https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4yLGxXp2a4
[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 - Unplayable Trash ☆☆☆☆☆[/h1]
[h1]First Impressions[/h1]
In what seemed like deja vu, a developer offered me a copy of XEYYEX (XY) when it was being launched, which happened a short time after the same thing had happened with The Ploshers (TP). This game had a striking similarity, so I asked the person who messaged me about it, yet they denied any association between them. I've checked both store pages on Steam, and they list themselves under different developer and producer names. Coincidences happen, and as it turns out, I dislike both games. Go figure.
[h1]Gameplay[/h1]
You control an eyeball, which when placed in the maze-like arena of the game, has quite the resemblance to Pacman. Both are round characters, with a small section in the front that's different from the single color making up the rest. Though moving around the environment is much the same, your objective is quite different. In XY, you kill enemies so they'll drop X's, 10 of which allows you to move onto the next stage. There are only 30 in total, so if you can clear them all, you win.
To kill enemies, you'll fire at them with projectiles, though you have limited ammo. So, as you're going around fighting enemies, you'll have to acquire more ammo. Making matters worse, you also have to gather time, because if the timer reaches zero, you die. It sounds simple in theory, but you have to juggle several factors at once while playing what should be a straightforward arcade experience. You can play this game with a second person, but I'm not sure how well that'd go with the need to manage ammo.
[h1]Controls[/h1]
XY is simple enough to control, though you have the option to play either with the keyboard, or a controller. Aside from occasional problems getting stuck on a turn or corner, I had no issues with the controls.
[h1]Story[/h1]
With XY functioning as an arcade game, there isn't any story shown here. I'm surprised that there isn't a title screen image or cutscene giving some explanation or motivation for playing. Considering how that's absent, I wouldn't think there'd be an ending either.
[h1]Visuals[/h1]
I find the visuals in XY rather bland. The floors and walls are each made up of square tiles, none of which have interesting details or designs. This leads to each arena having two kinds of tiles, with some of the color schemes being outright ugly, or even worse, hard on the eyes. Enemies have lackluster and inconsistent designs, as some look very childlike, like TNT with arms and legs. Overall, the designs seem quite random, as some are robotic, while others are just animals, such as spiders and octopi. When several of these disparate enemies spawn in, it looks like a mess. Since I grew up playing NES titles, I find this especially disappointing, as theming was a crucial part of those simpler games.
[h1]Sound Design[/h1]
As you work your way through the game, different tunes play to match your progress. It might go through them in a predetermined order, though I'm not positive about what factor chooses the next song. None of them are particularly remarkable, but they're adequate background music for a game of this nature. I do find the somewhat desert-like song a bit strange, though that's not much of a negative. There aren't any annoying sound effects, though I do wish there was some kind of audio alert when your time is running low. Give me some kind of warning, please.
[h1]Pros[/h1]
🌟 You don't have to mash the button to fire your attack rapidly. You're also able to 'strafe,' or maintain your fire in a constant direction as you move around.
🌟 There's local coop available.
[h1]Cons[/h1]
❌ There are too many variables to keep track of. You need to be mindful of how many enemies there are, and which areas are becoming troublesome. Ammo also must be carefully conserved, because if you get blocked off from a path, it can lead to a death. Since running out of time is an instant death, that's also important to keep track of.
❌ I tried to find out if there's a limit on how many enemies can spawn, and I don't think there is. At one point, there were 25 enemies on screen, which would be impossible to deal with. Making another comparison to Pacman, which only had four enemies at a time, this concept clearly doesn't work.
❌ The way items spawn in is not well programmed. I've had a timer spawn underneath a letter, so I couldn't see where to get more time. In another bad example, an enemy spawned underneath an ammo container just as I picked it up, so I died instantly.
❌ There aren't any options, so you can't adjust the volume or anything else. You also can't get out of the game easily until you game over.
❌ Every enemy you kill only has a chance of giving you 1 of 10 X's you need to beat the stage. It's not even guaranteed!
[h1]Tips[/h1]
🔍 At the beginning of each level, while there's a scant number of enemies around, hoard ammo and time. It's your best opportunity to stockpile those reserves for later. This is restricted by the size of the mazes, and how there may not be a simple path from one resource you want to the next, but it only gets worse as enemies keep spawning.
🔍 When you die, though your resources restart to the beginning amount, there's no change in how many enemies there are on the screen. So, if you die because there's too many enemies around, you wind up in even worse shape. IE, don't die if you want to win.
🔍 If you really wanted to, you could grind for free lives on the very first stage, when there's nothing but easy enemies spawning. It'd be annoying to control them sufficiently, but it'd be an opportunity to rack up points by collecting ingots.
[h1]Final Thoughts[/h1]
I'm surprised the completion rate for the sole achievement for this game is so high, as it requires you to beat the whole game. Based on my single attempt at playing XY, where the timer was hidden by another power-up, and I lost my last life walking head-first into an enemy that just spawned beneath ammo, I won't be playing more of this title. I wouldn't enjoy the compact nature of moving around mazes and trying to acquire ammo anyways, but that bogus experienced ruined my interest completely. I don't recommend the game at all.
[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 has been programmed poorly.
🌡️ - XY is a bit sickly.
[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
