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Post by spanky on May 4, 2021 9:07:36 GMT -5
Revenge of Shinobi isn't impossible by any means but it's pretty damn brutal. Shinobi III is a much more manageable game.
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Post by alexmate on May 4, 2021 10:21:46 GMT -5
Revenge of Shinobi isn't impossible by any means but it's pretty damn brutal. Shinobi III is a much more manageable game. I've beaten a lot of the Shinobi games. People say Shadow Dancer is hard, but I found that easier. Mainly with ROS I think it has an awful section were you jump up a tree and didn't Shinobi III have an awful upscrolling level with you on a waterfall or was it the other way around?
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Post by 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 on May 4, 2021 10:54:14 GMT -5
I think most people would agree Mega Man works best when it stays closer to it's 8-bit roots (as the next game will show). Yeah, I guess in a way Megaman & Bass is a lot closer to the 8-bit titles than 7 and 8. Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES, replay, 1h40m)I don't think I've really sat down and played this seriously for at least ten years, and that was on the PAL SNES version. Very fun to revisit this one. Since I usually played this with Peach, I decided to just play as plain old Mario this time. Peach IS kind of an easy mode after all. I was actually having a pretty hard time with this until I figured out how to time the roulette minigame. By then, you can practically guarantee each coin you pick up equals at least a 1up, and you won't have to every worry about getting even near a game over. Still, there's some challenge here. The level design I think does quite a lot with the game's enemies/elements, and each stage is pretty memorable, though they feel a little less coherent than a typical Mario game. Then again, this isn't really a Mario game. I think the time is ripe for Nintendo to make a Super Mario Bros. 2 2. Rating: 9/10Monkey Island II: LeChuck's Revenge (Win10 (via ScummVM) 1st play, 7h45m)It's hard to believe this came out only one year after Monkey Island 1. The new verb/inventory area, hand-drawn backgrounds and iMuse soundtrack makes this game seem much more advanced than the first. Especially the soundtrack makes a huge difference. Monkey Island 1 was so quiet. Design-wise it's also a step up for sure. It's now much less linear and every area has plenty to do or to see. The game didn't take me that much longer than the first but it feels like a massively larger adventure. There are still some difficult puzzles, but at least the solutions don't feel as janky or poorly thought out as they sometimes did in MI1. I'd say the actual solutions are more difficult here, but the actions you have to take make more sense then in MI1, if that makes any sense. That said, there were still some parts I found a little too obtuse. The bucket of mud solution was too much of a stretch, for example, and the monocle thing didn't make any sense either. The last part where you have to create a LeChuck voodoo doll is also not that great. I mean, it's great in concept, but outside of the 'dead' part, I don't see how you're ever supposed to think of the solutions. There's just nothing to guide you in the right direction at all here. With how repetitive the scenery is in that area and how quickly the game ends after you construct the doll, it just feels a bit rushed as a whole. I think the maze puzzle in LeChuck's fortress was probably the worst one, though. They almost did something clever there, but they kinda messed it up. Well, either that or having to blow the horn during the spitting contest was the worst. Anyway, overall it is better than the first game, and the non-linear nature of it means I felt less lost, even though last time I attempted this game it felt way too overwhelming. But the open-ness of the game also makes sure it's almost impossible not to miss an item here or there. Day of the Tentacle does the non-linear overwhelming structure way better than this. Rating: 8/10
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Post by JoeQ on May 4, 2021 16:59:08 GMT -5
JoeQ Revenge of Shinobi isn't even that hard. The hardest thing is probably just mastering the double jump. After that, if you advance carefully and get a feel for the patterns in the level design, it's not nearly as frustrating as Ninja Gaiden or whatever. It's a really good game. Absolutely no save states required. JoeQ - I'm thinking that a negative opinion about Revenge of Shinobi is the sort of thing that will get you mobbed. Or possibly silently struck down by ninja's, I'm not sure. Was it just the difficulty? I hated Revenge of Shinobi and have absolutely zero desire to go back to it. Your player character is the world's slowest, stiffest ninja, clunky controls (especially the goddamn finicky and unreliable doublejump), camera that's zoomed too close in forcing you to constantly blindjump into traps, enemies and bottomless pits. Worst of all was the positively hateful level design and enemy placement. Fuck that shit. If I'd ever played this as a kid I'd have ragequit by level 2 and traded it in.
Shinobi III I actually enjoyed quite a bit, despite it too having some of the same issues. Fuck the last level in that game too though.
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Post by toei on May 4, 2021 22:41:00 GMT -5
Revenge of Shinobi isn't impossible by any means but it's pretty damn brutal. Shinobi III is a much more manageable game. I've beaten a lot of the Shinobi games. People say Shadow Dancer is hard, but I found that easier. Mainly with ROS I think it has an awful section were you jump up a tree and didn't Shinobi III have an awful upscrolling level with you on a waterfall or was it the other way around? Shadow Dancer is a lot easier than the original arcade Shinobi, which is a lot easier than Rolling Thunder, which it's chiefly inspired by. I can beat the first loop in Rolling Thunder, but the second loop is the most hardcore thing in the world to me. III did have that waterfall level. My only beef with it is that it just goes on for too long. It's really annoying to miss jump number 42 or whatever and have to restart the stage. I've said it before, but ROS doesn't really have you jumping blindly into anything, because there are clear patterns to the level design and you can easily anticipate which jump will lead into a group of enemy and use your airborne attack if you're even a little bit observant. It reminds me of someone complaining about another side-scroller, don't remember if it was Legendary Axe or Kenseiden, where fishmen jump out from under you when you cross bridges. But they appear on nearly every bridge (or was it every single bridge, even?), and they easy're to deal with once you know to expect them, so... if you get caught by it twice and you still don't learn, it's your fault for not using your brain. Also, the timing on the double-jump is definitely very precise. You have to jump again at the highest point of the original jump. Once you get the timing right, it's no longer a problem. There's also a spell that lets you jump higher, bypassing the need for the double jump in most spots where you need it.
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Post by JoeQ on May 5, 2021 7:10:23 GMT -5
Whatever. I'm done with the game now and will not be changing my opinion of it. My experience with it was miserable and I have no desire to repeat it just to "git gud".
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2021 8:06:47 GMT -5
Whatever. I'm done with the game now and will not be changing my opinion of it. My experience with it was miserable and I have no desire to repeat it just to "git gud".
I don't think anyone would ask you to change your opinion or replay the game considering you clearly had a negative experience of it. As for myself, I was really just mentioning that it went against the popular opinion, but there's certainly nothing wrong in that, and if we all just agreed with each other this would be a pretty dull forum. Heck, you're talking to the dislikes Chrono Trigger guy here. Regardless, I hope you don't feel ganged up on. Honestly though, your opinion is so strongly negative I'm a little surprised you rated it as highly as a 2/5.
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Post by alexmate on May 5, 2021 8:27:48 GMT -5
I've beaten a lot of the Shinobi games. People say Shadow Dancer is hard, but I found that easier. Mainly with ROS I think it has an awful section were you jump up a tree and didn't Shinobi III have an awful upscrolling level with you on a waterfall or was it the other way around? Shadow Dancer is a lot easier than the original arcade Shinobi, which is a lot easier than Rolling Thunder, which it's chiefly inspired by. I can beat the first loop in Rolling Thunder, but the second loop is the most hardcore thing in the world to me. III did have that waterfall level. My only beef with it is that it just goes on for too long. It's really annoying to miss jump number 42 or whatever and have to restart the stage. I've said it before, but ROS doesn't really have you jumping blindly into anything, because there are clear patterns to the level design and you can easily anticipate which jump will lead into a group of enemy and use your airborne attack if you're even a little bit observant. It reminds me of someone complaining about another side-scroller, don't remember if it was Legendary Axe or Kenseiden, where fishmen jump out from under you when you cross bridges. But they appear on nearly every bridge (or was it every single bridge, even?), and they easy're to deal with once you know to expect them, so... if you get caught by it twice and you still don't learn, it's your fault for not using your brain. Also, the timing on the double-jump is definitely very precise. You have to jump again at the highest point of the original jump. Once you get the timing right, it's no longer a problem. There's also a spell that lets you jump higher, bypassing the need for the double jump in most spots where you need it. I honestly can't remember much about Kenseiden other than it being a tough game. It is regarded as a hidden gem, honestly I don't think it's all that, given Shinobi and Alex kidd in Shinobi Land are both better on the MS and that console has a really small library. Rolling Thunder I found rock hard, will probably have a go at the second game this year.
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Post by Apollo Chungus on May 5, 2021 9:45:01 GMT -5
Scrap Boy (Windows; First Time; 21 minutes)
This is an action platformer for the PICO-8 designed by BoneVolt and Julio Maass; it was originally made for the 2020 Game Maker's Toolkit Jam before being expanded into a full game. You play as a robot whose abilities change whenever you collect one of six weapon pick-ups, affecting how you shoot and how you jump. This forces you to travel through slightly maze-like levels, with the pick-ups recontextualizing the layouts and how to fight enemies. It's a short but very cool game with three difficulty modes and a time attack mode to test your skills, though what really strikes me is the quality of the visuals. The art direction reminds me strongly of that distinct "2D sprites with a 3D depth or pre-rendered sense of lighting" that you often saw on the GBA, and I'm really impressed by how good it looks here. It's free, so definitely give it a shot: bonevolt.itch.io/scrap-boy
Armed and Dangerous (Xbox; First Time; 3 hours 36 minutes)
I never really heard of this one before I grabbed it off the 360's Games With Gold last year, but I quite dig it. Designed by Planet Moon Studios (the Giants: Citizen Kabuto folks), this is a simple but solid third person shooter where you blast enemies with a mix of realistic and silly weapons. Missions are frequently straightforward, having you get to the end while sometimes rescuing people or destroying buildings marked with bullseyes, but it's pretty consistently enjoyable. I've always been fond of the Xbox era in how it was the closest to creating the massive landscapes you'd see on PC but with the fidelity and art direction of fifth/sixth-gen games, and I feel A&D really nails it with some cool areas that are impressive to look at and feel quite "homely" in a weird way. (As in, they'd be the kind of locations I'd think back on nostalgically had I played this as a kid.)
It's also put to good use as some levels grant you a jetpack to jump all over the place to accomplish your objectives, with certain levels being memorably large in ways I don't think could've been pulled off on the PS2 or GameCube unless they had loads of time to optimize the engine. The progression can sometimes feel abrupt, particularly in how suddenly the game comes to a close, but I overall enjoyed myself the whole way through. It's also a game that made me laugh on several occasions thanks to its endearingly strange characters and cutscenes, so it's a much better shooter with funny bits than all the Ratchet & Clank games after 2003.
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Post by windfisch on May 5, 2021 13:15:39 GMT -5
I've beaten a lot of the Shinobi games. People say Shadow Dancer is hard, but I found that easier. Mainly with ROS I think it has an awful section were you jump up a tree and didn't Shinobi III have an awful upscrolling level with you on a waterfall or was it the other way around? Hmmm, the closest thing coming to mind to what you're describing first would be a tree-climbing section in the Game Gear Shinobi. Do you mean that one? GG Shinobi also features a river/waterfall stage, as does Revenge in stage 2. The latter can be rather frustrating for sure: it's got tricky jumps and an eye-straining water-effect, which renders enemy projectiles almost invisible. Except for the logs you use as platforms in said stage, I can't think of any trees in Revenge, though. And Shinobi III only has some smaller trees and waterfalls in the beginning. But to me the other stage you're describing sounds more like the free-fall canyon section later in III, where you're jumping off falling rocks. (I'm actually rather fond of that one.)
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Post by toei on May 5, 2021 21:21:40 GMT -5
I've beaten a lot of the Shinobi games. People say Shadow Dancer is hard, but I found that easier. Mainly with ROS I think it has an awful section were you jump up a tree and didn't Shinobi III have an awful upscrolling level with you on a waterfall or was it the other way around? Hmmm, the closest thing coming to mind to what you're describing first would be a tree-climbing section in the Game Gear Shinobi. Do you mean that one? GG Shinobi also features a river/waterfall stage, as does Revenge in stage 2. The latter can be rather frustrating for sure: it's got tricky jumps and an eye-straining water-effect, which renders enemy projectiles almost invisible. Except for the logs you use as platforms in said stage, I can't think of any trees in Revenge, though. And Shinobi III only has some smaller trees and waterfalls in the beginning. But to me the other stage you're describing sounds more like the free-fall canyon section later in III, where you're jumping off falling rocks. (I'm actually rather fond of that one.)
That's what I assumed he meant too, though I couldn't remember if it had a waterfall in the background or not. I'd be surprised if the tree-climbing he's referring to was in GG Shinobi, since that wasn't a particularly hardcore/tricky section. Shinobi Legions has you jumping on tree branches in the second level I think, but it's really not a challenging part. The level with the warheads that instantly kill you if they touch you is really, really hard, though.
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Post by dsparil on May 6, 2021 12:09:02 GMT -5
SaGa Frontier Remastered (Switch, First Time)
Despite having so much trouble with this when it was originally released, I think it might actually be the easiest game in the overarching series. One big thing is that the whole gold ingot buying element is an even better source of credits than in the original. There, it was a good source due to a weird bug, but here it’s been redone to work as intended but with an even lower credit requirement to have limitless credits. You can then outfit everyone with the best equipment that can be bought which makes the early goings so much easier.
I accidentally played this the “wrong” way that at a minimum made me grind for credits in every story instead of just once. I think what you’re really supposed to do is finish one story, and then roll over all that progress into the “NG+” for the next one you do. The wording of the prompt when selecting it made me think that you had to finish all of them and then roll over all eight at once which isn’t actually the case.
When you do a NG+, you get a checklist for what you want to bring over which is everything except enemy rank by default; it also carries the timer over. Due to character availability in each story, you’d still need to build up some characters but I think a few stories might have literally no grinding with the right party compositions and main character ordering.
Like a lot of games that have a pile of scenarios, not all of them are as equally developed as the others.
Emelia - The plot is a little sketchy and mainly made up of a series of missions for a group named Gradius. Presumable because Emelia is a former model, you get various different outfits you can use that supposedly modify weapon affinity, but the difference doesn’t seem that big. They don’t count as equipment so it’s still worth it for whatever benefit you do get.
Red - This one is inspired by Kamen Rider and other masked hero shows, but including more show-like qualities like little episode intros or title cards would have been nice. Red’s main gimmick is his masked form, but you basically can’t use it if you have any other party members. Once you get to the middle or so of his story, you pretty much can only use the form when you’re forced into. This is actually not that big a deal as you don’t gain stats when using it anyway.
Riki - As a monster character, his character building is extremely confusing and heavily reliant on soft reseting when you end up in a crappy form. I had the most difficulty with this story’s final boss as Riki is a complete liability unless you have a high defense form like Black Dragon (hold on to his starting Tail Swipe, get Fang from a billion places and grind Crystal Trees in the Shrike Bio Lab with high enemy rank until you get the petrification attack).
Blue - His story is just being required to do one of each set of magic side quests before a climactic battle and the final areas so there isn’t too much of a plot.
T260G - Maybe the easiest overall since building up mechs is simple and the story has access to so many of them. You also get access to seven different forms for T260G partway through, but I didn’t find them all that useful. The main “issue” with mechs is that Combat Mastery and Multi-slice is basically all they need for arts (2 is the minimum number of slots), and anything that prevents loading up with Null Swords and Warlord Armor (or better) is a detriment.
Lute - This is basically just a story intro and a final dungeon. I had to grind a ton since building up credits is tough with him, but this one that definitely be blown through with NG+.
Asellus - This one is interesting in that it has a third party narrator. Structurally, it has a strong intro, confusing middle based on finding events in randomized locations, and multiple endings. Asellus is a half mystic so you still get human style character development which is nice because mystic ability absorption is finicky.
Fuse - He’s a member of the FBI-esque InterRegional Patrol Organization, makes occasional appearances in other stories, and is recruitable in all of them. His story is actually seven separate cases, and you have to select him seven times to get through all of them. They’re basically “what if Fuse/IRPO was involved” rather than a different view of the story. They can be a little funny at times mainly from dramatic irony, and do legitimately give some extra plot details at times. The only required combat is almost always just the final boss so NG+ is a must for these at a minimum.
The general sketchiness of all the stories is my main issue. It’s right on that line of being mysterious versus underdeveloped. The original was definitely on the underdeveloped side, but the addition of Fuse’s scenario does make things more comprehensible as a whole. It also shows that the game might have been better with him as the central character since his role as a cop naturally lends itself to compassing multiple stories.
Races return from the original series although with changes. Humans have the development from Romancing SaGa so stat gains after combat and learning arts when using attacks or spells. Mechs get all their stat gains from equipment, and learn active and passive arts by absorbing them from defeated mechanical enemies. Because it’s trivial to get them up to 99 strength and defense, they hit hard and take barely any damage even from final bosses except for the handful of attacks that seem to bypass defense. Mystics are SaGa mutants, but absorbed arts don’t use up equipment slots any more. Unlike mechs and monsters, arts have to be absorbed with special attacks that have to defeat the enemy. They also have one or more pieces of fixed equipment which can be troublesome.
Monsters are a mess though. Instead of the weird almost SMT fusion style system, it’s instead based on a combination of absorbed arts and max HP. After battle, a monster can absorb a non-mechanical enemy potentially gaining one of a number of skills per enemy. Unlike the original game, you can chose which art to overwrite if you already have the max. Each art has an affinity to a body part with lower listed ones taking higher precedence. The game then goes down a list when you absorb an attack and puts you into the first matching form. This is how it worked in the PSX version, and it doesn’t quite seem to be the same here as I had a lot of trouble getting Riki into a Black Dragon despite having the HP and required arts.
It would have worked a whole lot better if monsters had one slot per body part and absorptions were permanent like with mechs. You’d then go into a different form after battle. As it is, it’s entirely possible to go from a good form to something useless or possible get set back a huge amount due to the decrease in max HP. It’s a significantly more perilous system than in the GB games.
Despite these misgivings (just don’t use monsters), I still had fun time even though I played it in the most tedious way. Since each story is relatively short, it doesn’t take too long to build up a party. I recommend doing all your grinding in the Bio Lab on Shrike since enemies are always above your enemy rank there and guarantee multiple stat increases per battle.
I finished in about 42.5h. There is a timer, but it’s semi-broken. I accidental found that pausing before putting the system to sleep properly preserves the timer, but I was practically done by that point.
Rating: 7
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Post by alexmate on May 7, 2021 14:13:04 GMT -5
Earthworm Jim 2 (MD\Genesis, 1st time, estimate: 2hr50min) I'm pretty fair with games, I know they are time consuming to make and by incredibly talented and intelligent people, but seriously f*ck this game.
Good Points (Earthworms): * Amazing looking game, easily top 20 best looking games on the system. * Good comedy. * Cartoon style. * Great music ... in places. Pushing it to the limits.
Bad Points (Maggot): * Brutal difficulty. * The Puppy Love is tedious and consists of about a quarter of the game. * Too many tedious minigame sections that people hate .. the rocket, it was sh*t in Battletoads; the inflated head, timed sections.
* Cow levels go on for days. * Sound distortion in places. * Worse than the first time.
Rating: 6
Alphabet Challenge: -BCDEFGH---LM--P--ST--W--Z
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Post by Apollo Chungus on May 7, 2021 18:00:05 GMT -5
Boo Quest: Pilgrimage for a Plot Device (Browser; First Time; 42 minutes)
This is a short Flash graphic adventure game by an artist called Bootz back in 2012. It takes his character, a lackadaisical ginger cat also called Bootz, and plops into him into a brief Lucasarts-styled adventure where you can explore your apartment and find some way to get rid of the giant spider stopping you from leaving. The graphics are pretty cute, and although the character's voice is a little odd, it works well with how the dialogue is written and the overall pacing. There's plenty of dialogue to stumble across from looking at objects multiple times, so it's worth digging into. I quite got into the vibe it had going on, and I'd definitely recommend it if it sounds up your alley: www.furaffinity.net/view/7463240/
Intelligent Qube (PlayStation; First Time; 1 hour 30 minutes)
I got the PS1 Classic off my sister and her partner today, since I wanted to play emulated PS1 games without having to be on the computer when I could be doing other things. I know that it's not a good emulator, but it has been modded to allow for emulator improvements and games not pre-loaded onto it, so it should be grand as a nice way to play more PS1 games. For now, I'm content to play through the pre-loaded library of games, which I genuinely quite like; not only are most of the games still interesting, but I think it replicates actually having a console library in a way the other classic systems overlook. Instead of a "best of the best" (NES/SNES) or comprehensive collections (Mega Drive/PC Engine), the PS1 Classic has a smattering of classics, cult gems, and weird games that nobody remembers buying. That feels more true to owning a console to me, and it also means that it includes games like Intelligent Qube.
This might be controversial, but I genuinely consider Intelligent Qube to be the best puzzle game in the medium. There are lots of excellent puzzle games to be sure - Tetris, Dr Mario, Mr Driller, Hexic, and Bejeweled are a handful that come to mind. However, I find I.Q. to have the most compelling mix of addictively simple gameplay, fantastic music courtesy of Takayuki Hattori and the Tokyo Philharmonic, and enough leeway that even the most incompetent person can crawl their way back up if they know what they're doing. It's one of my favourite PlayStation games, and if I was able to emulate PS2 games properly, I'd tackle this series for HG101 in a heartbeat.
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Post by halftheisland on May 8, 2021 9:50:22 GMT -5
A few quick ones:
Rez Infinite (PS4, 1st time, about 5 hours)
I wasn't initially sure what to make of this, and very nearly gave it up as I found level 2 to be a weird difficulty spike. However, I'm glad I found it in me to push past that as the later levels are where the real magic happens, and the final level of the original game is nothing short of transcendent. Everything about this feels weird and experimental (in a good way) in a way that games so rarely are. A genuinely beautiful audiovisual experience and an interesting shooter mechanic to boot.
It may be that it's because I don't have PSVR, but I actually found the added Area X to be a bit of a let down after the brilliance of the original final level. The limited mechanics for moving around felt largely tacked on and detrimental to the flow experience that's so critical to Rez. Still a stunningly beautiful short experience, but fell a little short of what the original game achieved.
9/10
2000:1: A Space Felony or: How I Came to Value My Life and Murder Mercilessly (PC/Windows 10, 1st time, 1 hour)
Working my way through some of the massive itch.io bundle from last year so expect a few more short writeups from me shortly. This was largely a good and interesting experience, slightly let down I felt by the plot twist at the end. The core narrative of the game has you as a detective exploring a spaceship that was intended for a manned mission to Saturn, but for which the controlling AI ceased communicating with ground control some time ago. The whole thing is framed as a debriefing between your character and ground control after the mission, and the narration in second person (you did X...) is interesting to see made explicit as it's very much the native voice of video games but one which is largely buried outside of text adventures (you find yourself in a maze of twisty little passages...).
The game is mechanically very simple - you float around the spaceship using your left mouse button to take snapshots of bits of evidence relating to the death of the crew and triggering some additional dialogue from either ground control or MAL, the AI in charge. Once all the evidence is gathered, you then have to present it in logical chains to MAL to try and catch them out e.g. show them a shot of a crew member with a smashed helmet, prove it couldn't have been done by another crew member as they contend, show a shot of how it must have occurred. I actually found this really compelling and it's something I'd love to see expanded on in other games. Visually, the game makes great use of limited resources, all chunky blocks and vibrant colours in a way which fits well with the setting.
Unfortunately the whole thing was let down slightly by a fairly weak plot twist at the end, and a weirdly out of place bit of grating/poorly recorded voice acting. I hope the team has gone on to work on other things, as this was a solid and well thought out experience all round.
7/10
4-LEGGED-HEROINE (PC/Windows 10, 1st time, 9 minutes)
I'm going to keep this one short as I don't really enjoy dunking on games. Charitably, this has the potential to be the core of an interesting if derivative endless runner type game, but really feels like a short personal project more than something worth releasing for public consumption. Mechanically very simple - you control a dog which you move left or right to avoid obstacles as it proceeds down a linear path towards a goal (pick up medicine and deliver it to a house) - it somehow manages to not do well at that one thing, with the controls feeling weirdly sticky. There's also basically no challenge, with the only slight difficulty coming in the latter half where it flips your perspective but not your controls (so right now goes left), leaving you fighting against instinct.
The blocky graphics were kind of cute and the soundtrack was OK I guess, although there's a really annoying dog barking sound effect which sounds about every 5 seconds and quickly drove me insane.
Even for free, I couldn't recommend anyone pick this up.
2/10
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