Liquid Kids (PCE)
Graphics-8 Sound-8 Control-7.5 Challenge-7 Story-?
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-7.5 Fun-7.5 Originality-6
Overall Score-7.5
+ Plays like a mix between BUbble Bobble and NZS, good art direction, some alternate paths (between second and third stage), some large sprites, decent variation, small detours for items, hidden bonus levels (pretty lame single screen affairs) and alternate paths in levels, very forgiving check points, speed shoes (train icon - small boos per item but it's accumulative and can't be reversed, disappears after the sub level is completed), they are also quite rare), water plants to grow them into platforms, combo kill enemies (5+) to find weapon upgrades (rate of fire, size of ball, charge speed and finally a catch-all upgrade) and power ups (timed invincibility, smart bomb, 1-up), charged shot attack, very little slowdown
+/- So-so control over jumps (can only slow down a jump somewhat - not change direction in mid-air, slow fall speed), lack of power ups/alternate attacks (items are just for points), mostly forgiving hit detection (not spikes), 1 hit kills, easier than in the Arcade ver. (missing some enemies and hazards),
- Momentum barely has an effect when walking off a ledge, sometimes hard to tell if you're damaging an enemy, slow walking/swimming speed, no life counter (you have 4 lives, 6 credits), trial & error (boss patterns, some mechanics, stage 6 boss entry), uneven difficulty (stage 4 double boss, stage 6-1), can't jump down through platforms which you can climb up through (can also jump through seemingly solid platforms into spikes from below), no options, somewhat short (6 stages). no 2-player mode, missing some effects seen in arcade version (some sprites are also smaller)
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-7.5 Fun-7.5 Originality-6
Overall Score-7.5
+ Plays like a mix between BUbble Bobble and NZS, good art direction, some alternate paths (between second and third stage), some large sprites, decent variation, small detours for items, hidden bonus levels (pretty lame single screen affairs) and alternate paths in levels, very forgiving check points, speed shoes (train icon - small boos per item but it's accumulative and can't be reversed, disappears after the sub level is completed), they are also quite rare), water plants to grow them into platforms, combo kill enemies (5+) to find weapon upgrades (rate of fire, size of ball, charge speed and finally a catch-all upgrade) and power ups (timed invincibility, smart bomb, 1-up), charged shot attack, very little slowdown
+/- So-so control over jumps (can only slow down a jump somewhat - not change direction in mid-air, slow fall speed), lack of power ups/alternate attacks (items are just for points), mostly forgiving hit detection (not spikes), 1 hit kills, easier than in the Arcade ver. (missing some enemies and hazards),
- Momentum barely has an effect when walking off a ledge, sometimes hard to tell if you're damaging an enemy, slow walking/swimming speed, no life counter (you have 4 lives, 6 credits), trial & error (boss patterns, some mechanics, stage 6 boss entry), uneven difficulty (stage 4 double boss, stage 6-1), can't jump down through platforms which you can climb up through (can also jump through seemingly solid platforms into spikes from below), no options, somewhat short (6 stages). no 2-player mode, missing some effects seen in arcade version (some sprites are also smaller)