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What a surprise...

  • pianotm
  • 02/25/2016 11:33 PM
  • 2739 views
Name: Gotham Knight

Developer: Velvet Isis

Story: It's a dangerous world, a brutal world, a world where monsters and madmen lurk in the shadows. But there is a man hidden in the shadows that monsters and madmen fear. He is the darkness. He is the night. He is Batman. While there is a story, there doesn't seem to be an overarching plot. It seems to be heavily inspired by the Animated Series. It's divided into missions (only one is available), so rather than the aforementioned overarching plot, this seems like it'll be divided into loosely related episodes. While this is mostly Animated Series influenced, the scene in Wayne manor in this game with the bust of Shakespeare being the switch to open the hidden door behind bookcase is straight out of the original Adam West series (as much as I enjoy the modern grimdark Batman, I wouldn't mind an Adam West Batman style game either).


"Who the hell do you think I am? I'm the goddamn Batman!"


Wayne manor is dedicated to fanservice. You not only have the museum of paintings and armor, but you have the bedrooms of every Robin and one Batgirl, from Dick Grayson's Nightwing...wait a minute...Jason Todd is missing. I just realized that. There's Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, and Damien Wayne, but there's no Jason Todd. Stephanie Brown can't really count because her parents are alive and she doesn't need a bedroom in Wayne manor. Still, the missing Jason Todd bedroom definitely needs correcting in the final version (looks at the developer meaningfully). Oh, I have a suggestion. Instead of having Batman just tell the player what s/he needs to do in tutorials or where Batman needs to go during missions, that information could be given via radio conversations with Oracle so that Batman doesn't have to break the fourth wall quite so often (Since Cass is mentioned, we know that Barbara is definitely Oracle, now.). And if the game does have a mention of Oracle, having her actually participate by giving advice to Batman (aka the player), wouldn't require her to be shoehorned into a scene as fanservice. (Sorry...I kind of got carried away.)


That box must look really suspicious...(this is a very odd patrol route)


Gameplay: Umm...okay...wow! This is...actually...not terrible. I really, genuinely wasn't expecting this to be as good as it is. Okay, so this is a demo with just a tutorial level and one standard finished level. Batman is a bit overpowered so it's a little on the easy side, but it really has a lot of potential. It has encounters like an RPG, but there's a great deal of gameplay on the standard map. Not only are all encounters touch, but they are based on whether or not enemies can see you, so it's possible to sneak past them, and you can even take out most of them from behind without having to actually fight them. There's also a number of methods that you can use to sneak past enemies, including using smoke bombs to cloud their vision, or using explosives to lure them away from their patrol. Also, no one method will work on all enemies. The only enemy you can't take out from behind is the armored goon and the boss (in this demo's case, the Penguin.).

If you enter an enemy's field of vision facing him or her, you'll enter standard turn based combat on an equal footing. You catch him from the side, you'll have a preemptive strike. If you catch him from the back, you'll skip the fight and knock him out cold. If he catch's you from the back, he'll have initiative. Batman is so overpowered he can take down most enemies with ease in the battles, but the thug's minor hits take their toll over time, and I really do shudder to think how badly I'd have played if I hadn't managed to sneak up on so many thugs (I took out one whole room without having to battle). Of course, you can just sneak past thugs if you don't want to fight...but I'm kind of a purist and Batman wouldn't do that. He'd get them all. He's the goddamn Batman!

Then battles themselves aren't exactly standard. Batman starts out with a standard attack and three tech abilities. The tech abilities cost enough that you can really only use the biggest one once per battle. You don't really need them anyway, and they refill quickly enough that you can use the big takedown every other battle or so. If you use the standard attack, it unlocks bigger attacks that deal more damage and add more statuses. Once you've completed the combination, the special attacks are locked until you use the standard attack again.

Perhaps none of these mechanics are groundbreaking, or even exactly impressive, but they've been very nicely put together to make a game that really is enjoyable. As a Batfan, I can promise that this will please most of the Batfans out there, especially with how reminiscent of The Animated Series this is.

Also, Gotham and its crime world is navigated by a handy map accessed via the Bat Computer.


So many places to go and heads to bust...


Graphics: Artwork is very nicely done. For the portraits and battlers, imagine if Cartoon Network had made the 1991 Animated Series and you'll get the idea of how this looks. Now...moving on to the mapping. Yes, I've got a lot of good to say about the game, but even a game as well done as this has it's negative aspects, and for this one, it's the mapping. For the most part, perspective is maintained even if the maps are a little ugly. The real problem a lack of understanding of shift+mapping, which is really mandatory for maps to look good. Except for that, the maps look alright. It's not as obvious in the Ice Museum, but in Wayne manor, buddy, it stands out like a sore thumb.


The carpet border is what I want to point out here. Do you see where Bruce is standing? We shouldn't be able to see that border. Just because VX Ace's mapping doesn't let you pass behind that wall doesn't mean there isn't a behind-the-wall where that carpet border would be. First, at the corner, right behind Bruce, highlight that corner while holding shift. Now without releasing shift, move down to the tile right below it and place that tile. You'll see that the corner has moved down and retained its appearance. Now, shift highlight a blank spot on the carpet, and again, keeping shift down get rid of the border along the wall Bruce is standing against. You'll see what a difference that makes to the appearance of your map. Go over the rest of your maps and you'll find a lot of areas that would benefit from shift mapping. This was simply the worst one that I felt REALLY needed to be pointed out. In fact, I'll show you.

See the difference shift mapping makes?


For an RPG these maps would be oversized, but for a stealth game like this, I don't think could have been any smaller, really. Their size not only gives you the ability to sneak around enemies, but also gives enemies the ability to sneak up on you. Not even Batman is infallible.

Glitches: I've already shown one (the thug that was really interested in that box). Here, have another.


I think the dev may want to rethink passability on that upper layer tile.


Conclusion: While this game isn't mindblowing, it's a great deal of fun that the player can lose x/erself in. A very big congratulations to the dev for making a fangame that really lives up to expectations. If this were a full game, I'd score it at 3.5. If the problems I listed are corrected (and no, I'm not talking about Jason Todd having his own bedroom or Oracle having a role...that was just me being a geek...seriously though; having Oracle as Batman's support would awesome for this game), I'd give it a 4 or a 4.5.

Posts

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Hello! Thank you so much for the kind words and constructive criticism. My first full review :D

I am definitely taking your points into account. First off, thank you so much for bringing up shit+mapping! I didn't even know it was a thing >.< I kept looking at the floors (carpets in particular) and wanting to fix it, but it kept getting moved down the list of things to get done. I thought it was going to need a bunch of re-making tiles and the like, but now that I know there's a built in way to do that I will definitely go over the maps again. I'll also touch up the combat so Batman isn't quite so overpowered.

Having Batman talk to himself was something I wanted to get around (which is why he talks to Alfred so much in the Batcave area), and my brain completely skipped over Oracle >< I don't know why, I love Babs, and including her would be a great way to get more representation into the game. As for Jason's room I omitted it because the manor was getting so large already and I didn't want to make it so big it was annoying to traverse. I did intend to put his costume on display in the Batcave, but that note kept getting pushed down the list for other things. I had actually forgotten about it until you brought it up >.<, but you are right, I think Jason should also have a presence in the game.

Again, thank you for taking the time to post a review, I really appreciate it :) If all goes well the next level (Poison Ivy at the Botanical Gardens with guest villains Clayface and Firefly) will be done and added on March 1st. I hope you enjoy that level as well :)
pianotm
The TM is for Totally Magical.
32347
velvetisis
Hello! Thank you so much for the kind words and constructive criticism. My first full review :D


You're very welcome. I actually downloaded this awhile ago, but this is my first time looking at it. I'm always really wary of RPG Maker fan games. I've been running into some real dogs since this review drive began.

I am definitely taking your points into account. First off, thank you so much for bringing up shit+mapping! I didn't even know it was a thing >.< I kept looking at the floors (carpets in particular) and wanting to fix it, but it kept getting moved down the list of things to get done. I thought it was going to need a bunch of re-making tiles and the like, but now that I know there's a built in way to do that I will definitely go over the maps again.


You're not alone. For the longest time, I was using making nothing but area rugs over wooden floors until Liberty told a bunch of us in an event awhile back that we all need shift keys in our lives. As far as I know, it works for every RPG Maker. We always seem to forget that these things come with a help file.

Having Batman talk to himself was something I wanted to get around (which is why he talks to Alfred so much in the Batcave area), and my brain completely skipped over Oracle >< I don't know why, I love Babs, and including her would be a great way to get more representation into the game.


Absolutely. A voice in a radio is always a good way to get information to the player. Just ask Solid Snake or Sam Fisher.

As for Jason's room I omitted it because the manor was getting so large already and I didn't want to make it so big it was annoying to traverse. I did intend to put his costume on display in the Batcave, but that note kept getting pushed down the list for other things. I had actually forgotten about it until you brought it up >.<, but you are right, I think Jason should also have a presence in the game.


I could certainly understand that. And putting the costume on display in the Batcave has its own level of fanservice (was really excited to see that in the BvS trailer, even if that trailer was mega disappointing).

Again, thank you for taking the time to post a review, I really appreciate it :) If all goes well the next level (Poison Ivy at the Botanical Gardens with guest villains Clayface and Firefly) will be done and added on March 1st. I hope you enjoy that level as well :)


Keep doing what you're doing. Sure, tweak Batman's power level a little, rearrange the characters, but the gameplay overall is fine (I suppose there's always room for improvement, but if I ever came up with something that worked like this, I'd be worried I'd mess it up if I kept screwing with it. It's amazing the little things that can totally break a game's rhythm.).

Oh, I completely forgot to mention Catwoman. Her appearance was a little surprising. If that's going to be a recurring thing, then great, but if not, she'll end up feeling a little shoe-horned in. It was a little jarring. I thought for sure I had run into another thug.

Oh, poison. I also need to point out that it seems to take off a major chunk of Batman's health per turn. Is there a turn limit for it to wear off, or are you stuck with it until the fight ends or you heal it (if you can)? Because even as easy as it was, I was a little worried that the poison would down me while I was fighting Penguin. If you're going to tone down Batman's power, then you may want to make sure the poison state balances out, too.
Frogge
I wanna marry ALL the boys!! And Donna is a meanc
18536
author=pianotm
Who the hell do you think I am?


*sweats*

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