ZaronX's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Valkyrie: Sacred Feathers S]

Not bad, could use some polish. Enemies will sometimes spawn directly on top of you with no real warning or mercy, and some indicator of when a powerup spawns off-screen might be nice and serve to tempt the player into danger. a visual warning or cooldown for the big invincibility murder attack coming to an end would likewise be pretty nice. Little things, mostly.

The perspective kind of throws me a bit and some of the hitboxes are kind of unintuitive (ie. aiming for flying enemies' shadows instead of the big obvious sprites) but there's a solid foundation here.

ByEthanFox responds:

Thanks!

The power-ups *have* an effect - it's a lightning bolt/thunder sound (they spawn with a lightning strike) but what I'm taking away from this is that the effect gets lost in the mix, so I'll have to look for something better. Ditto the attack power-down, there's a rising tone but again, it must get lost in the mix.

The perspective thing, similarly, I'll see what I can do. It has to do with how the mode-7 style visual work, but it might be possble to adjust.

[Snowballoid]

Still needs work.

The game looks nice for the most part, but could stand to play a lot better. the only visual complaint is that the ball is white on a very light blue background, which makes it harder to see than it should be. And I'm not sure if this is a complaint or not, but do the presents explode for any particular reason?

Perhaps it's to explain the ball's sporadic bouncing as, indeed, this is the killing factor on what could otherwise be a fairly enjoyable game - the ball bounces randomly, often hitting the left or right edge of the room and doing a complete 180 from its previous heading. The typical strategy and precise control and timing of your typical Arkanoid clone is replaced with just trying to hit a ball that seems only remotely under your control, and never in the expected ways. when I bounce the ball off the far right edge of the round paddle, it should not continue to head left without seeming so much as hindered. when it hits a wall, it should bounce off the wall at roughly the same angle it hit it, and likewise with the bricks/presents/explosive boxes.

And while collision hurts a lot, a less important but still annoying trait is the power-ups. while something like glue replacing expanded paddle is acceptable, the power-ups completely expiring so quickly they rarely get to be used is a bit harsh. I got glue at least five times before I realized that's what it was, as by the time the ball reached my paddle it had expired without ever being used. I thought it was just a free hundred points, or, since it did so one time, something that canceled other power-ups.

The basics are all here for this to be a solid Arkanoid clone, but considering the Christmas theme I don't understand why this seems to be so rushed out the door. It has a decent graphical presentation and the initial impression is good, but once the ball starts rolling things go downhill far too fast. Give it a little more care and try again.

Warlockus responds:

As developers of this simply and alittle unsightly game we want to thank you greatly for such Constructive criticism! We love it!

p.s. Dont beat us to hard, please - this is our first game 8)

[Dance Of Distraction]

Not shabby at all.

I started with the space stage, which I still find the most creative, but all in all I rather like this game and wouldn't mind seeing more of it. : D The distractions are creative and lend to the experience instead of being outright intrusive, which I find nice since I was expecting seizure lights and for half my screen to blank out and then giant faces or something popping up in my way so I couldn't see a single thing. But really they had a ncie balance, getting in the way without making things impossible, and the stages each having their own atmosphere was fantastic.

Good job, sir. Keep it up! : D

BurningBunnies responds:

Why thank you! I shall indeed.

[Sprox the Furcone]

Serious Room for improvement

The game leaves a lot to be desired. For starters, a couple times shoes I shouldn't have been killed my caused my demise. But that's a bit less obvious a bug than some others.

Primarily, did you even play test your own game? your score resets every level, and your help's story cuts off near the end of the first line. That alone makes the game seem very unproffessional.

Graphically, I'd recommend a bit of background visuals, maybe some changes between levels (day/night/dusk/dawn skies?) at the very least.

There's plenty of room to improve, but the foundation at least isn't too bad for what it is. the game just needs more work, is all.

iameatingjam responds:

No I didn't really test it, thanks though, those things are fixed up now.

[Virus Blocker]

Fair Start

It's a good start, but needs a lot more.

For starters, the game doesn't seem to ever really pick up. .-. Increasing the rate of viruses coming down as your score increases would help a lot, as would making viruses come down at a far more steady pace. I found myself often waiting about ten seconds for the next two or three to appear, and that made it pretty dull.

Also, some sort of intro screen with instructions and maybe the general story of the game would be a good touch as well.

Still, I like the look of it, and think with a bit more work it could get to be a little enjoyable. It looks like you've plenty of potential, just work a little harder.

Undine-Aerodynamik responds:

Well, I made it 1 year ago. I'm alot better now, although, I mostly do movies, because I can't get the hang of action script. If you want to see how far I've progressed, you should probably look for FFIIIj. It's going to be a seires of cartoons, based on FFIII, a game that only came out in japan. thanks for the constructive critsism!

[Leviathan RPG]

Ack!

Soopid Clock killed me in 2 hits and dropped my HP to -13. O_o; That kinda ruined for me, seeing how he's supposed to be the easy one.

LeviathanClock responds:

It is because his attacks are random. The HP thing will be fixed when it is resubmitted but it isnt very often (about 1 out of 6 attacks that should be strong)