The-Great-One's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[That Falling Music Game]

First off, the artwork and animation were very trippy, but a bit simple. I think you could've done a bit better instead of plain colors under a strobe like effect. The music choice was brilliant, a nice remix by EON. Then we come to the gameplay which is amazingly addicting to want to keep playing, at times though I must admit, the strobe lights can make it hard to see the platforms, which is a shame because if the platforms changed color along with the lighting then this game could have been extremely hypnotizing. The controls though are perfect, whenever I failed it was by my own doing, I had complete control over the cube. I think a more appropriate title screen to warn for seizures would have been nice. This game deserves a sequel and to be cleaned up a bit, with levels and more songs from the Audio Portal. If you're looking to make a sequel and want more advice then please shoot a PM my way.

|| Cheers ||
*Superb Artwork
*Superb Animation
*Superb Music
*Superb Concept
*Superb Gameplay
*Masterful Controls

[One and One Story]

This is absolutely beautiful. It is an art game, but unlike other art games here on Newgrounds, this one actually provides a well-structured love story and amazing gameplay. First off the artwork is absolutely beautiful. I love how you represented love between two people as lost shadows looking for their light, but you still gave us this beautiful world and took us through seasons as well as beautiful mornings and nights. Each point of the story also utilized each part of the scenery well showing the mood of the two characters, making the words mean more. The music was really good, kudos to thedavidcarney. It didn't set this romantic feeling or this sad feeling, it didn't really set any kind of tone, which I think is appropriate for this kind of game. It will make people feel differently depending on who plays it. The sound effects are also really good, from simply moving to the death sounds of both the male and female characters. The main selling point of this game though is the story, I love how you also remember that it is a game right at the beginning and it did give me a small chuckle to read this witty veiled tutorial dialogue. I also loved how when you introduced a new game mechanic you re-used a level. Although re-using levels is a cardinal sin in game making, you seem to have designed the levels re-used to fit each mechanic offering a new puzzle, which is no easy task to pull off. All in all this is an amazing game and I loved the Bonus you can unlock at the end. You really should have waited and released this for Valentine's Day instead of October. This is as perfect as an Art Game can get.

|| Cheers ||
*Masterful Artwork
*Masterful Animation
*Masterful Sound
*Masterful Music
*Masterful Story
*Masterful Concept
*Masterful Controls
*Masterful Gameplay
*Perfect Score

|| Jeers ||
(none)

[Tranced]

The artwork is bland and unappealing, I guess you were going for something sleek and trendy, but it just comes off as flat and stale. The animation is moving squares... nothing more. The music is good, but that's about all I can really say. Returning to the menu instead brings you back to the preloader, a small nitpick, but still. The game controls well to the mouse and that's it, I'm pretty much playing the equivalence of dragging a mouse across a computer screen out of boredom. You can expand on this idea quite a bit, another game on Newgrounds by the name of "Pixel" executes this idea with flying colors (literally). Something bland and not too impressive.

|| Cheers ||
*Good Artwork
*Good Animation
*Good Music
*Good Controls

|| Jeers ||
*Bad Gameplay
*Concept - Bad Execution

[100% Complete]

The goal of this game is to simply walk through the door to win, however there are many different collectibles throughout the game that you can find to gain 100% completion. It is an interesting concept that a lot of big collection games take on themselves and it's kind of cool to see a game cut out everything else with the sole intent of collecting all of the objects, but at the same time it makes it seem like an incomplete game as well, which was the point here in a way.

The graphics are in pixel form holding with an old-school tradition, here it works well in the collect-able items and your main character, but this secret castle is bland in its presentation, nothing really pops out at you. I understand that the whole castle had to look the same and you couldn't experiment with all the rooms that way it makes the items harder to find, but the coloring of this place could have been better, like combining blue and orange together really would have made this place pop instead of this gray and yellow. The animation is nice, even though there isn't much going on, it is nice. The music was good, nothing fantastic though and it just droned on my ears as I was looking for these different secrets, something a little bit more upbeat would have been nice. Since you picked this track from the Audio Portal it makes me wonder why you didn't pick something to fit this game better. There are no sound effects which was disappointing to me.

The items were tricky to find and get to, but once you got Secrets #29 and Secret #37 things start to pick up and you start to do some backtracking. What I didn't like though was the testing of faith with some of the pits to see if there was another room there, it really got on my nerves when I had to backtrack multiple times instead of a wrong pit just putting me back in that same room, luckily though Secret #24 doesn't make this too big an issue, but still it was a bit nervewracking. At one point I wanted to give up and I did, I just headed through the door since I couldn't find anymore secrets and that is where you put more secrets, I'll admit it is a bit clever to put something after your YOU WIN screen, but at the same time it wasn't exactly the nicest move to make either.

The controls are a bit iffy, getting through small holes is not as easy as it should be, even with Secret #37 I had to take at least two to three tries to get through this opening which I probably wouldn't have even known was there without Secret #29. I got to the point that I just didn't care about the secrets, I just wanted that 100% completion, which is the point of the game, but it just makes putting effort into the designs of the secrets pointless, they could have been a bunch of coins or gems and I still would not have cared.

This game overall doesn't have a grand presentation which is a shame, because if it did this game could have been a bit better and if more of the secrets had abilities for your character it would have been pretty cool. This game does deserve a sequel to it and could even utilize a lot of pop cultural references and/or Newgrounds references as well and be a big hit. As it is though it was a bit underwhelming.

|| Cheers ||
*Good Artwork
*Good Animation
*Okay Music
*Great Concept
*Good Controls
*Good Gameplay

|| Jeers ||
*No Sound
*Music - Something More Upbeat
*Artwork - Bland - Needs More Pop
*Gameplay - Goal = Pointless

NoLanLabs responds:

Wow, excellent review. Thanks a lot.

A sequel could definitely happen; I'll take this review into account when planning it.

[i saw her standing there]

I want to start with the artwork in being very simplistic. It was good, but just way too simple. I know that these were to be used to help tell the story, but a little bit more could have been done. The music was also a bit simple as well, it matches the story well. There were no sound effects which disappointed me a little bit, but I guess this is a game that doesn't really need them. The gameplay however is what is fun here, dodging zombies, trapping your love, it's all so much fun. The controls worked well and fit the game. The selling point here is the story, it was written so well and was not only cute, but funny. All in all this is a very fun game.

|| Cheers ||
*Good Artwork
*Good Animation
*Great Music
*Superb Gameplay
*Superb Controls
*Superb Story

|| Jeers ||
*No Sound - Would Have Been Nice

krangGAMES responds:

Man, "Cheers and Jeers" is and always will be the best damned way to rate a game. Kudos, thanks for the review :)

[Fire Starter]

Well, a simple game at best. One that requires climbing constantly to achieve a higher score. A fun concept and done pretty well here. The artwork and animation are both very nice, I loved the idea of this office setting and going higher and higher within it. The controls even though one button were a bit tricky to get used to first, but once you do it becomes quite easy. The goal is speed and concentration to where panic cannot get the best of you and you have to make decisions and fast. The sound effects from the little man to the fire were great, but the music I thought could have been better. All in all this was a very simple fun game, something that certainly makes an outstanding time killer, nothing entirely addictive.

|| Cheers ||
*Great Artwork
*Great Animation
*Great Sound
*Good Music
*Superb Controls
*Great Gameplay

|| Jeers ||
*Music - Could Have Been Better

[Super Puzzle Platformer]

First off the artwork was simply wonderful, I mean spot on and creatively put together, it was pixel art but didn't really look like a run of the mill pixel game. The animation was also spot on, the jumping and power ups worked out splendidly, the falling of the blocks was nice and despite all the craziness going on, it all flowed smoothly. Speaking of that craziness we come to the gameplay, this is hard game and certainly worthy of the title arcade. I would gladly spend a hand full of quarters at an arcade to play this, the goal is to shoot blocks to gain points and survive, a basic concept to be sure, but you have to make sure not to land on the spikes or be decimated by the falling blocks. There is a lot of multitasking going on here and it is amazing. The controls are also quite responsive, quick and fluid which is key for this kind of game. This is better than that of "Defend Your Trump" and what I believe "T E T R I S ' D: The Game" should have been. High kudos to you good sir and I can't wait to play more stuff from you.

|| Cheers ||
*Masterful Artwork
*Masterful Animation
*Masterful Sound
*Masterful Music
*Masterful Concept
*Masterful Gameplay
*Masterful Controls
*Perfect Score

|| Jeers ||
(none)

[Snow Tale]

Let's start from the top. The quirky artwork and animation is simply adorable, but not cute to be a turn off. The concept is pretty good, pretty much a penguin on a glorified snowball fight to the death, simple. The music was very nice, giving me a fun bopping sound while still reminding me that we're in a winter wonderland. The sound effects were nice, but were pretty run of the mill. The gameplay though is a bit of an understatement, the throwing of the snowballs and jumping mechanics could use some work to them, it feels a bit stiff. However everything that the little penguin could do was quite nice to see. The game has potential, but this game just falls somewhere in the middle of what it could have been.

|| Cheers ||
*Superb Artwork
*Superb Animation
*Superb Music
*Good Sound
*Great Concept
*Good Gameplay
*Great Controls

|| Jeers ||
*Gameplay - Jumping Needs Work
*Gameplay - Snowball Throwing Needs Work

[Abducted (Platformer)]

The graphics hold a retro look to them, but there's nothing really captivating or inspiring to them. Their animations are plain and simple, but a little too simplistic in nature. The gameplay was collect this do that come back here which is cool in games like Metroid where there's a lot more to it, but this was really watered down. Also when you die there is no dieing animation or any indication that you actually died except a sound effect and then a warp back to the checkpoint. The controls are simple and easy, no real complaints here. The music was uninspiring and I think you could have found better in the Audio Portal. The sound effects to are uninspiring as well. All in all this is just a very bland game with not a lot to offer. Did it kill time? Yes... and that's about all it did for me. If you decide to make this game into a sequel you might want to make it a bit bigger or take some tips from "Robot Wants Kitty".

|| Cheers ||
*Good Artwork
*Good Animation
*Okay Music
*Okay Sound
*Great Controls
*Great Concept

|| Jeers ||
*Bland - Nothing Wow Compared To Other Stuff Here

[Time Chase]

The artwork was a bit bland to be honest nothing fancy or as imaginative as I would like to see. The sound effects were pretty childish and the music a bit forgettable. The gameplay is an interesting one, it requires avoidance and collecting. It was too easy though, to the point of where I could hit all the stars and rings in a level and still be just fine. At times though it sucked when you started a level though and hit a star or three that was a bit cheap. All in all a fun idea, just not executed well. I think something like this would be more suitable as a platforming game or if it were to stay in this type of skill genre then the difficulty would have to be brought up some.

|| Cheers ||
*Good Artwork
*Good Animation
*Okay Sound
*Okay Music
*Good Gameplay
*Great Controls