I Wanted To Add This Review I Made A While Ago To The Main Site...

Trumpelion IV is a game created by pizzaman1

Pre-Thoughts:

Before, I'd never really gotten into Pizzaman's games, but I'd always heard a little about the series here and a little about it there. I heard mostly that it was very hard, and unpleasant to play therefore, although there were some good puzzles. I decided to see for myself, and I think that what I had heard may have been proven wrong.

Review:

I liked the beginning, it wasn't too hard or too easy. I started out with 3 enemies flying at me. I killed them but I lost a very little bit of health. That hooked me into the game without making me scared for losing my health. And after that as soon as proceeded more light enemies (turrets) shot at me, not making me scared or frustrated, but keeping me alert. I figured out the way out of being trapped against a pusher, which wasn't hard or easy, and again, I emphasize the rare balance that this game created between the two.

I then came to a teleporter, and with my experiences with what's usually on the other side, I decided against going through it. There were these two passages, each leading to two different-colored keys. Both passages were symmetrical with each other, and I personally appreciate stuff like that in a game. I'll mention, real quick, that this is the first game I've ever seen with a good amount of art in it, but the user who made it focused more on the game than the art, and since the art is good, well, that elevates the level of greatness of this game even more. Back to the tunnels, I got to use my stealth (Not letting the enemies see me) in killing the enemies in them, because their unique shapes allowed it. It was cool. The keys were nothing special in this game, but luckily, Pizzman included a little more than enough powerups to use to beat the keys, and so I had some to spare so I wasn't worried or frustrated. I did get stuck in two or three parts of the tunnel when I was fighting the keys, which actually did make me kind of mad. The game also lagged quite a bit but only when I was shooting shooter bots at the keys.

Through the teleporter now, and I was happy that it wasn't much of a challenge eliminating the enemies there. I did have to be alert, but I still wasn't, you guessed it, worried or frustrated. I got to use stealth again in the long tunnels leading in two different directions, which wasn't AS fun again but I still liked it. Also, these tunnels had something I have seen tried before but never pulled off, they were as narrow as the ship could go through, AND, I NEVER got pushed out! I don't know how pizzaman did it, but bravo. Although having the same key at the end of each tunnel wasn't necessary, I thought it convenient in case you just didn't want to have a key fight.

The next puzzle seemed cliche at first, having to push an ally through a door that your ship couldn't access, but the shape of the tunnel made you have to do same thing back the other way. I had never seen that before. Once again, bravo, Pizzaman! But once I was through the doors, I saw a puzzle I'd never seen before. It took me a while to figure it out, and I was stumped. I had to get my ally to get a crystal for. I won't spoil the puzzle, but I tell you, when I figured out, I felt accomplished. Another new plus for this game. For some reason after that, there were 11 crystals in one room and nothing but a few nitros. I thought it was unnecessary and only provided a small risk to my now diminished health thanks to the various enemies that stealth failed with. Then I went all the way to the other side of the game. It was already cleared, so it should have been annoying, but I actually enjoyed navigating the NARROW tunnels again. The final room had 3 crystals (the game had a total of 16) and some turrets protesting it. I thought I would be a cinch, but they were placed in way that they could all hit me at once, and I almost died. When I got all 3 crystals, I thought "Thank god"

Final thoughts:

Because of the shape of this game, the tunnels and everything, some parts that should have been cliche were pretty good. However, taking away the awesome shapes of the tunnels and art of this game, there was absolutely nothing new. Finally, I'll add that the enemy placement could not have been better; I couldn't avoid any of them. And on a final note, I'm definitely going to play rest of the series now, and eagerly anticipate more sequels, with now raised expectations, and I don't think I'll be disappointed.

Overall Pros of the game:

- Shape of the game (Tunnels)

- PERFECT enemy placement

- Good length; A small therefore not laggy game but still long

- I did die a few times due to losing health, but not enough to discourage me from playing

Overall Cons of the game:

- Repetitive

- Nothing new in terms of puzzles

- A tiny bit of lag

Final Score

9/10