The-Great-One's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Howmonica]

Redundant, Frustrating, and Boring

First off the presentation is cute, but everything is just so small and it can be straining to the eyes. You don't need everything to be this small for the design of the stages, a lot of them are made simply so you have stuff to avoid. It was so small that I didn't even know what my character was until I read your description and I have to say, that does not look like a bunny. The gameplay is a neat idea and I liked the use of the blocks, but after a while it just turns from a gravity based platformer to an avoiding game in avoiding spikes. It is important to learn that objects like spikes are meant to be obstacles to challenge the player, you don't make an entire room or multiple stages with them as barriers, if you want barriers then have walls. There was a lot of creativity into this idea, but the level design just doesn't support it... it just makes the game annoying. Also for 50 levels the presentation certainly doesn't change up enough. The game just comes off as entirely bland. The music choice and sound effects were pretty good. Controlling my character was easy enough, but without the proper level design there's really no point. The concept is great, but the gameplay and presentation suffer. Not bad, but not good either.

|| Cheers ||
*Okay Presentation
*Great Sound
*Superb Music
*Superb Controls
*Okay Gameplay
*Great Concept

|| Jeers ||
*Presentation - Too Small
*Gameplay - Level Design

TheSpydog responds:

Interestingly, you're the first person to point out on here about the small graphics. Doesn't seem to be a major concern with most people! Fair enough, though, I can see where you're coming from there.

As for figuring out what your character was...I'm surprised that it wasn't immediately obvious. It's the only thing on-screen that's not text, a background, or a block. And it's bouncing up and down. I guess if you were having trouble seeing the images, then the subtle bouncing would be hard to notice. One of my friends said the character looked like a cupcake, another one thought it looked like a bunny. So I combined them, and so it is officially a "Cupcake Color Bunny".

I personally think that the game is more interesting with spike mazes. Walls would be dull! Every object in the game affects gameplay - spikes provide a challenge, blocks are for coloring and for a temporary respite from gravity acrobatics. Walls that just serve as a barrier do not fit in this game.

Thanks for playing and going to the trouble of writing an extensive review, though. Wish you had enjoyed it more.

[NEW Snowman Game **BETA**]

Not too bad for a beta, next time upload your beta to your Dumping Grounds and post it in the Video Games Forum and/or Programming Forum for feedback, since you have uploaded this here I have to give it the fair shake. The game is not too bad for a beta, I like the idea of melting the snowman into a puddle to avoid obstacles, I was hoping for some attacks. Like a broom to whack enemies and snowballs to throw. There is no death animation, just a teleport, which I don't like to see in games. At one point when I died, I re-spawned underneath the starting area about two or three times before I re-spawned properly. The controls worked well, I didn't have trouble moving my snowman and getting him to where he needed to go, the hit boxes on those spikes though are a bit confusing with the absence of a death animation. There are no sound effects and no music either. We have the Audio Portal here on Newgrounds with tons of music to choose from, it's all free to download as long as you give credit to the creator. You've got a good idea, but execution is everything.

|| Good Points ||
*Good Artwork
*Good Animation
*Great Controls
*Good Gameplay

|| Bad Points ||
*No Sound
*No Music
*Glitch - Re-Spawning Under Start Point

[A small talk]

Wow, now this was a damn good game! You never disappoint scriptwelder. I loved the presentation you gave it and the different mysteries the game had to offer. One thing that does turn me off about text games is the lack of understanding of words or phrases you try to give the game, and I'll admit even this had it's troubles in that department. However if you use your brain you can figure out the solutions pretty quickly. I believe a prequel would do this game fine. Speaking of which, the story is absolutely brilliant, I loved it and sadly I can't say much about what I liked without spoiling the game. All in all this was a very good game.

|| Cheers ||
*Great Artwork
*Great Animation
*Great Sound
*Superb Music
*Masterful Story
*Great Controls
*Great Gameplay

|| Jeers ||
(none)

[Jump Over Danger]

The artwork and animation are very simplistic, in this set-up I say they're par for the course. The music was one of my bigger gripes, because it is just so bland and unimaginative. We have an Audio Portal here on Newgrounds filled to the brim with fun music to use in games, I highly suggest you check that out. The gameplay is difficult, but not really in a rewarding sense like Meat Boy or Tower of Heaven. I will say that I like the concept of this challenging game style, but it could be executed better. The controls handle well, but I didn't know I could make a jump from mid-air, so better instructions would have been nice.

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

|| Jeers ||
*Bad Music

[Hit the Troll PP]

The look of this game is nothing special, with the different troll faces taken and used here, not much has been done here. The animation on the troll faces are nice though. The gameplay I have seen before in games such as Red Remover and Super Stacker, however you don't really bring much new to the table other than the use of different balls and only some are allowed to you while others are not. The music is a nice song, but it doesn't fit this game with the concept presented here.

Which that's what I want to talk about. The game is called Hit the Troll, but it is a lackluster puzzle game with troll faces. The troll faces serve only one purpose as far as I see and that is to get people to play your game. If you're going to use something from the Internet, a meme of some sort, then implement it more creatively. Take away the troll faces from this game and you have something suitable for a quick time killer on an iPhone while waiting for and riding on a bus.

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

|| Jeers ||
*Bad Concept
*Bad Gameplay - Unimaginative

[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)

[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