I will say that one thing I do not like about the game is when trying to get the Dash Star, even if you hit the end balloon with 2 seconds left, the timer keeps going until you leave the screen... So you will not get the star, even though you hit the balloon with 2 seconds remaining. To get the Dash Star on most levels, the game requires controls like that of LoE or Mos Speedrun, which it just does not have. Aside from that, this game is awesome...
It can be a bit unfair, but I can promise you it's all doable tried-and-tested! The dash-star really requires something close to a perfect-run: the correct route, timing, and jumping Stardash (and Meganoid) basically have a couple of layers of gameplay, for the casual gamer we recommend: skip the temple-levels, and don't even try to get the dash-star! for the better gamer, getting all the stars adds a great challenge for the skilled gamer, all stars and temples should be do-able, and finally, for the "freaks" try getting all the achievements cause that's extremely hard!
Solid step forward. I kept trying to jump on the cannon balls firing upward from the pipes. I can smell an update with some progressive elements making this a standard along with LOE.
Is there any chance...... ....on the iCade controls you can press a button to jump instead of pushing up. Please?
yes we will do that in the next update, and also remove the onscreen buttons when playing with iCade/icontrolpad or joypad!
Alright, finally got all the stars in world 1... And I take back what I said. The controls work exceptionally well. Call me a casual gamer... =oP Ima have all the stars in the next couple days... (hopefully...) hehe... So long as I can stay away from MAMC long enough to really play this more seriously.
Game Impressions HD Gameplay Trailer (iPad 2): Subscribe to the TouchArcade YouTube channel Note: Hard, Harder, Stardash....this Game does even make the strongest Man cry because of the Difficult Level of some Levels = 5/5 Stars.
This game is great on the iPhone, but really blows on the iPad. Buttons are stretched and pixelated, and the game is upsidedown for iPad 1 users (sigh).
Yeah I tried playing on my Android Tablet, and it was pretty much impossible to get the dash star even on the second level... =oP But it's PERFECT on a small screen. =oD
So here's what I think. Appearance: Really attractive. I love gameboy-era platformers, so the aesthetic is right up my alley. The on-screen controls are totally out-of-place though. Why not give the buttons a similar greyscale, pixelated appearance? It would increase immersion in the experience, I think. Menu: The world select menu's buttons are wonky. If I press anywhere on the left side of the screen, there is no response, but the right side acts as a select button. If I press on the "20" below the image, it behaves as if I have pressed the back arrow. Also, the left/right buttons in the menu have a pretty ridiculously low radius, so it's easy to miss them (which is a pain in the ass for the button on the right, as the entire right side of the screen is a giant select button). Not sure if this is a 2nd gen touch-exclusive issue, but I figured I should mention it regardless. Gameplay: Pretty solid. While I'd like the jump to be a tad bit higher, the mechanic works fine (aside from bouncing on enemies, the results of which have proven to be a little inconsistent). Also, the collision detection with the large thwomp-like enemies and dropping blocks is pretty bad. I'm constantly walking through them and have gotten trapped inside more than once. Addiction/Fun Factor: Great; I can't help but try to nail a speedrun and collect all the coins. So overall, I don't regret buying it. It's a hell of a lot better than Meganoid, but lacks polish in several areas. I give it a 3/5, and if some of the menu button/collision detection issues can be addressed at some point, I'd recommend this game to anyone.
I've had no problem bouncing on enemies, but some of the collision detection is a bit wonky. More than once I've been killed by a shell-explosion that is clearly not in range. It's hard to understand the complaint about the height of the jump. Clearly the game is designed for the height as is. Making it jump height higher would kind of break the game...
Just to clarify ... I've found that the resulting jump height is inconsistent. In world 2-5, bouncing off the head of a fly barely registers as a bounce - you pretty much just fall off his head. On the other hand, bouncing off a flying cannon-shooter is pretty much as awesome as a flying trampoline. Yeah, the explosions have blown me up from pretty far away as well. Several jumps in the game are exactly as tall as the protagonist's jump height - you can only make the jump if you reach the ledge at the exact moment of your jump's peak. I haven't noticed game design like this in classic nintendo games (which stardash clearly aspires to emulate). IMO, adding a couple pixels of jump height wouldn't break the game.
the enemies are like that... only the cannons, so far from what I've played, will let you jump higher off of them, while all other enemies do not give you a jumping boost if you hold down the jump button when jumping on them... but really, only the cannon guys are the ones needed, and used, to make certain jumps throughout the game... so it's not really a big problem. It's not inconsistent... it's very consistent. Cannons will ALWAYS give you a boost jump... all other enemies will not.
But as you stated, it's inconsistent between the different types of enemies. You might not find it annoying, but occasionally I find it to be a pain in the ass - thus my incentive to mention it in the review.
To me this is kinda disappointing, it was nice to see a new platformer that had a more open 'mario-esque' level design, where the levels aren't totally caged in. And hearing that the dev was attempting Nintendo-like polish, i was hoping for something at least on par with 1-bit ninjas level of refinement, but with more exploration.. instead, i dunno, the character doesn't feel right, the levels are unmemorable in design.. I'll play some more and hope it comes together better. 1-bit Ninja, felt very well crafted and precise, and memorable, if very set in its ways. This kind of feels like more of the same, along the lines of other iOS platformers, which are good, but always lacking the 'nintendoness' that this game was suposudly going to have. I guess, maybe my taste for platformers is a bit different from other iOS users. Give me Squareball, 1-bit ninja, Robot wants Kitty, frogatto, elemental rage, choco run... something memorable. This, Meganoid, Mos Speedrun, LoE, and the others that seem to be popular and sell well, they are all doing too much of the same thing for me and blending together too much. I'll keep playing this though, maybe it will click together a bit more.
I agree with your take on LoE and Mos Speedrun, but this feels very different to me -- certainly not to be confused with those other "Super Meat Boy generation" platformers. And frankly, 1 bit ninja struck me as incredibly generic and lazily designed -- except for it's one gameplay "feature" which unfortunately only managed to suck any remaining pleasure from the game. I find this to be a much, much better game. EDIT: That is not to say that I don't agree with you on ER, Frogatto, and to a certain extent RWK.
Love the way the game looks but it's far more difficult than I thought it would be! Love the graphics though. Hope we get more easier levels !
Two questions: When I jump on some enemies, I find I have to move away or I die. Is this how it is designed to work? Jumping - after playing quite a bit, I realized I could walk off a platform and THEN jump. This made certain obstacles easier and I like it. My son calls it an "Air jump". Does the jump in Gameboy Mario games work like this as well? I've managed to push two more levels ahead. I appreciate the old skool difficulty but without having to worry about lives or Game Over.
The turtle shells explode after you jump on them, so yeah, it's intentional. Platforms work at the pixel level, so as long as even a pixel is on it, you shouldn't fall. And yeah, some jumps are not possible without that feature.
