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Cthaere
For: I Wanna XV Spike
For: I Wanna XV Spike
(review based on V1.02)
XV spikes is a needle collab where every screen contains at most 15 spikes (or playerkillers in general). Each creator has found their own way to go about this challenge, and it has some very interesting screens. However, working with this restriction requires exceptional accuracy and attention to detail, which some screens miss, and there are definitely areas which could use a bit more polish.
The screens generally tend to go two ways: Long pathing-focused screens, trying to squeeze out as much content out of every spike as possible, and shorter maneuver-focused ones which maximize the effect of each spike and ensuring that each and every one is a deadly obstacle. While screens falling into the second category have been an absolute blast, screens in the first one are unfortunately quite rough around the edges in regards to the jumps you have to do; Overuse of fulljumps and vine needle which is annoying to pull off, unnecessarily long saves with choke segments close to the end, as well as long segments that are full of nothing. This only appears in a few of the screens, but those screens were unfun to play as a result.
There are a few more tidbits that are far less impactful on the experience yet were weird nontheless: Shign screen has a skip by doing a floor invert with a gravity flipper on the bottom of the screen; Huse screen features the only non-jtool+catharsis water element with a moving platform, which sticks out unfavorably to me. that platform also has weird snapping issues; water 1,2 and 3 have no indication at all, and it's practically guesswork as to which is which, especially since the visual style switches in the middle; While this is mostly me being nitpicky, they still made me raise my eyebrow, and I feel like those issues (and a few other, even smaller ones) should have been ironed out before release.
Overall I'd say this game is interesting, and very much worth the play, however I cannot say I'd like to replay it in its current state due to the downfalls, and I would also wait for a future patch and hope the experience is improved. At its core, this game has a lot of potential, and hopefully it could come to be realized.
[1] Like
XV spikes is a needle collab where every screen contains at most 15 spikes (or playerkillers in general). Each creator has found their own way to go about this challenge, and it has some very interesting screens. However, working with this restriction requires exceptional accuracy and attention to detail, which some screens miss, and there are definitely areas which could use a bit more polish.
The screens generally tend to go two ways: Long pathing-focused screens, trying to squeeze out as much content out of every spike as possible, and shorter maneuver-focused ones which maximize the effect of each spike and ensuring that each and every one is a deadly obstacle. While screens falling into the second category have been an absolute blast, screens in the first one are unfortunately quite rough around the edges in regards to the jumps you have to do; Overuse of fulljumps and vine needle which is annoying to pull off, unnecessarily long saves with choke segments close to the end, as well as long segments that are full of nothing. This only appears in a few of the screens, but those screens were unfun to play as a result.
There are a few more tidbits that are far less impactful on the experience yet were weird nontheless: Shign screen has a skip by doing a floor invert with a gravity flipper on the bottom of the screen; Huse screen features the only non-jtool+catharsis water element with a moving platform, which sticks out unfavorably to me. that platform also has weird snapping issues; water 1,2 and 3 have no indication at all, and it's practically guesswork as to which is which, especially since the visual style switches in the middle; While this is mostly me being nitpicky, they still made me raise my eyebrow, and I feel like those issues (and a few other, even smaller ones) should have been ironed out before release.
Overall I'd say this game is interesting, and very much worth the play, however I cannot say I'd like to replay it in its current state due to the downfalls, and I would also wait for a future patch and hope the experience is improved. At its core, this game has a lot of potential, and hopefully it could come to be realized.
Rating: 6.0 60
Difficulty: 65 65
Aug 10, 2020
Draconical
For: I wanna be the Sc2 Italia!
For: I wanna be the Sc2 Italia!
shoutout to nogard for The.
[0] Likes
Rating: 10.0 100
Difficulty: N/A
Aug 10, 2020
Slons
For: I wanna Awake
For: I wanna Awake
Final boss is a bit unfair, but other than that it's good
[0] Likes
Rating: 7.4 74
Difficulty: 45 45
Aug 10, 2020
DerpyHoovesIWBTG
For: I Wanna XV Spike
For: I Wanna XV Spike
A needle game centered around the challenge where you need to make a needle screen using only 15 spikes total.
I find it amazing how much ideas there are put into each screen. Some of the backtracking you need to do is really well made, because you have to think differently how you are going to make your needle because of the rule of not going past 15 spikes in your screen. The visuals are well done and using Nogard's engine for this was a good idea.
However, I did have some problems which made me hinder my experience quite a bit. First of all, I find the screen order to be all over the place. Often times I had trouble trying to beat one screen just for the one to be entirely free. It kinda breaks the pacing and flow of how you're going through the game. Some screens could have been nerfed a little bit, some worse than others.
This brings up another problem: The save placement. Some screens have a disturbing lack thereof, and this made me struggle at them. Notable examples are Kiiview and Huse. You have a screen that's cleverly made and it just becomes a mess to grind because you're only given one save throughout the screen while the screen was already hard in the first place. Especially the bottom part of Huse's screen is quite chokable because of it. I died around 10 times to that part because the bottom left section is way too hard for whatever reason.
Lastly, here are some things that are minor but I will not count in the final rating.
I found it strange that the first half of the game have regular gravity arrows while the second half has completely new drawn ones. When I first saw them I was legitimately confused because I wasn't sure if it was a new gimmick, a threat or an actual gravity arrow. Eventually I knew it was the last one.
Huse's screen start was a bit awkward if you tab out and in. You have to keep holding shift the entire time you do the first jump and sometimes it throws you down while holding shift because of the pausing countermeasure (the thing that cancels your djump on a vine to prevent skips). The vertical platform at the top right was a bit hard to grab as well because if you hug the wall too early it clips you on top of the platform and you will ram yourself into the spike when it isn't even your fault. You'll need to time it so that you fall down properly, which made that part of the screen a little bit harder.
Overall the game has some really cool ideas but it kinda weighs down because of all the little things that made me way more frustrated than it would normally have made me. Not a bad game in any regard though.
I find it amazing how much ideas there are put into each screen. Some of the backtracking you need to do is really well made, because you have to think differently how you are going to make your needle because of the rule of not going past 15 spikes in your screen. The visuals are well done and using Nogard's engine for this was a good idea.
However, I did have some problems which made me hinder my experience quite a bit. First of all, I find the screen order to be all over the place. Often times I had trouble trying to beat one screen just for the one to be entirely free. It kinda breaks the pacing and flow of how you're going through the game. Some screens could have been nerfed a little bit, some worse than others.
This brings up another problem: The save placement. Some screens have a disturbing lack thereof, and this made me struggle at them. Notable examples are Kiiview and Huse. You have a screen that's cleverly made and it just becomes a mess to grind because you're only given one save throughout the screen while the screen was already hard in the first place. Especially the bottom part of Huse's screen is quite chokable because of it. I died around 10 times to that part because the bottom left section is way too hard for whatever reason.
Lastly, here are some things that are minor but I will not count in the final rating.
I found it strange that the first half of the game have regular gravity arrows while the second half has completely new drawn ones. When I first saw them I was legitimately confused because I wasn't sure if it was a new gimmick, a threat or an actual gravity arrow. Eventually I knew it was the last one.
Huse's screen start was a bit awkward if you tab out and in. You have to keep holding shift the entire time you do the first jump and sometimes it throws you down while holding shift because of the pausing countermeasure (the thing that cancels your djump on a vine to prevent skips). The vertical platform at the top right was a bit hard to grab as well because if you hug the wall too early it clips you on top of the platform and you will ram yourself into the spike when it isn't even your fault. You'll need to time it so that you fall down properly, which made that part of the screen a little bit harder.
Overall the game has some really cool ideas but it kinda weighs down because of all the little things that made me way more frustrated than it would normally have made me. Not a bad game in any regard though.
Tagged as: Needle
[4] Likes
Rating: 5.6 56
Difficulty: 60 60
Aug 10, 2020
shign
For: Hearty Jewel
For: Hearty Jewel
A game I wish it started at stage 2.
Hearty jewel is a 4 stages adventure game with each stage being very different from the others. The first stage is really bland and frustrating, I almost dropped the game at some points. However from stage 2 it becomes way better with less traps and more interesting ones and gimmicks, sometimes even some puzzl-ish rooms. Bosses are good, especially the last two. And finally, the game has an insane production, with always some very good visuals. Would recommend if you can pass through the first stage.
[3] Likes
Hearty jewel is a 4 stages adventure game with each stage being very different from the others. The first stage is really bland and frustrating, I almost dropped the game at some points. However from stage 2 it becomes way better with less traps and more interesting ones and gimmicks, sometimes even some puzzl-ish rooms. Bosses are good, especially the last two. And finally, the game has an insane production, with always some very good visuals. Would recommend if you can pass through the first stage.
Rating: 8.4 84
Difficulty: 55 55
Aug 10, 2020
calix
For: I Wanna Be The Patata
For: I Wanna Be The Patata
Tagged as: Needle
[0] Likes
Rating: 4.5 45
Difficulty: 52 52
Aug 10, 2020
Aiwana1LoveTrap
For: Doom And Gloom
For: Doom And Gloom
There is an original ver and a not original ver, but not original ver is a little easier to do placement the end of the second screen.
There is almost no difference in the level of difficulty between the two versions.
[0] Likes
There is almost no difference in the level of difficulty between the two versions.
Rating: N/A
Difficulty: N/A
Aug 10, 2020
tuhkakuppi
For: I wanna be the purple needle
For: I wanna be the purple needle
Cool to have a game that deliberately uses some bad align jumps, feels somewhat refreshing from all the more serious stuff. Still not great.
Tagged as: Needle
[0] Likes
Rating: 5.5 55
Difficulty: 71 71
Aug 10, 2020