The first thing I want to talk about with this one is the options screen. It's quite an interesting design choice that there are no options in the options screen...hmm...got a good feeling about this one.
So the main thing with this game is that I absolutely hated it in the beginning, but then it grew on me. I would notice a certain design choice and say "why would anyone do that? that's asinine," but then I would realize what it accomplished and I'd let out a big "ooooh now I get it."
For example, let's talk visual style. Everything is made up of neon shapes like you'd find in Asteroids, which is a tad on the unoriginal side. Both you and certain enemies emit these ridiculously long particle trails that look terrible at first, but then you see a little bit of an enemy's trail at the edge of a screen and go "oh now I know where to go. That was clever."
The mechanics are like that, too. I was just about ready to denounce this game because you move so unbelievably slowly; but then you get into a dogfight with a purple triangle and find yourself scrambling to out-maneuver it.
There's also this really cool mechanic where you are surrounded by an aura, and if an enemy gets inside that aura, your score multiplier goes up. That way, you as the player have to choose between staying away from dangerous enemies and going near them to get more points.
All in all, it seems like the developers knew what they were doing with this one. It's the kind of design a critic loves because everything seems to have a purpose...mostly. There are some things that I just don't understand about this game. For example, the music is really dark and scary but the sprites are all colorful. What kind of mood were they trying to set here? Because the "fight for your life/inevitable demise" mood the music seems to be going for just doesn't work. Also, you can't shoot through enemies, but other enemies can. I learned that lesson after one really enraging game over.
All in all, this game was kinda fun, but nothing to brag about. You can definitely appreciate the design and you can certainly learn from Onoma, but if you're just looking to have a good time, your time is probably better spent elsewhere. Good job altogether, though.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay thoughtful
Links
Oh no, ma: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24647
