Reviews for Raider: Episode 1

[Regularjoe]

TOO HARD but AWESOME

When I started this game, reading your note that the game would be tough, I figured I'd know what to expect. Spike hell, small platforms, little health, the works. I just finished playing through Jumper 2 (not on Newgrounds) again, so I figure I could get through that sort of challenge.

Playing through the level, I got exactly what I expected. Tough jumps, spikes everywhere, and not much health to do it. The actual level was a nice challenge, even though I did not go and collect all the items. Come to think of it, the tight jumps and well-spaced savepoints almost seemed reminiscent of IWTBTG, although being able to take a few hits made the game reasonable.

However, the boss was ridiculous. His health bar stretches far enough so that you cannot just get lucky. You have to be able to consistently dodge his lightning storm attack, not to mention that you have a fairly small margin of time to jump to avoid the shockwave his attack creates. At best, I was able to cut down his health in half before I died.

If there was a purple checkpoint right before the boss, I may have fought against him enough to learn his pattern and beat him. However, the last purple checkpoint was very far behind, before some tough platforming. There is no way that I would replay all that to only get a half dozen more attempt at the boss.

I am pretty sure that if I was able to get to the boss with six lives to spare on medium, I should not need to play though the game again just to beat that boss. Heck, now that I know the tricky jumps, I should be able to play though medium again without losing more than a couple lives. However, there is no way that I am playing through the game again right now, only to get owned again by that blue asshole.

Other than that, the game was totally AWESOME! There are not enough challenging platformers on Newgrounds. Can't wait for the next in the series.

Pseudolonewolf responds:

The boss isn't any harder than most of the robot masters in the early NES Megaman games (it might even be EASIER than some), though on Beginner mode it's a LOT easier and you have infinite lives so you can try it over and over again if you die without losing any progress.
That's what Beginner mode is for; for people unused to the game.

Still... So many people complained about the boss and controls that I'll keep these things in mind for the future episodes.

[tophimos]

positive review

hard and fun, A-

I liked the game, though I think your naming conventions for difficulty settings should be changed. Normal is "normal," not hard. Hard in this case should be "Hardcore" or "Insane" or something else that is eye catching yet plausible.

I also had some troubles with the controls. I prefer not to change the controls so as to play the game the way the author built it but they are set up awkwardly and you can't change them mid-game. Putting a controls option in the pause menu would be a huge improvement.

Pseudolonewolf responds:

I thought that 'Expert' was a fair enough name for the hardest mode, and 'Beginner' for the easiest and 'Intermediate' for the middle difficulty, since these imply difficulties based on experience and practice. Like how when learning an instrument, the more complex music would be 'Intermediate' and then 'Expert' (which imply lots of experience to get to that point) rather than 'Normal' and 'Hard' (which imply that you could play them without practice, just not easily).

Yet another complaint about the controls being 'akward'... I really wonder if it's largely because UP isn't jump. Hmm.
The control scheme I used is the one that's usually used for emulator games, so I thought it sensible, especially since it's so easy for me to use myself. Perhaps people are confusing 'awkward controls' and 'lack of familiarity with the game'...

[XBrOthasGrMMnolAbarX]

...

I beat it... but the key's like other ppl mentioned somthing with the keys makes your wrist and forearm tired and achey. W,a,s,d and jk would have been better I can totally button jam better with my right hand yep that's the answer you were looking for you have it set up for left handed players hahahaha :D

Fun I almost quit but was glad I followed through I liked the ending and was hoping for level two that's why I almost quit just wasn't getting outtof level 1 fast enough would have been broken up better with weapon upgrades longer swords and faster bullets power shot where you hold the button down and release ect I give you a nine liked the chrachtor and so many other good things even though lacking what I mentioned.

[dragon-ty1919]

wow

wow this game looks exactly like megaman...but cool

[newt716]

Toon link being farted on...XD

Overall I like this game. I think its fun. Good music....Oh and i can't wait for Mardek chapter 4!