by J T Fri Jan 16, 2015 7:55 pm
A Wolf Among Us (01/03/15)
Pac-Man Championship Edition DX+ (All courses S ranked on 01/08/15)
Distance (beta 3315, 01/11/15)
Shantae: Risky's Revenge- Director's Cut (01/16/15)
This game was quite fun, but I wanted to like it more than I did. The sprite work is really well done, as are the chiptunes (Jake Kauffman FTW!). The game maintains a fun, cheeky charm throughout with silly humor that is never really funny, but never ingratiatingly annoying either. While I've got nothing against female characters being sexy, all of the heaving chested, bobbling boobied persian girls throughout this game did fall on the tacky side of things, despite their cutesieness (or maybe because of their cutesieness. They are childish and adult at the same time, which just gives a weird vibe.) I have no other complaints about the art direction though and was really pleased with the visuals of the game.
The gameplay was enjoyable, though I thought boss fights were too easy and there is WAY to much mindless backtracking to find little things, even with warps. For once I felt proud to use an FAQ just because I realized that I know enough about games to recognize when a developer is wasting my time, so I cut corners on purpose. They know they are doing it too. One of the fetch quests in the middle of the game is literally to get a zombie a special ordered cup of coffee fixed just the way he likes it. While there is some humor in that, I felt that the developers were basically clowning their players, especially since this was a main quest, not a side quest. This game serves of an example of how not to make a metroidvania.
Most of the game was enjoyable though, and the game controls were definitely spot on. I wish there were a few more tricky puzzles. There was one well designed puzzle room where I had to deftly maneuver the monkey character to stick to a series of walls, but I had to pay attention to where the openings were to go next. It was challenging both as a visual puzzle and as an exercise for the reflexes. I wanted more of that. Most of the game was pretty simple. I beat the final boss without even really trying and was surprised it was over so fast. The game is worth playing, but with a little bit more challenging level design and a lot less backtracking and fetch questing, I could give a more resounding recommendation.