#5 Embark

Review by 0minutes on Thursday, June 9th 2016

Stories tell of Okapi.

Reaching out to victory, embracing the flight of the dragon, The taste of the sword bitterly, the sound of the firing cannon, Prophecies tell of history, the young and gorgeous falcon, Journey with her friends, liberty, huntsman in the blood, talent, Comes Okapi, glitterly, to slay the monsters, with passion.

The description is intriguing. Then again, who the hell am I? Am I even allowed to "intrigue"? In any case, I don't even know what it means. I know one thing though. "Intrigue" is a fancy word. Fancy words are often used in reviews to polish them up. The glint from them is quite bright though. Hello once again, I'm back from almost three years of not reviewing. Okapi. Part one. The forest of monsters. Don't mind the introduction poetry, I'm listening to Two Steps From Hell and I'm nowhere near stopping, nor completion. Let's get right into it, I suppose.

Okapi's gender is dubious.

Dubious seems complicated, although we have stumbled upon another fancy word! "A girl and her friends embark on an adventure.". When I opened up and started playing Okapi Part One, a game by MeowMeowFurryCat (my imagination tells a story about a furry cat that meows only two times a day, per say) honestly I though Okapi was a male. Until I saw the description, then I was "intrigued". Such a funny word.

There was no possible way of me guessing Okapi's gender. And don't even mention the name "Okapi", since, to me, it sounds like a male name. But, you see, building a main character for a certain project is quite difficult. But MeowMeowFurryCat did an excellent job on making Okapi. It's a twist that she is a female, a positive one, of course. I like working with females. Seems adequate. Even though there were two-to-three sequences where Okapi actually says something, I like her personality. Her name and personality fit in quite well together. MeowMeowFurryCat did a clinquant job. Ah, fancy words.

Ten in the morning it is.

Have you ever watched a horror film about, lets say, zombies? "The zombies come out past midnight/a little bit before midnight!" Mainly when it's nighttime. I like how MeowMeowFurryCat changed and enchanced the situation, in a way that it is not generic, he used morning, when the sun rises, not when it comes down. "All the monsters come out when the sun ascents." Sounds right. The scenery as well has a "morning" feel to it as well, I don't know how I should describe it though. The mudpoly's and the default polygon was used very well, it created a good forestly feel to it as well. The thing scenery needed was more trees. Maybe rocks.

We've been friends for the past ten years.

It's another number ten! I have a conspiracy theory in my mind, but I'm not going to bore you with it. The headline came from Okapi's mouth, and she was talking about her loyal friend, James. James seems like a bigger and tougher guy. MeowMeowFurryCat did use a bigger ally spaceship, I apologize, I don't know its name. Though comparing the name Okapi and the name James, James seems a bit too typical and not interesting, while Okapi is really unique and in a way, pleasing.

On the other hand, ten years seem like a long time. Not to mention, taking Okapi's age in question, I'd say she's in her late teens, though I can just guess, we'll have to wait and see what MeowMeowFurryCat offers us in the other parts, since the informations are pretty unexplored at the moment. But okay, late teens. That's about eighteen, nineteen I'd guess, maybe even twenty years old. Subtract it, and you'll get around nine-to-ten years old. So James and Okapi knew eachother when they were just kids. I'd love to see a backstory of them in the upcoming parts, that would be a pretty awesome addition to the series.

Overall: Characters

I have to say something about Tyler as well. It's kind of strange though, it's as if MeowMeowFurryCat included him just to make a "magical trio" since his introduction and actual role is a bit sloppy at points. "The other one is Tyler. He's James' friend, not mine." Yeah, screw Tyler, he's not my friend, who cares! It's also "intriguing" that Okapi calls Tyler "the other one". Not "this guy", "this man", heck, even "the other boy" but "the other one", as if Okapi displays no actual interest in Tyler. Again I must metion that the name Tyler is nowhere in comparation to the name Okapi.

Talking overall, the characters are quite interesting, escpecially Okapi. Am I too lame because I'm diggin' just the main character? No! I didn't say that! I like all of them, just Okapi the most and Tyler the least, James is in the middle. But it's truly alluring that they're all some kind of monster huntsman, and just the impression of the characters gives a medieval but yet modern feel to it. The combination of those two gives something delightful, and really enjoyable. With these kind of characters, MeowMeowFurryCat will definitely be able to make an interesting story with the upcoming parts. The thing most suited for the characters would be the dialogue between them, as well as their actions. So with these perfectly well built characters, MeowMeowFurryCat must not mess up. Just make Tyler a bit more interesting! Make him slay a big monster, or even, make out an epic backstory of his. I'm counting on you. 1. 2. 3. 4...

These puns. Kill me.

Overall: Layout and Scenery

Thumbnail

It was something actually well designed. As a future artist and designer myself, I can say that I liked it. As well as the small tree that represents The Laywood Forest, which is the main thing about Part One.

Scenery

The scenery was eye-pleasing, it was, but there were "holes". Rather say, empty holes. Pretty much MeowMeowFurryCat could've taken some more time with the scenery, since, while it is well-looking, some spots were rushed. As I think I said before, he could've added some more trees, rocks, decorative polygons, anything. All I saw in some places was the dusty mudpoly. An idea I just got is maybe he could've added some bushes, made from polygons, and eventually add some easter eggs. It would lighten up the atmosphere so much.

Placement

The placement was alright. This is the fragment of the review where I can't say much, given when it was done rightfully. The enemies were placed good and tactically, as well as the text, the thing that was irritating and I did not like was the helpers, in other words the placements of James and Tyler, they would often block the way for me, or bother my actions, so I'd have to shoot them or push them, and it automatically ruins the aesthetic of the game. Heads up, fix that in the next part!

Overall: Gameplay and Difficulty

Looking at the quantity of the game, it's not very long. Which is good and bad. Here, I'll explain. It's not too profused, there aren't any complications; it's straight up to the point, fun, yet quick and guided. That's what's really good and what I liked the most. The bad thing is that if you really like the game, it'll end too early, and with that quantity of the game, the storyline can't be expressed well, as well as the emotions and atmosphere. But MeowMeowFurryCat partially did achieve what he wished for, so that's good.

Another good thing is it's not easy to rush through the game, since there are patterns involved in waiting and interesting text to read. "Avoiding the mud" was a fun thing to do, and you couldn't really rush that part. A good addition to the game was the bridge and river part too; you'd have to search for a bridge to get across the river.

The difficulty is not that tall, which is good. No one loves a difficult and hard game, since it's annoying and it ruins the storyline too. The difficulty was right on point, not too hard, but not too easy to just pass through it and speed the game. It was fun! Yes. God, that was a weak line. Onto the ratings.

Scores and Ratings

Don't look at the bottom rating score, the system probably got it wrong, as usual.

Embarking the possibilities.

"Embark" seems like a fancy word. That's why I put it in the title! Now let's explore the possibilites. Does MeowMeowFurryCat deserve a feature with this game? Of course. Even though short, this game was very fun to play and it gave an epic feel overall, which absolutely deserved a feature. Can MeowMeowFurryCat continue the series? Yes, the possibilites are enormous, it just depends on how he, let's say extracts his ideas and brings them to life. Not to mention that the ideas must be good too. You know when they made Shrek? It was good, wasn't it? Take a look at the other parts! Remember when they made Avengers? It was epic, but Age of Ultron was not. My point is, the main problem in the movie/game industry is that the more parts to it, the more the quality drops and lowers. It is his series though, so he can do whatever he wants, he has full control! The things I'd like to see are Tyler's epic moment, some badassory in Okapi, more beasts and monsters, boss fights, and maybe a democractic/apsolutism kingdom from which the trio come from. Yes, that'd be good. Overall, the game and idea; I liked it, it "intrigued" me very much. Do you know what intrigues me very much as well?

The Royal Review Rumble.

No, I did not write this review becase of RRR, and not the game. Partially... Thanks for reading, 0mins out.