FutureCopLGF's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Nefarius - The Last Wizard (Updated)]

Hmm, this one is a bit of a mixed bag for me!

It certainly started off very strong with a great first impression. Overall I feel like the graphical presentation of this game is exceptional and very impressive: even aspects that are typically overlooked like menus, death animations, and so on are high quality. Got some fantastic music as well!

Once we start to get into actual gameplay, though, it starts to fall apart, as while it is a somewhat serviceable Survivors-esque game, it feels very bland and dry which is in stark contrast to the beautiful assets used. There's barely any enemy variety and they are easily exploited by running circles around them to corral them together. The weapons/items on offer are tiny, unimaginative, and give no sense of variety between runs. The act of hitting enemies, collecting experience and leveling up is not exciting at all due to a lack of feedback and juice. Frankly, it's just pretty boring to me and feels more like an early alpha or a skeleton to work from: needs a lot more meat on its bones before its actually fun!

Other points of feedback:

*The volume balancing is terrible with the barely existing sound effects being so easily drowned out by the music. I needed to turn the music down to like 1% and the sound to 100% to make it so that it works better.

*Strange that the game teaches you how to dash from the very start, but it doesn't even start you off with a dash since you need to get boots first. By the same token, it's very strange that the laser power requires you to hit a button for it, but the game doesn't teach this at all: I kept waiting for it to activate since I thought it was a passive!

*Weird that the terrain, specifically objects like trees, bushes, and so on, doesn't block the player or the enemies from moving straight through it. I can understand the game allowing enemies to move straight through them, but allowing the player to move through seems weird as they should be obstacles that require the player to strategize and not get stuck: without that, the world feels unexciting and you can just run around without a care in the world.

*Laser is a bit of a death trap in that, while it looks all fancy, it freezes you in place and easily sets you up to be killed right afterwards as the enemies just swarm you. Maybe it needs to freeze time or something else?

*Main menu is inconsistent with control scheme: the main options require you to use the keyboard, but if you go into the options, suddenly the keyboard is unusable and you need to use the mouse instead? Even weirder is that if you try and use the keyboard while in options, it will still keep moving the main menu around.

*Finally, maybe the most important of all, is that even if everything is fixed up, there really isn't anything interesting or unique about the game that grabs me and makes me want to play it. The world is absolutely awash with Survivors-esque games that are competing for attention with all sorts of appealing attributes, and this needs something special to stand out: right now I'm not seeing that.

Hope this helps and you work on it to create a final version which plays as well as it looks!

Snow-Hex responds:

Thanks for your comment, I assure you that the programmer and I will take into account each of the points you mention, thanks again for your review, this kind of comments is really useful in every way. 🦖

[MEATY MAYHEM (The Full Experience)]

Huh, I was pleasantly surprised by this!

I feared the worst when starting out because this game unfortunately feels very similar to the demo that was posted before: while the world and vibes that the game gave off were very goofy and charming, overall the gameplay felt rather generic and bland, controls felt awkward, sound effects were missing, difficulty was simultaneously too easy while also being too punishing, and so on. Basically, it felt like it hadn't taken any of the feedback into account, so it wasn't the best first impression.

Nevertheless, I pressed onwards into the new content, and felt rewarded for my persistence as around the start of world 2, the game started to get quite interesting and cool from there! Levels started to get a lot of new mechanics like the bounce pads and moving platforms, and overall the game became more of an interesting and challenging precision platformer. In addition, there was a lot more novelty to keep things fresh: there were weird secrets like running into the gorilla, and a lot of great setpieces like the weird ghost levels, the crazy boss fights and the clown chase sequence and so on! Really neat stuff!

So yeah, the controls are still a bit awkward, the game is a bit jank and it takes a while for the game to get good, but when it does, I was quite impressed! If I were to guess as to why this is the case, I suppose it's a classic case of the programmer getting more skilled as the game was developed so the quality of game gets better the deeper you go, haha!

BakethedBean responds:

yeah as time went on i found ways to come up with more robust solutions in less time which gave me opportunities to put more stuff in. thank god for the redemption arc!

[The Test of Insanity]

Cute game! Feels very much like a successor to The Impossible Quiz, what with its wide variety of questions and minigames, and its focus on mind-bending trickery and lateral thinking. As someone who already played The Impossible Quiz back in the day, I was already very familiar with the tricks this game was playing (for example, the math question where the answer is clicking on a number within the question) so I didn't have too much trouble making my way through, but all in all, it was a nice, enjoyable, goofy adventure!

If there were any complaints, it'd be:

*As said, it might just be because I'm already familiar with this kind of game, but I made it through rather quickly and was left hungry for more, so yeah, it's a bit short! Also it is kind of rehashing a lot of stuff that's come before, so I'm not quite sure if it has its own unique voice or appeal yet: in a way, the game kind of makes you want to go back and play the Impossible Quiz instead of seeing this as the superior version.

*The game felt a little bit dry, especially with no music: could maybe stand to have some more aspects to pep it up.

*I feel like it was somewhat awkward to have the scroll-clicking game as the very first thing you encounter. For a quiz game like this, I feel it'd be better to start with something more standard, like the question about fish, then later on you can get into the more action-y minigames. It's not bad, just made the pacing a bit strange, but maybe that's just because it actually took me a while to figure it out and I'm just compensating, haha.

jacklehamster responds:

Thanks, great feedback!

[The Newgrounds Bug Collab]

Yowza, what a cool art collab! I love to see art collabs that present the art in a very creative and compelling fashion, and this game delivers that in spades with its wonderful Pokemon-esque world that you explore in! I enjoyed all the people and things you can interact with in the world, and I enjoyed the zoo with all its marvelous bugs and fancy cages, and very much appreciated its plaques that contain links to the artist's profile. I couldn't help but wish the game was full-on Pokemon with being able to collect and battle these critters, but I understand that's a big ask and I already applaud the effort that was put into this: well done!

In terms of feedback:

*I found it very odd how the bugs move around: instead of smoothly transitioning between grid spaces like the player does, they insta-teleport around. It's kinda scary, almost like they're SCP-esque monsters! I'm guessing it was done because it was too much to ask the artists to make walk cycle sprites in addition to all the directional poses, but even then, I wouldn't mind and would prefer a more smooth and slow movement instead of the teleporting, even if it looks a bit odd that the legs don't animate.

*The glass in front of the cages, particularly the thick upper line of them, really bothered me as it is constantly blocking the bugs and not allowing me to see them clearly. Wish it was made thinner or transparent or taller so it doesn't end up occluding them.

*The place is absolutely huge! Wish there was something like a map so I could easily get a read of the museum layout and plan out my trip, and I also wish the map design had more shortcuts and would constantly lead into the lobby instead of having long stretches that lead to dead-ends that you then need to backtrack on. Could stand to have some fast travel checkpoints (I thought this is what these elevator door things were) and maybe change up the colors of some of the rooms to represent different wings and allow you to mental map the facility better.

Frosty responds:

thanks for the good reviews as always!!

[Pumpkin's Sky Tea]

Pretty cute game! Love the presentation and vibes that this game gives off, and as a fan of games like Euro Truck, Elite Dangerous, New Horizons and so on, the trading aspect alongside some SHMUP combat was very compelling and right up my alley! The inclusion of meaningless but amusing aspects like a meow button were very charming, and the goal of the game being to purchase cat pictures was hilarious (and not a bad motivation!)

However, as cute as the cat pictures were and all that, I had to admit that the game quickly became repetitive and just wasn't keeping my attention. The SHMUP gameplay felt very shallow and never seemed to evolve in any interesting way as the game went on, making it end up feeling like annoying filler before long, and the trading was all the same as well. Trading was a bit of a bummer too because while I want to buy cat pictures periodically as I play for a reward, that seems like a dumb idea because it removes my trading power, so its better to just keep trading and buy all the pictures at the end in one fell swoop, which makes it such a slog.

I think what this game really needed was some sense of progression: typically the charm of these trading games is upgrading your ship for bigger cargo loads or faster speed or the ability to utilize new routes, giving it an addicting sense of escalation. In this game, however, your ship remains the same and all routes and goods are open to you immediately, and since all you blow your money on is cat pictures, it feels like a loss and makes everything else feels unchanging as you just run the same loop over and over.

All in all, it's still impressive given its a game jam game, and the cat is very cute, but yeah, just wish it had a bit more meat to its core gameplay loop!

Chris responds:

Thanks! I agree with a lot of what you have said which is why I plan to make another and build on it a bit. The short time frame for the game jam was quite limiting in what I was able to pull off.

[DEAD DETENTION #1 (Rescribbled)]

Neat visual novel you got here! The story is a bit too goofy and packed with anime cliches for my old man sensibilities, but I was really impressed at the stylish sketchbook presentation and overall smooth, polished feel to the gameplay and interface. Where a lot of visual novels are very static and filled with portraits talking at each other for hours that can sap my energy, this had a lot of unique art, minigames and so on to keep things lively and engaging.

While it is pretty promising, there were a few points that I feel could use some work:

*I was a bit disappointed with the minigames, particularly in that there is no way to fail at them, making them feel rather pointless. I would much prefer if winning or losing at the minigames would branch the story in different and exciting ways, or affect your character's stats which can make differences later on in the actions they take, similar to other more action-based visual novels like Indigo Prophecy, Until Dawn, and so on.

*I like the idea of decisions affecting your stats, but this episode didn't provide any instance where we could see how those stats affect anything. Perhaps it is planned to only have effects way later down the road, but I'd like to see proof of the system in action early on so I don't feel like I'm being sold a false bill of goods (ever heard of Mass Effect 3?) For example, it'd be nice if being negative earlier on makes you reluctant to help out in finding the sister, so the story branches there, though perhaps only for a bit before he rejoins and helps out.

*There was a distinct lack of quality-of-life features, such as there being no save/load feature, no text log so you can review things being said, no skip feature, and so on. I can understand being hesitant with save/load features so that people need to live with their choices instead of save scumming, but still, what if I need to take a break and want to continue later on?

Looking forward to seeing how the rest of the episodes develop!

JackAstral responds:

All good suggestions - thanks! I’ll keep some of those in mind for the next ones :-)

[The Gauntlet]

Hmm, for the most part I liked what this game was trying to do! The whole death-gameshow aspect reminds me of something like Smash TV or The Running Man, and I liked trying to react quickly to make it through these randomly-generated deadly obstacle courses while also grabbing any bonus cash that I could, which usually requires taking an extra risk. As frustrating as it was that I could barely make a dent into my debt, I can begrudgingly appreciate that it's probably the point, haha!

That being said, the game didn't keep my attention for long as I started seeing the same room layouts over and over only a short bit into the game, many of them quite sparse and not that exciting, making it all feel rather repetitive. The controls were also rather frustrating with me constantly accidently activating the dash when I didn't want to because I'm trying to move back and forth quickly to stay on a platform, for example.

The worst part of the game for me was the whole metaprogression and daily login stuff: it felt completely unnecessary and threw off the balance of the game. I had no idea that revives were a limited item that you can only recover once every 24 hours, and so I blew all five on my first run, thinking that it would be like any other game where I'd get them back on a new run, and now I need to wait five days just so I can have a fair chance at playing again? Why on earth would you incentivize players to stay away from your game and be so unfair and punishing?

Also a small nitpick: the music in the intro is so loud that it drowns out the voice actor. There could definitely be some audio balancing here and there.

blit-blat responds:

Starting with the revives - it’s to incentive people to download the app, where they can buy more revives. Yes, in-app purchases are scummy, but I’ve got bills to pay! Think I’ve tried to get the balance right, this game is no means pay to win!

There’s 100 rooms (101 if you include the start screen), so you shouldn’t see too many repeats early on. That said there’s no restriction on the rooms, so it possible to see level A, B, A, B, etc back to back, depending on how RNGesus is feeling! Something to look into, along with the Audi balancing.

And yeah, it’s definitely meant to be hard (but still possible!) to pay off your debt! No one escapes the gauntlet!

[One Must Imagine Sisyphus Happy]

Huh, quite the interesting game! It's certainly a very lively, stylish and animated game, and I was really impressed at the sheer amount of variety that the game has for chapter titles, dialogue, and so on: it's even got a bunch of hidden/rare animations for pushing the rock or getting knocked down! Can certainly keep you playing for quite some time just to see what happens next!

Unfortunately, compared to other Sisyphean-esque games like Jump King and Getting Over It, this lacks compelling gameplay as it just keeps recycling the same minigames in the same order over and over, and the time limit quickly caps out at 2 seconds in just 3 cycles with no other evolution or progression beyond that. I just couldn't imagine myself happy to play this for very long at all. In a way, though, that pointless and repetitive feeling that the game gives off accurately portrays the task more so than other games, so I guess this might be the best game in that regard?

squidly responds:

its not Sisyphean-esque, it's Sisypunk 🚹🪨

[Bug Off!]

Pretty cute rhythm game! For the most part, I really like what this game is going for: the story is wholesome, the characters and dialogue are very cute and charming, and the rhythm gameplay is interesting in how you need to try and mimic your partner by observing their telegraphed poses and reacting quickly.

I have to admit, though, I had a really rough time! I love rhythm games and I understood what the game was putting down quickly, but I find myself barely able to keep up once the game finishes introduces all of the characters and their associated moves on easy. With such a wide array of moves to look for, the amount of time to react being so low, and the way that they can throw you off your timing by holding the pose for longer or shorter amounts of time: it's really hard!

I know the game is trying to help with subtle hints like modulating the pitch of the sound to indicate whether the pose is going to be held shorter or longer, but still, the reaction time and decision-making it is demanding is too much for me! There's a reason a lot of rhythm games use note charts where you can see ahead, and we're seeing an example of why that works and this doesn't right here, unfortunately!

So yeah, lovely little game, but damn if it doesn't have some serious claws hidden under that cute facade! Wonder if the high difficulty is a case of the developers getting too used to their game from working on it so soon and mistakenly thinking it's going to be just as easy for new players.

Mezix responds:

Thanks for the detailed and honest feedback! I'll keep it real, it definitely is partially the case that we got used to our own game. In fairness, it isn't a problem to restart the levels you are having trouble with, but I can see where you're coming from!

We also intended for the game to be challenging given it's limited run time, and maybe that's something that doesn't come across super clear when you open what ostensibly is a cute rhythm game. We've received some feedback pertaining to helping the player figure out the moves that we plan to implement in the future.

Thanks for your feedback!

[REALISE]

Hmm...I'm really torn on this one!

On one hand, I think it's pretty cool. Certainly starts off with a good first impression with the very stylish main menu that pans around the car wreck to display the various options. The music is nice, and the game's overall journey is quite interesting with a very fancy tunnel interlude, car crash pileup ending, and the general sense that there's nothing you can do to win. It's like an interactive music video, which is quite experimental and interesting, almost like a piece of outsider art!

On the other hand, the game just didn't feel good or well-put-together on a technical level. First impression was terrible as the game couldn't even format the tutorial menu to keep the instructions within the box, making them sloppily spill out and become hard to read. The gameplay felt dull and lifeless with the way that there was an absolute lack of feedback, such as there being no sound or physical reaction from the car when it plows into money or obstacles. Power-ups felt worthless as well: what's the point of getting tank treads if you can't even plow through pebbles in your way without losing money? Everything just felt bad and pointless and finally, I feel like the game tries to excuse its problems but making everything feel 'deep' and intentional by delivering a bunch of fancy-dancy philosophical quote wankery: ohhh it's feels bad because its supposed to, sod off, if you pardon my harshness.

I know there's a lot of concessions I could make here and there: for example, maybe there was a lack of sound effects because you didn't want them to drown out the music. Maybe the power-ups feel bad because you're being conned by the salesmen or whatever. But overall if I had to pick a side between finding it stylish or shoddy, I just wasn't feeling this one. At the very least it was quite memorable and I like what it was attempting to pull off: perhaps if it just had a bit more construction put into it I would be cheering for it instead.

HearsePileup responds:

One guy worked for four years on this - I wrote the music too.

I'll consider doing an update once I've had some sleep.

There is a very real point I'm trying to make with this work though, as an interactive music video specifically.

If you're trying to assess this specifically as a game and not a political statement then you're missing the point somewhat.