[EGD] Another One!?

Eclipse. The dark hour is a game created by egnite

Game: Eclipse the Dark Hour

Maker: Egnite

Genre: Platformer

Prethoughts

Egnite can knock out a game in a couple of weeks, but he likes to take his time. His style is so unique, that I have to rush to his profile for new games, every day. The execution in his games are fantastic, he doesn’t only cram puzzles that so many people have been doing recently (I’m guilty). Some of you may think his games are too crowded, or are too “puzzley”, but opinions are opinions, and they will vary from person to person. Also, many of you may have remembered that the prequel to this game: Eclipse was my favorite game ever made on Sploder. Will this one top it? Will it be successful, or fall in the dumps like he’s never fell before? We can find out, as I review an Epic Game Drop (EGD) game from my favorite game maker on Sploder, who I believe has retired.

Review

Starting off with the Gameplay, I was just shocked. As I said before, his execution in his games are pretty sweet, but this one even exceeded the limit. He would throw out a puzzle, but include adventure-type qualities as well as some action in it. A few examples would include the thug near the orange switch, even if the logs were used to trick you. Was the Thug needed? Obviously not, but it added that extra step of difficulty which also adds some enjoyment into the game, which adds some life into the game. Many Turrets were used when you were going for a key, or when you were trying to break a weak floor, which could get pretty frustrating especially when you missed the key, or if you went too slow, and it killed you. The Gameplay was also pretty quick in terms of pace, which could lead to many mistakes on the player’s side. I am very impressed with the overall Gameplay, now I will go into detail with the sub-categories of Gameplay; Puzzles, Traps, and Scenery.

The puzzles in this game were pretty nice, but I haven’t necessarily seen anything new. This is fine, because the way he used them sparked in my mind, and made me continue to play it. They were the types of puzzles to where if you knew what you are doing, they’ll be a walk in the park, but if you didn’t exactly get the puzzle, then you would get killed pretty quickly. Also, the puzzles were pretty diverse, which is also a positive outcome. You never want the same, repetitive puzzles especially in one genre (Grenade, Crate, etc.) because they will seem to be so boring and dull, especially if there’s no variety in the difficulty of those puzzles. Egnite did a good job using a decent chunk of the known puzzles, and usually the quicker paced ones. I must say that I am thoroughly impressed with the puzzles used, I believe nowhere in this game showed signs of laziness, and lack of motivation in the puzzles used, or the placement of the puzzles.

Traps are always important in games, because it gives that extra spice into the game which can hurt or heal a game. Egnite placed some pretty nice traps in this game, and DID give the extra spice into the game. The lava traps were nice, and could actually be confusing whether to go into the lava, or avoid it. Does this make sense? Of course it does, we’re in a generation where hazards can actually be GOOD. I feel that Egnite did a pretty good job in confusing the players with the lava tricks, should I jump in? Other traps were nice, for instance an occasional cbleep will be placed, but not too often. Sometimes, makers will place too many cbleeps so they are expected at every turn and angle which can have some positive impacts, but will leave an even larger dent to the negative side. Egnite did a good job in the distribution of the traps placed, because out of nowhere would be a cbleep, and you’ll have to restart the WHOLE game again. The crushers were nice, because they were crammed in (A good cram) right beside a puzzle, so you would have to time it right in order to solve the puzzle, and avoid the trap. The placement of tiles on each end of the crushers made escape that much harder. I feel the traps were a positive impact in this game, and I am very proud of Egnite.

Scenery is actually pretty important, especially in EGD because of how “epic” the games should be. Egnite did about an average job in the scenery field, as it wasn’t exactly above par like other EGD games were. Was it bad? Of course not, because not every game has to be filled with colorful scenes, and other pieces of scenery. I think Egnite did wonderful with the amount of space he used, he didn’t cram in random back tiles, but he used them in the correct capacity. Some may argue that the scenery looks random and misused, but I beg to differ. Scenery is another part of Egnite’s unique style, they may look random, but it actually makes a nice little pattern that will catch a player’s eye. I feel that the scenery was rather neutral, no positives however no negatives.

Placement is very important, because a game is nothing with no placement (Literally), or even poor placement. Eclipse the Dark Hour has some interesting placement, because of how the game looks overall. Time and patience was a major factor here, and I feel Egnite took advantage of EGD like Bill Gates takes advantage of his wealth. I like how he placed the traps anywhere, inside puzzles, near puzzles (I’m talking a step or two of distance), and far from puzzles; they were everywhere! The scenery was very nice, and caught my eye with Egnite’s unique style. The powerups and keys were placed pretty nicely, as they would be near traps as well, and they weren’t a breeze in a windstorm to get.

Pros/Cons

Pros: Gameplay, and Placement.

Neutral: Scenery, Puzzles and Traps.

Cons: There were no cons in this game, as I felt nothing went so far negative in this game, good job Egnite.

Ratings

Gameplay: 4/5; The Gameplay was solid, and had many positive traits going through, and in my opinion he filled his space very well with appropriate action, along with the puzzles and traps.

Puzzles: 3.5/5; The puzzles were of a pretty decent quality even if none were what you would precisely call “new” or “original”, but how he distributed the puzzles is what shot up his score, nicely done.

Traps: 3.7/5; The traps were everywhere, and in my opinion they edge out the puzzles by a hair, because of how they were executed, and their quantity. They were placed near puzzles, in puzzles, or far from puzzles which impressed me.

Scenery: 3.5/5; I loved the scenery, and I thought he used his space very well. It was a pretty decorative game, and it caught my eye, and still catches it when I’m not playing the game.

Placement: 4.5/5; I’m sorry, but this was just too good. People complain about how you have “no space” or it’s “too crowded” but that’s just how it’s going to go. I think the

Placement kicked butt, as he placed so much in this game, and how he placed it was just fascinating, good job!

Overall: 3.8/5; An overall great, as I feel this may have been Egnite’s best work, and sure has impressed me.

Reviewer’s Note

I usually rate Scenery by half (Displayed as 5), but now as I’m a little more experienced, I have realized that everything is important, even Scenery. Also, before you say “This is the worst game you have reviewed! (Every other game I’ve reviewed received at least a 4/5)” you can stop right there, because I’ve been too soft in those reviews because of how easily impressed I was. I feel that this is the second best game that I have reviewed, as InfinityRim would be first.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Eclipse the Dark Hour was a masterpiece, and had a high level of interest in it. The standards were at risk, as it is in a race between its prequel, and its sequel to be my favorite game on Sploder. Well, this one blew Eclipse away by a mile, as it had so much exploration and was generally better! Eclipse said that he couldn’t work on the game for a week (He had proof, I don’t think he accessed the Mainsite for a week due to computer issues I think?) but he still shoved out a game, probably his best one. The big question on everyone’s mind is: Is it feature worthy?

I have been disagreeing with many of the EGD features, as I believe they lowered the standards for EGD. I honestly believe that even without EGD, Eclipse the Dark Hour is worthy of a feature, because of how well you executed your talents, and how much space you used, there was so much game play! Eclipse the Dark Hour is now my favorite game on Sploder even beating its prequel, and I would appreciate it if you came back to Sploder Egnite! Good job and I would like to see more work from you Egnite as I feel you can bust out an even better game, maybe heading towards the Epic Games Library in the near future.