Seawana's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Catch-A-Shit]

HA!

You gotta love a game where the game's name is all the instruction you need in order to play.

I laughed my ass off playing this. Pun intended. Obviously this guy needs a colonic.

[Maus Force Attack]

Awesome but FAR too hard.

"Difficulty = Hard"? Try "Difficulty = Near Fricken' Impossible"

This is great game and all, but there are going to be a lot of people who just cannot play it (and will give it a low score) because of the difficulty level. I think a difficulty setting would be an excellent addition.

Or maybe I just suck at it. "Way too much fast moving giant crap on screen" is definitely your gaming style. C'est la vie.

[Gunny bunny++]

A good game.

That was a pretty fun game.

The graphics were well done and very consistent throughout. I enjoyed the flat shaded 3D style very much. It really harkened back to the beginning days of 3D. The models and animations were also well done.

The sound was pretty good, but the compression was a overdone to the point that everything wounded really tinny. I'm guessing you did this to squeak in under the 5MB limit.

As for game-play, I really liked the idea of having two weapons simultaneously. The double cross hair thing was a little confusing at first, but after a reload of each weapon it all made sense. I thought it was odd that the player has no way to hide. You just stand there and try to fire faster than the opponent, which seems rather dumb. Speaking of which, I beat the game with no trouble at all, so it's probably also a little on the easy side.

Anyhow, overall, this is a well done game and I really enjoyed the FPS feel. Nice.

[Via Sol <RTS Sim Game>]

Nice, but needs some tweaking.

This is a very cool game. It is pretty simple when it comes to an RTS, but it has good gameplay and is a solid foundation for more. The graphics are okay, the sounds are good, and the game isn't too long. Overall it's really well done.

Things I would like to see:

1. Add a skip button to the starting sequence. After the first time through it gets painful to wait through. (Yes, I'm impatient)

2. Put more inclusive instuctions in the game itself. I didn't bother to read the "Author's Notes" the first few times I played and had no idea I could scroll around the playfield. I know, I know. There is a link to more complete instructions on a website. Still, This is info it would make sense to include within the game itself (a failsafe in case your site goes down). Besides, I'm sure you can fit "Use arrow keys to scroll." in the game somewhere.

2.1. As an aside, since I didn't realize I could scroll around, I built lots of buildings on top of one another because I was out of real estate. That really doesn't make sense and probably shouldn't be allowed.

3. Change the goal of the game. It is NOT a 5 minute game. Even if the timer did count down the seconds (which it doesn't, unless minutes suddenly have 99 seconds in them), the game can lag and the timer no longer counts by seconds. Change "minutes" to some new term like "Sols" or something so that it is technically accurate.

4. It would be nice to have some idea of how much material, food, and energy new construction will use up or produce BEFORE you build it. Perhaps the buttons to build new items could be ghosted or otherwise inaccessible when you don't have the right amount of resources to build the item.

5. A little more animation for the buildings would be great. For instance, the ranch looks neat, but it looks "dead" because nothing is going on in it. Same for the quary. Maybe add some little dots (people) or machinery moving around to give it some action. If the player powers down the building, the animation could stop.

6. Finally, (and this is a biggie) it would be great to have a few more building options. I know how hard it is to build a good RTS where everything is balanced, because I've done it. I see you took a simpler approach by only adding a 5 distinct building types. The addition of one or two more building types would really add a lot to this game. Or how about different terrain types so that some buildings would work better in certain areas?

Anyhow, I really enjoyed this game. I found the little things noted above somewhat annoying, but overall, this is solid work. Nicely done.

Flyborg responds:

Notes I've made to date:
>Add prices.
>Return to menu skipping scene except when the game's first started.
>Add "use arrow keys to scroll" at the start of the game.

Stuff I can't really do:
>I can't add more buildings. Every building exists "inside" the one before, and every building also has its own code which slows the game down even more. It's the same reason I only animated the construction yard.
>I know that time slows down, so its less accurate on slow computers, but still, it's just that; time slows down. It IS 5 minutes - it's just a very slow 5 minutes. :p (It's like slow computers get "bonus" time, but not really)
>Instructions... Hmmm. I know they're confusing. I didn't want to just sum up the main points in the brief instructions, as I know many people will ignore the game guide, so I stuck in some other stuff, and now it's confusing. :/

[Avoid Posidon's Wrath]

Simple yet fun.

I immediately found a bug :-(

The first thing I did was jump jump off the right side of the screen. I figured there MUST be more to this game than just three platforms a single obstacle and a timer. I was amazed to find out I was wrong. How dull.

So anyhow, I didn't die and the timer kept going. I guess I kinda "beat" the game.

I think this is an interesting start to a game, but it really needs something else. The replayability is almost zero and it gets dull very quickly.

[Hell Noodle]

Great start!

Wow! This is a really great start for a more complete game. I only just beat it with my last life.

The graphics are fairly lacking, albiet in a funny way. The style is interesting, but I only think the game has this graphic style because you are not an accomplished artist (I'm guessing this because I am in the same boat and can't draw well either).

The gameplay is good, but needs a little work. I found it annoying that I move at the same speed as the enemies. That meant if I was standing on a box or something it was very hard to avoid bullets they fired upwards at me. The jumping movement seemed a little odd, and it would make sense if crouching slowed the players movement down.

I also noticed that when I change directions, my gun continues to aim in the direction I was walking. It may not be a bug, but that was annoying for a while.

The mini-bosses are good, and not too tough. The last boss way VERY hard and almost immediately killed me about 5 times ... until I found a place to stand that he couldn't hit me and thus didn't pose any threat. Then suddenly he was laughably easy. He should probably be a little easier, without leaving the player such a "safe" location.

I also expected more levels because at the beginning it says "Mission 1". I suppose more missions might be coming in later updates (?).

Overall, this is a great game. I hope to see more of your work in the future.

FrostedMuffins responds:

WOW!!! I am so glad to get such a complete review! Thank you very much. My skills with drawing are pretty bad, so yeah. Thank you for pointing out to me that the speed of the enamies was annoying! I will fix that right away. As for the gun direction, it bugs the hell outta me, but I can't find out why it does that. I've checked my coding and it seems like it shouldn't be happening. As for the crouching, I tryed that, and then for some reason, when you jumped, it got screwed up. I'm still a begginer w/ scripting, but I'm sure I'll get better. Thank you sooooooo much, this is the best review I've recieved :)

[Custom Ghost]

Meh.

I guess it's kinda neat, but why should I bother creating a custom vehicle when it doesn't do anything at all. It just sits there.

This "game" just isn't my style I guess.

[My Health Project]

Good, but sluggish.

This was good work. The style and art was very nice. I liked the sounds and music (even in the sound effects did get old pretty quick). It's a solid quiz.

I do have two gripes. One, this is the web. Compress your sound for God's sake. This should have been about 1 meg. Two, after the first round, speed up the animation for the buttons and question. That got "slow" and dull after a while.

[Noodle Squad 2]

Intersting.

An intersting game idea.

Oh, and I found a bug. Any noodles you kill will be invulnerable on the next "level".

sejumaw responds:

Yea.. that happens after playing once. Exit and open it again to fix that problem. I'm trying to find out why its doing that.

[Operation Red Broom]

Could be good, but many problems hinder this game.

Well, I tried really hard to play this game and enjoy it, but I just can't. It's just too "glitchy" to be any fun.

Here are the problems I found:

1. The controls are in very odd places. Either put them all next to each other or allow the player to define his own keys. What is up with choosing /, n, \, and shift instead of a more reasonable keyset like q, w, e, r or z, x, c, v? It's a very annoying selection.

2. The gameplay is lousy. The enemy fires at you while still offscreen. The player movement is incredibly stilted and sluggish. The player MUST crouch to shoot straight (?). Jumping over sandbags doesn't work well. There is no way to avoid enemy fire. If you get shot, you "jump up" from a kneeling or prone position. Bonuses float on screen forever. Crap graphics all over the foreground hide everything else (including the info screen and gun shop fer cryin' out loud).

3. The design sucks. ... How much ammo do I have? Am I healthy? Do I have any money or armor? The only way to find out is to drop everything I'm doing and point the mouse at a the top of the screen to get the info screen to show up. That's not good design. Add a HUD so people know what's going on without performing special tasks.

4. This is the most important problem. The game is not fun. Due to the issues above, the replayability is close to zilch.

I'm sure you are very proud of this game because you built it. I'm also sure you think everything is working correctly because you have played the game so many times that you understand what is happening and exactly how to win. However, there appear to be many problems and the game's rank will suffer until they are fixed.

Finally, before you tell me that I am wrong about all the points I have made, consider this. Just because you don't find problems with the game doesn't mean everyone else is wrong when they DO find problems. Think about the remarks people make in their reviews and you will create games that will go far. Until then, be prepared for a lot of negative reviews.

Anyhow, I know this all sounds harsh, but I am honestly trying to be helpful. I hope you continue to develop this game. It could be great.

Russian-dogg responds:

1. The movement keys are pretty close to each other, I guess most people don't fit my idea.
2. I designed the engine that way, or else you will see enemies popping up in thin air, that won't look realistic.
In real-life you probably can't shot straight when you're running or standing. You shouldn't have any problems with the bonuses, you have to crouch down to get them.
3. I designed it that way to reduce lag. If you put too many graphics at once, the game will slow down.
4. I'm a realistic type of person, considering that most people submit crap compared to mine. I worked close to a year on this game, and people just don't like realism, I consider realism to be fun. I was planning to add an expansion with more weapons, but I guess I have to redesign it...