I said more or less the same thing on Newgrounds, but I really deeply feel that this game is overappreciated. The first game, and to some extent the second game were nifty for a while. But this is still the same game. But with an editor. The trouble is that the new features are included horribly, so they are pretty much nulled by the level design. The combo system, for instance, ends up being the exact same system as before-push a button to open a gate. This time, though, instead of a literal button and a literal gate, it's a blue powerup and a net. Even the combo system ends up like this. Get the blue powerup (push button), go through the net (gate), then get the green powerup (button), and do whatever that allows you to (gate), then get to the finish. The path of what levels you play is somewhat branched, but the levels themselves are as linear as ever. And the branching path really just forces you to play through the game way too many times just to see all the levels.
And oh my god, how in God's name did this possibly take a year to plan and 8 months to make? That sounds like bullshit to me. Assuming you remade the engine, and that you had other things to work on, the base for the game couldn't have taken more than a week or so to make. Animating, we'll give you the benefit of the doubt and say another week for whatever slowdown reasons. That leaves 7 and a half months to make a hundred levels. What? And a year of planning to make the exact same game as the previous four?
By the way, the editor is a good addition. Can't hide from that, because editors are always good.
Uhhh, I recognize that this game isn't amazing or anything, but there are checkpoints, and you can restart. It doesn't announce "Checkpoint!!" like in the first one, but if you hit main menu, the Continue button will be there. And MrOsmose, I'm sure there are plenty of ways to change the software layout of your keyboard so that it will work in games that use WSAD. You know, I don't want to sound like a dick who's protecting his crappy game, but giving it a bad score because you don't have a keyboard that matches the layout (which is standard) is kind of weird. If this happens a lot, you can get a new keyboard, right? They cost like $4.
Fun game-I dig. A little short, but the graphics are pretty slick, so compliments to the artist. Control is good-feels like the same engine from NG Rumble, which would make sense. The only real complaint I have is that both the good and bad guys fall off the bottom of the screen way too easily. Most of the little "stopped" sections can be beaten easily by just booting everyone off the edge, and you accidentally fall off yourself all the time. In the boss fights, the players pop back up when they fall off, and lose some health. Why doesn't it work this way in the standard game? Oh well, either way, it's a good time. Kudos!
Hey guys, here are some screen shots from Stranded 2. Note that there are no character graphics yet, but this is focusing mainly on blood and other effects. Click the link, go to the second page, scroll down a bit. "Click me":link
[link]http://www.c404.net/forum/viewtopic.php?id=820
 "Ball Revamped 5: Synergy")
 "Reverb Part 2")
 "Terrascape")
 "-ReBound-"){kind=icon}
 "Rockettack"){kind=icon}
 "Stranded"){kind=icon}