Re: Psycho Strike - New Strategy/Action game
Hello,
After reading through this topic for a while now and hearing all of the complaints, I have decided to weigh in with a verdict.
To start off, the game mechanics aren't too tough to learn. For those who are just getting started with this game, the controls won't be a challenge. That being the case, I see the same format being used in most of these side-scrolling action games. You name it, from Battle Zone, Scrolling Battles Pro, Alex Vs Sam, UltraPower, Sam Tupy's Imminent Death demo, we see the same thing over and over again. You control a character using the arrows and use the space bar, or control key to attack.
While this is simple to learn and implement, many players feel that it's time to move on to a better, more advanced system. After all, limiting combat to one keystroke makes the experience rather boring. There are no move sets, devastating combos, parrying, blocking, dodging, or grappling. These are very common elements in most ma
instream beat-em-ups. Since this game focuses heavily on brawling with police, these elements should be incorporated into the game to make it more realistic. One way to do this is to simply switch the arrows for letters, which could represent a d-pad. For example, a, s, d, and w, could be used to represent left, down, right, and up respectively. Then, the four letters, u, i, j, and k could act as attack buttons as they do in many fighting games. This increases the possibility of advanced attacks like strings of punches and kicks, followed by a takedown.
OK, now that I've gotten the controls sorted, I would also improve the fighting itself. In the beginning levels, players start out using their fists and knives. However, as the game progresses, players find themselves in more and more gun battles. Eventually, the game becomes a side-scrolling fps, which detracts from the melee combat of a beat-em-up. So, it is hard to engage in hand-to-hand combat with opponents who can kil
l you with a few powerful shots.
In order to make the game even, a simple, but effective defense system should be put in place. As mentioned before, blocking, parrying, and dodging, especially wen dealing with guns, is crucial to a player's survival. As of now, the only way to avoid attacks is to jump over an enemy. However, this doesn't always work when dealing with police armed with rifles and revolvers. So, using a keystroke, such as down-arrow, or s, could be used to dodge enemy attacks.
Finally, I would like to see a system that allows for upgrading a player's existing weapons. Too often, weapons need to be bought over and over again, simply because the newer weapon has higher stats than the weapon I was using. For example, I pick up a revolver as a level 9 player, only to find that at level 12, that revolver isn't as powerful as the one I can buy in the shop. It is true that revolvers and pistols can be picked up on the map, but other weapons, suc
h as rifles aren't as abundant. So, It would be much more efficient for a player to simply upgrade the stats on a weapon. This could be done a few ways. One way involves using experience points to level the weapon up. So, I could select the shotgun from an upgrade menu and upgrade it by spending those points. I could also pick up upgrade items on the map, which could increase a weapon's stats, or increase a character's stats, which could apply globally, regardless of which weapon is being used. Finally, there could be training centers in the game, such as a gym, that could be used to train stats. I have noticed that fist power never goes up in the game. So, increasing the effectiveness of unarmed attacks would definitely help many players fight off an army of police officers much more quickly.
I hope that this gives the developers of this rather unfinished game some ideas to work with, should they decide to continue development. If not, I hope that these ideas co
uld be beneficial to other devs who may wish to improve the replay value of their games and make them much more appealing to players, especially those with mainstream gaming backgrounds.
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