Continuum Passage (guest review)

Today, we have a guest review!  Ah, yes, I'm not above shamelessly shirking off my duties to those around me.  Today's review will be done by Luis Gomez of Potentially Meaningful. Here's what he has to say:
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Continuum Passage

Dean’s either trying to work or busy slapping himself in the face, so today you get a guest review from me, Luis. As for the quality of the review, it’s going to be bumpy. I’m not really a review person. I’m more of a cynically-antagonize-everyone-around-me-until-they-loathe-my-opinion person, so if I start going off on wild tangents as to the negatives in this game, I apologize.

With that out of the way, Continuum Passage, made last (school) year by a group of three juniors.
The game advertises itself as a "first-person action exploration game with puzzling elements." If that seems like a lengthy, overly descriptive description for what amounts to a fifteen minute game, that's because it is.

But let me start with the good. Continuum Passage, in being the bastard son of about five different game genres, actually manages to create something uniquely entertaining. The object of the game is to get to the finishing point by utilizing floor pads that reshuffle the level. Step on a floor pad, the level continuously wraps in the direction the arrow’s pointing. It’s a very interesting mechanic, and works to further the idea of the ‘Continuum Passage.’ It seems like these devs, between the drunken parties and orgies DigiPen is famous for, took great care to make sure that their mechanics reinforced the general idea that the title introduces. The game has a vibrant and arcade-y color palette. Lots of neon, bright colors, but that’s indicative of a lot of the library. The music is...okay I guess. There’s one electronic track that the game plays on a loop. Not bad, but gets a bit annoying after awhile.

The annoying bits of this game still stick out obnoxiously, like a finger in your delicious Big Mac. For one, remember that lengthy description from two paragraphs ago? That’s a big issue. In combining so many elements into one game, the game loses focus and direction, like it doesn’t know what it wants to be when it grows up into a Kickstarter project. The puzzles aren’t really...puzzling, in a sense, and the mechanics reflect this. About midway through this game’s 15 levels, they introduce these little triangular barriers, which you can’t get through without a key. However, once you pick up a key, you never lose it. Well, let me phrase that better. If you pick up a key, and then die without reaching a checkpoint, you restart the level, still holding on to the key. All this does is remove the challenge from the puzzles and turn the game into a race. Speaking of races, the game occasionally feels like a racing game. No, I’m serious.  Half of the time you're just running from the dissolving platforms, which to be honest isn't really that fun.

All in all, Continuum Passage is a short, mostly okay experience that could do with less variety and more specialization. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to go tame the horses of Raxacoricofallapatorius.

See you space cowboy:
Continuum Passage-https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25898
Shameless Plug-potentiallymeaningful.blogspot.com

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Thanks for that, Luis!

Since that review was already the length of three of my normal reviews, I'm going to keep my own commentary short, so if I don't respond do something Luis said, you can assume I agree with it.

That said, here are the comments he made which i found to be only...potentially meaningful (GOT 'EM)

I wouldn't say the music gets annoying after a while, especially considering its pace matches the mood of the game. When you're in the world map, for example, if you zoom out, the music gets softer. A game's music score doesn't have to be fun to listen to, it just has to reinforce the feeling that the game wants you to experience, much like the graphical style does. Look no further that Silent Hill to see what I'm talking about.

I also wouldn't say that Continuum Passage is spread too thin. In fact, I wouldn't even say it takes influence from so many other genres. Continuum Passage is a first-person puzzler. That's it. I think it not only knows exactly what it wants to be but pulls it off in a very focused manner. It's certainly a bit of a stretch to say it feels like a racing game, though running from collapsing platforms does create that tension you usually get from racing games.

There are also a few flaws which I think Luis didn't pay enough attention to.

Most glaring is the jump. It's pathetic. I get that they only wanted you to be able to clear one block at a time, but the jump is so tiny I didn't even realize I had it until halfway through the game because it looks like the camera naturally bobbing up and down for a walk cycle. Also, it's difficult to see whether the jump you need to make covers one space or two at first glance, leading me to fall to my death during the last stage when I already had two of the three keys. This not only allowed the challenge to be lost, as Luis said, but forced the challenge to be lost.

That's pretty much all I have to say. Thanks for the help, Luis! Always appreciated.

And hey, if anyone else out there wants to send me their opinions of a game, I'll gladly feature and respond to their points as well.

Until next time, stay original.

Links

look in the guest review, sillypants!

Constellations

What the hell happened?  We were doing so well with games that actually function, and now we have 2 broken games in a row!  This one just plainly doesn't respond to input.  I get to the menu screen, but none of the buttons do anything.

Oh well, at least I'll get to shake things up a bit with the next review.  Now that I've confused everyone except the one person who knows what I'm talking about, I bid you adieu.

Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=18577

Comrade Ivan's Kannonwagens

Oopsie daisy

this game requires windows XP to run.  Since I'm running win7 Home Premium, I can't run winXP programs.  The only computer I have at my disposal that runs XP is my old Dell XPS, but that dinosaur needs a new motherboard, which I'm not gonna co out and buy just so I can run Comrade Ivan's Kannonwagens.

Sorry, folks.  This one's broken for me.  But hey, if any of you out there use XP and want to tell me your thoughts on this game, I'd love to hear them.

Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=458
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EDIT-2/19/13

who-ee I cannot believe I forgot about compatibility mode.  Thanks for the tip, Yose.

Alright, let's get the real review going.

I agree with Yose that the game gets stale after about a minute of play, but there have certainly been worse games on this list. If you can imagine Battle Ball Brawl, minus the cool jumping mechanics, combined with the steering mechanics of Cease Fire 20somethingorother, then you can pretty much imagine Comrade Ivan's Kannonwagens. 

The movement is sluggish and slippery.  The landscape is very hilly, so prepare to fight gravity and fight it hard.  On top of that, you move so unbearably slow that you may as well be occupying stationary guns instead of tanks.  The aiming is not bad, but at times it feels very unreliable.  If you're even a centimeter off from your target, it ain't going down.  Combine that with the fact that the targeting reticle only gives you a basic idea of where you're aiming and the result is unsatisfying.

The biggest problem I have with this game is just how barren the landscape is.  I think they only give you one enemy tank at a time to shoot at, which is a real problem in maps this big.  The tanks are tough to kill as it is because you die just as easily as they do.  In the first mission, you're expected to kill ten of them.  This might not be so bad if the map was full of tanks, but I spend way more time finding the tanks than I do killing them.  This feels less like a third person competitive shooter and more like spawning yourself in the middle of a field in Garry's Mod with nothing to do and just kinda walking around for a bit.  It isn't fun.  You have to fill the map up with interesting stuff in Garry's Mod before you start walking around the world you make.

Long story short: This game has competent controls, but sloppy movement and desolate maps make it a droning experience

Until next time, remember to google your problems before giving up

Commando Attack Sub

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good lord, this game...

First off, a little context:  downloading this game was no easy task.  The file is more than 70MB and my connection speed seems to have caught the flu.  Once I downloaded it, I was greeted by an error message saying the files were corrupt and had t be re-downloaded.  I was about ready to give up on this game and do another one of my non-reviews.

Something convinced me to re-download, however.  Once I got the damn thing working, I found I had no idea what to do.  Instantly, and I mean instantly, the game had me fiddling with complex menus that I had no idea what to do with.  This is not how you convey your game mechanics, guys.  Finally I figured out how to customize my submarine (though I had no idea what the customizations did) and enter the battle arena.

Here's the best way to think of this game:  It's Custom Robo's alcoholic cousin that had a drunken fling with Forsaken 64.  Thing is, whereas both Custom Robo and Forsaken 64 were not only playable but enjoyable, Commando Sub is neither.

This is one of those IGF games, which really makes me think I'm not doing something right.  How could a game in which you can unload literally your entire supply of ammo into an enemy (with no ammo pickups in sight, mind you) and literally not cause a chip in their health bars get into the Independent Game Festival, let alone be a showcase finalist?

I've never been one to let the opinion of others color my own, but the evidence is clear:  something ain't right here.  DigiPen's website has been having kind of a rough day today, so I'm going to assume something went wrong with the second download.  Unfortunately,  I can't afford more time to this game than I already have without risking falling behind schedule.

I encourage you to try this game out for yourself and see if you can unravel the mystery.  All I can do is recount my play experience, which consisted of nothing but confusion and frustration...but mostly confusion.  A lot of confusion.

Links
wha?: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=553

Coalescence

One day till vacation...must keep pushing forward...I can do this...guuuhhhhh.....

Actually, on that note, while I do intend on being as prolific as possible during the break, This weekend might be a bit of a drought.  My buddies and I are gathering together to watch Avatar: The Last Airbender. We already marathon'd all of the Lord of the Rings movies, all of the Star Wars movies, the entirety of Soul Eater, the Harry Potter movies, and all the movies Pixar has made (except Cars: 2)

Long story short, don't get your hopes up for a glut of blogs as soon as the break starts up. It'll probably take us 2 or three days of straight viewing to get it done, and afterwards, I probably won't feel like sitting in front of a glowing screen for any longer than I have to.

Until then, though, Coalescence.

One of the reasons I made this intro longer than usual is because I don't have much to say about Coalescence.  You play as a yellow space marine guy who must traverse through the stages my manipulating the molecular composition of adhesium blocks.  "Whoa now," you may say.  "I play video games to escape from Chemistry class.  What is this, some kind of BS teaching tool?"  Nay, say I, fair sir.  Luckily, phase change is a lot easier to accomplish in Coalescence than it is in real life.  All you gotta do is point your little blaster at a block of adhesium, set it to whatever phase you want it to be in by convenient use of the 1,2, and 3 buttons, and fire away.

Conveyance is a bit of an issue again.  It's a shame because the levels themselves are so well designed that they can essentially act as tutorials in and of themselves.  Unless it was some kind of class requirement to have an instructive tutorial, I see no reason why the game has to block off the use of an ability until a piece of text on the screen politely informs you that you can use it.

In terms of game feel, it's alright but could be better.  The jump is kind of pathetic, leading to many instances in which I hubristically leap across a platform only to fall to my death or in which I find myself adorably jumping up at a 4-foot high ledge, not being able to clear it because my toes' every pixel didn't quite make it to the required altitude.

This is a game in which you'll need to think, and thus it can get rather frustrating rather quickly if you don't figure out a puzzle's solution.  This is the nature of the beast that is puzzle games.  It is, therefore, the game's job to keep the player calm as he or she figures out the puzzles at his or her own pace.  Through aesthetic, the game does a great job of this.  All the environments are really nice, calming shades of blue and the music slyly coils around the player's mind like a seductive boa constrictor.  The game's mechanics, however, reverse the work of the aesthetic with interest.

I already mentioned the frustrating aspects of the platforming, but that's not the only control issue.  Picking up and moving blocks is an integral part of the game, and the way you do this is by clicking the RMB.  Not holding it down, clicking it.  If you abide by your human instincts and hold on to the RMB for as long as you'd wish to hold on to the object, you're out of luck.  Also, LMB throws the block that you're holding; you'd be amazed how easy it is to accidentally throw a block you meant to place, only to see it tumble down a pit, rendering the level unsolvable and leaving suicide as the only option.

To the game's credit, I expected myself to perform far more mercy kills upon my character than I had to.  The levels are designed intuitively enough that you usually won't lose a block you're working with due to one or two silly mistakes.  I will say, though, when you do have to suicide yourself to progress, cover your ears.  The death sound effect is loud and annoying.

In short, Coalescence is a decent little romp, but every admiration of the level design or aesthetic direction can be swiftly uprooted by an annoyance caused by the mechanics or minor design flaws like the death sound effect.  Play it if you want, but you won't be missing much if you skip out.

Until next time, stay gassy


Links
a game that has nothing to do with coal: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25889

Claustrophere

*sigh*
remember those tests I told you guys about yesterday?  Yeah, those happened.  I'm going to be spending a lot of time wallowing inn self-hatred today, which isn't really good news for anyone who likes this blog, because that most likely means less coming up with things to say about Digipen games and more marathons of cat videos accompanied by spoonfuls of Nutella.

Claustrophere plays a lot like Amoeba Evolution in a 3D environment.  You are placed in an arena with a bunch of destructible low-poly models and ordered by your own vicious instincts to go nuts.  It's quite cathartic, or rather, it would be if the controls didn't make me so angry.  Actually, fun fact: before I played this game, my mouse was malfunctioning a bit.  This game's control made me so frustrated I slammed the mouse against the ground, causing it to work again.  I guess by that logic I owe the game a "thank you" but only if it's swiftly followed by a "how dare you" for the most perplexing piece of game design I've yet witnessed.  The targeting reticle always points slightly above where your shot will land.  Thus, if you place an enemy in your sights and fire, your shot will go just under them, leaving them unscathed.  Upon seeing this, I felt like a middle school teacher who just had his mother's sexual decency called into question by one of the students.  I was just so shocked I didn't know how to react.  Other than that, the control is fine...well, except for the fact that "esc" closes the game without so much as an "are you sure" screen.  This can be quite jarring after you've been taken into the wonderful sense of flow the game creates.

And therein lies the forte of Claustrophere.  This game is really immersive.  There's no dialog, no story, and not a single character in the entirety of the game, but I would argue that Claustrophere handles narrative more responsibly than many AAA developers; and it does this through the thing that sets the medium of video gaming apart from all others: mechanics.  As you start off, you're left with a relatively underpopulated death arena and calming music to boot.  The enemies are colored blue and purple, two of the most calming colors to the human eye.  As time goes on and as you kill more enemies, the music swells up and more enemies appear, colored with increasingly alarming hues.  This slowly fills the mind of the player with desperation, anxiety, and all sorts of tension until it's all released in a climactic twist ending (at least, I classify it as a twist).

From a purely gameplay perspective, this game is fun.  If you've ever googled "shooting gallery" because you needed to relieve some tension with the cathartic mechanics of a first person shooter, this game is for you.  The real reason this game gets my seal of approval, however, is because of its masterful use of mechanics and design to convey a narrative.  I and my pretentious friends could talk for hours, discussing what this game tells us about human nature, the world, or life in general.

That was a nice little trip into inspiration.  Welp, back to rolling on the floor and longing for the sweet embrace of eternal slumber.  Until next time, stay organized.



Links
Oh God, they're everywhere! https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=399

Chronos

Alright, chaps! Let's get this show on the road.  I have latin and physics tests to study for, so there aint no time to waste.

Chronos is what happens when you throw Pacman, Snake, and a top-down puzzler like Amaia in a blender.  Maybe toss in some LSD for good luck.

In terms of gameplay, it's your typical "collect key to enter door" spiel.  Nothing you haven't seen before.  In terms of looks, sound and feel, I'm guessing Chronos scored an A+.  Nothing to complain about there.  I do feel I should comment on how colorful the game is.  Such an important part of game design is so often overlooked.  When did game designers forget that the human eye likes to see color?  I've heard the arguments that it tampers with realism or that it will break the flow, but Chronos serves as a perfect counterargument for that because it's so atmospheric.

The thing I like most about Chronos is the way controlling the character in and of itself serves as the most integral part of the level design.  tap-to-go movement isn't really a new concept,  After all, Snake did it and Pacman even did it with enemies.  I must say, though, neither of those games quite match Chronos in terms of weaving it into the level design.  You constantly have to think on your feet and react quickly, lest you be caught in the path of a wraith with no way to escape.  It's hard to explain, so just play the game and see for yourself.  This game gets my seal of approval.

That's all the time I have, folks.  These tests aint gonna study for themselves.  But hey, Winter Break is almost here.  I don't want to promise anything, but I'll try and bring a sizable glut of reviews next week.
Until next time, stay diligent.

Links
Multiple red-haired, time-traveling swordsmen: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26001
^see what I did there?