Reviews for Ray Ardent: Science Ninja

[HappyMango]

Short review

i fully agree with rubikks. But i gave this game a 9 because even given the flaws, this game is very fun and i enjoy it very much, but some of these flaws should be fixed in a sequel. i'd also like to see some better attacks given that i use "Science-ninjitsu" i'd like to see some actual combat moves other than sliding and double jumps.

I'd also like to mention the powers. The slide moves and double jumps should come standard instead of taking up a power space, because these moves are invaluable, and you need them in most cases to complete the stage, most of the game i spend sliding. i love this game, and i'd like to see some more work put into game elements.

I also noticed, that this game will punish you if you try to rush, like trying to move really fast, and jump over alot of platforms. since most of them have dinosaurs that will kill you when you try to rush. the game makes you slow down and use up the time limit. given these issues, i'm doomed to play it forever, because once you play a game with "Science-tastic" in it, you cant put it down.

[darkrainFiles]

Perfect "Speed-style" plataformer

A speed/action plataformer with excelent control and powerups.

Pros:
- Excelent+ control
- Excelent science-nerdy-humor
- Excelent+ learning curve
- Excelent powerups (love the slide-attack powerup)
- Good graphics/music (especially considering the fact that ONLY ONE GUY did the entire game)

Cons:
- Too short
- Enemies types (needs more)

Conclusion:
This game is very good. Good nerdy-humor, nice graphics, very very good controls. Good powerups, (sidenote: i enjoyed the "customization" of your powerups before entering a level). It's fun, fast, simple (Occam razor simplicity). Love it. The only drawback: its too short, so an almost perfect 9.5/10

Suggestions (please) for a possible sequel / expansion:
- More levels and/or change(s) in the level(s) theme
- More enemies types (suggestion: aerial like a pterodactyl)
Keep the good work. Btw: Did you use flixel?

[Ericho]

It's weird to imagine how I could have missed out on this awesome entry when it first came out! I really liked this game probably because it allowed you to have so much power. While the main character can't fly, he can do pretty much anything else. Some of the controls are hard to use, but overall it's a great game. I think the character looks like someone from a comic made by Bleedman. With the pause options, everything's taken at a good pace too.

The levels are designed in a really cool manner too. The colors are different and you have so much freedom to move around. This is the kind of thing we wish we could do in real life, next to flying. We all desire to have great agility and go anywhere we wanted. The voicework is great too.

[rubikks]

let's discuss some flaws.

Okay, this review is gonna sound really harsh, but it's just because this game already has enough well deserved praise.
Firstly, navigating menus was somewhat redundant. After finishing a level, pressing the "next" button merely brought you to the level menu. In my opinion, it should go directly to the upgrade menu for the next level. You should also add an option to just press <space> to advance instead of having to take your hand off the keyboard.
Another issue I noticed in the menu was swapping upgrades. For the large slot, I would like to be able to instantly switch abilities by clicking on the ability I want. I didn't like that I had to deactivate the ability first and THEN put in the ability I want. For the small upgrade slots, a drag and drop system might work well to instantly swap between powers as opposed to the current system.
Next, the text dialogue was poorly implemented. This is a game about speed and thinking fast, so you can't afford to take your eyes off the screen and read some text. I would suggest giving some voice acting to go beside the text, or pausing the game automatically until the player indicates that he has read the text.
My final problem lies within killing dinosaurs. The small dinosaurs required far too much precision to take down. From my understanding, you can only kill them using the dive ability. If I'm wrong, that's because I never had a chance to read otherwise due to the previous issue. If I'm right, then the dive ability is a bit tough to control, and it's near impossible to land it perfectly onto such a small target. EDIT: I just tried it, and diving isn't the only way. Jumping alone is equally challenging, though, and I would strongly recommend making the tiny dinos a bit bigger.

Just to prove I'm not a total jackass, I'll leave you with one little compliment - the voice acting was absolutely brilliant. I'm just a sucker for goofy one-liners such as "SCIENCE-TASTIC" Never failed to make me laugh.

[Psi-Master]

Very Cool

Only downside I can think of is that screen seems way too small (I can barely make out the character and coins). Other than that, very nice mix of 2D plat former, running game, and RPG.

Btw, to whomever said ninjas were more "mystical arts" as opposed to using "science," all of the ninja martial arts were from devout physical training, all of their gadgets and "tricks' were from science...such as the ability to walk on water was because of specially-engineered shoes you can Google to find nowadays, BUT they allowed others to label them as "mystic arts" as a means of psychological warfare. If people believe that you are magic, it just makes you seem more terrifying and powerful, but nothing they did was actually magic - they weren't actually like Naruto...