Pop Top Adventure Reviews

finally finished all adventures, this is such a fantastic indie game!

I'm mixed on this game, and would only recommend this game on sale for this reason. The game starts out as better than any Mario/Sonic ring collecting clone. The dev wanted to prove that this game is challenging, and in my opinion every new developer that tries to incorporate an unfair challenge destroys the game. If your character dies, you go back 2 stages. Actually, that takes away from a player feeling they made progress that they've earned. So, most players will be turned off by this. Then there is the snake boss. So uninteresting, and depends on some memorization. So when the uninteresting snake kills you, you go back 2 stages, 2 stages that any gamer would say they've earned. Pop Top Adventure starts off really strong, but the developer wanted to prove this game is "challenging". Why? Why can't the player just relax through the game and enjoy the experience? Positives- short levels and double jumping ability when you make a bad jump to correct your bad jump. Negatives- challenge is just unfair. too many spiky branches. go back 2 stages upon death. Overall, the dev has great drawing skills, and the environments and character shines.

While I'm a bit late to the mark, at the request of the developer I returned to Pop Top Adventure to provide additional feedback now that the game has been patched - and I'm happy to report that the controls are no longer a problem. They're not quite best in class, but respectable. Completing the second set of levels went smoothly. I'd suggest playing a New Super Mario Bros. game to see how they handle long presses vs. short presses of the jump button, though. Right now it seems like your character jumps a fixed height regardless of how long the button is held, and while that's perfectly acceptable I've definitely gotten used to having added room for finesse. This would be especially valuable since the placement of coins relative to obstacles becomes trickier as the game goes on (although lives are cheap, so there's no particular impetus to fully clear the level). It's a cute little platformer, and dirt cheap. Should definitely scratch that Mario itch for a couple hours. I'm going to change my mind and give Pop Top Adventure the thumbs up. [b]Original review follows:[/b] I don't know why Pop Top Adventure is such a frustratingly mixed bag. It's got nice art direction, with some cute visual references to Super Mario Galaxy, and the level design is respectable. Unfortunately the controls are just a mess. Your character has a weird acceleration curve that makes jumps feel very imprecise, and needlessly so. A run button would work much better than having a long runup to reaching full speed. To compensate for control imprecision, you're very aggressively corrected back to the edge of a ledge if you try to move slowly forward, which ends up making the controls feel even worse. There's clearly a sincere attempt at making a game here, it shows much more thought than a lot of the sub-$5 Steam games, but that sincerity is not enough. The bad controls keep this from being an enjoyable 2D platformer.

This is an above average indie game. The controls have a certain "feel" to them that you must get used to but after that, you are good to go!