Lunark Review (American Dove Mitten)
I have some very subjective criticism for this game, but as a big fan of the genre, I can't ignore it... I always thought games like Flashback and Another World were extremely immersive experiences, sure we remember them for their platforming momentum, but when they came out they were very unique among other games, playing them was like learning to swim by getting tossed into the ocean and figuring out everything as you go, I never had a feeling of the game watching over me, and I felt like LUNARK was holding my hand the entire time, not just from the gameplay perspective, but the narrative as well, a lot of the characters were there to provide more hints or point me to the next location, the world-building being mostly goofy, and it does not help that final boss was a forgettable character.
The gameplay is pretty much perfect as far as the 'cinematic platformers’ go, it's a bit optimized so it's not as hard as some of the classics, I would say the difficulty is mostly fair - if you have prior experience with the genre. The checkpoints are usually only 30 to 50 seconds apart so even if you die, it's not hard to backtrack, maybe with the exception of the last 2 stages where it got a bit more annoying. You also have a hitpoint system that can be upgraded with collectibles, overall it's just much easier than anything from the past. I did run into some technical issues toward the end of the game, but for the most part, the game felt relatively polished. The playthrough is about 5 hours, depends on your experience I guess
For me, the mood of the game was all over the place, and that is my main problem, sometimes it seems like the game wants me to be immersed and pay attention to the world, but then it just kinda drops it at random. Now there were parts of the game where the soundtrack reminded me of Flashback and had those upbeat industrial vibes like in the original theme, but then I am fighting a boss in this game, and it has like JRPG music, it feels so odd. Actually, everything between the "explosion and the city exploration" felt good, that was my favorite chunk of the game, everything after that did not feel on brand for the world-building, feels too much like playing a game, not exploring a world that I am interested in.
Don't get me wrong, the cutscenes were still great, it's more or less Flashback in terms of formatting and presentation, although having such small sprites does not feel right for the genre, in my opinion anyway. I did feel like the level design varied a lot, sometimes for better, and sometimes for worse. Some parts of the game did not seem designed that well, like it has boss fights but they are very dull. I got a few laughs here and there, but the game traded the world-building for it, I just could not take it seriously anymore.
Pros:
(+) The gameplay was perfectly fine and faithfully implemented, it's pretty much a modern take on it, if it's still hard for you, well it's not gonna get much easier now without changing what it is.
(+) For better or worse, the game is relatively forgiving for the genre. Lots of checkpoints, constant heals, and maximum HP upgrades. Is it fair difficulty, kind of, depending on the level.
(+) The cutscenes were great, as expected. I liked the level design here and there, but some of the stages were a bit dull. I thought the open areas looked nice with all of the random characters.
(+) Has some optional exploration, not too deep though. Find some shards, upgrade your health, and pet the dog.
Feedback:
Mood - you kept using so many characters just as a hint dispenser, it just feels like the entire world exists for the player but I am not inside this world, it's not a great way to build your story. For me, you were changing the mood of the game too much, sometimes it felt more serious, and sometimes you completely dropped the entire thing, I just did not have the immersion that I felt playing Flashback, I can't take this game or its characters seriously, it holds your hand almost the entire time, and feels too much like I am in the game, not inside an interesting world. I thought the villain was awful too.
Some of the music tracks really felt out of place. Now some of them were great, like the song during first explosion, that was very on-brand, but I don't know, there is a lot of strange music in the game that makes no sense, sometimes the game sounds like JRPG, like what is going on.
Nitpicks - I had a very hard time doing the standing 45 jump, maybe I just missed the controls, perhaps you should save the tooltip somewhere. Last 2 stages did not have very friendly checkpoints, doing easy things you already did for every mistake. Boss fights were kind of awful, easy, and dull.
Overall Thoughts: 7/10
Initially, I thought the game was kinda average, then it got much better, and then it got worse again. I paid $18 for it, and I just did not get that immersive experience I was hoping for. It's a decent tribute, it has some okay moments, but honestly, the magic was not there for me, everyone is saying look it's like Flashback, no that game was immersive as hell, and it's not nostalgia for me, it's the music and narrative choices they made, this game exists for the player, not for interesting world-building. Sorry if I sound negative, I was expecting something else, something with a more refined atmosphere.
Niche, obscure and underrated games: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/