Kwing's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[ButtonHunt 3]

This is pretty impressive. I like that each individual puzzle isn't that hard, preventing you from getting stuck. Although a few puzzles took me a while, none of them required me to use a hint. You can also count on each level being different, too.

The issue here comes with presentation, and it's an issue I struggled with when I was 13 as well - Though the buttons are nice, the placement could stand to be a little more even. The giant walls of text are functional but not aesthetic; Breaking up every few lines with an image - even a poorly drawn one, such was the case with your concept art - really helps make the game appear more polished. I feel like you also could have chosen more fitting music. Most tracks fit the context, but they didn't fit each other, which harmed the overall mood of the game as a whole.

By my third try, I did manage to beat the game in 188 seconds with 125 clicks, but honestly that little bit for the final achievement just wasn't motivating enough. The concept art and jokes were amusing but again unpolished.

Not sure what to say, I feel like this couldn't have been much better for what it was, but it's groundbreaking.

[Shitty Fucking Art Game]

Yeah, yeah, the game is satire. We get it. But is it good? The minigames that make up the bulk of the game are repetitive, dull, and frustrating. There's no clear objective. The whole 'people saying things behind your back' game mechanic was cool but got old fast. There's just nothing entertaining or funny here. Graphics and sound are both uninspired.

PsychoPop responds:

"Yeah, yeah, the game is satire. We get it."

Speak for yourself. Plenty of reviews indicate that people didn't get it.

I give your review 5 stars out of 5 because you are in the "in crowd" of people who get it.

Wink.

[Murloc RPG: SF]

Very nice. Gameplay is overall satisfying and looting is especially fun. Graphics and sounds are incredible especially for how long ago this was made. Doesn't seem like there's much difference between classes though.

Anyway my main issue with this game is the gameplay. So many of the battles are the exact same thing - Cold Blood then Pyroblast. Then later you use Frost Nova before that. Later on I did have to mix it up with Adrenaline (usually Frost Nova, Adrenaline, Renew, Frost Nova, Cold Blood, Pyroblast). However most battles are still terribly similar and it makes the game worse off because of it. The amount of time it takes to level up after 15 and the lack of reward is also terrible. Side quests are also a bit straightforward, just a boss rush. Ultimately I got stuck on Helm and Hakkar the Soulflayer at level 16, and the grinding aspect turned me off to going farther.

[5 Min. to Kill (Yourself)]

Fun, funny, but it's missing something. I like the graphics and animation, it's presented very well. The issue is more the gameplay - I like that you run around and 'collect' damage until you die, but I find it kind of odd that it's sometimes hard to chase down someone you're trying to talk to, and some people just don't talk to you. Combining items is cool but I found it unnecessary. Ultimately I beat the game by peeing on electrical appliances on another floor, and it took about 2/3 of my health. I feel like this game could have had more variety, and though I know I used a boring method to kill myself, if there wasn't such a tight time limit, perhaps I would have been encouraged to try other things.

[Pixelo]

These kinds of games always give me a headache. I like the Sudoku inspiration here but it's a little daunting having over 500 levels. Judging by the medals and what I've seen from the puzzles, beating all of them is not terribly important; they just add variety and play time to this game. It would be totally possible for this game to choose levels randomly - this would also eliminate the problem with players just guessing and redoing levels.

The exp and money system is also stupid. This is a puzzle game, I don't want to manage currency that barely does anything except change the game's visuals.

One thing I considered that would have been really cool is if there was a grid of several 10x10 puzzles arranged to make a larger, less pixelated puzzle. You could solve a big pixelated part, then solve individual sections in-depth to reveal a very clear image. You could also probably find a way to do this with colors; there's no reason to stop with half-baked pixel art.

Overall fun but way too long. Plus, players that are really good should be able to delve into Normal and Hard difficulty levels sooner.

tamaii responds:

Your idea is really great! I'll think about it.
And also i got your point. I guess i should think about normal and hard puzzle unlock scheme.
Thank you for playing

[Super Hero Chronicles]

Addicting, for what it is. The concept/graphics/music are a little too repetitive and simple for my taste, but the actual shooting element does have a charm to it, especially when you get powerups. In my opinion there need to be more enemies and more attack patterns. The levels could also stand to be a little shorter since they're so repetitive as it stands now. I wish I understood how the powerup system worked too - there didn't seem to be a countdown or any explanation as to why my split lasers were disappearing.

glitchs2d responds:

Yea if I ever make a sequel there will be a lot of mechanics to the game that will improve. My game programming has improved dramatically since then, but I have yet to actually start working on part 2 of this game. Maybe once I get some free time. But your meter on the right side is what affects your lasers (except when you have the beam laser). It was a combo system that I made that would encourage players to kill all the enemies in order to keep their laser going. Thanks for playing.

[D-Pression]

Huh, had to look up a tutorial for the very last level and it would appear I took the long way around for the two 'blank' levels.

Anyway you did a really smooth job with the programming. I really like the slipping and sliding and the wall jump mechanic is just comfortable to use. The obligatory puzzle element was fun, although sometimes frustrating and a little gimmicky due to it having the whole physics flair going on - sometimes made things harder than they should have been.

You really could have stood to improve the graphics. They're simple, they're cute, but they're OVERDONE.

The real reason I'm docking so many points is because I'm sick of programmers dick riding The Company of Myself with these simple 'symbolic' puzzle platformers with crummy graphics, melodramatic and even more melodramatic one-liners scattered throughout the levels. At least The Company of Myself and Fixation had a plotline. This is just a bunch of drivel.

Another really big thing that bothered me is that with such simple games you really lose a lot out of the experience when it's just one level after another. There's a heavy puzzle element, sure, but it would be nice to see some new mechanics partway through the game, or even an open-world kind of environment.

This is not a bad game but conceptually it is the most infuriatingly jump-on-the-bandwagon game I've seen in a while.

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Thanks for the long review, Kwing! I agree with most of the criticism, and most of them can be explained by the lack of time I had when making this. I made it for the Stencyl Jam 2014, but I had my most important school exams in between :)

The programming is pretty smooth, but could still be improved, I think. Stencyl made it somewhat easy though (even if it took a lot of time for me). I'm glad you're happy with the movement though! The physics thing was probably too difficult for most people to realize for themselves. I should've hinted on it more, and made it a bit more obvious that you had to use friction :/

I agree with the graphics too. Then again, I was in a real hurry while making this! I finished this game in the last minute, but I still had time to make small updates later. There's still a lot that needs to be done, I think.

I actually had to make pretty much all of the "story" or text in the game in about 5 hours, and only 10 minutes or so went to actually thinking about what I wrote, as it was time consuming to place the text. If (when) I make a huge update to this game in the future, there will be a lot of changes :D

I would've wanted some new puzzle mechanics too. I originally wanted to make some levels where the "shadow's" movement was inverted from yours. I also waned to include some with many "shadows", and some with upside down gravity, to confuse the player. Alas, I had no time, as I earlier said. The only thing I had time for was to include two levels where the "shadow" couldn't touch you, but had a very similar room to yours, as you might recall.

Thanks again for the long review, I'm grateful that you took some time to write out your thoughts! :3

[Catch the Pacman]

I can't be the only person to think this... Why is the AI so bad? I see tons of the Pacman (Pacmen?) running back and forth in place while you casually stroll over to them and kill them. What is the function of those zombies? Why is the movement speed so slow? Why does the player rattle around inside the walls instead of fitting snugly between them? There's something seriously wrong here.

By the way, shouldn't there be several ghosts? This would be cool as a strategy game where you have to outsmart the enemy but this is just a slow chasing game.

sex92toso responds:

1.I agree with you with the pacman, since I started the game, I could been fix it yet.

2.The function of the zombies is to kill you. Maybe I should make them faster. I´ll see.

3. I do not understand what you mean by "player rattle"

4. I liked the idea of several ghosts, could you give me your opinion so I get an idea?

Thanks for the review, seriously.

[PLEASE REMAIN CALM]

I can definitely see the Binding of Isaac influence here. The one-resource system makes it easy to manage what with the coins and everything. It also keeps people interested in the coins regardless of their strategy, whether they prefer using coins for jumping or fighting. The powerups are few, simple, but powerful, making it very easy to keep track of what does what, a pitfall that annoyed me a lot when playing Binding of Isaac (you needed a Wiki of all of the items, honestly). The random item in the shop seemed a little gimmicky to me, since the game itself is so short.

Anyway this is a really great roguelike. Nice and short, much more casual than others. Like all roguelikes there are a shitton of cheap deaths, and that took away from the experience for me. The graphics could have also used a boost and maybe some different music as well.

Also, I think something could be done to make the final boss a little more fair. I've lost to it maybe eight times now, half of them due to grunt enemies. It's also way too easy to fall into him. Instant death is far too harsh of a penalty. No other game expects a player to cope with that kind of insanity.

[Man in Gap]

This is a really, really, really cool concept. It's incredibly simple but the nice harsh sound effect and music really make it fun to play. Since there are always two gaps, it would be cool to make a multiplayer mode where two players play at once and get bonus points if they end up in different gaps. Also maybe a button to make the platforms clash earlier, and/or a timer. I like how the gaps are randomly determined each time, too. The graphics could be given a boost too