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It's the end of the world as we know it.

  • pianotm
  • 02/15/2015 09:07 PM
  • 1442 views
Name: Our Desolate Planet

Developers: JosephSeraph, CashmereCat, and Cap_H

Story: On a distant planet without, there has been a catastrophe. The few remaining survivors live in a single safe community surrounded by a devastated landscape where mutants roam. The bugs, insects that have mutated into an intelligent threat, are now threatening to destroy what remains. You control two survivors and their robot as you try to gather the supplies necessary for your colony to survive and to learn the truth of and ultimately prevent the annihilation of your community. The characters are interesting and the game does an excellent job of getting the player emotionally invested in the characters from the outset.


Gameplay: This a JRPG that successfully follows the KISS rule (Keep It Simple Stupid). The combat system is standard: touch encounters that don't immediately respawn upon leaving a map, and the fighting uses VX Ace's basic engine. What's innovative is a skill branch system that lets you unlock new skills and decide how to customize your characters. You reach different areas through teleport points, eliminating the need to journey to various destinations. Everything is well balanced and the game throws you into the fray immediately.

Graphics: Fairly standard. Except for the text windows and menu system, which all looks custom, the game seems to be pretty well standard RTP or something that looks like it. Mostly, the existing graphics tools are used well, but one thing I noticed about this game is underused props. Now, I'm not talking about interaction, such as when one may click on various objects and find hidden items or get additional information. What I'm talking about is; the developers have given the game a sci-fi look to it, but have failed to elaborate on the functionality. For example in one map, in the colony, there appears to be liquid nutrient gestation tubes with some kind of organism within but there's no indicator that I've seen as to what these may be for. The colony is low on resources and are desperate for food. Why would it be spending time resources on such an experiment? Usually, a developer should be under no obligation to explain background props, but when you have a scene like this, it helps to try to work it into the narrative. Another example: when I see a barracks with beds and a big control computer against the wall, I naturally go and mess with it. And then it does nothing. It's really that these objects stick out. They look like they're important, and in the case of the gestation tubes, they look like they're important to the story.

Writing: I'm assuming that the writer's first language isn't English. Knowing this is a common thing, I try to ignore it. With this game it's hard to ignore. The bad grammar, the missing linking verbs and adjectives in particular, is very distracting and more than reading, you're deciphering the sentences. This is really the only problem with the writing.

Conclusion: To be fair, I know this was made in three weeks and there are still problems to work out. In general, I liked the game, and this is one of my favorites to come out of the McBacon Jam. As it stands, if I were rating it, I would give it 3 or 3.5 stars. It easily has the potential to become a 5 star game.

Posts

Pages: 1
Cap_H
DIGITAL IDENTITY CRISIS
6625
Thanks for review!
I wanted to comment on something, but I can't put it in the words right now.
But English is my fault, I guess.
Pages: 1