Strange Name, Strange Game.

X1X is a game created by gerald123

Introduction:

Ohaider everyone. I am here once again (Hope you all don't get tired of me and my reviews. xD) to review yet another game. And again, I'll be reviewing a game by Gerald123. But this time, I'll be reviewing a physics puzzle game called X1X. The title seems strange, and I hope the game will be strange. (I mean strange in a good way, of course.) My expectations are pretty high since I consider the PPG to be Gerald's forte and because this is another featured game. I'm pretty sure my scores at the end of this review would be pretty high considering that this game is featured. (I did say 'pretty sure' so I guess it's still okay to expect the unexpected.)

Review:

The title of the game is just really strange. That's the only impression the title left me with. So once I started to play the game, I felt like a monkey. "Press A to get out of the pipe." Was the first instruction. So, I obviously followed. As soon as my character got out, (I didn't think it would work. xD Mind=blown)I just went like "ooooohhhhh." and at the same time I was like, wtf am I supposed to be? A ghost? An alien? Even the character's name is strange as -. I didn't see the relevance of the game's and character's name until I started to play. I think the title is pretty witty right after I discovered that. (Play the game, you'll get what I meant by that.)Anyway when the next instruction showed up, you would have been laughing at me by that time. I looked so amazed. Oh, I almost forgot. X1X does have a storyline if you ever decided to pay attention to the instructions that appear before playing the game. It was pretty cliche like 90% of game storylines that appear on sploder. It was nothing too special in my opinion. Anyway, my overall impression of this game is pretty good so far, but let's see if my good impression about this game is right.

Okay so as I was saying earlier, I was so amazed my brain was not able to comprehend the instructions. I could not find the card behind the boxes. I didn't even notice the subtle hint there. There was a picture of a mouse hand thingy, so it was basically trying to tell you to drag and stuff. But I seriously did not get it. I tried like 453454 times to find the card by moving my character with the arrow keys with no luck at all. So I gave up at that point and decided to watch the walkthrough. (Best playar evar!11!!eleven!one!) My jaw just dropped and my head smacked the table when I saw that you just had to DRAG the thing out of the way. Okay, so the instructions are clear if you pay full attention to them and if you decide to play at a time where you are fully awake and not in a zombie-like state. Anyway, I think the difficulty was pretty adequate this time compared to Gerald's other games. It's only difficult if you don't think, read the instructions and pay attention to your surroundings. Though I did feel that the boss level was a bit too easy to be a boss level, it's still okay. At least your know majority of sploder members would be able to finish the game. (Like me, yay! xD But I finished it while I wasn't logged on so I have no proof. D:) X1X really felt short on this one part though: addictiveness. The game wasn't really that addicting. Sure, I'm pretty mindblown at first. But that only happens once. Every level was pretty fascinating but it felt like a chore rather than a game to press all those switches and stuff like that to get to the next level.

The placements were really something. Most of the time, they were very difficult to avoid. Though there were times (Like the spider level.) where the hazards could just be easily avoided. I did appreciate the level where you get the documents. That one was really good on placements. I'm especially impressed on what Gerald did for the limited view area. I've done that 'eye' thing before on one of my previous PPGS, but it was poorly executed and it didn't help you get a good view of the map at all. (You won't be able to see it on my page anymore though lol.) What I didn't like was the level where the spider would do 90% of the work. (Felt too easy as well.) X1X wouldn't even get hit by the boss because he's shooting his lazer beam (I'm sorry Gerald if that thing he was shooting wasn't a lazer beam. Was it his finger? idk xD) in a place where it can't even touch you. It's like: "Lol, you drunk bro." And then he just dies like that once you activate a few switches. (Okay, he doesn't really die since he does appear again at the last level.) The rest of the blocks and switches were placed in really smart and really good areas. Though I think the abundance of switches throughout the whole game felt very 'ugh' since I have to go to this switch, to unlock this switch, to get to this switch and this one and then I can finally go back to the place where I can win the level! That's basically why I said that X1X kind of felt like a chore to complete. I do think the map in each level overall is too big, but I think the time limit on most of the levels make the large, tedious map a bit better since it makes the game a bit more difficult and it made X1X a bit more fun to play through.

The thumbnail of the game seems to smack me right in the face. It's trying to tell me: "Lol Mash, your game designing skills can't even get near how Gerald designed this game. You fail in life and you should feel bad." So yeah, the thumbnail was amazing. The design of X1X was simply spectacular. Yes, it might be spectacular with all those amazing graphics, animations, pretty instructions, backgrounds, etc. But it wasn't flawless. The level where the spider does most of the work probably has the worst design throughout the whole game. The background, I just couldn't stand the blinking background. If I were epileptic, I'm pretty sure I'd get at least a bit of a seizure. It was a pain to finish that level with that kind of background. I know it had relevance since it's supposed to be like an alarm since you freed the prisoners, but Gerald could have made it a bit more subtle. Anyway, the design overall was really good. The graphics were absolutely perfect. The scenery really matched the theme Gerald was going for. I would only consider the not-so-amazing background as a really minor flaw, so it won't affect the overall score so much. As for the creativity of the game, I think it was very innovative with that X1X control thing, (Which is very new.) the sort of cooperative levels and the integration of the mouse with the character's movements. Though these things aren't too new anymore, I think Gerald did a great job stepping up these concepts.

Pros:

-Spectacular design

-Adequate difficulty

-Innovative concepts

-Adequate game length

-Good placements

Cons:

-Wasn't the most fun game around.

-Boss level should have been made more climatic and difficult.

-Design still had some very minor flaws.

-Cliche storyline

Ratings:

I'm not letting any of those very minor flaws stand in the way of letting this category get a perfect 5 for me. I think the game deserves it for being very innovative, creative and very pleasing to the eye as you play.

They were just very good, not exactly the most flawless placements I've ever seen.

Some concepts are used, but I think Gerald did a great job thinking of some new concepts and stepping up the old ones.

Felt like a chore most of the time and I think I've been saying this a bit too much already.

The difficulty could have been made harder, but I think it's really good already since most people would be able to enjoy this kind of difficulty already since it's a difficulty where you can't say that it's impossible.

Conclusion:

X1X isn't the best game in the world and it does have its flaws, but overall I think it's a great game everyone should at least try once in a while. Though, to be honest, I don't think this game is Gerald's best PPG either. X1X could be improved by fixing some minor flaws, but I think it's still okay even without a quick fix. If you were to ask me if X1X is feature worthy, I'd have a hard time answering your question. Sure it does stand out somehow, but it also feels like one of those 'almost there' kinds of games. I would probably need the opinion of another editor if I was the one to decide if this game deserved a feature or not. But you know, it is featured and I do trust Mat's opinion. So I guess it deserves it. I hope you all enjoyed my review. This is Mash, about to play Skyrim once again because I lost ideas for my super top secret game that I actually told you guys about in one of my previous reviews.