Olympia Rising

Neat game if very short: 6 worlds which are easy to beat with the health upgrades you get after every boss fight. It's not a metroidvania, it's just pure arcade platform with no backtracking. Just levels to beat one after another. PROS: -Nice pixel art. -Fast gameplay. -Well done boss fights. -Satisfying final battle (if tough). -Simple and effective magic system. CONS -The main character has way much momentum in her moves. Difficult to navigate or step on small plats sometimes. -Barrier magic is unuseful. -You're likely to get hit when navigating downwards. -Way too short. Am I seeing a sequel with tons of looting, magic and more weapons with the same arcade premise?

[b] Target Audience: [/b] [I] Patient Platforming players. [/i] [b] Summary: [/b] Rough around the edges is the best way to describe the game. The core of the game in terms of the action gameplay for a 5 dollar game is solid: the flying mechanics and change up between fast/slow gameplay brings back feelings of the old NES games of days past. It's very good with level design and game design around the core of the game. But there's little things that annoy that start to add up, like the pausing of the game actually not pausing the game, and staying too committed to an NES like setup (with only using two buttons on the controller). But in the end, it's definitely worth the price of admission with solid gameplay and a good aesthetic even for a pixel platformer (that makes it stand out a tiny bit). [b]Gameplay Footage and Video Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2rlLwjpbnc [/b] [u] Lists: [/u] [b]Positives:[/b] [list] [*] Solid gameplay. Controls are fluid, sword swinging is responsive, and while there's some things to get use to in movement, rules are consistent. [*] Flying mechanic adds a good unique mechanic that those who want to can really take advantage of in precision. [*] Knew when to use typical platformer convention, and when not to, and that's hard with mechanics that you introduce. Very well done here. [*] Good pixel art in terms of a style. Even though pixel platformers are a dime a dozen, the styles of the pixel artwork for enemies and your character work very well. [*] Faithful NES recreation in style and gameplay. Sound feels like it came from an NES game. [/list] [b]Negatives:[/b] [list] [*] Pausing the game actually doesn't pause the game. [*] Can't rebind controls. In particular, using down and x instead of another button for magic was annoying. This would be less problematic if the aerial element wasn't there: you have to use the dpad for a controller, and the stick would have made a LOT more sense.. [*] Um, exiting the game should be something that should be in the menu options. Even on the main menu. That's silly that it isn't. [/list] [b] If you want more reviews/information regarding games I've reviewed, visit my curator. [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/6861768/]Dragnix Curator [/url][/b]

There are some things that I really, really liked about Olympia Rising, and some things that really, really frustrated me. First off, the good things. Chaining together combos feels great, it makes you feel like a mighty warrior and bonus coins make the entire thing an incredible joy when the combo is over and you are rich. The exspansive, well put together levels that I loved to explore, running around and grabbing coins, fighting things, finding treasure rooms, all of that was great. If the whole game was just these levels, I would have so much fun with them. Keeping your extra coins when you finish a level. A small thing, but it still felt really good. The game rewarded me for taking my time with a level, exploring all the nooks and crannies, and finding all the hidden treasure. It also created hope that eventually I would get so many coins that I could skip a level entirely because I can already pay the next fee. If I ever did this, it would have been amazing. Now, the not so good things. Enemies That Take More Than One Hit. Now, I realize that eventually, there has to be an enemy that takes more than one hit, but this breaks the pacing of the game. Before you find an enemy, you're jumping around and racking up a huge combo, after you find the enemy the combo is over. Everytime I saw minotaur/ice warrior/lamia/wizard/turret head/thing that I couldn't kill in one hit I knew that the combo, which was the fun part, had ended. A nice work around for this would be if the higher a combo the player had, the more damage they deal. This would mean that the game rewards the player for working an Enemy That They Can't Kill In One Hit into their combo, instead of punishing them for finding it. Terrain That Looks Like The Background. This was something I kept finding, and everytime I did it was confusing. Normally, the background is dark and what you can walk on is bright. This game has dark background, bright terrain, and darkish other terrain that you cannot jump up through. This becomes such a hassle, trying to check where you can and can't go, in moments when I'm trying to hurry because lava death is flooding the level. Levels That Flood With Lava Death. These things were a massive cause of frustration, because of what these levels try to be. They are expansive, well put together that I would love to explore and collect all the coins, but they are on a timer. This means I cannot explore the level or I risk death, I cannot collect coins or I risk death, I cannot search for hidden treasure or I risk death, and I cannot blindly jump combo through the level just trying to finish it as fast as I can or I might not have enough coins by the end. One of two things needs to be removed from the rising levels, either the coin number or the timer. Having both turns the level into a stressful, memory game. The first run of a rising level, I told myself "I am going to lose all my bonus coins." I knew that I would win eventually, but only when I had run the level so many times that I knew exactly which way to go and where enough coins were. Slippery, Slidey Shoes. This was a problem on two occasions, when I was pushing through a rising level, and when I was trying to avoid the next issue. Touch Damage. I know that touch damage is a staple in videogames, that enemies are not things I should be getting near. However, I mostly only have melee and there are some enemies that don't make sense to deal touch damage, like birds that are trapped in them sized cages. The other place this becomes a problem is with bosses, because bosses can suddenly change the size and shape of their hitbox. This doesn't feel like taking damage, this feels like being robbed of a health point. You Cannot Use Magic After A Double Jump. This sounds minor, and it is, but the thunder magic is the only way to increase melee damage and reset jump combos. When I find an enemy with two health in a jump combo, I use the thunder magic to kill it and continue the combo, unless I need to double jump to get to it in which case the combo ends. That's mostly it, there's a few more things. The water magic felt worthless because you had to stop moving, the jumping attack was so much better than the standing attack that the standing attack felt worthless, exploring downward didn't feel good because I couldn't see what was under me and would frequently take damage because of that. So now, the final verdict, would I recommend this game? NO. Don't get me wrong, there's some great ideas here, the game looks nice, parts of the game feel great, but there's so many little things that just wear on the player until the game becomes unfun. I can enjoy games that are challenging, when you win then that victory felt earned, not given, but this isn't challenging. It's frustrating. If the game was challenging, the player, if they are skilled and focus, be able to beat a level on their first try. They probably won't, but the possibility should still be there. With this, there's so many death that just came from things I couldn't see, or because I got stuck on terrain when trying to jump up, or because I took damage when I turned around to attack a stationary enemy. There is good in this game, but it does not outway the game's flaws.

XBOX Oneコントローラーを使用。 [u]記憶を失った（？）主人公が冥界からの脱出を試みる横スク2Ｄプラットフォーマーアクション。今作では決められた個数以上のコインを所持した状態でゴールすることでステージクリアとなる。[/u] [h1][b]【良い点】[/b][/h1] ◆ 美しいドットグラフィック。 ◆ 操作が軽快でレスポンスが良く、二段ジャンプやMPを消費しての空中移動もでき、直感的に動かすことが出来るのでキャラクターを操作するのが楽しい。 ◆ 敵を倒すことでコインを入手でき、更に主人公が地面に触れずに敵を連続で倒す事でコンボが発生し、入手できるコインの量が増えていく。主人公は空中で敵を倒すと再度ジャンプする事が出来るようになるのでこれを上手く決めていく事になる。必要数以上のコインを集めた場合、余ったコインは次回のステージに引き継がれるので、序盤のステージで多めに入手して後半を楽に進めることも可能になっている。 ◆ 数ステージ毎にボス戦もある。 [h1][b]【悪い点】[/b][/h1] ◆ 攻撃魔法が存在するが、立ち止まって使用しなくてはならないので、基本的には早く立ち回る今作のテンポを悪くしているように感じた。 [h1][b]【総評】[/b][/h1] ボリュームは初回クリアで２～３時間程なので値段相応だろうか。爽快感もあり、一ステージも短めになっているのでサクッとプレイできる。 プレイ動画をアップしているので、気になった方は[u][url=https://youtu.be/UmRgsdNOBrs]こちら[/url][/u]を参考までにどうぞ。

"The gameplay is tight, but suffers from a lack of control options: you are unable to change the keybindings, which is specially bad for the casting, which requires you to press down and your sword attack - a difficult move to execute, specially while you're airborne, and which I never fully mastered (played on keyboard)." "Each world has a theme of its own, and they are all superbly rendered in pixel graphics and fluid animations. Creatures of ancient myth and modern creations mingle together in these dungeons, with a wide variety and different mechanics for each of them." "Olympia Rising is a hard game with simple rules. It isn’t particularly novel in any sense, but most of the things it sets out to do are done well – the trophy going to the graphics and animations, with evident detail in the scenarios and varied creatures." Full review at: https://voxludicus.wordpress.com/2015/07/23/opinative-olympia-rising/

Nice pixel art, but awful game. - Bad controls, really really awkward choices for controls. And definitely unplayable without a controller. - Almost very level is a combination of get enough coins to exit + reach the exit before the rising lava gets you - Jump-chaining your way upward, you get stuck below platforms way too many times Not at all "metroidvania" as Kickstarter backers were promised. But, yeah, nice pixel art, I was amazed by the art of the game. The soundtrack can get a bit repetitive, but I blame the gameplay rather than the soundtrack.

Fun and entirely unique vertically scrolling 2D platformer. In a genre filled with Mario-clones, Oympia Rising has really struck out on it's own. I really don't think there's another game out there quite like this one. The closest comparison I can think of is Kid Icarus, but that only because they both have vertically scrolling levels. If you are at all interested in 2D platformers, pixel-art, or retro games in general, you shouldn't miss this one. Pros: + Beautiful, visually interesting pixel art + Tight controls, fluid movement + Unique vertically scrolling levels Cons: - Serious frame dropping in full screen mode - Kind of short, beat it in 3 hrs (it is only $5 though)

I want to preface this by saying that I backed this game on Kickstarter; I thought the game looked promising. The animations and art are beautiful and feel fluid. The best part is when you chain enemy kills together and just continue to rise up fast, it is really satisfying. Sadly, the good things about this game end there. The music was nice at first but then it got annoying when I had to replay the same level, repeatedly when I died. It is not too hard, but you are going to have trouble in some parts. This would be fine if the levels were not all pretty much the same but reskinned. The formula: normal level where you collect a specific amount of coins to beat it and then a similar level but just climbing up while acid is rising. Occasionally there is a boss fight, which I would describe as an endurance test. They are not hard since the boss patterns are predictable, but take too much time. The worst part about some levels is that money is scarce, so you better kill everything you see and try not to die before reaching the exit. Still after all these flaws I was enjoying the game until, after like 6 times doing the same level again, the game glitched on me at the very end. I had just enough money and just rushed to the exit before something could kill me. Right there at the exit was a medusa enemy so I just jumped over her to get to the door but that somehow didn’t trigger the exit and I just fell through the door and the floor, leaving me trapped and unable to finish the level. Here is a screenshot of what happened http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=513761231 I honestly can’t recommend this game like this, but if you get it somehow, it is at least worth a try. I recommend using a PS3/PS4 controller since you are forced to use the D pad, and the Xbox controller one is unusable for most things; keyboard is also fine.

A conti fatti, Olympia Rising farebbe un figurone in una cartuccia per Super Nintendo o Mega Drive. L'avventura di Iola, guerriera caduta per mano del classico cattivaccio da mitologia spicciola, è infatti alla stregua di tutti quei platform dell'era 8 e 16 bit in cui bastava davvero poco per sentirsi degli eroi: tantissimi salti da una piattaforma all'altra, un fendente di spada come attacco primario, qualche potere magico come asso nella manica e tonnellate di nemici da abbattere. E monete da collezionare. Una valagna di monete da collezionare, visto che serviranno per pagare pedaggio ad un avarissimo Caronte ed accedere al livello successivo. Parliamo di un gioco tanto semplice e immediato, quanto impegnativo e bastardo al punto giusto, in cui la soddisfazione più grande è data dal tenere a bada orde di nemici a colpi di spada o con i tre poteri elementali che otterremo raccogliendo delle pergamene sparse per i livelli (un po' come le armi secondarie in Castlevania). Avremo il fuoco per arrostire i nemici con una fiammata, il fulmine per potenziare i colpi di spada e l'acqua per creare una barriera protettiva attorno alla nostra eroina. Il tutto, fino ad esaurimento della classica barra del mana a nostra disposizione. Tuttavia, Olympia Rising ha qualche problema qui e lì che potrebbe rendere l'esperienza di gioco un tantino più frustrante del solito, come il fatto che il menu di pausa non metta effettivamente in pausa il gioco, costringendoci a battere in ritirata per metterci al sicuro. I nemici, tra l'altro, sono estremamente aggressivi, e dal momento che le hit-box sono piuttosto generose, in alcuni casi dovremo fare affidamento sulla classica tattica del combattimento mordi-e-fuggi. Qualora dovessimo soccombere ai nostri nemici, poi, verremo rispediti all'inizio del livello, con i progressi azzerati e senza magia elementale. Nelle prime fasi è un difetto di poco conto, ma nelle zone successive, con livelli enormi e centinaia di monete da raccogliere, il problema diventa un tantino più grande. Ciò nonostante, l'esperienza di gioco resta comunque piacevole lungo le quattro/cinque ore che saranno necessarie per arrivare alla fine dell'avventura, soprattutto grazie alla foggia tipicamente retrò di cui è intriso Olympia Rising, compresa la gradevole pixel art che lo impreziosisce e una colonna sonora chiptune davvero orecchiabile. Se siete giocatori old-school che vivono di pane e pixel, o se cercate semplicemente un titolo dal gusto classico che sappia regalarvi qualche ora di sano divertimento, questo è il gioco che fa per voi.

Add the option of LEAVING THE GAME and I'll think about coming back for a real review. I couldn't even quit by bringing up task manager. There is no option to quit or to return to the desktop ingame so you have to get creative when you feel as though you want to move on and not play the game anymore.