spartacusxerox's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Epic Coaster]

Neon train walking across the sunset lightly

Hey knigg, great game:

- Creativity/Originality -
Very creative, but not very original. The game is basically based off the Canabalt game, and others similar, but executed with great finesse. I like the whole atmosphere of a creepy carnival with fantastic rides in the background.

- Soul -
The Soul of this game is a very complex one. You have an air of spooky rollercoaster park-type feel, but then you have the neon-theme as well, and the changing from the day to night. The whole thing seems almost surreal, and appeals to the brain as well as the adrenaline glands.

The whole thing is so strangely ambient, despite being such a simple game that it begs simplicity in the midst of all its complexity. I like your title 'Epic Coaster', because its soul is very much a soul of epicness, and grand adventure into the unknown. Overall, the soul of the game is very complex, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

- Entertainment -
I was very entertained by this game, and how easy it is to play for long times. I mean, it's just another Canabalt clone, right? Right? Wrong. It has its own soul and flavour, and its own form of entertainment, making an old game seem like an entirely new experience.

- Professionalism -
That said, the graphics are superb, one of the most professional games I've played on this site. From the main menu to the game itself to the many different pointless medals and achievements to the more serious ones... this game has a sense of severe polish to the extreme. Top marks for professionalism.

- Reviewer's Tilt -
I was very happy about this game, most happy indeed. It is a well-polished game much suited to my liking... short and sweet, just the way I like it. I like how the game doesn't overwhelm you all at once, but slightly makes its way into your consciousness. It's a good game, that's what I gathered. Thanks for letting us all play, knigg. I'll keep an eye out for you in the future.

- Creativity/Originality 8/10
- Soul 8/10
- Entertainment 9/10
- Professionalism 10/10
- Reviewer's Tilt 9/10
OVERALL SCORE: 8.8/10
ROUNDED SCORE: 9/10

VERDICT: SPECTACULAR

-SpXer-

[Save your life 3 THE END]

Guess For Your Life

-Creativity/Originality-
As far as I know, this is not an original idea. There have been many clones of riddle problems before, but still, it doesn't affect it. The thing doesn't seem contrived. It still has quite creative puzzles, albeit very hard ones. Well done on creating impossibly difficult puzzles! Sometimes, though, it just seems like puzzles you could get off the internet put in a different format. I would like more interactive puzzles, something original and new, that's all.

-Soul-
I felt the soul of this game was "this is the hardest quiz you will ever play", which I don't think is a delicate or interesting premise. The music on top of this was very intense, and I was left feeling like I wanted to play a less intense game. It almost felt like the game was a bully of sorts, saying "you can't guess". I don't think people enjoy being dumb. Especially me, who had a very hard time guessing puzzles.

-Entertainment-
I didn't get much entertainment from this piece. It was more the frustration and the desire to finish the game that drove me on. It wasn't a particularly fun game, is what I'm trying to say.

-Professionalism-
Overall, quite professional, in my opinion. The only thing was, that I started off, and I couldn't figure it out! I wondered why, and it said I was on level 32! Talk about a sharp learning curve! Something's wrong with the script, probably. The puzzles seem to be very difficult, however, and I hope you don't mind my criticising your very sharp learning curve. Also, in my opinion, you should probably down the quality of the audio, coz it's making one big file size, for quite a simple game.

-Reviewer's Tilt-
There's a highly negative slant to this review, possibly because - I just don't like the game. I mean, I don't blame you, it's not a bad premise, it's just the high learning curve, the intensity of the music and the bullying nature of the game that put me off. Make a milder game and I'll love it more. Thank you for letting me play, though.

- Creativity/Originality 6/10
- Soul 4/10
- Entertainment 2/10
- Professionalism 7/10
- Reviewer's Tilt 1/10

OVERALL SCORE: 4/10
VERDICT: Not So Hot

-SpXer-

REVIEW REQUEST CLUB

[Pixel Prophet]

Pixel Fever

My Log:
- Great looking game. I love the simplicity of the graphics.
- The controls are very responsive. But when you are too close to a block and shoot, it doesn't get fired at. Minor bug.
- Nice! The puzzles are simple yet not tiring.
- Wow! I'm in this nice underground red place. It's very cosy. I like the art you've done here.
- I died on the spikes, but then you stay in the same scene. I'm glad I don't have to go all the way back to the beginning!
- So I got my first medal, the bug zapper. I tend to be a critic of medals, because they cause weaker games to gain more appeal simply because the player believes he is achieving something significant when he is not. In my opinion, achievement should come from the game itself, not cropped up messages. But it does generate some simplistic appeal to it, however. Good job in appealing to the wider demographic.
- OK so I guess I just killed the squid boss. But it was so easy! I just hopped on and off the ledge, pressing 'z'. Now I know this is supposed to be simple, but this is to the point of being simplistic and unchallenging. Fixable? Perhaps.
- It would make sense to spawn in the same scene so easily if the game was difficult, however it seems easy at the moment.
- As much as I like slaying bug after bug after bug, when I die, they should regenerate, as well as walls, to cater for difficulty purposes.
- OK WOW so I just fell through a tube. I have a sad feeling I won't be able to get those coins again. But it does feel like an eerie trip. It feels like I'm going back to the same place twice, yet it's different. It's like turning left four times and ending up in a different spot. I don't know if it takes away from the realism of the game. But since all is in 2D, then I can't expect him to always stay in the same plane. This may leave a residual sense of claustrophobia.
- There's a very potent question in this mix - do people like easy games? I for one am enjoying this game. But it seems to easy to be real... when I finish, will it feel like an achievement or a waste of time? This I gotta know.
- OK I got up to the part where you have to make precise jumps over a pit of spikes, and I'm disenjoying it. It seems very annoying, a sense of false difficulty.
- OK I got the achievement 'light on feet' which probably means I've jumped a lot. Big whoop.
- And I give up here. I don't like having to make precise jumps and constantly failing. Everything's been a breeze up to here, but this is just ridiculous.

Thanks for letting me play. This game is very stylistic, a game of exploration and adventure, with effective graphics and interesting gameplay. The only criticsm I'd have is on its difficulty, which you have already heard a lot about. It's a very peculiar question, do people enjoy easy games? I enjoyed the exploration bit, but I felt like I wanted a challenge. But it did feel like something worthwhile. Well done.

Vote: 3/5

-SpXer-

[Rapid Replica]

OK...

so I got to Level 1 Click to continue and it didn't continue. Riiiiiight.

[Foodimals: Strawberry Owl]

Almost simplistic

My Log:

-> It's the loading screen and I'm already excited! Looks so profesh!
-> Hehe cute owl!
-> Oh no, he fell?
-> One thing is, there's not really a changeable cursor to tell you if you can click something. Makes it kinda confusing.
-> Hehe picked him up.
-> The cursor style sort of encourages me to spam-click. The only way I found to drop the bird.
-> Haha that is funny!
-> and your little collage at the end is interesting.

Well done game, very interesting, very short, however. I would have liked it to be more of an adventure, different scenes, different things to click instead of the owl all the time.

The graphics were simplistic and styly, I'm happy about that. I enjoyed when the owl wrestled with my cursor, for some reason. The feeling of not being in control of my own cursor weirded me out... in a good way.

I'm happy to say that you've done well with this one. Lots to improve on, though. Enjoyed it. 6/10.

Thanks for letting me play!

-SpXer-

perpetual-mind responds:

Thank you VERY much for the great review ouo
I really appreciate the effort to give GOOD feedback on this!
The game was really intended as a practice to see how well this formula would work.
I intend to make bigger game of the same sort in the future, so there will be many more backgrounds and scenes.

Finding a way to make the cursor change when your hovering over a button is something I'm currently working on.
I can change the cursor its self, which i find can be very useful for picking things up and such.

I really like the idea of giving the player a sense of being inside a simple flash game.
I didn't get much of a chance to explore that in this particular game being how short it is.
I'm glad to hear taking the control away for short sections was effective to you.
When you hover over the leaves at the top of the screen they shake.
I think combining these two things could really be effective in bigger games where I can put them to more use.

I hope you'll keep track of my works, as id love to hear more comments from you as I go along!

Again, thank you very much for taking the time and the effort so few people ever do to help me out with my works!

[Zombies Took My Daughter!]

Grinning :D

@crackheadtrent You need to zoom in your browser a bit. Just click on the page and press Ctrl++. (ctrl and + at the same time) U do that until all the window appears. Have to do that a lot sometimes for flash games.

BTW, the concept felt like it was stolen from my own head... and so brilliantly executed! I've been thinking for a long time that it would be good if someone made a side-scrolling zombie apocalypse game... and whaddya know? A side-scrolling zombie apocalypse game that kicks butt! Good on ya, boy! (good replay value too :))

[Ninja Run -]

Really good graphics, some bad mechanics

There were some really bad mechanics, such as if you fall of the edge, then you can jump while you're falling... gameplay is really repetitive even with achievements. It looks very similar to canabalt, too similar in my opinion. There could have been some originality. But it was good overall, quite a professional polish. 8 out of 10. Thanks for letting me play.

[Animal Game for Children]

OK, so there is only a bird...

A greater variety of animals would be nice... :P