Ark's review workshop!

[arklon]

I figured I would throw my hat into the review ring and see what happens!

My review structure will be pretty simple, I give a summery then break it down into different catagories each with their own rating such as Fun Factor, visuals, originality and stuff like that and give a grade of 1 to 10 at the end and yes I will post pictures


I just ask not to instantly swamp me with requests LOL I don;t have unlimited amounts of time unfortunatly but will try not to lalagag on requests.

[Airators-707]

Here's your first request, it's very short, but if you want you can review

LEVEL: 'Find the Key minigame [easy] '

PSN:Airators-707

Hope you like reviewing it

[arklon]

alrighty! I will get to it tonight!

[Airators-707]

alrighty! I will get to it tonight!

Thanks, can't wait, it was only a concept level

[SuicidalSquirrel]

Can you review my Survival level, No it is not bomb survival
Name: Hop Those Hurdles
PSN: HeroicHamster
Thank you in advance

[arklon]

REVIEW

Find the Key Mini game

PSN airators-707


Well this certainly was an interesting level for my first review simply because its not really a level but a concept. I really don't know what that means but I assume he has ideas to make a real full level with the same concept and this was his test level because the idea itself has potential. You are in a small room and must find several small keys and most are very easy to find, they are behind walls or in little drawers that you must pull out. This could be a very interesting and fun thing to do in large level with a house, garden or whatever setup where you must explore and find hidden things. Here though it takes about less then five minutes to find the keys and then there is nothing to do but kill yourself so you can go to the exit. When you do win a door opens up with a large amount of bubbles and my problem with this is that its always the same amount of bubbles so most who win have around the same score and there is really no challenge to take the board and so this does not really work as a little challenge either but it is called a "mini-game" and I suppose it works as that but a mini-game should be featured in a level and not by itself.



sack-boy in= Tron 2: virtually bored!


Game play : 3

There really is not much game play here, just search a small room and find keys which are very easy to find.

Originality: 5

I think this concept is solid and interesting enough, he just needs to make a real level out of it

scenery: 5

The main room has a nice futuristic look to it which is interesting and does not hurt the eyes

Level Design: 4

Not much to the level since there are two rooms in all but some of the little compartments the keys are hidden in are nicely made and show off the potential for this kind of level

Fun Factor:3

Well a mini-game by itself that takes 3 minutes and consists of finding easy keys really is not all that fun

Final Grade+ X

Since this is only a "concept" and not a "real" level I decided not to give it a grade heh maybe this is a cope out, I will leave that up to you to decide but the score I would of given it would have been really low and sense its just a "test" I figured there was no need to be harsh.

[arklon]

REVIEW

Hop Those Hurdles

PSN: Heroic hamster



Ah a survival challenge that has no dropping bombs, that right there earns it instant points! LOL
Ok joking aside, this is a simple yet fun and slightly addictive challenge level. You start out on a platform and are quickly told what to do and all there is to it is jumping electrified hurtles on a conveyer belt. As uninteresting as that sounds its actually fun and challenge once you get into it. It actually takes patience and practice to learn the jumps and live longer and you can find yourself attempting this over and over. Between each hurtle is a slew of point bubbles so the more you jump over the more points you build up. I only played this by myself but I imagine this can be a blast with 4 people. My biggest problem with this is that for some reason there is no music or sounds at all. Unlike in most survivals there is no selection of music to choose from and there is no music playing at all. Not having a choice of tunes would not be all that bad if there were at least something already playing over the level but no and I'm afraid the silence reduces the replayability a tad because it cause the boredom to creep in a tad faster. I have other issues but those I will cover in my categories.



This is why you should not fall asleep while watching the Olympics and eating mushrooms, the dreams can be killer.

Game play: 5

There is not much to jumping moving hurdles but this is a survival challenge and sometimes its the simplest things that work best for these kind of levels and it does work and does deliver some fun.

Originality: 4

I have seen challenge levels set on conveyers before and jump challenge levels before so this is not a totally new concept but electrified hurtles on a conveyer is still interesting enough and at least its just another bomb level knock-off

Level design: 5

Well this is just a big conveyer with a stickered background behind it but its very well made. The jumps are fixed just perfectly enough to make it challenging but not frustratingly hard. I could find no glitches with the conveyer and the whole thing always flowed smoothly.

Scenery: 4

The background is pretty enough, its a blue sky with some clouds and some of the cartoony character stickers pasted near the bottom. The biggest thing that I noticed is the background does not go all the way up and you see the top of it on the platform you start on. I would suggest to extend it up further so all you see is the decorated background and then it does not look like a stage play set up but maybe that was your goal to begin with?

Fun Factor: 6

This challenge and fun of this one is the best part and with a survival challenge that is how it should be really. Like I have already said it can be addictive and it is fun and competing to get to the top of the score board can be fun as well.


Final Grade: 5

Bottom line is this is a average yet fun survival and there are no falling bombs! I would suggest that you should work on the background, its pretty and soothing enough but change up the stickers a little and add in birdies and such and maybe even stickers of your own creation. Oh and diffidently add music wither it be a selection to choose from at the start or just one playing over the level, it just needs music!

[Mnniska]

Heh Hello ark. I published a level today. Its not really done but I had to publish it,becouse the closing date of the competition It was built for was today and not the 16th as I had thought.

That's why I ahev not promoted it or anything,its not quite done. but yeah please review so i can ahev some neat feedback!

Level Name: Switches! Everywhere!

PSN: Mnniska

heh this will eb my first review for the level! 8D

[arklon]

REVIEW:

Switches! everywhere!

PSN: mnniska




I have played a few of mnniska's levels before and I knew I was at least in for something interesting and I was not disappointed. The story is that a creator lost his mind and decided to show every switch in his level and the locals aren't happy about it due to the fact that their eyes are about to start bleeding. So its up to good ole sack boy to travel through the level and hide all the switches. There are a lot of very original and well thought out obstacles here. At first you just use a sticker to cover some up but after that it gets a tad more creative. The creativity of the obstacles is were this level shines, one area has jet packs in squared off areas that you cannot leave without the pack inactivating and so you must fling yourself out of the squares and at the other jet packs.



I should have put on some extra padding before attempting this...


There is a "boss" that is a room that randomly lowers walls and does other things while you must pop a series of brains that also randomly come out. What makes this even more brilliant is that all the switches are shown so you much watch the switches to know what the boss is gonna do next and then suddenly the switches being shown becomes part of the game play instead of just being a plot point. Another great thing here is that all the switches are shown allowing you to see how every thing in the level is done so this is like a tutorial level that also doubles as a fast paced plate former.


I think I'm just gonna stay here in the safe little hole... wake me when the room stops trying to kill me.


Scenery: 5

My biggest complaint is with the scenery, now a lot of the cave this takes place in is nicely done with lots of rock patterns and such but a lot of uncolored cardboard is used that every one knows is just ugly. Now I had two thoughts about this one being that the odd thing is that with a level full of visible switches the cardboard seems to seem right at home due to the fact that usually when we see lots of switches its in low quality levels and maybe that is the idea, maybe the creator of this level is poor which is why the natives are plagued with eye sores and could actually be part of the story. The other though is I was told this was a unfinished level and since the level itself seemed to be full and intact I assume that the unfinished part may be all the uncolored material which is actually a good thing cause I would rather the game play and mechanics stay intact over the eye candy.
ALso there is a lot of grey and other type colors used that don't help matters much either


looks like Robin Hood just without all the green


game play: 8

The game play here is smooth and fun, lots of creative obstacles to overcome each with different things to do, this is a puzzle based plat former at times and it flows together nicely

Originality: 8

There are a lots of obstacles with lots of thought put into them, from the switch boss (which is what I have started calling it) to having to watch the switches to get through the current situation this level just has loads of fresh ideas in it

Level design: 7

All the plat forming is smooth and I found very little glitches, all the logic works great and its a smooth running level even though there are some eyesores here and there and a few annoying background plate forms to get stuck in while trying to jump to higher ground. The level is also kinda on the short side but I assume that is due to running out of time and having to publish unfinished.

Fun factor: 8

Who would of thought that hiding switches in someone else's level could be fun? The level is challenging enough to keep old timers interesting but not insanely hard enough to turn off everyone else though there are some hard moments, not every save point is infinite and so there is a difficulty curve here.


final grade: 7


This is a fun plat former with some nice puzzles mixed in and a lot of fresh ideas to boot. I recommend this one.

[DRLONG]

Hey cool you got your own review thread now! I was wondering if you could review one of my levels. I know you've played this level like a million times but I'd like to hear a kind of "official" opinion.
Here it is:

Level Name: Jurassic Park

I think you already know my username.
Don't forget I can always add a little more humor back if you want but I just don't want people to be overloaded with speech bubbles.