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Dimensions I vs. RedMaverickZero
Dimensions I I see the hut, but I don't see the Skipper.
Cube
Download: 537 KB
V.S.
RedMaverickZero
Play Time: hours and 30+ minutes
Review # 31 for RedMaverickZero I see the hut, but I don't see the Skipper.
Them's Fightin' Words
    Lots of people know Cube for his great scripting, but if you didn't look off of the top 5 downloads section you wouldn't know that Cube made games of his own as well. Dimensions is definitely a game that shouldn't be overlooked in terms of it's astounding plotscripting. But as mentioned, he is known for his scripting. And through Dimensions I learned a lot about his way about game making.
Graphics
    When someone flips a coin, you get a heads or a tails, correct? A fifty fifty chance am I correct? Of course. Cube's graphics are roughly the same analogy. Heads or tails. Considering heads is usually the side that most people call to win a bet, I'll use head to describe the good.

Dimensions has some of the most beautiful maptiles I have seen lately. Throughout the past week I have played maybe 4 OHR games that were left on my hard drive before I was grounded and I must say, Dimensions tops them all. The only thing negative about these maptiles is the fact that they are all so very very bright. In one review I read of Crescent Dream someone I can't remember offhand said that a certain tree was horrible on the eyes. Go down about 2-3 tones on that tree and you have the coloring for the many many palm trees in Dimensions. However though, although they are very bright, they are still very well drawn. With a great deal of shading and color preportioning too. The water was nice too. Because of the fact that it was simple made it really noticable for some reason. Because all it was, was sparkling water, but with minor pixel changes this was established. Simple and good. But the best maptiles that impressed me were in the volcano. There were tiny little pockets of smoke that shot out of them which was as said, simple, but still quite good.

The walkabouts and hero graphics weren't exactly too much to brag about either. The walkabouts didn't seem to have near as much detail and were a tad bit sketchier. Although the general structure of them were nice, they weren't as appreciated as some have done for them through my eyes. Battle graphics were passable. The black outline, which I am against because of the restrictions you have in such a small area on the OHR, was used to draw a majority of the battle graphics. The characters moved around in battle, but often they looked like they were merely standing. A bit more animation would have been a lot better and made fights seem a lot funner and detailed. There wasn't any major shading I could notice of, which would have been nice, but these were decent.
 
Storyline
    Starts out, you're two kids who are master thieves. Okay, that was sarcasm if I ever wrote any. Anyways, Austin and Flogen have stolen some chocolate from the only shop on the island, and turns out, that they want to go wandering around the day after their heist. One kid has a conchense, the other does not. Austin is the do gooder who always thinks optimistically and stuff. And Flogen is just a goof ball who likes to have fun. Basic character set up, the serious dude, and the one to keep the guy sane. Anyways, they go back to the shop for some unknown reason and the shop keeper isn't mad at all. As a matter of fact, he wants to employ you as a delivery boy. So after a simple fetching of some sulphur in a big spooky volcano you go back and then you have to go to the mainland. After a conversation involving a mainlander and some dude the demo is over. So as you can tell, based off this, the story is still under development. But it started off good I'd say. Having as few characters as possible in the beginning of a game makes story development and character bonding a lot easier to follow through for both the writer and the player. Good tactic, but I don't know if it was deliberate or not. But if it was, then I commend ya. That's why in my so claimed best game "Halloween Quest" I stick to three main characters with a wide variety of gameplay to expand their relationship. If you keep up the storyline and character bonding the story could progress into something very good. But the main question I have for you Cube is "What does an island and two kids have to do with ""Dimensions""?!" I know it sounds cool, but it would be interesting to know.  
Gameplay
    Cube is a great scripter. And this game is living proof of it all in action. First of all, there is a unique way to go about gaining stat increases in this game. A majority of the OHR community I take it has played Final Fantasy X. If not, well, read anyways. In FFX, there was a unique system, the sphere grid. Where after level ups you would gain a movement on the grid so that you could make your little sphere go around this humungous table and learn abilities, gain stat increases, etc. You name it, they had it. For Dimensions a slightly similar tactic was used. Rather than learning new techniques, your character merely gained stat increases. Which is by far, a very unique way of going about anything, is by being original. Anyways, you find these things called shards, which are like movements on the sphere grid. And every character can use a certain amount after level up, but the problem is getting these shards. Some enimies drop them, you can steal em. It's just a matter of getting them mostly. Anyways, the table is a very ingenius idea and it really stuck to me after playing this game once a year or so ago. I can't remember, but I wasn't particularily a good reviewer. And I know my reviewing has gotten a tad better so I am happy I put this off until now anyways. But the gameplay is very suprising. And being able to run in such beautiful maps is definitely a plus to this. Because the maps were indeed humungous, and walking at the default speed of 4 would have taken forever. So with it being over doubled at 10 it was definitely a bright side.  
  Battle
    Like lots of games I have played but didn't feel they were worth a review, they stock up on useless skill lists. Skills that are so insignificant they are only there to make the battle menu look better. Turns out, it's anything but that. It makes them look bad after you see just what abilities you can use and which of them are worth using. Some abilities were useful but with unbalanced enimies defending (One of the abilities) was hardly worth the usage. Stealing was however a useful skill, but it's always useful. Like ham and cheese, a game is good with it. Battles were unbalanced, to say the least. Because enimies either did a collosal amount of damage or barely scratched you. And on top of that, the only healing items were potions that were literally on the OTHER SIDE OF THE FREAKIN ISLAND! But although the concept was believable, the way this was established wasn't. Anyways, back to battles. One particular boss, which happens to be the only boss by the way, was a fire ball. I must admit I lost to him once. Or maybe it's an it. Anyways, it was pretty hard. Which was weird because of the fact that all the other enimies were easy. I know bosses are supposed to be hard, but come on now!  
  Map Design
    As stated before, the maps in Dimensions are extremely detailed. But with big maps it is good to keep the player seeing something new every now and then. Because, there is a fair amount of green to this game and to see something different like a volcano was definitely a nice touch, believe me. But the only real difference in the maptiles upon areas besides the volcano was stuff lying around on them. Like near the docks, there were boxes, near the ruins, crushed up rubble. It was a nice touch, but seeing more details would have been nice. Such as maybe a significant piece of fallen rubble would have been nice, or even some kind of machine or ship yard at the docks. For the most part the maps were made generoslly, in terms of giving the player enough room to explore.  
  Balance
    From the beginning of the game you have a very little amount of HP and the damage you deal is a lot more than your current HP. I mean I had like 180 HP with Austin and was doing like 200+ damage. Considering the enimies weren't too bad in terms of their HP it was alright. The only opponent I really had a problem with this bee thing. It did like 100+ damage which means it'll kill you in a couple of turns. And it took three turns to kill the damn thing. It made the beginning of the game appear too difficult. Games shouldn't start too difficult in the beginning as I have expressed in various other reviews I have written.  
Music
    My computer doesn't play BAM so I cannot judge this area.
 
Enjoyment
    I enjoyed the aspect of the gameplay for the most part. The originality of it all was really something I thoroughlly enjoyed seeing in use and brought into play with the events and activities throughout the game. The characters show promise and I hope that if Cube ever does finish this game that he expands on all of that. But not much else really to say here other than I enjoyed it.
 
Final Blows
    There comes a time in every boys life where he thinks he's got a great idea and tries to push it on someone else. And not so much as pushing an idea, but showing the OHR Community that with just a lil bit of plotscripting your game can be fresh and new. Heck, that's why the game has so many counts I'm sure of. But like I said, I've grounded from the net at home so I have no idea what is on the top 5 list now. Anyways, just work on the areas mentioned and your game should pass Shadowiii in no time. Because if everyone who downloaded the game once, downloads it again for a more advanced copy, then you'll be back in business dude.
The coolest thing in the game! THE STAT TABLE!

The coolest thing in the game! THE STAT TABLE!
Final Scores
Graphics: 6.5/10.0
Maptiles were great, yet... the rest leaved much to be desired..
Storyline: 2.5/10.0
Definitely something that will grow to be good if all goes well. Would like to see that expanded upon a lot as well, but I have to judge on what's there now.
Gameplay: 9.5/10.0
Aside from unbalanced battles and enimies this was awesome. It is a real short demo though. Ooh, and who can forget, the chart.
Music: 1/10.0
My computer doesn't play BAM so I cannot judge this area.
Enjoyment: 5.5/10.0
It's 20 minutes that weren't wasted I can assure you, because every game I play on OHR or anything I try and get thoughts and use them in future games I work on. So this really hit home with me.
Overall Grade: C
Final Thoughts
    I've seen better, but for the limited amount of what's here, it's decent. Worth a look at, but not worth a replaying.  


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