[DRS] Ugh! Sand In My Eye Again!

SandStorms is a game created by lobert1922

Game: SandStorms

Maker: lobert1922

Type: Retro Arcade

Pre-thoughts

My reviewing service on the Forums are active and is going well, and not long ago, this user names lobert1922 posted a game in my service. It was SandStorms, a Retro Arcade game. I didn't know what to expect, as I have never seen or heard anything about this lobert guy. But, gracious as I am, I of course played the game anyway. Who knows? Maybe it had something good to offer.

The thumbnail of SandStorms is honestly not the best in the world. Not going to lie. It didn't make me expect anything special about the game. The thumbnail looks a bit bland and boring and really doesn't makes you more interested in trying the game.

Review

SandStorms is what I would call a Retro Arcade minigame. Usually, arcade games features many minutes of gameplay, but if you're a decent Retro Arcade gamer, you should be able to go through this game in 5-10 minutes. Not that much. Now, don't get me wrong. This is not a bad thing. I think we need more of these shorter Arcade games, because if you get everything right, from storyline to enemies and placement, I believe you would be able to get it on the featured games page. One thing I would suggest lobert to improve on for future games, is the difficulty. For SandStorms, he made sure to raise and lower difficulty for each individual level. I do think that he could have raised the difficulty a bit more. Fun gameplay overall. Let's move on.

Action was something that SandStorms had decent amounts of. I'd say to increase the number of enemies. Some level had a lot of enemies, while others had very few. I understand that lobert maybe wanted to avoid making the game too difficult, but increasing the amount of enemies just a little bit for each level would not be a problem. Not enough action overall. Let's move on.

Scenery is something that lobert need to work on for his future games. The scenery in SandStorms was a bit too bland in my opinion. I didn't see anything unique or something that would make you go "Wow". Most of the scenery made me go "Meh", and meh is not good for me. We need more wow and less meh. You can tell I was dissapointed with the scenery. Too boring scenery overall. Let's move on.

Lobert placed way too many power-ups in this game. The power-ups consisted mostly of Magic Spells and minor health. (Which was also too much.) I mentioned earlier that the action was a bit too low. Adding Magic Spells made these enemies even more easy to take down, lowering the amount of challenge by quite a lot. Not good. I'd say Magic Spells weren't even needed in SandStorms. I went through the whole game without using Hadoukens and it wen't very well. Too many power-ups overall. Let's move on.

The layout of the map seemed a bit rushed and random in my opinion. I hope this wasn't made intentionally. The placement of certain enemies is also a bit off at many points as you will clearly see when going through the game. Some enemies were also placed so badly that it would be practically impossible to pass it without getting hit. Ouch. I don't like that. The game seems rushed overall. Let's move on.

Pros/Cons

Pros:

Gameplay: Although the game lacked challenge, I actually enjoyed playing through it. It was fun.

Action: The game had decent action, and although it could use some more, it still added something to the game.

Cons:

Thumbnail: Boooooooring. In all seriousness though, the thumbnail was a bit bland.

Scenery: The scenery in the game was a bit bland and boring. More work should have been put into this.

Power-Ups: Too many power-ups for the limited action the game did contain. It needs to be lowered.

Placement: The layout seemed random, and a major flaw was that a lot of enemies were placed badly.

Ratings

Gameplay: 3/5

Difficulty: 2.5/5

Action: 3/5

Scenery: 2/5

Placement: 1.5/5

Creativity: 2.5/5

Overall: 2.5/5

So yeah, SandStorms obviously wasn't the best game, but I did have some fun playing through it at least, and that's the best thing. Lobert does have potential. Work a bit more and you will certainly make some great games.

Feature-worthy?

I'm sorry, but no. I believe this game is far from feature-worthy. It's an alright game, but there's far too many flaws for it to be shown on the featured games page.

That is my time ladies and gentleman. Thank you.