Recent reviews by Pat the trip dispenser

Indescribably amazing game. Absolutely incredible.

Very satisfying and fairly simple class-based FPS game, taking inspiration from games like Call of Duty and TF2. The upgrades system is based upon easily accumulated credits earned from ingame missions, so while you can buy classes and loadouts with real money, it's all very much achievable ingame.
Dirty Bomb isn't particularly groundbreaking, but it's a solid and enjoyable experience in my opinion. It sticks to what it knows best, and keeps the focus on the core aspects of the game instead of gimmicky add-ons to try and differentiate it from the pack.
Addictive, fun and solid. Would very much reccomend.

Very funny and a great experience to play. It's pretty damn short though.

Had it since beta. Probably played around 500 hours more than I currently have.
This game is extremely good, but in some ways you have to make your own fun. I'd probably be bored now if I didn't engage myself in powerplay and establish my own clan on Elite.
Essentially, you've gotta take an in-depth look at the game before buying it. I absolutely adore it, but a friend of mine bought it, played 3 hours of it and hasn't touched it since. If you feel this game will be for you after looking at unbiased footage, then you're in for a treat. If not, then you're going to be disappointed if you buy it.

EDIT:
After the release of the new £40 DLC they're trying pathetically to market as a new game to unsuspecting buyers, I can no longer reccomend Elite. Everyone who bought the game pre-DLC has been screwed over. And everyone who bought Horizons has been screwed over too, since that is only one of many £40 DLCs they're releasing.

Unlike other reviewers, I'm unfortunately not a backer from the Kickstarter. I got the game today, and as I play more the review will be updated as such. Anyway, let's jump right into the deep end here. This is NEW. I have never in my life experienced anything like it. The way the gaming industry operates nowadays is depressing. It's all rip off after rip off, but this is so much different. The feeling you get when you're skating around the city, mastering your routes and getting faster and faster than ever before is an experience I know well from games like the Tony Hawk series or Jet Set Radio, but it feels so much different on this game. In all other skating games, you're bound to the track, basically. You have quite a lot of freedom, but the route is defined. In Hover, you're free. You find your own damn route, and you take it.


The concept of the story is that you're in a city where games consoles are banned by the authoritarian leaders, and you're part of a rebel group that opposes them. I've ot played too far into the game's story, so unfortunately I don't know what it's like. One thing you'll have to understand is that this game isn't about the story. It's about the experience of skating. Once you get into the game and get past the short tutorial, you couldn't care less about the story.


The game's control system comes with mouse/keyboard controls and a default Xbox 360 controller mode, which I've been using and enjoying. It's fully customisable, so if you don't like any of the bindings you can change it. So far, the gameplay feel has been absolutely great, but it there are a few bits that annoy me. For example, when you're jumping from wall to wall, the camera angle makes it easy to lose youself and ruin your moveset. The first-person feel to the game is immersive, and I can imagine that it would be absolutely phenomenal on the oculus rift. I must add though, that the controls and gameplay takes some getting used to. It's not too steep, but there certainly is a learning curve.


The graphics of the game are lovely and appealing, but that's because they fit the styling of the game perfectly. The textures are pretty smooth, and there aren't many graphical bugs which I've found. BUT I'm not able to play the game well in high detail, an issue I shall be touching on soon.


Absolute eargasm. You just have to listen to it to undeerstand. It portrays the feel of the game perfectly whilst you're playing it, it's almost as if the game itself was perfectly tailored to the music style, or vice versa. There is more music scheduled to be added that's by Hideki Nagamura himself, the guy that made the original music for Jet Set Radio.


This is an early alpha game, and in some ways it really shows. The GUI, while nice in concept, feels rather jerky and unfitting, but this is a minor issue. The character colour-changing is a chore with the 360 controller, and I think a number of preset colours to use as well as the RGB sliders would go well. But the biggest and main issue is the optimisation. I have a rig that can run basically any game I want at Ultra settings and get 60fps, but I get less than thirty with high settings on this game. It's not a game-breaking issue, becuase putting it down to medium settings gets me 40fps which - with the game style - works fine. Putting it down to low settings get me around 50+ fps, but I prefer texture quality to fps personally. The developers of this game are very dedicated, and have stated that this is an issue they are working hard on to fix.


Now, do you like skating games? Do you like freerunning games? Do you like AMAZING music? Do you like addictive gameplay? Do you like enjoyable maps and landscapes? If the answer is yes to these questions, get this game. Although you might want to wait until the game is further optimised before you buy it. (I personally don't find it too bad. It just takes some getting used to).

There's a few features on the game I haven't tried yet, so the review will be updated when I do.

10/10 like Far Cry 3 without guns

Great game if you can breach the vertical learning curve.

I want to love this game, I really do. It's an incredible concept, with pretty much everything I'd love in a game. But the concept does not always make a game good, and this is proof of it. It's got a plethora of bugs, is poorly optimised, and there's literally nothing to do. The professional starforge reviews claim it "has a lot of potential" and I agree wholeheartedly, but there hasn't even been one single update in many months. The idiots like me who bought the game in this state were lured in by an enticing trailer, and amazing screenshots. But the reality of the game is that it is baron, flat and dirty. Many of the features shown in the trailer do not even exist ingame. The game's tags describe it as "sandbox", "adventure" and "action", but I think a more fitting tag would be "Crushing Disappointment". The real kick in the gut though is the developers. They have the audacity to think they can make up for their despicable inactivity by posting bloody CONCEPT ART. I understand coding and modelling takes a great deal of time, especially for an ambitious game like this, but the amount of time gone without an update is unexcuseable. Many people are shouting for a refund, but I personally don't want one. I want the game I purchased.

Absolutely incredible game. Many, many hours of gameplay.