The Journey Of Electrode

Review by demonxz95 on Sunday, July 24th 2016
...
Click to play Boomerman

Boomerman is a game created by sticki

Introduction

Hey guys, Demonxz95 here bringing you a review of Boomerman by Nextet, aka Sticki. He's not a member I've heard much of in terms of game making. The only other game of his I've played is Cyber Infiltration. But just because one hasn't heard much of a member in terms of game making skills doesn't mean they're a bad game maker (Makever is a perfect example of this. Not many people really knew or heard of him, then out of the blue, he made Jumpie and became instantly popular). Let's see how this game fairs up.


Review

In this game, you control a player who resembles the Pokemon, Electrode who fires bombs which somewhat resemble Pokeballs which make me think Nextet is a Pokemon fan (this however is possibly a coincidence though, especially as this game was originally released before Pokemon Go). The game starts out very simple. You're throw into a tutorial level which explains the basic fundamentals of the games, which mostly involve different types of blocks doing different things, as well as showing you other types of obstacles you'll encounter. The game slowly reveals new things as you go along, with most levels revealing at least one new thing. This is done perfectly and never feels overwheling, because he doesn't reveal everything all at once and gives time for the new objects to sink into the player's minds before introducing something new. What he introduces also stay through most of the game and aren't abandoned after 2 levels which is a good thing because he remembers to use everything.


Visually, the game looks fantastic, with help from TheUndead101 for graphics, who is GREAT with graphics. Later in the game, you'll encounter different types of areas. There are also some hidden easter eggs to find that I didn't know were there when I first played the game. The game's difficulty is also very well made. Some stages may be fairly difficult at first, but the stage are not unfair. The game also has a nice difficulty curve, accompanied by new objects introduced every level which give you enough information to know exactly what they do. The levels themselves are well made as well. I couldn't find any cheaply or sloppily placed objects throughout the game, and you will often find yourself going back through areas you went through before which expand the level's length but isn't hugely tedious.


Although there's nothing majorly bad in the game, there are a few minor flaws in the game. In Level 4 (which says level 3 within the level because of the tutorial), I found that it is easy to trap yourself if you push a block too far. Later in the level, you will need to go through an area and if you push a block too far, you need to restart the level. I also found a way to cheat on level 2 (I can PM it to you on the forums if you want me to, I won't mention it here). The boss isn't very hard when you know what to do, but it can just be a bit time consuming to do. A completely natural problem though.


Pros and Cons

Pros

Great Gameplay

Great Scenery

Not too difficult

Nice difficulty curve

Introduces new gameplay elements at a nice pace


Cons

A few minor problems


Conclusion

This is a fantastic game made by Nextet that you should play. You'll really like it a lot. It's been one of my favorite games of the year so far and I look forward to any future projects you have.