FutureCopLGF's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[=KRUDSHOT CAFE=]

Pretty solid game! Had a very stylish presentation all-around and feels like it has a solid core for some fun shooting: everything felt quite smooth, intuitive and well-done. Definitely love all of the juicy effects that the game had, like the ouch effects and the bullets popping up one-by-one for a reload and such.

Nitpicks I have are:
*I think it overdoes it on the whole CRT filter wavy pulse distortion whatever thing. Feels really unnecessary: the game is perfectly cool looking without these flashy effects that just hurt my eyes and make it difficult to read things and ruin the great art assets you've got. I know I can turn it off in the menu, but it starts on by default, so I'm under the assumption that you feel that's the intended experience (and I disagree is all).

*In a similar vein to the above, sometimes I feel like it overdoes it on the juicy effects, especially the 'Ouch' text that pops out of enemies. If you hit them with a fast-firing gun, so much text pops up that it clouds the enemy from vision. Funny in a way, but annoying since it makes it difficult to confirm the enemies status.

*Sounds were a bit muted: would love some more powerful sounds and feedback for enemy kills and such to make it feel more satisfying, as the feedback for shooting enemies didn't feel too great.

*Bit annoying that you can't manually reload from what I can tell, which makes it really awkward where you're left with a few bullets after a fight and start the next fight in a bad spot, unless you shoot into the air inbetween fights to empty it enough to force a reload.

*The cursor isn't locked in game which can lead to clicking outside the game by accident during heated combat and losing focus (and then subsequently losing health).

*While the game was nice, it got rather repetitive for me quickly. The vast majority of the levels boiled down to playing clean-up by fighting the same types of unchallenging enemies over and over. Thank god for the boss fights which spiced up the experience, but they were few and far between. Could definitely use more something to add more variety, like more enemy variety, more objective/special event variety, more interesting weapons/items, etc (and if there are, the game should get to them faster because I was dropping off before I saw them).

To sum it up: I think it's very well put-together and impressive, but overall was very basic and lacking a standout element. The gameplay loop got quite repetitive rather quickly due to a lack of said unique hook, be it through story, gameplay mechanics, pacing, or whatever. Basically, it feels like a very juicy and promising prototype/proof of concept that I'd love to see amped up! The characters are pretty cool looking: something as simple as some extra story intro or narrative to flesh them out and give them an objective in gameplay would help more than you think, at least for me!

Just-a-ng-dummy responds:

Thx for the review as always Futurecop!
I understand the CRT filter isnt for everyone and it didn't really feel in place for a "cafe purgatory." I just ultimately thought it looked neat

I didn't know the sounds were a bit muted, I have a bit of trouble finding the right volume for the sound effects and such, I'll keep it in mind in the future.

A manual reload will probably suit the game as you can just mindlessly strap your finger on the left mouse button with duct tape and keep on shooting.

The repetitive nature is certain due to there only being 20 room in total and 4 for each level. Special event variety is one thing I want to add more: Stuff blocking the screen, I guess more bullet hell type events. The pacing is one of my biggest concerns due to the map size being large and the need to kill every goddamn enemy. I could either reduce the map size or just add more enemy variety.

There is a story going in place, but it's not actually stated in the game, but I do like an extra story or narrative put into a game, so I'll try to implement them like those simple "you are the protagonist do this" lines

Cheers on reviewing all of April's nominated games and the release of Family Tech Support!

[Sleef]

I definitely find the game quite impressive at including a level editor and such, but the game was so light in content that I didn't find myself wanting to use it. Sure, you could argue that the intention of the game was to create/play user-created levels, not the dev levels, but I didn't really feel that the game did a good job at selling me on that aspect. The dev-created levels were low in quantity and variety: I'd call them bite-sized, but really they were more crumb-sized. The mechanics were rather sparse and non-substantial: you've only got some flowers that shoot projectiles you can jump on, some platforms, and a weird grapple arms movement system that is way too touchy and unwieldly to move around with (holding down the jump button for a nano-second too long can have you overshooting your goal as your character wildly grapples upwards). It just seemed like the game had so little to offer to work with in creating interesting levels: hell, the editor seemed to have even less than possible since the game had flower platforms but I couldn't find an option to place those, and I couldn't figure out how to change the direction that flowers shoot in.

To compare, Super Mario Maker might be all about creating and playing levels, similar to this, but it, unlike this, offers both a ton of sample levels that are fun to play and showcase all of the tools you can work with which in turn inspires you to want to create. In a way, to me, it almost seemed like you were throwing all the responsibility of making the game fun at us when it should be up to you, haha!

RowanFuture responds:

Thanks for the feedback! The game was made in 24 hours and was more of an experiment for me, the amount of attention it has received is pleasing but I understand that the game is slightly lackluster in many places and was designed somewhat rushed considering my self-imposed time restriction. I'm probably not going to make a game this way again but it has been interesting ^^
(The extra controls for the editor are in the description as I forgot to add them in game)

[Super Sepu Land]

Pretty neat game! Love the goofy story and how the gameplay picks up the pace and difficulty rather quickly with a good amount of varied obstacles to contend with. Love the difficult levels and how, alongside the element of only being able to walk forward, it adds a lot of interesting challenge and improvisation to the gameplay. Sure, it was a little frustrating at first since my natural instincts kept wanting me to be able to backup at times, but overcoming it was a nice experience.

Bit of a bummer at how the continue system works: I made it all the way to Level 4 in the 1st zone, but when I took a break and came back to continue, it took me all the way back to the first level in the zone. I guess I understand that it's because the game uses a life system and I didn't beat the whole zone, but man, I wish it let me continue from the last level I left off on, instead of the last zone. Still, despite that setback, I still want to play this some more, so well done on making it fun enough to make me look past that!

jupitron responds:

Thanks a lot for playing! Great video!

[Ordleway]

Bit mixed on this one. On one hand, it's a funny concept, and I feel like the interface you built is very smooth, professional and satisfying to interact with. But at the end of the day, I actually think the whole pig latin aspect just overcomplicates it and doesn't elevate it to be more fun or interesting than the original. Also frustrated that you can only do it once a day: why did you feel the need to lock it down like that instead of just letting me have fun! Due to all that, in an unfortunate twist, I feel like all this game did was just make me really interested in actual Wordle since I haven't played it yet, not Ordleway, haha! Still, a solid attempt!

ElanMakesGames responds:

Thanks for checking it out, and I appreciate the feedback! I made it limited to once a day so that players can come back each day for a new puzzle, and so that they can talk about a certain day's puzzle together.

[Acend]

Wow, this one really surprised me! First impression was a bit mixed: the title screen/main menu was definitely very cool and smooth with the way it swishes around and transitions to levels and other menus, but the simple graphics, stubby movement of the character, and lack of challenge made me a bit worried as it gave off the impression of a way too basic asset-flip game. However, as the game went on, I was impressed at how quickly it upped the pace and started introducing new mechanics and challenges, along with story elements like the rival character: turned what seemed like a boring game into something that kept me hooked! I also love the subtle, professional design touches here and there, like the way the camera slickly moves to frame the level, and how the sound for the jetpack peters out to clue the player in on the fact that it has limited fuel that peters out: very clever!

EDIT: Made it all the way through! The story was, uh, wacky with a bit of a nonsensical letdown ending if I were to be kind, but it was funny enough in that nonsense and it didn't hurt my experience because the gameplay itself just kept delivering more and more excellent powers, obstacles and setpieces, especially the boss fights! Again, well done with this: definitely a hidden gem!

GreenGoatGaming responds:

Thank you so much, I'm very excited for your next video!

[NG Tarot Card Collab]

Solid art collab! Love it when an art collab creatively displays the art in a unique way to hook viewers, and I think this did a great job! Presentation of the art felt great: loved the animations of the cards coming up and flipping around, and seeing little podchan react to it all. Loved the nice feedback of hovering around the cards and seeing/hearing them flip up: so satisfying to just brush the mouse over 'em, haha. All around super stuff here!

The only big demerit against it for me is that I was surprised that there were no links to the artist's profiles when you hover over their art or name (I know you can find them in the credits, but it'd just be so convenient if, when I see a cool piece of art, I could click on it right there to see the hot creator that made it). That and I felt like the 3-card tarot reading could maybe get put a bit more front-and-center and guide you through the cards you get, or maybe highlight the cards you got in the pile so you can read 'em and remember what you got without having to go back and get your reading done again.

Taka responds:

Hey future cop glad you like the Collab. I did blockhead. Looking forward to your video. Look out this pico day for my game. No bribes *slides dogecoin on the table*.

[Comet]

Hmm, this was a rough one for me. Initial impressions were very strong: I think the concept is cool and the graphics/music/sound and so on felt very polished and professional. Love the cool touches like how the glow of the comet gets closer and closer. I really wanted to love it based on how good it looks and feels to just move around and shoot stuff at a basic level, but the way the rules of the game are designed brings it down, I think.

It just feels way too passive and up to random chance as to whether you can progress: all you can do is wait for pieces to fall down and then break them, hoping you get an orb from them instead of a slime. I would've loved if I could have more of a hand in creating pieces by shooting at the comet to have them come down faster or something, but all I can do is wait. Just didn't feel challenging or tense at all, as it was very easy to dodge the rocks coming down and the occasional flies that would come around were way too easy to dispatch. And then even when you get enough orbs to power the cannon to fire back, it doesn't feel satisfying: all that happens is it fires up and the bar fills up a bit with no satisfying flash or explosion or feedback of any sort to make you feel like you're fighting back.

I definitely think this has some solid and professional construction to it, but the game itself just didn't keep me hooked or excited. This one wasn't for me, but I'm looking forward to seeing what else you come out with in future as this looked like it had a lot of promise and technical know-how!

EduSilvArt responds:

Thank you so much for the nice feedback! I keep making those small games in order to develop myself as I'm very amateur to gamedev. This one I made for Ludum Dare, after the jam I kept updating to make the game cool enough until I realised... the game isn't that cool. No matter what I do I don't think it could get that much fun, I could add lots of visuals feedback, new machanics and such but to make the game fun as a whole I would've to redo everything so I decided to just let it like that and move for my next projects. I learned a lot with it tho and I hope I can make some good games in the future!

[VOLTARMS]

Hmm, bit mixed on this one. I think it does have some cool stuff going for it. I didn't get enough into it, but it did seem to have a bit of a story going for it, and the combat did have some flashy moves and slight tactical options to it: most importantly to me it seemed like the enemies had 'tells' for when they would attack, allowing you the opportunity to cleverly notice the tell and get your defense move ready, similar to a Super Mario RPG game, which are a favorite of mine.

Unfortunately, I felt like in most respects, this feels like a repeat, but instead of being an improved sequel, it actually was a bit of a step down from your other games, like Arcane Maiden. At least in that, from what I remember, there was some slight strategy in moves where you need to decide whether to go for damage, or go for a status debuff like slow, or heal, and other type of stuff, depending on the situation. In this, it seems like all you could do was attack, or rather wait a long time to charge up and then attack. The waiting to charge up could be an interesting strategy element, similar to the Bravely Default system where you need to decide whether its worth the risk to blow all your turns and not suffer repercussions, but in this game it feels like the only thing to do is charge as the benefits are too great to ignore, making it not an option at all. While the fancy animations are cool at first, they get kinda boring when it's literally all you can do, over and over.

There is the chance that perhaps I'm missing something: maybe the game really opens up in terms of strategy later on in some way, or maybe I missed something because the game frontload dump a lot of information on you right at the start without being able to see examples in action. But for me, that game didn't hook me long enough to want to get to that stage. I can understand if it's just not for me: might be the type of game where you're just suppose to grind and level up past problems, instead of employing tactics or reactions. Still, seems like it has a lot of potential and from your previous games, I feel like you can definitely get something going here.

MidNightMaren responds:

Arcane Maiden was designed to be a full throttle game from the get go; it was designed for several years, thought out skill sets and balanced between countless hours of testing. A full paper notebook I still have to this day is scribbled with damage equations, descriptions, menu designs, level layouts etc. It was a shelfed game until Flash Jam was a thing.

Sure, you look at this game and it seems a downgraded version of it. But it was supposed to be a completely different thing and evaluated as such. The dungeon crawler aspect of it is carbon copy, but the game mechanics are much different. This is much more of a hack n' slash type of thing, where you make different combinations and enjoy the flashy visuals.

It´s much simpler and repetitive regardless, I was aware of it from the sketch phase of the game, so I tried to spice it up as much as I could with aesthetics, animation, music, sfx and even a full plotline and world building.
Believe it or not I included the Defense action on the enemy's turn because of your input on Arcane Maiden from your youtube video on the monthly winners from last year; Mario RPG style.

A lot could be done to improve this, but I'm short on hands and time so what you see is what you get. It's always an amazing experience to be able to work on Flash games for fun again, and interactions like this it's what this is all about.

P.S. Your entry is super clever and fun to play. Good job!

[My First KAMIKAZE]

Bit of mixed feelings on this one! For the most part, it is a rather cute and amusing game which, while not having the best first impression in the way that its a bit overly simple and crude in terms of graphics and mechanics, it does pick up the pace in the later levels with some interesting challenges and variety. Also, I did like the little touches the game had, such as the amusing way the bird would react when the rocket would get close. Cute stuff!

Unfortunately, I did find myself that, the longer I played it, the longer I didn't want to play it again because of the life system and the fact that you need to start all over. I understand what you're getting at with the way it is designed, where you fight to see how long you can last until you run out of lives, but I wish the game was just a standard level progression with no lives or anything like that. Basically I'd like to just be able to go through all the levels and continue where I left off without needing to worry about starting all over and going through all the boring no-challenge early levels to get back to the good challenging stuff at the end. Perhaps I'm wrong in wishing for this as it might make it too easy, I dunno.

Apart from that, there were also some other minor nitpicks like how I felt the spaceship was a little too simple (I really expected it to have more analog turning controls instead of angle snapping, though I guess that wouldn't work with the cramped levels) and that I felt you should say that you are able to hold the jump button when you hit the springs to jump high (the controls say press which implies you have to time it, which you don't have to luckily since the game is nice).

CubePunks responds:

I tried making the rockets work like they did in Asteroids but it was more difficult than fun, after further testing the simple snapping was the best solution.

The tutorial text is written the way it was because originally the Mario styled “timing the jump button to get the bounce”. Even after widening the margin of error people were still getting frustrated with it so I changed it to hold (read old reviews it’s pretty much what all of them were talking about). I may get around to changing the wording in a patch.

I have plans on making a deluxe version that adds additional features and difficulties. I may add a casual mode that gives you infinite lives but also won’t submit to a leaderboard.

I did the shotgun level challenge approach because I assumed the audience playing would prefer a more hardcore experience. I wanted to make a game that encourages speed running, making it more than just another simple indi platformer. Also for this beginning faze of my game dev process, im trying to build more arcade styled experiences before moving onto something with a larger scope. better to experiment with the medium while I develop my skills, before committing to something that’s more expansive. I’d be surprised if I make anything more complicated than the original Alien Homined NG game before 2023.

[NG: Zero Hour Lite]

A little bit conflicted on this one! For the most part, it is serviceable, but pretty lacking in some areas to make a great shooter. First and foremost, the enemies were really lackluster in AI (most can be easily beaten by standing below them and shooting upwards), way too damage-spongy, and devoid of satisfying audio/visual hit feedback or death explosions. I also really wish it had some extra buttons to lock aiming/movement as most modern (like Cuphead) or even old-school (like Hard Corps) shooters do to help the awkwardness of traditional movement/aiming being tied to each other. Game just also had a general sense of jankiness and weird confusing comedy to it all. I'd say it is an ok prototype that can be worked off of.

Now obviously, the caveat of this all is that the game is an April Fools, and probably not representative of what the final product is going to be. So yes, my feedback is probably useless and it's just a big joke I'm not supposed to take seriously. "Haha, we made the bad game, but we made it on purpose, so jokes on you!" That's one way to put it, but at the end of the day, irony and all that aside, you still made a bad game, so I'd prefer you just make a good game instead in the first place (well, I wouldn't say it's BAD per se, just lacking given the legacy behind it). But on the other hand, maybe I am being too serious and you're allowed to do whatever.

Nonetheless, at the end of the day, I am looking forward to Newgrounds Zero Hour, so best of luck! I love me some boss fights and I love me some bullet hell, so I'm hoping it delivers that goodness!