Much thanks for playing, everyone! Glad to see so many here enjoyed it!
And I absolutely
love how in depth you went with your comments, Prototype. Quite a few points I agree with, and others not so much, but I still found them very interesting. Though I'd add that PI3 is probably worth playing a bit further into if you ever have the time. Easily the best of the trilogy, and it even uses browser cookies to track which stages you've beaten.
Onto the game itself, I'll admit I did
really miss the power-ups from PI2, but I do like the tradeoff of rapid-fire becoming the standard this time. With simply holding a button to fire, I think the goal was to place more emphasis on challenging the player's maneuvering skills, especially given the hugely ramped-up number of enemies and bullets on-screen. Though later on, certain enemies release a wave of bullets when destroyed, encouraging the player not to get carelessly trigger-happy. While I see where you're coming from with the weapons "overloading" idea, having such a system in place might prove a hindrance during boss battles or stages with larger enemy swarms.
In terms of the graphical presentation, it's kinda funny. The more I played through PI3, the more I came to appreciate all the little details Rhete threw into its design, despite his limitations as an artist. Each type of enemy ship having a unique "breaking up" animation as they explode, the sun gradually setting as day turns to night in level 2, and the warship fleets battling the the background of level 5, to name but a few.
At the same time, he and I would be
thrilled at the idea of a complete visual overhaul. The trouble is in finding someone both good, and dedicated enough to make it happen. In fact, Rhete even gave approval for one of Newgrounds' graphic designers (the very talented
JohnnyUtah) to take on this task, when approached with the offer. Unfortunately, issues with speed optimization slowed progress, and the would-be remake artist soon shifted focus back to his own personal projects.
8 months later, all that came of this collaboration would be a redesign of FX's ship and the first boss, along with an incomplete background for the first stage (Condroth), which can all be viewed
here. I really hope Johnny picks this up again someday, but I wouldn't bet money on it at this point.
I also agree about the volume levels on much of the early in-game dialogue. Fortunately, I felt this improved a great deal as the game progressed, and a rather neat moment in stage 4 actually has the player dodging cover fire as its direction is called out by an ally warship. And regarding the main story… I’ll just say that there’s a whole lot more to it and the characters than one would expect. He had initially been writing it out as a novel, so it was scaled back drastically in the adaptation to a game series.
But I'm certainly glad to hear you overall enjoyed what you've played through, and appreciate you sharing your thoughts on it. Although I've learned there aren't any plans for a PI4, I too am quite looking forward to any of his future games.
lol)
