NightmareZ - The 2D Roguelike Indie Platform Game - Reviews

REVIEW:

NightmareZ is a platform game which displays the warfare between the Good and Evil, manifestation of evil spirits and demons. This game presents a unique story which we have ever heard of. The story says,
"Who could ever think the Doom's day to arrive so early? The world has been completely consumed by Darkness(Dark energy). The zombies and evil spirits manifested to rule over the world. But this is not an impossible task to restore the human beings who have already been lost. The fate is displaying the NIGHTMARE of being consumed by darkness spontaneously. In this catastrophic situation, a speck of light of HOPE appears. The person who has been lured to the battle field by the king of darkness, is not a human being but a demon with unusual demonic power. He wants to fight against the evil forces.
He had lost his family 5 years ago due to the sudden attack of evil spirits. He is now guided by a saint who provides him instructions from time to time. He is the son of the greatest warrior, Zaxina. He is Razor. There is a deep mystery behind the demonic powers of Razor, which his brother knows. Razor had never seen his brother from birth and hopes to meet him someday. His current aim is to seize and annihilate the evil demonic forces!"

This story can briefly be described here. According to the story, the world is being consumed by the dark energy where all the evil spirits resides. The main character is Razor, the son of the greatest warrior of feudal times, Zaxina, who have been overpowered by the dark demonic forces. In brief, he was defeated. But he had a hope that his two sons will take over his mission and like him, they would destroy and revenge his death. But he transferred  his own power to his younger son who can use an alternate powerful energy. But on the contrary, his brother was found to be stronger than him to whom Razor had never seen from his birth. He wanted to see his brother at least for once and to met him. There is also a saint who provides Razor instructions from time to time. 

There are 4 different places with 2 phases and 1 final phase. Altogether, there are 7 levels to play. These levels are huge as well as difficult.

INTERVAL 1 - Mountain Cave:

Phase 1:

The image given above shows the very first level of this game. The character named as Razor is standing at the middle as you can see in the screenshot given above. The mission of the player is simple. You have to collect the rings which are shining bright. You must collect all the rings to go to the next level. There are also some flying cute creatures whom you have to kill by shooting at them. 
There is a different technique of shooting the enemy which is also given in the manual of NightmareZ game. 

In order to shoot, you have to jump and then turn right or left by pressing the buttons once. After that, you have to press Space to shoot.

This is the most easiest phase we have ever played. We thought that this game would be easy until we started playing the second level.


Phase 2:

This level is moderate in terms of difficulty. There is a saint who guides you through the level as you can see in the screenshot given above. The saint has a magical stick in his hand with blue hair. He actually shows the player the way and provide him valuable information from time to time.

There are some creatures which flies around and there are also some creatures who walk on the ground. The player must destroy them in order to proceed with his mission.

INTERVAL 2 - The Land of Flora:

Phase 1:

This is of-course a hard level. The player have to collect all the rings at any cost. However, in the way of collecting these valuables the player will face many hurdles and dangerous as well as challenging situations here. The player have to dodge the big blades which are moving along the platform. 

There are three blades at the beginning of this level which the player must dodge. If the player strike with these blades, then, the health will decrease a lot and eventually the player may fail the mission. This makes the game even tougher than usual. There are also some rotating blades which are even more dangerous. When we were playing this level, we died about 15 or 20 times here. After many practices we were able to cross the level. That was really an awesome experience for us!

Phase 2:

 
 The phase 2 is also a tough one but with less number of enemies. There are more blades rather than the enemies. The player have to collect the rings again. We were really confused at that time. A question arose in our mind, why are we collecting the rings? However, the answer was found at the end of the game. Moreover, we collected a key with which we unlocked a door and passed through it. The best thing of this game is the level design which is proved to be interesting! Everything has been done with proper planning.

INTERVAL 3 - The Land of Hell:

Phase 1:

This is tremendously HARD level indeed! We were at first amazed by the difficulty of this level. We at first noticed that the number of saws were increasing and they were moving in all directions which we first thought in queer, that it was a bug. But later we discovered that there was a saw enemy creating or releasing saw from the head portion. It is continuously releasing saws which are not getting destroyed rather increasing in number. Then, it is found that the saws were moving towards us and following us like the chasing of goose. They can only be destroyed when they strike with the player. This became easier when we read the instruction in NightmareZ game manual where we found that we can use the alternate power only in this level and in the final level. All we did is that we went near the saw releasing bot and pressed 'X' button and the alternate power came out. The bot has been destroyed by one shot. At the same time, we've noticed that the energy has decreased a bit. This was really a great experience for us!


Phase 2:

 This level is AMAZING and Difficult. The giant blade as you can see in the screenshot is moving towards right and in the direction of the player. Consequently, the player must start running towards right, avoiding the contact with the blade. There are also some rotating saws which must also be avoided making the game even more interesting and difficult. While we were playing, we shouted saying, "What the hell is that thing? Run Run!!"

We were really excited while playing this level. This is the shortest and the difficult level to play. The player must collect all the rings while escaping or the player is doomed!


INTERVAL 4 - The Core:


Final Phase:

 This is the HARDEST level among all! The player must collect all the rings and a miracle will happen after the total collection. We had a question in our mind still echoing: Why are we collecting the rings after all? Only for passing the levels or whether there is any other purpose. We eventually discovered that there is a second purpose of collecting the rings in this final level. There is a door which leads to the room of BOSS(Boss Level)! In order to unlock the door, we must collect all the rings in order to unlock the door. Finally we defeated the mini boss which was standing in front of the door. The Boss has three big eyes and breathes faster. He throws 3 dark energy balls towards the player which causes severe damage and eats away most of the health. The only way to defeat the boss is to use the alternate power and it is the key to success. If you can defeat the boss, then, you win.

Hence, it was really adventurous!

REVIEW SCORE:  3 out of 5

CONCLUSION:
We've  played almost the full game and thus, we have come to a conclusion that the game is worth of your time and money. However, we found that the story line is not so realistic but the game play is really great and the level design is fantastic. Graphics is moderate and sounds/music system matches the levels too. 

We would recommend this game to you and it is worth buying. The price is really affordable since it is available for $2.99 USD. While we were playing the game, we have gathered some new experiences, used special techniques etc. This game could be a good choice for those people who love playing roguelike and hard platform games. We would assure you that you will die for more than 100 times as we did!

COMPLIMENT:  GOOD!
Graphics: 2.5 out of 5
Sound: 3 out of 5
Game Play: 4 out of 5
Story: 2 out of 5
Music: 3.5 out of 5

Get this game here: http://www.amaxang-games.com/2015/04/nightmarez-full-version-indie-roguelike.html

Thank you.

(Indie Game Review Team)