- The 2TonWaffle

American Fugitive
American Fugitive
JoshB, 15 hours ago15 hr

American Fugitive Review: A Wild Ride Through Small-Town Crime and Corruption
Rating: 4/5 Stars
Well folks, another week means another dive into my Steam library's forgotten gems for "The First Two Hours." This time around, I tackled American Fugitive, and let me tell you right off the bat this game threw me for a loop in the best possible way. What started as a simple prison break quickly escalated into absolute mayhem involving corrupt cops, car crushers, and enough small-town drama to fuel a Netflix series.
First Impressions: Setting the Stage
American Fugitive wastes no time getting you into the action. The opening sequence immediately establishes the tone: you're Will Riley, a guy who gets framed for his father's murder and thrown into prison faster than you can say "corrupt small-town justice." The game's presentation reminded me instantly of the classic GTA games, specifically the original top-down entries that made the series famous before it went full 3D.
The art style is clean and immediately readable. Everything from buildings to vehicles to random objects scattered around the world is instantly recognizable. There's no confusion about what you're looking at, which is crucial for a top-down perspective game. The developers at Fallen Tree Games clearly understood that visual clarity would make or break the player experience.
Graphics and Presentation: A Nostalgic Trip
The visual presentation hits that sweet spot between retro charm and modern polish. The game uses an isometric perspective that gives you a great view of the action while maintaining that classic arcade feel. Character animations are smooth, vehicle physics feel weighty, and the environmental details really sell the small American town setting.
What impressed me most was how the lighting system works. Day and night cycles feel natural, and the way shadows fall creates genuine atmosphere. When you're sneaking around someone's backyard at night with a crowbar, the game actually makes you feel like you're up to no good. That's attention to detail that elevates the entire experience.
Audio Design: Hits and Misses
The soundtrack deserves special mention because it perfectly captures that small-town American vibe. Most of the time, anyway. The background music ranges from excellent Western-influenced rock to atmospheric pieces that complement the action perfectly. However, there were a couple moments where the music choices felt completely at odds with what was happening on screen. Nothing quite like trying to have a serious conversation about murder while banjo music plays in the background.
Sound effects are solid across the board. Vehicle engines sound appropriately different between car types, gunshots have impact, and even small details like breaking glass or footsteps on different surfaces feel authentic. The voice acting, while not groundbreaking, serves the story well and helps establish character personalities effectively.
Gameplay Mechanics: The Good and the Frustrating
Here's where American Fugitive really shows its influences. The core gameplay loop revolves around missions that typically involve stealing vehicles, breaking into buildings, or dealing with the various criminal elements in town. The mission structure feels very much like classic GTA, but with some modern quality-of-life improvements.
The inventory system works well, though I quickly ran into space limitations that forced some strategic thinking about what to carry. Upgrade paths let you expand bag space, improve health, and enhance various criminal skills. The progression feels meaningful without being overwhelming.
Vehicle handling is where things get interesting. Different cars genuinely feel different to drive. The pickup truck I started with handled like, well, a pickup truck. Heavy, not great around corners, but reliable. When I managed to steal a sports car later, the difference was immediately apparent. The developers clearly put effort into making each vehicle type feel distinct.
However, and this is a big however, the AI in this game is absolutely bonkers. NPCs drive like maniacs, completely ignoring traffic laws and basic road safety. They'll barrel through intersections, run over pedestrians, and somehow you'll get blamed for their crimes if you happen to be nearby. It's simultaneously hilarious and frustrating.
The Wanted System: Chaos Incarnate
Speaking of getting blamed for everything, let's talk about the wanted system. This is where American Fugitive goes completely off the rails, and I'm not entirely sure if it's intentional design or a happy accident. The police response in this game is absolutely relentless. You can go from zero to five stars faster than you can blink, and once they're after you, they don't give up easily.
What makes it even more absurd is how easily you can acquire heat. I witnessed an NPC run over another NPC right in front of me, and somehow I got the blame and a wanted level. It's like being the one kid in class who gets in trouble when everyone else is talking. The system is simultaneously the game's biggest frustration and its most entertaining feature.
Story and Characters: Small-Town Noir
The narrative framework works well enough to drive the gameplay forward. You're trying to clear your name while dealing with various small-town criminals and corrupt officials. The writing won't win any awards, but it establishes character motivations and creates enough investment to keep you playing.
Dwayne, your brother-in-law and initial contact, provides a good entry point into the criminal underworld. Cherry, the mysterious woman who offers information in exchange for favors, adds some intrigue to the proceedings. The McCoy family serves as effective antagonists, representing the corrupt power structure you're fighting against.
What I appreciated most was how the game doesn't take itself too seriously. There's a tongue-in-cheek quality to much of the dialogue and situations that acknowledges the inherent absurdity of the premise.
Technical Performance and Controls
Here's where I need to address the elephant in the room: this game really wants to be played with a controller. While mouse and keyboard controls work, they feel awkward for this type of game. The driving especially feels much more natural with analog stick control rather than digital keyboard inputs.
Performance-wise, the game ran smoothly throughout my session. I didn't encounter any significant bugs or technical issues, though the AI behavior is so erratic it's sometimes hard to tell what's intentional and what might be unintended.
The user interface is clean and functional, though I would have appreciated more customization options. The minimap provides essential information without cluttering the screen, and objective markers are clear and easy to follow.
Mission Design and Variety
The missions I experienced during my time with the game showed good variety. From the initial prison break to car theft operations to elaborate burglary sequences, American Fugitive keeps things interesting. The game strikes a nice balance between guided objectives and open-ended problem-solving.
What impressed me was how many different approaches you can take to most objectives. Need to steal a specific car? You could find the keys, use a crowbar, or just smash the window and hotwire it. Want to rob a house? Peek through windows first, find an unlocked door, or break in through a back entrance. This flexibility makes missions feel less scripted and more dynamic.
Replayability and Content
Based on what I experienced in my two-hour session, American Fugitive seems to offer substantial content. The main story provides structure, but there are plenty of side activities and optional objectives to pursue. The upgrade system gives you reasons to engage with the various criminal activities beyond just story progression.
Time trials scattered throughout the map offer additional challenges for players who want to test their skills. The wanted system alone provides endless entertainment as you try to outrun increasingly aggressive police responses.
Final Verdict
American Fugitive succeeds at what it sets out to do: deliver a modern take on classic top-down crime games. It's not trying to reinvent the wheel, but it executes its vision with enough polish and personality to stand out in a crowded field.
The game's biggest strength is also its biggest weakness. The chaotic, unpredictable nature of the world creates memorable moments and genuine excitement, but it can also lead to frustrating situations where you feel like the game is working against you unfairly.
If you're a fan of the original GTA games, enjoy crime simulators, or just want something different from the usual gaming fare, American Fugitive is absolutely worth your time. Just remember to approach it with the right mindset: this is a game that rewards rolling with the punches and embracing the chaos rather than fighting against it.
For newcomers to the genre, this serves as an excellent entry point that captures the appeal of classic crime games while offering modern conveniences. Just maybe invest in a controller first.
Final Score: 4/5 Stars
American Fugitive delivers exactly what it promises: a wild ride through small-town crime that's equal parts nostalgic and fresh. Despite some AI quirks and control preferences, it's a solid recommendation for anyone looking for their next criminal adventure.
AI War 2
AI War 2
JoshB, Monday at 07:03 PM1 day

AI War 2: When Complexity Meets Chaos (And Not Always Successfully)
By Josh Bailey | 2tonwaffle.com
Well folks, here we are with another dive into the Steam library abyss, and this week we're tackling AI War 2. If you've been following my first two hours series, you know the drill - I grab games I've never touched (or barely touched) and see if they can hook me in those crucial opening moments. AI War 2? Let me tell you, this one's a doozy.
The Good, The Bad, and The Overwhelming
Right off the bat, let me say this: AI War 2 has the bones of a fantastic strategy game. The core concept is solid - you're fighting against AI overlords in space, managing fleets, capturing planets, and trying not to get your homeworld blown to smithereens. The developers at Arcen Games clearly know their way around the RTS genre, and there's genuine depth here that strategy veterans will absolutely salivate over.
But holy crap, does this game throw you into the deep end without a life jacket.
Tutorial Hell (And I Mean That Literally)
Let's talk about those tutorials, because wow. I've played a lot of strategy games in my time - your Starcrafts, your Age of Empires, your Total Wars - and I've never encountered a tutorial system quite like this one. It's simultaneously too much information and not enough hand-holding, which is a special kind of design disaster.
The tutorials are structured like reading a manual for some incredibly complicated machine. You know those IKEA instructions that seem simple until you're holding three screws and a mysterious wooden dowel with no idea where they go? That's AI War 2's tutorial experience, except instead of furniture, you're trying to understand fleet management, resource allocation, technology trees, and something called "AIP" that apparently determines how much the AI wants to murder you.
Here's the kicker - even when you follow the tutorial steps exactly, sometimes the game just... doesn't register that you've completed the objective. I got stuck multiple times because the tutorial system couldn't figure out that I'd done exactly what it asked. It's frustrating as hell, especially when you're already drowning in information.
Complexity vs. Accessibility: The Eternal Struggle
Now, I want to be clear about something - I don't think every game needs to be accessible to casual players. AI War 2 is clearly designed for strategy enthusiasts who want to sink their teeth into something meaty. The problem isn't that it's complex, it's that the complexity isn't introduced in digestible chunks.
Compare this to something like Starcraft, where you start with "build a worker, gather resources, make more workers." Simple concepts that build on each other. AI War 2 drops you into a scenario where you've got transport flagships, battle stations, multiple fleet types, resource management, technology trees, and hacking mechanics all competing for your attention from minute one. Even on "Basic" difficulty, I was getting my butt kicked while trying to figure out which end was up.
The game desperately needed a more gradual on-ramp. Instead of tutorials that feel like technical documentation, imagine a campaign mode that slowly introduces concepts through story missions. Give me context, give me narrative stakes, give me a reason to care about learning these systems beyond "because the game says so."
When It Clicks, It Really Clicks
Here's the thing though - once you push through that initial wall of confusion, AI War 2 starts to show its true colors. The fleet management system is actually pretty elegant once you understand it. The way different ship types complement each other, the strategic decisions about where to expand and when to upgrade - there's real depth here.
The hacking system, once I finally figured out how to use it properly, adds this great risk-reward element. Do you hack that research station and risk attracting more AI attention? Do you try to sabotage their defenses before a major assault? These are meaningful strategic choices, not just busywork.
The scale of the game is impressive too. Managing multiple planets, coordinating different fleet types, balancing offense and defense across a galaxy-spanning war effort - when you're in the zone, it feels genuinely epic. This is the kind of game where you'll look up and realize you've been playing for six hours straight.
The Technical Side of Things
Graphically, AI War 2 gets the job done. It's not going to win any beauty contests, but it's functional and clear enough that you can tell what's happening most of the time. The UI can get pretty cluttered during large battles - there were moments where I had no idea what units I was looking at because everything just became a soup of ships and effects.
Performance-wise, the game ran smoothly on my setup, though the developers include a helpful CPU load calculator that warns you about potential performance impacts. It's a nice touch that shows they understand their game can get demanding.
The music deserves special mention, though not necessarily in a good way. Don't get me wrong - the soundtrack is pleasant enough. It's got this classical, almost bookstore-ambient vibe that's perfectly fine to listen to. But it doesn't fit the game at all. When I'm commanding space fleets in desperate battles against AI overlords, I want something that matches that energy. Instead, I'm getting music that would be more at home in a wine bar. It's technically competent but completely wrong for the atmosphere.
The Difficulty Problem
Let me circle back to something that really bugged me: the difficulty scaling. The tutorial literally tells you the "Basic" setting is for beginners, then proceeds to throw challenging scenarios at you right away. I'm talking coordinated AI assaults, complex multi-planet management, and strategic decisions that can snowball into disaster if you mess them up.
There's nothing inherently wrong with challenge, but when your "easy" mode assumes a level of system mastery that most new players won't have, you've got a design problem. The game needs a true beginner mode - something that gives you time to experiment and learn without constantly fighting for survival.
Multiplayer and Longevity
While I focused mainly on single-player for this session, AI War 2 does offer multiplayer options. The idea of coordinating with friends against the AI sounds appealing, especially since the game's complexity could benefit from multiple minds working together. I can see this being one of those games where you and your buddies develop elaborate strategies and inside jokes about that time the AI opened a wormhole to your backyard.
The game also seems designed for serious replay value. Different AI types, various galaxy configurations, and the technology tree system suggest that each playthrough could feel meaningfully different. For strategy fans who click with the game's systems, I could see this becoming one of those "just one more turn" experiences that eats up entire weekends.
The Verdict
AI War 2 is a frustrating game to review because it does so many things right while simultaneously shooting itself in the foot. The core gameplay is solid, the strategic depth is genuine, and when everything clicks, it's genuinely enjoyable. But the awful onboarding experience is going to turn away a huge chunk of potential players.
If you're a strategy veteran who doesn't mind wrestling with poorly explained systems and can push through tutorial hell, you'll probably find a lot to love here. The game rewards patience and investment in ways that few modern strategy games do.
But if you're looking for something you can pick up and have fun with quickly, or if you're new to complex strategy games, AI War 2 is going to be a tough sell. The learning curve isn't just steep - it's practically a cliff face.
Would I play it again? Yeah, actually, I would. Despite all my complaints about the tutorials and accessibility, there's something compelling about the core experience. But I'd recommend it with the caveat that you need to be prepared for a serious time investment just to understand what you're doing.
Score: 7/10 - A genuinely good strategy game trapped inside terrible new player experience design. Great for genre enthusiasts, frustrating for everyone else.
AI War 2 is available on Steam. At the time of this review, it was on sale for about five bucks, which honestly makes the entry barrier a lot more palatable. If you're curious about complex space strategy, that's probably the right price point to take the plunge.
Ageless
Ageless
JoshB, Thursday at 03:02 PM5 days

Ageless: When Time Control Meets Platforming Frustration - A First Two Hours Review
Hey there, indie game enthusiasts! Josh Bailey here from 2TonWaffle, back with another dive into the vast ocean of Steam's indie catalog. Tonight's victim... er, subject... is a little puzzle platformer called Ageless, and boy, do I have some thoughts to share with you.
The Setup: Another Sunday Night Stream Gone Wrong
You know how it is with "The First Two Hours" series. I fire up a game from my embarrassingly large Steam backlog, the ones sitting there collecting digital dust with less than 15 minutes of playtime. This week, it was supposed to be a cozy Sunday evening affair. Nala (my cat, for newcomers) decided to make her grand entrance, knocking things over as cats do, and I figured, "Why not? Let's see what this Ageless thing is all about."
The game's elevator pitch sounds intriguing enough: play as Kiara, a young girl with the power to manipulate the age of living creatures and plants around her. It's billed as a "story-driven puzzle platformer" where you brave through heartache and loss while discovering secrets about both the world and yourself. That's a pretty ambitious setup for what appears to be a 16-bit styled indie game.
Graphics and Presentation: Nailing the Aesthetic
Let me start with the positives because, credit where credit's due, Ageless absolutely nails its visual presentation. The pixel art style is gorgeous. We're talking solid 7-8 out of 10 territory here. The developers clearly understand the 16-bit aesthetic they're going for, and every frame feels purposeful and well-crafted.
The background work deserves special mention. There's this continuous motion with clouds drifting by that creates genuine depth to the scenery. It's one of those subtle touches that you might not consciously notice, but it prevents the world from feeling static. Even when you're stuck on a puzzle for twenty minutes (more on that frustration later), you've got this living, breathing backdrop that maintains immersion.
The character sprites are expressive within their limitations, and the aging mechanic creates some genuinely cool visual transformations. Watching a plant go from seedling to full bloom to withered decay in seconds never gets old. Pun absolutely intended.
Audio Design: Setting the Mood Right
The sound design hits that sweet spot of being present without being overbearing. The background music provides atmospheric support without demanding your attention, which is exactly what you want in a puzzle-focused game. It's the kind of soundtrack you'd probably listen to while working. Ambient, mood-setting, and never intrusive.
Sound effects feel appropriately chunky for the pixel art style, with satisfying audio feedback for jumps, transformations, and interactions. Nothing groundbreaking here, but solid craftsmanship throughout. When you're spending significant time replaying the same sections (spoiler alert: you will be), having audio that doesn't grate on your nerves becomes crucial.
The Aging Mechanic: Creative Concept, Execution Varies
Here's where Ageless tries to set itself apart from the platformer crowd. The core mechanic (aging and de-aging plants and creatures) is genuinely creative. Left-click ages things forward, right-click reverses the process. Plants can be manipulated to create platforms or clear paths, while creatures cycle through five life stages: infant, youth, prime, old, and death.
The concept opens up interesting puzzle possibilities. Need a bridge? Age that small plant into a massive tree. Need to clear a path? De-age that angry creature back into an egg form. The game even lets you absorb life energy from creatures while in your "ageless" state, allowing for dash movements that add another layer to the platforming.
Where things get tricky (and this is where my personal frustrations started mounting) is in the execution. The puzzles require not just understanding what to do, but precise timing and positioning. You might know exactly how to solve a puzzle conceptually, but executing it requires pixel-perfect movements and frame-perfect timing that can feel more tedious than satisfying.
The Platforming Problem: Not for Everyone
Let me be brutally honest here: I am not good at platformers. Never have been, probably never will be. That's not Ageless's fault. It's just my personal gaming weakness. But this experience highlighted why certain genres click with specific players while leaving others cold.
The game demands precision that I simply couldn't deliver consistently. Wall-jumping sequences, timing-based puzzle solutions, and the dreaded "do three things in perfect sequence or start over" scenarios became exercises in frustration rather than moments of triumph. After spending over an hour on what should have been early-game content, I reached my breaking point.
This isn't necessarily a criticism of the game itself. The mechanics work as intended, the physics feel consistent, and the challenge escalation seems reasonable for the target audience. But it does highlight an important point about game design: accessibility and player skill variance.
Story and World-Building: Intriguing Setup, Limited Exploration
The narrative setup shows promise. Kiara's journey through the mysterious world of Pandora, seeking a gift to help her feel "unstuck" in life, resonates with themes of purpose and self-discovery. The early dialogue with Vi, the mysterious helper character, establishes a world with depth beyond its pixel art presentation.
Unfortunately, my early rage-quit meant I didn't experience the full narrative arc. What I saw suggested thoughtful character development and world-building, but I can't fairly judge the complete story experience. The writing felt natural and avoided the often-cringeworthy dialogue that plagues some indie titles.
The "Gate of Gifts" concept (a mystical portal that grants powers based on what you need most) provides an interesting framework for both gameplay mechanics and character growth. It's the kind of setup that could support meaningful themes about personal growth and accepting change.
Technical Performance: Smooth Sailing (Mostly)
On the technical side, Ageless performed admirably on my computer despite some early stream setup hiccups that had nothing to do with the game itself. Frame rates stayed consistent, controls felt responsive (when I could execute them properly), and I encountered no bugs or crashes during my playthrough.
The game offers standard options for resolution, audio levels, and control customization. Nothing fancy, but everything you need for a comfortable playing experience. Loading times were minimal, and the checkpoint system felt fairly generous. Important when you're dying as frequently as I was.
The Verdict: Know Your Audience
Here's the thing about Ageless: it's probably a very good game for the right player. The art direction is excellent, the core mechanic is creative, the puzzles appear well-designed, and the production values feel solid throughout. If you enjoy challenging puzzle platformers and have the patience to master precise timing-based gameplay, this could absolutely be your jam.
For players like me (those who prefer exploration, story, and more forgiving gameplay mechanics), Ageless represents a beautifully crafted experience that we'll unfortunately never fully appreciate. It's not the game's fault; it's just a fundamental mismatch between design intent and player preference.
The $15-20 price point (depending on sales) feels reasonable for what appears to be a substantial amount of content. The production values justify the cost, and puzzle platformer fans will likely find significant replay value in mastering the game's challenges.
Final Thoughts: Respect the Craft, Know Yourself
My abbreviated stream of Ageless serves as a reminder that not every game is for every player, and that's perfectly okay. The developers created something with clear vision, solid execution, and obvious care. My inability to appreciate it fully doesn't diminish its quality.
If you're browsing Steam for your next puzzle platformer challenge, Ageless deserves serious consideration. The aging mechanic sets it apart from genre conventions, and the presentation quality exceeds many titles at this price point.
Just maybe make sure you actually enjoy precision platforming before diving in. Unlike your humble host, who clearly should stick to his RPGs and adventure games.
Final Score: 7/10 (with the caveat that the right player would probably rate this an 8 or 9)
What do you think? Have you tackled Ageless yourself? Drop by 2TonWaffle.com to share your experiences or check out more indie game coverage. And remember, sometimes the best review is knowing when a game isn't for you.
Until next time, keep exploring those Steam libraries!
Josh Bailey
Age of Wonders: Planetfall
Age of Wonders: Planetfall
JoshB, July 22Jul 22

Age of Wonders: Planetfall - The First Two Hours Review
Welcome to another edition of "The First Two Hours," where I dive headfirst into my ever-growing Steam backlog and see what gems (or disasters) await. Today's victim is Age of Wonders: Planetfall, a turn-based strategy game that's been collecting digital dust in my library since I snagged it in some Humble Bundle years ago. You know how it is - we all have those games sitting there, judging us silently while we play the same three games over and over.
So strap in, folks. This one's going to be a doozy.
First Impressions: Welcome to the Void
Right off the bat, Age of Wonders: Planetfall throws you into a sci-fi setting where humanity's Star Union has collapsed, leaving scattered colonies across the galaxy. Think Master of Orion meets Civilization, but with more lasers and existential dread about void anomalies that could consume entire planets. No pressure.
The game opens with your Vanguard commander, Jack Gilder, responding to a distress call near some ominous void phenomenon. Scientists studying dangerous space anomalies up close? Yeah, that never goes wrong in sci-fi. But hey, someone's got to clean up their mess, right?
Tutorial: Learning the Ropes (And Not Getting Killed)
Let me be honest - this tutorial took me an hour and a half. Not because it's poorly designed, but because there's so much depth here that you actually want to understand what you're doing. The game does an excellent job of easing you into its systems without drowning you in information overload.
The interface feels intuitive, borrowing familiar elements from other strategy games while adding its own flavor. You've got your standard RTS camera controls, hex-based movement that'll make any tabletop gamer feel at home, and resource management that doesn't require a PhD in economics to understand.
What impressed me immediately was how the game handles unit customization. Before battles, you can mod your troops with different ammunition types, equipment upgrades, and tactical loadouts. It's not just cosmetic - these choices matter in combat. Flechette rounds for bleeding damage, laser weapons that set enemies on fire, nanite injectors for healing. The depth is there if you want it, but it's not overwhelming.
Combat: Turn-Based Tactical Goodness
When combat kicks off, the game shifts to a top-down tactical view reminiscent of XCOM or Baldur's Gate. You've got action points, cover mechanics, and positioning that actually matters. The tutorial throws you against some local wildlife infesting a biodome, and even this simple encounter shows off the system's potential.
Cover is directional and meaningful. Overwatch lets you control space during enemy turns. Status effects like poison and burning add tactical considerations beyond "shoot the bad guys until they fall down." The game even shows you hit percentages and damage previews, so you know exactly what you're getting into.
One feature I absolutely love is the ability to choose between manual and auto-resolve for battles. Sometimes you want to micromanage every move, and sometimes you just want to watch your superior army steamroll some pirates while you grab a coffee. Both options are viable, and the auto-resolve seems fair rather than arbitrarily punishing.
Empire Management: Colony Building Done Right
The strategic layer revolves around expanding your colonies, managing resources, and researching new technologies. Planets are divided into sectors that you can annex to existing colonies or settle with new ones. Each sector has terrain features, resources, and potential hazards that affect their economic value.
What I appreciate is that the resource management feels streamlined without being dumbed down. You're not spending hours micromanaging individual buildings or optimizing production queues. The game automates road building between sectors, exploitation choices are clear and logical, and the interface presents information in digestible chunks.
The tech tree splits between military and society research, letting you pursue parallel development paths. Want to focus on better weapons and armor? Go military. Prefer expanding your economic and diplomatic options? Society's your track. You can research both simultaneously, which keeps progression feeling steady.
Factions and Customization: Pick Your Poison
Age of Wonders: Planetfall offers six distinct factions, each with unique gameplay mechanics and thematic identity. The tutorial uses the straightforward Vanguard (military humans in space), but I switched to the Amazons for my practice session - bioengineered humans who manipulate life itself.
The character customization is surprisingly robust. You're not just picking stats; you're designing your commander's appearance, choosing their background traits, and selecting equipment loadouts. The game lets you create multiple commanders with different specializations, adding another layer of strategic depth.
Each faction feels genuinely different rather than just cosmetically varied. The Amazons focus on biological warfare and adaptation. The Assembly are cyborgs seeking mechanical perfection. The Dvar are hardy survivors who excel at resource extraction. These aren't just flavor differences - they fundamentally change how you approach the game.
Diplomacy and NPCs: More Than Just Targets
During my session, I encountered the Growth - a faction of sentient plant-beings offering symbiotic relationships. Rather than just being another enemy to crush, they provided quests, trade opportunities, and diplomatic options. This NPC faction system adds personality to what could otherwise be a sterile strategy experience.
The dialogue and quest design show genuine effort. The Growth speak in flowery, organic metaphors that feel authentic to their nature. Their requests make sense within the world context. When pirates were stealing their seed pods, helping them felt meaningful rather than just another fetch quest.
Technical Performance: Smooth Sailing
Running on Ultra settings, the game performed flawlessly throughout my session. The graphics aren't going to win any awards for photorealism, but they don't need to. The art style is clean, readable, and atmospheric. Character models have personality, especially the various alien races. Environmental design creates distinct biomes that feel like actual places rather than just colored terrain tiles.
Audio design deserves special mention. The background music stays appropriately subtle, adding tension during battles without overwhelming the experience. Voice acting for the various factions brings personality to the diplomatic encounters. Sound effects provide satisfying feedback for weapons, explosions, and unit actions.
The interface scales well across different zoom levels. You can zoom out for strategic overviews or zoom in to appreciate individual unit details. Information is presented clearly without cluttering the screen. Loading times are reasonable, and I didn't encounter any crashes or significant bugs.
The "One More Turn" Factor
This is where Age of Wonders: Planetfall really shines. The game has that dangerous quality where you tell yourself "just one more turn" and suddenly the sun is rising. The progression feels constant - there's always a new technology to research, a sector to explore, a battle to fight, or a diplomatic opportunity to pursue.
The tutorial alone kept me engaged for 90 minutes, and I was genuinely disappointed when I had to wrap up for the review. That's the sign of a well-designed strategy game - when the learning process itself is entertaining rather than a chore to endure.
Minor Gripes: Room for Improvement
If I'm being nitpicky, the game could use better onboarding for some of its deeper systems. While the tutorial covers basics well, advanced concepts like empire management and late-game diplomacy could use more guidance. The faction differences are significant enough that each probably deserves its own tutorial scenario.
The AI seems competent but not particularly aggressive in the early game. This might change at higher difficulty levels, but my initial opponents felt more reactive than proactive. For a strategy game, having AI that challenges your decision-making is crucial for long-term engagement.
Some of the menu navigation could be more intuitive. Finding specific information sometimes requires clicking through multiple screens when a tooltip or expanded panel might work better. It's not gamebreaking, but it does slow down the pace occasionally.
Final Verdict: A Solid Strategy Experience
Age of Wonders: Planetfall succeeds where many strategy games fail - it manages complexity without sacrificing accessibility. The core gameplay loop of expansion, research, and conquest feels satisfying whether you're a genre veteran or newcomer. The tactical combat adds meaningful decision-making beyond just "build more units." The faction diversity provides genuine replay value.
Most importantly, it respects your time. Turn-based strategy can sometimes feel like a commitment rather than entertainment, but Planetfall keeps things moving at a pace that feels engaging rather than tedious. The option to auto-resolve battles when you want to focus on empire management is particularly smart design.
This is the kind of game that'll disappear hours of your life without you noticing. I started the session planning to just run through the tutorial quickly, and I found myself genuinely invested in my Amazon colony's survival and expansion. When a strategy game can hook you during the learning phase, you know the developers understood their audience.
Final Score: 4 out of 5
Age of Wonders: Planetfall earns a solid four-star rating. It's not quite perfect - the AI could be more challenging, some systems need better explanation, and the interface has minor navigation issues. But the core experience is thoroughly enjoyable, the faction variety provides excellent replay value, and the gameplay strikes that sweet spot between complexity and accessibility.
This one's definitely staying installed. In fact, I'm already planning which faction to try next. The Dvar's focus on industrial exploitation sounds intriguing, and I'm curious how the Assembly's cybernetic systems change the gameplay dynamic. That's exactly what you want from a strategy game - the immediate desire to experiment with different approaches.
If you enjoy turn-based strategy games or want to dip your toes into the genre, Age of Wonders: Planetfall is an excellent choice. It provides enough depth for strategists while remaining approachable for newcomers. Just be prepared to lose track of time. Don't say I didn't warn you when you're still playing at 6 AM wondering where your evening went.
Until next week's dive into the backlog, keep those Steam libraries growing and those strategy neurons firing. Later, taters!
911 Operator
911 Operator
JoshB, July 21Jul 21

911 Operator Review: When Emergency Calls Meet Resource Management Hell
Rating: 3.8/5 Stars
Developer: Jutsu Games
Platform: PC (Steam)
Genre: Simulation, Resource Management
Price: $14.99 (Complete Edition: $30)
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Well folks, Josh Bailey here from 2tonwaffle.com, and I've got another gem from the indie gaming trenches that's been sitting in my Steam library for about a month now. Sometimes you stumble across a game that makes you think, "Huh, that's either going to be absolutely brilliant or a complete dumpster fire." 911 Operator definitely falls into that category, and spoiler alert – it leans more toward the brilliant side, though not without its quirks.
First Impressions: Technical Hiccups and Menu Music from Hell
Let me start with the elephant in the room – this game has some serious display issues if you're running a dual monitor setup like yours truly. The game couldn't figure out which monitor it wanted to live on, defaulting to my top display when I specifically told it to use the bottom one. As someone who streams and records content regularly, this kind of basic functionality oversight is frustrating. It's 2024, people – multi-monitor support shouldn't be rocket science.
But here's the thing that really got under my skin: the menu music. Look, I appreciate atmospheric audio, but when your menu loop is so short and jarring that it makes me want to mute the game before I even start playing, you've got a problem. The restart cut point is so obvious it feels like someone took scissors to an MP3 file. Small details matter in gaming, and this one nearly made me quit before giving the game a fair shot.
The Good: Immersion That Actually Works
Once I got past the technical annoyances, 911 Operator started to show its true colors. This is a resource management game at its core, but it's wrapped in an emergency services simulation that creates genuine tension. You're not just moving units around a map – you're literally the lifeline between panicked callers and the help they desperately need.
The audio design, outside of that cursed menu music, is absolutely phenomenal. The background radio chatter feels authentic, like you're really sitting in a dispatch center. When officers call for backup or report "shots fired," the voice acting sells the urgency. I found myself getting genuinely invested in whether my units would arrive in time, especially during the more intense scenarios.
The call system deserves special mention here. You're not just clicking buttons – you're having actual conversations with callers. From the classic "cat stuck in a tree" to genuinely harrowing emergencies involving armed suspects or building fires, each call feels distinct. The dialogue trees give you multiple ways to respond, and yes, there are some hilariously inappropriate options that I definitely didn't choose because I'm a professional. Mostly.
Gameplay: Easy to Learn, Brutal to Master
The tutorial does a solid job of walking you through the basics without overwhelming you. You start in a small Hawaiian town (Capalilla) with a generous $10,000 budget, three basic unit types (police, fire, ambulance), and relatively simple calls. It feels manageable, almost relaxing.
Then the game says, "Congratulations! You're moving to Albuquerque!" and cuts your budget to $2,000. Welcome to the real world, rookie.
This difficulty scaling is where 911 Operator really shines. The jump from easy tutorial mode to the main game creates an immediate sense of resource scarcity that drives every decision. Do I send my only ambulance to the drug overdose or hold it back for the potential car accident? Can I spare a fire truck for this small kitchen fire when there might be a building blaze around the corner?
The equipment and staffing system adds another layer of strategy. Your officers can get injured, your vehicles need maintenance, and better-trained personnel cost more money. I found myself agonizing over whether to buy bulletproof vests for my cops or save up for an additional ambulance. When you're playing on hard mode and officers are getting shot left and right, those equipment decisions become critical.
The Difficulty Curve: From Relaxing to Absolute Chaos
I've got to talk about the difficulty modes because they're genuinely well-designed. Easy mode lets you learn the systems without too much pressure. Normal feels like what you'd expect from a job simulation. Hard mode is where things get spicy – more incidents, tougher criminals, and real consequences for failure.
But Expert mode? Expert mode is straight-up chaos management. No in-game pause, overtime penalties, and a constant stream of emergencies that will test every resource management skill you've ever developed. I attempted Expert mode in Chicago and immediately understood why this game has developed a cult following among simulation fans.
The beauty is that each difficulty feels intentionally crafted rather than just "more of the same but harder." The game mechanics that feel comfortable on easy become genuine stressors on expert, creating an entirely different experience without changing the core gameplay.
Content and Replay Value
The base game includes multiple cities with different layouts and challenges, each unlocked by maintaining good performance ratings. The variety in emergency types keeps things interesting – one minute you're dealing with a domestic disturbance, the next it's a plane crash requiring multiple unit types.
The DLC situation is... extensive. The complete edition runs $30 and includes additional scenarios, vehicles, and emergency types. "Every Life Matters" focuses on search and rescue operations, while other packs add specialized units and equipment. At 20% off (current pricing as of this review), the complete edition feels like solid value if you're planning to dive deep into the game.
What impressed me most is the replay value. Each city plays differently based on layout, available resources, and the random nature of emergency calls. I found myself wanting to retry levels with different strategies, something that doesn't always happen with simulation games.
Where It Stumbles
The game isn't without frustrations. The reputation system can feel punitive in ways that don't always make sense. I had situations where my officers got injured in the line of duty – something completely outside my control – and took reputation hits as if I'd personally failed. When criminals escape "three times" (whatever that means), it dings your score even though you sent appropriate units in reasonable time.
The AI pathfinding occasionally makes questionable route choices, sending units on scenic tours when direct paths would be faster. For a game where seconds matter, watching your ambulance take the long way around can be maddening.
Vehicle variety feels limited in the base game. You've got your basic police car, ambulance, and fire truck, plus a police motorcycle and van. More specialized vehicles (SWAT, hazmat, etc.) are locked behind DLC, which feels like core content being held back for additional purchases.
Final Verdict: Surprisingly Addictive
Despite its flaws, 911 Operator succeeds at something many simulation games struggle with: making resource management feel personal. When you fail to respond to an emergency in time, it's not just a number on a screen – it's Mrs. Johnson who called about chest pains, or the college kid who accidentally ate poisonous mushrooms.
The game creates genuine tension through its combination of time pressure, resource scarcity, and emotional investment. It's the kind of experience that makes you think "just one more shift" until you realize you've been playing for three hours straight.
For fans of resource management games, emergency services simulations, or anyone curious about what actually goes into emergency dispatch work, 911 Operator delivers an engaging experience that's both educational and entertaining. The learning curve is well-balanced, the replay value is solid, and the core gameplay loop is genuinely addictive.
Who Should Play This:
- Resource management fans
- Simulation game enthusiasts
- Anyone interested in emergency services
- Players who enjoy games with real consequences
Who Should Skip This:
- Players looking for action-heavy gameplay
- Those frustrated by time pressure mechanics
- Gamers who prefer story-driven experiences
At $14.99 for the base game, 911 Operator earns its 3.8/5 rating. It's not perfect, but it's a solid entry in the simulation genre that does something unique with familiar mechanics. Just maybe turn down that menu music before you start.
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Josh Bailey has been covering indie and simulation games for 2tonwaffle.com since 2018. When he's not virtually saving lives as a 911 operator, he's probably trying to figure out why his dual monitor setup never works properly with any game.