[b] Note to reflect the updates & reasoning for removing negative review:[/b] the game got 2 significant patches that addressed about 80% of my issues with the game, making it overall less tedious and cheap with the difficulty, and somewhat improving the sound. The only thing that still stands out to me is that enemies could use more work. I am trying to think of a good example, you know how in some NES games you have flying types that will zigzag on you, or maybe you get ganked from behind more often, it still feels like in your game 90% of the enemies are in front of you, I think you need to find a way to mix in more directional and vertical challenges, so you not feeling like you just constantly fighting toward. Maybe you could add some enemies that would jump around, or having 2 types of directorial attacks, or at least a few more enemies that come from behind in spots.
I actually don't mind the ghosts that track you and those orbs that fall from the ceiling, that is the kind of 2 step simplicity that is perfectly fine on NES, an enemy that kinda has 1 gimmick. It's really the walking enemies that feel like something is off about them, right now they don't really add anything to the game other than being in your way, perhaps giving them another chance for a different type of attack, maybe a potential arc jump, ground slam, something for them to do other than slowly walking. I can't properly articulate it, but for some reason their behavior feels incomplete, even though it's a NES style game and simple design is fine, something about them feels off. Maybe just go back to your favorite NES games and see if you can copy the timing behavior of enemies you like, and then work from there.
You know how in Ninja Gaiden you walk toward a melee enemy, and suddenly a dog like enemy runs from behind, and that creates directorial challenge. You have a little bit of that, but right now the balance is off, and it often feels like enemies just walking in front of you, that is what I am trying to explain, you not putting the player enough into a sandwich situation. As well as just the regular enemies that maybe need a better telegraphed attack, perhaps with a better movement so they are actually a treat if you not being careful.
[b] Original Review Below: [/b]
As of this review I think the game has a bit too many polish and technical issues, and I also think you need to improve the variety of enemies, as well as the way the game creates the challenge, that being said, if you update this well, I think it would be decent, perhaps even enjoyable. I see you already improved the default movement speed, the previous version was almost unplayable for me, but it feels much better now.
The game obviously takes inspiration from Ninja Gaiden, and it intentionally does some NES themed hazards, such as enemies that will respawn at the edges of the screen, or huge knockback on taking hits, often sending you to the nearest instadeath. Now that is all fine, I am no stranger to hard retro games, but I do want a little bit of consistency, and there are so many cheap *** deaths in this game, even if you take the retro design into account. Like I can anticipate an enemy respawn to a point, and yet, sometimes this game will respawn 3 enemies right on top of you, and you are on a moving platform, and have to do 9 hits to 3 flying enemies in 2 seconds, which literally just kills you.
Then there are technical issues, actually I just softlocked myself playing it, you forgot the floor death in one spot. Sometimes the wall grab just stops working, and it won't work again, so you just stand there waiting for death (usually after you failed a wall once, it often will not let you use it again). The game constantly glitches the spawn points, sometimes enemies are not there, or sometimes you get 2 extra copies of the enemy (good luck with that when you are on a moving platform)
Problems aside, I think the gameplay could be okay, for the most part it feels on brand for the Ninja Gaiden tribute, it's just the overall variety of enemies and the way you deal with them feel kinda uninspired, not to mention just lacking some sound effects, the stages could have used a bit more love, and maybe a few extra power ups would help. To be fair many NES games recycled enemies, but I still think it's a poor excuse if that is the case, it feels like I am fighting the same 3-5 enemies entire game. The enemies in general could use a bit more telegraphing, sometimes it feels like you just getting hit for no reason, especially with those blobs that toss 3 projectiles, sometimes I stay away on purpose and they still tag me.
[h1] Pros: [/h1]
(+) Despite all of the issues it feels somewhat faithful to how a NES game would function in both difficulty and simplicity, so if nothing else, I think you got the overall feel down, just a bit too basic with how you handle the variety of enemies and the overall directional challenge that needs more work.
[h1] Feedback: [/h1]
- there are a lot of walls in the game where if you fail to climb them once, the wall jump will not work again
- make you sure you put a death floor in every pit, I softlocked myself on a 4th stage and got stuck under the map, right behind the 4-3 door
- you need more sound effects in the game, maybe one for each enemy kill, overall the sound effects felt a bit too soft. The music does not change often enough, I get that it's technically each stage 1 to 1-5, but a cool way to improve it would be having the same song that gets more complex per each section, instead of listening to the same thing over and over.
- I would like you to balance the directional challenge a bit more, 90% of enemies here come from one direction, maybe add a few new enemy types, have a few come from behind. I am not sure if you making them yourself or using premades, but the design of the enemies in general was a bit meh, I think it would help to have more humanoid like types, maybe some robot ninjas.
- It's okay to go for that NES style challenge, but I think you can improve the telegraphing a bit with ranged enemies, maybe lower their rate of fire, color code their attack more
- maybe reduce the HP of flying enemies on stage 4 to 2 instead of 3, also sometimes you can spawn 3 copies of them if you not careful with the edge, so gets kinda cheap
- perhaps the wall grab should last forever, cuz sometimes the game puts you into a weird spot of taking a hit, or falling off, and then wall glitch happens, literally no correct solution
- unrelated to the game, but if you saying you only using AI for promotional material and not the game, maybe just don't use AI in a first place, just a thought, why put a stain on your game for something I don't care
[b] Overall Thoughts: 6/10 [/b]
It's almost a guilty pleasure for me, the timing reminds me of many NES games, it's just a bit glitchy right now, variety of enemies sucks, there is not enough direcational ganks, plus just overall lacking presentation, with things like lacking proper sound effects on some actions, the soundtrack is extremely repetetive, and just overall feels like you put it together without much care. There is something to it if you like these kind of games, just need a lot of polish and overall many small improvements, it's pretty annoying in the current version, but maybe, if you update it well, it could be okay.
[code]Niche, obscure and underrated games: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/ [/code]
Traverse a twisted world where reason and the laws of nature no longer hold!
Wade through the wrath of the dead and the damned and stand against the madness!
Power up your weapons and unleash the full fury of a cybernetic ninja!
Pursued by death itself cut a path to rescue your allies!
Life or death. The fate of the mission depends on your actions!
