FutureCopLGF's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[hunter with a top hat]

Hmm, a little too short for my tastes, but it was fairly interesting and it hooked me, so not too shabby (plus, you did say it was 5 minutes, so can I really blame it for being short, haha)! I liked the atmosphere and the little touches in the interactions that added to the storytelling: kicking the door down, turning on the lighter in the tunnel, seeing the mysterious people show up late, and so on. And while it was a bit short, the boss fight was pretty cool with multiple phases to fight through (though phase 2 was a bit confusing because I wasn't sure if I was making any progress with the shield, was it just a waiting phase?) I think there is a pretty decent core here to work from for neat storytelling and combat, and I'm intrigued to see more!

[Polarity Switch]

It's come to the point now that whenever I check out a Rob1221 puzzler, I think "they can't all be good: he can't keep getting away with consistently making solid puzzlers. This, this will finally be the one where it's bad and I can give some feedback to improve." But nope! It is yet another great puzzler that takes a concept that I thought I would hate (magnets) and makes me fall in love with it by not only using the concept in clever ways, but also having greatly designed levels that intuitively teach the game mechanics and ramp up the difficulty bit-by-bit in an addictive way. It's good, damn you, it's good! You can't keep getting away with it!

(but seriously good work as always)

[Souls Rest]

Pretty decent game! I liked wandering around the house and examining everything: had a good amount of flavor text and some spooky events like looking through the windows (the difference cutting the music makes!) My personal favorite: I really liked the search for the flashlight part, where if you're paying attention, you can see the box/board trap coming: I felt really clever there, and it felt a lot better designed than most of these horror games where you can't see traps coming and you just die: trial and error crap. Having said all that positive stuff, there was a bit of jankiness to the game: the slider lock was really unintuitive and unresponsive for me, as I dunno why it had this weird arrow/mouse control scheme. While I liked the flashlight event, there weren't many other events like it: I expected washing the gem to be a trap where you need to avoid the kitchen sink (toaster electrocution), but nope, the character will avoid that automatically, and the basement ghost scene was just tedious and annoying to wait for the ghost to get outta the damn way (especially since it can still attack you by just being kinda near it for some reason). Also, I didn't like how when you get a key and use it on a door, it doesn't say you unlocked it: by just opening with no message, I wasn't even sure if I remember correctly on whether it was locked in the first place. Also, there were some bugs, like at one point when I was in the graveyard, I accidently hit the X key and for some reason it teleported me back to the slider lock chest? Weird stuff. Anyway, while it had some confusing parts and I didn't feel like it had enough standout events, it was still a decent romp, so nice work!

LynxIeles responds:

The slider puzzle was iffy due to my program I use to make it. the new beta of it is going to make me fully rebuild the slider puzzles or replace them in the full game.
Thank you for the very helpful feedback. I plan to add more events to make it easier to figure out where to go as well as add interest.

[Spot & Click]

Quite the nice surprise! Game was a nice twist on an old classic concept, and I felt it took the animated element and made it more than just a token addition: by having some of the differences be animation related (such as a bird subtly being more active in one than the other and such) it really elevated it into its own thing. Also, I liked how there was a nice spread of differences: some easy to spot, some very hard to spot, some static, some animated. The variety really helped hook me into it (well, if the beautiful art and animation hadn't hooked me already, haha!) Only downside I could say is that it was a bit weird that there wasn't any scoring or penalty as without those, you could easily resort to just clicking like mad to find practically everything. Oh, and maybe that the animation was so good that sometimes I'd just be watching it instead of playing. Anyway, I had a lot of fun criss-crossing my eyes between the two pictures to spot everything, though I only got as high as 24, argh!

[Arcane Maiden]

Pretty neat game! I'm not really a fan of turn-based RPGs that much, and while this game can be a bit slow at times, with some long animations and long waits for bar filling, it actually seemed to have some decent strategy in place that I enjoyed: using delay strikes to buy time, deciding whether to heal or save up for a big lvl 3 strike to end it, neat stuff! I still think it is a bit slow and grindy for my tastes, without enough story to keep me hooked, and with enemies that didn't make me have to change my strategy up enough, but overall a positive experience for me.

In terms of feedback, I do feel like the game lacks a lot of information and could do with a more polished presentation to help with that. For example, the skill tree was very confusing for me at first: I didn't realize that the SP next to learn wasn't how much the ability cost to learn, but how much SP I currently have in total. I wish the skill requirements weren't just a boring list you have to read and figure out: I'd like it if when you try to learn a skill you can't, it would make an error sign and highlight the nodes you need in glowing red or something to help the player see. Just all sorts of stuff like that: helping direct the player with more visuals and sounds. Also, I wish there was more info in general: I'd like it if I could strategize my battles by seeing if I could intentionally plan for a level up to get my health back after a fight, but since I can't see my xp bar during combat, it's a no go. Got some weird bugs here and there as well: for example, I dunno why my player name is "<TEXTFORMAT LEADING=", haha! Also, I wish the story would do more to hook me: felt like it petered out quickly and didn't introduce any new info in the grass levels as I went. Also I felt like the graphics were a bit mish-mashed: different graphics of varying quality (like the difference between the MC and their partner) gave it a bit of an unprofessional feel, like it's just slapped together from a bunch of mixed-up asset packs and such (not that there's anything wrong with asset usage, but it can lead to a non-cohesive style).

Anyway, like I said, despite all those complaints that I'd love to see fixed or polished up to make the game even more beautiful, I did feel it had an interesting take on turn-based strategy that I had fun with, so kudos for that as it ain't easy to make me to play RPGs nowadays!

MidNightMaren responds:

You make some very valid points. The Skill trees could use some more indicators that's true, I'll try to make it happen.
Also the 'Exp Needed' on the battle UI was something I realized was missing when I was almost done with the game. I notice a lot of games do have that feature. I'll look into it also.

The <TEXT FORMAT> bug is something related to Ruffle I'm still trying to figure out. On Flash Player while testing locally it works just fine; but I get it that input text on Ruffle is either something not yet implemented, or I'm just calling it wrong somehow.

The story is something I said before. The structure of the game didn't give much room for one. And also, all and all, this game was a try out of a mechanic I didn't have much clue if it was going to be well received.

You can read in the credits this game uses assets from countless authors. I too felt the difference in quality of the sprites was something bugging me to no end. I even resized characters on stage so that the pixels looked the same size. Cut of some in-between frames to make it seem the same frame rate, etc.
Who knows on a possible sequel I can get a couple of artists to help me design some unique assets. And also go and address all the flaws this game presented.

[Throw Rocks At Shit GOTY Edition]

I never thought I'd see one of my favorite games, Root Beer Tapper, come back in shit form! Not to say that this game is shitty: much the opposite, as I had a great time with it! Definitely delivered some classic addictive hardcode arcade fun: loved the risk/reward of building up my super for multipliers and only throwing as many rocks as necessary. Mechanics are definitely well thought out for creating some exciting play, but at the same time, a lot of the mechanics are a bit unintuitive: I thought the big pile was a boss at first so I didn't realize that you aren't supposed to hit it, lest it punish you by not only growing larger, but also taking your super (c'mon, doubly punished? jeez, why don't you just kill me immediately for hitting it while you're at it). And, I didn't realize you could hold on to your super to get bigger point multipliers and a bigger super finisher: without knowing that, it gets bland, which it feels like it would be easy to not know because who doesn't want to immediately use their super? But still, in the end, I had a great damn time flinging rocks!

[Patetfiske]

I didn't get that far because it was a bit too chill of an experience for me, but it was a chill experience I guess so...mission accomplished, haha! Then again, I could be totally wrong about the 'getting far' aspect: not sure if there is a story to this game, but it kind of felt like it as my character went from catching fish to suddenly catching a dog and an amoeba, so I'm wondering if something was building up or if it was coincidence. The experience was a bit surreal and odd enough to hook me initially, what with the weird music and catching fish, but it didn't really hook me for long. I was hoping to be able to examine the fish to see info on them or something, but all they do is just fill up a gallery with icons. Fishing didn't have much interactability either: can't decide where to throw your hook or any strategy like that, you just throw and wait, same thing every time. Bit confused on why the character gives up sometimes: feel its more appropriate for a chill game if he just always waits. I dunno, I know I'm probably not the intended audience since I'm an action junky, but I'd like a bit more from this game. I know it's chill and all, but I kind of wish there was just a bit more life to the world: more little things you can do or more changes happening in the world to watch.

[Heck House - A Chilluminati Adventure]

I'm not familiar with the crew so the inside jokes are lost on me, but it seemed like a fairly decent adventure! Controls were a bit confusing to figure out at first since there were no instructions: I thought there were two buttons, one to examine (Z) and one to interact (X), but actually it seemed like the examine button was also the interact button, and what I thought was the interact button was just...throwing up the horns? As only the one Hawaiian-shirt wearing character? Anyway, gameplay was pretty neat with a lot of examinable items for flavor text, something I always like in games like this. Puzzles were hit and miss: getting the dog for the bone was alright, but I had no idea the table next to the aliens was for putting a pie down on: maybe you should highlight interactable objects, or give a clue, like making the aliens say "oh, food delivery? put it down right there". Maybe I didn't get far enough in the game, but I felt like the character switching was a bit of a waste: they all share an inventory and didn't seem to have cooperative abilities or anything. I didn't like how the game advanced text and cutscenes without waiting for you to hit a button to confirm you wish to proceed: I'd miss reading some text that way. Also I wish I could view my inventory: got an item from the aliens that I had no idea how to use or even what it was. Anyway, neat little adventure: just felt like it could've had a bit more of a hook/concept to really grab me, as once I got lost I didn't have much incentive to go on.

AxolStudio responds:

Each of the characters has one main ability that is used to get past an obstacle in the game.
You can get a hint about them by pausing the game (P) with each character selected.

[Descent (2021)]

Surprised at how challenging this got! I was worried in the beginning with how easy it was being, but hoo boy did I eat my words. Overall it is a bit of a mixed bag for me. On one hand, the gameplay, while simple, is pretty solid and the game does a good job at constantly escalating the challenge with a large amount of varied enemies and obstacles being introduced bit-by-bit. Graphics were pretty decent as well: a bit drab, but with some nice effects like dust clouds for movement and jumps. On the other hand, I did feel a lot of the challenge was not quite from good design, but unresponsive controls, annoyingly obfuscated obstacles, and frustrating physics. There were definitely some times where when I got hit, it was on me, and that's fair, but so many of my jumps were unintentional or delayed because of the controls: for example, I'd try to walk off a platform into a glide, but instead of gliding, it'd treat my input as a late jump right into some ceiling spikes, killing me (I suppose this is the bad aspect of coyote time). Plenty of other times where my jump would just go awry or I'd bump into something and lose my glide for no reason and such. A lot of the obstacles, like the crumbling bricks or especially the falling stalactites were barely visible and incredibly annoying to look out for. Speaking of looking out for, I wish there was a way to look down: I understand that we have a glide, but like a climber does (or a faller in this case, haha), I'd like to be able to look ahead and plan a bit (I understand if gliding is supposed to be a replacement for this, but still). Oh yeah, another big thing that tripped me up was the inability to ride falling platforms: I really wanted to ride on them and jump off, but they fall at a different rate so you end up detached. I still feel like I had fun, I just feel like this game kind of rides right on that tenuous line between fair challenge and frustration.

[The Behemoth Mural Collab]

Hmm, it's definitely a good cause and nice to see collabs like this, but at the moment, the general display and navigation doesn't leave a good impression to me and kind of hurts the experience. Don't get me wrong, it does seem to have some charming art and presentation here and there, such as the notebook paper tilted credits, but overall, it's a bit out of sorts. The mural itself is decent, but the graphics look really mish-mashed and distorted, like they've been scaled in all the wrong ways, and I don't like the way you can move beyond the edges and see into the darkness. Hovering over an artwork, I can't read the pop-up text for the artist because it's plain black text that doesn't stand out from the background art: would really benefit with a white highlight or maybe a text box surrounding it to make it pop. Navigation is really weird: for example, I'd hit play to go to the mural, hit the next arrow to go to the artists list, and then hit back to go to the mural, but it wouldn't send me back, instead it sends me to the credits for some reason (it seems like the back button on each page has a predetermined page it sends you back to, instead of sending you back to the actual previous page based on what the user has done). Buttons are a bit boring and difficult to tell if they are interactable because they don't get highlighted, and the mural HUD is confusing: why is there a pointless arrow key HUD, but the arrows to go back and next are within the art work instead of on the HUD? Also I wish the controls were a bit more intuitive, like being able to click and drag the mural with the mouse, or using the scroll wheel to zoom in and out. And so on. Again, good cause, but I'd like better presentation: the game needs to be as beautiful of a frame as the artwork it is housing!

Mabelma responds:

Thanks a lot for the feedback. A lot of useful points to take into consideration for the future. Appreciate your comment, and your score 👍🙏