Why did BioGun not work for me?

 The many issues with biogun besides the optimization issues with it being these commonalities I see among Metroivanias.

Level design

The weakest part of the game being the level design; that nothing really grabs you for the given gameplay systems for biogun and that is highly important to overcome for the given gameplay systems that are focused around well going from point a to point b.

No long level parts, no going vertical a lot or horizontal a lot another section or even a big vast section that feels empty and hollow like Hollow Knight, just feels like you're traveling through a linear section and not a world.

Combat

Combat is very straight forward and not very interesting unlike a similar game being Axiom verge; the gunplay and movement with having it where the bullets travel further, have further uses outside of combat and is fitting for the style of gameplay, because of no free aiming you have a more balanced gameplay system for gun combat.

Where here you're combining dashing and shooting but the dashing and shooting don't really jive together because you're having limited reach on your bullets.

Cuphead fixed this by you know; having fewer bullets fired from a gun and the same with Axiom Verge. Enemies die very quickly within 1 to 2 seconds which makes enemies not all that tough to deal with. So you have a close-ish range gun that is dealing with enemies in little to no time.

Enemies do not react to your shots, the combat is lacking a response; a push and pull. Yes Axiom verge has grunt type enemies but they respond to your shots at least!

You need a wide range of enemy types; not a few like the area had; in my first 3 minutes of gameplay I encountered 4 different enemy types in Axiom verge meanwhile in BioGun I encountered only 2.

This makes combat boring; even in Shantae I encountered more enemy types in a shorter time span than BioGun.

This is a common problem for Metroidvanias!

Too much DPS which makes the gunplay lackluster already; so many shots you shred through enemies like butter which in turn doesn't make combat interesting, just boring.

Damage is too little on the player.

Dashing feels great though; the dashing element of the gameplay feels good. However; useful dashing mechanics + big health pool just makes combat boring.

Sound design

Where do I even begin? No sound design! No feedback from shots! No feedback on shooting! Just lackluster! No sweet, "oomph!" and "ugh!" no, "kaboom!" none of it! Good sound design matters for exploring, finding, getting treasure, etc.

Good sound design matters to a metroidvania.

Art style

The art is a, "meh" not bad just not me.

Enemy design

Generic, boring, doesn't make sense they die in so few hits for their given size. Again, Axiom Verge, Shantae, Metroid, Bunny Must Die, and Hollow Knight did this all correctly.

Big size, take more hits. Small size take less hits.

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