NOCTURNA WILL REVIEW YOUR GAMES.

Hello, guys. This is another one of those "I will review your game" threads. Give me your games and I will review them; HOWEVER, I do have some rules and exceptions you might want to look at before putting up your game.

I will NOT review your game if:

- It has four or more reviews.

WHY?

The whole point of me deciding to make this thread is so that people that really need feedback on their games can get some here. I'm not looking to play a game that has 5 or 8 reviews. To me, that is enough feedback, and I hope that you are happy with them.

But let's cut to the chase. My review format is as follows:



The Good is obviously the good aspects of the game.



The Bad is obviously the bad bits of a game.

Now what makes my reviews different from others?



The Ugly. I hope you saw this coming. What is "The Ugly"? No matter - NO MATTER what game I have played, there is something in it that irks me/ pisses me off/ irritates me. I will explain everything that has done this to me in my reviews.

There is also one last section that is composed out of smaller, more random points towards a game, much like Gibmaker does, such as:

- Aspect I liked most.
- Best line in the game.
- Most idiotic level design I've ever seen.
- Etc.

I'm also not much of a game-finisher, so hope that your game will be compelling enough to have me play to the end.

Bring on the games.

Current list:

Pokemon Hunter 2 by: Halibabica

Avantasia by: Bahamut

Speak No Evil by: ChaosProductions

DARKSTEEL

Opening words -

Darksteel is a game currently in production, so in the end, I had no incentive to finish it, but I do believe I got pretty far.

This game's overall score is:



From other traditional rpgs I've played in the past, Darksteel is no different. I have never played a VX game, however, so I'm naive when it comes to RTP, common events, and the like. Regardless, I know a traditional RPG when I play it, and Darksteel fit that pile quite nicely.



Good Lord! No random battles! Instead of random battles, there are events that take the form of floating fire, some of which follow the hero, move about randomly, or move about according to a script assigned to them. I always welcome this in RPGs, and I suggest everyone else do the same. There are certain points though, in which it is near impossible to avoid battle, so keep that in mind. The graphics, I suppose, were well done too. I'm not quite sure if everything was RTP (probably was), but still, the maps were crafted quite nicely. Nothing wrong there. I also like the implementation of the Jump feature as well as certain, brain-busting puzzles.



I did not enjoy the storyline. It was mediocre, no, actually it was less than mediocre. What is so different about this game's story that makes it stand out from the rest? Nothing. Well, actually, there is one case where cliche storylines ultimately don't matter, and that is when its PRESENTATION is remarkable. I saw none of that in Darksteel. The characters weren't all too memorable either, and the dialogue was easily forgettable. Nothing extraordinary plot-wise, so don't play this game expecting any of that.



What was so ugly about this game? I'm not talking map design here - the map design was actually pretty good. The thing that really pissed me off in DarkSteel were the puzzles. I am not much of a patient individual, and I often get upset at puzzles, but there was one certain puzzle in DarkSteel that made me tear my hair out in absolute frustration - the Fire, Water, Earth puzzle. Basically there are these "Below Hero" events that take up the graphic as either a fiery cluster of bubbles, a watery geyser-like thing, and a group of pebbles. At first you will see water geysers everywhere and rocks. If you step on the fiery event, all events like it will turn into towers of flames, obstructing your path in certain areas, however, the water geysers will be tamed and you are free to step over them, but stepping over them will cause the geysers to erupt once again and the rocks to turn into the pebbles. Step over the pebbles and the fire towers will calm, but the geysers will be unchangable. I tried to explain that the best I could without confusion. Once you actually GET the right path in this puzzle, however, you'll slap yourself in the head, wondering why you didn't think of it before, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that there is one certain spot in the puzzle that will TRAP YOU FOREVER, FORCING YOU TO RESTART THE GAME. I've fallen under this trap about 5 times accidentally, and I nearly threw my computer monitor out the window.

But, hey, that's all that was ugly, so good for Darksteel!

Greatest feature of this game: Non-random enemy encounters / Map design.

Ho-hum features: Mediocrity of characters and dialogue.

Worst feature of this game: The Fire, Water, Earth puzzle.

Last impression: Nothing much new to see here other than it was my first VX game. Hoo-ah. It was an okay game, dumbed down by a mediocre plot and characters, but there is still potential to be found here.

Speak No Evil



No spelling mistakes in the title.



No download link.



No download link.