After a four year break and then a six week break, I decided to go for this again. The game is fairly engaging. The scenery is great. The storms are great. The corals are great. The tiger shark is great. The other sharks are not great. I’m curious when was the last time a goblin shark was ever seen on a tropical island? Goblin shark=gimmick. The hammerhead shark is twitchy. The blacktip reef shark is annoying (if it’s in the area, I just get shark repellent). The sea snake poisonings are also unneeded. Australia has had only one person die in over 80 years from a sea snake, so why are they so dangerous here? Haven’t engaged a great white. The small crabs are pretty great too. The giant crabs and large boars are totally unnecessary filler.
The hunting is fairly awful. This is sad since the game is so focused on it. (All shark hunting events come after a save since I refuse to keep losing spears from the clunky mechanics.) Farming is acceptable and not tedious. Spear fishing is a hoot. Some resources are a bit too scarce given their high need and are often rendered inside other objects. What’s up with the metal hammer? When has anyone ever wore out a steel hammer if used correctly? When has anyone ever swung a pickax under water? And with enough force to dislodge objects? Did the Beam Team actually try this for research purposes? Clearly not. Not sure why underwater pickax mining is needed, clay used to be found on the shore like the rocks. Do I really need forty compasses and flare guns and engine parts? When did we learn to fly anyway? We go from passenger on a private jet to crop duster pilot.
I’ve been alive for 27 days. Really only explored four islands thus far. Haven’t had any fish but still no achievement (as broken as achievements/trophies are in this game, I wonder why have them?). I’m not sure I even care about the other achievements as I don’t think it’s worth trying to get them. My raft design is a bit broken and I’m desperate to find more parts to fix it.
Found the aircraft carrier. Huge disappointment there. I expected something other than a completely empty island with a beached and upright (how’s that work?) carrier. But that’s all I got.
I saw the next game is in production or pre-production or planning stage or storyboards or whatever. The first game was in development for years and was released to console in a questionable state. Hopefully this won’t happen for game two. Either way, I’ll wait for a few years after release before buying a sequel.