shinobody's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Where's The Cheat?]

5 stars just for the duck dragon from Adventure 2600.

[Final Fantasy Sonic X:Ep6]

For 2008 this is REALLY impressive. Full voice acting? And voice acting that doesn't even seem cringy - in fact it's better than some professional anime dubs? Big thumbs up.

[Mars Power Industries: Prototype]

I think you should really work on tutorialization. I spent like over 10 minutes on puzzle 3 trying to figure out what the hell am I supposed to do, because I didn't understand the game had a turn-based time and me placing a building is what makes spikes go down - there is no clear indication that this is the case.

[Haunted Lands]

Great game! Brilliantly captures feel of playing old shooters (despite being a sidescroller it kind of feels like old FPS games like Doom and Wolfenstein, but it also reminds me of games like Bio Menace), but also of old zombie movies. Exquisite. Run'n'gun with hitscan weapons is a brilliant idea that I only ever saw one other person do (game Receiver, also here on Newgrounds).

However, this is kind of marred by the level design. It really is a bit cheap, and often doesn't seem to take into account the fact that player needs to reload, so levels turn into endless running away - until you die. Perhaps a solution would

Dodge roll is kind of useless, it's very short, and because enemies use projectiles, you have about 50/50 chance of rolling AWAY from projectiles, which is a certain doom - as you will lose invincibility frames at around the same time the projectile catches up to you. I think a better idea instead of a dodge roll would be a crouch giving you invincibility, but player can't move, shoot or reload during crouch - but they can crouch for as long as they hold the button.

Also hidden faces in level 3 are just nonsense. If one jumps at you when your gun is empty, you pretty much HAVE to take a hit. Again - this is a game where player needs to reload, and you need to stand still to reload (and also stand still to shoot). Asking player to constantly run away from enemies is cheap nonsense with these mechanics. Especially later on leves turn into a bit of an enemy spam, and ridiculous amount of monster closets that just clog the screen with enemies. Come on.

Another criticism is that there should be an easily audible sound cue for completing a reload. I can't count how many times I accidentally cancelled a reload mid-animation.

However, the actual game feel is extremely great, and I would definitely pay money for a more polished version of this. Preferably with a smoother difficulty curve, and more carefully crafted levels. Level 1 is amazing, I just wish other levels were like that.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

EDIT: Wait, I get the issue! It's a glitch! The Dude can reload one bullet at the time, but if the Chick cancels reload animation, she loses all reloaded ammo and goes back to square one. That makes her basically unplayable, even with her shorter reload. I didn't notice that since I immediately picked the Chick and played only as her.
I guess you guys should really playtest with all available characters, huh.

alevgor responds:

Hi.
Can you please explain, what is this "glitch" that you wrote about more specifically? Canceling reload animation does not loose any already loaded ammo on my end. Also there is definitely sound indicating when reloading is finished.
Game is beatable with both characters on both difficulties, I can guarantee that.

[Downgrade]

Central concept is pretty good, but if I could have some suggestions: projectile graphics are all wrong. Enemy shots are small and of dull green color that blends into the background - they should be some vibrant color like white, yellow, magenta or red - and perhaps glowing. Shots of your ship are much more visible, even though you have little reason to look at them.
It isn't exactly fun to get hit by an enemy projectile that you couldn't see coming.

But other than that, a really good game! It was both innovative AND fun to play, which is not something you can always say about jam games!

VascoF responds:

Yeah, the enemy projectiles aren't as easily visible as they should be. Thanks for the feedback.

[Monster Sanctuary]

Minor suggestion: let players choose their gender? A lot of people who are into those "Mon" games are girls, even original Pokemon on the Game Boy understood that. And it doesn't even require you to change sprites since they're ambiguous anyway, just the pronouns within text.

[Jimmy's Wild Rocket Ride]

Nice! Only major suggestion I would have would be to make numbers in the HUD much more transparent, currently they really obstruct the view. But it's a really solid shooter!

F0R3ST12 responds:

Thank you for the review and suggestion! I definitely agree with this.

[Copy Click Paste]

Music is irritating, you can find much longer and better loops on Newgrounds Audio Portal, on Freemusicarchive.org, Incompetech.com or Freepd.com; In addition, there are no sound effects - a sound effect for jumping and dying could probably improve the game.

The playing field is WAY too big, on screens with smaller resolution it's impossible to see at once - remember that standards for web developers (who you technically are if you're making web games) is 1024x768! So overall, that made it completely unplayable for me.

Controls are responsive, but they just feel bad. Your character feels floaty because he falls a bit too fast, and he moves left and right to fast to feel like you're completely in his control. Also it appears there is no 'coyote time' and your character falls the instant you walk off a ledge - in platformers that feel well, generally there is 1-4 frames after walking off a ledge where you can still jump.

The core concept is solid - it's the execution that falters.

Citybuilder14 responds:

Thank you for the feedback. I will take your opinions into account for any future updates I decide to make if any (as this is a Jam Game). However, according to my own private playtests the coyote time is much greater than it should be; furthermore though I will look into the issues you highlighted.