Bezman's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Path Of Akuma V0.2]

I still feel

Beat it on my 2nd go.

As we can keep a stalemate going indefinitely, the winning strategy seems to be to wait until we've garnered enough points to just kick endlessly, whilst the enemy AI will simply continue picking seeminly random attacks.

I thought the front-end was really shoddy. Selectable text for 'play' ruined the button and you need to actually design a visually appealing instructions screen. And spell-check. Lastly, when we win/lose you need an end-screen.

In-game graphics were really nice and I liked the texture though.

Also, I did kinda have a bit of fun working out the winning strategy, even if most the time seemed to be spent slowly waiting for it to execute.

I really think it'd be better if you actually told us the stats (amount of damage...) like you did in the last MK game. And maybe in-fight, have a number pop up for how much damage we did.

I liked the idea of being able to charge our PP, so maybe bring that back.

Lastly, what might be mega-cool is if we could execute different attacks at different stages of the bar. So lower on, we could do simpler attacks mebbe... and the first move available would be a block...

==
I still feel the basic mechanics need a lot of work, but I'm actually really looking forward to seeing what form this game takes next.

Keep working on it - a good turn-based mechanic is hard to come by - even the professional games have a hard time injecting theirs with a real sense of strategy and interest!

skein responds:

wow a very nice review. Well the full game will have:
-2 slectable characters
-Many enemies
-Stats will be shown
-There will be a tutorial
-Diffrent class enemies
-Boss battle
-Upgradable stats
-Unlockable moves

[Fallin Objects Game - L 1]

You've progressed an awful lot!

I hate the fact that we often experience unfair deaths (being teleported to the a position with no chance of escape).

I also got annoyed by the controls (moving once, then pausing until the key repeat kicks in... not suitable for a high-speed game like this) and the hitboxes for collision detection, which seemed to be slightly against us.

Still, he premise is intuitive and there are a few nice graphical effects. The 3D game-over screen is actually kinda impressive. The character is kinda cute.

But the mechanics themselves are horrible.

I mainly like this game as it shows how much you've improved.

<3

Coolio-Niato responds:

<3 :)

[Cyrax TB FT]

Mindless clicking.

I quickly read the moves list, skimmed one of the character profiles, then started. I decided upon simply charging my SP and then doing a fatality - a tactic which saw me through the entire game.

That's my real beed - the 'interactive' part of choosing what to do is almost redundant when a winning objective is so simple and also fairly obvious.

We're just reduced to mindless clicking and waiting for the animations to happen.

Also, I was irritated how after killing Jax the game kinda just froze. Even a screen with text saying, 'you beat the game! Congratulations!' would be appreciated.

I liked how you were totally up-front with all the numbers and it looked as if the RNG played less of a factor here.

Also, graphics and sound were rather good.

I reckon you could have improved this by maybe having the stats for the moves appear in the 'roll-over' frame of all the buttons and also the stats for enemies appear before each match. It'd make sense.

Most importantly though, I honestly think the mechanics need a real re-working.

skein responds:

well check out PathOfAcuma. it's a second game but with better mechanics

[Mind Boggle]

Advanced is advanced

I've never been able to do the rubiks cube or pyramid and despite half an hour of effort couldn't make it through this on advanced.

What I really liked, though, was beginner mode. It was easy enough for me to manage - although when I first approached it it seemed difficult, I soon got my head around it and upon returning I tried it a few more times, managine it within seconds (to see the great quotes).

I think 'beginner mode' could be turned into more of a game, to provide some intermediate stages. How about letting us try it with some arrow pairs missing?

Any chance of you making that?

atkman responds:

Thank you for your input. I have added an intermediate stage along with more sound and better graphics. It is definetly more of a game with an end.

[-Rebound]

Serious bug!

Took me a while to get used to the controls, but after a few games, I pretty much got the hang of it. After a few times dying at level 5 or before, I decided to just forget about bouncing it as often as possible and just let it move about in the central third, just trying to stay alive. Just play one more game, see how far I got.

I got to level 5. 2 of the lives I lost were because of the ball MOVING THROUGH lines (something that had happened before). The other was partially my fault for clicking where the ball was, then as I realised, I could have saved it if I'd remembered to not click too near the edge.

Both of these are annoying faults - to check if the ball has moved through a line, I suggest you interpolate maybe 5 or 6 positions in between the old point and new point.

Also, the ball can vibrate in a line somehow. Don't know how that happens.

I reckon if you sorted out those flaws (specially the passing-through lines) and gave the levels a bit more variation maybe, it could be a top-notch game. As it is, it just feels unfair.

cumSum responds:

I won't sort out those 2 flaws because you are the only one who has ever encountered them. I myself as the maker have played this game for hours and never noticed the ball vibrating or going through lines. Thanks for trying to review though.

[4way Pong]

levels were dull

When I noticed the glitch with the bats (if you slice the ball after it's beyond the edge of the paddle, it'll vibrate, giving you thousands of points in a few seconds) I spent a few minutes trying to get a high score that way. My score was 12843, with maybe 20s of playtime.

I then tried to progress through the levels and the same glitches that had been a source of amusement were now a source of irritation, as I felt I was often unfairly killed. Listening to some language 'tapes' so I wouldn't be wasting my time too much, I had maybe 4 attempts at progressing.

I got used to ensuring i was on the ball as it hit to avoid the glitch occuring and got to the bonus level after level 12. In this stage, something wierd happened - I found that I was dying even when the ball hit my bat and lost my 2 remaining lives.

Final score: 22673

I obviously like the basic idea and the presentation is clean without being totally sterile and bland.

Loops fit well and apart from the paddle-vibration, vibration when it hits a line dead-on and the bonus level glitches, it seems to be programmed fairly well.

However, the vibration is terrible - instead of just reversing the direction, I suggest you actually move the ball to a point inside the paddle, if you see what I mean. That's what I did in my game:

com/portal/view/109703

I felt your levels lacked variation and kinda dragged on. I was really hoping that later levels would have some wild and exciting infrastructure that actually altered the focus of the levels somewhat.

They really seemed to drag on - the levels were all pretty easy once it was under control, as long as I played it safe, so as to not fall prey to the vibra-glitch. Maybe change it so that the timer doesn't go back up when we lose a life? It doesn't seem like it'd make it particularly easier, but having the timer go back up each time kinda adds insult to injury.

==
OK game, but levels were dull and the thing seemed like a bit of a waste of time.

Question: are the levels for '-rebound' the same as for this?

cumSum responds:

Wow, great review. I didn't expect somebody to put that much effort in analysing my game. I didn't know somebody had done a similar game either. At first, I made -Rebound. After -Rebound was posted I had the idea of the 4way Pong. I tried to adapt my Rebound to make this new game without too much work. After a few modifications, I had a working game. I did notice the vibration glitch but to be honest, I didn't care too much because I already had -Rebound, which doesn't have that glitch by the way. So, anyway, thanks for the review, I suggest you give -Rebound a try now. The levels are the same to answer your question.

[A Batman Short]

in some ways it was just a poor clone...

Took me maybe 6 goes, but I finished it!

Though I generally don't like scaling or rotation on sprites (as it makes it seem like it's from a spritesheet instead of because of a console limitation if you see what I mean) it added comic appeal here.

The presence of 'energy' actually gave the game a little bit of strategic focus as I tried to work out how to overcome the obstacles without moving too much. Also meant, unfortunately, that I had to bother to wait a few seconds after each screen to prepare for the next.

There wasn't as much forecasting or emphasis on the 'impacts', which I didn't like.

==
In some ways it was just a poor clone of an established genre, but the energy bar helped make it almost a unique experience and quite fun.

Personally, I'd urge you to keep adding new things, maybe working on that levelling up...

Does levelling up do anything other than recharge health/energy?

jcbbjjttt responds:

Thanks for the input! This particular game is just a prototype of the game I hope to make. I just started flash so this was just an attempt at getting something out there.

I don't quite understand what you meant by forcasting the empacts, I would try to fix this but I don't know what you mean.

Also to answer your question about leveling up, yes, it increases the amount of HP / Energy / Damage / and the speed at which your energy comes back. I hope to add a "Status" area in the future that you can see your HP / Energy Amounts and have different attacks that you can switch out amongst the three attack keys.

If you have any more comments please let me know!

[Attractors Revamped]

give us to play

It really is a brilliant little physics demo. I love how when physics is really great in virtual stuff, that alone can make for a fun little toy.

However, the trails work well and I love how the particles seem to come at a plethora of angles. The presentation is fairly polished.

The interaction is fairly good and the few 'pieces' you give us to play with really have a lot of potential for experimenting with.

Maybe it's endemic of today's overly goal-orientated nature that I find my only suggestion for improvement is a switch to a goal-orientated play (i.e. a game). Is it a sad state of affairs when we can't just mess about and enjoy fiddling with these amazing 'virtual ants' without some goals to guide us?

Or maybe it's a sign that the real world still has more lasting allure with its tactile nature, than the virtual world does, despite us having more control over the latter. Or maybe it's the way that having understood the workings of your toy envirnment, we cease to be amazed. Playing with a sink full of water can still surprise us...

Anyway, it was fun for a while.

Also, the website amused. Ta for the .fla.

TheCleverOne responds:

wow, thanks alot, no i was thinking of a more...mmm...interactive buddy sort of game play youknow, no point at all, but still was fun and enjoyable, but mayby ill implement this someday

[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

[.: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.