Bezman's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Easiest Game in the World]

Heh

Not as easy as:
http://www.kongregate.com/games/deleo ngames/candy

However, a wee bit funnier. I liked the guy pointing to the win box and the end messages were decent.

Having better graphics might have helped it a wee bit though - take more time over your lines and get them to look less sloppy.

Made me smile.

MajoraX responds:

That's debatable....

Mine is certainly easier to win at multiple times, though.

[Doeo!]

The presentation really makes this shine.

Finally completed the game on hard (after maybe 6 attempts - 2 today, at least 4 yesterday). 46890

The world falls into place before our eyes. A desert is transformed into a vibrant grassland, with hills falling into place as if they were children's toys being dropped from just above the screen.

The train steams past, containing the Doeos; Doeos form curvaceous patterns in the sky...

The difficulty settings were exactly what they said on the tin - I tried 'easy' first, never feeling that I was in danger of failing, yet thanks to the style of the game I was forced to remain an active participant. Hard, on the other hand, really did feel like a challenge and kinda forced me to learn the patterns.

I played the flash you cited and feel yours is an improvement, thanks to the greater prevalence of changes within any area. Yours feel more alive - specially the commentator level when we fly up and the train level after the crash. Little things like buildings opening add up and the 'intro' at the start of level 1 certainly helps.

One mechanical improvement is that in your game, the Doeos seem to last for a more defined period of time - with a few exceptions, they remain on screen for roughly equal amount of time, the blue Doeos being a visual indicator that they will disappear sooner.

I'd have liked to see some visual indicator of when they'd disappear, or maybe have them all last EXACTLY the same length of time - with a one or two additional colours lasting differing times to give you freedom in design.

The mechanics are fairly standard when all's said and done, but your presentation really made this - the lovely graphics, the inventive world and the music.

It seemed a shame that the 'replay' screen seems to be like an afterthought, lacking the excellent graphic design sensibilities shown elsewhere.

One question - what's the 3rd flag? Blue with white circles. It seems to result in Japanese text...

raitendo responds:

a review from you is like a visit from an old friend, Bezman :)
I hadn't even thought about having them appear for exactly the same time - but now that you bring it up, it really makes sense, especially with the hard option.
The replay screen is, as you noticed, tucked on after the rest of the game was done. I'll do better next time, I promise!
The third flag is the official flag of Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It's in the Osaka dialect, not that it differs extremely much from ordinary Japanese but it's somewhat of a joke, I suppose. Hasn't helped it getting picked up by many Japanese sites yet though, but maybe it will come.
Thanks for the review!

[Cavern Dodger]

Nowhere near as good as the original.

9353

I don't feel like being able to go forwards and back adds anything to this game - maybe even detracts from it.

Having to tap forwards from time to time isn't really an interesting challenge, just one more thing we have to do. It did mean that thin caverns became easier, but that in turn negated the challenge of succesfully rising/falling to the correct height like in the original version of this game.

As a result of that and low frequency of spikes, though I did die, it never seemed like it was getting particularly hard. I really wouldn't want to sit through that lengthy cakewalk again to beat my score.

Still, at least it works OK and the graphics look decent enough.

2/5

gspschmid responds:

I suppose the non-fixed character really created some of the problems, so I agree - I should really get a better solution for that. Thanks for the input!

[Tic Tac Toe Cubed]

Unbalanced. Work on the rules&mechanics.

6-6, 6-3, 7-1. I started a couple of games trying to get the computer to not get any lines, but it doesn't seem possible.

This was an interesting twist on the classic game, but I prefer 'normal' 3D knots and crosses (4x4x4, get 4 in a row).

With this game, going first is too much of an advantage and for me that sorta ruined the game. Maybe a game should be comprised of 2 rounds - you start, then they start - and the points added up? Or maybe you could work out a points system (say 10*yourScore-5*their score) and we'd be playing to maximise that? Or use a handicap? Or fill the central space wih a neutral colour (or 'wildcard')?

The 3D bit was fairly impressive (even though I couldn't get it to rotate upwards, if you see what I mean) and the coding seemed fairly solid.

The graphic design could certainly be improved, but I think you've got to first sort out the mechanics.

This could be a great game.

-Review Request Club-

CaptinChu responds:

I like the wildcard/neutral idea. I'll think about its implementation.

[Evasion - Tequila]

I really enjoyed playing this.

Yep, it's a simple avoider. However, the crazy objects really livened it up for me.

The sfx for running is a bit annoying.

The objects fall in an odd way - kinda moving in steps rather than smoothly - although it does add to the 'drunken' feel.

I liked the addition of lasers. It did add a bit of strategy, deciding when best to use them. I think maybe they should have been a little wider though? On a couple of occasions, I fired a laser, kept totally still, but still got killed by an object that the laser didn't eliminate.

The comments were fun, but you need more.

The ranks add to the fiero element - I'm sure I'd be well happy if I got an A! But do all the messages have to be so negative?

Essentially, the crazy shenanigans totally made this game for me. I loved how it was synched with the music and the dancing men in sombreros totally made it for me.

Maybe add better graphics and tweak the mechanics a bit.

I played it maybe 7 times and could only get A-.

7.5/10
You gave this submission a vote of "5"
-Review Request Club-

MinusNick responds:

Ga-WHA!!! A FIVE!!! Holy crap I love you!!! Ahem *Composure*
I originally made the objects fall at a constant speed, but that looked dumb. This way was better; trust me. I'll edit in wider lasers tomorrow; thanks for that suggestion!
Thanks a lot for the review and high score!!!

[Stabika: 99 Red Balloons]

Fun, but not as good as the icon.

Nice game. Fun idea and the minds and balloons were drawn nicely.

I enjoyed playing it a few times, though I'm not very good. 107,106,???, 97 and 98s.

I felt the central figure should have been omitted. Unlike the balloons and mines, it wasn't drawn very well and in my opinion brought the game down a notch graphically. Also, having a big object getting in the way of our clicking didn't make it more strategic or whatever - just a bit annoying. Specially when I was left with one fast-rising ballon that appeared for half a sec above his head, then vanished for a while...

I think you should take off the bevelling on the 'balloons left' bar. Filters do use proceessor power and this game does lag pretty badly - it sorta juttered for me whilst I was playing instead of everything moving at a steady rate (and my processor is 2GHz). Maybe also removing the scrolling bg would help slightly?

I actually think without the bevelled text, it'd be visually stronger and when we can see the information graphically, it's not really necessary to tell us again with text.

The last complaint I'll make is regarding the fact that you can click to restart by accident. In any game that encourages frantic clicking, I think there should be maybe a 2s delay before the buttons appear on the end frame. I think my best game was game 3, but will never know the score.

Not as great as I thought it'd be after seeing the awesome icon, but a fun little minigame nonetheless.

The songs are - of course - beyond reproach.

-Review Request Club-

Matt-Porter responds:

Thanks for the in depth review. I can see some of your points here and agree with most. I myself made this computer on a duel 5600 AMD processor so I honestly didn't see the slow down and the idea completely skipped my mind as I said a few reviews down. I did however add in a quality button to compensate for this after a review mentioned the lag such as yours.

Anyway, again the main point of this game was really just to be a virtual poster, letting fans and non fans of the stabika series alike know that after nearly half a year, stabika 3 is done and about to be released. It really was me just playing a prank on Millz and us laughing, then we recently decided to polish it up a tiny bit and submit it for the above reason.

Well, thanks for the review and for the constructive criticism.

[NG Preloader: The Game2.5]

trial-and-error.

I got to the level with 4spinning blue bars (and nothing else but static blue). Idecided to give up at that point.

I've played a few of these sorts of games and my main beef is that it all seems to be just a test of continuing to click. Trial and error if you will. Despite you implying that the correct button has some visual distinction, I find that hard to believe when sometimes a grey button progressed me, sometimes a yellow.

So we have a game that's just about trial and error and I consider that a pretty poor show.

If you actually had differences betwen the buttons (maybe the correct button is always the same size, but false buttons are smaller/larger/have reversed text/altered shapes/embossed text etc.) it might be a cooler game - a game of observation rather than blind perseverence.

Some levels I saw were kinda pretty and I like that you introduced moving stuff.

But your game needs a serious rethink to make it more than trial-and-error.

-Review REquest Club-

Chaz-o responds:

No.

Simply No.

[Rockin 2 Fame]

I just didn't enjoy this

It took me a wee while to work out that moving the character around the house did nothing and I needed to click on the exit to begin the actual game.

I checked out the betting machine, pool table, animations and dress-up. The dress-up seems sorta incongruous, but the machine/pool do sorta make the house feel like a real place, even if it isn't.

I was pretty disappointed with the actual gameplay. The collision of the arrows with the right-hand never seemed to occur on the beat. In fact, the whole layout didn't seem to really follow the music's pattern at all.

I would have liked to know if a note was perfect/good/poor as soon as I hit it - why not take some cues from DDR and copy the aspect of actually giving us constant feedback at the focus, rather than needing us to look up in the corner.

Also, having up below down made no sense to me and felt like an obtuse barrier to our thinking.

Having played it 3 times, I only got to level 5. (max. score of 5450 I think). I don't think I'll carry on though as it wasn't particularly fun to me.

For the next one, match the arrows to the tune better. Also, with the house and all that, I was expecting a more 'open' game, where there'd be multiple levels to try at once, kinda like how Mario 64 opens up its world to let you try another thing when you're stuck. Something like that might work well (maybe make the 'worlds' 'venues' or something?)

It seems like you've put a lot of work into the house and whatnot but I just didn't enjoy this. The levels felt 'wrong'.

- Review Request Club -

[pogger 2]

needs a serious rethink if you're gonna continue

I found this game frustrating rather than fun.

I started by playing Pogger 1, got to level 3 after many, many attempts and then a bug in the game warped me to Pogger 2's first level.

In pogger 2, I couldn't work out how to defeat the robot. After quitting, I did read the instructions and play through again, but clicking just doesn't seem to do anything. I tried being close to the robot (so swords were touching him but not my body), clicking on him, clicking on pogger, clicking on the arena... but to no avail.

Anyways, this game just wasn't fun for me.

I do like the fact that you went for a few different game types. The story was ridiculous in a good way and made me smile.

However, there's faults with both graphics and mechanics imo.

Before submitting your games, as someone to read over or spell-check your own work. It's a small detail, but the details affect the playing experience.

The graphics could use a lot more work. Try taking more time on them. Try using the shape tool or line tool to make a maze rather than a brush. Try using the subselect tool (white arrow) to 'clean up' around shapes.

The whole game seemed to be more about memorising patterns than anything else. In Pogger, needing to stay away from mud and the massive hit target made the game frustrating. In pogger 2, though it was a lot more forgiving, it was still about memorising patterns - there was no problem solving, deduction or real-time skills in play.

In Pogger, we can lose a life, not notice and lose all 3 lives just while we continue holding a button, without the game pausing or telling us what killed us.

The game needs a serious rethink if you're gonna continue it.

- Review Request Club -

[NG Tutorials: B/P Pts]

sentation was abo

I like your bg and the classic audio track works well here.

Text is all fairly nicely laid out and readable.

The actual content - I would suggest starting with an overview of what B/P points actually are. It'll help folk who don't understand what they're looking at. Also, with tutorials I think it's good to spend a sentence or paragraph describing what you're about to cover. That way, folk can decide if the subject interests them and whether it's worth their time.

The actual content - I disagree with the whole philosophy of 'voting based on predictions'. I strongly feel that folk should vote based on percieved quality - otherwise you're just furthering the corruption of the system.

I know you spent a paragraph touching on the morality of the subject, but it wasn't very clear and by even writing this tutorial it seems clear where you stand.

The fact that you'll get a blam point if it's stolen and deleted by admins is interesting and one I didn't know. You didn't really explain it properly though - it could have used further explanation. I assume we don't get points for saves in that instance, but it's worth clarifying.

Anyway, the presentation was above par, the subject is one I'd disagree with and I felt the writing could have used a bit more clarity at times. Also a better (textual) intro.

- Review Request Club -

Sispri responds:

Thanks anyway.