Review #98 - 'New Souls' By Gallade265!

New Souls is a game created by gallade265

Introduction:

Hello, and welcome to my 98th review. Today, I will be reviewing New Souls, a one-levelled platform game by gallade265. Gallade is a user who has been picking up occasional features on this site over the last few years, mainly specialising in the shooter creator. Although the platform creator isn't his usual creator, based on what I have seen from his platform games I've played before, I can say he has got his unique style in his platform games, which has also been applied to this game here. However, seeing as this game was made a few years ago, this game is a little bit sloppy, as you'd expect from a newer member around the time that this game was made.

Review:

Generally, the whole game is very sloppy, which is what you'd expect for a game made by a new member of what gallade was at the time the game was made. This is simply down to a lack of testing in my opinion. If you're going to make a game, testing the game fully is key. I can tell this game wasn't tested properly, simply because it is impossible as to go underground from upper ground, you need a wall tile to get through, which there wasn't so I couldn't pass that part. There is overall, a lot of sloppiness in this game. You've got a lot of enemies falling down holes and in lava, meaning that enemies will just be all over the place or dying without them getting anywhere near you. You get weapons like grenades that can run out before you need to use them, because when there is a load of lava between the grenades and the puzzle you need to use to pass it, there's about half a chance you will lose the game from losing all your grenades, even if you have about three lives to spare. Also, there is way too much lava in this game for me. It gets repetitive and is boring and eventually you begin to expect it so it is easy to avoid. However, despite the all round sloppiness in the game, it is very hard to skip certain sequences in this game as in some games like this, you can climb over roofs and skip parts of the game, I couldn't find anywhere you could do this in this game which is good.

As I said in the introduction, gallade does have his own style implemented in to his platform games as I feel there was in this game. I like how this game is one where you go in one direction battling enemies, before you reach the crystal, which you would be able to get if the game was possible, and this isn't one of your typical go around getting keys and hitting switches game so it's good to see it's something different to what is normally the case. I like how there was a mouse gun around the beginning as an optional weapon to use to destroy enemies, because I do like choice in games rather being restricted to using your sword in one direction. This is a game where you are restricted to go one direction, but I do like being able to choose what weapon to use. I also like how there isn't just lots of enemies, but there are lots of different hazards as well, and I do feel as if a lot of games do just have enemies, so it is nice to see a lot of different hazards as well as enemy variety. However, the enemy placement of these enemies is very standard, with a lot of them being easy to jump over and they're not really doing much, they're just standing there. As well as this, the usual grenade to hit a switch puzzle was used and I would like to see own puzzles being used or at least puzzles with a bit of a twist to them being included.

There is a decent chunk of health in this game which allows you to get a good amount into the game and there isn't an overload of health whatsoever where you'd ever have to be at full health, generally I was at quite low health which keeps it challenging. However, this pretty much meant nothing as there is way too many lives in my opinion. By the time I got stuck in the game because it is impossible, which I'm mentioning a lot about it being impossible as it is a big downfall, I think I had three lives, which is way too many for a game that is just one level. I do like how there is a regular amount of checkpoints though, because seeing as it is a game where you do just go in one direction, this means that checkpoints placed regularly is important quite obviously, and gallade placed a lot of checkpoints to go with this game.

New Souls is a fun game to play as there are lots of enemies and hazards to keep you entertained, and the lava sequences, despite being quite frequent, always kept me alert as I had to make sure I didn't fall into them. This game is quite an enjoyable one, but it does need to be more addicting for it to be a fun enough one to play. I find that if I'm not wanting to play the game again, it's not quite fun enough, as there isn't enough to get me to want to play the game again. Generally, it is just your usual fighting enemies and avoiding hazards, it's the same sort of stuff that doesn't make you want to play the game over and over because you know you've seen it all before.

Ratings (Out of five):

Conclusion:

Overall, this game deserves an average, but solid 2.5/5. Of course, this game was quite let down by how it is impossible, and this is due to the general sloppiness of the game. If this game was tested properly and wasn't so sloppy, this would be a much better game. On top of this, the game probably needs to be more creative in terms of enemy placement and puzzles, and the lives need to be less frequent so the game is more challenging for the player. New Souls is a game that is fun to play and you might as well give it a go, even though you won't beat it.