I'm going to start out this review by paraphrasing the great Yahtzee Croshaw, as I oft do, and throw my support behind his notion that a game that fails due to over-ambition is much preferable than a game that fails because it tried to play it safe. Fluffy Puff Rampage strikes me as an ambitious project that eventually frustrated its creators to the point where they decided to throw up their arms and say "screw it, that'll do."
Making a game must be a lot of work, and Fluffy Puff Rampage is, I hope, proof of that. It's riddled with design choices that strike me as "quick fixes" to problems that the devs didn't know how to fix. "Hey, boss, I don't know why, but the save feature isn't working." "Did you look over the code?" "yeah, I don't know what's wrong." "Alright, just create a bunch of default save files that start off the player from every conceivable angle so that the game at least has the semblance of having a save feature" "now that I can do!"
From a gameplay standpoint, Fluffy Puff Rampage is okay. The levels are short to the point of being unsatisfying and the controls are quite sticky, especially when trying to pull off fancy combos or special moves, which all involve the use of that finicky block button. Other than that, it's a standard 2D beat em up not quite as good as the ones that litter Newgrounds.com.
The visual style is really good...I think. The levels are all themed really well and the enemy sprites seem to have a good bit of variety to them, but they're gone so soon after they appear that you don't really get any time to appreciate them.
Honestly, my only real gripe with this game is the whole "sticky controls" thing I grazed over. Everything else can be looked past, but this game really is a button masher on account of the sticky controls. Some people like that sort of thing, but I'm not a fan of button mashers. I find them to be repetitious and dull. Pulling off combos seems cool at first until you realize that spamming "kick" is infinitely more effective. Dominant strategy, yo. Were it not for that, I might have given this game my seal of approval.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay aggressive
Links
The Pillow Fights Back: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=426
Monday, April 1, 2013
Floor It!
Floor It is a game by the McLovin Squad (no, I'm not joking) that captures the emotional roller coaster of the tale of a ghost car wandering through a barren city, desperately trying to find fulfillment in his endless purgatory of existence.
April fools. It's just an unfinished racing game.
First off, I thought one of the prerequisites to being called a "racing" game was that there had to be a "race" of some kind, but the car you control is the only animated thing in the whole city.
More glaringly, however, the game just *feels* unfinished. I don't know whether to blame the engine or the graphics or what, but a game that can have you phasing through buildings to get swiftly to your next checkpoint doesn't really seem like a finished product.
When I found out that you could go through buildings without getting hurt, the game just became a round of "point your car in the direction of the little phallic arrow above you and hold 'W' until the arrow changes direction."
Then, I drove straight into a lake and transformed into what I think was a boat. Then the real fun began. At least as a car, I could enjoy the revving of my engine and the adrenaline rush that came from the speed I'd gather. In the boat, there are no such things. At least there was another boat chasing me, though. Even though it did absolutely nothing even when it rammed into my backside, it at least gave the whole experience the semblance of a racing game.
Then, I morphed into a plane and rocketed off into the sun, a confused, broken shell of a man.
The end.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay complete
Links
A Series of Roads: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=16249
April fools. It's just an unfinished racing game.
First off, I thought one of the prerequisites to being called a "racing" game was that there had to be a "race" of some kind, but the car you control is the only animated thing in the whole city.
More glaringly, however, the game just *feels* unfinished. I don't know whether to blame the engine or the graphics or what, but a game that can have you phasing through buildings to get swiftly to your next checkpoint doesn't really seem like a finished product.
When I found out that you could go through buildings without getting hurt, the game just became a round of "point your car in the direction of the little phallic arrow above you and hold 'W' until the arrow changes direction."
Then, I drove straight into a lake and transformed into what I think was a boat. Then the real fun began. At least as a car, I could enjoy the revving of my engine and the adrenaline rush that came from the speed I'd gather. In the boat, there are no such things. At least there was another boat chasing me, though. Even though it did absolutely nothing even when it rammed into my backside, it at least gave the whole experience the semblance of a racing game.
Then, I morphed into a plane and rocketed off into the sun, a confused, broken shell of a man.
The end.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay complete
Links
A Series of Roads: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=16249
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