Review Information
Game Reviewed Dodge the Bills, by Ultramario
Review Author Fun With Despair
Created Aug 26 2019, 10:15 PM

General Commentary and Game Overview
Dodge the Bills is pretty simple, and there's not a whole lot to really say about it because of that. I'd like to go on this whole speech about it, but truth be told, it's honestly just a little minigame akin to one of the bonus games in Warioware or Mario Party. There's a bit of a void nowadays in the realm of decent little games like this as the fangaming community drifts more and more towards full-scale platform games or intentionally wacky joke games, so even if it's not stellar, I appreciate that Dodge the Bills exists in this day and age.
Pros -Easy to jump into
-Scoreboard gives it a bit of replay value
-Decent variety in enemy attack patterns, keeps it fresh
Cons -Floaty, awkward physics
4 / 10
The gameplay of Dodge the Bills is both its biggest asset, and its ultimate downfall. On the surface, it's a snappy, simple little minigame that you can jump into and try to beat the high score in when you're bored or killing time. Once you get playing it though, it quickly becomes apparent that it has a rather significant, glaring issue that really hurts it as a game.

Mario floats around like he's stuffed his pants with helium. In a game like this that relies very heavily on tight reflexes and carefully timed jumps, the floaty physics are a bit of a death sentence, as often times you'll find yourself fighting with your own airtime in order to avoid taking damage. I have a sneaking suspicion that the game is like this because Ultramario wanted to give the players some more air control to aid in dodging the titual Bills, but it winds up killing you more than anything else from what I find. Mario also goes flying backwards upon getting hit, Castlevania-style, and that's a cardinal sin in a game like this.

Beyond that, the game is mostly nice. There are a bunch of different Bullet Bill variants to dodge, each with unique patterns and designs to memorize so you can predict what they're gonna do. I like this style of gameplay, and find it does genuinely help players learn and get better. It's a shame that the physics hold it back, because an updated version with tighter controls could be fantastic.
7 / 10
Well, it's nothing spectacular, visually speaking. It's... fine? It's hard to really critique graphics in a game like this, but a couple things like the transparent ghost Bullet Bill are kind of visually cool and interesting. It's all very cohesive too, and there's nothing in the realm of sprite clashing going on.

A couple of the Bill variants are nothing special visually and look kind of janky, but I mean, it's a game about dodging one of the most simply-designed Mario enemies, there's not a whole lot of room to mess up the graphics at all. They serve their purpose, and they serve it well.
6 / 10
There's actually even less to talk about here than with the graphics. It's got a whopping two songs that I'm aware of, the title screen music and the ingame airship remix, but both are relatively pleasant. Listening by ear, I can't tell if they're original remixes or ripped from something else, but they sound rather nice in the context of the game, even if the one airship remix kind of wears out its welcome if you play for a while and have to listen to it too much.

Also of note are the sound effects, of which there's a few Mario grunts for when he gets hit, and a death scream that's just a touch too loud. These are all fine, and his Homer Simpson-esque exclamation when he gets smacked by a bullet bill is mildly amusing.
6 / 10
It's got a local score leaderboard and that's about it. It's fun to try and beat your own score, but I think this probably could have benefited from an online scoreboard instead, even if it would take far more effort. I don't blame this game for not having one though. It's a quick little score-based minigame and it fills that niche rather nicely, so I'll give it a pass in this regard.
Final Words
5 / 10
Well, if nothing else, it's probably the better of the MFGG games with "Dodge The" in the title.

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