[h1]TLDR[/h1]
[b]Uncle Chop's Rocket Shop[/b] is a fun game that unfortunately suffers from some quality of life issues. Ultimately, it's a solid game that I would recommend.
[h2]The Good[/h2]
[u]Fixing Ships:[/u] At first you'll be reliant on your guidebook. But once you get more familiar with the different ship components you'll find yourself not needing it anymore. The first time you ace a fix without the guidebook feels good, it feels like a real accomplishment, and there are a multitude of components.
[u]The Story:[/u] The story was surprising, I wasn't expecting this game to take the turns that it did and, in an attempt to not spoil anything, I'll leave it at that.
[u]The Characters:[/u] There are multiple characters that you'll meet that feel very lifelike, genuine, and loveable. I'd love to get a beer with Droose.
[u]The Upgrades:[/u] Testing out different upgrade combinations can be fun. The ultimate being the Inflationator and Money Tree combo.
[u]The Aesthetics:[/u] The look of the game is fantastic, it's quirky, and it's lively. The world feels alive thanks to the quality art and music.
[h2]The Bad[/h2]
[u]Customers:[/u] Customers have a "patience" gauge that ticks down over time. The thought being; the quicker you fix their ship, the happier they'll be, the happier the customer is, the higher tip they'll give you. The big issue here is that every customer has THE SAME PATIENCE (ignoring the Grumpy, Jovial, and Patient customers. Though these are also meaningless towards the endgame). This is all well and good until you get further into the game where customers need like 6 components fixed and there's zero chance that you can get them all fixed before the customer get's pissed. The patience upgrade "Syd's Cigarettes" is genuinely useless toward the end game as there's no way in hell that you'll be able to fix everything in a timely manner even with the upgrade. [b][u]How this could be fixed:[/u][/b] If the patience gauge was tied to the number (and difficulty) of the jobs the customer has, this could be tweaked to make it actually doable.
[u]Mouse Only:[/u] I almost understand the decision for making the entire component fixing mouse-only. But having to click to open your tool tray only to accidently grab the wrong tool can be extremely frustrating as the clock is always ticking and every second counts. [u][b]How to fix:[/b][/u] There are only two tool upgrades you can get. What if there was a "toolbelt" upgrade you could get that would allow you to hotkey your tools? This would not only fix this issue, but make it so you could fix components slightly faster which could help with the "patience gauge" issue above.
[u]The Guidebook:[/u] The guidebook in and of itself isn't bad. The biggest issue is the fact that the game actively teases you if you "don't read the manual", but then leaves out super important information. Example: If you ever need to fix the VR component and get the "I open when up is down" issue. The guidebook doesn't tell you that you need to leave the VR realm, open the VR panel, and switch the wires so that your up and down wires are swapped. There's nothing in the guidebook that even tells you that you [i]can[/i] open the VR panel. [u][b]How to fix any guidebook issues: [/b][/u] First off, for the VR example above, a page needs to be added that tells player that they can open the VR panel. Secondly, if there was an option that would allow players to call in a test ship, a ship that they could practice specific components on, this would be a non-issue. But instead players are expected to bash their head against the components until they either figure it out themselves, or they throw up their hands and just google how to do it.
[u]Fatal Jobs:[/u] There are two main fatal jobs that I ran into. The bomb defusal job, and Reactor jobs. For both, I don't think that anyone, besides for the devs, are capable of completing these jobs on the first go. I understand wanting to make some jobs more difficult, but three bombs that you need to defuse in 99 seconds or your entire run is over? Some reactors will blow in around 20 seconds ending your hour long run because you were trying to take some time to read the guidebook (how dare you try to read the guidebook). [u][b]How to fix:[/b][/u] This could be fixed in the exact same way as the guidebook fix I suggested above. If the player had the option, maybe at the end of a day, to call in a practice ship (that wouldn't kill them if they failed) they could practice these trickier components without having to go google stuff.
[h2]Conclusion[/h2]
This game is still really fun and I would recommend it to anyone who also enjoys these kinds of games. But there are some poor choices, or oversights, that were made that make the game seem like it's fighting to not be fun. It [i]is[/i] an indie game, so everything I say should be taken with a grain of salt.
