FutureCopLGF's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Terramino]

I think the game has a really neat concept on display here with some great puzzles to think through, but the execution did feel very rough to me. Not too bad once I got used to it, but I feel like it definitely could've used a bit more smoothness to it.

Just learning the games rules at first was pretty tough. The game does teach you to use the arrow keys and space bar, but it never teaches you the existence of the restart key, which is critical because if you mess up block placement, you might never know that you can restart to place them again. You'd think that dying would restart you from the block placement segment, but for some reason it starts you from after you placed the blocks: I understand why, as perhaps you just died from a bad jump while placing the blocks correctly, but it just felt so unintuitive to me to not restart from block placement automatically.

Once I got over that hump, the game was going pretty well for me. But there were still slight annoyances here and there that hurt my experience:

While I appreciated that you could see a queue of blocks you'd be able to place, it annoyed me that I could only see a few at a time, instead of all of them, as it made it so that I'd always need to place the blocks twice, with the first time being a sacrifice so I could learn the full pattern they'd come in for my second attempt.

Learning the purposes of new blocks was tricky as well, as the graphics weren't always intuitive. Additionally, I found the mechanic of rotating a block to destroy parts of it to be confusing and difficult to pull off consistently.

This might just be me, but I also found it kind of unnecessary to have the placement of blocks so rushed by having the blocks fall automatically: feels like the game could work just fine by allowing you to manually control the blocks, and that would reduce stress and trial and error. I understand its emulating Tetris blocks, but it just sometimes felt like an unnecessary hassle that got in the way.

Overall, I also found the game very muted and lifeless. While the character and other graphics were very cute, I wish the game had a bit more special effects, visual and audio wise, to it all to make elements like victory and block placement feel more satisfying.

Again, it's definitely a really neat concept, and if possible, I'd love to see a more polished and expanded version of this!

[MARINARA QUEST]

Haha, quite the wild adventure! Was fun seeing all of the various endings you could get and the sheer amount of weird characters and references were worth many a chuckle. The pacing did confuse me at times here and there: for example, while it mostly went at a very fast pace in general, jumping from one absurd moment to the other straight from the start, sometimes it did get a bit too slow and bogged down at times, like all of the introduction into Abalone's army: it wasn't a major problem or anything as it got right back into wackiness shortly after, but I just had a bit of minor whiplash as I was wondering if the game had shifted into seriousness or something all of a sudden, haha. It sometimes did get a little too juvenile or a little too reference-heavy at times for me (my god, the Half Life and Metal Gear gags were delivered like a sledgehammer haha), but all in all I had a lot of fun.

[Lost in Firefly Forest]

Woo, I made it out! Goddamn, what an adventure! I really enjoyed my time with this: puzzles felt great and addictive, with every clue I got constantly pushing me forward to think and solve more and more until I got all the way to the end. It was definitely pretty tough and I almost got myself trapped a few times doing foolish things (like trying to brute force the minecart), but I'm glad to say I got through it all on my own power. Puzzles felt like they were balanced well: they were tricky but always had a good sense of logic to them, and it felt great to understand some of the subtle hints or tricks. Reminded me a lot of great puzzlers like La-Mulana and the like: well done! Between this and Cursed Travels which I've also played, I feel like you definitely have a knack for these adventurous puzzlers!

[Adventure of Leek]

Not too shabby, but a bit rough around the edges here and there!

Overall it was a pretty cute game. There was a little bit of getting used to the controls at first: everything felt like it moved so fast and so snappy, but it wasn't too bad once I got used to it (though some jumps in tight places were annoyingly tricky because of this at times). Enemy variety was pretty decent, and I appreciated the little touches here and there like the volcano flowers not hurting you if you touch them, and also having visible telegraphs to let you know when they're about to attack. Bosses were cool as well and it was fun to see the various worlds to go through.

The game did have a lot of wonkiness to it, however. Hit detection for the water balloons could be very annoyingly inconsistent at times: I would have times where I would break a block that was right behind a block in front of it, or even worse, sometimes I would hit a block that an enemy was standing on top of or next to instead of the enemy itself! Even worse, I would have times where I would try to shoot a water balloon downwards from the double-jump to hit an enemy below me, only for it to hit the wall I'm next to instead which makes no sense, and would lead to me falling down and dying from hitting the enemy I tried to shoot! It was real annoying to try and account for this weird hit collisions by giving a wide berth and staying away from walls and such.

There was some other minor nitpicks like how it seems to lack a save system and that it didn't really have great VFX/SFX for pizazz which was a bummer, but I shan't harp on, haha.

While I found the game to be a bit too overly simple and without some real meat on its bones to keep me hooked, it nevertheless was a pretty decent little adventure and obviously impressive to get it done for Pixel day, so well done in that regard!

As a side note, I found the controls introduction a bit annoying: I'd prefer if instead of flashing through the controls in a loop, you just display all of the controls at once with different colors for each so I can read at my own pace. Also, for some reason, I can't proceed if I hit X, only if I hit M! How odd.

[SHOOT TRIP DIE - DEMO]

Wow, pretty snazzy game! Definitely hooked me in through its wild and wacky presentation: the game is a treat to witness with its funny cutscenes and story, along with its explosive gameplay and satisfying feedback. Speaking of gameplay, I found it quite interesting: while only being able to shoot in two directions is a bit confusing at first, it does add a unique strategy to the combat that is fun to play around. Love the little details here and there like the main character blasting his finger guns as well! Definitely seems like it does have a lot of potential and it does make me want to play more to see what sort of lunacy happens as I get deeper and deeper, but it did have some issues with which I will outline with much text:

First, some small nitpicks:

I found the controls really weird in that I couldn't see what they were assigned to: if I tried to look at them it immediately took me into rebinding, which is awkward to do because I don't even know how many buttons I'll end up rebinding so how can I plan it out? Also, a bit disappointed that my Playstation controller didn't seem to work for some reason.

I found the fact that enemies don't drop money, but pots do, a bit tedious. A lot of games like Enter the Gungeon will have enemies drop money, but while you can pick it up, it will have the money get automatically vacuumed up after you beat all the enemies as well. I find this nice because it keeps the pace up and lets you just focus on the action, whereas in this game, every fight has to have a tedious inbetween where I clean up the level like I'm a janitor. Come on, I'm playing a guy who quit his job, haha!

Speaking of enemies dropping things, I found it weird that you could get those little ability energy pips when you don't even have an ability yet. It really confused me at first because I had no idea what those glowing pips were (at first I was almost scared that they were bullets, haha). Maybe ability energy shouldn't even drop from enemies until you have an ability in the first place: it'd help you make the connection on its purpose a bit clearer, perhaps.

Now for the bigger issue:

While the game does decently hook me with its wacky presentation and story, I did find the core gameplay a bit shallow and lacking in any really unique hook. Yes, it does have some interesting elements like only being able to shoot in two directions and it does have some satisfying effects, but a lot of it has been done before and better by other contemporaries, I feel. It feels like the game could do a bit more, and if I were to suggest a quick fix, it would be to increase the variability and dynamics of the game through more items and upgrades. The few times I played the game, it felt like the game was never different from run to run: all of the abilities and upgrades I got were so few and far-between, and they were too confusing in how they worked and never seemed to do anything significant (for example, I got the guitar pick and savings envelope and I had no idea what they did). Compare this to games like Isaac or Risk of Rain, where you get so many items and abilities constantly and can have so much fun seeing the different ways your character evolves bit by bit into a god, or games like Gungeon where you're always getting a new wacky gun with some crazy shooting pattern to learn. I think this game could really benefit from some more dynamics like that to make every run be as wacky and crazy as the game it inhabits.

Anyway, looking forward to seeing how this game does: it definitely has a lot going for it!

LeviRamirez responds:

Thanks for the feedback!

Funnily enough, the nitpick for the energy orbs has actually been accounted for in a way I think meets a good middle ground, basically when you don’t have a charge item a teal piechart fills up next to your money amount and when it gets full it turns green and pulses along with giving you a coin!

And with regards to your main critique your honestly absolutely right, I’ve honestly felt that how runs feel back to back feel a bit weak even from the beginning, HOWEVER! My design philosophy for this game is to be as simple as possible, and I’ve tried adding crazy new shooting patterns but 9/10 times they just don’t really fit the level design and monster designs and feel more like a detriment then a cool upgrade.

Also, you just got kinda unlucky cause although the envelope is like an A Tier item when you know what it does, the guitar pick literally does absolutely nothing. (Itll he story significant in the full release)

Anyways, glad you liked it and thanks for leaving a review!

[Hours of Reflection]

Pretty nice little story game! I liked the gloomy atmosphere that was well realized and amplified through the detailed pixel art and moody music. There were certainly a lot of beautiful landscapes with nice composition in their shots, along with nice touches like parallax and fog. I had fun going back and forth in the story, retrying different decisions for various endings: surprised at some of the outcomes, like being able to walk off the cliff, or getting the kid to shoot you as part of toughening him up.

Unfortunately, as emotional as the game seemed to be going for, I unfortunately found the game too short to really make any of the emotional beats hit as hard as they could. For example, that twist of getting the kid to shoot you could've been a real powerful moment, but it would require a longer game that takes some initial time to really immerse you and make you love the characters: in a game like this where you barely know anyone and are used to retrying over and over, everything unfortunately becomes a bit comical, similar to how a horror game becomes less scary once you die for the first time and retry. Speaking of that, I also found that the language of 'game over' upon death made the death all the more weaker since it spells it out that its all just a game, nothing serious. Was also disappointed there wasn't a cool twist like you becoming the zombie in the beginning if you march out of the city and get the ? ending, and maybe you can fight back against biting the character, but that's me overthinking things and turning it into a weird time loop, haha.

Definitely a really nice proof of concept and does a good job at building a gloomy world in short order: would love to see a game like this become even bigger to make it all the more immersive and powerful.

Miroff responds:

Thank you for this review. My friend Vonka reminded me about the contest 3 days before the end. There were many plans, including the continuation of the game after turning into a zombie, shooting was also planned. A lot had to be cut out and a lot had to be abandoned in order to make the game look complete at the end. We want to develop this lore and write a new story.

[Pack Your Bags]

Holy mackerel, what a game! It ain't exactly the longest game or anything like that, and it ain't the hardest game for rhythm gamers out there, but damn if it wasn't an incredible experience! Loved the music and all the cool action that happened on beat and how everything kept escalating: what a cool music video it all made! I also loved the little touches like the game had, such as the tons of ways your character can die, including smacking against the door right at the very start, haha!

If I had to nitpick any part of it, it's that I found some of the notes and feedback confusing at times: having to do a hold note immediately after a hold note, or a tap note immediately after a hold note, would make me unsure when I was allowed to let go of the hold to transfer and how fast I needed to hit the following note. Sometimes the screen would shake after letting go of the hold and I couldn't tell in the heat of the moment whether I timed it right and it was a good shake (of me kicking ass) or a bad shake (of me getting hurt). On retrospect, it looks like the hold notes go grey subtly to indicate when you can let go: why not instead just make the hold notes shorter, to end when you can let go in the first place?

Anyway, I'm definitely going back for that flawless!

jefvel responds:

Thank you for the review, and glad you liked it!

Yeah, the long notes are a bit confusing, I might have to shorten them a bit to make them feel better, as you said. Not sure why I made them reach into the next not in the first place actually.

Good luck on getting a flawless finish!

[UFO Blocks]

Wow, solid gameplay here! It's simple, but I found it to be very intuitive and addictive! I easily found myself coming back over and over to play the endless mode and getting in an almost trance-like state of chaining. Again, it's basic, but something about it is just constructed well and satisfying to play, so kudos on that!

The only feedback I can think of is just minor stuff, like how I wish it taught the controls a bit more (I had no idea how to proceed on sprint mode for a while haha) and that I thought the gray blocks couldn't be chained at first due to their color making them seem 'inert'. Oh, and I did wish that the game gave some more feedback and different sounds for making combos bigger than 3 and such.

Oh, one more feedback! I did try to make a cool combo where I chained a horizontal row, and then tried to chain a horizontal row right on top of it during the blinking. Unfortunately, it didn't allow me to do this as technically I was making a chain on top of an unstable blinking platform (and once the blinking platform was gone, the left over wouldn't form the chain anymore since one block would fall through). So technically, the game was reading the future and correctly seeing that my chain was illegal and wouldn't hold up even though it did temporarily. But still, I felt a little let down that the game didn't let me do a cool trick like that. Maybe a case where the game was too smartly programmed to not allow it, haha. Oh well!

bluswimmer responds:

Thanks for the feedback!

Seen a few people mention that the grey blocks seemed like garbage blocks at first, and honestly, I REALLY should've put in something that explained the controls. Should I expand on this game further I'll try to resolve those issues.

[Ring Ring Bang 2]

The game does certainly have some charm to it with its odd presentation, quirky text, and weird premise, but unfortunately in the end, I found the gameplay was shallow and repetitive, and those same wacky visuals actually worked against me.

The biggest killer for me was the lack of feedback: without any strong sound or visual effects for shooting enemies and other actions like reloading, everything just felt so muted and dull. I couldn't tell how much damage I was doing or if I was making any progress at all on the enemies, making them feel so spongy and lifeless. Without feedback, combat quickly lost its luster, and it didn't help that the enemies were lacking in variety and all of the arenas felt so cramped and samey. I tried my best to inject fun by using the dodge roll and charge shot, and the boss fight was a breath of fresh air in terms of having some fun patterns to get around, but it was too little. And as hinted at before, I found the colors and filters, while interesting at first, to be a bit annoying later on as it hurt visibility.

Just felt like a case where a small amount of content was stretched too thin by creating too many levels, though luckily not too many that it stopped me from beating it. Reading all of the dialogue and notes at the end made me glad to hear that you are having fun creating these games. I hope my feedback helps and is not too overly harsh, as I look forward to seeing your next entry!

[UNITRES LUCID - Early Prototype]

Pretty interesting game! Certainly a promising prototype and I look forward to how it develops.

In terms of feedback, I'm not sure how much I can help since whatever feedback I might provide might actually be counterintuitive to how you want the game to end up like. For example, while I might think the game should have you move in a certain way, perhaps with the way the levels end up in the final version, it actually works better the current way. But here it is.

In general, while there certainly is a nice smoothness and sense of speed to the game for the most part, there still was a lot of subtle jankiness to it all, and the way my character moved in certain situations wasn't how I expected it to be. Here are a few examples I noticed:

There were a lot of instances where slopes would be very odd in general. Trying to go up or down them would sometimes have the character jitter like they were going up or down a staircase instead of a smooth ramp. Secondly, landing on a slope (or sometimes even flat ground) would sometimes take me out of my sprint and reduce me to jogging speed, while other times it would maintain my sprint: up or down, it seemed very random.

It seemed like the game has a bit of autocorrect in it where it tries to subtly push you on top of a platform if you are very close to it. For the most part, this is nice, but sometimes it autocorrects too harshly. I would have times where I am trying to dash past or through a thin rail platform, and despite going incredibly fast as to dash through it and maintain my momentum, it would snap me back and almost magnetically attach me to the rail platform instead, as if I was intending to grind on it Tony Hawk style.

I noticed that jumping from sloped ground or platforms seems to make you jump at an angle that is perpendicular or tangential to the slope: as in, your jump would kind of inherit the angle of the ground you're on. While I understand this, it led to a lot of jumps I would take being much shorter than I thought they would be, since I expected my jump to behave normally and reach normal height, and not inherit the slope's angle to change my jump's direction to be much more forward, angled, and ultimately shorter.

Other feedback would be that I would much love for there to be more satisfying sounds for collecting items and such, but I'll chalk that up to it being a prototype. I look forward to your work on this, and I hope I helped a bit!