As part of the 2009 Game Chill competition, Avarice was completed in just two weeks, which is remarkable for a game of this caliber. I clocked in at about 2.5 hours and completed the game (two endings) on Hard mode. Here's the breakdown:

PLOT: 4/5

The story of Avarice is fairly basic. The two main characters, Vandeli and Lexi, specialize in their unique control of magic and ancient technology (respectively). The clash of these two forces fits Game Chill's theme. The course of events follows Vandeli's whims with Lexi along for the ride. In the end, it's the player's choice which side wins out. Nothing particularly ground-breaking here, but I appreciated the opportunity to decide the fate of the town.

CHARACTERS: 4.5/5

The two main characters are full of vibrancy, and it's clear that Solitayre put some time and energy into crafting their roles. Lexi is the adventurous, capable engineer, while Vandeli is the ominous, occult sorcerer. Despite the clear indication from the start that one side represents "good" interests and the other "evil" ones, the characters have an amusing and engaging chemistry and relate to each other on several levels.

None of the NPCs are particularly interesting as most serve 1 dimensional purposes, however, some offer humorous banter between the two player characters, often poking fun at RPG tropes.

GRAPHICS: 4/5

The sprites are refreshingly tall for a VX game. The custom character designs look awesome. The weapon graphics looked appropriately cool. Nothing exceptional, but certainly nothing wrong.

BATTLE SYSTEM: 4.5/5

Anaryu deserves heaps of praise for his self-coded battle system. Especially with all the criticism of RM action RPGs lately, this system is extremely impressive. The hero moves with the directional keys and attacks with the click of a mouse button. The player can even hotkey consumables at numbers 1, 2, and 3 for ease of use.

The two characters have different attack sets (Vandeli's magic and Lexi's weapons). Vandeli's MP recharges with time or can be restored with items, while Lexi's guns expend ammo. In the absence of ammunition, Lexi also has close-range attacks, but since most enemies fire projectiles, getting in close means taking heavy damage.

The number of different equipable weapons/magic is large. Perhaps too large. I had barely just equipped a new weapon/magic when I pop around the corner and find a chest with a better one. This was actually rather exhausting, but I would certainly prefer more options over less.

I played most of the game on Hard mode (anything easier was simply child's play) although Anaryu has said that I was playing a version before the last-minute balance tweak. I kicked it up to Insane mode briefly, however, it disappointed me that instead of my attacks doing less damage, most of them did NO DAMAGE. Despite my frustrations with this, the game has a difficulty setting, which is refreshing in itself.

CUSTOM SYSTEMS: 3.5/5

The game boasted a talent system which immediately piqued my interest, only to fall short of my expectations. In the talent system, you can put EXP earned in battle into character-specific talents that performed tasks, usually to reach a treasure chest or bridge a gap. Other talents increase proficiency in battle.

While this seems like an awesome idea, there wasn't a single time I encountered an obstacle and I didn't have enough EXP to add to that talent immediately and perform the required task. Not once. Which means I got every single chest effortlessly. Which means that instead of making a system where players are rewarded for spending their EXP wisely and investing in a particular set of skills, you put one extra screen and a few extra clicks between my character and a treasure chest, and that's just bothersome.

How this could be improved: Maybe make a level system and have players spend EXP immediately instead of waiting for a hurdle and then investing in the exact skill necessary. And cut the EXP awarded in half, I was maxed on both chars at the end and I never grind.

Also, was there a use for all those gems and random items besides selling them for gold? I thought maybe they'd be used to make weapons or magic, but found it wasn't so.

MUSIC: 3.5/5

Nothing remarkable. I believe all of the compositions are original from Newgrounds.com, and it's great to hear some original talent. The song that plays in town is my personal favorite and quite good. However, as each song comes from a different artist, there are style clashes.

Suggestions if these systems are used in future games:

Award less EXP, so players must invest wisely.

Fewer treasure chests: I was flooded with weapons, magic, and a lot of junk.

Instead of copious weapons and magic, consider a few basic guns/spells that can be upgraded individually (possibly using those collectibles from chests). That would be really cool.

Make a visible cooldown/reload indicator. Not being able to anticipate my first shot became annoying.

Perhaps implement a cooldown on items as well. I never felt truly threatened (outside of Insane mode) because I had instant healing at my disposal.

OVERALL: 4/5

Had a lot of fun playing your collaborative work, guys. I'm looking forward to reading more of Solitayre's dialogue in future projects and I would humbly request that Anaryu offer that script to so many other ARPG makers who try and fall on their faces. Seriously, that battle system rules.