[EGD] Viva La Revoluci�n!

Review by meowmeowfurrycat on Sunday, August 10th 2014

The Epic Game Drop is slowly deteriorating. In 2012, EGD was at its prime: thousands (exaggeration alert) of brilliant games were published, and everyone was happy and skipped around gaily (in this case meaning happy, not homos/exual) and sang happy songs and did all that splode.

Now, barely any games are entered; a month after EGD and I�m STILL the only one bothering to review games; the results of the actual competition are muddled and make no coherent sense; and most importantly, EGD 8 saw only one role-playing platformer game.

I am not going to review that game right now. Sorry if I got your hopes up, Gaminator; I�ll review it later, after I�m done sulking. Right now I am going to review what could be seen as an alternative to the critically endangered RPG plat: the totally impossible and impossibly scenic puzzle platformer. Specifically, Ruins Another Footstep by Cryptik (formerly known as Liammead).

So.

I�m not quite sure if Ruins Another Footstep (the third in a series, the first two being imaginatively called Ruins and Ruins II) is intended to have a storyline. I�m not even sure what you were doing in the Ruins in the first place. Ruins Another Footstep might imply that in the game you take another footstep, but that would be wrong. You take many, many footsteps.

Ruins Another Footstep is somewhat anachronistic. I don�t know when it�s set, but despite that, I somewhat doubt that mechanized laser-shooting turrets (made of metal and set in water, no less) would survive as everything around them crumbled and collapsed. The Ruins also may not be as Ruined as originally one might think: in the later levels there are, in fact, enemies.

Alright. Now that I�m done bashing the storyline, it�s time to take a look at the gameplay and scenery, which I probably should have done first. But no matter, here we GOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooo --

-- and we crash-land in the world that Cryptik built for us, but we don�t mind crash-landing, because godbleepit, this world is so freaking beautiful it�s like a Garden of Eden, with less evil snakes and faked humans. Cryptik knows exactly how to fully utilize the large (read: infinite) assortment of tile textures given in the platformer creator. The 8-bittiness may detract from the purity and wholeness of it all, but altogether, the blocks and walls blend together in such a smooth fashion that Ruins Another Footstep has, in an instant, transformed from, well, some old musty Ruins to an OPTIC ORGASM. Ruins Another Footstep is pure eye candy.

It�s not much else, though. Chances are most people (or noobs) will, after the obligatory oohing and ahhing, trudge around (again: taking many footsteps as opposed to only one) blindly, and wonder: What the hell am I supposed to do? Because Ruins Another Footstep is a puzzle game. And unless you�re a completely and incredibly swagalicious player of puzzle games, you will not be able to progress.

By the way, I am a completely and incredibly swagalicious player of puzzle games, and I was actually able to get pretty far (I finished level one, at least) before I had to turn to the walkthrough. I�m a huge fan of walkthroughs for puzzles; not because I can�t solve them, but because occasionally I can�t solve them. Yes, I just contradicted myself.

If you�re wondering, the place in level two where I got stuck was one where (spoiler alert) Liammead/Cryptik concealed a hidden ladder. Because ladders rarely, if ever, show up on radar, there was no way I could have found it. This is one of those things we call EPIC FAILURES. Cryptik, dude, don�t do that. It�s so uncool, man. Okay, dude? (I�ll stop talking like this now.)

Besides that, I actually really enjoyed the puzzle portion (which was all of it) of Ruins Another Footstep. I make puzzle plats myself, and much of this, if not reused, was familiar enough that I could piece together (as it were) what I needed to do. This is what I enjoy in a puzzle game: not impossible if you�re not the game�s creator (which my games occasionally are), but not easy either.

You guys also know how much I hate traps, so I�m pleased to report: No traps! Victory!

Um.

So: conclusion? If you�re not experienced with these kinds of things, leave the heavy lifting to the grown-ups and watch the walkthrough instead. It�s still really fascinating and you�ll be less likely to be a troll and vote it one star.

Oh, and by the way . . .

I have nothing else to say. I thought I did, but I actually don�t. Never mind. See you later!

--Meow

P.S. I actually do have something else to say. Of the 14 (out of 37) EGD games that have been reviewed so far, I�ve reviewed SEVEN of them. Everyone else is a lazy nub: tell all of your friends!