FutureCopLGF's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Castle Crashing the Beard HD]

Heckin' sweet game! This game is all that and a bag of chips, well-polished in all aspects. Great art and presentation, charming concept, satisfying beat-em-up combat, bosses with tons of cool patterns and phases, and so on and so on: it's a smash hit to me!

But of course, there were some aspects I'll give some feedback on nonetheless (though they are minor nitpicks considering how well-constructed the game is already and how much fun I had):

The controls were a bit wonky to learn: no tutorial or anything as it just dumps you in combat, and a bit odd that you don't switch the menu prompts from gamepad key icons to keyboard key icons to reflect whatever is used at the moment, and also I feel like Z/X is used more nowadays for actions than A/S for keyboard (and why use A/S for combat but not A/S for menu navigation, instead making it A/B?).

The bosses did feel a bit frustrating at times in many respects. Many times they did not have good enough telegraphs: sure, the big moves like the laser had telegraphs, but moves like the beard poke and skull fireball just come up whenever they feel like it. Speaking of the laser, moves like that and the cat felt way too punishing: once you get hit, there is no recovery from it I could find, you just get your entire health bar destroyed with no way to get out of the combo. Also, a lot of the bosses had weird periods of invincibility which didn't make sense: felt like it was annoying that not only were they invincible when attacking, they were invincible when preparing to attack too. I realize many of these things might be on purpose to capture the old-school beat-em-up feel, which was very mashy and damage was largely unavoidable as to get kids to spend quarters upon quarters. It's just a little strange and unfair to get used to, since a lot of beat-em-ups nowadays highly favor big enemy telegraphs and such to allow for more skillful no-damage runs (though I think it's still possible to beat this game without getting hit, so it's not that unfair or anything).

Again, thank you very much for this wonderful game!

EDIT: Have been able to beat it now without even dying: bosses are definitely a bit more fair than my initial impression of them, just gotta get used to it. Again, well done, and love the classic Ryu 'uah uah uah' defeat scream echo, haha!

[Third Party]

I think it's a pretty cool concept, but the execution felt a bit too wonky for me at the moment. Obviously, it's to be expected for a game jam game, but after all that's more the reason for me to give feedback so the game can become better in a final version.

Again, I do really like the concept: reminds me of games like Hitman, or Hotline Miami where you throw on disguises and such to work your way through these puzzles, utilizing your limited resources and making fight or flight choices. However, in my case, it felt very confusing to play at times. There were so many awkward moments when it seemed like people would see through my disguise despite me pointing it at them: I guess maybe they got a slight peek at the edge of the cone, but there's no suspicion meter or exclamation to let me know they noticed until it's too late. Bumping into someone with a disguise and losing it makes sense, but it happens so instantly with no animation that it just looks bad and made me confused on why I lost my disguise. Controls were annoying at times, especially with the whole swinging your mouse to throw a corpse which never worked consistently for me and would usually end with me swinging my mouse out of the screen and losing focus. Also, in general the graphics were strange with illogically overlapping elements like signs, characters clipping into weird areas, and so on. Many of the puzzles were strange and I couldn't find the ideal solution to them: most of the time I'd just brute force them in weird ways and get a win I didn't feel was intended. I dunno what the point of the elevator waiting sections were: felt like they weren't necessary and the game could've just went straight from level to level to keep the pace up.

Bit of a tangent, and I'm not sure if I'm articulating this properly, but I feel like the game was just so inconsistently designed that I didn't have confidence in playing it. For example, in a strange way, I felt like the way the graphics and music were so good, it almost created too strong a dissonance when you compared them to the illogical layering, programming wonkiness and lack of sound/feedback: if all elements were more equal maybe it wouldn't have felt as disjointed? I dunno, just a weird thought.

Hoping to see more of this game in an improved state as I feel it does have a lot of potential: the grim nature of using corpses as disguises and tools to solve these stealth puzzles is something worthy of exploring!

[Night of the Pigeon Dead]

I quite liked this! I loved how challenging this game was and how fun it felt to get better and better at getting in tune with the controls to deal with the pigeons. At the beginning I could barely make it past one wave, but eventually I was playing like a mad man, whacking pigeons and their crap outta the air, cancelling moves, mop-dashing efficiently, and so on! And to make it through how hard it was in the beginning, I give all the credit to how charming the game was in terms of presentation (graphics, music and the fun little touches like smacking things to interact with them) and the crazy concept: it kept me hooked! I also love the whole 'annoyance' health bar, and thought the 'last chance' moment where you can save yourself led to some great scrambles. While I did have some minor complaints, such as how I wish the inputs for a mop-dash were a bit more lenient, and I wish the game introduced even more enemy types and such to contend with (though maybe it does and I'm just not good enough to see them yet haha), I had a great time overall!

[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).