Matt McFarland

Clean Asia has stunning visuals, multiple levels, outstanding music, very interesting enemies, surprising combos, and is very challenging. 

What makes the game even more challenging is that the game lacks sufficient instructions to understand the controls.  Once you get the controls down, however, the game becomes amazingly addictive.  The attract / retract weapon system is highly entertaining and quite uncanny.  Once the controls are mastered you're going to have to learn how to be strategic with each enemy you run into.  Each enemy is quite different from the last, and with all these different enemies the game requires some cunning strategy. 

The game I'd say is 90% complete, because hitting escape drops you straight into windows, and there's no pause button.  Because I died a lot at first, I found it a drag to have to wait to play again.  I wish I could skip the "Game Over" sequence and go right back into action!  Putting the minor flaws aside, this game is extremely entertaining and is an instant classic in my book!  Everyone should play this game at least once!

Graphics: 76

Sound: 94

Innovation: 86

Overall: 90

Tim W

Part Warning Forever, part Tumiki Fighters, all style. The eyes of the world have taken over Asia, and meddling America decides to send two of their best pilots to counter the threat. Collect debris to power-up your ship or use them as a secondary weapon, whichever your choice it's undeniable that you're going to have fun with this entry.

Clean Asia is a rather difficult game, and as noted by cactus only two people have beaten all three stages so far. Still, the game has that magic ingredient that will leave many players frustrated but somehow ropes them back for another go. Most of the tracks are actually really good, though the Thailand tune really does win this category hands down.

I'm actually inclined to hand out a personal score of 370; cactus did create three other shooters (The Design, Space and Ad Nauseam) during this competition's timeline, when others had struggled to finish one or two stages worth of decent action.

Graphics: 85

Sound: 95

Innovation: 95

Overall: 95

Charlie

This is great, really impressive stuff. I love the theme, it’s colourful and quirky and it brought a real smile to my face when I first loaded it up. Although the game itself isn’t immediately accessible with undocumented controls and fairly different debris attraction mechanic, it soon becomes apparent (after spending a few goes working out what the buttons do and what it means to use them) that there is a really compelling game behind it all.

The three regions that you can choose from each present a different way of playing the game. The Thailand stage is the easiest (though easy this game is not), allowing you the time to get the controls down ad figure out how to use them most effectively. The enemies here are constructed from ‘blocks’ that you must destroy, and once destroyed you can collect the debris left by the ‘block’. These bits of debris can be used as bullets or can be launched all at once at other parts of the enemies. And that’s just one control scheme!  Korea ramps up the difficulty, adding more bullets and trickier enemies to the mix. The final region, China, changes things again, presenting itself as more familiar horizontal shooter, with debris generated by cannons at the foot of the screen rather than by the destruction of enemies. In summary, this game has a lot to offer in terms of varied game play and fun.

Graphically there are some really nice touches in Clean Asia. The minimalist style, while not entirely original, has been given a style that suits the theme of the game better than previous games I have played, and I love the cartoon figures and faces that are prominent in the game selection and game over sequences. Sonically, the music is the best in the competition.

Clean Asia isn’t without its faults however (what is?); there are occasional issues with the visibility of the player and of bullets blending in too well with the background. Also, while I found the brief moment of invincibility when you are re-spawned helpful, not being able to do any damage to enemies was far from it, and made it more difficult to get back into the game. These factors combined make the game feel a little harsh and unforgiving at times, which is a shame. Oh, and where are the hi-scores?

This is probably my favourite title in the competition, I’ve certainly spent the most time playing it over the last few days. Great stuff.

Graphics 85

Sound 90

Innovation 85

Overall 90

Matt McFarland

The presentation of Excellent Bifurcation in the forums including the screen shots really just don't do this game any justice.  The control concept made it look like it would be a bad egg......  The concept of the game is to fly two separate ships, and fight on two separate playing fields at the same time!  Not only does this seem impossible, it seems like something that just wouldn't work.  But once you add in a configurable control system, lock the ships to the same controls, and work with levels designed for this control system you get something amazing.  The levels are perfectly choreographed to compliment multi-tasking, featuring various enemy types, power-ups, and bullet patterns.  I was blown away by the concept and I feel that if anyone hasn't tried a game like this they MUST PLAY IT!

The game has smooth animations, high scores, configurable controls, great level design, and it's very easy to pick up and play.  It really feels like you're working a different muscle when you play this game, and that's what I enjoyed the most!

However, the games music doesn't match the feeling it invokes.  I would come in with something completely different there, the sound effects were cool though.  The panning involved is also quite nice, and really is a nice touch.  It's a shame this game doesn't have a pause button either, but perhaps it includes one in a later version!  Despite these little flaws, this game remains a MUST PLAY in my book!

Graphics 80

Sounds 40

Innovation 94

Overall 99

Tim W

To divide into two parts, that's bifurcation. Not the first entry to have dual screen action, though Linley had practically made the idea his own with good choice of colors, simple sprite designs and lots of style. Each ship has it's own advantages and disadvantages. The craft on the left utilizes a spread shot, while the right-hand fighter fires a devastating cannon beam after the collection of several power-ups. One ship has a larger hit point than the other.

The trick is to switch forms when necessary - one fighter may be of more use than the other, depending on the current situation. There's even stereo sound and matching backgrounds on both sides. Definitely an underdog in this competition, though the author himself is actually no stranger when it comes to creating abstract shooters.

Autofire is implemented very well here. You can activate it by pressing the A key, hence allowing players to concentrate on switching sides and choosing the exact moment to charge up their special weapon.

Extra points for cramming a seemingly endless variety of enemy sprites into two stages, instead of spreading them thin just to make up the numbers. More levels, please!

Graphics: 95

Sound: 75

Innovation: 100

Overall: 95

Charlie

I love the 8-bit themes graphics and sounds in this entry. They bring back many happy memories or spending far too long playing NES games. There is a vast variety of different enemies too, which is especially pleasing as some of the other games in the competition feature only a handful.

The game itself is divided into two screens (hence the bifurcation) and you have a ship in each that is differently configured. Those with a good knowledge of retro games may recall Llamasoft’s Iridis Alpha, this game is similar only with a vertical split. The key to the game is to switch ships between the two screens so that you have the most effective ship in the part of the screen that suits it best. Quite often though, I found myself not being able to concentrate effectively on both screens, meaning that some deaths felt a little cheap. This is a good entry though, and with a little refinement of the difficulty (or do I mean visibility) of the split screen game play this could be a great game.

Graphics 80

Sounds 75

Innovation 70

Overall 70

Matt McFarland

I found this game to have the "most complete" feel out of all others in the competition.  The game featuers a one level demo and includes everything you'd find in a retro arcade game.  I for one would like to see more competition entries less retro and more modern as I want shmups to be pushing the envelope.  However, this game shines with so much potential I have to see the finished product.

It includes so much detail, has hardly any bugs, and really has a "finished" touch.  The polish on the game is also great, and everything mixes well with perfection.  The game is easy, but because it has such a polished level design and so much you can do with it I say the game's difficulty is rather perfect for atleast the casual audience.  Level 1?  A great level 1 I must say..

Graphics: 95

Sound: 93

Innovation: 41

Overall: 97

Tim W

A 2D horizontal shooter with undoubtedly the best pixel graphics in the competition. Explosions are nicely drawn and damage to enemy ships are indicated with lots of detail. Extra points for the great soundtrack, though the introductory screen could use a bit of animation (like having the logo burst into flames, now that's a special touch!)

There's a complicated point scoring system that is only explained in the text file, which is quite unfortunate really because a lot of work went into implementing it into this production. An in-game tutorial certainly would have helped to explain things much better.

In the end, I would have to award personal scores based on the amount of time spent on each entry. Hence Monokey's effort doesn't quite score as high in this department.

I definitely want to have a look at their resumes again - I'm that confident these guys are ex-SNK staff!

Graphics: 100

Sound: 85

Innovation: 65

Overall: 80

Charlie

I really loved this game, excellent graphics and retro sound effects. Quality stuff. The pixel art reminded me of Metal Slug, a particular favourite of mine. Packed with incidental details that add a real life to the game, like the damage to the enemy ships and flashing stars as the bullets disappear.

It’s not the longest of levels however, and I think that the difficulty might be a little too much too soon, although I understand that the timeframe of the competition was perhaps not long enough to balance out these things (I spent more time trying to balance difficulty of levels in Bullet Candy than I did coding the engine).

I really hope to see this one continue after the end of this competition. There is a real talent on display here, and I’d like to see that develop into something great.

Graphics 90

Sounds 75

Innovation 55

Overall 85

Matt McFarland

What really stood out to me was the presentation of this game.  The game's menu system is top-notch, including everything related to the entire User Interface.  I really like how you can hit escape in the game and it pauses also allowing you to quit back to the title screen.  I also like how the high score table is layed out, and I found "whobody" quite a comical play on words! 

The first level in the game I found very entertaining, but after that the game becomes very difficult.  The bullets are unpredictable as they twist and turn. You'll need to take full advantage of the shields or quite a rewarding special power that redirects all bullets on the screen right into em!  You also have the option to rapid fire or spread shot and each have their own advantages. 

It would have been better to see more of a gradual change in game difficulty, but at least you can select the last level you played.  The controls are intuitive, the UI is impressive, and this game has great potential for being compared to what we action lovers love to pay for!

Graphics: 50

Sound : 84

Innovation: 76

Overall: 87

Tim W

Keyboard or joystick controls? Now that's probably the biggest issue to consider when judging Blessed. Difficulty is one thing, but complications encountered when trying to do the single action that matters most in the game is just way too harsh. Players are required to tap the shoot key repeatedly for continuous spread shot, and boy do you need to fill the screen with bullets. Enemies tend to appear far apart, so there's a bit of traveling to be done if your fingers tire from all the button-mashing activities.

A shame, really - because there's a lot of other options to configure, speech, nicely drawn sprites and a decent game underneath all that. I had popped by Bill's site to read his thoughts about this entry, and screenshots from only the first two levels partially confirmed my suspicions. (thanks Bill!) No spread shots in both.

Nomltest FS is a brilliant example of how to implement three types of shots into two buttons without the need for rapid key presses. But that's a different story...

Bonus points for making a total of seven levels and additional gameplay modes for this game, great effort! Credit has to be given to Strukt for contributing nearly ten long tracks, though it's quite unlikely that many players will be able to unlock all of them. Fortunately the songs are stashed inside the music folder, so anyone can still access them with ease.

It even has a swell web site, so thumbs up for that.

Graphics: 75

Sound: 85

Innovation: 75

Overall: 85

Charlie

There is something deeply satisfying about this game. Once you get past the initial difficulty and start to learn when it’s best to use what weapon and when in a level I really started to get into the game proper. I must have spent a good 3 hours playing this afternoon.

The game system I’m still not sure about. At first the lack of rapid firing spread shots was annoying, but as you learn how to deal with each wave of enemies this ceases to be a problem. It’s the shield/rage button that I have issues with, often I wanted to save my rage power for a certain point in the level, and just use the shield to dodge 2 or 3 bullets here and there but found that I had filled my power bar up and wasted the rage power accidentally on a worthless enemy. It would be better I think to have a separate button for shield and rage attacks.

Still, anything that can hold my attention for this length of time without a break has to have something going for it. The game is well presented graphically (the one gripe here being that I can’t read the text used at various points in the game), and the sound and music suits. Also having plenty of options to fiddle around with is a nice touch.

One final thing to mention here is that this game seems  complete, with a full complement of levels and extras to play about with. Good stuff.

Graphics 75

Sounds 70

Innovation 70

Overall 85

Matt McFarland

I was impressed with the solid presentation from Gravitron.   A complete game with high scores, pausing, configurable controls, multiplayer gaming, and excellent accessability.  The game itself is rather difficult as it is a vector based game where you apply thrust to keep your ship in the air.  It reminds me a lot of lunar lander, except you have a mission to do. 

I must admit I have a hard time mastering the controls of the ship, as it is not a style of play I'm used to.  So when you add in different enemy types, astronauts to pick up, and things to destroy the game becomes very challenging.

I found the graphics and sound to be great, and the game runs bug-free.  It's definately a polished game and worth a play, and if you like thrust style games this game will be your best friend. 

The game does come with a level editor but its not quite clear on how you play your own levels.  I hope to see future updates soon!  Definately worth a play.

Graphics: 70

Sound: 88

Innovation: 56

Overall: 77

Tim W

X-Out returns with a brand new shooter entitled Gravitron, though this one requires a little more tact as it is actually based on Thrust. Instead of transporting pods into the skies you now have to destroy reactors while saving any spacemen wandering on the surface of the planet.

Progress is saved using a pass phrase, plus the nifty level editor facilitate user creations quite nicely. An excellent effort, though some players may be slightly disappointed with the fact that X-Out ditched the 3D sequel to ProtoType due to unspecified reasons.

Graphics: 80

Sound: 75

Innovation: 70

Overall: 90

Charlie

Gravitron felt pretty complete, great graphics and sounds and other extras such as a level editor. Impressive stuff given the time frame and all together this makes a polished package. The game itself is based on Thrust, and bears a likeness to Wiebo’s recent Thrust Extreme, differences being that you have to rescue stranded astronauts as you make your way around the levels.

Despite not being the biggest fan of Thrust style games, I found myself playing this one for about an hour. It’s just a shame Gravitron couldn’t differentiate itself further from the aforementioned Thrust Extreme.

Graphics 80

Sounds 75

Innovation 65

Overall 75