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vs. Shadowiii
The fairy game was quite good...
RedMaverickZero
Download: 22B
V.S.
Shadowiii
Play Time: 0 hours and 20 minutes
Review # 53 for Shadowiii The fairy game was quite good...
Them's Fightin' Words
    I always enjoy playing above-average 48 hour contest games, simply because it shows good OHR developers flexing their muscle. Gargan and Troy, RMZ and Worthy's 48 hour entry is actually quite good. It follows the theme of the contest smoothly (modify a fairy tale), and basically consists of three mini-games and...that's it. The character development is a bit bad, and some of the mini-games needed some serious polishing, but other then that the game works out decently.

Graphics
    Typical "new" RMZ, which looks reasonably good. I am reminded of Wandering Hamster in many ways, which is a good thing. The characters have a wide variety of actions and animations with their NPCs, which is neat to see in a 48 hour game. RMZ's graphics have vastly improved over time (stay away from the "fill" button in MSPaint!), and I have to say they look quite nice in this game. Overall, smooth and easy to recognize during the minigames, which is all one could ask for.

 
Storyline
    Story:

Typical fairy tale of the Mouse and the Lion, where the lion spares the mouse's life, so the mouse later saves the lion's. RMZ and Worthy's retelling is almost identical except...the lion DOESN'T spare the mouse's life, but the mouse decides to go save him anyway. Eh? Well, it sure doesn't make any sense to me at least why Troy didn't just bugger off after he had been set free and let Gargan get himself wasted, but I guess it had to do SOMETHING similar to the fairy tale, right?

Dialogue:

I was honestly never a fan of RMZ's dialogue, and I can't say I like it all that much in this game. At least it doesn't have the endlessly boring monologues that plague the end of Halloween Quest, though the characters in Gargan and Troy do seem to monologue a bit.

 
Gameplay
    The game consists of three minigames. One is bad, one is decently acceptable (to a degree), and one is good. Overall, it needed some major polishing in the majority of the minigames, but the scripting is solid and it SEEMS to be put together well, so that is certainly commendable. The game consisted of three minigames:

The Race : Egads, this thing is annoying as heck. Maybe I'm just stupid, but I've heard complaints from other OHRers that this minigame was a bit too tough for a starting one. I was greatly reminded of the sail-boat thing in Smokey McGoo which I swear is impossible to beat after the last mine boost. Basically you are running from a wolf, and your goal is to hit oil slicks to gain speed. The animation is smooth and sexy and all, but really the game is just too hard. I got it after many, many tries, and by then I was genuinly frustrated with the game. It could have at least been split up into different sections so you could save inbetween areas (though it did have a nice "checkpoint" type thing that made it so you didn't have to go ALL the way back when you inevitably died). Overall, very frustrating.

Fairy Singing Minigame - This one was the one I actually liked. It was hard, but REASONABLY hard. You dodge notes and try to grab the right colors. I liked this one, what more need to be said? It also had just the right amount of stages.

Shadow Puppet Show - I agree with Leroy...do I just guess? If so, it makes this mini-"game" blatantly retarded. I pretty much just guessed (like how I played Janken Janken), which wasn't very fun anyway.

 
  Battle
    N/A

 
  Map Design
    Linear. Go from one mini-game to another. Map design on the race needed some tuning up, but other then that they seemed acceptable.

 
  Balance
    N/A

 
Music
    All ska. I like ska a lot. It was all decently picked and placed. It worked during all the cutscenes and the various minigames, and I never got sick of it (except the fact that I played the racing minigame infinity-zillion times before I beat it). Overall, well done. I enjoyed it, and it wasn't traditional.

 
Enjoyment
    This game was really frustrating for me. Again, maybe I'm just stupid, but that freaking racing game was really over-the-top annoying. After I beat it, the fairy game was totally awesome, but he puppet game was a "huh?" Also, it was way too short and could use more mini-games, definatly (though I'll admit you only had 48 hours to make all them). Also, the total absence of personal modivation with regard to saving Gargan (why, so he could eat me/Troy again?) didn't help much either.

It also isn't worth a playthrough, even when you do finally get that racing game down. Though I would play the fairy game more then once, the other two aren't worth doing again.

 
Final Blows
    What can I say? It is a true to form 48 hour game. Lots of plotscripting, not much balance (or length, for that matter). However, it is a very good 48 hour game, and I'd consider it up there as one of the best if the stupid mini-games were better balanced. Overall, a Worthy (har de har har) effort, but in the long run it really isn't that much fun.

Also: My OHR is being fritzy, so the screenshot were taken from other reviews.

...but man, do I hate the racing game.

...but man, do I hate the racing game.
Final Scores
Graphics: 8/10.0
They really do look nice, though not as good as HQ2. RMZ kept it cartoony and fun, which was great. The NPC animations are supurb.
Storyline: 3/10.0
It is quite lousy. Sorry, but it really doesn't follow the tale well. I mean, the tale is THERE, but it isn't represented as it should be. It only needed like another three text boxes to make more sense, but sadly the game was missing them. Story: 1.0 Dialogue: 2.0
Gameplay: 5/10.0
Good, but not great. For 48 hours, Worthy did an amazing job. However, it really needed some serious playtesting before it was released (which isn't possible for a 48 hour game, I know). Worth a shot, if you can get by that damnable racing game.
Music: 7.5/10.0
Well picked and well placed, and I like ska. Probably my favorite part of this game was the music.
Enjoyment: 4/10.0
I probably would have enjoyed it more if I wasn't stuck on that stupid racing game. If you get past it, however, then you've got a decent game to follow. But if you are stuck like me (the inept game player), then you really get pissed off fast.
Overall Grade: C
Final Thoughts
    If you can beat the racing minigame, then there might be something here for you. However, if you can't beat it after say, the third time, just give it up. It IS still just a 48 hour game after all. :P  


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