[LPC] Game Review: A(lchemist)

I’m reviewing Liberated Pixel Cup games, one by one. There’s 48 games.

Disclaimer: I am also competing in the contest.

A(lchemist) [Download me!]

This is a Multiplayer Java game. It is the very definition of cruel.

For starters, the ‘README’ file is entirely blank, and the FAQ doesn’t cover the basics: How do I move and How do I hit. This thread covers it.

Running the game was super simple. All I had to do was start up a Server (java -jar GameServer_Lin.jar), then open up a Client (java -jar AGame_Linux.jar), and pointed the Client to localhost. Being named Nushio the First made me smile at first, but that smile quickly turned into a frown as I realized what ‘the first’ meant. The first of many.

As I previously stated, this game is incredibly cruel. As soon as any enemy touches you, you die. I died several times before looking over for ‘how do I attack’. You must aim your mouse at a pile of dirt and left click it furiously to load up on Earth moves, or a Lava Pit to load up on Fire moves, or Water to load up on Water moves. To shoot, right click where you want the spell to be executed, and it will be. Did I mention that the enemies are faster than you? They are. Specially the bats. Damned bats.

You always start out with level 0 in every element. Once you find (and step over) a scroll, you can raise your element’s power for bigger, better animations. Did I mention that this game is incredibly cruel? Every time you die, you lose all your scrolls and must start from scratch.

There are several quests to accomplish. For instance, an NPC told me that his princess was lost. A quick walk around the map, and I found her, and she vanished and turned into a Scroll. I also found a sword in a rock, but I wasn’t worthy of holding it, so maybe I was missing something. What I did find though, was that after I became a semi-super Elemental Mage with cool spells, then died, my former self became a Hellish Creature and started haunting me everywhere. It was very cruel. It came back with a billion HP, as I kept on hitting it with everything I had, repeatedly, over the span of several lifetimes (metaphorically though literally if you consider how many times I did die trying to kill my former self).

This game has multiplayer, though I didn’t try it, it must be pretty fun. One of the fun and interesting things I noticed was that as soon as you died, the game asked if you wanted to place some “final words”. It then left a gravestone marker with your final words so everyone can mock your former self, reminding you what a cruel world this is. I imagine in multiplayer it must be pretty hilarious just looking at each other’s gravestones.The game also features a “Ping” locator that you can trigger by pressing 1 or 2, but since I didn’t try multiplayer, I am unsure of what it actually does.

Overall, the game is polished, the collisions worked, the map is huge and explorable. There are an awful lot of enemies, there’s variety, and there’s surprises (Hellish creatures!? Gah!). Despite being a very cruel game, I had a lot of fun. I’d love to try it out in mutliplayer sometime.

As a side note, the game doesn’t fit in my laptop’s screen (1366×768). I had to either cut off a portion of the top, or a portion of the bottom and was unable to resize it.