Topic: AlphaBounce Impressions

Thanks!

Good ol' Arkanoid finally refurbished

I wasnt to far off.
Seems like all it needed was some great graphic it get that score.

Much was written about it so I just say that it's better then I expected.

If there are really 25 million levels, then this could be added to the 'Guinness Records' for the 'most levels in a game.' That huge quantity sounds like this game requires too much play time just to beat it.

How is the stylus controls? It seems like it'd be kinda annoying to use the stylus and not d pad for it

@SUPERZELDAMAN
I just got this game, so I can explain for you. It's really simple, actually. Where you touch is where the stylus goes.

My initial impressions, after playing the game for an hour, is that it's really easy. After about 10 seconds the powerups start raining down. There's that one that keeps the balls in play even if you miss, and the whisky, which keeps all the balls spinning around on the top screen. It's almost like the game plays itself, at that point. Infact, it does, if you get the Pilot powerup! At that point you can't do anything at all!

Hopefully it gets a little more difficult later on.

Don't worry, it does.

They're procedurally generated, that doesn't count as a record.

I hope we have a Japanese release so I can get in on the fun!

Pretty dang awesome so far.

Has anyone finished the game yet?

I just beat the game by reaching Earth, but I'm still missing three planets from my list. All the online info is for the Flash game though, not the DSiWare one.

Hm.

Not nearly as good as the hype behind it on this forum suggests.

It's not a bad game, don't get me wrong, but there's some serious faults. Firstly, the production values are cheap. The game's littered with grammatical and spelling errors, and menu the interface suffers some nasty pauses between selections.

The game also does a terrible job at explaining to you what's going on, what the powerups do, and what the various objects on the map mean. You have to discover everything by yourself, which is needlessly archaic. Look at Starship Defense - everything is well explained, from powerups to weapons, within the context of the game as you go along. The first 10 or so levels of this game I was just confused.

I also reached a level where some kind of monster destroys me straight away, every time. No explanation. I'm just confused, though I'm sure I'll work it out soon.

The gameplay itself is too random. Too much weight is put into the powerups, and it's too difficult to see what those powerups are individually when they're raining down. As a result, all kinds of crazy stuff happens quickly, and it ends up being quite bewildering, and there are times I simply forget to look at the top screen, where the blocks are that I'm meant to be destroying.

So, while there seems to be a lot to this game, at the same time it really does feel cheap to play. It's not bad, but there are some serious, and quite irritating, faults in the game.

WaltzElf - I think the "tons of powerups fall down and you have to avoid picking up the bad ones" is part of the genre. You'll have to learn to dodge stuff.
As for the "I get killed right away" thing, try looking around for some more equipment and ships. They'll help you survive those sentries' attacks.

Bit hard to dodge the bad stuff when it looks exactly the same as the good stuff.

And I figured that would be the case. The fact the game doesn't give you any indication of this, however, is just further proof that it's terrible at communicating to you what you need to do to progress.

Great game! I'm loving it almost as much as Mr. Driller

I wouldn't know because I'm playing a translated version.

The game also does a terrible job at explaining to you what's going on, what the powerups do, and what the various objects on the map mean. You have to discover everything by yourself, which is needlessly archaic.

Honestly I find the discovery to be one of the game's features, I like being in a fairly open world and trying to figure out how it works with mystery being everywhere instead of everything being known.

The gameplay itself is too random. Too much weight is put into the powerups, and it's too difficult to see what those powerups are individually when they're raining down.

The massive powerup barrages subside as you move away from the starting area, they become much rarer.

I absolutely agree that discovery is part of this game's appeal. Trying different power ups and configurations is a lot of fun. The game doesn't hold your hand, but it's not so complex that figuring things out is a chore.

The only downer to me is the load times.

Anyone else find the FireBall much too powerful? If it just bored through terraformed blocks it would be a nice tactical addition, but it goes right through nearly every kind of block, and without any challenge things are beginning to get monotonous.

Once it moves faster it can't burn the blocks up before it touches them but yeah, the initial launch already has it eat up a gigantic part of the playing field. My approach to OP items is to stop using them, I've already stuffed the pulse cannon back into my inventory.

I found two more planets, so that makes 26 out of 27 now. The random info blurbs sometimes mention dragons, which I haven't seen anywhere yet, so I figure they'll show up on that last planet. Has anyone found it?

ETA: The Press Kit PDF from the AlphaBounce DSiWare website mentions that there are 26 planets. Sloppy interface design?