X-Men Untitled by BongHenry

Beast, the blue feral X-man discovers that the X-mansion is under attack: thus begins his adventure to find and recruit the other X-Men around the world and save Professor X from Magneto's evil clutches.In fact with the help of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Gambit, Colossus, Iceman and Professor X he will have to face various supercriminals before facing Magneto.

The game begins immediately after a presentation with no instructions, even if as expected you've to use the classic keys: arrows to move, Z to attack, X or Esc to open the menu. The menu lets us switch character, each one with his or her own health bar. The inventory is shared so when we select one character we may press Z to select e control it, or Esc to open the menu and equip gear and use consumables and healing items to that particular party member. Please remember that IF a single party member dies it's game over, no matter if all the others are unharmed! 

 

The game includes minigames (for example when Cyclops has to shield the X-mansion destroying the items thrown by Magneto), puzzles (like levers and switches you have to activate shooting at them) and boss battles that require some thinking (for example Mystique takes damage ONLY when in her (blue) form OR when she has the same form of your character, otherwise she's invulnerable).

 

Download Link

Rmarchiv.de

Rpgmaker.net 

 

Game Guide 

Youtube Playthrough

 

Random Fact: the game has also some odd things, some good like the references to the developer's other Rpgmaker game about Lord of the Rings (a girl will try to sell you the book, and there are also televisions that display Gollum's face!) and some just weird like a plethora of different animals attacking the X-men in the various levels, like goats and squirrells! (I'm ok with fighting snakes and wolves besides zombies and mutant ninjas... but squirrels? Seriously?). 

 

 

Final Verdict: X-men; untitled is a game that has an interesting concept and some good ideas, like the minigames and some puzzle elements that are cleverly implemented, unfortunately the battle system, due to Rpgmaker 2000 bad AI and limitations, is a bit of a chore. Pity, good idea but as usual rpgmaker proves to be a game better suited for jrpgs or adventure games (usually not even the horror chase sections are good due to the limits of the engine and Ai, so you can imagine how bad can be an arcade fighting game), maybe it would have been better with higher damage and/or less health for both enemies and playable characters, I would have not minded a more lethal experience if this also meant shorter battles, because as it is there is really no use to fight random enemies, it's just a waste of time. At least the healing spots are placed well, but I'd have not minded also finding some mid-level save points, even if it's true that levels aren't that long.

Matricule77: Dragon Fist by Sniper77 aka Kazuki (french)

 

Matricule77: Dragon Fist is a project that has been in development since 2002. It's a game set in a tough neighborhood in Japan where two gangs are at war. You play as Kazuki Sawada, who must avenge his brother's death at the hands of the Yakuza. But to see the gang leader, he must become a member himself. That's why he joins the Yakuza, a rival gang of the Kengukai. 

 

Matricule77: Dragon Fist is an adventure with real-time action battles. It's pretty violent and realistic, offering a grim urban setting and some really excellent custom graphics, starting from a pretty impressive intro. The game is pretty much open, in the sense that you may freely wander around the city.

 

Award-winning game at the 2006 Alex d'Or:  

- Best Universe (Bronze) 

- Best Longevity (Bronze) 

- Best Immersion (Bronze)  

Download Link

Oniromancie

Alex d'Or

Rmarchiv.de 

 

Random Fact: this is the only released game made by Sniper77 aka Kazuki alone, all the other games released by this author were in fact collaborations with at least another developer involved.

 

 

Final Verdict: this game offers action, a unique atmosphere, well-chosen music, and superb artwork by Kanshin. It's a demo, but surely worth checking it out.

Saint-EX by DyA Producciones (spanish)

 

A redhead girl is trapped inside an underground complex, looking for her father, a man in a lab coat. When she founds him he turns and he has red eyes and e metal mask... then the screen fades to black.

It turns out this was just a recurring nightmare of  a redhead young woman, a killer for hire called Crimson Blade. Her new job is very well payed, and she fears it will be really risky, but she accepts anyway.

Unfortunately, as she feared, she is ambushed at the subway station. Being an experienced hired killer, she's good with swords and guns 

 

Saint-EX is an action adventure with custom graphics: the game uses original portraits and tilesets, some CG cutscenes and the final result is excellent, the world looks like a dark metropolitan city, and it's reach of details. The gameplay consists in classical exploration and interactions, plus some real-time battles against multiple enemies: Z and X are used to attack with sword and gun, while Shift lets Crimson Blase use a special move, when possible. All works smoothly and the characters are well animated.

 

AlianzaRTP.es

Hellsoft.net

Rmarchiv.de

 

Random Fact: the game begins with a maze with crates that have to be pushed, and a gate that has to be unlocked. Unfortunately in  this part it's highly probable to get stuck if you do not pay attention. And this means restarting the game, since there is no save point nor reset button, but at least this happens in the beginning. I am not sure if there was another way to avoid this situation. 

 

 

 

Final Verdict: Saint-Ex is the demo of a very ambitious project that was unfortunately cancelled, but if it had been completed it would have been one of the best video games in the RPG maker Hispanic community. But even though it was just a demo and one of the first projects of D&A Producciones, you could see the talent that these developers have when creating video games.

Weird House by Richterwilker

  

Alan was hired to work as a couple therapist in a strange place, where his decisions can lead to unexpected consequences, both to him and the individuals around. Not only that, but there are ghostly figures, giant spiders and other strange creatures roaming around, and the path forward is not as clear as it seems.

 

 

Weird House is a dark and surreal adventure, but unlike the previous games of this author, there isn't really a mystery to solve, but a situation that can develop in various ways. The mystery is in the setting where the whole story takes place, in any case expect esploration, puzzles and real-time action sequences. Graphics are minimalistic but original and peculiar. The game includes a day-night cycle and various possible endings.

 

Download Link

Itch.io

Rmarchiv.de

Rpgmaker.net 

 

Random Fact: the most dangerous monsters came out only at night, so it's safer to move during the day.

Final Verdict: a really weird game! This is basically an open world adventure with visual novel elements, action sequences and old-style graphics. 

Grave Spirit by Zohaib

 

Within an ancient land, undisturbed for ages, evil resides in a towering fortress... A young wanderer, without a name and past, has been forced to travel to this fortress by a nameless shadowy spirit who controls his every move. Setting out on an uncertain journey, the nameless wanderer has no choice but to succeed in pleasing the spirit's wishes or die trying...

 

Grave Spirit is an exploration/adventure game where the player, playing as a kobold-like creature has to overcome a series of obastacles: spike traps, mines, birds and so on. The protagonist's health is shown by his eyes. Green is high, yellow is middle, red is low. There are just a couple of boss battles and few dialogues with rare npcs, the rest is solving puzzles and adventuring.

 

Download Link

Internet Archive

Rmarchiv.de

Rpgmaker.net

 

 

Random Fact: the excellent music is all original, and created by Brandon Abley, the author of Wilfred the Hero and the Tyrant God Saga, that I posted here before.

 

Final Verdict: this is a really peculiar game, has some good aspects, like the excellent custom arts and the music, but also some not so good parts like the slow walking speed (offset by the dash ability) and dry dialogues that leave a lot of mysteries unsolved. But this is also a game with an amazing atmosphere. 

Huperternal-2005 by unknown (russian)

 

Huperternal 2005 begins with our protagonist, a prisoner, being sent inside an underground base, handcuffed inside a monorail. The army quarantined the area since the compound, where some civilians like scientists and other employees are still trapped, was overrun by mutant creatures. After an incident the prisoner frees himself and start exploring the area… 

 

Huperternal 2005 is an action game with real-time combat: the protagonist can attack monsters with melee weapons and firearms, but he has also to avoid traps and jump over obstacles. There are some dialogues with innocent bystanders, but most of the game is about exploring the base, avoiding or destroying the monstrous mutated creatures. Game uses a custom made interface, custom graphics for the monsters, and some edited sprite (the protagonist faceset for example is a rip from Dragonball).

Download Link

Rmarchiv.de

 

Random Fact: I have no idea about who is the creator of this game since there is no mention anywhere. Maybe someonethat familiar with old russian rpgmaker of the 2005-2006 would know. I guess!

 

Final Verdict: this is a rpgmaker action-adventure that fortunately isn't as combat intensive as I feared. The setting is pretty interesting, a sci-fi horror setting with some similarities with the world of Half Life (the outside areas seen in the intro look like Black Mesa, it's an underground facility with scientists trapped with monsters... pretty similar I'd say!), only darker and more violent. In the end this was a pretty interesting demo.

D.O.G and the abandoned train by Phantavi-Productions

 

Detective Othis Green, or D.O.G for short, is the local detective in New Pork Kitty. After a long day of work, Lennart the Elephant, a watchman at the station, runs int his office. He said he heard strange noises coming out of the train. He asks Othis to investigate the train, and Othis agrees. But as the brave dog enters the train, the doors close and the train starts riding. Will Othis find out why the train is riding? Has it something to do with the disappearence of the new conductor?

D.O.G and the abandoned train is an action game that includes puzzles, enemies you must evade (the protagonist may bark and scare them sometimes, but just avoiding them is safer!), levels to complete, items to collect etc. This isn't an rpg (despite being made with… Rpgmaker) but rather a real-time mystery adventure divided into thematic levels (the town, the sewers, the raiload station etc.) each one with its challenges and opponents. This is a linear but fun experience different from most Rpgmaker games. 

Download Link 

Internet Achive
Rpgmaker.net

Rmarchiv.de 

Random Fact: this game was made for a school project. The target was children from about eight years old. 

 

Final Verdict: this unique adventure with no combat is pretty much linear, but I enjoyed it, even if later stages become a little repetitive since it also utilizes only some aspects of Rpgmaker without really introducing many new mechanics. But the setting and maps are well done, and it entertains!