Reviews for Year of the Snake

[Eevle]

A good game that just needs a bit of story

I'm not sure I believe that this is indeed a first attempt at game design; while I don't doubt that Armor Games provided plenty of library code for use, many of the basic game design decisions were sound, and the overall game feels polished, if simple.

Year of the Snake is a side-scrolling beat-em-up with the hero battling ogres (or something) with his sword. The available techniques are simple, but there is depth hidden within them; try hitting jump and attack (both buttons!) at the same time for an upward slash reminiscent of the Dragon Punch. Also, with a bit of skill one can mix it up with slashes, lunges, or even do a cool falling-backward slash. The regenerating health bar allows a player to stay in the action, and I was pleased to see that enemies can hurt each other (a nice touch!).

So what's missing? Although the progression of scenes seems to tell a story, I would have liked to get a bit more information up front. I will confess that I didn't get all the way through, as the game got laggy on my old, slow computer (my gaming rig is in the shop). Also, I found that the enemy required kind of a lot of slashes to kill, which caused combat to sometimes bog down somewhat. Still, there was an undeniable thrill to jump-slashing an enemy into the air and juggling him while other foes slashed at where I had just been, then backward-slashing them as I landed and as they ran past. A solid game worthy of a sequel!

Void24 responds:

This game is not a first attempt at game design, but it is a first finished game. I have to say I am somewhat insulted at the idea of Armor Games providing me library code... This game's code is arranged in 7 actionscript2.0 class files, all of which were scratch written for this project.

This game was created by those listed in the credits, for the Armor Games Challenge contest. Armor Games, while providing the excellent contest and games site, did not contribute in any way to the design, code, art, or sound of the finished game (their logo was provided for the opening animation).

[ludedude]

It's was okay...

I thought the graphics and the style were awesome. But the gameplay brought it down. 1 button to attack and no combo moves?
So for next time, make sure that the gameplay is alot better.

[Telperionmt]

Felt good for the first four levels

It was pretty slick, especially with the way the "world" kept tilting the way you are charging, although that doesn't really affect the fighting in any way...just a nice little gimmick.

The fighting is simple and addictive, but mainly because of the opponents. When the hero attacks with his sword I can't tell whether or not he has a grey stick or a sword in his hand; however the enemies' spears, axes and stuff look and feel good. Dodging by jumping around feels very satisfying, but just hammering the attack button for a bunch of times until its time to jump around again...is less than satisfactory.

After a while though there's too little variety, and the game starts to repeat itself too much.

[gambitkiller]

can be better

what this needs is more moves or something

[Rockeny]

Ehh.

I don't know what the point of the game is. Its fun to play. Not much for background music. The gameplay is pretty smooth though. Not bad. More selection in moves and maybe a basic leveling system and some more background music. You'll have yourself a sem-pro game. But still. Not bad.