SYNAPTIC DRIVE Reviews

Wanted to like this game but just can't. It's way too unpolished. Idk if I would forgive this even if it were early access. There's no impact to anything. You wonder half the time if you even hit your opponent. Unlocking everything is a tedious slog. Without any sort of story mode, you're forced to grind out arcade battles vs AI opponents. IMO some combinations put so much stuff on screen that it's basically impossible to dodge it which makes the game feel sort of mindless. Overall, I do think the game had some potential but given the unpolished visuals, the tedious unlocking process and the poor balancing I can't recommend it in its current state.

I'll start off by saying if you only plan on playing this game offline with friends then this game is definitely solid as I feel they really nailed what makes Custom Robo fun also while putting their own spin on it. Plenty of characters, guns, trackers, wires, and stages for tons of fun and variety in matches. However, that's about all the game currently has going for it at the time of this review (I hope that in the future it receives patches and I can come back to switch this to a positive review). The single players content is severely lacking, only has arcade mode which is just 5 random battles. I think they could have done a lot more with maybe adding a story mode to explain these characters and other parts of the story much better. Maybe some mini games or something I don't know, really anything else would be great as there just isn't anything to do besides for playing local with friends or go online; and at this price point it really should have more content. Now I could overlook the lack of single player content if they nailed the online portion of the game, since that's really all I cared about playing anyway, however, whatever netcode they are using in this game makes it unplayable. I was playing against someone that literally lives across the street from me and uses a great wired connection (PC to PC no crossplay), and they were teleporting constantly to the point I couldn't see what was going on; and in a game like this with so much to keep track of, that really isn't acceptable. Those are my main issues with the game, but I do have a few minor nitpicks as well. I think the presentation could really use some polish. The graphics are fine, but it lacks any sort of charm, the sounds have no impact, the win screen is extremely plain, and the characters while mostly having decent designs I feel like they should have some sort of voice acting to make them come to life a bit. Overall I think they really did a great job on the gameplay itself and this game shows a ton of promise, but it still has a lot of work to be done. I hope the developers keep working on improving the game so I can come back and enjoy it and support them more.

Was super excited for this game since it's from the creators of Custom Robo. Unfortunately I can't recommend the Steam version of this game right now. The only input methods as of right now is if you have an XBox controller, or M&KB. IF YOU ONLY have a PS4 or Switch controller avoid this game unless a patch was added. Sucks because in this day in age where Steam has made it easier to connect any controller and play games out of the box the devs decided not to have this option. And no it's not my controllers or wires because all my other games function fine with my controllers. I wish the devs the best but I can't just throw my money at them and have a product that was clearly an after thought for PC. Refunded the game for the time being but I feel by the time I check back the community will likely be dead.

I'm sorry, I've tried really hard to like this game but I cannot recommend it right now to anyone. It may have some pretty good controls and ideas but it lacks a LOT of polish. The online sadly isn't that good at the moment and the game's balancing is iffy (but then again, what Custom Robo game doesn't have iffy balancing). Maybe in due time, it will improve but where it stands right now, you're better off waiting.

For Fans Of: Custom Robo, Bullet Hells, 1v1 Competition, Being a Alligator, Action Shooter Combat, Going Fast, EXPLOSIONS, Futuristic World Environment, Strategy, Replayability, Being a Clown, Color Coordinating your Character, Cool Arena Designs Cons: No Story Mode (although with how the game is designed, a story mode probably be quite bland so maybe it's not a bad thing. Arcade mode is good for single player content.) Netcode is bad, be ready for either laggy explosion fests online or spending time leveling in Arcade until it gets improved. For Steam users Remote Play is your best bet. TL;DR is pretty colors go boom boom

I really, really wanted to like this game as a custom robo fan and was hoping this could be a spiritual rebirth for the franchise Nintendo abandoned years ago. However, this game just doesn't do it. The game lacks any sort of real single player mode (just a bunch of exhibition battles vs. AI), yet locks nearly everything behind level-up progressions that you must grind for. The movement control in this game feels super off, the characters move super fast, turn on a time and it feels like you have to be superhuman to do anything with any sort of precision because its everything feels like it has been put on fast forward. Completely separate from my overall displeasure from the gameplay, this is a terrible PC port: VERY limited resolution options (16:9 only), no real graphics settings to mess with, the game doesn't support a mouse cursor and you must navigate with the keyboard (and yet it defaults weapon controls to the mouse which otherwise does nothing). Playing with a controller is pretty much required if you don't have one, I can't imagine playing this on a keyboard + mouse. I think I'm going to go dig up Custom Robo on the gamecube and leave this alone and see if the developers listen to feedback.

[h1] A Largely Incomplete Game [/h1] TL;DR Just makes the Custom Robo cravings worse. It has potential, but in its current state it should barely qualify for early access. Lacks immersion, absent of story, terrible parts progression. The competitive sort may enjoy the online battles, but better have a really solid internet connection. Not worth the price. A huge disappointment. Would potentially benefit from a full refund to people who have bought the game, and then going free-to-play with more customisation options. This is probably the most excited I have ever been for a game launch, I even went so far as to put it on a physical calendar and in my phone notifications. Like many others here, I have been looking to scratch the Custom Robo itch for a decade now. This game doesn't even come close. While the combat feels similar, it has little to none of the charm of the original franchise. I get that this game is not Custom Robo, and I never expected it to be, but with over a decade to plan, I was hoping for more than this. The lack of a story mode causes me the most pain. Not only because a $30 game with no single player content is abnormal in the modern gaming climate, but I believe that games capable of telling rich stories with even minimal effort. It feels like the developers weren't even willing to put in that minimal effort. We are left with a text scrawl at the beginning, and that's it. There is zero universe, and zero immersion, but the problem goes deeper than that. This game lacks ceremony. When you unlocked parts in the Custom Robo story, you feel like you earned them. You either had to win or find them in the overworld, and there were sounds and images that played, and new parts were labeled. These are small things that really add up to a sense of progress, achievement, and immersion that are sorely lacking here. The parts just show up when you level, and I was left not knowing, or caring, which ones I had unlocked since most of the AI battles can be beaten with the default parts setup. I would have expected this type of game to have much more customisation, such as colours and paints for each player to reflect their individual styles of both gameplay and aesthetics. It does not. I can't believe I'm saying this, but this game strikes me as one that would be improved greatly by using a free-to-play model, with the core elements and parts free to unlock through progress, and real-money visual upgrades. It might be the only way to re-center this game which has so badly missed the mark. It is the kind of game that feels almost deliberately hostile towards players unfamiliar with it or its genre. I wager if I didn't have hundreds of hours in Custom Robo, this game would be way too fast and frantic for me to handle. Which means it lacks the "grab my friends who don't play this game and play this at a party together" thing that often makes battle franchise communities grow. That said, with my experience it lacks the challenge in single player, so you only play as much as you need to get to level 5, then you head for the greener pastures of online play. But the grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence. Online matchmaking seems uneven, as right away I was matched with someone more than twice my level, which I probably don't need to explain why that's generally considered bad form. My opponent wasn't my main obstacle, however. I have never had a problem with my internet before, even when playing dozens of FPS or MOBA titles, but apparently it can't handle this game. So I get to enjoy my character careening into walls, shooting at the wrong time, or altogether missing inputs. I felt at a severe disadvantage because my usually strong internet couldn't keep up, and in a game this fast paced, even one slip is enough to end the match. I imagine this game has e-sport potential, but it is a game too rough to be behind a paywall. Many failings would be forgivable in a free-to-play game, but there are free-to-play games that launch better than this. My advice to the developers is to carefully read what is happening on these forums. You screwed this up bad, and the ratings are already showing it. Listen to your community and maybe you can save this game from an untimely demise. You should refund the purchase price of everyone who has bought it as in-game currency, and make it a free-to-play game with robust online and customisation features. That, or release a story mode IMMEDIATELY. Edit: Spelling

Coming from Custom Robo Arena on the DS, this game feels like a sequel when it comes to gameplay. The customization, the characters' movements and attacks feel a lot like Custom Robo Arena.

TL;DR play Custom Robo instead if it's available to you. It does basically everything this game does but better, and this game exists basically for the sole reason of building upon what that series set up but fails to do so. Feels like a really lackluster bootleg Custom Robo some college students made in Unity for a class project. If you're interested in this game, you've probably played Custom Robo before- a game I've sank a lot of time into myself. Playing it right off the bat, so much of it just did not feel good, and not simply from a 'change is bad' mindset: I was truly and genuinely excited for this game. The two are very similar games, and Synaptic Drive falls short at every opportunity when you look at the two side-by-side. In comparison to its predecessor, I'll start with the things I liked about Synaptic Drive that show promise: + Wires are very interesting. The ability to detonate them on command and freely aim them independently of your character is neat on its own, but their interactions with the boundaries of the stage add a very cool layer of depth to their use. This is by far the thing that I like most about Synaptic Drive when looking at it comparatively. + Many of the new guns look very interesting. + Being able to charge your gun is a neat addition that gives you an additional option, and feels intelligently designed overall. As for the reasons I don't care for it... - Burst movement is tied to a somewhat slowly regenerating resource and is a lot less consistent among the cast. The flexible burst movement was my FAVORITE part of CR overall and for it to be so heavily limited here cripples such an integral part of what made its formula so fun to play around with. - Literally everything you do doesn't provide very much feedback. Nothing has much impact to it and it's kinda hard to tell what's going on with how much there is on-screen. None of your actions feel satisfying or give any sort of audio feedback, both in actually doing it and when you actually manage to, say, land a hit. When a character gets downed, it's genuinely hard to notice at times even if you're tracking the down meter- which will not be where your eyes NEED to be focusing for the sake of responding to critical in-game stimuli at all times- and your opportunity to act on the critical opening that gives you is very, very slim. - Visual design is lackluster and uninspired, at least in terms of the things you can actually see with any degree of clarity. It really feels like a Unity game made by very inexperienced devs in this regard- the characters look generic and entirely forgettable despite being so heavily toted in by the promotional material, the particle effects feel overused and slapped on, and the screen very quickly feels extremely cluttered. The fact that this is a 500 megabyte game should tell you a lot about what to expect from the visuals. - Being able to move mostly unhindered while shooting means less actual committal to your actions, which in turn means less thoughtful gameplay in a game based almost entirely around punishing commitments your opponent makes to play intelligently. It's kinda nice on paper, but in practice things really shape out as "just press all the buttons you can as often as you can" as far as I can gather right now. Custom Robo was all about options to get around that limitation and the creative solutions you could have to mitigate committal, which made for really interesting and nuanced gameplay. Synaptic Drive.. doesn't seem to have this, nor any place to add in that depth. - The 'Ultimate' system feels poorly thought out and slapped on simply to add something more "unique" to the game without helping it flow any better. Overall, while the game has some promise, it doesn't really feel like it stands on its own merit- it's simply a worse version of an existing series of games. I plan on following how its gameplay develops for a time, and I might be wrong about my impressions of it, but for now Synaptic Drive is nothing short of an immediate disappointment.

FIRST OFF This game is NOT Custom Robo, and that is fine, I feel like this game has the right amount of Custom Robo Inspiration while also being unique enough to be its on standalone series/title. with that being said I will have to make Custom Robo Mechanic Comparisons THE GOOD! + wires are a welcomed addition to the mechanics of this game type + The characters all seem unique, different specials, speeds, dash types all give each character their own "playstyle" + The stage layouts are good, familiar for those who played custom robo but even if you didn't they seem very easy to understand + The round start not being the cube launcher number thing is really good + Chip sets seems cool as long as none of the chips are OP (haven't unlocked everything yet) The So-So * The Music has peaks and lows, Some of the music is REALLY good, certified slappers. Other times tho the music is VERY repetitive and that's only after 2 hours of playing, pretty quick to get tired of a song * The character aesthetics seem kinda lackluster and lifeless, especially the humanoid characters, Robots looking lifeless that's fine and all but when you start putting humans/animals in I feel like they shouldn't look also like robots * Stage aesthetics are kinda boring too, not ugly but they aren't eye catching for fascinating either * No Story mode, doesn't REALLY matter in the grand scheme and Arcade still lets you mess around and stuff but would have been nice to know a little more about the Synaptic Drive universe through a story * UI feels bland as well The Bad - THE ONLINE IS A SIN. This might actually be the worst online I've ever played and this is coming from a person who regularly plays Smash online, Idk what netcode they are using but it is the WRONG one by a long shot, If this game has any chance of keeping popularity they are going to have to fix this ASAP - Trackers seem a little TOO good in this gaem - One thing I liked a lot about Custom Robo was when you knocked someone down their bullets went away, That doesn't seem to happen in this game and I think it needs to. With Trackers being so powerful and lasting so long in this game I feel like the reward you get from a knockdown is almost always stifled by a lingering tracker still chasing you around the stage. - currently it feels like I'm just trying to put as many long lasting hitboxes out as possible and hope my oppenent runs into it, that feels more like luck than skill and in this game type I feel like you would like to promote skill way more than luck I would like to recommend this game assuming issues get fixed that have been outlined in this and other reviews. If this game is a "what you see is what you get" deal tho I can not recommend it right now [b] If you wanna see some gameplay head on over to [url=https://www.twitch.tv/TKbreezy] Twitch.tv/TKbreezy [/url] [/b]