Ooh, look! Wordplay! I like this game already. The installer was also kind enough to remind me that I am in fact playing the GOLD version of this game. Fancy shmancy.
This 2D platformer was made back in the 2004-2005 academic year, which may explain some rather egregious technical issues such as the game closing every time I alt+tab out to write something about it.
The Sophomores who made this game were clearly paying attention during their classes on conveyance, because once again this game pulls off the ol' difficulty curve quite nicely. The game starts simple enough by plopping you into a simplistic world of animals and aliens with the simple objective of going right. Finally, a game didn't feel the need to explain anything to me with anything other than its mechanics. I was on my own to figure out the controls and you know what? I like it that way. I didn't figure out how to shoot until I was halfway through the first level and that's a good thing because not knowing how to shoot forced me to explore alternate methods of dispatching my enemies. Before long you're merrily gliding through the game pressing buttons you didn't even know existed. Keep in mind that nary a tutorial was ever given to achieve this sense of flow, and the game is better off for it. And yes, I know there's an options screen that displays the functions of all the buttons on the menu screen, but nobody forces you to click on that and it's nice to have the option to remap your controls.
The graphics are as good as one can expect from sprites drawn in what I assume to be a primitive version of MS Paint. Once again, they are hardly a selling point.
The sound is fine, but heaven have mercy on the poor soul who doesn't immediately go to the options menu and turn the SFX volume down.
I assume the multiplayer works well. I say assume because I'm a bit of a shut-in this weekend and didn't get a chance to check it out. Let's just call this section of the review an I.O.U.
and now for the bad bits...
Once again, this game has no save feature. I'm just as angry about it as I was with previous titles, but I'm kind of growing to accept it. What makes matters even worse is that this game closes the second you alt+tab away from it, as I mentioned earlier. I didn't get the chance to complete the whole game because of this, so for all I know, something could happen later in the game that completely negates everything I've said so far.
In addition, the game can get very monotonous at times, especially during the first boss segment and the parts immediately thereafter.
Oh well, it's still an amusing little sidescroller despite its many design flaws and I'm glad to have it on my hard drive. It will be a useful tool during a debate tournament or something when a buddy and I will have nothing to do for half an hour.
That's all for now, folks. Insert witty sign off here. (damn, I was saving that one for a rainy day.)
Links
meh: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=478
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Ancient Forest and Grumpy Monsters
*sigh* I knew this day would come. The day where I have to sacrifice my already minimal credibility as a reviewer and admit that there are just certain genres that I don't care for. One of those genres is strategy, in particular, tower defense.
My prejudices aside, Ancient Forest and Grumpy Monsters is a very functional tower defense game. The first level is very simple, allowing the player to figure out the functions of the game (although I would have preferred if I wasn't told exactly what to do by giant text screens that aren't even grammatically sound interrupting the flow of the game every five minutes). Each of the 19 levels introduces something new, creating a nice difficulty curve. I feel like I'd really like this game if it wasn't a genre that I didn't particularly like. Oh well.
Alright, that's all I got for this one. Sorry for the anemic post today but hey, that means less reading for you internet trolls and more time looking up videos of cats jumping from high places.
Until next time. Stay beautiful.
links
this: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25873
My prejudices aside, Ancient Forest and Grumpy Monsters is a very functional tower defense game. The first level is very simple, allowing the player to figure out the functions of the game (although I would have preferred if I wasn't told exactly what to do by giant text screens that aren't even grammatically sound interrupting the flow of the game every five minutes). Each of the 19 levels introduces something new, creating a nice difficulty curve. I feel like I'd really like this game if it wasn't a genre that I didn't particularly like. Oh well.
Alright, that's all I got for this one. Sorry for the anemic post today but hey, that means less reading for you internet trolls and more time looking up videos of cats jumping from high places.
Until next time. Stay beautiful.
links
this: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25873
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