shockedfrog

Possible glitch in Sector Z while testing in single play mode: If you hold left when falling from the first ghost area, or whatever they are, then walk left until you fall, you end up at the last bit of the sector. Maybe this is an intended shortcut, but when taking that route, the platforms in the last section don't fade in and out, they're just there all the time.

Also in Sector Z in single play mode, the Enemy Information option in the menu goes weird, choosing it shows blits with no description and using left/right on the menu option seems to allow any number, positive or negative, though they all ultimately lead to the same blits/no description screen.

Haven't tested if these apply in a new game.

Finally got the posters and went through Sector Z, fun little place :)

One oddity - I played through Normal again and ended with 7 kills, which was considered 'Killer' rank. Seems a bit inconsistent with the way the other two rank tables work.

I'm glad there's no perfect happy ending, I was perhaps actually a little surprised that the ending I got was as positive as it was, though not in an unreasonable way. And I guessed that game modifier would affect the messages, got the positive version first time round so I'll try it the other way next.

I agree that unpredictable changes allowing cheap shots would suck - I've yet to dodge the final boss's fancy one-shot kill, so I'm quite glad he doesn't use it unless I'm doing particularly badly anyway. :) I was thinking more about how each boss only really has one weakness, which is ok for most but seemed a little lacking for the final boss. Thinking about it, though, the method of defeating the final boss is probably the most appropriate for Iji. Anyway, when I was writing that I'd forgotten that Iosa was a two-parter, and the conclusion of that was excellent.

Up to Sector 6 so far, and while I generally don't say too much about a game until I've completed it or given up on it, I feel the need to post immediately to say it's brilliant so far and I hope this topic gets a bit more attention later on.

Edit:
Completed Normal! Now for thoughts that will eventually become a review whenever my site's ready:

First things first - the gameplay is great, paced perfectly, and the story really stands out. The graphics may not be to everyone's taste, but I personally love the general style of the game. The audio is spot on, too - while I've never been one to complain about ripped music where it fits, it's refreshing to hear a good original soundtrack.

What's particularly amazing about Iji is that I actually want to replay it, on the different difficulties, trying different stat builds and such. Many games attempt this, but this is the first in a long time that's succeeded for me. I appreciated the way hints are given, both during the main game and for later plays - the Sector Z one being a particularly good example, giving the player enough info to find it but still making them think a bit.

The ending was maybe a little disappointing, but perhaps that's just to serve me right for taking the easier kill-pretty-much-everything option. I'm a bit disappointed at the lack of any (obvious?) effect of collecting the ribbons. The bosses were also a little disappointing, while there were some subtle changes between each life bar I'd have preferred some nastier twists. I'm looking forward to trying the bosses on the harder difficulties and discovering the other sides of the story, though.

Nothing is perfect, but this is a pretty good try. Definitely the best Game Maker game I've ever played, and perhaps, after I've explored everything a bit further, I'll also consider it the best freeware game I've ever played.

GGotD celebratory bump/review! :)

I haven't played the second Ac!dbomb, but liked the first (wrote a bit about it at the time) - so this is mostly a comparison to that.

First, the variety of bombs was reasonably well chosen, I really liked the bio types 1/3 (I mentioned the bonus time idea in my Ac!dbomb post, not that it's exactly original, hehe) and I liked the ones that combined types, though it was a shame to lose the Napalm bombs. I felt there was too much focus on speed, though, and so the only real progression in the game is to get faster and faster - obviously this is good to some extent, as it makes the game a little bit more challenging than the original where the time limits were mostly far too generous, but it would have been nice to shake it up a bit like the Napalm bombs did. I understand you felt the virus tiles were cheap, but something along those lines would also have served the same purpose, or alternative methods of detecting bombs, such as the diagonal SUDs of the first game, or the grids of the Puzzled mode.

What I'd say about the length of the classic mode - as the game stands, it's probably about right. I was a bit tired of it all by the later stages, but I was addicted enough to want to finish it. :) The ending felt a bit tacked on, and while the 'Impossible Bombs' were nicely designed, the lack of a time limit made them far too, well, possible, and ultimately I was disappointed at the end. Especially from a shareware game, I'd want a bit more, with some more variety later on, and also some more depth to the Free Play modes. I'm not really interested in the simulator or the editor, though I would like to play any good levels if anyone can be bothered making them. :) The endurance mode was fun, but I was disappointed at the lack of any rewards for completing it, or any kind of high scores (for survival time, or total pistons found?). Puzzled mode was interesting, but 3 levels really isn't enough - I don't really consider randomly placed pistons on the same levels enough for 'replay value'. The Nuke game is amusing, but again, no real reason to play it after the first time. Shell-Drop is good stuff, though, and will probably keep me going for a bit longer. At least as long as it takes me to get the high score. :)

Graphically, the game is certainly a bit more polished, though in terms of the menu/world map presentation I preferred Ac!dbomb's fresh style (fresh to me, anyway) - when the ShellBlast title screen first popped up it felt a bit like a poor man's Defcon. As for the music, while I personally preferred the kinda chilled out sounds of the original (like I said last time, referring to the in-game music and not the title/credits tunes!) ShellBlast's music is perhaps more fitting, making me feel like there was a bit more pressure on me. Anyway, the change was neccessary for going commercial, and it could have been better, but could also have been a lot worse.

Overall, the game is a bit of a step sideways from Ac!dbomb. Good as a giveaway, but not enough to justify paying for. The current price is certainly very reasonable, though, and I'd recommend it for people who play games a bit more casually than I do and don't share my love of unlocking stuff. :)