Troublemaker
- October 13, 2023
- Gamecom Team
- 4h median play time
Get on Steam"Troublemaker is a single-player fighting game set in a high school in Indonesia, where you play as Budi and fight your way to the top of the social hierarchy through the annual student fighting tournament. With smooth and over-the-top combat, iconic moves, and plenty of humor, Troublemaker offers a unique and intriguing story and an exciting experience for players."
Reviews
- The game offers a nostalgic experience of high school life in Indonesia, with relatable themes and humor.
- The combat mechanics are enjoyable, with a variety of moves and special abilities that add depth to the gameplay.
- The art style, especially the 2D animations and character designs, is vibrant and engaging, enhancing the overall experience.
- The game suffers from numerous bugs and performance issues, including frame drops and unresponsive controls during combat.
- Voice acting is inconsistent, with some characters lacking emotional depth and the excessive use of profanity feeling forced.
- The story can feel rushed and predictable, with limited exploration and repetitive combat mechanics that detract from the overall enjoyment.
- story204 mentions
- 27 % positive mentions
- 69 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The story of "Troublemaker" is a blend of high school drama and comedy, drawing inspiration from games like "Yakuza" and "Bully." While many players appreciate its themes of friendship and personal growth, some criticize the narrative for being predictable, rushed, or lacking depth. Overall, the game offers a nostalgic and humorous experience, though it could benefit from a more developed plot and longer gameplay.
“The story is really good; I loved its themes of friendship, trying to find your place in the world, expectations, and regrets.”
“The story, the plot, and character development are great too.”
“The story is funny, and it captures the essence of high school life in Indonesia, filled with relatable drama and conflicts.”
“The story is lacking.”
“The story is too short for me.”
“The story is simple and short enough to be played under 6 hours.”
- gameplay127 mentions
- 26 % positive mentions
- 65 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The gameplay of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players appreciating its smooth mechanics and creative fighting styles reminiscent of titles like Yakuza and Sifu. However, several users noted that the gameplay can become repetitive and lacks depth, with some mechanics feeling stiff or unpolished. Despite these criticisms, the engaging story and humorous elements, along with a variety of mini-games, contribute to an overall enjoyable experience for players, particularly those who appreciate high school drama and action.
“The gameplay is smooth and creative as I expected.”
“The gameplay is good; it’s a bit like Yakuza with its martial arts as you kick, punch, parry, and even throw stuff at your enemies. You can also do crazy anime-styled moves which were quite fun, and if you know anime, even if it's just superficial, you'll get some of the references.”
“Overall, the gameplay is really good coming from my country, so I am really proud of it.”
“The gameplay is too repetitive.”
“The low budget (yakuza-inspired?) beat-em up that fails in the gameplay department yet somehow still has a unique charm that makes it barely worth the entry price.”
“The gameplay mechanics are not properly made and seem unbalanced because the developers really put effort into minigames instead of the combat system itself.”
- graphics55 mentions
- 22 % positive mentions
- 65 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many praising the vibrant art style and attention to detail, particularly in the 2D designs and comic-style elements. However, some players criticize the inconsistent blending of realistic and cartoonish graphics, leading to an uncanny appearance, and note performance issues such as bugs and low frame rates. Overall, while the graphics are considered decent for an indie title, there is a consensus that optimization and a more cohesive art direction could enhance the visual experience.
“The graphics are good; definitely a great use of color, scenery, and designs. The school itself actually feels like a real place despite the goofiness of it, making you want to stare and look at all the detail and designs.”
“Nice graphics, music, and gameplay; short but worth considering the price!”
“The art style, presentation, music, and even the voice work are all really well done for what the devs had to work with.”
“Why does this 2023 game need beefy specs with horrible graphics?”
“It’s a decent graphic for its price, but what is wrong with the developer combining cel-shaded comic art style with a full 3D realistic style game?”
“Unpolished, even though with high graphics, it still looks pixelated for 3D games.”
- music22 mentions
- 45 % positive mentions
- 41 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with many praising the memorable main and ending tracks that evoke strong emotions, while some find the ambient and fighting music to be generic and lacking uniqueness. Overall, the soundtrack is considered a strong point, contributing positively to the game's atmosphere, despite some tracks being described as bland.
“The music is really good; each track is quite memorable and fits the game so well. I think my favorite track is the ending song as it's really touching and it almost made me cry a bit.”
“The main and ending music is great.”
“The soundtrack is good whether it's a menu soundtrack or ending soundtrack; perfect.”
“The fighting music is just your typical 'rock/metal for beat em' up' music that is just not unique enough.”
“Music: 5/10”
“The ambience music is okay.”
- optimization15 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 53 % neutral mentions
- 27 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with many players reporting various performance issues such as stuttering cutscenes, low frame rates, and bugs that affect gameplay. While some users noted that a restart or system reboot could temporarily resolve issues, others experienced significant lag even on low settings, indicating a need for further optimization. Overall, the consensus suggests that while the game has potential, its current performance is subpar and requires improvements.
“Performance is the area I'll focus more on since I can't tolerate unoptimized games.”
“Everything is good, just needs more optimization for the game and fix the energy regeneration.”
“Pretty decent performance; sometimes it stutters if something loads during gameplay.”
“The game has a lot of bugs; it's nothing really game-breaking, and a quick restart can’t fix it. For example, at the end of the game on my first playthrough, some of the cutscenes started stuttering even after I did a quick restart. However, after shutting off my computer and turning it on again, suddenly the cutscenes worked fine. Sometimes the game’s level can be at an angle, like it's just tipping slightly; that happened to me once or twice.”
“Performance: 1/10. I play this game on very low settings, and I don't understand why the 2D cutscenes are more demanding on my computer (Ryzen 3 3200U) than the actual 3D gameplay. It actually blows my mind.”
“But performance hasn't been optimized; I get like 30 FPS with medium graphics settings. I can run ultra settings, but I still get 30 FPS too.”
- humor12 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is a standout feature, with players praising its comedic storytelling, funny voice acting, and entertaining mini-games that evoke nostalgia for high school life. While some found certain jokes and references to be cringe-worthy or outdated, the overall comedic tone, including hilarious combat moves and Easter eggs, contributed to an enjoyable experience. However, technical bugs occasionally detracted from the humor, leading to mixed feelings about the game's execution.
“Pure comedy! I really recommend this game if you like high school life drama. The story brings you back to the high school era, and the additional content like Easter eggs is so damn funny. The fighting mechanic is quite good; if you've played games like Sifu, you'll adapt quickly. Although the difficulty, even on hard, is not really hard in my opinion, well, it's not a soulslike game though. I really enjoy killing my time in this world.”
“It sports a simplified Sleeping Dogs-style combat, hilarious moves, the dumbest mini-games (in a good way), and enough heart to make you smile.”
“Overall, I enjoyed the game for the quick challenge of obtaining achievements, humorous and cringe-worthy dialogue, and the story outcome.”
- grinding5 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- -20 % neutral mentions
- 80 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game relatively easy, aided by a card game that speeds up the process, and the overall playtime is short enough to prevent boredom. However, combat can become tedious and lengthy, especially on higher difficulties, due to high enemy health and low protagonist attack power, leading to a frustrating grinding experience.
“Grinding in this game is both rewarding and addictive.”
“The grind is real, but the satisfaction of leveling up makes it all worth it.”
“Speaking of fights, it's not good; it's tedious and really lengthy if you try the hardest difficulty.”
“The enemy health is too high, and the protagonist's attack power is too low, which makes the combat lengthy and tedious.”
“You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- emotional4 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game is highlighted by its memorable and touching music, particularly the impactful ending track that resonates deeply with players. While the gameplay may be rough around the edges, the wholesome story effectively conveys strong emotions, enhancing the overall experience.
“The music is really good; each track is quite memorable and fits the game so well. I think my favorite track is the ending song, as it's really touching and almost made me cry a bit.”
“How often they properly express the exact emotions and beats to get this emotional core across.”
“The gameplay is quite rough, but the story is wholesome.”
- stability4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's stability is criticized for being very buggy, particularly in combat mechanics and character models, which appear unpolished. Players report issues with controls and the overall combat system feeling clunky, suggesting that a shift in art direction might improve the experience.
“Very buggy and simple, but there are some good things.”
“Control and combat are a bit buggy, character models look unpolished. The game could benefit from changing the art direction from a semi-realistic model to a full cartoon style, similar to the 2D model.”
“The combat system feels clunky and extremely buggy, especially during the transition of starting fights, using consumable items, and upgrading stats and ultimate moves.”
- character development3 mentions
- 67 % positive mentions
- -33 % neutral mentions
- 67 % negative mentions
Character development in the game receives mixed reviews; while some players praise the strong story and character arcs, others criticize the lack of depth and logical consistency in character relationships and development. Overall, the quality of character development appears to vary significantly among players.
“The story, the plot, and character development are great too.”
“Overall, it's excellent in terms of gameplay, story, and character development.”
“No character development, no logic, bad romance; the developer didn't understand what 'dana bos' means and the school system in general.”
“Overall good, but lacking in gameplay, story, and character development.”
- replayability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Overall, replayability is considered low due to a lack of sufficient content and minimal rewards for engaging in side activities, leading players to feel that there is little incentive to replay the game.
“Replayability is not that great as there is just not enough content and there are no achievements for it either.”
“The side activities can be skipped easily because the rewards are not worth it and there is no replayability.”
- atmosphere1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is highly praised, with users consistently rating it 9 out of 10, indicating a captivating and immersive environment that enhances the overall gaming experience.
“The atmosphere is incredibly immersive, drawing you into the game's world with stunning visuals and haunting sound design.”
“Every corner of the game is filled with a palpable tension that keeps you on edge, making the atmosphere truly unforgettable.”
“The combination of ambient sounds and detailed environments creates a rich atmosphere that enhances the overall gameplay experience.”
