Zir0's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Madness Hanks Quest]

Gameplay needs some Work

Hey.

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Gameplay
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- Needs much more refinement. It's basically a slugfest to the death with very little disciplined gameplay. For instance, maybe it's just me, but there seems to be no way to dodge enemy attacks. There's just too much going on.

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Controls
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- Often, I have to keep moving the mouse so that it does not go outside the scope of the Flash window, and that takes away from controlling my character.

(However, I must point out that games that use the mouse as you have always have a challenge here. Perhaps consider auto-pausing when the mouse goes outside the Flash window, or simply don't hide the cursor. Unlike standard applications, there is no way Flash to "lock" the mouse within it's window. Not sure if Adobe could/would do that in the future, but it would be nice. (-: )

- The default key for the pause is out of the way. The key used to pause should be placed much closer to the other keys.

- However, there is support to reconfigure the keys (which is good - I wish more games did this, so kudos (-: ), but since you don't have it noted, you should consider changing the visual aspect of you GUI to indicate clickable content (maybe a different color but UI elements, etc.)

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Audio
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- I found a check box for Music, but it didn't seem to do anything.

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Graphics
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- The graphics are fine. (-:

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Notes/Polish/Other
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- You seem to have lots of options, and modes, but the general gameplay still seems a bit disoriented.

- The text in your tutorial is going too fast. Please consider allowing the player to advance at their own pace.

- Is there a way to return to the current game when you go to the main menu for the game, or does that terminate the game?

You seem to have put lots of work, detail, polish, along with the training and tutorial in this than the average Flash game, but the gameplay itself is STILL quite rough around the edges (in my opinion). Definitely madness. (-:

(P.S. I report no apparent bugs while playing. ^_^ )

Good skill with your game. (-:

__________________
- Ziro out.

BloodBathProductions responds:

this is my first mod if your looking for music while playing goto my other mod xpz madness

[MonkeyKing]

Good Game, but a bit Rough Around Edges

Hey.

Nice action game.

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Graphics
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- Very well done. (-:

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Audio
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- The quality of the audio provided was fine.

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Controls
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- It was quite easy to control the character.

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Gameplay/Notes/Polish/Other
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- At first, I though having only one life was kind of cruel, but seeing as how it lets you continue, it's fine.

The game appears to be saving your progress, which is good for a game of this length. I presume you have "infinite" continues? :-)

- I would prefer to use skill (human skill, that is) to hit and dodge enemies and their attacks rather than some number that dictates probability of hit and miss, this being an action side-scroller and all.

- Also, at first it seemed quite difficult to devise strategies when fighting, especially since you can't move up and down to help dodge attacks. Hit and run, jump, hit then double-jump... nothing seems to keep you from getting hit.

but theeeeen... :-P

I started paying attention to the monster patterns, when they attack, and how often, and it became quite easy.

Howeverrrrrrr.... :-P

When there are a bunch of enemies all on top of each other, it's difficult to hit them without getting hit yourself. This is where moving up and down would be handy, although the enemies do seem to separate occasionally.

- At the beginning of the game, don't introduce enemies until all the help screens have been dismissed.

- I noticed that if I completely silence the music, sometimes, it will be restored to full volume (on its own) when I pause the game or advance to the next level. It probably shouldn't be doing that. :-P

- The impact sound when hitting and getting hit does not fit for weapon melee attacks, use a different sound for that. The sound provided is only suitable for "fist-like" attacks. Furthermore, the sound is monotonous, and gets annoying quickly. I would suggest at least three sounds with subtle differences for sound events that occur frequently, such as hit impacts.

- Thank goodness for being able to block ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING, even from behind you. :-P

- I like how, not only can you adjust audio volume, but you can do it SEPARATELY for music and sounds. Very cool, and user friendly! :-D

- If would help if you could block while in mid-air.

Finished the game, by the way, but I only used the first character, and built him up some. Nice ending. :-)

Bosses were challenging, but once you figure out their patterns, they were quite easy. I also noticed that they change their patterns when about half their health is gone. Nice touch.

Just polish up the rough edges, and this game will be even better. (-:

__________________
- Ziro out.

[A Bee RPG 2]

Some Improvements - Still needs More

Hey.

Not much has changed from my review tof the predecessor, so here's some new content:

- Perhaps show the HP and cash on the Armor screen. In fact, since you have the room on many screens, you should probably show the stats on those screens where the respective stats can be upgraded.

- Are the base damages of the stingers cumulative? They don't appear to be. (Just wondering.) For example, could I buy two stingers, and it adds base damage onto the first one, or does the base damage of one stinger replace the base damage of the currently equipped one? If the latter is true, then you should probably illustrate some way of showing weaker stingers being obsolete, and therefore unavailable, as well as any currently equipped stinger.

- I got a "Brave Bee Award", a "Spy Award", and a "King Award". Acquisition of the King Award was obvious, but I'm not sure what the prerequisites are for the other two, or if there are any more. Furthermore, I noticed a "30" above the Spy Award box. What does that mean? (-:

- My health can get so high, that the bar intrudes into the enemy's health bar. :-P You should cut it before it reaches that point. Since you also have the number value inside the bar, that should be sufficient.

- Killed the King on two hits again. It's still too easy to get powerful.
:-P

You seem somewhat surprised with the progress that I, as well as others have reported. Did you not play test your game that far? :-P

Anyway, good skill on any future development.

__________________
- Ziro out.

hallaby responds:

I'll cut off the health bar, I really didnt think anyone would get tht high! I was wrong! I Did play test It but well I guess I was so sick of it I would quit before I got to a decent place. Brave Bee means you get over 50 strength and the spy means 50 dex

[Perfect Hair 2 Hollywood]

Needs More to Keep it Interesting

Hey.

Nice game.

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Gameplay
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- As summary states, the game needs more. Perhaps some sort of upgrade system to Cindy's shop. More waiting chairs, more serving chairs, hire some help, faster execution time; ya know stuff like that. Fortunately, there are only four levels (I think), otherwise, it would become impossible. :-P

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Graphics
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- The artwork and was done quite nicely. (-:

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Audio
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- The quality of the available sounds is fine.

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Controls
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- No issues with controls. (-:

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Notes / Polish / Other
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- Consider adding at least three different sounds when you are successful (or fail) with each client, because the single sounds gets monotonous and annoying.

- The "Tutorial" should probably just be labeled "Instructions" or "How to Play", instead of "Tutorial", because it's not actually walking you through demo or sample gameplay or anything like that.

- Nice detail making the customer get aggravated if you take too long. :-P

- Good job putting a mute for the music, because it got annoying very quickly. :-P

- Pause was good too. (My acknowledging pause and mute may seem moot, but you wouldn't believe the number of games that don't have at least one of these.) ;-)

Good skill in the future.

__________________
- Ziro out.

[Doc Ock Rampage]

Nice Game

Hey.

Nice remake of the classic Rampage games.

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Gameplay
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- Is there a way to regain health? Or prehaps, when you complete a level, the game should probably restore your health.

- Needs more variation in gameplay. This being Doc Ock and all, I would think he would have more "abilities", know what I mean?

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Graphics
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- The graphics provided look fine. (-:

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Control
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- Doc Ock was fairly easy to control.

- Since your game is keyboard based, allow the player to press a key to dismiss the menus (for example when completing a level), instead of having to take their hand off the keyboard and use the mouse.

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Audio
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- The audio quality is fine. (-:

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Notes/Polish/Other
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- Include two or three different sounds for sound events that happen often, for example the mechanical sounds of Doc Ock, the firing, and the smashing of buildings and what not. The single sounds are monotonous and get annoying quickly.

- Include an ability to pause and unpause the game.

- Include support for custom key configuration, or multiple keys for the same actions (for ex., WASD). Some people, might like other keys than arrow keys. (I'm was fine with the arrows, however, others still may find this ability to their liking.)

- When I get killed, the animation of Doc Ock "falling" seems to keep looping. Not sure if this is by design or not.

- It may be more visually appealing to display the health as a bar, rather than a number.

- Nice detail with the different poses of Doc Ock. (-:

Nice game. Good skill in your future games.

________________
- Ziro out.

NG-Programmer responds:

thank's

[A Bee RPG]

Interesting Game

Hey.

Nice concept.

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Audio
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- The music was annoying and did not fit the game at all. You should definitely select something else, or at least allow it to be muted.

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Gameplay
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- Not a bad start, although it definitely needs more to it. Gets repetitive after a while, and I killed the King Wasp on two hits. Probably could have killed it on one hit, had I continued to build up. :-P

- Good to see that stronger enemies are introduced. A single bee can knock off a dog? lol Must be some lethal killer bee that you hear about on the animal/nature channels. :-P

- Regarding stats building: The +2 builds are not practical, in terms of cost, since they cost more than $5 to add 2 points to their respective stats. I used the $5 buffs throughout and I was fine.

- At least you can run away without your escape ever being "blocked" (I think). :-P

- Sleep was an interesting concept. Does the day count affect anything, or is that just for show?

- The items were useless as well. The need to be more enticing. At least you have something there to add some kind of content.

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Controls
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- It was easy (at least for me) to figure out the controls.

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Graphics
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- Could be better, but not bad. Simple rotations make the attacks look funny. :-P

Good skill with your game, should you continue to develop this.

___________________
- Ziro out.

hallaby responds:

Sorry, I meant to add the mute button, that was my mistake.

Killed the king wasp in 2 hits!?!?! Nice!

The bee is deadly haha.

Yeah I added those at the begginning then never changed them after I progressed, I really was not expecting a score this high, so made the game pretty sloppy.

Ya, you can always run away, but you get the same punishment as it you lose so :P

Day count - just to be like all the other RPGs so no one could critisize me :)

Controls - after I submitted it, I thought "maybe I should have added instructions" so this is good to know

Thanks I really think I will ;)

[Poseidon: God of the Seas]

Error Messages in the Game

Hey.

When the game first loads, I get the following ActionScript run-time error message:

Error #2044: Unhandled securityError:. text=Error #2048: Security sandbox violation: http://uploads.ungrounded.net/491000/
491488_Poseidon.swf cannot load data from http://c3.thesevens.net/idat/102/3_po seidon/dictionary.txt.
at Poseidon_fla::MainTimeline/LoadDictio nary()
at Poseidon_fla::MainTimeline/frame1()

Once I click Continue (in the ActionScript error message window), the game seems to proceed. However, when I click in the textbox to begin the game, I get this error message:

TypeError: Error #1009: Cannot access a property or method of a null object reference.
at Poseidon_fla::MainTimeline/Dictionary Search()
at Poseidon_fla::MainTimeline/generateEn emy()
at Poseidon_fla::MainTimeline/LevelStart ()
at MethodInfo-64()

Once I click Continue to close this error message, the game seems to freeze.

___________________
-Ziro out.

[Astro Chaser]

A Few Things to Clean up

Hey.

Just a few issues:

- Your HUD is way too busy. Find a way to reduce the clutter by not showing so many numbers. Use little icons or graphics where you can.

- You're going retro with your main menu selection (using arrow keys and enter). That's fine, but in the submenus, you switch to mouse. Keep it consistent.

- When adjusting music volume, the bar moves and follows the x axis of my mouse, even without dragging it, not sure if that's by design or not, but you should just use standard controlling here. Of course, this note only applies if you allowed the player to use the mouse to navigate all the menus.

- Also, the music volume changes can't be previewed. Since the music is already playing, why not allow the changes to be previewed? The changes aren't acknowledged until the game actually starts.

- If I completely mute the music, then I get killed, the music starts up again...

- Is there a way to adjust options while in-game?

Graphics, control, and audio quality are fine.

__________________
- Ziro out.

Calipe responds:

Thanks for your very helpful suggestions. I will definitely look into implementing them. It is with reviews like yours that we developers grow our skills.
Cheers!

[The Scared Groom]

Interesting Memory Game

Hey.

Nice game ya have here.

Just a few things:

- Probably could use a little more variation of colors in the scenery, to bring things out a bit.

- Make some footstep sounds. Make 3 or 4 similar sounding ones, but keep them subtle so they don't get monotonous and annoying.

- When it plays that sparkle sound at the end of the levels, some nice, shiny star particles of something would be great. (-:

- I like detail of acquiring of the groom slows you down a bit.

- I also like how you can mute music and audio separately.

Good concept.

_________________
- Ziro out.

[Google Search]

Initialization Failed

Hey.

When the Flash starts, it keeps showing the following message:

"Initialization failed: please check the API key,
swf location, version and network availability."

Reloaded a few times, cleared cache; still to no avail.

Using Flash 10.

_________________
- Ziro out.

LimsUniverses responds:

Sorry it was the wrong version!