Tough Law

TL;DNR - Great visuals and animations, gameplay has some issues, but still fun enough for it's price tag. Alright, so I really like the visual style of this game. I also had a similar art style in mind when I made my first game as a student, so I'm very pleased to see such unique art style in action. I only played the first stage so far and I would to point out some flaws real quick. First off, the genre is made to be played with a controller. But the menu doesn't navigate with a controller, so you still have to click through with a mouse. Then you can move, jump and attack with the controller, but you can't block. None of the keys is blocking. The tutorial is showing the keyboard keys, while you playing with a controller. Then I'm not exactly sure if this only happens on the controller, or also on the keyboard, while you move, you cancel your attacks. So you have to be very careful with your timing and stop moving while doing your attack combos. Sometimes pressing too fast also fails to execute the attacks, which leaves the enemies opportunities open for counter attacks. Overall I like the idea of this papercraft thingy and their animations are really great. The hits could use a bit more feeling and feedback though. Maybe the music is just to prominent, which makes the sound effects fade a little too much behind the music. Then I like how that the tables are interactive, but most of the level isn't. I know how much more work it would have been to do so, but it just would round out the beat'em'up experience a lot better. And then, as long as you hit your enemies, they have no chance to counter attack. I feel like the essentials of a good beat'em'up game aren't there yet. Enemies also need to have a chance to block my attacks, so I am forced to back up a bit and try again or something. Don't know if counter attacks exist, but that sure would help enemies to give the player a fair fight. Right after a block, they got a small time frame, where they can do a counter-attack. Anyhow, I kinda feel bad to point out all the flaws of a game, which barely costs anything and as far as I understood, it's made by 1 developer, right? It's still a solid project and if kept being worked on, maybe a 2nd part, then I can see some very bright future for this developer.