the music is great, the game is terrible
Reviews for "400 Years"
Ugh, yuck! What the hell is this?
Alright, first up the graphics are nice, and I like the textures and landscaping, but the first issue here is the pixel art. Sure, it's not bad, but the style just does NOT work at all. You need to pay more attention to fine detail, and then add in a lot more background graphics and animations. Because of how slow the character moves, you need to awe the player and give them something to look at as they dawdle their incredibly slow way from point A to point B. The animation could also use some work. But most of all, you should not be using rectangles as water. Make sure the water is hugging the ground, otherwise it looks tacky and horrible.
The music is good, as most things by Kevin MacLeod are done well, but it gets so horribly repetitive, it would have been nice if you had interspersed it with atmospheric sound effects, like rustling leaves, harsh winds, gentle breezes, or birds chirping. Perhaps a different music track for every season would be nice, too.
Gameplay is by far the most flawed part of this game. The instructions don't tell you squat, which leaves you floundering in the dark, and if you screw up you're penalized by having to wait more... And more... And more! There's a difference between a slow-paced game and a stupidly tedious game. I've played through Vagrant Story and consider it to be one of the greatest games of all time, so I know what it's like to spend a lot of time learning a game and warming up to unconventional gameplay. This game is just done badly.
Overall, the biggest change this Flash needs to rectify its incredibly slow gameplay is a more detailed and immersive environment and atmosphere. On top of that, perhaps doing SOMETHING to speed up the gameplay might help a bit. I found myself stuck at the puzzles and at a couple points facepalmed when I looked up the solutions. I think it's because all of the waiting fried my brain. You could also hint a bit more at directions, or help cue players in on WHERE to wait, because a lot of the time I would end up waiting in the wrong area (and it seems like if I'm not in the right place, it won't matter how long I wait).
I guess the last reason this game ticked me off is because the ending is ridiculous. It doesn't explain anything, expand on any plot, or have any buildup whatsoever. Just 'jump down here and then you win'. Come on! You saved the world because you blocked an active volcano? Get real - even if a rock were able to block an entire volcano AND seal it (which is impossible), it would still only increase the amount of pressure and contain the buildup for a larger, more powerful explosion. Besides, lava melts everything except for diamond, and molten magma will melt even diamond.
Overall an interesting concept, but did you not test this AT ALL and realize how boring it is?
It's one of those thought out games with a message of some sort * --- But ... It became repetitive. The part with growing the trees was so annoying , if it would stop at the right time with it ''turning to dust'' .. I would of gave it a higher rating. All in all -- it's not for short-tempered & easily annoyed people such as myself.
So this is what I did played and got to the village I foreze the water waited for 100 years
Founed out that I could take the wheet to the village pnated it waited croos over the birge and waited more orosed over the new bireg and did nothing till year 399 went back and then wehe in water and waited for the last year to end. 2/10
This game is boring!