Sobokan - Game Review

A review by Stéphane Richard (Mystikshadows)

INTRODUCTION:

On January 18th 2008, dabooda, a rather newcomer to the freebasic forum (at least as far as I've seen) announced his game called Sobokan in This FreeBasic forum thread. This game is the first creation from his DBOS (DaBooda Old School) initiative. And what a first creation it is. It's no wonder it got the comments it did on that thread. QUite a great piece of programming work.

Sobokan is a perfect example of a great old school game. It has many features in it that make it a complete and very playable game. Features like parallax scrolling, pretty neat graphics for the game and an impressive user interface that lives up to the reputation of that kind of game. All in all Sobokan reflects the spirit of old school gaming perfectly.

ABOUT SOBOKAN:

Sobokan is a game where you move boxes around a predetermined area. You move them by pushing them in a selected direction. The main goal is to get out of the current area in order to move to the next. This means that you have to be careful where you move those boxes so that they don't block you from reaching the exits. This can happen rather easily so a little thinking over before moving boxes is probably your best bet to make sure you get out of the area.

The maze like areas start rather simply and work their way up in complexity and in possible situations where you just might lock yourself in the area. Sobokan also has an editor available to create very unique challenges which adds to the playability factor of the game.

SOBOKAN SCREENSHOTS:

The first screenshot below presents the title page of the game. You can't see it here but there's a parallax scrolling background (the stars) and with that, after a few seconds looking at the title screen, things start to scroll up to presents some journal entries that describe the situation.

The second screenshot (below) is that of the game's main menu. As you can see it's very classic of the type of game, and sound effects are there when selecting menu options and such. The sound options allows you to adjust the volume of the music and the sound effects to your liking.

This last screenshot is a sample game play area. As you can see here. It features great graphics in the background and for the play area itself too. I really like the high-tech look the game gives with the space background and high-tech design.

There are plenty of other screens I haven't shown here like the screen that allows you to enter your name, another great one done in the spirit of old school games once again and others. I think dabooda really has a knack for this type of game as far as playability and overall look and feel of the game. Add to that excellent music and sound effects and it's plain to see that this game is a complete game with all the features you'd expect from this type of game.

And now, let's start the actual review of the game. The review is done in my usual style of review using the same gaming parameters I always use in my evaluations and reviews of games.

PLAYABILITY: Score (4/5)

I gave this a 4 out of 5 because of how great the game reflects the spirit of old school gaming. The fonts, the colors, the combination of graphics, look and feel of the game everything fits in perfectly. The game is rather easy to learn (even by trial and error) but for those of you that have to have a manual, well one of those is available too that explains everything you need to know about how to play the game. Also, let's not forget that added to that is music and sound effects that add to the game's playability just because of of the way it sets you in the mood to do things fast. Great selection of both music and sound effects.

OVERALL ENTERTAINEMENT: Score (4/5)

This deserves a 4 our of 5 because of all of the elements included in the game. The combination of good graphics (for the type of game), quick and easy setup, concise but good story line involved, the goal of a typical sobokan game all contribute to the entertainement value of the game. No screen is overfilled with details making all parts of the game veyr easy to see and very clear to follow. If you add sound and music to the mix you have a very complete playability value that is as complete as it can be.

REPLAY VALUE: Score (3/5)

It seems that this specific implementation of Sobokan is lacking something compared to other implementations of the game. Other sobokan games offer a choice of tilesets for example. Also Most other sobokan games have an original level set (some have more than one original). However, since it does have an editor available, it's possible to create some very original challenges in a rather easy way. This helps greatly with the replay value of the game because it adds abilities to create challenges maybe in the goal of an championship competition for example.

TECHNICAL FEATURES: Score (4/5)

The technical level of this implementation is pretty awesome in itself. The game features many old school expected characteristics and features that help it live up to the reputation of a great old school game. Everything is there, graphics of course, but also a parallax scrolling engine, smooth font and text scrolling, sound and music. All combined in a pretty convincing way to give all aspects of a Sobokan game it needs to make it a very successful implementation.

THE FINAL VERDICT: 15/20 (75%)

It's no secret that this game deserves every point given to it in this review. The first reason is how well implemented the game is as far as programming is concerned. The game is pretty stable and works very smoothly even in my PC which isn't the fast thing in the computer industry with a rather poor video card in comparison to what's available out there. It combines all the expected feature of a good classic old school game visually as well as music and sounds too. In other words, it's a complete playable sobkan implementation that is must definitaly worth downloading and giving it a good try (or 12).

There are two places where you can get the game and read about it. The first is dabooda's website itself and the second place is Lachie's FB Game directory Sobokan Entry. This review is my own personal evaluation of the game. If you really want to make up your own mind about the game, the best thing to do is to download it from one of the links provided and try it for yourself. Have fun playing this one, I know I did.

MystikShadows
Stéphane Richard
mystikshadows@gmail.com