This game fancies itself a "reverse bullet hell," which intrigued me because the fun of a bullet hell is that you are vastly outmatched by your adversaries, yet you get to overcome all odds and take down things a million times your size, so what would the reverse be? You crushing a relatively tiny spaceship with one shot to nobody's surprise? When the game also touts its "automatic running and automatic shooting," I'm left genuinely puzzled as to where the creators of this game expected to generate challenge.
Well, after playing the first level, I think I get it: "reverse bullet hell" is sort of a misnomer. Sure, there are bullets flying out of you at an alarming rate, reducing almost every enemy in your path to potato salad, but such things happen in Jetpack Joyride and Super C but I'd hardly classify those as "reverse bullet hell." what this game is, really, is a freerunning game.
In the first level, I don't think anything can kill you. All that happens if an enemy hits you or you run into a spikey wall is that your speed decreases. And you know what? I love that idea! A game like this that bases itself almost completely off speed and flow needs nothing more than for a player's mistake to result in the loss of speed and flow. The player learns their lesson, yet they don't have to perform the same sequence of tasks over and over again. There's still challenge, but the challenge is not in whether or not you'll beat the level, it's in how quickly and with how many points you'll do it. That structure provides a constant stream of fun and oodles of replay value.
But then...the next two levels happen. At first, it's nothing too harmful. There's a giant robot T-Rex following you, and if he catches up to you, you're toast. While I wasn't a fan of this addition, I see what they were trying to do. After all, it adds more incentive to go fast, which is what the game is all about. But then, in the third level, there's tons of stuff that can instakill you. Sometimes the giant robot spider following you will shoot a death beam across the top of the screen, forcing you to not jump for a few seconds, which is more of a frustration than a genuine challenge. Most annoyingly of all, there are certain gaps in the floor that kill you if you fall into them. I'm going at like 300mph, game! How do you expect me to predict whether or not I'll fall into a gap that's completely offscreen at the time of my jump?
Oh well. All-in-all, the game is still very fun. It's pleasing in every sense. The art is original and creative, the sounds meld together beautifully, and the gameplay is real adrenaline-pumping action. This one gets my seal of approval. Give it a go.
Links
Gotta Go Fast: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24650
Saturday, August 10, 2013
Rocket Doll
You know, I like a game that doesn't overstay its welcome, but there's a fine line between concise and anemic. Rocket Doll has a grand total of 2 levels, each not lasting more than 5 minutes. I've always held to the notion that a game can be as short as it takes to explore its mechanics fully without dwelling on them, but if it only takes you 10 minutes then maybe you simply don't have enough mechanics to explore. In the case of Rocket Doll, I can think only of two: rocket jumping and hitting targets to lower walls...Jeez, when you look at it that way, 10 minutes seems kinda generous!
So yeah, the game loses points straightaway because of its length, but as long as those 10 minutes were fun, the game will still get a pass by me. So, were they? Well...kinda. I have the suspicion that the only reason those 10 minutes were fun was because I was throwing splodey rockets everywhere, because everything else about the game, while not too terrible, was pretty sub-par, which is a word I love using because it makes me sound like I'm sampling Merlot.
Anyway, the visual design would be impressive if this game were made in 2002, but that was more than a decade ago. You may think this sounds hypocritical for a guy who praises the N64 era as the greatest in video game history, but even games like Deus Ex, whose graphics are terribly dated, had some sense of visual consistency. Even without the white text at the start of a new level, I could immediately tell if I was in Hong Kong or Paris or what have you. In Rocket Doll, I had no idea where the hell I was. I knew I was probably somewhere underground because I was surrounded by dirt, but then there were green and yellow metal platforms and green force fields and what the hell is going on?
Besides, even games with horrible 3D art (like System Shock 2) still held my attention because of all the little things. I don't care that the characters faces look like paper masks because that's not what it takes to truly immerse. In Rocket Doll, what happened to the footstep sounds or the character grunts?
Well, there is some attention to detail. It is a little charming to see a splotch of soot where your rocket landed, but that's about it.
All-in-all, it's a sort of fun romp but it's not a game I would praise for its design elements. That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay splodey.
Links
Do a Docket Roll: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26699
So yeah, the game loses points straightaway because of its length, but as long as those 10 minutes were fun, the game will still get a pass by me. So, were they? Well...kinda. I have the suspicion that the only reason those 10 minutes were fun was because I was throwing splodey rockets everywhere, because everything else about the game, while not too terrible, was pretty sub-par, which is a word I love using because it makes me sound like I'm sampling Merlot.
Anyway, the visual design would be impressive if this game were made in 2002, but that was more than a decade ago. You may think this sounds hypocritical for a guy who praises the N64 era as the greatest in video game history, but even games like Deus Ex, whose graphics are terribly dated, had some sense of visual consistency. Even without the white text at the start of a new level, I could immediately tell if I was in Hong Kong or Paris or what have you. In Rocket Doll, I had no idea where the hell I was. I knew I was probably somewhere underground because I was surrounded by dirt, but then there were green and yellow metal platforms and green force fields and what the hell is going on?
Besides, even games with horrible 3D art (like System Shock 2) still held my attention because of all the little things. I don't care that the characters faces look like paper masks because that's not what it takes to truly immerse. In Rocket Doll, what happened to the footstep sounds or the character grunts?
Well, there is some attention to detail. It is a little charming to see a splotch of soot where your rocket landed, but that's about it.
All-in-all, it's a sort of fun romp but it's not a game I would praise for its design elements. That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay splodey.
Links
Do a Docket Roll: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26699
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