Code Alfa

Hello players!
This time I'll review another game made for the Swap in the Middle 2018 event done by two different developers: first half made by psy_wombats AND second half by bicfarmer. I've already reviewed many games made by these two developers (like psy_wombats' Slay the Lizard of Luneneber and Dememorize or bicfarmer's Zack's Ultimate RPG Lite and Zack's Seaside Resort, to mention just the most interesting titles).

This game is not what you can commonly expect from an rpgmaker game: it's a sort of visual novel with no battles, no puzzle and a modern horror theme, the setting is contemporary and it's about Brooks, a soldier that is a low-ranking member of Ghost Squadron, a black ops military unit.


Oh that's really a mystery. Or maybe Davis is just a liar!

The game starts with a very cool intro where we learn about our protagonists as they talk while they are trabelling by helicopter. Then they land and the real adventure begin, as they look for survivors of a recent helicopter crash, anyway I'm not going to tell you more because it's pretty short, but I will say a thing: Ao Oni!
Ehm. Play and see.

Anyway the gameplay is what you can expect from a walking simulator or interactive visual novel, and there is not much to do aside for choosing between shooting, not shooting, or being shot. Oh well, to be honest there is also a chase section, a real classic of many rpgmaker short horror games, and being caught is practically the only way in which you can get a Game Over that's not a bad ending.

Visually the game uses mainly RTPs plus some edits, and the results is decent, I also find interesting the use of charsets in their environment in place of the facesets... not bad choice at allo, but this made me miss the presence of the facesets! Not that they're bad, still the facesets woulf have given more character to the various soldiers. Mapping is ok, even if in my opinion the first half of the game has some better maps and cutscenes.
Music is pratty much ok, it fits the game and it was competently selected, still nothing really exceptional or new (but not out of place).+

What else? The story is linear and without bugs or errors, and also leaves some questions, but being a horror story it happens to have an adventure where not everything is clearly explained.


Ok. But please let me finish this review, Gerry!!!

Final Verdict
Code Alfa is an ok game, considering it was made for a contest in a short time and by two different devs. This is not an exceptional game that I can recommend to everyone, still both developers where able to nicely build an original scenario and a short story of tension and mystery. Well, in the specific case you want to play and read a nice horror short story, then I can recommend this game!