Angry Barry: Or Why XNA is Flawed

NaturalNarcissist

So after always hearing how XNA has some decent gems, I browse online and find "Angry Barry", touted as an old school beat em up mixed with political satire. Perfect, right? All the reviews I could find give it high marks, so hey, might as well download it.

It is only after dropping five dollars that I realize it is basically unplayable. You're given one life, no continues, no restarts. So if you somehow manage to make it to the last level and you die - it's back to the beginning.

After finally making it to the third level, I make decent headway in it only to realize that there also aren't any healing items because... who the fuck knows.

The sad thing is that the beat em up stuff is quite fun, and the political satire is AMAZING.

But seriously... one life? The hell?

Visti

XNA is flawed because you found a hard game?

Wembley

I'm not sure what part of what you said showed a flaw in XNA. It can be argued that the game shouldn't be as hard, but that's probably a matter of personal opinion. You say the game touts itself as a beat 'em up mixed with political satire, and then later you claim that it succeeds on both accounts. I don't see the flaw in that. Do you feel like you didn't get 5 dollars worth? I don't know what the point you're trying to make is.

peterdevore

Although I have other reasons not to like XNA, that's a really shitty reason not to like XNA. It's just bad game design of one game. You can whine about it in the XNA thread here.

NickTheNewbie

XBA isn't flawed because of that. XNA is flawed because it's so purposely ambiguous and abstracted that you can't do very complex things.

Gyral

This seems like more of a flaw in available product information or in-depth reviews that might point out this "feature/gameplay element".

solsovly

Play the timed demo?

NaturalNarcissist

Gyral is pretty much bang on the money. It's not a flaw in the entire system, I was just incredibly frustrated. And there's a difference between being difficult and being impossible. This is the latter.

It just baffles me that IGN etc. can lather the game in praise without actually mentioning that it's unplayable. And I thought the one life thing was just part of the timed demo. I mean jesus, this is just ridiculous.

Delzhand

NickTheNewbie wrote: »

XBA isn't flawed because of that. XNA is flawed because it's so purposely ambiguous and abstracted that you can't do very complex things.

What? No.

verpakeyes

Delzhand wrote: »

NickTheNewbie wrote: »

XBA isn't flawed because of that. XNA is flawed because it's so purposely ambiguous and abstracted that you can't do very complex things.

What? No.

I am so glad you said this, as I was worried I was the only one whose face crunched into a expression of confusion at that statement.

Delzhand

I mean, if you're looking for a game-builder program, XNA isn't great because you really need to code all the game logic yourself, but there's TorqueX if that's what you want. XNA's limited more by the programmer's skill than hardware or framework limitations.

NickTheNewbie

verpakeyes wrote: »

Delzhand wrote: »

NickTheNewbie wrote: »

XBA isn't flawed because of that. XNA is flawed because it's so purposely ambiguous and abstracted that you can't do very complex things.

What? No.

I am so glad you said this, as I was worried I was the only one whose face crunched into a expression of confusion at that statement.

Hold on let me get this cleared up. I remember in my graphics class one guy was having specific troubles with i think pixel shaders, frame buffers, and some things that are available for play in the direct3d sdk, but not xna. Let me get back to you.

Evander

NaturalNarcissist wrote: »

So after always hearing how XNA has some decent gems, I browse online and find "Angry Barry", touted as an old school beat em up mixed with political satire. Perfect, right? All the reviews I could find give it high marks, so hey, might as well download it.

It is only after dropping five dollars that I realize it is basically unplayable. You're given one life, no continues, no restarts. So if you somehow manage to make it to the last level and you die - it's back to the beginning.

After finally making it to the third level, I make decent headway in it only to realize that there also aren't any healing items because... who the fuck knows.

The sad thing is that the beat em up stuff is quite fun, and the political satire is AMAZING.

But seriously... one life? The hell?

Did you download the demo before actually buying it?

Kris_xK

THIS IS A SLAP IN THE FACE

El Guaco

XNA if fine. It's MS's handling of Community Games that is flawed. Without a built-in review system, you MUST try the demo before buying a game, just to see what the hell you're getting.

Also, you get what you pay for. You spent how much time complaining on a forum over a $5 game? Your time would have been better spent emailing the developer, even if was just one line, "1 life, WTF?"

Delzhand

User ratings, while not technically a review system, are coming - I think this summer. That should help immensely.

Metalbourne

El Guaco wrote: »

XNA if fine. It's MS's handling of Community Games that is flawed. Without a built-in review system, you MUST try the demo before buying a game, just to see what the hell you're getting.

Also, you get what you pay for. You spent how much time complaining on a forum over a $5 game? Your time would have been better spent emailing the developer, even if was just one line, "1 life, WTF?"

Oh, I have the feeling that the opportunity to complain about any game on an internet forum is five bucks well spent for him.

Evander

can XNA games be patched?

Metalbourne

I think so. There's an option for updates when you publish a game.

RainbowDespair

Keep in mind that a lot of XNA Indie developers are open to constructive criticism. For example, with the XNA Community Game, ArcX, I complained to the developer that level 20 was designed in such a way that it was nigh impossible to win unless you got really lucky. He replayed the level and agreed with me (apparently it was easier in a past version of the game and he hadn't retested it or some such thing) and as a result, in the latest patch of the game, the older level 20 had been replaced with a much fairer and more interesting level.

Likewise, a few people (myself included) complained that we couldn't play Hieronymous Bash because it didn't have a single player mode. Voila! The next patch of the game added an option for computer controlled bots.

So go onto the XBox.com subforum for Angry Barry and complain about the live system and you just might get an option for more lives in the next version of the game.

psycojester

NaturalNarcissist wrote: »

It just baffles me that IGN etc. can lather the game in praise without actually mentioning that it's unplayable. And I thought the one life thing was just part of the timed demo. I mean jesus, this is just ridiculous.

IGN telling you that a game is good is like a whore telling you that you're the best fuck she's ever had or a hooters waitress who appears really interested in what you're saying.