FutureCopLGF's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Trivia Night at Applebee's]

Hmm, I'm out of the loop with all this clock business, but for the most part, this seems like a charming little quiz with some nice effort put into the presentation!

Ultimately, however, I found it not that enjoyable since it felt like the trivia was way too esoteric, leading to me failing practically every question and needing to redo everything to get back to where I left off every single time. I would've much preferred if the questions were either more sensible trivia that you don't need to be an apple or bee scientist to figure out, or were creative/amusing lateral thinking puzzles that you'd find in games like The Impossible Quiz.

[Lightspeed Hideout]

Whoa, this game has a really cool boss fight! I was blown away by how many phases the boss has and how creative they all are: seriously felt like I was playing a boss straight out of one of the greats, like Contra Hard Corps or Gunstar Heroes. The gameplay also felt super smooth and juicy, and I liked how the boss had multiple difficulty modes that actually change up the attack patterns instead of just lazily bloating its health. Great stuff!

What I find really odd is the rest of the game: all the faffing about with building up the city and needing to go past these locked doors to collect upgrades just felt like so much unnecessary padding, an artificial grind to stretch out the game's length. The city just feels like some sort of pointless trophy or diorama: why isn't it integrated into the combat more meaningfully, like you need to protect it from attacks the way Dome Keeper or the classic Missile Command does? I was really hoping that the doors would lead to new boss fights, not just short bland corridors that give you a part of a trinket.

It sounds silly to say, but to me, less is more, and I think I would've appreciated the game a lot more if it just focused solely on its strengths, being the cool boss fights, and didn't water the experience down with all this metaprogression nonsense. Still gotta give it credit for how cool the boss fight is, though.

[Winsley's Guardian - Demo]

Hmm, I think this game has a pretty good foundation for a Zelda-esque adventure set in contemporary times. All the necessary bits and pieces seems to be in place: you've got your items, your slashy combat, cute art and menus, dungeons, boss fights, and so on...but it unfortunately didn't have any sort of spark or hook that caught my attention and made me want to keep playing, rather, it quickly bored me.

Some of my issues are attributed to aspects that can be fixed, and perhaps are already planned to be fixed in a future release, since this is a beta. For example, the lack of music really made everything feel so dull and without a sense of atmosphere. Even worse, it felt like I wasn't making any progress on my journey since it lacks the excitement of hearing a new track when you transition into a new area. There were also some glitches like how if you walk to the side of the slingshot boss, you can get stuck if he walks into you and get comboed to death with no way out.

Other issues aren't so easily solved. For example, I found the story kinda boring and with an odd sense of motivation: we've got a mysterious dream at the start which is cool and could set up some sort of quest, but then suddenly we're searching for an owner of some blanket we randomly found in the closet? Why is the blanket important? Makes no sense. And the other issue is that this does just seem to be yet another Zelda clone that lacks the smooth and satisfying feeling of the original and isn't bringing anything interesting to the table to set it apart.

As much as I'm being down on it, I do think it has some promise and I'd like to see how it evolves over time. If the game got polished up with some music, a better story/motivation, and some other stuff, I think it could be great.

Elv13s responds:

thanks for the review, the game is already finished and its already out as we speak. physical copies are available at https://guardiangamesstudio.com/. The dream intro issupposed to teach the player the basics of the world, before going into the real story...story revolves around Winsley's life and is much more of a cozy slice of life rather than an action adventure game. Thanks for pointing out issues, I strived and tried to address them in the full release. This is the beta demo that I am allowed to show publicly so some bad reviews might come from it being in early stages. But I assure you, this is a wholesome cute and heart warming experience. its not perfect but its still a good game in my eyes.

[Eat Peanut Butter and Jelly]

Cute game! As much as it is feels like a low-effort joke game that isn't meant to be taken seriously, it still has a certain charming appeal to it, what with its goofy premise and sense of energy and whimsy. Reminds me a lot of games like Papa's Pizzeria, or rather a Warioware microgame, which are both genres I enjoy. I like that two separate modes exist to challenge you in different ways.

Unfortunately, I feel like this game exists in an awkward middle-ground: the premise is good enough to be an actual fun game if effort was put in, but since it's being made as a joke, it can't put in effort for fear of taking it too seriously. Because of that, the game is just too simplistic and filled with loads of undesirable traits, like how unintuitive the hitboxes for spreading jelly or butter on the bread are (feels like I need to put the handle over the bread instead of the blade) and graphical oddities like how the knife illogically goes under the bread.

Basically, I think this concept has merit, but falls short, similar to a sandwich that's mostly bread with no filling. Would love if the act of making the sandwich had more engaging steps to it, as well as more interesting physicality to it, like having to dynamically paint the spreads over the bread like an inkling would paint the floor in Splatoon. If you're going to make a PB&J crafting game, I want you to go full hog with it and make the best one there ever was!

[Death of a Dungslinger]

Whoa, this was pretty dang cool! It definitely feels like a proper game jam game, in that it is certainly very rough with loads of technical issues like stuttering and a lack of general polish due to missing sounds and other effects, but in that it is also incredibly charming and promising with its very creative ball rolling mechanics which were so satisfying to learn and master. Every boss was very creative with its moveset and I loved pulling off tricks like charging up a shot while riding the ball to dodge enemy attacks, eventually getting that sweet and satisfying freeze with pulling off a perfect charge and slamming it home.

It's a bit difficult to give feedback on this because, as said, there is a lot that needs to be polished up, such as the technical performance, and especially in the sound department, which is largely mute. If I were to point out some other aspects, though, it'd be:

*I don't understand why if I fast forward text, it'll wait for me to press again to advance to the next line, whereas if I let text fill out, it'll automatically advance to the next line without my input in a few seconds. I think it should always wait for my input to advance.

*It's not bad, but the second boss is a bit of a bummer in that there is no way to use your skills to make it through faster. While the first boss can be done quickly with proficient charge shots, the second boss is essentially busy work of pushing explosives into the hives over and over and over. Again, it's not bad as it does provide some variety, but I guess I'm not always a fan of these Zelda puzzle-esque bosses.

Again, this is a great example of a game jam for me: sure it's a bit rough, but the core mechanics shine through and just beg to be polished up and expanded upon. Looking forward to seeing future versions of this!

[Maths with D.Va Clock]

Oh wow, usually I'd expect another art or awards presentation, but this is actually a proper game! Very nice for a change of pace, and the quiz ain't too shabby!

I mean, sure, the presentation isn't quite up to snuff, what with its way too tiny text and its lack of pizazz, and the quiz questions are largely recycled from other sources instead of being bespoke (I recognized that bat and ball price question immediately, for example), but hey, I still had a good time!

One aspect I found amusing was that some of the questions were actually quite easy, but so easy in such a way that I'd think I was being tricked, but nope, there were actually that easy. Kept me on my toes, those ones did!

I can't believe I got the first question wrong, but then again, screw people who write formulas like that. When I write computer code, I make liberal use of parentheses to avoid any sort of confusion: no need for PEMDAS there!

[sillinder's somewhat uneventful tuesday noon]

Oh wow, this is some amazing stuff! Really feels like a NES hidden gem with the way it pulls off the aesthetic so authentically with fantastic visuals and audio, and the gameplay is wonderful with how good the movement feels, how interesting the levels are to explore with loads of neat secrets and new mechanics being introduced like shroom power, and so many other great things like the crazy boss fights (seriously, that second boss is like something straight outta Cuphead). It just feels like a damn good adventure and practically drips with charm from every pore!

Again, it's amazing stuff that you should be super proud of, but if I did have some feedback, it'd be:

*Curious about some of the aspects like the cockroaches that fly away: are they some sort of bonus speedrun objective, like you need to reach them fast enough to hit them before they fly away? Also curious about the little baubles you pick up: they get sucked out of you at the end of a level, but I was never sure if I was having any sort of effect with how many I gathered: does it matter?

*The map can definitely be a bit confusing to navigate at times. Plenty of times I'd walk to the side of the screen thinking it was a transition point but it wasn't, and plenty of times I'd walk where I thought it was ground but was actually a ledge or other such things. But at the same time, I feel like I'd always find the right way to go without too much issue, so hey, it still flows well in the end.

*My biggest issue with the game is that it doesn't seem to have a save/load system: got really bummed out when I got all the way to the third level and wanted to take a break, only to come back and realize I'd have to do everything all over again from the start. Maybe the game isn't technically that long in reality, but c'mon, some checkpoints between levels would be much appreciated.

sillylittlepyro responds:

very glad you enjoyed and very flattered!!!

that is indeed how the cockroaches work, however i havent yet added a reward for getting all of them so theyre just kinda there for funsies right now.

the bits absolutely 100% do not matter and will be of absolutely no importance in the full release.

i dont know how to do saving in html so i just didnt bother, but there will definitely be saving in a full release.

[FIDEOS]

Holy mackerel, this is some amazing stuff! I don't even know where to start: everything about this game just felt immaculately and professionally crafted, what with its incredibly stylish and juicy presentation/gamefeel and its incredibly unique arcade gameplay. There's so many subtle details I want to gush about, like how the music ramps up as your score gets higher, but I don't want to be here all day, haha!

It's definitely a lot to take in at the start, especially because the short wordless tutorial is a bit tricky to fully comprehend, but thanks to the tips that appear on death, I slowly started to grasp this bizarre sport of eel spearing and before long I was having a blast! It may be a simple hi-score arcade game at heart, and not everyone is about that life, but I loved playing this over and over to get a higher score, learning to balance the various factors of pointing my board, aiming my spear, transferring to a new eel, and so on and so forth. Reminds me a lot of one of my favorite games of yesteryear, Mirame.

If I were to have any complaints, it would likely be that I found it annoyingly up to luck on whether I'd be able to transfer to a new eel: I swear that sometimes they just stay away or only poke their heads in for a brief moment that I can't possibly get a full charge in. Maybe there's some technique I'm missing: I dunno.

[Heatstroke Hustle]

Seems like a decent little fast-paced food management game: it's ok, and quite impressive for being made so quickly, but ultimately rather generic, lacking any sort of significant pizazz or special quality to it. Well, that's not completely correct: it does have an interesting risk/reward system where you can carry a lot of items around but at the risk of tripping when you carry too much. It's a decent idea, but I didn't like the execution of it being a random Smash Bros Brawl trip: c'mon, everyone hated that mechanic! Would much prefer if it was something like having heavy loads weigh you down so you move slower, or having to keep it balanced and not tip over by moving slowly or from side-to-side: in that way you could actually get skilled at handling heavy loads and not just gamble on luck whether you trip or not.

[Skatorio]

Oh man, this is a tricky one. It's weird, and I like weird, but maybe it's a little too weird for its own good!

As said, it's a pretty fascinatingly weird game that took a lot of time to try and figure out. Having to freeze enemies by grazing past them like a bullet hell or Y's bump combat, avoiding going back on your own ice to not break the combo while also trying to cover the ground with as much ice as possible, and so much more: it was quite unique! I like learning about scoring systems like this, and being incentivized into getting high scores to unlock new levels like its Mario 64 was right up my alley.

Unfortunately, the game was very confusing and not only did it take me a long time to learn the mechanics, I actually still don't feel like I have a good grasp on what I'm supposed to do. For example:

*For the longest time I thought the 'combo breaks' were referring to chaining freezes in rapid sequence, not avoiding going onto your own ice: yes, there is a small X reaction for your character once they start sliding, but I didn't even notice it at first, let along connect the two together.

*I found it very strange that for a game that seems to be scoring you based on time, it was rather annoying that one of the scoring goals was filling up the map with as much ice as possible: a goal like that just inflates every attempt with so much annoying busy work to redo. I get that it's challenging how the two goals of not breaking the combo while putting as much ice as possible are opposed, but still, it just felt tedious.

*I kept getting confused at the scoring results: I'd get an S in combo breaks and an A in ice coverage, and yet my total score was B or C. How does that make any sense? You'd think it would average out to be A at the very least. That made me think that perhaps my time was influencing it the total score, but if that's the case, why don't I get a letter grade for time? Because time doesn't have a letter grade, you'd think it would be a separate goal, which does match what it says in the description, but then what's going on with my score?

So yeah, I like how weird and unique this is, but man, I just got lost and didn't feel like I ever got my feet under me. At the very least, good on you for trying out something weird like this: always down for some experimentation over just more of the same!

dreamcastgh0st responds:

Thanks for the review! There's definitely a lot of places where the scoring system could be more clear, and that's my biggest regret with this game. I've been meaning to do a little write up in response to one of these comments to clarify it for everyone, so here we go--

Percent iced is pretty self explanatory, and you're right, combo breaks is based on how many times you stepped back on your own ice. I was hoping the little indicator that pops up would help make that clear, but I guess it wasn't enough for a lot of people. (Side note: The UI in the top left 'shatters' and changes colors too in order to indicate your current combo break rank! This isn't really meant to help with tutorialization, but if you're not sure if you've broken your combo yet, you can just check up there and it'll show you. The color of the meter indicates your percent iced rank, and the color of the background behind it is your combo based rank. The best color is, of course, icy blue-- the others all match up with the colors of the rank icons on the level complete screen.)

As for the total rank, there's no excuse for this one, it's super unclear. Time isn't taken into account at all-- it's a totally separate metric, just so that people can go for speed once they've reached a level of mastery of the game. I was hoping that would be more obvious since it's the only thing on the ranking screen that didn't have its own rank associated with it, but honestly, I should have left it off of that screen entirely. I think literally every single person who's played it has gotten confused by that, whoops lol.

Basically, for every rank below perfect either element is, you'll go down one rank. That sounds confusing, but it's basically like... S+S is a perfect rank, each A moves you down by 1, B moves you down by 2, C by 3, etc. So an A+B => C, since it moves you down three ranks. This system, for obvious reasons, sucks, and honestly I might patch it to fix it. But unless that happens, I figured it was best to leave some sort of comment so curious players could figure out how it actually works.

Anyways, thanks for the thorough review! Gave me a good excuse to talk about all this, and I'm glad you enjoyed it despite some of the flaws!