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Dark Princess Souls

Hello
Today I will review Super Princess Daphne, a simple side-scrolling fighting arcade game made by Yooper_the_Pirate in Unity, inspired to the old classic Kung Fu Master arcade (and NES game): you simply have to reach the end of the level going from left to right or right to left, killing anyone who tries to stop you and avoiding the occasional trap/bullet flying on the screen.

In Kung-Fu Master, known as Spartan X in Japan, we played as a martial artist named Thomas that had to ascend a tower to rescue his girlfriend Sylvia, and this game is very similar: Princess Daphne has to rescue Prince Elden that was kidnapped by her arch rival Princess Elizabeth of Helenia. Clearly here the princess won't visit different floors of a tower, but various locations like plains, caves, forests and dungeons, anyway it's always the same thing: after waves of lesser enemies prepare to face the area boss!
If you are hit you lose one heart (two if you are playing Hard difficulty instead of Normal), lose ten of them and you will lose one life out of the four, but you can restart from the beginning of the level.


Oh no, I'm surrounded! Things look grim for Princess Daphne!

It's a really simply concept, maybe too simple, due to what we'll soon see: Daphne is a sword-wielding princess that can attack, jump, crouch and... well run left or right. Unfortunately there is no parry or slide or dodge, and that's a problem for a simple reason, because among the enemies there are some who shoot, and they can also crouch, but despite Daphne runs faster than their bullets (yes, I am not joking, you can actually outrun them and their bullets too!) the problem is when they appear in front of you and you've little time to dodge the bullet.
Sometimes I noticed that they copy Daphne so if she jumps they jump too, and sometimes is useful because they will shoot at a higher level and they will miss. Anyway I hated them also because in the first two level they need two hits to be dispatched, unlike these on the third level that needs just one (well the first type has a greenbandana, the others a crimson one). But this is just ONE enemy type, there are lots more! Thirteen different kinds that range from swordsmen (the basic and easiest opponent type) to jumping jesters, armored spearmen and even bombers!

I admit that graphics are all custom and pretty good, even if I prefer the pixelated art of the various level to the more classic drawing style of the menu, but it's a matter of personal taste. Game is colorful and looks good, also music is pretty nice.


Uh oh... that looks like a... BOMB!!!

Final Verdict
Super Princess Daphne is an ok arcade game, I mean I know that the lack of complexity, bonuses and bare bones levels are inspired by the old Kung Fu Master, still it feels that it would be better with something more: weapons, moves, items, hazards, etc. But it's ok, this is not a bad game, I foound no bugs or errors, still it's very difficult even on normal difficulty (the possibility to roll/parry the attacks would have made things easier, but ok!). Or maybe that's me, anyway beating the third level it's already a quite challenging task and it's only the first half of the game (in other words, git gud)! Okkkk, maybe I'm a bit rusted due to playing too many rpgs, anyway sometimes I also encountered the unfair situation when I was crouching near an enemy and the attack missed maybe because I was *too* close. So remember to keep the right distance.
Overall an ok game with very nice graphics, but probably appreciated only by those who look for an old-styled simple game that can provide a real challenge.
What else? Try it, and see if I was right about this!

Posts

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Whoa a review! Thanks man! Didn't check here for a long time, would've responded if I'd known someone reviewed my game!

Pretty fair review, it's what I would've gave it. I didn't work that hard on it, it was a practice project, so that's why it is so bare bones and simplistic. It was just for the sake of actually completing a game. Gonna do a sequel which would be more inspired by Zelda 2 and metroid, with more abilities, boss battles and such.

Anyway, thanks a lot!
author=Yooper_the_Pirate
Whoa a review! Thanks man! Didn't check here for a long time, would've responded if I'd known someone reviewed my game!

Pretty fair review, it's what I would've gave it. I didn't work that hard on it, it was a practice project, so that's why it is so bare bones and simplistic. It was just for the sake of actually completing a game. Gonna do a sequel which would be more inspired by Zelda 2 and metroid, with more abilities, boss battles and such.

Anyway, thanks a lot!


Good, very good! Well the basis aren't bad, indeed it's a bit difficult due to the limits of melee attack and absence of special attacks/options (while opponents have a wider rande of attack possibilities, from shooting to throwing bombs). There is space for improvement so adding moar is surely the right thing to do!
Pages: 1