Sweet Pea

[code]Curator page here-->[url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/37670120/] DaRevieweD #87 [/url]<-- [i]New review every Weekend[/i][/code] Having previously made several platformers and fiddling with a bunch of genres on itch.io to get the lay of the land. [b]Chris Tharp[/b] pushed through the shrubs with his first Steam embark, [b]Sweet Pea (SWP)![/b] Not going to beat around the bush here, I was in doubt of myself because SWP could not stray any further away from the horror brand I associate with. The reason I took this on was because the dev DM-ed me and I have a hard time saying no. As luck would have it, this was a blessing in disguise because underneath the excruciatingly rage-quit exterior there is a quirky, gloomy story if you can endure the levels! Then it came to me how it bore the likeness of [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/DeadeGuard98/recommended/48000/] Limbo[/url] in terms of its harsh environment and [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/DeadeGuard98/recommended/938560/] Inmost[/url] for the artistic design. Was initially going to give it a negative review and be done with it- but I stayed and conquered. THAT'S WHAT MADE IT SWEET~ [h1]"Sweetness Kills..."[/h1] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2488434156 [u]The Gist:[/u] You are the adorable, narcoleptic and adventurous Sweet Pea. Your wooded realm is in danger! Emerge from your pod and best the towering guardians that preside over their respective elements. Restore balance and peace... to the peas~ [spoiler]! Don't forget there's a story![/spoiler] [h1][+] PROS;[/h1] [b](a) Peabrain, No- You Are!![/b] Fall, roll and hug any surfaces to build momentum across the enchanting land! Once you really get going, it's hard to stop but remember that first move is yours to set the pace. You can always stop entirely to catch your breath and caress your bruises. Picking up blue magical bottles allow you to use abilities which really shake things up; some cosmetic enhancements and others absolutely vital to survive! Freeze water or lava, enter zero gravity, weigh a ton and many more! Combine them and you'll see the sky's the limit!! 48 levels altogether, most are the usual power through with a set number of bottles to collect but the grand guardian encounters are real treats. The latter abide different rules- with monstrous beings constantly hounding you throughout. And later on, you even have to outlast their attacks and wait for an opening to proceed. Don't forget sneaky bonus levels accessible through special purple bottles in said boss stages. There, many blue bottles and butterflies tempt you to recoup any resources lost before moving forward. But if you "can't deal", visit the terrarium and create a safe space to vent, spawn peas of all sorts to unwind with before killing them~ TIPS: 1) No cooldown for abilities. SPAM! 2) 20 butterflies = 1 bottle 3) Exploit "R" to restart and save collectible progress 4) Take advantage of slow-motion. 5) Photo mode can act as navigation tool; zoom in & out [b](b) Some PEAS of Mind~[/b] The apple or is it pea of my eye- its atmosphere. I could be wrong but all the art present was the culmination of the dev and another creative talent. Its minimalist graphics had me awestruck with many incandescent objects alternating near or far from the lens that just fit all snug in the charming world. You name the weather and it's got it down to the t in diversity! The non-binary Sweet Pea, is lovable but meek. I suddenly can't remember if it spoke, but I think it did and its high-pitched screams are darling. Musically, I wasn't as becharmed but what really got to me was the boss theme. It's no evil listens to classical score but a close second to epic fights from Dark Souls-esque games! [b](c) Just Roll With It...[/b] I loved how the plot wasn't as central or obvious but still had the roots to be traced back to should you want! It's a little childish with notions of guardians and what have you. But that's just a fairy tale front... The developer himself admitted some influences from [b]Prey (2017)[/b] and I totally got that!! Also I picked up some vibes from [b]Furi (2016)[/b] and no you can't wield a katana but the onslaught of bosses and punishing attitude grew remarkably with each death! [b](d) HAP-PEA-NESS[/b] SCARY: 1st) SWP's journey is like an analogy of birth and growing up. Beginning with our exploration and curiosity period, then gradually stepping out further from home! You learn, fend off enemies and or run away!! 2nd) And as is life, you will meet hardships that appear immovable! But through repeated attempts and strategies, you will prevail in time! Of course, it's easier said than done- you must first admit you suck, self-deprecate and then rage push through exploiting whatever tools you have~ 3rd) You notice there were others before you who have succumbed to death either naturally or carelessly as you have. It points to a cyclical trauma but reassuringly so, that you don't walk this path alone. But of course, the twist as to why that is really yanks fistfuls of salt and tosses them at your downtrodden being. [h1][-] CONS;[/h1] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2488437242 [b](i) Don't Drink and Roll!?[/b] One shot deaths are stressful enough but the controls don't make much sense either honestly. You can jump right but not left, even when using the "burst backwards" skill. Abilities don’t get demonstrated or explained very well. It’s hurtful but some people like that~ The physics are like a confused gravity- I'm not asking for the exact measurements or whatever. I just don't want my poor Sweet Pea to be flying all over and experience unreliable knockbacks- though it did work out a few times to my advantage. As a result, it severely restricts its player base... [b](ii) Pea-Sized...?[/b] The font scaling for abilities sometime gets messed up to be too small and the varying font styles are a little stinging. I think SWP should be more accessible by having a [i]settings menu[/i]. Which would most benefit from tweaking graphics options; detail, frame rates as it can be overloaded with so much going on particularly at later levels/zones. Disclaimer, the latter are complaints from a potato PC. [b](iii) Go. PEAS. Off![/b] BUGS: X Some floatey movements at the "depths" zone. X Deaths sometime trigger a seizure-like camera. NITPICKS: ~ Stage select feature in the form of a map ~ More guidance/tutorials for select abilities & controls ~ Toggle/Hold support of "abilities" menu [h1]"Bitterness And- Pea in My Pants!"[/h1] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2488444027 SWP’s a sweet deal with wondrous depth of field visuals. But I feel the name should’ve been bittersweet- to match its overly challenging and out-of-control design, encapsulating my final verdict~ Seriously, I thought the graphics were its strongest points being both eye candy and stress reliever for when you're about to give up. The plot can go on the backseat when you're constantly being smushed but all the splats and presses did eventually turn into a worthwhile juice! Currently, SWP oscillates between two extremes; too hard and too easy but it favors the former. And so every little thing that offsets this, will make the difficulty and frustration more magnified than they actually are! The greatly restricted movement add to its unique appeal but when teamed up with the unnatural physics just singles it out as an odd pea! In fact, a lot of the aspects feel designed to strip you off your control!! Personally, I'm not a hardcore fan, but it's an above average debut ideal for killing time and you~ [h1]7.5/10[/h1] [b] Find the dev on itch.io for more games~[b] [i] Once more, sorry [b]RP![/b][/i] [code][i] Appreciation goes out to [b]Chris Tharp[/b] for the key[/i][/code]

Очень тяжелый визуальный стиль которые совсем недружелюбный, не приятные звуки гг и ужасный саундтрек. Пройти можно, но удовольствие навряд ли игра вам доставит.

Roll your pea around levels - collect bottles for one-time-use powers or cosmetics like wizards hats. Try not to get eaten by bugs or drown in water - the world is a cruel place for a tasty pea... https://youtu.be/f2r_VTMsPqo

Sweet Pea is an usual type of game that comes across as a hybrid pinball game and physics based puzzle platformer. Control a ball (pea) through various nature themed obstacle courses with a few gimmick powers, and the primary means of locomotion, jumping (which behaves a lot like bumping the pinball table to make the ball move). All in all the concept might even go somewhere if the implementation had even the remote resemblance of what could be referred to as "quality". But it doesn't. One important note is that even though this is an amateur project, it does seem to be sincerely and genuinely made. I couldn't find any flipped assets, plagiarism or any other kind of insincere actions from the developer, but unfortunately ethical behaviour and genuine intentions alone are not enough to produce a brilliant gaming experience. From a technical perspective, the game doesn't meet basic minimum requirements that most PC gamers expect as standard. The artwork here is terrible, it's a hodge-podge of amateurish "My First Wacom Tablet" style drawings used instead professional looking game assets. It's unclear if this is due to lack of budget to arrange someone who can create graphical assets properly, or lack of talent, regardless, the overall visual quality of the game is extremely low, enough on its own to deter gamers. The UI is particularly garish, too, the game just looks ugly. There's no option to change the resolution and no useful graphics tweaks. There's no way to ensure this is running at the native resolution of your display. There's no guarantee this game will look right on any PC as a result of this hamfisted design decision. The controls can't be customised because the game has such a dumbed down, simplified interface that it's just point and click stuff like a browser/Flash game. The fact that the interface is this dumbed down might be seen as a problem in itself, however... this is a fairly shallow experience if you're the kind of gamer that likes to play games with deep, rich control schemes and interaction. You'll get none of that here. The very poor quality of this game puts it squarely on-par with ancient 1990's Flash/Java games, and given it's 2023 (and this was released not so far back in 2021), gamers and the industry expect and deserve better than this kind of low effort shovelware. 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. Sweet Pea has the ridiculous price of around $8 USD, it's not worth it given the defects and shortcomings with the product, especially considering the sheer number of completely free, much higher quality games on Steam. [b][quote][url=https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/marketing/profile]Profile Features Limited![/url][/quote][/b]Valve have marked this game as "Profile Features Limited" at the time of this review. This is usually caused by poor sales figures and low community acceptance for the game (to date). Until this status changes, this game will not give you +1 to your Game Collector badge count, appear in profile achievements or any other Steam meta-accomplishments, nor can it be displayed in some profile showcases. If these factors are important to you, it may be worth holding off before buying this game.

Hahah, This game my be called "Sweet" but there is nothing sweet about it. Its so hard! Great game, great platformer and the artwork is beautiful. I would greatly recommend this game to others looking for a one of a kind platformer based around a Pea with powers. *Thumbs up*

Sweet Pea provides a return to the traditional platforming experience with evolving level design, enemies, and obstacles. You get to play through exciting environments with varying difficulties accompanied by an albeit simple art style enhanced by clever foreground and background design. The soundtrack fits the games atmosphere well and will certainly drive you mad after your tenth restart. The games difficulty is derived from skillful timing and applying provided game knowledge, with occasional AI trickery. In it's early access state there's still a good chunk of polishing to be done but from what I've seen there is consistent and productive updates being made by a responsive dev.

Fun physics-driven game about a pea rolling through different locals. Amazing music and areas make the peas trip a memorable one, with heart-pounding boss fights thrown into the mix to break up the standard scrolling levels.

The not recommended is not something that is meant negative here, it is just that I wouldn't recommend my friends buying this game for the price and where this game is at at the moment, I've played the game and I have written down some constructive thoughts next to positives of this game! [h1] Positives: [/h1] - The formula for the game is there, the level design is okay, and the timer is certainly a nice addition for people who love speedrunning through games. - At first you think the game can be played easily, but after trying to speed through the levels, you get the tip to slow it down and actually plan your rolls, which makes you think about the game more. [h1] What can be done better: [/h1] - The start of the game is there, just be sure to keep going and keep learning about game developing and making games, and of course keep asking for feedback. [h1] Issues I had: [/h1] - The game graphics are really simple, sometimes that can be a good thing, when it's minimalistic, but just keep practicing on how you want to implement your graphics. - The text is very hard to look at, it doesn't look nice at all to the eye and there is different fonts used for a lot, using another more formal font might make the game look more presentable. - Next to that the text disappears for around 20% out of the screen if you open menus. [h1] Accessibility: [/h1] - There are no accessibility settings for this game. Check my other reviews over at [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/38844457-Bottled-Tastes/] Bottled Tastes Curator Page [/url]

This physics based platformer follows the story of a tiny pea battling against the forces of evil. On face value, the game has a single command “jump” which you use to navigate each stage. However, as you continue to play, you use gravity, momentum, and power-ups to solve increasing difficult environments. When you’re really on a roll, Sweet-Pea flies across the screen. It was tremendously fun hitting the end of each stage, especially as they get more and more challenging.

This game is a fun and kinda challenging platformer where you play as a little pea bro. For being in early access it's not that bad. Some audio balancing and maybe some options, then it would be perfect.