TOJam TENTACULAR!

It's HERE! I'm HERE! It's TOJam Tentacular!

 There will be no NEW review this weekend because I'm making a game that is FAR OUT! *
Instead, go ahead and look at past reviews if you're bored. If ever I finish all my art assets, I'll finish writing last week's review which is totally late because I was magically whisked away to a weekend retreat (and then this week got busy). Again, sorry about that!**

HAPPY JAMMING!

*Link to be added later upon completion/in-progress hosting.
** Either way it will get done and be posted as if it was finished last week in the future

The Girl and Her Teddy Bears - Review

This bear has been staring at me for weeks. It has haunted my thoughts.
And so, finally, I bring myself to play this game that looks too cute.

Honestly, The Girl and Her Teddy Bears by The Shy Guys is hard for me to write about now, days after the fact. I'll be up front, and say that this wasn't my kind of game. I didn't quite understand what the developers were going for. So instead, here are some thoughts I scribbled down while playing. But first, the scores.

CONCEPT: 2/5 - "After You" - following directions from a stupid stuffed toy.
CONTROLS: 3/5 - Why is the mouse present for the first 2 levels? Confusing. What is
                               the mouse for? WHY! Frustrated that you're not told how to play.
                               INFINITE JUMPING!
STORY: 3/5 - (There's only one bear.)
GRAPHICS: 5/5 - Beautifully done, nice details and colour scheme. Looks great, even if
                              it weren't done in 48 hours. Excellent polish.
SOUND: 3/5 - End theme is sad and bugs me (for some reason). Reminiscent of
                        Teardrop by Massive Attack.
QUIRKINESS: 3/5 - Infinite jumps, no consequences, no losing... all very strange.
ENJOYABILITY: 1/5 - No! What? No!

FINAL SCORE: 20 GOATS

Now... I realize this entire game was completed in 48 hours. So most of my comments are going to come off very harsh (or they already have). I apologize in advance. What follows are my stream-of-consciousness notes I jotted down while playing.

1st Playthrough: 303 timer
WHAT? What is the timer for? You can't do any wrong. It's just so preschool... IF that's what you're going for - a simple cute game for toddlers and 4 year-olds - you've achieved it... But it doesn't seem to have RULES. OR CONSEQUENCES!

2nd Playthrough: 138 timer
I did it faster but I still don't understand it...

To wrap things up, I'm going to say that sometimes, what the developer wants to achieve doesn't get achieved in 48 hours. Perhaps time ran out, code was left undone. Perhaps they only had a half-baked idea. I'm really not sure. Either way, in my opinion, The Girl and Her Teddy Bears fails to be a game, on the solitary fact that there are no apparent consequences, nor "win" conditions - at least they aren't explained to you within the "game" itself. This certainly wasn't for me, but perhaps, someone will like it. It is extremely cute, after all.

Hellbound - Review

My very first TOJam ("Sixy Times" in 2011), I remember Jim McGinley coming over to check out my game "You Win!" that I had helped my friend Michael Patoine make (since he does all the programming). I remember a huge sense of accomplishment when he told us afterwards that we had a really great idea (the entire game is backwards). Now, this next bit may just be my mind making up lovely embellishments, but I seem to recall Jim going on emphatically after that about "these are the kinds of games" he wanted to see.

Hellbound by EndGame is one of these games.

As I entered the GBC room in which Hellbound was being showcased last year, I saw Jim standing with three other people, a huge, goofy grin on his face, as he raced to the death to avoid entering into Hell. "I love what you did with this!" he said*. "It's very fun!" he probably continued. "Come over here," he said, spotting me, "you have to try this!" When his race was finished, he passed me the controller. He was so into it, he continued to talk to one of the devs, while another was trying to explain the controls to my friend and I. Obviously, my attention was split - how could it not be, seeing Jim so excited? Unfortunately for the both of us, I don't recall the rest of Jim's conversation before he had to move on... as soon I was about to race to the death myself.

I think the biggest draw for the game is it's concept and incorporation of the theme "After You". Instead of something chasing you, EndGame went with the more polite approach of "After You." (I very much imagine someone else immediately responding with "No, after you," while peering passive-aggressively and gesturing with an open hand.)

Hellbound is a race you don't want to win. Literally. Four characters ride motorcycles towards the entrance to Hell, and the object of the game is to come in last place - because if you're first you know where you're going. As you head down the highway to Hell you're actually trying your best to run into obstacles to slow your speed demon of a vehicle down, while shooting rockets at your rivals to make them go faster and get there first.

CONCEPT: 4/5 - Fantastic spin on a racing game!
CONTROLS: 5/5 - They're simple and they work well - even though the game is FAST, and therefore difficult.
STORY: 1.5/5 - I imagined a very simple story when I played.
GRAPHICS: 4/5 - Clean line art, fun colours, and facial expressions so hilarious that they kill me!
SOUND: 3/5**
QUIRKINESS: 3/5
ENJOYABILITY: 5/5 - This game is FUN. Excellent for parties. I'd play it over and over.

FINAL SCORE: 25.5 GOATS!

Hellbound is a hilariously fun and competitive game to play with your friends. I highly recommend checking it out***. Especially if you have a large HD monitor, four X-Box 360 controllers, and three friends with good senses of humour.

I now leave you with this quote that encapsulates the spirit of the game:

"So the last shall be first, and the first last..." Matthew 20:16



*I don't actually have any quotes written down. I may be romanticizing this moment in my memory as well. Jim was most certainly praising this game, however.

**Sadly I did not record a score for the sound at TOJam last year, and the game will not open on my computer - seeing an error message instead. I do remember it had music, and sound effects. I feel like they fit the game. But I don't remember them. You know? Therefore, an average score to be as fair as I can be.

***And hopefully it will work on your computer.

TOJam Tentacular!

Registration for TOJam Tentacular is NOW OPEN!

http://www.tojam.ca/register/default.asp

I'm very excited - my registration has gone through, I've declared myself team Captain, and the title of the event this year makes me think of tentacles - and therefore H. P. Lovecraft's C'thulhu mythos.

I couldn't be happier - unless I knew for sure that both my partner and myself had confirmation of our spot at the event.

I'll have to keep writing reviews every Friday to stop from worrying.

Better go register for yourself now while the stars are right...

F'thagn!

Albacross - Retro TOJam Review

Albacross: Rosemary Mosco (www.birdandmoon.com)

Albacross is a top down flying game about an albatross trying to survive in a world negatively affected by humans. Accompanied with ethereal music by Modul, you maneuver the bird through a polluted body of water. The objective of the game is to fight through the obstacles, and make it to shore in time to meet your awaiting partner. A solid game that has infinite potential if it were continued. Just in advance, I may be a bit biased because albatrosses are one of my favourite birds.

Hazards include icebergs, garbage, and fishing nets. Health in the game is recovered by flying into a group of fish.

Controls: Controlling the albatross in Albacross is fairly straightforward. The arrow keys move the bird in the respective directions. An issue I’ve noticed right off the bat (albatross?) is that there’s no ability to fly diagonally across the screen. Something very necessary when it comes to dodging objects on-screen. Once the concept of up-down-left-right only gameplay comes across, maneuverability becomes fairly simple. In addition to this, the albatross can fly off-screen endlessly. It’d be nice to have a fixed range of flight on screen so that you don’t crash into objects that aren’t visible. After getting the hang of it, I was able to finish the game without touching any of the hazards. (3/5)

Story: Albacross’s narrative is simple, and the player leaves with a positive message regarding the environment. The tale revolves around a hungry albatross who needs to stray from their partner in order to feed. If the albatross dies in the game, you’re shown a screen of a your silent partner waiting to see you. Besides that, Albacross’ story is pretty light, which is perfectly fine for a vertical flyer. (3/5)

Presentation: This is where Rosemary shows her talents; Albacross’ art, sound, and functionality is rock solid. The sounds of crashing waves, albatross cries, along with the ethereal sounds of Modul (Mark Javor) is satisfying. I found myself leaving the game in the background for quite a bit, just because the nature sounds were that relaxing. Whales, squid, and trapped fish scroll past the screen in a pleasant way (not really the trapped fish, that’s kind of messed up). A definite highlight is the shading. Pixel dots were used as a shadow effect for most objects. To top it off, the 16 bit albatross intro is downright adorable. A gripe that I had after a few play-throughs was that having a static ocean was definitely noticeable. For the sake of immersion though, a few frames of water moving would be the icing on the cake.

Creativity: Off the top of my head, I can’t really name that many games that involve an albatross protagonist scooping up fish while dodging icebergs, and garbage. At the same time, however, the vertical-scrolling-collect-things-and-don’t-get-hit genre is fairly saturated. (3/5)

Overall: In regards to replay value, the game is about a minute or two long with the same layout of obstacles. An endless mode, power-ups and a randomizer would be additions that would easily bring tons of replay value to this game. Albacross is the sort of game that would do amazing if it were fleshed out, and ported to mobile. For now though, Albacross gets 3 Goats out of 5.

Controls: 3/5

Story: 3/5

Presentation (sound, art): 4/5

Creativity (has it been done?): 3/5

Overall Enjoyability: 3/5