Absolutely amazing.
Great visual style, awesome gameplay technique, and while I found the controls a little bit...emmm...backwards (more accustomed to ASDW than arrows) I got accustomed to them relatively quickly.
My favorite thing to do is juggle the bad guys across the landscape when they're flying through the air. It's fills my heart with wheeeeee!
I'm going to need surgery...
...To get this euphoric grin off my face.
The whole gaming experience can be summed up in just three words: Gurgling. With. Ecstacy.
Cute, fun, solid gaming experience from beginning to end. Awesome job, fellows! Props to Mike for the scrumptious narration in the beginning.
Love it. Great game!
Howdy ho Flash portal neighborino!
Really like how this game looks and plays. I like the very simple gameplay and objectives set forth, and it's also got some pretty addictive qualities! Even though the challenge ramps up quite a bit, the soothing tunes and pleasant visual style do a great job at keeping frustration at bay.
If I could dump a couple critiques, if you wouldn't mind...
I didn't notice the 'jump power' bar until after a few rounds in the game. I think a more visual representation of the robot charging up for a jump, like squishing down or his jets starting to glow, or just a simple arrow point up from his head like a trajectory arc, would really help drive the idea that holding down the jump button gives you a bigger jump. Another thing I found was the tutorial prompts seemed a bit jumbled and tough to read, and a lot of the introductory UI flow didn't flow too well (needs more negative spacing between the different visual elements).
Overall though, really liked it, showed it to the boys in the office, they got a kick out of it too.
Nothing spectacular.
It has been done before, and done a lot better. This one is slow, nearly painful to watch, and has almost no challenge to it at all. I just don't feel a sense of accomplishment while I'm playing. Also, I'm having some major lag issues while playing, and I'm guessing it's because you have your sound set to stream instead of event, or you have movie clips shooting off into near infinity, or maybe even a large culmination of infinite loops within the programming.
Is there even an end condition? I couldn't get my guy to stop. Ever. Even the cops, whom you're supposed to avoid, give the biggest boosts.
So, sorry bud. I see capability graphically and script-wise, but as a gameplay concept, this one hardly gets off the ground.
2/5.
Gameplay can be like a chore, but still rewarding.
I feel that this game has good rhythm and feel to it. I particularly enjoy the simple controls of it, making it easy for even the most casual of gamers to get into it. It also has some pretty solid physics supporting it, and I'm certain that the creation of even more levels would be a snap if need be.
I do think that a certain showcase of progress would greatly benefit the title. Tell the player how many levels remain before reaching the end of the game, and at the start, let them choose the level they want to play on (later levels must be unlocked by playing or passcode entry, something like that). It would also be nice to have a scoring system where it combines the time it took them to complete the game, and have other elements affect the final score like additional "treasure" pickups and the number of deaths the player has. So instead of an ending screen of "hope you enjoyed playing," it also gives the player the reminder of "here's how suckily you completed the game!" while throwing a bunch of numbers at them.
For some reason, players enjoy a final series of spontaneous numbers being thrown back at them. As it is, Rocket Car feels like a chore. Throw in some sort of tally, BAM, Rocket Car is a GAME.
I can even imagine players wanting to customize their cars as well. Just a silly little "custom vehicle" screen where the player can choose their car's color, shape, etc. Elements that don't affect gameplay per say, but allows the player to individualize their own gameplay experience.
You'll be surprised how simply throwing in a couple hours to a "custom car" screen will dramatically influence the score of a game. Because players looooove customizing. Almost as much as they love poptarts on rainy days. Almost. Not quite.
Everything else holds together well. Graphically, it's simple but has a solid color scheme that allows all the important elements to stick out. It flows nicely, looks sharp, and maintains a discernible sense of humor consistently.
This definitely was 30 minutes well spent. 5/5.
Wow vest, thanks for the detailed review! Yeah, Mo and I are already talking about a sequel with a level editor... And we'll definitely include your suggested ideas.
Pretty good game with a lot of promise.
What's Great:
The game itself is novel. You pilot a ship that essentially fires its own weapons, so it's like a sort of multi-crew simulator where you don't assume absolute control of the ship, but can still be really immersed into the game environment. I always like that feeling when playing a game; like you're not a single-man army but a part of a functioning squad of people depending upon your movement.
What's All Right:
I have some reservations about the color scheming of the game, where pickups that should be retrieved blend in too well with belligerent object to be avoided. I found the autogun to be for the most part not interesting enough to be upgraded, and feel that if it had some more oomph to it, more aesthetic kick, I'd be doing otherwise. Maybe a quicker stream of projectiles at the expense of damage per shot (same damage per duration, just cooler looking)? Perhaps it's rotated not by the mouse but by the arrow keys so we don't have to go 350 degrees to go 10 counter-clockwise?
I think that the bombs could also use more kick in the higher levels. At first, they just pop harmlessly, and the only visual difference in higher levels is an increase in the scale of the blast. Maybe if the blast animation was changed up after a few levels, to make it more sophisticated and stronger looking. Same thing with the gun. Change the projectile graphic when it passes certain levels.
Players love a visual representation of progress from their boom sticks.
What needs work:
What the game mostly needs more than anything is simply content. There are plenty of enemies, but the player remains constant throughout the whole game.
The control of the autogun as is makes it easily forgettable while playing. I just went straight for upgrading my bombs.
I did suffer a few quirks with the shields. Some enemies would destroy me instantly upon touch, sapping my shield dry without killing them, too. And if contact with an enemy doesn't kill that enemy, it leaves the player really unsatisfied with an inability to kamikazee their hapless foes. Trust me, that complaint came in NON-STOP with Twilight Valkyrie, and thus, it's become a maxim in my game design bible.
Lastly, the raw materials would be better if they came from the obstacles themselves instead of forming from off screen. It gives incentive for the player to destroy these enemies, and it makes it more apparent that they are powerups that should be retrieved. Other powerups from enemies could also include temporary invulnerability, weapon boosts, or even ammunition for a third "super bomb" type. You know, those screen-clearance weapons that are always awesome cool, like the ship warps out, Thor declares war on the vicinity, smoldering wreckage ensues, and the ship warps back in all "sup buddies wud' I miss?"
Players LOOOOOVE Thor.
Good luck on the next incarnation. And as always, kick me when it gets completed. This is a game variant that certainly has the capacity to perk one's addiction.
wow, I believe this is the most elaborate review I have ever read about any of our NG submissions! Thanks so much for the honest and detailed review... we'll seriously take it into consideration for part II.
Simple but delicious.
So it's not a groundbreaking game, but it's still a time occupier. I think it's one of those games that has a good concept driving it, where you go in the direction the buttons point in, but it could use some more polish. It looks very, let's say, 2001. It could definitely use a visual overhaul. But as for gameplay itself, it's there.
3/5
Uhh...
Uhh, I don't know what the other guy's issue is, but the website worked for me.
I think the game was a good concept, but it was a mix of too easy and too slow in the beginning. I would've liked to have an overabundance of targets just to get the idea down, and some greater emphasis upon having to get a certain number of balloons to progress.
Really did like the graphics. Those were solid. The style wasn't that good, as I judge style upon the gameplay. The gameplay had many parts where I'm just watching reds scroll painfully slow up the screen. Sound was spot on. No discernable violence in this, not that it needs any to be good. Interactivity gets high marks for having a very solid, functioning script. Humor, while not centric in this title, still gets a two just because the visual aesthetics were appealing.
Overall I did find it enjoyable at parts, a bit boring at others, but honestly, not that fun of a game. A 2 out of 5.
Nice one, although...
Nice one, although I fear that this yank doesn't get it.
I really do like the charicature and facial animation of this. It's well refined, excellently drawn, and carries a lot of character with it. I'm also checking out that other one that you put up, and I'm going to have to take a shot in the dark and assume this makes fun of an actual reality show, where it recreates the "confessional" where the contestants say really stupid things, and these are actual quotes?
Such is a really good idea.
What I would've done though is lump all of these together with a main menu and a bit more of an interface. Ya know, an opening that sets up some background as to why this needed to be made, and to help us poor dimwit Americans actually understand what's going on. Then, it has a menu where you can select one of many characters, and listen. That way, all the Just **** TV selections can be lumped up into one massive compilation.
Because as is, it's a very quick-lived experience that doesn't quite deliver at its greatest potential. A 2 out of 5.
Graphically it was excellent, but gameplay...
Graphically it was excellent, but gameplay was lacking in this one. I just didn't think it was that good of a game. To explain it, you're a dude who goes around smashing things that randomly waltz or pop up on the screen, and you die in one hit. So, it gets very boring, very fast.
But I also want to emphasize that I feel the graphics of the game were a saving grace. Very fluid, solid, and consistently, the combination of aesthetics and graceful animation made this into a Flash experience that was still worth the download, and impressive to the eye.
I think it's one of those games that really needs to be expanded, as to break out of its monotony and really pioneer new turf for gamers.
A 2 out of 5.
Comic Colorist and Landscape Painter.
Age 40, Male
Comic Colorist
Joined on 6/16/06
Cactus McCoy 
Turtle Girl 
The Bubble Jumper 
Prison Throw 
Rocket Car 
Blackhole Trek 
The BUTTONS! 
Just PETE TV 
Slug Smash! 
