FutureCopLGF's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Leap of Life: Alone]

Wow, another great, chill, cinematically-beautiful puzzle platformer to see here! I enjoyed my time with Leap of Life and this one hits very similar beats along with some new, welcome mechanical twists. Overall, similar to the previous entry, it feels very well-constructed and polished in nearly all aspects: really professional stuff!

If I were to have any complaints, it'd be that I was surprised at how much dexterity the game required! Most of the time puzzle platformers only challenge you with finding the appropriate solution, with execution of said solution mostly being a foregone conclusion: mere busywork. This, however, would sometimes get quite frustrating as I knew what I had to do, but just failed at some almost overbearingly tight pixel-perfect jumps. The level was over in my mind, so I wanted it over already!

It's not bad to require dexterity, after all, the game does have physics and so on, so why wouldn't you challenge the player with them, but it also had the effect of adding a bit of confusion: I would constantly question myself, thinking "there's no way the solution can be this hard to pull off, can it? it must be easier! am I accidently breaking the rules or exploiting something?" and so on. I dunno, there's just a bit of an unwritten rule for puzzle platformers where the execution shouldn't be part of the challenge, but perhaps I'm being silly: I still had fun nevertheless!

Also, there were a few times the physics would bug out on me, like I'd kiss the edge of a platform when landing on it and it'd count as two hits: luckily these instances were pretty rare.

[Fish Tank]

Holy mackerel, what an adventure! This game really delivered a great fumblecore experience where you go from barely being able to control the tank at all, to eventually fighting off an entire army, navy and air force as you move with precision to each lever and button. The fact that you pulled this all off without any overt tutorials or non-diegetic controls either was a thing of beauty. Hell yeah!

The sensations this game gave were fantastic! The sense of progression and evolution of obstacles was incredibly addictive, and I always got giddy when I saw the camera start to zoom out as to introduce whatever new challenge awaited. The physicality of moving the levers by bumping into them was sublime and I couldn't get over how good it felt, to hear how they'd click and snap into positions. I just kept going and going as far as I could, really getting into it and shouting commands out-loud as if I was on the bridge of a ship, haha!

I will admit, though, that there were some points that bothered me. For example, there were plenty of times where I shot at a rock or chopper that was just slightly outside the screen and it wouldn't count it as hitting, which felt really unfair considering the very cramped camera. Also, as much as I was addicted, there did come a few points where I felt like I was satisfied and had gotten the gist, and wasn't sure if there was point in continuing: I fought as hard as I could but wasn't sure whether there was an ending waiting for me.

[N Step Steve: Part 1]

Wow, this puzzler really surprised me! The graphics might not be much to look at first glance, but the game actually has a really funny and goofy charm to it with its presentation, especially the music. The puzzle mechanics too were fantastic and mind-bending: every level seemed to be another eureka moment as I learned some new tech or expanded my mind to incorporate restarting the puzzle as part of the intended toolkit. Definitely had a great set of tutorial levels that allowed me to intuitively learn these unexpected twists, like how dots don't add up, rocks reset but your flag position is saved, flags can be moved with rocks, and so on. I dunno if I'll be able to make it to the end, especially where the bonus stars are considered, but this felt great and very memorable overall!

[Your turn to Disembark]

Pretty cool story game you got here! Definitely reminded me a lot of those other 'death game'-esque stories like the Nonary Games, you know, where it's some motley crew of characters stuck in some mysterious place they're trying to escape, solving puzzles while their personalities clash and they get picked off one-by-one and so on and so forth. In that regard, this story was pretty cliche and not breaking any new ground, but hey, I was still very intrigued and wanted to figure out what the heck was going on, so you got me there! It also helped that the game has a solid sense of presentation too, and everything felt pretty smooth.

While the initial impression was solid and I was enjoying watching events play out, I have to admit that the game started to lose me. I could forgive a lot of things, such as the cliche setting and Deviant Art Fanfic OC characters as explained before, but the thing that ultimately ruined the game for me was the pacing: the story just moved way too fast that all of the deep emotional beats that the game tried to hit just came off as very shallow!

Don't get me wrong, I think writers should try to be concise, but it really didn't do this any favors and I couldn't take these deaths, redemptions, betrayals and twists seriously when they happen at such a lightning pace. Take Bree for example: even though I could see the whole 'jackass with a hidden heart of gold' coming from a mile away, it would've been fine if it played out slowly, but seeing Bree go from enemy to changing heart and gushing her whole back story at me in just two interactions just felt silly. It's impossible to take things like the hard-to-remember character's death seriously when we've known him for just a few minutes: it actually makes total sense that we'd barely remember them!

Now, credit where its due, I still was compelled to get through the rest of the game despite these pacing issues because the whole setting still intrigued me. But that's where another issue raised its head: the ending felt incredibly unsatisfying in that it didn't explain anything nor provide a believable emotional conclusion. Maybe it's just my bad luck for making the wrong choices or something, and I understand that the game implies that we should play it multiple times, but with no way to easily skip/fast-forward dialogue, I can't see myself retreading all of that ground just to see if a game that already let me down might not do it again.

Apart from all this, I do wish the game also had a bit of quality-of-life, such as allowing you to pause and save at any point, though it's not too bad as the game does a decent job at providing breaks. Also I wish the gameplay was a bit more involved beyond just talking to people: would've been nice to have some puzzles and other interactions.

I was also curious about the whole possibility to skip interacting with characters in the break periods: I wonder if that is supposed to be some sort of fast-forward to let you continue if you've already done them before, like a convenience feature, or if it's just a weird decision because you wouldn't be earning points to influence the ending.

SquidoodleDev responds:

Hiya, I’m not going to lie this was incredibly hard to read but I understand your point and agree.
I’m now going to go back through the game and see how I can improve the narrative and story so that I can hopefully make it better and more enjoyable.
- SquidoodleDev

[SUPERSLAP2444]

Whoa, this boss-rush SHMUP was pretty dang cool! Not only does the game have a great set of challenging bosses to defeat with a very unique 'reflection' slap mechanic, but the game is also very charmingly goofy and bursting with energy with a lot of wacky dialogue, crunchy sound, doodle-y art, and over-the-top animations. Even though it throws you straight in and can be a bit confusing and the difficulty can be a bit wack with some later bosses being easier than early bosses, I really enjoyed myself, and liked how the bosses pushed the mechanic in interesting ways, like how the second boss needs you to be more aggressive in your reflections so as to hit him before he dodges away.

Having said that, while the very goofy art is its appeal, it can certainly be a bit too much at times in creating visual noise that leads to unfair, cheap deaths. For example, when you block a hail of bullets, it's very easy to lose track of some stragglers because they get hidden by the 'pow' effects. Furthermore, I was dying for the game to include some quality-of-life mechanics like an auto-fire to save my hands from having to mash the fire button, as well as a button to hold down to move more slowly to dodge these tight bullet spreads. I also kept getting caught off-guard by how little respawn invincibility there is.

[Ganbatte!! Robochan - Demo]

Hey, pretty impressive stuff here! For the most part, it really feels like you're pulling off that retro platformer vibe and delivering a classic experience. Overall the game feels very well-constructed and polished, especially in terms of the graphics and sounds. Even though the second level was a bit of a spike in difficulty, I had fun making my way through, and look forward to its future development!

Having said that, though...if I have to be brutally honest, the game didn't "spark joy" if you get my drift, as after the initially strong impression of the retro aesthetic wore off, the actual core gameplay felt, well, pretty dang generic and a bit boring. Not only did the game completely lack any sort of unique or fun core mechanic to spice things up, but the game's jumping and shooting just felt a bit lackluster, lacking the raw explosive satisfaction that other retro games provide.

Sorry I'm being a bit vague as it's hard to put into exact words for what the sweet science is: perhaps this is something that could be easily fixed up with better FX, but I'm unsure. I love playing a lot of retro games nowadays like Shovel Knight, Cyber Shadow, and so on, and while on the surface level this looks like it should compete with them and their mechanics are not so unique either, this lacks...something, that special gamefeel that they have.

If it helps, the only reason I'm being so harsh is because I think the game has a lot of potential, so I hope I've provided some food for thought! Best of luck in developing this!

WLCSoft responds:

Thanks for being honest about the game! Yeah, the mechanics are pretty basic here. 😅 I have little experience on game developing. I'm working alone, except for the people who made the music, and I didn't know anything about the engine I'm using (GDevelop) before starting this project, so I had to learn from zero and on the fly. That's why I decided to keep it kinda generic. Something simple enough to make while learning. Maybe my next games will come with unique mechanics, at least extra movements like dash and double jump. But for now I'll have to keep it simple or I won't be able to finish it at all. That said, I'm working on stage 3 and I have new ideas for challenges that could make the gameplay feel a little less boring. Anyway, I'm glad you say the game looks good, at least on surface, because I have much more experience with art than with making games, so I put a lot of effort to make it look well polished. I'll take in consideration all the feedback I've received and I think the final version of the game will be better. Thanks again! 😄

[Bunny Bun]

Hmm, I really want to like this game, but my first impression of it was pretty rough!

I definitely do think there is a lot to like here. Sure, the platforming is a little generic, being your standard hop-n-bop with simple upgrades like dashes, but the world felt very mysterious and stylish with the way you rendered it, and I was very curious to see where the story goes. I also think that the gameplay was doing a decent job at keeping things interesting by constantly introducing new elements: breakable blocks, wall jumps, boss battles, upgrades, and so on! I also liked some of the creative enemy patterns, such as the blockers who need to be air juggled, and the cute sound effects for movement/footsteps.

But on the other hand, the gameplay and controls just felt kind of awkward and I was finding it difficult to get used to. There's just so many little things that crop up that don't allow me to get into a flow state with movement: for example, there's this weird delay where you don't cling to a wall immediately but have to wait until you start moving downward, the wall jump controls are odd in that just pressing the movement key without jump makes you jump and there's no way to drop down from a wall cling, there's no coyote time which constantly makes me miss my edge jumps, the way my dash keeps firing off if I try to jump a little too early from hitting the ground, combat feels kind of weird with its hitboxes and knockback, and so on.

There were also just some really weird design decisions, like why is the inventory so limited? Why would I ever want to remove an essential upgrade like being able to dash with some boring passive regen/lifesteal?

All of the above were things I was slowly getting used to, and like I said, I was still intrigued by the story and world, so I was going to keep playing. Or at least I was, until I decided to take a quick break, and was then shocked to realize that, despite the game having very obvious rest benches which you would think would save the game, did not save it at all, and I was forced to start all the way back at the beginning when I came back. Perhaps it is technically not a long game if you play it straight through, but still, why in the world is there no save/continue system?

EDIT: Ok, whew, there is a load/continue option, it's just hidden in the corner for some reason instead of just being front-and-center with the start button. Why in the world...well, if it's there, at the very least I can finish this game! Thank god it didn't erase my data when I started up again after missing it the first time.

That...was a pretty weird ending. I feel like it was trying to be real emotional, but it was such a last-minute exposition dump that it really didn't connect with me. I have no idea what moving the clouds was doing? How...odd.

ErikSwahn responds:

Glad you played it through! I will remember the feedback you gave. I agree with most except the coyote jump mechanic but I do not like it in other games either. It is very good to hear feedback about the story as I am new to that. There should have been more of a "build up" towards the end to make it feel less random and more impactful. I have learned that it is easier to judge than to create good work on your own. Thanks for your review :)

[Coach Fight! 0.3]

Hmm, a little bit mixed on this one!

On the positive side, the rhythm game mechanics seem pretty solid. The note charts felt well-timed and to the beat, the notes were properly color-coded to show their type of beats, I liked that you showed that note charts can also have interesting tricks like delayed notes, and so on. The game also just felt polished in terms of presentation, menus, UI, and all that. Certainly feels like you've got a good base to work from for future development!

On the negative side, I don't feel like the connection between boxing and rhythm was made. It felt like I was just playing DDR, but you replace the typical music video with a video of two dudes boxing. Ideally, when I'm hitting the notes correctly, I should feel like I'm having an effect in the fight, like my punches are happening to the beat, but it didn't have any sort of feedback at all and felt like two separate things were happening. As a minimum, I would create better sound effects for hitting notes, with variations for whether you are attacking/defending and how well you did: perfects should be giving me loud cracks, greats/goods should only be giving me jabby puffs, and so on. The way the fight is presented and animated could probably be done better as well: dunno why it has to be so zoomed-out as it further adds to the sense of disconnection, like are we playing as the fighter or the coach here?

If anything, I would actually prefer if the combat was less reciting a note-chart perfectly and more like Punch-Out or other rhythm games like Necrodancer/BPM where you are free-form deciding when to attack and when to dodge based on the opponents movements, all to the beat of a song for extra damage. But I understand that's asking for a totally different game, I suppose.

[Valentine's Day Art Collab '24]

Cute little art collab! Wonderful to see so much entries within this: couldn't believe the way it just kept going and going! Very well done on wrangling all of this together and getting some positivity out there.

Now I give you the loveliest gift I can think of, which is brutally honest feedback (the love nobody asks for, haha):

*The general interface is a bit of an eyesore where everything kind of blends together in bright colors, making certain features like the Previous/Next buttons difficult to read and not pop to the foreground as much as they should. Mayhaps a little bit of desaturation of the background, outlining of text, and other simple elements would help readability.

*I was a bit bummed that the collab chose a very basic slideshow presentation instead of opting for something really creative. I got a bit interested with the heart and candy box on the side as I thought that maybe they had some sort of interesting powers, like the heart being some sort of voting system or maybe sending a message to the artist, and the candy box being some sort of button to go to a random valentine or get commentary from the artist, but it seems like they're just kind of there for no important purpose. I think a more creative presentation would help viewer retention, as without some sort of interesting gimmick, I wouldn't blame a lot of people for getting bored halfway!

*There is some missing functionality that I feel should be present, such as a gallery view, zoom/pan functions for viewing the art, and being able to easily click on the artist's name to go to their NG profile for potential follows and seeing the art in its original NG page (if possible) for potential votes. I feel like more love gets spread this way when you make things easier to interface with!

*It's wonderful that you have so many entries for this, but because the list is so long and it is alphabetically sorted, I feel bad for whoever's username starts with letters like X, Y or Z as I think they're going to get absolutely shafted in that a lot of people probably won't have the patience to get to their entries at the end. Perhaps it would've been better if there were some sort of big thumbnail gallery view where you can see many at once and click on them for more details, or a search function, or maybe the list should be randomly sorted (perhaps you could even make a fun gimmick out of the randomness, like make a mailbox gacha machine that gives letters which you open up to see their cards).

Again, well done on this and your heart's in the right place, but yeah, I'm a big nitpicker and want art collabs to do more than just the bare minimum!

wamyremy responds:

omfg am i gonna be in a FutureCopLGF video.....

(actually probably not, my entry's like wayy too far on the other end LMAO)

but thank you for the feedback! <3

[Hide & Skink]

Cute little game! It took me awhile to figure out what the heck I'm even supposed to do, and it's a bit rough and unpolished leading to some unfair deaths and confusing logic, but I enjoyed the process of figuring out how to manipulate the human to open doors and locks for me by creating distractions with various object interactions. Felt like a very comical version of Hitman or something akin to that, and I would've loved to see even more levels!

As much as I'd prefer if the game was a bit more clear with things like an objective list, guidance markers, sight cones, and so on, I was able to figure it out in the end though experimentation, so maybe there's something to be said for letting the game be a bit vague and not baby the player to create a better challenging experience! But I dunno, I do think that the game could use a little bit more here and there to help: I felt like I got really lucky in figuring out some stuff that I think others would be completely lost on. Food for thought!