Flawed Gem
The game play is brilliant and the visceral thrill of blowing a man's head off his shoulders is impossible to resist. I have not enjoyed an assassin game with so much relish for a long time. Unfortunately the dialogue, especially the first one third, is banal and depressingly unfunny. The final mark is impossible when one has lag and incredibly frustrating as the solution was so plain and intuitive.
R.I.P Dimebag
awesome game good story I liked how you had to identify the target before hand and nice shout out for Dimebag on the wall as graffiti
Great, but one flaw...
I like the game at first, but it got annoying once I got to the part where you have to hit certain parts of the head. I also think there should be some type of rifle customization. Overall, good game. Looking forward to a sequel.
Sorry this is so long
First off, I would like to say that I really enjoyed this game, and I only criticize things that I want to be more awesome. Please keep that in mind while I pick your game apart.
The lag was horrible. Slip-stick motion is the worst for sniping. I'm fairly certain that a big part of the lag problem that I had was a result of improper variable cleanup. I say this because I tested the game a bit; if you do the first mission ten times it is roughly as laggy as the tenth mission normally is. The lag really hits the fan in act II, and I'm going to guess that that is the result of additional unaddressed variables from all those exploding heads.
A save button would have gone a long way towards making the lag less of a problem, as the only way to clear up the lag presently is to close the window and restart the game.
I'm not going to say the AI was bad, because you had to walk the line between AI reactions and more lag. Given the number of people on each board, I feel that keeping it simple was a good choice. For what it was, the AI was at least robust. I will say though, if you plan on making a sequel, that would be an easy thing to improve that would make the gameplay a lot more dynamic.
Finally, this is perhaps the only design choice that you made that I felt was simply wrong, and I want to say this in the strongest possible terms: DO NOT DISABLE MY RIFLE. There is no reason for that, ever. If I have successfully completed a mission, the insinuation that I would accidently shoot someone in the head is insulting. If I have just failed a mission, I want to shoot someone in the dome more than ever. This is a shooting game; I clicked it because I wanted to shoot people in the head and I kept playing because you made it so gratifying. Why would you take that away from me?
Overall, I liked this game a lot. At first I was worried that it would be a generic shooter. I was pleasantly surprised by the gameplay, and even found myself getting into the characters. Specifying hit zones was a big part of what kept this game interesting throughout the story, even adding to the characters at times. For example, I truly did not want those cultist sons of bitches to have their leader's brain. It was a little convenient that every remotely bad person in the city also happened to be an abusive pedophilic drug-dealing lying arsonist commie, and that bothered me for a nanosecond. Then I shot someone's jaw off and that made everything better.
In addition to the story, this game was a sensory feast. The music was good, the sound effects were immaculate. The characters had an appropriate amount of detail and variation. The bloody explosions were, well, exactly what I wanted them to be. Even the skyline was pretty.
The noir style cutscenes were a good foil for the gritty, graphic feel of the sniping scenes. There was a good balance between story and sniping. Anaksha comes off as more than just a nameless protagonist, because we see her conflicted. At the same time, I don't need to know her blood type. Every time I found myself wondering when I was going to get some assassination done, there it was. When the wet work got repetitive, I was treated to a comic book-style story with a really hot heroine.
Great job.
Yeah the lag is a huge problem which isn't apparent until you play til the end or as you say, repeat a mission several times. And you're right, its probably something to do with variable clean-up. But it was an experimental game which was more a learning experience for me than anything else. All the issues you've raised are being addressed in the sequel (you can keep an eye on the progress via the blog on Anaksha's website). As for the issues you've raised regariding the rifle, I totally understand the gratification you get from firing at the targets, but I believe disabling the gun is a necessary step to take, not because I mistrust the player, but mainly to create a sense of tension (ie: did I just kill the right guy?!) and also to stop the blood fx from getting boring. But I understand your concern and I've already added an extra little compromise in the new game which should definitely satisfy all the trigger happy players out there (including myself) :) Anyway thanks for the feedback - its always good to read what people want in a game. :)
fun but requires a fast pc
ok this is a freakin frustrating game if I ever saw one. first, it took me like 3 hours trying to pass this game to the last stage with my pc, at first. gameplay is quite fast but slows down real quick as there are more and more animatable people on the screen. well i got to last stage, but didn't know how to kill the boss, shot him in the eye, on the case, shot the light etc. then i restarted stage but the screen didn't load. only the background did. this may be just a bug in My pc, but i had to start the game all over again.
Fortunately, I passed through in about 20 mins byt enlargening the screen so that there was nothing but the game this time being processed by bmy pc. well, thats not over seeing I still didn't know how to kill the last guy. upon scrolling 22 pages of review - only to find "this is great game please make more" reviews and nothing of actually HELFUL - thank you very much, guys. and through walkthough sites, that said "oh im not gonna tell you how to pass level 13 hee hee" i finally got to this page saying you have to shoot the rope which is holding that metal bar when the guy is passing it so it crushes him. Whew!
after I had finished the dude , the game froze and completely crashed my browser. so I had to start over again and play the game through 3rd time
1 note on the AI as the last guy mentioned. it is indeed stupid to see rest of the street running like mad when u shoot someone BUT the next victim youre supposed to shoot. i see that it is so that when the shot hits them near enough they start running. it helps the aiming , sure, on diffciult missions, but still looks pretty stupid.
tip: the right target usually is the guy who's taking a smoke or stops walking early on.
i dont know what happens when the lab blows up all i hear is music. my browser really does crash at that point but im reading walkthoughs it is the end.
Graphics: 9
awesome, detailed work. the guys outfits could vary, though. or have details.
Sound: 10
dramatic. adds feeling that wouldn't exist normally making you feel when you read the text: This is wrong!
Style: 6
Obvioulsy you ripped off Quentin Tarantino. everuthing s the same, chracter themes, coloring, envronment. I dont respect it.
Interactivity: 10
lots and lots of clicking and moving the mouse. both fast-paced and accurate, needing patience.
Violence: 10
its based on violence entirely.
Humor: 4
well there ar more tad bits flying around in the form of dark humor jokes and falling/flying heads. always enjoyed de-jawing that reverend!
(Cummability: 6
some guys could get huge boners on the adult store advertisements seen in stages. particularly 1 or 2 females in neon lights look HOT! i gotta tell ya, everyhting but the butane lighter fluid is correct, us men really are B@stards!)
Overall: 8
its a dark sniper set into a dark Sin City world.
I understand your concerns about the freezing and the AI. It was an experimental first game and all the issues you've raised will (hopefully!) be corrected in the new one so there'll be plenty to look forward to. Although I think the Tarantino references are totally coincidental. This game was more inspired by The Crow and Sin City. :)