Reviews

Review by miran all reviews by miran

I wasn\'t very impressed by this production. The opening screen promises a nice game and the graphics certainly look good but playing the game is just not much fun. It is a platform game, a clone of Mario. The engine is not so bad but the moving, jumping and dying just feel wrong somehow. The game is lacking a bit of the polish, it looks more like a very early test or something. There are no menus, no special effects, no sound, no music and it doesn\'t even come with a readme, which makes it very difficult to start playing because the controls are not explained anywhere.

Artistically look very nice, obviously the author spend a lot time on that aspect of the game. There were two artistic requirements in TINS: troll(s) and unlockables. The game has both, the final boss is a troll, very well drawn I might add, and once you beat it, you unlock a second chracter, Igiul.

Technically the game is not as nice as it is artistically. As already mentioned the engine doesn\'t feel right and sine waves are only used for the weapon - the gun shoots sine waves and that\'s it. I suppose the technical requirements were met though.

In the genre department I don\'t know what to write. The game is obviously a Mario clone but I can\'t see how it is a parody. Maybe if it had a story, either in-game or in a readme, that would make clear what was so funny about it...

To sum it up, I didn\'t enjoy this game very much but that\'s mainly because I didn\'t figure out the controls right away. It looks good and all the competition requirement have been met but the game is very short and too many things are missing for it to stand out.

Scores: Overall 2 Artistical 3 Technical 3 Genre 2

Review by Kaitlyn all reviews by Kaitlyn

DekuTree64\'s entry, Mediocre Oiram World, comes across as a simple yet surprisingly enjoyable spoof of Super Mario Brothers despite being coded in a single weekend. The game\'s biggest failure is its lack of music and sound. However, the game still has an addictive quality many professional platform titles lack.

After executing, the game greets the player with a simple splash screen illustrating the lightheartedness of the game as well its overall graphical style. The hand-drawn artwork works well to add humor while still managing to be pleasing to the eye.

Once the player presses a button, they are transported to the first level as the protagonist, Mediocre Oiram. Oiram, being the backwards spelling of Mario, looks very similar to his namesake. Likewise, the controls and objectives in this game mimic those of the original Super Mario Brothers title.

The game consists of two levels, the first outside and the second underground. The first level is fairly straight-forward. However, after going down the pipe to the second level, the game begins to challenge the player. One jump to a platform comes across as a little too difficult as the player must time their jump perfectly or fall into a pit of lava.

Once reaching the end of the level, a large troll awaits Oiram. The player can either use Oiram\'s special power, a sine wave he can shoot, or jump on top of the troll to vanquish this boss. At the end of the second level, Oiram saves the princess, and the game restarts, unlocking Oiram\'s twin brother Igiul!

The game\'s biggest shortcoming is its lack of music and sound. Music is one of the most memorable aspects of the Super Mario Brothers series. Add this to a total lack of sound effects, and the game feels a little empty. Adding music and sound effects would not have taken long to code and would have made the game play experience much more immersing.

Artistically, the game succeeds in being an obvious parody of the original Super Mario Brothers video game, however, some of the humor is lacking or confusing. For example, when the player hits a box and a sine-flower emerges, the box changes to an icon of poop. Understandably, the icon is designed to be humorous, but the humor was a little too childish to laugh at. The game could have tried to critique the Super Mario Brothers series in other ways as well. For example, questioning why the princess was always kidnapped, and doesn\'t going down pipes mean Oiram has to sludge through sewage? In many ways, the game comes across more as a Mario Brothers clone as opposed to something to laugh at.

DekuTree64 did something nice for the player by explaining some of the controls within the game. For the most part, the controls behave just as any player of Super Mario Brothers would expect them to, but they still feel a little off. They feel lagged or a little too sharp at moments, but the control scheme remains simple and easy to work with.

The game meets all the requirements as a parody that includes sine waves as projectiles, a troll boss, and an unlockable character. However, all the latter mentioned of these seem thrown in as opposed to being part of the focus of the game. Regardless, all the requirements are integrated well into the framework of the finished piece.

Overall, Mediocre Oiram World is an enjoyable piece and a great accomplishment for one weekend\'s worth of programming. The game experience comes across as light hearted and somewhat addictive. Despite that this game can be beaten within the timespan of 2 minutes, many players will enjoy playing through a few times.

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 3 Technical 3 Genre 3