventure in terms of game mechanics which is helpful but doesn’t introduce the story. If you don’t read the text for the monument at the beginning, you can read it in the temple later on but it doesn’t make sense there. I enjoyed the journals of the previous victim, which gave the story a lot more depth and gave the impression there was someone else on your side. The ending shows that your work has only just begun, but is still a perfectly fine way to end the adventure.
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| spelling/grammar:
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| I couldn’t spot a single error, and there’s a lot to read in this mission!
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| creations:
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| I wasn’t that into the bird creatures but they certainly weren’t ugly either. The mysterious figures were definitely foreboding but I thought the bottom of them was a little too softly rounded. The vehicles and buildings looked great, though I was surprised by some of the bright colors on the buildings of the nihilists — shouldn’t they have been black or grey? I really liked the eye design and how that theme carried through.
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| environment:
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| There is a pretty clear path at the start but it ends in a dead end if you follow it all the way. Your objective is just off the bend, and it would have helped if there was some indication visible from the canyon that you should head off that way, but you will find it eventually. I like that there’s no music until the action starts. Underneath the temple the stone block floor is too bumpy for a captain to walk on smoothly. Also it wasn’t clear to me that it was possible to get back up. When going through the pipe on the end with the terminal you need to jump to get back in, which seemed unnecessary. There’s a glitch in the 7th act where pieces you need have fallen through the floor and are inaccessible, probably due to changes in patch 5. If you happened to bring some grenades with you though you can toss them at the enemy and then stand back and complete the objective a different, less interesting way.
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| captain competence:
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| Any captain should be able to complete this mission, though you may find jump helpful while underneath the temple in case you get stuck in the floor. You also want either jump or sneak so you don't have to run past turrets which are shooting at you later on.
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| puzzles:
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| The description says hints are available in the comments, but I didn’t look at them. There are 4 puzzles, each of which gives you just enough information to know what you need to do without actually telling you specifically. The first puzzle gives you a hint in the first act that you might miss, but you will probably figure out what to do even without it. The last puzzle (which happens to be impossible after the patch) shows you something you need to recognize from the second puzzle.
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| overall: above average
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| ==Beyond Site 39==
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| type: Explore
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| author: DrGravitas
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| captain: Mantesch IV
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| summary:
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| This adventure felt a lot like one of those sequels that mostly serves to get you from the end of part 1 to the beginning of part 2, providing more questions than answers. I was hoping for some more answers. Even with that, it is still an interesting world to explore.
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| story:
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| I had trouble following what was supposed to be going on here, which seemed largely to be the point. It ends abruptly in the way that part 2 of a trilogy often can, so hopefully a part 3 will come out and tie up the loose ends. Since I was confused anyway even though I’d played part 1 first, I think this adventure would provide a similar experience on its own. I’m very interested to see what happens in part 3, so hopefully it’s on its way!
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| spelling/grammar:
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| A handful of minor errors, including [i]surround[/i] instead of [i]surrounding[/i] a couple times, [i]your self[/i] instead of [i]yourself[/i], [i]suite/suit[/i], and [i]your/you’re[/i]. I didn’t have to look hard to find them.
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| creations:
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| There’s one creature which I think looks great! The buildings are impressive as well, especially the factory area. The main screenshot for the adventure is the planet, which is generally a poor choice, and something else could have done better here.
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| environment:
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| The environment is very strange. The sky is black but everything else is colorful and well-lit. the ground changes color a lot and there are strange shapes cut into it. There’s a filter in effect which makes everything look somewhat blurry which seems to suit the story well.
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| captain competence:
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| Any captain should be able to complete this adventure.
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| puzzles:
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| All objectives are hidden, so you have to wander around exploring to find the next interesting landmark. There are some general hints like angled buildings pointing toward your next goal or music which dies off as you move too far off the path.
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| overall: average | |
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| ==The Quarantine Zone==
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| type: Quest | | ==A W☯rld Devoid== |
| author: Slyth33 | | type: quest |
| captain: Mantesch IV | | author: doozerdude |
| | captain: Ape Rahim |
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| summary: | | summary: |
| A hostile environment where many have entered and from which none have returned contains a great treasure. Be sure to take the time to look around and enjoy the great story this adventure offers. | | A nice balance between story and small battles. I really got into the conflict going on here, but there are still a couple little things that could get in the way of having a truly amazing adventure experience. This is version 2 of an adventure I’d played before, so I knew what to do. I liked the previous version, and when doozerdude told me he‘d made a version 2 I actually installed Spore to check it out. |
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| story: | | story: |
| I like how there are representatives from some of the groups you will meet on your journey in the area where you start. There is also a lot of extra story information in the logs and journals left behind by the previous groups, as well as the wrecked vehicles. I really like how it ends. There was an unexplained Grox presence and also other references that seemed to be trying to tie this adventure in with the game that I generally don’t like but I know others do. The inspect text on the Mother Qwab is a speech bubble but she’s not saying it.
| | The story really drew me in — the history behind each of the factions was interesting. It felt like there may have been a larger story (a matter of days / weeks / months elsewhere lasted 200 years on this planet) that was only just hinted at. While there was room for more story, there was enough of it to satisfy. There were a few minor inconsistencies such as the mechanic saying the explosives are C4 but you they’re labelled grenade, and the mafia / thug guy saying you can take 2 weapons even though you have 3 crew slots (I think there’s only enough money around for 2). Mezior said he would escort me to the door but he was already at the door since he gets to the captain and then takes off for the door right away. |
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| spelling/grammar: | | spelling/grammar: |
| The Mother [i]Qwab[/i] creature is referred to as [i]quab[/i] in its inspect text. I also noticed [i]skeleton...are[/i], [i]the/they[/i], and a few other minor mistakes. There is a large amount of text in this adventure though so most people probably wouldn’t even notice.
| | Elite is spelled with £ instead of an E, but £ is actually a stylized L. Only had two spelling/grammar errors of [i]anyways[/i]/[i]anyway[/i], [i]passed[/i]/[i]past[/i]. Hunes Jr. sometimes has the dot and sometimes doesn’t. |
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| creations: | | creations: |
| Lots of cool-looking, rusted-out ships that do a good job inticing you to walk up and read about them. The creatures were not as impressive as the vehicles but still pretty good. The antennas on the towers also looked cool.
| | Creatures and buildings look awesome! I like the steampunk style of the city, the godfather’s mansion, the scientist’s cavern, and the bikers . . . which is almost all the creations in the adventure. Basically that means you see lots of great-looking stuff when you play this. |
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| environment: | | environment: |
| The choice of trees and terrain color suits the story well. Along with the placement of the abandoned vehicles, mutants, and crazies, they create a very hostile feel. One of the objectives is a building named “station fragment 2” instead of something like “debris” or “blockage” which would have looked nicer in the objectives list. | | The music fit well with what was going on and added to the mood. My captain was shorter than the tables in the bar, but he was able to take an object off the table without any trouble. Same with the book on the scientist’s table. I had a little trouble getting up the stairs in the godfather’s mansion, but managed it without jump. It seemed odd that the guy running the town would have a set of stairs boarded off in his mansion ― shouldn’t he be able to get it fixed? It was hard to see during the battle if you have a low camera angle, probably because of the thick atmosphere. There’s a teleporter still intact after the building it’s for has been blown up. |
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| captain competence: | | captain competence: |
| There are some hostile creatures with a lot of health. You will want either some captain attacks or sneak / stealth to get past them, though you may be able to get by with either the run away or hide behind the scenery tactics. | | There are weapon creatures you can ally with in case you don’t have much firepower of your own. I tried three of the four (in two plays, since I can only find enough cash for two) and they all did level 1 sing so any captain should be able to handle that. You have to socialize with them twice to ally though ― would have been nice if they had started out friendly. There’s a biker fight which your side tells you they would appreciate your help, and even with a little help from my captain only one of my side survived. You need to finish off the enemy. Everyone has a lot of health (especially you) and there are respawning powerups on the battlefield, so you could probably make it without warrior/shaman weapons, especially if you allied a couple weapon creatures. |
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| puzzles: | | puzzles: |
| No hidden objectives so you can generally head straight for the next objective.
| | The first objectives are hidden, which means you need to explore the well-designed city. Most of it is pretty straightforward, though there is a bit of a puzzle in Act VII with some strong hints. In Act VIII you go through a portal but it’s unclear that after you take care of business there you need to go back through the portal behind you, not into the city. |
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| overall: above average | | overall: good |
Ancestral Spirit - Prologue
type: Story
author: Damnagoras
captain: Ape Rahim
summary:
The adventure title says prologue and that’s mostly all this is. It seems to be focused on giving you some background before you get into what is probably meant to be an adventure series.
story:
It’s very Grox-focused and not very detailed or original. It could have benefit from some more inspect text in the city to explain what the statues are, etc. Talk-to objective text was split in the middle of a sentence with ... a couple times — I prefer to re-work the sentences so that doesn’t need to happen.
spelling/grammar:
Just a couple errors: [i]wich[/i], and [i]erease[/i].
creations:
The Mysterious Kernavoris’ robes looked a little odd. I liked the Dera Guards’ outfits. The buildings in the city looked great! The vehicles I didn’t see very closely but they looked good from a distance at least.
environment:
The city environment was well designed — I liked the statues on pedestals and the way the lamps lined the roadway. The war scenes didn’t seem to have much action — just some vehicles wandering around slowly while troops stood around. The destroyed city had normal-looking roads except with some cracks, and no buildings. I would have thought the roads would have been more damaged since the buildings were completely decimated.
captain competence:
Any captain can complete this adventure.
puzzles:
Most acts have you walk through a nearby portal and then talk to a character, so you should always know what to do.
overall: average
Occupation
type: Story
author: Harlequin2
captain: Automatt
summary:
A quick adventure suitable for a captain with some combat abilities.
story:
A political struggle where you’re brought in to take down an official of the occupying force. It feels like there’s more to the story but the good stuff is still in the author’s head, maybe to be revealed in later sequel adventures. Lots of inspect text on characters, signs, etc. I was surprised that the statue in the town square didn’t have any inspect text though. Most of it gives you an idea of what people think of the occupation. I like to read everything so I spent some more time looking around once I had reached the next objective.
spelling/grammar:
I only noticed one spelling error: [i]alligence[/i].
creations:
Some of the outfitting was interesting, but I wasn’t that into the creatures themselves. I liked the pictures on the wall inside the building. The buildings could have benefit from more details and the paint didn’t always make the most sense. Vehicles were pretty good.
environments:
I liked the starting area, town square, checkpoints, and the tower building interior. Coming out onto the roof and seeing the town square down below made for a nice view! The buildings of the city felt more like walls than buildings though.
captain competence:
You’ll need either sneak or some basic fighting skills to get past the checkpoints, then you’ll definitely need some fighting skills for later objectives that require you to take out some guards. There are powerups around but no grenades and you’re up against three enemies at once.
puzzles:
There’s one hidden objective where you have to find something, but the area to search isn’t that large and I pretty much went straight to it.
overall: average
Moneygrubber(TM)
type: Collect
author: Xenopologist
captain: Automatt
summary:
A minigame that just wasn’t fun or interesting to me, maybe because I was bad at it.
story:
It’s a minigame, so the story is that you’re going to play the game.
spelling/grammar:
No errors!
creations:
There’s a round-walled building you start in but the rest is built-in props. The one creation isn’t all that interesting but does its job just fine.
environment:
The planet appears to be completely flat. There’s a starting area and then the pile of coins, both of which were very simple.
captain competence:
There’s a pile of coins on top of some mines and you need to collect them, so a skinnier captain will probably have an easier time moving around the mines.
puzzles:
There’s a time limit, so you’ll need a strategy for getting close but not too close to those mines so you can grab all the coins. Maybe there’s a trick to it I didn’t get, but I didn’t stand much of a chance!
overall: bad
A W☯rld Devoid
type: quest
author: doozerdude
captain: Ape Rahim
summary:
A nice balance between story and small battles. I really got into the conflict going on here, but there are still a couple little things that could get in the way of having a truly amazing adventure experience. This is version 2 of an adventure I’d played before, so I knew what to do. I liked the previous version, and when doozerdude told me he‘d made a version 2 I actually installed Spore to check it out.
story:
The story really drew me in — the history behind each of the factions was interesting. It felt like there may have been a larger story (a matter of days / weeks / months elsewhere lasted 200 years on this planet) that was only just hinted at. While there was room for more story, there was enough of it to satisfy. There were a few minor inconsistencies such as the mechanic saying the explosives are C4 but you they’re labelled grenade, and the mafia / thug guy saying you can take 2 weapons even though you have 3 crew slots (I think there’s only enough money around for 2). Mezior said he would escort me to the door but he was already at the door since he gets to the captain and then takes off for the door right away.
spelling/grammar:
Elite is spelled with £ instead of an E, but £ is actually a stylized L. Only had two spelling/grammar errors of [i]anyways[/i]/[i]anyway[/i], [i]passed[/i]/[i]past[/i]. Hunes Jr. sometimes has the dot and sometimes doesn’t.
creations:
Creatures and buildings look awesome! I like the steampunk style of the city, the godfather’s mansion, the scientist’s cavern, and the bikers . . . which is almost all the creations in the adventure. Basically that means you see lots of great-looking stuff when you play this.
environment:
The music fit well with what was going on and added to the mood. My captain was shorter than the tables in the bar, but he was able to take an object off the table without any trouble. Same with the book on the scientist’s table. I had a little trouble getting up the stairs in the godfather’s mansion, but managed it without jump. It seemed odd that the guy running the town would have a set of stairs boarded off in his mansion ― shouldn’t he be able to get it fixed? It was hard to see during the battle if you have a low camera angle, probably because of the thick atmosphere. There’s a teleporter still intact after the building it’s for has been blown up.
captain competence:
There are weapon creatures you can ally with in case you don’t have much firepower of your own. I tried three of the four (in two plays, since I can only find enough cash for two) and they all did level 1 sing so any captain should be able to handle that. You have to socialize with them twice to ally though ― would have been nice if they had started out friendly. There’s a biker fight which your side tells you they would appreciate your help, and even with a little help from my captain only one of my side survived. You need to finish off the enemy. Everyone has a lot of health (especially you) and there are respawning powerups on the battlefield, so you could probably make it without warrior/shaman weapons, especially if you allied a couple weapon creatures.
puzzles:
The first objectives are hidden, which means you need to explore the well-designed city. Most of it is pretty straightforward, though there is a bit of a puzzle in Act VII with some strong hints. In Act VIII you go through a portal but it’s unclear that after you take care of business there you need to go back through the portal behind you, not into the city.
overall: good
