Game unexpectedly over after three spirits. "Water Attack" is an incredibly misleading name. Aiming way, way overrated. Way too easy to die without really knowing why.
With all that said, this is a neat idea for a game, and I'd like to see it developed over a normal game development schedule.
You have superb talent. If you threw this together in 2 days, just imagine what you could accomplish in a few months, some backing & maybe even a few helpers? I liked the music from the Yoshida Brothers, the dynamic movement & the upgrades! However I only wish a save feature was included so I could take off in my upgrade process so I could fully level up. 4.5 out of 5.
wish you could keep on playing after finishing the game because there was some more of these in the water and i wanted to level everything up as well.
Beautiful aesthetic, noise, music, fits in with a message etc... but gameplay experience is a little sub-optimal. It's fun to pick up the method for the "fishing" but gets a little tiresome doing the grinding after a while, and the upgrades are not well-balanced. It's annoying to suffer instant death from hitting something unavoidable, perhaps radar would help! But on the other hand "dying" is undervalued, in some sense, since it just means you have to restart your fishing trip. I'd rather that "dying" was more under my control (at the moment a large part is due to chance) but incurred a greater penalty.
Ok, heres my 'Spillage' of thoughts:
I absolutely loved this game as it has an attractive unique feel to the game. I can not say for sure if it is a unique plot idea, but the gameplay seemed good enough.
I liked the fact you included 2 versions of the game: the Lundum Dare version (original) and an improved one, and you can definitely tell the difference between the 2!
What I thought was a bit of a shame, was, like many reviewers had said, was the lack of ending. You present the game impressively, a young warrior who wants to rid the village of the evils that lurk beneath the surface/ waters, and after wise words of the master, decides to dive head first into dangerous waters.
If that is the case, why can you NOT complete the game with all abilities? I understood the last ending credits, but if that is so, why even have a total of how many bosses you can kill at the bottom corner (9 I think?) then to cut the experience substantially by ending it by 3/4?!
UNLESS of course, there is a way you can NOT choose an ability and continue to hunt the monsters down. I have tried, but I can't seem to find that out!
Please, have an official ending, as I feel that my time invested into playing this game was cut short, and in turn, I feel cheated! :c
The controls and shooting seemed close enough...HOWEVER I feel that the aiming reticule (i.e., when you see both arrows coming together) should of been a different colour, as it clashed with the white background from the outside/ surface.
Also, I think what would of made the game slightly easier, is if you had an incoming arrow as to where the boss was going to approach. Ie, at times, I would lure the BOSS monster out of the waters, dive into the water then dive straight back up, only to sometimes run into its body and die instantaneously. Maybe if you had a warning arrow (or even the master who stays by the surface 24/7 to shout out 'left! right!, above left! etc') would of aided in the game playability greatly!
Yes, I am bearing in mind that there are 2 versions of the game (which I think is an EXCEPTIONAL option that ALL LUNDUM DARE DEVELOPERS SHOULD DEVELOP AND INCLUDE!) and for the original version, I rate it 8/10 stars (or 4.5/5 stars)
However, as you have included both versions, I am going to review it as if this was a DVD re-release of a great movie with 'added bonuses' lol. Because of the criticisms (as i have stated above), I think that though the bonus version is a much improved version of the game, it is unfortunately, too little, i.e., too SHORT to get the full 4.5 out of 5, therefore:
Final review?
Music:10/10
Playability:8/10
Re-playability: 6/10
Bonuses: 5/10
Therefore, 4/5 stars.
Hope this review helped and hope that you will continue to make even more great games!
M
thanks for the awesome review man!
I think your comment convinced me to make a little update with more bosses.
i acctually wanted to make 7 bosses at first, but had trouble with the balancing and everything, thats why theyre still in there. i have no really good excuse to be honest, hahah