Hoooo, I've been away since the 17th on forum time and-
January 23, 2016, 02:57:10 pm
.-.
Gonna make a post in a few hours for TheBlueFlamingo.
Sorry Sappho for the wait! 
eep!
You just had to breakdown Tiri. >_>THE HALL OF SHAME
Tiruin - Did not one but TWO separate analyses of Boxeswithguns, but never wrote one about The Blue Flamingo. As the Boxeswithguns reviews were so in-depth, I'm inclined to be forgiving, especially as I'm aware her internet situation is not great - but I'd like to see at least a sentence or two about the second game.[...]
Honorable mention goes to Tiruin, who would have won but for the technicality of the missing second review.
Apologies Sappho and everyone else D: I had a
something important that happened in the form of a sad that blew up and contributed to a breakdown which had me x_x until a day or so ago when I talked to someone really important and insightful (in which I really just needed someone to synch with my thinking). But yeah. That said, grats BFEL c: Transistor is an OSSUM game!
And sorry again Sappho D: I had the TBF review in text coming, but only finished it lately post-recovery! (in which I had to screenpic, paste, edit size, upload, for better contextual viewing)
On a humorous note, I didn't view my name there with any anxiety at all
What popped into mind was a more humorous memory from...Spongebob I think, that precisely had the WALL OF SHAME in that episode.
...I think that was the one with the lucky stars/award stars, and Patrick.
...Yep, totally remembering the WALL OF SHAME now.
Love you too Sappho.
Note! Each spoiler has a screenshot, but they're in spoilers for readability bonus!
The Blue Flamingo
And what a hangar it is, ladies and gents! Look at that simplicity, facing the open skies! Look at the hangar crew, each working in their specialized area! Look at that detail, and oh what detail it is—as from game background, mostly everything was made from real props and then animated into a game figure! This isn’t CGI, this is animated paper.
Don’t let the screenshot give any thoughts of poor visual contrast; being right there and playing it shows each word outlined easily here (of mention to that note: there’re two languages, English and French, but it’s in the stillness of the frame that gives this hue contrast difficulty).
My first thoughts here were: “Ah, a scoring system. I expect to die.” complemented with
“No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!” “Ooo, a scoreboard that doesn’t insist to load scores?” (when I perfectly realized I was biased by BoxesW/Guns…), and “Hmm, I wonder why the Steam page is fraught with negative reviews?”
The nice thing here is that even if this game DOES start out fullscreen (and can be edited later on to be windowed in many of the common screen sizes), the alt-tab does not disrupt me from screen-picturing and saving screenshots. :3 Oh, and it patiently waits for you to alt-tab back to resume anything—even battle. That’s a nice touch there (or my inexperience—this seems to be the most poignant bit in memory with that alt-tab=pause/resume is what my memory says, but these bits are written after {breakdown stuffs} happened).
Biased from BoxesWithGuns, I checked the settings for any problems that may not be covered by
my inevitable death contract visual or otherwise representations. I get a simple overview instead. Of note, those grey words like ‘Back, Apply, Controls’ “blink” when selected, probably as a way to denote ‘this is selected’. Everything checks out anyway, and I don’t expect anything bad from this kind of setting.
Controls are alright, pretty simple. Metaknowledge nudges me with a poke that this is a shooter game, so I’ll be a quickly flying atmospheric craft of honor and cinematic explosion. The same ‘blinking’ selector applies here too, so that blank space is actually a preset “W”—the screenshot didn’t get it though!
For fun, the Credits are pretty simple too! They also didn’t bother to obstruct the background aesthetics, which is a cool random note in my notebook. But for posterity purposes--there's a lot of space that could do with tooltips or pop-up boxes that happen when the mouse hovers over or selects an option. This will be covered in the ending.
All that covered, let’s get to gameplay. Upon clicking start. . .
Pretty awesome to think that these aren’t computer rendered on the basis—they’re paper props as well as other handy-crafted materials straight on a miniature scale! And they move seamlessly and smoothly as if they weren’t motion-tracked! The Blue Flamingo also doesn’t look like that aircraft on the right of the hangar back in that intro bit from top-down, and the shading and lighting is pretty well made to the pixel.
Pictured top: The Blue Flamingo
Propulsion: That tiny exhaust tail behind the large rudder.
Missing: My IDC (Inevitable Death Certificate).
I’m not a pilot and lack any experience than the online military manuals freely available, but that is a very short runway. Keeping this in mind, I laughed out in the name of good (and probably British) humor and began to face the foe. I do say British, because other than the humor I associate with the sudden happenings, there’s a nice drum roll as TBF is launched out, reminiscent of a ‘ready to battle’ theme.
It wasn’t actually a runway! It was a holding platform that drops you airborne like a jump-jet.
I am already amazed at the detail (I’m a detail girl who is grateful over them tiny bits that I easily get distracted by them x_x), so let’s get to the gameplay.
Straight out, I’m beset my missiles. I learn
quick what my health bar is, and remember
even quicker what the controls are—I already got hit by a missile straight out while I was admiring everything! :I
The UI is very simplistic and unobtrusive. The 'ESC' key brings you a set of 'Continue, Options, Controls, Exit' (wherein 'Exit' quits your game, something I note later on as VERY IMPORTANT).
Alright, whoever said in those Steam reviews that the controls are clunky and cueing a ton of more negativity, I’m all ‘wut o_o’ as I hold down my left mouse key and woosh all around with my WASD. I’ve tried the right mouse key, and it gives off a circular bomb emanating from my ship that destroys all enemies on screen. These controls are seamless, and the moment I stop pressing W/A/S/D, the aircraft stops right where I want it. I mean, look at my machine gun and secondary missiles! I can easily hold my mouse button down and I’m shooting like a 1942 fighter-bomber!
Of note: That tiny circle next to the meter—that’s the ‘bomb recharge’ button. You have an INFINITE amount of times to use that bomb, with the only drawback being that timer (and presumably a mark on your stat sheet, but it covers all games so…I’m unsure why it’s recorded overall, and seemingly only overall instead of per-game.)
That said, the gameplay hits me with a nostalgia reminiscent of the early shooter games (in space). Galaga, especially, for some reason. Maybe due to the ‘let’s fly around in style’ theme. I would like a backup plane though! Where’s that other plane in the hangar?
So onto "personal" hardcore mode, in which I practice the art of shooting, moving, and moving my little finger to the screenshot key. We’ve loot drops, signified by the tiny glowing gears meaning CASH $, we’ve the backdrop, animated as far as I see (look’it those tiny cars, continuing their work as an aerial war wages on!), and we’ve a nice feature—I have an alternative machine gun and missiles, the enemies either shoot in single fire or make airshows around me, that feature exists in when my bullets hit their bullets: My bullets *AND* missiles get cancelled in a nice brief spark while their own shots cruise on! Nice touch, probably countering the fact that all these enemies are pattern restricted. They must have such a disciplined CO. (There are two types of death animation—the enemy ship going down in smoke, or it exploding in grey steampunk smoke, both effects from machinegun fire and missile impact. There’s also that very subtle spark on impact when my bullets hit their craft. Detail~♥).
Eurgh, much like me…I guess. Those diagonal trails pictured here are enemy (missile) trails--helpful later on to track your position.
To another aspect: Music. The background music isn’t anything epic in the general battles. It’s a calm, some-what slow tune that contains a guitar, piano, and several other instruments, none of which being electric, rock, or metal in theme. Drums, percussion, woodwind, all are included and shift from scene to scene. My favorite. Though it did seem lighthearted accompaniment, I see how it doesn’t distract even the casual listener from focusing on the field in play.
And this static picture just tells half the story! This isn’t a death screen, it’s a death
animation. I tried to take multiple screenshots but they don’t agree with each other to show it. What’s basically happening is a detailed ‘BAIL OUT, RED ALERT’ happening all through the aircraft, with red lights flashing and the plane wobbling as it seemingly goes down. There’s also that occasional cloud to remind you that you’re losing altitude. You don’t crash however, and I think it loops somewhere through the ambient (yet easy to listen to) alarm noises.
But…upon pressing Continue, I get sent back to the title screen! What’s the money for?...Oh, score. I thought there were upgrades.
Thinking ‘ah, no upgrades, that bumps my versatility a lot’, I wondered what the skies held for me (since I only played…3 minutes of it) and ventured on, calmly patting the camera strapped around my neck that he’d be used in times of safety—just not when my life was on the line.
Second lift-off, and I’m seeing…or actually not seeing what those negative reviews say.
What clunky controls? The WASD fine motor skills enable me to shove my ship in that space between those slowly perpendicularly moving satellite-ish aircraft with rays of doom, that I can fire BOTH missiles at it and then dodge away in that split second moment before that ray touches my wing. I managed to do all that
while having my hands outstretched and in my experience,
that is where the clunky begins (See: Depleted health bar :I).
That, or I’m really taking the D:< in the steam reviews in the wrong and misinterpreted way, which I’ll cover later on.
==+==
*
This is me taking a screenshot with my phone camera. On my knees tucked up. Since my hands are busy, I used my teeth to hold the phone and my lip to press the photo-shoot button. My phone is a touchscreen phone. :V TMI? It's worth it to punch negative and UNCRITICAL REVIEWS. THAT KIND OF SHOOTING IS CLUNKY, and my phone isn't even the best of qualities and I can manage a legible picture! (Yeah I'm biased towards those negative reviews -_- and to consider they have a positive >50% ratio of people supporting them...in single digits!)
If you have the cleverness to see this, please do not mention it but giggle silently to yourself instead. Please replace this memory with a mutual ‘no you didn’t see this’ note. Thank you!==+==
The game is friendly to the casual gamer. It starts you off from stage 1. This is noted in the ending review because this is important.
The enemies are polite enough to woosh away from trying to kill you when the end is near. This telltale sign denotes the end of a stage/level: A bonus ‘wave’ or minigame occurs! They’re fun and as lighthearted as the most lighthearted thing present—the prize is bonus score! After the minigame, your ship flies forward and off screen, met with the roar of purified chemical thrusters moving farther away from you. A foretelling of ‘you have lived to the next level!’
Holy fishie! I thought there were no upgrades! (But that’s what you get for assuming and concluding, eh? You prejudge and mmph, personal embarrassment when you discover you judged too early.)
This needs a lot of refining despite the nice looks. No info on bonus upgrades or what they do is shown. I can hypothesize however, that the Gun+ = Gun damage, while the Bomb+ = Faster reload time.
When I think of the production of this game, I see the history of game development as well as the artistry behind it, and then enthrall myself in those abstract details-far-beyond-the-screen, that I busy myself with personal story writing instead of game review. But that’s just it: Knowing the backstory of how this game is made can lead the player to appreciate many other details than what is presented. Here’s stage 2, night play. The previous stage had 4 types of enemies, 2 of which didn’t shoot at you but went with the ol’ fly routine (and HIT THEM WITH OUR BODIES). Some things don’t change—they explode when they hit you. One of them is an aircraft-type while the other was that missile thing.
Not pictured here: My life at the start.
Your life does not get refilled in between stages (despite…somehow you getting back to base?).
It hit me that the title does poke you on SCORES and LEADERBOARDS, but it didn’t poke me this way considering all the detail build up. I started this night mission/stage 2 with the same 50% life like before! …And took 3 hits while screenshooting and firing at the same time.
I…uh, then died shortly afterwards. *ahem* Not because of my flying skills, no!
I’m just a bad pilot.But I played all this Offline on Steam—seemingly, nothing gets updated on the Scoreboard when you’re offline, other than the stats. Every time you exit the game, it marks it as a ‘takeoff’, which makes sense since it seems to be a survival-esque-till-you-drop theme.
Review Score: 7/10My only qualm is refinement!
This game carries a lot of potential--something I plan to finish onto the further levels later on because of its simplicity (See, BoxesWithGuns,
THIS IS HOW THINGS ARE DONE).
In concise statements: This game is a one-flight-fight (despite the...hangar cutscenes and upgrades. I have assumed our aircraft is made of unobtainum, hence our lacking death screen, and the lack of repairs), in which your damage carries over into each and every stage no matter where or when it was obtained. This is counteracted by your regenerating endless supply of ammunition and the shooter-glorified "bomb", which is just deterred by a cooldown timer! It is a test of skill and memory--as the enemy patterns and positions have little variance upon repeat runs.
Refinement and potential brings this game a load of space for expansion. Those helpful UI tips I mentioned earlier of toolboxes and tooltips would help spruce up the already-great atmosphere of the visuals, and the game could be improved to further much more upgrades, or perhaps a Campaign/story/interactive mode that would full out the shoot'em up features of this game, rather than just a presentable 'survival mode'.
All in all, this was a nice game in itself. Please check Steam reviews on
Mixed ratings for their content and quality, and cross-compare them to positive ones! Discernment, efficacy, and critical thinking will help you sort out the
specificity needed to infer what qualities these people are talking about.
The price is OK too, I think?
P165.95
in my currency, rounding to...about 3-4$. Around 4 days worth of savings for a college student like me. But considering the state of the game itself at this moment, it's nice--I lack the experience to add 'but there are better ones out there for the same price//you're better off saving for[...]', because I can see great potential within this game. The only drawback is I am uncertain if it will receive an expansion; I can't justify why I feel that way though.
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