Emiko's Pledge Reviews

Poorly optimized game. If it's not a cut scene with text or the moment you die, this game chugs along like you're underwater. I thught this would be a fun little time waster for $0.59 USD (sale price) with an easy achievement list. If the game were fixed to run at more than 10 fps it may actually be somewhat entertaining. As it is I can only suggest this for fellow achievement hunters (until the frame rate issue is resolved, and even then I'd wait for a sale).

Is this the second coming of Orange Santa? No, mainly because the meme factor isn't here. (Anamik made a fat strawberry game last year that was probably an attempted follow-up, but I haven't played it.) Where E's Pledge stands out compared to its predecessors is its level of technical competence. You get 3 different weapons, double-jumping, and visual novel cutscenes. Most games have none of those features. The problems from previous games persist, however: fixed 4:3 aspect ratio, non-rebindable controls, poorly-animated or non-animated jumping, and bouncing off of the level ceiling. The Kurosawa-esque story makes up for those issues, but they're not growing pains, they're persistent flaws in the developer's codebase that never seem to go away. With the new innovations like the lightning gun and the VN cutscenes, this game reaches a high-water mark and is worth more than the asking price of $1, but I also feel like the next game could be better if the long-standing issues are fixed and the things people (I) like such as blood, weapons, and the VN stuff, continue.