For starters, I adore this game's presentation. Everything, from the low detail 3D models, to the HUD and UI contents, looks like mid 2000's PC games, like PopCap's work around that time. Everything has a lot of style, and that results in a very memorable presentation. The music is also very cool, it sets a pretty nice atmosphere, and man, I really don't see videogames using voice samples all that often. It's always pretty cool when it's done.
Unfortunately, I don't have as many positive things to say about the gameplay itself. What quite honestly kills this game is that most of its elements encourage the player to avoid combat rather than engage with it. Your amount of points is directly related to how many seconds you've been alive, and literally nothing else. Killing enemies does not give you extra points, and considering you have limited ammo, running away is literally the best solution. What reinforces the problem is that staying away from enemies is actually super easy, all of them follow the player side by side, so staying away from danger is just a matter of circling around them. And yet another problem is how the enemies all can shoot multiple projectiles at once, yet the player's controls are absurdly slippery. Avoiding those projectiles can sometimes be damn near impossible depending of the situation, so the best solution is to simply not trigger them at all.
It seems the game has been inspired by Asteroids, which is a game that does have slippery controls, but the difference is that all of the obstacles are destructible, there's no projectile that can't be destroyed to speak of. So dodging attacks isn't actually unfair, it's a matter of planning and reacting in time. And obstacles show up in all sides in Asteroids, rather than just one direction like in this game. Because of that, you are forced to engage in combat.
And finally, the tutorial just covers way too much of the screen, which is very bothersome.
In conclusion, I love the visuals, but while the controls themselves are not necessarily bad, the execution of the gameplay left a lot to be desired.
Edit: I forgot to add that the acceleration button contributes nothing to the game besides trivializing the action of getting out of danger.
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Cool game!! I had some good fun, thanks! <3
I loved the artwork and character concepts! The ambiance was groovy too, and the UI was sleek! You had an OWL steampunk companion!! Super rad.
I played a little 'ring-a-round' with the enemy ships after running out of ammo - Thanks for a bit of fun!
Review Time!
For starters, I adore this game's presentation. Everything, from the low detail 3D models, to the HUD and UI contents, looks like mid 2000's PC games, like PopCap's work around that time. Everything has a lot of style, and that results in a very memorable presentation. The music is also very cool, it sets a pretty nice atmosphere, and man, I really don't see videogames using voice samples all that often. It's always pretty cool when it's done.
Unfortunately, I don't have as many positive things to say about the gameplay itself. What quite honestly kills this game is that most of its elements encourage the player to avoid combat rather than engage with it. Your amount of points is directly related to how many seconds you've been alive, and literally nothing else. Killing enemies does not give you extra points, and considering you have limited ammo, running away is literally the best solution. What reinforces the problem is that staying away from enemies is actually super easy, all of them follow the player side by side, so staying away from danger is just a matter of circling around them. And yet another problem is how the enemies all can shoot multiple projectiles at once, yet the player's controls are absurdly slippery. Avoiding those projectiles can sometimes be damn near impossible depending of the situation, so the best solution is to simply not trigger them at all.
It seems the game has been inspired by Asteroids, which is a game that does have slippery controls, but the difference is that all of the obstacles are destructible, there's no projectile that can't be destroyed to speak of. So dodging attacks isn't actually unfair, it's a matter of planning and reacting in time. And obstacles show up in all sides in Asteroids, rather than just one direction like in this game. Because of that, you are forced to engage in combat.
And finally, the tutorial just covers way too much of the screen, which is very bothersome.
In conclusion, I love the visuals, but while the controls themselves are not necessarily bad, the execution of the gameplay left a lot to be desired.
Edit: I forgot to add that the acceleration button contributes nothing to the game besides trivializing the action of getting out of danger.