|
-January 20, 2003 -Sep. 30 - Oct. 5 -Aug. 18 - Aug. 24 -News archive |
|
-Wingedmene -Resistance -Kidworld -Soulfire -Review Archive |
|
-Levels Of Player Control -Forget The Utopia -Encouragement -Reviewer's Guide -Article Archive |
|
-BTE 3: Ends of the Earth -BTE 2: Monterey Penguin -BTE 1: Wandering Hamster -OHRlympics Results -Features archive |
|
-What is it? -Add a game -Edit your game -View the list |
|
-Aug. 23 - Aug. 29 -Aug. 16 - Aug. 22 -Aug. 9 - Aug. 15 -Jul. 26 - Aug. 8 -Jul. 18 - Jul. 25 |
|
-Zantetsuken MB -Help Me MB -Reasonably Septaweekly -Hamster Republic |
|
-Aethereal -James Paige |
 |
Esoom Island |  |
|
By: Edge Byte Mooseware Homepage: None Download: 385 KB Reviewed by: Camdog |
Before I rip this game to shreds, I have to admit, there were some positive things about it. First off, the game opens with a little "movie" sequence. It was awkwardly done, but it's nice to see that it was attempted. Also, before you crash at an inn, there's a little plotscripted sequence that walks you to your bed and fades the screen out to nice sleepy-time music. Finally, you actually open doors (which changes their picture) as opposed to simply entering them. These are small details to be sure, but they make the game playing experience a little better and prove that at least a little effort was put into the game.
Having said that, the amount of effort that was put into the game was clearly not enough. First, the cosmetic stuff. The graphics were fairly bad, with a few good spots. The battle graphics for the heros were cute (even though they were just pallete swaps of each other), and some of the maptiles were ok. Other's were godawful, especially some of the maptiles for inside some of the houses. All the other graphics weren't bad, but they aren't what I'd call good.
I recognized some of the music from the free stuff that the OHRRpgCE provides. For the most part, the music was appropriately placed, but none of the tracks really helped enhance the mood too much; they just didn't sound bad. The battles were of the "press the spacebar as much as you can" variety. The writing was pretty grammar free, but there was still nothing worth reading. This brings me to my main gripe with Esoom Island.
The story was simply nonexistant. The game starts with the main moose saying something to the effect of "gee this island's big! I need a friend to help me!" That's all the motivation you get. Ugh. After you find your friend, you run into another moose who says some bad guy is holding your friend captive in duckhunting forest. He knows this because he can "see stuff". Again, ugh. I ran into an invisible wall in duckhunting forest, which, I'm assuming, is the end of the demo. Shall I say it again? Ugh. Come on people, a game with a lame story and a couple of weak jokes does not a fun time make!
In some areas, this game was a little better quality than most newbie games I've played, but the simple fact is there's no story and therefore no reason to play. I'd suggest to the author that s/he drop this game and try to put together something interesting. We've seen that you can make a game that works well enough (which many people can't), so put your talents to use!
Scores:
| Graphics: Pretty hit or miss. The moose (mooses? meese?) were cute. A lot of the maptiles were horrific, though. | |
| Music: Mostly (possibly all) ripped, but at least it fit ok. | |
| Storyline: Ugh. I'd give this a negative score if I could. | |
| Gameplay: I can hit the space bar a lot using Word too, you know. | |
| Overall (Not an average score): RPGs usually need a story of some kind to make them interesting. |
Operation: OHR is owned and maintained by Kevin W. (Aethereal)