Hey guys, guess what? My hotel has Wifi! YAY! Here are some reviews:
RydenStryke (I'm so sorry):
I think I messed up. The setup files are apparently corrupted, which sounds like nothing a simple reinstall couldn't fix, but I don't have any internet. Oops. For now, this is a broken game. As soon as I can, I'll reinstall and see if that fixes anything. If it does, I'll update this post. Many apologies :(
Salvage Youth:
To me, the most interesting thing about this game is its message in the lower right-hand corner of the screen throughout the game. It reads: "For educational use only." I can think of a lot of games that would have benefited from that caveat. A Series of Tubes, for example. Lots of terrible experiences can be redeemed at least somewhat with the simple phrase "it was a learning experience." Thing is, Salvage Youth isn't a terrible experience. Not even close. It's got its flaws, but it's a mostly enjoyable experience overall.
I'll admit, my experience with Salvage Youth was short. All I was able to do was watch a quick intro cinematic explaining the plot to Wall-E and play 5 minutes worth of the first level. I'm probably going to play around with this game a bit more in my spare time, but it did give me a reason to ragequit fairly early on, so I'm going to go ahead and use that as my excuse for calling this review legitimate.
First thing to note: this game looks amazing. It's not very often I see textures this detailed from a 3D DigiPen game, but even without the graphical quality, the visual direction is still well done. Everything is stylized with that cell-shaded look that I love so dearly, and the color placement makes the whole thing that much more enjoyable to look at.
The gameplay is solid for the most part. The basic gist is that you control 3 kids, swapping between them with the tab button. Each kid has their own unique abilities: there's the tech wiz, the track star, and the tank. You must utilize these three characters' abilities to progress throughout the level. This style may work from a narrative standpoint, as dialogue between the main characters is an effective method of characterization that doesn't seem quite as contrived as most monologues do, but it doesn't make much sense as a gameplay mechanic. Why couldn't I just control one character with three sets of abilities, kind of like in Rock-it Rails? The only difference is that here, there's some unnecessary travel time when one character has to catch up to the rest in order to do their jobs.
The game mitigates this problem in 2 ways: First, it requires that the three amigos sometimes be in two different places at the same time in order for the game to progress. This does alleviate the aforementioned problem, but that's exactly what it feels like: a contrivance that solves a gameplay flaw rather than serving the game as a whole. Second, the game allows you to call all the kids together at certain spots to minimize travel time. This, I have no problem with.
Do note, of course, that these are but nitpicks in the face of a much more beautiful product. The characters are fun to play with, especially the track star, and the whole game is just so damn charming that it was tough for me to put it down...that is, until I ran into the ragequit moment.
One of the three amigos, the fat one, has the ability to pick up and move blocks. This ability manifests itself in block-stacking puzzles: my favorite! Seriously, I love it when a game incorporates something so silly and game-y as a block stacking puzzle. It worked fantastically in Deus Ex and it would work fantastically here too if the blocks didn't react with each other about as stably as francium reacts with water (chemisty joke, check). At one point, I placed a block on top of another block only to have one block rocket up into the sky, never to be seen again, effectively ending the level and forcing me to restart.
So yeah. That was the ragequit moment. All-in-all, I say this game is worth checking out. You just might learn something.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay educational.
Links
Ryden Dirty: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=412
Salvagery of the Young: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25915
