Delicious FruitLatest Reviews
Chatran
For: I Wanna be the AIW
For: I Wanna be the AIW
Excluding the ever so prestigious 1jump collab for obvious reasons, this is such a good first game from a new maker. It hit a lot of good marks, marks that took me 2-3 years to start hitting myself. But, it is a first game, and with that does come some issues.
The main thing, that has already been mentioned here, is the balancing. I didn't mind it so much and it makes for a pretty relaxing experience, but it s all over the place. Not in the sense that there's stuff that's randomly hard, in fact it's the opposite: there's a handful of saves that are just 1 jump that I feel probably would have been better off being incorporated into other segments instead. An additional issue that arises I found is that occasionally you can skip a jump by saving early. There are also two instances where a minispike is placed on the save, and due to the way the visuals are I didn't see and died; it's an easy game so I didn't mind but it is a thing. I do feel though, kind of as a consideration for something in the future: the save balancing would be cool if it were executed the same way XIFT did it, where you can't see the saves. I feel the almost unpredictability would do well for such an idea, probably better than XIFT did it as that game does get predictable in its placements.
The last main issue I found with the game was with the spotlight. Overall, I will say I liked it--it solves the issue of generally not being able to find where the player starts when changing screens in needle of this style. There are a handful of segments though where you do have to go into a jump blind. Just a small nitpick
The music is quite good, especially for being self-made. I do feel there's a bit of room to grow from that, as the first song of the game did get a little same-y after a while, and this was primarily an issue of the percussion not changing at all through the song (an issue that doesn't exist with the second song of the game). The songs also end a bit abruptly I felt.
Overall, an excellent initial foray into the realm of needle. I look forward to your future works.
[4] Likes
The main thing, that has already been mentioned here, is the balancing. I didn't mind it so much and it makes for a pretty relaxing experience, but it s all over the place. Not in the sense that there's stuff that's randomly hard, in fact it's the opposite: there's a handful of saves that are just 1 jump that I feel probably would have been better off being incorporated into other segments instead. An additional issue that arises I found is that occasionally you can skip a jump by saving early. There are also two instances where a minispike is placed on the save, and due to the way the visuals are I didn't see and died; it's an easy game so I didn't mind but it is a thing. I do feel though, kind of as a consideration for something in the future: the save balancing would be cool if it were executed the same way XIFT did it, where you can't see the saves. I feel the almost unpredictability would do well for such an idea, probably better than XIFT did it as that game does get predictable in its placements.
The last main issue I found with the game was with the spotlight. Overall, I will say I liked it--it solves the issue of generally not being able to find where the player starts when changing screens in needle of this style. There are a handful of segments though where you do have to go into a jump blind. Just a small nitpick
The music is quite good, especially for being self-made. I do feel there's a bit of room to grow from that, as the first song of the game did get a little same-y after a while, and this was primarily an issue of the percussion not changing at all through the song (an issue that doesn't exist with the second song of the game). The songs also end a bit abruptly I felt.
Overall, an excellent initial foray into the realm of needle. I look forward to your future works.
Rating: N/A
Difficulty: N/A
Apr 26, 2022
cLOUDDEAD
For: I just wanna play the Needle game
For: I just wanna play the Needle game
its complete trash, but somehow enjoyable to play
[0] Likes
Rating: N/A
Difficulty: 70 70
Apr 26, 2022
YaBoiMarcAntony
For: I wanna walk through solstice
For: I wanna walk through solstice
Reasonably fun needle game somewhat based around lower frame jumps and tight maneuvers. Most of it is good, however a few jumps got on my nerves and at times it felt like the precision of some bits did not really serve the save well. That said, the game has pretty nice vibes thanks to the good song and the needle is generally fairly peaceful, so I still liked it.
Tagged as: Needle
[0] Likes
Rating: 6.5 65
Difficulty: 70 70
Apr 26, 2022
omega2020
For: Kid Tales - The Legend of Brom
For: Kid Tales - The Legend of Brom
Nice storytelling game without having to do any playing or headaches. Good music and the graphics are appeasing to the eyes. Worth a few minutes to check out.
On a different note. My profile has been blocked from sending messages. I don't know when it happened. I'll edit the post for the game of course but I wanted to let someone know from admin.)
[0] Likes
On a different note. My profile has been blocked from sending messages. I don't know when it happened. I'll edit the post for the game of course but I wanted to let someone know from admin.)
Rating: 9.0 90
Difficulty: 0 0
Apr 26, 2022
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