Review time!
Critter Chaos - 1.5/10
Critter Chaos was just released yesterday, so it’s very barebones, but it’s a sibling to another game I never played myself. This review may change in the future.
Critter Chaos is a super cute combat/RP game heavily inspired by Pokemon!
It’s a bit chunky so I haven’t been able to play it lagless, but that aside.
VISUAL ACCESSIBILITY:
The run speed is waaay too fast. -1
Owowowowow. All the morphs run by default and are very, very fast. I’m not sure what the speed is at, but woooah. I gave myself a migraine playing this game, and on top of that got dizzy and nauseated due to the sheer speed of movement. The camera movements hurts. I don’t think it’d be any better in first person.
On top of all this, the run is really the only good way to get around in this game. The walk speed is incredibly slow, and on such a big map it’s not great. I feel like a snail. So the only feasible choice if you want to explore is to run! Ouch!
This is my main gripe with the game. I sent this to their Discord suggestions channel, but was pretty instantly shot down despite saying I’m motion sensitive. “All the critters move at different speeds”, and yet they all run way too fast. I played as a good chunk of the non-badge critters, and the run and walk speed were all pretty much the same. Apparently, this very quick run speed is vital in combat and its sister game was like this too, which they don’t treat as an issue… which certainly says something. I don’t think their sister game was very motion sensitive friendly either…
No flashing or terribly bright lights. +1
There’s a lot of bright things on the map, as well as a fair bit of particles (not that I can see many with my graphics setting), but nothing horrendously bright or flashing. This game might be friendly for those with visual epilepsy, if it weren’t for the aforementioned horrible run speed.
Balanced lighting. +1
I could see! Normally games are too bright or too dark for me, but the map was all lit to where I could see what I was doing.
Fast animations. -0.5
Critter moves have animations- not really a bad thing, but they’re a bit rapid and can be a pain on the eyes. They’re not too bad, though, so this is a half point.
MOTOR ACCESSIBILITY:
Toggle sprint. +1
Toggle buttons are huge for those with motor issues, and this game has toggle sprint! It’s harder to control and there’s a bit of a slide, as well as the run speed again being horrible on the eyes.
It’s a bit harder to control, though, imo. If it also had shift-to-sprint on top of toggle sprint, that’d be awesome.
No keybinds. -1
Keybinds can’t be changed. It’s still a young game, but I’m so sorry if you can’t use a mouse. This game can’t be played without one.
Rope hitboxes are too small and often require repeated slamming into them. -1
Sometimes cliffs have ropes you can walk up to and continue holding W to climb. However, the run speed makes it very difficult to continue running and perfectly align yourself with ropes in order to climb them, so it takes a few tries. Lots of button hitting repeatedly to get the right angle.
OTHER:
Wait, where am I? -1
No map, so this requires players to memorize. I’ve got amnesia and no sense of direction, so this isn’t helpful.
Also many of the features of the area don’t have distinguishing shadows or… anything, for that matter. Is what you’re going up a staircase or flat? Actually, is that even a staircase? Where are you? What?
It took me 3 minutes to get up a staircase because I couldn’t find it, then I couldn’t see individual steps.
What am I doing? -1
There’s no explanation for what’s going on, what you can do, what things mean, etc. I suppose if you played the sister game you have more context, but… who knows.
You’re thrown into the game with a big morph GUI that you may or may not know is a morph GUI, because it isn’t labelled as a morph GUI. The typings, notably the ones that aren’t based on any in Pokemon, aren’t elaborated on. Levelling is weird? When I joined the game I was level 15 and had never played before.
Also who knows what that button does!
Good luck!!! You get no guidance.
Total score: 1.5/10
It’s still a young game, so there’s tons of room for improvement. It could be a lot better. The game’s cute, so I’ll continue to check in probably, so this score will probably go up in the future!
For now, I’m falling asleep and really need to go to bed.