Zir0's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[shape wars 2]

Needs Lots of Work

Hey.

Regarding music: A simple NES sounding chip-tune would work for this. It's not a quick action game, so stay away from upbeat, songs with fast tempos.

If that's not your taste, then since the main character has on shades, and has that sort of cool, suave feel about him, consider using a smooth, hip-hop or jazzy beat. Nothing too fancy, though; you don't want the music sounding more complex than a simple game. (-:

Hope that helps.

Regarding other aspects:

- Adding sound effects goes withour saying. (-:

- Fix up the transitions from one screen to the next. Maybe do a simple fade in and fade out. Especially when I advance to the next level. The main character "jumps" around a bit and starts off in mid-air.

- When the game is over, consider allowing the player to continue from the last level they were on instead of starting from the beginning. Maybe give them limited continues. Or, at least, when they complete different-colored levels, allow them to restart on the first area of the most recent colored level.

- When you attack, the "attack image" instantly disappears as soon as you let go of the button. Allow it to continue, so players can simply tap the button, unless this is by design.

- The player cannot attack while moving left or right, unless this is by design. Furthermore, there is no left facing idle pose, only a right one. In other words, if I am moving left and then stop, he faces right again.

- The HUD moves around when the screen scrolls, and the boss's health scrolls off the screen.

- Include some kind of special effect when you kill things.

- The enemies on the different-colored levels all basically do the same thing. Consider changing their behaviors so they do different things to make it more challenging.

Would like to see this developed much more. I like old platform scrollers. (-:
_____________________

-Ziro out.

[Atakachik!]

Nice Game

Hey.

Interesting game you have here.

- The clay-like graphics look great.

- When I first started playing, I wasn't doing too well. It seemed like sometimes, when I click the mouse no heart would fire. Turns out, I was maybe firing too early, as if I time it correctly, and wait until the chickens are much closer, I can hit them.

- The music fits quite nicely.

- I _REALLY_ like how you provided more than one sound effect for the same event, for example, hitting the chickens, and when you get hit. Providing multiple sounds with subtle differences for the same event makes the game more professional and less monotonous. Not too many games have that extra (and quite needed) polish, and I salute you for the extra effort. :-|

The only thing I would consider adding another sound to, is when the chickens jump over the fence, since that occurs just as frequently.

- Finished the game. I was expecting more, but it was so short, unless extra gameplay can be secretly unlocked? ;-)

- The game was fairly easy. Even on the most difficult setting. Sure, I got hit a few times on the last level, but it was still overall, pretty easy (once I figured out the timing, * wink * )

Good game.

____________________
-Ziro out.

[PhaseStar One]

Needs Polish

Hey.

- The graphics are a bit too busy. Difficult to tell what's what sometimes.

- Challenge should be toned a little bit. Those green enemies attack too aggressively. Save that for later levels.

- When you pause the game with E key, you should also be able to unpause it with E key as well, instead of having to click "Continue". Also, when I unpaused it, the "Continue" label never went away.

- Include support to mute music and sounds separately.

- Include explosions when you kill targets instead of just making them disappear. The flashing hit-effects are a nice touch, though.

- It seems that the music changes when your health gets below a certain level. That's a nice touch as well, but you may want to consider something that sounds a little more ominous. (-:

Not too shabby, just clean up the rough edges.

_________________
-Ziro out.

[Super Mouse Avoider 2]

Not Very Good

Hey.

If you move the mouse fast enough, you can go THROUGH the walls and still reach the exit. You can even do it from OUTSIDE THE FLASH WINDOW.

o_O

________________
-Ziro out.

[Chute Academy]

Too Repetiive too Quickly

Hey.

1). The game gets repetitive and boring too quickly.

2). When the game is paused, consider dimming the screen and displaying the word "Paused", or something like that.

3). I received the following ActionScript run-time error when I went from round 4 to round 5:

TypeError: Error #1009: Cannot access a property or method of a null object reference.
at com.urbansquall.serenity::EntityConta iner/tick()
at Game/mainLoop_levelEnd()
at Game/tick()
at flash.events::EventDispatcher/dispatc hEventFunction()
at flash.events::EventDispatcher/dispatc hEvent()
at com.urbansquall.metronome::Ticker/tic k()

Other than those, it is nicely presented.

____________________
-Ziro out.

[Classical Tetris]

Ok, but Needs some Work

Hey.

- Include a title screen, help screen, credits screen, and maybe scoring information. Don't just start the game.

- Better graphics. Make lots of cool, shiny looking blocks. Make each block a different color. (-: It looks so bland, and meh...

- Consider adding some additional modes of play.

- Add more sound effects to make the game more engaging.

- Make special effects when you score lines, and especially, when you score a Tetris (4 lines). * wink *

- Add two keys for rotating the blocks; one for clockwise rotation, and one for counter-clockwise rotation.

_____________________
-Ziro out.

[Mini Games Ultimate]

Not Too Shabby

QuadMaze
1). Nice game. (-:

Truck Launch
1). Another nice little game. Adjusting the ramp is kinda cool.
2). Title for this mini-game isn't all that original. Truck Launch? Please consider renaming this one. :-P

Comet
1). Not into this one that much, but that music sounds familiar. I heard this from... Tetris, was it? :-P

Surfer
1). Hit-detection is too sensitive.
2). You have to switch from keyboard to mouse when restarting the game. Since this mini-game is keyboard-based, maybe have the player press enter or spacebar to start another game, and Escape to return to the main menu.

TypeTest
1). I suck at typing, so I'm not too good with this one. :-P
2). Nice game, I suppose. This one has an educational potential behind it. Maybe you can help show someone how to type, and maybe use real words instead of random letters.
3). Some sound effects would be nice.

Smiley Jump
1). Needs sound effects.
2). Include some kind of transition when you lose, instead of just instantly changing the screen.

Cloud Bounce
1). Make a computer AI for single player.
2). Again, add some sounds.

Overall, just add sound effects, and make navigating the menus more smooth, instead of having to switch from keyboard to mouse every 5 seconds.

Nice set of mini-games for the kiddies. (-:

____________________
-Ziro out.

[Connecto2]

Nice Game

Hey.

Interesting concept.

You should probably make a visual demonstration of how to play in your instructions, so it becomes more clear. A short tutorial or something would be nice.

When I cleared the level, I received this error messages continuously:

TypeError: Error #1009: Cannot access a property or method of a null object reference.
at classesAS3::GamePlayer/checkForError(
)
at classesAS3::GameGame/mainLoop()
at classesAS3::GameLoop/doPlay()
at classesAS3::GameLoop/runGame()

Made the game a unplayable for me henceforth. Had to reload the game.

Also, when I quit the game, I get this error message:

TypeError: Error #1009: Cannot access a property or method of a null object reference.
at classesAS3::GameLoop/mouseLeftUpClick ()

Other than those, not too shabby, soldier.

__________________
-Ziro out.

FlashGamesMaker responds:

thanks for letting me know, this problem should be gone now.

[Gradium]

Not Bad. In fact, I like it.

Hey.

It's me, Ziro, over from FlashGameLicense. How are you doing, soldier?

;-)

Not much has changed from my reviews from FGL, other than it looks like you finally cleaned up all those nasty ActionScript errors. Good work.

I did notice two typos however. In the Achievements page, you misspelled "Achievements" and "Don't".

Other than those, looks nice.

lol at voice acting - again. :-P

Congratulations getting your work sponsored, sir!

* salutes *

____________________
-Ziro out.

Skeik responds:

To be honest I just wrapped them up in Try Catch statements, but I did stop using dozens of on enter frame listeners, so that cleaned a LOT of stuff up.

Thanks for pointing out those typos, and thanks again for all the help. I tried to clean up as much as I could from your reviews.

[Make the Madness!]

Needs Lots of Work

Hey.

I agree with previous reviewers twiztedjustin, commanderhavoc, and coocooletmoi. Furthermore, I don't know why their reviews were rated a useless, as they all made some valid points in their feedback, and kept the feedback constructive.

There should really be something here that makes it stand out from all the other dress-up games.

- Once thing I've not seen is the ability to view what the character in different poses, or perhaps viewing the character from the sides or the back.

- Perhaps, give the player a palette, so they can change the items to whatever color they want.

- Since dress-up games are generally small, maybe give the player several songs to listen to, and include mute-volume controls.

- Add simple sound effects when the player clicks on and drops items.

Just some ideas.

_____________________
-Ziro out.