Wow I'm loving this game. The controls are super tight and the shooting mechanics are so satisfying... It plays wonderfully on my iPad Mini 2. I wish the Gboy palette had more contrast to it, it's kind of hard to see and differentiate stuff. Could someone explain the combo system and gem high systems?
Combo system: fall on enemies, kill enemies, fall on more enemies: all adds +1 to combo, but DON'T fall on platforms, as it breaks the combo. Gem high system: I don't know, I just see like a red deja-vu of myself when I'm on a gem high...
Though i still suck an unexpected big time in this brilliant GOTY contender of mine, i keep playing whenever i find a spare minute. And yes, of course, it gets a crampy thumbs experience after ____ (fill in) minutes, and maybe only an iphone 6plus would solve this problem on a little screen, more or less. Eli's spot on review mentioned the only little flaw this game has on the little iphone screens... @Devs (ahm, are they here yet?) Have you thought about the possibility to cut off the life/gem counter and therefor have the exact needed amount for the thumbs to not obscure the screen on the bottom? To see your lives/gems, simply pause the game, or when you're in a shop, it automatically shows up for you to know what to buy (more lives etc.)
Downwell for iOS and My 2 Cents: (I'll get back to doing the My 2Cents videos soon. I was just trying something different.) Ok. I wasnt going to write about Downwell because Im sure people are probably sick of hearing me talk about it, but I just wanted to at least give My 2 Cents on the game. The first thing everybody is probably going to notice is the visual style. To be honest, when I first saw the screenshots awhile ago, I wasnt impressed. I absolutely love pixel art, but Im weird about it. I can really love a game just because of the pixel art and it can also make me not like the game because of it. I know, Im weird. Its hard to explain. Once you start playing Downwell, you end up loving the artwork. The little details that are added, the homage to old school NES games, its all there. You find little things like changing the color palette so rewarding. (Back to that later.) The premise of this game is basically your character falling down a well. I wont get into story details or anything. Thats a pet peeve of mine. Id rather find out the story for myself in games. I kind of like going in blind when I start a game. Anyway, so I guess you could call it a downward platformer/shooter/roguelike? I dont know, but the object is to get to the bottom of each level while shooting enemies and parts of the well with your GunBoots. Yes, GunBoots. They are pretty self explanatory. During your travels down the well, you will pick up gems, find secret rooms and stop at little stores to buy power-ups to help you along your way. In between each level, you are given a choice out of 3 upgrades for the rest of your run. The cool thing is that these upgrades can all be stacked in different ways depending on your run. So each run is totally different. Also, I should add that once you die, you start over from the beginning again, so its all about stacking the perfect upgrades and trying not to get hit (obviously). Thats one thing I like about this game is that no two runs are the same. The levels are procedurally generated. So add that to all the different upgrades you can stack and its like a new game each run. The other thing thats cool is the gems that you collect are added up at the end up each run and once you collect enough, you are rewarded with different (permanent) game styles and color palettes. I wont go into detail on the color palettes or game styles either. Some of them are a pretty cool surprise. As far as controls go, theyve worked perfect for me. You have a left button, right button, and your shoot button. It can get a little frustrating during the harder levels because your thumbs are kind of in the way sometimes. With your character traveling downward and your thumbs at the bottom of the screen working the controls, your thumbs will block things once in a while. Other than that, the controls work great! Im not sure if having the controls at the top of the screen would be the quick fix or not. It seems like it would be a little awkward holding the device then. Oh, and the soundtrack is really good by the way. Beautiful chip tune music that really brings out the nostalgia feel to the game. Ive had a blasty blast with Downwell so far. Its easily my GOTW for sure. Id have no problem recommending this game to anybody thats a fan of shooters or platformers. Well, thats My 2 Cents.
Nicely said brother. And I agree. There's no way I could hold my device with the controls at the top. I'd feel all weird about it. It would be really awkward. And I hate tilt. They should just let us put it into landscape. Billy
Started streaming down well if you want to see some not the best but very fast play and combo heavy play. =]
An addition to the combo system. 8 kills = 100 gems 15 kills = 100 gems + 1 permanent bullet 25 kills = 100 + 1 permanent bullet + 1 hp Don't get any higher as I had gotten a 100 kill combo but there was no extra reward Oh yeah cute ending btw and hope this helps Edit: hard mode is hard and it works on iPad mini 1st gen (although it seems I'm moving at kero blaster speed) it's still enjoyable and so much still left to do! I personally hate world 4 just saying
I'm torn... this game is awesome, but it's physically painful to play on an iphone 6. The controls just don't work in portrait here. It hurts to control the game the way it is, and I'm kinda surprised it got a 5* review. Don't get me wrong, the gameplay really is 5*, and it feels fine on an ipad mini. But the controls are physically painful enough on an iphone 6 to warrant dropping a whole star in my opinion. I wouldn't be as annoyed if it had icloud or something so I could transfer progress to an ipad and binge on it at home without my hands cramping up. If there was a way to play the game in landscape without everything looking too small it would totally solve this and make the game a GOTY contender for me.
Agree there's a little delay (like half second) when playing on the iPad 4. ;( Damn it, I'd like to play on my iPad, since I find the controls more comfortable.
The ending was easy to get to when you play 2 rounds the boss comes around after limbo (world 4-3) so be prepared to see a horrifying beast when you get down there
I play this game (and use the keyboard) with left thumb and right index finger. No fatigue, great even on my iPhone 4S and I write faster than people using autocorrect
Started streaming down well if you want to see some not the best but very fast play and combo heavy play. =]
4-3, mmm... I got to 3-1 (underwater) once, but got killed. My 4S is at 5% battery, flat due to playing Downwell for the last 1.5h. Amazing game.
