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YaBoiMarcAntony
For: I Wanna be the AIW
For: I Wanna be the AIW
For the most part, AIW is a pretty good game that centers around the 50s in terms of difficulty, but thanks to "random" bouts of precision, the game finds itself being harder than you may expect based on what you get for the most part. With that said, this is actually rather accurate to the game this most strongly takes from, Tethys, and I think it does this better than that game did it as I only rarely found myself annoyed by a precise jump and for the most part just enjoyed the variety this style of design provided.
The best aspect of a dopamine-like is that you really can't make anything generic within it, at least if you do it right, which I think phg does. The block layouts are always super unique and that alone makes for a very interesting dynamic in gameplay, and that unique block layout almost always enforces interesting paths and jumps. I don't greatly agree with the usage of the word "generic" to describe the gameplay in AIW, though a few jumps are fairly straightforward and not particularly exciting, the main detractor for phg needle as it is (I've played many phg maps in IWM and I find that some sections can be rather interesting and others decidedly not, in the case of AIW I think that it mostly borders on the former rather than the latter). For the most part, I found this a fairly unique and surprisingly good needle game, although I do wish there was more in the way of gameplay variety than there is, even any use of basic gimmicks would have made this even better for me.
Phg also composed the music for this game, music which is also very good. The stage one song is very good while the stage two song is simply quite good. I don't love the semi-staccato drums, but I concede their purpose in the second song.
The best aspect of a dopamine-like is that you really can't make anything generic within it, at least if you do it right, which I think phg does. The block layouts are always super unique and that alone makes for a very interesting dynamic in gameplay, and that unique block layout almost always enforces interesting paths and jumps. I don't greatly agree with the usage of the word "generic" to describe the gameplay in AIW, though a few jumps are fairly straightforward and not particularly exciting, the main detractor for phg needle as it is (I've played many phg maps in IWM and I find that some sections can be rather interesting and others decidedly not, in the case of AIW I think that it mostly borders on the former rather than the latter). For the most part, I found this a fairly unique and surprisingly good needle game, although I do wish there was more in the way of gameplay variety than there is, even any use of basic gimmicks would have made this even better for me.
Phg also composed the music for this game, music which is also very good. The stage one song is very good while the stage two song is simply quite good. I don't love the semi-staccato drums, but I concede their purpose in the second song.
Tagged as: Needle
[4] Likes
Rating: 6.7 67
Difficulty: 60 60
Apr 26, 2022
Kilgour22
For: I Wanna be the AIW
For: I Wanna be the AIW
I don't know which difficulty was intended, so I cleared both Easy and Hard. I don't think playing on Hard adds much, other than longer saves and thus more deaths, so players should choose accordingly. Easy felt about 50 difficulty for me, while Hard felt about 60. I would recommend playing on Easy for most players, so that's what I've based my rating and difficulty on.
Easy cleartime and deaths: 19:52, 368
Hard cleartime and deaths: 29:10, 488
I've played (and beaten) each of the 261 levels QED has uploaded on IWM (as of this review), so fair warning that I generally like, and am good at, this style of needle, which I would call "modified generic jumps with a dose of awkwardness." If you struggle or dislike ledge jumps and f-jump variants or non-linear difficulty, then you may want to give this game a pass.
I find that QED's style can be quite enjoyable in reasonable doses. Playing a few screens in a row tends to be pretty fun, but the style can start to feel repetitive and I found myself getting frustrated towards the end of my Hard playthrough. The two stages, aside from visuals, didn't feel much different, either in difficulty or gameplay. It left me questioning why the stages were broken apart where they were.
The black background for stage 2 was a detriment for me. One of my pet peeves is not being able to see where I'm standing, and this was sometimes worsened by the jumps I had to do (16-pixel gaps were the most common culprits here). It felt like I was dying not because I was bad, but rather because of RNG. This held true occasionally in stage 1 as well with (an admittedly generous) spotlight mode making blind drops a thing. It made those deaths feel akin to screen transition ones, and I don't think I'm alone in being annoyed by those.
The gameplay is pure needle: no water, vines, or platforms are to be found. On a meta level, it was interesting to see if QED's needle would deviate from what I've come to expect, given the frequency with which these basic gimmicks appear in their levels, but I was (pleasantly) surprised to see that there wasn't a drop in jump quality, albeit with jumps feeling a touch more generic. I think the added genericism was counterbalanced by the reduction in awkward manoeuvres that also often appear in their levels, leading to a fairly balanced result.
I think this needle style would benefit from the occasional use of gimmicks, or a full-on adoption of specific gimmicks for the duration of a stage. This would help reduce some of the monotony that I feel plagues the game, even if it doesn't cripple the quality.
Overall, I think most needle players will derive some enjoyment out of a playthrough, probably on Easy mode. However, don't go in expecting a masterpiece.
Easy cleartime and deaths: 19:52, 368
Hard cleartime and deaths: 29:10, 488
I've played (and beaten) each of the 261 levels QED has uploaded on IWM (as of this review), so fair warning that I generally like, and am good at, this style of needle, which I would call "modified generic jumps with a dose of awkwardness." If you struggle or dislike ledge jumps and f-jump variants or non-linear difficulty, then you may want to give this game a pass.
I find that QED's style can be quite enjoyable in reasonable doses. Playing a few screens in a row tends to be pretty fun, but the style can start to feel repetitive and I found myself getting frustrated towards the end of my Hard playthrough. The two stages, aside from visuals, didn't feel much different, either in difficulty or gameplay. It left me questioning why the stages were broken apart where they were.
The black background for stage 2 was a detriment for me. One of my pet peeves is not being able to see where I'm standing, and this was sometimes worsened by the jumps I had to do (16-pixel gaps were the most common culprits here). It felt like I was dying not because I was bad, but rather because of RNG. This held true occasionally in stage 1 as well with (an admittedly generous) spotlight mode making blind drops a thing. It made those deaths feel akin to screen transition ones, and I don't think I'm alone in being annoyed by those.
The gameplay is pure needle: no water, vines, or platforms are to be found. On a meta level, it was interesting to see if QED's needle would deviate from what I've come to expect, given the frequency with which these basic gimmicks appear in their levels, but I was (pleasantly) surprised to see that there wasn't a drop in jump quality, albeit with jumps feeling a touch more generic. I think the added genericism was counterbalanced by the reduction in awkward manoeuvres that also often appear in their levels, leading to a fairly balanced result.
I think this needle style would benefit from the occasional use of gimmicks, or a full-on adoption of specific gimmicks for the duration of a stage. This would help reduce some of the monotony that I feel plagues the game, even if it doesn't cripple the quality.
Overall, I think most needle players will derive some enjoyment out of a playthrough, probably on Easy mode. However, don't go in expecting a masterpiece.
Tagged as: Needle
Visual_Challenge
[2] Likes
Rating: 6.5 65
Difficulty: 50 50
Apr 26, 2022
Bob
For: I Wanna be the AIW
For: I Wanna be the AIW
A fairly inoffensive needle game that's very reminiscent of the dopamine/dono style, though not quite as original. It's a bunch of jtool screens stitched together with a couple of psychedelic visual themes. I found it to be somewhat uninteresting though not unpleasant (except for the odd jump that is way out of balance). Not really much else to say; personally I am not a big fan of pure jtool games but there's clearly still an audience for it.
(+bonus points for the OST though)
(+bonus points for the OST though)
Tagged as: Needle
[3] Likes
Rating: 6.0 60
Difficulty: 64 64
Apr 26, 2022
caosena
For: I Wanna be the AIW
For: I Wanna be the AIW
based on cleared gameplay
a great 26-screens aiwanna and some great sfxs
but some of them make me dizzy
great spike made and QED-ish poor difficulty balance
spoiler:911 deaths and 36min
that's all
[0] Likes
a great 26-screens aiwanna and some great sfxs
but some of them make me dizzy
great spike made and QED-ish poor difficulty balance
spoiler:911 deaths and 36min
that's all
Rating: 8.8 88
Difficulty: 40 40
Apr 26, 2022
tuhkakuppi
For: I Wanna be the AIW
For: I Wanna be the AIW
Based on hard mode.
Feels laggy and stuttery, which doesn't occur with other gm8 games, likely the engine's fault.
Feels laggy and stuttery, which doesn't occur with other gm8 games, likely the engine's fault.
Tagged as: Needle
[0] Likes
Rating: 6.0 60
Difficulty: 60 60
Apr 26, 2022
DualFPM
For: I wanna Jumping Heart
For: I wanna Jumping Heart
Преимущественно РНГ с парой моментов на заучивание, в целом весело, достаточно честно, не очень сложно, на новичка сойдет.
[0] Likes
Rating: 5.0 50
Difficulty: 25 25
Apr 26, 2022
Chrisay
For: I Wanna be the AIW
For: I Wanna be the AIW
Alright needle game with some very strange save balancing. It stays pretty generic and the game is instead being carried by its music and visuals, which are good and create a great atmosphere. I don't think the needle changes enough to warrant being 25 screens long and I eventually got tired of it. Not that the needle is bad, just that the game does not have much more than that needle.
Also idk if it's just me, but the engine felt like it had a lot of input delay, which I couldn't fix. As if someone left V-sync on. It made me struggle a lot more than I probably should have.
[3] Likes
Also idk if it's just me, but the engine felt like it had a lot of input delay, which I couldn't fix. As if someone left V-sync on. It made me struggle a lot more than I probably should have.
Rating: 6.0 60
Difficulty: N/A
Apr 26, 2022
spk
For: I wanna be the Just Trap 2 REMAKE
For: I wanna be the Just Trap 2 REMAKE
very good remake, but playable only on "easy" difficulty, "very easy" is free, "hard" is 97 difficulty. I'm waiting for updates.
[1] Like
Rating: 9.0 90
Difficulty: N/A
Apr 26, 2022