Halloween is always a fun day, especially is you are a wild teenager. Sure it's fun for kids to go trick-or-treating, while adults have parties (I think...), but teenagers are the reason why "trick" is in "trick-or-treat". However, for Jeremy, our protagonist in Midnight Realm, is boring. His idea of a fun time on Halloween is staying in his room, playing video games. I'm a huge gamer and will most likely spend my Halloween the same way. What makes it interesting for Jeremy, is that a spirit comes to him in hopes to change his views on Halloween. From here, the actual game begins. More often than not, you will be reading text. The only other elements of gameplay you will face is this board with tons of colors on it. From there, it becomes a clicking mayhem.
-GRAPHICS-
This was the first thing I noticed. There are not many graphics used in this game, other than the backgrounds, character drawings, and the little spheres that you click on. But what is shown of them, is beautiful. My mouth dropped when I saw how good the characters looked. I was impressed. As an artist myself, I can't imagine how much work this guy put into making the art. And since the art is about 80% of the game, I give that a 5 out of 5. The only other thing to comment on are the little spheres, which are pretty good. It's nothing groundbreaking, but it's rather well made. The game is visually gorgeous.
-SOUND-
What was heard of the sound was enjoyable. When the opening screen came up, the music playing was fitting. I really liked it. But as I played the game, I heard something. A used song. From Final Fantasy VII. It got me thinking, how much of the music was actually used? I didn't think too much on that and just went with the flow. It did eventually give the places where the music was gathered. Maybe I'll have to check it out sometime. Nevertheless, the sound effects wasn't anything too amazing. Like the hitting sounds. Sure they fit for the attacks, but like I said, it wasn't too amazing. But the sound effects get the job done, which is all I could ask for.
-GAMEPLAY-
The biggest part for any game is the gameplay. For Midnight Realm's gameplay... It was ok? I mean I wasn't bored at once while playing the game, but I knew what was coming. First we talk to some demon who is holding a mark, some even willing to give it to you without a fight, but somehow you will be forced to fight the guy. Once you enter a battle, a crap load of colorful spheres will fall onto a board. You will then need to click on certain colors to boost certain stats for your character to fight. Before you even get to this point, you get to choose what class you want to be in. That was a neat touch, with the choice of your class comes the choice of you powers. But the character does the fighting by himself, while all you're doing is keeping him well enough to fight. And you do this over and over and over again until you win the game. It gets old fast, but it's pretty entertaining.
-STORY-
As an artist, gamer developer, and a story writer, the first thing I get excited about when it comes to anything is the story behind it. Midnight Realm follows the boredom of Jeremy, who is just sitting in his room, playing games on Halloween night. When out of nowhere, the Spirit of Halloween comes up and takes you to something similar to Hell. But it's not. It a place where creatures of the night roam, where no sign of life is found for miles, not even a single human is there and when a human is spoken about, the creatures speak about his/her death... Ok, it's Hell. But your goal is to get out of there. Jeremy compares the whole thing to a video game and chooses his class. He then journeys to beat up any creature that has a mark. However, it is revealed to Jeremy that most of these creatures don't want to fight. Coming to the conclusion that they are being mind controlled, Jeremy finds the one who is behind it all. After kicking his butt, the creature tells you that it's all the Spirit of Halloweens fault. And before you can leave by using the power of the marks you collected, the Spirit of Halloween fights you. Once you win, you go home, with the moral of that Halloween can be fun, you just have to make it so. The story to me seems... predictable. It was a good story, don't get me wrong. But it doesn't seem to be that great. At least to me.
-INTERFACE-
Something I really like about this game is it's interface. Everything runs smooth for this game and works nicely. I honestly have no complaints for this game's interface.
Midnight Realm is far from perfect, obviously. But does that make it a bad game? No, not at all. Midnight Realm is a great Halloween game with plenty of good things inside of it. I had my complaints, but they were rather small. The biggest complaints I had was it's story and gameplay, but I was not at once bored with the game. I say it's worth playing. If for anything, it's art. I mean, just look at anything Anaryu, the game's developer, has in his game selection. I don't know if the art is done by him or someone he knows, but I am impressed. Perhaps I'll review another game of his in the near future, like Lux Licentia. That game looks amazing. But as for Midnight Realm, I say it's a good once in a while game to play.
GRAPHICS: 5/5
SOUND: 4/
GAMEPLAY: 3/5
STORY: 3/5
INTERFACE: 5/5
OVERALL: 3.5/5
Download: Midnight Realm
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Friday, October 25, 2013
New Review Layout
If you haven't noticed yet, I made two new posts that each held a review. What I'm doing is making room on my "Review" page. If you click on the Review tab, it'll only have the first paragraph to the review, with an option to take you to the full review. I personally think this is easier to do, because it takes less room. No on wants to scroll on a page with seven full reviews just to find out about on game. Instead it's smaller and easier to get to. Let me know your thoughts and feelings about this change in the comments.
I have a new review in the works, which is one of the reasons why I made this change. The game I'm reviewing is short game called "Midnight Realm". It's pretty fun, but I did have a few problems with it. The review should be up tomorrow.
I don't really have anything too important to say about the Guyver video game that's currently in development.If it's anything real small, then you can view the information on my Twitter page.
I have a new review in the works, which is one of the reasons why I made this change. The game I'm reviewing is short game called "Midnight Realm". It's pretty fun, but I did have a few problems with it. The review should be up tomorrow.
I don't really have anything too important to say about the Guyver video game that's currently in development.If it's anything real small, then you can view the information on my Twitter page.
Love Nightmare Review
On YoYo Games, you can find all kinds of games, but it's not often you find original and entertaining games. The Love Nightmare really does a good job at being original and entertaining. With the simple goal of gathering hearts, the only challenges you'll face are spikes on the walls and spinning spikes. With 25 levels and each one harder than the last... I can only describe it as IRRITATING. But that's not to say it's a bad game, I actually like it. But it took me hours to beat. It really makes me wonder how many people actually beat it. I mean I was about to quit by level 15, but once I beat that, I was about to do the same on level 18. After a couple of hours of rest, I beat it. But then I felt like quitting on level 20. I'm glad I didn't because I did beat the game, but if I felt those feelings more than once, who is to say that others didn't just go with those feelings? If you ever play it, just give it time. If anything, this game is a game of patience.
-GRAPHICS-
Something about this game really shows you that simple graphics can be the best. Love Nightmare shows off these really beautiful/colorful graphics, but if you examine them long enough, you'll see that they are just simple sprites. When playing the game, you see that the screen is all shaky. At first I thought it was a glitch, but if you think about the story real fast, you'll know that the character is in a dream. So this plays on the fact that dreams are vivid. So you take control of a ball in a dark room. Some light comes off the character, so really that's the only thing you'll be able to see. It's not much, but it gives a nice feeling to the game. I really like the graphics. It takes what is simple and makes it great.
-SOUND-
This is what helped me a lot in the game: music. The music in this game is nice and calm, which later turns pretty epic. The game only has one song, but it's a good song that is very catchy. I don't really get tired of listening to it. If you (toadfrogs) ever plan to put this song up for download, I would totally get it! But anyways, other sounds in this game are very simple sounds, like a small, low beat when you collect a heart and "pew" sound when you die. Every time I collect a heart I feel so relieved, only to have it ruined by the sound of death. It really bothers me at times, but on level 24, when you reach the top of the level and there are just so many hearts, I was in heaven. Relief has never felt so great!
-GAMEPLAY-
This is the irritating part. Though the gameplay to this game is very smooth and fun, if you make just one mistake, you lose the level. It really gets hard by level 18. I wasn't ready for that level and I ended up dying like 45 times before I could finish it. When playing this game, the only buttons you will need are the arrow keys. Simple enough and easy too! By pressing up, the gravity will pull you up. Same with down, except the gravity pulls you down. This really gets fun after a while, but then come the levels that expect you to fly. By carefully pressing up and down, you'll stay in the air. Not that hard, you actually look like a ghost at times. The only problem with this is that you have to be PERFECT at it. If you mess up, you'll have to start the level all over. This really gets painful when you collected all the hearts except one. That happened to me a lot on level 20. But if you stop and examine the level, you'll have a better chance at beating it. That's where the game really makes you, the player, really think. I like that about this game. A lot of games need to make you think so that it's like you are in the game. Really cool. For me, in order to pass a lot of levels, I had to die like, 25 times. That isn't cool, but maybe you can do better? Overall, the gameplay is really good. It's you as a player that has to make the right choice.
-STORY-
The story for this game is a little weird. In the beginning it tells you that you’re a guy who can't get a date for his life, but when you do, it totally sucks. Needless to say, the character's life probably isn't that great. To make things worse, it's Singles Awareness Day- I mean Valentine's Day. So this means that the guy's first ever date sucked on Valentine's Day. I feel a little bad for him. But what ends up happening is that you fall asleep and you have a dream about the place that no one has ever managed to escape. So you'll have to be the first. Unless, you quit during the game, then you're just a quitter. If you do live to the end, the game tells you that your date sucked, but there are still plenty of fish in the sea. This gives the character hope. Let's cross out fingers that he won't have this dream again if his date sucks.
-INTERFACE-
Everything here is good. Games on YoYo Games really do need a good interface, which this game does. Maybe it'll rub off on other games.
So after beating the game, I was very, very happy. Love Nightmare is a great and fun game that has its fair share of flaws, but perhaps that's a good thing. When something has flaws, that means there is room for improvement. The game can only get better from here. Thank you toadfrogs for giving us gamers a great game to play. If you are a hardcore gamer, then this game might not be for you. If you are a casual gamer, then you'll love this. To be honest, I don't know why this game was never put on a tablet or a phone. It seems like my ideal game for those kinds of platforms. This developer has a lot of talent and I'm excited to see what else he will bring to the table.
GRAPHICS: 5/5
SOUND: 4/5
GAMEPLAY: 4/5
STORY: 3/5
INTERFACE: 5/5
OVERALL: 4/5
Download: Love Nightmare
-GRAPHICS-
Something about this game really shows you that simple graphics can be the best. Love Nightmare shows off these really beautiful/colorful graphics, but if you examine them long enough, you'll see that they are just simple sprites. When playing the game, you see that the screen is all shaky. At first I thought it was a glitch, but if you think about the story real fast, you'll know that the character is in a dream. So this plays on the fact that dreams are vivid. So you take control of a ball in a dark room. Some light comes off the character, so really that's the only thing you'll be able to see. It's not much, but it gives a nice feeling to the game. I really like the graphics. It takes what is simple and makes it great.
-SOUND-
This is what helped me a lot in the game: music. The music in this game is nice and calm, which later turns pretty epic. The game only has one song, but it's a good song that is very catchy. I don't really get tired of listening to it. If you (toadfrogs) ever plan to put this song up for download, I would totally get it! But anyways, other sounds in this game are very simple sounds, like a small, low beat when you collect a heart and "pew" sound when you die. Every time I collect a heart I feel so relieved, only to have it ruined by the sound of death. It really bothers me at times, but on level 24, when you reach the top of the level and there are just so many hearts, I was in heaven. Relief has never felt so great!
-GAMEPLAY-
This is the irritating part. Though the gameplay to this game is very smooth and fun, if you make just one mistake, you lose the level. It really gets hard by level 18. I wasn't ready for that level and I ended up dying like 45 times before I could finish it. When playing this game, the only buttons you will need are the arrow keys. Simple enough and easy too! By pressing up, the gravity will pull you up. Same with down, except the gravity pulls you down. This really gets fun after a while, but then come the levels that expect you to fly. By carefully pressing up and down, you'll stay in the air. Not that hard, you actually look like a ghost at times. The only problem with this is that you have to be PERFECT at it. If you mess up, you'll have to start the level all over. This really gets painful when you collected all the hearts except one. That happened to me a lot on level 20. But if you stop and examine the level, you'll have a better chance at beating it. That's where the game really makes you, the player, really think. I like that about this game. A lot of games need to make you think so that it's like you are in the game. Really cool. For me, in order to pass a lot of levels, I had to die like, 25 times. That isn't cool, but maybe you can do better? Overall, the gameplay is really good. It's you as a player that has to make the right choice.
-STORY-
The story for this game is a little weird. In the beginning it tells you that you’re a guy who can't get a date for his life, but when you do, it totally sucks. Needless to say, the character's life probably isn't that great. To make things worse, it's Singles Awareness Day- I mean Valentine's Day. So this means that the guy's first ever date sucked on Valentine's Day. I feel a little bad for him. But what ends up happening is that you fall asleep and you have a dream about the place that no one has ever managed to escape. So you'll have to be the first. Unless, you quit during the game, then you're just a quitter. If you do live to the end, the game tells you that your date sucked, but there are still plenty of fish in the sea. This gives the character hope. Let's cross out fingers that he won't have this dream again if his date sucks.
-INTERFACE-
Everything here is good. Games on YoYo Games really do need a good interface, which this game does. Maybe it'll rub off on other games.
So after beating the game, I was very, very happy. Love Nightmare is a great and fun game that has its fair share of flaws, but perhaps that's a good thing. When something has flaws, that means there is room for improvement. The game can only get better from here. Thank you toadfrogs for giving us gamers a great game to play. If you are a hardcore gamer, then this game might not be for you. If you are a casual gamer, then you'll love this. To be honest, I don't know why this game was never put on a tablet or a phone. It seems like my ideal game for those kinds of platforms. This developer has a lot of talent and I'm excited to see what else he will bring to the table.
GRAPHICS: 5/5
SOUND: 4/5
GAMEPLAY: 4/5
STORY: 3/5
INTERFACE: 5/5
OVERALL: 4/5
Download: Love Nightmare
Shooting Star Seven -BETA- Review
After downloading this and seeing that it was made with Game Maker Lite (I assume because of the "Created With Game Maker" in the top left corner), I didn't expect much from this. But after playing it, I was astonished to see that it was nothing like I expected. The character and enemies moved nice and smooth, while beautiful music playing in the background. The character, Amy, looks very nice, as do all the graphics. Amy has two guns that can be modified into shooting fire blasts and lasers, which comes in handy when fighting beasts with cannons as hands.
-GRAPHICS-
Talking more about the graphics, I am just blown away. Not even 3D games (some, at least) here on YoYo Games look as beautiful as this game. It really reminds me of games for the Sega Genesis and that's saying something. So far my games look like something from the Atari 2600. Another thing that I love about it's style is the look of anime. I'm an Otaku (and proud!), so I'm really loving this. If this is just a demo, I can only imagine what the full game will look like. It'll be a thing of beauty.
-SOUND-
The music in this game really fits the feel. It sounds like a classic show that you would see on TV. But the sound for the weapons is what really gets me. They sound wonderful, like from a Si-Fi movie. The sound that the robots/monsters make sometimes make me laugh, but by stage four, it's relieving to hear it. The fact that the monster is dead makes me yell in glory! GO AMY!!
-GAMEPLAY-
Even though I gave this a 4/5, that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it. Really, it's my fault. I played this about seven times today and I keep messing up some of the controls. That's just a personal thing and I'm sure I'll get over it. Anyways, I found it very helpful that the double jump in this game was also a special attack. In stage two when you have to jump all the way to the top, enemies were waiting for you and the double jump really helped me with getting pass them. My only complaint about the gameplay is the fact that so MANY eneimes just come out of no where. It really gets bother some when you are at one Health Point and jumping around shooting like crazy. The only thing I would want in this game is the little "head" that is meant to be a 1UP. I keep getting killed and even though you can just restart the level if you die, it wouldn't hurt to have an extra life in there.
-STORY-
It's not really fair to give it a 1/5 or a 5/5 because it has no story in the demo, so I just left it with a 3/5. As I'm playing this game, I keep thinking on what the story will be like; maybe Shootingstar Seven is a team and they are either hired heroes or just modern day super heroes. I don't know, but what I do know is that if the music and graphic sytle fit together as a classic look, we'll most likely get a story that fits in too. I'll rate that when we actually get a story. Going off what I think just doesn't count.
-INTERFACE-
Everything looks in tip-top shape. I'm impressed with how it all works. I hope to see more games like this in future.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and this is just beautiful in my eyes. I love how it looks, feels, and I just really want to see the full game soon. I have an art page online, I feel like drawing Amy and a few of the monsters. Kyropim, you gave us gamers a dream that we have had for years, now we just want the dream to be complete. I am definitely a fan of Shootstar Seven.
GRAPHICS: 5/5
SOUND: 5/5
GAMEPLAY: 4/5
STORY: 3/5
INTERFACE: 5/5
OVERALL: 5/5
Download: Shooting Star Seven
-GRAPHICS-
Talking more about the graphics, I am just blown away. Not even 3D games (some, at least) here on YoYo Games look as beautiful as this game. It really reminds me of games for the Sega Genesis and that's saying something. So far my games look like something from the Atari 2600. Another thing that I love about it's style is the look of anime. I'm an Otaku (and proud!), so I'm really loving this. If this is just a demo, I can only imagine what the full game will look like. It'll be a thing of beauty.
-SOUND-
The music in this game really fits the feel. It sounds like a classic show that you would see on TV. But the sound for the weapons is what really gets me. They sound wonderful, like from a Si-Fi movie. The sound that the robots/monsters make sometimes make me laugh, but by stage four, it's relieving to hear it. The fact that the monster is dead makes me yell in glory! GO AMY!!
-GAMEPLAY-
Even though I gave this a 4/5, that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it. Really, it's my fault. I played this about seven times today and I keep messing up some of the controls. That's just a personal thing and I'm sure I'll get over it. Anyways, I found it very helpful that the double jump in this game was also a special attack. In stage two when you have to jump all the way to the top, enemies were waiting for you and the double jump really helped me with getting pass them. My only complaint about the gameplay is the fact that so MANY eneimes just come out of no where. It really gets bother some when you are at one Health Point and jumping around shooting like crazy. The only thing I would want in this game is the little "head" that is meant to be a 1UP. I keep getting killed and even though you can just restart the level if you die, it wouldn't hurt to have an extra life in there.
-STORY-
It's not really fair to give it a 1/5 or a 5/5 because it has no story in the demo, so I just left it with a 3/5. As I'm playing this game, I keep thinking on what the story will be like; maybe Shootingstar Seven is a team and they are either hired heroes or just modern day super heroes. I don't know, but what I do know is that if the music and graphic sytle fit together as a classic look, we'll most likely get a story that fits in too. I'll rate that when we actually get a story. Going off what I think just doesn't count.
-INTERFACE-
Everything looks in tip-top shape. I'm impressed with how it all works. I hope to see more games like this in future.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and this is just beautiful in my eyes. I love how it looks, feels, and I just really want to see the full game soon. I have an art page online, I feel like drawing Amy and a few of the monsters. Kyropim, you gave us gamers a dream that we have had for years, now we just want the dream to be complete. I am definitely a fan of Shootstar Seven.
GRAPHICS: 5/5
SOUND: 5/5
GAMEPLAY: 4/5
STORY: 3/5
INTERFACE: 5/5
OVERALL: 5/5
Download: Shooting Star Seven
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Future Projects
The Guyver video game is close to getting it's first demo, which hopefully screenshots will be uploaded this weekend. I know I haven't updated in a while, but I've just had so much work to do outside of video game development. Time just keeps on going and I can't seem to keep up with it. But I'm not going to let that stop my progress and goals. The Guyver video game is my main project and will remain that way for the rest of the year.
Now, as I develop the game, I can't help but think of the future. What new games will I have after Guyver? I try not to think about it, so I won't talk about it much. However, I have two new ideas that I want to reveal once the Guyver game gets on a good pace. As a developer I want to explore new ways of playing. So with that said, I hope that my next two games will be enjoyable. I'm uncertain if I'll have interest of these concepts when the time comes to reveal them, but I do hope that you will all like them.
Until then, I'm going to work on the Guyver. I expect the Guyver game to be on a good pace with development by next month, with new screenshots available whenever they are finished. It's going to be an exciting time for sure!
Now, as I develop the game, I can't help but think of the future. What new games will I have after Guyver? I try not to think about it, so I won't talk about it much. However, I have two new ideas that I want to reveal once the Guyver game gets on a good pace. As a developer I want to explore new ways of playing. So with that said, I hope that my next two games will be enjoyable. I'm uncertain if I'll have interest of these concepts when the time comes to reveal them, but I do hope that you will all like them.
Until then, I'm going to work on the Guyver. I expect the Guyver game to be on a good pace with development by next month, with new screenshots available whenever they are finished. It's going to be an exciting time for sure!
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