Forums > Submission Feedback > wolfqueen001's Fire 'N Ice review

I initially thought you fell into the trap here of throwing too many words trying to be cute and ploughing effort into the overly-cutesy plot of a puzzle game. BUT I CHANGED MY MIND! Upon further examination, I gleamed that a lot of the information offered early on serves dual functions. Yes, you barf sarco-glitter at the sugary sweet plotlines, but you intermix this with cold hard facts that teaches the reader without being obvious. It’s clever writing.

What doesn’t work so well is the rapid fire approach of all the small paragraphs being around the same length and roughly sharing an exclusive structure. I also wonder why you say that every puzzle is only solvable by walking away from the game were, upon return, it’s always cake to then beat. This doesn’t sound like a good idea! I understand what you’re trying to say, but the odd insistence that you need to do this all the time baffles me. I am baffled.

The conclusion screams “Just let this review end!”, but, still, I enjoyed the read. It might not have been your most comfortable review to date, but it was subtly clever and did a good job of making an 8-bit puzzle game sound interesting. You gain 4 praise points and 2 gold.

For us. For them. For you.

Haha. I'm surprised you changed your mind about the start of this, actually. I shudder every time I read that and think "Oh, God... The CHEESE!", but hey; I did sort of write it like that on purpose. XD

Anyway, as to your criticism, it sounds like most of your issues just involve how I word things. I'm assuming you're making fun of my use of metaphor, as well. =P That's fine and completely reasonable. I honestly probably had a hard time trying to say what I wanted to about that, anyway. But the point I was trying to get across - which you say you understood, albeit after deciphering - is that for the trickier puzzles, sometimes taking a second look helps. Maybe I'll just say that instead.

Anyway, thanks. Puzzles are hard to review. That it worked at all makes me happy.

What espiga does in his free time
[Eating EmP's brain] probably isn't a good idea. I mean... He's British, which means his brain's wired for PAL and your eyes are NTSC. - Will

This
"You’ll likely find yourself snoozing through the first couple worlds, but soon after, you’ll find yourself scratching your head as formerly cakewalk puzzles turn into headache-inducing brain-busters."
..is a great sentence.

But I'd try (and fail :) ) to come up with a different start ("Coolmin Island was once"). And avoid the "Presented with" break. Specially the last one stops the text a little bit. But I like the review, and the focus on wrapper context over the details. If I was to be critical (which I always am), I'd say that it doesn't leave you with an impression of how the game actually plays in the end, even though you describe a little bit. This: "odd jars that hold fire eternally and melt any ice block thrown at them," could've been towards the end, maybe.

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Thanks. Funnily enough, the line you liked was the one EmP criticized (I think), haha.

Anyway, I know it's not perfect. I wrote this review more than a year ago, so I never expected much, especially since it's a goofy puzzle game. I might play around with it if I ever feel like editing it... but right now, I'm fine with it. I'll keep these issues in mind, though, for whenever I do go back and take another look at it.

Honestly, though; it's kind of hard to describe how it plays other than what I've done just because of the game's nature. But, we'll see.

Probably should at least fix that gender mistake at the beginning, though.... xP

Thanks again, anyway; I appreciate the feedback. Truthfully, I never expect my reviews to get feedback, especially not ones for goofy puzzle games or whose quality of writing might be lacking, so it's always appreciated.

What espiga does in his free time
[Eating EmP's brain] probably isn't a good idea. I mean... He's British, which means his brain's wired for PAL and your eyes are NTSC. - Will

Foolish sidekick! My complaint was the way you word this makes it sound this happened in every single level in the game!

Pay attention.

For us. For them. For you.

Haha. Goofball. I told you your points were awkwardly phrased and difficult to understand. =P

EDIT: I did realize that that's what you meant earlier. However, I thought you were also criticizing my use of metaphor, to which I had referred in my previous post.

What espiga does in his free time
[Eating EmP's brain] probably isn't a good idea. I mean... He's British, which means his brain's wired for PAL and your eyes are NTSC. - Will

"Honestly, though; it's kind of hard to describe how it plays other than what I've done just because of the game's nature. But, we'll see."

:D yeah. I know what you mean. "Raziel spends most of his days slaving for The Old God, stacking boxes on top of each other while fending off the Hylden invasion". :/

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