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PlutoTheThing
For: I wanna be the Battlegrounds
For: I wanna be the Battlegrounds
This review is based on a 100% clear
Battlegrounds is one of the most iconic avoidance games of all time, featuring 5 avoidances made by 5 of the most prolific avoidance makers ever. The game has such a high amount of variety, no two fights feel even remotely alike, which means that it’s only right to discuss the avoidances individually.
Gureiga Stage - Gureiga’s avoidance is in my opinion, one of the more distinct ones in the game. It feels like it’s split into two very different halves. The beginning of the fight has some relatively simple attacks although they do feel pretty good to play, in particular the screen flip attack is a fun reading challenge as you have to read far enough in advance to have a good spot to fall down, and then also try to manage the fast screen-wrapping bullets falling down. The pattern at the end of the non-infinite jump part is really cool, it’s tricky to learn but it’s very forgiving, it’s not precise so once you understand it, it feels pretty nice.
The infinite jump section is where the avoidance (and the song) really start to shine in my opinion, basically every attack features a different kind of RNG reading, most of which is coming at you from basically every direction. The dashing bullets attack is particularly tricky, requiring you to be able to read pretty quickly to know where gaps will be. Pre-final is such a mess in a very good way, so many different things going on that all builds up so well, it’s a really cool moment of the avoidance which leads into the really tough final attack, which ends it all on a very climactic note. The whole thing is so rewarding to play, this fight also has relatively simple visuals, but it all looks really clean and smooth. In a game with a lot of over the top fights it’s nice to have something relatively easy on the eyes. Very well put together avoidance in my opinion.
Lilly Stage - Out of all the fights in Battlegrounds, Lilly’s is probably the most standard, it’s the most pure barrage fight in the whole game, it contains some flashy attacks but they are flashy because of fast bullets moving in crazy ways, not because of visual effects or any super unique concepts. To speak about the good first, Lilly’s mapping is very strong, this is evident in all of their work but it still should be stated. The attacks can feel quite good to play at times, it definitely keeps things simple but there’s still some depth to the attacks and quite a bit of movement, you don’t just stand on the left side of the screen and dodge what comes at you for the whole fight. In general I enjoyed the first 60% or so of the avoidance the most, in particular the section after the intro and at the start of the drop were fun to play.
There are definitely quite a few flaws with this avoidance though, to get the obvious out of the way, some attacks are genuinely unreactable. I don’t even mean hard to react to, there are just moments in this avoidance where dodging an attack is outside the scope of human reaction time and you just need to pray stuff doesn’t go your way. This gets a bit tilting when you die to this stuff over and over. Beyond that though a lot of the RNG just feels kinda unbalanced, there’s a lot of attacks with aimed components where you can get completely destroyed if stuff gets in your way, to the avoidance’s credit though these aren’t particularly common but the variance is so high that it can feel demoralizing, I did sometimes feel like almost all of my attempts to the 2nd half were dying to RNG I simply was not skilled enough to know how to read, and this leads to my main gripe with this fight. I think the barrier of skill needed to consistently read and handle the attacks in it is much higher than what you need to clear it. I’m not the best barrage player but this avoidance did not take particularly long for me, but it still felt like I just was incapable of handling a lot of scenarios. It definitely feels like the most RNG heavy fight for that reason (yes, even more so than Tomo.) which is unfortunate because there truly is a lot of merit to this fight, but it’s hard to fully appreciate, at least for me. Definitely not a bad fight in my opinion but I think with some more balance to the RNG and maybe giving some attacks a chill pill, it could be a lot more enjoyable.
Afoth Stage - The crowd favorite of the bunch, at least from what I’ve observed, Afoth Stage is the most popular avoidance in this game, and it really does deserve the praise it gets. For one the attacks are incredibly creative, I’d say it’s probably the most creative avoidance in the entire game. The fight is mostly built on very intense attacks with a lot going on, not just visually but in regards to the gameplay. This means the fight has quite the learning curve, as it can at points be difficult to tell what you should be looking at or reading at any given time, and how you should dodge it. This leads to my only gripe with the fight, the learning curve isn’t exactly my thing. When learning the attacks it can sometimes be really confusing how or why you died, on top of the fact that you can just luck through these attacks made it extra confusing to get past something multiple times just to get hard stuck on it the next times, although this could just have been due to me getting unusually lucky on my early attempts. That’s it for negatives though, once I got over that hump the avoidance felt amazing to play, it’s very well balanced, I love the pacing, and the attacks were immensely satisfying to get past. All of this culminates in a masterful avoidance, it helps too that the visuals and mapping are very strong. For sure a highlight of the whole game.
Tomo Stage - This is easily the most divisive thing in the entire game, and if you are familiar with Tomo’s work it’s really not hard to see why, his avoidances are infamous for their dubious RNG balancing which to many just feels like skilless luck grinding with almost nothing fun or interesting about it. I personally disagree with this notion in a lot of cases and Tomo Stage could very well be the biggest exception. The attacks can be really fast and overwhelming and the RNG variance a little absurd, but a lot of situations in this avoidance can be managed by just playing better. I think a lot of the attacks here such as the fast curving at the start, the invert, and even the buildup (sometimes called toilet bowl) have a very high skill element and can absolutely be mastered with enough time. It’s definitely got issues, the attack before the VOX Diamond attack can feel a little unfair, likewise the transition between the pseudo-pattern bit and the buildup is jarring and I truly believe there’s no reason for it to be how it is, but I genuinely enjoy playing this fight, especially once you reach the chorus section which has such a loveable energy that is great to both watch and experience. The whole fight feels light-hearted and carefree, an unusual sight for such a brutal avoidance. It’s very clearly not for everyone, and it’s probably the biggest deal breaker for a lot of people especially since some think it’s the hardest fight, but I think it has real merits and deserves to be regarded as more than just a lottery avoidance.
Ao Stage - Easily the most iconic avoidance in the game, and it’s not hard to see why. It’s generally considered the hardest one, even if you disagree and think Tomo is harder, it’s definitely a lot more visually impressive considering how fast paced and intense it gets, on top of being made by the best avoidance player of all time and using a very distinct song. The whole thing has a ton of personality, there’s really nothing I’ve personally seen that feels quite like Ao Stage, for one I think the fight has the best mapping of any fight in the game. The way everything moves matches the song so perfectly, the various build-ups all contain attacks which accelerate in speed and intensity, the darkness section feels so smooth and free-flowing, the infamous drop has bullets that move in such jagged and strange ways. In general I think Ao is incredibly good at matching up his avoidances to the songs used, but this one really knocks it out of the park. It’s not just that which gives the fight its great vibe, visually the fight is very interesting, it prominently features the color yellow which is pretty unconventional, but I think the color choices compliment it quite well. The drop onwards is a bit stronger in this department, the trails might be a bit much for some people but I think they aren’t too distracting and add a lot of the fight visually, considering how noisy the song is during these parts it makes sense to have gameplay which likewise is visually noisy. It all works very well for me.
For as good as the aesthetics are in this fight, the gameplay steals the show. Nearly every attack is much more in depth than they may seem on the surface. There aren’t really many bits which boil down to “just read the RNG.” This is obviously a big part of the fight but most attacks will have little details which need to be picked up on, learned, and eventually mastered. An early example is the attack with raining bullets from the top and patterns from the sides, there’s a lot of different situations that can happen and learning how best to manage them takes time, but is extremely satisfying, and there’s many things like that, such as the lines in the darkness section or the windmill in the drop. Some avoidances, especially barrage fights, can feel like there’s a limit where you stop improving at attacks because you are limited by your skill, but Ao Stage has a layer of complexity which means you constantly feel like you are improving, getting more consistent, learning how to manage weird or hard scenarios and making progress. There is a bit of a wall due to the patterns in the fight, they can be quite tricky to learn especially since there’s a few precise bits, notably lining up with the circle after the dashing bullets from the right and left, but they felt really good to play and never felt like I was completely stuck on them, they are just a really challenging part of the fight which takes time to get used to, much like the rest of it. I also think the outro is really cool, it just repeats the intro with some modifications but that leads to a really stressful dynamic since you have so much experience with this part already, it’s a powerful moment in part due to its simplicity. All of these things make this avoidance an incredible standout for the game, I truly believe this fight is brilliant in it’s design and my favorite part of the game.
All of these avoidances are very strong in their own rights, it’s unlikely you’ll vibe with them all but it goes without saying the game is a must play for the fact that you are very likely to find something you click with and wanna invest time into here. 4 of the avoidances in this game are some of my all time favorites, and it’s one of the most impressive fangames I’ve ever played. I can’t recommend everyone try to beat it, but for me at least, it was consistently some of the most fun I’ve had with avoidance as a genre.
[1] Like
Battlegrounds is one of the most iconic avoidance games of all time, featuring 5 avoidances made by 5 of the most prolific avoidance makers ever. The game has such a high amount of variety, no two fights feel even remotely alike, which means that it’s only right to discuss the avoidances individually.
Gureiga Stage - Gureiga’s avoidance is in my opinion, one of the more distinct ones in the game. It feels like it’s split into two very different halves. The beginning of the fight has some relatively simple attacks although they do feel pretty good to play, in particular the screen flip attack is a fun reading challenge as you have to read far enough in advance to have a good spot to fall down, and then also try to manage the fast screen-wrapping bullets falling down. The pattern at the end of the non-infinite jump part is really cool, it’s tricky to learn but it’s very forgiving, it’s not precise so once you understand it, it feels pretty nice.
The infinite jump section is where the avoidance (and the song) really start to shine in my opinion, basically every attack features a different kind of RNG reading, most of which is coming at you from basically every direction. The dashing bullets attack is particularly tricky, requiring you to be able to read pretty quickly to know where gaps will be. Pre-final is such a mess in a very good way, so many different things going on that all builds up so well, it’s a really cool moment of the avoidance which leads into the really tough final attack, which ends it all on a very climactic note. The whole thing is so rewarding to play, this fight also has relatively simple visuals, but it all looks really clean and smooth. In a game with a lot of over the top fights it’s nice to have something relatively easy on the eyes. Very well put together avoidance in my opinion.
Lilly Stage - Out of all the fights in Battlegrounds, Lilly’s is probably the most standard, it’s the most pure barrage fight in the whole game, it contains some flashy attacks but they are flashy because of fast bullets moving in crazy ways, not because of visual effects or any super unique concepts. To speak about the good first, Lilly’s mapping is very strong, this is evident in all of their work but it still should be stated. The attacks can feel quite good to play at times, it definitely keeps things simple but there’s still some depth to the attacks and quite a bit of movement, you don’t just stand on the left side of the screen and dodge what comes at you for the whole fight. In general I enjoyed the first 60% or so of the avoidance the most, in particular the section after the intro and at the start of the drop were fun to play.
There are definitely quite a few flaws with this avoidance though, to get the obvious out of the way, some attacks are genuinely unreactable. I don’t even mean hard to react to, there are just moments in this avoidance where dodging an attack is outside the scope of human reaction time and you just need to pray stuff doesn’t go your way. This gets a bit tilting when you die to this stuff over and over. Beyond that though a lot of the RNG just feels kinda unbalanced, there’s a lot of attacks with aimed components where you can get completely destroyed if stuff gets in your way, to the avoidance’s credit though these aren’t particularly common but the variance is so high that it can feel demoralizing, I did sometimes feel like almost all of my attempts to the 2nd half were dying to RNG I simply was not skilled enough to know how to read, and this leads to my main gripe with this fight. I think the barrier of skill needed to consistently read and handle the attacks in it is much higher than what you need to clear it. I’m not the best barrage player but this avoidance did not take particularly long for me, but it still felt like I just was incapable of handling a lot of scenarios. It definitely feels like the most RNG heavy fight for that reason (yes, even more so than Tomo.) which is unfortunate because there truly is a lot of merit to this fight, but it’s hard to fully appreciate, at least for me. Definitely not a bad fight in my opinion but I think with some more balance to the RNG and maybe giving some attacks a chill pill, it could be a lot more enjoyable.
Afoth Stage - The crowd favorite of the bunch, at least from what I’ve observed, Afoth Stage is the most popular avoidance in this game, and it really does deserve the praise it gets. For one the attacks are incredibly creative, I’d say it’s probably the most creative avoidance in the entire game. The fight is mostly built on very intense attacks with a lot going on, not just visually but in regards to the gameplay. This means the fight has quite the learning curve, as it can at points be difficult to tell what you should be looking at or reading at any given time, and how you should dodge it. This leads to my only gripe with the fight, the learning curve isn’t exactly my thing. When learning the attacks it can sometimes be really confusing how or why you died, on top of the fact that you can just luck through these attacks made it extra confusing to get past something multiple times just to get hard stuck on it the next times, although this could just have been due to me getting unusually lucky on my early attempts. That’s it for negatives though, once I got over that hump the avoidance felt amazing to play, it’s very well balanced, I love the pacing, and the attacks were immensely satisfying to get past. All of this culminates in a masterful avoidance, it helps too that the visuals and mapping are very strong. For sure a highlight of the whole game.
Tomo Stage - This is easily the most divisive thing in the entire game, and if you are familiar with Tomo’s work it’s really not hard to see why, his avoidances are infamous for their dubious RNG balancing which to many just feels like skilless luck grinding with almost nothing fun or interesting about it. I personally disagree with this notion in a lot of cases and Tomo Stage could very well be the biggest exception. The attacks can be really fast and overwhelming and the RNG variance a little absurd, but a lot of situations in this avoidance can be managed by just playing better. I think a lot of the attacks here such as the fast curving at the start, the invert, and even the buildup (sometimes called toilet bowl) have a very high skill element and can absolutely be mastered with enough time. It’s definitely got issues, the attack before the VOX Diamond attack can feel a little unfair, likewise the transition between the pseudo-pattern bit and the buildup is jarring and I truly believe there’s no reason for it to be how it is, but I genuinely enjoy playing this fight, especially once you reach the chorus section which has such a loveable energy that is great to both watch and experience. The whole fight feels light-hearted and carefree, an unusual sight for such a brutal avoidance. It’s very clearly not for everyone, and it’s probably the biggest deal breaker for a lot of people especially since some think it’s the hardest fight, but I think it has real merits and deserves to be regarded as more than just a lottery avoidance.
Ao Stage - Easily the most iconic avoidance in the game, and it’s not hard to see why. It’s generally considered the hardest one, even if you disagree and think Tomo is harder, it’s definitely a lot more visually impressive considering how fast paced and intense it gets, on top of being made by the best avoidance player of all time and using a very distinct song. The whole thing has a ton of personality, there’s really nothing I’ve personally seen that feels quite like Ao Stage, for one I think the fight has the best mapping of any fight in the game. The way everything moves matches the song so perfectly, the various build-ups all contain attacks which accelerate in speed and intensity, the darkness section feels so smooth and free-flowing, the infamous drop has bullets that move in such jagged and strange ways. In general I think Ao is incredibly good at matching up his avoidances to the songs used, but this one really knocks it out of the park. It’s not just that which gives the fight its great vibe, visually the fight is very interesting, it prominently features the color yellow which is pretty unconventional, but I think the color choices compliment it quite well. The drop onwards is a bit stronger in this department, the trails might be a bit much for some people but I think they aren’t too distracting and add a lot of the fight visually, considering how noisy the song is during these parts it makes sense to have gameplay which likewise is visually noisy. It all works very well for me.
For as good as the aesthetics are in this fight, the gameplay steals the show. Nearly every attack is much more in depth than they may seem on the surface. There aren’t really many bits which boil down to “just read the RNG.” This is obviously a big part of the fight but most attacks will have little details which need to be picked up on, learned, and eventually mastered. An early example is the attack with raining bullets from the top and patterns from the sides, there’s a lot of different situations that can happen and learning how best to manage them takes time, but is extremely satisfying, and there’s many things like that, such as the lines in the darkness section or the windmill in the drop. Some avoidances, especially barrage fights, can feel like there’s a limit where you stop improving at attacks because you are limited by your skill, but Ao Stage has a layer of complexity which means you constantly feel like you are improving, getting more consistent, learning how to manage weird or hard scenarios and making progress. There is a bit of a wall due to the patterns in the fight, they can be quite tricky to learn especially since there’s a few precise bits, notably lining up with the circle after the dashing bullets from the right and left, but they felt really good to play and never felt like I was completely stuck on them, they are just a really challenging part of the fight which takes time to get used to, much like the rest of it. I also think the outro is really cool, it just repeats the intro with some modifications but that leads to a really stressful dynamic since you have so much experience with this part already, it’s a powerful moment in part due to its simplicity. All of these things make this avoidance an incredible standout for the game, I truly believe this fight is brilliant in it’s design and my favorite part of the game.
All of these avoidances are very strong in their own rights, it’s unlikely you’ll vibe with them all but it goes without saying the game is a must play for the fact that you are very likely to find something you click with and wanna invest time into here. 4 of the avoidances in this game are some of my all time favorites, and it’s one of the most impressive fangames I’ve ever played. I can’t recommend everyone try to beat it, but for me at least, it was consistently some of the most fun I’ve had with avoidance as a genre.
Rating: 10.0 100
Difficulty: 94 94
May 10, 2024
PlutoTheThing
For: MKey Medley v1.0
For: MKey Medley v1.0
This game is new so I will spoiler tag the review just in case.
MKey Medley is a unique medley in a lot of ways, largely in the screens it picks. The game has a lot more variety in terms of gameplay, where most medleys stick to needle for their stages, this game has different mini-games, puzzles, standard needle and more gimmicky platforming to spice things up and make different sections feel fresh. The first two stages demonstrate this quite well, so many games both new and old, and the game doesn't stick to one boss per stage or anything, all of these things make the game feel very unique in terms of structure.
The bosses of this game are probably one of the biggest things that deserve to be talked about, this game does not use traditional medley style bosses (with one potential exception) and instead the bosses are usually just the original boss with very minor or potentially no changes. I think this leads to potentially the biggest drawback of the game, the lack of original content. This might seem silly to complain about in a medley, but the only things in this game which are truly original are the hubs in stage 4 and 5 which are relatively minor, and the final boss. This is not an objective flaw with the game, but I do think some of the appeal of medleys is seeing how they can create their own unique things using other stuff as a base, some of the most iconic sections of any medley tend to be their medley style bosses which combine a bunch of different fights into one grand battle. The final boss of MKey Medley does deliver in this regard and it's a really cool fight, especially in the second phase, but I wish there was more to make the game stand out from what it's taking it's screens from. I think where this design hurts the game the most is when there is a section used that you didn't like in the original game, it's likely mostly the same here. Notably for me, boss 3 is an avoidance from Permanence 2 I already wasn't big on, but replaying it here was very frustrating and was the weakest part of the game for me. In general stage 3 was probably the low point of the game for me, I mostly enjoyed it but stuff like the M2 screen and the I Don't Wanna Play A Trick On You screens were not my thing.
Stages 4 and 5 are really good, I really enjoy most of the stuff from stage rush, in particular the use of the Collab 2 Dotkid avoidance was a treat. Stage 5 in particular was my favorite part of the entire game, it takes the format of a magic tower style thing, no stats just keys and various fights which follow the medley format. Everything here was enjoyable and it was just so cool to see, the usage of the classic minigame made me laugh a lot. I've already touched on the final boss, to go slightly more in depth I think the first phase feels a bit unbalanced, there's some major choke points like the beginning of Permanence 2 which can be realy nasty and I also had trouble with the start of remilia because lining up the gaps in the keys was hard. I have no complaints about phase 2 though, it was a fantastic send off for the game. Overall the game is really fun, it has ups and downs but it's mostly high points and I found myself enjoying my time with it far more often than not. I wish there was more original content but this game probably has some of the best pure medley gameplay in any game, and it's really amazing that it got finished. Recommended for sure.
[5] Likes
MKey Medley is a unique medley in a lot of ways, largely in the screens it picks. The game has a lot more variety in terms of gameplay, where most medleys stick to needle for their stages, this game has different mini-games, puzzles, standard needle and more gimmicky platforming to spice things up and make different sections feel fresh. The first two stages demonstrate this quite well, so many games both new and old, and the game doesn't stick to one boss per stage or anything, all of these things make the game feel very unique in terms of structure.
The bosses of this game are probably one of the biggest things that deserve to be talked about, this game does not use traditional medley style bosses (with one potential exception) and instead the bosses are usually just the original boss with very minor or potentially no changes. I think this leads to potentially the biggest drawback of the game, the lack of original content. This might seem silly to complain about in a medley, but the only things in this game which are truly original are the hubs in stage 4 and 5 which are relatively minor, and the final boss. This is not an objective flaw with the game, but I do think some of the appeal of medleys is seeing how they can create their own unique things using other stuff as a base, some of the most iconic sections of any medley tend to be their medley style bosses which combine a bunch of different fights into one grand battle. The final boss of MKey Medley does deliver in this regard and it's a really cool fight, especially in the second phase, but I wish there was more to make the game stand out from what it's taking it's screens from. I think where this design hurts the game the most is when there is a section used that you didn't like in the original game, it's likely mostly the same here. Notably for me, boss 3 is an avoidance from Permanence 2 I already wasn't big on, but replaying it here was very frustrating and was the weakest part of the game for me. In general stage 3 was probably the low point of the game for me, I mostly enjoyed it but stuff like the M2 screen and the I Don't Wanna Play A Trick On You screens were not my thing.
Stages 4 and 5 are really good, I really enjoy most of the stuff from stage rush, in particular the use of the Collab 2 Dotkid avoidance was a treat. Stage 5 in particular was my favorite part of the entire game, it takes the format of a magic tower style thing, no stats just keys and various fights which follow the medley format. Everything here was enjoyable and it was just so cool to see, the usage of the classic minigame made me laugh a lot. I've already touched on the final boss, to go slightly more in depth I think the first phase feels a bit unbalanced, there's some major choke points like the beginning of Permanence 2 which can be realy nasty and I also had trouble with the start of remilia because lining up the gaps in the keys was hard. I have no complaints about phase 2 though, it was a fantastic send off for the game. Overall the game is really fun, it has ups and downs but it's mostly high points and I found myself enjoying my time with it far more often than not. I wish there was more original content but this game probably has some of the best pure medley gameplay in any game, and it's really amazing that it got finished. Recommended for sure.
Rating: 8.5 85
Difficulty: 67 67
May 6, 2024
PlutoTheThing
For: Wujian Happy Needle
For: Wujian Happy Needle
Collab with a decent bit of variety, every stage feels quite distinct which is nice although in my opinion it's not always to the stage's benefit. I think in particular the 4th stage was quite annoying and I also didn't have a great time with the 3rd stage, the second save in particular felt a little weird since some jumps are basically meaningless and some are weirdly hard. In contrast I thought the rest of the stages were all enjoyable, in particular the last two were highlights of the experience, both felt really nice and creative. I also thought the first stage was pretty fun. Alright collab overall, could be better but could be much worse.
[0] Likes
Rating: 6.7 67
Difficulty: 70 70
May 6, 2024
PlutoTheThing
For: I wanna Melanzana
For: I wanna Melanzana
Melanzana is an avoidance which speaks for itself, it’s one of the most intimidating avoidances out there as it offers an almost 3 and a half minute long gauntlet of nonstop pattern gameplay, featuring brutally tight timings, strange and complex maneuvers, and almost no truly easy sections. In spite of that though I think the game is a little misunderstood in some aspects, largely due to the fact that a lot of people don’t even want to really try because of how much it demands from you.
The general gameplay of Melanzana is surprisingly varied, in theme with the song it’s sort of like learning a dance (at least what I imagine that’s like) where all the cherries are your dance partners, you learn how they move, where they go, and most importantly where you fit into all of this. What you’ll find is that while the game is ultra punishing for even the smallest mistakes, in a lot of ways it’s quite generous, offering a fair amount of leniency for a lot of inputs, there are no frame perfect inputs or anything although there are several tight timings, some that are only 2-3 frames. While you may spend hours learning one part, everything in the fight can become consistent with enough time, which makes learning the later bits a time consuming but manageable process which is extremely rewarding to power through.
A big part of what makes Melanzana feel so good is the patterns themselves, they are basically all centered around a particular motion and most of them flow into each other, which while overwhelming at times feels amazing to execute in most cases. A common criticism I see of this game is that it’s “all circles and lines” but I think this is a very misguided critique, while some bits may look similar and there are a few motions the game uses multiple times (such as walking off a platform and jumping back on) for the most part everything in the game feels quite distinct, and that includes all the spinning lines the game is known for. Every bit has its own nuances that separate it from the rest of the avoidance that you have to adapt to, and I personally never felt like it was repetitive or like something was overdone. Some parts of the avoidance that stood out to me were the first pre-chorus, which has some super tight movements especially at the start, but feels really good and visually is my favorite part of the fight, verse 2 which was my favorite part, it feels super fluid and smooth throughout and was always extremely satisfying to pull off, and the second chorus, which is relatively simple compared to the rest of the fight but still has some really intense bits along with patterns that felt super satisfying to execute. Nearly every part of the fight however has at least something cool that’s both challenging and fun, there’s some bits which are better than others for sure (for instance I think the zoom-out is a little stupid especially since it encourages using a 1 frame jump) but even then I don’t think I ever was truly frustrated with a pattern or input, they all felt good.
There’s also some depth in the fight which is maybe not obvious to a viewer, there’s a good variety of random elements which change how exactly you need to perform a pattern. Some of them are a little unbalanced, notably getting green instead of purple on intro 2 is a bit trickier, and I personally struggled a lot with getting a “3” on the numbered cherry at the end of verse 2, although it may be a personal issue. The random elements are abundant and definitely keep things fresh, it’s a testament to how well made this game is in my opinion. While not perfect and in some ways definitely improved upon by its successor, Verre (although I haven’t played it yet :P), Melanzana still manages to be an incredibly impressive game in just the fact it exists. It’s so impressive, so complex, and so well made. It’s obviously not for everyone, no pattern avoidance ever will be, but for as much as Melanzana asks of the player in order to overcome the challenge it presents, it ensures that every second you spend is worth your time.
[4] Likes
The general gameplay of Melanzana is surprisingly varied, in theme with the song it’s sort of like learning a dance (at least what I imagine that’s like) where all the cherries are your dance partners, you learn how they move, where they go, and most importantly where you fit into all of this. What you’ll find is that while the game is ultra punishing for even the smallest mistakes, in a lot of ways it’s quite generous, offering a fair amount of leniency for a lot of inputs, there are no frame perfect inputs or anything although there are several tight timings, some that are only 2-3 frames. While you may spend hours learning one part, everything in the fight can become consistent with enough time, which makes learning the later bits a time consuming but manageable process which is extremely rewarding to power through.
A big part of what makes Melanzana feel so good is the patterns themselves, they are basically all centered around a particular motion and most of them flow into each other, which while overwhelming at times feels amazing to execute in most cases. A common criticism I see of this game is that it’s “all circles and lines” but I think this is a very misguided critique, while some bits may look similar and there are a few motions the game uses multiple times (such as walking off a platform and jumping back on) for the most part everything in the game feels quite distinct, and that includes all the spinning lines the game is known for. Every bit has its own nuances that separate it from the rest of the avoidance that you have to adapt to, and I personally never felt like it was repetitive or like something was overdone. Some parts of the avoidance that stood out to me were the first pre-chorus, which has some super tight movements especially at the start, but feels really good and visually is my favorite part of the fight, verse 2 which was my favorite part, it feels super fluid and smooth throughout and was always extremely satisfying to pull off, and the second chorus, which is relatively simple compared to the rest of the fight but still has some really intense bits along with patterns that felt super satisfying to execute. Nearly every part of the fight however has at least something cool that’s both challenging and fun, there’s some bits which are better than others for sure (for instance I think the zoom-out is a little stupid especially since it encourages using a 1 frame jump) but even then I don’t think I ever was truly frustrated with a pattern or input, they all felt good.
There’s also some depth in the fight which is maybe not obvious to a viewer, there’s a good variety of random elements which change how exactly you need to perform a pattern. Some of them are a little unbalanced, notably getting green instead of purple on intro 2 is a bit trickier, and I personally struggled a lot with getting a “3” on the numbered cherry at the end of verse 2, although it may be a personal issue. The random elements are abundant and definitely keep things fresh, it’s a testament to how well made this game is in my opinion. While not perfect and in some ways definitely improved upon by its successor, Verre (although I haven’t played it yet :P), Melanzana still manages to be an incredibly impressive game in just the fact it exists. It’s so impressive, so complex, and so well made. It’s obviously not for everyone, no pattern avoidance ever will be, but for as much as Melanzana asks of the player in order to overcome the challenge it presents, it ensures that every second you spend is worth your time.
Rating: 10.0 100
Difficulty: 96 96
Apr 30, 2024
PlutoTheThing
For: I wanna be the Air
For: I wanna be the Air
Lengthy trap game, the platforming in a lot of places feels long and drawn out although it has it's moments where it's decently fun. The bosses are the highlight, in particular the Yuyuko boss is quite good and the Bad Apple fight was pretty clever. Definitely a game with good parts but I do think it suffers from it's length a bit, it gets a bit stale halfway through and then just keeps on going.
[0] Likes
Rating: 5.7 57
Difficulty: 33 33
Apr 17, 2024
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