The makings of something even greater.
1st attempt
Total Time: 22:53
Total Coins: 169
Total Lives: 0
2nd attempt
Total Time: 10:31
Total Coins: 217
Total Lives: 2
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Note to those who have not yet played the game - I enjoyed it. You may not. After getting onto the 2nd screen, you'll know whether or not the game is for you.
The rest of my review contains a few spoilers and is meant mostly for the author (as are most of my reviews).
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It really was a great game, both impressive technically and also enjoyable to play.
However, I do have a few gripes.
A lot of the game wasn't so much about using your brain as it was about back-tracking and 'errand running'. For example, that room where there were loads of blue switches and they needed to be pressed one by one to finally open the entrance and exit really shouldn't have even been in there. It wasn't particularly enjoyable and nor was it a challenge of any sort.
Similarly, the crosses and black holes just proved annoying without providing any added challenge. I mean, when combined with intelligent enemies or the cannon, I could understand why they'd be used, but on a static screen, they just forced me to take things a little slower - not to play more skillfully.
I'd also like to see the enemies with random movement pretty much done away with. Blowing up 2 of them was OK, but in the later screen with 5 (or however many) of them, it became a real chore to wait for them to go next to your bomb.
Lastly, there were 2 minor gripes I'd like to see fixed. Firstly, I'd like to see keyboard shortcuts to everything so that you don't need to use the mouse at all. Dialogue should be progressed using the space key and the map could be shown using the space key as well.
The 2nd is the fact that after an enemy is killed, while it's shrinking, it still damages you, even though it's dead already. It's a minor thing, but I'm sure you'd be able to sort it out easily enough.
The parts of the game that I enjoyed most were the sections where I was either discovering something unexpected or being challenged (whether in terms of timing and 'keyboard skill' or in terms of brain-power).
I enjoyed the first screen, discovering each new game element for the first time and the first 2 bosses. (The last one was kind of spoiled by the clue you gave us.)
I have to ask why you felt such a clue was necessary. I mean, after having worked out how to defeat the yellow triangle, surely the average player would be able to work out how to beat the star?
I'd like to see more puzzles, have the rooms you need to back-track through designed so you can pass through them more quickly and have more challenges. Maybe enemies that can't be defeated and must simply be avoided for the first half of the game, wherupon you get a more powerful bomb and can defeat them all to get more items?
I'd like to see enemies remain dead when defeated.
I'd really, really like to see 'lives' done away with altogether. As it currently is, you might as well have 40 hit points - apart from the final screen's breakdown, it wouldn't make any difference.
I'd like to see you have a certain amount of energy and if you lose a life, have the current room reset, and have the player go to the last room. Then, at the end, you'd show how many lives were used. Or maybe have some sort of a continue screen to help point out the fact that a life was lost.
This could let you get on with making more challenging rooms and puzzles.
The game as it stands is enjoyable, but isn't without a few weak parts. I think my wish-list is fairly reasonable and if it all came true, the next game could be the best game on NG.
In any case, I genuinely look forward to playing the next installment of this game.
Stay funky,
Bez