Miner Wars 2081

 PC
User Score
5.9

Mixed or average reviews- based on 72 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 36 out of 72
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 72
  3. Negative: 24 out of 72

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  1. Pysiu
    May 27, 2013
    1
    Developer is a liar and money grabber.
    Game supposed to be an opened space sandbox. Turned out to be arcade shooter in 3d with poor/crappy usage of 6DOF.
    Graphic is nice but other than this- BIG DISSAPOINTMENT. I was one of the alpha funders for this game- sadly what could have been a great game (or at least was advertised as such) was divided into parts- you will get sandbox in MMO    Developer is a liar and money grabber.
    Game supposed to be an opened space sandbox. Turned out to be arcade shooter in 3d with poor/crappy usage of 6DOF.

    Graphic is nice but other than this- BIG DISSAPOINTMENT.
    I was one of the alpha funders for this game- sadly what could have been a great game (or at least was advertised as such) was divided into parts- you will get sandbox in MMO but not in MW2081...
    This is outrageous...    … Expand
  2. nomanredd
    Mar 24, 2013
    0
    Do not buy this game. The owner/developer of this game censoring and banning people left and right if you get into his bad side. http://steamcommunity.com/app/223430/discussions/0/846947320717087055/

    Not only is he keen on lying and threatening his customers, he will ban you as well.
  3. Coeco
    Dec 3, 2012
    0
    I funded this game when it was waaay back in pre-alpha with promises of a persistent world, mining to develop your ship & character and now ages later, all they've managed to achieve is a deathmatch mode which no-one plays, a severely lacking and unbalanced storymode and the developers censoring people on Youtube who brings the game's DRM up. Yep, it's there. 100% online connection orI funded this game when it was waaay back in pre-alpha with promises of a persistent world, mining to develop your ship & character and now ages later, all they've managed to achieve is a deathmatch mode which no-one plays, a severely lacking and unbalanced storymode and the developers censoring people on Youtube who brings the game's DRM up. Yep, it's there. 100% online connection or GTFO. Avoid this game at all cost.… Expand
  4. Scorcher24
    Dec 4, 2012
    3
    Always online DRM for singleplayer. That is all what is there to say. I can't understand how an Indie Developer thinks he can win the piracy war with measurements like this. It is not like I am never online or have an unstable connection - it is a matter of principle. I enjoy singleplayer and play online only with friends avoiding the abusive masses. Why do I need to log into a server onAlways online DRM for singleplayer. That is all what is there to say. I can't understand how an Indie Developer thinks he can win the piracy war with measurements like this. It is not like I am never online or have an unstable connection - it is a matter of principle. I enjoy singleplayer and play online only with friends avoiding the abusive masses. Why do I need to log into a server on the other end of the world for playing offline and have my gaming experience maybe tainted with lags and connection issues? I don't expect it, but I don't take chances either, because we deal with an Indie here. I doubt that this developer is capable of having a worldwide network to ensure the maximum gaming performance for everyone.

    I give 3 points because the game itself seems to work, but any more would be praising the devil.
    Ubisoft learned its lesson - hopefully Keen Software House will learn it before it is too late.    … Expand
  5. Systemstatic
    Nov 30, 2012
    2
    When I bought this game, I thought, "Oh, this looks like an interesting cross between freelancer and minecraft" and to an extent, it is. But what they neglect to tell you is that more than half of the stuff on the screen isn't actually destructible, combat is flatly unfun, and the scale of the game world is off-putting (You fly through claustrophobic little tunnels in your space ship.) TheWhen I bought this game, I thought, "Oh, this looks like an interesting cross between freelancer and minecraft" and to an extent, it is. But what they neglect to tell you is that more than half of the stuff on the screen isn't actually destructible, combat is flatly unfun, and the scale of the game world is off-putting (You fly through claustrophobic little tunnels in your space ship.) The story was to me, uninteresting and difficult to grasp. If you're looking for something to purchase and be pleasantly surprised, look somewhere else - this game was $20 wasted for me.… Expand
  6. dNider
    Dec 7, 2012
    0
    I really wanted to like this game and why not, it promised to be a mix of Descent with a expansive feel of a space sim all in a world that was fully destructible. Then the game came out and it wasn't just bad, but it was bad in the most unethical way possible. It promised more than it could deliver -- 360 degrees of missed opportunities.
    The only resemblance to Descent may just be the    I really wanted to like this game and why not, it promised to be a mix of Descent with a expansive feel of a space sim all in a world that was fully destructible. Then the game came out and it wasn't just bad, but it was bad in the most unethical way possible. It promised more than it could deliver -- 360 degrees of missed opportunities.
    The only resemblance to Descent may just be the out dated and virtually pixelated textures that the game uses, just one part of Miner Wars overall poor art direction with 3D models that make Quake look advanced and colors schemes that came out of a box of Trix.
    Couple this with poor voice acting of a script that a 12 year old wrote along with controls that are inconsistent and just as non-responsive with a graphic engine that makes the most advance GPUs cry and you'll wonder what DRM that requires a constant internet connection is really protecting.

    Recommendation: Stay FAR FAR away from this forsaken game.    … Expand
  7. CarpGames
    Jan 2, 2013
    1
    Descent was a truly amazing game, especially at LAN parties. I'd be over the moon if someone managed a decent remake of it. Miner Wars was clearly an attempt, but only in the sense that one could claim a two year old child was attempting to recreate the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel by throwing jelly around the kitchen whilst soiling themselves. Amateurish rubbish of the highest order.Descent was a truly amazing game, especially at LAN parties. I'd be over the moon if someone managed a decent remake of it. Miner Wars was clearly an attempt, but only in the sense that one could claim a two year old child was attempting to recreate the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel by throwing jelly around the kitchen whilst soiling themselves. Amateurish rubbish of the highest order. Avoid at all costs.… Expand
  8. Diswin
    Jan 17, 2013
    2
    Another desperate attempt to squeeze some money from canonical title. Game is not "Descent", its not even close to Descent. Poor design, ugly battle mechanic, weird multi-functional repair boxes, paranoid storyline with China, Russia and so one. Graphics can be better and loading times are shorter. Sound and music... yes, there are sound and music in the game, not worth mentioning anyway.Another desperate attempt to squeeze some money from canonical title. Game is not "Descent", its not even close to Descent. Poor design, ugly battle mechanic, weird multi-functional repair boxes, paranoid storyline with China, Russia and so one. Graphics can be better and loading times are shorter. Sound and music... yes, there are sound and music in the game, not worth mentioning anyway. Overall - waste of money.… Expand
  9. Phasmatis
    Dec 26, 2012
    3
    I recently purchased this game on steam as I have gained a lot of interest in the space sim genre and didn't care about the multiplayer nor single player but only the interesting sandbox mode where i could mine asteroids. On the first day I couldn't even play the game as it has always on DRM and couldn't connect to the servers.

    On the second day:today: I was able to connect to the    I recently purchased this game on steam as I have gained a lot of interest in the space sim genre and didn't care about the multiplayer nor single player but only the interesting sandbox mode where i could mine asteroids. On the first day I couldn't even play the game as it has always on DRM and couldn't connect to the servers.

    On the second day:today: I was able to connect to the servers but only to be able to play single player if I wanted to play multiplayer I would have to contact the games customer support. First thing in game I was dropped into a lame mission with zero orientation as to the mechanics (though I was able to figure them out with a bit of effort on my part) other than this is the history. The mission glitchy forcing me to roam around before it recognized I was on the objective marker, mining is tedious and not made up for by the destruction physics which aren't even used but exist more as a novelty or for multiplayer. When I finally finished the mission the travel mechanic was entirely unituitive forcing you to have to zoom in on a tiny square of the world map to which I didn't care as I believe I had finally gotten to the open world part before the game crashed. I honestly suspect this game is still in beta as its mechanics don't seem to work very well.

    In conclusion the game doesn't work correctly, has always on DRM that is not advertised, and is missing core mechanics from the steam store advertisement. Avoid this game there are way better space sims coming down the road.    … Expand
  10. valiorik
    Dec 28, 2012
    0
    It very poor on content. And the sandbox doesn't looks like a sandbox at all. You are simply flying in narrow tunnels all of the time. Plus you must be always online to play it. Why? I have no idea. Online doesn't give you anything.
  11. JonnysBeard
    Feb 19, 2015
    2
    Miner Wars is a sad attempt to revive the 6DOF genre. When it was announced with words like "we love Descent" and Dan Wentz (composer of the Descent 2 MIDI soundtrack) joined in the hopes were high but in the end if failed to deliver. If I'm referencing Descent a lot it's not only because it defined the genre but because the developers brought it up time and time again.

    For an    Miner Wars is a sad attempt to revive the 6DOF genre. When it was announced with words like "we love Descent" and Dan Wentz (composer of the Descent 2 MIDI soundtrack) joined in the hopes were high but in the end if failed to deliver. If I'm referencing Descent a lot it's not only because it defined the genre but because the developers brought it up time and time again.

    For an inspiration they took the history of Descent 4's cancellation: it was supposed to use the GeoMod engine that was then used for Red Faction. So what they did was making it about miners with destructible environments but with 6DOF gameplay. It's not the worst somebody could come up with but in combination with an uninspired cold war scenario plus something about aliens it really shows they were really uninspired.
    The 'fully destructible environment' only applies when you're not flying through stitched together prefab corridors which is 80% of the time. It is possible to mine resources and the voxel based asteroids will reshape accordingly which is kind of nice but it's novelty wears of really quickly when you discover how tedious and not worth your time it is.

    The graphics are a bit too colorful for my taste but overall OK. The level design sadly doesn't create any good atmosphere except for feeling lost. Descent made use of different textures to suggest where up and down is and rooms would vary in color and shape which helped navigating greatly. In Miner Wars every room is one of a few big prefabs that repeat time and time again which makes exploring levels a nightmare, especially if you consider there is no map. To make up for this they implemented a GPS to point you to your next objective but hitting the key every time you pass through a door isn't that fun.

    The gameplay could have salvaged it but it's the worst thing about the entire game.
    To begin with it's a quiet fast paced game which in it self isn't bad. What is bad is the fact that switching weapons requires the use of the mouse cursor so when you run out of ammo in a tight situation you can't do anything but hope to survive while selecting another weapon. Repairing or refilling oxygen requires you to open the inventory which again is mouse operated. In theory you can just pick up items and use them immediately but then you're wasting their potential. It's nice to be able to save powerups for later but the way it is implemented was a really bad design choice.

    But what finally kills it is the actual combat. To begin with every enemy is marked so there is never a suspense when or where enemies will come from. Basically they spawn somewhere based on triggers placed around the level, take a direct route to the player and then freeze in place because they have no AI. If you wait in front of a door the enemies will pile up and can 'easily' be dispatched every single time. Only problem with this is they are pretty good at aiming and dodging bullets that hit instantly is pretty hard so good luck.

    It gets 2/10 points for the use of voxels, the decent graphics and for being a playable game if you look past all it's flaws. The rest is taken away by bad writing, awful level design, non-existent AI and for not delivering what was promised in the first place. The Miner Wars MMO never happened. For good reasons but still...    … Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
52

Mixed or average reviews - based on 9 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 9
  3. Negative: 2 out of 9
  1. PC Master (Greece)
    Jun 10, 2013
    72
    Fans of the old Descent games will go mental, no doubt about it. Miner Wars 2081 will also be a blast for gamers that want a sci-fi space shooter with an interesting story, charming setting and solid gameplay. [March 2013]
  2. PC PowerPlay
    Mar 7, 2013
    50
    Developer Keen Software House has overextended its reach. [March 2013, p.90]
  3. Everyeye.it
    Feb 20, 2013
    60
    Miner Wars is a game with great potential, perhaps wasted. Defects are many: poor IA, complex level design, technical sector not great increase the sense of frustration that might have been.
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