Armed with Wings 2
Man. You know how, when you're a cloud of non-corporeal black mist given life and kingdom, someone always comes along to challenge your supremacy and then you need to steal the four magic swords to make him disperse back into the darkness from whence he came? Don't you hate when that happens? No? Just me, then?
Okay, maybe this isn't exactly an everyday occurrence for most of us. Or even any of us. But you've got to think that Vandheer Lorde, the protagonist of Sun Studio's Armed with Wings 2 whose shadowy shoes you borrow for this stylish adventure, isn't exactly having his best day ever. As the game begins, you've been ousted from your throne by the original game's hero, and you're forced to flee your own palace to seek a way to reclaim your seat of power.
Unfortunately, you don't get your own bird in this one, so you can leave the crackers and falconry gloves at home.
During Story Mode, you can select from Easy, Normal, or Hard difficulties, which not only affects how much damage you deal or take, but also the layout of the levels—a nice change, since difficulty in most fighting games typically boils down to sheer, keyboard crunching frustration. There's also the Survival Mode, which drops you into a room with ever-increasing numbers of baddies and lets you see how long you last. This is actually a really good way to polish your skills if you find yourself having trouble with the battles on higher difficulties, but you can expect to get swarmed pretty quickly.
Gameplay is very straightforward. Between missions, you have the opportunity to save and change your meager inventory about. Each mission consists of a few short stages, featuring several enemy encounters and some jumping puzzles, and then a boss fight. There isn't a heck of a lot of strategy to combat, since you're limited to a few select keys for different attacks, and you'll probably get the hang of it in the first skirmish. Death is, at most, a minor inconvenience, since you can restart the stage of the game you died on with no penalties—which, of course, doesn't take the sting out of those instant-kill spike pits that litter the landscape like Starbucks coffee shops.
Analysis: 
The obvious question is how well it holds up to—or improves upon—the first Armed with Wings. Combat in this one feels much more smooth and natural, enabling you to wade into enemies without breaking stride. It's also a lot more cinematic, with more focus on story and character than its predecessor. What the two games do share is a striking visual aesthetic. Aided by some very fluid animation, Sun Studios coaxes a lot of emotion and variety out of mostly featureless inkblots.
That being said, Armed with Wings 2 isn't without its flaws—flaws that can basically be boiled down to one word: platforming. Truth be told, much of the platforming seems like busywork intended to lengthen the game, and the transition between slice'n'dicing your enemies into little puffs of smoke and then leaping about on nondescript ledges occurs with an audible clunk. There's some attempt to implement "puzzles" in some places, but they mostly boil down to "Get from A to B without dying". Which is a pretty good goal, I guess.
As a departure from mainstream game design, Armed with Wings 2 is worth a look, even if fighting games aren't necessarily your thing. Give it a try, so you can at least say you tried something different today, and don't be surprised if it sucks you in.
I feel sort of robbed. I mean, here I am, evil warlord tossed out on his butt, and I go through all this merciless manslaughter just to find out that the whole thing was just an exercise in futility. I mean, had I been able to bring the four blades of Eden together, what would have happened?
The jumping on this game sucks. It's not at all fluid with the other movements. If you're going to make a platformer, you can't have crappy jumping.
Other than that, it's fun.
The "Play Armed With Wings 2" link points to the first episode, it should link to http://armorgames.com/play/2819/armed-with-wings-2
[Edit: Thanks! Fixed. -Psychotronic]
Oh, also two other things:
Zoom out! The game does this at certain points, but it should be a bit farther out for the bulk of the game. Again, jumping isn't much fun when you can't see where you're going to land.
And whoever decided that making the protagonist wear slippery shoes in games is fun should be forced to wear them in real life and to jump among raised platforms.
I still don't understand why games like this MUST make you slide when you land. Jumping from platform to platform is hard enough with having to hold down the jump key, but having to land in the middle of platforms for fear of sliding off of them made me close this game to save my sanity.
On the plus side, it's a beautiful game with fantastic music.
I can't seem to get anywhere near the first boss on medium difficulty. Can someone help?
As a side comment, some of the spelling in the dialogue is terrible (thrown instead of throne?!!).
I'm afraid the link still links to the first game ^^ (unless my proxy cache is playing tricks on me)
[Edit: That may be the problem. The links are working properly. -Psychotronic]
The platforming I really didn't have an issue with. My biggest problem with the game is that the controls are just too stiff. In a lot of the platforming areas, I had to be extra careful and always use super jumps just to get to the next platform. The difficulty settings are apparently only for the baddies and don't affect anything else in the game.
Jimbog,
During the first boss battle, you need to wait for him to run out of power before you can get close enough to attack. Watch the ground beneath your feet and keep moving so you can run off to the side whenever the ground turns red. Don't get too close to the boss or he'll trigger a firewall between you. Eventually, after a few eruptions from the ground, he'll sort of drop to his knees and start panting. THAT'S when you run up and start beating the crap out of him.
As far as the spelling goes, I have suspicions that English may not be this creator's first language. A lot of it reads like it was maybe run through Babelfish or perhaps just written phonetically. At least it's not TOO prevalent.
The difficulty settings do affect how many enemies spawn and how hard they are, but they do also have some minor difference on the terrain of each level. (IE, pits where there had been none before, ect) It's not an entirely new game, but it's still more than most creators do. I thought it was novel the first time I ran through on a higher difficulty and went charging headlong into a pit that hadn't been there before on the first level.
For those having fun with jumping (like me), the jump occurs when you release the up key not when you press it. Not something I can get used to easily.
Controls in this game are really annoying. Nice graphics and music though.
As everyone else has said, ohmilord the jumping. The design just oozes style, though.
Anyone notice the game music is ripped zelda?
The game isn't working for me...
Any reasons why? The rest of the page loads, but the game is just blank white.
(Yes, my flash player and whatnot are up to date, and tried clearing my cache.)
2 things:
1) Jumping. It's alright, but a bit clunky.
2) Spike pits and death. What SHOULD happen is that you disappear in a swirl of darkmist and return to the start because you have to make leaps of faith into spike pits and die a lot. Death would otherwise be OK if it weren't for the effing spike pits.
cool music, but everything's slippery. the jumping mechanic blows.
Ugh, this game is great, but the music is all directly lifted off Zelda and Super Smash Bros. Brawl and whatnot.
Hmm, just finished the game. At least there are credits as to where the music came from. But why oh why is there a delay between when you land and when you can jump again?
Jumping sucks. Also, oftentimes, you can't see where you need to jump because the camera is too zoomed in.
This game has such a cool concept, I just wish I could play it.
It's a shame clunky controls seem to be bringing this one down. I'm no programmer, but I can't help but wonder if things might not have been improved had the developer mapped the jump action to, say, the space bar instead. It would have allowed you to move without breaking stride. Making the "super jump" an additional toggle might have saved some heartbreak and punctured chest cavities, too.
The music from known sources didn't particularly vex me, since all the tracks were so well chosen for what setting they were in. It took me a few listens to actually recognise the main Zelda theme at the title screen. I think as long as credit is given where credit is due and the music chosen fits the scene, it's fine. Some people are artists, not musicians, and he could simply have gone for what sounded best to his ear.
So lemme get this straight...
The final boss is faster than you, can't be blocked or avoided in any way, follows you unerringly when you jump, and can arbitrarily smack you with an attack that sends you flying into certain death, and is immune to your only projectile attack?
Nice try, buddy. You're an animator in game designer's clothing. Get someone else to actually build your games for you.
Also, when my character is moving left and I press and hold the right arrow, the FIRST THING he should do is TURN AROUND, not start moonwalking backwards.
So I assume there must be some way, on the second or third stage of the Gusty wind level to
trigger the bridge so you can catch the updraft
but I don't know what it is.
I've tried running past the first trigger and hitting X just as I do, but it slows me down so I can't get to the updraft before the bridge closes.
Also, what everyone else said about the jumping, the zooming, the sliding, and the stylishness of the animation.
Matt W, if all else fails, try your projectile attack with 's' :)
In my opinion, it's a good game, apart from the spelling... The slipping was a bit irritating, but without challenge, a game is pretty... dull. I think it could have been a lot better, but it still ranks favourably with me. 7/10, basically hehe.
My only real qualm is that it was so short, and that it
had a pretty dud ending... I understand that it wasn't really an option for the 'protagonist' to win, without making the LAST game seem a bit futile (plotwise), but it was such a short ending, and kind of.. well, it was a let down basically.
Big flashy boss fight against a previous protagonist, who uses a lot of fancy footwork and hard hitting attacks; suddenly teeny tiny ending.
Whoopee.
Ah well, I suppose if I'm just going to complain I should go and make a better one. If only I had the skill ;p
So who am I to complain. Good game, just wish the
ending
was a little more satisfying :)
So, the antagonist in this game, the sequel to Armed with Wings, is the protagonist of the orginal, and vice versa? Weird. This is the first time I have encountered that situation. If anyone knows a certain game or movie that has this dilemma, please talk at once.
As for the game, nice story, nice fighting controls. Only the platforming is the speed bump in this otherwise smooth road.
For Matt W:
Pressing the S button will release a projectile. Stand on the bridge and fire a projectile at the trigger. Then continue as normal.
Thanks guys! Somehow I hadn't yet discovered the S attack.
Final boss strategy
Run past Armed With Wings to the other side of the platform.
After he finishes his combo, run toward him and punch when you pass him. If you hit him, you should slide past each other, and you can continue running to the other side while he uses his combo again.
Repeat.
Shortcut glitch
In betrayal, the second area (not counting the area with your brother and sister) If you do a high attack jump from the edge of the first floating platform of the second story, you pass through the ceiling into the warp bubble.
once you complete the game
you get the lightning sword that has a 1 hit kill special for ANYTHING (bosses too)
I never get the lightning sword, do you have to complete it on hard first or something like that, becuase I've only completed on easy.
It's really annoying me, so someone please help. :3
good game I enjoyed it and I enjoy hack and slash games clunky jump but after a while you get used to it.
P.S. LOAD your game instead of starting a new one to get the lightning sword endings okay I hope they make another
You might remember the stage with many platforms where u have to make several small jumps one platform to another? I had fun just running to the next platform and by timing my jump in b/w the space of the platforms, the "glitch" makes u go up and land on top of the platform, kinda like how u slip thru the platform like a ghost in Super Smash Bros.
The first boss in hard mode was a bit annoying since you had to constantly run to avoid his lava bursting from the ground.....
Overall, i like the style of the game but much improvements is needed.
how do u get all the swords ._.
Update