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DarkMoon vs. RedMaverickZero
DarkMoon Great Balls of Fire!!!
TwinHamster
Download: 769 KB
V.S.
RedMaverickZero
Play Time: hours and 35 minutes
Review # 37 for RedMaverickZero Great Balls of Fire!!!
Them's Fightin' Words
    There are always games that people play that they get things out of. Whether it be enjoyment, a wasting of time, or just a satisfaction that is indescribable. Dark Moon is one of those games that you have seen before, and yet not seen before in many attributes.
Graphics
    Graphically this game left much to be desired. But there were certain points of the graphics that were better than others. For instance, the maptiles were a fair amount better than the walkabouts. And enemy sprites were better than hero sprites. Twin Hamster used a lot of good graphical techniques for this game too. Using a dark color and slowly making his way to a light color for a neat effect on his/her enimies. The result looked great. The best example of this type of enemy was the green thing, I don't remember the name of it exactly, but it was green and in the area near the main character's house. As mentioned in the introduction, you've seen graphics like this before. Not quite good, but not quite bad either. Twin Hamster obviouslly used a nice pixelation tool because I can tell that some of the houses had a fine air brush feel to it. Something only photoshop or a lot of patience in MSPaint can give.  
Storyline
    This is where the game is not what you have seen, or at least I haven't seen. I've played a lot of OHR games, don't get me wrong, they all had their good and bad qualities. But lately, I have been enjoying the stories of the games a bit more. And this game, although it started off at a rough start, became something quite enjoyable and entertaining. The main characters, Zhoe and Dou are of to the Luna Gate to check it out for treasure. And when they get there these monks aren't too thrilled about them intruding. Obviouslly, once finding a way in, this crazy stuff happened. First of all, the game is about a being called Luna. You never really meet Luna, but you hear a lot about her. She created four elements, and then accidentally made a fifth. The fifth element was as said, an accident, and it was evil, unlike the other four which were neccessary for the world to exist. So... Luna was locked away with her elements. But, Zhoe and Dou had unlocked a seal and a ghostly monk had instructed them to find the keys and seal Luna's power for good. That's just what happened in what I played. It was interesting, bland at times in the way it was told, but it was interesting none the less.  
Gameplay
    It was your standard OHR game really. Had a few parts of plotscripting, and then there was some things that made the game look so cool. What impressed me the most was when you were down in the Luna Gate thing, these molten fireballs dashed accross the room. It was so cool too. And if you made your way to the top of the room you'd see this demonic head thing on a bar that was pulling these fireballs back and forth accross the room. It was very very cool. Or errr... hot in this case. That's where I first got impressed. After a while though, some technical things that I suggest Twin Hamster fix happened. One that comes to mind is that when you are in the prision cell as Zhoe, the camera isn't set to follow Zhoe. It's set to follow hero 0. Or at least that's my guess based off my studies in Mr.Triangle's Maze Madness. And a lot of the things going on this game looked a bit like MTMM. The monks wandering back and forth were like CreatorBots and so were the fireballs in the room I just mentioned. Simple things that TwinHamster did were moving door panels. It was pretty cool because the maptiles and the door NPC looked just alike so you didn't even realize it was being triggered until it happened. Good stuff. Although, clean up your scripts a lil bit.  
  Battle
    Okay, this is where the game will lose some points TH. The battles were fine up to a certain point in the game. Actually, up to one fight in the game. I have no clue what the boss's name was, but it was the boss right before you got the 2nd wing of the Luna Statue. The fight was impossible to beat because of the fact that everytime you hit/killed it, with any kind of attack, it regenerated as something else. Making it impossible to defeat. If the debug keys weren't set on then I don't know if I could have gotten to the end of the demo. Another thing about battles since this took place in battle was the items. The skeleton bones you threw that did exactly 50 damage never went away. You threw one and you never got rid of it. You probally either did one of two things. 1) Forgot to make them Consumed by use or 2) Did this intentionally. Which I highly doubt selection number 2. And the same thing happens with the herbs. The journal seems to give you an endless supply of those too. I don't know if that was intentional either. Either way, fix those things and the battles will be acceptable.  
  Map Design
    Maps were probally the best done out of the game. The graphics weren't too great, but combined with the preportional detail of the map design, they went hand in hand. Han Town was magnificentally done, although it did not need random battles I didn't think. The dungeon may have, but not a town. At least do it like Wandering Hamster where you can follow a safe path, but if you wander off of it onto the grassy areas, you will get in fights. That would probally suit your game well too. There was a nice variety in the areas you went to. Like waterfalls into tiny ponds in the dungeon. That revolving fire thing was a grand touch too.  
  Balance
    Hard to really say if the game is balanced or not. On one hand, there were plenty of healing items and a wide variety of things to do in the town. But on the other hand, there was a very unbalanced enemy, and the random battles were unbearable in Han Town. And random battles are one thing that tick me off the most, especially when they pop up much more often than they need to. So fix the things in the battle section and tone down your random battles. Also, add more experience for your enemies too. I got more gold than I did experience, which I often thought it should be the other way around. It's up to you, these are suggestions.  
Music
    The music was hard to place. I assume it's ripped, because 8/10 of OHR users can't make crap for music. I being one of them who can't make it ^_^. Anyways, the fight music wasn't exactly upbeat and fun like some other games I have played. It sounded like rock music of some kind. Almost familiar I would say. The map music was great though. The whole dungeon atmosphere wouldn't be complete without that sweet music in the background. So if it is ripped, nice choices and placements. If not, you did quite well.  
Enjoyment
    As you can tell, I have been enjoying myself immensely with this game. I would like to see what other crazy characters meet up with Zhoe and Dou later on throughout the game. The game has quite a fair amount of potential that I know TwinHamster will use. Keep doing stuff that I mentioned was good and work on stuff that was bad and you will have yourself a masterpiece.  
Final Blows
    The game is great. And the storyline backs the game up entirely. With clever dialogue and expanding character developments you will make yourself a great game. And, it's no big deal, but if you are able to, work on you hero graphics a bit more. Make them more dynamic. Not to mention the placements of your weapons. Anyways, keep up the good work. *Insert thumbs up icon here*
It's

It's "RockMan" (hehe)
Final Scores
Graphics: 4.5/10.0
Not the best, but Dark Moon wouldn't be the same without it.
Storyline: 6/10.0
Constantly expanding and with as much potential as this, it's hard not to think of what may happen next.
Gameplay: 5/10.0
Minor things that made the score drop, like that one never dying enemy. Other than that it was your basic OHR game.
Music: 5.5/10.0
Fit the mood, but I'd say it's ripped. And the battle music needs to be a lil more upbeat.
Enjoyment: 8/10.0
I won't say it wasn't enjoyable, because I had a great time playing it.
Overall Grade: C+
Final Thoughts
    This game is fresh and although not the best game out there, it is fun.  


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