Solar Tear… A very interesting name, and also a very interesting game. While the name sounds sort of spacey, (which the story will probably relate, although the demo didn’t touch on it yet) the game seems to take place in a terrible, run down world.

Gameplay: 4. There are a lot of puzzles, most of which actually require deeper thinking, especially if you want the optional items. Although, battles were hard, and things seemed imbalanced.

The gameplay mostly drew on the concept of the puzzles and areas, and what you had to do continue onward. The puzzles were creative, some requiring a little more thought and precaution. Hiding out of sight, location password and finding out what number goes where, laying down bridges, pushing rocks etc there were several types of puzzles classic or new. Each puzzle kept the game alive, making each new area difficult. The password puzzle I thought was also quite difficult, until I understood exactly what the wording meant. The rock puzzle was quite difficult and sadly I couldn’t get through it. The main thing was, when you first find the “rocks” it looks like they’re just one rock, but they’re actually two combined. That can confuse a lot of people (as well as me). I would suggest editing the rocks to look more like two combined rocks.

The game is very dynamic in terms of choices. In the beginning you need to find your way home, and you have two choices as to where to go. After you chose a path, you’re then given other choices to choose from. Should I confront the gang or sneak past them? Several, several choices to choose from, and scattered throughout areas of the game. These choices give some replayability to the game and also makes things interesting, making you wonder what you could have missed if you chose one decision over another.

Battles were kind of an issue in the game. Standard, the battles use the DBS
to eliminate enemies via skills yadda yadda. Some of the enemies in the beginning were easy; but some of them were extremely difficult. The snake things in the city (I can’t remember their names for some reason; rust somethings) took like some time to kill, but compared to the rats that would die in one hit to ayla, they were not worth fighting. Their exp wasn’t worth the effort. Also all the robots were extremely difficult to kill. I don’t know if maybe I missed some equipment or maybe Rebecca had some skills she could have used, but they were extremely hard to kill, and then you hardly got any exp for it.

Then there’s some issues with cash, you get cash in the beginning, not a whole lot, which is an interesting ploy, forces you to choose what to buy wisely. But when you also don’t start with any medicine, and buying medicine takes about half your cash, and then you cant buy any equipment… well maybe its just my opinion. Monsters don’t drop cash either, increasing the difficulty, as well lowering the importance of battles. Why should I do battles if their too darn rough, hardly give me exp, and give me any other benefit? Personally I’d say at least tone down the monsters, and give a little more cash in the beginning of the game.

One battle I had an issue with was the boss battle in the disposal plant place where you had to do the password puzzle. The boss was extremely tough. Melee attacks by Rebecca only did one damage. (But by her stats I can tell she’s not a hard hitter) Ayla only did about 4 I think. I scanned the boss and noticed it had 164 HP. I said no way. At this time in the game I hadn’t even gotten Rebecca past level 1, and Ayla only went up one level. So basically I thought, well maybe I just need to actually level my characters up, maybe those tough robots are supposed to be for when you level up from the rats. So I try and leave, and for some reason I’m not allowed to leave. Okay, now being disappointed I had nothing left to do but tamper with the game in rpgmaker. Upon entering rpgmaker I notice there were “secret rooms” in the area, and I noticed a chest that had an “emp grenade”. That’s the ticket. So I entered back into the game and received the item. I used it on the boss, and it died instantly…

I find it strange that the battles seem so tough, but then you don’t let the player go back to build his/her level up to more properly deal with monsters. Having to use an item (that was hidden no less) to down a monster, a boss even, is kind, well dumb. Maybe if we were informed that “we’ll need to emp to kill that robot” or something like that then it would make sense that part of your objective is to find this item, but even so it shouldn’t down the boss in one hit. I would really like it if you could let the player return to the other maps at that point in the game and allow him or her to level up; combined with what I said in the previous paragraphs, I think it would make the game more friendly and easy with battles.

I hadn’t even really seen a lot of skills yet either; maybe there’s going to be a system or introduction for them or maybe I didn’t reach high enough levels, but hopefully there will be some soon. (If there aren’t already) Aside from the battles, I thought the ideas and implementations used in gameplay were great.

Graphics and Mapping: 4. The graphics are quite good, although cluttered and sometimes visually confusing.

The chipsets used in the game are extremely well made. The Slums resemble slums. Multicolored pavement, with several insets of stone and junk caressing it, wire fencing and metal constructions hanging on buildings. It is very realistic, very pleasing to the eyes. Although because of the way the graphics have been done, sometimes it’s difficult to see where you’re going. It’s difficult to tell what a wall is, and what’s ground that you can walk on. This was present in all maps sadly, and I think the chipsets should be edited to help this… I mean, how can you play if you can’t see where you’re going or where you can go?

The maps seem realistic and concise, the cities look like cities, there are some dead ends and “misshapen” walls to more realistically protrude the buildings. Maps like the sewers had several ways to go, but sometimes you could lost and or not decide where to go, they seemed a tad big, but that’s not really much of a gripe. The maps seemed big enough contain all parts of the puzzles, and that’s good for me.

Music and Sounds: 4. Good utilization of music and sound.

One thing I MUST MUST MUST say first because it was a big personal gripe of mine. The battle music is way TOO loud. The field music of the maps are also slightly low to begin with, but then if you go into a battle the music is blaring loud! Please, it is important to keep consistency with the volume level of music and sounds. Please turn down the volume of the battle music to the level of the other field music.

From what I could hear of the other music was that they were original. Some, at least. I heard legend of dragoon in there somewhere but I’m not complaining. :P The music seemed to fit with the areas. The sewers seemed to feel murky etc Although there were some points and or cutscenes in the game that didn’t seem to have any music. I don’t if it was intentional to hold the feel of the scene (although u could still hear the rain in some scenes) but I think it would be nice to hear music at those parts.

The sounds are pretty good quality. The sounds in battle resemble the actions done. Although I don’t think I heard many other sounds. Maybe you could add some ambience, or sounds for when opening doors or chests?

Atmosphere and Setting: 4. Good implementation of atmosphere, it resembles a chaotic world full of sex and crime etc.

The game really pronounces its theme and ideas. The world seems to be in ruins or very degraded, (at least in that one area) and seems to be full of crime and other related things. In game cutscenes and events also show the status of the world and environment; gangs, corrupt politics and government, they add to the aesthetics to the game and make it feel chaotic and disrupted. You have this feeling through the entire demo, while also wondering just who is Rebecca? Just what is Nova Inc? You have all these questions.

This makes me question how much info should be revealed about the setting. I know that the setting is probably integral to the story, but at the start, we don’t learn anything about it. We know were in some slums, but what about the rest of the world, the demo doesn’t say anything about the rest of the world, how it is ruled, the connections to Nova Inc. (which like is probably tied to the story) I think at least a little bit of background information should be provided, just so the player has a general idea of what the world is like.

Story: 5. Great execution and pacing, the story is progressing at its own pace, and making an interesting adventure of itself.

I thought the story was quite interesting. While not a lot was actually revealed or talked about, nor was any main plot discovered or unveiled yet, there is definitely something smoldering and building up. The pacing is slow and properly applied, revealing a little bit at a time, telling more about the characters and more about the world. At first glance it seemed like the game was going to be another seemingly boring politics type story, but the game shifts away from this, even though the story may resemble that. You’re trudging through sewers killing robots and yelling at girls to stop stalking at you; the game is still interesting and “free” feeling with a “separate” story at first, they may eventually collide with the story concerning this “Nova Inc.” and what not.

I also like how the small plots actually stick together, and lead to other plots, obviously eventually leading up to bigger things concerning the larger story. I personally think this is a very professional aspect and is hard to actually do in some cases, so I think the game really pulled this off greatly. First Rebecca is out of a job, and then realizes she needs to get home. She gets home, and then finds that she needs to muster some cash to pay her rent. This leads to odd things that have connections to the larger story, and the smaller plot draws Rebecca into the bigger picture. Very, very nice.


What I liked: I really enjoyed the puzzles in the game (even if some pissed me off) and I liked the pacing and foreshadowing in the story. I also really liked the look and implementation of the graphics, making the environments feel real and well-fitted.

Closing Statements: Solar Tear has got it going on; the author knows where he’s going in terms of the story. The atmosphere is captured perfectly through the visual aesthetics and world, giving a distinct feel. The only really big issue is the battles, and hopefully some sort of system or originality to make them more involved or interesting. Solar Tear is very well created though.