Oppo
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This is CHEZZY's swan song. Sadly, CHEZZY just could not wait to be finished with MZX, so he left an unpolished and medicore game for which he could have made huge benefit with little effort.
Oppo is a game heavily influenced by Knytt. For those unfamiliar with Knytt, that game was a sidescroller based around zipping around a large landscape and collecting parts, with a large emphasis on surroundings and mood. Oppo follows suit, and ends up wearing the exact same thing to the wedding.
Oppo's gameplay is a considerable change of pace from other CHEZZY projects. Whereas those were difficult, this game is simple and almost brainlessly easy. Much like in Knytt, difficulty is mainly a distraction from the atmosphere and is avoided much of the time. Some very simple jumping puzzles are laid out for each orb Oppo needs to collect, and a special item is moderately protected (mostly due to Oppo's fixed-height jumping, ugh). Between these are mostly expanses of space filled with varying things to see. The experience doesn't last long, even when the player doesn't bother to concentrate on making jumps at all. Maximum time needed will be around 20 minutes.
Since CHEZZY was trying so hard to make the game about atmosphere, how was it? Well, that will depend on the viewer, but for me he did a decent job of it. Graphically, CHEZZY varied the sights fairly well in that small-window, simplistic style he'd developed. Caves and run-down castles and towns and underground dwellers and other things show up during the course of the game. The music is mostly non-existent. Instead of traditional music, ambient sounds are looped depending on location. The only real music present is on the title screen and in the broken mini-game (both tunes composed by Sai'ke), and what was intended for the title is in the game archive but not implemented. The game completely lacks sound, which isn't as bad as it could be, but even sparse application of sound is something that could have improved the game a lot with little effort. At times, though, the complete lack of sound works well with the calming atmosphere of the game.
Unfortunately, Oppo is ultimately a light game with several seams left loose in the author's zeal to break his ties with MegaZeux - most of them very simple and quick to fix. The title screen is mute text, the secret game is not only broken but unlocked at the very first play, and Robots are still visible on some screens (most notably the castle ones). The game is over almost before it started, and it doesn't leave too much of an impression (much like its inspiration). For as long as it lasts, though, it's nice, and it beats wasting the similar amount of time on the latest joke/asie MZX file.
3.25 stars (rounded down)
Oppo is a game heavily influenced by Knytt. For those unfamiliar with Knytt, that game was a sidescroller based around zipping around a large landscape and collecting parts, with a large emphasis on surroundings and mood. Oppo follows suit, and ends up wearing the exact same thing to the wedding.
Oppo's gameplay is a considerable change of pace from other CHEZZY projects. Whereas those were difficult, this game is simple and almost brainlessly easy. Much like in Knytt, difficulty is mainly a distraction from the atmosphere and is avoided much of the time. Some very simple jumping puzzles are laid out for each orb Oppo needs to collect, and a special item is moderately protected (mostly due to Oppo's fixed-height jumping, ugh). Between these are mostly expanses of space filled with varying things to see. The experience doesn't last long, even when the player doesn't bother to concentrate on making jumps at all. Maximum time needed will be around 20 minutes.
Since CHEZZY was trying so hard to make the game about atmosphere, how was it? Well, that will depend on the viewer, but for me he did a decent job of it. Graphically, CHEZZY varied the sights fairly well in that small-window, simplistic style he'd developed. Caves and run-down castles and towns and underground dwellers and other things show up during the course of the game. The music is mostly non-existent. Instead of traditional music, ambient sounds are looped depending on location. The only real music present is on the title screen and in the broken mini-game (both tunes composed by Sai'ke), and what was intended for the title is in the game archive but not implemented. The game completely lacks sound, which isn't as bad as it could be, but even sparse application of sound is something that could have improved the game a lot with little effort. At times, though, the complete lack of sound works well with the calming atmosphere of the game.
Unfortunately, Oppo is ultimately a light game with several seams left loose in the author's zeal to break his ties with MegaZeux - most of them very simple and quick to fix. The title screen is mute text, the secret game is not only broken but unlocked at the very first play, and Robots are still visible on some screens (most notably the castle ones). The game is over almost before it started, and it doesn't leave too much of an impression (much like its inspiration). For as long as it lasts, though, it's nice, and it beats wasting the similar amount of time on the latest joke/asie MZX file.
3.25 stars (rounded down)