Atomic Heart - Review

[HiddenX]

Gameluster checked out Atomic Heart:

Review: Atomic Heart - Crispy Critters, Comrade!

Let it be known that if I have to hear the words 'crispy' and 'critters' in the same sentence again I may just begin my own communist revolution wherein I outlaw these words all together.

Of course I'm being facetious (possibly), but this grating phrase is uttered by the protagonist of Atomic Heart, Major Sergey Nechayev, far more often than one would hope. It's a saying that's repeated so often, and sounds so comically - for the lack of a better word - American, something right out of the mouth of a stereotypical hillbilly, that it almost feels like Russian game developer Mundfish were trying to make it a phrase that would be iconized by American audiences. 'Trying' being the operative word here. It's confusing at best, given how Mundfish have been accused by the Ukrainian government for 'romanticising communist ideology and the Soviet Union,' though at the same time chose to tell a story (badly) whose crux actively juxtaposes with its pro-communist visuals. Apologies, I'm getting ahead of myself.

[...]

Atomic Heart's narrative lacks the gall to tackle any of its ideas thoroughly, and is made worse by having to endure it through the eyes of a tremendously unlikeable protagonist. Its moment-to-moment gameplay is passable at best, and a chore the rest. Though visually the game is beautiful, it's not enough to distract from an otherwise hollow experience.

4/10: CLOUDY - SHAZ DOESN'T RECOMMEND

More information.

 

[JDR13]

Link just goes to the Steam page. I'd like to see the rest to see how this guy decided Atomic Heart is a 4/10

 

[Metro]

Seems like fair score, game is overhyped garbo that add nothing interesting nor do any criticism or asking any question, unlike Bioshock, so when people compare this shit to Bioshock i always cringe

 

[Redglyph]

Link just goes to the Steam page. I'd like to see the rest to see how this guy decided Atomic Heart is a 4/10

There are two links, it's the first you want.

 

[JDR13]

Seems like fair score, game is overhyped garbo that add nothing interesting nor do any criticism or asking any question, unlike Bioshock, so when people compare this shit to Bioshock i always cringe

That sounds like what someone who hasn't actually played it would say.

 

[LaHolt]

The production of Atomic Heart is 1,000,000x what it takes to set up some no name website called "gameluster" to crap out a 4/10. This is why people stopped paying attention to reviews, apart from review-buying. If the game starts up, it runs well, tries to tell a coherent story, it's more than 4/10. This reeks of attention-seeking.

At the end of the day, end user's aggregate is all that matters. You can make the case that one game's overwhelmingly positive isn't comparable to other's, I agree. But if a game in a genre you enjoy has a 92% positive aggregate rating over a few thousand reviews, browse the negatives. If you're fine with those, there's a high chance you'll have an decent time with it.

 

[JFarrell71]

Seems like fair score, game is overhyped garbo that add nothing interesting nor do any criticism or asking any question, unlike Bioshock, so when people compare this shit to Bioshock i always cringe

Bioshock was a clear inspiration, so it's natural that people will make the comparison. How good it is compared to Bioshock is an entirely different question.

 

[Metro]

That sounds like what someone who hasn't actually played it would say.

Oh I see you played this game already, okay can you please tell me how deep and good writing here is and if game even dare to ask any questions? Or the only thing this game does is being tankies wet dream and saying hurr durr USSR was good with a little bit cringe humor here and there

 

[Drithius]

There are times I really wish the forums had a downvote option.

 

[Avantre]

Oh I see you played this game already, okay can you please tell me how deep and good writing here is and if game even dare to ask any questions? Or the only thing this game does is being tankies wet dream and saying hurr durr USSR was good with a little bit cringe humor here and there

Your level of hate for a game you've never played makes me question your mental health. Whether it's everything you say, or the exact opposite, either way it's still just a game. It shouldn't be making you froth at the mouth like this. Go touch some grass for your own sake.

 

[JDR13]

Maybe he's Ukrainian.

Ukraine Makes Official Request To Ban Atomic Heart Sales Worldwide

The Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine has written to Sony, Microsoft, and Valve, urging the corporations to pull Atomic Heart from their storefronts.

www.dualshockers.com

 

[Metro]

>touch some grass
lmao, hard to take seriously someone who doing twitter "insults"

Maybe he's Ukrainian.

Maybe you are russian

 

[JDR13]

Maybe you are russian

Я действительно гордый товарищ!

 

[bjon045]

If the game starts up, it runs well, tries to tell a coherent story, it's more than 4/10. This reeks of attention-seeking.

Holy Moley! No wonder there are so many games that get 8 or 9 out of 10 these days that are complete garbage if you basically only have to ship a working game to get a 4/10!!!

I guess I come from a different time when 5/10 meant an average game and I often played games that I would rate a 1 or 2 out of 10. Back in the day I would of rated Lionheart a 4/10. It starts welll but then falls to pieces after the first act. Dungeon Lords I would have given a 2/10 and after patching maybe a 3 or a 4.

Standards have slipped over the years for sure! I used to love reading the old Scorpia reviews in CGW where she savaged bad games like Ultima 8 - hell I would probably give that a 4/10 too!!!

 

[Couchpotato]

Yep to me a 5/10 means it's an average game, and yeah standards have slipped on most review sites. Though I get the point the score is low because it's a Russian developer.

As for the game it's definitely average and basically a Russian Bioshock.

 

[JFarrell71]

Look, I understand feeling some kind of way about this game if you're Ukrainian. I don't think it makes a great deal of sense to hate a videogame and a developer the way you'd hate the Russian governement and military, and what they've done to your country, but I do understand emotions running high about this sort of thing in general. And I'm 99% sure that you are Ukranian, given your comments here and the fact that you call yourself "Metro", which is a Ukrainian-Maltese videogame series.

Just understand that most of us are judging the game for the game, and nothing else. If we like the game (or just don't despise it out of hand, like you do), it's not because we think Russia is super great or the war is justified or any of that. Or maybe somebody here does, but my point is that opinions about the GAME have nothing to do with that.

 

[Avantre]

>touch some grass
lmao, hard to take seriously someone who doing twitter "insults"

I imagine it's almost as hard to take seriously as someone who never played the game acting like they're an expert on it (even if it actually is pretty average).

If you'd at least just said "Screw the Russians, I'm not playing this game" it'd have been honest and understandable.

 

[fabrulana]

Just finished playing it this weekend, thought it was a great game with some irritating elements here and there. Enjoyed playing inside the buildings (puzzle elements) which I preferred rather than the outside, as beautiful as it was. Alarms are really annoying, as was the little buzzsaws. Probably could have played smarter, but I mostly enjoyed it mostly as a shooter. I'd say also I enjoyed it more than the Bioshock games. Story was quite good for me although sometimes a bit too strung out, it did fall in line with communism agendas but not pushing it as the best solution. I never overanalysed anything though, just playing for fun and I'd say for that purpose it was great.

 

[JDR13]

Just finished playing it this weekend, thought it was a great game with some irritating elements here and there. Enjoyed playing inside the buildings (puzzle elements) which I preferred rather than the outside, as beautiful as it was. Alarms are really annoying, as was the little buzzsaws. Probably could have played smarter, but I mostly enjoyed it mostly as a shooter. I'd say also I enjoyed it more than the Bioshock games. Story was quite good for me although sometimes a bit too strung out, it did fall in line with communism agendas but not pushing it as the best solution. I never overanalysed anything though, just playing for fun and I'd say for that purpose it was great.

How did you feel about the combat? Did you think the enemies were too spongey?

When I tried the developer build, it felt like enemies had too much HP on medium difficulty. That may have been tweaked in the release version though.

 

[henriquejr]

Я действительно гордый товарищ!

- Dolvich, Ivan.

Seriously, I liked when he talked in Russian and the original sentence, Cyrillic and all, appeared on the screen