FutureCopLGF's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Punch It Deluxe DEMO]

I certainly like the idea behind a destressing game where you can de-stress by whaling on someone, and I am quite impressed at the technical achievement of getting this to work in RPGMaker, but I still feel like this game is quite lacking from its intended goals.

While the game has had some minor improvements from its previous version, such as the introduction of new damage states for the character as they get beat up, the gameplay and gamefeel still remains overly simple and repetitive to me (and even the damage states, as new as they are, are incredibly sparse and not all that exciting).

The two game modes kind of mess up the goal in their own way. In the normal mode, the game has you beat up the guy in a rapid-fire matching game until you mess up: fun in concept, but the game mode has the guy immediately get his revenge by pulling a gun when you mess up, defeating the whole point of destressing since you will lose in the end eventually. Meanwhile in the freeplay mode, while you never need to fear losing, the game quickly gets repetitive as the actions you can take are incredibly limited and there is no fun game logic to spice things up as in the regular mode.

Ideally, I think that the game requires at least two major things to achieve its goal as a stress reliever:

One would be a more interesting and tactile way to attack the guy that gives more pleasurable feedback. For me, I'd like the game to be like the intro to Mario 64 where you can tweak, pull and slap Mario's face around, but in very intricate and freeform ways. You could make it so you swish the mouse around to simulate slapping the guys face with a virtual hand, for example, and have the guy reel back and get smushed and warped depending on the strength/direction of the mouse movement. This would make the game infinitely more replayable as it would increase the amount of actions you can take rather than the static three.

Next would be allowing the user to customize the guy you're attacking. I have no emotional attachment to this Howie Mandell looking guy: what I'd like to do is customize the guy to look like someone I know, so I could get pleasurable revenge in attacking them.

Unfortunately, I do feel like all the things that might make this game good might not be possible given that this was awkwardly made in RPGMaker, so I understand that my feedback will most likely be for naught.

WeirdRikert responds:

Thank you for the in-depth analysis. This game was a lot of first for me, and moving forward I have more information to apply to future games.
There is certainly more that could be added to this game, and I hope to do a proper sequel that impliments all the mechanics at some point.

[DRIFT APOCALYPSE - Drive Over Zombies]

Pretty neat game: any game that promotes smacking enemies with the backend of a car from a sweet drift gets a thumbs up in my book. I will say though that while I like the concept in theory and I do think there's some fun arcade gameplay in here to enjoy getting skilled at, I found it a bit frustrating to play due to the weird controls (it felt so unnatural to press both directions to boost) the overly slow and slippery feel of the car and the lack of variety in enemies/obstacles/etc. Eh, maybe I just suck at it, haha. Also I found it really weird that the tutorial is stuffed away in the options: feel like it should be a main menu option instead given its importance.

Also, and this is a silly pet peeve of mine perhaps, but I really don't like the inclusion of coins and continues and such: it just makes it feel like the game design has been compromised to promote this weird crowbarred-in grinding aspect.

torrydev responds:

First of all, thanks your review, I appreciate a lot this feedback.

I agree the controls are a bit weird, as well as the coins / unlockables / continues system. But that´s because the game is originally designed for Android Play Store and I wanted to have like 2 button gameplay to be comfortable to play on touchscreens. (As well as including some kind of monetization to get a bit of revenue at least)

The main problem the game has is that drifting over zombies it´s kinda hard because of the controls, so a lot of enemy ideas I had to add a bit of variety couldn't be implemented because it´ll be too difficult to deal with them.
I also noticed that most people improve a lot when they play and get used to the controls and told me that the game experience improved a lot for him.
So I prefer to leave the game as it is now; a short, fun with a bit of depth arcade game, and focus on a future project where I´ll apply all of the feedback I'm getting!

[Halloween Art Collab [2021]]

I definitely always enjoy these collabs as I like to see all these great artists come together, but I do feel like this collab gallery needs to be improved upon for the benefit of all. For one, I feel like it is missing critical features: why can I not click on a piece of art to see the original art submission page on NG, or more importantly, why can I not click on an artists name to go to their web page? These features are absolutely critical so viewers who get interested in an artist from seeing their work in the gallery can follow them and share the love. Without this ease of use, the chances of a user following up with an artist get lower and lower. Secondly, I wish the art could be displayed in a more creative fashion, such as in a collage that you can click on it to zoom in to individual pieces or something more impressive like a FPS tour through a 3D gallery where the works are displayed like painting on the walls. This would have a double-effect in that it would provide entertainment and improve engagement, as well as fixing the issue where the list format used here kind of makes artists stuffed at the back less likely to be seen. All the artists did great work, so I want to see these galleries to have just as much work put into them to give the artists the props they deserve!

TBerger responds:

although I say that you wrote a lot, I like your ideas and I would also like them to be implemented

[Pizzio's Pizza (3D)]

Pretty decent game that is held up high by its charming graphics, concept and all-around goofiness, but I felt like the actual gameplay was a bit lacking. Don't get me wrong, it definitely delivers a solid first impression with its quirkiness and it continues that with all sorts of fun bits like the multiple endings, so I really do like it for that. But the gameplay, while decently fun for a bit, felt a bit too overly basic and I couldn't help but feel like it was underutilizing all of its potential strengths.

For one, I found it strange that, for a time trial game where it should be all around risk/reward, about going fast enough to get a high score but being careful and skillful enough to not have that same speed send you careening into a wall, there was no room for player expression to achieve that: no turbo, no brake, none of the fancy techniques you'd see from a game like Crazy Taxi which this game rubs shoulders with show up here. All you can do is peddle forward at one speed, making it feel overly bland and boring to play. Once I got an A rank I couldn't see any fun way to try going for a higher score: all I could do was go straight to whatever customers happen to open up.

What I thought was gonna be a fun mechanic was the wagon of pizzas: I thought that maybe I'd need to watch my balance and strategize turns so as not to tip the tower and have pizzas slide off onto the street, or maybe exploit those same physics to hurl pizzas by swinging the wagon like a flail, launching them like frisbees into customers hands or windows. You know, some sort of fun chaos to mimic the chaotic energy of the concept. But the game had none of that: the only thing it had was some sort of vague 'damage' that occurs when you hit something (or don't hit something because its glitchy) which the player has no feedback on to tell how much damage they've taken, how much it's affecting their tips, whether damage is replenished when picking up a new stack or if it only refreshes new pizzas you've added to the pile but not existing ones, and so on. Yes, there was still some strategy to employ in making sure to, when dodging, account for the pizzas trailing behind you, but it just felt lacking and confusing. Perhaps its my fault for holding it up to my own imagination like that.

Also the endings were really hit or miss: the C rank mission was awesome for its fun audio easter egg and such, but doing all the work to get the A rank ending just gets you a basic quip and jpeg, same as most of the other endings, so what's the point? I shoulda just stuck with C, haha!

Obviously I can still respect and appreciate the game as a charming fun little romp that is impressive for a jam game, but what I can say: when you've wowed me as much as you guys have over and over in the past, my expectations raise higher and higher!

pollyanoid responds:

mucho texto

[Pistol for President]

Pretty goofy and interesting game! Couldn't really tell whether it was being totally goofy or had some clever design to the question/answer gameplay and that led to some frustration and confusion as I went back and forth with the Blade party (until winning despite losing the last debate), but nonetheless it provided a few good laughs with its weird concept so it was a nice experience.

Again, I couldn't quite tell if there was a strategy to this game, as a lot of the time the questions and answers generated were total nonsensical gibberish, and even when I thought I was playing sides right suddenly it would shift around. Part of me thinks that's just how the game rolls, in that it's random and silly and I should just accept that and not think hard about it, but part of me would be disappointed if there really is no logic to the madness since I feel it would be a cheap way out. Guess I'll do a few more debates in the future to see what I can figure out since there do seem to be a lot of secrets and achievements hidden in there.

It's silly, but some other feedback I had was about the title and the sound effects. For the title, I found the gun silhouette in the first P to be really bad: it just sticks there like a tumor growing off of it, makes the P look like an F, when you totally could've just made the curve of the P be the trigger of a gun and it would've fit perfectly, among other potential solutions. About the sound effects:, why in the world didn't you use more gun and knife themed sound effects? When I hear Revolver talking, I want to hear gun shots and shell casings and hammer cocks for every syllable, not the weird chicken squawking you've got playing, haha!

Kejayco responds:

Thanks for the feedback!

[Punch the Stool John]

It's a simple but charming game that's fun and addictive...is what I'd like to say, but I feel like it has a lot of weird jank to it that is unfortunately holding it back.

Don't get me wrong, I love the goofy concept and presentation as it really charmed the pants off of me: the crowd cheering as you rack up a combo, the paper menus, heck, I even loved dying in this game because I liked to see the animation and hear the music for it, so you're definitely good there. And the music kicks so much ass!

But the game itself feels very rough and confusing. For one, the difficulty felt like it was cranked way too hard: things start getting way too fast to react to in a short amount of time, and even when you fail it doesn't reset the ever-increasing speed to let you recover. Feedback was very inconsistent as well: usually when I hit a stool it'd increase my multiplier, but sometimes it would stay the same for no discernable reason. Balance design seems a bit strange as well: you're punished for getting hit by something or jumping over a stool, but you aren't punished for punching every object that comes your way (despite it turning the game into a very boring one). There were plenty of weird glitches too like being able to be hit by and hit a stool at the same time.

Definitely feels like it has a lot of potential but just needed to be cooked/polished a bit longer before being released.

TheGorondorf responds:

Thanks for the honest feedback!

[ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ]

Pretty interesting and experimental game in a lot of ways, but for the most part, I found it a bit too frustrating and non-deterministic to keep my interest. The game is certainly varied and complex, and I enjoyed seeing all of the creative AIs and properties assigned to the letters: really made for interesting 'ant farm' or 'game of life' situations where you could just watch all the entities go and marvel at how they interact with each other (and with you). The gameplay was promising in that it provided some interesting puzzle situations...or at least, what I thought could be interesting puzzle situations. Most of the time it felt like I could see what ideal puzzle solution the game was going for, but whether I'd actually get that solution usually felt like it came down to sheer luck. Sometimes I'd get the AI to behave in a way that worked for me in a clever, satisfying way, sometimes the AI would just do random things that would stall the game out (even soft-locking it), sometimes the AI would just solve the puzzle for me without any intervention from me: it just felt so haphazard! Again, perhaps that haphazardness is part of the appeal and I'm just being fuddy-duddy for not embracing it, but I just couldn't fight the frustration from the randomness and non-deterministic AI ruining the pacing and fun.

Oh, and a silly nitpick: when the level says 'press any key to continue' upon completion, you actually can't press any key, because if you press r, it restarts the level instead of continuing, haha!

adriendittrick responds:

thanks for the in depth review as always!

[Horse with a Human Mask on a Tightrope]

I gotta say, I didn't have the best first impression with this game for what I hope is obvious reasons, but bloody hell if I didn't end up loving this game once I got into it! It took a while to grasp the controls and how everything works (especially coming to terms with not being able to turn around on the tightrope), but once I did, what I found was a really stylishly complex boss gauntlet with a surprising amount of strategy (such as jumping from the center of the rope and using the weapons to propel yourself around) and variety to it all, and boy do I love me some boss fights. I still think there is a lot that can be improved: for example, I wish the telegraph markers for boss attacks had some sort of way of telling the player how long they have before it goes off, like changing the color of the marker redder as it gets closer to happening or something, but all in all it was quite the incredible experience nonetheless! I dunno how the heck you conjured up this unique batch of mechanics, but I think it really paid off in a charming, goofy way.

jefvel responds:

Thanks for playing and the thorough review! Yeah there are a bunch of things that could be improved, like the danger zones as you said. Something I'll keep in mind in future games :)

[Ninjack Rabbit]

Pretty fun score-attack game! I definitely had some confusion at the start with how score is calculated, since I thought killing enemies or gaining height would be how to get higher points, but points being given through burning floor lanterns did provide an interesting strategic risk and tension to it all. Combine that cool chaotic concept with some nice presentation through art, animations and other neat bits of polish like the music transitions between gameplay and death, and it felt pretty solid and good to get better and better at this ninja jumpin' game!

While I had fun for the most part, I did think the game was a bit janky (I didn't like how lanterns could burn if you jump close to being on top of them but don't actually land on top of them) and there were some frustrating aspects (character moves so fast, don't like the cramped spaces in the levels, and I wish there was more pressure-sensitivity for jumps so you could get strategic short/medium/tall jumps based on how long you hold).

[Space Huggers]

Hmm, for me, this seemed like a pretty cool tech demo, but not quite a fun game yet. I definitely thought that a lot about the game, such as destructive terrain and the way objects react to destruction (like falling and even crushing), the rain/fire effects, ragdolls and so on were pretty neat, but the game itself just felt very aimless, directionless, and bland to me. The lack of music and instructions, randomly generated mish-mash levels that can be a pain to get through, confusing radar which doesn't tell you whether an enemy is above or below you, overly simple combat, and fire being a death sentence lead to me getting bored rather quickly. Looking into it now and seeing that it had to be made to fit such a small file size and such puts it in a new perspective and such, so I understand and appreciate it for that, but it is what it is and just didn't leave a good impression on me in terms of fun. I'd definitely be interested if this does get worked on further with a new enhanced version.

KilledByAPixel responds:

Thank you. When you are on fire, just roll! It's easy to put out the fire. I can understand wanting to see more variety and polished game. The next version is gonna take things to a whole new level.