Bezman's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Extreme Football Heading]

looming on the horizon

++ nice colours

+ the control system makes sense

but...

---- I never really felt in control of where he was jumping to or whatever. It just didn't 'feel' right. Maybe because of the overly low gravity? I dunno.

==
Seems a nice twist on these keepy-uppy games to control a character, but it just seems too much of a battle to get the hang of the controls with little potential payoff looming on the horizon.

[The NG Serious Test]

out of it

-- The test seems a bit too long. 4 questions before the end, I started wondering if it'd ever end and if what I answered made any difference at all. So I just left those last few ones blank.
Maybe have fewer questions, or tell people what question # they#re on and how many there are. Or maybe list all the answers so folk know they're being recorded at least.

--- I don't go to school. So had I answered those last few properly, it wouldn't have worked perfectly.

Bear in mind the varying audience.

+++ Mildly amusing concept.

-- When we replay, music starts on top of previous instance. Code 'stopAllSounds();' in the frame before you start the music.

==
Cool concept. Could be delivered slightly better. But I got a smile out of it.

[Muzzleflash Tutorial]

this, but

It seemed a bit obvious. Also, you should've said at the start that we needed a newer version of Flash.

The technique is a good one, but it'd be an idea to show it in action in a decent animation clip, to garner some respect for your techniques. A still image with a madness character clone, a pasted in gun (which looks kinda out of place) and the muzzle flash just doesn't cut it.

You did say all you had to say and there weren't any glaring errors in the writing, so well done on that at least.

===
I got nothing from this, but someone else might. Still, could be a lot better.

[Cemetary]

what it does

1 shot fired
300%
~Destroyer of Worlds~

I played it a couple of times 'properly' before that.

+++ The vectors all look fairly sharp and well drawn.

--- The instructions' colour is terribly chosen. Minimal contrast between text and bg makes it hard to read.

++++ The shooting mechanics work fairly well. The hitboxes seem slightly generous, just as I'd hope, though the legs-off thing works well too and we do need to pay attention to hit the head.

++++ Also, the walking speed /crawling speed is well guaged.

-- Though you have the 2 folk, the fact that they can each do their action only once makes their presence seem really pointless.

---- No promise of variation to keep me playing. I'd love it if we had different levels, maybe with different enemy types... maybe the sun could start rising after a few levels...

++++ Difficulty pitch seems about right (I lasted around 2.5 minutes on 2nd go).

===
I enjoyed it for a while, but don't feel it offers much new.

It does what it does well, and if you wanna play a game involving shooting loadsa zombies, this is one of the best I've played.

Great job!

[Airhockey GAME 3]

send it rocketing

Played it. Finished level 1 after AGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS. (7-0)

Started level 2, then stopped it when it was 1-1, mainly due to ennui.

+++ The direction the puck travels in after hitting the bats is done really well.

----- It's not fast enough! When we smack it as quickly as we can, it should go rocketing! Make the motion generally faster. It seems like you've capped the speed at a not-very-fast rate.

---- Not enough feedback. If you had quality sfx, that could add so much. Learn to use the sound object. Have the noise increase in volume based on force. Or else, at least just have a "Thwack" sfx. It really will make a massive difference.

===
Not a bad game (a LOT better than the standard pong game I thought it may be from your comments), but just not fast-paced enough to capture the spirit of airhockey.

Maybe consider having the level start off lower, but then increase after EVERY point, with you maybe having 3 lives? Maybe with higher levels, the computer could start hitting it faster?

An awful lot of potential if you just make a few tweaks. This could be awesome!

As it is, it just seems too slow. I wanted to send it rocketing and have the puck flying around.

[X-Treme Tugboating]

on my first

Played it once, got around 2.8k. Tried to turn off music but couldn't work out how. Played a 2nd time, with sound off. got around 918.

+++++ The wibbly planet is a great idea and totally instantly captures the imagination. Both because I think relatively tiny planets are cool and cute and also because of the wibbling (though that might be just a tiny bit too severe).

---- The music was really repetitive. We should have been allowed to at least turn it off. Also, not very sailory-like. Something kinda like 'Fish' or 'Shantysong' by Mr. Scruff would have worked well.

--- I wasn't always sure if I'd been hit without looking over to my energy bar. Maybe a screen-flash of red would have worked well?

-- Though you suggest using rainbows for protection, this doesn't seem to be a really viable strategy. If it is, maybe consider 'tutoring' us into it?

++ The zooming-out camera seems cool.

--- The hitboxes seem a bit vague to me.

===
I had a lot of fun on my first play-through, but it seems like it needs a few tweaks still. Definitely allow us to turn off music and try and give the game more precision in how it 'speaks' to us.

[Lemur Wheel]

the 'wrapper' around

Played it, not sure what to expect. Read rules. Played game. Charmed by the music. Played maybe 5 times (mainly to see the bg changing), getting a best time of 1:59.

++++ Really smooth gfx for the bg and the lemur.

++++ Cool bg vectors, and they really made me want to keep playing.

++++ Groovy tunes.

+++ Great inertia

---- The collision of when you will hit meatloaf seems a bit woolly. It seems we're never exactly sure of when the hitTest is 'turned on' and where exactly the boundaries are.

- You should add a 'tens' digit for the seconds. Saying we got a score of 1:4 when you mean 1:04 just seems slightly confusing.

--- Limited gameplay.

++++ Difficulty ramps up fairly quickly. Makes a massive difference when folk have probably played tens of these games already.

===
I had fun playing it. Don't think I'll return as so many other things offer the same mechanics. But really, the 'wrapper' around this game is totally awesome.

[Save The Blobs (Level 2)]

these are really

Completed it on 2nd go. Then started a 3rd game and kept going until I'd gotten the alarm clock.

--- No score system

+++ The moving walls are really cleverly placed. I really felt like I was working out a sensible puzzle rather than either just feeling like I was just going through it all or feeling like it was too obscure.

- Gfx still a bit rough.

- I'm not sure I like the time limit killing us. If you were to have a score and boss like in L1, maybe a cool way of doing it would be to just have the timer go into negative or just stop at 0 with a fixed score penalty, and when you get to the boss, it'd say "he got bored and went home". So if you wanted a decent score or to see the boss, you'd have to complete it within the time limit?
It just seems to make it less fun having to start over again.

+ the tick-tocking is a nice touch.

===
Another cool game.

Shame you seem to have vanished. These are really great.

[Save The Blobs (Level 1)]

at least

First, I'd just like to say that I note you haven't submitted anything for a long while. If you do ever read this review, I'd just love to know if you will ever treat us to more of your games.

I played this 2 or 3 years ago, but really wanted to play it again today.

It is an awesome game. The graphics are totally basic, with no walking animation and simplistic jumping, but it's fun and there's a good bit of strategy in there.

I played it 5 1/2 times today. Results below.

Fail (forgot about the time limit)
26x
28x
328 (I deliberately lost a life to gain 2 coins)
playing to admire your level, found the alarm clock
418

The system you have of 1-way doors, trapdoors and the various collectables makes the first part of the game a lovely area to explore and 'work out'.

I like the fact that you have these slippery slopes and stuff when you could've been boring and used 1-way doors for them, as far as the game mechanics are concerned. It does add visual interest.

In a way, the 'jerky animation' kinda makes the game more precise, putting the focus clearly on us working out which way to navigate etc. and not needing to worry so much about perfect timing.

The graphics are a bit crappy, but the game shines through.

One bit I don't like too much - on the boss, it took me a while to realie that repeatedly pressing the button was what was causing me to not kill him - as each time I pressed the button, the single laser restarted its path.

===
It's an awesome game. Well worth playing to completion at least.

It would be totally brilliant if you submitted any more stuff or maybe just replied, to say you're alive.

STay funky,
- Bez

whatafunnygeezer responds:

Hey Bezman!

Cheers for the nice long review! Glad you remembered my game after 3 years haha!

I agree the graphics are very shoddy... my style has improved a lot since then, as I've been doing an animation course at university. Have a look at bog standards, i made that for uni!

And if its fun exporing puzzle games your after, try my Lego Quest, if you havent already played it. I submitted that 3 years ago too, but they blammed it for some reason, so I re-submitted it today.

Have you played all 6 levels of save the blobs? They get harder!!

[Greghory's Assault]

but I didn't

On my first go, I wasn't totally sure how these elephant boners were meant to work, despite having read the instructions. Got the hang of the charging and scoring system for 2nd play though.

2nd time, I got to level 12 with over 7k points before I got a bit bored and left it to die.

+++ Cool music

+++Some kinda charming characters. I love how we get to see spidey and the ninjas.

++ Cheers for telling us about this bizarre practise.

+++ Cool scoring system

---- Game seems really limited and far too easy. Maybe you should have a penalty for missing folk? Maybe on later levels we could start seeing folk who walk left and right all the time and we need to time it? As it is, it quickly gets to the stage where nothing's changing enough to keep us interested and it's not challenging either.

===
Still, not bad for the amount of time you spent on it.

Nice work, but I didn't really enjoy the actual game much.