Blasten!!

I bought this game because I'm familiar with previous work of one of the creators and thought it would be neat to check it out, and throw some support their way. My 100% honest review is that this game very much has the vibe of a hobby project, which is likely what it is, and not a great one. There's nothing inherently wrong with hobby projects! I love hobby projects! I think i'd be able to look past the uneven art style and jankiness if the game felt more balanced in terms of difficulty. The writing is charming, the core controls/mechanics seem solid, but the first few areas just do not seem tuned properly. I was able to get to the first boss and got "Game Over" (or rather, suddenly booted to the main menu when I ran out of lives) twice. It's a shielded enemy on a vehicle coming at you, and when you jump over him he shoots you in the back. I'm fine with tough bosses that require some practice to learn, but I'm not sure what I'm expected to do here. I think it's a classic case of developers getting very good at their own game and not playtesting with fresh eyes. Even the standard "shield guy" enemies are annoying to fight - the game teaches me to slide right before the first one, so I slide under him. The next one is the same thing, but now there's lightning. The third one is by a ledge, so I can't slide past him. I ended up firing under him so he'd land on my bullets, which worked but felt "wrong" to do and was not satisfying. Anyway, I'm writing this review from a place of wanting the game to have more reviews on it (I've heard 10 is the number needed to boost in the algorithm) but also being honest with what I think. The writing is kind of funny. I liked the way tutorials were presented as the names of people delivering messages. Some of the sprites also look really good, while others are just okay. The backgrounds are kind of busy and have more of a "mediocre DOS game" look rather than a 16-bit console style in line with the best of the character sprites. The super hi-res stuff mixed in with the sprites is clearly made by someone with talent but it looks very weird when combined with the pixel art. I'd be impressed with this as a free game by amateurs. As a paid product, it's not the best - unless you really love "old school hard" games and are charmed by the scrappiness, I wouldn't recommend unless on sale. I won't refund, but also won't give it my stamp of approval.