The problem with minigames is that even if the player hates just one, usually they have to do it anyway. This game has that problem in spades. I hate the "taunt" minigame, so of course my first fight the enemy ends up with a "tank" position, with me having no advantage but numbers - with 80% of my army shouting against 100% of his army, while one unit at a time made surgical strikes, I got him to rout. But seriously, bleagh.
The biggest problem is that the top of the enemies'(or at least the lizards') graphics doesn't count for hitting them. To the point that a shot can pass under some of their pixels and still not hit them. Trying to subvert the headshot meme, or something? Also, the weapons would be more fun as a gadget-based "talent tree" than the vaguely-Diablo system used, and the reload mechanic gets annoying fast. Still, the controls are great, and the map design is good. Overall, nice old-school platformer.
In combat, it's a minor improvement over EW3; the major problems are still there(units not obeying commands, inability to assign "ranged" and "melee" groups). Out of combat, it's a lot worse than EW3. The card thing was a little weird, but it wasn't this bad.
The combination of AI bugs and TheComputerIsACheatingBastard really suck the fun out of the later levels. Started out okay, though. The two worst AI bugs: A) Mages go stand in melee for some reason, where they promptly die. B) While on Defend, the player's units(even archers) will rarely attack archers that attack them, requiring micromanagement based on the leading enemy troop's type.
The controls are effed up, needs map keys. Also, the music constantly resetting is annoying, better to have a "next level" button that doesn't reset the music.
Needs more commands - in particular, "hold this point, retreat if hurt", flat-out "go left" and "go right", and "don't bother claiming things", with and without retreat if hurt(that should be checkboxy, really). Also needs the music(or ambient noise in general) and sound effects to be separately controllable - the music is just awful, but if I turn it off, I lose audio feedback.
Should drop the opening scroll. Or at least move it much later, so the first impression doesn't involve the contradiction and stupidity; the game stands on its own. It looks like the "shots stay" bug is that shots don't get their turn if too much is drawing; if you scroll so that less stuff is onscreen, the shots will catch up, sometimes to devastating effect.
Just got it in under 200 :J Actually clicking the Hint? button takes you to a page that's relatively specific for the various achievements. I use Up Down Left Right B A for Too Much Contra; it looks like Achievement Unlocked is using a shorter form of the Konami Code. It's possible the 300sec achievement is for 300sec /total/, over multiple playthroughs.
Nice graphics. Otherwise pretty bad. It's deep in the "predesigned puzzle" bin, so if you treat it as a psychology puzzle instead of something requiring creativity, it's easy. And the click targets don't match the graphics. The sound is annoying, too. Still, reuse these graphics for something with decent gameplay and it could be awesome.
It'd be nice if there was a chart recorder or something where I could program sequences of packets. The monkey work is annoying. Other than that, not bad :J
Definitely something wrong with the solutions; I tried opening one in the background, and the tab just sat there reloading ads each time the progress bar got to ~90%. (In Firefox on Linux.) On custom designs, I am inordinately fond of reusing sections of a contraption with different energies, to get different results. Here's one I call "throw it again": S18|31|220|83,S18|23|354|10,S18|415|379|-15,Ball|521|140|0|F,Basket|321|336|0|F,S1|550|160|0,S11|538|12|114,S12|136|135|44,S17|511.95|282|22|F,S16|523|348|-17,S1|400|426|-8,S1|280|406|26,S16|563|277|-105,S18|467|395|-101,S8|143|359|18,S18|55|428|0,S4|290|259|28,
Two problems: First, the sleazy coin tie-in. Second, holding a key glitches in this game, interfering with the "hold direction" moves. It is kinda funny holding down and watching the character glitch back into their standing pose, though :J
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