Polygoneer | a Review
originally published on 28/09/2022;
Hello everyone, I am the polygonal lifeform, G.E.M.Simov, a rave maniac on a color trip, come to tell you about Polygoneer.
Simple review details - I rank games on an out of 10 basis, granting up to 3 points in 3 categories, as well as a last, single point from my own self, depending on my experience with it.
Gameplay
For those of you who’ve read my other reviews, this one is similar to Spin Rush. For those of you who haven’t, this is an almost rhythm game, but not quite.
You (the Player) are a rotating turret in the middle of the screen. You can fire three types of bullet - red with the B button (on an xBox controller), blue with the X button (same xBox controller) and green with the A button (yup, xBox). You can rotate yourself by turning the joystick of the controller.
Then, on a mouse and keyboard, you fire the bullets in question with the Z (green), X(blue) and C(red) keys, whilst rotating the turret with the arrow keys - left to turn left, right to turn right.
Unfortunately, the game is such that you learn to play it on a controller and you don’t know how to play it on a keyboard, because the placement of the buttons differs - the middle button is blue for the keyboard, whilst it is green on the controller. In addition to that, the way one would situate their fingers on the buttons is different.
Then there’s also the rotation. Rotation via actual rotation - with the controller’s joystick - feels off when compared to rotating via the Right and Left arrow keys. The precision that seems to be required is far greater in the case of the controller, thus creating some obscene, if I may say so, situations.
Strangely, it seems as though the best solution to designing the control scheme for this game would be a combination of both. Make use of the controller’s button positioning, but rather than utilizing the joystick, use the arrow keys next to the joystick.
But let’s get back to the game - ignoring the issue of controls being a bit wonky, I’ll have to inform you that this game has some very solid gameplay. As mentioned, the Player is in control of a turret situated in the middle of the screen. Then, from every possible direction, shapes approach. It tends to be one shape at a time, due to the impossibility of dealing with 2 shapes at the same time when one’s mode of dealing with the shapes is:
Rotate the turret and fire a bullet of a color corresponding to that of the shape. Blue bullets destroy blue shapes, whilst being useless against red and green shapes. That then applies to red and green bullets - effective against their color, worthless against the other two.
That’s all there is to the gameplay. The shapes start coming and they don’t stop coming, and the Player’s objective is to hold out as long as possible - there’s a nice timer that goes up rapidly - whilst racking up the highest score possible. Upon destroying a shape, the Player is awarded some points. By destroying shapes without missing any shots, the Player starts racking up a combo, which increases the amount of points they get from destroying shapes. The higher the combo, the higher the increase, which is a multiplication that goes from x2 up to, potentially, infinitely high, though the likelihood of getting to a combo of 100 is… Low.
But how does it work?
Well, the game is split up into a number of levels, each with increasing difficulty. As an example, level 1 exclusively features shapes of a single color, and those shapes don’t move far too quickly. Level 2 features shapes of 2 colors, swapping every 15 seconds. Level 3 features shapes of 2 colors swapping every 10 seconds. Level 4 features shapes of all 3 colors, swapping every 5 seconds, and then there’s level 5 which just goes ham, throwing all kinds of colors at the turret in a most violent and haphazard way.
So haphazard, in fact, that I notice an issue. A very problematic one. See, screens are rectangular - with a side that is longer than the other, then mirrored. It isn’t a square. Well, in Polygoneer, that means whenever a shape spawns from either above or below you, you have two times LESS time to react to its appearance. Considering how clumsy rotating the turret feels on a controller, that makes it night impossible to deal with those in time, resulting in death.
That is a problem. A very big problem. Sure, one could increase the rate at which the turret rotates, but then the jank of the alignment of shots is going to grow exponentially.
Lastly, this game’s speed is bound to framerate. So, if your machine is not magnificent, you’ll find it easier to play this game, due to the fact that everything will be slowed down. My machine isn’t bad - everything ran smoothly, with the exception of level 3, which decided to run at a very low framerate from second 25 to around second 60. It was a breeze, but the feeling of playing was not good. So, as a BTW for developers - don’t make the trippy visuals in the back bound to the game’s performance.
By the way, don’t play Hellish. That’s the last level - the 6th one - and you should not play it. The game loses its charm - every bullet and every shape is gray - and the screen is literally epilepsy. Actual epilepsy, a visual representation of it. It’s horrible.
Well, with that said, I have similar feelings for Polygoneer’s gameplay as I had for Spin Rush. It’s good. It’s quite fun, and just playing the game is fantastically entertaining. It’s a good game, thus… But then the issues I pointed out make it slightly lesser. Thus, I have to subtract some points. 2/3
Presentation
This game is very flashing lights based. VERY. Every level features a different ‘design’ that emulates strobe lighting to the best of its ability whilst also being relatively trippy. Unfortunately, trippy and strobe lighting are mutually exclusive in my eyes, so it’s just a whole lot of painful noise.
There’s a funky smoothness to this game, as well as a phenomenal clarity to everything. The audio of Polygoneer is also a neat selling point, as each color shot has a different sound accompanying it, creating an intriguing symphony… Well, maybe not, but the feedback the Player gets - both visually from the shapes shattering into hundreds of little pieces - and audibly from the sounds of the shots - is very good.
The music is aggressive, rave-ish techno-ish dubstep-ish. It’s not bad, but it could’ve been better. Again, though, the intensity of the visuals - the strobes behind everything else - is actually unpleasant. The Hellish level is painful, and while there is a warning, it still feels as though it’s too much. It’s evocative of that one Pokemon Episode. 2/3
Story
There’s none, ladies, gents and N-bees. Nothing emergent, nothing outside of the game, there’s just none. 0/3
Legendary Point
Does this game get the legendary point, so craved and wanted by all and none at the same time? Unfortunately, Polygoneer does NOt get the Legendary Point. I had my fun with it, but I feel as though the problems affecting it are far too glaring to actually allow me to put it on randomly and just enjoy it. I’d get mad at the design flaw. 0/1
Conclusion
4/10. That score doesn’t really indicate that this is a bad game. It’s just a number, unlike age. I’d recommend this game to some people, but then I’d urge others not to play it. It’s good fun, it’s engaging and entertaining, as well as amusing, and for its price-tag it’s a fantastic investment. Pick it up if you’re a rhythm fellow or a twitch-shooter kind of goon, or if you just like smooth gameplay.
I will, however, put it in the Bag of Mediocrity. It may gather some dust, but it isn’t on the Wall of Shame, is it?