MFGG - Mario Fan Games Galaxy

Review Information

Game Reviewed	When Union Is Necessary TECH DEMO, by VanoButenidze
Review Author	Q-Nova
Created	Sep 22 2016, 8:07 AM

General Commentary and Game Overview

When Union Is Necessary is a game where, as the title says, a union happens. A union that would normally not happen, that is. The Koopa Troop captured some random Toad that was by the walls of Bowser's castle. Bowser decided to order the Toad to go to Princess Peach, and give her some kind of info. Kammy seems to find this a bit questionable, considering that he is just a slave that they had caught just recently, but nevertheless, Bowser wants the Toad to go to Peach. Also, it sounds like they need Mario's aid, with the reason why never explained, at least in this demo, which kind of left me a bit confused (considering how Bowser and Mario are usually enemies).

Anyway, it seems like Toad is all prepared to go, all by hi-...wait a minute, it actually doesn't seem like he is going all by himself. Nope, it looks like Kammy is going to go along too! She said that she'll drop blocks on certain areas that would normally be impossible to get through alone, and also to make sure what he is doing.

The game is currently a demo with just only one level. The concept kind of sounds interesting, but is it executed well? Does the demo make me look forward to seeing the full game? Well, let's jump in, and see what the game is like, shall we?

Pros	+The concept and story sounds kind of interesting. +The tilesets and backgrounds seem okay.
Cons	-Some of the graphics clash. -Very few sound effects. -A grammar error. -Level design is rather boring. -Kammy seems rather unnecessary when it comes to the gameplay.

Impressions

Gameplay 1 / 10	As with a lot of the fangames here on MFGG, When Union Is Necessary plays like a platformer, a rather basic one, that is. In this one, you control some generic Toad (which, I'll just refer to as simply Toad). Instead of taking some pre-made engine (like Hello Engine), you seemed to have decided to code your own engine, which is a bit ok. I said a bit ok, because there was a few problems in it that damaged the odd union. One of the problems in the engine is the fact that colliding into things sometimes seems a bit weird. I can't seem to exactly point out why, but it just sometimes feels a bit odd, it seems like Toad has teleported a few pixels. It's a minor problem, but still, you might want to put that into your notes, and try to fix it. Another one is that it seems a bit unfinished. Toad can take hits from Goombas, but he never appears to get knocked down (or maybe he could, he probably has a truckload of health. There seems no feedback on how much health Toad has, however, so I kind of doubt that). Maybe Kammy granted him immortality? But, whether or not, it seems strange, and it makes the Goombas look completely unnecessary to have in the game. Toad can fall on pitfalls, but instead of some sort of death animation, he will just teleport to the beginning of the level (the level didn't restart, since nothing seems to have restarted back to the point when Toad and Kammy are starting the journey). Were there actually portals down there? But, even if you just made the game pause for a few seconds and have some kind of sound playing before the game continues, it would be better than having Toad just teleport to the beginning. I think that's it for Toad, so I'll talk about Kammy's involvement in the gameplay. Kammy will basically just fly around, spilling some blocks in certain areas. The blocks are there to help Toad get across big pitfalls and reach a cliff that is couldn't be jumped over normally. However though, even if she is above where she needs to drop her blocks, she won't always drop them when she needs to. Sometimes, she'll go around, having no idea on what to do, and eventually realize that she should place some blocks in a area that Toad is waiting to get through for a bit. I have a feeling that some players might think that she isn't placing blocks in a spot that she is supposed to, which could lead them into trying to jump over the currently block-less area and not wait, so you might want to fix this. Or should you fix it? I said that, because after looking back, Kammy seems to be rather unnecessary to have in the gameplay. As I said earlier, she'll just add platforms in order to help Toad, that's it. There isn't really anything else that has an impact on the gameplay. She seems to be there just to extend the time one would normally spend on the level. If you were to make her go poof and add in extra platforms, the level might then be a bit better. I honestly find it to be a bit rather sad, because while having Kammy and Toad team up sounds like an interesting idea, this game seems to have unfortunately missed the potential it could use with the concept. You could probably make some puzzle elements with that concept, or something like that. Anyway, I think I don't really have anything to say about the old witch, so I'll just check on the level itself. It's basically, well, rather boring. It is mostly composed of walking to the right, stopping when you come across a huge pit, waiting for Kammy to drop the blocks (when she realizes it, that is), and jumping across the blocks and any small pits. Rinse, and repeat, until you've reached the end. There is only one kind of obstacle in the whole level (I'm not counting Goombas as obstacles, since they don't really do anything to you), and there isn't really anything that would hold your attention away from the main goal for a bit, except for those three brick blocks. Hitting the bottom of the first two brick blocks will of course, break them, and hitting the third one will somehow make it go up. If Kammy touches it, the brick block will break, and she'll say that the collision hurts. That's it. Nothing else really happens with the three brick blocks. When you get to the end of the level, Toad and Kammy will suddenly show up in a town. At this point, Kammy will reveal that she is secretly the author of the game (well, I think she is, she was talking like as if she was the game's author, saying stuff like the fact that this is the end of the game). After that, they noticed something odd, forgetting about what Kammy said earlier. What could the thing be? It's....it's....it's some kind of odd Toad! An odd Toad that appears to be claimed by Kammy as an extremely dangerous creature, tha-hey, what just happened? Did the game just close? Well, I guess that's it. Before I jump into the graphics section, I would like to talk about the dialogue. It seems okay, although there was one grammar error that stuck out to me. Kammy said "throush" at one point, while it actually should be "through". I'm pretty sure there is a few more, but that one error is so far the only one that really did stick out to me. I would like to suggest that instead of skipping the bits of dialogue when a certain key is pressed, the full dialogue should show up right away, and hitting the key again will take you to the next bit of dialogue. I accidentally skipped a few parts, while they are slowly showing up, thanks to the fact that hitting a key will just automatically skip the current bit of dialogue, which is why I made the suggestion. Anyway, now let's actually get on the graphics section. I'm gonna give the gameplay a score of one out of ten, since I couldn't really find any good qualities in the gameplay that are more than just in a very small size.
Graphics 5 / 10	The graphics in this game are rather okay. There seems to be quite some clashing in it, however. Kammy's sprite is a big example of this. Her outlines are anti-aliased (and nobody else has outlines like that) and she seems a bit too big when compared to the other characters. Did she cast some sort of growth spell on herself? Whether or not she did that, I would like to note that it would be nice if Kammy had some kind of pose when she is dropping the blocks. With her staying still, even if blocks appear out of nowhere or not, it looks odd. The Toad's sprite looks nice, although I find it weird that he somehow seems to change his shading a bit when he is walking and jumping. Also, I noticed that when he is walking off a ledge, he doesn't change his pose, meaning that he'll be either standing or walking, even though he is in the air, and not in the ground. The tilesets and backgrounds look good, although I find the outside of the castle to be a bit boring, and I think the inside of the castle could use some decorations. Nothing else I could really complain about the tilesets and backgrounds. I like how the dialogue text fades in. Though, I think you could make the dialogue look nicer. I think giving them a box, and maybe a mugshot would probably make them a lot better.
Sound 4 / 10	There is only two pieces of music in the game, which are both MIDIs. MIDIs may be small, but they generally sound low-quality. Because of that, I suggest that you should try using OGGs instead (and get something that would let Game Maker use OGGs, considering that you are still using that for this project). Anyway, I would like to talk about their place in the game. The first one is used in the intro cutscene, and to me, it sounds a bit out of place. Using boss battle music in a situation where Toad is being sent to Princess Peach just doesn't seem right to me. The second one sounds a bit more in place, at least in the level. In the last part, I think you should use something that has some kind of nighttime-feel in it, and something panic-y when the odd-looking Toad appears. The sounds are kind of rather lacking. Throughout the whole game, I can only hear sounds for jumping, collecting coins, and appearing text. What about sounds for when you stomp on Goombas, or when Kammy is dropping blocks? It would've been really nice if you could add in more sound effects that are really needed. The sounds that are in the game sound nice. I don't I've really heard them in fangames quite often, so that's a plus!
Replay 1 / 10	With a short length, boring and linear level design, and nothing that would really keep anyone occupied, I don't think anyone would really want to play the game for more than once. I played it for a few times, with the extra plays only performed so that I could look at some of the details of the game. Besides looking at the details, nothing else really motivates me to play it. Sorry.

Final Words

Please don't let the score discourage you, VanoButenidze. If you keep on trying and learning, you'll get better on making games! The game isn't really something I would want to unite with right now, but I'm sure that if you try, you can make it better!

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Comments

	PixelatedIvan May 23 2017, 12:34 AM
To be honest, I think if you calculate all the impression it would be a 2/10, but it is your choice.

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