First off, I'd like to state my general thought on this game: it has been wonderfully made, and is very well done for a game with a few levels of depth, as well as a story that will bring you back for curiosity. If you love this kind of flight/shooting game, you'll love Amber Helix . I shall elaborate, as well as summarize my points at the end of the review...
So, to note my game experience, I've played for quite a few days. On the first few days, I got through the first segment of the game (level 1-22, endless mode 1). It was horrendously difficult for me, initially. How on earth was I to fly through the whole game, which was roughly three times as large as where I'd gotten to, with even more difficultly along the way? To make things worse, I'd actually skipped over the target practice. I also skipped past the controls in the beginning, assuming that there would be some sort of forced tutorial for a game that went into the varying mechanics of shooting and controls (mouse flight/momentum shooting). I went through the whole first third of the game without any upgrades to shield or armor, nor the knowledge that shield could replentish. So at the end of that whole struggle, I felt confused. How on earth does anyone play through this whole game without getting hit more than four times? Surely enough, there was a solution...
Then, I discover why I should upgrade more, and eventually bring myself to read the controls, and play the tutorial. Oh, there's a wasd/<^v> control mode? Let us do. I play the second half of the game with the left, right, up, down, and their variously combined diagonals. I feel great, seeing as I've gotten through two thirds of the game with . At this point, I finally upgrade drone control. I know, I should upgrade more, right? The reason for this, however, being...
... that I was playing on Hard mode, which decreases your experience gain quite a bit from Easy mode. On that topic, I think that difficulties should be based on enemy abilities/performance, rather than limiting the user's capabilities. It makes for a more challenging game if you're fighting against your enemy, and not yourself in terms of limitation. Excessive user control is better paired with extensive enemy capabilities. If this was aiming to be a challenging game, then this kind of user/enemy interaction is what I would suggest for it. Another "challenge" that caught my attention was the rate of gameplay in the beginning of the game. I mentioned that this game would be quite appealing, if you liked top-down shooters. Surely, individuals like myself might take on the game if they thought there would be more to it, but it seems that this is actually quite limited as well, if you consider that the beginning of the game does not actually show the appeal of the greater points of the game. It's quite a slow rate of progression, due to the actual speed of the game with the weaker and lesser amounts of enemies at hand initially. It's not ridiculously slow, yet it is also somewhat dulling to what might have been a more thrilling experience. Moving on...
I beat the second third of the game, and I begin to see the fruits of my initial struggles. Fighting to dodge bullets was such a task that now, after enduring many more trials, I must be a god at it. Perhaps this game could have been a bullet-hell, I thought, as I upgraded my health and shields. A bit more time, however, and I found that upgrading became extremely more debilitating. I was forced to farm for my experience, to keep up with the game. For this kind of game, I reemphasize once again that the user should be spoiled, as well as the game's fighting forces. Moving on... I also found a bit of entertainment within accomplishing those feats of difficulty. Only after discovering that they offered in-game benefits did I really begin to pursue them. You should probably mention this to the player (or allow them to discover it through accomplishing target practice, haha). If anything, add more of them. Their appeal and difficulty gives more of a motivator to do my best.
So that was my experience with the game, as well as what I think that most others would find to be rather improvable. I'll mention a few others in my personal summary (do note that this review is based on my personal experience, and should only be taken as an individual review, instead of a widely correct source; I've also had quite the different experience with this game, as I mentioned). I will mention the good parts of the game, the slightly lesser parts of those, and how many of either category could be improved.
Good Ones:
* Opening Screen, Game Layout, Map - easily understood, and simple enough for gameplay
* The Ship - customization, drones, development, and even a character for it
* The Story - I personally love a good story, and the characters and dialogue for this one are great
* The Music - the tempo and beats went very well with the game, deserves much praise
* The Gameplay - always a lingering challenge, never easy enough to be trivial, and overall fun
* The Style - I also love vertical/horizontal shooters, and that's quite the motivator for playing
Things That Could Have Been Better Ones:
* Opening Screen, Game Layout, Map, Feats - The opening screen is rarely ever seen again if the user leaves themselves off, and returns forever later; perhaps you could have loading begin at the opening screen every time. I don't really know, since I've not actually forgotten the controls due to extended periods myself. The layout is simple, as I mentioned. It's also a bit limited, due to the size of the screen, but you've been careful to explain most of the information that's there. All that I would like to say about the map is that I would've liked it to be a bit more visual (a starmap?). Just some personal input. The feats... Really actually quite difficult, some of them. The only ones I really had the ability to pursue at all were the target practice, invincible, indomitable, and endless journey. The others were either not really used much, or were too unclear. Add more of them, because they're somewhat interesting to incorporate into the gameplay.
* The Ship - Customization is good. So, why has it been capped off? Surely, the game gets even more difficult beyond those points, and requires more power, yes? I don't know all of the improvements made in NewGamePlus and beyond, as well as through some of the feats, yet I really do not think that the cap placed at the end of the metamorphosis was really necessary. That's all I can say for it at the moment though, since I haven't beaten the game completely yet. Drones... The sorting was somewhat difficult for me, really. Most drones had more than one statistic that they boosted, and sorting didn't quite help determine which qualities I needed, or even had in the first place. Perhaps a larger menu for drones, like the map, as well as easier sorting (maybe multiple categories at a time; complex but possible). I don't want to farm for them, but I guess it's inevitable if I want to get a boost from the golden drone feat. Also, please give better upgrading. It is the only thing I have left at this point. Selfish, but I also want more drones. They're like Team Fortress 2 hats. Anything else with the ship... I need more spread, really. If not, give me the ability to collect more (less limitations). One more... Explanation of the statistics. If I understand correctly, you can have more than 100% salvation and intelligence? I really have little of an idea of the mathematics' workings in this game. More is better, but that's all I really know at this point. Please elaborate, if you could.
* The Story - Love it, love it, love it. If possible, please give me more of it. Just a personal request, but subtle amounts are lovely to encounter. Maybe collection of data fragments to hint at the Garden history. At any rate, it's a bit much to say spectacular, but it has really piqued my interest.
* The Music - Kudos to the artist, and a wonderful choice to fit with the game's style.
* The Gameplay - Mouse movement, as well as a slight twist on it with the momentum bullets. Nice. I have little to say for it, ironically, as that's what this whole review should be about. I would just like to have my shield regeneration be automatic, instead of when my bullets stop firing. Another thing to add to my "player over ease of gameplay" suggestions. Right, another thing... The endless mode. This is quite entertaining to test myself in, but it began to slow down and lag profusely after a few levels. Not my personal computer's performance, but I can't say that the game is to blame.
* The Style (and Art) - I have a strange liking towards pixel art. Very nice animations. The sci-fi style? My taste. I'm a bit biased towards it, honestly.
Closing: I like this game enough that I'll write one of my only (currently only) reviews for it. (I apologize if I violated any ethical or otherwise written guidelines, but I was careful enough to read through them.) Not enough? My game information was reset when I wanted to see what buffers to feats gave. I'm playing through it again. Keep up the good work.
