समीक्षा

• gamedeal user

  Jan 3, 2022

  I wish I could recommend this with complete sincerity, heck, I wish I could rate a pleasant in-between, like... give it a shot on a sale if you like platformers with great aesthetic. Okay, lets get the good out of the way before the bad, because I do love this game but it has one glaring issue that kinda ruins it. First and foremost, no shocker, the aesthetic, from the graphics to the sound design is absolutely breathtaking. This game is gorgeous, it's an absolute dream. The sounds are pleasant, fitting and at times comical, especially all beard related stuff. And finally, the music! Dear lord, this soundtrack is fantastic and I hope we can get it at some point to listen to on it's own. Second, the entire setting and storyline, it's perfectly simple, perfectly adorable and perfectly likeable. Branson is a great main character to follow around. Luigi- I mean Forbeau is a great driving force and nice to look at [until the inevitable twist] and dear lord the enemies, I've never loved an opponent so much. I just wanna play ball with em all. Thirdly, the actual platforming challenges and ideas for abilities, while I do wish we had a bit more hair related stuff to go around rather than just fashioning normal platformer abilities into a beard aesthetic. The gameplay itself is excellent on paper and the levels are all great, giving you fresh challenges [not necessarily original ones] with each level for you to learn and tackle each time. BUT. This game... controls... horribly. No, I'm sorry, a platformer lives and dies on it's controls and this game's level and enemy design does NOT work with how it controls. The fact is simple, Branson is slippery, all of his abilities have delays before working and nothing you have is reliable. Your jump arcs aren't clear and your beard apparently weighs a couple of tons as you drop to the floor in a matter of split seconds, when you start running you commit to a slippery awful stop to your jog whether or not you turn around. Your attacks have a blindspot on top of and point blank of you. And the accursed beard shears during a jump?! Oh my sweet honey mustard this is absolute torture to use! There's a delay before your beard snaps onto anything and may I remind you, your jump arcs and gravity are EXTREMELY cruel and unreliable to work with, and then you have to account for those AND a delay to that snap? Not to mention there's an entire boss you have to beat purely by using that snap for damage, and you have a split second window to hit them with it! On a less important note, that rolling attack is basically a "please kill me now" move, especially since it has exactly one use in the entire game and it never shows up ever again and it doesn't function well as an attack. Now I won't shy away from the fact that, yes, this is all fine and dandy for a platformer usually... but the game's level and enemy design doesn't mesh with it at all. Because of your slippery movement, delays in attack animations AND blindspots on your attacks, positioning yourself to beat an enemy is a complete nightmare. Because of the slippery movement and unreliable jump arc, precision platforming is just not possible and requires multiple unnecessary tries until you manage to thread the needle on simple jumps. Let me clarify, while I'm terrible at platformers, I don't think this is a bad control scheme, I think it's a bad control scheme for the game that has it. Way I see it, all that's needed to improve it is having some defensive options for both fighting and platforming. For example, give Branson some sort of hair shield when he ducks [not moving while ducking, being motionless], which can also be used to completely stop his momentum. Give him a ledge grab to make missing platforms by a hair [no pun intended] due to the slippery jumps far less terrible. And if not that, maybe a late game unlock for a double jump? Make his weird... spinny... hover thingy that barely helps also cause him to very slightly ascend like Yoshi's floating? There's a ton of ways to make the game's controls suit it's current level design. So... I know, I know I'm not a platformer player to begin with, so I feel like maybe I don't have the right to complain about the controls in it, but I feel like it's way too punishing for the wrong reasons, I don't feel like it's my fault when I miss a platform or an enemy or a collectable, I feel like it's the game being just way too finnicky and unwieldy for it's own good, which is a shame, cause it has a ton going for it as well. But if it doesn't play nice... then that ton isn't gonna save it, it just isn't. Thank you for making this game, Glovebox, I dunno if we'll ever see Branson again, I hope we do cause I love the guy to bits. And good luck with any other video game pursuits you guys make.
• gamedeal user

  Feb 10, 2022

  The first few levels of this game are a masterclass in teaching you how to use your abilities and allowing you to upgrade and strengthen them. Providing challenges that allow you to expand your knowledge in how to use each one and even fight some bosses. Any level after that is a masterclass in how NOT to design your game with levels that remove abilities you've worked the whole game to power up and hone, bosses that are straight up not fun to fight, and collectibles that require level restarts to ever find. it was a really disappointing experience to be so built up in the first few levels, then so let down during the other 2/3. If you'd like to see more thoughts on this game and many others, check out this review below: https://youtu.be/KiES0cncdwo?t=867 [Beard Blade is at 15:07] I don't think I can recommend this title. The Red-light Green-light level is why. I fell through the game environment once or twice, died to things I couldn't see, and couldn't collect things I couldn't find, but that Red-Light Green-Light level was a straight up nightmare.
• gamedeal user

  Jul 5, 2022

  i was so damn excited about this game for so long, and after playing it the dissapointment hit hard, the physics felt... wrong? clunky? unfinished? its a beautiful looking game and i'm sure it has some very good aspects, but man, a platformer that has bad controls and the character movement being restrictive with jumps and attacks and so on i didn't like it at all
• AxulArt

  Jun 18, 2023

  It hurts me to do this since I loved its artistic and conceptual section; but I really can't recommend it... It's weird, but the game feels incomplete, as if they've hit their release deadline and just sit on the game's base campaign and all the other extras are left out incomplete. Pros: -The pixelart of this game is beautiful. As a freelance designer, I can recognize a high level pixelart and fluid animation. -The simple but fun theme of the platform levels and the way the story is told. -Very charismatic characters. -family friendly Cons: -It has a very unfair and irregular difficulty curve. There are extremely simple sections, and others sections at the level of a kaizo it the same level. I have no problem playing games that require precision (Celeste's game is one of my favorites); but if they are going to put platforming of this type, you must mentally prepare your players; for example by adding an "invisible tutorial" like the "Super Mario Bros" does. -The controls are very unresponsive (very unfair deaths from these) and problems with the character's collision frames. -does not detect all controls support; I had to use an external button mapping program to be able to use my game controller. -The final goal section of each level feels extremely repetitive and that it is only there for the sake of it. -Despite the art so precious; during the cutscenes and important dialogue scenes, they totally lack expressiveness and animations (if the sprites weren't so detailed and expressive I wouldn't care, but since they are, it feels like they only left a placeholder in every important scene), to the point that You confuse who is speaking. -Although a simple story works well, the twist at the end is quite predictable, in fact it already feels like a cliché until the end (This does not have to be corrected, it is just my personal taste). -There are incomplete sections; I passed at 100 percent and the sound test still doesn't appear available to me (what's the point of getting the discs for each section if in the end you can't play any of them?). The same with the golden coins, at least I expected a secret ending (or villain redemption arc for being so charismatic), or minigames that could be bought with the golden coins but they are useless. What hurts the most is that it feels like its developers abandoned the game, when in reality it only requires them to correct minimal things so that this game is among the best. Developers, please; we are not haters, we really want this game to be the best (at least I want it); since I can see that you guys put a lot of effort into this game; do not leave it incomplete, since it is your letter of entry into the professional world and the possibility of future sequels. I would gladly be waiting to buy the sequel to this game when it is released, since I see potential in you. Sincerely: AxulArt. God bless you
• Maddog McGee (Z.X.U.)

  Jun 24, 2023

  This game feels like something made to mimic the Super Nintendo days and would fit in well along side those games as far style. I like the beard mechanic but, I due think the game does not hit its full potential for reasons I can't quite put my finger on. It just doesn't feel satisfying to the point of a Yooka-Layee, Crash Bandicoot. some other games trying to do the same thing. That being said this is not asking the price of those games and is well worth picking up and giving it a try.
• gamedeal user

  Jul 21, 2021

  Fantastic game!
• gamedeal user

  Jul 21, 2021

  Been following the development of this game since around 2016 maybe even 2015 I don't remember. Visually is amazing, character designs and levels have a very cute and fun feel that just screams platformer. Level design and some collectible placements have also impressed me so far. The games day night system with each level having a branching path leads to a lot of natural attempts at other levels for missed items or progress which as a game loop ive found to be very enjoyable. The only problem I have run into is technical. This game has a huge slowdown on my pc when I put the resolution to anything above x2. Wish I could play in full screen to enjoy the visuals. Also when I plugged my switch pro controller in (a controller that works with most other pc games) it would not detect it so i had to go find my old 360 controller and that worked fine. The plus side is within one day of launch I've already seen the devs make comments of future patches so I am hopeful. If you like shantae or shovel knight try this one out.
• gamedeal user

  Jul 21, 2021

  So good! Good controls, great level design, and fantastic pixel art. So much charm in the Branson's animations. Definitely a worthwhile purchase if you're a fan of classic platformers. Looking forward to getting every collectable in this one.
• gamedeal user

  Jul 22, 2021

  After completing the game with all collectibles, I can say without a doubt that I like this game. Also warning: first review I've written in here! [h1]Visuals and music[/h1] Let's get it out of the way: the strongest parts of this game by far are the visuals and the music. Graphics are comprised by stylized, really easy to the eye 16-bit sprites full of life and color, complimenting the great, appealing character and environment design. Animations, also, are really great all across the board! Props to our bearded hero Branson's animations, which enhance his actions and gameplay really well. All the music pieces in this game are really catchy and pleasant, fitting the levels they play in really well (if I had to highlight any level theme on the top of my head, it'd probably be both of Annatto Forest's themes), though I must say that the map using the same 2 themes for every single area (one for outdoor sections and one for indoor sections) is a bit underwhelming, and that the chase section in Kencur Caverns 3 Night having no music which was jarring, but these are nothing but small nitpicks. [h1]Level design[/h1] The level design follows a good pacing: every level starts introducing its mechanics (which are usually unique to every level) slowly and then combining them together later for harder challenges, all complimented by how well Branson feels to control (except for a few things, like the platform dropping and the glide mechanic feeling a bit finicky to pull off when the level design requires them). Also really cool, the game keeps introducing new mechanics across the adventure and in almost every single level, even introducing, as an example, these "switch blocks" in a small, optional segment of the last level, to never be seen again; this makes every level very distinct of each other, each of them providing a neat and unique experience. Levels, also, have this neat day-night cycle mechanic (reminded me of Wario Land 3, just wanted to say!), where you can visit different sections of it depending on the time of day. Aside from the first level of the game, it usually just boils down to having 2 levels to go through in every stage, one for day, and one for night, blocking the other with these contextual day-night blocks (could've been nice to see a better use of the day-night blocks than that). Another thing I did find a bit eh about the day-night mechanic is not being able to switch between them in the map, having to enter and leave a level just to change the time of day. [h1]Collectibles[/h1] Every level contains 3 big coins, a treasure chest (that contains either a piece of music to be listened to in the Sound Test or a treasure, including a tiny description for it) and a trading card (that depicts an enemy and a description for it). These collectibles' locations can get really devious at times, but also, there's times where their locations feel either random or not that well thought out (the ones that you only have one chance to get, or else you have to redo the whole level, can be annoying), which doesn't help. [h1]Progression[/h1] The character, Branson, starts with everything he needs in his move list to reach the final boss, and on top of that, the game offers upgrades for him. Except for one (that you find in a level and is required for progression), all moveset upgrades are optional, and are only used either to enhance Branson's movement, or to get one or two optional collectibles. This is a nice concept, but because of their optional nature, there are no levels that use these upgrades to their fullest potential; maybe making some of these upgrades be found in levels, or maybe making optional levels that require them would've made these upgrades shine even more, and aid the sense of progression (as an example, a harder race that requires the rolling upgrade to be able to win, or a level that revolves around hitting blocks from afar with the sadly underutilized projectile upgrade). [h1]Conclusion[/h1] All in all, I liked my experience with the game, and I would love to see the concepts introduced in it expanded in (maybe?) a future game! If you want a pleasant romp and a not-too-hard but full of heart platformer, this one's for you!
• gamedeal user

  Jul 26, 2021

  20.00???! For an indie platformer for which there are a dime a dozen on Steam? Is it worth it? YES. Beard Blade was made by someone who clearly knew what they were doing and will mostly certainly appeal to people who like games such as Shantae. Have fun! Thank me later. XD