Game Review: UberStrike

Game: UberStrike
Genres: Free-to-play, FPS
Platforms: PC
Price: Free on Steam (Thankfully)

...So, where should I even begin with this game? I know that traditionally speaking I go with a summary, then my take on it, the ratings, etc. However, this game is unique and it deserves its own style of writing dedicated solely to the complexities of UberStrike. So let's start off with:

What's good about this game?


I have been told that the best way to deliver bad news is with good news first so it kind of "softens" the blow of the bad news. So, the good news is...this game is playable. That's right! You can technically "play" UberStrike which is an achievement in a way. There's also a leveling system. The graphics of the stages are not bad. In fact, I find that SOME stages really can be creative and engaging. I actually really enjoyed the Gideon's Tower map and the Monkey Island map. Also, there is an amazing amount of items to choose from in the store to customize your character's apperance and weapon choice. Lastly, the controls and movement are actually pretty good. I can tell the developers really spent time on the actual gameplay aspect of the game. Oh! Did I also forget to mention that the game is free?

....Now on to the bad news...

What's bad about this game?

 Let's start a little list of all the things that UberStrike doesn't properly execute in this game.

1. There is no tutorial at all. When you open up the game for the first time, it asks you "Have you played UberStrike before?" Now, I was actually really pleased to see this because I thought that this would transition nicely into the tutorial for the game, but nope. It simply was a question. That's it. There is no indication that your response to that question would change anything. To me, it just asks you and then basically goes, "Hey. Have you played this game before? No? Well, looks like you're S.O.L., man. We didn't have enough in the budget to ease you into this thing. I'm sure you'll figure it out. Well, enjoy." Luckily, if you've played counterstrike or other similar FPS games you can figure it out quickly.

2. This game (and I cannot stress this enough) is CONSTANTLY hacked by the other online players. Now, I'm the kind of guy who doesn't get bothered easily by online players who exploit games and generally have a few laughs at the people who through tantrums because of "hackers" in Call of Duty games on Xbox or PC. However, UberStrike is not this kind of game. There is undeniable proof that something is wrong with your game when a person can repeatedly kill you with a baseball bat from across the other side of the map. If you think I'm exaggerating, I'm not. I played a game where one man got 95 out of the 100 kills in team deathmatch. The worst part is that it's not like there is an occasional person who exploits the game, but rather a LARGE number of people who use exploits in UberStrike to autokill others.

3. Sometimes, the game just glitches out. Now to Uberstrike's defense a lot of that was resolved in the last patch, but it's insane that for a "finished" game characters can just fly around the room as if they were Goku or Vegeta from Dragonball Z. One thing I actually enjoyed about the glitches were the laughs that I got from the ridiculous things that happened. I saw other characters slowly rise from the floor and then skyrocket into the air. I've seen characters float in the air and then just spin. I've seen one character practically moon walk across the map and then just turn invisible only to be found later on somehow clipped into the map. It's hilarious, but also kind of sad.

4. This game is free to play and there is nothing wrong with that, but what is slightly wrong with this game is that  you "rent weapons" (You can also buy them permanently, but it is incredibly expensive) . Now, it makes sense if you want to have a store and then charge real world money to get additional items. I get that. That makes sense because for a free-to-play game you have to make money somewhere. What doesn't make sense is that the cost of each weapon is so high to buy permanently, that after you spend your initial money it would take you an extremely long time to ever earn enough to actually outright buy a weapon permanently. I'm not really going to harp on this one though because the game after all is free and they need to make their money some way. So, more power to them. In fact, I understand you. It sucks, but I totally get it 1000%.

5. The hitbox is insanely large. Sometimes, you don't even have to be even remotely close to the person to hit them. When using melee weapons, the game just basically goes, "If you're within practically a 6 feet radius of someone yeah you can probably hit them." This can be a little frustrating when you can have players just randomly swinging their bats around and somehow managing to kill you.

6. Physics in this game can be weird. Like really weird. So, apparently you can be underwater and still shoot your gun with 100% accuracy and the exact same fire rate as when you're on land. Also, assuming that the other person you're targeting is underwater you can hit them, but if that person is above the water then they can shoot you (the person in the water) but you can't shoot them from beneath the water. Great. 

7. The maps can be really beautiful, but sometimes the background image plastered on can be a tiny bit low resolution. While playing it I couldn't help but say, "If I had a nickel for every pixel in this background image, I would have about 25 cents."
UPDATE: The new patch did address some of those weird low resolution background images. They aren't perfect, but dramatically better. 

So, here's my rating and why

I give this game a 5.5/10. 

Although this game has a lot of issues, keep in mind that it is free to play. It's not like you're paying money to receive an incomplete product and pay additional money to enjoy more of the game *cough*....Destiny... *cough*. Also, if you're willing to look past the bugs and are lucky enough to find a match without hackers then this game can actually be pretty ridiculous and fun. Sure there are bugs, but that made me laugh quite a bit so I'm not too bent out of shape over it. 

(The scouter says his power level is over 9000!) Source: UberStrike Forums 
Additional Disclaimer: This photo is not from the Steam version, just wanted an example of the "flying" glitch.

Also, the developers are actually invested in trying to fix the issues with this game through a series of patches and for that I must say that this game may very well earn a better rating in the future. It speaks volumes when devs actually want to fix the issues in their games rather than just avoid them and for that I give them a round of applause.

Should you buy this game?
Well, you can't really buy this game. I mean...it's free. However, you could download it. I would say that you should wait for it to become a little bit more stable though or just don't download it at all. I hope not to offend anyone and as always my reviews should be taken not on face value, but only with respect to your own gaming experiences. So, if you thought differently then that's totally fine. However for me, I wouldn't download it because it takes up 706 MB of space for a game which isn't a lot, but I probably won't play the game again for a while.