As a way of taking a step back from my Left 4 Dead project, I wanted to dive into my Steam 2022 recap. This article will contain the complete recap as well as some things I would like to accomplish in 2022.
The Highlights
Right off the bat, I am hit with Bloons Adventure Time TD: I have not gotten to talk about this game yet but it is one of my favorites of last year. Tower Defense is my favorite genre so it was quite a surprise to find one that I like so much.
Another pleasant surprise was Bloons TD 6. Like the Adventure Time game, Bloons TD 6 has stolen a place in my heart and is now a permanent download on my computer.
How I Compare
These stats surprise me because, for a lot of 2022, I did not have my ethernet cable hooked up to my computer. I thought I got to play way less and it turns out I am above average for these stats.
Other Interesting Stats
What do I spend my time Playing?
Tower Defense is by far my favorite genre when it is done correctly. I do not talk enough about the genre on this blog but I will get around to it. It is not surprising to me how much Tower Defense I played in 2022.
Open World Survival Craft is another one that is not much of a surprise. On Xbox, I like to spend my time playing Ark and Conan so it was no surprise to see I tend to do the same on Steam. Management is yet another genre I am not surprised to see, some of my favorite games of 2022 were Management games.
I can ignore Zombies and Creature Collecting for the time being. Most of the Creature Collector games I got to play were extremely underwhelming. The Zombie games likely came from Left 4 Dead since I am doing a project on those games.
As for FPS, I want to get better at shooting with a mouse overall, and I am happy to see I was working towards that goal in the first place. Overall I am happy to see these stats even though they confirm what I already know.
I would like to broaden my horizons for 2023 and expand to some genres I do not typically play or outright ignore.
March
Diving into March I got to play a lot of games. Some of them I liked and some of them I regretted buying.
As I said at the start of this article, Bloons Adventure Time TD is one of my favorite games of 2022. I would wager that it is one of my favorite tower defense games ever. I will eventually cover it on this blog this year. Go Home Dinosaurs was another pleasant surprise! You can check out the full review and the mini-review right now!
I am not going to get into Automachef here although I think it is a great game. Left 4 Dead started in March and I believe that is when I started my Left 4 Dead project.
Toadled is such a stupid game: With that being said it is a lot of fun and a great way to kill time when you don’t know what you want to play. Ion Fury is another game that is really fun and I have to finish it.
Glyph is one of my favorite indie games of 2022. I will admit that I suck at it but the art style and simplistic gameplay have drawn me in. If you like to build dioramas you might enjoy Diorama Builder.
ToeJam and Earl turned me off the moment I started playing. I want to dive in and give it some more time before tossing it in the trash pile. Fun with Ragdolls is one of the worst bundle games I got during 2022.
As I was cleaning out my backlog I got to play classics like; Super Duper Party Pooper and Luke SideWalker. None of these games are exceptional, and I likely won’t cover a single one on the blog anytime soon, but they are a great way to kill time.
Unfortunately, I did not get to play Fling to the Finish because it did not have matchmaking when I fired it up for the first time.
Finally, to close out the month of March I got to play Monsters’ Den Godfall: A game that I remember nothing about and will have to revisit. RollerCoaster Tycoon Deluxe: A game that I could not get to run on my computer. Bloons TD5: A fun game that I mostly play on the Xbox since I have the sixth game on Steam.
April
I have already spoken about Bloons Adventure Time TD so I won’t dive into it more. TinkerTown was a bundle game I was looking forward to and honestly it let me down.
May
Chromagun was such a pleasant surprise. It is a fun puzzle game that I would love to cover on the blog.
Coromon is a fun game, I mostly play it on the Nintendo Switch. Popup Dungeon did not sit well with me, no matter how long I tried to play it.
The Rest of the Year and Moving Forward
For the rest of the year, I got to try other games, most of them were indie games. As for 2022, I had a lot of fun with gaming in general. Although there were some major disappointments, as an overall experience I can say I learned a lot.
Going through this recap has made me realize there is a lot I want to do with this blog and not an unlimited amount of time to do it. At the start of this year, I was considering covering more AAA games but I now realize I am happy trying what looks interesting. Finally, I look forward to experimenting with article types and growing this blog to what I know it can be.
Go Home Dinosaurs was released on Steam in 2013 by Fire Hose Games. The premise is fairly simple. You have to stop hoards of dinosaurs from crashing your BBQ and stealing all the steaks. The towers in this game act like puzzle pieces and must be fit in accordingly. Go Home Dinosaurs has 60 levels for the price of $9.99 on Steam. For that price tag, you’re getting plenty of levels to play.
I judged this game too early
When I downloaded Go Home Dinosaurs, I was convinced it would look and play like a mobile game. By the second level, I was wrong. Go Home Dinosaurs has a refreshing level of polish and thought.
The art style is charming, especially for the dinosaurs. The style works well for each level, and the towers are well designed on the outside. Go Home Dinosaurs should not be underestimated solely by its appearance.
One level example.
The towers could have used more time
In a tower defense game, the most important element is the towers. The gimmick of Go Home Dinosaurs is that each tower is a puzzle piece, meaning you can’t use every tower on every level. I find myself constantly trying to use my favorite towers, only for them not to fit.
Some of the towers I had.
Tower Economy
To buy more towers during a level, you have to gather and spend coconuts. Some towers cost three coconuts, and some cost as many as seven. The tower economy is strange because of the puzzle aspect of the game.
The upgraded rock shooter is seven coconuts and takes up a larger area than the three coconut shooters. The developers appeared to have tied in the strength of a tower to the size and shape. For the most part, this makes sense, except the meteor launcher that you can purchase for eight coconuts becomes obsolete if you use a couple of smaller towers.
This all depends on what level you’re playing as well. In some instances, the meteor launcher will be the best you can use for an area, and other times it would be a waste to place it down.
Tower Shape
Although I like the gimmick of each tower being a puzzle piece, I hate how tower shapes seem to be decided. Each tower can only fit into a certain number of blocks, and of course, each tower can only do so much damage.
Some of the shapes make no sense and appear to take up more space than they should. Other shapes seem too big for what the tower does.
Some of the dinosaurs don’t make sense with the tower selection in the game either.
The Dinosaurs
The dinosaurs in the game and the available tower selection do not make sense. Some of the dinosaurs make the towers feel useless. Bruno acts as a meat shield for other dinosaurs to hide behind. The hitbox is unclear, and the hiding mechanic drives me nuts. In instances where it seems the tower should be hitting a dinosaur, it doesn’t because Bruno is in front.
The best thing about the dinosaurs is the variety and art style. I wish Go Home Dinosaurs had larger maps so all of the dinosaurs could be utilized to their fullest potential. The tightness of each map makes it hard to track what dinosaurs are on the field as well.
The Shop is so close to being useless
The shop in Go Home Dinosaurs does not provide towers. Instead, it offers one-use items and skins. You can also purchase a vegetarian option: Although I get the sentiment, I can’t help but be confused as to why that’s even an option? Steaks and salads would make sense since some of the dinosaurs would prefer a salad over a steak.
I digress.
The one-use items are not useless, but I have never preferred taking them over another tower card. Since tower cards are limited, I like to take as many as the map allows. The skins are a nice touch.
The shop would have been better if you could buy tower cards or more tower card slots. Go Home Dinosaurs has one of the worst shops I have ever seen. Luckily there are no microtransactions, and the coins can be earned as you play.
Go Home Dinosaurs is a fun experience for fans of all ages
Despite my nitpicking, I genuinely believe Go Home Dinosaurs is a fun experience. I would suggest Go Home Dinosaurs to anyone who likes tower defense games but does not want to spend a lot of time planning and buying upgrades.
Go Home Dinosaurs is perfect for kids. The reading in the game is minimal, and the concepts are easy enough to understand, plus the art style screams kid-friendly. There are no curse words in the game. Go Home Dinosaurs does not feature any blood or gore either. Go Home Dinosaurs can be a fun place to start for fans new to the tower defense genre.
Time to go home
Go Home Dinosaurs is a game I do not regret playing. Although it lacked the depth I enjoy in tower defense games, I found myself itching to progress to the next level. The shop is one of my biggest complaints about the game because it feels tacked on.
Go Home Dinosaurs would be best enjoyed by children or people who are looking for a more straightforward tower defense game. The tower system works for its purpose but could be better. You can tell when levels are specifically designed to be used with certain towers.
Go Home Dinosaurs will be receiving a 5/10 because of the animations and lack of depth. However, the game is fun to play, and I can recommend it if you pick it up on sale.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 10.
Victory Screen.
I took all the screenshots in this article during my play-through. Please do not use these screenshots or this article for any reason.
Rainbow Six Extraction has a fantastic foundation.
The foundation of this game is strong, and the developers should be proud of what they accomplished. Rainbow Six Extraction has its own identity and feel despite borrowing most (if not everything) from Rainbow Six Siege.
As of this review, you can go out on missions in four locations (as of this review), complete assignments, and do the Maelstrom Protocol (ranked) game mode. You will earn cosmetics, tech, and new operators as you play.
Assignments
This screenshot was taken on the Xbox Series S.
An assignment takes place on any map and is of critical difficulty. Each assignment will be different, and they cycle every five days. Kick the Anthill has been my favorite thus far, but the game has not been out long enough to see what is planned for this game mode.
Assignments give you a generous amount of XP; I was able to get multiple operators to level 10 from Kick the Anthill: This is both a good and “bad” thing. Once an operator gets to level 10, the XP they earn is no longer useful.
Maelstrom Protocol
This screenshot was taken on the Xbox Series S.
Maelstrom is a fun but disappointing ranked experience that feels like last minute. In this game mode, you can move up to diamond class by completing a string of objectives that increase in difficulty as you play.
The XP is worth it, but the problem comes from the cosmetics. As you play, you earn a helmet that is put on a timer; you will have to achieve the same rank to get this helmet again at the end of the cycle. The helmet is not the only incentive to play; you can earn a small amount of premium currency from participating in the ranked mode.
However, I have the same complaint about using level 10’s in this mode. A level 10 earning XP feels useless, and since the roster is limited, you will have a couple of them on your roster.
The Story
You will travel from location to location, gathering intel about the threat. You will earn tech points, operators, and new locations to play in as you progress. The story is nothing spectacular, and I found it tedious to follow, aside from reading a couple of codex entries.
The lore provided in the codex is one of my favorite parts of the game! Though I wish they would explain a little more about what is going on. There is a lot of reading you have to do if you want to understand everything.
Character Advancement and Customization
Most of the character advancement feels the same. You’re going to get speed boosts, armor boosts, and new weapons across all characters. Characters began to feel different within their abilities. Getting an operator to rank ten should give them the boost they need to compete.
This screenshot was taken on the Xbox Series S.
You can change the characters’ headgear to match their body gear or mix and match: I appreciate this because I can make my operators look however I want. You can also give some guns a new skin, and the skins are cross-compatible with all firearms. If you have a skin for one gun, you will have it for all guns that can wear a skin.
Depending on your preference, some of the best operator outfits in the game are unlocked by completing story content, and others can be bought from the store.
Final Thoughts
You are given a healthy number of mutations to fight, they all do something different, and each presents its own challenge. Since the game just came out, I think the selection of “special infected” is at a reasonable amount.
You can play this game your way; if you want to go in loud, you’re going to have trouble especially depending on the mission type. However, if that is something you want to do it will work for most missions below the two highest difficulties.
The operator health mechanic is something I thought would get in the way and make the game feel like a chore. Honestly? It works fine. You are encouraged to change operators and try new things while you go out on missions.
The tech is okay, and honestly, I wish more thought would’ve gone into what tech will be used. Some of it is clearly more useful. The tech you take will also depend on what your teammates have, so I guess you can mix and match as you please.
This screenshot was taken on the Xbox Series S.
The operators all feel the same for the most part. Some of them have more armor, and some have what I consider to be better abilities. Some operators get a better selection of weapons, but that will depend on your preference. You can pick who you like and level them up as you please.
This screenshot was taken on the Xbox Series S.
Scoring
Rainbow Six Extraction earns a solid 7/10 for what we got on release. I am not taking into account what is coming.
Score Breakdown
Solid amount of operators to choose from, and although I do not like them all, there appears to be something for everyone. I wish each operator felt more unique during their advancement.
The game offers you a good amount of information through the codex. However, I wish we could have gotten more cutscenes or something explaining what is happening. There is a lot of reading in this game, and most people won’t take the time out to do it.
A healthy selection of missions and with two extra game modes, you will always have something to try while you play the game. None of these game modes offer special, permanent rewards for playing. The ranked helmet is on a timer. You always get XP but that starts to feel like a waste if you’re playing a level 10 and have all the tech.
The game is fun, you do not need advancement, and you can unlock skins just from playing the game. Doing the “story mode” will give you new lore to read in the codex.
The “special infected” are cool, and some of them present a major challenge. Apparently, you can watch YouTube videos on them, but upon further discussion, I think these videos should be in the codex.
You can feel the care put into this game, even if it’s supposed to be a spin-off or something. Each map feels unique, even the ones I hate playing on. I also appreciate that you have to think about how you approach an objective. However, I do find it odd that the map is not on your screen while you play. They could add it to the screen and present fog of war to keep the surprise of the map.
The content that they have provided feels solid enough, however parts of the game still feel unfinished. The story also feels like it was cut in a couple of areas but the last cutscene you get provides a solid jumping point for future content.
Rainbow Six extraction is a fun game with friends that will keep you wanting more. Stealth gameplay is rewarded with a healthy amount of XP, and the variety of game modes will give you something to do each time you load the game. However, everything appears to come to a standstill once you hit level 10 on your operators: This is only a problem for people who want constant progression. The future of this game looks bright if support is continued! Once you run out of things to progress on, play anyway. The gameplay loop is solid, and I look forward to what comes next.
Titanium Gaming 