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How fast can you hit Z?
EdgeOfChaos- 07/28/2014 09:42 PM
- 399 views
Introduction
THING: Compaz's Quest is an adventure/action GameMaker game, by ergoproductions. All in all, it's a pretty fun game, though it has some serious problems. It's about two creatures who are forced to venture from their hope planet and stop an evil wizard. I won't really be saying much about the story, since I didn't finish it all; this will be primarily about gameplay.
Graphics
The terrain is very well done, especially when you consider that this was made in Game Maker. Every world has multiple unique tilesets, and they all fit their theme very nicely.
For example, there is one stage called Bees Nest that looks like this:
The art for the units is pretty good too. There are lots of variety in the enemies, and they're all well drawn and fit in.
The only aspect I didn't like about the terrain is the tendency to slide down objects. Even normal platforms, if you get too close to the edge, will send you tumbling down. The outcrops of rock are especially bad with regard to this.
Controls
There are two ways you can control the game; with a controller or a keyboard. I used a keyboard, and so I won't be able to comment on how the game works with a controller.
With a keyboard, it was very, very bad. No other way to put this.
Essentially, left/right move your character, space jumps, z attacks, 0 changes weapon, XCA1 have various functions (won't get into them now). Before playing, these controls may seem OK, but think about how far they are.
The arrow keys are on one side of the keyboard, and the rest of your controls are on the other. This isn't necessarily bad, you could use one hand for each set. However, remember that Space is jump. Jumping and attacking at the same time will be frustrating. Don't believe me? Try hitting space and pressing Z as fast as you can at the same time. It won't be as fast as you need it to be.
Changing weapons and activating special (1) during battle? Forget it. Those are on the entire other side of the keyboard. The thing is, there was no reason to have Space as jump. Why not just have the up arrow key as jump? It doesn't do anything, and would make everything so much better.
The other function keys feel like they were chosen at random. Enter is the key to quit the stage, which doesn't make sense. Spacebar is the key to bring up the menu, and Esc is the key to quit. About that escape key: it quits instantly. No warning, no "do you want to save".
Every other RPGMaker game uses escape as the menu key, and so it's frustrating when you exit the game over and over when you want the menu. Typically "Exit Game" would be an option on the menu, not a key by itself.
Gameplay
I've said several times that mashing Z is important. Here's why. Enemies take around 4-5 hits each (even the easiest), and you are both melee range. When you can hit the enemy, they can hit you. You can't be hit when you're attacking, so the way to battle enemies is to sit there mashing Z until they walk into you and die.
It annoyed me how the character could only attack when he was so close to the enemy. This is true, at least, until area 3 when you get a ranged special. This ensures that if you go up to fight an enemy, there is a great chance of you taking damage just while you get in range of them at all.
Areas 1 and 2 were okay though. I spammed Z and killed things, and got through. Area 3, though, is very very annoying and where most players' games will end. First, to get to the boss you have to clear a very annoying stage - every time you want to fight them.
In other words, if you die on the boss, you have to re-do the entire stage (which features enemies that 2-shot you, and tons and tons of jumping areas). And then these bosses are very bad. There are two of them, and they have loads of health.
As I stated before, when getting in range of someone to attack you will sometimes take damage. This becomes a serious problem when the bosses can take something like 20 hits each and you cannot. The tactic on the area 3 bosses is to jump around and attack as fast as you can and hope for luck. Typically, you lose, but about 1 out of 15 times you will beat the boss.
Summary
You can have fun in this platformer game, but it's also full of problems that make it very difficult to get through using the keyboard.
3/5.
THING: Compaz's Quest is an adventure/action GameMaker game, by ergoproductions. All in all, it's a pretty fun game, though it has some serious problems. It's about two creatures who are forced to venture from their hope planet and stop an evil wizard. I won't really be saying much about the story, since I didn't finish it all; this will be primarily about gameplay.
Graphics
The terrain is very well done, especially when you consider that this was made in Game Maker. Every world has multiple unique tilesets, and they all fit their theme very nicely.
For example, there is one stage called Bees Nest that looks like this:
The art for the units is pretty good too. There are lots of variety in the enemies, and they're all well drawn and fit in.
The only aspect I didn't like about the terrain is the tendency to slide down objects. Even normal platforms, if you get too close to the edge, will send you tumbling down. The outcrops of rock are especially bad with regard to this.
Controls
There are two ways you can control the game; with a controller or a keyboard. I used a keyboard, and so I won't be able to comment on how the game works with a controller.
With a keyboard, it was very, very bad. No other way to put this.
Essentially, left/right move your character, space jumps, z attacks, 0 changes weapon, XCA1 have various functions (won't get into them now). Before playing, these controls may seem OK, but think about how far they are.
The arrow keys are on one side of the keyboard, and the rest of your controls are on the other. This isn't necessarily bad, you could use one hand for each set. However, remember that Space is jump. Jumping and attacking at the same time will be frustrating. Don't believe me? Try hitting space and pressing Z as fast as you can at the same time. It won't be as fast as you need it to be.
Changing weapons and activating special (1) during battle? Forget it. Those are on the entire other side of the keyboard. The thing is, there was no reason to have Space as jump. Why not just have the up arrow key as jump? It doesn't do anything, and would make everything so much better.
The other function keys feel like they were chosen at random. Enter is the key to quit the stage, which doesn't make sense. Spacebar is the key to bring up the menu, and Esc is the key to quit. About that escape key: it quits instantly. No warning, no "do you want to save".
Every other RPGMaker game uses escape as the menu key, and so it's frustrating when you exit the game over and over when you want the menu. Typically "Exit Game" would be an option on the menu, not a key by itself.
Gameplay
I've said several times that mashing Z is important. Here's why. Enemies take around 4-5 hits each (even the easiest), and you are both melee range. When you can hit the enemy, they can hit you. You can't be hit when you're attacking, so the way to battle enemies is to sit there mashing Z until they walk into you and die.
It annoyed me how the character could only attack when he was so close to the enemy. This is true, at least, until area 3 when you get a ranged special. This ensures that if you go up to fight an enemy, there is a great chance of you taking damage just while you get in range of them at all.
Areas 1 and 2 were okay though. I spammed Z and killed things, and got through. Area 3, though, is very very annoying and where most players' games will end. First, to get to the boss you have to clear a very annoying stage - every time you want to fight them.
In other words, if you die on the boss, you have to re-do the entire stage (which features enemies that 2-shot you, and tons and tons of jumping areas). And then these bosses are very bad. There are two of them, and they have loads of health.
As I stated before, when getting in range of someone to attack you will sometimes take damage. This becomes a serious problem when the bosses can take something like 20 hits each and you cannot. The tactic on the area 3 bosses is to jump around and attack as fast as you can and hope for luck. Typically, you lose, but about 1 out of 15 times you will beat the boss.
Summary
You can have fun in this platformer game, but it's also full of problems that make it very difficult to get through using the keyboard.
3/5.
