got to the second screen of text and didn't want to play anymore,too much and too slow
Reviews for "The Guardian"
Frustrating, boring, repetitive, slow gameplay got in the way of the story. I know the gameplay isn't what this was about, but you shouldn't let a minor aspect block the main aspect.
Hi VOEC, I think you made an okay game, tho it feels more like an interactive story to me. The speed of the game (or more - the lack of it) forced me to think about the storyline. So my focus wasn't on getting to the giant anymore. This was even more so the case when I was playing the giant itself - the game grinded so slow that I kept thinking about the storyline.
But to me the storyline was way, way too thin to fill up the slow gamepace. A kid feels different, doesn't have a lot of friends, finds some giant, the kids get thrown out because he leaves the village a lot, the kid gets killed and now the giant is angry because he lost his friend and kills everyone. Not very much a an original plot there but it still is a touchy story - i'm sure a lot of people feel different then the rest from time to time so they can identify themselves with the maincharacter (main pixel... :-p )
It's a very good thing you put in beautiful music! It filled up the gaps caused by (what I believe) a lack of storyline or gamepace. And that combination (music, slow speed, bit of a simple story) makes this game feel more like a poem or some piece of art then a 'real' game. I mean (to be blunt, no offence whatsoever intented) - the only thing your character does is run to the giant a couple of times and then you smash the village (or peacefully walk by). So to me, the focus didn't lay on what I did as a player, it's what I read, hear and saw happening that intrigued me a bit. Much like I would look at a piece of art.
I find it hard to rate this game because your intent with this game is unclear to me. A straigtforward action game is easy to rate. The more things I get to kill/destroy with fancy graphic and smooth gameplay, the better the action game (humor and anime-boobs are bonus). But with your game, I don't see any point of reference to rate your game (or work of art) on. A bit more of a description about the game could help so I would get more of a feeling what I should expect.
This game reminds me a lot about the game "The Company of Myself (by FreeAsANerd). That game also had a dramatic storyline but had more storyline, better graphics (but the black/white one also has it charms!) and more fun in the gameplay. Also it was a lot faster. The thing was - your game was so slow that it made me think during the game and in The Company of Myself I did the thinking-part at the end, which gave me more of a feeling of satisfaction about completing the game. The thinking-thing felt like some sort of reward to me because it gave me a new insight about the main character in the end. That doesn't apply to your game tho and that might have given the game (or art!) more depth.
Thanks for making this and good luck with your Japanese writing :-). Do with this feedback what you want - it's your right to discard it as you wish.
Really great game. Love that "Shadow of colossus" style, but my gigant stuck when he went to viligers. Couldn't move. But will try again later ;-)
bravo, i really enjoyed this experience. The tiny pixel guy was a very imaginative character and the interactions were finely tuned.
My criticisms echo the others here. I grew tired of the screen bouncing ahead of me. Some type of peril was missing and then when the final plod of the guardian went on for longer than your scripted soundtrack (which was very nice also)
I started to worry that if i didn't kill the villagers, (which I didn't) then I would be asked to do the entire slow journey again. Maybe if the guardian could have picked up speed after a few plods, into a lollop, then the end wouldn't have been such a drag, and my other suggestion would be a maximum fall distance for the pixel-guy. might change things entirely.
anyway, loved the story and the look and the feel of the thing, and especially the panoramic aspect, but the play was just too slow and repetetive.
thanks very much for making this work. Great job.