Blade Flash Death

Have YOU ever wondered what it would be like to be a Samurai who was ALSO a helicopter? Don't miss your chance! Spin to win as an amateur chronomancer/movie director and decapitate multiple synchronized dancers mid-practice! Control time! Spin like a beyblade! Bathe in fountains of cherry jam! All this and MORE in BLADE-FLASH-DEATH! Stay tuned for the sequel, Mace-indecent exposure-Resuscitation!

I mean, you can't beat the price point if nothing else. Like I mentioned in my OFDP review, I remember Silver Dollar Games as that company who gained a rep in XBLI for making little proof-of-concept games out of mundane life activities (e.g. identifying baby daddies, holding farts, withholding food from cats, etc) and got a lot of XBLI community hate for "spamming shovelware". Personally though, I love seeing what these guys are up to from time to time because they're clearly enthusiastic about game-making, in a way that reminds me of a good-universe version of Digital Homicide. OFDP2 was a fantastic upgrade to what was already their best-realized game idea, so of course I was happy to check out the two free games they put out back-to-back (this one and Space Choice). My first impulse is that they have grown quite a bit from their janky-but-endearing roots. Of the two though, this one feels much more like a worthy successor to the OFDP standard. It's got a simple yet engaging core gameplay loop and offers an uncommon gaming experience. Also the art and visuals are nice, better even than some budget indy titles that charge money for a similar amount of (less inventive) gameplay. That said, there's a few minor things I think the game could do better. The UI seems unnecessarily picky about what you can click on; not sure why the hit-box for the timeline icons can't just take up the entire circle. Part of me also wants to understand the damage mechanics better but I suspect some of that is intended to be "learn-by-playing" so I won't harp on it too much. I'd also appreciate it if I had a bit more control over the slash mechanic; as it is now, if you over-twist then it flips the arc. I feel like I'd prefer it to just block further rotation rather than make me fiddle with it for longer than I'd like. I really do have to stress, those are VERY minor gripes, and not difficult at all to get past for the sake of a really cool and simple game idea. And FWIW I remain impressed and inspired by how far Silver Dollar Games has come.