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Review Information

Game Reviewed	Super Mario - Turd Feast 4, by Hypernova
Review Author	Cap'n Coconuts
Created	Sep 17 2016, 6:57 PM

General Commentary and Game Overview

Turd Feast 4 is the latest entry in Supernova's series of joke games. These games tend to get mixed reviews. If you enjoy previous Turd Feast games, you may also enjoy Turd Feast 4. If you don't, well... it's probably best to skip this one.

Pros	+ Solid gameplay + Good music + Has postgame content
Cons	- Perhaps a little TOO easy - Jokes are a mixed bag - The plot and some jokes are recycled

Impressions

Gameplay 6 / 10	As a joke game, Turd Feast 4 depends heavily on its humor value. People play a joke game for the jokes, after all. Therein lies a significant flaw with Turd Feast 4: its jokes are very hit or miss, and it borrows a lot from previous games. Now I understand that humor can be quite subjective, but there were precious few moments that I found to be legitimately funny. I remember laughing at the Trump jetpack scene, but even that joke has been done before in a previous Turd Feast. A joke game that isn't very funny. That can't be good. Fortunately for Turd Feast 4, it has actual gameplay to fall back on. Turd Feast 4's platforming levels are quite simple compared to what you might expect from a platformer made with Hello Engine or something similar. There are no Fire Flowers or other upgrades to be found, so many levels have more emphasis on avoiding obstacles rather than fighting them. Some levels mix it up by giving the player a Splatoon ink gun or eggs, using SHMUP gameplay instead of platforming, or giving the player the psychic ability to make platforms. I didn't really care for the meatball minigame in stage 3; it happens to be rather luck-based. A player could get a long string of exploding meatballs, or meatballs could fall in a very unfortunate way and limit your movement options. The original release of Turd Feast 4 had a lot of problems with difficulty. Fake spikes were everywhere, the player's offense was weak in the SHMUP levels, and in most platforming levels the player died in one hit. The game in its current form lets you take an extra hit in most levels, hidden spikes are much less common, and you can actually power up your shots in the first two SHMUP levels. Instead of the game being frustratingly difficult (especially in those SHMUP levels) it is now easy (perhaps TOO easy in some aspects, including the SHMUP level bosses). The game doesn't do a great job of amusing me with its humor, but the gameplay is fairly solid... if a little simplistic. The platformer levels with special abilities are generally more enjoyable than the ones without them.
Graphics 6 / 10	By joke game standards, the graphics are pretty decent. The game's original sprites have a crude but somewhat aesthetically pleasing style. Sprite clashing exists, but that's kind of a given for joke games such as this. Just don't come in expecting a visual masterpiece.
Sound 7 / 10	Turd Feast 4 has some excellent music choices, and the chiptune tracks for the 8 bit Splatoon levels doesn't disappoint. However, there are still some MIDI tracks in the game that are used "ironically". Using MIDI for humor doesn't work for mundane MIDIs. The Waligie games used bad MIDIs to great effect beause the MIDIs were absolutely terrible, and that's what gave the games their charm. The sound effect library includes more things than just the Super Mario All-Stars SFX, so that's nice.
Replay 4 / 10	The game has a few postgame levels and a minigame you can play if you have rings to spare. You can also unlock the ability to replay individual levels without starting the game over again. While the game isn't overflowing with replayability, the thought was nice.

Final Words

A joke platformer that suffers from stale and hit-or-miss humor.

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