I want you all to use your imaginations for a sec: Imagine Ikaruga as a voluptuous young woman. Now imagine Megaman X as a spirited young man. Imagine the two find each other at a bar one night and Megaman X takes Ikaruga back to his place for a bout of energetic young passion. Now, imagine what comes from that about 9 months later. The answer is PhaseOut.
Now that I've thoroughly confused and probably disgusted you with that delightful bit of imagery, let me explain. PhaseOut is a fast paced platformer involving wall jumping (there's the Megaman X) and polarity between red and blue, making certain things intangible and others not (there's Ikaruga).
I really don't feel like running down the list and complimenting every aspect of the design, so just imagine the best case scenario given what I told you so far. Now, imagine that with minimalist yet still charming 2.5D visual style that takes a turn for the unnecessarily confusing when the background changes from green, a color reserved only for background, to blue, a color also utilized by sometimes intangible platforms. Other than that one very confusing design choice, there's not much to complain about in the looks department.
The biggest problem with the game isn't even a problem with the game. It's a problem with my computer. When I'm pressing both the up and left arrow keys, the space bar doesn't work. The space bar is what you use to switch between red and blue. The levels are all designed to be very challenging when you're able to switch colors mid-jump, so imagine how frustrating it gets when half of the time, you have to stop moving for a split second in order to change color at the right time. It's kind of if like Super Meat Boy simply decided not to hold onto walls while he was facing left unless you were pressing some arbitrary button like "left crtl" or something.
Now I know what you're thinking: Dean, if the only major issue you took with the game wasn't its fault, then you've got to give it your seal of approval, right? Well, as much as it pains me, no. I want to give this game my seal of approval for its brilliantly challenging yet doable (in theory) design. I want to give it my seal of approval for having a competent level select. I want to give it my seal of approval for its aesthetics, sound design, feel, everything...but I just can't get past that one big ol' flaw. See, I still think the devs share some blame here. The "WASD" keys are never used in the game...why not?! Maybe my computer is the only one with the arrow keys problem, but I'm pretty sure it's a common problem. I know they designed the game mostly with an Xbox controller in mind, but I don't have any of those. Sorry guys, but for your lack of consideration for the keyboard warriors, I can't in good conscience give this game my seal of approval. Still, though, to my audience if I have one, check this game out. It's one of the most fun platformers on this list.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay intangible
Links
Red/Blue Shift: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24672
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Perspective
Alright, this one was interesting. Really interesting.
You remember when you were little and you would play with action figures or dolls or whatever you want to call them? Remember how you would make them jump around on cabinets and tables and whatnot? Now, did you ever have one of those moments when you were really tired but you still wanted to play with your toy, so you kind of unfocused your vision and made the action figure jump around on the outlines of cabinets and tabletops in the distance? Well, that's kind of what this game is.
In case that explanation was a bit too asinine for you, I'll try to use more technical terms. By pressing LMB, you can switch between controlling the camera and controlling Mr. Blue Jumpy Man. If Mr. Blue Jumpy Man, to be hitherto referred to as "MBJM," touches orange, he dies. He can only stand on blue platforms. Even if he dies, he can respawn infinitely in almost the same position, making this game's frustration factor almost nil.
The game gets interesting when you control the camera. See, the platforms that MBJM can jump on aren't all immediately accessible. You have to move around to manipulate where the blue platforms seem to reside in space. MBJM apparently stands on the perception of an object rather than the object itself. This gameplay mechanic is really unique and clever; it makes you think outside the box and I see this game as another successful attempt to push the boundaries of what game mechanics can do.
Of course, with a game like this, the primary determinant of quality is whether or not the central experimental mechanic works, and in this game, it's flawless. It does exactly what it's supposed to 100% of the time. On top of that, the game controls like butter. This game looks fantastic, feels fantastic and sounds fantastic (even if the background track can get a little repetitive).
My only real criticism is that this game spends a little too much time exploring its one mechanic, but that's not really a bad thing. I doubt there's some super sentimental ending that'll make me want to plow through the levels to see, so who cares if the game is too long? Besides, it has an autosave feature, so you can put it down when you get bored.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay perceptive.
Links
Now You See Me, and You Always Will: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25930
EDIT: The autosave doesn't work, so nevermind. No seal of approval for you.
You remember when you were little and you would play with action figures or dolls or whatever you want to call them? Remember how you would make them jump around on cabinets and tables and whatnot? Now, did you ever have one of those moments when you were really tired but you still wanted to play with your toy, so you kind of unfocused your vision and made the action figure jump around on the outlines of cabinets and tabletops in the distance? Well, that's kind of what this game is.
In case that explanation was a bit too asinine for you, I'll try to use more technical terms. By pressing LMB, you can switch between controlling the camera and controlling Mr. Blue Jumpy Man. If Mr. Blue Jumpy Man, to be hitherto referred to as "MBJM," touches orange, he dies. He can only stand on blue platforms. Even if he dies, he can respawn infinitely in almost the same position, making this game's frustration factor almost nil.
The game gets interesting when you control the camera. See, the platforms that MBJM can jump on aren't all immediately accessible. You have to move around to manipulate where the blue platforms seem to reside in space. MBJM apparently stands on the perception of an object rather than the object itself. This gameplay mechanic is really unique and clever; it makes you think outside the box and I see this game as another successful attempt to push the boundaries of what game mechanics can do.
Of course, with a game like this, the primary determinant of quality is whether or not the central experimental mechanic works, and in this game, it's flawless. It does exactly what it's supposed to 100% of the time. On top of that, the game controls like butter. This game looks fantastic, feels fantastic and sounds fantastic (even if the background track can get a little repetitive).
My only real criticism is that this game spends a little too much time exploring its one mechanic, but that's not really a bad thing. I doubt there's some super sentimental ending that'll make me want to plow through the levels to see, so who cares if the game is too long? Besides, it has an autosave feature, so you can put it down when you get bored.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay perceptive.
Links
Now You See Me, and You Always Will: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25930
EDIT: The autosave doesn't work, so nevermind. No seal of approval for you.
Friday, July 5, 2013
lame excuses
heyo. I was out all day today, and while arriving home late has never kept me from powering through a game before, the game I played today left me a little confused. If I were to try to write up a review tonight, it would probably be the most pathetic review I've ever contrived; and given some of the content I've put out in the past, that's saying something.
Until tomorrow, friends...
Until tomorrow, friends...
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Pentaflux and Perplexed
whoo-ee, it's 10:44PM as I begin writing this. This has to be a new record for me. It might not sound that impressive, but I am not a night time worker. Early to bed, as late as possible to rise; that's my motto.
Anyhow, Pentaflux is another platformer whose big hook is its weapon-unlock system. Every now again, you'll come across a little station that lets you upgrade your weapons and unlock new ones. The game this reminds me most of is Bulletstorm, but in a 2D platformer.
The game almost gets a little bullet-hellish at times. Aesthetically speaking, this game couldn't be trying harder to be Contra. Just look at the first level. It's practically a carbon-copy. I am thankful that they didn't decide to go the route of most games that call back to the "good old days" and use outdated pixel art, but the MS Paint aesthetic doesn't do much for me either. Nothing to scoff at, I suppose.
The biggest problem by far is that the weapons are terribly balanced. You wanna know how to win in this game? Pick any weapon with the word "homing" in it. Congrats, you win. To be fair, I fiddled around with most of the other weapons and found them to be fun and, mostly, relatively effective, but why would you bother learning how to use other weapons when you can have homing missiles do all the work for you?
Ah well, that's forgivable, I guess, because even if the homing weapons were the only ones offered, I would still have had fun moving down baddies. I can't quite recommend this game, though, because it kinda broke on me at the end of level 2. The screen scrolled too far for me to be able to see the boss. That and the design elements in general just reflect a lack of polish. Once again, we have a game with good roots and mediocre execution.
Alrighty then, let's talk about Perplexed.
Yeah, I'll tell you who were certainly perplexed: this game's marketing department. The game is advertised as a "relaxing puzzle game to relieve stress." Now, let's play word association. I say a word, you say the first word that comes to your mind. Ready?
Perplexed.
now, what words came to mind: confused? Flustered? Frustrated? How about relaxed? I'd be willing to guess that word isn't exactly on your top 10.
Of course I'm just nitpicking for the sake of comedy, but then I opened up the game and was practically assaulted by the menu screen's unbearably bright and highly contrasting colors.
Alright, I'll stop beating around the bush. Perplexed really is a simple puzzle game that's fun and has potential to be relaxing. Keyword: potential.
This game would have been relaxing for me were it not for 2 things:
First, there is no music. Some people may find this calming, but for me, it's just unnerving.
Second, rotating the blocks along certain axes is a little confusing. Though fiddling around with the camera fixes this, fiddling around with the camera is not relaxing. It's aggravating.
Oh well. Both of these games do what they set out to do. Both of them showed competent steps toward meeting their goals; and both of them lack the kind of polish that would make them truly good games. In the case of Perplexed, there are really simple issues like the "esc" key closing out the entire game. I'm sorry, but that kind of stuff is just lazy.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay shiny
Links
Pint of Lucks: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=431
Confuzzled: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=396
Anyhow, Pentaflux is another platformer whose big hook is its weapon-unlock system. Every now again, you'll come across a little station that lets you upgrade your weapons and unlock new ones. The game this reminds me most of is Bulletstorm, but in a 2D platformer.
The game almost gets a little bullet-hellish at times. Aesthetically speaking, this game couldn't be trying harder to be Contra. Just look at the first level. It's practically a carbon-copy. I am thankful that they didn't decide to go the route of most games that call back to the "good old days" and use outdated pixel art, but the MS Paint aesthetic doesn't do much for me either. Nothing to scoff at, I suppose.
The biggest problem by far is that the weapons are terribly balanced. You wanna know how to win in this game? Pick any weapon with the word "homing" in it. Congrats, you win. To be fair, I fiddled around with most of the other weapons and found them to be fun and, mostly, relatively effective, but why would you bother learning how to use other weapons when you can have homing missiles do all the work for you?
Ah well, that's forgivable, I guess, because even if the homing weapons were the only ones offered, I would still have had fun moving down baddies. I can't quite recommend this game, though, because it kinda broke on me at the end of level 2. The screen scrolled too far for me to be able to see the boss. That and the design elements in general just reflect a lack of polish. Once again, we have a game with good roots and mediocre execution.
Alrighty then, let's talk about Perplexed.
Yeah, I'll tell you who were certainly perplexed: this game's marketing department. The game is advertised as a "relaxing puzzle game to relieve stress." Now, let's play word association. I say a word, you say the first word that comes to your mind. Ready?
Perplexed.
now, what words came to mind: confused? Flustered? Frustrated? How about relaxed? I'd be willing to guess that word isn't exactly on your top 10.
Of course I'm just nitpicking for the sake of comedy, but then I opened up the game and was practically assaulted by the menu screen's unbearably bright and highly contrasting colors.
Alright, I'll stop beating around the bush. Perplexed really is a simple puzzle game that's fun and has potential to be relaxing. Keyword: potential.
This game would have been relaxing for me were it not for 2 things:
First, there is no music. Some people may find this calming, but for me, it's just unnerving.
Second, rotating the blocks along certain axes is a little confusing. Though fiddling around with the camera fixes this, fiddling around with the camera is not relaxing. It's aggravating.
Oh well. Both of these games do what they set out to do. Both of them showed competent steps toward meeting their goals; and both of them lack the kind of polish that would make them truly good games. In the case of Perplexed, there are really simple issues like the "esc" key closing out the entire game. I'm sorry, but that kind of stuff is just lazy.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay shiny
Links
Pint of Lucks: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=431
Confuzzled: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=396
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
parChord and PenguinPanic
Ever played Bit.Trip Runner? Well, then, you've played parChord. The only difference between the two games is that in parChord, you get to choose the song to which you evade obstacles.
For those of you who've never played either game, here's a brief synopsis: you are running. There are obstacles. You dodge said obstacles. The music gives your ears multiple orgasms.
aaand that's it. The two games are identical. ParChord does a very good job of putting the player in the zone with its simple controls and whatnot.
It's a damn rhythm game, alright? Is there anything else I really have to say? Play it yourself if you're curious, but otherwise, it's just another Bit.Trip Runner.
So let's talk about Penguin Panic
uuughh, God, those pixels hurt. Yeah, this game right off the bat seems to be trying way too hard to replicate the "good old days." They even set this game in the year "20XX" and used that atrocious pixel-text that makes "M"s look like "H"s and whatnot...ehhh, this one's going to be a challenge for me to get through.
Well the game starts off reasonably well. The controls are a little complex and you're given very little time in which to learn them before your penguin minions start dropping like flies at the hands of hungry seals, but the levels are quick and there's a lot of room for error.
Even the aesthetic isn't horrible (for the most part). The characters have enough life and charm to them to keep me from being too harsh toward the visual style.
Until I got to my ragequit moment, the game was very meh with a side of frustration. Certainly nothing to make you scramble to the DigiGallery to get your hands on it.
"Uh oh," you must be thinking, "Dean used the word ragequit again. What happened this time, no save feature?" No, actually, this game actually respects your right to ragequit, and it damn well better considering what it just pulled on me.
One level was shaped a bit like a "W." There were two shafts leading down to the bottom of the level. In order to progress through the shafts, you must use your penguin weight to make the ground give out from under you. Inevitably, you're going to end up with yourself and a bunch of your penguin pals in one shaft and the rest of your crew in the other, doomed to become pterodon food because their almighty leader isn't standing by with a blowtorch. So yeah, that's insanely frustrating in and of itself, but as long as the two shafts lead to the same place, everything's okay, right? Well yes. Sadly, though, that's not the case. The shaft I happened to be in lead to a death trap. There was no warning, no rhyme nor reason, nothing earlier in the game to even convey that such a thing could happen. The game punished me for playing it. That's like the #1 rule of game design: don't do that!
So yeah, nothing too impressive today. ParChord is at least worth checking out if you've never played Bit.Trip Runner or if you want the same experience with your own music. Stay away from Penguin Panic, though, unless you like to make snap decisions at a ridiculously stressful pace whilst being arbitrarily punished.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay frosty
Links
hardchord parchord: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24648
breakin da ice: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=18870
For those of you who've never played either game, here's a brief synopsis: you are running. There are obstacles. You dodge said obstacles. The music gives your ears multiple orgasms.
aaand that's it. The two games are identical. ParChord does a very good job of putting the player in the zone with its simple controls and whatnot.
It's a damn rhythm game, alright? Is there anything else I really have to say? Play it yourself if you're curious, but otherwise, it's just another Bit.Trip Runner.
So let's talk about Penguin Panic
uuughh, God, those pixels hurt. Yeah, this game right off the bat seems to be trying way too hard to replicate the "good old days." They even set this game in the year "20XX" and used that atrocious pixel-text that makes "M"s look like "H"s and whatnot...ehhh, this one's going to be a challenge for me to get through.
Well the game starts off reasonably well. The controls are a little complex and you're given very little time in which to learn them before your penguin minions start dropping like flies at the hands of hungry seals, but the levels are quick and there's a lot of room for error.
Even the aesthetic isn't horrible (for the most part). The characters have enough life and charm to them to keep me from being too harsh toward the visual style.
Until I got to my ragequit moment, the game was very meh with a side of frustration. Certainly nothing to make you scramble to the DigiGallery to get your hands on it.
"Uh oh," you must be thinking, "Dean used the word ragequit again. What happened this time, no save feature?" No, actually, this game actually respects your right to ragequit, and it damn well better considering what it just pulled on me.
One level was shaped a bit like a "W." There were two shafts leading down to the bottom of the level. In order to progress through the shafts, you must use your penguin weight to make the ground give out from under you. Inevitably, you're going to end up with yourself and a bunch of your penguin pals in one shaft and the rest of your crew in the other, doomed to become pterodon food because their almighty leader isn't standing by with a blowtorch. So yeah, that's insanely frustrating in and of itself, but as long as the two shafts lead to the same place, everything's okay, right? Well yes. Sadly, though, that's not the case. The shaft I happened to be in lead to a death trap. There was no warning, no rhyme nor reason, nothing earlier in the game to even convey that such a thing could happen. The game punished me for playing it. That's like the #1 rule of game design: don't do that!
So yeah, nothing too impressive today. ParChord is at least worth checking out if you've never played Bit.Trip Runner or if you want the same experience with your own music. Stay away from Penguin Panic, though, unless you like to make snap decisions at a ridiculously stressful pace whilst being arbitrarily punished.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay frosty
Links
hardchord parchord: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24648
breakin da ice: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=18870
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Paper Titan
not much to say about this one...let's get this show on the road.
Mmkay so the first thing this game had me do is draw my projectile. Yep, you read that right. In my opinion the greatest innovation this game brings to the table is that it lets you draw your projectile. Remember how gaga I went over the customization in Coreship because it let you pretty much draw your own flying thingy? Well PaperTitan does that, but without the "pretty much." You literally draw your projectile from scratch. Of course, I took this as an invitation to play as "Phallor: the Summoner of Penile Destruction," but my point is that it paves the way for creativity, which is a beautiful thing for a game to do.
Unfortunately, that's pretty much the only way I can use "beautiful" to describe anything about this game. That's not just because the game looks less than appealing, even though it goes for that "crude pencil drawing" look that stopped being original around the time I played Mighty Guy on Funbrain.
Your projectile is pretty much the only useful thing in your inventory, so the novelty of shooting flying penises at your enemies is going to run out about a quarter of the way through this two-level game. The only other thing in your arsenal is a "draw it yourself barrier" thingy, another unoriginal concept. At least in the games PaperTitan rips off, the drawing mechanics are executed decently (for the most part).
You can only draw like 2 inches worth of line on the screen, so unless you really take your time to place the barriers where they need to be, they aren't going to be effective. On top of that, whatever you draw disappears almost immediately after you draw it. The cherry on top of this emotionally devastating sundae is that the only enemies that the pencil barriers would be useful against come at you so blindingly fast that luck is pretty much the only factor determining whether or not you'll stop them.
Between the limited drawing time, oppressive cooldown times for your projectile and the dissipation of barriers, it seems like the makers of this game were told in one of their classes that you have to place some restraints on the player in order to make the experience rewarding, but totally zoned out when the fact that the restraints must not be completely arbitrary was being explained to them.
There's also something weird going on with the lives system. Every time I died, the lives counter would go down by one and then immediately go back up to where it was before. Does that mean it's impossible to die in this game? Eh, whatever...
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay black 'n' white
Links
tightened paper: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=18533
Mmkay so the first thing this game had me do is draw my projectile. Yep, you read that right. In my opinion the greatest innovation this game brings to the table is that it lets you draw your projectile. Remember how gaga I went over the customization in Coreship because it let you pretty much draw your own flying thingy? Well PaperTitan does that, but without the "pretty much." You literally draw your projectile from scratch. Of course, I took this as an invitation to play as "Phallor: the Summoner of Penile Destruction," but my point is that it paves the way for creativity, which is a beautiful thing for a game to do.
Unfortunately, that's pretty much the only way I can use "beautiful" to describe anything about this game. That's not just because the game looks less than appealing, even though it goes for that "crude pencil drawing" look that stopped being original around the time I played Mighty Guy on Funbrain.
Your projectile is pretty much the only useful thing in your inventory, so the novelty of shooting flying penises at your enemies is going to run out about a quarter of the way through this two-level game. The only other thing in your arsenal is a "draw it yourself barrier" thingy, another unoriginal concept. At least in the games PaperTitan rips off, the drawing mechanics are executed decently (for the most part).
You can only draw like 2 inches worth of line on the screen, so unless you really take your time to place the barriers where they need to be, they aren't going to be effective. On top of that, whatever you draw disappears almost immediately after you draw it. The cherry on top of this emotionally devastating sundae is that the only enemies that the pencil barriers would be useful against come at you so blindingly fast that luck is pretty much the only factor determining whether or not you'll stop them.
Between the limited drawing time, oppressive cooldown times for your projectile and the dissipation of barriers, it seems like the makers of this game were told in one of their classes that you have to place some restraints on the player in order to make the experience rewarding, but totally zoned out when the fact that the restraints must not be completely arbitrary was being explained to them.
There's also something weird going on with the lives system. Every time I died, the lives counter would go down by one and then immediately go back up to where it was before. Does that mean it's impossible to die in this game? Eh, whatever...
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay black 'n' white
Links
tightened paper: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=18533
Monday, July 1, 2013
Pandemonium
well, this was interesting.
Pandemonium is an arcade-style shooter wherein you zap different colored balloons in order to keep fishes, which are scattered about the map, in water. It's a very interesting concept that made me scratch my head and think "where do people come up with stuff like this?"
While it is really refreshing to see such a new and interesting idea being brought forth, such springboards can be very dangerous unless the pool it leads to is filled with water (or jello or something, but now this is getting out of hand).
That said, Pandemonium doesn't do too many things wrong to keep it from being fun. It's quite challenging and everything is conveyed to you reasonably well, so if you need something to keep your attention for a while, this might be it. However, there are some things that need mentioning.
First, the scoring system is a bit unforgiving. I toiled away at this game for ten minutes, zapping balloons and saving fish to the best of my ability, and I got a grand total score of 0. I honestly don't know what this game wants from me, but it's apparently not something I can give.
Get past that though, and this certainly is a game of ideas. One idea this game tries out is rope-swinging mechanics. To get to different areas of the map, you have to deploy a rope, or grappling hook or whatever, accordingly. This mechanic has a bit of a steep learning curve; and even when you do learn how to use it, it's still easy to get caught on an invisible wall.
Pandemonium is ambitious to be sure, but that's pretty much its only outstanding quality. If you're into experimentation, go ahead and give this game a try. If, however, you're a more conservative gamer who prefers tried and true methods of entertainment, perhaps you should hold off.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay wet
Links
Appropriate Title: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=422
Pandemonium is an arcade-style shooter wherein you zap different colored balloons in order to keep fishes, which are scattered about the map, in water. It's a very interesting concept that made me scratch my head and think "where do people come up with stuff like this?"
While it is really refreshing to see such a new and interesting idea being brought forth, such springboards can be very dangerous unless the pool it leads to is filled with water (or jello or something, but now this is getting out of hand).
That said, Pandemonium doesn't do too many things wrong to keep it from being fun. It's quite challenging and everything is conveyed to you reasonably well, so if you need something to keep your attention for a while, this might be it. However, there are some things that need mentioning.
First, the scoring system is a bit unforgiving. I toiled away at this game for ten minutes, zapping balloons and saving fish to the best of my ability, and I got a grand total score of 0. I honestly don't know what this game wants from me, but it's apparently not something I can give.
Get past that though, and this certainly is a game of ideas. One idea this game tries out is rope-swinging mechanics. To get to different areas of the map, you have to deploy a rope, or grappling hook or whatever, accordingly. This mechanic has a bit of a steep learning curve; and even when you do learn how to use it, it's still easy to get caught on an invisible wall.
Pandemonium is ambitious to be sure, but that's pretty much its only outstanding quality. If you're into experimentation, go ahead and give this game a try. If, however, you're a more conservative gamer who prefers tried and true methods of entertainment, perhaps you should hold off.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay wet
Links
Appropriate Title: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=422
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