Till Death Do Us Part

Game Title: Til Death Do Us Part
Game Creator: Deacon Batista
Reviewer: AznChipmunk
Engine: RPGMaker 2003
Genre: Arcade
Site: http://rpgmaker.net/

Playthrough:

The game starts off with some intro text. The mouth animation of the guy talking isn't too great, and I personally would have left it unanimated. But anyways, continuing. It teleports to a sort of outdoor mountain/forest type map where you gain control of the hero fast--that's always nice. There is a nice ambient rain sound, to go with a rain effect, as well as splashes on the ground. You can also hear the hero's footsteps, a nice touch. There is lightning too... and some lighting. The lighting effect doesn't look that great. Also, there is no menu, hitting cancel opens up the save menu.
I like the color scheme. Everything is gray, except for red. Anyways, within the game, you can examine pretty much anything, which is a nice touch. However, it doesn't give you items or anything of that sort. Shame. Also, the lighting... looks odd at times, it's just sort of a diamond shape around light sources.



The game is pretty short, but it's fun for what there is. Not too many maps, but it uses them over again in interesting ways. It's somewhat creepy, and kind of funny too--I'm not sure which it is supposed to be... or if the mix is intentional. Anyways, moving on, because I don't want to spoil what happens.

Overview:
Plot: I liked! Nothing too special, but it was entertaining and it worked. There were a good amount of grammar errors or wrong word choices, but that's understandable. (I know the creator is German.) Also, being able to examine most things was cool, although there were things you couldn't examine, like bookshelves on southern walls, which bothered me a bit.
3/5.

Gameplay: There's nothing too unique about the gameplay, but it works. There's no battle system, you merely run away from certain things. It's not buggy nor slow nor glitchy. However, it's nothing too special either. There are a few times when you have to wait a while for something to happen, but it's not too bad. It was cool how objects that you could use flashed.
3/5.

Graphics: I liked the graphics, for the most part. The REFMAP mapping is decent (personally I dislike REFMAP) but it's cohesive and the color scheme is cool, where everything is gray except for things that are red. There is also a cool effect or two, and little touches like splashes from the rain look cool. The custom message box looks good too. However... the lighting just doesn't look right at all, it looks like a diamond of bright color floating where there should be light. The fog effect used, however, is a graphic that is way overused.
4/5.

Music & Sound: I think most of the music (there wasn't too much) was just stuff taken from FF games, but it seemed alright. There were nice sound effects, especially the footsteps, lightning and rain sounds. There are also a few good creepy ones too.
3/5.

Creativity & Originality: The game has some nice surreal touches, like objects mysteriously vanishing, or moving around, which adds a creepy and disorienting atmosphere. The parts where you have to wait are actually kind of cool, but the wait does need to be shortened a bit--but I felt that was an original touch. It also uses a sort of adventure game style, which I really like. I would enjoy playing more stuff similar to this.
4/5.

Pros:
-Entertaining, fun

Cons:
-Music taken from FF
-Not too much gameplay, it's pretty short too

Final Score:
3 and a HALF WELPS out of 5 WELPS

WHAAAALP.

Final Comments/Notes: Fun, but not too memorable.