Merv Reborn

[b]Merv Reborn[/b] is a cheap looking platformer with poor controls and game mechanics. Had I not been asked to review this game, I would have never played it on my own accord. [h1][u]Positive:[/u][/h1] [list] [*]Music is decent. Arguably this best element of of Merv Reborn. [*]Fairly challenging. Difficulty progression is also decent as levels gradually get harder. Granted, some segments feel unfair because of the poor game mechanics, but overall it is quite manageable. [*]In Merv Reborn you are required to collect everything before heading to the goal. If you don’t collect everything, you are forced to restart the level. I liked that collectables were scattered around the map, which essentially forces you to explore every level thoroughly. It’s also nice that every level has a completely different layout and theme. [/list] [h1][u]Negative:[/u][/h1] [list] [*]I hate to say this, but this game looks awful. There is nothing alluring about the graphics. [*]Merv is very slow and the jump animation feels floaty. I especially disliked that pushing rocks was extremely slow. Playing Merv Reborn felt more like a chore than an enjoyable experience. [*]The game is described as a puzzle platformer but the only puzzle element is pushing rocks. It can also be frustrating that the rocks reset to their original position every time you die. [*]Double jump only works if you double jump directly after jumping. You cannot jump, pause and then double jump. This feels counterintuitive, and makes platforming awkward and unnecessarily difficult. [*]Merv can only move horizontally, so moving down a slope causes him to hop. If you pair that with Merv’s inability to double jump after a pause, it makes jumping off a slope unnecessarily difficult. This is especially frustrating because some segments require precision jumping off slopes. [*]The last collectible in the last level requires obnoxious precision. There is very little room for error and no way around it because you are required to collect everything to finish a level. [/list] [h1][u]Conclusion:[/u][/h1] [h1]★✬☆☆☆ Mediocre[/h1] From the moment I first laid my eyes on Merv Reborn, I cringed. Just the trailer alone speaks volumes about the quality of this game. I really disliked the slow speed, the strange double jump mechanic, and the awkward movement on slopes. Playing Merv Reborn was not a pleasant experience for me and I found myself sighing with relief upon finishing it. There are higher quality games on Steam for free. [table] [tr] [th][h1]If you enjoyed this review please follow me on my [url=http://store.steampowered.com/curator/26827738-%27b-Reviews/?appid=241930]curator page[/url] and [url=http://steamcommunity.com/groups/breviews]group[/url]. Your time and support is greatly appreciated![/h1][/th] [/tr] [/table]

[i]Disclaimer: Got free from developer through Curator Connect for review purposes. As always, this won't bias my review.[/i] [b][i]Merv Reborn[/i] is a platformer that starts light-hearted but progresses to become semi-hardcore by the last levels.[/b] For a game that looks a bit like it's made with Paint(tm), [i]Merv Reborn[/i] is a simple, decent platformer with distinct levels. [h1]Strange blue jumper[/h1] As Merv, a walking blue sphere, your task is to collect all collectables in the level and find exit. What immediately strikes as odd is the unorthodox double-jumping. Merv can double-jump in the air once but only when he's at his peak. To make matters worse, jump height cannot be altered. While awkward, the decision does have meaningful consequences, as the jump mechanic restricts the available routes and requires timing the jumps precisely to e.g. avoid certain spikes or enemies. Curious jumps I can live with. But Merv also has trouble jumping on angled surfaces, and they are a plenty in [i]Merv Reborn[/i]. If the ground is ever tilted, Merv kind of walks on his toes and has cumbersomely unresponsive jumps, presumably because he isn't truly standing but actually falling. This is by far the worst quality of the game. [h1]Levels[/h1] Twelve (12) levels begin with a few really easy ones but by the end they have evolved into death traps, amplified by the annoying jumping scheme. There are couple kinds of enemies and numerous traps, both static and moving ones. Some collectables are in obnoxious places, so you have to retain a good awareness of the movement capabilities of Merv. Finding your way can sometimes resemble a puzzle, as not all routes work, and sometimes pushing a rock to a suitable place will open the way. Overall, levels are reasonably branching and challenging, even if ultimately linear. There's at most a minute until the next check point, and most levels last a few minutes to complete if you don't die too much. As a nice detail the visuals vary vastly from level to level, from forests to caverns. There's no real story despite the scenery. [h1]Final remarks[/h1] Settings are really simple, with only adjusting for sound and music volume. I couldn't find resolution options or whether you can play in a window too. Music is freeware stuff but the lighthearted tunes are oddly fitting nevertheless. Though the length was estimated at 2-4 hours in the forums, I played it through in mere hour, without retrying for par times. You can skip levels if you beat levels fast. I did enjoy myself though, despite raging at the clumsy controls - there is some clever level design here. However, considering the unpolished jump problems, uninspiring graphics and the short length, this is frankly at most a $1 game if that. Thus, take my recommendation with that consideration in mind. [url=http://store.steampowered.com/curator/9997062/]~Twistorian Curator~[/url]

Merv Reborn is yet another of literally thousands of 2D retro pixel platformers infesting Steam and lowering the average quality of all video games everywhere. This one is bad, really bad. It looks like a highschool project (and unfortunately not only did the student fail, they were held back a year as soon as the teachers saw this garbage). This puzzle platformer painfully generic and features custom art assets (they're so bad they couldn't possibly be store bought assets), double jumping, and some limited object pushing and destruction. All of which has been implemented in the most sloppy, garbage way possible. 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. There's no options to change the resolution for the game or customise the graphics settings. There's no way for gamers to ensure this is running at the native resolution of their displays... there's no guarantee this game will look right on any PC as a result of this hamfisted design decision. There's no way for gamers to try improve the low quality graphics. The controls and game handling are notably very floaty and imprecise. It's janky and unsatisfying to play... and any experienced gamer will tell you, the handling, responsiveness and general gameplay feel of the control scheme must be well polished for this kind of game to succeed. Unfortunately, this is something the developer seems to have phoned in, with little to no apparent gameplay testing or polish done. The controls can't be customised, which will be an annoyance for many, but it can also render the game unplayable for differently-abled gamers. These technical defects push this game below acceptable standards for any modern PC game. The poor quality of this game is reflected by how many people spent time with it. At the time of this review, SteamDB shows the all-time peak player number was only 2 players. This is a remarkably low number, and now, the only player activity occurs once or twice a month, presumably someone loading it up to see what it is then quickly uninstalling it. Considering there's over 120 million gamers on Steam and well over 50,000 games for gamers to choose from (over 9,000 completely free titles), the overwhelming lack of interest in this low quality game is to be expected. Merv Reborn is relatively cheap at $2 USD, but it's not worth it. Given the defects and quality issues with the game, coupled with the unrealistic price, this is impossible to recommend.