Crashlands Doesn't Crash and Burn

Crashlands Doesn't Crash and Burn

Crashlands is well worth the money if you like 2D survival games with some alien flare and humor.

Crashlands is a top-down, 2D open world survival game, akin to Don't Starve, available on PC and mobile devices. Over the past several days, I've put into it more than 20 hours on PC and every one of those has felt super fun and rewarding. I picked it up during the wallet-destroying Steam holiday sale and it was well worth it. In fact, I would have paid full price for this nice little gem.

Each bit of the game feels very polished. The story is, well, present. It's funny and actually gives a level of depth to your player character, which is more than many games like this can say. Flux and their robot companion JuiceBox embark on a not so heroic adventure to deliver their company's cargo, when the alien Hewgodooko attacks them to steal their ships battery. They then have to fight and build their way through a fantastic alien world with many unique inhabitants and biomes. Ranging from frogs that spew fire that congregate around tar pits, to nocturnal flying jellyfish that love to be around plants that discharge electricity. The creativity combined with believably make the flora and fauna shine.

Speaking of inhabitants, they have as much personality as your protagonist. Each alien species has different beliefs, actions and goals. While one species is peaceful and in tune with the planet, and very vengeful. The next is mischievous and always trying to further their own goals. This makes each quest you get as you progress feel unique and enjoyable.

The crafting is easy and intuitive, albeit requiring a bit of grinding at times. The RPG elements add a nice bit of Diablo-esque strategy. Do you want to have extra toughness and reflect damage, or have a chance to summon lightning bolts and fire to decimate your enemies? Both of those are possible -- with some luck -- while crafting random stat-generated armor and weapons. However a lot rides on player ability regardless of play style. Each enemy has several attack patterns that they follow with bright red visual indicators. These show where the attacks will be, or what trajectory a projectile will follow. The rest is on the player to be able to memorize and dodge each while making sure to use attack items or equipped melee weapons to counter. 

My only big complaints with the game are how expansive it is in relation to how slow your character can be, and the lack of multiplayer. The former is alleviated a bit by the ample amount of teleportation pads scattered around. However teleportation pads are not activated until found. So a majority of the time running to a quest objective is spent on foot. This can be a bit tedious due to your characters run speed and how almost ridiculously massive each map is. Sadly, the latter is simply not a feature of the game at this time.

The pros greatly outweigh the cons for this game though. I would greatly recommend this game to anyone who is a fan of action RPG or survival games.

The Perfect Landings

• Addicting gameplay
• Unique locale for the survival genre
• Fun humor

The Stumbles

• Can feel a bit slow paced at times
• Lack of multiplayer

Crashlands Review - Just The Right Amount of Sass

Crashlands Review - Just The Right Amount of Sass

It's a bird, no it's a plane! Heck no, it's Crashlands landing right into the palm of your hand!

The trio of brothers that make up Butterscotch Shenanigans have more than proven themselves a million times over with the release of Crashlands last month. When this game was first launched for iOS and Android, I didn't bat much of an eye at it. The graphics didn't catch my attention, and I went right on along with my business. Roughly two weeks later, I've realized just how much of a mistake that was.

Right From The Start (Graphics & Gameplay)

Crashlands has the ability to pull you in right from the start, even if you had your doubts about playing it. This game puts you in the shoes of Flux Dabes, a galactic delivery truck driver whose ship ends up getting totaled by a floating alien head who's a royal pain. The graphics are pleasing to the eye, and even the fugliest of monsters are interesting to look at (after smashing them to bits with a weapon you've fashioned from the bones of their brethren, that is). 

The fighting system is simple and easy to use, but it does require some skill.

This isn't a game where you get tap-happy until you get a cramp in your hand. Each monster you face has its own special way of attacking. For instance, the Wombit attacks by jumping towards you, indicated by a round red sphere on the ground. Sound simple? Nope. There will be times you'll have to play it safe and play ring-around-the-rosie with a ravenous floating octo-alien just so you won't get blown to pieces. So if you're looking for somewhat of a challenge in battle, you're in luck.

Worried that you'll be forever alone while battling through Crashlands? Think again. Not only do you have your trusty childhood robot sidekick Juicebox to accompany you, the game also allows you to tame just about any monster you come across (by literally beating an egg out of them). So you've got pets that you can participate in quests for, which will allow you to craft an object that can put some more beef on your alien bud's bones. Oh, you can also milk your pets. Because you know, everybody needs their calcium.

Humor Has It

Humor is never far behind in Crashlands, as there's always someone who says something either highly comical or so incredibly pathetic that you have to humor the poor creature.

There are some game mechanics in Crashlands that aren't the norm for other games.

For instance, worried about not having enough space to feed your inner klepto? Crashlands has got you covered, because there's no limit to how many items you can have, it's literally infinite. You can even recycle your old armor/weapons/etc. and regain some of the parts back so that you may use them for something else.

Crafting

The crafting is one of the main aspects of this game, as you have to utilize it to make weapons, armor and even materials to decorate your house. Did I say house? Yes, you can finally put your dream of being a home designer to work by crafting materials for your home (be it floors, walls, tables, etc.), painting the floors with a swipe of a finger, or tapping once to add or remove an object. All in all, the crafting in this game is incredibly easy. You can craft different items by making new workshops, which are found through receiving schematics from either quests or smashing things to bits while out exploring.

Any weapons or armor that you craft can be actually seen on your character, so if you're not a fan of purple you don't have to deal with it for very long. Weapons and armor are quite interesting in this game, because when you craft them you have no control over what 'rank' the item will be, be it normal, acceptable, excellent, etc. (without the exception of legendary). If you get something you don't like, simply unequip it, salvage the items, and try again. Crafting is so easy and oddly satisfying in this game that you'll wonder why crafting (and hoarding random items from all corners of the planet) hasn't always been like this.

Crashlands is definitely a must-play, and if you haven't at least tried the game out for yourself you are missing out. There have been numerous times I thought I would only spend five minutes on this game and ended up playing for hours (my poor, poor phone). It's worthy of 10 out of 10 stars by me for the breath of fresh air that it gives for mobile gaming.

Crashlands Juicemancy Guide: How to Get the Juiceforge

Crashlands Juicemancy Guide: How to Get the Juiceforge

How to get the Juiceforge to Reroll, Upgrade, and Convert your equipment in the new Juicemancy update for Crashlands.

So Crashlands just received the Juicemancy update last week. It introduced the Juiceforge as a new crafting station, which lets you Reroll, Upgrade, and Covert your equipment. Using it, you can transform your equipment into something that fits your own playstyle.

Ever just want an equipment set completely stacked with Movement Speed for traveling around Woanope quick as thunder? Well, now we can whip one up, making use of the Reroll tool to get Movement Speed on all of our gear before Converting it to stack all of our stats into speed.

However, in order to juice up our equipment like this, we must first find the schematic for and craft the Juiceforge. If you're new to Crashlands, or are simply starting a new save, you're bound to be eager to figure out how to obtain this god-like power for yourself. After all, you're going to need every advantage you can get to survive this insanely hostile planet.

All right, fine; you've talked me into it. I'll share the secrets of Juicemancy with you. But on one condition: use this knowledge to create an equipment set of incredible power to avenge your no doubt countless deaths on Woanope.

Juicemancy Quest Guide: How to get the Juiceforge

You receive the Juicemancy quest as soon as you offer two Stuffed Wojacks to Toochoochoo for killing his alleged pet Bubbles, which is relatively early in the main questline for the Bawg. Juicebox talks about a weird energy surge and marks a spot on your map for you to investigate.

Check your map and head to the spot labeled Yoxxi's Storm. There you will find a Brubus practicing the dangerous art of Juicemancy. After interrogating him about it, he'll tell you where he learned it from but warned you to bring a Pointy Pinwheel as an offering.

Head back to base and craft the Pointy Pinwheel at the Chemworks table. You may need to gather some Glutterfly Chitin, Whistleroot Weed, and Flatstone Gravel from the Savanna if you're short. Take the Pointy Pinwheel from the workbench and head to the spot marked Jewelry Shop on the map.

Whack the strange Squee you stumble across to discover it's really Ramerl in disguise. Fend off the monsters when they appear. Once the threat is clear, Ramerl requests a few materials from you: 10 Crystallized Juice, 10 Nurvaxon, 10 Dendrite Spine, and a Charged Zug Molt.

The Charged Zug Molt is crafted by feeding a domesticated Zug Fatheaded Slurpers and Dusk Dust. If you haven't tamed one yet, go out and kill larger Zugs until they drop an egg. The Fatheaded Slurpers are caught randomly while fishing in the Savanna and Dusk Dust is mined off of Dusk Crystals with a level 2 pickaxe.

The electric Nurva trees drop both Nurvaxon and Dendrite Spines when harvested with a level 3 saw. They each have a low drop rate, but it shouldn't take long when you focus your efforts. Just watch out for the Wojacks who are quick to anger when you chop down a Nurva tree.

Return to Ramerl with the materials. While she prototypes the Juiceforge, monsters are beset upon you again. After fending them off, Ramerl rewards you with the schematic for the Juiceforge. Scuttle on back to your base to craft your own.

Head over to the Jackweaver to finally construct your Juiceforge. It requires 80 Crystalized Juice, 32 Myelar, and 2 Charged Zug Molt. Chances are, you'll only need to make the extra Zug Molt. You get a lot of Myelar from Nurva trees and you should have plenty of Crystallized Juice from all over the place.

Craft it and place it down through Build mode to enjoy creating the most outrageously powerful equipment you can muster.

Crashlands Guide: How to Find and Grind Crystallized Juice

Crashlands Guide: How to Find and Grind Crystallized Juice