CHRIS:
This entry frustrates me a little. Not because it's not very good, which it isn't anyway - Santa vs The Ghost Of Christmas Presents is a perfectly competent and enjoyable game - but because so much more could have been done with it. You get five overall levels, including a boss, and three of these feature very similar graphics. The 4th stage, a tower, feels rushed. The level design is nowhere near as good as the previous stages, and the boss is far too easy to beat. There's a distinct lack of variety in the gameplay, with samey levels and samey enemies. The autoscrolling stage is pretty fun, but scrolls a little too quickly and ends up becoming frustrating, mostly because of the (unoriginal) engine. Santa doesn't always jump when you want him to, and this certainly isn't convenient for fast paced stages with tiny platforms to jump on. That said though, I'm left with a dilema. What I played was certainly fun and enjoyable, the graphics are great, and the music good too. Yet because of the lack of variety in level design and Christmas themes, and the slightly dodgy engine, I'm forced to downgrade it a bit. Certainly one of the more promising entries though, but I can't help feeling somewhat short-changed and left wanting more :(
ASSAULT ANDY:
Main sprites are great. Backgrounds a bit boring - not as detailed as the main sprites. Text/fonts/menu could be nicer.
The music was okay, but the sounds didn't really seem to match that well. Some were annoying to hear.
Overall, it was quite christmassy mainly due to the graphics.
I killed an enemy by jumping on it and yet I still died.
I found it very frustrating how you had to get a certain amount of presents, often requiring backtracking when I forgot that I needed a certain amount.
The Boss was interesting and a nice touch.
On Stage 3 I had no idea that I would have to start running and be killed instantly if I was too slow.
