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TotS of Awesome

Gourd Clae Reviews

~Prenote~ (Feel free to skip this)

Tina of the Stars is a cutesy arcade-like game. Arcade-like specifically in that it plays similiarly to Pacman. I've always loved Pacman but I could never get past the second level (because I'm a noob pretty much), yet I feel TotS (Tina of the Stars), while hard, was slightly more forgiving than Pacman. Not to say it's forgiving at all - especially after Level 6. Anyway, there will be minor spoilers in Tina of the stars, though not too many as TotS is signifigantly more gameplay heavy than story heavy. Thouugh, the cutscenes are cute.
Let's crash a UFO into this baby!

~Gameplay~
Battles - Pacman style! : Seeing how TotS is an arcade rather than an RPG, battles don't work in a turn-based sense. Well, actually, they kind of do. The main point of the gameplay is to collect sparklies (< Official name, I have decided it now) while being very vulnerable, then when you've got all your sparklies you punch all the enemies in the face. Pretty old school. And I really like the sense of achievement when you finally get to mess up those stupid wheels. And the cutscenes are aware of how awesome this is too as in the beginning they frequently show Tina chasing a monster that looked like it peed itself in fear. Of course, one problem with the gameplay I had is that sometimes monsters would agro me before I even got a chance to move. Which can be really frustrating especially when you're on your last chance. I also feel like the timer should stop counting down after you get your sparklies because it kind of defeats the purpose of being invincible AND the sense of achievement turns into a "What the hell?!" moment. Also, describing what the monsters' movement patterns are would be nice. I literally have no idea what movement pattern the skeleton heads are on.

Despite it's very few flaws, I had alot of fun. Obviously, the positive outweighs the negatives and most of what I pointed out were nitpicks.
4.5\5

~Graphics\Mapping~
The maps work for what they're meant to be. And nothing in the game looks inherintly bad either. It is also fairly consistent in style throughout the whole game, so no complaints there. However, I think Tina looks kind of...weird. She looks REALLY pudgy in the face and quite bug-eyed, this could be intentional or it may be just me. And at first I thought the two different directions of the wheel enemy were different enemies. (Though, I thought they were both wheels.) Also, you may want to make the life part of your HUD slightly smaller. I love the picture cutscenes, they're very nice and set a very good idea of why we're doing what we are in the game. In general, this game knew what style it was going for and achieved it.
3.75/5

Fuck you, Mr. Wheel.
~Music\Sounds~
All music fits well and I particulaly love the ubeat cheerful music thta plays during some earlier cutscenes before leaving planet Pix. And as for sounds: none of them sound out of place. I really love Tina's footstep sound effects, they're really cute. Also, I like the music that plays when you win a stage. And the plop sound paired with the expression on Tina's face when she falls off a cliff and gets stuck in the sand while in the desert is so hilarious!
Very nice, but completely original sounds would be nice!
4\5

~Plot\Story~
~~~I Spoil the scenes in between 1-5 or so in this section so beware!~~~
After an awesome cutscene where a mysterious entity ravages Pix, we start our first level with Tina. Tina is a silent protagonist, which I like. I don't think you could've done her any other way. After messing up a few monsters in the grasslands we realize the monsters originate from the desert. And we get some cute writing informing us that Tina puts on some sunscreen which is pretty funny and I really liked. In which we get to one of my favorite parts of the game. Tina falls down a cliff, and then has a hilarious emotican thing with a nice plop sound. After the next level we learn that the monsters are coming from a strange portal and Tina decides to venture in. And then we have an ominous voice tell us we're basically walking into its trap, not that there's anything we can do about it. Also the villain's name is introduced here, and I feel it's very well done.

And from here on you'll have to play the game to find out what happens next. Overall the story is good for the purpose it serves.
4.25\5

~Prelude~
After getting past the horrid Mr.Wheel, and indulging in some funny cutscenes, I can say I had quite a bit of fun playing TotS. Also that's the best abbreviation ever. This game has got a few little things wrong, but on the whole, is a very good game.
4.5\5

Posts

Pages: 1
Ratty524
The 524 is for 524 Stone Crabs
12986
That screenshot is OLD. You are playing the right version, are you?
Good review, though what in particular is bugging you about the size of the hearts?
Yup, I'm playing the right version I just took a picture off the page that showed the wheel.
The hearts just seem obnoxiously big to me. They don't block things and they're not that big of a problem so it really comes down to your preference.
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