8-Bit Desert Of Puzzles [P.E.G Studios]

Review by thunderleaf on Monday, July 16th 2012
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Click to play Desert

Desert is a game created by patelio03

Game Info

Today I'll be reviewing...

Desert by Patelio03


Type of game:

Platformer


Prethoughts

I wanted to review one of Patelio's games for P.E.G, and I tried playing Splash first, but I completely screwed up and had no clue what to do, so I played Desert.


Review

Desert is an intricate puzzle game that frustrates the heck out of the player. All you have to do is solve a ton of puzzles without killing yourself right? Yeah, that's true, except the puzzles really challenge your mind. And if you played the game at least once, you'll know the first couple of puzzles are obvious, but then it gets really intense. You'd think that pausing and jamming the R button to see your surroundings would help, but Patelio placed the puzzles so close, there's barely any breathing room to do that.


The puzzles were pretty hard to solve, but really easy to execute. Once you saw the inner workings of the trap, you could sprint through and advance. Like in the beginning, the first puzzle may take a couple seconds to guess how it worked, but once you got it, you'll be sure to finish it within 15 seconds.


Because of the quick solving process, there's always a sense of urgency, when there really isn't. The false sense of "need to do this now and sprint through every single thing" really screws with you. Like for an example, I sprinted through the lava, quickly melted the iceblocks to drop a ball on to a switch, then I advanced to the switch jump. Since I was still feeling a need to rush, I completely screwed up and fell to the bottom of the map, and I had to restart, which really ticks me off. The placement of everything was outstanding. The placement of everything really changed the pace of the game and made it more frustrating and challenging. You're running at full speed, and suddenly you have to slow down your pace by, like, 5 times to avoid screwing up.


The map is one level, but it's in 8 bit for a reason. The map has a ton of objects, and it must've been ridiculously laggy without 8 bit mode. Even in 8 bit, the game lagged at some points, which was annoying, because it froze your player up at the most inconvenient times. Anyway, the choice of objects for the puzzles really was neat. Everything correlated to each other and the game clicked really well. The game's flow was very seamless and fluid, even though the pace was often changed.


Patelio created a masterpiece by constructing this game. It displays obvious effort put in toward it, and it looks aesthetically pleasing to the casual gamer. Desert introduces a ton of cool and abstract puzzles that really make you think. Desert was puzzling, confusing, and frustrating, but it really is a legitimate feature.


Pros

-Object choice.

-Challenging.

-Nice puzzles.


Cons

-An annoying amount lag, even with 8 bit.


Ratings

Action: ____/_____
 
Challenge: ____.75/_____
 
Placement: ____.5/_____
 
Design: ____/_____
 
Overall: ____.25/_____
 

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If you give feedback, I'd really appreciate it. ~kthxbai, leafy.

 
 


Desert Reviewed by thunderleaf on Monday, July 16th 2012. 8-Bit Desert Of Puzzles [P.E.G Studios] - A game review written by thunderleaf for the game 'Desert' by patelio03. Rating: 4