Justonalark's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Dragonsweeper]

I've seen a lot of people complaining about this game's difficulty, but I think they're just looking at it wrong. You aren't going to win every game you play, but the fun is in the challenge of working out how to do the best you can with what you get, like solitaire. Plus, once you get a better grasp on how different enemies work and how to best conserve your health, you'll find that you win more and more frequently, eventually being able to achieve a perfect score with a little luck. So I don't think this game needs an easy mode, but I guess it could potentially use some kind of starting guide or tutorial. A little advice about the basic concepts and principles of play could make things a bit less counter-intuitive, and make it a lot easier to actually start playing the game. Once people crack through that shell, they'll find that it's super addictive and a lot of fun.

EDIT: I should also mention that, while I think a bit of basic gameplay guidance would be helpful for new players, adding a full description of all the monsters and how they work would be a bad idea. Figuring out little tricks and idiosyncrasies through play is, I think, part of the fun of this game.

[Attack of the Turbos (V1.1)]

Extremely basic, but not bad! I like the graphics and music, and the gameplay works well enough, but there are definite issues with advancement. I like that it's the number of turbos on screen simultaneously that increases, rather than their individual speed, etc. But the first game I played, it wasn't until around the twelfth turbo that they started appearing two at a time, and in subsequent games, they continue to come one at a time until somewhwere in the forties, at which point they leap straight to 3 or 4 at a time. I'm figuring this inconsistency is some kind of glitch, but assuming my first game was how it was intended to work, it should probably ramp up a little quicker; dodging 4 or 5 single turbos one at a time is probably plenty for a new player to get up to speed, and taking longer than that for things to get interesting in later runs is somewhat frustrating. I also feel like this game could stand a little something extra. Maybe you could have good things for the Cuboid to pick up, in addition to turbos for it to dodge? Maybe just little blips you could grab for points, or possibly powerups of some kind. Just throwing ideas out there!

811rorrE responds:

Thanks for the feedback! im planning on a sequel but that will have to wait for a while, this was just a test of my coding knowledge

[Justine Time]

A really solid concept with a lot of fascinating potential, and some cute theming! Unfortunately, the janky controls really hold it back, but for a jam game, this is excellent! With more development, I could easily see this being a fantastic full game.

[Demonblade]

Not bad! The one major point of criticism I would offer is that the aesthetic, while thematic, can get a little disorienting, especially during the boss fight. Having everything grey with orange hurtboxes can make it difficult to tell what's going on when you get surrounded by enemies, and could start to get visually boring over time as things kind of blend together (though the game is short enough that I don't think that's much of an issue.) It might have been a good idea to at least give the player a darker shade of armor and/or a more yellow sword and attack effects.

[[RESPAWN]]

Haters Gonna Hate

I've read a lot of reviews that say this game is impossible, unoriginal, or stupid. Personally, I think these are the people who are angry because they expected a game where you couldn't die would be easy. Yes it is a challenge, yes level 19 is a demon thinly disguised as a level in a flash game, but just because something is hard doesn't mean it's impossible.

Personally, I thought this was a wonderfully original game. After noting the title and "paper cut" description, I had been curious to see how the game would work from this premise, and I was disappointed at first, right up until level 6 blew my effing MIND. I guess people might be calling it unoriginal because it's v a g u e l y reminiscent of portal, but honestly, what puzzle/platform flash game isn't? And as I said, the resemblance is vague at BEST. Personally, I thought it was a great concept that worked well and didn't seem derivative of anything.

But honestly, I think what I like best about the game (and the reason I'm not taking off a point for the frustration of Level 19) is the graphics. With a simple color scheme and pixelated appearance, you did a lot with a little; I particularly liked the gray factory parts in the background and the design of the protagonist, with his pot belly/enormous chin. I was really amazed that you designed and programmed this thing so quickly.

Of course, nothing is all wine and roses. The music was upbeat and catchy, but it was getting tiresome by the end. Even if you had just two songs that cycled back and forth, it would be better than the same thing over and over again. And the glitch with level selection is a real annoyance; I actually played through most of the game again trying to recover my data before I noticed that it fixes itself when you reload the page. And I think enough people have griped about level 19 by now that you must know it's a problem. But, again, you made this in two weeks. This is damned impressive.

[Create anything]

Not Bad!

Not bad; obviously, it will be more fun when the player can create more than just guns, but you've got a lot of great parts to make said guns out of (I particularly like the chainsaw.) One big piece of advice I can give you right now is that the workspace will need to be a lot bigger; right now, it isn't anywhere near long enough to fit an entire gun.

Also, while the interface is easy to use, it could use a little more style. Having a plain background is good for being able to see parts clearly, but rainbow-colored text is a little off-putting when creating an instrument of death, y'know? Ideally, giving the player the option to choose between a few different fonts/colors would be good, but barring that, I think you'd be better off with a more interesting font in good ol' black.

As a side note, if possible, it would be cool if players could somehow save their weapon creations to give as accessories to their characters, and save their characters to put as pilots in their vehicles. That would probably be a lot harder to program, though...

Good start overall! Keep working at it!

ethob121 responds:

Thanks alot my first decent comment so I'll play around with fonts and text coulors the reason I couldn't program things very well is that I am only 12 at this is so far a 1 man game I doplan on making the workspace bigger

[Sushi Cat]

Love the game, 1 little glitch

Fun, adorable, and hilarious! I particularly enjoyed the ¥1 sumo prize.

Just one problem: I've been stuck on level 13 for about 10 minutes now. and by "stuck," I don't mean that I can't beat the level: I mean that my cat appears to be too fat to fit through any gap in order to drop to the bottom. He just keeps on bouncing around.

Anyone else ever have this problem? Or was it just a 1-in-a-million chance that I dropped him at just the wrong time?

[Domo-Kun Angry Smashfest!]

So Nostalgic!

My Sega Genesis finally broke last summer after more than a decade of faithful service... after playing this game, I miss it more than ever. Great job of cramming in references! ...Although I don't see why Rocket Knight had to die.

Nice gameplay, great graphics, good humor, all-around awesome... but it's also pretty hard, even with unlimited continues.

Just one question: What do you have against the Powerpuff Girls?

[Portal Defenders]

My opinion, and how to fight Mindchamber

I found this to be an awesome game with great music and graphics. My only complaint is that I can't seem to unlock the nose diver medal; I've beaten the game and I've lost in every stage at least once, but the badge is still locked. Anyone else having this problem?

Okay, Mindchamber. First off, remember to avoid approaching him from the side at all costs; he will IMMEDIATELY react by launching an Inspector Gadget-style punch or by charging towards you; either way, he won't let you get near him. Instead go at him vertically, hit him two or three times to knock him over, then retreat a few steps and repeat when he gets back to his feet (like most bosses in this game, he's pretty quick to attack immediately upon standing if you're still in range.) You'll wanna take care of his minions before taking him out, so they can't get in the way; avoid Mindchamber while you're fighting them, and use his missiles to damage them (and him) if you can.