Score: 8
"good, but suggestions."
date: April 5, 2009
you wanted suggestions, so here you go.
for offensive powerups, definitely have damage upgrades for the laser and some kind of spread shot, like in contra but not an exact copy. speaking of which, the laser shouldn't just go through enemies like butter, unless some kind of powerup in that light was instituted, and the shot itself shouldnt be so long. health upgrades at the end of some levels would be a must for a longer game. a variety of attacks would help, such as a limited number of bombs or maybe even include a sonic spin attack that has to charge up for when enemies get really close, but that would only work if it had to charge for, say, 20+ seconds.
for enemies, the octorok was an amusing idea, but proved awfully weak and easy to kill due to its size and lethargy. also, i understand limitations on running speed, but four enemies at a time is far too few: there should definitely be sporadic hordes of enemies that mob the player at certain points. one thing that would fit well with the style of the game would be zig-zagging enemies that are extremely small but very fast, giving an edge of franticness to those levels. also necessities are enemies that are rather weak but shoot troublesome projectiles. a giant army of those would be great as a surprise in a later level: usual run-of-the-mill waves and suddenly BOOM HOLY CRAP DODGE LEFT RIGHT UP DOWN HAMMER CTRL! the stereotypical big enemies that are slow but take a lot of damage also ought to show up somewhere, and definitely bosses that spawn smaller enemies and sling a variety of projectiles at you (robotn- sorry, EGGMAN's flying machines?).
different environments would be a great addition to it. perhaps the moon-type background would be a later level while tracking down the Death Egg or whatever villain you choose to include, and earlier levels should be places like the forest zone of Angel Island or the classic appearance of Mobius. also, environmental hazards are a must, such as pillars of fire, crumbling ceilings, and moving spiked blocks. with such an emphasis on having a laser, a strange but extremely difficult place with a lot of mirrors would be hard to create but extremely cool.
i do agree with pikafan11 who is 2 reviews below me. selectable characters would be nice, even if its just for looks with no actual influence on gameplay. also, who and what to choose for bosses poses an intriguing dilemma. if you were going for an aspect of humor, include the mario brothers as a friend or a foe somewhere along the way. or maybe you were going for the outlandishly original... someone like Link or something? i dunno, its your game.
oh yes, and music. it needs music REALLY BADLY. if you want, and can give some scenarios, i can whip up some loops for you. give me a week per loop, max, and i can make one that's about 30 seconds and repeats fairly smoothly. or, just wade through the massive and spam-filled NG audio portal. whatever.
anyway, great demo. improvements needed for a whole game, but this is a fine start.
