Angry Birds

[amerk 1,122]

 

Game Title: Angry Birds: Maze Madness

Developer: OneCutStudio

Genre: Puzzle Maze / Just for Fun

Current Status: Complete

Approximate Play Time: 1 Hour

 

 

OVERVIEW:

Anybody who’s anybody knows what Angry Birds is all about; and if you don’t, you’ve probably been living under a rock for the past five years. OneCutStudio takes the hit platformer in a whole new direction with this one-of-a-kind maze adventure made with the VXA engine. It’s a quick, easy to play game, and if you’re looking for something casual without sinking hours of your time into, this just may be the game for you.

 

With a game like this, there’s really no need to break the review into single categories. Unlike an rpg, where story, combat, and resources are just as important as game play, here the primary focus is on the mechanics of the game. Before I get into that, however, I will briefly discuss the other categories as a whole.

 

First, there is not much of a story to speak of. Your bird friends have all been captured, and it’s up to Red (whom you control) to navigate the environment in order to save them. The aesthetics are simple here, but still fun, and the maze layouts were handled with care. The music is standard RTP, but considering that Angry Birds is not known for music anyways, this didn’t bother me so much.

 

 

The Plot!

 

The game breaks up into a total of ten missions, and you must complete the missions in a linear progression. When you complete one mission, the next becomes unlocked. Each mission has a time limit, and completing the mission within the time nets you bonus points. Throughout each mission, you’ll need to collect eggs for points, avoid pigs which, when touched, will detract points, solve simple puzzles, and find the keys to release your friends.

 

The missions do become harder as you progress, but never to a point that they can’t be completed within the time frame given.

 

 

I enjoyed this mission the best.

 

And that’s really all there is to say about that.

 

Angry Birds: Maze Madness is certainly an interesting idea, and one I could potentially see as the next step in the Angry Birds evolution. The game shows OneCutStudio’s ability to design a fun, somewhat challenging game outside of the rpg genre, while showing off some interesting puzzles and events at the same time.

 

However, the game is not without its flaws, including one potential game crashing moment. These problems exist solely in the customized “Missions†page that you access whenever you complete a mission. The first thing I noticed was that the Mission Boxes, as I’ll call them, can only be accessed from a certain spot. If you place the hand indicator in the center of the box, nothing will happen. Your indicator must be placed right at the bottom edge of the box in the middle. Placing this indicator anywhere else in or around the box won’t work.

 

 

It doesn't work?

 

Silly me, I needed to find the sweet spot!

 

The next flaw I saw with this game is that there is no way (with exception to a very glitchy Mission 8 and 9) to go back and redo a Mission. The thing I like best about traditional Angry Birds games is the ability to replay levels and try to improve your score.

 

However, the biggest problem was Mission 8. Upon completing this mission, the box does not indicate the mission has been completed, and that Mission 9 is unlocked. You can, of course, still click Mission 9 and start it. But, if you go back into Mission 8 at this point, you’ll wind up being stuck with no way to proceed or leave the mission. Naturally, you can simply hit the F12 key, if you must. The problem is that in Mission 8 you are able to save your mission within the stage, unlike all other stages. If you inadvertently save over your game when you go back into Mission 8, you’ll have to revert back to a previous save if you have one. If not, your screwed and will have to redo the whole entire game.

 

 

Yeah, that could be a problem.

 

My advice, fix the bug, but also remove the ability to save in Mission 8. It was the longest one, for sure, but it wasn’t terribly difficult and I don’t think saving there is necessary since it’s not needed in any of the other missions.

 

It’s fun, but lacks replayability. It’s meant to be casual and quick, but you are forced to play through the entire 1-hour game each time just to improve your score. Most puzzle platform games include other options, so if somebody doesn’t have an hour to spare to play the entire game, they can pick up any of the quick 5-minute romps, or go back and replay missions they’ve previously played. Unless you’re a diehard fan and wish to challenge yourself an hour at a time to get the best score possible, I don’t see many people giving this a second thought once they’ve played through it.

 

At the same time, I encourage everybody to at least try it once and give it a one-time playthrough. It only requires an hour of your time, and more than likely you’ll be able to beat my own score:

 

 

So who plans to challenge my score?

 

Game Overall Rating & Final Thoughts: 6.5/10

 

The game rating represents my own personal opinion. This is equivalent to a 3.25/5 star rate. If you look at the majority of games at RMN, a 3/5 is viewed as fairly decent, at or slightly above average. By fixing the glitches and adding a mission-free option to boost playability, you’d be able to boost this score even higher.

 

~ amerk

[OneCutStudio 353]

Amerk, thanks for the review.

 

You touched on all the points that I had problems with myself. I know that the Angry Birds franchise isn't huge among the RPG community and that my RPG doesn't really have a story. I could substitute the characters completely and still have the same game. I chose Angry Birds at the time because the student of mine whom I made the game for loved Angry Birds.

Fun Fact:

I am really not too fond of Angry Birds. It grew on my after making my game though.

 

Currently I am trying to work on a Reboot for this game. The main thing I want to achieve with the reboot is level replayability. I have other features in mind as well which will make the game play more exciting as well. Once I figure out some solutions to the replayability issues I will most likely start a thread for the Reboot.

 

I hope that anyone who has played it will play the new updated version, of course if there is interest.

 

Thanks for the review!