Reviews

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  Khalthehunted332

  Dec 7, 2021

  The premise and purpose is nice but unfortunately fails in its execution. Sorry but I don't recommend it unless its for sale dirt cheap. Oh well!
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  Monster Armstrong

  Aug 30, 2016

  The time I played was low when I wrote this review: I love this game already! It is a ship managing game where you go aroung communicating with ships, stations, and planets, to get help getting to XAX in one peice. When you use your warpdrive, there is a chance that one of your ship's systems may break. Your starting planet tells you to look at how far you are from XAX because they cant tell you the location. One the number starts to decrease, look for really close places to warp to or keep going in that direction. You'll be there in no time. This game is sorta easy and sorta hard at the same time. The easy part of it is how you can get parts from almost anyone. That's assuming that planet/station/ship is friendly, and they can give you spare parts and very useful tips! The hard part is time management. You move pretty slow, you have little time to do things and dragging parts to their systems is sometimes difficult. But still, the game is easy. I managed to beat the game in one sitting!
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  DeadPolymers

  Aug 30, 2016

  This is a very simple FTL-ish kind of game. You're on the bridge of a ship, and you have to guide your ship from Earth to another planet. Along the way your ship will experience various breakdowns, which you will need to repair. You'll restock your spare parts at supply caches and space stations you find on the map along the way. And all the while, you'll be hiding and running from pirates.
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  Umbasa

  Aug 31, 2016

  Very fun game. It feels like almost like a 3-D board game, and in fact would probably translate well to a physical board game. It feels "smaller" than Phr00t's other games (in a good way) and is a nice change of pace from the procedurally-generated FPS RPG's for which he is known. Wish I could play in VR on the Oculus Rift; maybe he'll find a way to implement it in the future.
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  arleas

  Sep 12, 2016

  Maybe I'm missing the point in Frantic Freighter. I mean, I like the game and all but the typical game seems to go like this: Almost every time I warp, something breaks. If I have a part on hand I use that to fix the broken part and continue, otherwise, game over (most likely). I have to warp at least once or twice to even figure out the proper direction to head in. Most games are incredibly short unless the RNG gods are looking out for me. This is the kind of game I'd find annoying in 2D or 3D (nonVR)...I like the idea of having to find someone with only their distance to tell me if I'm heading in the right direction, but the way parts break down in this game, each "game" only lasts like 2 minutes because I get destroyed or run out of parts. I have yet to win the game at this point, but mostly due to "what's that? You took more than 5 seconds to warp? PEW PEW DIE!" If I'm really lucky I find some parts caches or run into someone who doesn't immediately want to destroy me and then I can get some parts to continue, but that's pretty damn rare. I used to play games just like this back in the 80's on my old Atari computer/game console. Star Raiders was more focused on skill and less on Luck though. This game could be great with a little polish of the game mechanics though. One of the big problems is the fact that they start you off with a handful of spare parts (that you'll chew through quickly) and everything is laid out poorly so you're spending a lot of time running back and forth or turning around. It's really REALLY easy to lose your bearings in the real world so that when you take the headset off you're like "WTF? How did I get here?" Some things I liked about the game: [list] [*] It reminds me a bit of the old Atari 800/5200 game "Star Raiders" [*] You get to pilot your own ship in VR space [*] repairing your own ship is neat [*] trying to maintain your ship in combat situations reminds me of FTL [/list] Now the things that ruin the game for me: [list] [*] Your map which you use for navigation is behind you, so you're forced to [olist] [*] Learn to read backwards so you can see the map and the front of your ship simultaneously [*] turn your back on the front of your ship to decide where to go [*] spin like mad as you try to turn from map to the front of the ship over and over until you're disoriented [/olist] [*] It's really easy to get disoriented and then you wonder "how did I get facing this wall? Where did the rest of my room go?" [*] The RNG seems focused on making this game tedious rather than exciting and new. It's more of a "WOW" factor when I manage to warp without breaking anything. [*] I have no weapons with which to defend myself [*] It's still not even clear to me what the hell I'm doing. I know I'm trying to find a ship with nothing but a "distance to target" to tell me if I'm heading the right way. I don't have a clue what happens when I get there. [*] Unlike FTL, trying to maintain your ship is more frustrating than fun or challenging and instead of an enemy slowly catching up to you, you basically roll the dice every warp to see if an enemy shows up to kill you. [/list] I don't want to give this a thumbs down (though judging by the fact I can say more negative about it than positive it SHOULD be a thumbs down). If the developer chooses to update and polish this game up, it could be a classic... or if they leave it as is, well, get it in a bundle so you won't feel too bad about spending money on RNG the game. Thumbs up...barely. If anything I posted sounds like it's not fun, maybe you should pass on the game.
• 

  rufous jayes

  Nov 3, 2016

  After a few tries: this is a real rogue like game. At 50% of all attempts, you will die very early. But its addictive and the mechanics work really good. It gives a good feeling of urgency and stress. Positive: + works well for VR + real rogue like + addictive + especially VR makes a feel of stress because you have to do multiple things at the same time + cheap Negative: - you will lose very often without having done anything wrong - i will replay multiple times but the variation is to few to have a really long replayability
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  bnm

  Nov 20, 2016

  I think it has great potential but I'd like to see you having more info about your state and more warning about dying
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  Sad Now

  Nov 21, 2016

  It's a cool style of game! I left my grip with it and the dev addressed the issues so double thumbs of for the dev!
• 

  Iconian

  Mar 28, 2017

  Unique, simple, entertaining, and challenging, with good music--but somewhat unrefined--Frantic Freighter reminds me of FTL, and other games where you have to act quickly and manage your resources. Unlike FTL, you cannot pause FRFR--you simply have to be fast. PLEASE NOTE: Some of these issues have been fixed in the most recent version of the game. I've now won FRFR perhaps 20 or 30 times, on computer with WASD and mouse rather than VR. As I've played, I've found that much of the game works pretty well, but at the same time there are a number of glaring issues. And with a game this simple, with so few features, there's really nowhere to hide: what would be a very minor quibble in a larger game becomes quite a mountain of annoyance in FRFR--particulary when it's a result of artificial restraints imposed on the player by the developer, of which there are several. In FRFR gameplay is very simple, but pretty immersive, with everything taking place from a first-person viewpoint--like Gordon Freeman as pilot of a small space freighter. Your task: deliver a "core" to the planet Xax. Unfortunately, starcharts in the area are down, but you do know your DISTANCE to Xax, and this allows you to triangulate the approximate direction for your FTL jumps. This guesswork makes it entertaining, as on most jumps you'll need to be paying close attention to your distance from Xax before and after the jump, to give you a better idea of where to set your next jump coordinates. That's not the only challenge: you have to make quick decisions--bring up your shields if you're facing an enemy, quickly request parts or info, or attempt to trade. And, possibly the most entertaining part of the whole thing: replace the burnt-out fuses that power your ship's systems. On every jump there's about a 50/50 chance of a burnt out fuse, and six possible systems that can burn out. Initially you'll have one replacement part for each of those six systems; but soon, you will likely have none. If a vital system--warp drive, map radar, or life support--burns out when you don't have a replacement part, it's game over. With all this said, the gameplay can definitely be very fun, and it's absolutely "frantic" at times. I soon learned to organize my replacement parts in front of each respective system, and more recently I started putting the replacement parts closer to me, roughly in line with the map. But the are some issues with this game, and many of them are artificial restraints that a person would not actually have to face if they were doing all this on a freighter. ARTIFICIAL RESTRAINTS 1. The act of simply picking up the replacement parts is annoying. A hand cursor appears in the center of the screen to show when you can pick up a fuse. This is very bad idea--the cursor ought to be visible all the time, so you don't have to go fumbling to pick up those fuses or to press buttons. THIS HAS BEEN FIXED in the beta. You now have a small hand cursor available at all times, which helps a lot picking up items and making selections 2. Another issue picking up fuses: it's annoying having to click and hold. Take a page from Half Life 2: click picks up a fuse, and you don't have to continue holding the button; click again throws the fuse 3 or 4 feet, making it easier to quickly get fuses close to their systems, particularly when you're given 3 or 4 fuses at once. 3. The player's movement speed is a bit slow. Again, take a page from Half Life: let the player run by holding down shift. This is simply an artficial limitation on the game--a human being piloting a freighter would definitely be able to run--or walk--as desired. I think all of these issues would make the game more immersive and enjoyable to play, and I think they'd all be very easy fixes to make. Like I said, in other games they'd be minor, but in this game so much is dependent on the player's movement and kinesthetics that they become rather glaring when you're forced to deal with them over and over. I'd probably give the game a thumbs up just if these artificial problems were fixed. But there are a few other quick and easy changes that could be made to improve the game in other ways. 4. High scores/stats. How many times have I played? How many times have I died, and how, and how many times have I won? 5. Give the player the option to select the other game modes. 6. Give the player a PDA, or a wrist-mounted control system. The PDA would simply have 3 buttons on it, for warp, cloak, and shields (or possibly 5 buttons, giving them radio control as well). Then the player could press 1, 2, or 3 on the keyboard and instantly activate that system from anywhere on the ship. 7. The radar map works by clicking where you want to go next, but it's a little fiddly to use. Let the player click and drag to move the cursor instead, to give a little more precise control. 8. What's the cloaking device for? Enemies can shoot you when it's on. I've read dozens of tips from ships, planets, and stations, but it doesn't seem to do anything except make friendlies turn hostile toward you. And now a few slightly more robust ideas. 9. I found that almost the whole game I stood in front of the map, my back to the main window. Not seeing the ships, stations, planets, and asteroids most of the time doesn't make sense. THIS WAS UPDATED in the beta--you can now easily read the map from behind. 10. Perhaps make asteroids and ships more useful somehow. After getting the hang of the game, I found myself mostly moving as fast as I could toward Xax, ignoring asteroids and ships and only stopping at planets, stations and caches. Perhaps some ships would be willing to trade 2 items for 1 of yours. 11. Rethink the fuses system. Give the player a console detailing the power use for ship systems showing how much power is going through a system and how long it's been on. The higher these values are, the greater chance of that system breaking. Allow any system to break at any time while power is running through it, but be something like 20x more likely to break during a jump. Cloaking, shields, and warp drive would probably use a lot of power while on, but they're only used briefly most of the time, and would only break while they're in use. 12. Give the freighter armor, so it can take 5 shots from enemy ships before dying, even while shields are off. Make repairs possible at planets and stations. And now a couple pie in the sky kind of ideas: 13. Significantly broaden the scope of the game. Add a bunch of new and interesting content to the game and sell it as Frantic Freighter 2 or something. With the other changes above, I can see FRFR as a very good foundation for a larger game. Give the player a bunch of options for buying, selling and trading, a real story and some actual characters, weapons and upgradable systems, more stuff to repair, and even give the player the option to hire some crew members, including an engineer and an engineering station, where HE'S the one that continually fixes the broken fuses. In effect, the current gameplay of FRFR would simply become one element of a larger game. 14. Graphical overhaul. The game just doesn't look that realistic. Better looking planets, ships, etc, would increase immersiveness. Conclusion: FRFR is very entertaining, if a bit small and unrefined. If you're looking for a unique and exciting experience that's not your typical shoot fest, check out FRFR--especially if you're a VR player.
• 

  SuperPinger

  Mar 31, 2017

  Well... other Phr00t's games are much better than this one...
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  RvB Churchaboose #Timecop1983

  May 10, 2017

  Well this game made me go from happy to angry, skip sad. But in the end it was worth it. Trek a derelict ship a few hundred light years in search of a place where you don't know where it is, only how close you are. I started out stacking my parts neatly. They burn out every jump or two, and you need to replace them. With a few supply points or hostiles along the way. After failure after failure I was quickly frustrated. Stocked up on parts, shot by a pirate. 9 km away, life support failed. I was so angry in an hour after 50 failed missions I thought it wasn't possible. I was slinging the parts at the compartments, f stacking. Then on my "last try", which was about 5 last trys, I finally made it. In short this game is worth $3, unless you punch and break your $600 monitor.. 6/10.
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  Ranged_Archer of annihilation

  May 13, 2017

  game works now and it's pretty fun! Developer was quick to fix the issues.
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  Nightwalker

  Jun 26, 2018

  Simple and fun game concept, very playable without VR.... though if you do play with VR, do it in a large room. Well worth the $1.01 I paid for it. It would be nice if there were gameplay difficulty tweaks, however (stating distance, parts, frequency of hostile stations, etc)
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  Bob Loblaw

  Sep 23, 2018

  Fun game with solid gaming mechanics. Locomotion is teleport-only... the smooth locomotion in the trailer is from the flat version. There's no difficulty setting (or an in-menu), but once you beat it it'll restart with tougher options (i.e. no easy parts caches, no cloak, etc), with achievements to track what conditions you beat.
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  Inofearu

  Jan 6, 2019

  This is how this game goes: Warp wrong direction Warp right direction (maybe) Get attacked Warp Shields break Fix shields Warp Map broke and attacked Map fixed This continues until either you get blown up or run out of spare parts.