Okay, so, I finished playing fallen guns, and I cannot emphasise enought how fun it was for me, I did not expect it to be good, I did not expect it to be even mediocre, and I got surprised. This is clearly "I made my first serious game" type of project, and you can see it, this game is rought around the edges (point 4., 10., 15. and 17. in the notes below), but it has mechanics of solid game
Sure, the writing is, well, sorry to say that, ass, the story is boring and if you decide to buy this game you can (and should) skip reading the story bits (point 6. in the notes)
But the game finds a great balance between hotine miami's fast gameplay, and super hot's bullet time, YOU could make action fast to make your dopamine receptors glow, but YOU also have the agency to stop and think if you desire a more tactical approach (exceeeept one level with timer bomb (point 14., notes below)) - this is what made this eaxperience truly worthwile for me
also, the author found a way to make kills very satisfying (this is VERY IMPORTANT in that kind of game), killing people just feels really crisp, like opening a nice cold can of your favourite drink on a very hot and sunny day
A more minor nitpick would be me pointing out how underutilised is the slide mechanics for the first half of the game (its like a dogeroll from enter the gungeon, but without invincibility frames (also, lack of invinciblity frames is really annoying, only advantage of using a slide is added speed)), back to the point, slides - underutilised, cuz the first half of the game is just so easy (I played on normal btw), but then after the school level there is a huge spike in difficulty down the line (notes, point 9. and 12. (kinda, point 12. just extends the thought from point 9.))
So, yeah, that was Fallen Guys it really is a fun, and well made game, of course I could be more nitpicky but I dont' want to be too harsh cuz this is this guy's second project, this game REALLY IS SOLID, and it is fun, it jus, well, has it's difficulties and I look forward for the day when it's developer releases a true masterpiece (or at least joins a studio that will make one)
Notes taken live during my playthrought (chronological order):
1. better looking around mechanics than in hotline miami (which is a notable achievement)
2. engaging and fun gameplay
3. It's easy to get lost on bigger levels
4. action is very chaotic sometimes and it is easy to lose your character in the crowd (something like a red outline around player character would fix it)
5. first desert/wild west level is out of place and it makes very little sense in regard to game's setting
6. plot is boring, and IT'S TOLD IN RETROSPECT, this is literally one of the most lazy ways to write a story (Sure, sure, I know that the plot is secondary, but c'mon, try harder next time)
7. this plot point where the terrorist group is trying to start a war between USA and Russia seems like a total ripp-off from hotline miami
8. bullet "sway" on bigger distance which makes the game harder, I personally like this mechanic, but it makes using weapons (especially pistols) VERY annoying
9. big difficulty spike after the school level
10. I've from time to time been bumping into invisible walls at the edges of actual walls (something seems to be off with the level geometry, or walls collision)
11. this one level on the street at night was too damn dark (it wasnt too hard to so it's fine i guess)
12. Level that starts with you running throught the street with machette, and acquire a gun later was TERRIBLE, it wasn't that hard, when I got used to the NEW difficulty game imposes to you after the school bombing level (which should not happen - difficulty should be consistent throught the game), but it is annoying and unnecesarily punishing
13. I like the moving car mechanic, it keeps things fresh, and shows that you had some original ideas
14. level with timer makes ZERO sense!!! WHY IS THE TIMER COUNTING IN REAL TIME?!!?!? Why is it not slowing down when I am not moving? This decision uneccesarily spikes the difficulty
15. also, I just noticed that player character has hitboxes that are tiny bit wider than the character sprite itself
16. like how the guns are balanced - SMGs are fast fire - low range, shotguns make clearing rooms easier, but don't have infinte range, and so they aren't too OP, rifles have enormous range and were very helpful on more open maps, when it comes to pistols tho... well... they just kinda are, I've never found myself choosing glock or revolver over anything else, handguns do fit aesthetically, but they are pointless from balancing perspective, they have firerate as fast as shotguns, and as much range as SMG, while having no advantages, they also do not feel rewarding to use, in hotline miami I often picked revolver over anything else cuz it was simply fun, in this game revolvers and pistols are not very fun, they often are just means to get a better weapon (except the school bombing level (you probably already realised that I deeply disliked that one) cuz on that level the game decided to block me from picking any new weapons or even ammo, and judging by how much ammo I got at the start (around 120 rnds) it was ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ INTENTIONAL!!!)
16.5.Well... perhaps pistols do are useful if you want to crowd a place with easy to kill enemies, yeah, I've not thought about that before
too little dialogue, every single mission is like: "you are there, kill bad guys, back at the bar" I know that this simplifies the game, but c'mon, hotline miami 2 and katana zero clearly showed that games that focuse on fast action can still have some great writing
17. speed of bullets player shoots DOES NOT match the speed of the bullets shot by enemies!!!!!!!!! (playeres bullets are faster(it took me surprisingly long to notice))
18. level where you finally meet balckface (also wtf is that name) is V E R Y ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ long with no save points which is very damn annoying
19. This level before final one is WAAAAY too hard, it should be broken down into two levels, at least for people playing on normal
20. Level where you hunt blacface is fun and clever, I like how blackface is running from you, he is a huge bullet sponge tho
