Matryoshka Strike Reviews

russian shit

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Shakalaka bom boom!

zero fun guaranteed

Matryoshka Strike is a very poorly made Russian ClickTeam Fusion based arcade "shoot 'em up" with deplorably bad quality. You shoot various waves of badly MS-Paint drawn enemies from Russian folklore. Amusingly, other gamers have tagged this game as "Horror", which is absolutely true. It gives me nightmares to think that people thought it was ok to launch this kind of garbage on Steam, and then try charge money for it. From a technical perspective, the game doesn't meet basic minimum requirements that most PC gamers expect as standard. The artwork here is terrible, it's a blend of old retro pixel "art" used as a substitute for contemporary PC graphics, and some of the most amateurish MS-Paint style drawings I've ever seen. It's unclear if this is due to lack of budget to arrange someone who can do graphics properly, or lack of talent, regardless, the overall visual quality of the game is extremely low as a result of these decisions. There's no options to change the resolution for the game or customise the graphics settings. There's no way for gamers to ensure this is running at the native resolution of their displays... there's no guarantee this game will look right on any PC as a result of this hamfisted design decision. There's no way for gamers to try improve the low quality graphics. The controls can't be customised, which will be an annoyance for many, but it can also render the game unplayable for differently-abled gamers. Some of the defects in the game can be attributed to the choice of using the Clickteam Fusion game engine/toolset - the "No-Code" construction kit that "Anyone can make games with!!". Including, you know, people who aren't game developers. Which is a problem. This is a very poor quality toolset sometimes used by amateur developers as it's free (so they don't have to pay for GameMaker Studio) and doesn't require advanced game development skills, but unfortunately has very limited capabilities (it's demonstrably worse than GameMaker Studio). Just as you can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear, you can't make a great video game if you use a terrible engine. These technical defects push this game below acceptable standards for any modern PC game. Matryoshka Strike is relatively cheap at $1 USD, but it's not worth it. Given the defects and quality issues with the game, coupled with the unrealistic price, this is impossible to recommend.

Not completely terrible, I actually liked some of the elements of the game. The game is an easy 100% (fyi the secret achievement is 2018 points, don't tell anyone) I wouldn't mind seeing some sort of sequel to this.

Love the classic characters, but not the game. Not fun, not challenging, just up and down in 1 hour and you'll complete it in no time. Can't recommend this game.

[h1] The last Matryoshka puppet [/h1] You know those Matryoshka puppets always contain a smaller one inside? This one is the smallest because it cannot go lower in gameplay. In the good old tradition of Russian dodge shovelware (like Lemurzin) you will suffer through ten pointless levels. There's no other strategy than keep on hitting spacebar (shoot) while moving up and down frequently. If you are doing good you will generate a nice sinus curve which catches each of enemies and it's bullets. Enemies are mostly spawn from right side (but also from left - poseidons) and are Russian fable figures like 3 headed dragons, pitchfork throwers or kings. Probably it's very hard to fail in this game. If you get hit a few clicks later an orange cake replenishes your hearts (working from 3 hearts on). The endless mode is also less entertaining tho you have to get over 2018 pts.

Ok, this game is.. abysmal. Well, there's a reason why there are no reviews at all in other languages but Russian I think.. So, since there are no discussion, guides and such, let's try to summarize a little bit everything.. I went online to upload some screenshots and such but really, what you see in the game hub page is literally the only thing you'll see in the whole game. The game itself starts in windowed borderless mode and with some crazy resolution (like, the achievement that automatically pops up in the lower right occupies like a quarter of the screen xD. It costs 2€!!! Which is beyond crazy. The music is terrible (midi, like in the worst early '90 games) but the graphics overtake it lots of times. They consist of, generally, a plain blue background; some of the 10 available levels have like circles and something like that, nothing else. Again, what you see in the game store page. And the game, how it is? Well, you play as the title says as a Matriosca (that's Italian - Matryoshka in English), which is a very famous (at least in Central Europe) kind of doll typical of the Russian tradition, which usually is made from wood and contains other smaller dolls inside. It was a very particular game that I enjoyed as a kid, since my father worked as a freelance photographer and he went lots of time in the Soviet Union. Your character will be for the whole game a typical Paint-designed doll, probably the first image that comes up on Google if you search for "minimalistic matryoshka". And the controls are given in the main page and can't be changed in any way: directional keys for moving (i.e.: floating your doll through the screen) and space (no auto-fire or holding options) for firing.. I don't know.. balls? Lots of balls ahead of you. The game is an arcade shooter, with poor graphics. You'll encounter enemies coming from the right side (initially) of the screen and increasing in number. You get one point per monster defeated. And they're the same style of your doll - ridiculously rendered Paint-like figures. They're supposed to represent other parts of Russian folklore (hydra-like dragons, the Baba Yaga witch and so on) but actually they just look like Google Images icons taken out of context and put into the game. They have only one sprite, so they'll come towards you and every now and then throw something at you, like a broom or a skull. There are only nine levels, and they're all open from the beginning - you just have to select one of them from the main menu; the ninth one is simply "infinite". And they aren't different from each other apart from background color changes, they just vary due to the increasing number of monsters and enemies - you have only three lives, and you can refill them thanks to.. something you can collect. Although the game has been released more than three months ago and the developers have already designed the trading cards, they're not available yet so there are only a few achievements to collect. Did I say enough? Hope so. I probably have written more than the developer has done for the game xD Definitely not worth to be played, wheter free or for yeah a full 2€ price (got it with a heavy sale of course but well.. I still paid for it..). Take just a look at the game store page if you want and stay away from this thing xD Oh, well, I forgot two things actually. One, the enemies, some times, I mean, their eyes, blink. Witches and skeletons have "two sprites". And well, although all the 8 levels are the same, I didn't tell you how to progress. Well, I don't know. I got like to 120 points in the first level and without bosses or saying anything, it passed on to 0 score and to the next level and so on. Idk. 120 kills? 150 kills? Who knows. That's all mates, and -don't- have fun with this thing xD