The Astonishing Game

When you read this review keep in mind that this will not be a generic copypasta but my genuine feelings for this well created game. I have been a Dream Theater fan for all my life and just recently i learned of this games existence. Upon purchasing it for the very low and fair price of 2.99 USD I began to play it. The Astonishing Game is a 3D "chess" spinoff that is drastically different than its apparent inspiration. Although the tutorial is very hard to understand you can gain some knowledge of how to play by trial and error in the custom games. Now, with 100 hours currently logged in the game, i can humbly say that i am a pretty good player and one of the few remaining active fans of the game. The Astonishing Game has an endless amount of pros but sadly it does have some cons. As i stated above the game has many pros. The gameplay is very unique and unlike any other game on the market. As i said it is vaguely similar to chess if you can even call it similar. Each player (you can select different characters to play as with diff. abilities) has a number of camps and moral and you must spend the moral on different troops to take out 3 enemy camps. It is a very refreshing ex…

Dream Theater should stick to music.

The Good: -The game itself is a neat concept, and would probably work well as a physical board game. -It does a good job telling the story of the album, going into better detail than the lyrics of the songs. -Any Dream Theater fan that enjoys instrumental mixes of songs will appreciate the background music. -The keyboard unit kind of looks like Jordan Rudess. The Bad: -Menus and text boxes are full of typos. -Animations between story chapters are a bit sloppy. -Unit sounds could use some work. Militia units are loud and they clash with otherwise great background music. NOMACs (which is short for NOise MAChines) don't make a whole lot of noise. -The game tries too hard to avoid references to violence and death while telling a story that involves violence and death. Overall: I'd rate it 6/10. Only recommended for the most die-hard Dream Theater fans who also enjoyed The Astonishing album, or those who like tabletop board games.

Fun chess-like game with Dream Theater branding poured over it. Had this downloaded on my Surface that I'd take to college; great time-waster between study. The "Free optional in-game competition for exclusive Dream Theater prizes (in-game registering required)" and "The game comes with the option to freely enter exclusive competitions for grand prizes during Dream Theater’s tours" perks listed in the about seem to have only been used during the tour for The Astonishing; haven't seen anything about those since I bought it.

I am/was a HUGE Dream Theater fan. Since the days when they were called Majesty on the demo tape. I saw this game and felt i had to have it. Good thing it only costs $2.99. I think this game sucks, just like the Dream Theater album its named after.

The story makes a lot of sense, and is seamlessly interwoven with, and related to, the gameplay. Progressive metal artists and their fans have great taste!