Game review: Swift Turn 2

Swift Turn 2 is an action-puzzle hybrid game by Andriy Vinchkovskiy with art, sound, and music by Volodymyr Dzitsiuk. The objective of the game is to collect all the stars in each level and then reach the level's goal.

Summary of analysis
Originally jarring but later good new player experience, passable gameplay experience, directional-only main game controls with alternates during mini-games, effective graphics, mediocre music.

Tutorial/New player experience
With one notable exception, the game's tutorial elements help the player through newly-introduced elements of gameplay. The exception is that the player is left to guess at the basic controls on the first level of the game. Aside from one glaring error, the new player experience of the game is well-accomplished.

Gameplay experience
Swift Turn 2 has it's ups and downs (pun unintended). At times the controls felt sluggish, likely due to the game's physics resisting changes in motion. Unlike many puzzle games I've played, this one seemed to discourage analyzing a level and encouraged jumping right into the action and adapting or restarting. A number of levels relied on a sort of play and pray mentality where launching the character into the unknown was the only way to progress and probably having to restart with the knowledge of where the landing point is afterwards.

Interface & Controls
Keyboard arrow keys or wasd control scheme with choice of hotkeys or mouse for menu selections. There are a few mini-games scattered that rely on slightly different control schemes such as space bar only or drag and drop mouse action.

Graphics
Simple and consistent art style, with a few animated objects including the player character (an anthropomorphized cube). One thing to watch out for is spiked surfaces, they're sometimes really small but no less deadly spikes.

Music & Sound
The game's background music, while nice to listen to, seems a bit out of place in this game. It's somewhat relaxed whereas the game is largely action-oriented. The game's sounds on the other hand do their job much more effectively than the music.

Commentary
This game might have been better made had there been a larger team. Having one person programming and handling level designing is a frequent route to needlessly hard levels. The mini-games also seemed a bit out of place as they functioned dramatically-different from the rest of the levels. had they been implemented as an extra feature rather than being part of the regular level progression, it's likely they would be less unusual.

Game review: Zombie Goes Up

Zombie Goes Up is a casual, action game produced by Neutronized. The programming and artwork is by Glonathan Pesaresi and music by Sserrac. The player's objective is to get the zombie up to the surface, navigating around obstacles and opposition.

Summary of analysis
Quick learning curve which parallels steep difficulty curve, decent if occasionally unforgiving gameplay, minimal interface and simple keyboard controls, cartoon-style graphics, interesting and amusing sound.

Tutorial/New player experience
With only four in-game controls, it's a fairly quick learning curve to master the basics. As new elements of the game are introduced, the player will be passing by the tutorial elements in the form of underground signs. Be careful about getting confident, as the gameplay difficulty increases just as quickly as the new elements are introduced.

Gameplay experience
After the first few levels, it gets frustrating trying to dodge between obstacles, thankfully there appears to be an infinite lives mechanic at play. Nonetheless, there are quite a lot of times when the game's safe path is tightrope-thin.

Interface & Controls
The interface consists of a progress bar, score, and game menu controls (pause and mute functions). The gameplay controls are just the four arrow keys.

Graphics
Cartoon-style zombie and creatures alongside similarly-styled world objects and animated interactive objects. The graphics definitely help the casual appeal and it's always nice to see Halloween-themed games abstain from the blood and gore tedium.

Music & Sound
Zombie Goes Up has an interesting background music that seems equal parts light-hearted and dramatic tension. The sound effects certainly go along with the graphics with plenty of boings, pops, and tiny explosions.

Commentary
It's a well-made game and decent way to fill a little time. I'd say that after the first few levels, the game's bound to lose appeal to a casual gamer audience but due to the time commitment by that point, it's already starting to tread into hardcore gamer style anyway.