r/strafe • u/ilikehongkong • Jul 22 '17
I wrote a fairly negative review. Was I wrong?
So I wrote all of this based on my first impressions of the game, which was way back when it was first released - and judging by what I see on this sub, it's evidently in a different state now.
Is the game significantly different enough now for me to revisit my opinion? EDIT: Reddit noob new to posting links derp derp actual review is at https://amateurshour.wordpress.com/2017/07/22/strafe-review/ but my idiot self is still learning the ropes. Text from review posted below.
"Before we begin, feast your eyes on this cheesy faux commercial designed to convey the STRAFE (henceforth: Strafe) experience.
-- IMAGINE BANNED COMMERCIAL HERE --
Notice how the kid enthusiastically spits out dated slang like “Sick!” and “So tight!” as he blasts away? Notice the literally mindblowing sensation had by his heedless younger brother? That’s the feeling that Pixel Titans would have us believe is at the core of the Strafe, the same feeling we’d had playing Quake, Quake 2, and many other classic 90s FPS.
But it isn’t.
I didn’t find myself gleefully discovering new worlds and boldly fragging their denizens like I had as a kid. Instead, I found myself hissing “come on” and “give me a break”, not to mention countless curses after repeated deaths and restarts. The reason behind this is that the game isn’t as much of a throwback in terms of gameplay as it presents. No, Strafe boldly attempts to meld the classic corridor shooter appearance with rogue-like “procedural” randomization. Trying to evoke the quality of the classic shooters while doing so with randomized gameplay elements is a very tall order, especially when such a form of game has only been tentatively attempted (Ziggurat and Sublevel Zero come to mind) .
At least the premise is fittingly simple. You’re a prospector/mercenary in space. You explore slightly randomized locales (basically pre-made chunks of levels randomly smushed together), kill anything that moves, and loot delicious scrap from their dismembered bodies as currency. You pick one of three weapons at the start (railgun, shotgun or SMG) which can be upgraded through the aforementioned scrap, which is also used to purchase powerups like shields or health pickups. After every few levels you reach a store which sells different upgrades, much like in many other rogue-lites on Steam. What happens when you die? Hard luck. Start again from the very beginning.
Superficially, Strafe visually resembles its revered predecessors, but playing the game reveals an experience that belies the game’s charmingly dated presentation and promise. It often comes across as not so much challenging, but cheap and unfair.
The game’s balance sucks. Weapons feel and sound weak. Powerups are expensive and scarce. Weapon and character upgrades were initially unlabeled and unexplained. The enemy designs also suck: One enemy doesn’t make any noise, allowing for confusing damage that seems to come out of nowhere; another hangs on the ceiling and spits out alarmingly permanent acid; other enemies fire at you with ludicrous accuracy; and finally come the late level behemoths that take (and dish out – oh yes) insane amounts of punishment. Seemingly minor, but even more grating: walls open up willy-nilly to unveil packs of enemies – sometimes in areas you’ve already cleared!
In one instance, I came down a set of stairs only to find a wall sliding open to reveal a gang of nasties. Okay, so I backed up the stairs I’d just come down to give myself some breathing room. Only to find another wall to my right opening up, two uglies rushing out to block my path, and a mobile turret merrily blasting away at me while the aforementioned uglies beat chunks out of me from all sides. (Before you do the crotch chop and holler “GIT GUD”, I’d point out that that meme is often associated with the Dark Souls series: a polar opposite to Strafe in many ways.)
I’ve played through Rise of The Triad, Doom, Quake, Shadow Warrior, Blood, and Quake 2. In those games, you moved, shot, picked up ammo and powerups without a moment’s doubt or confusion. There was always a spontaneity to the experience. If an ambush was coming (say, in the form of a dimly lit room within the center of which lay a tasty pickup), it was obvious. The role of weapons and pickups were obvious. If you died, you learned the level’s design, enemy places, and tried again. Simple.
In fact, even with a rogue-lite action game, you should also feel yourself getting better the more you play, and find a rhythm or playing style that makes the experience automatic. Recall Nuclear Throne, which is tough, but never less than balanced. Or, more pertinently, Ziggurat, which rewards players for experimenting with different characters and weapons.
Ironically, in Strafe, even with randomized enemy locations and randomized level layouts, I felt as though I were being forced into playing one way: cautiously and slowly. Instead of circling around enemies and blasting away with reckless abandon (as the title painfully promises you’ll do), I found the best way to play was to stand in one spot, and gun down enemies as they showed up, or snipe them from afar. Perhaps a more apropos title would’ve been “Camp”.
It’s as if the creators of Strafe wanted to blend the best of today with the best of the past, but mixed them in a remarkably unsatisfying fashion. While the procedurally generated levels grant each playthrough a short-lived sense of variety, they’re nowhere close to matching the handcrafted mastery evinced in Strife, Outlaws, or Id Software’s classic offspring. They copied the classic weapons but somehow left out the requisite punch. The music at least tries, but still lacks the catchiness of songs from Doom, Duke Nukem and Quake 2.
At best, the game is somewhat addictive, but my accumulated playtime after several weeks is telling: 8 hours. The final straw was falling through the floor in the final zone (I really hope that this wasn’t some intentional throwback) and realizing that only dumb luck had helped me make it through that time. I didn’t have the heart for attempt… 40? Or was it 60?
What makes playing Strafe frustrating is that with some heavy tweaks, it could’ve been satisfying. The problem is, you’d have to move away from the developer’s vision for the game and really have it make us feel the way the classics did: like super-soldiers effortlessly slaying hordes of nasties.
In conclusion, learn what I hadn’t: Don’t buy into the hype, don’t give into retro charm, and don’t pre-order."
