FutureCopLGF's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Voiceless (Legacy version)]

Oh man, I really wanted to love this game, but boy was it a cruel mistress to me, haha! I'm a huge fan of rhythm games and such, and I like seeing combinations like Necrodancer and the like, so I thought I'd be a huge fan of this game. But gosh, I could barely make it past level two before I just left in frustration. I gave it a good go and tried to be patient, but I think it's a combination of platformers in particular not gelling well with rhythm-based controls (it felt so weird having to specifically time my double-jump for example, especially since the rhythm timing makes you fall a bit before hitting it which felt so unnatural), the game starting out very hard with spikes everywhere and complex mega-man disappearing platforms straight outta the gate, with practically no checkpoints to compensate for the difficulty. It's a shame! I really want to come back and beat this because it seems like it's such a good idea on paper and I feel like the game has a lot of polish to it and potential to make it work: I love the general presentation, I love the cool mechanics like failing a jump timing on purpose to get a boost out of it, and heck, I even love the goofy death animation (and thank god because boy did I see it alot). But damn, this game just beat me down, haha! Will have to work up the nerve to challenge this again.

[Thermal Trail]

Interesting concept: it's almost a double game jam game, borrowing both the 'linked together' and 'egg' themes from GMTK and NG jams respectively, haha! The whole escort gameplay and juggling (quite literally at times) of temperatures was pretty interesting: took awhile to get used to the mechanics, but I liked puzzling out how to get past the various traps. Felt smart figuring out the aforementioned juggling of the egg, throwing it into hot zones to avoid the walk I'm walking through, and other such things.

Definitely got a little frustrated with the game though: controls felt very inconsistent with maneuvers like wall jumps, I kept being confused on how to aim the egg to throw it (kept expecting it to go where I'm moving, not where my mouse is aiming), and I hated the feel of the jump where you don't have full control over it but have to commit to the initial momentum. Also I don't know if it's me, but I dunno, it just feels like it's a bit laggy or clunky? Some sorta vague feeling about it, though maybe it's just my computer crapping out. Anyway, I haven't beaten it yet, but I am intrigued enough with the concept that, despite my complaints about the clunkiness, I want to go back and see what else it has to offer, so take that as a positive note.

[Pandora's Egg]

Pretty neat game! Certainly makes a solid first impression with the great graphics used throughout, but particularly in title screen/intro bit. It's a simple game, but I like that it is quite challenging and has a lot of cool level arrangements and enemies to work with and figure out how to get around. It was definitely a bit frustrating and clunky at times though: hit boxes felt way more wide than necessary leading to a few deaths that felt a bit unfair as I thought I dodged them, and I didn't like the way the patrol patterns of the knights were random, leading to inconsistent patterns in this game which needs consistency for its puzzle-like nature (at least that's how I feel about it). It's a bit glitchy at times as well: had a case where I fell off the edge of a platform and immediately moved to the side, lodging me into the platform where I shouldn't be able to be, and also a level that I beat despite my character being dead, where he just died while still passing the finish line, haha. Also it's just a preference thing, but I wish gliding could be achieved from a jump just by holding space, instead of having to press it twice, one to jump and another to glide. Overall I felt like I had a good time with it, despite the little bit of jank here or there.

JJGamez64 responds:

Many of these issues are already fixed, including an extra control scheme for left handed players, but I'm not allowed to update this build with the fixes till the Game Jam judging has ended :(

Edit: Game just received a big update that addresses many of these points. Give it a second look and if you're happy with it, tell us with an extra half or full star ;)

[Matchkey]

Another solid puzzler! Challenging as usual, though maybe with an odd difficulty curve: I could be wrong, but I swear the first five or so levels had some pretty big difficulty spikes, and then it dips back down to normal/easy difficulty. Could just be a case of me overthinking it: maybe I played so many puzzlers from you I try to guess what the solution is from previous habits before actually finding it and screw my train of thought over, haha.

[Meow Merchants]

Pretty cute game! I certainly like the graphics and the simple but addictive gameplay of rapid-fire trading: it's a decent concept! However, I didn't quite agree with the execution. I feel like the game would better be served if your time meter only got refreshed when you actually make a trade for money: in that way, you would need to be strategic by scanning the field to be on the lookout for the fastest way to trade to get the coins and keep your streak up. As it stands currently, though, you get a time refresh for every trade you make, which makes the game trivially easy to keep going forever as you can just keep no-brain juggling any trade you want with no clear goal. Felt like a missed opportunity for me, and I just ended up bored unfortunately. Also, I was really bummed out that, after getting a bunch of money, I still got a depressing ending with a dead cat in the rain: why you gotta do me like that, haha!

[Lines On Sides]

This one was a tricky one for me to review: it really didn't make the best first impression as it started off slow. Really slow. Waaaaaay too slow. Seriously, a huge amount of levels are dedicated to brain-dead puzzles that practically solve themselves: while the levels keep increasing in size, the difficulty or mechanics involved do not, making it feel pointless. I was so close to just quitting the game thinking this wasn't my jam, but then finally the game actually started to introduce some cool mechanics: being able to move around tiles to different locations, having to ensure there are matches for tile to tile instead of just worrying about the edges, and so on. I ended up really having a lot of fun! I like the minimalist design where you figure stuff out not by 'how to play' controller instructions, but intuition and signals the game gives off, and I love the satisfying subtle sounds as everything clicks into place. It gave me a real sudoku feel where you gotta really think ahead, as while a tile might seem good in one location, it actually fits elsewhere better. So yeah, bit of an odd egg where it's good, but takes way too long to actually get good.

Mandigondo responds:

Thanks for the feedback. I wrote down your observations and I will use them in future projects. :)

[Yemita]

Argh, this was a rough one for me! In theory, I really like the whole concept behind this game: starts off strong with a good title screen, the game's very charming and stylish all-around, and I love the whole chaotic energy of racing around a restaurant smashing everything while keeping your combo up, all while hunting and collecting all these little secrets and achievements. Gives me a vibe of like Katamari crossed with the old Tony Hawk games.

But man, the execution ended up really grinding my gears. It's just so difficult to control the slippery little bastard! I know it's probably intentional that you can't stop because you want to give the game a sense of chaos, but man, at least let us hold back to maybe slow down a bit at the very least! The game seriously made me physicially ill with the way I just couldn't stop ping-ponging off the walls all while the camera kept whipping around in a frenzy to keep up. I was just begging for the ride to stop the whole time I was playing: begging for the slightest bit of control! I feel like I got pretty good at getting used to the controls in the end, but I felt like that was only begrudgingly and not a satisfying victory, haha. So yeah, unfortunately a bit of a mixed bag.

[Static Cling]

Super cool game! Very solid and impressive in all aspects, making it very addictive and satisfying to play. It really surprised me: I didn't think much of the puzzles at first, but they just kept building on up and up with all sorts of neat aspects and new mechanics, and I liked how intuitive it was to learn due to the nice visuals on aspects, like the battery having a gauge, being able to see the pulses of electricity run through the wires, etc. I did find the tutorial aspect a little annoying: the chalkboards were super tiny and I don't know why you don't just show the control inputs on the chalkboards, instead of forcing the player to have to stand still and wait for the controls to appear (feel like the controls showing up after idle should be a last ditch effort, not the only way to see the controls in the first place). Great work on this: got a heck of a team here!

[0]

Challenging game! This game was definitely quite a doozy with its hard difficulty and trickiness getting consistent physics for the egg, but I wouldn't say it was so hard as to be frustrating as I couldn't help but get addicted to this (though I certainly wouldn't mind the game being a wee bit slower or having more control over aiming, haha). This game got its hooks in me deep due to its ceaseless escalation and introduction of new and interesting mechanics, all arranged in some great and unique levels. Game also has plenty of charm with its goofy concept, visuals, and nice touches like seeing all the egg splats stack up over time. Cheers for this!

15:47
481 eggs broke
damn that last level was a doozy haha

[Adventure Boy: Jailbreak]

Haha, I do love these types of games where you explore the land and figure out this way to trade one item for another in a crazy chain to get to your goal, and this game delivered that well! A solid adventure with good presentation and an amusing world to explore, filled with tons of interactables with funny flavor text. Speaking of the flavor text, I was definitely impressed at the level of effort on display: not only was there a lot of interactables, they surprisingly had a second line of dialogue if you talk to them again, and there were all sorts of responses for giving them items. For example, I couldn't believe the game actually recognized the logic of my attempting to trade soda to the kid for their sugar since soda is practically sugar! Stellar stuff, this.