| Them's Fightin'
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Games that try to push the limits of the OHR, by offering non-RPG gameplay are almost always hit-or-miss. When you're designing another game engine from a game engine designed for a different purpose, it's usually a good enough accomplishment to the maker that it's working at all. Therefore, many non-RPG game engines programmed in the OHR tend to play badly, but at least it works.
Avalanche takes the simple script made by Moogle1 for Scary Game and refines it to match his game. Or maybe he made it from scratch, I can't tell. The important thing is, this game doesn't feel like a rehash of the Pumpkin Racer game in Scary Game. It plays like you feel it should with a few exceptions.
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| Graphics |
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I believe we were spoiled in this catagory. I would have happily taken an old 8-bit style theme or much rougher graphics and not have said a thing. What we get instead is much better graphics than you'd expect. Djfeinx loves the gradient technique, though. All in all, I can't help but appriciate the work that went into the graphics, but I almost feel like this is the wrong style to use for an arcade style game.
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| Storyline |
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The best thing about arcade games is that they rarely need a plot. Just pick up and play. Apparently you're a snowboarder who is boarding away from an avalanche down a mountain. I really wouldn't even WANT more story than that.
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| Gameplay |
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The gameplay seems great in theory. You remember the "downhill" script. You should be able to adapt it to a mountain setting and it would work great. This game is difficult, but unfortunatly it's because of the OHR. Sometimes you press Right and it goes a split second after you press it. It seems forgivable, but when you're going down a mountain with so many obstacles as fast as you're going, you need a lot of precision. The bottom line is that you don't feel as "in control" as you should.
One thing I might say, is that djfenix was good enough to add a points system. There are different coins to collect as you go down the mountain, and the different colors give you different amounts of points. Also, there are different paths you can take. Obviously, the harder ones will bring you to higher valued coins and you can wuss out on the wider routes. This feature adds a whole different dimension to the game.
One last thing I might add in the gameplay department are the boulders. You see, there are boulders that chase you down the mountain. They're right on your tail at the beginning then they tend to disappear, only to reappear later on. The boulders were a strange factor for me. I found them to be impossible to excape from one time and not even threatening the next. I don't know what's up, but the boulder AI needs some tweaking.
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Battle |
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-not an RPG-
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Map Design |
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-not an RPG-
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Balance |
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-not an RPG-
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| Music |
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Unfortunatly, my computer cannot play BAMs.
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| Enjoyment |
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I grew irritated with the engine after a few quick deaths. I found myself playing only so I could write the review. Don't get me wrong, the first level was fun, but this sort of gameplay can only hold up so long with so little variety.
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| Final Blows |
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Several things must be fixed in order for this to be considered a fun game. Unfortunatly, one of those things is that it shouldn't be made on the OHR. Props to djfenix for giving it a shot, but in the end it just shows how difficult it is to make a non-RPG on the OHR.
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Final Scores
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Graphics: 7/10.0 |
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Good. A little too good. I would have prefered a different style for this sort of game, but I must give credit where it's due.
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Storyline: 3/10.0
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You don't really need one, that's not to say it didn't have one. I have to give it a bad score because it was about 2 sentences long, but it won't affect the final score. |
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Gameplay: 7/10.0 |
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Clunky and maddening. Not to say it wasn't fun the first time through.
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Music: 1/10.0
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Unavaliable |
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Enjoyment: 6/10.0
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We've reached the point where it couldn't get a whole lot better than this. Fun for a while, but eventually the annoyances of ticks and plotscripting became unbearable. |
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Overall Grade:
C+ |
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| Final Thoughts |
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The rocks reminded me of butts at times. |
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