Seawana's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Zilch]

Fun and well made.

I've been playing this game for a while now and I really enjoy it. The art is cleverly done and really makes me feel like I'm playing a real dice game. The sounds complement the game nicely and there really is no need for music. The gameplay is simple and surprisingly addictive. I think it's the addition of the awards that's kept me playing this long because I have something to shoot for. You get a 10!

I do have one major gripe. The ads. Holy cow, man! Are you paid by the view? I'm assuming this is the case because this really well made and fun game is crippled by the same fricken' ads over and over again after each match and it makes me want to scream. I'd taken to just doing something else anytime the ads are up ... which seems to be all the time ... but I'm about fed up now. I usually never replay a game with this many ads in it because it makes the creator (you) look like a huge tool. If they were cleverly inserted in a way that didn't take over the game I wouldn't mind, but seriously. As they are now, they suck. -2 points.

I also noticed a bug that gives the computer an advantage. When it rolls and gets options of "2 ones" or "2 fives", if it selects either of those, only 1 one or five is selected from the rolled dice. It correctly gets only the 100 or 50 points score for the single die, but if it rolls again it has more dice rolling than it should. So the computer's advantage is more rolls with a greater chance of getting larger score combinations. I suspect this comes from the fact that rolling 2 ones or 2 fives should also allow the player to select 1 die as a valid scoring option. However, that option is never shown in those circumstances for either player even though the computer is allowed to choose it. -1 point.

So all in all, I love this game. If you fix that bug and reduce the number of ads shown (or make them less intrusive somehow), I'll keep playing. As it stands I'm kind of annoyed with it now and may not play much anymore.

agby responds:

Curious, it should be showing one ad after every fourth game, so assuming you take 10 mins to play a game then it should show you approx one ad per 40 minutes? How fast are your individual games?

[Estimate It]

Majorly flawed.

The game itself is a good idea. In fact, I really like the idea, but I simply cannot play for long because the interface is so inconvenient. A game like this absolutely screams for the ability to play using only 9-key control. Things to change:

1. Have the system caret automatically in the guess slot so you can immediately start typing your answer.
2. Allow "enter" to submit your guess.
3. Allow "enter" to double for clicking the "Next Level" button.

Forcing the player to use the mouse to do all these things severely detracts from the game play. I end up spending precious moments fiddling with stuff that makes the game infuriating. This game is called, "Estimate It", and the focus should be on the estimation aspect of the game, not fighting with the interface.

Now don't get me wrong. I really do like the game concept and I would play again if you update to improve the interface. As it stands, however, it's not worth it IMHO.

RivalSaga responds:

Thanks for playing our game. We will improve the UI in the next release.

[Landfill Bill]

Meh.

The graphics were good and I approve of the "recycle" message, but I have to admit I lost intentionally. Why? Two reasons, one: it wasn't all that fun and two: Recycle Michael should lose his job for leaving work without cause. What a fricken' slacker.

Matmi responds:

True, but leaving your work to save the world is a noble deed.

[Hi-Tech Captivity]

Acceptable.

The game was unremarkable. I guess that comes from the lack of time available, so it's understandable. I'd like to see a remake with a storyline and more complicated puzzles or some more escape games from you. You obviously have talent in this genre.

I do have a little nitpick. I'm very surprised (and somewhat saddened) that a college student doesn't appear to know the difference between "your" and "you're". I suggest you brush up on your grammar skills a bit for any future work you do. It's a very simple thing that will make them look far more polished.

Anyhow, good work.

Daemonz responds:

thanks, i plan to make more from this. And hopefully many others.

also thanks for the english lesson haha ;-)

[Lyric Master: 80s Edition]

Really fricken' hard.

The only one I knew I got wrong because it wanted "youre" instead of "you are". Oh well. I got a big fat goose egg, and I knew a lot of the songs. Something tells me I'm not cut out for this game. :-)

The-WalrusZ responds:

lol. that ones tough, but you should have looked at the line spacers. That tells you how many words. YOU ARE instead of YOURE or YOUR (either one works) makes it too many words.

[Aquacubes]

Very well done.

I loved this version. Great game.

Bug report: I clicked pause while in the "between levels" bit and then the pause tool got confused. When I unpaused it was actually paused and I could see the game board and while paused the board was hidden and the timer kept ticking down.

mofunzone responds:

Thanks so much all of you!

And thanks Seawana for the small bug report.

Expect Aquacubes 2 soon guys, with multiple players!! :)

Cheers

[Epics of Distant Realm]

A well made, though not very detailed, game.

I enjoyed playing this game for quite a while last night.

Yes, the game does get tedious after a while, but that is the price I expect to pay in almost all RPGs. Eventually any RPG turns into a hunt for level-up items such as creatures to defeat or gold to collect, etc.

I was *very* disappointed to discover the game save feature is not truly a full save. It only "saves" the game so long as I do not close the game window. Once I did that, I found I had to start over. Because of this fact (among others) I will probably not play again. If it had saved to disc, I would have happily continued my game because I put several hours into playing before I had to stop.

I like the potion mixing concept, and it was good to see there are several ways to gain the three elements needed for potions. Being able to buy them was a huge boon once I had bought all the best equipment.

The creatures are interesting, but they were of such limited type that the battles became tedious pretty quickly. Besides that, each creature had only one type of attack or it could heal itself. I would like to see more effort put into the creatures. More types of creatures, more attacks/abilities for each, and perhaps a battle system with more options.

The graphics were nicely done throughout the game. I especially liked the varied backgrounds within the caves and while roaming the island. I found the animation to be pretty wooden so it'd be nice to see better (and more varied) character animation in the next version.

All in all, this game is pretty well done. I didn't find any detrimental bugs while playing, and the game itself was reasonably fun. A *real* save feature is a must in any RPG, so I strongly suggest adding that along with more enemies and more varied battles where possible. Keep at this and you'll have a winner for sure.

Widi responds:

Thanks, and if you are interested, the Standalone EXE version lets you save to disk. Grab it from the links on this page: www.geocities.com/epicsofdr

[The NG Study Buddy]

Meh.

I applaud your work. This tool looks great, saves the questions and answers, and provides a reasonable testing feature.

But honestly, it's nearly pointless. I can recreate this entire thing with a few cut up pieces of paper and a pencil. Yes, I'm talking about flash cards. If this offered something that flash cards do not, I'd have a different opinion. (And don't use the example of, "This is available anywhere because it is on the net." Flash cards don't need a computer to work, so they are even more portable.)

Don't get me wrong. It's nice and all. But you're re-inventing the wheel unnesessarily.

Moosh responds:

Lol, well thanks for your comments anyways.

Originally I wanted to have a huge database of everything I will learn in an intire year of school. Sort of like a huge stack of flashcards :D

[Submachine1: extended]

Superb.

Wow! This is a very cool escape game.

I don't usually love these kinds of games because I have more of an "action game" mentality. Even still, this one was so clean and stylish I had to play.

I love the way you move between rooms. It's so simple and quick it makes navigation a snap. Very nice.

I have one MAJOR gripe. You have assured I will play this at least one more time because I had just found the third puzzle piece and I clicked on the "R". Gah! What just happened? That resets the game without any warning?! Not good, man. Not good. Some kind of warning would be a very good idea for a button like that. :-/

Anyhow, Keep up the good work. I hope I can solve this game the next time around without closing the browser or doing anything else that resets it.

Mateusz-Skutnik responds:

ok, tomorrow I'll change it. But wait, how can I change it if I stole this game? :D
no, wait, I didn't steal this game, I CAN change that especially on your request. ;)
cehck tomorrow for yourself.
ms

[.:WindowsNG:.]

A well done Windows parody.

This is a nicely made Windows parody. There is actually a simple windowing system built into it that I enjoyed (compared to other Windows parodies that just pop up faux "windows").

There are a lot of things to try and look at, which makes it pretty fun to mess around with this for a while. I still don't know the secret MSN Messenger password. That's going to drive me crazy.

The graphics are well done. I loved the different desktop backgrounds. I wish the "ultimate movie" was better in order to live up to it's namesake (unless you were being sarcastic). I did find it amusing that it's being viewed in Flash player 10.

Overall, this is a good flash. Because it is a Windows parody, there is always room for improvement, but that's cool. I must point out one minor pet peeve. Work on YOUR grammer if YOU'RE going to update the game. ;-)

Keep up the good work.

Depredation responds:

Thanks for the review, always a help. Sorry about the spelling, i noticed it just after i uploaded it. the ultimate movie was sarcastic, lol, and the password for NSN is 10 letters long and has to have a capital letter to start with. Thanks.