Super Dr Corona

[quote]A review copy was provided by the developer.[/quote] [quote]Follow my Curator page, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41363546-Fruit-N-Doggie-Reviews/]Fruit N Doggie Reviews,[/url] so you can be updated whenever I post a new review.[/quote] [h1]Overall Rating - Painfully Bad ★☆☆☆☆[/h1] [h1]First Impressions[/h1] Part of me hesitated to take a review key for Super Dr Corona (SDR) because of its presentation. Combining COVID (CV) and a myriad of playable characters that are obvious parodies of real people didn't inspire a ton of confidence. However, it's based on Dr. Mario, a game I haven't played for years, and obviously isn't available on Steam. Seeing some unique mechanics that could shake up that classic concept was tempting enough that I eventually caved. Considering its prominence, I should probably learn to trust my gut more. [h1]Gameplay[/h1] If you aren't already familiar with Dr. Mario, it's a fairly simple premise. Red, blue, and yellow viruses are set up in the board, and you'll match pills of the same color alongside them. It takes four of the same color in a row to eradicate a single virus. Each pill drops in as two pieces, and can be any combination of the three colors. By setting up the pills properly, you can make combos or chains, such as using one pill to kill two viruses at once. Aside from new mechanics that the developer introduced, the biggest difference from the source material is that you only have to line up three pieces in SDR, which really threw me off at first. After adapting to that change, there will be two significant differences: each character you unlock has a super move, and enemy viruses have their own version of a super move, making your job of clearing them more difficult. The biggest problem with how the enemy viruses function is that they control how you address the board. As best as you can, you try clearing viruses near the top first, so you have more wiggle room to put them in place, without accidentally setting it wrong. From there, you'll look for optimal placement of the pills, not wanting to put the wrong color on top of a virus. Due to the effects the enemy can trigger though, you might have to approach the situation differently. When facing against the Zombies, dealing with the board wasn't an issue, but timing the last clear just right so they wouldn't resurrect was frustrating. Much worse was the Rona Bomb though. Unless you can get rid of the bomb within a 10 second countdown, it'll blow up, and trigger an immediate defeat. They spawn in fairly frequently, so instead of dealing with the viruses how you want, that annoying enemy takes control. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3299717313 [h1]Controls[/h1] I'm truly baffled by the arrangement of the default controls, as shown in the tutorial. In any other puzzle game where you deal with falling blocks, you'd rotate the pieces with one of the face buttons. However, in SDR, you use the up-button on the D-pad, while the bottom-most face button speeds up how fast it falls. Those two inputs have been reversed in this game, and it's a stupid choice. You can use face buttons to rotate the pieces, they just aren't the ones you'd expect. Being different, just for the sake of it, isn't commendable. I also found moving the pieces as they're falling imprecise, as they sometimes would land where I wanted them to. [h1]Story[/h1] Much like what happened in real-life, a pandemic is sweeping across the planet, and when medical doctors fail to do anything meaningful about it, a handful of randos step up to fight back. It's surprisingly effective, as they're able to eradicate the viruses. As far as I'm aware, this plot only plays at the start of the game, but doesn't have any significance going forward. It's not like the different viruses are villains with personalities or quirks. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3299718300 [h1]Visuals[/h1] Nintendo has a tendency of leaving popular series lie fallow, as it's been years since they've released a Dr. Mario title. Due to this choice, it's left a significant gap since their last game launched, so there's not a very high bar to clear in the realm of cutting edge visuals. With this in mind, I don't have that much of a problem with the character designs in SDR, even though they look stiff and soulless. If anything, it's the over-saturation of the colors, as everything is a bit too neon and bright for my taste. [h1]Sound Design[/h1] When I realized that the same song was playing no matter what mode I tried out, or which enemy virus I was battling against, I was surprised and disappointed. The song isn't too bad, but with SDR placing so much emphasis on a range of enemy viruses, I don't understand why each one didn't get paired with a unique track. Normally, I don't make too big of a fuss over voice-acting, especially if it's in a silly kind of game. However, I found the lines somewhat distracting, and don't think they delivered on a comedic level. If it isn't funny, helping to build up the humor of your parody, and not an exciting or energetic part of the action, why bother to include it? https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3299717841 [h1]Pros[/h1] 🌟 At the very least, if they're going to reference CV, the game it's inspired by ties directly into the theme. Seeing that stupid pandemic tied to 100 indie titles hasn't made me hate it any less. 🌟 If the rest of the game were better, I'd like the supers for each playable character. [h1]Cons[/h1] ❌ If you accidentally exit out of Arcade Mode, for instance by moving the cursor down and choosing Back to Main Menu, you'll return to the beginning of the stages for that enemy virus. That was my rage quit moment. ❌ I understand outlining the Rona Bomb with the color needed to beat it, but it's too subtle. Keep part of it black, but I think the center should be the right color, or something like that. ❌ There's no explanation for what the enemy virus mechanics are, so you have to figure it out from trial and error. [h1]Tips[/h1] 🔍 From the pattern I observed, each character that was recently unlocked, seemed to have a super designed to handle the upcoming enemy virus. 🔍 If a spazzing virus is next to another one, any color of pill will clear all of them. It shouldn't, but it does. [h1]Final Thoughts[/h1] After only playing for a short time, what I found so frustrating about SDR was how effective the viruses could be. Due to the difficulty of wiping out the zombies, the stage would last longer than expected, and I'd get especially high scores because I just couldn't finish them off. The rona bomb was far worse, as I could get to the very end of a stage, and not be able to clear the bomb in time. Having to use a specific color to defeat it was the problem, as the pills that drop might be the wrong color, and there's nothing you can do about that RNG. If the initial set-up was poor, or the bomb would spawn low enough I couldn't possibly clear it, I'd have to restart several times, and could still botch something before the stage was finished. What started out as a novel, fun variant of a classic puzzle game quickly started ticking me off, and I can't say it's an improvement. For that reason, I don't recommend the game. [quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/]Follow our curator page: [b]IndieGems[/b] if you like and want to see more reviews like this one.[/url][/quote] [table] [tr] [th]PC Specs[/th] [th]Performance[/th] [/tr] [tr] [td]Ryzen 2700 RTX 2070 16GB RAM ADATA SSD 1920x1080 [/td] [td]The game ran without incident on default settings. 💖 - SDR is healthy [/td] [/tr] [/table]