Review of The Hive
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Overall Score
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Graphics
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Sound
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Gameplay
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Story
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Interface
The Hive Review
By Jailbreaker on
18 October 2010
Pros: The second half of the game, the title screen
Cons: The first half of the game, controls, and script
"This crates are indestructible."
Well. the first thing you'll see is the well-done title screen, accompanying music, and four options. I'll get to the "Stuffs" later.
Next is the backstory. I personally prefer games to have more story within them than behind them, but this is actually pretty nice. The story is overall very well-done. There are no loose ends (well, there's one, but no spoilers!) The ending, in particular, is great and definitely taps into one's emotions.
Minor complaints: How could that many humans have been captured? There are, what, 500 mooks? So many disappearances would be noticed much sooner. And, why don't the hazmat guys let me save them from the mutants? And why don't they attack the mutants?
The game is not very well-written. It features lines such as:
"YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSE TO BE HERE"
"This crates are indestructible."
"Blood bath looks recent."
"Stuffs"
"The body is not the weak spot."
The graphics are pretty good. On one hand, everything looks very realistic; the characters appear the same in dialogue boxes and in the levels; there's no need to use my imagination. On the other hand, it uses GM's built-in particles very heavily, and the outlines are weird. There's too much blood in my opinion. Everything's a bit clunky in my opinion, and on the whole it doesn't look professional.
Next is sound. I have a lot to criticize here. First, the music doesn't appear all too often. One could say this contributes to the atmosphere of the game; I say that adding music would help just as much. The music is pretty good when it does appear, but I don't think it loops. Then for sound effects... there aren't enough of them. A few, such as the sound when a bullet misses, can get annoying. Character voices would be cool.
I think I'll jump down to Controls. The one-star category. Now, the jumping is pretty bad. I don't have a clue why you made him move faster after jumping. Maybe it's realistic? Sorry, but fun is more important. Hanging onto a ledge is glitchy at times. The uses of Z are weird. Using 2 different keys to fire is... strange. Finally, the inventory controls don't make any sense at all.
Finally, Gameplay. The main event here is in the shooting. As I said, it gets weird having to fire in two directions. Did you notice that the gun blocks movement? It can be hard to squeeze into tighter areas with it. Then, the monsters are invincible while attacking. There are also these random "loading" bars while you shoot. Maybe this is to reload cartridges? That's my best guess, because it never tells me! And why are there two numbers for Ammo? (Same reason?) I think you're making assumptions that I've played many other shooting games, which I haven't. And getting hit is the reason I got so frustrated with the first half of the game - the bullets are very difficult to dodge, and Medics aren't very common until later.
The final boss / tougher enemies aren't all that interesting. It's always "Hit the weak spot!" Except on the final boss, which requires no strategy to defeat. Now, about 30-40% of the way through the game, there are a few rooms where you spam us with that electricity trap. I must have died 5 times in each room when I didn't look before leaping - but I didn't know I was supposed to!
Speaking of death and reloading... You dun goof'd. Suppose I enter a room with 2 hp left. This is actually a true story, really. The game autosaves (if it is turned on.) I get killed by the mooks. I respawn... with 2 health left. Now, one of the things that makes many games fun is the ability to approach a situation from multiple angles. This severely limits me in that regard. In general, the game is very linear. Could I at least restore my health at the Save Stations?
The gameplay isn't that bad once one stops dying.
A few miscellaneous "Stuffs":
- Alex Rig looks cool. The dialogue boxes, too, are very well done.
- The hexagons on the title screen are misleading - they make me think of some sort of alien invasion.
- The game is too hard at the beginning, and too easy at the end.
- The room transitioning, or whatever similar mechanism you used, is glitchy and lets me see into the room.
- Dead bodies + Instance deactivation = It took you 20 seconds to fall after you died, Mook!
- I fell through the floor once! Ducking is a bit glitchy too.
Overall, it looks like a game with great potential that you simply compromised on one too many times.

Jailbreaker said about 1 year ago
the451998series: Yes, but THIS crates? More like THESE crates.
the451998series said about 1 year ago
The crates are supposed to be indestructable, except the titanium ones. You can blow the crates up with charges