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Post by Imperial Khador on May 14, 2016 21:45:09 GMT
I picked up Freedom Planet via the Humble Friends of Nintendo Bundle for the Wii U, but it is also available on Steam.
Freedom Planet started life as a Sonic fan-game, and its roots are still pretty obvious, but they decided to go with original IP instead. This makes a fair amount of sense to me, as it is an enjoyable game, and I'm glad the creators can actually get some money for their efforts.
Although Sonic-inspired, each of the playable characters has a more diverse move-set than Sonic. I've only played with Lilac so far, but it seems like the other two characters will add a fair amount of replay value.
Both the visuals and music tracks seem like something from a vintage Genesis game.
I'm not finished with this one yet, but I'd definitely recommend it.
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Cervantes
Off-Brand Transformable Robot
A former Incompetent Evil Commander (XP: 2423)
Posts: 2,832
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Post by Cervantes on May 15, 2016 1:13:51 GMT
I thought it was a very good game! Actually, the best Sonic-inspired game out there, and better than most Sonic games themselves...
I can only point two flaws in it:
1. The story/cutscenes. Ugh. The game is very professionaly made, but the writing and dubbing is absurdly amateurish and doesn't fit well in the game. For anyone playing it for the first time, I actually recommend playing through the "Classic" mode, which excludes the custscenes. The game is much better that way. If the story was told through text, then maybe it wouldn't be all that bad; but even then, the writing is still very reminiscent of a bad Sonic fanfic.
2. The bosses. Good Lord Karnage, the bosses. The later ones are brutal and take far too many hits, so the fights just go on and on and on till you make a single mistake and have to replay from the beginning. The fights are just too long. They are already terrible while playing as Lilac, but are made even worse while playing as Milla. It's actually the only game I remember having completely ragequit - I haven't touched the game in two years or so since one of the bosses royally pissed me off in my Milla playthrough (I think it was Prince Dail). As you all know, I love terribly hard games, but the bosses in this one just seemed broken.
So, basically, I do recommend playing this game (at least as Lilac in Classic mode), but it isn't without a few major flaws. On a side note, the graphics are beautiful and I wish more developers would go with pixel art of this quality - it looks like a Saturn game (or at least a very good-looking Mega Drive one).
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Post by winnersdontusedrugs on May 15, 2016 2:32:06 GMT
I'm not a huge fan of it, despite the fact that I love the old school Sonic games. The old school Sonic games had a few problems that Freedom Planet doesn't address. In fact I'd say Freedom Planet makes them worse, the main culprit being screen space.
I always felt that the 2d Sonic games didn't give you enough screen space to work with when going at high speeds and Freedom planet only makes this worse by giving the characters all these crazy abilities and forcing them into these weird combat situations that don't really work with the pinball-like physics that these games have. The old sonic games used to involve building momentum so gaining speed felt much more natural and you weren't always running into things that you couldn't react to. Freedom Planet seems to be at maximum overdrive 100% of the time and feels like a pain in the ass to play as a result.
I could go into how I think the story, character designs and personalities are something out of a Deviantart page or a fanfic but that's subjective. Besides, I really love the environments and the menu/HUD artstyle so it balances out.
Despite all of this though, I have a lot of respect for the people who created Freedom Planet. It's one of the few kickstarter projects that wasn't a total scam. They managed their budget well and created come quality assets despite the relatively small amount of money they had to work with. On top of that, they even released the game when they said they would, without major delays. This is possibly the only example of a kickstarter game done right. I can definitely see why this game gets a lot of praise.
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Cervantes
Off-Brand Transformable Robot
A former Incompetent Evil Commander (XP: 2423)
Posts: 2,832
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Post by Cervantes on May 15, 2016 4:16:44 GMT
winnersdontusedrugs - I also do see the screen space thing, although Freedom Planet compensates it a bit by not damaging you just by touching the enemies - they have to actually attack you. The added space given by widescreen also helps to alleviate that problem. The solutions are not as elegant as, say, Sonic Generations (in which the camera subtly zooms out when going fast or in necessary segments, like in tricky platforming sequences), but, in general, I didn't have that much problem with it. I do agree with the "maximum overdrive 100%" though: sometimes I had trouble trying to access specific parts of the levels as my character was always going too fast, at least when playing as Lilac. Another thing I hated about it and forgot to tell before: some of the later enemies are bullet sponges, and bullet sponges are ALWAYS annoying. I would have much preferred (especially in a game with such an emphasis on speed) if every enemy died in one or two hits, three at most. That's one thing the classic Sonic games always got right. About the art style: I remember the first thing my wife said when she saw the game was: "Are those My little pony characters or something?"  All the criticism may seem harsh, but I still think it's a pretty good game (at least when playing as Lilac), and certainly worth it.
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Post by Imperial Khador on May 15, 2016 5:29:48 GMT
Cervantes I'm definitely noticing the boss-issues. For me so far, the smaller bosses (I can't really say human-sized...since animals) have more annoying, as we mostly seem to bounce back and forth in the boss area until we accidentally connect. Regarding the voice acting, I've like the choices for the different characters, as well as the tone. However, all of the voices seem weirdly quiet and echo-y, as if there were problems with the studio that they chose. It hasn't interfered with my enjoyment, but I think when I playing through as Millia and Carol, I'll likely do so in classic mode. winnersdontusedrugs The screen space issue is definitely there, as it was in old Sonic games. It has a lot to do with why they were never my favourite type of platformer. That said, I do feel like there are more chances to keep up momentum in a variety of paths. It definitely isn't perfect, but it seems like a callback those purposely chose to make, for good or for ill.
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