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using Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy game engines
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Message: 6478
Author: Daniel
Date: 16/10/2008
Subject: "Willy and the Dodecahedron" - Daniel's review
It was a wonderful surprise to see the announcement of "Willy and the
Dodecahedron". Then it's been a great pleasure to play it (I can
still feel it, hence the present perfect tense :-) ). For those who
want to see the entire game without playing it, go to:
www.rzxarchive.co.uk/j.php#jswandthedodecahedron . I wouldn't
recommend it, however, since the game is very nice to explore and
complete - give yourselves a treat :-) .
Before I go into details, let me tell you, Stuart, that it is a
special pleasure for me to be able to interact with you in this
Group. Your two former games (for the uninitiated: "Jet Set Willy:
Utility Cubicles" and "Jet Set Willy: Monstrum") are among my
personal favourites for their (respective) marked invididual
character, their graphics and various smartly-designed challenges
they pose. When I joined the Group, however, at the end of 2004, you
weren't active on the scene any longer. So it is exciting to see you
back, with a new game using a new engine :-) .
"Willy and the Dodecahedron" shows again many of the valuable traits
of your previous games. The marked individual character of each
cluster of rooms, great graphics (some of which are evocative
of "Utility Cubicles" and "Monstrum" - which is very good, IMO) and
some very interesting challenges, based on smart design while at the
same time without the use of any "hardcore" quirky features of the
game engine - which I am sure is seen as an advantage by those
members of the community who are not keen on the QFs. The solution to
some of these challenges isn't obvious at all - e.g. "Alcheringa"
(029) kept me confused for a few minutes before I knew how to tackle
it.
The thematic clusters using the same kind of graphics work very well,
IMO. Their background in the text file was fun to read, too. The
geography of the game is rather user-friendly, although the game is
quite time-intensive, I think - while really striving for efficiency,
I was able to complete it with a toilet-time of 9.52 am, which means
you basically need 1 minute of in-game time per item (there are 171
items to collect). I haven't done any concrete calculations, but I
have a feeling the coefficient for many other games would be more
favourable to the player (i.e. you need less than 1 minute per item,
perhaps even 30 seconds only in some games).
I didn't notice any real problems in the game (having said that, I
didn't really look for them by testing every possible exit, etc.).
The only one I can mention is that in the room "Forgotten Endorian
Ruins" (027) there is an infinite-death scenario if you jump left
from the top of the house - and since you enter the room from the
right, you don't have to realise you shouldn't do it. Another thing
is that in "The Islands' Telephone System" (051) you don't really
have to pass all of the guardians after collecting the item (which
the design of the room seems to be pointing to) - you can just drop
down to the ground and never worry about the guardians.
Well, that's all I have to say at this point. Congratulations on this
great game, Stuart, and thanks for your comeback! I hope you will
suprise us again in the future, and also that we will see other great
comebacks from other "second generation" authors :-) . Which reminds
me - how is Jet Set Jason faring in Roddënwald, Adban?
Daniel
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