Gretgor 2014-02-13 08:53:01

Is AdamAtomic the guy who created Canabalt? Let me check this out, it's probably pretty swell.

Sure, from Adam, the usage of Flixel is expected. I really like the music and the graphics, epically retro and well made. The colorful graphical style reminds me, remotely, of, say, the Megaman games on the SNES. The sound effects are satisfying and nice too.

The platforming controls are fluent enough, except the jump is a bit too floaty, but the walking and shooting work perfectly. The stages are designed cleverly, offering a challenge, but nice rewards too, and its simple, fast paced, straight forward mechanics are pretty good.

Can't say the same about the swimming controls, though, I feel like they are awkward and weird. I don't think angular movement is the best way to go with a retro game whose stages are built with square blocks. Sure, it's still rewarding once you unravel underwater secrets, and I like the fish that follow the character around, but in general, I think it could be dropped in favor of something less annoying. That not to mention the underwater stage seems to be a maze, it's hard to know what to do in it.

I eventually got sick of the game after spending ages in the underwater level. I don't understand where he was going with this. He had a gem of a game in the non-water stage, but then he chose to go the asinine way and make this terrible water part.

Gretgor 2014-02-13 09:00:18

Well, I eventually found out that I was supposed to follow the fish, so I plant a weird dark tree and then I go into a tunnel and then... I die, the end. Strange game. Would have been slightly more enjoyable if the controls weren't so horrible, and if the game didn't fool us into believing it will be a fun retro platformer in the beginning.

Igyzone 2014-02-14 18:45:29

I found it hard to enjoy, but the game itself was good. The music at the first part was a great match to an action styled pixel game. I also loved the exploding sound. But the fact that the boss seems unbeatable no matter how hard you try, is just painful. I would rather defeat his health bar and see how he crushes me later.

The second part was hard. I sincerely had no idea what was I supposed to do, but just randomly going up and down. As I read it it now that I was suppose to follow those fishes, I thought that these fishes were following you, lol. The controls are difficult, many players will find that annoying, but to me it was just what it needs to travel underwater. Love the darkening ocean on the way down, but that light at the end was just shocking as I found that you die?

Are there more possible endings or do I have to ask myself what the heck was that? Still, seems a fun game for players that like exploring and figuring out some puzzles.

ragnarock13 2014-02-16 13:44:40

Game has it's own style, including great pixel graphics, neat big pixelled backgrounds, fast paced electro music. Water level is not very commonlike, but the bubbles, fish and the darkening effects are fantastic!

Not a very long game :) But I would have played it, even not being a beta-tester. (Thanks for invitation). Managed to finish the water level in 3 trials (game reloads) which were separated with anger attacks :) (1st: found the suspiciously lighted soil, 2nd: found the green core; 3rd: thought of placing the only object in the level in the soil).
Do you have to collect enough fish, so that the green core appears?

Ground controls are OK (maybe WASD controls would be better). Underwater controls are hard, but understandable.

Glitches: got stuck between the falling blocks never to be able to jump out again.

Keep it up! Graphics: 5, Music: 5; Story: ?; Controls: 4; Atmosphere: 5;
Thanks!

Zacktan 2014-02-19 00:30:28

The game seems easy to control after knowing what buttons to press and I thought at first like any other pixel games that space bar is the jump button. I think that the game should at least have a simple pop up at start of the game telling you what buttons are to which actions, and I thought the press anything for instruction button at the start screen was to tell you the controls of the character, also a simple pop up before the game to tell a simple story/introduction/prologue of the game, rather than throwing the player into the game and allow the player to understand what is going on and what to do.

The other problems I had and can see in the game is the falling blocks. At first, I thought I was able to jump above the blocks after it had fallen like how some would play super mario, but I got damaged instead and stuck too at some point. Also, there should also be a pop up in the game explaining how the blue points work.

I like the idea of you dropping into water anyway whether you have defeated the boss or not, but a lot of the players prefer having more freedom in controls during a battle, so it will be more fun if the character can shoot up at the boss and any enemies at the top, the battle in game can also be longer if the damage caused by the character is higher, players tend like to defeat the boss in the battle, than to continue the story.

The dropping into the water part was confusing at first as the controls is directed into another different action. I prefer having a pop up when dropped into the water telling me that pressing this button to turn on the lights and shooting bubbles propel yourself which is a totally different action to the character that is still on the ground and rather than having the player sinking in the water and rolling about pressing the buttons to figure out how to control the character. And also, the fishes there tend to look more like following you than you should follow them to where to go. I did not manage to finish that under water level as it is hard to control and navigate through the maze.

Still, I really like game's background music, especially the relaxing feel it had when in water and background designs. Overall, the game is still fun to play at some point.
Since the game is somehow similar to the game called Metal Slug at some point, I would recommend the creator play the recommended game to get some ne

LadyIshtar17 2014-02-20 23:31:31

Truth be told, I'm not really sure how to review the game. The player was immediately dropped off in the first level, with the small blaster in hand and no instructions given. I think the idea of it was supposed to make the player feel startled, shocked. After all, this was the first level. But eased into it we were not.

Like most, I assumed that this was going to be an action run n'gun platformer, what with the really fast (Not to mention catchy!) beats in the back ground, with these stranger sprinkler(?) enemies propelling water(?) from the ceiling. I did appreciate the fact that the controls were clarified in the intro screen. Z and X, no hassle or annoying little popups telling you what to do.

The controls were pretty fluid, smooth, and weren't difficult to use. I'm really fond of the double jump button, and, if the game really takes off, it would be pretty neat to incorporate that into the gameplay. Then, it would be much easier to avoid the falling blocks from the ceiling. Speaking of which, they docked off some of my health when I tried to go back and collect the blue bolts (Thought they restored my health or something). If it was more apparent that the enemy blocks were to be avoided, like adding spikes around edges to make it more clear. Also, do the bolts do anything?

The boss fight was also confusing, as you couldn't beat him. The player never had chance to win, and before they knew it, they were underwater. It was pretty pointless.

The art for the game was great, especially for the underwater sequence, the bubble effects and the numerous multicolored fish added a sort of whimsical tone to it. The music gave it a calming yet foreboding feel to the surroundings. However, it wasn't clear that you were supposed to follow the fish, and a gimmick would've helped. Say, having the fish form an arrow formation to point the way (Kind of like 'Finding Nemo.').

The ending is what really got me. Quite honestly, the whole game confused me. I can't help but think there must be a deeper meaning in the game, and I just couldn't grasp on why it was such a curveball. I was not expecting it to turn out the way it did (Maybe this is what AA had in mind?). It left me with questions (Don't know if I should applaud or condemn him!). But the game itself isn't bad, there were several factors that made it interesting. Fathom has some good potential in it.