Not bad for your first game.
It kept me going even though the controls were strange and the platforming was really bad. I liked the puzzles but have no clue what to do with the hex puzzles. Maybe someone can fill me in.
All in all it was a decent game could have been a lot better with the action but the puzzle aspect was really good.
The puzzles were all thought out, but the shooter aspect was more slapped on and scope minimized to reduce processing.
-Richie
Good effort!
After reading in one of your other comments that you, or at least one of the two of you, are not an avid gamer (which seems strange given what everything you do is related to. >.<) I have to say that it definitely shows. While it was certainly ambitious to create a 3D Flash with 2d art, and it does have kind of a cool look, it just doesn't play well. That's why you don't see many other games like this. Flash works best in a top-down or side-scrolling format. The best thing you could have done is research, research, research! That, and, well, listen to your playtesters! You said they brought up some of these complaints, well, don't just release the game anyways. I'm sure you just wanted to get it out, but it would have been much better to release a polished game instead of this entirely underwhelming project. It could have been so much more. I know that I for one, was SUPER excited to see a new Pikanjo flash, and a fully-featured game no less, but I came out of it disappointed. I'm not very far in yet, and I also can't figure out how to pick locks. I can get all the tumblers to stay at the top... but then what? And as another reviewer mentioned, if you ever patch this, add English to the menus and such. That should be too great an undertaking. Most of the things have mouseovers, anyways, so you could leave the static text in Russian, and have it turn to English on mouseover. Overall, it was still fun, though, and I look forward to seeing what you guys do next! Glad you've moved from a little pink blob to hot chicks! ;D
You don't actually have to know any Russian to complete anything - I may have rushed this somewhat to get it out - but it's taken me 10 times longer than I originally planned and I wanted to move on.
Thanks,
-Richie
Many things to say
I was very surprised to see that the game was in 3d. However I was instantly dissappointed by a very wild camera and running and confused by the amount of buttons. Speaking of buttons it was a good move to make them customizable, but I really hate that # button wasn't changeable. I have a laptop and full numboard doesn't fit, so I don't have the # button and I couln't progress farther than the keypad, unless that's not the way to solve it.
Speaking of progress, I was slightly stuck at the pick locking part. Didn't realize you had to tap the button, it just wasn't too obvious. Also disliked the fact that I couldn't backtrack out of the vents, I wanted to check the other doors in the mansion, but I guess they just had more guard behind them. Speaking of the guards- they were relentless. Crouching and sneaking didn't help. Died a lot. Was surprised (and glad) they didn't respawn. Jumping over the fence was very tough. The ground seems so slippery and the camera just swings everywhere. The guards had the same problems as me. There was a time on the first floor of the mansion when two guard were alerted by me but they couldn't run up the stairs- they just slided in a 300 degree circle around the ladder bumping into its sides while running. Also about the degrees, it was 23 degrees Celcius outside while snowing but inside it was -2 at times (0 celcius = freezing water). And I didn't find any use for the nuclear bar, but that's probably because I didn't finish the game.
About the camera. in small rooms it goes behind walls and shows the white void outside. So it gives away the flaws of the engine easily. Making it a first person perspective would have solved that. Also I guess there's no hide or cover system and the trees and elevations are there for decoration. And I guess the alarm system was just too much. It seems impossible to never die or trigger an alarm.
Im a kind of a linguist and English is my third language, Russian is my second and my first is Kazakh (suprpised to hear a brief mention of a Kazakh politic mentioned in the intro). So as a person who spoke in russian pretty much my whole life I was relatively fine with the written russian. The girl who did the voice in the begining did have a noticable accent (as if she spoke at one point but the forgot the language partially) but didn't make any mistakes I noticed and spoke understandably. But I was horrified by the sheer amount of swearing in the gameplay. Here's a typical encounter with an enemy: "Bitch" blam! "Fuck you!" blam! "Bitch!" "Fuck you!" Blam! Blam! "Bitch!" "Fuck you!" blam! and he dies. I think it took me about 3 million rubles to get my jaw off of the floor. So the amount of russian language used in the options led me to believe you were making this game for russian audiences as well. If not, then you used too much of, what americans will see as, unreadable font clustered in the menus.
So in conclusion this game just begs to be a 2d side shooter. Somehow I found the 3d engine in Sierra7 a lot more impressive, even though it didn't have too many textures or details, but then again that game had predetermined paths for the player. Some wall designs looked like a grade schooler drew them but that's just nit picking. It's a shame I couldn't finish the game. Please do something about the # key. Changing it to "C" would make a nice square of buttons to work with. So anyway very good effort. But there's a lot of improvement or you just need to reconsider the dimensions for the sequel. Then you will have a game above 4.00 and reviews aknowledging your hard work.
Best of luck to you
You can use the keypad, number keys, or the mouse to play the keypad game. The num-lock key itself is just left out of any configuration. The guard logic is pretty simple so you can learn them and fight accordingly. I think a 1st person shooter would keep the 3D feel a lot better in closed rooms too - maybe being able to switch between 3rd and 1st would let people find their preferred perspective. It is next to impossible to never trigger an alarm or die.
I made the game engine all in-house, and this was kind of an excuse for me to learn more about creating an entire game and get better at programming.
Thanks for the review,
-Richie
Seriously What the Fuck
When i started watching this i was expecting somthing interesting somthing that would be worth it somthing that would be Decent but all i see was somthing was barely any of that im not trying to say it was bad but whats with the Controls and How exactly can you deal with these uncomfortable controls it was a good idea to be able to change the controls but why would you start off with the controls in the first place i guess everybody cant be suited to this. The Story was mesely interesting a bit Comboluted at Times but it got better. The 2D and 3D Effects mixed in with together seemed to be nothing i had saw before the background seemed a bit stale and everything looked flat i mean everything for christ sakes but i shouldnt rush into conclusions overall it was decent interesting character art ill just give you 6/10
this game
is proof that 3d games aren't better than 2d ones... damn, it's pretty bad. For example: what is the purpose of dying if the guards you killed don't revive, and you get your pistol reloaded, even if you died with 0 bullets? It's like dying is something good XD also the controls are pretty bad. And the puzzles are frustrating as f*ck. I can't even pass the first level =/
oh, 1 more thing: why is EVERY medal secret? D:<
I figure dieing and setting off alarms should deter you and perhaps be annoying, but I think it's nice to just start where you left off and not have it be too detrimental - the main point of the game is to figure out the various puzzles. The medals would give away the secrets, so for now at least, they're hidden.
-Richie