'Tis more fun that way, my friend. I didn't like the "pretty much guaranteed win with the cheat code" code in Snake Boxer 5, and never really understood how Math Kickers worked (Beat it anyway, never had any replay value to me).
But, in Hot Bablien Odyssey, there were no gimmes. Once I hit about 44,000 points, and STILL didn't have a 'green' score, it gave me something to work for.
If you couple a somewhat non-existent benchmark with the fact that levels gradually get harder; you feel better if you can time your pauses with the tractor beam, the positioning to hit nebulon, and trying to dodge Overlord. It makes for great fun to try to get the highest score possible. And while your score may have been high enough to pass on to green status, it wasn't high enough to just stop there.
In that context, in my opinion, I liken it to Galaga, and not Defender. Not in the gameplay, but in the challenge. I can blast through the first 10 levels in Galaga with no problem, but once you get up there, it gets challenging and makes for awesome gameplay.
The cheat codes in the other games were pretty much gimmes, once the cheats came in you didn't need any "skill", and that aspect detracted from the fun from which the games were put in in the first place.
I forgot a while ago what the argument was, but I LOVE Hot Bablien Odyssey. Strong Bad's comments are cool and all, but if it was released as a standalone by Videlectrix, I'd be forced to donate a little more money toward the cause.
Comments
But, in Hot Bablien Odyssey, there were no gimmes. Once I hit about 44,000 points, and STILL didn't have a 'green' score, it gave me something to work for.
If you couple a somewhat non-existent benchmark with the fact that levels gradually get harder; you feel better if you can time your pauses with the tractor beam, the positioning to hit nebulon, and trying to dodge Overlord. It makes for great fun to try to get the highest score possible. And while your score may have been high enough to pass on to green status, it wasn't high enough to just stop there.
In that context, in my opinion, I liken it to Galaga, and not Defender. Not in the gameplay, but in the challenge. I can blast through the first 10 levels in Galaga with no problem, but once you get up there, it gets challenging and makes for awesome gameplay.
The cheat codes in the other games were pretty much gimmes, once the cheats came in you didn't need any "skill", and that aspect detracted from the fun from which the games were put in in the first place.
I forgot a while ago what the argument was, but I LOVE Hot Bablien Odyssey. Strong Bad's comments are cool and all, but if it was released as a standalone by Videlectrix, I'd be forced to donate a little more money toward the cause.
Meh, I might just go and look for a free variant of Defender...