FutureCopLGF's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Fruity Tower]

Overall I'm incredibly impressed at the amount of polish and professional construction put into this game. Every little thing in this game is absolutely bursting with juice: the title screen with its buttons that react on hover and explode on click, the satisfying way shooting has gibs fly out of enemies and screenshake to subtly signal kill confirmation, the shop menu with its sliding out tabs and shopkeeper interactions, the way money flies up to the money counter and flips the digits, the great music and how it transitions when combat is over, and so much more than I could list! The game itself is also very charming with a very cute story concept that bleeds into many facets, such as the weaponry named with all sorts of fruit puns and the various fruit-based enemies. Really, really cool stuff!

However, at the end of the day, the core gameplay really didn't excite me that much and I easily found myself getting bored and struggling to continue despite how good it looked. Don't get me wrong, it starts out pretty good what with its decent shooting against various enemies to fight, and I was excited to get to the top of the tower. But in the end it really just felt like a repetitive slog: the players moveset is very simple with no chance for unique expression, the enemies were pretty generic and unchallenging, there were no fun midway challenges like bosses, the combat rooms felt really cramped with no space for moving around, all of the guns were functionally boring and only differed in forced numerical advantages meaning that even slightly fun guns had to be unfortunately left behind due to lackluster damage, and so on.

I think the big killer for me was just how forced the metaprogression felt. It never felt like I was jumping from the balcony to get back to the store because it was getting too hard: it was more that the enemies were becoming too frustratingly spongy and thus I needed a new gun to make the time-to-kill feel less like a slog. But then I'd hate doing that since going back to buy guns would mean that now I'm cashless I have to climb all the way back through the previous floors to get back to where I was because I can't purchase a skip (and even if I could pay to skip a bit, do I want to risk going into debt instead of playing it safe?) Yes, climbing back with a new gun can be a bit nice since you can flex on earlier enemies with your numerical advantage, taking them out in one shot, but I felt that feeling didn't counteract the overall feeling of having to go through it all again to get back, especially since there wasn't any sort of randomization or special events to perhaps freshen things up on a return trip. I just hated having to deal with money and the debt mechanic and so on: it just added so much stress and paranoia that made me optimize the fun out of the game, playing safe to keep money but in doing so making the game so repetitive through backtracking.

There were also other slight annoyances with the game, such as how the gun is, instead of being more logically offset to where their hand is, is centered right on top of our player, meaning that we can't even see our cute lil' guy, and that combat could sometimes be obscured due to the sheer amount of visual flair the game was, what with the overall monochromatic theme, tons of blood, screen-shake, unnecessary limited field of view, and so on. Also I kind of hated whenever I had to buy multiple things from the shopkeeper as it meant watching their animation play out for each item without being able to skip it: little annoyances like that where the juiciness of the game was maybe a bit too indulgent. The tilted geometry of the game could be a bit confusing at well in terms of where collision boxes are, too.

Again, overall I think it's a great game and has some super professional polish to it all, but the gameplay was a bit of a miss for me due to how simple and repetitive it can be and how numerical it all felt. It's still fun and interesting enough that I still plan on trying to make my way to the top though!

EDIT: Made it through and beat the final boss! Boss fight was a bit of a letdown as it was very simple and just one phase, but I did appreciate what a spectacle it was, especially the intro and outro. You'll laugh, but I totally goofed in the outro: after I won the fight and was carrying him over to the balcony, I threw him, only for him to stop short of falling off. I then walked over to pick him up but got a bit too close to the edge and unintentionally jumped off! Luckily I was immediately able to buy my way back to the top and properly throw him off without even having to fight him again, haha! (oh it looks like there is an achiveo for this, so it was actually intended as a possibility, wow)

Prox276 responds:

Very insightful and thorough review as always! I always look forward to these! <3
I'll definitely be working on all of these things in my future games. Specifically creating a more exciting and deep gameplay loop. Kinda went style over substance with this one, I agree. :P

[Sadmin Night]

Hey, pretty cool stuff here! Overall the game has a really polished and refined feel to it: everything felt really smooth, I liked the look of the art/animations, the sound effects and atmosphere were cool, and the neat touches like providing hints on the game over screens and hidden references and so on were great. Also I really appreciate that, despite being an April Fool's game where most people would just treat it as a joke, this actually had some serious effort put into its construction! I could certainly dock some points to this for just being yet another FNAF clone with a Henry Stickmin paintjob, but I had a good time so I can't fault it too much.

I have beaten the game now and had a short but sweet time with it (and enjoyed the Extras as well), but there were some tricky parts to learn at first, especially since I've never actually played FNAF before, and some annoyances with the game that I had to contend with.

*I wish the whole 'securing power terminals' was a bit more eye-catching as I wasn't even aware of its existence for quite some time, and I also wish it provided a bit more feedback when you turn it on since I wasn't sure how it worked, like perhaps having the power terminal shown on camera have its buttons change color or even have an animation of it slamming shut like the doors do or shocking whatever Stickmin messes with it. In a similar vein, it'd be nice if securing the vents would also have a graphical change that can be seen through the cameras as feedback.

*While merely hovering around the boxes to change views/interact is smooth and does reduce clicks, I sometimes wish it would require clicks as confirmation instead as I'd have some strange misinputs at times due to unintentionally hovering over a button. Sometimes I'd have the cameras flip up only to immediately flip back down due to the game thinking I hovered over the button again, for example. But worst of all was that I had one annoying death where I had a Stickmin at the door and went to close it, but my mouse grazed past the reboot monitor button which flipped it on and allowed the Stickmin to get in and kill me: argh!

Again, nice work with this!

BioPlant responds:

Thank you for the feedback!

[Super Hard Quiz P2!!!]

Certainly gives me nostalgia vibes as it is pretty much a clone of The Impossible Quiz from back in the day. Can be pretty funny to go through and check out all of the goofy questions with equally goofy answers, and there's a nice assortment of trick questions that require lateral thinking (like having to click the question number) as well as minigames to keep everything fresh and exciting. Not too shabby!

Unfortunately, though, it rapidly just becomes frustrating and annoying due to the trial-and-error needed to guess what answer the game wants due to many of the questions just being jokes with no real logic to them, and making it all the way back to where you left off can be tedious due to some of the questions being minigames that slow you down due to required waiting. Maybe back in the day when I was younger and this type of quiz was fresh and new I'd have more patience to make it all the way through, but now that I'm older and this quiz is just a retread, I'm less inclined. Still, had a fair bit of amusement with this trip down memory lane while it lasted!

octopus58 responds:

Thanks! It's mostly a throwback type of thing, so I can see why it can be frustrating with the nostalgic factor excluded haha. The minigames were actually new to the sequel since the original was way too simple/a little boring even. But I'm glad you had some enjoyment from it :D

[TrashKitty]

Really cool game! Gave me Jump King vibes with its charge-jump based movement. Was really impressed with the level design that kept me hooked with its various challenging layouts, constant introduction of new mechanics like buttons, switches, the trashcan with wheels, and so on! Game also just had a really funny concept, charming presentation, and great music! All-around feels like a really solid game with great design. Absolutely loved the cool cold open where you go through the tutorial and it sweeps up for that title drop: stylish as heck!

It wasn't all good times for me though, unfortunately. One big frustration was the controls:

*I had a lot of difficulty getting used to holding a direction to both point in a direction and charge: kinda wish they were separate buttons as it felt very awkward. S'not bad and I could get used to it, just felt like maybe you were unnecessarily making the controls different from Jump King instead of just embracing what works.

*Charging also felt really weird where I would constantly try to half-charge but end up jumping way harder than I expected: felt like the charge time was too fast and finicky in that way. Again, I was getting used to it but it felt less intuitive than other games.

*Despite using a controller as the game recommended, the game 1) didn't display controller-based tutorials and kept displaying keyboard-based tutorials 2) didn't let me use the d-pad as it kept wonking out and not reading inputs properly for it which left me using the analog stick instead which I didn't like. Maybe it just didn't like my PS4 controller?

*Finally, there were several times where the controls just fully glitched out and stopped working properly. Like, I'd hold down a direction to charge up a jump and instead nothing would happen, or it'd do a little hop, or charge up but then just stay charging instead of jumping when I let go, and so on and so forth. Sometimes I'd get it working again if I spaz out enough and jump out of the trashcan and so on, but ugh! It wasn't even just my controller as I'd switch to keyboard and it would still be glitched out.

More so than the controls, however, the lack of a save/load or level select functionality really hurt me. I liked this game from my initial impression and wanted to take a quick break before coming back to it, only to find I'd have to start the game all over again! As much as I want to get to the end and beat it, it'd be such an annoyance to have to replay some of the levels all over again, especially that level where you need to backtrack multiple times to bring trash cans to place on buttons: fine on a first run, but to do it again would be so tedious!

I'm still overly positive on the game and think it's really neat, but yeah, the wonky controls and the lack of a continue option really hurt this for me. Looking forward to more, though, and maybe it can be patched hopefully!

EDIT: Got to the end on a replay and had a good time! While I did encounter some more bugs and such I was really impressed at the amount of levels and how challenging they could be, as well as how funny and stylish the game looks and sounds!

MadNukin responds:

Hey thanks for the review.
The control scheme for me felt okay, I didn't experienced any bugs with them, so I really don't know how to improve them.
I didn't have time to add the load/save system, but I understand your criticism.
I'm glad you still enjoyed parts of it.

[Clockify]

Goofy little april fools game! I appreciate the interesting twist on a typical dress-up game where you upload your own doll, so to speak.

I was a little disappointed at the lack of options though: not only are there barely any elements to play with and put over the picture, you can't even transform/scale them at all so they can match the uploaded picture closely (for example, my uploaded picture had a face which was much bigger than the clocks provided so it didn't fit) nor can you save/print/export your final clockify'd picture to share (beyond just print screening, I suppose).

Was also kind of expecting the game to auto-clockify an uploaded picture through face recognition and such, like you see on phone camera apps, but I realize I might've been asking too much from a april fools gag game (you got my hopes up tho!)

Little-Rena responds:

Sorry, I made it in 5 minutes lol

[coocoocoocoo]

Interesting little game! It's got a cool and chill aesthetic to its presentation and despite not having any overt tutorial or explanation, I liked figuring out how everything worked due to its intuitive nature. Gameplay was pretty neat with a nice variety of enemies and a focus on precision shooting where careless shots will result in a new obstacle that you need to contend with as they loop back around and threaten to hit you with a vengeance!

In terms of feedback, I was a bit surprised that the increase of difficulty is handled through new clock hands that can get in your way, instead of the typical increasing enemy variety and density: not a bad thing but it can make the game feel a bit repetitive. While I was fine with our own missed bullets looping until they hit something, be it enemy or me the player, I was frustrated that enemy bullets will also loop but they will do so forever until they eventually hit you, and only you: it felt too punishing and I'd prefer if they fade out after some time or can also hit enemies.

The appeal didn't last forever for me since I wasn't sure how long the game goes and there wasn't a high score table or anything like that to encourage competition, but it was a nice and interesting experience while it lasted.

true-narwhak responds:

thank you!! im glad you enjoyed it!! and yeah the whole weird difficulty curve, and lack of highscores were absolutely the weakest points in the game. i didnt put enough care into those departments and it definitely shows

[Unprofessional Mischief]

At its core, I think it's a pretty fun shooter with a nice variety in enemies, great juicy effects, a goofy story, neato bosses and so on. Reminds me a lot of games like Gunsmoke, a favorite of mine. Certainly a solid first impression and a good core!

However, while it starts out strong, it feels like it stalls out very early on: once you've gone through one level, I feel like you've pretty much seen everything the game has to offer already. You have to go through too many levels of pretty much the same set of enemies and geometry to eventually make it to a boss, which only after then mixes up the levels with the simplest of additions like someone who chucks bombs in a vain effort to distract you from the fact that yes, you are just playing the same levels still. While the game has purchasable upgrades, they felt very token and don't spice up the runs enough, with many of them feeling very lackluster and boring (like the pipe bomb, which just flashes the screen without even an animation of throwing the pipe bomb or an explosive sound effect). The game being so long also makes it much more punishing with the way it forces you to start all over on death, making me feel less inclined to replay since I don't want to retrudge through so much to get to the cool boss fights.

At the moment it just feels like a classic case of a good game being stretched thin over too much repetition and filler to inflate play time lengths. I prefer a short and sweet experience that leaves you hungry for more than a game which just keeps going until you get bored! If the game was cut shorter, for example 2 levels inbetween boss fights, or if the game had the levels feel more different by adding in more extensive variety and increasing challenge as you go on at a quicker pace than it does now, I think it would be great!

Peti responds:

i wasn't expecting to see you in my notifications so this was a futurecop jumpscare

[Fruity Feline]

Wow, really impressive game! I absolutely loved just how slick and professionally put-together it all felt: the general presentation is so cute and smooth, the tutorial was wonderful in that it used pictures instead of just being a wall of text, and even without the tutorial the game just felt so intuitive and fun with the way everything is laid out! Everything is just bursting with life and as juicy as the fruit you manage!

Having said that, though, I did feel like the game was pretty hard! Maybe I'm just bad, but compared to a game like Tetris where the speed slowly builds up, I felt like this game reaches incredible speeds at, well, an incredible speed! Don't get me wrong, I do like games with shorter playtime commitments, but this was overkill for me, haha!

There were a lot of times where I was playing that I wish I had more control. Yes, the game does have those nice previews at the top that let you plan ahead and it does have the swap mechanic and you can cleverly exploit the pause that comes with scoring points, but those just didn't feel enough to contend with everything. There would be so many times that a fruit would be half-down the track and it'd be too late to do anything to save it due to the rigid nature of the tracks, making it feel so stressful to watch the inevitable unrecoverable failure. If I were to have some suggestions:

I'd love it if, similar to Tetris, we had the ability to make a fruit fall down the track faster so we could get it out of the way and try and prevent scenarios where two fruits are simultaneously falling and need to be dealt with. Either that, or maybe change it so that we can control when the fruits come out from the top, but have them heating up due to impatience if we don't let them out fast enough (similar to fulfilling orders in a restaurant game). Another thing that would be nice is if we could draw/erase our own custom paths instead so we could really be in control and save a fruit that has gotten too far down, though I bet that would be a headache to code, haha!

The swap mechanic also felt pretty useless: usually whenever I'd try to use it, it'd be last-second to try and save a fruit going in the wrong basket, but the fruit it'd swap to would be wrong as well and just add to the headache! If I were to make it, I'd make it so it would smartly swap to whatever basket it is leading to like a get-out-of-jail card (but then have a cooldown on usage since that would be very powerful).

For another complaint, I was a bit bummed out that every play session inevitably ends in failure with a game over screen where the cat is pissed off at you. Kind of kills motivation to get better! It'd be nice if reaching certain score thresholds or a new personal high score would congratulate you in some way, like how in Tetris you can build up to launching the Kremlin into orbit with a high enough score! (Then again, maybe this is the case and I'm just not good enough to reach it)

Even though I'm bad at it, I can't find myself hating this game because I really like how well put-together it is in general!

tonyfinale responds:

Oh wow thank you for your extended thoughts! YES I do lament how there ended up being a bit of a lack in more PROACTIVE things the player is allowed to do beyond just fiddling with the lines. Going forward I def wanna make things that aren't as raw reactionary based.

Alternate end screens depending on your score is also a rly good idea... noted...

[Cauldron Caverns]

It's a decent, cute little game, but I felt like the tunnel trip got old quickly due to the simple flying controls and lack of challenge and variety in obstacles to contend with.

Once I got one bat to the end (which I did on my 2nd try easily) I didn't really have the willpower or inclination to go through it again as the game expects you to since 1) the track just goes on and on and gets boring since it caps out on difficulty early and doesn't throw in any new exciting obstacles 2) the upgrades don't really add anything new or exciting that would make further trips down the tunnel feel fresh (likely it would just make it feel easier which would just make it even more boring) and 3) it didn't seem like there was a clear end goal to reach, making me feel like it would just go on forever with no ending and feel pointless.

It's an ok core gameplay at its heart that could be nice with some further development: at the moment though it's just too simple to justify the amount of grind and commitment it expects. Perhaps you should need to get a set number of bats through with each subsequent set having different control schemes (maybe one of them having a flappy bird-esque movement pattern), perhaps the tunnel could change and there could be other obstacles and new power-ups to try and help combat those, and so on.

Oh and also I feel like the bat should probably be on the left side of the screen, instead of the center, to make it more fair and give you time to see obstacles coming from the right. That is, unless perhaps later on you make certain obstacles fly in from the left: that would justify it and add some variety!

LionJeff responds:

I love your comments :) Would you be interested in being a game tester? lol I feel like your comments would be very useful during active development.

There's a lot to digest here, but another player made a comment with similar suggestions and mentioning a sequel - if we choose to do that, I think we'll be able to incorporate a good amount of game play changes and ways of keeping things fresh. However, we have a few projects that are in process and we're excited to keep working on so we'll focus on those for the time being. You've given us a lot to think on and we will take what we can into these newer projects.

I really appreciate the honesty, it will help our future games be more engaging! Hopefully you'll like the next one a little more! We appreciate the play and feedback!

[Rolus in the Outskirts]

Pretty cool game! Certainly makes a great first impression with its stylish art and professional-feeling construction to its world. The story is a bit too aimless for my tastes without even a hint of some greater goal or motivation beyond this weird crystal, but it was nevertheless fun to check out all the locations, chat with everyone, and just explore, learning bits and pieces here and there. I was really impressed at all the little touches to the environment, like being able to kick or crush cans, ruffle grass, and so on (though there is an odd sound mismatch where kicking a paper milk carton sounds like a tin can): stuff like that can add so much life and make it fun to wander around. Loved the various special events like getting run over or the exploding dog as well. Cool to see the crystal baby respond to events as well like getting hurt or scoring a kill! For the most part I can see myself enjoying the game as a straw millionaire type of game: search around for items to fulfill quests that lead to more quests and so on and so forth, all the while enjoying the dialogue and general weirdness!

Right now the biggest sticking point for me was the combat: it's just so bland. Don't get me wrong, there certainly was a bit of effort in creating a nice mix of various enemies and this whole crystal magic system and such, but it just feels really dry and simplistic and just not fun. I was having a pretty good time just wandering around, talking to the wacky characters and such, then I got into this school dungeon and it just really killed the mood with how repetitive it was, especially since it led me to a dead end (at least it felt like, only later did I realize I needed to move those unnoticeable cans to serve as bait for the mousetraps) and it was so boring to walk back out through the empty halls to the entrance. I suppose it does add some variety and I think it could work, but I almost feel like currently it adds nothing and even hurts the game.

Apart from that, there were some other slight nitpicks here and there: lots of backtracking, lack of music and maybe being a bit too slow in mood, lack of a quest journal or some sort of inventory to help keep track of things, it doesn't stop you from picking up crystals beyond your limit which wastes them, lack of button prompts or a tutorial, not sure of the purpose of benches, and so on. Still, despite all this, the game is shaping up to be a really funny little adventure!

Toony responds:

Interesting to hear you liked the quests but was uninterested in the combat. We plan on keeping the half and half focus of questing and combat, but improving the combat with better dungeon layouts that are less meandering, and more options other than shooting.
Also I really want to better establish that the "greater goal" is getting the cheeseburger.