Kero Blaster, not what I had hoped for

Not intended to flare any tempers!!!!!!!! I wanted to share what I felt about Kero Blaster:

Spoiler

To begin, I didn't want, or expect, Cave Story 2. But Kero Blaster really fell short for me.
I didn't like the control locking in the updward direction, that crimped my style on many an occasion. Also I was not a fan of the super minimized resolution or the chunkiness of it, that really took away from the gameplay I felt. The linear play style took away so much of the fun for me, even though you could easily argue Cave Story was linear it at least had a FEELING of exploration to it (returning to similar locations for starters). Also I played the game with one weapon because the others just didn't cut the mustard (the Uzi Laser once I got it).

I think the story had HUGE potential, but missed the mark for me. I love a game with a good story and it almost feels like Daisuke thought everyone wanted a boiled down version of Cave Story gameplay to make it purely "run and shoot." I like speculation but there was just too much room for speculation in Kero Blaster unless I missed something big. To be honest I couldn't tell you the connection, and there clearly is one, between "what we've done in the past" and some server-like monolith with eyes shooting the word "error" at me (felt cheesy, if anyone played Mischief Makers for N64 this part will have felt VERY familiar). I didn't understand any of the characters, like really get them. And... clock cage man...? I get it, this is from a very different cultural perspective (see: movies like Paprika, and the departure from how business is characterized), and maybe thats the problem, but I did not latch onto much of the story AT ALL. Kero Blaster is too good to be pesudo-intellectual like so many indie games today, so to me it just seems like the problem is a lack of story development. I should mention that for me, Cave Story gave me feels in certain places so I reckon I was expecting something sick like that in Kero Blaster.

I would absolutely buy it if I were you, but for me, it wasn't what I had hoped for,

 

Before anyone (and I can guarantee there'll be at least one person who feels the need to express their own opinion in response to his own, even if they choose not to express it) argues or decides to bitch about what he said,
It's his opinion.
People are allowed to have those, you know. Surprising, isn't it?

Spoiler

@Zamaster
I don't, by any means, agree with your review, but I sure as hell respect it. You sure have some guts to criticize one of Pixel's games this heavily on a forum so highly populated with his die-hard fans, and for that, I respect you and your review. This, of course, doesn't mean I dislike or even feel disappointed by the game in the same way you were.
From what I've played (very little, I might add, which is amounted to a little playtime on a friend's iPhone and Pink Hour), some of your complaints, such as the locked aiming style and rather stiff controls don't quite appeal to me, but I feel it adds to the personality and adaptability a player needs in order to enjoy a game such as this. It's fairly clear Pixel's trying to evoke some sort of replicated feeling from classic challenging games of old, with the likes of Megaman and Castlevania. For instance, those games limited the player exponentially to a degree, forcing the player to adapt. In the case of Castlevania, that issue was controls, much like Kero Blaster. I didn't particularly like it, but I understand why he implemented it.
As for the story, well, in the same sort of case, I don't really expect it to be anything more than a typical "damsel in distress" arc, with maybe a couple twists along the way. I doubt Pixel was thinking anything along the lines of a plot as complex and even as dark as Cave Story's. To be honest I never saw any potential in a "damsel in distress" formula anyway, but for my own expectations, it gets the job done.

 

I don't see why you were so disappointed, I mean it wasn't like any of his previous games (cave story included) had really deep plots or anything.
Also, you do realize it was designed as a mobile game, right?

 

@Nadojin
You make a good point about the controls, in hind sight I realize games (see La-Mulana) with simple control systems are very much the way they are for a reason. I suppose (nodding to the comment about mobile development by GIRakaCHEEZER) its true that Kero Blaster was meant to reach a broader audience and tbh I think Cave Story did have a very broad story, if not greatly detailed.

I guess playing Kero Blaster, it felt like there was supposed to be a depth to it that I totally missed (given the surreal-ness of some of the elements). Maybe that was partly my expectation.

 

I only played that Pink Hour (was that the name?) demo. Is the main game the same as that?
Sadly, that really didn't appeal to me at all.

 

Yeah, I kinda agree on Pink Hour, it was okay, but the extremely odd physics combined with the platforming challenge just didn't appeal to me. But oh well, I suppose it's just a matter of opinion.

 

Is the main game the same as that?

No, not really.

Pink Hour is much more tight (platforming-wise) and more difficult than Kero Blaster. They both use the same engine, resources, and physics, but they are otherwise very much different. I wasn't a huge fan of Pink Hour either, but I am finding Kero Blaster to be quite addictive.

I don't really expect it to be anything more than a typical "damsel in distress" arc, with maybe a couple twists along the way.

Pixel ditched the "damsel in distress" idea around a year ago. The story is about a Frog who works for a company that manufactures teleporters.

 

I am happy with the game we got in the end but my imagination can't help but wonder what Gero blaster would have been like. I wish we had more info on the previous version of the game so I can compare it to the story we did get (Kero blaster)

all I can find are a few screen shots... it seems like it was more open but I could be mistaken

 

There was an old trailer. It didn't show much, but that's to be expected

 

I am happy with the game we got in the end but my imagination can't help but wonder what Gero blaster would have been like.

This for me was also probably the most "disappointing" part of Kero Blaster. It's the same thing with Cave Story too. When you look at the beta and see how different it was, you wonder what it would have been like to play that game instead of the final version.

 

From what I could tell the gameplay would have been the same, except the weapon leveling may have been slightly different, and the whole game would have been a "sorry, but your princess is in another castle" style affair.

 

From what I could tell the gameplay would have been the same, except the weapon leveling may have been slightly different, and the whole game would have been a "sorry, but your princess is in another castle" style affair.

to me it seemd more open then the final version (stage to stage) at least thats what I thought it would be like after watching the trailer...but then agian there's not really much to go on, also I wonder how the aliens play into effect what are their motives for stealing a cat?
and would it have a deeper plot or would it have truly been go save the princess?
also I would like to point out that weird bat robot gun boss thingy looks super fun and I wish I could blast that thing up

 

Not a literal princess mind you.

to me it seemd more open then the final version (stage to stage) at least thats what I thought it would be like after watching the trailer...

Hmm.. not really getting that impression. If you could navigate between stages yourself then wouldn't there be path lines or navigator arrows? To me this is one of those pre-stage "you are here" style maps. The fact that each stage is numbered implies a lack of flexibility in the order you can tackle stages.

 

I think it is a good game, especially on mobile (that gun lock was genius!) What I do agree with in this review is that the chunkiness made the feel of the game worse. The worst part was that it was more 8 bit than 16 bit (as cave story was modeled after.) It just didn't feel as much like a pixel game with the bigger pixels and sprites. Now the story, on the other hand, that was classic Studio Pixel. It was good enough to rival cave story's (okay, it wasn't THAT good, but you get the point.)

 

Finally got a chance to play KB. I did not hope for much better. The graphics of CS look better to me. Maybe modding CS in high res or something would have been better. Maybe Pixel is Pixel because of the pixels.

 

I don't really get all of the complaints about Kero Blaster's graphics. It's chunky, but also pretty atmospheric in my experience and there were some sprites (the Bubble/Balloon projectiles and the final boss in particular) that looked really good, I thought. In general, graphics don't really take away from good gameplay in my book.

(Then again, I also played Astronot and had no problem with the almost Atari 2600-esque graphics, so maybe I just have really low standards/an active imagination. )

I think how much you like this game depends on your expectations and how you approach games of this caliber in general, because a lot of the other complaints I've heard make no sense to me. It's all opinion, of course, so it's nothing I really need to challenge.

 

I am fine with 8 bit, but I was saying it feels less like a game by Pixel because most of his games were 16 bit.

The game was still great though.

I only played that Pink Hour (was that the name?) demo. Is the main game the same as that?
Sadly, that really didn't appeal to me at all.

Pink Hour's graphics and physics are the same, but Kero Blaster is a completely different game. Plus there are not nearly as many places to fall off and die.

 

I am fine with 8 bit, but I was saying it feels less like a game by Pixel because most of his games were 16 bit.

You have no idea what you're talking about. It's not a 8 bit game and none of his games have ever been 16 bit either. All of his games are 32 bit.

 

You have no idea what you're talking about. It's not a 8 bit game and none of his games have ever been 16 bit either. All of his games are 32 bit.

I'm saying that the graphics are modeled after 8/16 bit games.

 

I'm saying that the graphics are modeled after 8/16 bit games.

But that's not what you said. You said most of his games were 16-bit, not that they used sprites similar to those used in the 16-bit era of games, those being very different statements. You don't want to be THIS guy, do you?