FutureCopLGF's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Until There Was Nothing]

Quite the weird experience! It's not exactly the most complex or fun game or anything like that, being essentially a walking simulator, but it did nevertheless feel intriguing and compelling to be part of this odd adventure. In particular, it felt quite powerful to be part of the process, to be the button, the jumping force that strips him down further and further: as simple as it was, it did feel a bit harrowing. I thought it was a bit odd that the dialogue triggers were visible to the naked eye: usually those are hidden, wasn't sure if it was a glitch or intentional? Nevertheless, as much as it was a bit of a bummer, thanks for the trip!

dietzribi responds:

Thanks for the review!
Regarding the dialogue triggers- originally I didn't plan to have them visible, but it felt better to where they are!

[Fetch Quest]

Pretty cool game! I certainly love the concept and the great presentation on display which really pulled me into the story and gave me the confidence to want to climb up and up this huge tower! I thought the whole aspect of solving puzzles while escorting your ball were pretty clever, and I found it funny that there were so many traps in the tower built to trick impatient players that bark without putting their ball down in a safe place first.

I did have some issues with the controls at times: wall jumping in particular was a bit wonky to get used to, and even jumping in general would act odd due to the momentum and the way you could hit walls/ceilings to stunt your movement. Also as much as I liked the game, the tower did seem to get a bit repetitive at times: with no new enemies/obstacles/mechanics being introduced and the same architecture and music repeating over and over, it became difficult to gauge if I was making any sense of progress.

I haven't made it to the top of the tower yet, but despite my complaints, I do think the game is cool enough that I want to go back and finish it, so wish me luck!

EDIT: Finally beat it. Was definitely cool, but aw, what a bummer ending. Guess I gotta get back in there and do it faster; Kid Kool style!

[Block Rush]

I had a lot of fun with this! It's certainly a concept I've seen done many times before, being a sliding block game, but I felt like this was just so well designed that I couldn't help but get addiected! The game at its core just felt very satisfying to play in terms of feedback and little special effects/animations, the music was dope, and the puzzle designs felt very clever and inspired, with so many hidden tutorials and new mechanics being introduced at a good pace to keep engagement up!

My only minor complaint would be that it was a little bit wonky at times in terms of whether you get the crown or the chest first. Many times I'd actually end up getting the chest first, then have to go back into the level, where when I get the crown, it'd repeat the level despite me not needing to clear it anymore (since it expects you to get the crown first, then the chest). Maybe it should detect if you have both and either exit the level, or put a message at the bottom that you have both and can exit by pressing Z so you don't feel compelled to complete it again (which I thought I had to do initially). Oh, and as much as I like the music, it could maybe stand to change up the music or graphics when you get farther into the game, perhaps, due to the sheer amount of levels.

Again, for me, this was very well done in all aspects!

[Blue Square and the Mystery Cave]

Pretty neat puzzler! I felt like this game had a pretty cool concept, and did a good job at walking you through escalating challenges with more and more clever designs to solve! In particular, I thought a lot of the puzzles that required you to do some recon so you could make a shot you couldn't actually see from the throwing position were neat, and I liked some of the ones near the end where you guide the ball through doors. Just really fun all the way through!

In terms of complaints: there was a little bit of confusion at the start when I didn't realize I could hold down click to charge my throw, but I figured it out rather quickly, so no biggie. I didn't like how previous ball throws wouldn't vanish when you make a new throw: they could end up getting in the way of your new throw, so I'd have to annoyingly wait for them to vanish before making a new throw. Also some of the physics were a bit wonky at times, particularly with balls getting influenced by opening/closing doors. Also, the fact that a lot of the puzzles were about making shots where you couldn't see where it was going since the target was off-screen were a bit annoying at times because of that lack of visual feedback (though I did like them nonetheless).

I had a nice time with this though! My only actual complaint would probably be that I wish there were even more puzzles to go through as I felt it was doing a good job at escalating the difficulty and introducing new mechanics like guiding yourself through the dark when suddenly it was all over. Oh, and speaking of that, the ending was a bit of a downer, hah!

raulmorenotamayo responds:

I completely agree with everything you said. This is very valuable feedback, thank you so much!

[The Facility]

Not too shabby! I think this game was a pretty good example of a game that, despite having incredibly simple graphics and gameplay, nevertheless tells a fun story and challenges you.

There were some annoyances at times, certainly. Sometimes I would die when I swear I didn't touch a wall. I wish there were more little touches in the game despite the simple graphics, like having the checkpoints light up if you touch them, or a death animation instead of just instantly warping back to the start. I felt some of the level escalations were too simple and dumb that they didn't end up changing the challenge at all, making it feel repetitive at times.

Despite those annoyances though, the game did a good job at peppering in enough big moments between the levels that kept me hooked to see it through to the end, and I enjoyed the challenging aspect to the game, so well done.

[Kity Builder (Prototype)]

Pretty cute game! Certainly has some good presentation to it in terms of graphics, and I love the transitions and animations when picking up blueprints and building and such. Also thought the trip around the island was neat as it had a little bit of a tutorial aspect in building bridges, and a puzzle aspect in building stairs out of buildings.

As much as I did like it, though, I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed when it was over so soon. I couldn't help but feel that the game was building up to something, like a little bit of a Sim City or Animal Crossing route where people would start to move in and you'd build them stuff in certain ways to help make everyone happy. Even if I disregard that and just treat it as a chill game with no objective but to make a nice city that pleases you (which I did), it still felt a bit lonely in the end, zooming out and seeing the island without any other kitties wandering around, and it also felt a bit lacking in terms of enough cool architecture to build to really make your own personal touch.

I still had a positive experience with it, so kudos to that! But I guess I'd love to see an enhanced version that either a) adds a whole escalation to goals and directions for building/managing your city and people or b) adds more fancy buildings, objects, paints, etc you can use to decorate your city in more creative and fun ways.

Sambero responds:

Thanks dude. Your feedback is always incredibly useful and I was genuinely waiting for your comment hehe. We are already working to expand the game, more towards the sandbox route, and we hope it will turn out nice and feel more complete ^^

[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.