galactichole
2021
both very much for me yet so overboard with the pandering-to-excessively-online-people that I quickly started to hate it.
the gameplay is fun and the world is colorful. I ABSOLUTELY NEED more games with great movement that are entirely about chatting with neat characters without any extra systems or challenges that get in the way.
my problem is how elbow-nudgingly aware the presentation felt. you make friends with furries! you collect cassette tapes! there's a Tamagotchi you can play with! the coins say "MEOW! MEOW!"! the shipping container island is filled with default cubes (us silly game developers)! one of the cute characters is actually DARK!!
I found the fox who had four screens of Discord open and closed the game.
even with the pronounced spotlight on the precious characters and pastel world, the game has moments where it gets in the way of itself being able to do so. the helper frog box that appeared in the corner stating that I seemed to be stuck when I was just exploring the island on my own terms was notable, but the more prevalent hiccup was with camera angles during dialogue. the camera during gameplay is fantastic and never gave me an awkward view, but so many times when I talked to a character did the camera flip around to some weird shot where characters were covering each other and I couldn't clearly see what I thought the game was touting as its strongest selling point.
if you love this game, I totally get it; I know there's an ever so slightly different version of myself that does too.
the gameplay is fun and the world is colorful. I ABSOLUTELY NEED more games with great movement that are entirely about chatting with neat characters without any extra systems or challenges that get in the way.
my problem is how elbow-nudgingly aware the presentation felt. you make friends with furries! you collect cassette tapes! there's a Tamagotchi you can play with! the coins say "MEOW! MEOW!"! the shipping container island is filled with default cubes (us silly game developers)! one of the cute characters is actually DARK!!
I found the fox who had four screens of Discord open and closed the game.
even with the pronounced spotlight on the precious characters and pastel world, the game has moments where it gets in the way of itself being able to do so. the helper frog box that appeared in the corner stating that I seemed to be stuck when I was just exploring the island on my own terms was notable, but the more prevalent hiccup was with camera angles during dialogue. the camera during gameplay is fantastic and never gave me an awkward view, but so many times when I talked to a character did the camera flip around to some weird shot where characters were covering each other and I couldn't clearly see what I thought the game was touting as its strongest selling point.
if you love this game, I totally get it; I know there's an ever so slightly different version of myself that does too.
2021
nicely cute though doesn't fully scratch the itch I was hoping for. maybe the artstyle puts me off a smidge.
the larger problem I have is that things feel too one-dimensional. too many of the items you receive along the way are one-use. I would have loved to see more challenges that utilized different recurring mechanics rather than "here's this clothing that you'll use for one photo and forget about wearing until the next piece of clothing replaces it," ESPECIALLY the filters which I was expecting to have a lot of potential. I didn't 100% the game so perhaps there's more that mix-and-match than I encountered?
the music and world are nice, the act of photography feels snappy (haha), I merely wish those good aspects could have been allowed to flourish even more.
the larger problem I have is that things feel too one-dimensional. too many of the items you receive along the way are one-use. I would have loved to see more challenges that utilized different recurring mechanics rather than "here's this clothing that you'll use for one photo and forget about wearing until the next piece of clothing replaces it," ESPECIALLY the filters which I was expecting to have a lot of potential. I didn't 100% the game so perhaps there's more that mix-and-match than I encountered?
the music and world are nice, the act of photography feels snappy (haha), I merely wish those good aspects could have been allowed to flourish even more.
2023
skator gator mastur- [gets blown up by an electric eel]
1989
kinda monkey ball in a sense that you move the world instead of the ball which creates a fun brain-reworking to be able to efficiently utilize momentum and wall bounces instead of how you might initially feel inclined to maneuver. you might end up On the Ground though with how dizzying the mode 7 shenanigans are here (looks cool and I rock with it but I can easily see it making this unplayable for some)
1994
dinky little game, every aspect of which will be stuck in my head and heart forever
1992
from any other standpoint it's runway robbery this was sold for $60 retail but lemme tell you I have had the most fun in a long time watching a Japanese speedrun tournament where the participants only had 15 minutes to learn the game and casually trying to get better at this otherwise completely forgettable autoscroller collection. AGDQ would never.
1986
90% of this game is waiting for your meandering ball to eventually win the angle lottery and hit one of the last few bricks (repeat multiple times in every stage) unless you won the other simultaneously-occurring lottery of getting a Laser powerup (which is frequently useless as certain stages have smugly placed a fortress of unbreakable bricks in front of the bricks you need to hit).
I don't need electronic squash to be another loud reminder of life's unfairness dirty tricks
I don't need electronic squash to be another loud reminder of life's unfairness dirty tricks
2009
I love this I hate this I'm so confused everything makes sense I'm having fun I'm not having any fun I know exactly what I'm doing I have no idea what's going on and NO angel attack was never what I was waiting for
2014
who was the interior designer for this house this place got like a gajillion different-looking doors
this game wants you to care about your wife and kids sooooo badly but I got pissed every time I forgot to readjust my party lineup because they needed to remind me of their importance when I entered a town
1996
somewhat cute uber-simple RPG for children that's ruined by the two other party members who take up physical space in the world and CONSTANTLY get in your way, making movement an unnecessarily arduous chore
1992
was only barely on board with this game until the wild surprise of a final boss and the credits quote from Tee-Bee the robot (who???) that reads "I can use a lube job." same buddy
1993
when your game's momentum based acceleration is so gradual that it makes a TAS of the game look sluggish, I think your sonic fanfiction of a platformer didn't need to see public release
1991
not too familiar with shmups but this felt not too great. most of the presentation is merely serviceable and there's serious slowdown. touching enemies bounces you around instead of outright blowing you up which felt strange (maybe there's a potential idea somewhere somehow combining a shmup with pinball?). and halfway through holding the fire button down started a charge shot instead of continuous fire; no idea what caused the change. sure hope to play some better outings from this genre in the future
1998
treat this like my gamefaqs guide to getting started since there's no english patch to my knowledge and I could see puzzle game fans enjoying this.
after the title screen and name entry, you have:
ちゅーとりある (Tutorial)
- move around with the d-pad; circle button raises and lowers the forklift; X button places down crates; L and R buttons adjust the camera with L1/R1 rotating and L2/R2 zooming
- you can only pick up the crates from the sides that have the two holes on the bottom (which is not always the side that has the picture on it!)
- the forklift sticks out another tile which affects how you can move in regards to the edge of the playing field and crates. also, you can move with the forklift raised up to pass over one-block-tall obstacles (even while carrying crates)
- warp pads transport you to the other warp pad of the same color, but you still need to be mindful of the direction you're facing
- blocks will fall through the purple X block, whereas you will not
のーまる げーむ (Normal Game)
- your main set of levels to solve. these restrict you to how many tile movements you can make (referred to as your "battery limit"), so be thoughtful before moving!
ふりー ぷれい (Free Play)
- this is the normal game but you are unrestricted by the amount of tile movements you can make
すとろーく げーむ (Stroke Game)
- try to clear 9 sets of stages in a row, where (I believe) how well you solve a puzzle in regards to tile movements left when completed affects how many you are given moving forward. you start with 100 and it progressively trickles down
でーた せーぶ (Save Data)
- because savestates did not exist yet
if there's anything else in this game that is confusing language-wise, please let me know and I can try to clear it up, though I believe it's mostly self-explanatory once you get the rules down. happy crating!
after the title screen and name entry, you have:
ちゅーとりある (Tutorial)
- move around with the d-pad; circle button raises and lowers the forklift; X button places down crates; L and R buttons adjust the camera with L1/R1 rotating and L2/R2 zooming
- you can only pick up the crates from the sides that have the two holes on the bottom (which is not always the side that has the picture on it!)
- the forklift sticks out another tile which affects how you can move in regards to the edge of the playing field and crates. also, you can move with the forklift raised up to pass over one-block-tall obstacles (even while carrying crates)
- warp pads transport you to the other warp pad of the same color, but you still need to be mindful of the direction you're facing
- blocks will fall through the purple X block, whereas you will not
のーまる げーむ (Normal Game)
- your main set of levels to solve. these restrict you to how many tile movements you can make (referred to as your "battery limit"), so be thoughtful before moving!
ふりー ぷれい (Free Play)
- this is the normal game but you are unrestricted by the amount of tile movements you can make
すとろーく げーむ (Stroke Game)
- try to clear 9 sets of stages in a row, where (I believe) how well you solve a puzzle in regards to tile movements left when completed affects how many you are given moving forward. you start with 100 and it progressively trickles down
でーた せーぶ (Save Data)
- because savestates did not exist yet
if there's anything else in this game that is confusing language-wise, please let me know and I can try to clear it up, though I believe it's mostly self-explanatory once you get the rules down. happy crating!