Review Information
Game Reviewed Battle in the Future, by Q-Nova
Review Author EvilYoshiToes
Created Oct 16 2017, 5:46 PM

General Commentary and Game Overview
A really cool boss battle with fun visuals. I didn't quite make the connection to Flooded Tower, possibly due to the very different graphical style, but that doesn't matter much. There's not a lot of content to this game, but it does what it seeks to do very well.
 
Pros + Well designed battles
+ Beautiful graphics
+ Great sounds
 
Cons - Some questionable design choices
 
Impressions
Gameplay
9 / 10
The game takes you straight to the start screen. You can view the exposition on your own by selecting the "story" option (which I recommend you do, as the cutscenes in this game are very charming). If you don't care about that stuff, you can head straight into the gameplay, even skipping straight ahead to the second boss.

The game is really short. It consists of two normal-length boss battles (by Mario standards), and a very cute ending cutscene when Antasma is defeated.

The first battle is against a laser-shooting koopa, who can also shoot off his arm. The goal in this battle is to avoid lasers, the koopa himself as he hovers and attempts to smash Goomba, and to then pick up the koopa's arm and throw it back at him. After several repetitions he is defeated. The battle's difficulty progresses nicely: the koopa eventually move up and down as he shoots, and shockwaves will start to blast on either side of him when he pounds. Gameplay-wise, this battle is pretty much unflawed in my eyes. The koopa's movements while hovering could stand to be slightly less stiff, but it's nothing all that damaging.

Antasma is the second boss you'll fight, and he is very difficult (*though this can be changed in the options menu). The battle is, for the most part, extremely well done. It's more random than the koopa battle, but here is a basic rundown of some of his moves and how they progress:
- He'll smash his fist down, causing debris to fall; more debris will fall as the battle progresses. Something to note (and a clever touch by the creator!) is that his eyes will look down just before his hand comes down.
- He will spawn a tiki head (I believe that's what it is) that spits fire, which follows Goomba; more fireballs will be shot as the battle progresses (though I sometimes had many fireballs shoot in the beginning of the battle, so I'm not quite sure how this one works).
- He will throw giant spiked balls, which bounce off the floor and fly out of the play area; he throws more as the battle progresses.
- He will throw tiny bombs, which bounce all over the place then explode; he throws more as the battle progresses.
These are all the attacks I encountered during the battle (which I had to play many times in order to complete), so I'm assuming that's all of them. In order to do damage, the player must pick up a green orb he throws and toss it at one of the hands. The attacks are mostly pretty fair, but here's where I find some of the choices a bit problematic.

Antasma's idle hands will damage the player when touched. This makes sense in theory, as they are the enemy the player is attacking, and the koopa also hurt the player when touched. Still, having the idle hands pose as a threat when so much is going on in the foreground seems unnecessary. There's also the issue of them being tied into the background by that purple outline around Antasma's silhouette, which does not do damage. Having the hands only do damage when they are moving is an easy fix for this issue. I also found the harder version of the hand smash attack to be a bit unfair with the absurd amount of debris that falls; I think toning it down slightly would help. My last complaint regarding this issue has to do with the bouncing bombs, especially on the harder phase. They're just so unpredictable that depending on the way they bounce they can be very close to unavoidable. Otherwise, the battle is a fair challenge, and a really enjoyable one.

*Regarding the difficulty modes I mentioned earlier: there are no actual difficulty modes in the game, but the starting amount of hit points can be changed in the options menu, which can help if you are having a hard time, or provide an even greater challenge...
 
Graphics
10 / 10
The graphics are fully custom, as the creator states. They're all beautifully done and I couldn't ask for much more from a fan-made game. The optional scanlines are a cool effect. There are lots of nice little touches here and there, like the goofy thwomp that falls with the debris.

The only visual complaint I have is minor. I would've preferred to see Koopa bob up and down slightly as he hovers in place, just to look less static and more alive.
 
Sound
10 / 10
Very fitting and very pleasant, no complaints here!
 
Replay
5 / 10
The lack of content hurts the replay value, but I can see myself coming back to this a few more times. The replay value isn't astounding, but I don't believe it's any worse than the creator intended it to be.

[I gave this area less weight in deciding the final score, as I don't believe it's all that applicable to a game like this]
 
Final Words
9 / 10
A couple of fun, well designed boss battles to play through once or twice, accompanied by beautiful visuals. Categorizing it as a full game is a bit of a stretch, but it's fun. It's not necessarily something I'd come back to again and again, but it serves its purpose.

Comments
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Galaxyvoyager128
Oct 19 2017, 5:35 AM
Wait Antasma is in this game and is the main antagonist? I think the guy who made this game read my comment on the comments section for that most recent Charisma installment. I said make Dimentio or Antasma the main villain and let the creative juices flow.
 
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Q-Nova
Oct 19 2017, 6:59 PM
Thanks for the review, EvilYoshiToes! Glad to see that you liked it! I went with a different art style, since I wanted to do something a little different and I felt that it would look too similar to The Flooded Tower if the same style was used, so I tried to give the game its own identity.

I had plans for more bosses, such as an "Antasma-fied" Mario, but I decided not to since I felt that I spent quite enough time just making two bosses and making more for the same game would probably be exhausting. Even if I did add more, however, I think they might not really contribute to the plot very much and would be more like filler content.

I never had tiki heads in mind when making the Flasmas, they were designed to look like machines, but I can see why you'd think it looks like a tiki head. It should be only firing more fireballs after Antasma used the fist attack for the first time. If it's firing more than two before Antasma has even used the fist attack, then I guess something in the code isn't right. Looking back, I agree with your complaints on how deadly the hands are while idle and the second fist attack. I'm not sure what could be done about the Bob-Balls, since I'm not really sure what makes them unpredictable. All they do is move forward, turn once they hit a wall, bounce as their bounces gradually get lower, and then eventually stop bouncing and go boom.

I do think having the Koopa bop up and down a bit while idle would be nice.

Quote (Galaxyvoyager128 on Oct 19 2017, 1:35 AM)
Wait Antasma is in this game and is the main antagonist? I think the guy who made this game read my comment on the comments section for that most recent Charisma installment. I said make Dimentio or Antasma the main villain and let the creative juices flow.

I'd say it's more of a coincidence. I decided to have Antasma as the main villain quite a long time ago, way before you made that comment. I was kinda amused when I read that part in your comment on Charisma 3.1 for Workgroups, though.
 
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