Shamelessly copy-pasted from a .txt document I typed up on Wednesday last week.

Well, I got around to downloading death's 'The Last Halloween' game. And I enjoyed it.

It started off a bit slowly at first, but surprised me in the first neighbor's house (lol. Conveniently placed gun on the table).

I had a few issues with the game, most notably the slopes and spikes. I got stuck on the slopes often (And took a decent bit of damage too ;_;)

And the spikes in the cave area… snuck up on me? I could barely tell that they were there.

Well, on my first playthrough I got beaten by death (Now why didn't I add a cameo?).

Then, to my utmost disappointment, I managed to survive along with 10 bullets and a bunch of health until death, then… I ran out of ammo (After collecting every bit of the stuff I could find).

The artwork was actually really good, and I liked the texturing done on the walls in the houses; the lighting added a heavier atmosphere to the game.

The music went well with the game's look.

My last gripe is with the controls. They were kinda… difficult. If I held down the DOWN key for too long (Longer than 0.2 of a second) in front of a door, I'd go through the door, and then back again. Sometimes, I'd inexplicably be barelling forward without touching a key after exiting a door.

I'll give a basic rating in four areas: Appearance (includes sound), Gameplay, Theme and Difficulty.

Appearance

The game reminds me of an old NES platformer I played once, and in a good way. The.. 'style' of the character is a common one among indie platformers, but I liked the bit of perspective that was added while walking.

The level artwork was quite well done, with my only problem being with the spikes in the cave blending in too well with the scenery.

I enjoyed the little details (Like the blood splatters left behind after killing a zombie), and the examinable (useless) objects (toilets).

The music reminded me of the Sega Megadrive, and fit in well with the setting.

[10/10]

Gameplay

The gameplay, being driven by the story as it was, could have been developed a bit more; but considering the amount of time death had to work on the game, I'm not going to nitpick. This is a concept that, given time, could be developed into a great game.

In the end , the gameplay as it is can be resolved into exploring the houses in the neighborhood, and killing the monsters; can't complain there :P

[8/10]

Theme

Naturally, the theme, according to the competition rules, is either Halloween or Horror based. This game fit both fairly well, and the environment matches our common horror/halloween stereotypes: Dark corners, Graveyards and Mutant Pumpkins that can pull themselves out of the ground and attack us.

[10/10]

Difficulty

Now, I'm not going to rate the game based on "it's too hard" or "it's too easy", but rather I'll see if it fits into that perfect balance we should all be looking for.

On my first playthrough, I had some trouble with the controls (I'm the kinda guy who likes me jump button on the left hand side of the keyboard), but by the time I played the game for the second time, I was comfortable with the control scheme and managed to get to the final boss with minimal damage (And minimal ammunition).

My primary complaint is the ammunition, and the last corridor before the boss battle. I understand death wanting a 'limited ammo' system, but… let me put it this way. The Vampires in the final corridor all take 4 shots to kill, and I can't just run away (They followed me all the way to the boss room).

So by the time I reached the boss, I had the grand total of 5 bullets left. ;_;

Anyway, I missed the boss with all but one of my shots. I have yet to beat the boss.

[6/10]

TOTAL MARKS: 34/40

Final word

Well, I'm going to go play the next game of my choosing. I'm deliberately trying some of the simpler looking ones first, because by default we tend to go for the 'ooh that looks shiny/polished' ones first.

UPDATE: I finally beat the boss, after saving just before the boss room and conserving 44 bullets. I wasn't actually expecting the attack pattern to change, but it was a good way to throw me off.

Although… the ending kinda… wasn't much of an ending? Oh well. I enjoyed the game, so I keep my final score.