Aztaka

Finishing the game, I have left with mixed, yet largely positive, feelings. In Aztaka, you are the chosen warrior of the Tenochthitlan, or something. See, it's an action RPG platformer based on Aztec mythology, of which I admittedly am not an expert on. Because of this special setting, every name and event feels unique and at the same time rather confusing, for it can be difficult to remember who is who when you're dealing with a culture with a complicated spelling vastly different from yours. You are actually playing two characters: the chosen warrior of the gods and a cursed wizard of sorts who is in the form of a hummingbird. Warrior handles the fighting and surviving, while the wizard-bird can cast protecting and attacking spells and get taunted by the antagonists. Both gain levels and become stronger by equipping special stuff. Action part is the combat, of which there is a lot. At the beginning, combat is [i]very[/i] clunky: your only attack is to thrust forward with the spear. You can also roll around and jump, but those do you little good, when the enemies do damage by simple touch and there's no invulnerability time involved with either. Combined with the fact many of them are evasive, jumpy or have blocks makes fighting some enemies a pain. [i]But it gets better![/i] Once (maybe two-three hours in the game) you will learn an upward strike to attack enemies in the air and even better, a jump strike, making your jumps damage enemies in return. This makes the combat tremendously simpler and more enjoyable. There's also magic part to combat. You basically choose a spell and click on the boxes that appear to complete the incantation: missing one will ruin the spell. During this time the game is slowed down, so you simply have to be fast to avoid getting hit. The more complicated the spell, the more clicks are required. It's quite alright a magic system for a platformer. So there is also a platforming part. This couples with the magic system, that also incorporates a use of magical energies that are dropped by enemies and used to interact with the world. For example, in the beginning you can grow branches into certain trees (it's not exactly a freeform ability), opening a route onward. There are four energy types, all of which have their own special powers in addition to their world interaction: for example, the green life energy doubles effectively as a bandage. Along the way you'll learn more skills akin to other platformers, like double jumps and wall jumps. Aztaka actually has one of the most powerful wall-jumping abilities I've seen, used many times to get to some hard-to-reach places. Finally, there's the RPG aspect. You earn experience and levels by killing monsters and doing quests. At the same time you can increase your health and mana by finding bonus artefacts. There are 3 attributes per character and each level grants you one point to allocate. All the attributes are useful, though I found Agility to be a bit vague (the more you have, the more you'll inflict critical strikes). You may also increase the stats by quaffing stat-increasing potions, dropping randomly from enemies and you can even buy them later on. You'll also get a skill point every level. For the warrior skill points are very useful, but for the wizard it could have been useful to know that the spells become more expensive the more skill points they have. It's not a true RPG though. There are no decisions to make, only a story to follow and the dialogue advancing without your concern. You can (and will) return to earlier places to look for missed loot and quest opportunities though. Sometimes, you might even be lost on what to do next: then the quest screen usually helps. Music and graphics are fine and fit the setting. I did experience some fatal bugs along the way: some sprites would turn into black boxes, and shortly afterwards the game would crash (my card is AMD Radeon 5700 series, run on Win7 64-bit). This was mostly inconvenient, since restarting the game would fix the problems for several hours. All in all, Aztaka is an alright platformer. It also reminds me of The Battle Of Olympus and Zelda II games on Nes. I played the game through on brutal difficulty (I suppose that's the most difficult one) and got 14 hours of game time along the way, dying quite a lot due to bad early decisions. After learning the jump attack skill I advanced a lot faster, and I reckon that's when the combat became more entertaining than a chore. So I'd wager to prepare for a slow start. The end game was very fast and easy because [spoiler]you can avoid any enemies by jumping over them, and the warrior becomes practically immortal[/spoiler] before facing the final boss. Too bad Aztaka has no achievements and that seems to be final. I could have squeezed a few extra hours out of it, but I doubt I'll return to it now. As a one-time quest, especially if received from a bundle or on a decent discount, it's certainly worth a buy and play-through. Just give it some time, bear with the clumsy combat of the beginning and try not to lose yourself within the quirky Aztek names.

I enjoyed Aztaka. The graphics, music, and setting were all quite good. Overall, the game play was good, too, so long as you don't use your spear to attack anything. Attacking with your spear is slow, clunky, and nearly pointless once you get the air attack. Because of how worthless the spear attack is, two skills were also useless and I never once used them in the game after trying them out the moment I got them. They are just too slow and too difficult to even activate, let alone use effectively if they did decent damage or didn't leave you completely vulnerable. Jumping was surprisingly responsive and is the most effective means of attack in the game later on in most situations, even trumping magic for most enemies. The magic system was unique and I rather enjoyed the difficulty it added. However, you will not want to use two of the spells too often later in the game, as they have a tendency to crash the game at random. Stability is a severe issue in Aztaka. It crashed regularly for me, sometimes when doing nothing but walking along, but usually when trying to use the two attack spells you don't start with. It will just freeze for a few seconds, then go to Not Responding(in windows 7) and finally just give up and die. Save often. It is somewhat short, but I enjoyed it and am not sorry to have bought and played it.

Shortly a wonderful and unique game idea gets hamstrung by bad game play design decisions Combat: You start of with a spear and none to little abilities. Shield and a relatively weak magic projectile is your main magical weapons. This is actually the best part of the game. As you progress you get more advanced enemies against you that do cheap shots at you. How do you counter? with cheap shots of your own. Heard of the somersault 'touch' attack that does massive damage? or what about the 'pogo stick on their head' -attack? World: Love it how devs bravely use names and stuff from the Aztec cultures. Feeling lost at first? that's a good thing. this game does not feel ashamed of it's origin. Would have loved to see more everyday content in villages and people. Now it seems major characters are fleshed out but villages only contain the same faces who say the few lines they do. Put quite many hours into this but just could not bother to get to the proper end. Late game abilities and combat is a chore. The red wire about what you are here actually doing gets lost. 5/10. Not a hopeless game at all. For some it might be better but for me farming for gold souls and running around in ant caves did not help. Hard to decide if this is a recommendable game or not. I'd say no as combat gameplay dominates in the end and it's not that good. The unique cultural aspect is a big plus but it does not carry far enough as there is not that much adventure elements and game instead relies more on action.

Доброго времени суток, друзья! Поиграл тут в "Aztaka" и получил хорошие впечатления. Начнём с сюжета, который завязан на мифологии индейского племени Ацтеков. Реализована эта мифология вполне неплохо. Дизайн уровней, имена и вещи, всё пронизано духом ацтекской культуры. Вы берёте на себя роль двух персонажей. Избранного воина Уицило, сына Солнца, и его помощника, проклятого волшебника Айохпа, принявшего образ колибри. Их цель, это найти артефакт, украденный из великого храма. На этом и построен сюжет. [h1] Геймплей: [/h1] Геймплей разнообразен и сочетает в себе несколько аспектов. В первую очередь, это платформер\метроидвания. Перемещаетесь по локациям, осваивате навыки, которые помогут достичь ранее недоступных мест. Боевая система развивается по мере прохождения игры. Воин отвечает непосредственно на физическое противостояние с врагами. Но начинаете он своё путешествие только с одним копьём и не имеете никаких способностей. Его единственная атака, это бросаться вперед копьем. Он так же, может делать кувырок, но он не особо спасает, так как урон вы получаете не только от атак противников, но и просто коснувшись их. Позже станут доступны и другие атаки (удар вверх, позволяющий атаковать врагов в воздухе, или удар прыжком, наносящим урон врагам). Колибри же отвечает за магическую составляющую. Он может использовать защитные и атакующие заклинания. Щит и относительно слабый магический снаряд - ваше главное магическое оружие. Интересно выполнение заклинаний. Выглядит это как некая скоростная мини-игра. Выбираете заклинание и нажимаете на поля, которые появляются на экране, чтобы завершить заклинание. Чем сложнее заклинание, тем больше кликов требуется. Оба героя постепенно повышают свой уровень и становятся сильнее, приобретая новые навыки. Взаимодействие героев органично сочетается между собой, и с окружающим их миром. К примеру, в самом начале игры вы можете вырастить ветки на определенных деревьях, что открывает дальнейший маршрут. А чтобы взаимодействовать с окружающим миром, нужно применять энергетические сферы четырёх видов, которые будете или находить просто на уровнях или, после гибели противников. Каждая из них будет помогать преодолевать определенные препятствия. Во время приключений наши герои так же будут находить различные предметы экипировки, повышающей их параметры. А так же, будут зарабатывать очки опыта и повышать свой уровень. А с помощью найденных артефактов увеличивать свое здоровье и ману. К тому же, у наших героев есть пассивные навыки, как в классических ролевых играх (сила, ловкость и т.д.), которые так же будут прокачиваться по мере прохождения. [h1] Визуал и музыка: [/h1] Графика поразительно красива и детализирована. Локации подробно прорисованы и отлично передают дух некогда великой культуры. Саундтреки великолепны и отлично вписываются в игру. [h1] Вердикт: [/h1] Игра мне понравилась. Хороший, добротный платформер, сочетающий в себе элементы RPG и метроидвании, с красивой графикой и обворожительной музыкой. Хорошее приключение, которое стоит пережить.

Was really hoping I won't have to give this game a thumbs down, but I just can't recommend it. It's not a bad game at all. The visuals are stunning and the music is pretty great, and together they give each location a nice atmosphere. There are also some interesting ideas, like the way the skill levelling is handled, as well as your familiar being in charge of magic and levelling magic stats, whereas you only level up the brawn attributes. The combat is very so-so. You learn some nice new moves along the way, such as being able to hurt enemies whilst performing air flips, but overall it's very tedious and most enemies seem to be damage sponges that take forever to die, not to mention shrugging off your hits whilst you're attacking them, meaning you'll always be getting hit back whilst attacking. And as you go, you keep meeting the same 2-3 enemies per area again and again and again. Eventually you stop fighting them and just flip over them, because some of the latter levels are just way too long and convoluted. I got fed up when I ended up in some ant cave full of giant ants everywhere. The level went on forever and I just kept getting lost, and when I died, I'd just start back in it because the game autosaved (and you can't save manually). So I'm essentially stuck there and can't go back. It's really a shame, because some other levels, like Ehecalk Temple, were designed pretty well and were fun to explore. It's as if the devs ran out of ideas at some point and just started throwing in really long and repetitive levels with dozens of enemies everywhere. I also don't quite understand some of the enemy choices. Whereas Jaguar warriors and haunted masks were quite fitting to the Aztec setting, on the other hand Centauri were out of place. Don't expect to find much of a story in the game either. Although it starts as though you're on someone's trail, eventually it just boils down to "go and collect these 7 phonograms all over the world". Overall I am quite disappointed. It started off as a promising game, but then lost its footing very quickly and turned into a very average sidescroller with gameplay issues. If you're really curious to try the game still, I'd suggest to just get it when it's on sale.

Pro: Great visuals OK music Unusual setting Demo Low system specs OK RPG aspects Con: Not that great controls Clunky combat system No replayablity (no exploration) Where's the map? Overall: 5/10 +2 demo +1 setting -1 combat -1 map = 6/10 Grab the demo, if you like it wait till it's on sale Thumbs up just for the demo

Aztaka is one of those games that really surprised me. Mainly I was interested in it because there aren't many games based on or even inspired by the Aztec empire, or for that matter any ancient civilization of the Americas. I was also taken by the beautifully crafted backdrops and sprites, however before playing the game I was unsure how the combat would pull through. Once I got around to playing the game I soon found myself entranced and rather enjoying myself as I played through Aztaka. My worries had been banished leaving me to marvel at the many successful elements in this game. First and foremost I must attest to the game's visual representation of an Aztec inspired world. I'm not knowledgeable enough about Aztec culture and architecture to speak on the game's accuracy of it's depiction, but what I can say is that they managed to make sidescroller that is as immersive as they come. The settings and the scenery are well done, filled with masterfully drawn backdrops and detailed sprites. The game of course is set in a world reminiscent of Central America. The developers did a great job with adding variety to the settings. You travel through dense jungles, lush forests, barren mountain passes, underground caverns, Aztecan cities, and massive temples. Accompanying the excellent visuals is a soundtrack that is also inspired by early Americas Indians, think panflutes/wood flutes, hide drums, and the like. It's actually quite a soothing and enjoyable soundtrack to listen to, in-game or by itself. If you play this game expecting a story that is typical for a small indie production, you shouldn't be displeased. I think the story is just about where it needs to be. What's important is that it it'll keep you immersed in this Aztecan world, even if you won't come away with some of feelings that story driven games inspire, such as identifying and relating to characters and becoming engrossed in the deep emotional relationships between characters. Speaking of keeping you immersed in an Aztecan the world, the UI is designed in just such a way. If you take a look at the store page you'll quickly see what I mean, Aztecan designs and decor abound! The UI is quite simple and straightforward to use, however one of my few criticisms is how the UI isn't a lay on top UI, but instead a UI that limits the viewport of the game. And finally, the combat. Admittedly this was what I was least unsure about what to expect going into the game. I can't recall if I've ever played a platformer RPG hybrid before. The game does a good job of offering variety in two different ways. In one way you have a small variety of spells, and in the other way you have a variety of ways to attack. Being a platformer there are of course ways to attack the enemies by jumping and of course other physical attacks. Spells also consume a certain type of energy, an energy you can only hold so much of at any given time and is gathered from killing certain types of enemies. This makes spellcasting an active decision making process, making the player conserve their energy for when it's most needed and using the most appropriate spell for any given situation. This also means you'll be using physical/melee attacks a lot. The only danger overall is that the attacks aren't perfectly balanced, and I found myself using one attack more than the rest (a basic jump attack) which can make the combat seem one dimensional if you find yourself relying one one attack as well. On that note, the game was a bit on the easy side, not to say there weren't challenging spots. Of course I played on the default setting and there are harder difficulty settings then what I played. If one thing can be said about Aztaka, is that it's unique. So many aspects are original and rarely seen in video games. I think this is one reason why I like the game so much. I play as many games as I can so that I can enjoy the many different experiences each offers. The experience I came away with from Aztaka was fresh and original. The other reason I connected so well with this game is that overall it's a well executed game. The art and the music is very lovely, and the gameplay and combat is engaging. Soundtrack sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYWiVb7xan0

Beautiful graphics, interesting and rare setting, lots of cool ideas. Abhorrent combat, uninspired and repetitive gameplay, hopelessly bad controls. I really wanted to like this game, as it has a lot of potential, but alas, when the initial good impression wears off, playing it feels like a chore. Enemies range from stupid and mildly irritating to stupid and infuriating, the actual best way to deal with them is just jumping over them. Location go on for miles, but lack any variety regarding gameplay - you just run, jump over enemies and run some more. Some of the wall jumping tricks required to progress are next to impossible to perform without hundreds of tries and would make me to pull my hair out, if I wasn't bald already. It's just not worth the hassle.

A volte nella vita ci sono momenti in cui un uomo davanti le difficoltà stringe i denti, si tira le maniche fino ai gomiti e decide di affrontare i problemi a viso aperto. Non importa quanto tempo ci vorrà, non importano le ferite fisiche, non importano gli orrori psicologici che ti segneranno per tutta la vita. Ciò che deve essere fatto deve essere fatto. Per alcuni è il vero senso dell'esistenza, la risposta alla domanda "perché vuoi scalare quella montagna?". Semplicemente perché sta lì. L'uomo è anche un pioniere che rischia la propria vita buttandosi nel vuoto sapendo che spesso la ricompensa è maggiore di qualsiasi prezzo da pagare. Ma a tutto c'è un limite, e l'asticella viene innalzata in maniera poderosa da Aztaka. Il successivo salto in alto alle Olimpiadi non è di 10 cm più elevato, con Aztaka: è semplicemente allontanato di 10 metri, e lì in alto non vi è l'asticella, ma il filo spinato. Anni fa mi scontrai a muso duro con questo aborto di tecnica di programmazione. Feci una fatica del demonio per arrivare al boss finale e mollai la presa per la disperazione. Perchè il mio PC proprio più di 3 fps non riusciva a farli in quel frangente. Ma questa è una bazzecola, perché il pericolo è nascosto proprio nel codice, ed è un pericolo mortale. Sapete dell'emulatore Playstation 4, no? Lo so, lo so che non esiste. Ma supponiamo ci sia qualcuno che abbia iniziato a svilupparlo: secondo voi in che stato si troverebbe oggi? Esatto, inutilizzabile. Aztaka sfiora quelle vette. Ma lo fa con classe, subdola. E' IT che ti attira con il palloncino in una giornata di pioggia da una caditoia, promettendoti un lecca lecca ed un riparo al calduccio. E tu ci credi, perchè SEMBRA che tutto sia a posto. E inizi, e godi perché è bellissimo. Un metroidvania pieno di tocchi di classe, quante belle locazioni da vedere, uao si è sbloccato il doppio salto, figo, ma che è? Crash. Va beh, riprendiamo. Caricamento... no devo rifare mezz'ora di livello perchè il salvataggio è solo automatico e a cazzo di topo di fogna. Vabbè, dai, che sarà mai capita. Crash. Ok, ma dopo altri 10 minuti? Devo rifarlo? Stringiamo i denti... Dopo 20 minuti... ah, finalmente ho passato quella sezione, ha salvato. Bello, sto dento il vulcano! Ma perchè se colpisco i nemici si illumina un contorno rettangolare? Manco sul C64 vedevo sta robaccia. Vabbè, stringiamo i denti. La tana delle formiche! Figo, è claustrofobico! Un momento sono caduto per un imbuto... non posso saltare! Non fa il doppio salto, come diavolo ritorno indietro? Ci provo 3-4 volte, alla quinta lo fa. Mah. Esco, mi alleno e scopro che in effetti ogni tanto l'algoritmo subdolo non permette il doppio salto. Vabbè, proseguiamo. Ora arriva quella parte, e ricordo che all'epoca gli fps calavano tipo Watch Dogs 2 impostato tutto a ultra con AA a16X. Ma ora ho un i5 6600k e una GTX1070, non mi fotti ah ah ah. Come prima, più di prima. Scatta come allora (e mi chiedo: ma sarà così di nuovo anche lo scontro finale? Ma davvero?). Continuo. Crasha, non aveva salvato, devo rifare tutta la parte. Corro per la foresta e cado attraverso il terreno, e finalmente imparo il doppio salto risalendo le pareti verticali. Dio Mio no, voglio dimenticare quello che avevo rimosso del mio encefalo. I salti lungo le pareti dei pozzi. Essere appesi per le palle è più piacevole. Vi prego, gli sviluppatori sono scomparsi, all'epoca promisero di aggiustare le cose. Il gioco è rimasto rotto. Non compratelo, non date soldi a sta gente. Fatelo per me, vi prego, per le vostre famiglie, date un futuro ai vostri figli, non mostrate loro questo, insegnate loro che la fiducia all’umanità si può dare, ma nascondete questi esempi. Io ci ho rinunciato, non ho avuto la forza di scalare la montagna solo perché c'è. E' una montagna di merda, dopo puzzerò comunque. Datelo alle capre. 1/10