Not as good as it could have been...
Visuals/Animation: 1.5/3 Okay
Sound/Audio: 1/2 Okay
Game Play: 2/5 Needs Work
Total: 4.5/10
The Good List:
It was fairly challenging, I'll give you that, and the difficulty scaled at the right amount with each passing level. The mechanics were innovative and interesting. Things such as using your previous dead body as a bridge across spikes kept me interested and made me feel smart at times. The music was pretty okay as far as repetitive music goes. Though it was the same music over and over, I didn't mind listening to it. Don't make it a habit though because a diverse range of music is infinitely preferable.
The Bad List:
1) CONTROLS: Some people may think that this adds to the difficulty and that it is acceptable for this game. I, however, SUPER disagree with this point. The challenge should always be in the game, not in the shaky controls. It's called "controls" because I should feel like I'm in control of my character.
a) Wall Jumping: If you are standing near a wall at all, you will wall jump. This means unintentional wall jumping into a saw blade because I was hugging the wall a little too much. Also, the wall jumping was unresponsive at times and unpredictable. I sometimes felt I was being catapulted into spikes/saw blades against my will because I couldn't control myself. Big no-no.
b) Sliding; My biggest rap with this is how unpredictable getting OUT of the slide was. Sometimes I get out of the slide too early and sometimes I get out of the slide too late and sometimes... etc. It was like I was taking a gamble with every slide-related portion of a level. I didn't know a reliable way to get out or stay in a slide.
c) Other Details: 1) The slight sliding after every movement was annoying and unnecessary. In a game like this, solid movement is better. 2) There needed to be better mid-air control (changing directions mid-air after doing a jump). 3) When you go through a door, your previous momentum is carried to the other room. This was pretty annoying as it led to deaths sometimes. It should have stopped all the momentum entirely and maybe you should have restructured some of the levels to fit this way. It would make less level-design-flaw deaths.
2) VISUALS/LEVEL DESIGN: The art and design was pretty bland for the entire thing. Same city background, same purple bricks, same everything. A varied level design keeps people interested and doesn't make it feel like the game is dragging as much. And dude, it really felt like the game was dragging. I feel like there could have been cool boss fights in between and other things to change it up so that we're not bored with the same game play.
I feel like you tried to take a "Super Meat Boy" approach to this game, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but there was no real effort in this game to keep the gamer interested long enough to keep going through. And if they did go through, there's no real feeling of accomplishment. It really felt like I wasted my life on this game. Keep it fresh and fun while ALSO being frustrating. Then you will have yourself a game worth playing.
Cheers ^_^
