Ctrl+Tab: Level Up! [Day Ten of the 12 days of Ctrl+Tab]

[Blydden]

On the tenth day of Christmas, Ctrl + Tab [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/Ctrl-Tab] gave to me... Ten skills a-leveling
Nine races a-warring [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.252441-Ctrl-Tab-Warlords-Call-to-Arms-Day-Nine-of-the-12-days-of-Ctrl-Tab]
Eight figures spinning [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.252185-Ctrl-Tab-Fig-8-Day-Eight-of-the-12-days-of-Ctrl-Tab]
Seven classes adventuring [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.252052-Ctrl-Tab-Monsters-Den-Book-of-Dread-Day-Seven-of-the-12-days-of-Ctrl-Tab]
Six continents a-celebrating [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.251859-Ctrl-Tab-Globetrotter-XL-Day-Six-of-the-12-days-of-Ctrl-Tab]
Five magic artifiacts [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.251647-Ctrl-Tab-Magic-Orbs-Day-Five-of-the-12-days-of-Ctrl-Tab]
Four mighty warbears [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.251474-Ctrl-Tab-Warbears-Adventures-An-A-R-X-Mas-Day-Four-of-the-12-days-of-Ctrl-Tab]
Three giant colossi [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.251260-Ctrl-Tab-Heir-Day-Three-of-the-12-days-of-Ctrl-Tab]
Two running zombies [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.250970-Ctrl-Tab-Sonny-Day-Two-of-the-12-days-of-Ctrl-Tab]
And a gnome tied to a chimney! [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.250760-Ctrl-Tab-Garden-Gnome-Carnage-Day-One-of-the-12-days-of-Ctrl-Tab]

Level Up!

[http://www.kongregate.com/games/Titch/level-up]​

Okay, a couple shots of adrenaline and now I'm good to go again! Huzzah!

What is it with me and Flixel games? I just love the damned things. Robot Wants X, Canabalt, and now Level Up!. I think it might be that I have the hots for the pixel art. Yay for pixel art! Second only to anime/manga!

Anyway, Level Up! is a platformer. It is also comedic, a satire over a lot of gaming tropes, such as the MacGuffin. (In this game, there are no less than 665 of them, most of them re-spawning). Level Up!'s biggest satire is, of course, leveling! There are 10 skills, all of which start at 1 (thankfully not 0, unlike some poor sap) and can be leveled to 5 with various exercises.

The story is...I don't have an adjective for it, that's all I can say there. Basically, you play a girl, who goes on a walk outside. Suddenly, BAM! A boy falls from the sky, and into your yard, breaking your fence (and probably his skull). What else can I say? Oh, and there is also another story going on about an epic war (which we never actually see, oddly) between two factions called the Roundites and the Squarians. But, you will lose interest in it when you learn why they are fighting an invisible war. I'm not telling, you have to see it for yourself.

Gameplay...hmm. I already talked about 10 skills...oh! There are also 5 special skills, which are in capital letters for some obscure reason. To get those, you have to collect MacGuffins gems, which count about 665 760 in number. That, or do some crazy task if you are a masochist...I just hand over the gems, no way am I going to try and be "damaged 5 times in a row! Without hitting the ground!", for one skill.

It isn't without its other issues. The RADAR skill is useful, but it isn't polished. The crazy tasks, as I'll point out again, are simply too tough to accomplish. Unless you ARE a masochist, you are most likely just going to hand over 150 gems to NPC B instead for the same skill, rather than jump off a giant tree and defy gravity for NPC A. The option is nice though. I can't help but think the jarring twist at the end (which I won?t spoil) with the shift out of comedy and into gritty darkness was...not fitting. The tone just won't stay in Comedy World, it keeps letting grit seep in.

Ah, who am I fooling? It is a freaking flixel game, go play it, mmk? Oh, couple things I should point out though. The bonus at the end? I don't really recommend it. But, then again, it is what it is.

Oh, and the drea-OHSHI-*bzzt*-ELP M-*bzzzt*-H THE RAVEN QUEEN WHAT IS THA-*bzzzzzt*-OT IN THE FA-*bzzzzzzzzt*-OT WANT TO DI-*bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt*

 

[Dragon_of_red]

There was a bonus at the end? Or was it just the end?

And yeah, I loved this game, I have played it about 3 times now, finally going for the 100% completion last time.