I played through the game in it's entirety , I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed it.Despite that it may seem aimed at younger audiences I liked the warm and colorful graphics and the shading and wouldn't want to see you change your style.Overall I feel your game is a wonderful product , the graphics are appealing , the music and sounds are pleasant , the controls are smooth and easy to get acquainted with and the experience in general is worthwhile.The difficulty was a bit on the easy side , at first I had worried over the availability of extra lives but when it came down to it I didn't actually die.The dragon coins and blue gems were reasonable , I was able to find most on my first run through but a few of the area 2 levels I missed some and had to run through a second time.Generally the only real fault I have is that I was left wanting more , not a bad thing really , I just wished there had been more content and levels.Some of the things I would love to see in such a game would be more levels for starters , a lot more , perhaps eight worlds if possible , that would be long enough for me to feel fully indulged but not so long that I lose interest.Along with additional levels bosses and mini bosses would naturally come into play , but something else that would be cool is if you were able to find secret or hidden exits in some levels that may lead to shortcuts , alternate routes , bonus levels or various other secrets , maybe even unlockable alternate colors or a hat for novelty purposes , even though I like blue.Greater enemy diversity would make it more enjoyable as well , even if you have more than one foe that serves an identical function , just the different form would offer a bit of diversity.Maybe more upgrades or even the addition of temporary or single use items that take effect at the start of levels , just to give something to spend gems on other than lives after the upgrades are obtained.More breath weapons would be interesting as well were that a possibility , maybe if there were an electric breath , it could pierce enemies or have minor seeking capabilities or just longer range , I think it would be cool at least.The storyline worked well too but were it a bit deeper with more scenes during progression that may make it a bit more engaging , I'm not entirely sure with that one though as your storyline worked rather well as it was despite simplicity.Also I noticed in one of the blue gem challenges there were fireballs coming at you much in the fashion of Mario games when they approached Bowser.I found that element interesting , a regular level that incorporated such would be interesting.I know you have falling platforms but maybe you could add tilting platforms somewhere too.I think that's about it , that's my opinion at least.Personally I found the game rather fun and will be looking forward to your future works , even if you didn't try to make improvements or adjustments I would still want to play the next one , it's plenty good as it is.Hope to see more from you in the future , were the game bigger and had more content it would be something I'd be tempted to actually buy.All in all , good job.
Reviews for "Drake and The Wizards 2"
Thank you for your review and suggestions. We really are glad that you like the game and that you give us such a nice review. Thanks again for this effort and we will take your suggestions for the next version of the saga.
Haters Gonna Hate walk!
The game Has a lot of potential, i played some of the first some time ago, but time has caught up to me, and i am 18, i cant play this as it was definitely targeted for a much younger audience between 12-18. I find the programming, coding and graphics absolutely wonderful though, and the music while it was annoying for an adult :P, it is great for younger folks! amazing value, it reminded me right away when i was playing Super wario bros or kirby for the gameboy advance or color, so its like a full retail game! for free! wonderful i say!. I bet you guys will improve this, and work with all the ideas the audience offers. Its fundamental to see what the people that play suggest, as they are the ones that bring and put value on your published games (: keep up the good work!
One of the most important things to do the game is the players opinion, when they play DRAKE 1 they give us a lot of ideas and ask for a new version, so with this new version we will take a new feedback from you and take note about it to a new game of the saga. We love you like the game and thank you for your feedback.
Excellent game overall. The level designs are entertaining enough with great reference to source material (cough-DKC-cough). One tiny complaint though, with such a large character with an equally large hit-detection box, please add a duck button. Keep up the good work!
Thank you! We will make some changes for the next game, we hope you like it too.
The game is quite good. But you should know that another author has ripped off your game, replacing the main character with their own rip-off character and then claiming it as their own. Since I did not see mentions that the edit was authorized, I thought you should know. (The game is 'Hopy Go Go')
Regarding the game itself, the game is a passable improvement over the original. Although I did like the greater enemy variety, new levels, and most importantly, the new bosses, the game suffered from a rather glaring issue: it is painfully short.
This is really a shame as the improved controls, faster speed, and improved secrets (I especially liked the inclusion of Donkey Kong Country-styled bonus levels) really do much for the game's longevity. I think the biggest problem is quite simple: the difficulty does not climb nearly as fast or enough, which only serve to highlight how short the game is. Likewise, getting the Dragon Coins and all the Blue Gems only give you upgrades, which feels like a waste when the game is perfectly beatable and balanced with the player never using upgrades.
I suggest you take a further note from Donkey Kong Country... and even maybe from Kirby.
In the old-school Kirby games, if you rush to the end and do not take the time to properly complete the game, the villain's back-up plan cause your adventure to end in failure anyway (the villain take over the world despite your efforts). The consequence for failing to properly completing the game need not to be that harsh but I think that having access to secret levels or even maybe a bonus ending for those who go all the way might help make finding everything feel more rewarding.
Regarding the difficulty, I think you shouldn't be afraid to crank it up. I do not mean to turn the next game into one of those 'die a bajillion times per room' platformer but rather, look at the Mario serie or other such platformers ; have the difficulty begin and stay relatively low but have it climb over the course of the game.
This is pretty important because the difficulty spike in this second game is truly horrid ; since the difficulty climbs so slowly and the game is so short, the difficulty spike when you reach the bosses is unreasonable. You go from extremely easy platforming stages to shockingly unforgiving bosses who aggressively hug you for collision damage while filling the screen with projectiles. This isn't a problem ; they're nowhere near excessively brutal. But it feels jarring because the game is so short and easy. It would feel better if you had more levels and a harsher difficulty progression to really 'telegraph' the bosses (unless your intent is to concentrate the difficulty into the bosses, in which case you need more of them).
I must address the final boss in particular. Dark Wizard's first form is a fantastically designed boss fight and I must commend for it. The only thing it really lack is extra attacks or an 'angered mode' when at low health. How well-designed this fight is only serve to highlight how badly designed the proper final fight is.
Dark Wizard's final form is very disappointing. It is full of what one may call 'fake difficulty' ; Dark Wizard's attacks are not even threatening. The problem is that he spend almost all of the fight being invincible (a mechanic exclusive to that form) and his attacks abuse the fact that you can't duck with frustrating effectiveness. It does not help that this boss's two attacks make for a very repetitive fight, especially since unlike other bosses, this form is not especially mobile.
Regarding the setting, I feel that it is pretty nice except for one glaring issue: the bosses are not especially expressive or interesting. While Drake and the normal enemies are suitably cartoony and full of personality, the giant skeleton and Dark Wizard are surprisingly bland and boring.
Frankly, I feel that the bosses should be unique designs, with suitable expression and personality. It would help make the boss encounters much more unique. This is especially true for Dark Wizard, who is an especially boring antagonist. Which is a shame ; I feel that it would be fitting for Drake to have a suitable foil/opposite. Maybe Dark Wizard could try creating his own twisted version of Drake only for it to backfire, resulting in a dark dragon who he can't control? And that, although disliking Dark Wizard as much as Drake, ends up thinking that using dragon powers just to keep the peace if a waste of an opportunity...
Just an idea.
To summarize. The game is great but suffer from short length and a lackluster final boss. Difficulty balance issues are there but are not crippling (stages too easy causing bosses to feel too overwhelming).
My suggestions is to add more rewards for finding secrets (extra levels, extra ending). Boss design could be improved, especially considering main character and enemies design.
Don't know if you'll end up reading this but if you do, I hope it will help.
Hi, thank you for your comments and suggestions. We always read them, sometimes it takes a while if they are posted a few weeks or months after the game is published. We appreciate whenever someone takes the time and effort to review our game with so much detail.
The Hopy version is authorized, but thank you anyway.
We are currently on early stages of the development of the next Drake game. We are taking on account all the feedback, so we are aiming to make a longer, varied and innovative game.