Ted by Dawn

I've played it for some time, it was fun or maybe frustrating at some parts. But now, after the game received some kind of update, nobody can play it anymore. It just crashes at startup. It's unplayable and the developers don't respond on forum at all. Can't recommend the game in this state.

Another game that tries to pass it's self off as "NES hard". Well it is in the fact that most were ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ cheap hard as opposed to legitimately difficult The most Important part of a game like this is the controls BY FAR and this just is not good enough. The second problem these games seem to have is the level design in which it is designed for better controls then it offers which makes me truly wonder if they even test properly or just die a million times and decide "...hm.....yeah thats about right" As for those that excuse these types of games (mostly likely becaue of nostalgia) a good modern NES inspired game can be done think Shovel Knight. "gut good" or "it's supposed to be hard" is not excusable for cheap difficulty

So far I like 'Ted by Dawn'. It has some really great humour in it, the controls are easy to master on a gamepad. The buzzsaw hit registration is questionable at times though. It's not a game which you'll be playing for hours on end in my honest opinion. The game is great if you're just looking to relax for ~30 - 60 minutes. Overall, the game is worth the $2 ($1,69 on sale now) it costs.

When you boot up this game, you will see a message telling you that "a controller is highly recommended". If you don't have a controller or prefer playing with a keyboard, you will soon discover that this simply means the devs were apparently too lazy to work out a comfortable keyboard control scheme or program key rebinding. More on this later. The game starts out with a "tutorial level" that, I kid you not, contains no tutorials at all. You have to figure out the controls by yourself or exit back to the main menu and look at them from there. After the tutorial level, you start the game proper. Gameplay is relatively simple- basic combat platformer jump-and-shoot stuff, presented in slightly-too-long levels. (Between each level is a small cutscene, usually involving some sort of bizarre, cringeworthy attempt at humor.) The game brags about being hard, and it certainly is. However, like so many games that market themselves so, it's a cheap and unpleasant hard much of the time. Flaming zombies will jump around randomly, crumbling platforms fall under you without warning, and bloated zombies blow up and obscure the screen when you need to do some precise platforming. Everything kills you with a single touch, including simple environmental hazards like barbed wire, and sends you all the way back to the start of the level. Sometimes I wasn't even sure what I died to. Most times, you'll have to know what's coming next in order to even try get past it, which means the game was designed to make you die at least several times a level, which is kind of a negative for me. At least you don't have lives. The trailer boasts "run-and-gun action", but you only get 2 shots before you have to manually reload, which is way, way less than most games commonly defined as 'run-and-gun', like Contra. If you're playing with a keyboard, the reload button is locked at R, so you have to take your finger off of the D key (which is move right) whenever you need to reload. This means you literally have to STOP MOVING TO RELOAD EVERY 2 SHOTS. There is no reason for this problem to exist. There are plenty of other keys to bind reload to. Hell, just make the gun reload whenever you press "fire" with an empty chamber! You also get 2 grenades, but they seem to work really inconsistently, and don't have a very large area of effect. Plus, grenade kills produce fire which will kill you if you run into it. The only way to refill used grenades in a level is to find a pickup. Another keyboard issue: Grenades are E, so you have to stop moving to do that too, and it's possible to accidentally use a grenade when you're trying to reload. The graphics appear fairly competent, except, bizzarely, the terrain, which in the first few levels is composed of individual tiles of dirt that don't mesh together properly. This graphical mishap doesn't happen any more later on when the blocks are made of bricks or wood, but it certainly leaves a poor first impression and should not be present in any game being sold for money. The tutorial level and menus are also sort of ugly. All this having been said, the game seems... doable, at least so far. It's obnoxious-hard, but still playable- not nearly as bad as some other games I've played. It needs a lot of improvements, like better keyboard support and some graphical tidying, but there's a semi-solid game in here for someone. Plus, the price is very reasonable for what you get (1.99 at time of writing, not on sale). I can't really call this a great game, but it's probably worth a bundle or sale buy, if you're willing to look past some of the things I listed above. P.S. for cheevo hunters: Many of this game's 50 achievements are for dying or killing zombies different ways, so you should be able to get about half of them by the third level.

Ted by Dawn is a hard as nails Action Platformer. I have completed only half the levels so this is not a proper review by any means, instead just my opinion on what I have played. With that aside we play as a survivor called Ted who doesn't really have any goals until he meets a scientist claiming he can cure the zombie virus if he is escorted to the lab. Ted couldn't care less about that though, he just wants to go there for some booze. This game is not serious in the slightest as it has wizards, awesome zombie mullets and other forms of goofy humor. Ted himself is a pretty funny psychopath and barely even acknowledges the zombie outbreak. It's a pretty short game but it is extremely difficult so that lengthens the game considerably. This is a game that requires memorization just as much as it requires skill, since one hit kills you and there are no checkpoints, making you clear the whole level in one try. You will be retrying levels quite a few times as this difficulty is designed to anger and annoy you, holding no punches back. Your only weapons will be a shotgun with infinite ammo though it only holds two rounds at once. Some grenades which annoyingly enough causes a fire in the explosion radius, causing you to wait until the fires dies out before you are allowed to keep progressing through the level, as touching fire will kill you. Finally there is a chainsaw that works more like a power-up that lets you mow down zombies and become invulnerable to all zombie attacks granted they are not on fire, environmental hazards will still kill you though. That sounds like a sizable arsenal to slaughter the undead but you are actually really vulnerable and grenades are very few and are rarely found in levels. Zombies are pretty varied ranging from basic walking zombies, biker zombies that throw cocktails at you and exploding zombies, to name a few. Your biggest enemy will be fire though. If a zombie catches on fire it will go berserk and gain the ability to run and jump. Having only two rounds, a horde of berserk zombies and environmental hazards all over the place does lead to some intense moments. Zombies are immune to most environmental hazards annoyingly enough so leading them into a pit full of spikes does nothing as those smug jerks walk right into them unharmed. Levels also feature a time limit but they are rather short and you are likely to die far before it runs out. Ted by Dawn does feature some boss fights like a fight against two people in a bar while zombies swarm in behind you. Everything is always stacked against you so that is one thing to keep in mind if something looks too easy to be true. One thing I do consider a flaw is that the camera is far too zoomed in. Enemies will seemingly spawn right in front of you and run toward you giving you little time to react. It also carries over to the platforming that makes jumping a real risk as you will not be able to see where you are jumping to at times. I know this game tries to be retro but that design was due to hardware limitations and is quite annoying when indie devs see it as a feature in my opinion. Some other problems is that you can't rebind controls and they are pretty oddly placed like reload being the “Y” button on the 360 gamepad. One thing I found odd but by no means a problem is that you can move even when you are dead, not sure if that was on purpose but it is entertaining seeing your characters head moving on it's on after a brutal death. It is also nothing like Castlevania or Metroid so not sure why they brought that up in the game's description, other than to get attention. I wouldn't call the games insane difficulty a flaw as it was made to be that way and the controls are good enough to pull it off if you have the skill/patience. I keyboard controls are placed terribly so you should only try this if you have a gamepad. There are sections where you are not on foot and are riding a motorcycle. It does sound pretty cool but I'm pretty sure I grew some gray hairs after finally beating a section. You are unable to control the speed or break so it becomes like a runner type game in where you have to have fast reflexes and know where everything is placed. Like the rest of the game everything is put in a place designed to annoy you. Luckily you can run into three zombies before dying but the environmental hazards will still stop you dead in your tracks. The level designs are very “video gamey” and makes no sense which is fine and and all, but due to that zoomed in camera you will not see that strangely placed wall until you splatter against it. Graphics are nice and are very Atari like. I find that strange considering that all the games they listed in the description are from the NES/Famicom. Music is catchy at moments but nothing really too noticeable most of the times. Sound effects are also mostly Atari like with the bleeps and the bloops which really fits in with the visuals nicely. Overall Ted by Dawn is a good game. A very hard one that I will probably never bother to beat but there is nothing really game breakingly wrong with it and it is fun. This is definitely a game made for the highly skilled fans of the platformer/action genre and is not one you should start with if you are new to those type of games, as even the tutorial will wipe the floor with you before you even grasp the controls. In the end of the day there is no denying that Ted by Dawn is fun and is a very solid title for those looking for a cheap, difficult as nails game.

Another game where "was designed to be played with a controller" means "we've just assigned everything to random keys and didn't care enough to add a setup menu". "Controller" by the way means "only X360". Nothing else works. Apart from that it's just yet another cheap trial and error platformer mistaking frustrating and awkward for retro and stylish. One very loosely inspired by Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion for a change.

Ted by Dawn is a relentlessly ball-breaking, try-and-die ordeal without the mercy of checkpoints or a health system. Its keyboard controls are an abomination and it will, like many of the 8-bit platformers that inspire it, drive you to rage... but it's a good kind of rage, like punching a parking attendant or when Luke lost his rag with Vader at the end of Return of the Jedi. It's an addictive, healthy rage; the kind that keeps you playing. I can't play this for more than around twenty minutes at a time because I'd probably lose a fortune in wall filler but it's engaging, humorous and aesthetically pleasing enough that I have a few stabs at a level while I'm waiting for the kettle to boil. Feel free to watch me losing my temper with it below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Gjr_eAmg1M

Hard yet fun and entertaining, a zombie platformer game for those who seeks challenge. overall, it's a decent game