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A very interesting Demo

  • Yoshio
  • 01/28/2009 06:57 AM
  • 1007 views
Mapping and Graphics 3/5
I consider the mapping in Extraneous to be a cut above other games in VX, despite not seeing very much of it. I really liked the scrolling parallax in the training room and I thought that the town showed some good knowledge of how to map. The houses were actually differently shaped, the map wasn't too wide open and empty (or crowded with too many tiles) overall, there was nothing to complain about when it came to the maps, as far as graphics are concerned, I found the menu to be very, very unique and slick looking. So as far as graphics are concerned, Extraneous won't disappoint, but they won't exactly blow you away either (loved the wait/follow font btw)

Story 3.5/5
this is a short demo so you don't really get to see much of the story, but what you do get is solid. Apparently the protagonists are beings from some sort of alternate world (I'm kinda getting Bleach like vibes here) Most of these beings like to kill humans, but these guys don't so they were banished. Ironically, however they mistake a bunch of trick or treaters for demons from thier own world, they thus slaughter a bunch of kids thinking that they are saving the town from monsters. I found this incredibly interesting and am very much looking forward to seeing where the author will take things from here. Stories are meant to get you hooked and this one certainly does that.


Dialogue 1.5/5
Somthing I really had a problem with was the net speak used by the trick or treaters in this demo. This is just somthing that always really bothers me when I see it in games like this. No one, and I mean NO ONE actually talks like that. The Mario RPGs got away with this by only having malfunctioning robots and brain washed koopas use this type of language. Normal charecters just shouldn't use net speak, it just struck me as lazy and unrealistic. The Rasta charecter's dialougue and that of the main protagonists was very good but the net speak pretty much over shadowed the dialougue that worked. My advice is to trash the net speak. I think that slang will achieve what you are trying to with those charecters without running the risk of causing the player to no longer take your game even a tiny bit sertiously.


Charecterization 2/5
this demo was very short which means that there isn't much opprotunity for charecterization. Judging from what I have seen, you get a decent sense of the type of person Gonal is, but there is no charecterization what so ever for Ortho, I never got the sense of her personality and I hope that I will later on in the game. I think her dialogue in the demo can be worked on a bit to show a bit more personality, this is up to the author though because I know that it is a very short demo and the exposition needs to be said (speaking of exposition, I was happy with how concise it was in this demo) Basically the shortness of the demo won't give you a sense of the charecters, or at the most 1/2 of them

Gameplay 4/5
This is where this demo truly shines. Every gameplay feature in this game is unique, interesting, well ex0plained, and well implemented. These interesting features is what makes this demo worth playing. I was very, very impressed by the game play in Extraneous. The only downside is that the newness of the gameplay means that it will take awhile to get used to, but the game gives you plenty of opprotunity to get used to it

Music and Sound 3/5
I have to tip my hat to any game that does not use the VX RTP. The music in this game does alot to help the mood and is generally very good. However, the looping for the Town's theme is a bit awkward. As dar as sound effects go, the only complaint I have is that I found the screaming sound that played every time and enemy was killed to be extremely irritating. I think the game would be better served if it was taken out, since it actually made me want to press the mute button, not the reaction you want your sound to get


Overall thoughts:

Overall, I feel this demo displays a game that is very unique and interesting. it is a short demo which is not perfect and can use a few edits before the full game is released. I still think this demo is definately worth your while to try out and I will definately be looking forward to the full version of this. All things considered I feel the score that would best fit this game is a 3/5

Posts

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Thank you Yoshio! I didn't even expect a review from you :)

I am glad you pointed out all those things in this review. I didn't know people disliked net speech so much. I thought it'd be funny, but your right If I want people to take this game seriously i must remove it.

I didn't know how bad I failed at characterization until you pointed it out, thanks! I didn't really give Ortho much time to flesh out her character and I should. I will most definitely work on that to show what she's all about.

I'm also glad that the story interested you because It certainly interested me when I thought it up :) So if the first part caught your interest then you will love what I have in store ;) (I can't wait to finish it)

The music and sound. The looping of that track that is played in town is just my damn laziness! I will definitely fix this up to work perfectly (No matter how long it takes!) As for the screaming sound effect being played EVERYTIME you kill an enemy, once again my laziness ... I will work on it, you can bet that ;)
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