Glow
- October 13, 2016
- Impetus Games
Glow is a 2D top-down shooter with 3D graphics, where you control a Firefly battling evil spiders and critters. With numerous weapons, ordnance, and abilities to equip, players can customize their Firefly to their playstyle. Killing enemies increases your score, unlocking new perks and climbing the global online leaderboard, leading to a thrilling and challenging experience.
Reviews
- The game features good graphics and excellent dynamic lighting effects.
- Fast-paced and fun gameplay with a variety of unlockable weapons and perks.
- The unique insect theme and action-oriented mechanics provide an engaging experience.
- Gameplay becomes repetitive quickly due to limited enemy types and small map sizes.
- The game is poorly optimized and may struggle on lower-end graphics cards.
- Lacks polish in areas such as keybinding customization and overall game variation.
- graphics13 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 23 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews; while some players appreciate the overall visual quality, particularly the terrain, lighting, and special effects, others find certain character models and elements lackluster. The game is noted for its impressive weapon graphics and a variety of graphical options, though performance issues may arise on lower-end hardware. Overall, the graphics are considered decent and enhance the gameplay experience, especially during intense action sequences.
“Graphically, the game looks very good.”
“The terrain and level graphics are very pretty, and the lighting and special effects are excellent.”
“But it all basically works, and the graphics really do look great in the heat of the action.”
“The firefly and enemy models are relatively simple, with the firefly and its reinforcements seeming particularly lackluster, but the terrain and level graphics are very pretty, and the lighting and special effects are excellent.”
“The game moves very quickly, so you only really have time to admire the graphics when watching someone else play, or on the levels when you have to spend a bit of time mopping up stragglers at the end.”
“Graphics - glow's graphics are somewhat mixed.”
- gameplay9 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized as a standard third-person shooter that is fast and fun, featuring a protagonist navigating small outdoor levels while battling repetitive enemies like spiders and slugs. While some players find the mechanics enjoyable and original, many note that the experience becomes monotonous quickly due to limited enemy variety and repetitive gameplay elements.
“In regards to the gameplay, Glow is fast and fun.”
“Gameplay - Glow is a fast third-person 3D shooter played from above and behind the firefly, which is the game's protagonist.”
“The core gameplay involves moving around a relatively small outdoor level, blasting spiders and slugs with three different types of weapons at once, and collecting power-ups to try to stay alive.”
“Outside of the graphics (which don't look terrible), the gameplay is bog standard third-person shooter.”
“Gameplay is meh.”
“The core gameplay involves moving around a relatively small outdoor level, blasting spiders and slugs with three different types of weapons at once, and collecting powerups to try to stay alive.”
- music4 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews; some find it forgettable and repetitive, while others appreciate its minimalistic style and describe the soundtrack as awesome, noting its ability to alternate between serene and unsettling tones. There are also calls for more musical variety, particularly in the user interface.
“Glow constantly alternates between serene and unsettling; I like the minimalistic art style and the soundtrack is just awesome!”
“Music is forgettable and even occasionally annoying.”
“Very repetitive: levels, enemies, gameplay, music.”
“I would love for there to be some music when in the UI.”
- optimization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The game is widely criticized for its poor optimization, with many users describing it as the "very definition of unoptimized," indicating significant performance issues and inefficiencies.
“The very definition of unoptimized.”
“The game runs like a snail on high-end hardware.”
“Performance issues make it nearly unplayable at times.”
- story1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game primarily focuses on action, with little to no substantial story development; however, it does feature some lighthearted scientific lore about fireflies presented through in-game text.
“The game is all about the action; there's no story to speak of, although the in-game text includes some tongue-in-cheek scientific firefly lore.”