Good art, and the base of the game is solid, but everything takes too long. I'd suggest a universal health reduction, and more high-tier enemies with decent payouts. Also; the shield line is game-breaking: Once you can use it to regenerate health the only reason to die is if you want to
I like the idea, but the execution leaves something to be desired. Some particular issues:
1: Needing to spend upgrade points to get the party members is inane. Especially when they start with no experience
2: The game is glitchy. Enemies will get stuck on obstacles, each other, and occasionally nothing at all. Sometimes they get their turns skipped. And, worst of all, I've had them suddenly start taking 1 damage from all attacks (2 from criticals)
3: It's too slow. Strip out the transitions, and speed up the sliding
4: The item system really discourages you from using it. You have to upgrade items to make them worthwhile, they're temporary, and equipping one eats a turn
5: The level curve is broken. Having the experience to level double each level is okay, but only if the XP you get keeps up. And it doesn't
6: There needs to be a way to zoom out. With high speed, it's not uncommon for the camera to be a real problem
7: The double turn system is broken in several ways:
7.1: It's not terribly uncommon for pushing an enemy at full force to not really be a good idea, but you'll try to anyway because an extra turn offsets the loss and then some
7.2: It's just kind of broken, steamrollering the difficulty if you have good timing. And really frustrating if you don't
8: The whole idea of knocking enemies into things doesn't really go anywhere, since it's rare to see damage values above 1 pop up
9: The block and counter options would be more useful if it wasn't so very easy to completely outstrip the enemies' move ranges
Thanks for all the detailed feedback. I have uploaded a new version that should speed things up a little.
About double turn, yes, it may be game breaker if it's easy to achieve. That's why I use charge bar mechanism to it not easy to do.
I have the latest Flash player update. I still can't play the game because it's lagging too much. My computer is not old enough nor your game fancy enough that this should be happening. Spend some time on optimization
As near as I can tell, the game is fairly decent. The problem is that I can't really enjoy it when it keeps ignoring my commands. My computer is in no way outdated enough that something like this should be losing frames
3.3, huh? Does that mean we can expect a fighting game and a photography game before you get to 4?
Jokes aside, this is by far the best free shmup I've seen, and better than some professional ones. Good amount of variety, nice graphics, and some interesting patterns
...Not to say that there's nothing to criticize. First, basing rank primarily on percent of enemies killed is... weird. Particularly since the upgrade system makes S-ranking the earlier levels laughably easy. Second, too many of the boss patterns are overlapping spirals of bullets moving at different speeds. It's a classic, but it's overused here. Lastly, the stage to boss ratio is kind of high. It'd be better to move the bonus patterns into the main game. Beef up the midbosses a bit
And why does the 3rd boss suddenly turn into Utsuho for the bonus version?
The presentation is about the only thing it has going for it. The graphics are charming, the music is nice, and the instructions are amusing. But the game itself kind of sucks
First, your ship's hitbox is far too big. Avoiding bullets is distinctly difficult to do with any regularity, somewhat defeating the whole point of a shmup. Second, there's no autofire, or even burst fire. Mashing X IS NOT FUN. Worst, the controls are floaty. Shmups are all about precision, taking that away leave nothing. And the game is built with the assumption that the player is struggling with controls; it's easy even on hard
The game is generally poorly designed. Enemy placement is entirely random, making the stage portions rather monotonous. The bosses aren't much better, simply repeating the same attack over and over. And the only boss that has a difficult attack is the second
Oh, and the powerup. I'm not certain getting the firepower effect does anything. Regular enemies die in one shot regardless, and the bosses all seemed to take the same number of shots to go down
The gameplay is pretty good. The boxes are clever and add new depth. The problem is that it's difficult to appreciate when it's covered in technical flaws. The game is prone to randomly skipping levels, and it will often start lagging for no reason
Seriously, playtest before submitting
And I don't care for the change in presentation, but that's fairly easy to ignore
Hylarn
All 71 flash Reviews
Rated 3 / 5 stars 2 weeks ago
Good art, and the base of the game is solid, but everything takes too long. I'd suggest a universal health reduction, and more high-tier enemies with decent payouts. Also; the shield line is game-breaking: Once you can use it to regenerate health the only reason to die is if you want to
Rated 3.5 / 5 stars 3 weeks ago
I like the idea, but the execution leaves something to be desired. Some particular issues:
1: Needing to spend upgrade points to get the party members is inane. Especially when they start with no experience
2: The game is glitchy. Enemies will get stuck on obstacles, each other, and occasionally nothing at all. Sometimes they get their turns skipped. And, worst of all, I've had them suddenly start taking 1 damage from all attacks (2 from criticals)
3: It's too slow. Strip out the transitions, and speed up the sliding
4: The item system really discourages you from using it. You have to upgrade items to make them worthwhile, they're temporary, and equipping one eats a turn
5: The level curve is broken. Having the experience to level double each level is okay, but only if the XP you get keeps up. And it doesn't
6: There needs to be a way to zoom out. With high speed, it's not uncommon for the camera to be a real problem
7: The double turn system is broken in several ways:
7.1: It's not terribly uncommon for pushing an enemy at full force to not really be a good idea, but you'll try to anyway because an extra turn offsets the loss and then some
7.2: It's just kind of broken, steamrollering the difficulty if you have good timing. And really frustrating if you don't
8: The whole idea of knocking enemies into things doesn't really go anywhere, since it's rare to see damage values above 1 pop up
9: The block and counter options would be more useful if it wasn't so very easy to completely outstrip the enemies' move ranges
Thanks for all the detailed feedback. I have uploaded a new version that should speed things up a little.
About double turn, yes, it may be game breaker if it's easy to achieve. That's why I use charge bar mechanism to it not easy to do.
Rated 3.5 / 5 stars January 26, 2012
Pretty decent
Not entirely interesting the third time around, though. And you seem to have confused Touhou and Ikaruga
Rated 1.5 / 5 stars November 9, 2011
Holy shit, lag
I have the latest Flash player update. I still can't play the game because it's lagging too much. My computer is not old enough nor your game fancy enough that this should be happening. Spend some time on optimization
Rated 3.5 / 5 stars November 7, 2011
Decent enough
Not really based on bullet hell, though; that mechanic is unique to Ikaruga, and, as this game demonstrates, can be used in unrelated genres
Rated 2.5 / 5 stars October 31, 2011
Works against itself
While there's something to be said to leaving things to the imagination, most of the graphics are too pixellated to even provide a good starting point
It's actually too hard to be effective as a horror game. The possibility of death isn't frightening when dying is routine
And the game itself fundamentally isn't very good. The controls are floaty and the gameplay straightforward
Rated 2.5 / 5 stars October 23, 2011
Optimization is important
As near as I can tell, the game is fairly decent. The problem is that I can't really enjoy it when it keeps ignoring my commands. My computer is in no way outdated enough that something like this should be losing frames
Rated 4.5 / 5 stars April 2, 2011
Damn impressive
3.3, huh? Does that mean we can expect a fighting game and a photography game before you get to 4?
Jokes aside, this is by far the best free shmup I've seen, and better than some professional ones. Good amount of variety, nice graphics, and some interesting patterns
...Not to say that there's nothing to criticize. First, basing rank primarily on percent of enemies killed is... weird. Particularly since the upgrade system makes S-ranking the earlier levels laughably easy. Second, too many of the boss patterns are overlapping spirals of bullets moving at different speeds. It's a classic, but it's overused here. Lastly, the stage to boss ratio is kind of high. It'd be better to move the bonus patterns into the main game. Beef up the midbosses a bit
And why does the 3rd boss suddenly turn into Utsuho for the bonus version?
Rated 2 / 5 stars February 27, 2011
Mediocre to bad
The presentation is about the only thing it has going for it. The graphics are charming, the music is nice, and the instructions are amusing. But the game itself kind of sucks
First, your ship's hitbox is far too big. Avoiding bullets is distinctly difficult to do with any regularity, somewhat defeating the whole point of a shmup. Second, there's no autofire, or even burst fire. Mashing X IS NOT FUN. Worst, the controls are floaty. Shmups are all about precision, taking that away leave nothing. And the game is built with the assumption that the player is struggling with controls; it's easy even on hard
The game is generally poorly designed. Enemy placement is entirely random, making the stage portions rather monotonous. The bosses aren't much better, simply repeating the same attack over and over. And the only boss that has a difficult attack is the second
Oh, and the powerup. I'm not certain getting the firepower effect does anything. Regular enemies die in one shot regardless, and the bosses all seemed to take the same number of shots to go down
The firepower powerup makes you shoot faster
Rated 2.5 / 5 stars January 9, 2011
Glitchy
The gameplay is pretty good. The boxes are clever and add new depth. The problem is that it's difficult to appreciate when it's covered in technical flaws. The game is prone to randomly skipping levels, and it will often start lagging for no reason
Seriously, playtest before submitting
And I don't care for the change in presentation, but that's fairly easy to ignore