You Have No Legs. Well, presumably you do, but Jack, the protagonist of this unusual little sorta-platformer inspired by Super Metroid, does not. Which means that when he finds himself trapped after a cave-in, the lone survivor of an expedition, finding his way out is going to be a lot harder than it might otherwise be. The game was created by Nagnazul in a month for Something Awful's Game Development Challenge 5 and took home first prize. The question is, is the game's creativity and challenge enough to make up for some potentially frustrating gameplay and physics issues?
Since Jack can only use his hands, you have to find other ways around obstacles; click and hold on something, then push or pull the mouse to move Jack around. Throughout the caverns, Jack will find artifacts that grant him special abilities to make his progress easier, such as bracers that increase his strength, or an enchanted necklace that removes the wearer's fear. As you play, keep an eye out for pools of water, since each one saves your game and is where you'll respawn if you die. While things like stone spikes or hot ground only damage Jack a little, other obstacles can be instantly fatal, so you'll want to rush into a watery embrace whenever you have the chance.
Analysis: You Have No Legs was an odd game to play, and one that had me genuinely surprised when I glanced at the clock to see how much time had passed. Although it doesn't quite recapture that sense of bigness that was a feature of Super Metroid and drove players to obsessively search every nook and cranny, exploring the caverns is still fun and interesting, and unlocking new areas by acquiring the various powerups is satisfying. The visuals actually have a weird appeal to them, due in part to the choice in setting, but you might end up wishing there was a bit more variation in scenery after you've hauled yourself through Generic Corridor #54. Of course, for a game created in a month, it's still remarkably well put together.
The problem is not all of the challenge comes from our hero's physical capabilities. The physics at work are, as we here at JiG scientifically call them, rather floaty. Maneuvering Jack into position to grab overhead ledges can be tedious, especially since Jack doesn't really move through the air like any normal being, unless the air happens to be made of heavy molasses, and this can be both blessing and curse. On the one hand, it makes climbing a bit easier when you have an extra second to grab on to something. On the other hand, it can be frustratingly difficult to figure out how the game is going to react when you're trying to throw yourself over gaps or hazards. It's hard to develop any sort of finesse with the controls when it feels like they're fighting you every step of the way. The game is pretty generous with its save points, but that doesn't necessarily take the sting out of that umpteenth spa bath in searing lava you just took.
Making a differently-abled hero is a challenge, to say the least; just because gameplay is accurate doesn't mean it'll necessarily be fun, and this one definitely has its trying moments. Still, just because it's hard doesn't mean it shouldn't be done, and just because You Have No Legs is occasionally frustrating enough to make you want to chew your fingers off doesn't mean you shouldn't give it a try. (They're only fingers... how many do you really need anyway?) With more time and polish outside the contest time constraints it might have been even better, but as it is it's still pretty good, and easily one of the more inventive platformers out there, and is practically begging for a more in-depth followup.
its impossible to pass the lava :/
The wheelchair is a beautiful invention.
To pass the lava:
DON'T try launching yourself over it like I did... (Although there is a feather which makes you lighter higher up the wall where you get your first relic (the one that lets you climb walls) which lets you ALMOST fly across ;P)
Instead...
When you find the room with the spikes, you can go along the roof of that room and end up above those spikes. You can then loop round the second lava pit you find and you'll receive a relic that lets you go over the roofs of the lava pits.
What an incredibly tedious game. If someone actually finishes it, please, tell me if it's worth continuing.
Dear Flash Games,
Please never ever use a mouse-dragging control system again. I realize some of your favorite desktop games have one. But those desktop games can use fullscreen mode; they don't lose focus when the mouse strays outside the game.
Thank you for your prompt attention in this matter.
Ezra
thanks for the tip, loved the game for some reason :D
If the goal was to relate the frustration of being differently abled, well done. If you'd like to try playing a game who's goal is make sure you have no fun, this one's for you. After taking 10 minutes to cross five screens due to the control scheme, I'm out.
I really like this one. Dunno why. Just appeals to me...though it was hard to get over the fact that I was hurling a human body through the air. Yeesh. I got to the end, and was like, "64 MINUTES?! Wow, where did the time go?" A nice game. Glad it won. (I do see the downsides though)
Oh, yeah, I kept accidently clicking an ad outside the game and the pop-up blocker wouldn't let me grip anything until I clicked the little x. That made it much harder. :P
You beat me by 4 minutes TheMusicGirl, 68m 13 with 100% collection. (Getting the armour after the thing that does that not-so-mysterious thing was the worst decision I ever made)
That was the 4 minutes I spent trying to launch myself over the lava.
Dear Exploration Games:
You are only as fun as your core mechanic. In Metroid, that's jumping about and shooting stuff. In Zelda, that's running around stabbing stuff. In Knytt, that's running up walls and jumping.
"You Have No Legs" does not have a fun core mechanic. It has a frustrating core mechanic. Replace it with a fun core mechanic, and we might have a game.
Thank you for your continued attention in this matter.
Ezra
Sorry but the controls of this game and the weird physics make it annoying to play. Whilst I enjoy the feeling of exploration, as the areas get harder the control issues became more noticeable and became frustrating and tedious. It's a shame really because this could of been a great game but due to the poor controls I instead find it mediocre at best.
Honestly the biggest issue here for me is the banner ads and icons on the sides and top of the JIG interface. I gave up at the room with the
large red expletive
, but I'll probably pick it up again. I'm really impressed by the scope of this thing.
The control scheme would really be better for a game that could use fullscreen. Regardless, I enjoyed this game.
Good production values, but Sexy Hiking did this sort of game play better. Even if Sexy Hiking was drawn in MS paint.
The firts thing I usually do when I load a Jayisgames.com article is to hit the play button and start playing. Except this time I didn't find a real game to play...
You know what? I hate this game. The "unique" mechanic is tedious to control, loses focus because of cursor flailing, and only gets worse with every "upgrade" (they're really downgrades if you ask me).
I gave up once I was forced to go through a whole bunch of spikes just to get a power up that "makes me feel different" and was then told by the game that I had to go back through the same spikes IN REVERSE with little to no health left.
I actually liked the control mechanic. It took me a few minutes to get used to it, but I quickly learned how to rappel up walls and fling myself across chasms in fluid movements. However, there is the problem of this not being full-screen... sometimes when I dragged my held mouse out, it would highlight text outside the game and the game wouldn't know I had let the mouse button go.
However, my biggest complaint is that you don't what lies where, and it's possible to get yourself into unfortunate situations without realizing it, simply because you picked to explore the wrong passageway first:
First of all, once you get the boulder-smashing ability, the game puts you right near the exit boulder, but there's still more items to be discovered down other blocked passageways. I guess it does hint that you're near the end with the boss-type music, but once you go outside, you can't go back in (unless you restart from the last checkpoint... which may have been a while ago, depending on how you played the game).
But the worst part is the two boulder-blocked passageways in the lower-right part of the map. If you go to the lower one first, you get made huge. No problem until you try to go to the upper passage to collect the armor: some of those passageways are so small and spike-filled that you can't get in and back out without taking too much damage.
So if you want a chance at completing the game with 100% items, take the UPPER boulder-blocked room FIRST.
If you have problems with gripping, the first thing is to watch where you put your mouse. If you're like me, however, the ads in the window might suck up enough CPU that the game sometimes wouldn't notice mouse clicks. To fix this in Firefox, install an add-on that overrides cache headers in webpages, load the game normally, then close the window, select "File>Work Offline", then open the game again through the link. Since the ad loads a different IFrame each time, they won't load since you told Firefox not to use the internet, but the game, which is normally always the same file(ignoring updates), will be remembered. If you do this, however, turn off the add-on when you are done playing, and uncheck the "Work Offline" button, as that setup could easily make you see an outdated version of most websites you've already visited with the add-on active.
Don't use ad blockers, as they essentially stop any website living on ads from making a profit.
DANG this guy must have arms of steel.
Some of the worst physics and UI I have ever seen in a Flash game. I wanted to love this game so bad; I liked the idea and the mechanism. But the physics is really wacky and inconsistent, dealing with the movable stones and the bouncy fruit was a PITA, but I could probably live with it if that was the only thing wrong with it. Much worse is the user interface, which is absolutely unusable. Clicking usually works but sometimes doesn't, un-clicking to let go frequently just doesn't let go at all, and god forbid you accidentally move the cursor out of the screen; the whole thing just goes to hell. The "bash rocks" ability is so completely unreliable and inconsistent that I had to stop playing at that point.
after dragging myself outside of the game world while trying to climb a wall less then 2 minutes after I started the game, I gave up on this.
I ran into a bug that made me stop playing it. I was in one of the save game pools and when I tried to climb out I ended up under the ground, floating in the black void unable to get back above the surface.
Very original game. Frustrating sometimes because I never really understood the physics.
72% completion in 88 minutes!
Pretty cool gameplay. Decent dynamics. But as people said, abit tough to control at time. Fullscreen helps loads... to play fullscreen just point your browser directly to the swf and fullscreen your browser. You'll find the direct address in the page source document or just get some addon to dig it out for you (any decent flash ripper will have a copy url function).
Anyway. I finished too. Oddly enough 65 min aswell! But I did leave the game on while reading this discussion as well. The location of the end screen came as a surprise. I'm mixed whether I was disappointed or for finishing early. I still think I had some places to left to explore. I never found that armor for example.
Since I didn't hate the control system, I'd like to see more games exploring it. It just needs some tweaks.
Neat gimmick, but the control scheme is horrible. It would have been much better if you could grapple with your mouse but move with the keyboard. Too frustrating to play for me.
Urrggh. Reminds me of Triachnid, except a million times more likely to make me scream and gouge my own eyes out. The biggest problem for me was that extra mouse clicks would register when I was not clicking the mouse, making him grab at random points on the floor all of the time and ruining jumps.
Also, designers: please, NEVER have backtracking in a game where your primary enemy is the controls.
Went back and visited all the cave points that were still open on my map. 91% in 92 min. Worth it? Yeah, it was enjoyable. I think I could finish the whole game in 30 min now. But won't play again. Seldom do.
I actually really enjoyed this game. The main mechanic seems tedious initially, but you quickly learn that you're actually very versatile, especially once you learn to climb walls. It's an odd twist where the hero's obvious handicap doesn't translate directly into an obvious weakness - his ability to climb walls more than makes up for this.
The powerups were fun and varied. I would have gotten rid of life altogether and focused more on puzzles where falling meant redoing part of the level, but the game is so short that you don't notice it.
My favorite powerups were...
The feathers that reduce gravity and the enlargement power. The feathers made the game MUCH easier, and I suspect the players who had trouble with the game did not find both of them (Maybe there are three?). The enlargement power was a fun side-secret that was totally optional and still helpful.
I didn't like the backtracking, and was pleased that it's minimal unless you go for the optional side items.
The ads were a pain, though I didn't click them on accident. I came close, though! I did sometimes click outside the window and highlight everything so I couldn't see.
It only took me about 40 minutes to win with 78% items. I enjoyed every minute of it.
I would not like to see more games with this control scheme. This one was fun and different, and mercifully short. It was the right length for the subject!
If you're playing because you like Metroidvanias, don't. Play because you're interested in a substantially different control scheme than the norm.
Dear games which create "difficulty" through messing with the player's controls,
You are not cute. Stop it.
Sincerely,
Ezra
Dear Ezra:
We get it. You're not a fan of this game.
Don't obsess.
Sincerely,
Evergreen
Seriously. Thank you Evergreen. If nobody ever tried anything different we'd all still be playing pong clones using knobs as controllers.
About the game, I enjoyed it for it being unique and different. Yes, it's a bit awkward and difficult to control at first, but I enjoyed the discovery of what the game had to offer. Consider the fact that the game was developed in a month, and it's pretty cool for what it is.
I'm not one to put down a game, but after the tediously slow control mechanism and having the same bug MrProsser mentioned of spinning endlessly in a black void, I have to back away from this one.
Understandably this game was made in a month, it will not be perfect. I just wish the developers considered things more from the gamer's point of view. I feel like it's a game that has an identical goal of "How My Grandfather Won the War." Is this game difficult? Yes. Will tons of people give up on it before finishing it? Yes. Is this game made specifically for only those who wish to suffer through its entirety? Possibly. The difference here was HMGWW was a hard game, easy controls.
Perhaps the developers will consider re-releasing the game with an "easy" mode consisting of using the arrow keys and spacebar, and a "Mindblowingly Laborious!!!!" mode, using the control scheme we have in place here. I kid with the names but I think my suggestions will make this a great deal more enjoyable to more people.
Well, I'm not a fan of some of this game's choices. I like the map design well enough, and it's always nice to see a new Metroidvania.
But I can go away now.
Where did the time go? I wish I could take back that time I spent playing this game:
Completion time: 175 minutes 57 seconds
Rate for collecting items is 79%
Oh oh oh. I really kinda liked this one. the controls were a little clunky, but I think the challenge was good, and call me sick, but i liked the story/mechanic.
I don't see it anywhere else here, did anyone find the:
Metroid zone Easter egg with:
High Jump boots (WTF!!!)
.
That's a horribly frustrating game!!!
I have to say that
The armor is darned near IMPOSSIBLE to get. (and was impossible for me to get)
I agree with a lot of people, this would work a lot better fullscreen. The single biggest hindrance to this game is losing focus outside of the window. If you remove that, the control scheme is not bad, though it could use tweaking.
Very good game!! finished ~41min 72% found.
-1 for the grip getting stuck if you pull outside screen (re-click to fix it).
A fullscreen would've helped that.
PS.. Glorifying "kissma" and rejecting this is just crazy.
Oh my goodness if I was disabled I would probably be really offended at this game!! I felt really arkward playing it..!
Didn't like the game at all.
K2ulu
If I had no legs, I would be offended if someone was offended on my behalf because of this game.
Perhaps people with no arms might be offended, but they can always do a sequel to sort them out.
Come on, actors with disabilities want to be on TV, so why not computer games.
Well, I had fun.
What helped is that I downloaded the SWF and played it. I still hit the menu bar a few times, but aside from that, it was much more playable.
It's a challenging game, to be sure. It's not easy. But it worked pretty well for me, and the challenge made for good fun.
Note: The game becomes much easier once you've found
all three feathers.
Not finished yet, but the mechanics are growing on me. It's kind of fun to send him hurtling through space.
Though it's not as fun to helplessly fall through the air after you missed a handhold.
One thing I have to say is that this mechanic is tough to do on a laptop with a trackpad. My fingers get a bit tired after 10 minutes of tiny, tight, and repetitive movements.
Reading through these comments made me laugh. I do agree with getting the 3 feathers though. Made the controlling far easier, and one of them is quite near the beginning so controls do get easier than the original cave-dragging which did annoy me, but I ploughed on through.
Not the most fun game in the world, but a nice challenge if you have about an hour to fully complete it.
Also to those of you who like me did get the 'getting bigger' power-up first and then made it through to the armour, I salute you. Hardest thing I've done in a while on a game.
Dom, I was able to get to the armor, but not back out. That you (or anyone else) was able to do so boggles my mind!
For those that accidentally click outside the window, you can use space, x or z to grab instead of the mouse button. It turns it into a two-handed game, but you won't lose focus or click banner ads.
If you are having trouble with the controls, there's a powerup near the beginning that is easy to miss that will make the game much easier. Return to the room where you got the bracer, that will help.
If you're having trouble at any part, you can always go back and search for more powerups. The last few challenges get much easier if you take the time to find all the extras.
101% is a perfect game, so if you beat it and think you're done go back and look for that last item, it is worth it!
I like this game. I expected the mechanics of it to get tedious, but the powerups helped just enough to keep me going. And I'm glad I did :)
I like the idea and the metroid style exploration gameplay. I could even handle some of the gravity issues. The thing I think this game could use is ragdoll physics. The player character is too rigid and it was hard to have the body positioned where I wanted it, otherwise interesting game.
Sorry for the carpal tunnel, everyone.
One of the main complaints here is that you tend to click outside the playing area a lot. I totally agree - playing it fullscreen alleviates that a bit, there's a full screen version right here: http://www.nagnazul.com/YHNL%20v1.1.swf
Also, in most browsers, pressing F11 make the webpage full-screen, so if you're having mouse troubles, try the above link and hit F11. And if you get tired of clicking, the spacebar, Z or X buttons on your keyboard do the same thing as clicking.
And if you get tired of the music, you can press S to mute it.
Thanks for the review, Dora!
PS: Ezra, you seem to have a lot of knowledge on what games should do! Maybe you'd like to join the development team for my next game?
I am stuck, Hou do I find any more feathers? I can not go any further until I can remove boulders.
Thanks
For some odd reason this game intrigues me :B
It makes frustrating games with a bad control scheme seem fun. But I like this kind of challenge :D
The only problem I have was when I would drag myself along, I found myself accidentally clicking outside the screen and it would mess up the game :P
Also, the entire atmosphere of the game really creeps me out...i dunno, I guess the weird repetitive music with the bizarre backgrounds just give me the creeps
It's strangely fun, but certainly tedious at times. It would be interesting if there was a bit where you got your legs back -- and then weren't able to get over any of those obstacles because your legs kept getting in the way.
To those with no touchpads: It seems to be that one good thing about a touchpad with this game is that the mouse doesn't stray out of the game zone. It hasn't yet for me. (Still, I haven't gotten over the lava yet...)
Also, a bit of geekiness:When I saw the "I'm Jack" bit, I thought
Captain Jack Harkness! Heh. Heh. Heh. This is probably what would happen if he ended up with some horrible injuries. Make it happen, BBC! (Okay, on second thought, don't.)
Feather locations, for those who want them:
1: In the upper-left corner of the room with the bracer of strength is a small passage unmarked on the map. The first feather is hidden within.
2: In the 'gray' area, after crossing over the lava pool, in the same room as the brown rock, there is a coin of +10 health. Another unmarked passage hides the feather directly above said coin.
3: In the green area, go to the far left, to the room marked 'Fruit' on the map. The final feather is hidden at the top and center of the room, between two of the pillars hanging from the ceiling.
Ezra had the right idea, but still missed one key problem. Not only does the hero have no legs, he also has ONLY ONE ARM! Can you imagine how much easier this game would have been if he could have, you know, alternated hands instead of doing this eternal butterfly stroke.
got 100% in 106m 37s
A better title for this game would be "You have carpel tunnel syndrome", because that's what you'd get for playing this game.
I've tried the alternate control method in Firefox and it doesn't work. It's in fact even less responsive that way.
It's definitely an interesting concept, I'll give it that. Very frustrating at times, to the point where most of the game's challenge is derived from the controls and not from the game itself. The feathers certainly help, plus it's fun to slingshot the guy around once you have all of them.
I did enjoy it, but after finishing the game (57 minutes, 77% items) I don't really have any desire to go back and try to get the rest of the items because I know I have to go all the way across the map to get there. I know the author was going for the Metroid feel with that, but having to fight the controls all that way... no thanks.
I definitely look forward to seeing more work from this author, though. Always fun to try something new like this.
Okay, I wasn't really having problems with the annoying mechanics until the
"boss level" Not only do you fall and have to climb back up, but you get a face full of lava. I considered quitting. Plus I didn't figure out you could destroy the lava rocks with your iron fists until later.
I find it interesting that he not only has no legs, but no elbows to speak of either.
loved the game i have been playing this game for weeks now but still dont know how to complete it if anyone can tell me how to complete it so pls help me
What if this game combined with Kao Fu-Sen!
...sorry, random thought.
Happy holidays,
Shu.
Wow, what a thread full of hate. I suppose that's what you get for an innovative mechanic. I liked it a lot. 42 minutes, 72% items. The game certainly does get a heck of a lot easier with feathers (though I only had 2 by the end).
lloll: In order to finish the game
you'll need the spiky thing that lets you destroy boulders. When you get that, go to the... hmm. There's a circuit of six rooms where you can go round and round, after you get to move small boulders. It's got lava at the top of the circuit. At the bottom-right of that circuit (which is about centre-right of the map overall), there's a boulder you can destroy.
In there is a very scary room full of boulders that hurt you - but you can destroy them. Climb to the top, which is a very fun challenge. That's the way out.
I would have liked some indication of which was the way to the end of the game, although I guess the boss room made it fairly clear it was going to be the end.
Very interesting mechanic. I think I'll still normally prefer platformers where I can run and jump, but this was interesting and fun.
In the end, you become the apocalypse.
Update