FutureCopLGF's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Pengu Saves Christmas]

Argh, this is a tough one for me: I do really like how charming this game looks and feels, but damn did I just find it frustrating.

There was a lot to like in the game: the levels were very cool and intricate with not only secret stars but also multiple routes and little hidden caches of candies, and there was a lot of challenging obstacles to get through with skillful use of the slides and jumps. And of course, the art and presentation of the game was very charming and bouncy.

But as hard as I tried to enjoy it, I just couldn't get into it as levels would quickly devolve into me constantly ramming into obstacles I couldn't see coming in time, slipping down unclimbable slopes and having to restart to try again, getting frustrated at never being able to stand still on tiny platforms since everything is slippery, and so on and so forth. I wanted to elegantly slide and maneuver through the cool levels and feel the rush of speed and smoothness, like you can in other fast-paced platformers like Fancy Pants, but it was impossible to do it here without having to annoyingly go through so much trial and error.

I mean, c'mon, it's been decades since Sonic came out and we still haven't learned that having a character move so fast and a camera being so close is just a recipe for disaster since you can't see obstacles ahead? And then you add to that already disastrous mix with an entire game themed around the most annoying level in every platformer: ice levels. Well, then again, everyone else seems to love Sonic so maybe I'm just an old impatient fuddy-duddy, haha.

Again, it definitely has a lot of potential and it was cool to see the game constantly getting updated and such, but at its core, it just felt like a very outdated platformer.

Stepford responds:

I definitely agree. My counter to ALL of your points is that the levels are so short, that you learn those elements pretty quickly. So you just retry and retry, getting faster and faster times. I do understand that the first time you play the level, it is frustrating, annoying and sometimes a bit of blind guessing.

Most people played the game for the speedrunning on the highscores, but if you goal is to only beat the level once and move onto the next, I could see how only the downsides of these mechanics would show. So I totally agree with your points!

Having the camera pan out based on speed should've been something we did, for everyone's sake. I have the same issue when I play Sonic and I also hate that game, but the levels are a lot longer in Sonic than in here, so :shrug:

Thanks so much for taking the time and writing out this thoughtful review! Love you, Futurecop! <3

[Tether Buds]

Wow, really nice stuff here! Felt like an all-around solid game in terms of both having an interesting concept/mechanic that was explained well and just being solidly constructed and fun to play. Excellent presentation, with both gameplay elements as well as the title screen/intro being very smooth, juicy and professional looking which gave an excellent first impression. I had a good time trying to scramble both players simultaneously to beat the clock, and I was a little surprised to see that the levels looked to be randomly generated on replays, since it felt like the obstacles were always crafted with purpose and intention, so kudos on that algorithm (or maybe I got lucky RNG, haha). Speaking of replays, that would probably be the only downside of the game at the moment, in that due to how long games can potentially get, it did kind of make me adverse to play it multiple times since it was so arduous to get back to where I got previously, especially since it felt like a game which could've been fine level-by-level with a set amount of time each instead of a survival where you need to build up time. But hey, the game was a great experience nonetheless, so nice work!

JauqGames responds:

I appreciate all of this feedback Monthly Reviewer Man, thanks for writing a nice and long review. Levels are, in fact, procedurally generated (I find it easier to make many levels this way, especially when a 48 hour game jam time limit is at play). I will admit that the gameplay is a bit slow considering the fact its a highscore-type game, but I felt it was a good pace for the more puzzle-y gameplay presented. Still the gameplay does lend itself better to a level-by-level system something I will definitely consider in a potential sequel.

[Taiga Voyage Prototype Demo]

Definitely has some potential, but it's currently a bit of a mixed bag for me at the moment!

The best thing on display here I felt was the charming story and world. Don't get me wrong, it ain't perfect as the story does start a bit slow and unexciting (woo, find a necklace, who am i even?), and doesn't really do anything after establishing the whole knight story, but the world was fun to explore, in particular because it has a lot of objects you can examine with a ton of great flavor text, as well as a lot of NPCs with funny dialogue and nice graphics/presentation. Definitely some solid work there.

One thing I felt should be done is to update the journal. I love the journal as I always find it great when the game helps by keeping notes and synopsis so you can always come back after a break and figure out what's going on. The problem here was the journal didn't update as you made progress: it should definitely add/update text as events unfold, like "a guy at the bar said he saw a slime in the east take the necklace", "the slime bounced away to the north when I tried to take the necklace from it! there's a rock in the way though..." and so on.

In terms of parts that bothered me: the combat system was criminally boring at the moment and an absolute relic. Apologies, but I have a vendetta against these overly simplistic battle systems that just devolve into attack-attack-attack over and over, and right now, that's all this system has. It's painfully outdated, especially since even the most old-school-esque RPGs coming out nowadays have a bit more neat things going on in their combat (like bravely default with the brave/default system, or SMT with its press turn system). You absolutely have to have something more interesting going on with the combat here, or if the combat is going to be this painful and not a focus, maybe have a more interesting way of avoiding it (like sneaking up before or hitting them pre-combat to get an advantage). I was surprised that I didn't see some sort of Undertale-esque system with the combat, given the whole story started off with a divide between genocide and pacifism!

It didn't help either that the combat was painfully slow at a grander level as well: experience points and money was gained at an absolutely glacial pace and made the whole thing even more tedious, forcing me to go back and forth between the bed. I know there are some old-school die-hards that might go for this slow burn and long grind (modern games do tend to give power too quickly and too easily, I'll admit), so its up to you on whether you want to keep that, though.

Anyway, that's the gist for me at the moment: a charming world with some fun dialogue and characters, unfortunately with no great story hook and a painfully slow and repetitive combat grind that isn't worth it. Hope to see this get updated into something great though!

Azeleon responds:

Thanks for playing, and I really appreciate the detailed review!
I completely agree with you on the story and combat; one reason why I decided to ultimately start over was because of the basic and disordered story, as well as the plain, slow combat. I'm glad you enjoyed many of the other aspects though, I've always been a big fan of interactive objects in the world and interesting NPCs in games myself.
There will definitely be improvements to everything in the full game for whenever that comes out in the future, but for the time being, thank you for testing this little demo and giving your input on it!

[Haccer]

Pretty fun game! I definitely feel like there is a solid concept at its core: the depleting energy forces you to dig as fast as possible to keep it up, but that makes it so that you need to think fast, either avoiding bombs when possible or ensuring you don't trap yourself in a position where you get screwed by a bomb wall/chain reactions. There was some minor confusion at the start where I didn't know why bombs only blew up bombs and me and not the ground surrounding them, but for the most part it was all good.

As nice as the core was, though, I did find myself losing interest rather quickly. Obviously this isn't that bad since it's not the most complex game and nothing lasts forever, but I didn't stay with it as long as I thought I should. I think it kind of came down to the randomness of the game and the lack of a sense of progression. While most games start easy and slowly build up the challenge by introducing more types of obstacles in more complex patterns, this seemed to just be totally random, sometimes starting very overly difficult. And as neat as the screen rotations were, it kind of felt like they should've lead to more, or maybe not rotate at all to change the direction up instead of return to status quo. Second was that it kind of felt like the game switched between modes of whether it was just a rapid-fire action game where you go fast and cut around bombs, or a puzzle game where you get dead-ended by a bomb wall you need to defuse in a careful manner: both were nice, but sometimes it felt like the game leaned on one side harder due to the RNG, making it feel odd when the opposite reared its head, I dunno.

AnderssonKev responds:

First off, thank you for playing my game! The points you bring up are very valid. I think that if I would take the concept and improve it I would work in the progression so it's not a risk of it being filled with bombs early on. Then introduce some visual changes as you get deeper and possibly add some new smaller obstacles so you feel that things are getting different. Also work on the timer a bit so it's okay to stop and "solve a scenario"

[Into King Rabbit's Mansion]

While it took a little bit of doing to get used to the overly simple and unsatisfying controls, where actions like climbing ladders/ascending stairs have been replaced with single button presses, I found that the game did have some rather fun stealth action. Don't get me wrong, I still feel like it's a bit drab in that it lacks more fun controls and wiggle room, but in a way, I appreciated that teleporting up and down ladders/stairs did make it so that the game had no confusion with getting stuck in a half-way state and whether that would make an enemy see you and such. With that out of the way, the only oddity left is the weird decision to have the zoom-out require an energy bar" why not just make it that you can only zoom-out if you're standing still, mayhaps, if you feel like it's too powerful to zoom out all the time?

Anyway, for the most part, the game was fun to creep around the castle, scoping out both patrols and hidden pathways to find the best way through. I liked how it had little touches like being able to see the shadow of patrols when you're inside a hidden passage. I focused on just going for the trophy this time, but I'll be back for those medals!

FadrikAlexander responds:

Thanks for playing and the feedback!! agree on the zooming stuff after trying a lot of stuff I found what I have to be the best option as having it to zoom when standing slowed the game pace and to always be zoomed made the game easy, but I'm still trying to find another solutions to the issue.

[YIIKmas 2021: A Post-modern Art Collab]

Of all the subjects to make an art collab around...well, I didn't expect this. But hey, where else can I see the best assortment of Alex screaming faces?

Pretty decent collab and as usual I always like to see collaborative projects like this. For the most part, the interface is nice, clean and simple with good presentation/framing and backgrounds/music to match. I'm glad to see that there are easy links to the various artists profiles as well.

While it's solid, however, I would've liked if there was a few more features and a more interesting presentation. For one, there were a lot of images which were presented quite small which made it difficult to read the text within them or just see smaller details: would've been great if there was some sort of zoom-in option to help here. I also really wish there was some sort of gallery mode or table of contents: having to go through them one-by-one is a bit boring and annoying if you're trying to find certain ones (and can potentially lead to artists at the back unfairly getting less attention since people might drop off before reaching them). Speaking of that, it'd also be neat if there was a cooler navigation or interaction to the whole thing: for example, if you made a 3D YIIK-esque game where you actually walk around and interact with people/paintings in the world to see them: would really help it stand-out and get more attention than a simple gallery like this. Maybe that's an unreasonable request, but don't let yourself think that an art gallery can't be more than just this basic listing format!

Anyway, cool collab, all-in-all, and merry yiikmas!

TheHauntling responds:

Thank you for your review, if we get a few more devs, we might try some 3D-esque stuff in the future.

[Sub-Uber-Marine]

Cute, solid little game! Definitely a great take on Crazy Taxi: feels good to sub around and try and balance speed and smoothness to get bonuses, and I like that it includes all of the various different modes like the traditional mode where you get time for fares, or the fixed mode where you're just seeing how many you can get in a set time limit, and so on. Everything felt nice and it had a nice bit of polish and pizazz to it.

For the most part, I had a good time, so most of my complaints are just minor nitpicks. The first one was that, while the map isn't anything super maze-like and you can learn it quickly, it can be frustrating at first that the camera is so close and there is no map, meaning you could be following the sonar straightforwardly and not realize you had to go around something else first to path correctly and just get stuck in dead ends. Second, the apps felt a bit superfluous as well since they're already automatically displayed when you drop off a fare so why even bother giving them a button: felt like the app should've had a better use, like locating fares which can be frustrating to find blindly. And finally, for a sub game, I do think it would be cool if the game was a bit more physics-based with a lot of momentum and tank-turning and such that would make you feel like you're in water in a huge sub: instead the game has very simple cartoony straightforward physics which makes it a bit bland and too basic, nothing to really get skillful at manuevering.

Extar responds:

I initially wanted the app to be a lot more involved, like you say for locating fares or something like that, but as the game took shape it ended up going more in an arcade direction. So the app basically got relegated to an occasional extension of the HUD with fun little stats on rather than something that you interacted with.

The handling of the submarine is an interesting one, it started off with much more momentum and slower acceleration which made the handling of it more weighty and realistic I suppose. Gradually, every slight adjustment ended in the submarine being made faster and probably less submariney. I like the idea of heavier sub handling but yeah that wouldn't line up with the arcadeyness elsewhere in the game :)

I always look forward to hearing what you think, thanks for playing!

[Ringwaves]

Wow, this one really surprised me! It ain't winning any awards for beauty or anything like that, and the concept ain't exactly deep or unique, but something about the game was very addicting, satisfying and just plain ol' fun! A good example of solid level design and core game feel winning out in the end over pretty graphics (though it did still have some nice effects for death and the shockwaves, for example).

If there were any issues I had with the game, it's that I did feel like there was some confusion over how the shockwaves work. Because the shockwave graphic shows the shockwave fading away as it gets larger, a player could easily think that the shockwave loses strength over time. However, it seems like the shockwave, no matter when it hits during its expansion, will always hit the ball with the same initial strength. I didn't mind it when I realized this fact, and I liked the consistency, but there was some initial confusion where I thought I could tweak the power by distancing the shockwave.

If there was something I felt was missing from the game, it mighta been a score system like golf where you get more stars or something if you win a level with minimum strokes, or shockwaves in this case. But I had fun trying to go for minimal strokes on my own terms, haha.

Jordio94 responds:

Glad you had a satisfying experience! Yeah, the graphics certainly didn't get priority, but at least the gameplay kept you hooked.

I've got mixed feelings about having the shockwave lose strength over time. It would make it feel more natural, but it could also make it harder. The player would have to charge the shockwave for exactly the right amount of time AND have it at exactly the right distance. But as it is now, I agree having the shockwave fade is a bit misleading.

I very nearly did add stars, and I still might in the future. It'd definitely be a more rewarding experience for passing levels with minimum shockwaves.

Thanks for the feedback!

[Spiders in my Attic!]

Not too shabby for a short bit of fun. It's a solid little score attack game with a good amount of juice added to it: I liked the way health was represented by my player character getting more visually damaged, and I liked the various effects like blood splatters, spiders skittering about, and the trippy power-up. It ain't the greatest for long-term appeal or anything, but it's good for a couple of rounds. Looking forward to STD!

The music is definitely what I hear when I go up to my attic full of spiders every night. It captures the sense of panic, their skittering little legs.

LeviRamirez responds:

did you like cool song?

[The Last Dog]

An interesting game, but a bit too short for the emotional story to make any impact.

The standout aspect for me with this game was the combat: while pong gameplay was never my jam, I did appreciate the cleverness in designing such a gameplay system that was not only fun and challenging to get good at using, but subtly reinforces the story as well by showcasing the cooperative relationship between the boy/man and their dog. Bosses were fun and interesting to fight in an Undertale-esque way, and the final boss was brutal and standout as a setpiece.

Outside of the combat, however, the story felt very overly sappy and hackneyed, and wasn't presented very well: rather than making me emotional, it more made me laugh at how much it was trying to speedrun through the whole thing, which made it feel all the more flat. I felt way more attached to my dog through combat than any of the cookie-cutter dialogue and cutscenes.

Definitely a good attempt that could be great if it just had more meat on its bones, more time to get the emotional connection it is going for.

Stepford responds:

Thanks for taking the time to play and write out this review. And yeah, you are right! The story elements were a bit rushed for the sake of getting it done for school. I hope you had fun goin through it - stereotypical story clichés aside!!