Bezman's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Trebonius]

Too repetitious

Going through the same cycle of enemies over and over again just isn't fun.

It wasn't nearly as bad as the last reviewer made out, but I am surprised that this was put into the collection of shooting games.

I only got to the 2nd wave, but after having to continue a couple of times, I decided to give up simply because I wasn't enjoying it.

If you make another shooting game I urge you to ditch the idea of going through a cycle over and over until a set number of monsters have been shot.

Such repitition just doesn't make for an enjoyable.

[BLAM! MiniGame]

A groovy little thang.

This really is just like the old blam movie. How did you get the colours so precise? Was it just by using old screenshots and a colour picker for reference or is there some easier way to get the gradients just right?

In any case, it was an enjoyable game to begin with at least, and rather inspired.

The game rules were pretty funky but it did get a bit boring after a while. Although it did start to speed up to about the right amount for elite guard as you said yourself, it takes a while to get there so by that point you're kind of getting bored of doing the same thing over and over.

Also, the music does get really repetitive. Whilst I appreciate you using the loop from the original file, it would have maybe been nice to mix it up a bit, or have that as a loop for the beats and have some other melody come in on top of that.

It sould also have been funky to introduce some more variables rather than have it just speed up.

Maybe have more than one file on-screen at a time later on? You could get clusters going across the screen, needing accuracy to pick out the correct ones...

I got 118 points and after playing that long, I reeally didn't want to start again and doubt I'll ever return to the game.

Maybe if you had a high score table I would though...

Still, it is really nicely thought out and a great tribute to a small part of NG.

[Found Lost]

Different, immersive and well detailed

The detailed text, the ambient sounds that play throughout the movie and the dark graphics all conspire to immerse you in the world you've created.

It seems that you included the lone puzzle in an attempt to ensure people explored the house properly. However, I feel that maybe if you had made the puzzle slightly easier (something like 'look where time is 1 twice over') and maybe created another couple of puzzles requiring exploration, the immersion could have been more complete.

The text-boxes remaining open was a bit of a pain, as was not knowing what could be clicked on.

======SPOILERS AHEAD!===========

The way you presented the painting helped show off its macabre nature, with the doll-like nature of the girl only becoming evident after the larger picture opened up.

My only real gripe is that the ending wasn't quite as effective as it could have been. I'm not entirely sure why though...

=======END SPOILER==============

All in all though, this is a Flash that will prove immersive as long as you are willing to take the time to explore.

It largely succeeds in its attempt to prove chilling and whilst it could do more for the cause, this work is a new milestone for Flash work in general.

[Pumpkin Simulator 2003]

A simple, brilliant idea, brilliantly executed.

I wouldn't know how to do the carving at all - it really shows how competent you are with Flash.

Other than being a technical acheivement, it's a fun, creative game that's definitely worthy of the short amount of time it takes to download.

Scribbling on various faces is fun enough, and the way you get to see your creation with a candle inside in various states of darkness is brilliant.

It would be nice if after seeing the 'ending' you had 2 options - 'new pumpkin' and 'continue', for those of us who'd like to maybe add something to the face.

But it's great fun as it stands and is definitely worthy of its score.

The sounds are definitely worth the extra kilobytes in my opinion.

rotpad responds:

thanks

[Johnny Rocketfingers]

Suppish

Nice combination of fbf animation and tweening.

The graphics were sweet on the eyes, and the music was groovy.

The puzzles, though occasionally only really solvable through trial and error, were enjoyable to work out and one or two of them were pretty funny.

The pre-loader was brilliant, and I loved the suppish picture for playing tennis.

I don't think the extra scenes are really worth the time to go through, but the game as a whole is definitely worth playing all the way through.

The only thing I'd suggest is that you should maybe have arrows to click through the text, rather than it disappear after a while.

This would make watching the extra scenes less of a chore.

Also, if the screen grew borders during the non-interactive bits, that might be quite funky.

All in all though, it's a brilliant game and I really applaud you.

[! Fishy !]

Entertainingly original, but not enough variation.

I played this a while ago on 2FlashGames and whilst it was original and enjoyable to begin with, it was mainly a determination to see if tha game had any more to offer that drove me to play it through to the end.

After a few minutes, I feel that such a repititious becomes mundane and the lack of any new environments or challenges to keep the game fresh is its main downfall.

After dying, there is little to really encourage me to 'play again'.

I feel that if it was expanded somehow - whether into a sort of RPG or an action game, the original take on 'combat' and 'skill progression' could give a different slant to the game and make it a game more worthy of its score.

Maybe having a larger map, with fish that move differently in different areas which you need to pass through later on in the game and having it fleshed out into some sort of underwater action RPG would make it into the compulsive game it deserves to be.

As it is, there's just not enough to it.

[SD-Elevation]

Enjoyable to begin with.

It's presented nicely enough and the game's fun for a wee while.

However, it does get a wee bit boring after you get so far, lose and start having to replay levels.

You can cheat by right-click forwarding, but I don't see that as a massive problem. Just the fact that I decided to do that maybe underlines another problem - a lack of variation?

Maybe you could have introduced more movement patterns, maybe had them move in circles, or had different sizes of lifts, or things you collect.

I kept at it for a while, but there didn't seem much point in carrying on to me since I'd seen the levels and realised that they really offer nothing new. And you don't seem to have an online scoreboard, so I don't understand why you need our name.

I suggest that you also have it so that if you lose your lives you can either continue and lose all your points or restart from the beginning. I think that might also help to make it more enjoyable.

I look forward to seeing a better, funkier version.

Stay funky,
Bez

SD-Syndicate responds:

Thanks For All The Reviews Guys, Theres Been Alot Of Great Adeas Here Which I Could And Most probaly Will Incorporate In The Game. I Release This Just As A Beta Really, But Seeing As Im Getting A Very Nice Responce Here I Think Im Gonna Have To Finally get It Finished. Thanks Alot Guys And Cheers For The Help :).

[PoPoint]

6.222 seconds

Is your timer totally accurate?

Anyway, it's a funky game, and an enjoyable one to play.

I made something very similar to this a while ago, but didn't think it was worth submitting at the time.

If you want to make this into a proper submission, I suggest you have some sound for when you click the buttons (it could rise in pitch or something), some optional backgrounds and an intro page with some instructions. Although it's simple enough to work out, that would make it seem a bit more complete.

Also, you could maybe try making some nicer 3d buttons in photoshop or something?

Still, it's an enjoyable game and the single times level is a great way to do it.