Ok, time for a review of a more...unusual game.
Welcome to Sumotori Dreams, a game where up to four drunk sumo wrestlers made out of blocks shove/flail in the air, trying to knock each other down. Last person standing wins.
The following story combines a review with my first time playing this game.
When I first played this game after hearing about it from a classmate, I bought the full version without playing the demo, because I heard it was one of the most hilarious games I would ever play, and the full version was highly recommended instead of sticking with the demo. It was only $5, hinting that the game must be quite short. I opened it up, and as soon as I saw the menu, I was already quite confused and impressed.
The first thing that hit me was the fact that the menu dropped down from the top and swayed around and stuff. Then, I chose "you vs computer". I expected to just start the game, but then I see a blue block THROWN at the option, breaking the board. THEN, the game started. I was already liking the game, and I hadn't even gotten past the MENU, which was probably the coolest, most unique menu I've ever seen.
Then the game started. I see two people, one blue, one white. They were made out of blocks, and they were standing in a ring. All around the ring were wooden planks, upright. They started to crouch to the ground like they're about to take a crap in the ring.
The graphics were interesting and the way the characters were designed was unique, and I was loving it. I saw directions/controls in the upper right corner. I started the match with S and realized I was the blue character. The opponent did the same, then the match started.
What happened next was so crazy that I had no idea what I was actually watching at first.
I pressed W, which made my guy start "walking" forward. The reason why I put that in quotes is because he wasn't really walking. He, to my confused surprise, started to walk like a zombie who was walking home from going to his local bar. And so did my opponent.
I started to giggle hysterically. Then I got shoved by my opponent, and the motions my character made literally made me almost pee myself. THE BLUE GUY STARTED TO BALANCE HIMSELF LIKE A BLIND TAP-DANCER IN A BRAWL. Then he fell down in one of the most ridiculous poses I've ever seen.
This is one of the reasons why this game is so awesome, because basically, it's so stupid it's fun, and the characters' motions are absolutely hilarious.
Then the white guy suddenly fell on top of me, and suddenly we were in some kind of extremely awkward sex position.
I lost the match, but I could still play, so I tried to shove my opponent down, and something like the following picture happened.
So...I played with this for a bit, then went back to the menu. Like I said, you can have up to 4 people, which was quite awesome. So that's what I did. I clicked "you vs 4 comp" and suddenly, there was a green guy, and a brown guy fighting as well. This match also made me nearly have to go to the bathroom. Here was the result:
Finally, I went to the Arena Selection, definitely eager for more. There are up to 6 stages, which doesn't seem like much, but you can download a map editor, which is an EXTREMELY cool feature, so basically there are hundreds of levels. The default levels are the Default Dojo, which was in the pictures.
Then there's "Kitchen Party"
"Roof Dancers"
"Play Seesaw"
"Up on the Stage"
And my favorite, "I go Downstairs"
Each of these levels are unique, fun to play, and hilarious in their own ways.
There IS a 2-player option(s), but no online content AT ALL, except for the user-made levels.
This game probably gave me the best first-time-playing moment out of all the games I've ever played.
Overall:
Pros: Graphics are unique, physics are well done and funny, has the coolest menu in any game I've ever seen, the characters' motions are roll-on-the-floor hilarious, the AI manages (probably for the first time ever out of ANY GAME EVER) to feel almost nonexistent, but in an actually positive way instead of a "the AI sucks. It's like the developers didn't play their own crappy game while designing it" way. (The AI was probably MADE to be that stupid, but how they managed to make the AI so awesome with so little, I don't know), the map editor allows you to make your own levels, the controls are simple but effective (controls many people don't know about
: Home and Page Up to control camera, 7 to stop time, 8 to slowmotion, 9 to speed up, print-screen to take a screenshot, hold down S/Downarrow for about 1 second, then let go to jump. Also, there is a way to activate a secret mode in the menu. Try to find it!)
Cons: For some reason it's kinda hard to stay upright out of the ring in the Default Dojo, when an opponent falls on you it can take forever to get him off so you can get up (or just getting up yourself if you are on debris), making maps can be a little complex from what I've seen in tutorials, game itself can be somewhat hard to run smoothly on some computers from what I've heard, could use an online fighting mode for up to 4 people.
Final rating:
9/10.
Finally, here is one of my videos on Sumotori Dreams, playing the user-made level "Soccer": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oX4BFekDmwE