Dodge Bubble is yet another construction kit template copy+paste from serial shovelware pushers, My Way Games. These guys do nothing but copy premade game templates and game tutorials, fill out a few things/stamp out basic levels using the construction kit templates, slap on an asset flipped set of sprites/assets, and dump them on Steam and into cheap nasty shovelware game bundles as cash grabs. Trying to get paid for someone else's game templates, assets... at best, this is shovelware, at worst, it's a scam/cash grab.
This time they ripped off someone's basic tech demo for a mobile app, just tap on the phone screen to make a ball bounce around, and try not to get hit by stuff... and given the "developers" prior history of asset flip scams and their close business ties to Russian asset flippers and paid review scammers, we shouldn't be surprised if this is just someone else's stolen game, dumped here on Steam to try scam gamers out of a few roubles for someone else's work.
HaDe Games/My Way Games have shown a repeat pattern of unethically dumping other people's work onto Steam as a cheap, nasty cash grab, through this account or through closely linked/alt accounts. Here's some examples so you can see for yourself:
[list]
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/628580]Miniballist[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/packs/endless-turns-63501]Endless Turns[/url] developed by SGLib Games
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1058980]Dinosaur Bone Digging[/url]" = [url=https://www.sellanycode.com/item/515/dinosaur-bone-digging-games]Dinosaur Bone Digging Games[/url] developed by Ardian Kaltara
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1054930]Mine the Gold[/url]" = [url=https://unityassets4free.com/goldmine/]Gold Miner Century[/url] developed by SplayGame Official
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1058500]Muscle Car Robot[/url]" = [url=https://gamening.com/muscle-car-robot/]Muscle Car Robot[/url] developed by GameNing
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/645360]CubeXL[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/packs/switch-the-gravity-63196]Switch The Gravity[/url] developed by App Advisory
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1034160]Extreme Racing On Highway[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/packs/highway-racer-50866]Highway Racer[/url] developed by BoneCracker Games
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1058930]Top Burger[/url]" = [url=https://unityfreaks.com/asset/4815]Top Burger Chef[/url] developed by KetchAp
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1020600]Extreme Truck Simulator[/url]" = [url=https://www.sellmyapp.com/downloads/crazy-cargo-truck-driver-2022/]Crazy Cargo Truck Driver[/url] developed by Dive Sole
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/768060]The Warrior Of Treasures[/url]" = [url=https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/dynamic-combat-system]Dynamic Combat System[/url] developed by Grzegorz Szewczyk
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/864010]Space Force[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/x-racer-35344]X-Racer[/url] developed by Deer Cat
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/809340]Extreme School Driving Simulator[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/physics/realistic-car-controller-16296]Realistic Car Controller[/url] developed by BoneCracker Games
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1643280]Fancy the Frog[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/2d/characters/pixel-adventure-1-155360]Pixel Adventure 1[/url] developed by Pixel Frog
[/list]
Taking this shovelware seriously as if it was a genuine attempt to make a game, it doesn't meet basic minimum requirements that most PC gamers expect as standard.
There's no option to change the resolution and no useful graphics tweaks. There's no way to ensure this is running at the native resolution of your display. There's no guarantee this game will look right on any PC as a result of this hamfisted design decision.
The game features somewhat lazy, simplistic "retro" looking 2D graphics, of the type you normally expect to see in low effort Flash/browser games and mobile apps. Considering this is being evaluated as a PC game, having the graphics phoned in like this isn't going to result in a high quality, visually impressive game that PC gamers are used to seeing.
The controls can't be customised because the game has such a dumbed down, simplified interface that it's just iPhone screen tapping stuff. The fact that the interface is this dumbed down might be seen as a problem in itself, however... this is a fairly shallow experience if you're the kind of gamer that likes to play games with deep, rich control schemes and interaction. You'll get none of that here.
This looks and feels like a mobile app, but I wasn't able to find it on the app stores. Maybe it was removed, maybe it was rejected by Apple and Google (they do have more rigorous quality standards than Valve does for Steam, after all).
Regardless, for all intents and purposes Dodge Bubble might as well be a mobile app, it has the same limitations and dumbed down qualities. It's impossible to recommend such a game to PC gamers. We don't spend all this money building gaming rigs so we can pretend they're iPhones and play games that might as well be mobile apps.
These technical defects push this game below acceptable standards for any modern PC game.
The poor quality of this game is reflected by how many people spent time with it. At the time of this review, SteamDB shows the all-time peak player number was only 3 players. This is a remarkably low number, and now, the only player activity occurs once or twice a month, presumably someone loading it up to see what it is then quickly uninstalling it. Considering there's over 120 million gamers on Steam and well over 130,000 games for gamers to choose from, the overwhelming lack of interest in this low quality game is to be expected.
It's also important to note the "developer" here has connections to a number of shady Russian asset flippers and review manipulators who show an organised pattern to scam and defraud gamers with fake reviews and asset flipping the work of others for profit. While reviews are about the games, gamers should be informed when developers act unethically. Whether these connections are the same developer using multiple accounts, or just working closely with other unethical developers, gamers should be warned about the harm to gamers by this developer and their associates. Buying games from unethical developers puts your money at risk.
So, should you buy this game? Is this one of the best of the 130,000+ games on Steam?
Dodge Bubble is relatively cheap at $1 USD, but it's not worth it. Given the defects and quality issues with the game, coupled with the unrealistic price, and the questionable ethical nature of the developer and/or their associates (as outlined above), this is impossible to recommend. Because this is the kind of game you can just play for free on mobile phones, it's impossible to recommend anyone should pay money for the same experience on Steam. This is also competing with over 14,000 free games available on Steam, many of them far better than this paid product.
[quote][b][url=https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/marketing/profile]Profile Features Limited![/url][/b]
Valve have marked this game as "Profile Features Limited" at the time of this review. This is usually caused by poor sales figures and low community acceptance for the game (to date). Until this status changes, this game will not give you +1 to your Game Collector badge count, appear in profile achievements or any other Steam meta-accomplishments, nor can it be displayed in some profile showcases. If these factors are important to you, it may be worth holding off before buying this game.[/quote]
