Super Gears N Gators – [⚙️ = 💔 ]

Struck by the Gear’s teeth the Gator recalls their most intimate memories.

The intense pain caused by the sharp, rusty metal transports them far away to the places of their memory.

They remember the delicious taste of home- made pizza served for lunch by their mother.

They remember the feeling of being rejected by the first girl they had a crush on.

They remember the early mornings where a cat would always climb over a nearby cherry tree.

And they recall at last, the sound of plead echoing in the night, as their body squirmed under the heavy assault of the acid rain.

Then finally their body respawns again…

===============================================

SUPER GEARS N GATORS GO BUY IT NOW, IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOREVER!

Gyossait + [The Hunt] – The Gods quarrel and the mechanical idea behind the butter blocks

Both “Gyossait” and “The Hunt” were gifted to me by Amon26 [The author of these fantastic titles! /spoiler], as a token of appreciation for saving his home from 592 Devil Boy game cartridges, all of which I have managed to successfully exorcise and put on sale at my garage!

Recently, I’ve covered two other titles from Amon26 – “Au Sable” and “All of Our Friends Are Dead”, wherein I’ve been left with a pretty good impression regarding the author’s work. “Gyossait” is quite similar in structure and gameplay to those two, though there are improvements in almost every aspect, from level design to visuals and whatnot. The huge impact within’ the game itself compared to Amon26’s previous works comes from the main protagonist, whom the player controls – Oyeatia, a God who decided to leave behind all his power and money, for the sake of going down to the earth realm in search for a goddess – Gyossait. The two have things to settle, feelings of love are at work, the usual Amon26’s vibe and style, Emmy awarding – last slice of the pizza badge, I’m glad I played this before I had to pay my taxes. No, let’s put the plot aside and look at the character from the gameplay perspective. His main tool of trade is a SHIELD! While its only purpose is to deflect bullets, I still find it pretty cool, given how rarely you get to see a character with this setup in video games. [ Like Olaf from “The Lost Vikings” and… Well, I guess Oyeatia and Olaf are the best shield- based- wielding-only  characters in video games that I know of and I find them to be pretty rad. There is Captain America too, but I am not a fan of his shield technique and I REALLY dislike that one NES game with him – Truly, those are two SOLID reasons alright!] While in the early part of “Gyossait” you’ll be playing mostly on the defensive side, at a certain point you are given a second tool – a gun. The gun replaces the shield and let’s you go on the offensive side, which potentially makes certain enemies and areas a bit easier to be dealt with. HOWEVER, one should be aware of how important gun control is, less they are willing to accept and deal with potential consequences that may or may not ultimately satisfy their expectations. I think that having the player play around or stick with a certain tool is a pretty good way of making a video game feel interesting and different in terms of gameplay, all in all while keeping the general level layout intact. It also enhances the replay value quite well! This game shows a pretty good example regarding that matter…

Look, yes! This game is yet another sea full of visually interesting and unique areas, enemies, NPCs, bosses and whatnot, along with the usual well- crafted flow of progression. BUT… what I am about to reveal to you are TWO major faults within’ this title that go towards the point of even making it UNPLAYABLE! I also realize now that this silly, joke statement contains a bit of truth to it… OH NO!

“Gyossait” has them key puzzles, non- puzzles parts too. Losing a key in the game is more generous than from past titles though, as the game tends to keep its location at the place of your death, rather than spawning it back at its starting location. SOMETIMES if you lose a key and it falls in a death pit of death or a drink, the game might get so disappointed by your performance, it might choose to not spawn the key back at the nearest safe- land land and instead – disintegrate it completely, which gets you stuck forever and you’ll have to restart the whole game…

There is also the addition of puzzles where you have to push blocks. The way those blocks move when they are pushed feels pretty weird, like they slide on ice. What’s even more weird is that once you step on them, your whole moving momentum changes and you slip- slide all over their surface. I had the unfortunate experience to slide off one near the end of the game and dive right into the death juice. For some reason that was during my second run of the game and it was then when I realized that they were coated in all- natural butter. I was quite upset about that death, which made me forgot about a well- placed enemy nearby. Once I got back to where I died and I jumped off the butter block, I was shot by the rude foe, which sent me back right into the drink. At that moment, I was ready to cry and call the police, but little did I knew, that the whole thing was an actual setup by the author, so the player can get that >(one)< silly achievement! Truly, a master- tier game design was at work!

“The Hunt” is a FPS, “Au Sable” spinoff, where you take on the role of a [hunter]. It’s pretty short, composed only of two fairly small levels. What I like about it is the unsettling atmosphere, to which the sound contributes greatly! We are not talking about the usual crap with dull screams or monster snores, we are talking about unique sound composition, on- spot along with pretty spicy visuals. Let me tell you about the actual selling point here – You go through the dark woods, you enter the shadowy ruins, all sorts of freaky things jump at you, but it’s alright since holding space bar destroys the world and everything in sight! During this whole time, your ears orgasm under the heavenly sonata by eldritch abominations from sector Z-27 to  dimensional plane 004-BH, until SUDDENLY your eyes spot upon the ultimate aspect of the game…

… the exploding Amon26’s barrels!

In conclusion

All Of Our Friends Are Dead + Au Sable – flow /

“All Of Our Friends Are Dead” and “Au Sable” are games made by Amon26, both, fairly similar in concept – yet, pretty unique from one another. Each one shares its own portion of platforming and action, wherein in “Au Sable” you follow the story of a girl and in “All Of Our Friends Are Dead” you are put in the shoes[?] of a thing that’s not a girl! There is an overall abstract composition on which both titles ride along, which I really enjoyed, among other things as well. You know how I tend to not mention anything about the music when I write about video games? That’s either because I didn’t find it appealing or I didn’t even notice it due to the way – more overwhelming gameplay. While I could say that both games here managed to balance that issue, there is a bit more to the overall structure…

Both “Au Sable” and “All Of Our Friends Are Dead” are pretty short in terms of playtime. In addition, there is also the generous factor that lets the player save/load anywhere within’ the games. Enemies come in quite the variety – From wriggling red squids and fire-breathing mutants[?] to various abominations from class A to B, each with their own randomized movements and attack patterns. They all die in few shots and pose a treat only when in large numbers. That being said, getting hit by a red squid that falls from the top of the screen, in a sudden and unexpected manner, is pretty rude! Various different bosses are also to be encountered in both games, each with its own pattern,design and a fight that usually last for less than a minute! The platforming segments are of average difficulty, where the main factors for a failure are badly timed jumps or vision- obscured enemies falling on you from the top of the screen. I don’t know why I’m still bringing up the those squids… For things to spice up a bit, there is also the addition of puzzle segments – In “All Of Our Friends Are Dead” you get to find keys and bring them to doors, while in “Au Sable” you get two “eyes” for companions, which trace down your movements and you need to use that knowledge to make them activate buttons or eliminate that one enemy type. It all sound so simple and easy, eh?

Everything mentioned above sums up to the flow of the games, which is their actual bread n’ butter of success. Whether you casually play games and you tend to struggle with certain aspects or you are the game Pro+ , no save/load, no death, no limbs, no eyes playthrough, these two games push you towards progress in one way or another. Be it the constant- growing learning curve or the generous checkpoints, in the end, you’ll arrive at the goal with intact mindset, keeping track of what things where and have become. Music, visuals, sounds, they are all put together in a fashion that make you see and feel, with the gameplay scraping away the rest of your strawberry jam. Now, you are to enjoy the plain, crusty layer of your plain toast… OH, HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN SINCE YOU LAST TRIED IT???

Perhaps, the only issue that I see in “All Of Our Friends Are Dead” and “Au Sable” is their diminishing replay value. Even when it comes to additional exploration or getting a certain [second] ending, the true magic lies only in the handful of initial playthroughs. Various bugs and glitches are aslo present in the games, but honestly, you have to go way out of the expectation boundaries for them to occur, thus, they are but a nonexistent minus factor for the enjoyment of these games.

85 out of 10!!!