[Editor Application] This Fantasy World

Review by meowmeowfurrycat on Friday, September 12th 2014

Close your eyes and take a breath; let yourself fall into the world that Gaminator has crafted. This is Oogar, and it�s a platformer RPG to rival, um, most other platformer RPGs.

Gaminator�s games have received mixed reviews from critics (most notably, Princess Matty). Gaminator is the type of guy who clearly knows how to create something fun, but it seems that they get lost in translation, as it were. Most of his games seem to have recycled plots, and though the scenery is pleasing (and he makes a point of including 100% original boss battles), nothing is really new.

Until now.

Oogar is not the type of thing we see so often today, role-playing games of the apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic/pre-apocalyptic/anything-related-to-the-apocalypse genre. Oogar is something else; Oogar is a fantasy game. You play as a caveman (who, I believe, is named Oogar), who goes on -- you guessed it -- a quest to save his village from the dinosaurs. During this adventure, Oogar will meet with all kinds of creatures: fellow cavemen (which the Apple Grammar Check informs me is a bleepist term and should be corrected to �cave dwellers�), birds, crabs, �crawlers,� scarf-wearing dodo birds, even a flying carriage with laser-shooting llama heads. This is clearly not a dystopian zombie love triangle, and this immediately encouraged me.

Fun fact: all those incredibly swagalicious graphics you saw in The 11th Hour? All of �em were made by Gaminator. This dude is a pro -- a freaking GENIUS -- at drawing, and it shows in Oogar. First off, the thumbnail is a DINOSAUR ROARING AT A CAVEMAN. Gaminator went to the trouble of creating nine distinct graphics to cover that space, and the end result is that the graphics aren�t as pixelated as they usually are -- in fact, not even slightly pixelated. The thumbnail is beautiful.


And second, every character that you interact with (and there are many), and every enemy (there are even more) has a distinct graphic on it. In a words-only review, it�s hard to convey how incredible these graphics are, but take my word (ha, ha, no) for it: they�re awesome. This art provides a splash of variety to what would otherwise be, well, a game where dodos and dinosaurs looked identical. Gaminator, I give you one hundred and twenty-seven thumbs up for the graphics. c:

What about the gameplay itself? Here, Oogar is everything an RPG should be: there are side quests with decent rewards; the health is placed when you need it most (and, of course, the game�s difficulty heightens with time); the enemies are grouped such that they are fun and adrenaline-packed, and difficult without being a zerg rush; there are practically no puzzles, and the ones that exist are easy to defeat. This is a fairly short paragraph because although the gameplay was excellent, Oogar wasn�t revolutionary in any way.

Returning for a moment to the storyline, I should point out that in addition to the characters being beautifully drawn, they�re also entertaining to interact with: the dialogue can be witty, and I was never in doubt of what my next step should be. Oogar is a game that grabs the player and reels him or her in.

Graphics are usually, as in Oogar, a separate category from scenery. The platformer creator has an infinite number of tiles, and Gaminator took advantage of this. While the scenery wasn�t as great as -- for example -- me (and I might be just a little bit arrogant, it was very well made. I could easily and clearly tell what environment I was in, be it a prehistoric jungle or an (also prehistoric) cave, or an (again prehistoric -- come to think of it, this game is about a caveman, so what did you expect?) snow city in the sky wherein dwell dodos and monsters. The randomness aspect of the tile placement was just a touch away from perfect.

Gaminator also used graphics for inanimate objects: at one point, I walked into a wasp lair (because apparently wasps make honey?) and was immediately struck by the graphic he used for the honeycomb. This took place underground, and the lighting combined with the complexity of the comb itself made it -- despite its seeming triviality -- really breathtaking. He also used some really nice texture walls.

The worst thing about Oogar, in my opinion, was the lack of music. Gaminator originally forgot to put music in his EGD 8 entry Fury of the Tribes as well (he changed it after someone reminded him, later telling me that he often forgets to add music), and this was one thing that detracted from my immersement. Music is a powerful thing -- it can change our moods really quickly; it can emphasize and build on to our emotions -- and the lack of it was a real shame.

And now, for the conclusion (remember, I don�t give ratings because they all to often misrepresent games):

Oogar was definitely feature worthy. Aside from the lack of music, everything was above average, if (in the case of the gameplay) not by much. The graphics were INCREDIBLE, the storyline was FANTASTIC, and the fun level requires CAPITAL LETTERS AND THREE EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!

Of course, it�s not EGL level, but Gaminator is becoming better and better. With a little push, he may well soon reach that milestone.

DINOSAUR PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

--Meow