vest816's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Rocket Car]

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.

CorkySurprise responds:

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.

[Blackhole Trek]

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.

mofunzone responds:

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.

[Mouse Maze: Revamped]

It's fun, but...

It's fun, but it's nothing at all new. This game has been made over and over again, and doesn't introduce a whole lot of anything new. What it does introduce is a stronger background image, which is a good touch, but unfortunately, it slows down my PC to the point where even some of the earlier levels are nearly unplayable.

So it's good, but not groundbreaking.

Nuggs responds:

sorry, it almost froze your comp, but did you try changing the quality?

[Goal In One]

Oh hell yes!

And hell yes indeed! I was so excited that I gave this game a 5 just because I managed a veeeeeery close Goal in One on the Hell Goal level! That sight alone made this game sooooo worth playing. Awesome job.

However, when it asked me to "unput my name", I replied with UNPUT? And thus, that's the name that is now adorning the top echelons of the high score table.

Phantasmagor responds:

Lol thanks for pointing that out though, surprised i never managed to see that after test playing so many times. "Unput" lol.

Thanks for the review and good work on the hell goal lol. But it seems too easy for everyone!

[Pong Pong Revolution]

Final Grade: B

Graphics: Backgrounds were a little noisy, making it difficult to see where the ball was. Paddle graphics were nice, though, and the opening interface was also well done. On top of that, much thanks for putting in a high frame rate. I hate it when people make Pong, but neglect to turn it up from 12 FPS. However, that aside, I feel that there wasn't enough "oomph" in the graphics. The ball falls behind, and it's a rather unfanciful affair. It hits a paddle, and it just bounces off without any satisfying fanfare. It seems to promise a substantial amount of glitz and glamor from the opening screen, but that's unfortunately where the really great looking bits end, and the less satisfying "on par" graphics begin.

Style: The pong thing is a bit dated, and has been done a lot. I feel that single player works well but doesn't introduce anything that new. However, the style gets bonus points for including a variety of gameplay modes, all of which really nice.

Hmm...I wonder. Didn't somebody make something that was recently on the front page, described as being "Pong on Steroids?" ;) *wink*

Sound: And what you probably just heard was the sound of a brick being thrown through my speaker. That music. That horrible, horrible annoying music! Well, I think that with a game as large as this, you could have given it the extra 500k by increasing the sound quality of the music, because even if it was Highway Star by Deep Purple, I wouldn't listen to something as metallic and grainy as that. Other sounds work well, though.

Violence: Yeah. When somebody makes a pong game that scores a 10 on violence, I will show you a man who probably needs a hefty dosage of therapy. Or a parent who at least loves them. Or a female's touch. They may take their pick.

Interactivity: There were a couple bugs while playing. Sometimes, when the ball was shrunk and it started going fast, it would get caught in a loop that would, hate to say it, make a really big "d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-dWOOMWOOMWOOMWOOM"!!!! Again. Mr. Brick meet Mr. Speakers. I like the scripting on some of the powerups, especially the one that makes the ball blue and droopy. Ah yes. Couldn't finish this review without a reference to droopy blue balls.

Humor: Which brings us to the last category. Well, can't say that humor is what's driving it, but I can't say it's lacking neither. The interface that seems to mock/parody the overenthusiastic tones of the newest generation of Arcade Fighting Games is nice. I remember when such a gimmick was done in K-Fed: Walking on Fire. Oh man. That was gold there. So for at least picking up and giving a proper execution of such phenomenon, I give humor a decent score, but it's a generous one.

Overall: It's still pong, which is still always a good way to go especially if your intention is to rev it up. A lot of people try, and this one's at least getting places instead of the usual "WTF THIS IS 12 FPS U R3TRD!" response that I usually give. Er-I mean...that THEY usually give. So, I give this one my blessing, as this one at least keeps up with the new trend of brining a new approach to Pong.

Final Grade: B

polnareff responds:

Thank you very much for this review. I really appreciate you taking the time to write such a detailed one. I have noticed that the main thing affecting people's votes has been the sound, namely the main song, so I've changed it in hopes of attracting more viewers as opposed to driving them away. ^.^

[Osiris]

B+

I feel that it had a good solid start, and I love the control and aiming mechanism of this game. Perchance you've heard of an olde cult classic called "Abuse"? Ya know, it was rated in the top 10 in Computer Gaming World, hailed by critics as being one of gaming's most...cancelled projects of 1996? Not really cancelled, but the funding got cut somewhere down the line and resulted in a rushed ending-

BUT. I. DIGRESS.

This is a very well crafted game, I give it high marks for that. Musical score in the background really kept me going, worked really well, if anybody gives you lip about your music choice you have my permission to pin 'em down and jam a coke bottle where the sun don't shine.

Graphics: Stills work well enough. I just didn't like the character's run animation that much. See if you could get some hip movement in there, it seems to really be in desperate need of that. Just gives a little more bounce to her step, ya know.

Style: Reminds me of Abuse. TEN.

Sound: Music is nice. Guns have a good boom to them, but not to domineering (my own bad habit with my own pyrotechnics).

Violence: Plenty, but not too graphic or ridiculous. Maybe if she had a "get hit" animation, that would be cool.

Interactivity: Where you score massively. I'm in the game and pretty much know how to play the second my heroine begins hoppin around over spikes and presapices. Solid programming that remains, for the most part, bug free. I do wish there was some more actions though, like a "super roll", a very long diving roll movement that is a combination of sprint-forward-down. I kept trying to do that, and all that happened was she seemed to get confused/forgot which way was down. Also, somewhere in the tutorial, it needs to be made very clear how to switch between weapons. I would really like it if there was an alternate weapon selection method where numbers 1-5, upon being pressed, would toggle. Lastly, I wish that the game would introduce more weapons to the user as it progressed. Having weapon 5 at all times made it a bit difficult.

Hmm, also needs more enemenies of greater variety. Ya know. Ankle biters. Little dorky pushover enemies like scarabs and scorpions that go down ungloriously in a couple shots and approach the user en masse. Making a gooey bugsplatterfest would really give this game some satisfying OOMF, if ya know what I mean. Because fighting what are essentially the same two enemies repeatedly can get fairly frustrating.

Humor: Who needs it? I give a 5, because though this game actually has no humor to speak of, I don't want to give it a zero. Not like it matters. I just hate giving zeroes to quality games.

Overall: Regardless, it all looks good. This is certainly solid material for the front page. It's very good, but I think that with a few iterations, this game has the potential to become fantastic.

ChromeShark responds:

Thanks for taking the time for such a long review. I'll and try and take my time to respond.

I haven't heard of Abuse, it'd be hard to pin down where I got the idea of the aiming mechanism from, but it'd be from games here at Newgrounds. I used it in my game Tomb Raider Onslaught too where it worked pretty well, so I tried it again.

I think most people have creditted the music. Anyone who doesn't has an off button.

If I was to make the walk animation now it'd probably be better. But it was one of ther first things I made in the game when it was all pretty new to me. I'll spend a while upgrading it for the next chapter.

I don't really see why violence is a criteria here, I don't think it makes a game better. Some people have complained that the gargoyles didn't explode in a bloody mess, which is something I really didn't want. But a get hit animation is a good idea, not sure how I'd go about doing it, I'll look at some other games and see what they did.

Complex games like this attract a lot of bugs. This went through a huge beta testing program for over a week, but still some things get through. Sprint-Forward-Down should do a sprint roll, i.e. a faster roll.

I'm not sure why everyone gets so confused about the weapon switching! It says in the tutorial to use the scroll wheel or numbers 1-5 if you don't have one. I even put the controls in the Flash description just in case anyone missed it. Next time I'll put it in big flashing letters just to be safe. I intended on introducing weapons gradually for the next one, mainly because there will be so many more that it'd be confusing to have them all at the start.

The reason for the lack of enemies is that they took so long to script. I'd never scripted AI as complex as the gargoyles, and even still it's far from as good as possible. But I could probably get it more varied next time.

Thanks a lot for your review, it's very helpful. I'm hoping that an admin takes a shine to it and puts it on Front Page, but there's quite a lot of competetion for the space atm. At least I got myself yet another daily 4th :)

[MAD BLOX]

I don't believe it.

I saw the size of the file, and thought it was just some lame gag game. But you know what? I'm suprised. I figured that for novelty and efficiency alone, you have created a game that would be a SOLID game that could easily be crammed into a preloader for much larger Flash files. You know what I mean? It's so small, yet so quick to get into the action, the player is instantly into it.

It has amazing utility, a lot more than I'd bet a lot of other people recognize. This might actually start a new trend of "preloader" games; mini-minigames that are only supposed to be played for thirty seconds, but that ensure that the user remains looking at that one Flash file.

Hmm.

Darn it, now you've inspired me. I wanna make some preloader games now, too. As a stand-alone game, I wouldn't rate this one very high. I would probably give it only a 2/5 if you had like a 4 mb music file blaring in the back. But I thought.

Utility.

Since it actually can serve a purpose when latched onto another game, I easily and graciously bump that score from a 2 to a 4/5. Nicely done.

C360 responds:

Dude first off I'd like to say you are clearly a great and inspiring artist, and added you to my favorites.

Great written review. I guess this could work in a loader, especially if it was even more simple and "mini".

Thanks again

[Whack-An-Agent]

I'd call it a good start, but not yet a good game.

The game needs more...objective. Ya know? Some sort of incentive to whack all those agents instead of just racking a score. I could just sit on my thumbs, watching a single hole, and if agent pops up BLAMMY down he goes. That's because there's no real penalty or discernable time limit on this game. If there IS a time limit, it's too long and needs to be displayed. If there ISN'T, well, it needs one.

It's visually sound. I'd just wish the whack effect was a little more comedic, like it would change the Agent graphic to one with his head bopped in and a booger comin' out the nose. Something like that. For kicks.

So, just to recap it needs:
-Time limit
-More satisfying "bop"
-Alternate "play the machines" mode where you whack Neo instead.

Absolute-Requiem responds:

lol im not so sure about the giant booger explosions although rather funny.

as for the other comments. they are all very valid and i;m gona try and get around to adding several game modes like 2-ND sugested so ill upload the new game in the near future. thanks for the comment.

[Shaolin Dodgeball]

I just didn't find it to be that fun.

There seems to be just two kinds of bits to dodge, and the game only has the mechanic of dodging/surviving. It starts out painfully slow. If there was a feature to choose what the starting level is, just so I don't have to sit through such an uneventful first couple of minutes, it would make the game really awesome.

The character movement could be better. It's clumsy to me, and doesn't have a really fluid motion that I could get into.

Good visual presentation, though. I think that this one will do pretty well, too. A green label, at minimum, just because of the looks and solid fast gameplay after the first minute or so. But as for my own personal taste, it's just not fitting.

ReklessCreati0n responds:

Thank you for the review, The movement is quite solid, if the quality is in low. Yeah I do agree it starts out slow.

[Classic Rock Quiz 6!]

Pretty cool.

While on long roadtrips, I take a particular pride in my circle of friends for knowing quite a lot about rock from the sixties and seventies. But this one really pushes it, and I'm glad it's not all just a bunch of "How do you spell ACDC?" retard questions. These ones are really challenging, and quite fitting for Jukebox Heroes like myself.

I hang my head in shame, for getting the year Jimmy Hendrix died wrong. And even moreso for knowing right off the bat the very year Yes was formed, and also knowing that the lead singer, John Anderson, originally began a rock career in The Warriors in 1963, and that Chris Squire was in Syn since 1967, and they both met while in a club and wanted to do a single collab together, and had Bill Bruford and Alan Keyes (later replaced by Alan White and Rick Wakeman) as well as a real douchebag of a lead guitarist (later fired and replaced by Steve Howe) come together. And somehow I also know that Yes never won a Grammy, was only nominated for a reward for "Cinema" in 1985 for best INSTRUMENTAL (take THAT John Anderson), and that when Anderson temporarily left in 1980, he was replaced by the lead singer of the Bugles for the "Drama" album, who later wrote a song that became Yes' only #1 hit Owner of a Lonely Heart but gave it to John after hearing John sing it during a sound test. YET I DIDN'T GET THE YEAR JIMMY HENDRIX DIED! *cries*

Allright, umm, let's see here. The guitar for the pointer isn't working too good for me. It's kinda clunky, and with an interface running at what looks like a default 12 FPS to 24 FPS, it's slow and jittery. I also couldn't push myself to give very high marks in graphics, because it's just a bunch of text and pictures from the Internet. Yet everything else should do well as I found this entertaining nonetheless.

Nice job. A solid conclusion to a good quiz series.

KyleDaFox responds:

Thanks, we all make mistakes sometimes, and in your case, you didn't get when Jimi Hendrix died. It's OK. I had the FPS at 15, I just wanted the intro to move faster. I liked the guitar pointer, I thought it'd be a cool addition. Thanks for the great review!