Darkest of Games

Kuliani

BEACUASE
Dec 14, 2004
795
0
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This is the official thread for "Darkest of Games".

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/games/stonking_great/game/12-Darkest+of+Games

Please tell us what you think of the game; use of the words "compelling" and "cinematic" are already assumed in your reviews.
 

Eric the Orange

Gone Gonzo
Apr 29, 2008
3,245
0
0
The story is interesting but the actual game isn't very good. The controls are wonky and there is bad hit detection bugs. And, again, no sound.
 

The Riff

New member
Aug 23, 2008
256
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0
Story ok, BUT I GOT STUCK ON THE FIRST LEVEL! The jumping was awful, and he didn't want to turn around and walk the other way, i decided to jump on a ledge and he decided he wanted to go and play with the wall, so he didn't want to turn and go the other way, so i said bother this non-sense and quitted.
 

ma55ter_fett

New member
Oct 6, 2009
2,078
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I played the game for two seconds before it broke, and yahtzee started to walk without my commanding him too resulting in his death.

the game is glithed and broken up the ass 0/5
 

The Rogue Wolf

Stealthy Carnivore
Legacy
Nov 25, 2007
16,302
8,779
118
Stalking the Digital Tundra
Gender
✅
Well, it's interesting to note that Yahtzee (or at least his improperly-created clone probably derived from a certain type of bodily fluid we don't speak about in polite circles) can't jump more than nine inches forward and is unable to climb ledges that barely come up to his knees.

Also, why is it that when I clicked "instructions", the game started?
 

-Drifter-

New member
Jun 9, 2009
2,521
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The opening cut-scene was amusing, but went on too long. Once the game started, I was unable to get past the first level, because I got stuck on a small ledge. Yahtzee just kept walking forward. Eventually I managed to get him un-stuck, only to find that I could no longer jump. Like any rational person would do at this point, I quit.

EDIT: I've now played the game a second time, and managed to finish it. It screwed up multiple times in ways that made impossible to play, but after a few restarts I got to the end.
It wasn't worth the effort.
 

Richard Kain

New member
Aug 10, 2009
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The story elements at the beginning are well-written. (I did not check for spelling or grammatical errors) I found it funny. I can see how gamers with less patience, and tolerance for reading might find it tedious. But I've played a lot of adventure games, and enjoyed the text-heavy intro.

The actual game is where this title suffers. I was impressed with the diagonal slopes in the platforming sections. That's a lot harder to to pull off than basic tiles. The jumping, however, was quite bad. It needed to be a bit more dynamic. It was difficult to tell where you were going to land, and you felt like you had no control once you were in the air. Giving the character the ability to "change" the collectibles using the mouse was a good idea, but it was under utilized. If that had been tied into gameplay somehow, maybe some puzzle elements, it would have improved the title considerably.
 

feather240

New member
Jul 16, 2009
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I enjoyed the cut scene quite a bit, but the game play wasn't so good. All you needed to do was make Yahtzee a bit more agile and I would have loved this.
 

Perception

New member
Nov 18, 2009
17
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Obvious bugs, boring gameplay and menu items that do not do what their name suggests.

I think average computer science sophomores should be able to do better.
 

mugetsu37

New member
Sep 26, 2009
182
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0
Yahtzee, when you generally try to walk up stairs or step over a curb do you spend as much time flailing your arms and stumbling backwards as we did in this game?
 

coldfrog

Can you feel around inside?
Dec 22, 2008
1,320
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Finally, a joke about ET that is actually relevant in a sense beyond "This game are bad!" Maybe he was going for a realistic jumping height and distance, and also the fact that you can't control yourself when you jump. That's it. Agreed, the dialog isn't bad though.
 

pliusmannn

New member
Dec 4, 2008
245
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half life tottaly showed that the game has not to be cinematic or compelling, it just needs deep gameplay and good plot which is running throughout your play not through cutscenes
 

atomicmrpelly

New member
Apr 23, 2009
196
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Took me 5 attempts to get onto the first ledge, then after 5 attempts at jumping over the first pit I gave up.
 

Taern

New member
Dec 22, 2008
78
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0
Yeah, the jumping could use work, and the cut scens could use some work, but I think I'll complain about the horrible collision, and how punching a good two feet over an imp kills it.

The "Password" option on the main menu is kinda pointless too, but you knew that.
 

Braiba

New member
Oct 13, 2009
2
0
0
As the maker of this game I just comment here to say that yeah, I'm fully aware how shit it is. I had a whole notebook of notes on gameplay mechanics and interesting ideas and found time, in between actually learning Flash, to put about half an idea in there. Honestly I probably would have just thrown it in at a very early stage, but I was unreasonably pleased with myself that I'd come up with what I consider to be a vaguely passable ZP-related plot, where if you *did* replace all the sprites with lettuce and cucumber it *would* actually make less sense.

Apologies to the people who were bored by the dialogue; originally that was going to be spread across nine levels through three worlds (each based on a different genre), but since I only had time for about a third of a level, I just ended up shoving it into one big cut scene.

Oh, also, while the jumping/collision was never amazing, I managed to introduce a glitch into it with fifteen minutes to the deadline that I didn't have time to fix. I actually ended up having to move a ledge with five minutes left so that it was even possible to complete the game.


In summary, if you did play it, you have my deepest sympathies; if you didn't, you probably shouldn't bother.