Friday, November 27, 2009

The Forest Temple- Review

The game Forest Temple begins simply as all games do, with a loading screen, but not far after that, I think I got sick of the game.
After the load finishes, and you click that button, you're treated to what some people may call music. Take a good listen, for it sounds novel now. And it should sound novel throughout your game. The music seems to change every couple of levels or so, I don't know if it's tied to the "three types of levels" mechanic, but it's a change that I'm happy to have.
Anyway, the premise of the game is simple, navigate your two elemental buddies(One composed of fire, one of water) through a world filled with harms such as traps of fire, water, and mud (For some odd, yet to be explained reason, mud kills them both). The team mechanic isn't a new one, however, this game put it's own spin on it. Being able to control [b]both[/b] characters at the same time. And this is the main draw of the game, surprisingly, the developers managed to pull it off into some very fun puzzle and action levels. Yeah, I know there was something about 'three types of levels', but there's really two, fortunately, that's okay. Graphics...everybody loves graphics...Save for these ones. They really don't match anything I'd expect from Armourgame's quality, they look like something that a really underpaid, annoyed artist would do, and that's just the backgrounds. The two main characters look quite...err...cartoon-y, not the good type of cartoon-y that hearkens you back to an age where the world was simple and forgiving, the type of cartoon-y that has to grow on you a little while before you ready to look your protagonists in the face. Which is hard to say considering someone probably spent a lot of time on their design, but it must be said.
Now, let's talk about the game-play a little more. Puzzles are kinda fun, Action also. But dividing the levels into parts feels like a very arbitrary decision, I suppose it was made so some people can aim down action/puzzle paths, but it sounds better to just combine these two parts together to make a delicious sandwich of gameplay (Note: Do not attempt to eat sandwich of gameplay).
Another odd decision about the gameplay that I wanted to speak about would be the fact a even a little, itty, bitty mistake can ruin the entire level. Which is most certainty *not*okay.
The control themselves are..okay, I guess, but I still dislike the bounciness of the characters and how stilted the jumps and general movement feels.
Now, any good game, flash or otherwise, should be addictive. If you haven't found the pattern that I've made during this review, I'll spell it out here. It's not. Now...on to the list of grievances and positives
Positive:
  1. Multi-character control!
  2. Long...can take up an afternoon
  3. Music remains fresh
Grievances:
  1. Feels like a chore to play
  2. Doesn't feel too pretty on the eyes
  3. Controls are...well, much less than stellar
  4. Arbitrary decision in design
  5. Not much of a story here captain. (Seriously, it's not like it explains itself. A spirit of water and one of fire don't just randomly meet and decide to help each other get diamonds)
  6. Can take an afternoon...only if you're really patient
Now, for the final score. With the positive over the negatives (3/6), you get a general idea of where I'm going. I'd say it's a 6/10. Some people will like it, but they'll have to get over some major hurdles.
~Still trying to beat level 4..Winwinwe

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