FutureCopLGF's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[[BTNverse] The void rolls back]

Quite the interesting trip but....I dunno, as much as I like a weird game that doesn't hold your hand, I could barely parse what the heck was going on and its initial mystique was rapidly replaced by irritation and boredom.

As far as I could figure, I just kept trying to place down connecting roads as best as I could to head towards an edge of the playing field, picking up the powerups spawned from placement as I go. Kept trying to compare it to games like Loop Hero or something to provide any footing to work off of, but that proved fruitless. Had no idea what the heck was going on in combat: I thought that maybe each sword symbol would multiply my inherit sword number for final damage, but the result was always different than I expected (and typically didn't matter since nothing seemed to pose a threat, going through life like One Punch Man).

Heck, that was pretty much the entire game, not just combat: had no idea what anything meant and just tried to proceed and pay attention to the effects to guess what symbols meant and what the rules were, but ultimately I never felt like I grasped what was going on and, after making it through several worlds, eventually just got bored and left, especially after the worlds seemed to be getting out of order (I walked backwards to a border I just passed and ended up in a new world instead of the one I was just in???)

Bit of a shame: definitely seemed promising at first with the weird mechanics, interesting character classes and bizarre world, but it lost me due to not providing any instruction nor intuitive feedback/symbols that I could parse myself. I always admire whatever sort of weird experimental game you come up with as they are always quite the trip: this one might have been a miss for me but that's just how the chips fall sometimes, so keep on truckin'!

[EMBER SKULL]

Wow, pretty solid arcade fun to be had here! All in all I feel like this is well put together and delivers quite well on all aspects: the combat is fun and fast-paced with great enemy variety that has unique AIs and attack telegraphs, there are a good amount of fun powerups and arena obstacles and great bosses to make runs feel different, graphics and animations are very juicy and the feedback from shots and blowing up enemies with huge chain reactions from items were so satisfying, and so on and so forth. Had a good time playing this a few times, getting good enough to loop over and over!

That being said, while I did have a good time, there are plenty of nitpicks I could make. For one, I was disappointed that the game doesn't have any sort of goal or story to it and instead starts looping as early as arena 4: as much as I did like how the enemy variety and such did keep improving on successive loops, it just started to feel repetitive and pointless, especially with how easy some of it could get without even needing items to cheese it. Also bummed out that there didn't seem to be any primary weapon upgrades, just subweapons, and that I would have to ditch old subweapons just to try new ones. Speaking of all that, I found it a bit confusing that I couldn't see what items I had already purchased and was unsure what would happen if I purchase duplicates: would they stack or just get ignored? There was also some confusion with visuals as, while most player bullets are yellow and enemy bullets are red, there were weird instances like items that would spawn 'friendly red' bullets that I thought I had to avoid in all the chaos.

Oh, and while this game does call itself a 'roguelite', I think that's a misnomer since that typically implies that some sort of progress or upgrade is carried over with each attempt, whereas this game just has you start from scratch each time. But whatever, it's all rogue this, rogue that, I think people just use those terms interchangeably nowadays, so I'm being needlessly pedantic.

Overall though, those nitpicks were small potatoes and again, I had a great time with this. Only reason I'm being so nitpicky was because I liked this so much and hope that you make even better games in the future!

CheeseBaron responds:

Duplicate items stack, some items are removed from the item pool if you have them though (primarily the panic device and the corrupt halo).
And i just hoped that since all the actually dangerous bullets are bright red (unless i forgot some somewhere) people wont be too confused by more dull projectiles that dont deal damage to you.

If i ever make some sort of super big improved version of this game ill likely add different primary weapons and an actual ending, but thats only in the far far future.

Thanks for playing!

[Capybara Quest]

Not too shabby for a 'my first game' type of project, and it was decently cute in concept, but ultimately I found the game quite shallow and janky.

The basic skeleton is there for a decent platformer, the cutscenes and characters were quite charming, and I like the inclusion of hidden collectables as a bonus for people wanting a challenge. However, there wasn't really anything noteworthy about the gameplay to keep me interested like a unique mechanic or cool levels to traverse: all it had was bog-standard jumping, so eventually it just devolved into very boring affairs of jumping past boring enemies. The hidden collectable yuzus didn't really add anything to the game: most of them were very easy to get and barely off of the beaten path: a far cry from something I was hoping would be like Celeste's bonus strawberries.

Furthermore, the game was incredibly janky and buggy. Music wouldn't play when I would load a game. The first yuzu could be recollected over and over despite disappearing on first collection. The physics for movement were very odd in how you jump upwards like you're on the moon but fall downwards like you're being pulled by magnets, and how despite having momentum and sliding when you stop you can also instantly kill that same momentum by changing direction. And I know you joke about it by pointing out that ladders, amongst the other various janky features, were probably the jankiest of all, and that was funny to see, but still, at the end of the day, jank is jank and it would be better if you just fixed it or found a better solution instead of releasing this as-is.

Certainly could be a nice little game but I felt like this needed way more time in the oven and something to make it really special, be it more polished movement/levels or a unique mechanic. Still, not a bad first attempt if that's what this was: buggy and bog-standard as it is, it had the basic elements down.

[Let the OINK out!]

Pretty neat game! Definitely liked the general presentation of everything along with the satisfying chain reaction explosions. Also loved how the game kept escalating with new obstacles and powers: really helped to keep me hooked!

However, despite all that, I really found myself unable to fully enjoy the game, mostly due to the overwhelming feeling of randomness to it all. It started out strong with the first level, where I felt like you, as the developer, built a wall that I could puzzle out, that I could examine to find the intended ideal starting point to get the most out of a chain reaction.

I thought the game would continue like that where I'd keep investigating to find the ideal starting point, but instead suddenly you wanted me to build the chain reaction tiles myself. This could've worked, but the fact that it was all up to random chance as to how the blocks would end up once you click on them just led to me feeling annoyed, like now I just had a load of busy work before I could blow blocks up, and that whether I could win would just be up to the dice with no real way for me to make the most of it.

I know the game tries to help by giving you some wiggle room and not requiring you to clear the full board, but I just couldn't help but feel like I wasn't in control. Perhaps I'm just impatient and there was a way I could make the most of it, but I couldn't see how, and since I didn't want winning or losing to be up to a dice roll I just ended up quitting. Maybe if it was more like, I dunno, you get an inventory of certain blocks that you can place on the board and you puzzle out the best layout to reach your intended developer solution, it could work for me.

In the end I did get through a decent amount of levels (7 I think) but it was just me placing blocks haphazardly and seeing how the chips fell based on instinct: somewhat fun to watch the explosions and see how it ended up, but I'm not a gambling man and would prefer more strategy and intention.

[Maiden Cops]

Not too shabby of a beat-em-up! Definitely feels like its got a solid core to it with most of the essential mechanics present and the combat feeling decently satisfying. I could deduct some points for it being quite basic, essentially just a reskinned SoR without any unique mechanics to set it apart, but it still felt alright. Good on you for also having seamless controller inputs, even recognizing my PS controller instead of treating it like an XBox controller!

That said, if I come at this as a lover of beat-em-ups, this is pretty rough, especially if you're trying to make this big. Controls were a big issue for me and led to the game feeling really janky: for example, you can initiate a run by pressing forward and then backwards whereas you should have to press it twice in the same direction. I also kept having a special combo go off for seemingly no reason: I wasn't pressing any of the special combinations you listed out. Just really didn't feel like I had smooth, logical and responsive control of my character.

Couple that with other annoyances like enemies having a bit too much health (starter enemies should probably go down with just one combo, otherwise the game just drags a bit too much) and enemies being a bit too powerful with their AI: I'd have enemies punch me too suddenly from way too far away and have enemies just suddenly teleport me into their grab: they should have to get closer or perhaps telegraph their attacks better. Also some attacks just felt really wonky, like how the knee kicks from a grab would only damage once you're pulling your knee back: such a weird delay!

In general, while the core elements for a decent beat-em-up are there, the game felt a bit stiff, slow and repetitive in its current state. Hoping you can get some good feedback here and make it into a great finished product!

PippinGames responds:

The main references for Maiden Cops were Final Fight 3 and SoR.

The game supports, in addition to the keyboard, the three main joysticks (Switch, Xbox, Playstation).

Some bugs reported I'm already fixing, like running, for example.

I'm also making some additions that weren't present in the demo. Like the possibility of performing some combos, enemies bouncing on walls when thrown, and allowing a counterattack when being grabbed.

Complex input combinations to use skills didn't work so well. I think if you press one button is simpler.

As I complete these changes, I will announce them on social media and here on newground too.

Thanks for the feedback, it's helping us a lot.

[Casino Clash]

Not sure what's going on in this one: feels like an unfinished prototype or something? Best I can figure out is that it looks like you've got some sort of RPG fight where you deal damage by playing a minigame with the dice: you can knock dice into each other like you're playing pool, or just blow them up with bombs, and so on, and depending on how well you hit the dice, you deal more damage. Don't really know what the cash items are all about.

The idea definitely has promise to it, I suppose: I do like RPGs like the Mario RPGs where you play fun minigames to determine damage. And it can be really funny and satisfying to see a huge chain reaction happen when you whack the dice and the game gets flooded with damage numbers and causes a slow-down.

Only problem is that this seems half-baked and doesn't have any strategy, story or progression to it: you get so many items to play with, there is no threat to make important decisions, and you just keep getting more recycled enemies with higher HP for no discernable purpose. You can just sit there and wait for dice to fill out and score an easy win: you'd think that, at the very least, you'd be fighting against losing health from enemy attacks so you might be pushed to make the best out of what dice you have, or something, anything!

[my favourite place]

Pretty cool game! Absolutely love the general sense of polish the game has due to the slick presentation, like when it transitions from the level title into the actual gameplay. Gameplay is simple but intuitive and the levels introduced some cool obstacles and boss fights. It does have a bit of wonkiness to it like with the hitboxes for spikes and I don't think the CRT bendy-screen shader is needed as it just hurts my eyes and the game is already decent looking without it, but overall it felt quite smooth.

That being said, I did feel like the game lost me rather quickly, as soon as around level 3. While the game was cool, it was rather basic and never really seemed to do anything really unique or fancy. In fact, the levels always seemed so cramped to the point where there wasn't enough room for you to make any interesting rooms, and it didn't take too long for it to feel repetitive, like it had already shown all its cards and was just repeating with slight variations. Couple that with the overly punishing deaths sending you all the way back to the start and it got rougher to keep playing.

[Sh*t Rainbows Piss Thunder]

Actually had some surprising ideas and variety to it to go along with the goofy premise, but was kind of let-down by general feel of low-effort and jankiness due to weird glitches, confusing design and lackluster graphics. There's some great stuff in here, just buried under some junk that could be buffed out.

While the game starts off rather slow, I definitely was surprised at the mechanics and design on display for the later levels. Gravity switching and stamina management were quite interesting, especially when combined with some of the more puzzle-or-chase-oriented levels where you really gotta focus to make it through. I'd love some more of those later chase levels where you need to keep running and react to obstacles that come up quickly: in fact, wonder if the game would work better if you don't even have a run button and just run automatically.

That being said, I found it difficult to get into the game at first glance because of the really lackluster graphics and boring intro levels, especially with things like out-of-focus fonts, lack of transition effects and so on and so forth. Yes it did have some nice juice to it with the funny voice callouts and fart effects, but even the fart particles were strange with how they would shift along with the body when you jump in a nonsensical way. But even moving on from that to the point where I started to get interested in the game during the later levels, a lot of weird bugs and glitches started to crop up, especially revolving around the gravity switching and collision detection.

Definitely feel like, with a bit of focus on the more interesting and complex levels and a lot of polish to spice up the general presentation and gameplay satisfaction, this could really be great!

TappyWara responds:

Thanks

[Bad Monday Simulator]

Wow, as much as I'd like to be a contrarian grumpy gus and disparage this game for being some sort of Frankenstein nostalgia/meme bait, I just can't because I love it too damn much! As both a kid who loved Garfield and recognizes all the old references and an adult who loves the challenging combat of Undertale, this game gives me everything I want and more. The graphics, animation and just general construction of the game is top-notch and gives off a really professional feel, the combat design is very creative and fun with tons of attacks and phases, and the game just has all sorts of subtle touches and references. It's hard as heck, but I enjoy playing the heck out of it, so well done on this!

Having said that, there were still a few points that bothered me.

For one, as great and impressive as the animations/attacks are, some of them are really long in the tooth and overstay their welcome, making you just get sick of 'em. For example, the "where is my pipe" attack and the kicking of Odie off the table both have these overly long introductions that really start to get tiresome compared to the snappy start of attacks like the Pooky lasers: wish they would get cut to start faster either in general or on repeat attacks at least. Likewise, as nice as the eating animations for items were, I was wishing I could just press a button to skip them on repeat.

Similarly, I feel like the repetitore of attacks per phase can be a bit limiting: it's decent, but I would love if there were just one more attack per phase to reduce repetition and increase the randomization. Surprised to see that he never makes Odie run a different way on the bone attack, for instance. Also, some attacks, like the water drips from the sandwich, just seem way too reliant on RNG to be in your favor since there is no pattern or effective tell for the drips. Luckily, the drips aren't too damaging, but I'd hate to contend with that on Monday mode.

I can maybe understand if these are just part of the whole rage-inducing difficulty to test your patience, but still...anyway, again, despite it all, these are just minor nitpicks for a very fun and great game.

[Somnokid]

Pretty neat game! Certainly has that Team Bugulon quality to it where it just exudes a sense of professionally where everything looks and sounds great, right from the very start with the title screen and menus (elements which usual developers would skimp on). I thought the whole 2 phase sequence to the levels where you have a prep phase followed by a combat phase, along with the risk-reward part of the prep phase where you weigh reviving potential enemies, was a very interesting concept.

I gotta admit though...I didn't really find the game that fun or addictive. Not sure exactly what it is, but it just didn't really hook me. In fact, I found the game very frustrating from how spongy the enemies felt (couldn't believe that even the most basic of enemies take more than a single charged shot to kill, making charging feel pointless) and repetitive (didn't feel like it was evolving with enough new stuff by the time world 2 came around), among other things.

Again, I wouldn't necessarily call it a bad game or anything, and I do think it is quite professionally made and good looking, and that should be applauded (especially considering the time it took to make). But I guess at the end of the day, all that doesn't always equate to a fun game being the result, at least in my case. But hey, this is all just part of the fun of experiments in game dev, so best of luck in the future!