User:Misterhaan/HUAR

Lost Contact - Part 2

type: Story (I would have marked it attack) creator: TheBuzzard captain: Wrothkar

summary: A quick adventure suitable for captains equipped to fight. Can jump in without having played the previous parts in the series.

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.

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].

creations: Buildings looked good. Creatures mostly looked good but some were strange and could have been better outfitted.

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.

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.

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.

overall: average

Lost Contact - Part 4

type: story (i would have marked it attack) creator: TheBuzzard captain: Wrothkar

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.

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.

spelling/grammar: didn’t notice any mistakes — hooray!

creations: the hives could have looked better. everything else was good.

environment: 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.

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.

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.

overall: average

Blowing up the warehouse

type: none creator: Damnagoras captain: Andarius

summary: a quick mission where you blow up a building. that’s really all there is to it.

story: a guy in an alley wants you to blow up the warehouse, so you do. that is all.

spelling/grammar: didn’t notice any errors — hooray!

creations: city buildings were a little cartoony and the one creature could have looked better.

environment: buildings should have been sunken into the ground a bit so they don’t look to be floating. believable city environment.

captain competence: any captain should be able to complete this mission without issue.

puzzles: simple, unhidden objectives only.

overall: below average.

The Eye of Ragnoroth

type: Quest (puzzle) author: jschwegman captain: Mantesch IV

summary: 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.

story: 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.

spelling/grammar: I couldn’t spot a single error, and there’s a lot to read in this mission!

creations: 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.

environment: 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.

captain competence: 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.

puzzles: 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.

overall: above average

Some like it Hoth

type: Attack author: Parkaboy captain: Mantesch IV

summary: A great-looking battle defending cold against hot. It mixes in some defense and collection along with the attacking for some variety. Bring some firepower and keep your cool!

story: All of the acts have descriptions but no titles.

spelling/grammar: I probably would have capitalized “like” in the title, but I didn't notice any errors.

creations: I wasn't that into the Sagaian anatomy but I thought the Coppers looked awesome and so did the outfits. The buildings and vehicles also looked excellent. Everything had consistent color schemes of white with blue for the natives and red for the invaders.

environment: The terrain was well-sculpted to show trenches for battle and holes where the invaders had started melting the planet. I enjoyed the layout of the city as well.

captain competence: Your captain should be battle-ready, but can get by with the first two shaman or warrior weapons. I really liked how the Sentry Bots would switch sides once you got their health low enough, which was also a nice boost to my captain’s firepower. There are grenades and health / energy powerups but the powerups didn’t seem to respawn.

puzzles: No hidden objectives and everything is straightforward.

overall: above average

Whom Gods Destroy (v3)

type: story author: Ryuujin captain: Mantesch IV

summary: A high-quality psychological thriller of an adventure suitable for pretty much any captain. A great story set in an amazing environment.

story: A lot of props and scenery have inspect text to tell more of the story. I think all of the acts had a description but no title. It was a little odd that I took what appeared to be the only path to central processing but Eija somehow beat me there without being seen. The story really drew me in though and it was fun to continue checking off objectives not knowing what was real and what was delusion.

spelling/grammar: There’s a lot of text in this adventure but I only noticed a few things: [i]I'll disable the security field you[/i], [i]defeatted[/i], and [i]that is end[/i].

creations: I was impressed with pretty much everything I saw! Awesome colonists, great buildings, and freaky monsters.

environment: The style filter and blowing effect outside makes this world seem hostile and desolate. The caves are very well-built and convincing. I enjoyed the use of purple throughout the adventure.

captain competence: There’s a little bit of combat so it will be helpful to have at least one captain attack. Other than that any captain should have no problem completing this adventure.

puzzles: Hidden objectives (most of them). Most of the puzzles are figuring how to get past the obstacles to get where you need to be. There are hints to help you know what to do but they aren’t so completely obvious that they insult your intelligence.

overall: awesome!

Dark Labyrinth

type: Puzzle author: Arisilde captain: Ape Rahim

summary: A very difficult maze in a dark setting.

story: Not much of a story — you get stuck in the labyrinth and figure that if you get to the center you can probably get out.

spelling/grammar: I didn’t notice anything, but there wasn’t much text either.

creations: A handful of creepy things haunt the maze. I couldn’t see them all that well but they did a good of looking creepy and crawly. The maze walls actually look like really good boulder walls.

environment: It’s definitely dark! The darkness, the music, and the sound of creatures stirring while you frantically try to find your way to the center of the labyrinth give it an anxious feel.

captain competence: There are respawning creatures in the labyrinth so you’ll probably need a captain attack, health regeneration, or sneak to survive them.

puzzles: The point of the adventure is that it’s a maze, which is a form of puzzle. I have not yet been able to actually complete the maze without looking at a map I traced the route on after pulling off the ceiling and taking a screenshot.

overall: above average

Genesis-The Introduction

type: Story author: machine1000 captain: Ape Rahim

summary: A short easy adventure that fits into the Spore universe.

story: There’s just enough story to sort of give you a reason to walk around and do the objectives. One of the objectives has you go check on something only to find that it seems fine, so that felt pointless.

spelling/grammar: This thing is littered with so many errors it was almost painful: [i]you[/i]/[i]you’re[/i], [i]sciencetist[/i], [i]sence[/i], [i]guest[/i]/[i]guess[/i], [i]lowsey[/i], [i]whos[/i], [i]thats[/i], [i]to[/i]/[i]too[/i], [i]mightess[/i], [i]terreforming[/i], [i]know[/i]/[i]now[/i], [i]stablelizer[/i], [i]aswell[/i], and [i]shure[/i].

creations: The scientists were well-outfitted. Nice looking primitive creatures to start the ecosystem with. Buildings looked nice and I especially liked the one that built the wall around the scientists’ area.

environment: It was strange how far away the atmosphere generator was, and how there was a nest with plants at the end of a path. The scientists’ area was well designed though.

captain competence: Any captain should be able complete this adventure. The crater the atmosphere generator was in wasn’t easy to get out of without jump, but I managed.

puzzles: No puzzles — all objectives were straightforward.

overall: below average

An Unlikely God

type: Story author: Slyth33 captain: Ape Rahim

summary: An interesting, immersive story set in a spectacularly built environment that any captain can explore.

story: Many creatures and props have inspect text to give extra background to the story, which is very detailed to begin with. I enjoyed wandering around checking everything out and solving the mystery of how this species managed to advance so quickly.

spelling/grammar: I didn’t notice any errors, even amongst all that text!

creations: I appreciated the variety of outfits on the tribal creatures. The animal creatures looked good and fit the look of the planet well. The computer pieces, decayed buildings and planes were also very impressive, though I did have some trouble with the part of the computer being called hard drives given how they look. It was cool to see a gate used as a door that opened in a reasonable way instead of just having the door disappear.

environment: I liked starting on a small island. There’s an amazing lush jungle at the beginning, with a well laid-out tribal village which made good use of tribal props. The bunker looked cold and grey, just as one would expect of a bunker, with the walls nicely lining the edge of the road used as the floor. The radiation-soaked airfield looked very different from the jungle area complete with dry, sickly plants.

captain competence: Any captain should be able to complete this adventure. I was able to run past most hostiles without any difficulty, and there are healing fruits scattered around as well.

puzzles: Most of the adventure is straightforward, though there’s a bit of a puzzle with getting an item away from a large creature with high health. While you could of course attack directly, I found a better way.

overall: awesome!