FutureCopLGF's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Worlds Below]

I do like me a good grapple game, and this game did try to provide it, but unfortunately I found it to be way too rough to enjoy in its current state. I didn't like how the grapple was just a zipline instead of a actual swinging/momentum device, and I found it very difficult to control. The character would constantly bump into things, even if they were barely in the way, and come to a dead stop mid-grapple. I couldn't tell when I was able to reshoot my grapple at first either. Camera system was really odd as well: found it very annoying how it moved around and cut-off parts of the screen while I moved the mouse (why not just keep it in-place since it already shows the whole level?) And so on and so on: all-around the game just felt very clunky. At the very least, the levels did show some decent variety and gem-collecting was challenging (though maybe not since its so forgiving with not having to collect them in a screen all in one-go).

[Ann - Demo]

Made a very good initial impression on me, but really lost me in the end, unfortunately.

I liked all the world-building at the start: walking around the gallery, seeing the missing people posters, and so on (gave me a real Ib vibe). The little cutscene animations that played throughout were great as well. Traveling into the spooky realm, I enjoyed how creepy the game made it, with lots of subtle spooks like things or sounds popping up just off-screen or as you walk past them.

But then, it didn't take too long for me to get pancaked by a piano and say "oh, this is one of THOSE games" and lose interest immediately. "Those games" being horror games that ruin any chance of horror by killing you over-and-over without any hint or telegraph to avoid it: my initial immersion into the horror atmosphere was ruined as the game turned into a tedious sequence of trial-and-error, trial-and-error, trial-and-error. I'd be fine if there was significant and consistent logic and reason to all the deaths, but so many were just silly with no way to reasonably see them coming. To me, horror games are at their best when there is the threat of death, but it doesn't force you to suffer its consequences too much, for if it does so, it reminds you too much of the fact that you're playing a game and nothing can hurt you. And that's what happened with me: sure I got jumpscared a bit still, here and there, but I was no longer immersed and no longer enjoying it.

Having said all that, it might just not be my kind of jam: lots of people do seem to like these kill-happy trial-and-error type of games, and I doubt my feedback can make you change the game since it's such a core element to it, so in the end, best of luck in its future development.

[Medieval Cop-S2-E1]

Interesting story! Not really my jam since I don't follow the whole shebang, but I thought it did a good job at keeping the pace up and starting off with a bang. It also had some clever aspects, like how the game gives you a bit of a loredump though Dregg's storytime distraction to the bombers. I still find some of the humor a bit hit-and-miss: I liked Dregg and the Old Man thinking they fooled the other over the horse, but I didn't like the drugged-out horse itself, nor the way every character needs to add wacky jokes to their dialogue all the time. Also, maybe it's just me, but the kid Dregg's eyes were really goofy and odd looking: felt like it was a real half-ass-job where you just scaled the eyes down and didn't position them properly afterwards.

[Tiny Fragments]

Solid and fun puzzler! Love the concept of the game and felt it delivered on it with a lot of level layouts that really wracked my brain! Not only that, but it has an addictive pace to it, what with introducing new or enhanced mechanics and obstacles each level. The graphics are no slouch either with some great animations and good mouse-feel with the way buttons and such react to roll-over and presses. Again, this is all that and a bag of chips!

[Pico Clicker]

Hearts in the right place for displaying all these great pieces of art, but I just felt like this wasn't much of a game and was wasted potential. At the end of the day, it's just a very simple gallery (especially when you give the option to forgo the clicking aspect) that, unlike other clicker games, doesn't really evolve in any significant way as you play, and I don't feel uses the clicker genre or any other aspect of gaming to make viewing the gallery enticing so as to make the player spread the love to the artists. Maybe I'm missing something or just expecting too much from previous titles? I dunno, maybe I'm just being a party-pooper. Anyway, like I say, it was a nice collaborative attempt nonetheless.

[Underneath]

Cool physics-based platformer! A little bit frustrating at times (movement can be difficult and I hate the ricochet platforms) and a little bit confusing as well (wasn't clear what the purpose of the flip was at first) but I had fun trying to get better and better at controlling my character and making it through the increasing challenges. I do wish the game would lock the cursor as I kept getting my clicks eaten when I'd leave the screen slightly.

[BOBA]

I'm a bit conflicted on this one! For the most part, I felt like it was a great game, and it was wonderful to see another charming game from this team that delivers solid graphics, catchy music and an interesting concept.

But while usually I would say this game is all that and a bag of chips, this just felt a little lacking to me. The main culprit is the level design and the boba mechanic: it just felt really underwhelming and underutilized to me. The levels would go back and forth haphazardly in terms of quality: some levels used the boba in clever and unique ways, some levels felt like they were desperately trying to make up excuses for the boba to exist, and other levels...just didn't even use the boba at all, forgoing it completely to just focus on bullets and sawblades and such. It was all still fun, for the most part, but it was just a weird experience where I wasn't even sure what game I was playing anymore. Perhaps I'm being silly and focusing too hard on the boba, but can you blame me since it's supposed to be the selling point? Whenever boba's not being used in a level, everyone should be asking "Where's boba?" (ok now i am getting silly)

To me, this feels like the Dark Souls 2 from this team: it's still a solid game and above many others in its genre, but if I were to rank it against the other games from this team, it'd have to be last place (hopefully that's not too overly dramatic, haha).

[Pink]

Another nice and chill puzzler! I love the whole minimalist approach to the puzzles where you need to experiment to figure out the rules, poking and prodding at the various pieces. Definitely ended up addicting me! In terms of negatives, the only thing was that I felt a bit disappointed to see some of the same puzzles repeated from previous games (such as the hanging curtain pull puzzles) as I hoped for all originals. Still, had a nice time with this overall.

[Rushdown Rivals ZERO (2021 Version)]

Wow, I really enjoyed the heck out of this! It was definitely a lot to get used to at first: the character moves so fast and there were so many controls to know and use very quickly (and it feels like a game you NEED a controller for, as there's too much for a keyboard). The game doesn't pull any punches either and throws you right into the deep end to the big boss fight.

But god, if it didn't feel good to get good at this! I definitely love the crunchiness of the hits: lots of satisfying feedback to them. I liked how all of the moves, for the most part, aren't throwaway moves: instead each serve their own best-use purpose against the various enemies, all of which give you a lot to have to juggle. TomBot is no slouch either with a nice moveset that feels hard, but fair, due to the great telegraphs and animations. It all just added together to make an incredibly kinetic and frantic combat experience where you gotta think fast and improvise, kinda like Doom Eternal, and you better believe I felt proud when I destroyed TomBot at the end!

It's a little janky in some respects: sometimes the physics would be a bit wonky, the hitboxes a bit vague, player damage not being as clear, and I felt like the interact button wasn't necessary (just attach to the rope if you jump at it, you can always jump off) but I had a blast. Would love to see more of this, or more like this, in the future!

[ONE BTN BOSSES]

Really cool game! I love me some boss fights, and I loved the creativity on display in terms of making such a cool boss fight with such minimal controls, yet still having much strategy and challenge to them! And all with some bumpin' tunes as well! The combat reminded me a lot of MMO-esque combat, like from FFXIV, where most of the fights involve dodging around various target shapes on the ground in all sorts of interesting patterns and sequences: fun stuff! Some of the telegraphs could stand to be a bit more clear in when exactly they are going to materialize, however, like the windmill/fan one.

The first basic switch-direction movement felt the most intuitive to me. I loved the balancing act of safety and risk that came with it: you can play it safe by switching constantly to stay still, but really you want to try to not switch as much as possible so you can speed up your fire rate (at the risk of running into obstacles).

The dash movement was alright: it ended up being a bit too easy since you're moving fast constantly, and since moving fast means you shoot fast, the boss ended up dying before I knew it (which was a shame since I wanted to test more). It was here that the game started to get a bit clunky: I couldn't gauge how much remaining dash I had or even if it mattered, since the gauge would regularly go into negative numbers without me being able to tell what that meant, and there were a lot of times where I thought I should've taken damage but I didn't (since I think it only counts as damage when first touching/entering an obstacle, but not turning off invincibility when still inside it???).

The ghost movement...absolutely sucked for me. I hate-hate-HATED it, haha! I like the idea behind it but it was just executed so poorly: maybe it could work if time screeched to a halt or, at the very least, drastically slowed down when you are channeling your teleport. As it was currently, moving so fast and some of the obstacles being so long meant it was impossible to account for the channeling time required to dodge.

Definitely exciting to see where this goes: hope the feedback helps!

EDIT: Argh! Can I not go back and play with the original methods? Please, get me outta ghost mode, please!