2008 Competition Results: (6:We Like It Retro)

8th Place – As Time Goes By – Total: 225

Ian:

This game appears to be based on the Humphrey Bogart movie Casablanca. Now, I’m not a fan of Bogey or any of his movies, however the author of this game appears to be. Not that it matters a jot, because knowledge of the film is not important (thankfully).

What we have here, at its most basic, is a platform adventure game split into three distinctive acts. Completing each act involves platform action and using collected items within each scene to attain a goal. There is also a very basic fighting engine tagged onto the game.

The game has a distinctive look to it, which is reminiscent of Spanish cartoon games or like SNK’s Metal Slug, only with poorly digitised heads from the movie that the game is based on.

It has to be said that nothing in this game is done particularly well. The graphics and animations are poor, the fighting terrible, and platform engine and collision detection is truly dire – in fact it’s actually possible to fall off of the screen! However, this all adds to the game’s unique “charm” and doesn’t actually stop it being interesting, if for only a few minutes.

Despite the characters being well known to movie goers, gamers (especially younger ones) are less likely to know or care about them or the situation they are in. There are some very basic introductions, but on the whole the game is left to the player to discover. Some might say that this is a good thing but I personally would have preferred to gain more insight into the characters and their purpose. Level 2 makes virtually no sense whatsoever and is a true stalling point.

This game is an interesting take on an old movie, but one that suffers from too many faults to be classed as worthy. More information for the player and fixing the glitches wouldn’t really help the game much as there isn’t much of one here anyway. This is at best a diversional download to relieve a few moments of tedium. A case of style over substance here unfortunately. And remember this, a diss is just a diss, this game is just a sigh, and fundamental problems apply, in As Time Goes By…

Oh and please, let this be the last ever game that uses mouse on the title screen, but keys in game. That really pisses me off.

55%

Geekay:

Oh dear, I can’t relate to this game.  Where the sanity of the author was mildly questioned on his other entry (Sigue Sigue Sputnik). I am now calling on the men in the yellow van to take him away.  Can I try some of your drugs please?

This game is a collage of retro influences, chiefly that of the platform genre.  What is hopelessly wrong with this is a real bug ridden engine that hiccups at the slightest knock. On level one, my man kept on disappearing out of the right hand side then falling out of the sky.  Even if the game isn’t ballsing up, the controls feel fiddly and unwelcoming to the strange environment of the authors mind, especially the jumping.

In saying all of this, the game is presented really well – especially the cinematic opening of the game. There’s also a nice touch of having the option to choose black and white if preferred.  Graphically, it also looks rather neat, the sprites are big, bold and kitsch in a good way.  If it weren’t for the poor engine, I’d probably start to enjoy this game.  It certainly has the style.

I’ve persevered with it long enough to know that in its broken state, it isn’t that much enjoyable.  I hope the author goes and smooths out the engine and gets back to us with it – it’s perhaps worth the effort.

44%

Oogy:

If your name is Sam, you might want to play this again. My name is not Sam, and I tried to play it, and again, and again. But it seems that I just can’t get into it.

The readme of this game states that in the first stage you can either fight the bad guys patrolling the area, or you can avoid them. Well, to be honest, the way the bad guys are set up by default, it’s pretty impossible to avoid them. It’s even more impossible it seems to even complete the first stage, as I have been unable to do so.

Maybe I am just bad at this game. The fight sequences seem to take too long to knock out your opponent, and once you have, they are only knocked out for a short period before they respawn in the exact same spot. The aim of the first stage is to collect all keys in order to advance to the next one. So far, I’ve been able to collect only one by defeating an enemy. But after that, I couldn’t find my way forwards. There’s a key visible at the top of the play field, but I can’t jump to it, nor am I able to use any platforms to get to it. To add to the frustration of the game, the jumping mechanism does not feel right at all. Sometimes I end up jumping alot higher than I think I should be able to, and those seem like random events.

The actual fighting is another serious question mark. No matter how fast I keep pressing the fight-button, my energy pretty much decreases at a steady rate throughout the fight. Sure there’s the bouncy cheese (hmmmm. Gouda) to replenish your energy, but what’s the point if I can’t find my way to the next stage?

I have to be fair though, this is one of the better presented games in the entire competition. The music taken from old classic movies adds to the overal atmosphere, as is the choice you have of playing the game in Technicolor ™ or black & white. It’s a nice touch, but not nice enough to save the actual game itself.

59%

Spray:

“Maria! I just met a girl named Maria!”, Quite frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn” and “Heathcliff!”, all quotes from that classic movie ‘Casablanca’. Strangely enough, those scenes weren’t recreated in this game, inspired by said film and I just don’t know why!

From the out you can tell a lot of thought has been put into making this game look and feel like an old 40′s movie and a good job has been done too. Alas, for all the plus points the presentation gains, it loses them in gameplay. Near impossible jumps and enemies seemingly wearing knight’s armour under their clothes prevented me from progressing onto level 2. I do like a challenging game but there should be some kind of learning curve involved!

It’s a shame, really, because this is one of the games in the competition I was so looking forward to playing.

If you can sort out the difficulty, I dare say I’d play it again, Lobo.

67%

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