Bezman's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[UFOMania]

5 Rocket Launchers!

Love the graphical style, and the toungue-in-cheek 'briefing' at the start.

Nice sounds, though maybe a short scream would work well for deaths.

My only real complaint is that in score-based games I like to know exactly how the score is derived, and this game doesn't allow me to see that.

Also, I never felt that the weight made much of a difference to the handling. I reckon it could be easier with just a few folk and if we try to pick up 30 or even 50 in one go, it should kind of gravitate towards earth mebbe and keep going down every so often if you see what I mean.

I finished it on normal and I'll come back later to have a 2nd crack at hard, I'm sure.

Intuitive and fairly original concept.

[Music Stomp]

hin

After a few goes, I managed to get to the end. 3330 pts.

I think you should make it clearer how the scoring works as I'm left unsure as to what exactly differentiates the different scores folk have gotten. Sure, I appreciate that I lost a few lives, but I like to have a more specific understanding of any scoring system.

The timing of the bashings was great and I liked how you made an involving game out of a very simple mechanic.

I did feel at a couple of times though that my failure was due to the RNG giving me no escape route.

Also, I felt the controls were overly twitchy at times - it didn't always seem to move at a constant rate.

Lastly - the 'intro' seemed way too long. When first playing, I thought it'd broken. Maybe if we've clicked a couple of times, you could just start it?

==
Fairly fun game though, with great timing making it shine a little. Reccommended.

Coolio-Niato responds:

k if u rly want ;) the score increases by larger and larger increments. when u lose a life, ur incrememnts go bak to 0 and so increase slower. if u get thru with all 5 lives ull be left with a grande total of 10 000 :D peace

[Block Demo]

speed up

I assume the blank level (with no bricks or coin) was the end.

Even for a demo, a simple screen saying we won would be good.

Also, you should really speed up the movement dramatically. One problem with this genre is that we spend a while pressing buttons and just waiting for the movement to happen after having worked it all out. Yours lags at points, making it almost horrendous.

Check out Orbox, as that game managed to overcome that problem.

Also, put in #moves made for a score, maybe a timer...

I like the basic game mechanics though and the level designs were fairly well thought out.

==
Too short/limited and you really need to speed up the movement.

[Accumulate]

I play

Played 5 times. Top score 131.

+++ Cool music.

- Though a tad over-used.

++ Interesting mechanic. The first time I saw the circles accumulate, it was almost a sight to behold.

+++++ Brillian pattern generator. Seriously, if you could somehow let us interact with that, I'd find that far more interesting.

------ I just found it all a bit too random. A few times dying as a red was born just next to me. The random numbers basically play too large a role for my liking, making the difference betwen us having a fairly wide gap in which to go, or the reds being spread totally evenly, giving us no escape.

- Red/yellow/green - a bit too hard to distinguish between for colour blind folk. Maybe you could have used squares or other shapes?

-- Disliked the way you use the colours to list 'effects' in rules screen. Just seems odd and the yellow is a tad hard to read.

++ Keeping our score with cookies.

!! The last time I played (after closing/re-opening), collecting the first few greens only spawned 1 each, keeping one green onscreen.

==
Enjoyed it the first time I played it, but I found I enjoyed it less and less each time.

Not too keen on this, but I'd LOVE for you to do something more with your pattern thingy.

[.:Waves:. v2]

reg. point

+++ Great tune.

+++ Great style of graphics. The texture on the front waves... high contrast, bright colours...

++ Easily understandable goal.

+++ strength/distance from boat ratio seems fairly well judged.

---- As the game continues, no variables change. It's just as easy after 100s as it is after 1 and we're just as likely to fail at either point.

-- I reckon 'easy' doesn't really make the game any easier. I mean After my first go, I never failed on-screen - just from letting the boat get out of bounds. You should have maybe made the boat move/rotate slower instead of just raising the limit on the angle? (Experimented to work out the change.)

!! You have a selectable textbox in the game somwhere. (check the cursor as we move it around)

==
Played maybe 7 times. After getting over 100s, I felt I'd played enough. I kinda like the mood of the game, but after playing for a while and working out where the reg. point is, and to just try and not let the boat too far to either side, there's nothing new to see.

The 'sweet point' as we understand the duality of the goals and experiment to try and survive a bit longer is a bit too short and the preceeding/proceeding times seem too long.

Enjoyed for a while though.

fuzz responds:

Thank you. I'm glad you liked the music and you found it fairly easy. Its a shame too many people found it hard.

[Ed's treasure]

working on

++ Pleasant music. Set mood really well.

- Gets mildly irritating though.

++ I kinda liked the simplicity of the levels. Kept it from getting irritating.

!!!! It's possible to get the fish stuck in the walls around the perimeter. If this happense, we just have to wait for a timeout.

!!!! In level 9, on the way to the coin, we seem to be teleported through the wall when we move round the bend just before the coin.

---- Controls for the light were annoying. Way it moves once, stops, then continues as the repeating-majigie kicks in.

---- Lacks any real challenge. Doesn't ever feel like a skillful game - more just a grind. The light doesn't really add any extra skill to the game, just the grind of having to scan the level.

==
Not bad for a first game, but keep working on the game mechanics.

How about you have the level made up of electric eels and when we touch them, we die? At the start of the level, we'd be allowed to see the level for a few seconds. Thereafter, we get to see a single eel whenever we get within a certain distance?

Still not much fun and the bugs seem game-breaking.

Abs55 responds:

Thanks for the review. I'll think about your ideas when I make future games of Ed and I'll try and fix the bugs as best as I can.

[Mouse game]

ompl

+++ Variation. You used some simple movement and the tiny twist on level 5 to elevate this above what it actually is.

----- Levels seemed far more about trial and improvement than any skill. Memorising where things would appear seemed to be the name of the game, specially in level 9. Replaying levels was just dull.

----- Level 10 seemed unfairly almost-impossible.

--- The font was hard to read.

++ I liked your friendly 'notes'.

++ Presence of level select.

++ ratings

==
After failing 4 times, I right-click-played to get to the cheat screen. Played level 9 2 more times to complete it, played level 10 3 more times, gave up.

It was fun in flashes but ultimately a bit uninspiring.

Ohls responds:

Very very good review. Remember that this was made two years ago hehe. When I had juts picked up flash MX.

I replayed the game just now and everything you say is correct. When I made this I thought it was a lot better than it actually is. I got a better perspective now though =).

[Reservoir Dogs - The Game]

my 3rd go

++++ The ending was great! Made me chuckle.

+++ Intuitive gameplay. Understood all apart from 'punch' immediately.

??? Maybe we should pick up the briefcase automatically? There seems little reason not to - just means that on first play, we wonder what to press.

--- Characters behind us appear in front.

--- The punching seems a bit random as to whether it works or not.

- When we die, it seems a bit feeble. I mean, I'd have liked to see the cop running up to us or something.

-- Using Axel seemed incongruous.

==
I beat it on maybe my 3rd go.

Enjoyed it in the end, though the game was marginally annoying.

Dork457 responds:

Really great notes!

I was still very inexperienced so I'm sorry for things like characters appearing in the wrong order. That's the kind of thing I really wanted to get right.

Glad you played it and shared your thoughts!

[DS Christmas Quiz]

game of the month

+++++ As always, the questions are intelligently posed and the responses are well written, both informative and mildly amusing.
You start off with a couple of easy questions to get us in the mood, then soon go into realms where we'll be more unsure.

+++ Some great reference photos, etc. throughout.

+++ Level indicators show well that we've passed a checkpoint. All too often, checkpoints in these games aren't apparent.

+++ You prevented cheating!

++ 'level' text is fairly well drawn. Specially as it seems to be brush-drawn. I suggest you learn the sub-select tool and use that to clean up such things to make them cleaner though. Also, the numbers should have been drawn by yourself too, to match better.

+ I like being mentioned. Not as much as being caricatured, but still makes me smile. Thanks!

+ I do like the cheerful animations.

- I think the graphics are slightly messy Just the way the pictures of the buttons overlap, the text overlaps with the pics... and the final frame is way too messy - looks appealing and maybe good for a sketchbook page, but not for a menu. The constant animation means we notice the rollOver changes less, so it's ever-so-slightly tricky finding the buttons.
I just felt it could have been laid out better, generally.

-- I don't like the text for question 2 - specially the 'explanation' afterwards. Got it right, but you use a couple of terms that it'd be nice to explain.

--- The text working as the hitbox annoys me because the text doesn't change colour. I think it should, as that's where our focus is and you need to show more clearly what exactly we're interacting with.

----- tab still works.
hint: paste this onto your init frame (first frame, which should initialise stuff)
//right-click menu doesn't show.
Stage.showMenu = false;
//yellow rectangle doesn't show
_root._focusrect = false;

?????? Seriously, dude. It's about time you learnt how to use variables. Even if you want to keep it so that we go back after an incorrect answer (which would be maybe a fair enough design decision. With obvious, well-spaced checkpoints, interesting animations and responses, it's not annoying here) you could maybe show a score at the end.

==
Played, getting 4 questions wrong. A couple of lucky guesses. Played a 2nd time, getting all right.

Really enjoyed it. Learnt some stuff (Silent Night<=Hungary; Fat Santa<=US cartoonist) and enjoyed it all. It just has a kinda messy, unpolished vibe to it, that lets it down slightly.

Oh, and the headless chicken story was amazing! I notice they don't have any festivities for 2007 listed. I'd like to go to the US for a year maybe. Maybe I could go to Colorado for that festival...

Probably my second favourite game of the month, after James the Christmas Zebra.

IceDragon64 responds:

"Jesus Christ!" I exclaimed, appropriately, when I saw the length of this one!
I created this quiz partly with you in mind, so I am very pleased to have hit the spot with it.
- level text is NOT hand drawn its "Trendy" and its supposed to look like that- including the non matching numerals- I might change it cos I agree with you anyway!
-I spend hours trying to get all the pic and text in size and place, but as I keep inserting new ideas it gets hard! I will review these issues.
-i realise that the final Congrats page is not going to be to everyone's taste, but it fits with the image in my mind of the culmination of the 12 days of christmas theme- the manic horde of birds etc. on the final day. I confess I don't always plan where the menu should be and this time I deicded to go crazy and put it all together as part of the easter egg challenge- the result is designed to make the assembled Dragons & Spirits go bananas at the Official Viewing!
-I'm open to suggestions on Q 2. I take your point; I couldn't think of a better way to phrase the question without giving away the answer. The source facts are mostly from Wiki "Christmas".
-Text is never supposed to be my hitbox. I hate that- you click the area and miss the text so it doesnt work! Where is it? My text usually changes colour - only when the text is an overlay and not part of the button is it supposed to not change. I will hunt down any that don't change. I will try and work on the details of hit area and button interaction.
-I don't understand the reference to tab- I assume this is another method of cheating. I figured out the anti- cheat for DS Halloween for myself but thanks for the coding. I will ask Codester to explain it to me.
-I really have no experience of coding/programming and know no more codes than I use here, so 'variables' means little to me. Obviously this is how you keep scores and I think your idea of scoring whilst dying is good!
-Thanks for letting me know your score. It is useful for us.
-you're too young to forget in 5 minutes: Silent Night is Austria and baby Jesus giftbringer is Hungary!
Never mind!
It IS a bit unpolished. I am still working at the edge of my ability and everything that I change changes something else so it takes hours and hours to get it right!
SO glad you liked Mike- The D&S discuss it over and over again!
I am honoured to be mentioned in the same sentance as James the Christmas Zebra. Why do we like JCZ so much? its a really fairly simple game. Its because its called James the Christmas Zebra, really, with that perfect intro!
Best Wishes,
Ice

[Cursors Of The Present 2]

oo

It seemed like more of a showcase of tiny animations/graphics than cursors.

I mean, it really is a far cry from those other mc-spawning cursors that we see in other galleries. The interactivity here is almost incidental.

Some were vaguely amusing, such as the licking one.

Overall though, it got horribly dull and I found myself wishing it would end sooner.

Robotcow responds:

yes it was kind of a showcase, but i could nt just put them out there with nothing to do, it would have gotten blamed for sure, the cursor part is just kick so i can put my aniamations on newgrounds