#IndieSelect: Mekorama (NS)

I received a copy of Mekorama on the Nintendo Switch from publishers Rainy Frog and Ratalaika Games and developer Martin Magni for Xinthus' #IndieSelect event last week.  The game was given and received without promise or expectation of a positive review, only that the game be played and the experience be shared through social media channels.  All words unless otherwise noted are my own and all pictures included in this article, unless otherwise noted are from my own experience playing the game.

Judging by the pictures included in Xinthus' initial post about Mekorama, I was not sure what type of game I was getting myself into but it looked like some type of Minecraft isometric puzzle game.  It is not that.

I have not played a lot of games that fit this mold of isometric environmental puzzle games with FEZ and Captain Toad's Treasure Tracker come to mind, but Mekorama is not a clone or love child of either of those titles.  In Mekorama, you play as a robot who has a B on its chest (who I have and will be referring to here on out as Bryan) and you have to get them from their starting location to the goal of the stage.  Along the way, you have to manipulate certain pieces of the environment to manually move Bryan along, with objects like sliding platforms, moveable blocks, elevators, and rotating whirligigs all the while avoiding hazards like lethargic robots, aggressive robots, and electrical traps.  I would say that for 90% of the time I spent playing before writing this article (about three hours) I used exclusively touchscreen controls as I found them to be very intuitive (if you are already familiar with touchscreen controls).  Two-finger pinching zoomed-in, two-fingers apart zoomed out, moving your finger would rotate the screen, et cetera.  I never felt that I needed to use the controller, especially on later levels (Level 17 

I want to bring up the music early on because it is just so good in the way that it integrates into the game without being in the way or too ambient.  But, it is pretty ambient in the way that a lot of the music in Breath of the Wild is ambient, but the music in Mekorama has another layer to it.  According to Martin Magni, the music is both procedural and dynamic which is always cool when it is pulled off well.  And here it is pulled off very well.  There have been a number of instances when clicking on a place for Bryan to move creates a specific tone on a piano and then the next couple of notes in the music seem to play off of that one note, either building on it or just reusing it in a laid-back jazzy kind of way.

The game is split up into Easy Levels, Medium Levels, Tricky Levels, and Hard Levels with each set of levels being comprised of 25 individual levels, which is quite a lot of content for a game that retails for $4.99, but you could also argue quality over quantity.  After the first 25 levels in Easy, I feel that a lot of the levels were fairly well-paced in terms of difficulty.  The first handful of stages do a decent job of explaining the basic mechanics of the game and never feeling that there was a significant jump in difficulty that made a level feel impossible.

Except one level.

The Number of Times I Was Killed Here Is Slightly Embarrassing.

Level 17: Bot Bypass gave me a bit of grief in that was the introduction of a new mechanic, the antagonistic electrified  R-Bot who will zap you when you get within one square (both adjacent and diagonally) of them.  Knowing the type of game this was trying to be 17 puzzles in, I felt that being able to deftly avoid the R-Bot was not supposed to be the point, and I eventually decided to use the Hint system, which ended up not being as helpful as I was expecting, but that was because after trying to pass the level for the last  7 1/2 minutes, I failed to let the R-Bot do a full rotation of its patrol, otherwise, I would have seen it do what I needed it to do.

I Feel You, Bryan. I'm Tired of A-Bot's Antics too.

Patience.  I should have realized this from Level 7 Pagoda Push, being one of the levels that I have seen some people post about on Twitter, being one of the more frustrating levels in the game (along with Level 15 Back Track) which does require a lot of patience.  Pagoda Push introduces A-Bot, a computer-controlled robot whose only purpose is to get in the way.  In Pagoda Push, there really does not seem to be a specific puzzle, but more of a waiting game as Bryan inches forward forcing A-Bot to also move forward up until you reach the Goal. In Back Track, you just have to help A-Bot down the tower and then move after it passes your starting hovel and then backtrack back up the tower to the goal.  For these two levels, in particular, I feel like a shorter level would have been more appropriate and less time consuming to get across the same point.  But I am not a game designer, just a player.

And with that, Martin Magni also included a custom level designer that is unlocked from the beginning.  When you boot it up, you are greeted with a blank screen and nearly endless possibilities.  Kind of.  I did tool around with the level designer, not so much knowing what I was doing, but trying to create something that looked more like Level 1 Crash Course than Level 21 Dual Controls.  I feel like I went in expecting a toolset that was easy to use like Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS, but that was not was I ended up working with.  I am also not sure if this is the same toolset that Martin Magni used as I do not know if I would be able to recreate Level 20 Factory Run or Level 27 Magical Number 7.  Those two levels specifically have a lot going on behind the scenes and outside of using graph paper to plan out each level/layer of the stage, I would be and was overwhelmed by making something that was both functional and akin to the levels in Easy.  This really goes to show the level of creativity that was put into each of the 100 puzzles in this game, which were probably not created on the Switch.  My biggest gripe with the level creator on the Switch, using either the touchscreen or the controller, was being able to line up anything that was not a block.  I did try for far longer than it should have, to simply place a pipeline as a track for the block to run along, but it took so many tries to even get the right pipe attached at the right spot that my screen was littered with misplaced pipes; then deleting them and not anything else I had purposefully placed made me a bit anxious.  The last negative thing I have to say specifically about the Switch port is that there is no way to share levels either between friends, or an online marketplace-of-sorts where people can share their creations.  It looks like this functionality exists on the mobile versions of the game (as there are QR codes you can scan), but an update to the Switch game would be do greatly in this era of Super Mario Maker.

My only other critique is how the game operates when you either die (zapped by electricity) or fall off of the playable area.  What I mean by that (you can watch below or just continue reading my rambling) is that in some of the stages there are elements like spinning gears or blocks that pop out of walls (think Wipeout) knocking Bryan off of platforms, ledges and anything else they're standing on.  Or in the case of any number of levels, moving a platform too quickly will cause Bryan to loose his balance and fall to the ground.  The issue that I take is that if Bryan does fall, you are freely able to walk around the area (or swim if Bryan lands in water) doing nothing but walking (or swimming).  The level does not restart.  When you die (as in the case with Level 17 above), Bryan's body will float for eternity.  The only way to restart a level is if you manually press start (or the pause icon in the upper right corner) and press the reload button.  Now, I would not expect the game to immediately restart the level if there is no way of recovering, but maybe a three-second gap between when Bryan dies or gets up off the ground after falling would have been nice.

So, after about three hours of playing through the Easy Levels, the first four of the Medium Levels, and spending about 15-20 minutes with the Level Creator, I feel like I have a pretty decent grasp on Mekorama although I still could not tell you what the name of the game means.  The physics surrounding Bryan can be a little wonky sometimes but Martin Magni knew this when he was developing the game as the B actually stood for the way that Bryan would bumbling walk through levels (and also why its color is yellow and black).  Would I recommend this game?  Sure, and especially at the $4.99 price point, playing through all 100 levels will probably take some time (although hopefully there are not too many that require the player to wait for the A-Bot to do anything) and from what I have played (just over 25% of the game), the puzzles are still fun to figure out, even if Bryan is far from the most coordinated walker.



~JWfW/JDub/Cooking Crack/Jaconian
Now I Understand


P.S.  As I play through the Medium Levels (and possibly through the Tricky and Hard Levels as well) and fool around with the custom level generator some more, I might write up a follow-up article in the coming weeks.

#IndieXmas: METAGAL (NS)

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of METAGAL by developer Retro Revolution from publisher Ratalaika Games through Xinthus' #IndieXmas.  The game was given without promise or expectation of a positive review, only that the game be played and that experience be shared through social media channels.  All of the words in this article unless otherwise noted are my own from my own experience playing the game.

I enjoyed METAGAL.  There were also times when I hated it, and it usually went in that order.

METAGAL is very aware that they are pulling a lot of the core aspects of their game from the Mega Man series, although there are some notable differences/additions to the formula created back in 1987.  You play as a woman/cyborg/robot who is tasked with fighting through stages of robots in order to save your fellow robot/cyborg who was captured and turned against you/the world.  During the opening cut scene, you become equipped with an arm cannon a la Mega Man and Samus.  Your playable character, Meta, even gains new abilities after defeating enemy bosses.  But, there are a number of mechanics that separate METAGAL from the games that it is paying homage to, but we will get to those in a bit.

Stupid Camping Robot In Front of a Gear!

The biggest change in the Mega Man formula is two-fold.  First, you have unlimited lives, which makes sense in the world of video games today after games like Super Meat Boy helped to popularize dying as infrequently as possible and completing the level as fast as you can; you know, speedrunning.  While there are checkpoints that function as checkpoints do, you are also able to pick up gears that serve a dual function.  First, they allow you to restart upon dying at a pre-determined location semi-close to where you died.  Second, they can be used to heal a portion of your life, which then forces you to debate if healing Meta for 20% health is worth it to make it to the next checkpoint, or do you die and use a gear to respawn closer than the previous checkpoint.  I actually do like this mechanic.

Throughout all eight levels in METAGAL, they all seemed to follow a similar progression in how I felt about them.  The start of the level is usually pretty fun as you figure out what the gimmick is going to be.  In the flame stage, there are cataracts of lava that will instantly kill you, along with cannons that blast out torrents of fire that will also instantly kill you.  In [another example].  By the first checkpoint, I will have probably died a handful of times, obviously depending on the stage, but typically it is between that first and second checkpoint that I start losing that sense of fun.  By the time I reach the boss at the end of the stage, I hate the entirety of the level.  In the penultimate stage before the final boss fight, there is a section that specifically feels like it was designed around second and third playthroughs as it plays like a learn-as-you-die approach.  Take a look at one of my many failed attempts before going into a description of what you have to do to actually clear the area.

Seriously though, fuck this section.

In this area, you have to use the Flame Dash across a gap, switch sub-weapons to the Spring Mine to launch yourself up to a ladder, then switch back to the Flame Dash before jumping up to a platform and hopefully, by then your sub-weapon meter is full again so that you can use the Flame Dash over the gap collecting the sub-weapon refill so that you can switch to use the Spring Mine again (but the area is confined so if you miss your first attempt you might have a second attempt before the flame engine-thing blasts you to death.  And after that Spring Mine jump, you still have to do the sub-weapon switch a handful more times before you reach an area that allows you to use the gear respawning you past all of that nonsense.

I guess I failed. . .but did I really!?

The inclusion of a rating based on your time, the number of times you died, the number of enemies killed, and [other] all are tallied to give you a final rating from D to F; it's probably A to F, or even S for a perfect run, but I never did better than a D in any of the eight levels.  And here is where I will possibly get ridiculed: I never felt compelled to do better in any of the stages.  By the time I was finished with each stage, I was so frustrated with short sections that were agonizingly difficult for me that I had no wish to go back and try the stage all over again, even with increased sub-weapons to be more equipped to shorten my time and increase my attack power.  The other thing that I do not like about rating the stages in this game is that it makes the game feel less cohesive, and more like random levels you are playing just to beat the high score.  I recognize that that could be a motivator for some people, but I happen to not be one of them.

Gal.04 Warp was fun because of her protective shield which also doubled
as her projectile arm-cannons.

The one thing that could actually motivate me is that after beating the game for the first time, thankfully regardless of the scores you get in each stage, you are able to play the game all over again, but this time you can choose to play as one of the other characters.  I tried out them all, and was rather impressed that each starting stage, while essentially telling the same story, was specifically adapted to the strengths and abilities of that new character.  For Gal.04 Warp, there was a section where you had to warp yourself through a wall replacing where an enemy was, and for Gal.01 Shield, you had to use the sub-weapon power to give yourself a speed boost and ability to perform a super high jump.  I did not progress very far though because that would have taken too long overall and frankly there are a lot of sections in nearly every stage that gives me anxiety just thinking about.

Watching the fall of the enemy castle, in true Castlevania
fashion.

And that is what METAGAL really boiled down to for me.  Each stage started out fun but turned into an anxious ridden level that I agonized over until I was through.  I did enjoy that I used the sub-weapons I earned from boss fights in a way and frequency that I have not done in a Mega Man game, but the frustration I felt by the end of the level clouded over the fun I had by figuring out what to do to proceed.  I was only a little disheartened by my D, E, and F grades, but that never stopped me from plowing my way through until I took out the final boss.  There was the typical reunion with the other cyborg-GALs and the promise of a sequel in true Mega Man fashion; although the game was released three years ago and I have found nothing about a new METAGAL game.



~JWfW/JDub/Cooking Crack/Jaconian
We Play the Game with Skilfull Hands

#IndieSelect / #Indieween: Back in 1995 (NS)

Disclaimer: I received a copy of Back in 1995 from publisher Ratalaika Games and Degica Games, and developer Throw the warped code out through Xinthus' #Indieween event for #IndieSelect.  The game was given and received without promise or expectation of a positive review, only that the game be played and the experience be shared through social media channels.  All of the words in this article, unless otherwise noted are my own from my own experience playing the game.

In Back in 1995, you play as the character Kent who is on a mission to get from the top of the building he is currently on, to a red-lit tower off in the distance for some unknown purpose or reason.  That is all of the information that the player is given when they start the game.  So when the character of Kent comes across the first enemy in the game, a floating round blob with arms and is surprised by its existence, you begin to wonder why this particular story is even being told.  Or at least that is what I was wondering.  Or is Back in 1995 just here for the sake of nostalgia?

Back in 1995 is a throw-back designed game to remind the player what it was like to play survival horror games of the 1990s with fixed/dynamic camera angles and tank controls (apparently they're called tank controls), which means that no matter which way the camera is facing and the player is facing, up on the controller is always forward movement, left is always rotate left and so on.  there is even a faux CRT TV display slightly warping the playable screen since flatscreen TVs were far from the norm in 1995.  And the graphics are about on-par with a game that would have come out in the mid '90s and considering that Back in 1995 is trying to bank on the nostalgia for games like Alone in the Dark, Resident Evil and Silent Hill which came out in 1992, 1996, and 1999 respectively, Back in 1995 never seems to reach that level of survival horror that all of these games are able to generate.  I should also point out that Back in 1995 was first released in 2016 on PC and only on the Nintendo Switch in May of 2019.  

I bring this up for a couple of reasons, first and foremost, Back in 1995 does actually feel like it was designed and released in 1995, but in an unpolished kind of way on one front, but too advanced for the type of game that would have been released in 1995 on the other.  I think.  Yes, the graphics, especially when you take off the CRT filter, are pretty ugly and the CRT filter does really make the character models look smoother, more rounded, and muddies the pixelated features for the best.  What seems too advanced for 1995 is the moving camera, presumably a security camera that follows Kent as he explores the various buildings that he finds himself in.  The moving semi-static camera is more in line with the dynamic Silent Hill from 1999 and Resident Evil: Code Veronica from 2000.  That being said, the semi-static-dynamic camera is not without its faults, as the texture wrapping on a lot of objects like walls and floors, heavily distorts straight lines to the point where objects can seem unclear as to what they are supposed to represent.

One of my other critiques is that Kent seems to have only some knowledge of what is going, being described as "a mess" but doesn't seem to know why there are monsters in the building.  While exploring, Kent does come across various newspaper articles describing events that seem like they could lead up to monsters appearing in our world, but the appearance of the monsters seems directly connected to Kent wanting/needing to go to the Tower.  But Kent comes across locations, like a rooftop encampment and stairwells blocked with heavy furniture that implies that these events have been going on long enough for society to have begun breaking down and defensive measures to have already been taken.  And as previously stated, the player is also given no reason for Kent wanting to go to the Tower.  All we are told is that he wants to go there, and everyone he has come across seems perfectly fine with helping him get there although no explanation is ever given.

My last critique of Back in 1995 is its self-categorization as a survival-horror game and while it does tick off a lot of the checkboxes for what constitutes a game of that genre.  You play as a lone person in a building full of close quarters.  There are monsters/creatures of supernatural origin, often moving slowly but still deadly.  There are non-traditional camera angles that do not allow for full visibility of the environment.  There are puzzles to solve to access other areas to further progress.  Some weapons have limited effectiveness along with limited amounts of ammunition.  But the lack of a cohesive narrative is really the main thing that is holding Back in 1995 from being a fun survival-horror game.  And games that I do not find to be fun, are not fun to continue playing.

I ended up stopping when I came across the forth enemy in the game, being some pink balloon looking thing with legs and a Mog-like pom-pom attached to its top that moves very quickly.  It does not do a lot of damage when it hits, but when you get swarmed by two or three of these things who can make fast attacks against your two types of slow attacks ( currently a wrench, and pistol).  Running is also not an option in this game and your walking speed is just slow enough to not be able to stay ahead of these creatures.  I realize the tactic for these creatures is to probably just walk briskly away from them while trying to lock on to the item you need to pick up and then get out of the area before they can do too much damage to you.  Even in Resident Evil, the developers were smart enough to never put you in a confined space with three zombie dogs.  Yeah, I know.  Git gud and all that.  One thing that I had not considered, was that having multiple save files was very much a thing, especially in Resident Evil when you could accidentally find yourself without any ammunition and would need to go back to a previous save, rather than trying to fight a hunter with a combat knife.  Multiple save files was oddly something that I did not think of until my only way to progress meant having to saunter through a couple rooms of those fast creatures with only one bottle of pills (for healing) and starting out at 46% health.

I really wanted to fall in love with Back in 1995, but after putting a couple of hours into a game that can be completed in an hour, being stuck on a puzzle that I had to look up a walkthrough to solve and even then the solution did not make any sense, I feel that I may have to just stop playing a game that I have so many issues with.  It almost seems like the developers wanted to create a game that played like old survival-horror games, put all of the elements in their game, but the final product fell flat.  Having all of the ingredients for pound cake does not mean that you will be able to make a great tasting pound cake by.  Back in 1995 does do a great job in executing creating a game that mostly feels right for the era that they are setting the game.  Perhaps if there had been some type of fictional backstory as was the case with The Adventures of Elena Temple as the reason for having the game existing.

I may pick the game back up again some time and really hunker down against those quick little bastards, but in the meantime, I have more on my plate that is more fun than a tasteless poundcake.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Show Me Things I Really Ought To Know

#IndieSelect / #Indieween: Sagebrush (NS)

Disclaimer:  I received a free copy of Sagebrush developed by Redact Games and published by Ratalaika Games on the Nintendo Switch as part of #Indieween, the seasonal event for #IndieSelect created by Indie Gamer Chick and maintained by Xinthus.  The game was given and received without expectation or promise of a positive review, only that the game be played and that experience be shared on social media channels.  All of the words and descriptions in this article, unless otherwise noted, are my own from my own experience playing the game.

Sagebrush is a first-person walking simulator mystery, but walking simulator in the best definition of the term.  This is also coming from a person who has loved Dear Esther, Gone Home, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, and Layers of Fear, among many other games that have been described as such.  In-game, you have a standard walking speed with the L/R-trigger buttons letting the player run, the A-button which lets you interact with an object and the X-button which lets you look at/through your inventory.  The visual style of Sagebrush is one of the aspects that really drew me into the game when I first saw the trailer a couple of months back as it utilizes a pixelated landscape in a 3D space, but it is done in a way that does not feel like it was due to poor use of engines, but more of a purpose aesthetic.

One thing about the trailer that I immediately picked up on and did not seem to be hidden by the developers, were the similarities to the People's Temple Agricultural Project at Jonestown and the suicide that happened there in November 1978.  Everything from a large religious organization following a charismatic figurehead living off of the land in an unspecified location (250 miles NW of Albuquerque, NM which would technically put it somewhere in SE Utah) to the suicide that the player is told that happened some years before the game takes place are all derived from the events at Jonestown.  The in-game location of Black Sage Ranch also has some similarities to the established Rajneesh movement and settlement of Rajneeshpuram founded in north-central Oregon in the early 1980s, except that there was no mass suicide as there was in Jonestown (which is an important distinction to make) and the Black Sage Ranch is significantly smaller in size of location and the number of followers.

When I started Sagebrush, I found myself 100% in.  The voice acting sounded well delivered and genuine, which was a bit of a contrast considering the graphical look of the game, almost like you would expect the dialogue to only be text-based, which would have worked as well.  Even the beginning of the story pulled me in as I find suicide cults, apocalyptic cults, and other extremist Christian organizations tantalizing, partly because I grew up Catholic so I have that background to draw on, but also because I find it interesting to see what people from various walks of life will do in the name of a charismatic religious figure, and what that figure will do to maintain their power/hold.  I really feel like the target demographic for this game.  As I started to explore the seemingly derelict compound, I did start to wonder why I had gone there.  Yes, there is the dialogue between the two women with one telling the other that she noticed a hole in her heart and that a man named James could help her, but why you start out outside the locked main gate in your car when the ranch is seemingly empty confused me a little.

The basics of the game are pretty simple overall.  You can explore an area, and end up finding a physical key and/or a clue in the form of a note or an oddly placed tape deck that leads you to either another key or a place to use a key you just found.  With the help of a map found in the first area, locating the next location is never too difficult, often requiring you to move halfway across the compound, all in the proverbial shadow of the church on a hill.  As stated above, you do have the ability to run, something that always unnerves me a bit in walking-sims because why do you need to run unless it is away from something?  Even though the ability to run is there in the game, I have often found myself walking from a communal meeting hall, down a dirt road, through a rotting/dying cornfield, through an exposed hay storage area, and to a storage shed.  I could have run and covered the distance in about 2/3rds the time (I have not calculated the actual time/distance though. . .yet), but something about walking seems more fitting for the type of game this is.  That was until I became confused as to where to go next and decided to retrace ALL THE STEPS and decided to run around like a mad person.

A lot of what Sagebrush is about is establishing an atmosphere of unease.  The player is told as the game begins that they are headed to a religious compound where hundreds of people had committed suicide, which would have you immediately think that this is going to be a purely information gathering game.  But because it is a video game, the player is conditioned to anticipate an adversarial force to be engaged.  In Amnesia: The Dark Descent and SOMA, you had to avoid creatures often in enclosed areas in order to continue the story, whereas, in Gone Home, there was an air of something bad that could happen while in the familiar space of a family home, yet there was nothing of the sort that happened.  In Sagebrush, you could find yourself alone in a garden shed looking at your map wondering where to go next and then you hear floorboards creek near you.  You could pass through a door and begin to explore a room only to have the door that you just entered a few seconds earlier slam closed while you are 10 feet away.  Nothing has happened to you directly, but the environment plays on our expectations of what video games are combined with the in-game information that we are supposed to be alone on this derelict ranch.

In the end, I have one main criticism of the game, and two minor critiques.  The biggest criticism is that there is no reticule or crosshair to visually focus on when you are trying to interact with objects such as letters, books, light switches and the like.  Games like Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs have perfected the tiny white dot reticule that I only notice when I want to interact with an object, otherwise my brain easily fills in that white space with the surrounding environment.  I can understand not including crosshairs specifically since that could be an indication that there will be guns or other weapons to be used later in the game, but some kind of a reticule would have been most welcome.  The number of times I felt like I was making minor adjustments with the camera in order to read a journal or flip a light switch seemed to happen on a fairly frequent basis.

The two minor critiques are just that, minor, as they did not detract from the quality of the game, nor did they make me decry that Sagebrush was unplayable.  The first is that I inadvertently gained access to the final area earlier than I should have, not through a glitch, but because I apparently noticed something before it was revealed through letters/journal entries.  When this happened, I still had not entered either the Mines or the Cleansing Room but was told that it was now time to answer all my questions and head to the Church up on the hill.  I probably could have shaved 45 minutes off my final time by skipping out visiting both sites, but that would have left out very important pieces of the puzzle.  In two other similar instances, I was able to read two letters through a window of a trailer that gave additional information that I should not have been able to access at that point, and in another case, I could examine a bed through boarded up windows before I had access to the house I was about to explore.  The last critique was the voice acting by developer Nate Berens as Father James, which I was not able to buy as the voice of someone who was supposed to be as charismatic as he was depicted.  Granted the depiction of Father James in pixelated paintings could be an inaccurate visage of the character, but even the one instance when you did hear him mid-sermon, I was expecting something similar to Jim Jones, but what I heard instead sounded like a mid-20-year-old guy who was unsure of himself and not the established leader of a congregation.  I recognize that that would be quite a feat for an independent studio to come out with, but it was still something that I thought about toward the end of the game.

Other than that, I loved Sagebrush, even more so because it is the first game from Redact Games and there is so much that was done right.  The atmosphere is creepy and confusing in the way that mysteries are supposed to be were all on point. Even the story which was not original in a lot of its content (they do admit that the game pulls heavily from real-world apocalyptic cults), it was how the story was told and the pacing that were all effective.  I should also mention that Redact Games, from my own perspective, does a good job of not creating a narrative that demonizing religion as a whole, but instead how people can distort religion to their own aims and drag down the people who have placed their physical and spiritual trust in.  It can be a slippery slope that is handled well.

There is so much more that I could talk about regarding the story, the environment, and especially the end of the game, but I would rather people experience this on their own without outside influence.  I now wish that I actually bought this game instead of receiving it from Ratalaika Games through Xinthus, but hey, if I can find a way to buy someone a download code for the game, if you think you would like a 1-3 hour exploration experience and are not offended by commentary on religion and cults, we should talk.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Caught up in the Fable, I Watched the Tower Grow

Game EXP: Dustoff Heli Rescue II (NS)

Disclaimer:  I received Dustoff Heli Rescue II for the Nintendo Switch free of charge from developer Rainy Frog and publisher Ratalaika Games through Indie Gamer Chick's #IndieSelect event back in early March, 2019.  The game was given without promise or expectation of a positive review, only that the game be played and shared through social media channels.  All of the words contained in this article, unless otherwise noted, are my own.

I first started playing Dustoff Heli Rescue II back in March and finally finished the game back on April 10th, but for whatever reason, the rest of the next two months, I failed to follow up with a second article, delving a bit more into my play experiences with this game.  If you have not read my First Impressions article yet, I recommend it because I will be coming from the perspective of someone who already knows a bit about the game.

Bringing supplies to the troops.

In my First Impressions article, I was on Mission 08 out of 35, which seems like a decent amount of missions to get acquainted with the overall mechanics of the game.  By that point I had experienced attack missions, rescue missions, and supply drop missions.  The only thing that would be more developed as the game progressed were the environments.  While most of the game took place traveling from one side of the level to the other, eventually vast networks of cave systems were introduced, and these areas (as they never fully encompassed the entire stage) were my least favorite.  Even when I had upgraded to the highest level helicopter in the game, which had the best controls with the exception of the flying saucer (more on that one later), traveling through tight corridor-ed caves was always nerve wracking and never seemed to go as fast as I had wanted to.

Unlocking weapons & helicopters happens w/ completing levels, and is not
directly related to the number of stars earned on a mission.

In that article, I had also (briefly) mentioned the jump in difficulty, especially with Mission 08.  What I apparently failed to take in was just attempting to pass a level without some/any/all of the side items (additional stars, dog tags) on my initial run through on the stages.  What I ended up doing was just playing the level to pass it and try to work my way up to better helicopters as well as upgrading the equipable weapons when they became available, then go back and do previous stages where I was missing stars/dog tags.  Once I reached that mind set, I began to have a lot more fun, or at least became less frustrated with not being able to do the levels as fast as I needed to be in order to earn the timed star.  And you know, once I had progressed enough to have a helicopter at one or two levels, I would go back and do previous missions and wonder what my hang up was.

The point is, sure you could probably get a 3 star rating while collecting all of the dog tags on your first playthrough on Mission 13, but that was not how I was enjoying the game.

Not the best shot, but if you look closely, you can see another friendly Blufor
Helicopter back there by the plateau.

I also want to highlight the fact that the level design was pretty amazing for the overall voxel approach to the game.  Often times there would be other helicopters in the background, presumably doing similar missions.  This lead to the feeling that the world I was playing in was not limited to my own actions, but that there were other missions going on that I was a participant in.  What I like about this is that it eliminates the solo fighter constantly being the one key component to winning an entire war.

And then there was not the last mission, but the mission that ended the war.  Without giving too much away, I will say that there were elements in this one level that were not used in any other level, and that was a nice touch.  When I came upon these environmental elements, I was taken aback, both at the scale that Rainy Frog took to make this particular level feel special, but also because it looked great!  There was the semi-expected boss battle too, but that was not what I am referring to. 

And then the game continued!  After the big boss battle, there were still missions that included eliminating remaining factions, rescuing troops from earlier missions, and the like.  It was, in my opinion, a pretty brilliant way to close out a fun game.  Rather than have the boss battle be the last level, there was clean up to do, which to me makes sense when dealing with a fictional war.

So in the end, I would recommend Dustoff Heli Rescue II if you are looking for a simplistically conceptualized, which I previously said would not be out of place on the Atari 2600, but with Minecraft voxel stylized graphics plays great.  I spent about 10 hours on the game, which could possibly justify the $14.99 MSRP, but for some reason that still seemed a bit high to me (even though I received the game for free).  I would think a $9.99 price tag might be more reasonable and probably a better price point; but that is just me.

And I still think that a Star Wars game using the exact same engine and mechanics would be a perfect match.  Although EA should probably not be anywhere near this game, otherwise they might microtransaction the hell out of an otherwise fun game.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
But Now We Must Fly

First Impressions: Daggerhood (NS)

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of Daggerhood by Woblyware and published on the Nintendo Switch by Ratalaika Games, through Indie Gamer Chick's #IndieSelect event.  The game was given without expectation or promise of a positive review, only that the game and experience playing the game be talked about and shared through social media channels.  All of the words and experiences contained within this article, unless otherwise noted are my own.

Similar to another Woblyware title, Devious Dungeon, Daggerhood is a retro-styled pixelated platformer where you play a character who moves through a series of dungeons collecting  items and making your way to an exit without dying.  But that is about where the similarities end.  In Daggerhood, you play the character of Vincent S.  Daggerhood, a thief who is thrown into the depths of a cavernous prison, who uses a form of magical dagger that allows him to transport himself by throwing it at targets/destinations.  The dagger can also be used to attack enemies.

The game is made up of 100 levels spread across five worlds/areas, and within each of those levels contains three collectables in the form of stars (beating the level under a certain time), treasures (finding and collecting five treasures scattered throughout the level), and a fairy (which only exists in the level for a certain amount of time before disappearing).  The way that I have typically been playing Daggerhood is that I end up playing each level three times, collecting each of the collectables on a single playthrough.  And this is something that I love about Daggerhood that could have easily gone the route of a too difficult game.  In Daggerhood, you are able to play through quickly in order to earn the three stars for beating the level quickly, followed by another run through collecting all five treasures while taking all the time in the world.  The game keeps track of what you have already accomplished, not requiring you complete all three in a single playthrough in order to "complete" the level.  Granted this could make the game three times as long as someone who is better than I, but I do appreciate that I can play as many times as needed to "complete" a level.

And, at the moment, this is also kind of my main complaint about the game.  With each world area consisting of 20 levels, this makes the desire for innovation within the worlds otherwise the gameplay can start to feel old.  And where I am at, adding moving platforms around level 15 does not feel like the kind of level innovation I would classify as innovation.  Even though the levels can be completed in under 30 seconds (some have an 15 second timer in order to earn three stars), 20 levels does seem like a bit of overkill in order to pad out the game.  In Jack 'n Jill DX there were 140 levels across seven worlds/areas, but that game added game play elements throughout the world, whereas aside from the transporting dagger, I have yet to come across another change in gameplay, but maybe that is because I have not yet finished the first level; this is a First Impressions article after all.

Lastly I wanted to bring up the music, which next to saying how much I love it, I cannot really add anything else.  The only way that I could possibly be disappointed by the music, is if the music does not change at all once I reach the second world/area.  I have not been able to find out who composed the music, or if there is even a bandcamp soundtrack available.  I guess that is even more reason to beat the game, so that I can watch the credits to find out this much needed information.

So that is where I am at with Daggerhood.  It is a pretty fun game with an interesting concept for a mechanic that I have not encountered before with music that I am very much liking.  I know that there is a boss coming up in a few levels and unless something more interesting happens in World Two (presumably: "Forest") then I may have to call it somewhere around Forest Level 10 (or level 30 in the game*)



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Instrumental

First Impressions: Dustoff Heli Rescue II (NS)

Disclaimer:  I received Dustoff Heli Rescue II for the Nintendo Switch free of charge from developer Rainy Frog and publisher Ratalaika Games through Indie Gamer Chick's #IndieSelect.  The game was given without promise or expectation of a positive review, only that the game be played and shared through social media channels.  All words contained in this article unless otherwise noted are my own.

I am going to keep this article semi-short as I am only on the 8th mission out of 35, and the 7th mission as well as the 8th, are a real doozy as they have ramped up the difficulty a lot more than the previous missions, but I will get to all of that in a bit.

Dustoff Heli Rescue II is a side scrolling game where you take control of one of different types of military helicopters customized for missions varying from supply drop, to attack incoming hostiles, to rescue missions, and plenty of variation in between.  The concept is pretty simple and would not be out of place on an Atari or original NES cartridge. The execution though is where the DHRII would bust out of its 384Kb cartridge.  Visually, DHRII reminds me a lot of Minecraft, if the camera pulled waaaay back and hovered a few hundred feet above the ground, following the helicopter as it flies left/right/up/down towards the destination.  And in that, the controls are pretty simple.  With the exception of the A-button.  The A-button, I think, prevents your helicopter from firing upon targets, or at least that is what I think it does based on what the game tells me during play.  On the Controls Setting screen, it looks as if pressing A fires the gun on your helicopter, but I feel firing/not firing is really only important when you are running low on ammunition.

To Return to Repair/Re-Supply or Keep Going?

There are a couple of additions to this basic formula, but conventional to gaming.  In most missions (I think it is most as opposed to all) there is an odd greenish-yellow colored smoke signal next to crates that point out a resupply station.  At these locations, you can heal/repair the helicopter as well as resupply on ammunition, but also save the game, allowing you to restart if you die before completing the mission.  The downside to relying on these resupply stations is that they can take up valuable time if you are trying to earn the full three stars, and if you die at all during the mission, you will immediately lose a star if you restart from this checkpoint.  And like a lot of Three Star Games, you do need a required amount of stars in order to continue to the next level, but thankfully I have not come across a level that I did not immediately have access to.  A side quest of sorts too, is recovering dog tags (usually five to six per mission) that can be used to purchase, but are not a requirement for completing levels or earning stars.

The only real complaints I have about the game is selecting things when in a menu mode.  There is a bright green box that surrounds what it is that you are selecting, but something about this particular shade of green seems to fit in really well with the whole color scheme of the game, and more than once I clicked a mission that I did not mean to.  There have been a couple of other times where it seemed to take a second for the game to register my menu selection, leading me to pressing the A button again and ending up selecting something that I had not originally intended.  Oh, and I guess the secondary complaint is the jump in difficulty that I am currently facing in Mission 8.

One thing I want to mention, is that while playing Dustoff Heli Rescue II, for some reason I started wanting the game to have a Star Wars skin on it.  I wanted to be flying some type of Corellian freighter, snow speeder, or some other Star Wars ship during the events leading up to and through The Force Awakens.  Here you would be attacking First Order outposts, rescuing resistance fighters, basically everything that you are already doing here.  The game style would not change, only the look of the vehicles, the sound effects, and the music would all be from the Star Wars universe.  This is not to knock anything that Rainy Frog has done with this game, but if Disney gave them a license to make the exact same game but with a Star Wars skin, I would be not at all disappointed.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Throw Your Arms Around Me