FutureCopLGF's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Hank: Straightjacket]

Quite the short but sweet point and click adventure! It's unfortunately a bit short, especially if you just knock the book over and hit the button immediately (like I did on my first try) but the game does have a great amount of depth to it with a huge amount of dialogue and other interactables that intrigued me and made me want to go back and see what other routes and information there was to discover. Couple that huge amount of depth with the stylish presentation and interesting use of the rewind mechanic as a diegetic superpower of our character (or so it seems to imply), and I think this does a wonderful job at serving as a demo/prototype for the main game: consider me intrigued and wanting to see how this shapes up in the end!

In terms of feedback and potential improvements:

1) If you hover the cursor over the book on the right hand side, you can't read the pop-up text to 'pick up' or 'examine' since it's to the right of the cursor and it therefore spills off the screen. Hopefully it can be updated to make it so that text is always visible, perhaps aligning to the left if the cursor is close to the right side of the screen.

2) Might just be me being dumb, but some of the visuals were a bit too dark or confusing for me to tell what was going on. I didn't even realize there was a pit at first, and I don't know exactly what the bookshelf is doing by knocking it over: it says it is making a bridge but it doesn't look to be going across the whole pit, only half of it, so I don't know why it isn't sliding down into it or something akin to that. Also couldn't parse what was going on when Hank hits the button and the cinematic plays: looks to me like he just lands in the pit and the bookshelf bridge is nowhere to be seen. Also, how the heck are we throwing the book and such if we're in a straightjacket?

3) It might be asking too much, but there were some silly inconsistencies in the dialogue if you interact with it at weird times that I'd love to be addressed. For example, if you decide to ask about the gun after you've already knocked the bookshelf over, the villain says something akin to it being an insurance policy if you find a way out of the pit, but by knocking the bookshelf over, he's already acknowledged that you've found a way out of the pit by doing so. Maybe lock that dialogue interaction from happening if you're knocked the shelf over, or update the dialogue for the two different times you can ask it during? It's a lot, but it'd be a great touch to have that amount of reactivity and consistency.

Emptygoddess responds:

Blame the programmer/director! He cut out like 40% of my amazing words!

[Recontra]

Quite the fun short and sweet adventure! The game was pretty basic in a sense, being a simple shooter with powerups, but due to being short and keeping the pace up with lots of interesting twists and story beats, I loved every second of it! Seriously, the way the dialogue was worded and paced, and the way the story switched to a boss fight with a cockroach was very amusing. Also thought some of the bonus achievements were quite funny. That's not to say that the story was the only good thing: the gameplay, while basic, was definitely solid shooting action that escalates quickly with a good variety of enemy types and an alright boss fight pattern, and I liked the little touches here and there like the way enemy bodies ragdoll on death and can end up being juggled with further gunfire or even fall into the water. Would've loved a bit more, such as a second phase to the cockroach boss fight, but it's alright with what we got: better a game keeps it short and leaves you wanting more instead of being overly long and boring you!

streq responds:

Thank you for the review!! It's always appreciated! :)

[Shinigami Run]

Neat game! I certainly like the stylish art and characters and the simple arcade fun, and laughed at its amusing way of teaching that the player has a double jump when it wasn't obvious, but have to admit that the game feels rather shallow: once you've played about 5 seconds of it, you've seen everything the game has to offer as the game doesn't increase in difficulty or introduce new mechanics to add complexity (beyond a simple speed powerup that appears randomly). I hoped that when I unlocked the other character that the game would do something to change things up like having the new character have different abilities like swapping gravity instead of jumping or maybe having different objectives like dodging souls and smashing spikes instead, but it seemed like it was purely a cosmetic change with no gameplay difference, unfortunately.

rotcivsette responds:

I wish you gave me those ideas earlier! haha
I dabbled with character abilities, but got stuck with no ideas.
And those were really cool ones, thank you for your feedback!

[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-Radiodemon 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