Timewave 2
| Title: | Timewave 2 |
| Creator: | Lapixx |
| Reviewed on: | 7 Mar 2010 |
| Genre: | Puzzle Platformer |
Images
Review
Reviewed by on 7 Mar 2010I've played many platformers before, ranging from various kinds of concepts, and Timewave 2 is no exception to that rule. Timewave 2 is a game by a man named Lapixx, submitted for the 5th YYG competition. Timewave 2 is a puzzle platformer that relies on the mechanic of going back in time and using your previous self as a platform to get out of situations. What separates Timewave 2 from other games like this, honestly, is the fact that it does so in a smooth manner, to which I can appreciate mostly because few games of this manner actually do this mechanic smoothly.
There is no plot to this game whatsoever, and quite frankly, it doesn't need one, nor should it ever have one, because it focuses on fun rather than the usual plot. It's not that plots are bad, it's just this game really doesn't need one, which occurs with few games. Do you honestly need an explanation as to why a small little round bump is transversing the time-space continuum and bashing baddies along the way?
The graphics caught my eye when I first found this little game, and once I started playing it, dear God did I fall in love with this. It's a mix of smooth, clean graphics and 8-bit pixel art rolled up into a delicious platter of smooth tile enchilada, accompanied with chocolate milk. I'm a bit of a softy for pixel-style graphics and 8-bit sprites, whether it's nostalgia or just plain awesome, the same also applies to it's music. It's so whimsical and carefree, it'll just leave you with a smile. At least, until it's looped to the 30th time, to which you just want to commit suicide or you're completely hypnotized by it's mind control and you end up singing along with it.
The gameplay isn't quite new, but as I previously said, it's very smooth compared to others of the same concept. You're limited to a certain amount of spawns (or waves, in this case, and I can see why he'd call it that), which is 10. You're also timed 30 seconds to get to your destination and press Space in order to strategically place yourself so that you can climb over yourself to reach stuff (or even commit suicide, but they're all past copies, so they don't matter), and collect shiny little blue bars in order to activate the exit. If you don't accomplish it in the amount of waves you're given, it's game over. Couple of things I noticed:
The copies seem to glitch in a shade of blue (even in the menu), but I'll let that slide and say that's on purpose as a side-effect of messing with the fabric of time and space itself (Remember, kids! If you go back in time, you'll be translucent and twitch in a shade of blue, so don't do this at home.) There's a timer that appears when you die, and that's because it just speeds up the remaining time after you've wasted all your copies. And then it's game over. There are enemies in this game, and they seem to psychologically guard floors for no reason, and are easily killed just by jumping on them. What makes this more awesome, you ask? Nothing besides the fact that your past selves can kill them as well with correct timing (which is usually always), thus staging mass genocide of these weird-looking imps (this is very much noticed in Stage 09). A good chunk of this consists of jump puzzles, but this eventually changes by Stage 10, which timing and execution become key (still has it's tricky jumps, but not completely centered on it, with platforms and elevators and doors, oh my). Now here's what I don't like about this game:
- Doors can kill you. This would be common sense, but in this case, if you even stand the smallest pixel next to a door, it will kill you, no questions asked. This is especially bad if you need all 10 of your waves (and there are moments where you do, trust me on this). This glitch should be fixed.
- Referring to the 1st point, there's isn't a reset button. Some stages require all waves to cooperate together, and if one is lost, everything is lost. Instead of having to go through the motions and pressing space repeatedly, a reset button to do the entire stage over would be much more intuitive. Also, if your timing fails...
- Fake blocks. They start out as a cute little implementation, but now they're really irritating me. At least they're not abused horribly and are set in places where it's somewhat obvious most of the time.
- Dear God, more variety in the songs, seriously. Song... stuck... in brain... There is an option to mute the music (and I have, replaced it with my music list as I usually do) but I feel bad doing this, because it's not a bad song, and I like chiptunes. At least 2 songs alternating would do the trick in this case.
There are 15 stages in all currently, and the game is still being worked on with minor edits. I probably wouldn't play this again if and when I beat it, as I usually do with most games I play (minus a few exceptions). Besides the faults I just described, I highly recommend playing this game because it's awesome and super-enjoyable at times. You will enjoy this game.
Score Breakdown
| Graphics : | 9.0 | |
| Gameplay : | 9.0 | |
| Sound : | 9.0 | |
| Replay Value : | 5.0 | |
| Total (Not Average) : | 8.0 |
Comments
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I would have to strongly disagree with this review. The only thing that this game has going for it is its interesting game play (witch has already been done, so its not extraordinary) Other than that the graphics are very simplistic. There are no features other than story mode, there is only one music track and needless to say there is no replay value. Graphics : 5 Gameplay : 7 Sound : 4 Replay Value : 1 Total : 5