Brainmelter Deluxe is a 2D retro pixel platformer with a fairly basic and uncommon (but not unique) twist, and that is when you press space, instead of jumping, you rotate the level you're on, which of course will make you fall in particular directions. Of course the puzzle levels are full of spikes and spinning blades, so turning the map at the right times is crucial to solving each puzzle level in the game.
Problematically, the developer used a number of Unity assets when making the game, but they didn't credit the authors of those packages (DOTween, FMOD, InControl etc), which, while not necessarily a license violation, does put the developer in the somewhat unethical position of claiming the work of others as their own. This isn't okay.
From a technical perspective, the game doesn't meet basic minimum requirements that most PC gamers expect as standard.
A choice was made to use obsolete, decades old retro pixel "art" as a substitute for contemporary PC graphics. It's unclear if this is due to lack of budget or talent, regardless, the overall visual quality of the game is extremely low as a result. While there are options to change the resolution for the game, all this does is scale up the fixed resolution sprites/raster images used to make the game, which makes little or no difference to the graphics quality. Without any other substantial graphics tweaks, it's not possible for gamers to improve the mediocre 2D visuals.
The controls can't be customised (even though the default Unity config panel/launcher is there, the lazy devs didn't follow through with the mapping), which will be an annoyance for many, but it can also render the game unplayable for differently-abled gamers.
Brainmelter Deluxe is over optimistically priced at $4 USD, it's not worth it given the defects and shortcomings with the product, especially considering the sheer number of completely free, much higher quality games on Steam. Impossible to recommend.
[quote][url=https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/reviews]Developer Response![/url][/quote]
The developer has weighed in to inform everyone they didn't read the [url=https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/reviews]Developer Usage Rules[/url] for Steam "partners", or they deliberately ignored the part where Valve says:
[quote]Though it may be tempting, not every review needs to be responded to. A developer response will frequently draw more attention than the original statement, potentially turning a small issue into a much larger community discussion. It's also not a good idea to use this feature to refute customer opinions. Your direct attention can be seen as validation or a defensive attempt to silence your customers.[/quote]
I didn't mention this in my review, but I do try to assist gamers with some background around games to describe how popular and successful they are. One of the ways this is done is by telling gamers how many people play the game based on metrics from SteamDB. In the case of Brainmelter Deluxe, that's just TWO. Only two people concurrently played this game at the same time. And that only happened once, when the game launched. Now, the game is only "played" briefly once or twice a month, presumably by someone trying to see what it is and quickly deleting it. By all measurements, this game was a complete and utter failure. But why did gamers overwhelmingly reject this? The developers response sheds some light.
The developer admits they simply didn't allocate enough time and resources to do the right thing and credit the work of the actual game developers that built the fundamentals of this game. The developer seems to think plagiarism and using the work of others without crediting them is morally just fine.
The developer admits the game is simply far too shallow to need controller customisation as an excuse for not providing it... a somewhat embarrassing admission but the developer does provide another reason to avoid this shovelware.
The developer seems to think charging outrageous prices for garbage is perfectly okay, again, given the context of this shovelware compared to the large body of work on Steam, with over 15,000 completely free titles almost all of which are superior to this, they come so close to understanding why this game was an utter failure, but don't quite grasp it. For the same price as this game, right now, you can pick up Batman: Arkham Asylum, This War of Mine or Tomb Raider, amongst hundreds of other professional titles.
The amateur developer genuinely seems to believe their shovelware is on par with these AAA games and thus should share the same price point for the value it delivers to gamers. Don't laugh, it's true. Two concurrent players, only happened once. Wonder why. So you can see why my advice to gamers is to spend their money elsewhere on this point.
The developer genuinely tries to convince gamers that they made the game look bad on purpose, and the poor appearance wasn't simply because this amateur developer was incapable of doing better. It does seem like a clever attempt at an excuse for inadequacy.
So, the developer demonstrates numerous examples of a completely woeful attitude towards both gamers and the gaming industry with their response, and it highlights what is probably the most central problem with amateur "indie" developers. These developers don't care about gamers at all, if they did they wouldn't publish such low quality games on Steam, instead they would work as part of the professional gaming industry to produce games of high quality. Why don't they? Amateur developers put themselves before gamers and publish this junk on Steam to stroke their own ego, and don't work in any professional capacity, either because it's too difficult or they simply aren't skilled enough to get a real game development job. But the question must be asked, how on earth does this benefit gamers? The answer: It simply doesn't.
That explains the poor quality of this game, but it doesn't excuse it. The developers pointless, self incriminating response sheds light on why Steam is polluted with so many valueless games made by people who don't put gamers first, or care about gamers at all, but it doesn't change the objectively poor quality of this shovelware, so my review stands unaltered. I do not recommend this game.
