[BHR] Tomb Of Sandwich... No Wait, Solace.

Review by boredgame on Wednesday, February 8th 2012
...
Click to play Tomb of Solace

Tomb of Solace is a game created by jcaldwell

Good [insert time of day here] [insert name here]! I'm gonna be reviewing for a new center, BHR, headed by Deathleaf. Tomb of Solace by jcaldwell is the game that I'll be reviewing today.


Introduction


To start, I'm hungry. Anyway, I haven't played anything by jcaldwell, but since this is featured and has already received high marks from two [correct me if I'm wrong] individual reviews made by potatomash and mat7772, I can expect that this should be good.


Tomb of Solace.. that's definitely an interesting title right there. Let's see what we can piece together with this curious title... Tomb: a place of burial; Solace: consolation. Putting them together, it is a place of.. I give up. Anyway, pushing those thoughts aside, the name has a mysterious ring to it, or at least that's how I see it. But anyway, it's an interesting title for a hopefully interesting game.


Review


As I got ready to play, my stomach made some sort of grumbling noise and I found myself in a dark area that was lit by torches that were hidden by front statues. My guard was up in case anything would attack me from that dark room. I advanced further a sign read, "JCALDWELL PROUDLY PRESENTS," then I realized that this was an introduction level. Jcaldwell did well here despite it being just an introduction. The music was a good choice as well.


The storyline is more of a story to introduce the theme and the game itself, but it sets a good mysterious-type of feeling to the game. "You will wish you never found out..." That line gives an implication that there will be regret on the part of the archaeologist, or the character that you are playing, in the story. To sum it up, the storyline was good; it's the kind of story that is rarely, if not ever, used.


In a game, you'd expect some difficulty and challenge, right? Yeah, well I won't sit here long enough to wait for an answer from a computer screen or more specifically, a text box wherein I am typing this review, so I'll just have to do this alone. Tomb of Solace for sure has a generous number of these challenges. For one, I easily died at the beginning of the second level. You need to get a hang of it and understand further how to get past certain traps in the level.


To further elaborate the difficulty of this game, I will discuss on the gameplay. I'd prefer to talk about food right now, or eat now that it's been brought up because I'm just hungry (sodealwithit), but I have a review to finish. Those biscuits are just gonna have to wait while I prepare you, yes you, a feast (youluckynubs). Excuse me as I believe I've drifted off into a world of food (cue stomach noise), but to move on, Tomb of Solace presents a good amount of tricks and traps to keep a game moving.


I keep dying in a particular area (gaah!); luckily it was only a game or I wouldn't be able to present to you this review, and gaming would be dangerous that way. Death really isn't so hard in this game(nearly every game actually), but you just have to be careful of the traps that jcaldwell set because I tend to fall into them quite easily (I'm such a klutz T.T). Death aside, this game isn't easy. Now if you want a really easy plat, I do not recommend this. I enjoyed the generous helpings of traps and challenge that was served in this game. No matter how often I die, I just need to come back for seconds. Once you lose the game, the tendency would be to retry to see if you can get further. For the lag, I found a tad bit of lag, but I'd like to believe that it was my computer's fault for being old and laggy (thecomputerisbadtome).


There were easy and rather dull parts of the game, but a majority of Tomb of Solace is difficult, so that's not much of a big problem. There were good and original traps that were put into this game, but I did find a few blunt ones along the way.


The placement was alright, and I could see the careful effort made by the game's creator to make sure that the blocks were placed correctly. I found the placement made the game harder; that's a good thing since challenge is one of the things that I look for in a game. The enemies were placed in good spots where they tend to be annoying and reduce your health at a decent way. Health was also well placed - just when and where you needed it most. The blocks were placed well, and I honestly didn't find one block that wasn't placed in the right spot.


How many statues can one chamber hold?


Look at this trove, treasure untold, how many questions can one cavern hold? Let's push "The Little Mermaid" aside and discuss the placement. Look at this tomb, stories unfold, how many statues can one chamber hold? I honestly did not count. Anyway, the design is without a doubt, superb. The tiles chosen, even for the background, matched very well to his theme. The decorations that he chose fit well to its surroundings, just like a sandwich would fit my stomach right now, and set a solace mood to the game; just as the title insisted. I haven't found a decoration that doesn't fit into the game so far, so good work jcaldwell; I would suggest, however that the game be a tiny bit darker. I also commend jcaldwell's choice of music set per level; good ear.


Ratings:


Gameplay: ____/_____
 
Originality: ___.5/_____
 
Addictiveness: ____/_____
 
Placement: ____.5/_____
 
Design: ____.5/_____
 

Overall: ____.5/_____
 

Conclusion


I finally get to eat. My work here is done; let me go and get a bite. No wait, I have a conclusion to write. Overall, Tomb of Solace is a rather difficult game with an interesting storyline, and well-rounded on all aspects. It's not the best game, but it's surely a good game. Maybe a teeny bit of editing, and it would be even better. As you play, you go through a phase where you're almost there, but fate just had to tease you and kill you when you already felt the success. Looking back at it, the game deserved its feature, and jcaldwell has proven to be a talented creator. Congratulations, I will now have my dinner. I mean, great work on Tomb of Solace; you have done well.


This has been a Brutal Review, where the Truth has been revealed


^^Well.. not exactly brutal, but meh. xP

 
 


Tomb of Solace Reviewed by boredgame on Wednesday, February 8th 2012. [BHR] Tomb Of Sandwich... No Wait, Solace. - A game review written by boredgame for the game 'Tomb of Solace' by jcaldwell. Rating: 4