• Add Review
  • Subscribe
  • Nominate
  • Submit Media
  • RSS

Is Alex back? Well yes, but actually no!

Hello!
I couldn't help but play and review this other collection, the third part of the trilogy that began with Alex and Alex III, made by the the old Gaming World forum members in two days.
Alex IS, as you can expect if you played the excellent Alex III to the end, has a new protagonist, Alexis.
Alexis is the blue haired Rtp female character normally known as Lilia, but in this case she is called Alexis because it's a sort of female version of Alex (with the same headband and nearly identical clothing, the difference is that her blouse is red and not blue).


Hey guys, remember THIS!

What happened before? Well Carol (the pink haired witch) was looking for Alex, her love interest, but in the end of last episode she is confronted by Alexis that later killed her (!). For this reason our protagonist is sentenced to be exiled in the Wasteland of Endless Illusions.

And BAM! Here's the first new and unexpected addition: the world map!
Yes, because this time not only you aren't forced to play any game (technically you could even go straight to the ending... if you really want!), but you can also play them in any order and re-play the one you like as many time as you wish. And, as usual, you can save anytime and anywhere (well, except for some particular istances and minigames where saving would break the game, that is).

As for the previous adventure collections expect to find wacky adventures and serious moments, action segments and adventure parts, and a lot of references and homages to other games: some of these include Taran from a Blurred Line, Ridman from Legion Saga, Pokemons, and also some well known developers of rpgmaker games.

Interlude - the illusions of the Wasteland of Endless Illusions!



As for the other two episodes the graphic style is varied and I am serious that, like me, you will find some episodes rather interesting, and others unbearable. Some homages and situations are rather brilliant, if I may say one of the most interesting and funny I must probably say that it was the descent into the Rpgmaker Purgatory, in which you will watch various sinners and sins, like "leaving the game unfinished" or the much hated "slow walk".
Another episode I liked a lot was the adventure segment set in a sort of 1930 era, complete with black and white "ruined film" effect and some funny events, but I also found very interesting the scenario made by Liberty (coincidentally these three are probably the longest scenarios, and those with lots of dialogues and no minigames, but this is my personal taste).

It's impossible to list all the activities and situations of the various episodes, but I played them all at least once, and I suggest everyone to do the same. It's impossible getting stuck, in any case make a savegame on the main map so you can exit immediately if you do not like one particular scenario and/or replay the one you like as many time as you want!


No, Mr. Ent... NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Verdict
Alex IS is a good game, I admit that my favourite is still Alex III (because it's bigger, longer and has two distinct storylines) but this comes second as it introduces a helpful main map and selectable scenarios. Considering that each scenarios was made in two days be assured that here you can find some real little gems and fun ideas hidden among the moltitude of short scenarios. And I am pretty sure that while I liked some (that coincidentally were the "adventure" scenarios) others may like something else (maybe the more "action" minigames or the puzzles).

So this is another 4/5. Another great collection of memorabilia.

Posts

Pages: 1
Thanks for reviewing this TRA! Yeah, I feel like 3 held up better than 4. With 4, there was a distinct tone and transitional shift within the community and it's members that was going on with Gamingw at the time. Which sort of reflected upon the game: mid-way through putting 4 together, RPG realized there weren't enough maps that had actual "games" in them? Most of them were just interactive maps as you described in your review, and a lot of people flaked on their submissions last minute? So some of us spent another two days, just trying to put together another set of maps together for the game. (Which is why I ended up making two)...So yeah, some maps held up better than others. Mine certainly didn't. But I feel like 3 was a really great example of illustrating why fostering a creative community is so important for games like this.

After 4 was finished. I remember Alex 5 being announced, but seeing how 4 turned out, I declined - but if I knew 4 would end up being the last one for years, I wish I hadn't. There been a few attempts to try and bring back the ALEX games, but they've fallen apart for one reason or another. I would really like to do one of these again, but it's hard to find someone whose willing to collaborate and put these maps together as well as RPG did.

But yeah, it's interesting to look back on ALEXIS. It's hard to believe this was almost 10 years ago. In my mind it just feels like yesterday.

For anyone interested, here's the original completed game thread on gamingw.
And here it is on saltw.
Nah it was good, still different. Alex III is far bigger, it was made in 3 days and by more people so... it's ok but he lacks a map or a selectable scenarios. Anyway your maps (and Libery's) was among the ones I liked (But WHO is exactly that Leon?).

In any case there is also a series of Alex games made by some german makers... but I haven't tried it! :D
Thanks for the review! I agree that 3 is the better game, mostly for the reasons that LordBlueRouge mentioned. I asked people for more gameplay oriented maps and that helped this game a lot (I like Kazesui's puzzle submissions in particular), but there were less people involved and the community wasn't as active as it used to be.

One criticism of Alex games was that some maps would be too long or break the flow. It's not fun to get stuck on a difficult map when the spirit of these kind of games is to be able to see what everyone else contributed. The first game suffered from this (aside from a few choices to skip maps), and the second one usually had a skip button. I felt the skip button was also against the game's spirit because some people were skipping entire submissions because the mapping looked sparse or it used RTP. That's why I thought the world map could help by giving people some context and freedom without forcing them to play everything.

Now that I think about it, the reason this one went back to being a 2 day game instead of 3 was because some of the maps in 3 were so long and elaborate, that I worried it might discourage less experienced people from making smaller and simpler maps. These maps were nice to break the pacing in Alex 1, and by 3 people were trying very hard to impress others. It did result in a better game, but I also like the simplicity and randomness of some Alex 1 maps.

For this game I only contributed the intro, world map, and the ending (mostly a spoof of Hideo Kojima writing). That was good because in the other games I barely had time to work on my own submissions and they'd usually end up pretty boring.
Ahah ending was really WTF and I liked the world map a lot since this gave the option to play and re-play what you liked! Awesome job, first was a nice and funny idea, but the sequels were really better!
iddalai
RPG Maker 2k/2k3 for life, baby!!
1194
author=LordBlueRouge
For anyone interested, here's the original completed game thread on gamingw.
And here it is on saltw.

Thanks for those links! It's rather interesting to read that. And you can even find links to information about the other games in the series, too!

Some of the people were unnecessarily harsh about the games though, that's was disheartening to read. Just skipped all maps, totally missing the point.

But fortunately, those who "understood" the series really had fun playing the games.
Pages: 1