Grab The Games: The Stomping Land

 Dinosaurs and survival should be like peanut butter and chocolate, a delicious combination that's delicious no matter what anyone says. Turns out the peanut butter has expired and the chocolate is that super cheap savers chocolate that you get if you find a few pennies lying around in your wallet.

I'm going to put this in first that I was so hyped about The Stomping Land when I first saw it was announced. Dinosaurs aren't as common as zombies or terrorists as enemies in gaming and I guess that's what makes me savour them more when I do see them.

So, yes, I was hyped on this game on the premise of dinosaurs. The gameplay videos looked promising and the premise of survival is a pretty good one to make a game off, it's hard to find a good survival game which caters to everyone.

But the reason you're here. The Stomping Land didn't deliver the expectation of amazing survival and dinosaur combat, in fact it's actually quite clunky at the moment.

The game is in alpha, let me make this perfectly clear before you continue down this review, it's alpha. This means there can be updates and fixes to improve the game, but since its release there have been practically none.

One of the main complaints I saw before even playing the game was the lack of updates, people saying that the game has potential but that potential isn't being exploited, and with almost two months of silence people are getting worried about the games future.

So while playing the game I was loaded up with a generic hunter on an island. The game looks alright and plays alright for an alpha but I was expecting a lot more.

There's no need for any food or structure in the game, it's like Minecraft creative mode. So you've got no need to engage any dinosaurs to put yourself in danger. There's nothing to monitor your characters condition and the depth of the survival is quite limited.

This is one of my problems with survival games. I'd like realism but I also want exceptions. The Forest is a good example here. You have hunger, coldness, the need to dry off, stamina, health, the risk of infection etc. Yes your character in that can pick up multiple huge logs on his shoulder but it's a nice balance of realism and video game logic.

The Stomping Land however seems to just be selling based around the fact that you have dinosaurs in it. There's no depth to the survival at the moment, and without an update it looks like it's going to stay that way for a while.

On top of this the game does feel like it shouldn't even be in alpha. While the draw distance is quite good the dinosaurs from far away have delayed and slowed animations, sometimes they can even glide across the floor without moving their legs. This just makes the game look bad when you're trying to hunt, not that you need to.

So for all my complaints is the game worth it? Well I've had some fun moments. First trying to figure out what to do any find safe places is quite entertaining and the dinosaurs do pose a threat, if only a little one.

In my own opinion the game has potential but, like I said, without updates that potential is just being left to fester. It's not worth picking up now, but if you're interested keep checking the Steam discussion boards for the game to check for any updates, changes and improvements.

5/10

Pros:

Dinosaurs

Survival

Fun the first time

Can be a laugh with your friends

Cons:

Clunky

Buggy

No depth to survival

Dinosaurs pose little to no threat

No updates have been released to improve anything, yet

Nathan Dack