Delicious FruitCthaere's Profile
Send a PMJoined on: May 25, 2020
Bio:
I play fangames or stuff.
I try rating game compared to what they are trying to achieve rather than compared to fangames as a whole, and with knowledge of what you're getting into; If I rate a corridor needle game, I assume the person reading the review wants to play corridor needle, as if they don't they shouldn't bother playing it anyway. With that said, I tend to be very generous on needle ratings while being very skimpy on avoidances (although you likely won't see it as if I'd give it less than a 7 I just won't clear it instead).
with extremely rare exceptions, 9/10+ is reserved to games that have left deep emotional impact, while 10/10 is reserved for games I love unconditionally.
If I reviewed it and the review doesn't say otherwise, it's safe to assume I cleared it. I try adding my clears to df but I never really cared to keep track, so some might be missing.
don't expect diff ratings to be very accurate.
I've submitted:
225 Ratings!
147 Reviews!
9 Screenshots!
225 Games
147 Reviews
Cthaere
For: I HATE Double Turn Team!
For: I HATE Double Turn Team!
Haven't cleared so no ratings, and no usual really long review.
In any case, check this out. It's very good modern needle that's relatively light on the gimmicks. There's definitely a ton of work put into this, and the result speaks for itself. Visuals are simple but effective for the most part, and the soundtrack is the best I've seen in a fangame (although ymmv if your taste doesn't match mine). Has some really great humor and easter eggs too. Quit because it has some really long saves that I don't feel like grinding, although I might come back to it in the future. I'd be inclined to believe it gets easily over 80 diff later down the line, so do be warned though.
[3] Likes
In any case, check this out. It's very good modern needle that's relatively light on the gimmicks. There's definitely a ton of work put into this, and the result speaks for itself. Visuals are simple but effective for the most part, and the soundtrack is the best I've seen in a fangame (although ymmv if your taste doesn't match mine). Has some really great humor and easter eggs too. Quit because it has some really long saves that I don't feel like grinding, although I might come back to it in the future. I'd be inclined to believe it gets easily over 80 diff later down the line, so do be warned though.
Rating: N/A
Difficulty: N/A
Oct 14, 2022
Cthaere
For: I Wanna [VERB] the [ADJECTIVE] [NOUN]
For: I Wanna [VERB] the [ADJECTIVE] [NOUN]
Rating based on "innocent" (normal) difficulty on a previous version of the game.
I Wanna [VERB] the [ADJECTIVE] [NOUN] is a 32 pixel needle game which appears to be an easier FTFA like of medium length. The visuals are simple, pleasing, unobtrusive, and consistent with other similar games.
As for the gameplay... There are problems. Save balance is a major issue, for once, which would likely make a playthrough on hard/vhard (the difficulties that seem more "intended") a much more painful ordeal. The jumps themselves, while facilitating more complex movement than you'd expect from an FTFA like, do not get to the level of consistency one would expect/hope for from an FTFA like (which could be also due to the relatively short save length) and has a few particular repeat offenders that feel both inconsistent and frustrating to die to due to appearing to be easy but heavily affected by keyboard/vstring "luck" (full vspeed ledge landings, and the turnaround diagonals). In general, the enjoyment I personally find in FTFA likes is making the seemingly impossible become consistent - Jumps should appear hard so that dying to them feels acceptable, yet either still have a consistent manner to execute them through a setup, or be performed by a string of comfortable (yet precise) inputs to so that the jump feels as though skill of execution is the determining factor in passing or failing. As one can see, this contrasts with the previous points of contention.
This game has an extra screen (or two? I already forgot, if there are two then I'll focus on the last one as it is the more important of them anyhow), which features shorter save length and tighter jumps. To be perfectly frank, some of these felt like luck. Particularly the first jump of either of the final 2 saves. There's also an align issue with the bottom middle save (EDIT: fixed in new version). While there are some cool things here (the jump from the corner through the plane on the top left is really good, and the water plane was also fun), they do not really fit in the context of the game and the parts that felt like luck made me almost want to quit.
In conclusion, I would suggest prospective players to avoid this unless they're significantly better than me at FTFA likes (which, to note, I have cleared Say Something). As for feedback and suggestions for improvement, I'd personally want to see slightly longer saves of jumps of the type I described above - Either hard & precise-looking but with a consistent setup, or jumps that feel natural to do (doublejumping out of corners raised by 2 blocks, tbone diagonals, water dplanes are great example of this).
[1] Like
I Wanna [VERB] the [ADJECTIVE] [NOUN] is a 32 pixel needle game which appears to be an easier FTFA like of medium length. The visuals are simple, pleasing, unobtrusive, and consistent with other similar games.
As for the gameplay... There are problems. Save balance is a major issue, for once, which would likely make a playthrough on hard/vhard (the difficulties that seem more "intended") a much more painful ordeal. The jumps themselves, while facilitating more complex movement than you'd expect from an FTFA like, do not get to the level of consistency one would expect/hope for from an FTFA like (which could be also due to the relatively short save length) and has a few particular repeat offenders that feel both inconsistent and frustrating to die to due to appearing to be easy but heavily affected by keyboard/vstring "luck" (full vspeed ledge landings, and the turnaround diagonals). In general, the enjoyment I personally find in FTFA likes is making the seemingly impossible become consistent - Jumps should appear hard so that dying to them feels acceptable, yet either still have a consistent manner to execute them through a setup, or be performed by a string of comfortable (yet precise) inputs to so that the jump feels as though skill of execution is the determining factor in passing or failing. As one can see, this contrasts with the previous points of contention.
This game has an extra screen (or two? I already forgot, if there are two then I'll focus on the last one as it is the more important of them anyhow), which features shorter save length and tighter jumps. To be perfectly frank, some of these felt like luck. Particularly the first jump of either of the final 2 saves. There's also an align issue with the bottom middle save (EDIT: fixed in new version). While there are some cool things here (the jump from the corner through the plane on the top left is really good, and the water plane was also fun), they do not really fit in the context of the game and the parts that felt like luck made me almost want to quit.
In conclusion, I would suggest prospective players to avoid this unless they're significantly better than me at FTFA likes (which, to note, I have cleared Say Something). As for feedback and suggestions for improvement, I'd personally want to see slightly longer saves of jumps of the type I described above - Either hard & precise-looking but with a consistent setup, or jumps that feel natural to do (doublejumping out of corners raised by 2 blocks, tbone diagonals, water dplanes are great example of this).
Rating: 5.0 50
Difficulty: N/A
Oct 12, 2022
Cthaere
For: I Wanna Take A Walk In The Sun
For: I Wanna Take A Walk In The Sun
If you know nothing about this game and are interested in playing it, I would advise that you do not consume any piece of information about it save for the non-spoilered parts of the rest of this review, lest you decrease the quality of your own experience. Go into this game with an open mind and low expectations to get the most out of it.
I wanna take a walk in the sun is a long needle game which contains both JTool needle, CTool needle, and general gimmick needle in comparable amounts. The jtool needle is for the most part in modern style, taking after late CN2 - post CN3 games. Throughout the games, there are many throwbacks and references to other notable gimmick needle games such as Volatile Presence, Cry Myself To Sleep or Hydrate.
As far as gameplay is concerned, the game is mostly fun to play, if failing to stand out in many parts. For how long this game is, there were a meager few instances of me being wowed by it, although it is worth noting that they do exist, and that many modern gimmick needle games fail to achieve even that. As for the weaker parts, they are relatively uncommon, and while some of them feel intentional, many of them do not and seem to stand in violation of common modern needle design tropes, although I cannot recall anything that fully annoyed me. As for some of the overarching aspects of the game, removing snap from 98% of platforms would have made the game significantly better, and having a more healthy spread between jtool and the more creative parts would have done better than having all of the good stuff shoved in the 2nd half with pure jtool being 80% of the first half. While they are not too common, the vast majority of gameplay issues could likely have been fixed with better testplay, and so it is a bit disappointing to play the game in this state.
As far as the atmosphere goes, it borrows tilesets heavily from other games and occasionally song picks. In cases the song is taken as well, the atmosphere feels cheap, unoriginal and unfitting, while the parts with original music manage to clash jarringly in places and rarely work to create a good, cohesive atmosphere. The lack of dynamic visuals in 80% of the game as well as the usage of NANC2 default engine gimmicks with their sprites and SFX intact exacerbates these issues, as the game feels very flat and whatever immersion there does exist to be salvaged is swiftly broken by the nang triple jump star. This isn't to say the game is ugly, or that the soundtrack is bad, nor that the fit is so bad so as to reduce from the experience; However, for a game that feels as though it was trying to craft an atmosphere, it fails to do so, meaning rather than points being deducted for poor production, instead no bonus points are added for well executed one. In many cases, it does feel as though relatively little work and a minor overhaul of the soundtrack could have significantly increased both atmospheric cohesion and production feel, and so this aspect remains very disappointing.
All in all, if you can stomach 30+ screens of 70 diff jtool to get to the interesting stuff, I would recommend this, although even when you do get to the good stuff don't set your expectations too high; If you can't, you should probably refrain from this game.
And now, for the spoilered part:
So now it's time to address the elephant in the room: Morning dew.
It is extremely apparent the game tries modeling itself after Morning Dew. From the name, through the many, many stolen stage visuals, the attempt at the OST, even the post-credits cutscene. While I have said in the preamble that the player should not think about Dew lest they ruin their experience, it is inevitable the realization will happen at some point, simply due to it being at the very core of what this game seeks to achieve. As such, comparisons to Morning Dew are every bit justified, as the game itself invites them*.
And well, in every conceivable metric, this game does not live up to dew. However, it is important to know the effect of this: The comparison serves only to highlight the places this game is lacking, rather than make the game actively worse. This game isn't mediocre because it doesn't live up to Dew; It does not live up to Dew because it is mediocre**. And here lies the true problem in the comparison: Trying to be Dew means not being allowed to be mediocre, and this comparison sets the expectation that it will not be, one that cannot be fulfilled.
While I do believe this comparison is warranted, I would also want to point out a few things regarding it: First, it is only one perspective to look at the game, one which should not consume all of your field of vision. It is no more important than the analysis of the game as an independent game. Second, while the game does imitate dew, it feels much more as though it tries paying tribute to it (and the other games represented inside) rather than trying to become an alternative to it, and this must be taken into account when looking at the two side by side, as this casts a much more empathetic light on it.
While I cannot say my experience wasn't tainted by this knowledge, I do not think it had too big an effect, and as such I would still abide by the unspoilered part of the review. And yet, I do wish it lived up to Dew. It is what it is, though.
Footnotes:
*for those of you who wanna go "but you can't know what the creator was thinking!!!!": you're technically right, however judging solely from the game and readme, it is by far the most likely interpretation, and we've been playing the "trying to interpret the author" game from the moment art itself was born and came to the conclusion that such interpretations deserve their place and in some cases even overrule the author's word.
**"Mediocre", while ultimately the right word, has some unwanted connotations to it. To clarify, "mediocre" to me in this context means the game is not overtly creative or evocative, not that it is not fun or successful. I consider this to describe the vast majority of fangames, and there are many highly regarded games that I consider to fall in this definition of "mediocre", including some I have rated very highly. Games such as Vandal or Alphazetica would fall in this category: Bringing very little new to the table even at the time they came out, but being very enjoyable nonetheless. Again, there were a couple points this game managed to break free; However, as a whole, I would consider it to fall under this definition.
[4] Likes
I wanna take a walk in the sun is a long needle game which contains both JTool needle, CTool needle, and general gimmick needle in comparable amounts. The jtool needle is for the most part in modern style, taking after late CN2 - post CN3 games. Throughout the games, there are many throwbacks and references to other notable gimmick needle games such as Volatile Presence, Cry Myself To Sleep or Hydrate.
As far as gameplay is concerned, the game is mostly fun to play, if failing to stand out in many parts. For how long this game is, there were a meager few instances of me being wowed by it, although it is worth noting that they do exist, and that many modern gimmick needle games fail to achieve even that. As for the weaker parts, they are relatively uncommon, and while some of them feel intentional, many of them do not and seem to stand in violation of common modern needle design tropes, although I cannot recall anything that fully annoyed me. As for some of the overarching aspects of the game, removing snap from 98% of platforms would have made the game significantly better, and having a more healthy spread between jtool and the more creative parts would have done better than having all of the good stuff shoved in the 2nd half with pure jtool being 80% of the first half. While they are not too common, the vast majority of gameplay issues could likely have been fixed with better testplay, and so it is a bit disappointing to play the game in this state.
As far as the atmosphere goes, it borrows tilesets heavily from other games and occasionally song picks. In cases the song is taken as well, the atmosphere feels cheap, unoriginal and unfitting, while the parts with original music manage to clash jarringly in places and rarely work to create a good, cohesive atmosphere. The lack of dynamic visuals in 80% of the game as well as the usage of NANC2 default engine gimmicks with their sprites and SFX intact exacerbates these issues, as the game feels very flat and whatever immersion there does exist to be salvaged is swiftly broken by the nang triple jump star. This isn't to say the game is ugly, or that the soundtrack is bad, nor that the fit is so bad so as to reduce from the experience; However, for a game that feels as though it was trying to craft an atmosphere, it fails to do so, meaning rather than points being deducted for poor production, instead no bonus points are added for well executed one. In many cases, it does feel as though relatively little work and a minor overhaul of the soundtrack could have significantly increased both atmospheric cohesion and production feel, and so this aspect remains very disappointing.
All in all, if you can stomach 30+ screens of 70 diff jtool to get to the interesting stuff, I would recommend this, although even when you do get to the good stuff don't set your expectations too high; If you can't, you should probably refrain from this game.
And now, for the spoilered part:
So now it's time to address the elephant in the room: Morning dew.
It is extremely apparent the game tries modeling itself after Morning Dew. From the name, through the many, many stolen stage visuals, the attempt at the OST, even the post-credits cutscene. While I have said in the preamble that the player should not think about Dew lest they ruin their experience, it is inevitable the realization will happen at some point, simply due to it being at the very core of what this game seeks to achieve. As such, comparisons to Morning Dew are every bit justified, as the game itself invites them*.
And well, in every conceivable metric, this game does not live up to dew. However, it is important to know the effect of this: The comparison serves only to highlight the places this game is lacking, rather than make the game actively worse. This game isn't mediocre because it doesn't live up to Dew; It does not live up to Dew because it is mediocre**. And here lies the true problem in the comparison: Trying to be Dew means not being allowed to be mediocre, and this comparison sets the expectation that it will not be, one that cannot be fulfilled.
While I do believe this comparison is warranted, I would also want to point out a few things regarding it: First, it is only one perspective to look at the game, one which should not consume all of your field of vision. It is no more important than the analysis of the game as an independent game. Second, while the game does imitate dew, it feels much more as though it tries paying tribute to it (and the other games represented inside) rather than trying to become an alternative to it, and this must be taken into account when looking at the two side by side, as this casts a much more empathetic light on it.
While I cannot say my experience wasn't tainted by this knowledge, I do not think it had too big an effect, and as such I would still abide by the unspoilered part of the review. And yet, I do wish it lived up to Dew. It is what it is, though.
Footnotes:
*for those of you who wanna go "but you can't know what the creator was thinking!!!!": you're technically right, however judging solely from the game and readme, it is by far the most likely interpretation, and we've been playing the "trying to interpret the author" game from the moment art itself was born and came to the conclusion that such interpretations deserve their place and in some cases even overrule the author's word.
**"Mediocre", while ultimately the right word, has some unwanted connotations to it. To clarify, "mediocre" to me in this context means the game is not overtly creative or evocative, not that it is not fun or successful. I consider this to describe the vast majority of fangames, and there are many highly regarded games that I consider to fall in this definition of "mediocre", including some I have rated very highly. Games such as Vandal or Alphazetica would fall in this category: Bringing very little new to the table even at the time they came out, but being very enjoyable nonetheless. Again, there were a couple points this game managed to break free; However, as a whole, I would consider it to fall under this definition.
Rating: 7.0 70
Difficulty: 75 75
Oct 4, 2022
Cthaere
For: I wanna Melanzana
For: I wanna Melanzana
As some of you may see from looking at this review page (at least as of the time of me writing this), this avoidance does not have a comprehensive review. And why would it need one? Its reputation precedes it, and the vast majority of people are unwilling to play it to completion due to the high investment and the extremely demotivating feeling it usually brings to unprepared players. It is not infamous for no reason.
And yet, it is every bit deserving of a proper review. Not only is it one of the most unique games out there, it is a game that is very often talked about from a completely warped perspective, and one where much of the discourse is shaped by those who have never seriously attempted it. A lot of the discussion around Melanzana touches the game for what it is on the surface - a "98" difficulty pure pattern avoidance - rather than the new core gameplay experience on offer and how well it is executed. As such, the aim of this review is not to recommend the game (although I do, albeit with a caveat that you know what you're getting into), but rather to provide a frame of reference through which the avoidance may be better understood, combined with my own opinions and experience (as a person who has died past the 2 minute mark over a dozen times and has poured 60+ hours into it).
So, to start, Melanzana's gameplay is pure pattern and does not tap at all into the reading aspect of avoidances as a core gameplay component. However, to describe it more precisely, it is more than just bullets going to the same place the same way every time - Melanzana is about movement. There are 2 moments in the entire avoidance one can leave their hands off their keyboard for even a second, and both of them are the result of broken patterns at the beginning. The movement itself, while in sync with the song, is almost never tightly bound to it - for the more strict timing windows, there are plenty of visual and timing based cues - and as such you can feel the joy of dancing in accordance to the music without being worried a single misstep will make you trip and fall (the two exceptions to this - claps and CBT - are the worst attacks in the avoidance imo). As for the individual steps in the dance, they are incredibly enjoyable - Twists and turns and leaps and drops and any movement you could want. It is honestly still amazing to me how well each part flows into the next, and how each of the individual jumps can feel this fresh despite the physics constraint of the two available jumps as well as remaining incredibly satisfying to pull off. Most movements have a decent amount of leniency, and most jumps tend to be either fulljump, bonk, or have a wide frame window, however even the tight ones get incredibly consistent and despite the reliance on loose jump heights, it rarely feels too spammy on the fulljumps.
And yet, this does not feel like the peak of the premise - not by a long shot. It is incredibly well done for being the first to venture into this design space - doubly so for being as hard as it is - yet it is not perfect. Aside from Claps, which is the main offender (the attack transitioning into chorus 1, which has a relatively tight timing with 0 visual cue that feels like a cheap instakill every time you die to it), I also take issue with several other sections, including the part between chorus 1 and verse 2 (the entire bottom left platform section - jump to the left has a really inconsistent doublejump back to the platform, jump to the right is a lot harder if you get green instead of purple) and CBT (the attack where you go left and right on the bottom platform while aiming lines chase you; the timing is fairly tight and must be decided upon much in advance, but this can be nullified through numpad use/2f, neither of which feel good, and without them it's a frustrating difficulty spike). None of the other parts are bad, however some feel a bit less inspired than others (the ending of the part before chorus 1, the ending of Rainbow, some excessive reusage of common patterns (even though I don't personally consider it a big issue)). Of course, this is purely my own experience; others may have their own gripes, and I know many people struggle on parts others seamlessly perform and vice versa, but every attack not mentioned here became consistent once I invested enough time into it. Common points where people tend to struggle include the end of the climb in prechorus, the part with the white cherry in chorus 1 as well as the final jump in the segment, the blue and yellow parts in verse 2, at least 3 specific sections in rainbow, chorus 2 if you get purple, and anything in eyesight test that you die to in a real attempt.
But hey, we have Verre now, which according to the few people who have seriously played both fixes those issues.
As for the visuals... yeah. While a consensus has mostly been reached, I'll still spell it out anyway: There is certainly a lot of effort put into production, and the avoidance does feel consistent and cohesive, however the choice in visual identity is rather poor and its execution subpar - the rainbow effects feel excessive and unnatural, giving a feeling of being messy. Most of the attacks have a color seemingly chosen at random, and while it does give them a distinct identity it contributes to the messiness, and that visual identity boost is mostly negated by the fact that a lot of attacks share a different aspect of visual identity (spinning lines). Despite these, the avoidance looks better than default and while the big, flashy, excessive effects mostly miss, the quieter effects are well made - the easing on background changes, camera movements, bullet fade/ease in/out, the pure black/white trails, and similar aspects the average player won't notice unless it is done badly. As an exception to my disdain of the excess rainbow, I will say that I love the trail effect on the player in chorus 2, which is a very clever way of making heatmap and/or rainbow particles which I would not have considered.
And also hey, we have Verre now again.
In conclusion, I consider Melanzana to be a very good game and one of my favorites - an opinion which admittedly is usually shared by other grinders and broken somewhere along the way to the clear, however I doubt that would be the case for me personally - and would recommend it for those who are interested in the premise, so long as they are aware of the nature of the grind. It is very common for many to end up disliking the game and be vocal about it for wildly different reasons - those who hate the core gameplay premise, those who like the premise but hate the weaker aspects of it in the context of a big hard grind, those who like the entire package but are unable to bear a big hard grind and got burnt out by the experience, and those who just use the game as a platform to whine about fangames becoming too hard to grind. You must reflect upon yourself and decide whether you will be able to reconcile any of these issues before taking on Melanzana.
Insofar as being a point of reference for discussion, when approaching other people's position, I would also ask that you understand that the game is surprisingly good for what it is, keep in mind that the aforementioned positions for disliking the game and understanding the place any negativity is coming from, and remember that most discussions over the game do boil down to the difficulty and a greatly simplified view of the core gameplay premise.
(Special thanks to Marc for helping me proofread this and fix a bunch of things and special unthanks to Razzor for refusing to do so)
[6] Likes
And yet, it is every bit deserving of a proper review. Not only is it one of the most unique games out there, it is a game that is very often talked about from a completely warped perspective, and one where much of the discourse is shaped by those who have never seriously attempted it. A lot of the discussion around Melanzana touches the game for what it is on the surface - a "98" difficulty pure pattern avoidance - rather than the new core gameplay experience on offer and how well it is executed. As such, the aim of this review is not to recommend the game (although I do, albeit with a caveat that you know what you're getting into), but rather to provide a frame of reference through which the avoidance may be better understood, combined with my own opinions and experience (as a person who has died past the 2 minute mark over a dozen times and has poured 60+ hours into it).
So, to start, Melanzana's gameplay is pure pattern and does not tap at all into the reading aspect of avoidances as a core gameplay component. However, to describe it more precisely, it is more than just bullets going to the same place the same way every time - Melanzana is about movement. There are 2 moments in the entire avoidance one can leave their hands off their keyboard for even a second, and both of them are the result of broken patterns at the beginning. The movement itself, while in sync with the song, is almost never tightly bound to it - for the more strict timing windows, there are plenty of visual and timing based cues - and as such you can feel the joy of dancing in accordance to the music without being worried a single misstep will make you trip and fall (the two exceptions to this - claps and CBT - are the worst attacks in the avoidance imo). As for the individual steps in the dance, they are incredibly enjoyable - Twists and turns and leaps and drops and any movement you could want. It is honestly still amazing to me how well each part flows into the next, and how each of the individual jumps can feel this fresh despite the physics constraint of the two available jumps as well as remaining incredibly satisfying to pull off. Most movements have a decent amount of leniency, and most jumps tend to be either fulljump, bonk, or have a wide frame window, however even the tight ones get incredibly consistent and despite the reliance on loose jump heights, it rarely feels too spammy on the fulljumps.
And yet, this does not feel like the peak of the premise - not by a long shot. It is incredibly well done for being the first to venture into this design space - doubly so for being as hard as it is - yet it is not perfect. Aside from Claps, which is the main offender (the attack transitioning into chorus 1, which has a relatively tight timing with 0 visual cue that feels like a cheap instakill every time you die to it), I also take issue with several other sections, including the part between chorus 1 and verse 2 (the entire bottom left platform section - jump to the left has a really inconsistent doublejump back to the platform, jump to the right is a lot harder if you get green instead of purple) and CBT (the attack where you go left and right on the bottom platform while aiming lines chase you; the timing is fairly tight and must be decided upon much in advance, but this can be nullified through numpad use/2f, neither of which feel good, and without them it's a frustrating difficulty spike). None of the other parts are bad, however some feel a bit less inspired than others (the ending of the part before chorus 1, the ending of Rainbow, some excessive reusage of common patterns (even though I don't personally consider it a big issue)). Of course, this is purely my own experience; others may have their own gripes, and I know many people struggle on parts others seamlessly perform and vice versa, but every attack not mentioned here became consistent once I invested enough time into it. Common points where people tend to struggle include the end of the climb in prechorus, the part with the white cherry in chorus 1 as well as the final jump in the segment, the blue and yellow parts in verse 2, at least 3 specific sections in rainbow, chorus 2 if you get purple, and anything in eyesight test that you die to in a real attempt.
But hey, we have Verre now, which according to the few people who have seriously played both fixes those issues.
As for the visuals... yeah. While a consensus has mostly been reached, I'll still spell it out anyway: There is certainly a lot of effort put into production, and the avoidance does feel consistent and cohesive, however the choice in visual identity is rather poor and its execution subpar - the rainbow effects feel excessive and unnatural, giving a feeling of being messy. Most of the attacks have a color seemingly chosen at random, and while it does give them a distinct identity it contributes to the messiness, and that visual identity boost is mostly negated by the fact that a lot of attacks share a different aspect of visual identity (spinning lines). Despite these, the avoidance looks better than default and while the big, flashy, excessive effects mostly miss, the quieter effects are well made - the easing on background changes, camera movements, bullet fade/ease in/out, the pure black/white trails, and similar aspects the average player won't notice unless it is done badly. As an exception to my disdain of the excess rainbow, I will say that I love the trail effect on the player in chorus 2, which is a very clever way of making heatmap and/or rainbow particles which I would not have considered.
And also hey, we have Verre now again.
In conclusion, I consider Melanzana to be a very good game and one of my favorites - an opinion which admittedly is usually shared by other grinders and broken somewhere along the way to the clear, however I doubt that would be the case for me personally - and would recommend it for those who are interested in the premise, so long as they are aware of the nature of the grind. It is very common for many to end up disliking the game and be vocal about it for wildly different reasons - those who hate the core gameplay premise, those who like the premise but hate the weaker aspects of it in the context of a big hard grind, those who like the entire package but are unable to bear a big hard grind and got burnt out by the experience, and those who just use the game as a platform to whine about fangames becoming too hard to grind. You must reflect upon yourself and decide whether you will be able to reconcile any of these issues before taking on Melanzana.
Insofar as being a point of reference for discussion, when approaching other people's position, I would also ask that you understand that the game is surprisingly good for what it is, keep in mind that the aforementioned positions for disliking the game and understanding the place any negativity is coming from, and remember that most discussions over the game do boil down to the difficulty and a greatly simplified view of the core gameplay premise.
(Special thanks to Marc for helping me proofread this and fix a bunch of things and special unthanks to Razzor for refusing to do so)
Rating: 9.0 90
Difficulty: 93 93
Sep 29, 2022
Cthaere
For: WannaFest 22
For: WannaFest 22
SPOILER WARNING! (since for some reason the spoiler tag doesn't work ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)
EDIT: When reviewing a game, one usually picks a perspective to do so from. One may review a game while trying to be as objective and detailed as possible, as my initial review was. Alternatively, one may review a game as their own personal experience, so that a prospective player may relate to it and understand they may experience the same things, or utilize reviews as a platform to talk about a game based on its cultural impact and/or how it interacts with the community, both of which I have done in the past.
After doing some introspection, I have realized that while the objective perspective is useful to have, the subjective one is just as important to me in this case, and I will not be able to be truthful to myself without including it. I sometimes go to my profile and look at my rated and reviewed games, and seeing it above games that are much closer to my heart felt extremely wrong. This is not to say I do not stand by the previous review; Far from it (which is why I still kept it). However, I would like to present a more raw, less filtered perspective.
And from that perspective... Wannafest is a mixed bag. The vast majority of the gameplay is certainly enjoyable, but neither supremely fun nor extremely memorable on its own while still suffering from a decent amount of problems. In the first area, much of the gameplay feels dumbed down, with enemies that do not provide any meaningful interaction, to the point the autoscroller didn't manage to stick out as being less engaging than the rest of the stage. The second area is mostly good. The third area suffers from the same emptyness as the first except for having some really awkward segments and suffering from fulljump spam. The fourth stage is the least engaging I've ever seen a rhythm game be (only the 1st out of 4 measures used, and a maximum of 3 whole inputs) while the inputs themselves did felt imprecise, unresponsive and tighter than they needed to be. Monkey ball was fun & neat but dragged longer than it had to. Sonic actually had platforming and cool enemy design but the level design felt extremely claustrophobic in many places and the physics and were prone to jank. Final stage did manage to satisfy the power fantasy part of run n guns... except for the 1 life aspect, which means you had to play it relatively safe, or choose to meatgrind your way through. Dice room felt like it had 20 seconds of waiting per death and the visual design of the block was incomprehensibly bad for needle. Real final stage had some real filler (idk what the 1st room contributes to the game and while guytower is in theme it had no original additions) but was also good for most of the rest. All bosses except for sonic boss were still fun though.
As for the atmosphere, while impressive and immersive, I cannot say it is evocative of anything in me. I do not have the nostalgia factor to any of these barring Sonic (for which my nostalgia is mostly rooted in other games in the franchise) and as such it does not accomplish the intended enchanting effect for me.
All in all, had I had to rate this purely on my own enjoyment and experience, it would be 6.8, and so as a compromise with the more objective review (which was rated 8.8), we would leave neither my personal experience nor the general observer accurately portrayed (as every typical compromise tends to go) and rate it a 7.8. If you find yourself coming from a similar place I am coming from when playing games, I would not recommend this, however a typical player will likely enjoy it a great deal more.
In case you wanna read the previous review (which again I still stand by), here it is:
Wannafest 2022 is an extremely well produced and varied adventure taking the player on a stroll through a selection of old nostalgic games.
To start with the positives, on the production's end, there is a ton of effort poured in. There are a plethora of unique sprites that you don't usually see in fangames, as well as a wide array of effects from the simplistic moving background to the grand intricate 3d worlds, all of which feel completely natural in their respective stages; The visual design has managed to flawlessly replicate the games it was aiming to in a way that is rarely seen. While I do not personally pay too much attention to sound design, it is just as seamlessly handled and integrated into the atmosphere as the visuals. Unfortunately, I do not have a strong emotional attachment to these games, and so the nostalgia is mostly lost on me, but I'm sure there are many out there who would absolutely love this game much more based on this factor alone.
The gameplay is where I will probably diverge from most other reviews. While there is a lot to love here, it takes a starkly different direction from a traditional fangame, and in doing so it feels like a few things fell through the cracks, the most notable and recurring ones being sections that featured forced waiting (such as the loading part of monkey ball, the intersections in the rhythm game part, the dice animation in the final stage, or some of the autoscrollers) (admittedly I have not tried using the skip button until the very end of the playthrough, however if it was supposed to do anything that was poorly communicated), as well as certain issues with enemy design (enemy design that encourages staying back and playing it slow and boring in the first stage, extremely spammy fulljumpy sections in the 3rd stage with very little interesting in the way of platforming to them, certain poorly communicated mechanics in the final stage such as the slime boss not killing you on contact or having to shoot downwards in the engine boss). Aside from those issues, the gameplay is consistently well executed and as such enjoyment depends mostly on how much the issues affect you and how much you enjoy the variety of completely different core gameplay experiences on offer (although don't expect much traditional platforming). In particular, I love the section where Wario chases you, the multiple paths offered in Sonic, and the concept of the dice game in the final stage. In addition, you should keep your eyes open for the bosses: They're some of my favorite parts in the game, offering a refreshing experience from the rest of the stage yet complementing it very well (with the exception of sonic which is a confusing to navigate autoscroller).
The ending of the game remains just as well executed, and contains some of my favorite screens in the game (bubsy 3d), with an amazing final boss to close it out (although I think Colonel is a bit too "avoidance skill" hard and takes slightly too long, and the wipeout attack is not fun or interesting to do) and the obligatory chase sequence and cutscene following it.
All in all, it is an incredibly well made game which was a lot more fun than I expected. While I cannot say that this is a game that I have strong emotional attachment to or would strongly regret to never have played (which means that due to my personal standards, it is not a game I can give a 9 or higher to), it is a phenomenal game and well worth playing, although I doubt you need me to tell you that.
[3] Likes
EDIT: When reviewing a game, one usually picks a perspective to do so from. One may review a game while trying to be as objective and detailed as possible, as my initial review was. Alternatively, one may review a game as their own personal experience, so that a prospective player may relate to it and understand they may experience the same things, or utilize reviews as a platform to talk about a game based on its cultural impact and/or how it interacts with the community, both of which I have done in the past.
After doing some introspection, I have realized that while the objective perspective is useful to have, the subjective one is just as important to me in this case, and I will not be able to be truthful to myself without including it. I sometimes go to my profile and look at my rated and reviewed games, and seeing it above games that are much closer to my heart felt extremely wrong. This is not to say I do not stand by the previous review; Far from it (which is why I still kept it). However, I would like to present a more raw, less filtered perspective.
And from that perspective... Wannafest is a mixed bag. The vast majority of the gameplay is certainly enjoyable, but neither supremely fun nor extremely memorable on its own while still suffering from a decent amount of problems. In the first area, much of the gameplay feels dumbed down, with enemies that do not provide any meaningful interaction, to the point the autoscroller didn't manage to stick out as being less engaging than the rest of the stage. The second area is mostly good. The third area suffers from the same emptyness as the first except for having some really awkward segments and suffering from fulljump spam. The fourth stage is the least engaging I've ever seen a rhythm game be (only the 1st out of 4 measures used, and a maximum of 3 whole inputs) while the inputs themselves did felt imprecise, unresponsive and tighter than they needed to be. Monkey ball was fun & neat but dragged longer than it had to. Sonic actually had platforming and cool enemy design but the level design felt extremely claustrophobic in many places and the physics and were prone to jank. Final stage did manage to satisfy the power fantasy part of run n guns... except for the 1 life aspect, which means you had to play it relatively safe, or choose to meatgrind your way through. Dice room felt like it had 20 seconds of waiting per death and the visual design of the block was incomprehensibly bad for needle. Real final stage had some real filler (idk what the 1st room contributes to the game and while guytower is in theme it had no original additions) but was also good for most of the rest. All bosses except for sonic boss were still fun though.
As for the atmosphere, while impressive and immersive, I cannot say it is evocative of anything in me. I do not have the nostalgia factor to any of these barring Sonic (for which my nostalgia is mostly rooted in other games in the franchise) and as such it does not accomplish the intended enchanting effect for me.
All in all, had I had to rate this purely on my own enjoyment and experience, it would be 6.8, and so as a compromise with the more objective review (which was rated 8.8), we would leave neither my personal experience nor the general observer accurately portrayed (as every typical compromise tends to go) and rate it a 7.8. If you find yourself coming from a similar place I am coming from when playing games, I would not recommend this, however a typical player will likely enjoy it a great deal more.
In case you wanna read the previous review (which again I still stand by), here it is:
Wannafest 2022 is an extremely well produced and varied adventure taking the player on a stroll through a selection of old nostalgic games.
To start with the positives, on the production's end, there is a ton of effort poured in. There are a plethora of unique sprites that you don't usually see in fangames, as well as a wide array of effects from the simplistic moving background to the grand intricate 3d worlds, all of which feel completely natural in their respective stages; The visual design has managed to flawlessly replicate the games it was aiming to in a way that is rarely seen. While I do not personally pay too much attention to sound design, it is just as seamlessly handled and integrated into the atmosphere as the visuals. Unfortunately, I do not have a strong emotional attachment to these games, and so the nostalgia is mostly lost on me, but I'm sure there are many out there who would absolutely love this game much more based on this factor alone.
The gameplay is where I will probably diverge from most other reviews. While there is a lot to love here, it takes a starkly different direction from a traditional fangame, and in doing so it feels like a few things fell through the cracks, the most notable and recurring ones being sections that featured forced waiting (such as the loading part of monkey ball, the intersections in the rhythm game part, the dice animation in the final stage, or some of the autoscrollers) (admittedly I have not tried using the skip button until the very end of the playthrough, however if it was supposed to do anything that was poorly communicated), as well as certain issues with enemy design (enemy design that encourages staying back and playing it slow and boring in the first stage, extremely spammy fulljumpy sections in the 3rd stage with very little interesting in the way of platforming to them, certain poorly communicated mechanics in the final stage such as the slime boss not killing you on contact or having to shoot downwards in the engine boss). Aside from those issues, the gameplay is consistently well executed and as such enjoyment depends mostly on how much the issues affect you and how much you enjoy the variety of completely different core gameplay experiences on offer (although don't expect much traditional platforming). In particular, I love the section where Wario chases you, the multiple paths offered in Sonic, and the concept of the dice game in the final stage. In addition, you should keep your eyes open for the bosses: They're some of my favorite parts in the game, offering a refreshing experience from the rest of the stage yet complementing it very well (with the exception of sonic which is a confusing to navigate autoscroller).
The ending of the game remains just as well executed, and contains some of my favorite screens in the game (bubsy 3d), with an amazing final boss to close it out (although I think Colonel is a bit too "avoidance skill" hard and takes slightly too long, and the wipeout attack is not fun or interesting to do) and the obligatory chase sequence and cutscene following it.
All in all, it is an incredibly well made game which was a lot more fun than I expected. While I cannot say that this is a game that I have strong emotional attachment to or would strongly regret to never have played (which means that due to my personal standards, it is not a game I can give a 9 or higher to), it is a phenomenal game and well worth playing, although I doubt you need me to tell you that.
Rating: 7.8 78
Difficulty: 55 55
Sep 25, 2022
2 Games
| Game | Difficulty | Average Rating | # of Ratings |
|---|---|---|---|
| I wanna Musiclock | 74.5 | 9.2 | 16 |
| I wanna Xanadu | N/A | N/A | 1 |
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