Buy Cortex Command

(Please check the discussion page before judging my review. You will see that I'm not the only one to believe this game is abandoned, that this developer does not care for its fans and is only in it for the money. Discussions ahead that I found that explain my review.)

About updates
http://steamcommunity.com/app/209670/discussions/0/412447524178536077/

About Development
http://steamcommunity.com/app/209670/discussions/0/494632768632346979/

Plantoid Pioneers...
http://steamcommunity.com/app/209670/discussions/0/412449508285374775/

Is the game dead?
http://steamcommunity.com/app/209670/discussions/0/364040961434518944/

Cortex Command 2?
http://steamcommunity.com/app/209670/discussions/0/368542844488719362/


:::MY REVIEW:::

Save your money.

Just save your money. Please. Do me this small favor. I'll never bother you again...

Why you ask?

There are way better games on offer then this broken, never to be worked on again, maybe one more patch just to appease the nay sayers, hunk of ancient code.

Some people say "Buy it when it's on sale!"

Did they also tell you that this game has been in developement since 2011 (maybe even further back), and STILL its the same game.

Hardly anything has changed. This game is not done, and is in need of a lot of TLC.

Please. Please, just save your money.

Still won't heed my words?

Check the developers online site for their new game that surprisingly looks like the old one. The site is hardly ever updated and those pics and videos seem a bit shady if you ask me. I can take photos of myself at the receptions desk of big corporations and say they gave me the thumbs up too. Where is the proof? Where is the interactions? The reviews?

On Planetoid Pioneers. Their other never to be finished game.
http://steamcommunity.com/app/300260/discussions/0/361787186423742321/

Data Realms
Just finish Cortex Command. It has so much potential! Don't make the modders float your boat while you sail on peoples hard earned money.

Maybe one day this review will be a thumbs up too.

Cortex Command. You were my first early access title, before early access was even a thing.

You broke my heart.

P.S.
Thank you for taking the time to read my review and If you must get this game, please wait for a sale. Cortex Command is not worth 20 dollars.

Ive kept up with Cortex command since 2007, and I have invested hundreds of enjoyable hours into it. However this game is, and has always been kept afloat by modders. It is very unfinished and lacks multiple promised features, but it has be declared finished, because of this it has lost many of the most talented modders. Even while still in the alpha stage it would sometimes be years between updates. After abandoning this game the creator has already started work on a near clone of this game, but which sells for 39.99$ though it of course is still in the alpha stage with no release date planned.

Simply put: Cortex command is very small. It is not a complete game, and it never will be complete. Although it isn't particularly buggy, its lack of content does not excuse its price.
This is really too bad, as it is very fun! The physics may not be realistic, but flying at high speeds across the map whilst blasting everything you see, including your own troops, with the various weapons the game offers is crazy fun. That combined with the satisfying way bodies blow apart and bleed powdery blood all over everything makes for a very promising start. Sadly, it does look like the game is dead.
Pros:
-Very satisfying: Messing around with the in game modifiers and with weapons can create some interesting results, and the gore is very well done despite its simplicity. The mechanics are Cortex's strong point by far, as they offer very comical over the top explosive action that remains organic.
-Surprisingly, crate bombs. Simply learning the best combinations of grenades to fill a crate with before scuttling it and blowing half the map up is very fun. Although its technically not really a feature, it was a happy accident. I wont spoil any of the different crate bomb effects, but try them out. (Just load a crate with a LOT of grenades.)
-Campaign. I couldn't decide whether to make this one a pro or a con. The campaign is a fun way to add somestructure to the chaotic gameplay, but dont expect much in the ways of strategy and story. In fact, dont expect any. Take this as you may.
-Factions: The factions are quite varied. Even if they do all work off of the same rules, they all do the same thing differently. The Coalition combine well rounded and armoured troops that aren't particularly expensive, with sub-par weapons. Their main advantage is their minigun drones, which, despite being practically immobile, can mow down enemies with incredible effectiveness. When used in a group, you can punch through bunker walls with streams of bullets.

Then there are the Dummies, who die in about 1 hit, are super cheap, and have better then average weaponry. Good for swarms, has good guns. Their Dreadnaught is next to useless as anything but a hallway defender.

The Ronin have better troops then the Dummies, but they still die fairly quickly. They have a heavy which will actually sustain damage and has a helmet, so I recommend using mostly heavies. Despite this, they have arguably the best guns in the game - their heavy machinegun is fantastic, their m16 packs a punch, and the RPG is basically a giant explosive sniper that one shots most things, and sends everything else flying off into the horizon.

The Techion have all the coolest guns and the most advanced stuff. Their heavy troop, instead of being beefy, never bleeds. They are light but expensive 0 very expensive. And their soldiers are overpriced. They do, however, have the most broken gun in the game. The Nucleo Swarm can kill anything from pretty much across the map.

The Browncoats are gigantic, pricy, and have okay guns.In fact, they are so heavy they dont really need guns. Just crushing people with your face will win the day. Despite this, arming every single Browncoat you deploy with a flamethrower makes for a lethal force, as that flamethrower is... Scary.

The Imperatus are not quite as heavy as the browncoats, but they have the most variety in the game. Their scout bots
are like dummies, and ought to be used like them. Good for quick deploy snipers, etc. They have an all rounder, and a heavy. Their guns focus on damage, and are thus usually unreliable but effective. Their running theme seems to be load times and single shot weapons.
-Excellent semi-retrosoundtrack: It kind of feels like it should be retro, but it isn't.
-Charming: The game has a neat visual style and tang, its more then just yet another lazy pixelated "stylized" game, it uses its pixelated style to achieve more then just a retro look, it has its own very cool sci-fi flavour. The backgrounds are well done, and the spaceships and maps do have style.
Cons:
-Lack of content to keep you playing: If you want to play Cortex Command for any longer then a week, I hope you like mods.
-Crazy pre game load screen: Though its not as bad when you dont download any mods, I strongly recommend you download mods, sooo...
It can take up to like 5 minutes just for the game to start up with mods, which is bad.
-Unbalanced: Whether or not this game really needs balance is debatable, as its more focused on action then anything. But I mentioned the Nucleo Swarm - there's more. Browncoats pretty much trump everything, and the Dummies are hopelessly underpowered, even with their devastating guns. Plus, I also mentioned crate bombs. You can win the game with them, without even paying much money. Not to mentioned, just stacking 10 soldiers with heavy weapons in one place and forming a squad will allow you to erase the map with bullets. Dropships can fly into things, killing everything, meaning you can win every game in campaign if you just kamikaze the enemy brain with your dropship at the beginning of the game. Luckily, the A.I. does not partake in such horrors, so you can just play honerably and ignore the imbalance.
-Lack of strategy and skill involved: this can be forgiven for the games focus on action and stupid situations, but it is true that the game isn't hard to master. The only difficulty you'll have getting in to it is the controls (get to that in a sec), and mastery doesn't go much farther then learning how to control the jetpack and how to melee. (By flying into people at high speeds and using your face to merge them into the ground, gibbing them, spoilers.)
-Controls: They are... Incompetant. Though after my time through the game (dont get me wrong, I actually love this game) I have learned them, beginners will have a hard time figuring out the questionable menu wheel. The WASD part is easy enough, though you do have to get used to the physics, (its a bit like playing octodad at first, expect to spend most of your time in the tutorial hurdling out of control) its the command wheel thats the problem. In order to do simple stuff like reload, you have to right click and release on a certain point on a wheel. This can be tedious, especially before you start to learn to do it naturally, and even after.
-Terrain issues: Anyone who has played Browncoats ona snow map knows my pain - you will get stuck. A lot.
Especially when tunneling, which is a big part of this game, you will spent most of your time hopelessly trying to get you face out of that pile of dirt. Single floating pixels and stop you dead, making you have to squirm to destroy them and move on. Every unit moving like they wet themselves doesn't help, and if you dont have a jetpack, god help you.

Overall, I have a hard time recommending it at full price, BUT - do not pass this review as pureply negetive! If the game is on sale or you have extra money kicking around, its worth a weekend of hilarity and fun. Its really too bad, becuase despite its numerous issues, the game is fun to play. So if you want it, get it, but like I said, its not quite worth the money. With mods it can be pretty fun, especially the joke mods that just add stupid stuff.
I did recommend simply becuase its got too much good going for it for me to say its bad. Its not "potential," it is a good game as it is, it just lacks content. 6/10, worth a look, but rarely keeps you for long.

I think it's fun and original, but a little buggy and underdeveloped.

Although the foundations of the game are solid, the developer abandoned the game before the large number of issues were fixed and the initial scope of the game was fulfilled, leaving it to a number of very dedicated community members to make the game stable and feature complete. Though I find it understandable that he wanted to move on after working on this game for a decade, this move wasn't appreciated by the community.

By no means vaporware, but 19 euros is too much for this game and therefore I don't recommend this game. Get it for half the price.

Very poorly optimized, I've played it a lot and it can be fun but gets boring pretty quick

This game is clunky. slow paced, nobody knows if its finished or not or if it will ever get another update.

But you order military grade weapons from future amazon and everything else it does well it does REALLY well.

You will either love it or hate it.

If you don't know about it now wait for a sale.

This game is awesome. It's not fully there yet, but what is there is very fun

It's only alive because of mods, only buy if you want a game that's 25% developer work and 75% community made.

One of my men jumped out of a crashing dropship and lost his arms and legs due to the resulting explosion, he then jetpacked into the air and used the force of his descent to crush two enemy soldiers with his torso. Afterwards he flew into a landing enemy dropship and made it crash before bleeding out.

A true hero that will never be forgotten.