iubes:2 Reviews

found a bug on my 4th replay the bug is that i destroyed a farm in it but in the replay it did not get destroyed so for the devs i wish you update the iubes replay

Now this is more like it, a real-time strategy game. Not just base-building for osu's players. It's understandable to includes HOTKEYS so you let players play faster instead of slow down AI. That said, the multiplayer part is as good as it is. If it becomes real-time then, the no-micro part the game seems to pride of will go down the same hellhole as any other rts games. Your idea is original and you should keep it that way. (Removing hotkeys is still a considerable option!) Since the game has been released for quite long time, but I don't even seems to heard of. I guess bad marketing? Anyway, this game deserves some recognition. +Superb Performance on low-end PC. +3D but simplistic designs aren't so bad. +Simple UI. +Good soundtracks. -Can get a little dizzy from navigating the map... -Hard to identify unit types on the field. (I do see anchoring borders, but how do I know what represents what?)

Great game that unfortunately no longer has any servers, rendering it completely unplayable.

doesnt work.. wont connect to servers.. devs last update a year ago.. game seems dead now.

A nice little indie game with some good concepts that are worth exploring for the different gameplay mechanics, which after 20 years of gaming its nice to see something different, but ultimately its too limited in scope to take me much past the 11 hours I've played. (Written while still in early access so this may change hopefully) The game describes itselft pretty well so I wont duplicate it beyond - you dont control your troops/creeps, you just control the order you build buildings in, and the placement of these buildings. This influences what your troops/creeps can and can't do. You watch them go, and build stuff to react to the flow of battle. Pros: +Nice unusual mechanic +Tubular map is unusual +Nice visual style, easy to tell what is going on (mostly - the creeps look too similar) +Economy is easy to understand and effective +The world map - you are fighting v other peoples play styles, which means you can play whenever, no waiting for player matching, which helps for an indie game which will inevitably not have loads of players online at once. +No bugs encountered, runs well +Gameplay speeds up as the game progresses (and there are fewer decisions left to make) Cons: -Hard to navigate the map, but you dont really need to see much more than your own base - its about build order rather than the geography -Tubular aspect of the map is largely irrelevant -The different types of cubes/creeps look far too similar to one another -Tactics are limited - first few minutes are spent on resource generation, same buildings every time. Next stage has a few options: turrets to turtle, warriors to kill, pyros to destroy buildings, or tech up to upgraded warriors. -With few tactics available, it gets very grindy -The global map is a missed opportunity. At the start you join a global team, 1 of four colours, but its irrelevant what team you are on - you can't see how they are doing, and you aren't working together. Its sheer size also makes it grindy. -People will fight against your playstyle offline, but you dont see how your pattern performs in your absence.

As in so many RTS the map in iubes:2 is one of the dictating win or loss scenarios & as in so many RTS there are no options for the player to define the map. The map is being generated randomly & combined with the not mirrored placement of opponents it makes the winner & the loser right from the start. Add then to the clunky camera navigation the absence of an overview in the sometimes extremely confining tube like maps on top of the absence of any overview of buildings built & destroyed & you have a recipe for quit rage sessions. There are two modi, PvAi & PvP, which means player versus a recorded win of a previous player of that particular map. Currently in game there is a poll to vote to extent the MP to an actual realtime PvP. I think, i like the stark limitations of the buildings & therefore combat. The MP is riddled as always with the usual sessions against players with just one goal, to end the game as soon as possible, which dictates then the record speed to build. At least if a player wishes for a more relaxed gameplay there is still the option to play against Ai on easy settings, those could be improved though. Do i recommend the game ? It's an ok game. A big plus for me is it's indeed playable with a wacom pen ! So far i didn't encounter any bugs or glitches aside of the clunky camera movements in claustrophobic coffin like tube maps. The game has some positive aspects, one of them is the reduced look & combat options, yes, reduced combat options, which would make for quick short sessions if the game would be improved in the before mentioned areas : 1. for the random map generation, options for the player to define - extent/size of the map - amount of ressources (trees, gold) - height of land (flat or hilly) - land/water ratio - scattered/mass of land amount 2. option to save the prefered map definitions, 3 slots maybe 3. mirrored / not mirrored map option, but i think to make the MP fair, it should be played exclusively in mirrored maps 4. map overview (top-down small map) incl both opponents 5. at least a list of what was already built 6. because of the nausea inducing movement, an option to have a standing still map view in the main menu Would those changes & additions be enough to make the game more enjoyable for me ? I don't know, there are other problems i didn't mention because those are greatly overshadowed by the mentioned, but those changes would make a positive difference, at least for me. Currently mildly recommendable at a lower price.

Honestly, a pretty ambitious game. Developer obviously tried some things that are really big, but they just don't work as well as a player would like. Does fall flat in a couple of areas - async multiplayer is very shallow. Without any adaptation from the enemy, it feels like you're playing against a simple AI that falters the first time their build plan is interrupted. With no fog of war and no control of you're iubes, there's no need to really stray from managing your base. the view in game rarely leaves my base. And since the progression of units and tech is pretty limited, there's not much in the way of countering opponents strategy - its all about pumping out maximum food to make maximum units. Cool map concepts keep games fresh. The units AI is pretty good. Visuals are fun even if combat is underwhelming. The multiplayer king of the hill concept is really awesome, and can only be done with async multiplayer which is somewhat hollow in an RTS by its very nature. Overall would recommend at a lower price point to at least experience some awesome ideas, even if implementation isn't as compelling as it could be. It feels like developers bit off more than they can chew. Love the ideas & would love to see more. I was not provided a key or compensated for this review.

Very basic game play. Upon loading, game attempts to 'connect to server' and fails every time which loads up a menu option that you then have to exit out of. Once that is done, you have about 20 seconds to start a game, play with settings, anything, before it will attempt to connect again, and repeat. When clicking on the developer home page (to figure out what was going on) you get a 404 not found. All minor irritating stuff that I would ignore for a good game. I found movement clunky, game was far too easy with a very short linear progression. Played the tutorial and won against the computer in around 20 minutes, while dealing with the above problem. Would not recommend.

The tubular design is an innovative and interesting if risky design choice. In order to get away with disorientating gamers with a quirky interface it really ought to have been first order of business to offset this with superlative controls. No cigar. Controls ought to have been remappable and user friendly from the outset. Who in their right mind hard maps the movement control to the arrow keys so that right handed players have to discard the mouse to use them? Mouse camera control is a miserable experience. The UI is an absolute nightmare. With so few buildings what the hell is the point of a rotating menu? Just open up a menu and click or better still just a row of small icons at the bottom of the screen. The ever present build queue menu is vast and takes up way too much screen real estate expecially when trying to move with your mouse can so easily open the wholly unnecessary and clunky rotating build choices. Why no indicator as to where buildings have been plopped so they can be laid out accurately? As it currently stands it is a clunky uninntuitive nausea inducing mess. There's undoubtedly a good game buried under this abysmal UI, and I'm sure its possible to acclimatise, but life's too short and I simply can't be bothered to overcome such unneccessary irritations in a game whose quirky design should have made ironing out these issues a top priority

Overall a fun game. It comes with a few twists that make it unique and interesting. The concept is executed fairly well and I haven't ran into any bugs so far. ------------------ Pros: +Don't have to micromanage units +Runs on older hardware +Lots of options on how to approach a round. +Cubes basically manage themselves +Interesting map concept. +Unique multiplayer concept. +Fun to watch your cubes do things on their own. Cons: -Lack of co-op mode. (can't really play this with a friend..) -The AI can be frustrating. -Gameplay can get repetitive very quickly. -You can't really tell your cubes to do anything other than build things. -Camera control is a bit difficult to control. -Music gets repetitive quickly (same soundtrack for every battle) Noteworthy things: =There is a cap on how much you can build of each building type. =the original iubes can be downloaded for free on itch.io (a great way to try before you buy) _______________ It is very similar to the original iubes and I'm honestly not sure if the improvements are worth the full price. My suggestion to anyone taking a look at this game is to look at the original Iubes and ask yourself how much your willing to pay for an improved version of that before spending your hard earned cash. In any case, I'd definitely recommend picking this title up if it ever goes on sale for a decent margin.