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The Daily Click ::. Downloads ::. Review Review: The Quest of James Denis
Presentation __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ I have to say, it's really good. I feel like it's inspired by NES cutscenes, with top and bottom borders in black and white text beneath the pictures telling the story. They're automatic, so you don't take your time with them. I noticed the first two enemies of the first two levels appear in the introduction, then you face them in the real game. It's a neat idea, and definitely something I wouldn't have thought of myself, so a round of applause for that. One is a bug-looking creature that jumps vertically, and the other is a blue alien that just... walks. That's it. But yeah, I really like how the game is presented, so much so that I'll be giving it a 10. It didn't make me fall asleep to any dialogue, it didn't make me have second thoughts, it was all fine. Every character, even the ones that don't appear in the game (except the one person that has a yellow t-shirt and is a checkpoint, because they're important) is well-illustrated. __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Gameplay __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Now this game I enjoyed playing a lot. The author says in the description that it can be stressful at times, but they mostly likely referenced the overly long and tight jumps you have to make in order to progress, as well as the knockbacks. Boots of Faith, the second most expensive item in the shop, is just an increased jump strength given to your character, and I'm glad it creates a solution for every stressful jump you have to make, even if you don't have to use them. The platforming engine is solid, and it's really satisfying to play with, so I don't have much to say other than good job for making it comfortable. The level design didn't appear to be good at first, especially in the first level, but the more I played, the more it redeemed itself. I like that in the first level, you're introduced with platforms that you can reach once you're able to, because you don't have the Boots of Faith. Right as you make the jumps, you get more money to afford enough for the said item. I like the idea of not being able to backtrack at the beginning, because I know for a fact it was intended this way. Whether you beat a level, or lose a life, or anything, you get sent to a selection screen. Oh, and the parallax scrolling in the second level is fantastic. It's very smooth and it makes sense for the darker shaded trees. This is one of the most creative things I've seen in the entire game. Your only options are "Start Level" and "Buy Stuff", with the "Current Stop" being the current level you're on with a given name, and instead of a border created around an option when trying to select it, you select them depending on where James' eyes are looking. So if you want to start the level, he'll look up, and for the shop he'll look down. I was filled with joy when I first figured out what's going on. The shop interface is also as interesting as the selection screen. You're asked "What do you want?", with items you can buy and a hand-looking pointer controlled with arrow keys that can PICK what item you want to buy. Of course, you can see how much you have on the upper right corner. If the developer made it so that you can't see your current balance during the game, but just in the shop, then it wouldn't be so practical. But they didn't, so good job on them. Like for the level design, I was also going to complain about the lack of enemy variety, as I was only seeing the first two enemies even in the second level. Oh man, was I wrong. New enemies you can find only in the later levels, and they're pretty decent; - The first different enemy is a plant that shoots angry floating spheres at you, - Then you have a purple zombie that's invincible at first, but you need Sword of the Brave, which is the only way to kill it, - Coming at number three we have a blue floating head that goes up and charges at you (Doesn't match anything familiar, so I can only associate it with the Medusa Head from Castlevania without a wavy pattern). It takes two hits with Sword of the Brave to slay it, because he can't be fought when he's not charging for some reason, - After that you have a knight that isn't really a knight, but that same blue alien DRESSED as a knight that can charge at you. You can only destroy his armor by throwing boomerangs at him (one throw gets rid of his helmet, and another gets rid of his armor entirely, making him just a pathetic alien that can be slayed). Everything afterwards are the bosses; in the dungeon, and the so-called "rabbit hole" (in other words an underground). They're a piece of cake, as long as you farm enough HP. Another thing that caught me by surprise was not the instant-death spikes, but the spikes that rise from the ground in a timed pattern. It made the levels a lot better and fun to play, because your focus wasn't just on the enemies and the platforming skills. So it was sigh a relief when I said the game will get better once I actually see the rest of it. The final boss, that thankfully doesn't have more than one form, is just the classic Dracula from Castlevania; teleportations and three spreading projectiles. But before you face him, you must destroy the purple minotaur that to me isn't threatening. He moves like Satan from Ghosts N' Goblins, left and right, doing absolutely nothing to torture you, and once you damage him with Sword of the Brave (the item that makes killing enemies a whole lot easier), he kind of just stops for a brief moment and you have the upper hand. I am giving this game a 9, because I found two major bugs; - The first one is a sound-effect issue, and it works like this. When your first selected item is the Boots of Faith, the punching sound-effect sort of triples and it becomes too crunchy and distracting, but the only way to get rid of this bug is to select the regular fist item, then punch, then go back to the Boots of Faith and test if everything's back to normal. It's odd, but at least it didn't mess up my gameplay! - The second one is the present selected item messing up the punch, and it's pretty unique. So what I mean by that is a purchased set of boomerangs (doesn't matter how many you have) never let you punch when all you have is the fist, Boots of Faith and the boomerangs. But when you either don't have boomerangs (just the fist and Boots of Faith) or have every item imaginable, then it works. So this must be a functionality issue, but it's not rare. __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Graphics __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Like I mentioned in the Presentation, the graphics are well drawn and presented. I like the simple color palettes, and I like how you can tell what a platform is and what a background is, so they're not confusing at all. Some of the boss designs look really good, for example the red underground boss that jumps like a bunny makes me think of Commander Peepers from Wander Over Yonder, or the face of the square-shaped boss in the dungeon. But unfortunately, James' silhouette on the ending screen doesn't look that great (In fact, it's inconsistent), and the selection screen is a little eye-soring with the whole red pattern, so I'll give it a 9. Sure, the silhouette itself is good, but I just think the shape shouldn't have anti-aliasing on, if the eyes themselves have the anti-aliasing turned off, you know? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Sound/Music __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ It's all just from NES. Since that alone is not much material for me to work with, I will just say that I always liked chiptune music, so this doesn't count as off-topic. I'm giving it an 8, because I wanted to hear more than just chiptune sounds. __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Lastability __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ I expected the game to be short, since the developer mentioned this is their little project since Christmas of 2024, but I got to see more cool stuff that I didn't think I was going to see, and I'm glad it's as long as it is. I would maybe give it a level or two, but perhaps I'm being foolish, since you can play the game again with the starting balance of 900 dollars (Which is enough to buy all items). __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Overall __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ I think this game is definitely above-average, and I want more games like this. A platformer with Castlevania sounds, music, as well as knockbacks, can be good only if it wants to be. And I think this game proved just that. Since my opinion is mostly positive, with some of the issues that I felt like addressing, I'm giving it all a 9. All the hard work payed off! __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________
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