FutureCopLGF's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[SENTINEL - Echoes of the fallen]

Hey, not too shabby for a survivors game! I'm reluctant to play yet another survivors clone as there are so many, but overall the game feels pretty well-constructed and fun, with some great touches that made a fantastic first impression, such as the well-animated main menu, as well as some amusing chatter like your operator chewing you out for not paying attention to your health, haha! Game also sports some good fundamentals: I liked how there was a good amount of enemy variety, for example.

It's nice, but if I had some feedback, I'd say:

*Gameplay felt kinda dry and not that satisfying. Could stand to spice it up with some more loud, addictive and impactful special effects, especially for hits and collecting gems, a more vibrant environment, and more special events like mini-bosses, waves, and so on.

*As mentioned above, this game is just yet another survivors clone, with its own unique qualities being purely aesthetic, such as the mecha theming. Would love this game to have something more substantial, some sort of unique mechanic, twist, hook, whatever you wanna call it!

Would love to see how this develops, as I think you have a good foundation to work from!

NuelSquare responds:

Thanks for the feedback! I really appreciate that you took the time to comment on my game and give your opinion. I'm still constantly developing the game, adding content and improving the gameplay.

What I mainly thought of as the unique mechanic is the perk system, but I think it still has a way to go to make it as I envision it, anyway, thank you very much for your comment!

[Reverie Channel Act Zero]

Huh, this was pretty interesting and ended up hooking me more than I expected! I'm not one for RPG Maker games, but the wild world you've constructed in this was very intriguing and kept things fresh with so many perspective/map changes, cute characters, goofy dialogue, dramatic cutscenes and so on: it's quite the crazy ride and looks like a lot of effort was put into it!

Having said that, there were a lot of rough spots that made it difficult to continue on, despite how weirdly attractive the world you've made was:

*While I did try to enjoy the ride, I couldn't help but feel like I opened up a book right in the middle and started reading. Just that awkward feeling where I don't know these characters and the world as well as I think the game expects me to. Maybe I'm wrong and it is just intentionally starting 'in medias res', and nevertheless I do feel like I got the gist, but still, the vibes just felt off, like trying to butt into a conversation between friends.

*The pacing started to get thrown out of whack as the game progressed. Going through the dungeon the first time was interesting, sure, but oh my god you need to backtrack through there over and over and over! Also I hated how I got this key that I want to use now, but I keep getting interrupted by Peter and Eva chaining phone calls one after the other! And that big maze level almost made my eyes glaze over: boy did I feel lucky making it out of there without too many wrong turns since I would've quit otherwise.

*Kinda wish the game had a little more to it than just walking to talk to someone, over and over and over. Don't get me wrong, I'm not asking for the game to have unnecessary combat shoved in there, but I do wish there were a few more puzzles or minigames or special events or something where I actually need to use my brain and feel like I'm playing the game instead of doing busy work.

*There were a few times the story confused me. For example, we found a pass to go on the trivia show from a nervous kid, but then Noir took it and dipped, leaving us high and dry. If that's the case, why are we then allowed to walk into the waiting room and attend the gameshow? Shouldn't it be Noir, because they've got the pass? Why are we allowed in?

*There were also some weird technical issues, like the time limit for the trivia gameshow wouldn't function properly. I'd answer a question within the limit but then before he states the next question, he says I ran outta time...and then he says it again! Very weird.

While I had some rough spots, I do still think the game has a certain attractive charm to it, so well done in that regard! As said, I shy away from a lot of RPG Maker games because they typically are just generic fantasy stuff with lots of exposition before gameplay, but I like this game's weird world and how quickly it cuts to the chase. Lotta potential here!

PlasmaSpade responds:

Thanks for playing! I apologize for the issues that you faced in the game.

When it comes to the story, it's kind of a side story/prequel so I can see how it can get confusing to try and understand what is going on. So I'll try to add some dialogue that gives some more context.

I know I tried to make subsequent visits to the dungeon slightly different with the small interactions that happened between those visits but I do see the issues with going back and forth without much happening.

With the directions I tried to add a task menu along with a map for the dungeon, but I know it can become a lot to remember certain locations and where to go next. I'll make additional changes to make the dungeon less tedious and confusing to navigate. (I'll make an update to have it be more clear that the interactions for Peter and Eva are optional as well)

Honestly I know there isn't much to do so whenever I get the chance there will be more stuff to do (and see) besides walking and talking to characters.

I'm going to add a notification for obtaining an item, like how there is the notification for a task or interaction so it becomes a little clearer (the dialogue does seem to read as if Noir took it so I'll fix that).

Sometimes RPG Maker does some weird stuff when it isn't played in the editor, so there can be a few oddities. I might've also added some duplicate text for the game show by accident.

Again, thank you for playing and also for the feedback. It helps out a lot and I'll make an update to fix the issues that you mentioned.

[Double-Barrel Sniper]

NOTE: I played the downloadable version instead of the web version.

Wow, this is a pretty cool game! I love me a fast-paced movement shooter and this delivered in spades, reminding me a lot of other crazy games like 'My Friend Pedro'. When you get into the zone and are pulling off stylish move after stylish move in rapid-fire sequence, embracing all the crazy tech like boosting yourself with a shotgun blast and sliding everywhere, it feels fantastic! The cherry on top is the music and the way it gets more intense as things get crazy: it's so damn motivating!

As said, when the game is working as intended, it's great, but there's a lot of times where the game isn't working and it gets in the way of the fun:

*The biggest issue for me was trying to work with the physics and momentum and all that jazz: I know it's part of the challenge to master the systems, but with this, it just felt really glitchy, unresponsive and unintuitive at times, leading to a lot of weird unintended movements and unfair deaths. Here's a simple example: if you come to a dead stop, walk backwards a few paces, stop, and then hit the slide button, you will end up sliding backwards which makes no sense as you should clearly slide forward!

*The slow-mo system is too overly generous, allowing you to gain huge amounts of bar with every kill made during slow-mo, leading to you being able to keep it on practically indefinitely. This makes the difficulty of the game go kaput as it's too damn easy: I want there to be a valid reason to switch back to regular time and blast people with the shotgun, but there's none because of the way it's balanced!

*Speaking of the shotgun blast, I found myself wanting to avoid using it not just because slow-mo is so generous so why bother, but the shotgun blast feels like it misses half the time. I'll clearly overlap someone with a shotgun blast and they'll be right as rain: why? I dunno what's going on with it.

*I really wish the game had a better scoring system. It feels weird that it only tracks your time and allows you to clear levels without killing everyone: shouldn't killing everyone, or at least a specific target, be part of the goal as a sniper? If killing isn't important enough to be scored, why didn't you just call the game Double-Barrel Runner?

*The ending is amusing with how goofy it is, but I have to admit that I was disappointed that it just ended like that. C'mon, give me a good boss fight, or at least a cutscene of us killing our main target, some sorta CEO or whatever.

It's rough around the edges, but I had a nice time playing this game: would absolutely love if you were to polish it up and add a proper ending/story/boss/etc to this!

NonsenseNHReal responds:

Thank you for the in-depth feedback! I will keep these in mind when I'm ever working on an actual fleshed-out release. I admit, it's a bit rushed at times but yeah, had a lot of fun making the project.

again, thanks for playing! :]

[Die for the Lich [v0.2]]

Wow, for being so early on in development, this feels very impressive already!

I'll admit, it's easy to feel like this is just another Slay the Spire-esque roguelike to add to the huge pile of other clones, so I'm a bit skeptical. Nevertheless, I do feel like it made good strides in providing a pretty unique experience with its synergy of items and dice rolls: trying to hit criticals by using certain dice and then trinkets to influence luck was quite satisfying and strategic. I also really loved how intuitive it was to learn the game naturally from how it highlights the appropriate objects to indicate what you can do, and how it doesn't infodump you at the start, but instead teaches you things as you encounter them. Just overall has a professional look and feel to it that delivers and smooth and polished experience: well done!

If I were to offer any feedback, it would be:

*Right now the level is very long and stuffed with rather simple trash mobs whose special effects help you more than hinder you, making it feel rather repetitive. Has a very 'when are we going to get to the fireworks factory' kinda vibe. Would love more unique enemy types and even mini-bosses to serve as checkpoints and events to spice the journey up!

*It's pretty simple to intuit what they are, but it'd still be nice if there were some info pop-ups when you hover over the map icons just to be sure what they are.

*It'd be nice if there was a save/load functionality so you wouldn't have to start all over if you take a break mid-run.

*It's a very nitpicky thing, but I wish the dice looked a bit better: something about the way the numbers on them are just some default system font that can sometimes be awkwardly offset just looks kinda cheap or placeholdery. Would love a more custom font and presentation that looks more seamlessly integrated, something where there is no visual separation between dice and number.

*There's plenty of other feedback that I can think of, but most of it falls into the generic desire for 'more stuff' which I'm sure you already have planned once you've got the fundamentals down, such as more heroes to pick from, changing your starting loadout, a story or narrative events to serve as motivation, unlocks, modifiers/difficulties blah blah blah I won't waste your time listing it all.

Definitely very promising! It's a silly thing to say, but it has a certain quality to it that I think makes it worth whipping the wallet out for, if that makes sense, haha!

MadNukin responds:

First of all, thanks for taking some time to give as some feedback.

I agree that the enemies need some some improvements and we are planning to address that in future builds.

Map needs, info, I agree!

For the web version we won't be adding save and load.

We got some better looking dice in v0.3, because of you.

We want to add more characters, it's in the near future for sure.

Glad you think the game has potential to bring some bacon :)

[RETRO RAMPAGE]

Interesting little Asteroids-esque arcade shooter! It feels a bit amateurish in its construction, feeling like a game from a first-timer or perhaps for a game jam, but at the same time it has a good sense of energy, some nice juicy effects and good enemy variety that keeps you on your toes! Having to deal with the recoil of your shots, especially your charge shots, adds a bit of risk/reward to how you play as well!

It's pretty decent on paper, but something about its execution left me a bit cold: still somewhat fun, but just not as fun as I thought it would be. A few factors to point out would be:

*I wish the damage feedback was a bit better. When I first played the game, I didn't even think I could break the bigger asteroids because my shots seemed to be not affecting them at all, and it was the same for enemies too. Even when I learned that my shots were damaging them, it still felt rather unsatisfying. Would love if, say, cracks formed on asteroids as you damage them, or enemies would turn redder or whatever.

*I know you can't do it because the game has a charge shot mechanic, but boy do I wish I could just hold down the trigger to keep shooting automatically: my old man hands can't keep clicking like this!

*The charge shot is pretty cool, but it is kind of annoying how much it sends you back when you fire. Yes, it is a neat element to consider as part of the strategy of the game, but even accepting that, it can still be frustrating! It's also frustrating that the charge shot can't pierce through smaller asteroids or enemy bullets: feels like such a waste when it hits those!

*Wish I could use the arrow keys to move around instead of WASD: having to have my hands cramped together instead of spread out, as well as having to use my left hand to move instead of my right, was a bit annoying.

*Music was way too loud without any sort of volume control, and kind of weird and dissonant, not pleasant to listen to in my opinion.

It's definitely pretty promising for a simple but fun arcade shooter, but it just had too many little aspects of it that got in the way of the fun. A good attempt, though!

SepticDolphin responds:

These are some very good and valid points. I'm definitely going to update the game in the future and take these things into account. Thank you for taking the time to write this, this is very valuable :)

[Fossil Rumblers Time-Stop Over DEMO]

Man, maybe I'm missing something, but I bounced off of this game hard, unfortunately!

The game does show some decent promise to it. The interface is pretty well-constructed and intuitive, and the game has a rather stylish look to it with a nice sense of energy from the music and effects. The gameplay is also rather...uh...unique, which did draw my attention, but...yeah, I just didn't know what to do with the gameplay!

I love tower defenses because I love puzzling together a perfect formation that counters what the enemy is throwing at me, factoring in stuff like arranging towers in a way that effectively uses the territory/ranges that they cover to synergize with each other and promote their strengths.

With this, though, all I had to work with was two towers that were both the same thing, being melee attackers with one being slightly stronger and more expensive. There was no way to arrange the towers so that they could cover or synergize with each other or...anything! Placement didn't matter: all I could do was arrange a line of meat that the enemies would just walk up to one-by-one and pummel. It was so bloody boring! It didn't help either that the first level goes on for so damn long, especially since you barely have any tools or units to play around with.

I dunno, maybe I'm missing something, but it felt like that's all I could do beyond healing or throwing bombs which felt lackluster. As a side note, there were also some minor issues like how:

*I wish the HUD would make it more obvious what units you can buy and what you can't by making them brighten up when you have enough cash.

*I wish you would just display the health bars above units instead of having to click on them to get a health display for just one of them.

*I was a bit puzzled why some of the units had more health than each other despite being the same? Is it just random? I don't think I upgraded them or anything, just feels silly that a win could be up to luck.

*I also found the music to be way too loud and was praying for some sort of options menu where I could fiddle with the music levels, but alas!

As down as I'm being on the game, I want it to be good as apart from the bizarre game design, it does look pretty neat and shows some promise!

VoiDdraig responds:

Thanks so much for giving a try to FR! for sure the project is'nt completed yet and need lots of fixes/balancing and polish that are on work now! again the feedback is really apreciated and taking on count all to improve with the next updates~

about gameplay by the moments even when it's a tower defense i wanna keep it a bit away from the puzzle feeling (it's really rushed and need lots of work to be polished rn) depends more on improvistaion than planification but u still can use strategy as the horde gets frenetic "basic in some point" for sample you can place the units far from the entrance so the new ones can be placed closer so they can fight maintainig the damaged ones safe till die or get healed and when you get the change to get plenty ranged units protecting them with more cannon fodder (yeah they are not supposed to survive all the horde but u can manage to keep them alive healing right on the moment they almost die) so u need to constantly keep an eye checking units untill level ends instead of pasively wait

Honestly all the minor issues are important stuff to be work (on wip rn, no new updates till everything works without bugs)
-the hud units will glow when you got enough Fossil energy
- enemies HP will be show too (including a visible hp bar)
-units HP are randomized for testing (an evolution of the units is possible tho but as a future feature)
-Sound parameter control is a must

Fun fact: We need to include an advise to let players know when new units are unlocked, cuz actually level 1-3 adds a range unit! "anomalocaris"

[Tiny Dangerous Dungeons Remake DEMO]

Wow, this is a pretty fantastic game you got here! Feels very professionally-made from how beautiful it looks and how smooth it plays. It's a rather simple game, both in terms of its map design and gameplay, but it still has an addictive sense of progression to it as you slowly get kitted out and newer enemies and obstacles are introduced. The boss battles were a nice highlight as well. Nice stuff all-around!

Not to be a downer, but I do have some feedback:

*Something that struck me about the game was how silent it was: so many things that I expected to have sounds play for them didn't, and it made the world feel a bit lifeless and dull. For example, when you're in the room with those wall traps that shoot arrows, I expected to hear sounds for them arming themselves, shooting, and the arrows bouncing off things: not only would this add a lot of life to the world, sounds can also serve as warnings for obstacles and let you catch their rhythm.

*Similar to the above, I was a little disappointed at the lack of reactivity. There were a few times where I tried to do something clever like drop a box on an enemy, only for it to do nothing. I'd also like it if when you try to use a locked door you don't have the key for, it rattles or something to let you know you don't have the key. Maybe I'm asking too much, but it just made the world feel a bit less in my eyes.

*As cool as the knives are, I feel like it completely disrupts the balance of the game. Before you get knifes, you need to learn enemy patterns and formulate a route that weaves your way through the enemies, which can be quite fun and challenging. Once you get knives, though, you can just kill everything at a distance and then walk through an empty room: so boring! I hope that the game introduces something to counter-balance this later on, but I didn't get to see it in the demo.

*As nice as the game is, I think that's only within the context of playing it for free on Newgrounds for a bit: without any sort of creative mechanic, sense of challenge, or unique quality, it's just not interesting enough that I'd throw down money to play the rest of it. It's just another adventure clone to toss on the pile of millions of others.

So yeah, it's a well-constructed and nice game, but if I put it within the context of Steam and all the competition present there, it just lacks a certain je ne sais quoi to make it stand out. I still think you should be proud of making this, though, and this could just be a me thing: some people might like the simplicity and treat it as a positive which gives them relaxed vibes, I dunno.

AdventureIslands responds:

Thanks for the detailed feedback! This was insightful.

Agreed perhaps there could be more sounds.

Later on there are more variants of enemies, including ones that cannot be harmed with knives.

Maybe the game is little simple side, but it's also coming for mobile, so simpler gameplay is easier on a touch screen.

[Wanted!]

This is a great little arcade game that's simultaneously also a very creative art collab as well! The presentation is very charming, the gameplay is some simple yet addictive fun filled with all sorts of references and challenging escalation to keep you on your toes, and the art comes with a cool gallery view that is searchable and contains links to artists: what a fantastic two-for-one special! Heck, combine that with the special bart game that changes the genre from searching to aim training and we've got a three-for-one special: whadda deal!

One aspect I found pretty interesting is that the game allows you to click on the target even if it is behind something: usually that would be a penalty and I could be fine with it as part of the challenge, but this game is quite generous and I like that!

I do wish that the gallery also gave you some lore into the origins of certain characters for the uninformed, but I understand that the space is limited and you've already done enough, haha!

sebulant responds:

Thank you for the very kind words!

[Babel.EXE]

Pretty neat game you got here!

The ZX Spectrum-style presentation is certainly well-done and eye-catching, and the story you constructed is short-and-sweet, just the right length to get built-up effectively but not overstay its welcome, which could've easily happened due to the rather simplistic gameplay.

The story events did a great job at keeping me hooked, from small bits of confusion like the color of the flower changing (which was so innocuous I didn't even notice lol) to more and more darker twists.

I was a bit disappointed that there didn't seem to be any sort of interesting player decisions to make besides following orders that could lead to different endings or what-not. It also sucked a bit when it forces you to do something in a cutscene like killing Amber, instead of having you do it with your own hands which could feel more emotionally resonant. But I understand you were going for a certain story and that's fine. Having said that, I was able to kill Noah earlier than I was ordered, so that was neat that it allowed that.

The story is nice, but it does suffer from the typical contrivances where the writer needs to clue the reader in somehow by making people act out-of-character. For example, why would Babel go back and forth on whether to accurately translate stuff for us or not? Yes, it's a gut punch when we realize we've been tricked, but realistically it makes no sense and they would just keep lying to us. It's the equivalent of a boss monologuing his dastardly plans to his captor who is about to die: it's just a little silly. But again, I understand why you had to do it (though I'd love it if maybe you did it a different way, like an alternate new game + afterwards which has the true speech while leaving the first playthrough fully with lies).

GooseStranger responds:

Thanks for playing and doing this wonderful write up!

I certainly wanted to add player decisions but that quickly spiraled the scope, so I decided on giving the illusion of decision lol.

I knew some people wouldn't totally enjoy the game forcing you to kill Amber in that cutscene but I felt that moment would lose its power if I had given control back to the player, they don't realize they could or should attack, and die and have to do the scene all over again.

The thought on Babel.EXE translating some stuff but not others is a fair point. However, I feel some players would be a little cross if everything went fine the whole game and suddenly everyone is dead with zero context. I gotta do what I gotta do.

I'm glad you enjoyed and thanks for all the feedback!

[Trash Force Demo]

Pretty cute little game! Certainly makes a solid first impression with its very eye-catching interface design, but the gameplay is no slouch either, delivering some simple but addictive arcade fun which reminded me a lot of the game 'getting trashed' from No More Heroes 2 (if anyone gets that reference).

Had a decent time for the most part, but if I had any parts to give feedback on, it would be:

*Perhaps it's my fault, but I chose Hard the first time (as I do with almost every game) and it didn't give me a tutorial. Seems like it only does it if you play on easy, which makes sense, but I think it would be nice if it gave you a tutorial if it is your first time playing, no matter what difficulty you select.

*I feel like the difficulty curve of the game is a bit odd: parts of it slowly increase over time like the introduction of unbreakable asteroids and more of them, but other parts, like aliens, come and go instead of also increasing. It can lead to the game feeling somewhat boring at times when it chooses to go easy on you.

*Similar to above, it feels like the difficulty of the game plateaus and leaves you in an awkward state where you've bought all the possible upgrades but nothing is strong enough to fight back, so you just get bored and want to quit instead of staying in this purgatory. Would much prefer if the game ended with the boss battle, or just kept increasing in difficulty to a nigh unwinnable degree like your classic Survivors do: either end strong or keep it challenging, as both are better outcomes that leave a player wanting more than leaving bored.

*Perhaps this is a me thing, but I didn't think the whole metaprogression of statistical upgrades was necessary: feels like a hollow, unsatisfying and manipulative time sink.

Pretty impressive for a game jam game!

BluePinGames responds:

Thanks for playing and all the kind words!

To address the difficulty concern, i think the game does get to a point where its too difficult to progress. Furthest a newgrounds user got is roughly level 30. Its probably too gradual at the moment.

It will be better once we have more bosses, more upgrades and other types of levels :)