Shaddow's Showcase: Craft Master Review

[RetroExcellent 369]

I know, it is a surprise that I write reviews, isn't it? Well, I've decided to help out a bit in this area, and the first game that caught my attention was Craft Master, a project with a lot of potential. What did I find out about this game? Did it live up to its potential? Did it flop like a fish? You'll have to read below to find out.

 

Author: Braxillian

Release: Beta Demo V1.1

 

 

Graphics

 

 

 

I have to be honest, this was a nice use of the RTP, with the occasional custom sprite or graphic, not much stood out, but it was pleasant to look at when used well. I think the creator knew what tiles and graphics to use in what location to give a good effect, but unfortunately not all the maps were as pretty as this, and the nicely used graphics did not come across as well. The world does seem to come to life with the well placed graphics, but as they are just standard RTP for the most part, not a lot of it stood out. I wish I could say more, but overall, it is pretty generic, though the use of some custom icons really did help improve this.

 

Score: 7/10

 

Writing

 

The story and writing of this game kind of made me wonder if the author had ADHD. Some parts seemed almost professional and fresh, as there were little grammatical errors and mostly good spelling. The author even threw in the use of colors to mark out things you should really take note of, which was a nice touch. I wish that was all I had to say about this, that I could just leave it there and give it a good score, but no, there is a darker side to the writing. There are parts where the author uses swearing and unneeded insults for no seeming reason. The Inn is a prime example, and I truly hope it was only a joke that will be taken out after the demo. Another appalling aspect was whenever the main characters father talked, you would never know if he would give sage like advice or insult you and swear for no reason, personally, I hated the character. Back on the flip side, the NPCs tend to give out useful information for the most part, though they tend to be a bit wordy. Yet on the dark side, you can find random porno mags stashed next to a book describing what the electrician does. ADHD.

 

Score: 4/10

 

Mapping

 

The Mapping is another area that I feel like the creator could not decide what they were doing. The outside of the village is beautiful and everything is well placed, but the interior of any of the houses, or shops is a jumbled mess that seems to be filled just for the sake of no empty spaces. The interior of the mine is even worse, with strange corners and tight corridors that make no sense. They do not seem to be man made, nor natural, and are annoying to navigate.

 

 

I truly wish I could understand what was going on there, with the enemy detection system, this kind of mapping is even more flawed. I think this is probably the spot where the author could improve most, maybe even more than the writing.

 

Score 3/10

 

Audio

 

I wish I had much to say about the audio, but honestly, it fit well but was rather lackluster. I really can't even remember what much sounded like, with the exception of the end of battle. For some reason everything got a lot louder during the victory, from the annoying grating sound of your experience increasing, to the badly used 'world map' audio for the victory theme. This part could be improved, everything else worked fine, but was mediocre at best.

 

Score: 5/10

 

Gameplay

 

This is the spot where Craft Master shines, and rightly so. The crafting system is incredible and a lot of fun. Not only do you gather your own materials, but you can customize your weapons with the use of gems, giving you multiple options depending on the quality. It is reminiscent of world of warcraft combined with Summon Night, both of which have good systems to use. I wish I could have gotten a chance to play some of the puzzles and explored the game a bit more, but lag really killed that off, I will talk about that more later. Truly gameplay is the biggest and best aspect of Craft Master.

 

Score: 9/10

 

Battles

 

The second best aspect of Craft Master, in a way. The interesting concept behind the combos for a Swordmaster was a lot of fun, and made Brax an interesting character. Sadly the same could not be said for Allexa. She is a Cleric, supposedly, but has no useful skills starting out and hits for about 2 damage, while Brax hits for somewhere around 200 with the right combos. I see a lot of balance issues. Allexa needs steroids, stat, as well as something that actually makes her a 'cleric'. Now, the concepts behind the other three classes, and the ability to increase your class seemed very interesting, sadly they are not available during the demo.

 

 

The concept behind preemptive strikes was very interesting and added a nice touch to both the gameplay and the battles, but sadly a strong bout of lag really ruined the chance to try it out.

 

Score: 7/10

 

Polish

 

The game suffers from some pretty horrible lag at many points, night time in the village, while pretty, lagged so bad that I did not even notice when my character moved, and had to push where I thought he would go until I managed to get back inside. The mines are nearly as bad, with so many light events and spiders crawling around, the mines lagged to the point that I actually stopped playing. I wish the game worked better, as it has many interesting ideas, and they seem to be executed rather well, but the lag issue really needs to be addressed before this game could hope to be called playable. The crafting system and combat skills, for Brax, work well though, giving this game some redeeming features.

 

Score: 5/10

 

Final Word

 

I would have to say the same thing I said at the beginning, this game is full of potential, and many parts of it see that potential, but there is a lot wrong with the game, the biggest flaw being inconsistency. I really wish that I wasn't pulled out of the game every time I see horrible and pointless dialogue and swearing, or that I would stop enjoying the maps because they suddenly became bad. I really enjoyed a lot of the game, and I hope these things will be addressed by the time the final product has come out, or this game may have a hard time finding its audience.

 

Final Score: 6.5/10

 

[Jonnie91 1,149]

Don't forget Shad's this was an official review, so you can add the Official Tag on in future Reviews (i've added it for you now xD)