Kwing's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Pico Blast]

Luck-Based, but Good

Instead of the Graphics/Sound/Violence/Humor/Style/I nteractivity scale, I'm going to rate each phase of the bosses. We know the drill; the engine is the same for all of the games, even if the gameplay isn't, the graphics are done by Luis, so they're just great anyway, the animation likewise. We know BoMToons' reputation. So let's cut the crap and review the gameplay:

BOMBS: This is the first, and easiest stage. It's kind of weird having a non-boss battle sequence when the rest of the game is, though. It's somewhat out of context. Additionally, it's very much luck-based, like some kind of die roll when you start the game. On one occasion, I got a spreader, bombs, another spreader, and an extra life before I even faced the boss. On another occasion, I got nothing.

ARMS: The way the arms act independently can be kind of annoying. It's nearly impossible to act preemptively before an attack can hit you, such as double laser lacerations, or a laser ball with the rocket lasers. It's kind of luck-based just like the roll. Especially with the bombs that pop out. I got missiles and a spreader just after entering the battle, and as a result I won the whole game without losing one life. Again, very luck based.

UFO: Thankfully, this is a bit more of a skill challenge, as the UFO follows a bit more of a distinct pattern. Run between the lasers, dodge the beams, shoot the minions, etc. However, it annoyed me that the best way to avoid the lasers was to spam Down + S, not because it was too easy, but because it was such an unnatural notion for such a physics-based game. It was also annoying that the gun knocked the minions back so much; you couldn't tell if you had gotten them all or if one of them was gonna flank you from behind.

SQUID: This was really fun, as it's a falling sequence. There's a cool avoiding sequence, and it's a welcome change. Unfortunately, I was a bit irked that when the squid summoned rockets, if you were in the wrong place, you got zapped instantly. Once again it was kind of luck-based. I'm not saying skill isn't involved, but I'm saying that luck does warp the gameplay much more than it should.

BRAIN: The most damaging yet weakest phase of the boss battle. It's kind of neat to compensate offense for defense when you have a time limit. Although it was kind of annoying getting constantly zapped with little to no patterns, it was a little fun.

OVERALL: On a normal game, I could get to the brain battle, but the game is so luck based that when I got triple missiles, I was able to beat the brain in 30 seconds. I'm not complaining that I won, but I am a bit upset that your games are not only ridiculously similar, but also have so much luck. I'm sure this review has gotten redundant, but nonetheless I find it important to state the facts. Still, a good game, but 1 point off because of balance issues.

[The Enrichment Center]

Under Par

Some simple repetitive graphics mixed with some really juvenile GLaDOS voice (not your fault I guess), and the gameplay is repetitive and requires nothing more than spastic clicking to explore the areas. Click the keycard, try the locked doors, click all of the cracks, try all of the windows. I've only seen one ending, but I don't see what's so great about it.

[Red Moon]

Holy Crap!

Well let me start off by saying this is one of the best games I've ever played. Aside from a couple tweaks that I'll mention later, this actually is the best game I've played.

Graphics: Outstanding silhouettes, intricate backgrounds, very cool effects. It even looks like you used the API to draw random slash marks, although I'm not positive.

Sound: Some of the best audio I've ever heard. The music sounds like a cross between techno, metal, and Indian music. All very good quality, and with good context.

Violence: Not that much blood, but it was pretty cool and stylish. Although one part near the end nearly got me, with the arsenal in the pit.

Humor: None.

Style: Although the plotline was a little cliche, it was a bit cool that you play the antagonist's apprentice. Not only that, but the context of everything; animation, art, sound and all; was probably some of the best I've ever seen.

Interactivity: A cool real-time battle, with escalating difficulty. Cool terrain, neat balance boards and falling platforms, cool dynamic environment, and a shifting V-Cam to top it off. The wall-jumping was cool, and there are multiple styles of gameplay, such as going through it thoroughly to get Killer 80, Art Collector, Orb Hunter, and Sound Guru, and going through the game on a lighter, quicker method, so as to get Long Live the King and Red Moon Deity. Although I haven't finished the game yet, nor have I gotten all of the orbs, this will definitely have me coming back for more!

THINGS TO IMPROVE ON: These aren't really hard things to fix. On some of the pillars that you wall jumped off of, only part of the pillar was an interactive piece of wall. However, the piece that wasn't had a bad contrast with the actual wall part, which could get annoying and difficult to navigate around. The game lagged a bit, the attacking animations could have had smoother follow through to make the game run a bit faster. Even on Low quality it lagged for me. It was kind of hard to perch precariously on some of the small ledges, being frustrating-hard rather than fun-hard. It was a little sad not being able to do combos, as it was more of a masher, even though you could use the down-attack. And lastly, I was really irked that the Z key was the attack when there weren't even different attack buttons. I would have much preferred the A key or the Spacebar. The boss was hard, but rightfully so, so I can't really criticize that.

[Sonny 2]

Awesome

Graphics: A stunning depiction of 'simple realism' if you could call it that. Great coloring and shading, although perhaps the characters could have used some lighting. Smooth animation, if a little simple. Very realistic proportions.
Sound: Sonny has a great accent, and all the music has great quality. Additionally, its exclusive-ness to the Sonny series is worth several bonus points.
Violence: Not much blood, but cool attack animations and effects.
Humor: Some of the psychopaths at the beginning of the game have some funny things to say. And of course the surprise about the tape. Some great one-liners.
Style: Great art style, great storyline, great descriptions of things, everything is laid out and presented very well.
Interactivity: Very nice! Extremely strategic, fun difficulty, nice interface. An instant classic.

[Newgrounds Pass 3]

Fun

Although it's a little weird with it having medals, as you can just look up a walkthrough. Still, very fun, cute how there's lots of minigames, etc. Also, level 27 is glitched. I've completed it like 3 or 4 times, and I haven't gotten the medal. Even so, fun.

[newgrounds FAQ/help]

Obsolete

The graphics are basic and simple Newgroundish stuff, the information is obvious, basic, and easily attainable, and there's even a typo in there. Some of the information is just stubs, some are just ridiculously bland. I don't see what's so special about it. Include more info, maybe a background animation, then you'll start to get somewhere.

[super sweatshop mastar]

Under Par

The shoe graphic is quite neat, but other than that, it sucks. The only sounds are the obnoxious white noise and the just as obnoxious 8-bit jingle. The gameplay is boring and annoying, consisting of randomly spawning birds, planes, and helicopters. On several occasions I have been cornered in such that it was impossible not to lose a life. Only two keys are used to play, and it is just as much as a game of luck as it is skill. Grossly overrated for the simple reason that the game has medals.

[Perspective Tutorial .]

Incredible

This tutorial is probably the best I've ever seen on Newgrounds; it explains how things work by showing color-coded lines, it has a nice music selection with a mute option, it shows how the X axis lines always point to the center, and how the other lines are arranged. It's great not only for Flash, but for any artist at all. The beginning has a very appealing 3D image to capture the viewer's attention, and it shows step by step how things are outlined, colored, and animated. This is truly the best tutorial on Newgrounds (3/31/2009). Extra brownie points for Kraftwerk.

To certain reviewer(s) who shall remain unnamed, just check out the submit Flash page, games and interactive Flash files are grouped together, gadgets and tutorials do not have their own categories.

[Fear Unlimited Issue2]

Not Up to Par

Graphics: 8/10, very neat style of realism, though the characters looked as if there was no lighting. Still, very good.
Sounds: 8/10, probably would have been better if there were a larger music selection, sounds effects were mediocre.
Violence: 10/10, neat blood effects, very cool attacks, etc.
Humor: 0/0, none to be spoken of, none to be asked for.
Style: 4/10, I see you incorporated a storyline. I apologize for not watching the first scene, but in the second, where this 'evil woman' challenges you, it's not only a bad and somewhat predictable twist, it's downright cheesy.
Interactivity: 3/10, I know you must have spent a while tweaking up wall jumps, wall running, several attacks, and so forth, but despite that, it's unfair to give you a higher score than a 3, and this will dramatically effect your score because this is a game. Your objectives are not well set out; in the first mission, the synopsis for the mission is so vague, most players don't know what to do to complete the mission. I managed to do it by wall jumping from wall to wall, shooting the enemies, and repeating when the enemies got close enough. It's clear that you wanted the game to have strategy, yet it has none. the twin colored blades were way out of context; the game was supposed to be difficult, yet these blades are incredibly powerful. Using the down attack, you could slice through nearly any enemy. Additionally, when I saw that you had put in five difficulty levels, I would have expected there to be a large scope of difficulty throughout them, yet you say, and with much truth, that even easy mode is difficult? Difficulties are invented for a reason, and since you put them in, you should know that yourself. The game has a few bugs, such as falling through the floor, and the whole battle sequences seem somewhat static and stiff.
Overall: Although I've only completed one mission, I've pretty much deduced the color of the game overall, I'm pretty sure of it. This had a lot of potential, especially with all of the moves and script you put into it, but sadly the gameplay does not match the effort put into generating it.