Boss 101

Fun stuff.

Un jeu qui semblait prometteur mais qui se révèle surtout une totale usine à gaz sans que rien d'intéressant n'en sorte vraiment. Les combats ne sont pas intéressant, c'est du shoot'em up de base. L'originalité du jeu vient du fait que les boss sont générés aléatoirement et que les combats seront toujours différents, mais au final on se retrouve avec un boss qui empile 5 patterns très basiques, plutôt que d'en avoir des intéressants, et qui parfois ne vont pas du tout bien ensemble, rendant les boss beaucoup trop puissants ou beaucoup trop faible. L'histoire c'est du blabla incessant, il y a des dizaines de choses à débloquer (PNJ, costumes, animaux de compagnie) qui n'ont aucun intérêt autre que simplement s'afficher dans le jeu... La variété des armes ne sert à rien, car les boss sont sensibles à certaines armes, rendant les autres inutiles en comparaison, il faut donc changer son build en permanence avec le seul objectif de coller aux faiblesses du boss et de bourrer pendant le combat. La progression est on ne peut plus simple, on fait une mission => on gagne de l'argent pour augmenter ses stats, etc. Le pixel art n'est pas dingue et surtout les écrans de menu et autres sont surchargés visuellement. En résumé le jeu n'a aucune mécanique intéressante en elle-même et ne propose que d'accumuler et mélanger des mécaniques ultra basiques, mais en ce qui me concerne la recette ne fonctionne pas.

This game is as mixed up as the bosses in it but it still has enough to be fun. I first heard of this game while it was still being developed. The dev contacted me to talk about a (negative) review I left on another much lauded game. We had a nice short chat back and forth and Boss 101 found its way to my wish list. So warning I guess, maybe some bias in my review or something? Either way, eventually Boss 101 came falling down the sheer cliffs of my "mountain of shame" and I picked it up during the 2018 Summer Sale. I feel bad I waited this long to get to it. There's a lot to like; Great writing whether the world building or simply the quips and references (oh so many many many references). Great art assets. The visual style overall, the characters, the bosses, the minions, the menus, the rooms, the stages. It is a looker. Sound and music works. And the gameplay is smooth, which is obviously important in a game of this style. You feel in control. But it somehow doesn't all match up for me. I dunno, it isn't anything bad for sure. Maybe the dialog heavy story and tutorials are more fitting of a more involved slower paced game? The minions and bosses could fit any multitude of 2D gameplay styles. The gameplay looks like it should be challenging but it is quite easy. The gameplay is frantic and high paced but delivered in micro-doses. Even the endless mode is broken up after each level. It really could've used an attrition endless mode with roll over health damage and break-free nonstop action. There were three longer main bosses in the game that provided a glimpse of what a nice long structured level in this game-style could have been. They were far and away easily the highlights of the gameplay. The sheer amount of unlocks in "hats" and weapons is quite the feat, but offer little (once you find the overpowered hats you're prone to stick with them). The bosses come in all sorts of mismatched parts which is awesome and makes for some unique rolls/combos but then you can't really do anything but blast the bullet sponge and dodge. Minimal strategy. Would've been nice to target those specific interchangeable parts and wear them down piece by piece. There's endless amounts of weapons that will be trying to kill you but a timer running out will beat you more than anything. And finally, though there is lots to do and collect, it is short. I dunno, one of those games that made me wonder and wish for that itsy bitsy push over the top. Instead you spend time handicapping yourself to find a challenge. I still found plenty of fun though. All the positives I opened the review with do deliver. And there is plenty to do if you so want, or finish it in 2hrs and feel the satisfaction of finishing a surrogate activity in short order. I still have some completionist stuff I may or may not get to. Especially at the ridiculous all time low price I have no true complaints, just those contrasting personal nitpicks. I did have fun. Thumbs up. My 101st review. What a coinkydink. Edit: Polished out the complesionist stuff. For whatever it is worth; 10+ hours for it all. Also considering I messed around with the arcade for two of those hours. And there was an idle achievment. Really did end up short even considering doing everything. I dunno if there is really much 'replayability' either.

love the detailed and colorfull sprite work on this game is a really neat fun and adictive casual shoot em up

Although a bit overwhelming to look at, it's a sweet sidescroller/shooter with a nostalgic feeling of older games in its genre.

The boss battles aren't good. Battle pacing is bad. Battles are long (especially early on when it may be literally impossible to kill a boss in time unless you re-roll for one with the right weaknesses). Boss attacks all trigger at random times - so there will be slow points where you're sitting in place and firing for many seconds at a time, watching its giant health bar s-l-o-w-l-y deplete. Then at other moments, every attack triggers at once, creating unavoidable damage. Your movement and attack options aren't interesting. You hold down the fire button...or you switch weapons to the one that does more damage, and hold down the fire button. No special attacks, special offensive or defensive moves. I also encountered movement issues on keyboard where diagonal moves (two arrow keys together) didn't register. I like the pixel art, and I like all cute extras. The mini-games, the pets, the many hats and guns - there's a lot of STUFF here to check out, and a lot of it seems pretty neat. But the core gameplay at the heart of the experience is lackluster, and without that, the extras and accessories don't matter. There are lots of AMAZING shmups out there with beautiful, memorable boss battles. Games like DariusBurst, or Dodonpachi Resurrection, or Mushihimesama, or Jamestown, or Ikaruga. There are so many terrific options that I can't recommend spending any time on this one.