Deathspam's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[SCGMD4]

I really don't think you had the right idea this time around. First of all, I just didn't like the songs as much. That's totally an opinion, and I haven't unlocked them all, but I didn't find the instrumentals as catchy, I thought the alternative / punk songs were a little annoying (I could not stand "Fairest One of All") and the quality just wasn't what i expected. Secondly, I really don't think the direction you took this game was the right one; It's hard to appreciate the visuals when you'll mess up the song if you even glance at them, and I found it hard to appreciate anything but the comedy of boss fights - which was generally pretty short lived. So, while all of the graphical elements might have been better, and prettier, I don't think they enhanced the game. In fact, I think the overload of animation may have even slowed the game. I played the previous games in this serious with a pretty old computer and they ran fine, but this time, on a laptop with tons of memory and good graphics that's about 3 weeks old, it seemed that the path of the notes was sometimes not completely smooth which made it really hard to get the notes timed right.

My final issue is with "mistakes". It bothered me a TON that pressing the button a fraction of a second late counted as 2 mistakes (missing the note and hitting a key at the wrong time) and it drove me crazy when if my timing got off (due to the choppiness often) for just a second, I could amass 25 errors in three seconds.

I was good at SCGMD2, even better at the third one with most songs at perfect, and I really don't see myself devoting that kind of time to this game. I am thoroughly disappointed.

[RPG Shooter: Starwish]

Good, but not good enough

This game had a lot of good things going for it, but before I address them I have to point out some of the very fundamental flaws I encountered.

First of all, the lack of animation was horrendous; I was very bothered by bosses like the Ice Dragon having absolutely no kinetic motion, and just being a picture of a dragon floating around the screen. This issue was uniform with all ofthe other bosses as well. They lazily drifted around the screen firing their weapons, but their guns never moved to point at the player, they never really angled themselves, and they simply weren't very visually impressive. However, I find that to be completely forgivable. The real isue with the animation is the lack of STORY animation, with the entire arc of the game playing out completely in text. The cutscenes, which often portrayed important and exhilirating events were never more than two character portraits opposite one another on the screen, unmoving. I was extremely bothered by the copious times throughout the game when something would appear in italicized text like "The battle played out, the cannon ripped through the shields, a giant wormhole appeared, etc." Without the player ever seeing this take place. Yes, the story was good, but this isn't a novel, it's a flash game, and I really expected it to be more than text. The lack of story animation seemed to drain the story, and often I was eager to skip through dialogue that wasn't key to the plot. Unlike the lack of enemy animation, this one is not forgivable, and really ticked me off.

The second fundamental flaw is repetition. During the first few levels on Home Planet I was impressed with the environments; an underwater level, a city level, an asteroid field, the game was full of variety! But even in the early stages of the game I couldn't help but notice that the same music track was repeated throughout all of the zones. I thought of super mario, and the distinct music that accompanied the undeground levels, the water levels, bowser's castle, and how much they added to the game, but in Starwish, the one track that existed throughout the main gameplay levels got very stale. As I progressed in the game I became bewildered with the more extensive recycling. Another city level, with the same boss, another forest level, with the same boss, and just like that, the awe I had experienced from the vastly different environments was gone. I also couldn't help but notice that throughout the entire game the base enemies never really changed. After only a few levels, I had seen every single non-boss enemy that I would see for its remainder, the mines, the ground cannons, the drones... It seemed that with a few small exceptions the enemies were irrelevant to their environment as well, and for the most part I saw the same array of foes underwater as I did in the acid swamp. Again, I was very ticked off. The only that makes this forgivable is the wonderful amount of variety found in the weapons and the wonderful ability to buy modulators and level and really make the game your own; I was very puzzled that part of the game could have such unique and nonlinear aspects while the main levels became so dull and repetitive.

I believe the key issue here is laziness, which everything can boil down to. You could have put animation in, but didn't; you could have made new enemies, but didn't, and you could have had a unique environment and unique boss for every single zone, but you just didn't do it.

My final grievance before I can get on to saying some nice things is how the levels related to the story. After the dramatic arrival of the firebolt on enigma, the cutscene ended with the dilemma of having 4 days to evacuate the planet. Then, the next mission was just killing a bunch of enemies and the recycled Monolith boss in a ruin level, after which the plot advanced. That left me thinking, "What the hell did what I just do with my ship have anything to do with the plot?". Like so many other things, I was ticked off.

I have some more things to say but I'm out of room; message me for more.

[TechnoMice]

Solid.

I liked the "cheesy" plot you set up, and I liked how I could unlock new mouse dances and music to keep the game interesting, while still able to change them at my leisure. I found it difficult to get the mortar to go where I wanted it to, and would have liked a partial guide arrow to better anticipate where the mortar went, but it isn't really a "fault" that the game lacked it. I'd like to see more variance, like mice that moved around and were more difficult to hit, or moving obstacles so that more timing was required to hit the mouse. I'd also like to see ways to lose the game, like limited ammunition or a timer, because I easily beat most levels with TERRIBLE accuracy and I didn't see much of a challenge. The game was clearly well thought out and somewhat interesting, but was still quite short of being a great game.

Psionic3D responds:

Thanks for the feedback, Much appreciated! May your cheese always be smelly.

[Marble Buster]

Boring....

Sure, the mechanics worked. In theory, you had a good (though very unoriginal) game going. But the same black screen, same happy little music loop, and linear gameplay did not stay interesting for long. Where were the powerups? where was the twist on the gameplay? Frankly, I didn't really like the "recycle button", losing the game due to the mass hitting debris, or the fact that unlike in other (very, very) similar games misfired balls did not stick. I found myself unmotivated to attempt to be "tactical" and aim for a higher score, nor motivated to continue playing once I realized I would just be handed the exact same thing as before with a slightly higher speed. Needs something interesting.

olltwit responds:

Thanks for taking the time to review. I appreciate the constructive feedback as it will help me to improve.

Grey Olltwit

[Ball Revamped Duo 2 [30]]

No...

1. There is no credit to jmtb2, the original author of the Ball Revamped series and creator of many (well, most of) the images used in your game.

2. This game does not do the original game and series justice, as the levels aren't very creative, the controls seem worse, and the powerups are essentially trash. I stopped playing near the beginning of the fire levels because it was obscenely frustrating to burn the wood, or have to start over when trying to continue when the wood is nearly transparent but not yet declassified as an object.

So, in conclusion, when you make a tribute-ish game make sure to give credits so it doesn't appear stolen, use a little more testing before releasing so you don't annoy potential players out of their mind with very simple to fix mechanical issues, and try to bring something new to the table.

AsianSpark responds:

1. There is credit to jmtb02. I've even sended him a mail to ask permission. And he AGREED. Seems like you didn't look hard enough.

2. You should try patience. What if jmtb02 released these levels? Same comments?

So, in conclusion, you were just commenting without a BRAIN. Everything is tested. And it's playable. 1000%. You're just not trying hard enough.

[Slip Mask Creator [Corey]]

Good job

This was pretty good and had a lot of options, but some of the buttons didn't work. Try adding music, color options, and more options and this will be good.

bad1945 responds:

Yes, Ok. I don't know much of action script, but this is the last version of this game.
I will star a new one, it would have the same objective, but a totaly new desing, and options

[Orchestrated Death]

Nice

This was tricky, but really fun. I loved the music, especially in the second level. Oddly enough, I ended up with a final time of 7:06, or put differently 6:66.

[SILLY BLOB]

It's alright

This is a pretty fun toy, and responds excellently. Though most glitches in games are annoying, i thought it was funny and amusing how I could use physics to destroy SILLY BLOB. (I managed to put his face outside his body). However, simply finding a track you like from the portal and adding a simple 2-color background would make it a much better flash, capable of a much higher score.

[Newgrounds Music Board]

Dude

We have an audio portal, this is essentially just a little list of the songs you like. Pure phail.

[Mario Block]

Cool

I've really never seen this kind of thing before. Even though your only real art was sprites, the sound effects and music were great. I loved how the game worked, and I found myself franticly searching for a possible match. It was hard, too! With all of the flashing sprites, I almost had a seizure :[