Review of 'Killer Ship' by martan92

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It’s been a few weeks now, and I still don’t know what to say about Killer Ship.  I mean… in terms of polish and professionalism, you don’t get much better than this.  This game just DEMANDS to be respected, and leaves even great games like Strikers and Kaos seeming amateurish and rough compared with its slick presentation and design.  However…the gameplay… I don’t know.   On the surface, the gameplay also appears nearly flawless.  But it’s…well, kinda stale.  I’m not sure why, and I can’t point to any specific ways in which it fails, but somehow it doesn’t end up being nearly as fun as either of the previously-mentioned titles, and nowhere near addicting enough to encourage the kind of lengthy play that its unlockables and achievements suggest.

                  So, speaking of gameplay...err…let’s talk about the gameplay! (see, it’s those sort of smooth, subtle transitions that separate good critics from godly ones).  Killer Ship is, at its heart, a mob-based space shooter (albeit one that appears to take place on white graph paper) with unlockable upgrades and weapons to spice things up.  Although that’s not anything too terribly unique, Killer Ship does manage to set itself apart from other games of its type with its magnificent and highly unusual control scheme.  You see, in most contemporary space shooters, you control your ship with some variation of the famous “wads” layout, as made popular by first person shooters.  I.e, use the w,s,a, and d keys to move your ship, and use the mouse to aim and shoot.  It’s a tried-and-true system that nearly always works.  Killer Ship, however, utilizes a mouse-only scheme that on paper sounds like a recipe for absolute disaster, but in practice works marvelously.  You move the mouse to move your ship around, and the computer takes care of aiming, automatically targeting the nearest enemy ship.  As I said, it sounds awful, but trust me—it’s not.  Unfortunately, that’s about the only unreserved praise I can give for Killer Ship’s gameplay, because nothing else about it feels particularly unique or special.  There aren’t many different types of enemies, upgrades take a long time to unlock and provide little payoff, “special” weapons feel borderline useless, and the scoring/combo system feels arbitrary and inexact.  Like with Void Disturbance, Killer Ship’s gameplay is solid but ultimately pretty forgettable.

                  So let’s not talk about its gameplay anymore.  Let’s talk about its other aspects, all of which are magnificent.  Graphics, for instance (see, there’s another one of those brilliant transitions!).  At first glance, Killer Ship doesn’t look like anything special.  Just another game with a quirky art style to hide the designer’s artistic failings (at least, that’s why I always use quirky art styles in my games!).  It’s only upon further examination that you realize just how detailed and sophisticated the game’s visuals are.  I’ve always spent an inordinate amount of time on my graphical effects (my current project, the next ‘Nurf Nerfus’ game, has 9 different types of smoke, 4 kinds of screen rumble, and upwards of 50 types of debris, among other things), and Killer Ship is the first GMK game I’ve seen that shows a comparable amount of attention in this area.  At any given in-game moment you’ll see tight screen rumble (unlike the more loose “shake” in Kaos), motion blur, environmental scorching, shield bloom effects, hyperactive animated “score” announcements, fantastic particle explosions, and more.  Style-wise, Killer Ship takes the IMac “white and clinical” approach, consisting mostly of smooth, monochromatic outlines.  And it works well, lending the game a “scrawled in a bored highschooler’s notebook” feel.  If there’s one bad thing that could be said, visually speaking, it’s that sometimes Killer Ship looks a little TOO simplistic.  The game features only one enemy design, and little in the way of color variety beyond white and black.  More often than not you won’t notice, but it can seem a little bleak and bland compared to other more visually lush titles. 

                  The sound in Killer Ship is just as wonderfully done as the visuals.  There’s not too many sound effects, but they’re all just perfect, from the satisfyingly weak “pop” of your bullets to the juicy, explosive “squelch” of enemy deaths.  Nothing sounds engineered or “synthy,” and some sounds have hints of the human voice to them, which adds to the feeling that Killer Ship takes place on the pages of someone’s chemistry notes.  The musical track is a little less driving and a little more tense than we’re used to for this sort of game, but it fits well, and sounds very professional.  The icing on the cake of Killer Ships presentation.

                  Overall, Killer Ship is very much like Void Disturbance.  It’s got a lot of shine and glaze heaped onto some fairly uninspired gameplay.  What sets it apart is the sheer quality of the shine and glaze.  Its fantastic presentation and professional polish do a lot to make Killer Ship an attractive title, even if its gameplay isn’t quite as striking.  I give it a 4/5 

Review of 'Void Disturbance' by DXsmiley

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Space may be the final frontier in the real world, but here at yoyogames it's a veritable Las Vegas--albeit one with copious explosions and death (so in other words, exactly the same).  That is to say, there are a lot of space shooters on YYG.  And for all intents and purposes, Void Disturbance is basically a space shooter.  It may not take place in space (in fact, I don’t think there’s any way of telling where it DOES take place, outside of consuming dangerous amounts of LSD), but its mechanics and gameplay style are pulled right from the final frontier.

So… on that note, let’s discuss its mechanics and gameplay style.  They’re…err…pulled right from the final frontier.  You pilot a big green circle that shoots deadly yellow ovals at various red shapes, all of which are intent on killing you.  Like Asteroids, Void Disturbance takes place on a single wrap-around screen, which I suppose was meant to lend the game feeling of claustrophobia and tension, but in reality it just makes it feel uncontrollable and frustrating.  Too often you’ll fly off one side of the screen and find that a mass of enemies was waiting on the other side.  There’s really no dodging to be done, either, as enemy mobs become too thick to avoid by the third or fourth wave.  Spraying and praying and utilizing your shield are far more important than reflexes.  For the most part, though, the game is well-designed, featuring online high scores, weapon upgrades, and a slew of different game options.  And although I found the gameplay to be a little underwhelming, it can be entertaining in short bursts.

On the other side of things, the graphics are FAR from underwhelming.  In fact, they are borderline OVERwhelming.  There’s just so much stuff going on visually that the game.  The background alone is enough to cause seizures, and add in copious amounts of “spraying” effects that accompany your ship, explosive enemy deaths, and some foes that can fill up nearly a 4^th of the screen and the game most certainly deserves an epilepsy warning (which it actually has).  Void Disturbance certainly has style, but the sheer flashiness of the visuals can get in the way of functionality.  It can be difficult to make sense of all the insanity that’s going on onscreen.  That being said, it really is a very good-looking game once you get used to it.

The sound for Void Disturbance is pretty good.  Unlike the visuals, there’s a certain amount of reservation in the sound effects—only explosions for enemy deaths and your own death—and the music is appropriate, although I myself take some issue with some of it (the music for “Extreme Mode” in particular keeps pausing for a strange “piano solo,” which keeps it from ever reaching the sense of driving adrenaline that a game such as this requires).  It’s not quite at the level of, say, Strikers, but it’s good nevertheless.

Overall, Void Disturbance is a lot like caffeine: it lacks substance, but it’s good for a quick jolt.  It doesn’t have the gameplay chops to merit a 5/5, but it’s a fairly polished and professional-looking title.  I probably won’t be playing more after this review, but it’s a good choice for those who are just looking for a flashy, chaotic shoot-em-up experience.  I give it a 4/5.

Review of '8 Bit Rampage' by Guimby

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What can be said about Super Mario Brothers?  It’s possibly the single most influential videogame that has ever been made, serving as the inspiration for countless developers, many of whom created behemoth classics in their own right.  The private game development community has long emulated (and copied) Mario as well.  The simplicity of its mechanics yet perfection in its design provide a tantalizingly reachable goal.  8 Bit Rampage is one such game, but not in the sense that it copies SMB’s mechanics, or gameplay, or philosophy.  Rather, 8 Bit Rampage explores an interesting concept: super-glue Mario to the ground and arm him with military-grade firearms.  In other words, it’s one of those “turret” games, but set in the Mario universe (read: LSD land).  And it works well enough.

So…gameplay.  Like I just said, it’s a turret game.  So enemies mob toward you, and you have to fend them off with copious amounts of ammunition.  Timing your reloads and prioritizing foes is immediately necessary to survive,  though, so spraying and praying is NOT an option.  There are a good number of weapons available to buy at the end of levels (using coins earned from killing foes), and the ability to do some modest upgrades to things like fire speed and clip size.  Or, you could use the same money to make repairs to your tower, which will inevitably be damaged from the many Goombas and Turtles you are mobbed by.  So it’s a solid enough game, with some meat to it.  But unfortunately, it isn’t terribly engaging.  8 Bit Rampage lacks that addictive, great feel that a good arcade game needs.  Shooting feels bland, the difficulty curve causes frustration more often than determination, and…well, there’s not really anything here that you haven’t seen before.  It’s a solid, fairly well-made game, but it’s not very memorable.

Graphically, 8 Bit Rampage consists almost entirely of sprites/animation ripped out of SMB (I assume that most of it is from an emulated screenshot, but I could be wrong).  And this is entirely appropriate, considering the game’s subject matter.  Unfortunately, Guimby’s own additions less than impressive.  The gun sprite in Mario’s hand rotates to point where you’re aiming, but it isn’t centered properly, and looks rather odd considering the rest of Mario remains standing perfectly still.  Bullets are little black dots, which is fine, but the same sprite is also used for your crosshair, which makes aiming feel a little inexact, especially when black parts of the background “eat” your cursor.  Overall, neither of these issues are too severe, but they do lend 8 Bit Rampage an unpolished feel.

The Sound is actually pretty darn good, combining classic Mario music and sound effects with good-quality gunshots and reloading sounds.  All the music is well implemented too, with an eye for fan service (for instance, the Mario “win” theme plays in the upgrade screen).  I would say that 8 Bit Rampage’s sound is easily its strongest asset.

Overall, 8 Bit Rampage is a solid effort, with some nice sounds and a nifty concept, but it lacks…something.  It’s not a bad game at all, but it is a rather bland one.  Enjoyable for a few minutes for its concept, but not very hooking in the long run.  However, if you’re a fan of Mario, or you enjoy games of this type, you could do worse.  I give it a 3/5