Blood Strike Struck Me Down

Blood Strike. is a game created by jamboy23

Once again I am sitting at my computer, reviewing. I was requested to review Blood Strike by jamboy23 on the forums. I was unsure but he reassured me this was to be his best game yet and I would love it. With promises such as these, I could not disagree. So lets stop dawdling and start reviewing.

Pre-Thoughts

jamboy23 is as far as I know a good platformer maker. I am happy with the thumbnail, as it shows a well though out map. The title seems good and to almost suit the thumbnail, as I associate blood with red and this is what I appear to find in it. There's nothing else I can say at this point, so now to begin the review.

The Review

Meh. You start in a cavern with 2 paths. One is blocked with a key while the other is free to enter. I am then met with a simple action sequence and an equally simple, although very effective, trap. Before the action, I am given level 3 armour, therefore making all enemies under thor a walk in the park.

After collecting the key, it is pretty much the same. Some okay action, which would be a lot better if not for my high level armour, and then a trap or puzzle, normally involving enemies to push you in to something or distract you while you fall. Not much that really stood out.

My favourite bit was probably the only bit I would consider calling "good". As I collected the last 2 keys and I was approaching the end, I am given a mace. I then look ahead to see barrels and sand-blocks blocking my path with a weak wall floor, under which was a pit of lava. You can see where this is going. It took me at least a life to complete this and I found it was a good addition to the game.

My least favourite part was the power ups. If I remember correctly, I ended up with a mace, a blaster, a ray gun, 3 lives and of course level 3 armour. That list was made excluding health packs. This is a ridiculous amount of power ups when you consider the most powerful enemy I faced was a snarley or a big mutant. Heck, with these weapons, I could face and defeat a george unscathed. The power-ups ruined the game. All lava might as well have been a bubble bath due to the armour and I was tempted to leave my character in it while I made a sandwich it was so useless.

The scenery was good. Tiles which compliment each other were looked for and they, in my opinion, suited the game. The blood red atmosphere I suppose was a redeeming factor, although it counts for little compared to the negatives I have already pointed out.

To conclude, what would of been a decent, maybe even good, game turned into a noobs paradise. It was completely destroyed by power ups. And even though it's structured and better than the other cluttered games released by people every minute, this just wasn't up to scratch.

My recommendation? I think this is fairly obvious. TAKE. OUT. THE POWER UPS. Okay. Re-make this game, make it longer, harder, add enemies, take away power ups. Add difficult puzzles, cunning traps. Anything to improve this. But most of all, take away the armour, blaster and ray gun. Not the mace, as it's needed for a puzzle. But you get the message and know what to do.

Scores

Overall: 1/5

Final Thoughts

Too easy. I'm sorry, but these are my true thoughts. Work on it, take my recommendations into account and then it will probably be worth a feature.