FutureCopLGF's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Medieval Cop 10 - Part II]

Another day, another case! Quite the intriguing opening with the mythological/biblical imagery, and it was quite appreciated that the game got right into the action quick what with the case and its investigations and interrogations! I do think the game has a bit too much wordy dialogue at times: with so many sarcastic snaps and comedic punch-ups to the script, the pace can slow down a bit too much and the unique personalities for the characters can all end up blending together (though I do think it never quite goes far enough to lose their personalities altogether, so good work on preserving that).

[Cat Burglar & The Magic Museum]

Maybe I'm just not getting it, but I was so lost in this playing this. I just couldn't figure out if there was some sort of strategy to this, of being able to tell how close you are to tripping the alarm, or if it was all up to just dumb luck on whether you get caught or not. I expected there to be some sort of tell or levels to the guard's reaction for how suspicious they are getting, or for there to be some sort of mini-game you play when snatching loot to reduce noise, like a timed button press you'd see in Dead by Daylight or something, but there wasn't any I could tell. Even with boot upgrades, it seemed like once I tripped the alarm it didn't matter how fast I returned, I was doomed, and with no banana peels or marbles or anything to ward the guard off. I understand you might not want to make it overly obvious how much guards get suspicious to keep it mysterious, and to make you experiment, but for me, it might've been too mysterious and led to frustration and a feeling of lack of control.

In the end, because of the confusion, I opted for a very boring playstyle of just looting a few obviously easy pieces and returning, over and over, focusing on upgrading my stats bit-by-bit. And technically, I could just keep doing that, ruining the game of any fun from the risk I think it should push you to partaking in. I think the game does try to avoid that boring scenario by giving you timed contracts and upping the guard security level (which I'm not sure whether affects detection speed or running speed or whatever) but still, technically it doesn't make a difference as I could continue to lame it out by playing it overly safe for a long long time.

Again, perhaps I missed a big obvious clue for the system mechanics, and maybe I'm being unfair wanting the game to be more player skill-based when it's a more stat-based casual-based game, but I just wanted to let you know my experience. I think it's a really good concept, and I love the art, lively UI, and goofy touches like the guard shaking his fists at you if you escape (and the tutorial grandpa guard, haha), but at the moment, it just felt so underwhelming and oddly designed, leading to my confusion and, in lieu of any readable strategy, optimizing the fun out of the game.

EDIT: Ok, went back, tried to face the game on its own terms, and won in 60 days. I suppose maybe I was just being impatient and such. I'm leaving the initial confusion and such up above because I still think it's something to think about (or laugh at, haha), but once I got used to how the game works and accepted the vague rules and stat-based grind, I had a good time in the end. It's definitely quite impressive how you made a game good despite such limited controls, and I think it's up to the charming presentation of the game that hooked me back to try again, so well done on that.

[Gun Knight (by Stepford)]

Pretty neat game! I like the mechanic of mixing and matching various gun attachments: not only is it fun to build up your own personal god gun, it leads to playthroughs feeling different from one another thanks to the risk/reward of certain attachments and how they make you improvise or compensate for them. The game overall feels very smooth and impactful as well: good use of bullet feedback and screenshake and other subtle techniques, and I like the way you can see immediate feedback for effects like crits. I also always like me a good boss, and I was glad to see this game deliver a lot of neat bosses every 10 levels.

In terms of complaints, the game, while fun and volatile thanks to the gun customization, can still be a little generic and easy at times in regards to the basic shooting mechanics, simple enemy design, recycled levels and repetitive music and combat scenarios, leading to an overall staleness (except for bosses). Shooting felt a bit funny at times when you or enemies are close to walls, like in a narrow corridor: felt like bullets would just disappear without reason due to weird collisions or overlaps. Aiming could get a little wonky as well due to the offset of your body and shoulder switching in those certain degrees. I also wish the game would lock the cursor as trying to fire near the edge of the screens can lead to you clicking out and losing control. While it's a minor thing, I also would like a crosshair on screen in game. Still, very nice work on this one!

[Spooksville, USA - The Sequel to Heck House]

Wow, quite the upgrade from Heck House, and not just in terms of graphics, but gameplay as well! I ended up getting really addicted to this game: it's just so moreish in the way you can keep discovering items, putting them to use, getting another item, using it, and so on, all in a rather intriguing playscape.

I felt really clever not only figuring out the puzzles, but spreading out the team, making use of their shared inventory to scout out and recover items while minimizing travel time. That being said, the game kind of screwed me over by making some puzzles require some specific people to do them like cutting the fish (which was confusing because I didn't know each person's name from outside the game or inside). I can understand it, as it makes each character more interesting, but it felt bad that not only it ruined my strategy, I felt it also hurt the pacing by forcing backtracking.

There were some other confusing aspects, like the lack of explanation for basic controls and what buttons do anything at the start. Also, I had no idea how to save my game, and the load menu freezes if you try to exit it. But overall, it felt like a pretty fun and interesting adventure game!

EDIT: Made it to the ending and did the ritual and everything! Was good to dig up all the secrets. As funny as the joke about it being too complex to draw the ending, man, I was hoping for a big explosive payoff! Oh well, at least the gags afterwards were funny. Felt a bit silly as well that the ritual plays out automatically when you have everything: I would've preferred to use each item manually so as to feel clever. Anyway, nice work!

AxolStudio responds:

Thanks for playing! Your comments are very helpful - although I probably won't be changing this game, I will keep them in mind for future projects!

BTW: P / Pause shows some info/details about the character you have selected which might help with the few puzzles that required a specific person.

[YRKKEY'S PARADISE]

What a crazy experience! I'd complain that it starts off way too difficult and is confusing to figure out what you're even doing, but I think that's actually the greatest strength of this game in how weird of a journey it is and how fun it is to discover and experiment. Game has a lot going on with it: building a computer, playing a weird game, replacing parts and dealing with the puzzle-like stacking elements, talking with people, all while trying to figure out the ultimate goal, if there is one. There's so much life in the little touches the game has, like the whole fake OS, instructions given through diegetic manuals, and the way the computer components light up, among many others. I got really dragged into the game by the subtle way it escalates the story, dropping hints, building up intrigue and oddities, solving clever puzzles, and then suddenly the barriers between worlds came crashing down in a bizarre finale. I'll have to admit, even though I finished it, I'm not sure what exactly to think of it, and there were some frustrating elements like the awkward combination of smooth movement with forced grid alignment, but it was just such a unique concept and execution that intrigued me. What a trip to paradise!

[Jump Forge]

Quite the impressive game and editor; It's like a mini Mario Maker! I had both a fun time playing through some featured levels in the listing, as well as making my own level called 'The Basics'. The editor was very easy to grasp how it worked due to the great HUD design and control scheme, and I liked how it had all of the essentials like having to play test your level. Uploading was a breeze! I also liked how animated and charming the presentation was: menus swish out, blocks make sounds as you place them down, and so on.

In terms of complaints: the gameplay is a little simple, so even as impressive as this is, the appeal does wear off rather quickly. Lacking a tutorial or buttons on screen, the game is a bit confusing at first to learn how to control anything. I wish your character would freeze when you enter build mode so they don't get in the way (and it'd be nice if there was some way where you could just have the character float around with no gravity perhaps). Also with no built-in levels to work with, it is a bit overly reliant on having the good luck of finding a good user level to play for fun (and I have no idea how to vote or feature levels that I find for others). But I can definitely see myself coming back to make maybe one more level: it just works so well!

Prox276 responds:

As always, I greatly appreciate it! I can't overstate how much I look forward and value your
reviews each time I release a game! :)
You rarely get to see in-sight this extensive and honest. Thank you!

[Roguebot Rumble]

I think there's a pretty decent concept here, but at the moment, the execution felt very rough for me, leading to a bit of a mixed bag feeling.

To start, it was very confusing for me to figure out the rules of the game: eventually I grasped that it was a bit of a defense game where you try and stop a lemmings-esque swarm from entering your portals, but until then, I had no idea. The energy bars on the portals are so tiny that I barely noticed them, and even when I did, I was confused why, when the enemy enters one of my portals, that it adds energy to their portals instead of damaging my portal, which I felt would make more sense. Furthermore, when I beat the level, I actually thought the game either bugged out or required me to manually quit out to proceed to the next level because I didn't notice the exit portal. I notice you do have little signs that point to objectives, but they disappear so fast: maybe they should stay present all the time, or at least stay for the entire duration of your first level experience to serve as a tutorial.

The combat was alright once it got going, but it was a bit annoying that you don't start with a full array of moves: instead you only get your combos piece by piece very slowly, making combat feel very boring until then. I understand that maybe it helps teach the players the moves, but it just took so long to get to the good stuff and I felt unfairly gimped. Having said that, combat still did feel somewhat lacking even with the combos since the game didn't seem to require any strategy for their use, like using heavy punches for greater knockback or to break shields over using light punches, which could maybe double as mobility options for getting around the arena faster. I'd push myself to use the combos to keep myself excited, sure, but more often than not, I'd screw myself over since it would be better and faster to just take them out with the same mash combo over and over.

Levels were a bit tricky as well, since they fluctuated in difficulty and thus, didn't feel like they gave a good feeling of progression or story to the game. This issue is a bit exacerbated by the reliance on user-created levels as well. The character also had a floaty way they moved which caused me getting caught a lot on geometry or having no way to engage with an enemy without bumping into them, causing damage and frustration.

Again, I think it is a really neat concept that could definitely work: when you have the right level with a right combination of enemies to fight strategically, it can lead to some really hectic and fun brawls where you need to improvise. But at the moment, I just wasn't get the scenario much of the time. As down as I sound on it, I still feel its a good core that I had fun with, and I look forward to the continuation of RogueBot that you allude to, which hopefully this feedback can help in some way with.

MindChamber responds:

this was a fair and thoughtful critique, and I agree on all counts, thanks for taking the time to review

[Binary Quest]

Started off a bit odd with me being asked to play again when I haven't even started yet, but once I got in, I was having fun with this cute, goofy adventure! I like the sheer amount of possible endings to go for, and all the humorous dialogue from the characters. I think I ended up liking the smithy the most: he has so much extra dialogue that you can screw around with, haha. Also loved the little touches like the game begging you to stay if you try and quit (uwu).

There are some oddities and nitpicks to it I had. A few times when I hit some buttons too fast, like talking to someone and then walking away, the text boxes would glitch out in weird ways. There were also a few cases of typos and weird phrasing from characters in the script. The numerous screens between the smithy and the troll were a bit overly long at times and annoying to deal with on replays: could maybe cut out one of the field screens to keep the pace up (though perhaps I'm missing something important in those screens).

I haven't found all of the endings, but I do plan on going back in to see what I missed; thanks again for this short and sweet quest!

[Neon Rhythm]

Now this is my jam! Goddamn, this game really impressed me with how well it's put together in all respects. The art and story is wonderful with all sorts of goofy characters and a real light-hearted charm to it all: even the game over screen is funny with the grumpy ghost. The gameplay is tight and responsive with notes occurring exactly on the beat from what I could tell (so much that all you have to do is follow the beat, not look at the purple pad). The note charts are super challenging and crazy, and of course, are set to some real bumpin' tunes. Heck, even the options menu is great with a variety of well-needed control schemes (I keep going back and forth between liking default and toggle) and the ability to practice them in a safe zone.

Just to throw some more praise on this, I love all of the little touches that were put in, such as little quips at the beginning of a battle, and the variety of dialogue that plays when you retry a stage. Also, I really appreciate that the game tallies up your notes and scores for grades and personal improvement (though I wish there was a way to press a button to fast-forward or skip the tallying process).

If I were to have any complaints on this game, it'd be that man, it can be a bit difficult to get used to the controls (I keep hitting movement on the beat when I need to only hit space on the beat, augh, so used to DDR), the game escalates a bit too quickly in difficulty (I guess to compensate because there are so few songs), and I wish the top screen had a bit more going on, like maybe showing different damage states for the player and enemy as health gets lower, perhaps. And, of course, my number on complaint is that it's over too fast! Gib me more, more, more!

Not to throw shade or start anything, but hell, move over Friday Night Funkin: you got some real competition here!

EDIT: By the way, I found a funny bug. If you start up a song, and then click out of the game and scroll down (say, to write a review, perhaps), when you go back up to the game a bit later...bullet hell!!!

EDIT 2: Woot, finally found the secret boss! Orchid still remains supreme as the most difficult song though.

[Some Robot Game]

I think this game is a great prototype for a future game, but in its current state it is a little lacking (to be fair, though, I understand if this is just a jam game).

It took me a bit to realize how the game even plays without a tutorial or anything, but once I realized that you fight the bots by unscrewing them at key points which causes their bits to fall off, I was really impressed. I really like the boss rush focus, chaining together all sorts of combinations of giant robos to fight, as well as the feeling of progress as the bits get detached. The way slightly unscrewed bolts could serve as a foothold added an extra strategic element to it as well. Fascinating stuff to see work.

Again, though, while the boss battles are cool, there just isn't enough story or variety to them to keep interesting for long: all of them start blending together since, as much as they superficially look different, they all pretty much have the same set of attacks. Speaking of attacks, while some of them are designed well with great telegraphs, others just fire off with no warning leading to sudden deaths you just can't foresee. While it is part of the strategy, battles can also become a bit frustrating at times when bolts just can't be reached because they are on an arm that's overlapping with the chest, for example, and you just need to wait around for it to align itself in a good way. The duck you control can be a bit overly floaty to control at times, leading to mistakes and lost time. Finally, while I like how stylish the respawn mechanic is, with the way you spawn out of a thrown egg, it takes a long time to actually happen and there were a lot of times where it screwed me over and just got me instantly killed on spawn.

Again, this whole boss battle mechanic is something really special, and I would definitely love to see this more fully fleshed out in a bigger game! I will wait for the release with bated breath, though I understand if it doesn't happen.