Forgive me for being a bit underzealous as of late, but between my Art History and Russian Literature classes, I've been squeezing my brain dry for any semblance of wit I can wring out of the poor overworked bastard. It doesn't help that most of these games make no real mistakes but make no real triumphs, either, leading me to just phone it in and say "yeah, it's well made"
well made is a term I shouldn't throw around as much as I do, though. If a game simply doesn't offend me, that doesn't mean it was well-made, just that it was competently made. "well made" should be a term reserved for games like Super Squirrel; games that rely not on some creative gimmick to be fun to play, but on the ingenuity of its design and its mastery of pre-established formulae.
Super Squirrel is a platformer in which you have a gun and a sword to chop and blast enemies with. You start out in tutorial forest where you learn the basic ropes through a combination of good level design and obtrusive, unnecessary text. After that, you move to an overworld whence you can enter one of four levels.
Now, it's worth noting that I only completed the forest level and then went on to the desert, where I died and had to start from the very beginning of the game. That's right, once you lose all your lives, it's game over for realsies, which I think is one of the game's biggest missteps. I was very impressed, for example, of how the game gave me a wall-jump ability after the forest level and how useful it was during the desert level. I assumed that a new ability would be given at the end of each level and that all the levels were designed with ample opportunities to use them. However, since I don't have enough time or willpower to continue from the start every time I make a mistake, I can only assume, and I can't make recommendations based on assumptions.
I can, and will, however, recommend this game based on what I experienced: a genuinely well-made platformer with fantastic art style and game feel (the feeling of collecting massive amounts of acorns provides a sense of accomplishment not felt since A Flipping Good Time). If you're up for a challenge, check it out. That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay careful.
Links
widdwe squirr: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=483
