Neoflash 2008 Competition NDS/GBA Game ReviewsMy Top 10 Games (in order)1. LoneWolfDS ~ Play the popular gamebook on your DS, with automated battles, game saves and more!
2. ASCIIWAR 0.9999 ~ This is a faithful homage to the classic game Rogue, but with a technological twist. Addictive and fiendish fun.
3. Super Wings ~ A frantic but retro flying shooter with awesome power ups and fast action.
4. Escape From Island ~ Adventure fans everywhere should give this a whirl, this game showcases what an excellent platform the DS is for the genre.
5. Game Melody Oratorio ~ Learn to play classic video game tunes with this polished piece of kit.
6. Legion ~ Quirky dialogue, 3D graphics and some fun shooting action - and this project's only in its early stages! Definately one to watch the development of.
7. Electro ~ A puzzle game that's just a bit different, but still plenty of fun and with great visuals and acoustics.
8. AREA TEN ~ Another interesting puzzle game, it starts off simple, but soon gets frantic!
9. Piztog Tower Defence ~ A very well laid out, polished piece of homebrew, that sees you constructing defence towers (No, really!) to attack any passing invaders.
10. Dice Soldiers ~ Play with up to 5 other opponents (CPU or humans) to CONQUER THE WORLD. With dice. Although actually, there are no dice in the game.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Snake Dual Screen edddy
Impressions: Being a fan of the original snake, I was intrigued by the idea of playing the game on the DS. The idea of making the game play over both screens is a nice idea, but I'm not sure if it's entirely successful, as I often found myself clearing one screen then the next, rather than scrolling back and forth over the two.
Presentation: Cheap and cheerful, with a very homemade look about it, although I'd like to stress this is no bad thing. The music is fairly pleasant and upbeat, and suits the graphical style well.
Gripes: First few levels are almost painfully slow. The sound effect of your snake dying is a bit random (sounds like a duck!)
Closing Comments: It's a nice effort which is quite well realised. I'm not sure if it's a classic, in a way, there's almost too much added to this game which detracts from the essentially classic gameplay.
Score: 7/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Game Melody Oratorio DesertDog
Impressions: This is a simple idea, with the aim of helping players to learn classic video game themes on the piano. The keyboard is perfectly responsive, and the 'recital' stage is nicely executed.
Presentation : It's simple without anything overly fancy, but it serves its purpose well enough. It's presented in a clean and pleasant manner.
Gripes: None, this is a smart, well executed idea. A few more songs might be nice but as it stands, this is a very nice piece of homebrew.
Closing Comments: Very impressive. This type of homebrew is what really makes me think the DS homebrew scene is great to be a part of.
Score: 8/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ChessNET - Online Chess Game (Release 1) CYBER_Aeon
Impressions: Everything is responsive, and well implemented. I liked that you could easily resume local games.
Presentation: The presentation is simple but slick.
Gripes: It would have been nice for a single player option, but I know it's meant to be multiplayer. Also, I could not connect to server for online gaming, which is a great shame.
Closing comments: Development is still ongoing, but I think this seems to be a well supported project that's definately worth keeping an eye on.
Score: 7.5/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Legion smealum
First Impressions: Everything about this game is very impressive from the start. It has a very professional air about it, with lots of dialogue (with some fun ideas), interesting characters, and a very 'fallout' feel to it.
Presentation: Very slick, very stylish. Music is well suited to game and is as slick as the graphics. However, some areas seem a little lifeless though and because your own character takes up a large part of the screen, sometimes you don't see enemies until you're face to face with them which makes shooting them a bit tricky and wild at times.
Gripes: In the dialogue sections, when trying to go to the next page, you have to tap 'next' more than once which can get a little tedious. There are still some bugs present (you're able to enter areas you shouldn't).
Closing comments: Overall, I think this is extremely promising and is probably the most ambitious of all the entries, but this is not a finished product which makes it hard to rate it above more polished entries.
Score: 8/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Star Wars Battles space1
Impressions: I'm a big battleships fan, and a Star Wars fan to boot, so I was interested in this immediately.
Presentation: Nice use of sound effects and music (I paused the game whilst writing down my thoughts and was treated to the Star Wars bar music!) and appropriate graphics, the controls are also fairly responsive.
Gripes: The mini game, although a nice idea, can get a little tedious especially when you've hit a ship one turn, and your opponent hits your ship the turn after. Also, the AI is definately flawed. Additionally, there is no indication of your own ships damage, or when you've actually destroyed one of your opponents ships. No 2 player option?
Closing Comments: Overall, this is a nice effort, with an interesting twist on a classic game. However, there are too many niggling flaws in this to make it a mainstay on my homebrew cart.
Score: 6.5/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PongClassicDS (0.5) minishlink
Impressions: I really wasn't keen on the music at all (to the point that I had to turn it down completely.) There's plenty of levels of difficulty to choose from, and the psychedelic mode makes things a little more interesting.
Presentation: Very basic, I expected 'psychedelic' mode might bring in a touch of colour, but everything remained a resolute black and white.
Gripes: The music (as already mentioned) and that I just didn't find it very fun to play.
Closing comment: Not a bad effort, but it's not something I'll be playing in the foreseeable future.
Score: 6.5/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Escape From Island Ben2303
Impressions: This is a smart and fairly fun adventure game, with some nice little nods to old school Lucasarts point n clicks like Zak McKracken, Indiana Jones and Day of the Tentacle. The puzzles aren't terribly taxing, and the game only took about 20 minutes to complete, but it was fun nonetheless.
Presentation: Very nice presentation, with nicely drawn graphics and nice music. The game works well on the NDS, with good use of the touch screen/dual screen. It's easy to travel from screen to screen using the stylus or the cross pad, and it's equally easy to flip to your inventory screen via touching the back pack icon with your stylus or just clicking L or R. Again, it's easy to combine items via drag and drop.
Gripes: None really. There are one or two leaps in logic and a red herring or two, but those are things commonly present in most adventure games!
Closing Comments: A fun diversion that has been ported well to the DS. The interface is pretty much without fault, and it's hard to think of a more perfect candidate for conversion to the DS.
Score: 8/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ASCIIWAR 0.9999 samel
Impressions: Wow, just wow. I have always been a massive fan of roguelikes, so to see asciiwars and play it on my DS is amazing. The command list at first is a little daunting (a lot to remember), and I didn't take it all in to begin with. The game itself is extremely smooth and well implemented. The keyboard works very well and is very responsive, and the controls are well thought out. Being able to map a command to the A, X, and Y button is a definite plus.
Presentation: Sure the graphics are only asci characters, but to me they're beautiful.
Additional thoughts: The intro is a nice touch, with missing characters and broken English which perfectly illustrate the idea that things have gotten corrupted in a nasty way. The first few plays saw me die very quickly but I got to see that the scoreboard seemed to work perfectly. I soon learned that resting is essential to survival, as was the help menu (easily found by touching L and hitting h on the keyboard). Also, the spell system is essential, and a very nice feature which I don't really recall using so much in a rogue-like game before.
Gripes: Some 'monsters' can be hard to see (dark grey c's on a black/light grey background) and of course you can't attack diagonally (though that is a fault of the DS rather than the game).
Closing comments: I sense there's a lot of depth to this game despite the deceptively simple appearance of it. This is definitely a game I will be keeping on my supercard.
Score: 8.5/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Scogger 0.2 scognito
Impressions: The opening screens of this game are pretty polished for homebrew. From the title, I expected a fogger esque game, and I wasn't misled.
Presentation: Quite polished. I wouldn't quite say it's commercial quality (although it definately beats some of the shovelware commercial releases!) with clear, colourful graphics, and soundtrack that was quite reminiscent of Banjo-Kazooie.
Gameplay: This is a fun little puzzle game that I actually found quite challenging.
Gripes: The 'herald' music at the start of each level is fine, but as it repeats every time you restart a failed level (which can happen very quickly), it soon gets a bit irritating, but I could mute it.
Closing comments: This is an entertaining and well thought out diversion. It's not the most flashy game in the contest, but it's well realised.
Score: 7.5/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DiceSoldiers t4ils
Impressions: I've never played Risk, so I wasn't sure what to expect. After a few turns (and after watching the cpus duke it out) I soon got the idea, though I've got a lot more to learn.
Presentation: I thought the music was suitable for the game, and the graphics weren't bad, although having everything cramped onto the bottom screen wasn't ideal.
Additional thoughts: As a new comer to this type of game, I'll admit to being a bit overwhelmed at first. I found it very difficult to begin with, but I can see myself learning to enjoy this.
Gripes: A tutorial mode might have been a good addition for those new to the game, and not everything is labelled clearly (that button you can put a red X through when beginning a game - what is that for?).
Closing comments: This is a good game which is enhanced by the fact you can have multiple players. It's well executed, with responsive controls.
Score: 7.5/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DualShooter eadmaster
Impressions: There's little to form first impressions on, but this is a scrolling flight/shooter which utilised the dual screen function and the touch controls.
Presentation: The graphics and sound are both nothing too advanced, but they do the job. They do seem a little 'flat' though. The start screen is also disappointingly basic.
Additional thoughts: I thought this game made good use of both the dual screens and the touch controls, although you could use the D pad if preferred. I was also impressed by how fast the game was, with no slowdown despite all the action.
Gripes: I wasn't that keen personally on the music.
Closing comments: This is frantic, fast, fun shooter, but it's a touch on the basic side.
Score: 7/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Electro chris28
Presentation: The presentation of this game is excellent, and I'd say it could easily be mistaken for a piece of commercial software. The graphics, whilst not anything amazing, are polished and look good. There's a nice selection of tunes to listen to while you play aswell.
Additional thoughts: This is an original game that is quite fun to play, although, as with a lot of puzzle games, it can also be frustrating.
Gripes: Sometimes, the screen doesn't register your stylus taps which can be frustrating. Also, I'm still not sure if I'm sold on the left to right concept.
Closing comments: I think this is certainly a piece of homebrew I could see myself recommending to others.
Score: 8/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
JaPongG leinad
Impressions: Not a lot. This is a faithful recreation of Pong.
Presentation: Everything about this game is extremely basic. There's no sound, and the graphics are what you'd expect from a Pong game. I did like that all the instructions were on the top half of the screen at the start.
Gripes: The basic presentation will not appeal to a lot of people.
Closing comments: If you want to play Pong on your DS, this is the game I'd recommend. Yes, it's simple, but it's fun. You can play vs. the cpu or a friend, and I liked that there was an option to play across the 2 screens too.
Score: 7/10 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
15c. ULTIMATE SLIDING PUZZLE - Pack Arcade kukulcan
15b. ULTIMATE SLIDING PUZZLE - Pack Sci-Fi kukulcan
15a. ULTIMATE SLIDING PUZZLE - Pack Ecchi kukulcan
Impressions: There's a lot of detail, here, so if you like sliding puzzles, this would be heaven.
Presentation: Everything is clean and clear, and well presented and the music is fairly interesting to listen to.
Additional thoughts: I found it disappointing that you couldn't use the stylus when playing the puzzles although I suppose it makes more sense to use the dpad. There are a lot of different puzzles in each pack, almost to an exhaustive extent!
Gripes: No touch screen control in the puzzles.
Closing comments: For sliding puzzle fans, I wouldn't recommend anything else!
Score: 7.5/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AREA TEN kukulcan
Impressions: I had to read the info screen to find out what to do (it's good that it was provided), but I was initially very impressed by this game. Further investigation proved it to fulfil my early expectations.
Presentation: The presentation for this game has clearly had a lot of work put into it. The menus look good, the controls are responsive, and generally, the graphics are pretty good. The music is pretty cool, but after a while, I had to turn it down, as it's quite brash.
Additional thoughts: This is quite a fun puzzler that can soon get quite challenging. I did like that the speed and size of the balls could be altered to your own preference.
Gripes: I got the blue and red areas confused because I was looking at the sides of the screens rather than the colours of the actual play area.
Closing comments: An interesting concept that's well executed and fun to play.
Score: 8/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Super Wings [GBA] eKid
Impressions: The introduction sequence and title screen is pretty basic, but none of that really matters once you begin to play.
Presentation: Although you could argue the graphics look dated, I think they look great. There are some nice vehicle animations and varied back drops which reflect any explosions by leaving dark patches behind. The music is well suited to the action.
Additional thoughts: I love the dialogue in this game, particularly the text you get when you die. It made me chuckle! Also, the power ups you can pick up are very cool!
Gripes: I could have done with more lives and when I first began to play, the game did stutter very slightly.
Closing comments: This is fast paced and frantic, and actually very fun. It's also quite challenging, but not annoyingly so, it just makes it more satisfactory to play as you get better. Really, this is an excellent game and one I would happily recommend to shooter fans.
Score: 8/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LoneWolfDS - Flight From The Dark Michoko
Impressions: I must admit that I am a huge fan of the Lonewolf game books, so when I saw this had been made for the DS, I was very excited by the prospect. Just to replay the books would have been enough to make me very happy, but what Michoko has delivered was above and beyond even my wildest expectations.
Presentation: The presentation of this homebrew is stunning. I think I could easily convince any of my friends that this was a commercial piece of software. The music is very suitable for playing along too, it's quite dark and atmospheric, and the composition quality is very good. The page turning sound effect is a very sweet touch.
Additional thoughts: The execution of this homebrew is note perfect. The layout is superb, and there has not been a feature implemented that does not work incredibly well. The touch screen controls are responsive, the battles and stats all work well and of course, it's based on a great story. You can also save your progress at any time, and it's so much fun, you'll want to play each and every path you can.
Gripes: This is only the first game book, so I hope the entire series is converted to this format.
Closing comments: I've been a Lone Wolf fan for years, but it's projects like this that should win the series a whole new set of fans. LoneWolfDS is certainly my favourite entry of the Neoflash contest, but also the most impressive piece of homebrew I've played. It actually makes the gamebooks
more fun to play, because it takes away all of the tedious elements (rolling the dice for battles/keeping track of inventory) and does it all for you.
Score:9.5/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MarbleMan: The Arena MagNet
Impressions: The howto screen is quite helpful, and the whole style of the game feels quite retro to me.
Presentation: The graphics are fairly simple, but are effective. The music is okay, but I had to turn it down after a while.
Additional thoughts: This is a game of survival against the clock, and the action can get quite frantic, with lots of obstacles thrown in the way. It's fun and fast, and although the concept is fairly simple it is well executed.
Gripes: I found it tricky to get to grips with the stylus controls.
Closing comments: It's a shame I couldn't try out the DSMotion controls, as I really think Marbleman would be a lot more fun using them.
Score: 7.5/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chocobo World Deluxe Davgav
I'm afraid I had some problems running this. After patching it for my Supercard, it did run, but I got error screens. I restarted, got into the game properly but it froze.
Score: Unable to score.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NoobMiniGames tiancai
Impressions: I thought this was going to actually be a collection of mini games, but it's actually spot the difference, with a few different pictures.
Presentation: Everything is well laid out and the touch screen is pretty responsive. The graphics are quite nice and fairly polished.
Additional thoughts: I think there has been some nice work done here, the interface really is very good, and you can even save your scores, but it lacks any depth to be anything more than a 5 minute play.
Gripes: Basically you just have to touch the differences, rather than circle them, but this can be a touch frustrating on some as you might not touch the right spot. Also, the same pictures seemed to cycle through quite quickly. It would have been nice if you could choose which picture you wanted to play.
Closing comments: This isn't a bad piece of homebrew and it's mildly diverting, but it really lacks the depth to make it stand out at all.
Score: 5/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Piztog Tower Defence Shoog
Impressions: I was quite interested in this game as I've never played a Tower Defence game before. Playing it was certainly a different experience.
Presentation: The graphics and music is fairly slick, with options to change the song in the level. Although there's quite a bit to take in, the actual layout of the game is very good, with some nice info screens and on screen instructions to give you an idea of how to do things.
Additional thoughts: There looks like there has been quite a lot of effort put into this game. Everything seems well thought out, there are plenty of options, and I think fans of this type of game would love it.
Gripes: This really could have done with some kind of tutorial, or more detailed info for the unitiated. Also, as this is only a beta, there are parts that don't work yet (like the save).
Closing comments: This is one of the more polished entries (though it's not complete), but offers a simple and easy way to play a tower game on your DS.
Score: 8/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Puzl SiW
Impressions: This is not far from seeming a professional piece of software, with everything fairly straight forward and well laid out.
Presentation: The presentation is fairly slick and effective, with some fairly peppy music to accompany while you play.
Additional thoughts: This seems to be a work in progress, as I could only select one of the options (quick play). The touch screen controls are responsive enough.
Gripes: The area for all the jigsaw pieces (bottom screen) is just too small to make this easy to play. Also, I could find no way to quit a game and get back to the main screen, or to mute the music (which after a while did grate).
Closing comments: I'm not a jigsaw fan at all, and Puzl did little to change that. I can, however, see it's merits as a game, and am sure jigsaw puzzle fans would enjoy it.
Score: 7.5/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Super Mario : The Last GBA Quest omg
Impressions: Being a big fan of Mario games, I was quite intrigued by this game. Early signs are promising.
Presentation: This could easily be an genuine Mario game in terms of the graphics and sound. Very polished and colourful.
Additional thoughts: For fans of Mario, this is a nice wander down memory lane. I thought the bomb koopas were an inventive touch (not seen them in any other Mario platformer).
Gripes: The controls weren't quite as smooth as I would have liked, and Mario seemed very slow if you didn't hold down B (but I find that with most Mario games!).
Closing comments: Although this looks and almost plays exactly like a Mario game, I found the level of difficulty early on a bit frustrating. It could just be me getting old, but it drained my enjoyment considerably.
Score: 6.5/10~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As with the applications, I am pretty much blown away by how creative and hardworking the coders in this community are. Almost every game I tried made me look at the DS in a slightly different way, and although it was quite a long process to play each game and also review it, I never found it to be a chore.
Again, I bow down to the coders behind these games.
