{SOLO} Hardcore Action... I'm Not Sold On That..

Review by elcrossix on Sunday, April 15th 2012

Hey, here I am with the first {SOLO} Review! A new Reviewing Center raised a little popularity on the Forums, and I had the tough decision of choosing 3 games to make the cut and the ones that I wouldn't review. So, the 3 were selected and I think it's apparent that Smackdown by Tedbear2 was one game that made the cut. So my second review today and the first for {SOLO}! Enjoy.

Before I really get into it, I can say that I PRACTICALLY beat this game, near the yellow key at the end, I didn't have any bombs available to move the key's position. Oops?

Tedbear2 claims this game has hardcore action, that's interesting, I hope for an addicting game, (and hopefully fast paced) of rush and evasion. Action games are enjoyable, no doubt about that, but this is hardcore action, has Tedbear been successful with this game attempt? We'll find out, won't we? Let's move further in the Review.

Even though a direct link to Smackdown was posted in the {SOLO} Reviewing Center, it never hurts to look at the thumbnail which was obviously on the page of Tedbear2. Off first glance it looks extremely dull, nothing fancy, thumbnails are important for many reasons and the main one is to attract attention or to excite the viewer. The thumbnail had a few mortars and turrets which is pretty dull, it didn't excite me nor attract my attention to be completely honest. I do feel a slight disappointment, I already know how to defeat those mortars without losing any health or using of your weapons. Hardcore action.. cross.

Now, was Tedbear2 succesful with the aspect of "hardcore action"? Let's see, there was definitely a form of action but there was little of it. There were enemies in paths hallways and corridoors, but what I found a rarity was action in rooms. Most rooms only had an enemy or two, for it to be as classified as hardcore, it'd have to be like the rooms in Obelisko's game "The One". I saw none of it and one or two enemies a room *just* sbleepes in as action, not quite hardcore and most of the emeies you could bypass and rush away while using your weapons, such as bots, bombs, missiles and regular pellets while keeping your distance, making the game easy if you play it like Stealth.

The placement seemed rather disappointing, and good at the same time based on a few aspects. Firstly I thought the enemy placement was solid, not great nor terrible. Why? That's because there were a few of them that you could evade with ease they needed to be placed better. Enemy Placement was okay, but not that good for anther reason, Mortars and Bugmeister pairs I killed with ease with a little trick I won't reveal in this review. Now for an area of the game that was extremely disappointing. Now for the disappointing part of the placement aspect,t he health placement was atrocious, in a certain room there was nitros and mojos checkered, all I had to do was not hit the nitros and I'd be happily turning around and around in numerous mojos like a duck in rain, if you are going to put that many, at least place some Mortars or Turrets in the room to blow up the nitro and get you in trouble. After a few rooms in of the game, I never went below the full bar of health making the game a breeze and the action going to waste.

The design wasn't too bad but rather lacking in a lot of areas, firstly near the start of the game, the switch poly enclosure had a seemingly wonky design, I don't know why Ted did it, it just looked a little off to me. Most of the hallways were good, but I found myself growing bored quite a lot because it was hallway after hallway, no art, no curved corners, it was dull looking to say the least. I did see a few pieces of art but they weren't very amazing, I did like some polygons and objects to make the scenes look a little nicer.

There were a few puzzles, not many though as the game is based on action, but Ted did make sure in Smackdown, if you wasted things, you'd be stuck in peril, the difference between winning and losing for me was all based on not having any bombs left to move a keyspider's position. That would've been a puzzle should I have the opportunity, and a few black paths not knowing where to go was always a Feature in the game.

Finally, there was difficulty, I;d say the difficulty would be good if there wasn't so much health, so blocking health overuse from my mind for a minute the challenge was definitely there, I can't really say much for the creativity though. The game was quite long, taking Tedbear2 himself a total of 7 or 8 minutes, I'd say I played it for about 9 minutes which seems a very good length. Kudos Ted for producing a long-ish game. In the end the game was fun, but lacking for a few reasons.

PROS

Fun and Difficulty

Good Length

Enemy Placement

CONS

Health Placement

The Claim Of "Hardcore" Action"

.,;:The Ratings:;,.

Action: 4/5

I guess there was a FAIR amount of action, not hardcore and it needed some more rooms with packed action to spice it up, but not bad overall.

Placement: 3/5

The health placement and use was terrible, but most of the enemy placement was or was close to being spot on, despite a few areas where you could rush and evade and not be on the recieving end of health loss.

Design: 2.5/5

Dull mostly, not many rooms, mainly just hallways which got repetetive nearing the end and having that for a 7-10 minute game gets pretty boring. At least some areas were okay.

Puzzles: 2.5/5

There were only about 2, and they weren't very challengiing, but they would be for the average member.

Final Score: 3/5

Feature Worthy?:

If you ask me, no. The game was way too easy and there was way too much health to consider this, it was very fun to play but not quite reaching the standards. Overall a solid game that I had fun reviewing, well done on making Smackdown, Tedbear2.

Hope you enjoyed!

Let's go, SOLO!