Review of 'Greeny' by Red Ninja Productions

Play here

The platformer is to Gamemaker what the "hello world" program is to other languages.  Ok, maybe that's a bad example.  But the point is, just about every GM newbie has made a simple little platformer at some time or another.  'Greeny' is one of these.  It works well enough, but it's a little bland.

Graphically speaking, the game looks like it was made in MSPaint.  This isn't in itself a bad thing, but I don't get the sense that a lot of thought was put into Greeny's visual design.  For instance, on the last level, your character blends in with the mountainous backdrop, making it very difficult to see him, and grass tiles are stacked up like bricks. 

The gameplay is standard platformer fare:  You jump onto blocks and moving platforms while avoiding foes.  One small unique inclusion is the ability to "scrunch up" by pressing left and right at the same time so you can fit through small openings.  The mechanic doesn't effect gameplay much, and can feel a little stiff, but it's a small, neat addition.  I also like how Red Ninja took the time to implant "help boxes," that display tutorial information when you run into them.  However, the placement of these boxes can be a little...well...off.  For instance the first one, which tells you how to move and jump, can only be reached by both moving AND jumping.

Sound is...well, basically non-existent.  There's some music (aka, an upbeat rendition of a Mario theme that re-starts at the beginning of every room), but no sound effects.

The overall design of Greeny is actually pretty solid, although simple.  You progress through levels in a linear, tried-and-true-platformer style, but an autosave mechanic records your progress after each level, and a easy "load" button on the main menu will bring you right back to where you left off (it's certainly a better system then the one I employed in my first game, 'David Szymanski's Frenzy' :P).  As I already mentioned, there are help boxes that give clear explanations of the game's few basic mechanics, so it's easy to pick up and play.  Occasinally, I ran into some collision issues or ended up dead because my jump carried me off the screen, but in general it's pretty easy to breeze through the game.  One issue I do have is that Greeny ends with an uneventful whimper.  An easy last level gives way to a screen that says "End of part I," and the program closes back to desktop.  So... I guess Red Ninja Productions is planning a sequel.

Overall, Greeny is a decent attempt by an intermediate developer.  It's not any different than the many other platformers you can play here, but it works well enough.  I give it a 3/5.