So, I've decided that until I can get some decent screen recording programs and what have you, the bread and butter of this blog will be indie game reviews. I'd like to try and spread the word about indie games because in today's triple A games industry, a world full of DRM and homogenized franchises, the indie scene is a tiny candle whose fire has spread enough to worry publishers like EA and Activision, so I'll endeavor to get one out weekly starting... Now! However, the indie scene isn't always churning out gold, today's review is a good example of an idea gone horribly wrong, so read on and enjoy, my strumpets.
DLCquest is a game that sets out to criticize the modern games industry by ironically pointing out and making the player suffer through all of the dirty business practices that the big names employ, but what I found after playing through it twice(I started playing it immediately after I published my Evoland review, so a second playthrough was, unfortunately, necessary.) was that it drowned in it's own satire, I noted that the references in Evoland got annoying after about two hours in, but I barely made it to the thirty minute mark with this tripe. Of course, I suppose I did receive fair warning.
The game makes use of a mechanic similar to the chests in Evoland however in order to unlock your precious sound and animation you have to collect coins which can only be done through thorough exploration and platforming, which isn't a bad idea but they seem to have made it a bit too convoluted, you'll often have to back track to and fro after obtaining new jump abilities and tools, but what makes it annoying is that the game acknowledges it and tries to make a joke about it, and to me any developer that sacrifices fun for a statement is a bit of a twat.
This is usually the part of the review where I'd talk about the graphics or art style but it's pretty unremarkable, the graphics are unashamedly retro, which by now just screams "I traded in my imagination for some shiny, new pretentiousness!" and it all has that lame flash look which rarely looks good. I'll say it: Binding of Isaac looked great for a flash game, but that's because it had a semi original art style which couldn't be replicated with a million post it notes of assorted colors. This just looks lazy. Also, the sprites have MASSIVE eyes, I felt like a criminal that had just been cornered by Ghost rider and was about to have my soul stared at by Nicholas Cage. An unnerving experience to be sure.
The story line of the game is pretty insubstantial too, especially since it pulls the same plot twist for each campaign. It also starts the credits and then cuts them out to make the player reload the game to finish the story proper.(After buying the correct DLC pack, naturally.) And not only does that get annoying but there's also a pitfall in not buying every scrap of DLC for the first campaign, so in order to pass you need to completely scour the map and buy every piece of arbitrary DLC, which isn't much of a problem but a little warning before going into the final boss encounter which you will lose if you don't possess everything would have been nice.
In conclusion, I feel that a lot of time was wasted here, not just the developer's time but anyone unlucky enough to play it. I suppose an effective statement could have been made if the gameplay was also fun and intuitive, but as it stands it's just bland platforming and the developer flashing his indie todger to the internet. The game gets so consumed in bringing out the bad in the industry that it simply becomes the bad, as I mentioned at the start of the review, it's the perfect example of a decent idea gone horribly wrong. It's overdone and a pain to play, I can't recommend it to anyone, except for maybe-
In order to finish reading this review please purchase the "One final punchline DLC" pack.
- Tomas
This is usually the part of the review where I'd talk about the graphics or art style but it's pretty unremarkable, the graphics are unashamedly retro, which by now just screams "I traded in my imagination for some shiny, new pretentiousness!" and it all has that lame flash look which rarely looks good. I'll say it: Binding of Isaac looked great for a flash game, but that's because it had a semi original art style which couldn't be replicated with a million post it notes of assorted colors. This just looks lazy. Also, the sprites have MASSIVE eyes, I felt like a criminal that had just been cornered by Ghost rider and was about to have my soul stared at by Nicholas Cage. An unnerving experience to be sure.
The story line of the game is pretty insubstantial too, especially since it pulls the same plot twist for each campaign. It also starts the credits and then cuts them out to make the player reload the game to finish the story proper.(After buying the correct DLC pack, naturally.) And not only does that get annoying but there's also a pitfall in not buying every scrap of DLC for the first campaign, so in order to pass you need to completely scour the map and buy every piece of arbitrary DLC, which isn't much of a problem but a little warning before going into the final boss encounter which you will lose if you don't possess everything would have been nice.
In conclusion, I feel that a lot of time was wasted here, not just the developer's time but anyone unlucky enough to play it. I suppose an effective statement could have been made if the gameplay was also fun and intuitive, but as it stands it's just bland platforming and the developer flashing his indie todger to the internet. The game gets so consumed in bringing out the bad in the industry that it simply becomes the bad, as I mentioned at the start of the review, it's the perfect example of a decent idea gone horribly wrong. It's overdone and a pain to play, I can't recommend it to anyone, except for maybe-
In order to finish reading this review please purchase the "One final punchline DLC" pack.
- Tomas
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