Bezman's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Splooge Invaders]

Needs high score variables.

Top game. Simple to play, and whilst the gameplay is only really diverting for a few minutes (thanks to the lack of variation) it's a great diversion thanks to the presentation and brilliant difficulty curve.

The animation was great, and the sound was top-notch. I had no difficulty in understanding any of the words (apart from 'you knocked me up' at the end).

The tune accompanying the credits screen had a bit of feedback or something and whilst this may have been intentional, it was just annoying.

The difficulty curve was excellent, with a first level easy enough to conver the 'rules' of the game and a quick curve. A rise in difficulty any slower would have definitely resulted in a tiring experience.

My only real gripe is the lack of you showing the player's high score. Even if you don't have a table, showing our best score can make re-playing it a few times a bit of fun, trying to beat ourselves...

Good fun all round.

[Crack Shot]

A fun little diversion

I played a couple of times, lost at level 6 both times, cheated to the end, started again, got to level 7, then gave up.

I liked the ending, with the little half-joke.

The whole game is a sound enough mechanic, but it doesn't really entertain the way it maybe should.

I'd personally prefer it if the fire! appeared after a random interval, but you were given more time, making it a case of reactions rather than timing. But that's my personal opinion.

2 improvements I could think of are - preventing cheating and having the enemies different, to provide some visual interest. You could have a normal one, fat one, thin one, 20headed one, etc. Or not.

Anyway, good game, but not great.

Stay funky.

[the classroom 2]

Funky sequel to a funky idea.

It's nice, but could still use some working.

Personally, I found it frustrating and annoying, largely because I didn't know where I could and couldn't stand. It really was a case of trial and error and it seems to me that there's no real reason to have any 'detection points' as I'll call them outside the shown field of view.

All that does is force players to either be extra-cautious (boring, taking longer in levels than it should do and not an option often), resort to trial and error (never a good thing) or simply get frustrated and give up.

If you think folk shouldn't be allowed within a certain region, then fair enough, but indicate this!

Also, it'd be nice if you maybe gave folk hints when levels were failed. If the tips were useful, it'd encourage a lot more folk to carry on and understand the game better.

Letting folk use the buttons for going past some dialogue and retrying is a nice touch, but as another guy mentioned, being able to use a button for cheating would benefit all those who like to press keys with their right hand.

I actually really liked the graphics. Although simplistic, everything was really clean and it was far more functional than more realistic heads would be. The font chosen was nice too.

The stylised speech forming a large part of the audio seemed funky to me and the music at the end was a nice pick. However, seeing as it's nearly silent for a large part, it may have been nice to offer an option to turn off the remaining sounds, or maybe have some ambient loops playing during the levels (with an on/off switch).

The story was nice (yeah, I cheated through it) and some of the dialogue was pretty witty. It all got pretty sureal through the end, but the writing was certainly good enough to hang the game onto, providing nice little breaks and helping to generate some empathy.

All in all, a nice idea and a good effort, but getting caught whilst outwith the field of view makes for an overly excruciating experience.

[Jetpack Adventure]

Not great.

The basic idea of the game was OK, but I really felt it needed some tweaking.

Once the slug moves as fast or faster than yourself, each level turns into 2 sections almost - flying, when you're dodging bullets, and on the ground, when you can do nothing but take damage and wait for the next level. The former seems too easy and the latter shouldn't really exist at all.

It is possible to get stuck at the top - I did so a couple of times, in the top-left whilst speeding up from the bottom right, but I found it difficult to replicate this. Not the worst thing - pressing up does bring you down, and at the start of the next level you're back to normal anyway.

Th graphics for th bg were a bit too simple imo. I really liked the tree - it had a lovely hand-drawn quality to it, with nice variations in thickness of line and a few bits uncouloured, but the grass/sky seemed almost a bit of a cop out. I would have loved the dividing line to be an actual sorta drawing of some grass, as your tree was, rather than just the line it is.

Also, a tiny bit of animation, specifically on the slug, would have not gone amiss. But I suppose I understand you just wanted to crank this out...

Music got a bit repetitive, although it wasn't the most annoying. Still, I found no on/off switch - a must in these kinda games.

Maybe if fuel (very) slowly replenished, if there was more than one fuel can per level and the slug shot more projectiles it'd be a great game. As it is, it's not.

The flying is just too easy and taking some damage after running out of fuel seems inevitable.

Btw, in a previous response to my review, you were mildly condescending, insinuating that I was talking shit re: high scores on NG. Just check out my 'dodging circles' game, for a quick example.

XSDSX responds:

Yes I remember your review. At the time what I was saying was true, however with the advent of cross-domain capabilities with Flash 7 it is now possible.

I responded to your review when Flash 6 was out.

I'm sorry if I sounded condescending, but at the time I was absolutely right.

[Pico 2 8-Bit]

Good for a wee giggle.

Well, the game was a bit flawed (in part 1, after a while, only 1 guy comes at a time so you need to walk through many, many screens) but it did a decent job of taking the piss out of a piss-take. If that's even possible.

Killing Pico was really easy once I worked out what had to be avoided, but that's just the way it should be. It made me smile whilst playing (apart from the overly long part 1), and giggle at the end.

Top banana!

[2004 Election Booth]

Not too bad.

The voices were slightly harder to understand than I'd have liked (why no subtitles?) and graphics were mediocre at best. That's not the point though.

It was a fairly amusing commentary on the politicians and whilst it didn't make any profound points or anything, it's always good to take the piss out of everyone. That way no-one gets offended. ;-)

AntiClockClock responds:

Thank you.

[the big button]

Does exactly what it says on the tin.

It sorta amused me that before the rbbtdda, there's a smaller one that does do something.

It made me giggle a bit pushing the button and seeing it do nothing.

But I'm just wondering - how the hell are 5 folk involved in the creation of this?

format responds:

it takes alot of people to make porn!

[The Simpsons Quiz]

Was OK as a bare-bones quiz.

I'm sure you've progressed by now, but just in case, here's my few pennies worth.

- I hate scoring systems that just add one or two extra zeroes to the end for the sake of it. You could have taken and given 1 point instead of 10 and it would have done the same job...

- it would be nicer if we could just click the buttons rather than have to type in a letter.

- it'd be nicer to be told the answer afterwards, maybe alongside a vaguely amusing personal response.

There are other ways you could spruce it up a bit, but those are the main gripes I have.

It was vaguely enjoyable though, just because I like the simpsons. A good mix of difficulty.

[Space Caverns]

Not a bda idea, but poorly executed.

I don't mind too much that this is unoriginal, after all, I've enjoyed multiple games with the same game-rules employed.

However, the level design and presentation is a bit off.

1 - have instructions stating what needs to be done.

2 - have a little meter showing how far you are from the exit.

3 - have the ship explode

4 - have the levels start off easier and gradually rise to their maximum difficulty.

Actually, I'm not sure that making each game-type a single level is a good idea at all. After all, it's a real pain in the arse having to replay so much you've already done. INstead, if you had only 1 game-type, but had multiple levels, only having to restart the current level if you die, that would be better.

Or maybe you could have 2 game-types, but sorta have them rotate, like Axelay on the Snes.

In any case, good luck with future projects.

Stay funky,
Bez

KentuckyJones responds:

WOW, thanks for the real constructive critism. Now I feel like jazzing up the whole game.
The ships not blowing up.. I didn't to that out of laziness but its somthing everyone has pointed out lol.
I have realised how hard it is, I guess I'll go and change what each lvl looks like, I'll also make them look nicer.
I'll probably just keep it as 2 separate games, I don't want to make it into a full fledged game.
Thankyou!